My Burlap Obsession

Ever since my wedding last September, I have a growing obsession for burlap.

Every time I go to a craft store, I look for it on sale.  Burlap can be a bit pricey at times, so any deal I can find I make sure I grab it up!  And I am not picky about the color.  I am more drawn to the light brown burlap, but any color will do.

My wedding was beach themed & burlap fit in quite well!

 My sister, the thriftiest shopper I know, found some great colored burlap for my shower centerpieces.

They were so cute

  We ended up using them for the wedding reception too!

Please don't mind my "before" the party picutres. 

Somehow we didn't get too many pictures from our reception party.

And these were our favor

They were filled with salt water taffy from the beach

I bought them from a shipping supply company called Uline.

I got 200 bags for $70, such an amazing deal!

I had quite a bit left over so I decided that 

I can re-use them for party of my friends wedding.

I took the seams out of the bags and cut the "P" off.

Then I painted on the blank side

and created a cute banner for their card box.

I totally love how this turned out!

My love of burlap showed a bit more in the planning & creating of the Thomas Wedding. 

I covered 2 bulletin boards for the seating/name chart.  

Til this day, mine is still covered & I actually just re-used it for a collage for an Anniversary party we threw for my In-Laws.  It's amazing how some burlap & thumbtacks can make a regular old cork board really stand out!

So next time your are out at the craft store, check out the clearance.  

You never know what great little treasure of burlap you can find!

Where did the last year go?

Seems like the last year has really gone by fast.  I realized this as I was downloading pictures so I could use my Shutterfly gift certificate, yes, I am only now getting around to printing off wedding pictures. Last year at this time I was a frantic Bride-to-Be trying to get everything ready for my beach destination wedding. Everything did not go quite as I had envisioned, but all of the important things fell into place.

We had a reception party back home after our nuptials. I wouldn't say I regret it.  Having a destination wedding makes it hard to celebrate your union with everyone. At our reception, we got to have a great time will all of our friends & family that were not at the wedding.  It was worth every penny & all the hard work.

We did so much of our wedding at the beach. We were on a tight budget & I love to be creative. I'm sharing some of the DIY projects that I did for my "Big Day".  That was probably one of my favorite parts. Party planning is my passion after all!

Centerpieces from my Bridal Shower were 

recycled from my sister's Wedding

Then used for our Beach Wedding

And ended up being the centerpiece at our reception at home.

Talk about getting your money's worth!

Found this great idea on Pinterest.

Looks like a Life Preserver

But it's really there to freshen your breath!

What's more "beachy" than 

Salt Water Taffy?

I monogrammed bags that I purchased

 from Uline & filled them with taffy

BTW-I got those for a steal,

200 burlap bags (with shipping) for under $70!

We aren't huge fans of cake, 

so it wasn't the most important thing to us.

I bought a regular round store cake for us to cut & decorated it ourselves.

My best friends cousin is a baker in Richmond, VA

so we asked her to make cupcakes for us. 

Unfortunately, her cupcakes looked more like a Pinterest Fail.

(We were too upset to even take pictures)

So my future Sister In Law worked her magic on the existing cupcakes. I loved the way our cake table turned out.

The dining area was inside as well as on the deck.

The table cloths were a last minute purchase & matched perfectly

Appetizers for Cocktail Hour

-Caprice Salad Bites

-Veggies & dip cups

-Taco Dip Cups

-Cheese & Cracker Tray

-Pickle & Olive Tray

Dinner Menu

-Chicken Marsala

-Brown Sugar & Garlic Chicken

-Tortellini & Marinara

-Red Skinned Potatoes w/Parsley

-Green Beans

-Salad Bar

Since we have our son, we wanted to incorporate him into the Unity Sand part of our ceremony. When I started to look for bottles for the sand, I couldn't believe the prices. I wasn't overly concerned about what the sand was in, so I didn't need something super fancy.

I went to my favorite local craft store, Pat Catans.

I bought 3 Oil Pourers & a Bottle with a cork.

We put 3 differnt colors of sand in each one, representing each one of us.

Including the 3 bags of sand, our Unity Sand cost under $20.

We put sand from the beach at the bottom & eventually filled it the rest of the way with more sand from the beach. I loved the way it turned out. I have it with a picture from our wedding on a shelf.

I had a few more projects that I, honestly, just forgot to take the time to take pictures.  I re-used a bouquet that I caught at a friend's wedding.  It was artificial Jasmine flowers.  I just simply changed the ribbon to match our wedding colors.  I have since made a similar one for another friend's wedding.  I like being able to keep it. It was my something "old" at my reception.

Your special day is what you make of it.  At the end of the day, as long as me & my hubby were married, that was all that really mattered!

I love weddings

Party planning is my passion.  I always seem to be planning some kind of party or helping with one. My most recent project was helping my "sister from another mister" plan her wedding.

My 2 best friends are sisters.  Their youngest sister tied the knot in a "Destination Wedding" here it Pittsburgh. Having had my own wedding away, I tried to help her make the wedding as painless as possible.

The theme of the wedding was "Travel".

Each table had a theme of places 

they have been together & their home towns.

Los Angeles

Pittsburgh

Antigua

Las Vegas

San Diego

Wine Country

We did floral centerpieces & the tables had "hints" of each destination on the table. I used artificial flowers to do the centerpieces, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell.  Obviously the shredded paper was a dead giveaway, but there weren't any on the head table. She had no idea they were artificial until she picked it up.  

Operation "Fake Flowers" was a success!

I got the flowers from Garden Ridge.  Why I never stepped foot in that store until now is beyond me.  I always thought it was like Home Depot or Lowes.  Boy was I wrong!  I was pleasantly surprised at all of the beautiful things they had.  Their flower selection was great. They had flowers for any budget.

It's been fun & a bit challenging.  

The Bride gave suggestions & I went with it.
She was so excited when I told her I wasn't telling her anymore about the wedding. 

 It was great, I got to play "David Tuturo" for her.  

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas

Unfortunately, playing wedding planner did not give me time to go around & take pictures of each table theme.  The photographer gladly took pictures for me & is going to send them to me when she is done editing.  I will be sharing those & the rest of the Travel themed creations I made.