Favours otherwise known as Bon-ber-what?

I have been eyeing off this site http://www.lehanes.com.au/index.htm ever since I uncovered laser cut invitations (or whatever they're called). Even though rosettes are playing a prominent part in the wedding theme, I always wanted to incorporate birds somehow (but was scared it might be a bit too obnoxious - especially with some of the bird theme stuff out there).

I wish I could share my moment of WOO HOO with fellow brides-to-be who get that feeling when something that wasn't in the budget finally is. I was so excited the find the box below on sale.

I haven't completely decided on what we will be filling the boxes with, but I'm leaning towards gingerbread cookies. As I've mentioned before, I want to make things so that everything is a bit more meaningful. It'll also give me an opportunity to make Mum feel more involved as she's feeling a little out of the loop at the moment.

I love the boxes as well because I can attach name tags and they can double as place cards as well.

Another idea that I fell in love with (yes Sundays are my wedding web trawling days!):

These can be used as an awesome seating chart and double as an extra little gift...it might be too much with the boxes but I thought they were cute.

And on another note...I met my semi-distant second cousin this afternoon and had that fun 'can I see the ring' moment. I miss that from when you first get engaged!

Bridesmaid Dresses

A little secret...I hate bridesmaids haha not hate them but just the thought of organising a bunch of girls and picking dresses that they want on top of getting them all together at the same time. I know it's going to be a nightmare which is why I got a couple of bridesmaid-ey things while we were in Bangkok in the middle of the year.

Exhibit A:

I fell in love with the pleating (and of course the rosettes - that's where it all began) and all the bridesmaids love it but I've fallen out of love with it. For starters I feel the colour is too harsh and secondly I can't be bothered with dressmakers. It also falls a little bit too short for a wedding and a winter(ish) wedding at that.

Exhibit B:

Which I can't show photos of is the awesome presents. I won't mention what they are but they're cute, useful on the day (and after) and make great wedding party gifts.

Luckily I have the most awesome Maid of Honour aka Milo aka my best friend from highschool. So hopefully everything will just work out as the others are my sister and then sisters/sister's in law of the boy. I'm lucky to have them all but everyone is just so different that I can see it being hard to find everything and even just organise catch ups where everyone has fun. I sort of feel like bridesmaids are supposed to be this tight knit little group that you  have around you...but, because over half are family (and they don't really know each other), I feel awkward wanting to force lunches and shopping trips on them.

And I would offer a snippet of my wedding dress for a sneak peek for what's to come but I can't risk the boy oggling it (yes I am being traditional in that regard). So instead I will share that I always wanted a wedding dress like Pink's - I fell in love with that black slash!

The list gets shorter

For a manic planner such as myself it is hard to stop. So far I have:

• The DJs decided (they loved our dogs which is an instant tick from us plus, they came recommended)
  
• A florist picked but I have changed my mind so many times. Originally I was going with ranuculus but I bought a bunch for our 5th anniversary and just didn't fall in love. So now I'm on the hunt again, the latest is orchids, I really think this bouquet is interesting (from the Greenwood Florist):
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Photographers - the boy's family friend who took great photos at his brother's engagement party and my sister's best friend who does photography at TAFE (and is amazing!!! If anyone is looking for a photographer but doesn't have a huge budget I can give you her details). Both for free which is fantastic seeing as Caversham is kind of blowing our budget.
• Cars - at least for the girls to get to the wedding and our get away car. We still need to sort out a car for the boy, the groomsmen and his parents.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The cute save the dates which we sent out two weeks ago (the photo is of a vintage cake topper - we had the couple of the side with a calendar and our date circled with a red heart). My first DIY project with the help of the boy. I loved it and everyone has commented on them (one of our groomsmen's mum even showed them off to her friends and she's not even invited!). So, it's made me really passionate about trying to be more DIY with the wedding and I'll be posting all about my adventures and misadventures as I try everything.
  
• The dress (which I've already discussed)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The shoes - gorgeous pointed dark blue satin flats with a rosette (a common theme I see springing up! About the only one as well). The one rule I made was my shoes absolutely had to be able to be worn again. I'm already slightly sick at how much the dress is costing for less than 12 hours wear!
• My bag which is a rose pink colour, draw string and covered entirely in rosettes. I couldn't resist when I spotted it. I want to keep rosettes as a running theme through the wedding and I also want to have interesting pieces which will look good for photos.
• Our rings which were heavily discounted thanks to the boy's sister's best friend's (way too many of these mouthfuls but I'm not a fan of acronyms) dad being an amazing jeweller.

We're definitely getting there and I know we are ahead of schedule but I just can't stop. My latest is trying to DIY a button bouquet. I found an awesome site by a West Aussie designer: http://www.lillybuds.com/ but as I mentioned above, I'm really keen to DIY whatever I can. I know it's going to be a lot of work but I miss having projects to work on and it makes everything just that little bit more special.