Southern Sweethearts: All the Small Things

"As a journalist, the details always tell the story. "
James McBride

Oh, how I completely understand this quote! (I am a journalist, photographer, and self-proclaimed perfectionist. So details are kinda my thing.) And that's why I had details galore in our wedding! Many of them were DIY details that I'm sure some of you have been waiting a looong time to see in action.

They'll be plenty more details in coming posts, but here's some to get you ready for the main event: our ceremony! :)

First, my lovely DIY flowers!

At first, I wanted an all white peony bouquet. But when our colors changed, I decided on a pink bouquet and I absolutely loved the way my bouquet came out!

My something blue!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to gather family photos for my special locket. My Mom had recently moved and all of her stuff was in storage, making it extremely difficult to get to the photos in time. :(

I loved ALL of my bouquets (bridesmaids, flower girls, mothers, and toss)...

...but I put a little more effort into the matron of honor bouquet. Hers was a mix of all the flowers used, and it had its own cameo to distinguish it from the others.

Do I spy Loubies?

Why yes I do!

I had the shoe clips custom-made through an Etsy seller using the "alchemy" request. The clips were originally a different design but when she sent them, they were too small! There was some trouble with the redesign, shipping, and communication. But in the end, they turned out fine even if they weren't quite what I wanted and I almost had a heart attack thinking they wouldn't be done in time. And to top it off, I ended up losing one of the clips on the way to our reception site! :(

If you recall, my Louboutins were missing most of the wedding day. Thankfully, they were located before the ceremony. But they still weren't on my feet just yet...

And since I'm showing off the bling, might as well show off the DIY ring dish I made for them to chill in on the way down the aisle.

Remember my DIY wreath and my DIY mason jar/magnolia aisle liners with the "faux" water?

How about my semi-DIY double duty program fans?

And the last little detail wasn't one I had planned on. Best man Don snuck in some mini-liquor bottles for some ceremony "tailgating" if you will.

Just a small indication of what's to come!

What are some little details you're going to include in your wedding? Will any of them be DIY creations?

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:

• Southern Belles Do Tea
• A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
• We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
• A Spooky Ghost Tour and My Last Fling
• Our Wedding Trailer
• Becoming a Blushing Bride
• I Slip Into My eBay Wedding Dress
• The Fellas Get "Sessay"
• He Got Boudoir, I Got Bling
• An Unplanned First Look
• Our Wedding Party...and Paparazzi

Next Up: We Get Hitched!

*All professional photos by Lindsi Jones Photography. Some images may have been slightly altered by moi.

Enough With The Bad & The Ugly! Let's Get To The Good Stuff!

Okay, from here on out, I'm only going to bring up the bad stuff in context to the day it happened. I thought hashing it all out in a few posts ahead of time would be the best way to get it out of my system. But really, it gets to be too much and makes me mad all over again. Because I'm so close to the big wedding events, I'll just mention things as they happen.

So, it is now just two days before the wedding and I'm still working round the clock to get things done before the wedding. I'm sleeping only a few hours a night and am constantly surrounded by all-things wedding, and quite frankly, I was going a little nuts...

Me having a crazy moment. I was near insanity at this point.

Mr. Lab was stuck back home 4 hours away because of his classes, so I thank God that I had some wonderful ladies accompany me to Savannah early to help out.

(L-R) Brittany, Moi, Amanda, & Ashley at our hotel's bar the night before the wedding.

Let me talk a little about my bridesmaid Brittany and my Matron of Honor Amanda (aka my BFFs!):

Although we’ve all hung out together before my engagement, Brittany and Amanda were really only friends through me. But as the wedding festivities became more frequent, they got closer and closer. Besides both hosting some of those pre-wedding festivities, they both traveled with me down to Savannah the Wednesday before the wedding to help with last minute prep. It was then that they truly bonded over their shared interest in making my wedding the best it could possibly be. They worked side by side the entire weekend taking the initiative to get things done. They routinely answered my phone and dealt with needy (and I mean NEEDY) vendors. They would come up with a Plan B whenever possible so I wouldn’t have to deal with many of the problems.

Brittany and Amanda constantly hopped in the car and made trips to buy last minute wedding supplies and slaved over DIY projects. Like our chalkboard signature drink signs:

Or assembling (& delivering!*) the OOT bags with all my "Southern" themed goodies:

And while they were doing that, I was busy putting together the rest of the flowers I had put off for so long:

The honorary flower girl's single stem.

The toss bouquet. I also put together the mothers' bouquets that night.

And I perfected the rest of the bouquets by adding twine to the handles and special adornments for my bouquet and my MOH's bouquet.

Remember how I talked about transforming the bouquets into centerpieces? Well, I did a trial run and took photos for our day of coordinator so she'd know exactly what I wanted. Looking back, I wish I had paired the mason jars with the lanterns and vice versa.

And I quickly threw together these cards for some very special ceremony readings:

After all our hard work, we decided it was time for a quick trip to the nail salon for a little R&R and some mimosas! (Btw, thanks girls for telling me that we could bring our champagne & orange juice into a nail salon! I have been enlightened! lol)

And because this post was heavy on the DIY, I have to give a special shout out to my bridesmaid Ashley (aka mash8!):

Thank you for introducing me to Weddingbee. Without WB I wouldn’t have found the inspiration necessary to create my wedding from scratch. I also wouldn't have all the amazing support afterward to work through my PWD. So in essence, this is also a thank you to the hive. It is easy to see who I drew inspiration from by checking out some of my DIY posts. And having the feedback and support of my fellow bees and all the hive members has meant the world to me. You all rock! :D

That night, I wrote what would be my final post before the wedding before things got CRAZY. Ooooo, the classic Weddingbee teaser line! Stay tuuuuuuned!

*If you deliver the OOT bags to a hotel, many of them require that you have the names of the specific guests they're for to leave them in the lobby. A lot of our guests didn't get their OOT bags because I didn't do this ahead of time. :( Luckily, MIL Lab hand-delivered a lot of the bags to people who missed out after the wedding!

Bubbles and Sparkles

I couldn't decide between having a bubble or sparkler exit, so I got greedy and decided to have both! :D

After the ceremony, we'll walk back down the aisle to a shower of bubbles from our guests:

Source

We were fortunate enough to get hand-me-down bubbles from friends who recently got married and didn't use all of their bubbles. We'll put the basket of bubbles (with cute little bells tied to them already) next to the programs at the ceremony with a note for our guests to start blowing them right before we walk back down the aisle.

Then our second fancy exit will be after nightfall:

Source

It'll be the send off to our after party on River Street! I think the sparklers will totally help accessorize my reception dress. ;)

But we needed a way to display the sparklers! The bubbles practically took care of themselves but you can't just lay out sparklers on a table! So I grabbed a couple empty coffee containers and ripped off the labels:

Used leftover spray paint to give them a face lift:

Stuffed some foam into the center (Mr. Lab did this part for me):

Tossed some very appropriate Savannah-esque moss on top:


Then jammed the sparklers into the cans to form a pretty arrangement:


Wah-lah! Sparkler display on a budget! About $5 for 2 to be exact (the sparklers cost $34 for 60).

Are you doing more than one fancy exit?

Manaz...Manza...Pretty Branches With Votives Hanging From Them!

Yeah, I've been engaged for nearly 11 months and still can't remember how to pronounce that "m" word for these:

Source

But I really didn't care about pronouncing them as long as I could make my own decorative displays using them. And thus, I set to work!

I ordered my manzanita branches (12-13" tall), plaster of paris, and river rocks from Save on Crafts. The tin cans were purchased at an A.C. Moore on sale for $2 each! And the votives were from Crate & Barrel for $11.40 for a set of 12.

This project is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll let the pictures do the talking!

All of my supplies. I didn't even realize that my Halloween decoration sort of reflects my current project until I looked at the photos!

I followed the mixing directions on the plaster of paris bucket and made sure to use disposable containers. I also did this on my (nasty-doggy dirty) floors to make clean up easy.

Start of the mixing...still chunky!

Finally smooth! (Btw, that's an old blender mixer that I used to stir it!)

Carefully pouring to keep splatter to a minimum.

I quickly placed my branches into the pots then propped them against a wall.

It literally took less than 15 minutes for the plaster to set. I'm glad I was moving fast because I had NO idea it would set so quick!

I used leftover paint from other projects to paint the plaster.

I wiped excess plaster splatter away with a damp paper towel.

Then I filled the pot with the river rocks (I may get some more at Wally World just to fill it out more).

I did a quick trial with hanging the votives using leftover floral wire before Mr. Lab offered up some of his clear fishing line.

Some of the votives with the fishing line. We're hanging 6 per pot. We also tested out the candles (using tea lights we already have) to make sure they didn't get too hot and melt the line.

I forgot to get a photo of the final product, but you'll see the real deal in action soon enough! I'm using them as decor on the guest book/gift tables. Total cost of this project? $40.99 for two full displays! :D

Here are some useful links I used that I figure will help someone else!

Securing Manzanita Branches With Plaster
How To Make Hanging Votives

Are you incorporating man...manza...pretty branches with votives on them at your wedding?