The Winner for the Runner-Up (our aisle)

Well, ask and you shall recieve.  Thanks to everyone for your advice on the Aisle Runner debate... what was the winner for the runner up our aisle:

Yep!  We are reaching for the stars!  Now I just have to figure out how to get them to stay put outside.  Glue a rock to the bottom of each?  Glue them down to an aisle runner (and roll it?  fold it?)?

Any ideas?

Runners... and I Ain't Talkin' the Marathon Kind!

Forgive me blogging world, for I have sinned.
It has been over a week since my last post.

(side note: I'm not Catholic, so if I messed that up or offended anyone, I apologize!)

...whew... The first week of school can pretty much be summed up in two words: Chaotic Blur.  There's just SO much to get done.  I feel like I could work for a solid 24 hours and still wouldn't feel "done."  And with that hyper-busy first week of school, I threw one of my friends a baby shower this past weekend (maybe a NWR post on that later this week???)

I've been so crazy-busy, I haven't even turned on my home computer in over a week!

Despite not being on my computer, I'm still attached-at-the-palm to my iPhone.  And (thank goodness!) there are some apps that have helped with the wedding.  As I was browsing through wedding ideas on Pinterest, I came across an idea that made me re-think my choice of aisle runners.  Remember my original idea?  Here are some pictures to refresh your memory:

Well, as much as I absolutely LOVE that look, it's going to be a TON of work.  I can't decide if I want to do it or not.  After doing some research, it looks like I'm going to be buying about 10,000 petals and a bizillion glue stick and spend HOURS working on it.  Is it worth it?  I can't decide...

Especially when this idea seems to fit out stars theme better:

from The Ritzy Bee Blog

Of course, they would be silver and pink instead.  I just love the sparkly stars!  I'm just imagining how cute they would be in the sun!

Ahh, I can't decide!  I probably need to get started on the flower petal one of that's the one I go with.

So, I need your help!  What should I do???

Option 1: Flower Petals Pattern (probably swirled)

Option 2: Pink and Silver Glitter stars

...or...

Option 3: Flower Petals Pattern down the aisle and around the curved part before the ceremony.  (Too much?)  I think I would end the "aisle runner" where the chairs end, and just do the stars around the curve, so they wouldn't be overlapping.  Here's what our ceremony site looks like:

Our beautiful site: Stony Point Hall!

I'm seriously wanting your opinion... good or bad about these ideas.  You won't offend me my saying you like one better than the other... REALLY!  I just want some other people's thoughts and opinions.  Thanks in advance!

Reach for the Stars!

As you know, we're having an outdoor ceremony... really, there's not much we can (or want) to do to decorate for the ceremony.  It's a beautiful site...  See???

We already have the pew markers planned, and I'm sure we'll do some kind of flowers/tulle/decorating with their arch, but I guess I thought we'd stop there.

Then I saw THIS idea!

Decorate the yard with flour stars!

They are super simple... just make a cardboard cut-out, lay it down in the grass, spray it with water (to make the flour stick), then sift flour onto it.  DONE!

My thought is to have a couple different sizes of stars and kinda put them along the sides and behind the chairs.  A random pattern of sorts.

I got this idea from Pinterest... but more on that site in a later post!

What do you think?  Cute?  Stupid?

My First DIY

(I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted ALL of break... Hey, I didn't have a computer for the first part, then I was sick.  So I'm allowed to post twice in one night to make up for it... Right?)

I've known all along that I want to do as many DIY (do-it-yourself) projects as I could to save myself some money.

You know my love of stars, so when I came across these, I seriously considered buying them.  However, I couldn't justify spending some $2 (plus shipping) on EACH candle.  Especially since I'd probably need around 50.  And call me anal, but I really don't like the "starfish" shape.  I like the perfect star that is neat, even, and comes to points instead of blob-like curves.

The vision for this project came from a co-worker's (Sarah's) wedding last summer.  I absolutely LOVED the dark tablecloths with the bright pink candles!

(picture from Sarah's blog) Isn't that just GORGEOUS?!?

 I don't know how I ever thought of doing this, but all the sudden I realized I wanted my star-shaped tea light holders (remember?) to be pink instead of clear.  So while watching one of the many bowl games over break, I decided to take the pink Saran Wrap I had and cover them.  Then instead of a candle holder, maybe I could flip it over and put one of those battery-operated lights inside.  I love the idea of a black tablecloth with some glowing pink stars underneath!  The lights were a little too bright white, so I used some pink nail polish to take the edge off of the light (I need a few more coats, I think).  It's not perfect, but this picture gets the idea across:

I had to heat up the saran wrap so it would form to the star shape.  I held it over a candle, then pressed the plastic wrap to the star.  Apparently I didn't do a good enough job.  Jason tried to help while I was out of the room and ended up burning it a little on the back side.  Oops!

But neither of us really liked how uneven and wrinkly the plastic wrap was.  Then Jason had an idea.  Do you remember those Sun Catchers you used to make as a kid?  You know... those things your mom used to buy for you over summer and/or winter break to keep you busy and out of trouble?  You got a clear plastic shape that had the black outlines and you just simply painted in the sections to make it translucent (instead of opaque like most paints would do).

Well, what if we painted all of the stars?  Turns out they make a spray paint for stained glass.  Sadly enough, Michael's only had it in red and blue (no pink).  So I guess I'll just need to order some online and wait for a nice spring day (since you're supposed to spray paint outside when it's between 65 and 95 degrees).

Ugh... I hate waiting.  Oh well.  Onto my next project! 

My First Wedding-Related Purchase!

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been planning my wedding since I was 5.  Of course, some ideas have gone by the wayside in the last 20 years (the Disney World wedding, the destination wedding on the beach, the eloping in Vegas, etc...).

But there's been one idea that's stuck: Stars.

In case you don't know, I have one (and only one) tattoo.  Yes, me who faints every time I have blood drawn.  Here it is:

In high school, I used to wear a rainbow star bracelet.  Everyday.  It never came off.  Never.  And when the elastic wore out (about once a month), I'd go buy a new one.  I saved all the little stars and made myself a belt.

What can I say?  I love stars!  So when I happened to be browsing Craigslist and found these, I just KNEW I had to have them... even if I wasn't engaged yet!  (I bought these back in September or October... well before my November 26th engagement!)

Star Candy Dishes &
Star Tea Light Holders:

I ended up with 8 of the candy dishes and 48 of the tea light holders.  Now I just need to figure out how I'm using them!