57 Days to Go - Shower Gifts: Part One

Wine Sleeves for Host Gifts

Some wonderful friends of my parents are throwing a couple's shower Saturday night in honor of my fiance and me. Since it is a couples shower hosted by couples, I wanted to come up with thank you gifts that they would be able to use, reuse, enjoy, and relax with. Last night, I went to the local Goodwill to pick up a few shirts in order to create the host gifts: wine sleeves for their wine! 

Below are the shirts I scored.

All are in great condition with no stains or pilled fabric. I wanted to find neutral colors that could be for both men and women. 

First, I cut off both sleeves of each shirt.

I used the wine bottles to measure the length, making sure to leave a little wiggle room.

 

 I cut each sleeve at the pinned line, then drew another line to have a guide to sew by.

I used a straight stitch and zig zag stitch to ensure no fraying.

I kept the excess fabric on initially to make sewing it easier 

(sometimes when it is a thin edge, it will get wound up in the machine instead of sewing). 

After sewing, I cut off the excess fabric above the line.

Here it is! The wine bottle sleeve, with a little bow from the excess fabric!  

More to come...

67 Days to Go - Bachelorette Party

Bachelorette Party

Took a break from the busy, stressful daily life to take a trip down to good ol' New Orleans!

My wonderful bridesmaids and friends threw me the best bachelorette a girl could ask for: 

Complete with a crown to top all crowns, the most relaxing spa day, a surprise scavenger hunt and afternoon stroll through the city, amazing brunch, lunch, and dinners, and dancing the night away. 

Sorry about this first picture: I literally had just walked through the door after driving for six hours!

 

I think bachelorette parties were not only created for the celebration of a woman's last days of being single, but also because every woman planning a wedding needs some time away with her girls. 

I have the best friends a girl could ask for. I feel so blessed to have had time to spend with them, and appreciate all they have done for me. God gave us a safe trip, amazing weather, and each other. :-)

75 Days to Go - The Flower Girl Dress

The Flower Girl Dress

There is something so teeny about sewing a little girl's dress. It was honestly more nerve wracking than sewing my bridesmaid's dresses because I was thinking about when I was a little girl, and how big of a deal it was to have a 'princess dress'. 

I feel like the expectations are high, even though she may not know it. 

I went to Joann's and bought the material to match my own wedding dress, along with a pattern to sew her dress. I chose Simplicity 1507 because there are four different patterns, and they have a similar simplicity to my own pattern. 

Specifically, I liked the purple upper left hand corner dress because it was simple. Minus the sleeves.

Making it was way easier than for an adult because there were no darts to worry about.  

The crushed tulle put up a little fight, but I ultimately won! 

Instead of sewing on the overlay seperately, I decided to add it into the pattern to keep it all together, save a step, and because I wanted overlay on top, which the pattern didn't require. 

Ended up deciding to add the collar, but if it doesn't fit her, then I plan on taking it off. 

I also wanted the sash to match the bridesmaid dresses. This was a little tricky because instead of one long piece, the pattern called for three separate pieces.

In the end, it was way longer than I expected, but that is better than being too short. I ended up not adding the zipper because I had to mail it to their house, so her mom could alter it. I still have more details to add to it, and I want those to be a surprise for her. 

I can't wait to see how she looks!

I'm so excited about it! It compliments my dress, and my bridesmaid's dresses quite well. 

78 Days to Go - Picking out Suits, Ties, and Flowers

Picking Out the Details...

Over the break, my fiance and I have gotten a lot done. 

I set aside a day to go pick out suits and rings... so much fun!

Below is what we have decided to go with: 

A navy blue suit & olive green ties for the groomsmen.

I think the two compliment  colors in the fabric.

For my groom, I chose a tie that has green, gray, sage, and though you cannot see it- orange thread.

Sounds kind of different, but it works very well. 

Last thing to get are shoes. Because we are getting married by the lake, and brown and blue go well together, I want my groom to wear brown top siders. I think they will be perfect. 

I went with my stepmom to our florists as well. We picked out flowers, centerpieces, and other details that were so exciting to chose!

I wanted to have flowers that match the fabric, but don't over exaggerate it.

Below are a few ideas I had in mind: 

Flowers that have a similar look to the ones printed on 

Michael Miller's Springtime at the Conservatory.

I like the idea of separate bouquets, each with a different flower as the focus. 

Because my dress is very simple, I want my bouquet to stand out and compliment the bridesmaid dresses at the same time. 

I want my groom, and his groomsmen to have little boutonnieres that have a touch of each flower found at the wedding as well.

 

Maybe without the colorful bottom though...

For my bridesmaids, I wanted their bouquets to be simple because their dress material is already so bright and colorful. 

Like so...

Come to find out that the baby daisies don't bloom in March... onto the next idea!

Having a different flower focus for each bridesmaid!

So for the final decision, my wedding flowers are as follows:

1. Purple Iris
2. Coral Renauculous
3. Blue Delphinium
4. Yellow Freesia
5. Monte Cassinos
6. Billy Balls

The first four will be for the bridesmaids, and the last two are exclusively in my bouquet, my groom's boutonniere, and my dad's boutonniere.

 

I can't wait to see how it all turns out :-) This was definitely an exciting step in the planning process!