A productive weekend

This past weekend my mom and I got a bunch of wedding stuff accomplished as far as DIY projects. I'd really put them off for too long and it feels good to have some finished products to look at! We made the photo boards we'll be displaying our pictures in at the reception, our vases wrapped in vellum for the glowing table centerpieces, got the ribbons tied to the hundred-some-odd bubble tubes we bought, and got the ribbons glued to the vases and votives we'll be using for the remaining centerpieces. Still got quite a bit to do, but we're getting there! Here's some pics of our hard work:

Crate & Barrel is my hero

Long story short...I purchased all my vases for my centerpieces at Michael's some many months ago with the exception of the small 6" vases I needed because they only had two in stock. I went back to the store and checked every week for a new shipment but the shelves remained empty. I thought maybe people were scooping them up faster than they were coming in so I started checking every other day. Still no vases. I asked the salespeople when some more would arrive to which their response was "corporate makes the orders, we just place what we get on the shelves." So I drove a few towns over and checked there. Nothing. I checked in Asheville while I was there for some wedding stuff. Nothing. I even checked THREE stores while I was in Florida on vacation with no success. You wouldn't think 6" vases would be so hard to find but I couldn't find anything similar at other stores either! So after a couple of months of the shelves sitting empty I kind of figured Michael's quit carrying those vases but I was super bummed because I needed them to complement my other two various sized vases for the tables. Then I discover by sheer luck while browsing their site that Crate & Barrel has 6" vases. Score! They totally came to the rescue and saved the day. I'm very excited that my vision will be properly executed now :) Rave over.

No passport required!

I can breathe a huge sigh of relief right now because FI and I just confirmed through our Carnival travel agent that we won't need passports for our honeymoon cruise after all. We booked our trip many months ago before the new travel regulations were in place, and we were afraid we would now have to shell out the dough for passports for both of us as well as additional money to expedite the process now that it's less than 8 weeks away on top of everything else we've got on our plate right now. Turns out even though we will be traveling in international waters, a passport isn't required when the cruise leaves from and returns to the same port. This is such great news! That's $320 we can now use towards paying off the rest of these wedding vendors who are going to be wanting their money soon haha

DIY Invites

Invitations are the one detail of the wedding that I really wasn't very concerned about. I don't get excited about paper products like some other brides do, so I of course jumped on the opportunity to buy blank invitations at Wal-Mart for $12 and print the wording out on a home computer to save some money. I wasn't at all interested in pocketfolds, embossing, or invitations with inserts since all the info that guests need is on our wedding website. All I really wanted was a sheet of cardstock that told people where and when the wedding was. What I got is a pretty sheet of cardstock that tells people where and when the wedding is :) My mom has access to a heavy duty quality printer at work so she kindly offered to print the invitations for me. She's been a huge help throughout this whole process! I purchased the ribbon and little square rhinestones at Michael's to spruce the invites up a bit and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I'm even more pleased that they were so cheap!

I think we can make room for you Mr. President

I am going to be sending a wedding invitation to the President himself. Actually more than likely it will end up in the hands of some random person at the white house who is in charge of sorting mail, but regardless I will be sending out an invite for Barack and Michelle Obama. Of course I don't expect them to show up on the big day...but I recently learned that if you send out a wedding invitation to the President you get a nice congratulatory letter in response. Thought that would be pretty neat to have as a little keepsake :) Here's the address for the white house along with a few other celebs of sorts that you may want to mail one to:

Mr. President and Mrs. Obama
Greetings Office Rm. 39
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, District of Columbia 20500

Pope Benedict XVI (will send a papal blessing)
Prefettura della Casa Pontifica
00120 Citta del Vaticano, Italia

Mickey & Minnie Mouse (will send a letter of congratulations with signed photo)
The Walt Disney Company
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

I ♥ Frederick's

So on a recent trip to Florida I decided to make a stop at the mall to check out the Frederick's of Hollywood store they have there since there are none where I am from. I am so glad I did! They have some really pretty and scandalous stuff in there and I was able to stock up on some goodies for the honeymoon, including the little number below. I like that it's a bit girly but risque enough for FI to appreciate ;) Frederick's and Victoria's Secret both had sales going on so I also picked up a black and red lace two-piece lingerie set, a pretty pink satin slip, a leopard print bra and skong set, and a black garter belt that has little zebra print accents with a matching balconette bra. Yay for sexy little things!

Just gotta wrap it all!

The last part of the girls' gifts came in today so we now officially have all the bridal party gifts accounted for and in our possession. I think the monogrammed key fobs turned out really cute! Just gotta wrap all the goodies up and we're good to go! FI and I also decided on what to get our parents for their gifts to show our appreciation for all they've done since their help has been crucial in getting this wedding planned and paid for. Since my mother tends to read this blog from time to time though I'm not going to divulge that information here :)