Friday, April 15, 2011

Pinwheel Boutonnieres

I love pinwheels! So when thinking about an option for boutonnieres a miniature pinwheel came to mind and I never gave it a second thought.

Something about pinwheels just says youth, innocence and fun! And that is exactly the mood that I wanted to set at our wedding. The groom, groomsmen, father of the bride, father of the groom, grandpa and sweet little baby nephew will be donning these tiny pinwheels during the ceremony.


Boutonniere pinwheels were actually pretty easy to make. Here is how I did it.

Step 1.) Find some paper with a cool pattern on it. I used scrapbook paper but you could just use colored paper or even paint your own design on a piece of paper. Double sided scrapbook paper would work the best because then you will have different colored pattern on both sides when you fold the corners over. I just used yellow paint to paint the back side of this yellow patterned scrapbook paper.

Step 2.) Cut a 3 inch by 3 inch square. Then with and exact-o knife cut slits from the corners to the middle of the paper. Don't cut all the way across the paper, you want their to be enough middle intact so your pinwheels don't fall apart when you begin folding.



Step 3.) Fold every other cut corner into the center. Use hot glue to secure the corners down in the center. I used a button to decorate the middle of mine, but you could use a bead, sticker or whatever you think would look neat.





Step 4.) Now that you have assembled this little pinwheel, you could use it to decorate all sorts of things. Use it as a bow for a present or hot glue a tooth pick to it and use it as a cup cake topper. The possibilities are endless! Since I'm using them as boutonnieres, I flipped them over and attached safety pins to them. Just a little dab of hot glue and these boutonnieres are ready to grace some good looking man's lapel. And all the men in my wedding are extremely good looking! :)

I think the best looking man of them all (besides my fiance of course) is my little baby nephew! Just look at the 1 inch by 1 inch even tinier boutonniere I made for him, and tell me that doesn't make you say "Awwwww".






Thursday, April 14, 2011

Guest book table decorations

Even though it may seem fairly insignificant, the guest table is an important part of the wedding. It is the first table you want all of your guests to visit after entering the reception venue (after they hit the bar of course). On the table there is usually important seating information, a guest book for people to sign and other favors or things that you might want your guests to pick up or see. So naturally people want to decorate the table a bit. But what to do?? Something fun to attract guests to the table but also something inexpensive because let's face it the guest table is a "get in get out" kind of area no one lingers there or revisits it. (Unless you put the guest table next to the bar, then people will see it many, many times that night.)

Our decoration solution was two wine bottles to go with our centerpiece theme and giant pinwheels!




Originally, I loved the giant pinwheels so much that I wanted to use them for the table centerpieces. But then I was reminded by a friend that giant centerpieces can be annoying to guests who can't chat with the person across the table from them, because a huge object is blocking their view. Not to mention blocking their view of dancing and other wedding happenings. So instead the giant pinwheels will be on the guest table!

Strung between the two wine bottles and pinwheels are a few photos of the happy couple. Also our guest book. I would say that probably most people don't get "excited" about their guest book, it is just a book where all the attendants can sign and wish the couple well. BUT, I am excited about this book.

We decided to go with a non-traditional guest book and get a coffee table book of the Blue Ridge Parkway and guests can sign in the margins. We got the idea from a family wedding in the Outer Banks and they used a coffee table book of North Carolina Beaches for guests to sign. Great idea I thought!

This book will be something that we will not only hold on too for a long time, because it contains great photography of the Blue Ridge mountains (that remind us of our home and the town that we meet and fell in love in) but also it will have all our friends and families names and supporting messages written in the margins. It will truly be a special book to have. So there it is. I'm excited about my guest book!

Also we will have a little hand stamped sign (that matches the invitations) to instruct guests to sign the book. Just in case someone is confused. haha.



Once again, I could not have done all this on my own. I got the over sized pinwheel idea from Kellan Studios. (The internet is an endless supply of amazing do it yourself projects, you just have to find them.) And my wonderful bridesmaids helped me cut out the paper and assemble these pretty pinwheels of happiness!

I bought colorful scrapbook paper from Michael's and the buttons for the center where just somethings that I had around the house. (I always hang on to random things like that, you never know when you might need them!) And with a TON of hot glue we had these beauties assembled.

I think I will string the extra ones on a string and hang them up for the back drop of a "photo booth". Yay!

Hot gluing the back of a pinwheel in place

Cutting the colored paper into strips

Folding the strips to give the texture

Finished pinwheels!



Friday, April 8, 2011

Banded together

With the help of the photographer from my office, some lights and reflective backdrops, we held a little wedding band photo shoot today. It was fun to use the micro lens and play around with the reflections and lighting. We ran into some difficulties photographing Dan's ring because it reflected every little thing in the room. So you will see my little fingers and a big black circle which is the lens in some of the photos. But after constructing a few paper "huts" to block out all the reflections, playing with the amount of lighting and some photoshopping expertise, I think we got some pretty cool photos!

I think I love these photos so much because I am absolutely in love with my engagement ring and wedding band. I can never get enough of glancing down at my ring finger during the day and I can't wait to for the extra wedding bling to be accompanying my engagement ring for double the peeking pleasure.

My engagement is unique to me because it was Dan's mothers ring. Not only is it a special family heirloom but it has very special meaning to me to wear it. Plus, Teri (Dan's mother) had great taste because I think this sapphire engagement ring is wicked cool, vintage and just my style. I wish for every woman to love their engagement ring as much as I do. Every girl deserves that!

My wedding band was hard to pick out. It seems the style of rings now is "the bigger the better" and all the main jewelry stores (Kay's, Zales, etc.) had big honking wedding bands and they all looked so silly when paired with my delicate engagement ring. I needed something dainty for my baby 4.25 size finger. I ended up finding my wedding band at Capone's Jewelery downtown Blacksburg. They make custom jewelry but have all sorts of pre-made items to choose from as well. I loved their selection and talking to Faith who owns the store was so helpful. They never ship your jewelry away because they do all their repairs, sizing and appraising in house, which was very comforting to me. (I have heard too many horror stories of lost rings!) And they are a local business that had just the ring I was looking for! Love, love love.

Dan's ring is a simple comfort fit white gold band. We both got white gold but in the photos my ring often looks a little more gold in color then silver (which is what it looks like in everyday light). Dan's ring always looks silver ... which makes me wonder if his is really white gold. Hmmmm...

Anyways, enjoy the artsy photos of the rings!