thank you cards.

I designed our Engagement Postcards, here.  Since I'll be designing all other invites, I figured let's do the thank you cards too.  Picutred some inspiration.

We love birds, the NYC skyline was visible where we had engagement party, and we also need some trees.

Months ago I drafted a NYC skyline in illustrator that I plan to use for the card.  Just need to draw some trees and birds in.

I'll update with the finished product in the next few days.

10 charming details for wedding/party decor, that you have already!



Sheba shared her string to help make the flag lines



or should...

For our Engagement Party there were a lot of things we had, some are pictured.

Can you think of anything else?

1. Holiday Lights - adding a little twinkle

2. Serving Trays - held our guestbook

3. Table Cloths- that I never use at home looked cheerful and fun on dessert, food, and wine bar.

4. Random Glassware- that I've collected mixed up the table mason jars.

5. Pitchers- Flowers look super homey in a funky pitcher.

6. Clothes pins- string a fun ribbon wall to wall and hang pictures.

7. Baskets- store favors, utensils, napkins, well... anything.

8. Plants-  Spruce (hehe) up the place with ferns and trees.

9. Crystal- Use those candle sticks that you keep (and keep getting),  mix them up for an eclectic feel.  With some floral foam and floral tape that crystal bowl makes a great flower vessel.

10. String- Fishing line hung our poms, clothes line string made our flag lines, twine makes a cute favor tie or mason jar accent.



Tray held the guestbook, twine made sure no one was a pen theif.








Valentine's Day Lights (bought 75% off years ago after V-day)
are used on holidays and parties.





Mason jars and old bottles held wildflowers.




chocolate covered pretzels

This was fun task... just not for me.  Going off of directions found online (that my mom was iffy about from the get go) I messed up the first batch of chocolate.  Stressed out with a trillion other things to do, I relinquished the job to my mom.

According to the other blog (which I won't name) all you had to do was put the chocolate in a Pyrex dish and heat it every 30 seconds until it melted it, stirring it between heating.  DON'T and I mean DON'T do this.  It will burn your chocolate, it will suck, it will not liquify, do not pass go, do one collect $200.00.

My mom decided to add a drop of milk and a tad of butter... little by little, heating the chocolate in water in the Pyrex measuring cup.  As it gradually heated she stirred and added a drop of milk and a bit of butter until it was a liquid, but not too runny.  I'm sorry about the quantities of butter, milk, and chocolate... with most moms they just use their mom-given instincts that makes it impossible to get an exact measurement. 

"L: How much butter and milk did you add?
M: Ummm, I dunno, just until it was liquid-y.
L: Okay? Cool, as long as we get this done, but how am I going to blog about it?
M: Just tell them a little bit at a time.  Don't take any pictures, I look like shit.
L: I have to Mom, I need pics for the blog, we all look like shit right now, tough.
M: Ooo, take a picture of my boobs."

True story.

Next Jeremy, my mom's bf was on dunking patrol.  Two hours, two bags of chocolate, one package of sprinkles, and three bags of pretzels later, we had favors for 80 people.  The chocolate hardened better with the sprinkle topping opposed to just chocolate.  NOTE if it's hot/humid cure the finished pretzels in the fridge or freezer, but not for too long or they won't be as crunchy.

After forming an assembly line of my MOH Lucy, BM (haha) Claire, Mom, and Jeremy (I was cutting paper), we had the completed favors that of course I don't have a snapped pic of.  I will upload one later as more pics come in.

These favors were time consuming, but well worth it. 

Favors (80 people with 4 per bag is 320 minis)
Pretzels      $3.00 

Ribbon        $1.00

Chocolate   $6.00

Sprinkles     $2.00

________________

Total  12.00  (that's a sweet deal at $0.15 per person!)

DIY decor instructions

Here are some of the DIYs.  The ones that are linked are from other fun sites, since I followed their instructions I'll let you visit them.

Flag Line

Poms

Foraged Flowers can be found here.  Note, all left overs I put as a back drop behind the guest book table with white lights intertwined, you can see it here in the top left picture.

Table Cloth art is simple: To save time on the hectic day we pre-measured and cut the brown paper to size.  When we arrived to set up we used tape to keep the paper in place.  Using stamps to add interest we stamped a small bird pattern on the tables.  To encouraged fun doodles we put a handful of crayons ($1.00 for 48 at the dollar tree) on the tables.  Clean up was easy, and the paper is recyclable as opposed to plastic table cloths.  We also used 3 cloth table cloths for the bar, food, and dessert tables (not pictured).

Please see here for all associated prices.

...coming up next is how my mom and her boyfriend saved the day in terms of the pretzel favors.

Crafting

VERY VERY little got thrown away at the party, I have listed what and how I will be reusing

I will be reusing the:

Jars for the wedding (just dying them blue, I'll show you in the future).

Brown Paper for misc. crafts and parties.

Flag Paper for scrap booking and crafts

Poms for gift wrap

Balloons for shower and wedding, let alone parties (I had to order 72 of them)

Floral wire for home made wedding boutonnieres and corsages

Tea lights for shower and wedding

String for everything... and the kitties!

The only thing I was bummed about was not getting to use the decorated table clothes (we put crayons on them for fun) in the scrap book, they got too messy with food.

Here's a financial run down of what I spent on crafts:

Jars________________________.70ea     (24)     $16.80     AC MOORE

Flag Paper ________________$12.00                                      AC MOORE

Flag String ________________$2.00                                        DOLLAR TREE

Tissure Paper______________$1.00            (5)    $5.00          DOLLAR TREE

Brown Table Paper _________ $13.99                                        HOME DEPOT

Round Ballons_____________$24.00                                        BALLOON WAREHOUSE

3 Battery Powered Tealights___$1.00           (14)   $14.00       DOLLAR TREE

Pretzles___________________$1.00           (3)                       DOLLAR TREE

Sprinkles and Chocolate Chips__ $8.00                                       PATHMARK

Balloon Ribbon_____________$1.00                                       DOLLAR TREE

Pretzel Ribbon______________$1.00                                     DOLLAR TREE

Floral Wire________________ $1.00                                      DOLLAR TREE

Fishing Line HAD

Heart and White Lights HAD

Misc Bottles HAD

Decorative Tray HAD

Stamps  HAD

(3)Cloth Table Clothes HAD


Hanging Decor 
POMS  6.00 (there were 14 that we later clustered to make big colorful ones)
Flags     14.00  (there were (2) 25' and (1) 20')
______________
Total 20.00   (.42 per pom 4.60 per flag line!)

(14) Table Decor
Brown Paper 13.99
Jars                16.80
Flowers          FR.EE
TLights          14.00
__________________
Total  44.79 (that's 3.19 per table!)

Favors (80 people with 4 per bag is 320 minis)
Pretzels      3.00

Ribbon        1.00

Chocolate   6.00

Sprinkles     2.00

________________

Total  12.00  (that's .15 per person!)

I apologize for the small amount of pictures, I really just wanted to enjoy the day and the people so I wasn't my usual shutter bug self.

As far as food and booze, that's a different story, we spent around 2000.00 on the entire party (which is pretty good considering the amount of people and freedom we had.)

The Party

My mom says I should take up event planning after this engagement party... who knows.

First and for most, I wouldn't have been able to make the quanit personal touches such as chocolate covered pretzels, poms, flag-lines, wildflower arrangements, etc... it it wasn't for the crew.

One thing I don't mention about DIY is that sometimes you can't do it all by yourself, for a large party of 80, you'll need more hands and help than you think.  So thank you to all who tied ribbon, dunked pretzels, hung decorations, and helped me keep my sanity.

Now for the recap.  I will be posting a craft everyday until I cover them.  For the first time ever I will also be including what I spent to achieve the look to prove that you do save money (not so much sanity) when you roll up your sleeves and make more than just plans... it's fun too, and good for your creativity.

Here's a list of what's to come.

Poms
Wildflower mason jars
Chocolate covered pretzels
Flag line

None of these things are hard or expensive, time consuming yes, worth it, for sure.  It meant so much for people to tell us how lovely and festive it looked.

four things

here's four visuals that are making me get excited about our engagement party!

courtesy of "didn't i tell you that"

courtesy of love.ol.o.gy



H&M

This is a wedding at the Alpine Pavilion where we're having our EP.
Courtesy of Juliet Events