Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Creating a Rose Petal Aisle Runner

For my wedding I had scored tons of white petals at the dollar store- 300 for $1! Sadly after I had purchased about 25 bags, my wedding site told me we couldn't have silk petals, because of the birds. Well I looked into real petals and it was insane expensive!
So I thought of an idea, glue the petals to tulle, and roll it out on the wedding day for a beautiful freshly thrown flower petals look with super easy clean up!
So I got to work, and about 5 hours in I realized this was a huge project!! My neck killed me from having to look down so much! But my ending creation was worth it!
I had to set up two old chairs side by side so the tulle wouldn't stick to anything! Talk about a pain!

My hand dyed petals!

Roll of Tulle I used for a roll of petals on each side of the aisle.

 Things You'll Need to Create Your Own Side Aisle Runner:
1. Tulle Rolls ($9.99 at Michaels.)
2. Flower Petals- check Dollar Store first!
3. Hot Glue and Hot Glue Gun
4. LOTS OF TIME AND PATIENCE!


After my wedding I made a listing for one on Etsy, offering to make them custom made for other people. Little did I know it would be a big hit!
Supplies To Make a Full Aisle Runner: 
1. Tulle (This is what I used above, however it's such a pain because you can't lay it on anything to glue it because it glues to what it's laying on and then when you try to pull it off, it rips!) SO I suggest going to saveoncrafts.com and ordering a poly linen aisle runner (only $10.50 for 50 feet!) And gluing on that, much much better! If you're going to go with the tulle I would go to Hobby Lobby and make sure you use your 40% off coupon!
2. Petals...LOTS of petals! Check out Ebay for pretty good deals!
3.Hot glue gun and glue.
4. About 15 hours of time!

Don't feel like spending the time or effort in making your own? Check out my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/104238900/full-rose-petal-aisle-runner 

Thursday, August 2, 2012

How to throw an AMAZING Engagement Party!




 Here are some tips to having a fantastic Engagement Party!

  • Set a theme, something fun that people can get involved in!- Mine 4th of July BBQ 
  •  Invite fun people! 



One rule of thumb- only invite people you will be inviting to the wedding. Otherwise you will have “stalkers” asking about the big day and “where's my invite” if you invited them to the engagement party, it's kind of misleading ;) Include your wedding party if you have decided who you'd like to be a part of the big day yet! Can't think of how to ask your bridesmaids/ little people? Check out How to Ask your Bridal Party
  •  Include your theme in your invites- Also include important information: when, where, for, any extra details (no gifts please, BYOB, etc.) 

  •  Food and Drinks- Include these elements in on the fun as well. We had a BBQ so naturally we had the grill cookin' and tons of salads, chips and other sides. As for drinks, Beer was in order and I made a nice Pink Lemonade with Vodka mix (Crystal light is great low calorie drink option!) My mother in law had made the cutest desert as well to go along with the barbecue theme, mini hamburgers made of vanilla wafers, thin mints, green coconut and red and yellow frosting...yum! My sister also made delicious red, white and blue cupcakes with sparklers on them, very fun. 


  • Entertainment- Make sure you have plenty of things going on for your guests to keep partying on. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were TERRIBLE at our party, so a lot of people left early. But we had a fire pit, volleyball net, tons of tables set up for people to sit and mingle, and pool table inside. We choose some fun 70's radios stations to play in the background- but I would recommend making a play list for such a big event! We also included poppers and sparklers for 4th of July and some engagement pictures/pictures of us in photo books for people to look at. 

  •  Favors- These can either go along with your engagement party theme or a “Save the Date” for your wedding depending on how close your wedding may be. I made wedding mints (red, white and blue for the 4th of July) shaped like engagement rings and hearts and put them in bags guests could take home. The tags said Engage MINTS, and included love birds because that's one of our many wedding themes.    
REMEMBER! Enjoy this time! : ) Do the little parties leading up to the wedding, because you only do this once so go BIG or go to Vegas ;)