DIYing Was Worth the Hard Work!

photo by Nisha Sondhe

I cropped this one show bouquets

I wanted to share this picture of my bouquet and my bridesmaids' bouquets because I've been receiving lots of compliments from our guests about how they loved how personalized our wedding was. People left with a better sense of who Mr. & Mrs. J are as people and as a couple. In future blog entries I'll post our ceremony, our vows, and all the other unique Mr. & Mrs. J touches that we included. Having a wedding is not a competition, but I'll admit it does feel great when people tell us, "Best wedding I've ever been to," or "Top 3 of all the weddings I've been to." To me it says that all the hard work we did meant paid off.


My bouquet was very simple, dried lavender and artificial baby's breath, which I wrapped in purple ribbon and attached three quotes from love poems to. For the bridesmaid bouquet's I made all of the girls an initial bookmark, which I tied to the lavender stems. Lavender was great because the bouquets will actually last for a very long time. All the centerpieces that had lavender in them were taken by guests (in fact, the bamboo mats we used, donated books from our bookshelves, framed photos, and LED candles were taken by guests) which made break down after the reception easier.


During the planning process I was second-guessing myself all the time about decisions we made, "Is this too out there?" or "Will our guests like this?" when the reality is that almost everything we did that was "outside the box" and special to us, was what made our wedding so touching and memorable to people.

19 days!

Today was the day, the first day of "the nerves." I looked at my calendar and realized there were three weeks left. I e-mailed HR to find out about the whole name change process and referred to Mr. J as my husband. Wow.

Today we got a big shipment of supplies: our LED real wax candles for the tables (24 of them) and our bunches of lavender (26) to decorate the tables, bouquets, and we'll figure out what to do with the extra. I always order a bit extra and the bunches were larger than they appeared in the photos, score! Our whole apartment has the faint smell of lavender (we're keeping it sealed in the box in our closet). I wish I could show you pictures of the finished product--guess you'll have to wait until after the wedding.

We went to a wedding this weekend and spoke with a couple who have been married for 54 years. The husband asked to see my ring and when the couple looked at it the wife said, "Oh I can tell this is going to be a different affair." I took that as a compliment!

Eh, I don't really have much to say...so much to do, so little time.

Frappuccino Centerpieces

I love it when an idea happens organically. Mr. J and I were out shopping and picked up some snacks from Duane Reade (like CVS but only in NYC). I picked up one of these tasty treats (although I shouldn't be drinking these because I have weight to lose for the wedding). I like to peel labels off of bottles, it's just something I do. After peeling the label I looked at the bottle, looked at Mr. J and said, "How about these instead of mason jars?" It looks like a small milk bottle with the label peeled off. He likey. He really likey.

So now I have an actual reason to drink my frapps. I'll just start walking up the stairs at work, that should do the trick.

While looking for a photo of the bottle I learned that I am not brilliant. Apparently other people have thought of similar uses for these cute little bottles. I guess I can still be brilliant. Great minds think alike, right?

A recap, we are having cocktail tables and a couple of coffee tables for the reception. My friends and I are going to sew square mats for the center of the tables that match our colors (purple and blue), on top of the mats will be a framed wedding photos of our favorite couples (friends & family), a small stack of books wrapped in ribbon (for our mutual love of literature), and a small glass vase with lavender.

I'm officially over eloping. I've calmed down. I can't wait to marry my man in front of my family and friends.

La-La-Lavender Love

Urban Lavender

Anyone who knows me in real life, knows that I love myself some purple. Any shade is fine with me. The bridesmaid gals and best woman are wearing lilac dresses and I've been trying to figure out my bouquet and decorating scheme for awhile, going back and forth between different ideas until I saw this board at Snippet & Ink. Not only is the lavender plant my favorite color, it smells good, too! Score!

Look at the mason jar with lavender in it. Check, that's going on the tables. Look at the little bit of lavender on the napkin, check, that's going to be the boutonnieres for the guys. Look at the lavender bouquet, CHECK!

I've been scouring online and found the site Lavender Fanatic (sounds like me!) So here are a few things I've found that I totally want to order for the wedding AND it's within budget. (All photos below come from the Lavender Fanatic website.)

This is the bouquet above is supposed to be for bridesmaids, but I don't like the bigger one they have for the bride, I'm not a fan of big bouquets. One thing I want to do (and I'm borrowing this idea from my best friend) is to make my bouquet a little different from the bridesmaids by sticking in some blue feathers (our colors are blue and purple). My birdcage veil will have feathers in it, too, so it all will be pulled together. My dress also comes with a bolero jacket that I'm not going to wear, so I was thinking of taking some of that lace and wrapping it around the bottom of the bouquet.


This bouquet above is what I'd want for the bridesmaids. Lavender Fanatic has the option of different bows, so I'd go with the blue bow for the bridesmaids so that both of the colors are represented.


Lavender Fanatic sells these mini bouquets by 10, so that takes care of the groom (I'll probably add a feather to the groom's bout to match my bouquet) and the groomsmen and both our fathers. I'll wrap the bottom of the bouquets in floral tape and ribbon (don't like those little bows for the guys.)

They even have loose lavender, which I may even get for the flower girls to throw to keep the whole flower theme together. I'm going to get some lavender bunches to go in the centerpieces.


We are having cocktail tables, so I don't want a grand centerpiece. Our centerpieces will be the mason jar with lavender in it, a couple of books of poetry (which people can take with them once the night ends) wrapped in kraft paper, and a framed photo of some of our friends and family who are married. Still trying to figure out what I will do in terms of light on the tables, I'm thinking a short cream colored candle that we'll burn prior to the reception so that there is some wax dripping down. I love the way that looks, very romantic.

And my mommy loves the idea! It's a good thing because she's paying for the flowers! Originally I was ready to go to the market on the day before and get whatever purple flowers there and make the bouquets. I don't want to spend a lot of money on flowers, and even though my mom offered to pay for the flowers (she offered to pay for a few things: my dress, flowers, and our cupcakes) I don't want her to spend a lot of money on flowers either. With lavender, the problem is solved AND we can save the lavender after the wedding to make potpourri--it lasts for a long time.

You can't go wrong with purple (lavender).