The newest Mrs. Vail :)

Well there were a number of times throughout my life, and even during the last 10 months of planning that I never thought this day would come, but I am absolutely thrilled to say that I am now officially the newest Mrs. Vail :) Our wedding was on Saturday and went off without a single thing going wrong.  Ryan and I were so relaxed and so happy that the day had finally come.  All of the planning and crafting we'd done finally all came together and everything looked spectacular, just the way we'd imagined.  As someone who recently had their wedding day, my best piece of advice to brides-to-be is to be organized! Lots of people giggled at my lists and schedules when I was making them, but honestly, that's what kept me sane and ensured that we had everything (including people!) where we needed it, when we needed it to be there. Not that you can't be too organized...there's no need to have lists for your lists for your lists and schedules down to the second, but one good 'don't forget this' list, a schedule for the day, and (if you're doing your own decorating) a list of what needs to be put where in your ceremony/reception space helped immensely.  So, that being said, just relax and try to enjoy your day! It really does go by in a flash.  Here are a few piccies of the finished product and us on our wedding day.  Its been a blast doing all of my crafts and sharing instructions with everyone, I don't know what I'll do with my time now! Thanks to everyone who checked out my posts! <3

More Bouquets

Upon examining my guitar pick bouquet I decided 2 things...1) I really like it and want to keep it and 2) if I tossed it at the reception it would either smash to pieces or take someone's eye out.  So I decided to make a little bouquet up for the sole purpose of tossing that would not smash to pieces or take someone's eye out.  Luckily for me, one of my shower gifts came with a little bunch of silk green and white gerbera's attached so I repurposed them into my toss bouquet with a bit of ribbon I had lying around.  I think it came out pretty cute and much safer than the guitar pick one lol.

I also was told after my shower that it was traditional to use the bows and ribbons off the gifts as a 'bouquet' for the ceremony rehearsal.  I'd never seen this before, we always just made the bride-to-be a silly hat out of them attached to a paper plate.  Well they made me my paper plate ribbon hat and then I decided to also use the ribbons to make a rehearsal bouquet and I must say I am quite proud of the result!  Its been a very bouquet-y day today...I think now that all of my projects are winding down I may be going into crafty withdrawal...good thing my cousin is getting married a month after we are so I can help his fiancee out!

FLOWERS ARE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh I can't believe they're done!!! and I'm really happy with how they turned out :) Small and simple yet modern and cute.  I couldn't find any bouquet holders so I devised my own out of stuff around the house...namely toilet paper and paper towel rolls and the inside tube from a roll of aluminum foil...can't even tell the difference after you wrap them in ribbon! =D I just bought a block of floral foam for the inner cores of the handles.  I got the brown brick of dry floral foam from Walmart, it was less than half the price of the exact same brick at Michaels.  Full instructions on the Guitar Pick Flowers DIY page! I really hope these help someone else out since I couldn't for the life of me find instructions anywhere when I started out!

Decorations for Guest Book Table

I posted these on The Knot and had someone ask for the template but I can't for the life of my figure out how to post a file on here so here's what I did: :)

I used Microsoft Publisher and created a new custom sized document that was 12"x12".  Then I used word art to make the "HE" or "SHE" in the back ground and filled the page with it.  Then I typed in our things we love about each other into a text box that was the same size as the page (keep everything within the little blue lines at the edges so it all prints properly) separated with the dot, which I copied from the character map.  On my computer (vista) its under Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Character Map.  I just made the text and background opposite colours on the two documents.  Then I got them printed and made into 'plak-its' at Staples.  Make sure to check them when you pick them up though because I just realized that the SHE sign is about a 1/4 inch smaller than the HE which makes the text go right to the edge of it.

Counting the days...

The days before the wedding are getting less and less and I'm trying not to panic that I won't have everything done in time! I just finally started on the flowers last night and thank goodness they're turning out better than I hoped so I think this is the last decision I have to make! We'll see about that lol.  I also finished my last hanger last night (mine of course) so that's another thing checked off.  Last week I ordered my bridesmaids gifts which came in really quick from http://www.flirtyaprons.ca/.  All my girls love to cook and the aprons on this site are adorable, I even ordered one for myself and one for my mom for her birthday. So in all, they're getting the aprons, jewelry for the day and hangers for their dresses.  I'm still debating what to get for my FG and RB, I'm thinking about making them fleece tie blankets and Ryan still has to decide what he's getting for his groomsmen.  So I guess there are a few decisions left to make! 

I updated the DIY page today with instructions for the corsages, RB pillow and personalized hangers.  I've been getting a bit lazy so there aren't pictures for each step but I think if you look at the final picture you should be able to figure it out :) Those projects weren't overly difficult.  I'm going to update the instructions tonight with a how-to for the guitar pick flowers I'm making for the bouquets and boutonnieres.  I finished 9 flowers last night and they came out good enough that I'll try really hard to remember to take step by step pics!  Piccies of the ones I did last night below :) They still need their stems wrapped and I have to figure out how I'm going to actually make them come together in a bouquet but I've gotta get them finished first!

So we finally picked a honeymoon...

With just 48 days to go, Ryan and I finally decided on a honeymoon destination yesterday!!! We're going to be spending 5 nights and 6 days at the Nantasket Beach Resort in Hull, Massachusetts about 45 mins away from Boston.  I've been to Boston before but Ryan hasn't and I'm super excited to go back :) We already booked our tickets to go see the Blue Man Group while we're there!  There are tons of things that I want to do and see, the whole city is just so rich in history and although I'm a proud Canadian, the American Revolution fascinates me.  I think I'll have to keep reminding myself that we need some 'alone time' too!

DIY update

I just finished up a couple more DIYs so I thought I'd post some pics cause I think they're pretty :) DIY instructions for the corsages to come once I do my last one and remember to take step by step pics!

Corsages for our moms/grandma/reader:

My Ring Bearer Pillow: