We recently got a Publix close to our house which is WONDERFUL, and there is no cake better than a Publix cake. We worked with our Publix Apron’s consultant Rita, which make the process so painless. We even still got a cake tasting!

Publix was fabulous we did a small 8” Raspberry Elegance as our cutting cake on our “12 Drummers Drumming” cake stand I got on sale from Pottery Barn.

Then we got a half sheet cake which we did half in white and half chocolate with strawberries and custard in the middle.
We used our rehearsal time to set up the day before the wedding.  We picked our cakes up the before we headed to set up and stowed them safely in the fridge along with the drinks. So glad we did this, it was nice not to have to worry about the cakes!

Flowers weren’t hugely important to me, I wanted something pretty, but DIY feasible, and I I think they turned out super cute.
I got the idea when Andrew got me some flowers and the carnations as usual lasted forever. Then I saw some Pinterest photos of very full bunches of carnations and was sold, white carnations in bulk were my DIY solution.
I chose carnations because

1. They are cheap so I was able to order a lot of them
2. Very hearty flower, I knew they would look good no matter what.
3. Easy to arrange in small vases, I was confident I could arrange them well without stressing out, which is true, I think with a more complicated arrangement I would have gotten frustrated and ran out of time.

I’ve been hording glass jelly and pickle jars for a while, so I decided to use those as my vases, that way I didn’t have to buy anything, guest could take them home at the end of the night, and we could toss the rest.
I had a few larger florist vases I already owned so I sprinkled those in as well to break it up.
To jazz up the jars I decorated them with ribbon and grouped them in threes on the tables.
I bought a couple of the vintage blue jars to sprinkle in with the white as well.
DIY Flower Time Line
Month and a Half Before the Wedding
Find best value online and order for delivery 3 days before the wedding.

I used Global Rose since they had the best deal on what I was looking for, shop around prices vary a lot but make sure you find some legit reviews before you place your order. With regular water changes our carnations looked great for a little over 3 weeks!
Start getting labels off the jars. ( Boiling water and acetone worked well, if the jar was really tough I bailed on it).
Make signs to inform guests to take flowers home.

3 Days Before the Wedding
Wednesday, were flowers delivered (Note they aren’t kidding about the signature required, I had to go to arrange pickup at FedEx Office in order to get my flowers that day after they left a missed delivery note, yeah that was stressful!)
After I got the flowers, per the many YouTube videos I cut the stems on a angle, mixed the flower food, and stuck them in buckets with the cellophane in place. Make sure you have a collection of buckets available, they need room to poof back up.
Note: Make cutting the stems a billion times easier with a chefs knife and an old cutting board. (All the green might not come off)
Looking pretty compact! These shipped direct from Columbia South America.

2 Days Before the Wedding
Wait 24 hours and they’ll magically poof back up. I only had 5 of 400 carnations be wilted or broken. Add more water to buckets, they’ve drunk up a lot.
Day Before the Wedding
This would be the best day to arrange the flowers, but I didn’t have time since we had our open house. I did at least get the vases laid out.
Morning of the Wedding
Arrange the flowers with minimal water to make the transport easier, they only need enough water for the day.
Arrange your vases in the flower boxes for transport, you might want to line the box with painters plastic. I pregrouped the trios of vases for the tables to make set up easier.

 
Budget Break Down
400 Bulk White Carnations: $159.60 after coupons + Free Shipping
Vases & Jars : FREE collected + $5 worth of blue ones from the Target Dollar Spot
Ribbon: Already purchased for another project.
Reception Flower Total: $164.60 and there were flowers EVERYWHERE.

I wanted simple invites I could do myself that looked nice, I just couldn’t see spending $3 per invite, so this is what I landed on.

They looked nice, but were simple enough that I wasn’t cursing myself on invite number 60.

Front Paper:  Staples coverstock 67 lb. in Ivory
I chose this paper because it was the thickest I could get through my color laser printer well, and even then I did have to dry iron the pages flat.

Backer Paper: Colormate Textures Ribbon Cardstock 105 lb. in Navy
This was the perfect solution to add texture and beef up my 67 lb. paper. The 105 lb. gave it some bulk.

Envelopes:  Staples Easy Close Invitation Envelopes in Ivory
These were more see through than I hoped, but the self stick was awesome. In the end the envelope lasts about 15 seconds with recipient, so I wasn’t too worried. To jazz them up I embossed the flap with our monogram.

Font: Contribute
Contribute is a free font, the free version doesn’t have numbers or symbols so I swapped those for a different font.

Embosser:
My smartest wedding investment by far. I used this throughout and I can still use it moving forward.Wedding wise our embossed monogram made an appearance on the envelope, invitation, cocktail napkins, and goodie bags.

Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
My trusty scrapbooking tool didn’t fail me, this strong adhesive and comfortable tool made sure all my invites arrived intact.

The price breakdown without the embosser or toner:

Front Paper	$0.02878
Back Paper	$0.2054
RSVP Insert	$0.02878
Envelope	$0.08795
Total w/o postage	$0.3509

Layout Tips:

I built my invites to minimize cuts. The backer paper is a 8.5x11 sheet cut in half, the front paper is .5” smaller, so I printed them in the bottom left corner of the page so I only had to make two cuts. Play with how you layout your invite to print and do lots of experimenting.

Other Tips:
If using a laser printer, flatten your print outs by ironing with a dry iron printed size down over parchment paper, they’ll flatten out quickly, do this before you cut.

Welcome to the long awaited wedding recaps.

First up is what I wore!


Dress - Aisle Be There - Trashy Diva - ModCloth

LOVE this dress, since we were DIYing the wedding I knew I'd have to wear my dress most of the day, I wore it almost 10 hours on the big day and didn't flinch.  I put my petticoat on after set up and worked out well. The short length was perfect since I'm only 5' 3" and kept me cool. It has a slight stretch to it too which saved me from any alterations. If you're looking for a short wedding dress, give this one a try, I was SUPER impressed with the quality of both the fabric and the construction. I'm sure I'll wear it again at some point as well.

Petticoat - Malco Modes Knee-Length Chiffon Petticoat with Fluff

This petticoat was perfect, I got it in ivory which closely matched my dress, and will be the most useful color for future use. The chiffon is soft against your legs, no itchy tulle. The amount of poof is perfect as well, just enough to feel like a princess but not so much that you feel gigantic.Plus they are made HERE in the great state of Tennessee.

Sash - Made by Me.

So easy and I was able to make it as long and wide as I wanted. Finding the perfect coral satin was the hardest part.

Shoes - Manolo Blanik - TheRealReal

My awesome Momma found these worn once Manolo's on consignment online.

 

Necklace - Something Old

This a family piece from Germany that dates back to the 1800's, even more special there is a photo of my Great-Great-Great Grandmother wearing it on her wedding day as well. Collective... awwwwwwwwwww.

  

Right Hand Ring - Something Borrowed, Something Blue

A fabulous last minute addition is from my dearest Gaily, one of my "other" mommas. (Secret: she didn't make me give it back! She loves me! =)

Reception Shoes - Chinese Laundry Ballet Flats

I used my wedding ribbon to add bows to the toes, turned out super cute and made my flats far less boring.

Headband - Off Fifth

I found this $60 lace and sparkle headband at Off Fifth for $8, it was meant to be. It was super comfy and I loved that I wasn't messing with my hair all day. It was only fitting given my well-known headband obsession.

Hair Do

Once  upon a time (AKA Junior Prom) Bestie curled my entire head of hair for me, she swore she'd never do it again... but she loves me so she again curled my entire mop for my wedding day. She's the best.

Beauty Tip

No one wants to be smelly on their wedding day right, so the only real "Bride Beauty Tip" I actually used was getting and using Certain Dri antiperspirant on the days leading up to the wedding. It worked and I didn't have to worry about staining my dress. (Note: Try it a few weeks before hand just in case you are allergic!)