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 

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 ;)

How to ask your Bridal Party

How I asked my bridesmaids to be a part of my wedding-

 I made them a card with a personal touch :) I included a personal photo of me with each of my bridesmaids and the front asked the girls “Will you be my bridesmaid?”

The Inside of the Cards said:

The Day, The Dress

The Bride, The Groom

The Joy, The Tears

Will all come so soon

Professing true love

to my husband to be

with family and friends

all watching me.

I hope the sun will be shining down

keep your fingers crossed

that I fit into my gown!

But theres one more thing 

that there needs to be

and thats to have you 

standing with me.

(Poem inside the card)

Back of the card:

As for the little people in our wedding, we asked them with cupcakes! Who doesn't love cupcakes? : )

Will you be my Junior Groomsman?

Will you be my ring bearer?

You're Engaged! Now What?

You’re engaged!
The time has finally come and your man has popped the much anticipated question of taking your hand in marriage, to spend the rest of your lives together, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you part! Congratulations! What does this mean for you as the smitten bride? Well gals, this means it is time to get down to business and start planning your day! Because I was the first of my friends to be married I was left clueless on where to begin! Might I add, all that cluelessness left me starting in all the wrong places. Being a business owner, juggling life, and planning my dream wedding was a quite the whirlwind. Regardless of the ups and downs, I am proud to say my wedding was a huge success and still smiling about how great my wedding day was. For you, I want to share my advice and experiences as a royal DIY bride.
First on the agenda - Do’s & Don’ts for the initial steps in your days as a fiancée: 
DON'T pick your bridal party right off the bat! -This is mistake number one I made, I was so excited about my news I had to tell everyone and felt bad telling some of my close friends without inviting them to have a special part. Which resulted in me being knee deep in too many bridesmaids! Wait until the excitement has settled, then decide. Who has been there for you for everything? Any special family members? Do not feel obligated to put someone you were once close with in the wedding, because there is a reason you are no longer close. And by all means, avoid all drama starters and negative Nancy's. There is nothing wrong with having no bridesmaids! DO start a vision book! -Get a fun notebook with lots of room to glue and sketch, and get to work! I had an obsession with bridal magazines during my engagement, and when I was done I sold them within a day on Craigslist! So go ahead, have a magazine obsession ;) If you can't justify the magazines (they are expensive), check out websites like theknot.com and weddingwire.com, The Knot even has virtual boards you can make!

DO sign up for wedding websites- they will send you emails daily with ideas and tips that are so helpful and exciting to see in your Inbox. I recommend especially signing up for Martha Stewart Weddings, if you are a DIY bride, it will give you great ideas and the resources to get them done!

 DON'T become bridezilla- or bride blabber mouth, people will begin to turn away from you and be annoyed easily; Especially your fiancé, and you don't want that! Bring up key points, and if people ask you how plans are coming feel free to indulge a little!
 DO start a budget- I know it's hard to put a price on your dream wedding, but it has to be done. Think of how much more enjoyable it will be opening wedding cards, and being able to have fun with that money... Not pay off wedding debts. Start with asking your families how much they will be contributing, if they are covering it all, get off your booty and shake it because you are in luck! If not, take what you and your fiancé make a month, take your bills out of it, cut in some spots (dining out, going out, Netflix and other subscriptions) and work with what's leftover. Make a list of your top three things that are important to you in your wedding. Ours were dress, DJ and a destination wedding. Then get started on things that mean the most to you! Starting a budget can also let you know how much time you have until your ready for your wedding, once you know how long it'll take you to save, set the date!
 DO have an engagement party- it will definitely help you to narrow your thoughts and focus on this one small party before the big day. Have a fun theme- Ours was a fourth of july bbq- Will post about this later :)
 DO start a Pinterest! If you don't already have an account, this is the ultimate DIY bride headquarters. WARNING...it does get addicting! Remember to enjoy this time!
You are only a bride once....hopefully!