My many wedding projects

With 1 month till the wedding... FINALLY! 2 1/2 years in the making we're finally getting down into the double digits....single digits! Awhile back we decided to plan a full on DIY wedding so I've been busting my butt the last couple months to get everything accomplished that I can. I wanted to share what has finally been checked off our list, and you just may get some inspiration for your own wedding.

Our Wedding: We will be celebrating our marriage on Saturday August 9th 2014 at 4:00 in the afternoon under our ceremony tree surrounded by family and very close friends. The ceremony is taking place in the backyard of Justin's grandparents property. I'm looking forward to seeing everything come together the weekend of our big day.

Everything from the ceremony music to the programs have been made by us! Pinterest has been a huge help through this process even though my husband sometimes gets tired of me being on it.
When we first started out on this wedding planning journey we had a guest list of 100+ for our outdoor ceremony and reception. As time went on and we got into planning the dollar signs started stacking up. We got an estimate for our caterer (at that time) who was practically our wedding planner for food, a large white tent, tables, chairs, linens, dessert, beverages for almost $5k... the stress quickly started getting to us. We couldn't justify spending almost $10k to plan a wedding that would last only a few hours so after many discussions Justin and I had decided to simplify things.

We said goodbye to our caterer and everything we had originally planned and started from scratching with a year out from the wedding. We now have a guest list of 40 which consist of family and very close friends. Everyone has been nothing but generous and supportive with our wedding. Our reception location has changed to a historic building turned restaurant downtown in our hometown. Working close with the owner the past couple months I'm realizing we made the right choice, and I know our bank accounts will continue to thank us years down the road ;) 

I'm pretty stingy when it comes to my money. I know every bride wants a big lavish wedding, but that just wasn't in the cards for us. Between being engaged and buying our first home our priorities quickly changed and trying to justify spending almost $10K on a wedding when we could put that money towards a nice honeymoon and fixing up and making our house a home it just made sense.

Pallet Table Projects

Who decides they want to build a pallet entryway/console table at 9PM? This gal!
Our upstairs hallway is pretty plain and boring, we've had a tall wood shelf sitting in the little nook since we moved in over a year ago and I guess yesterday I decided it was an eye sore. So off to pinterest I went, looking for ideas on how to make and design a small and skinny table to fit along the wall.

Here is our before cabinet which is now sitting in our office waiting to find a new home.

Justin my husband got the Best Husband award last night for helping make this rustic beauty, we finally finished it up around 11 PM. He's a keeper right? ;) The previous owners of our home had left behind 3 pallets in the basement which I've slowly been getting used up with projects around the house. Here is the sign I made for my mom for mothers day this year.

Now, back to that pallet table. Here it is all decorated with some primitive touches.
The table runner I made from scrap fabric I had left over from some throw pillows. Fabric was purchases at JoAnn's Fabric store. 

DIY - Chalkboard using paint

Chalkboard paint.
5 months till the wedding, and I'm really enjoying any DIY projects I can throw together.
While shopping one evening my fiance and I stopped into a store called "Tuesday Morning" pretty similar to a big lots, or Ollies if you're familiar with that. I spotted this black board the resemble a chalkboard.

I love lettering, or calligraphy if you want to get serious about it. So I wanted to put my "handy work" to the test for a chalkboard to display at our ceremony and reception.

What you'll need:
- Chalkboard paint. I'm using Americana paint from Michael's Craft store about $2.99
- A roller (any paint roller will do. I'm using a small sponge roller also from Michael's)
- A surface to paint on :)

- Painters tape (I'm using Frog tape from Home Depot, left over from paint our master.)

I also picked up a chalk pen which was found in the paint aisle of Michael's for $1.99

• I taped off the area to cover the decorative white design that came on the board.
• As per the instructions on the paint bottle you want to apply 1 coat vertically, and 1 coat horizontally. 
• Let dry for 1 hour and repeat.
• Let cure for 24 hours and condition the chalkboard with chalk. (this part I didn't do)

(sorry for the poor quality)
Once it's dry you can remove your tape and there you have a nice even chalkboard area inside the decorative design.

And my finished project using the chalk pen.

Chalk and chalk pens will easily wipe off using a damp paper towel 

Calligraphy and Typography

In my spare time (or when I'm bored) I really enjoy lettering. I just love the way it looks with a black marker on white paper. Here are some of the ones I've created so far!