Before the Mane Event: Mr. Lion's DIY Project

Nothing better illustrates the differences between my personality and Mr. Lion's personality than how we respond to a to do list.  I look forward to crossing off each item with pride and a satisfying sense of accomplishment because I'm just a bit Type A.  My laid back husband, on the other hand, needs a deadline.  "This has to be done by when?  Oh okay, I'll make it happen."  But, don't you want to just do it now?  Wouldn't that just make you feel like you could take on the world?!

"Assemble the chuppah" was on Mr. Lion's to do list for months.

For months, our living room was home to 8-foot aspen poles that had nowhere to go.  By the way, we ordered these from Nature's All, Inc., a company that sells aspen and birch poles specifically for chuppahs and arbors.  This way, you can be certain that the width, height, and shape of each pole is uniform throughout.

{via Nature's All, Inc.}

I had also purchased birch flower pots from Save On Crafts.  These were to serve as bases for each pole.

{via Save On Crafts}

About a month before the wedding, Mr. Lion decided that the flower pot bases weren't sturdy enough to support the heavy 8-food poles.  He promptly made a trip to Home Depot, where he purchased cement to fill the pots and wooden dowels to connect the tops of each pole.  Then, these additional materials sat in our living room for a few more weeks.

You'd think that a neurotic planner like myself would be getting a little apprehensive about Mr. Lion's last minute plans, but I know the guy pretty well and I knew that it would get done eventually...even if we had different ideas of when things should get done!

The Thursday before our Saturday wedding, Mr. Lion got to work.  He filled each birch-covered flower pot vase with cement and allowed it to set to the pole.  He drilled holes in the top of each pole so that the dowels could connect at a 90 degree angle.  I hot glued some lace (which I had bought earlier because I like to plan ahead) to two of the dowels.  This allowed the lace to be stretched over the top of the chuppah to cover it, but it could easily be rolled up like a scroll for portability purposes.

This illustrates why 1) I'm glad we have vaulted ceilings and 2) why we need a garage:

And this illustrates how the dowels and the poles connect:

The final product was amazing, especially once our florist added her finishing touches!  The chuppah is supposed to symbolize the home you build together, and ours was a literal symbol of craftsmanship, too!

What DIY projects has your fiance helped with?  Did his timetable stress you out?

A Surprise for The Ladies: Part Two

You may recall from this post that I had a little surprise in store for the single ladies attending our wedding reception.

Tossing Fortune Bouquet

Materials

• Fabric
• Wooden beads
• Garden dowels (available in the floral section of Michael's)
• Glue gun
• Ribbon
• Paint
• Mechanical pencil
• Clear nail polish

Instructions

First, I cut the fabric into little circles.  You'll need about eight circles per flower.  You may find it helpful to cut a circle out of thick paper (like construction paper or cardstock), then use it as a stencil.

Then, I used a glue gun to attach the wooden beads to the dowels.  You can thread the dowel through the hole in the bead if it's big enough, or just attach it to the tip.

Next, I folded the circles in half, then in half again.  Then, I attached each "petal" to the wooden bead.  As I mentioned before, you want at least eight petals per flower.

About one Disney movie and an Irish coffee later, I ended up with this:

You'll need to paint your fortunes onto the ribbons.  I found that the best way to do this is by using a mechanical pencil as a paintbrush, and by slowly painting in a print font (I would not recommend attempting cursive).  Leave plenty of room after your quote, as this part of the ribbon will tie around the bouquet.  Also, make sure you paint the edge of the cut ribbon with clear nail polish to prevent fraying.

I ended up with six quotes for six bouquets, and I had twelve flowers (6 white and 6 yellow).  To make each mini bouquet, I taped together two flowers.

Then, I attached the quote ribbon by tying it on.

I then wrapped the blank side of the quote ribbon around the rest of the stem.  I secured the end to the stem with a little bit of glue from the glue gun.

The quote part should still be dangling down.  You're just using the blank end to wrap around the stem.  The final mini bouquets should look like this:

Finally, I used another color ribbon to tie the mini bouquets into one big bouquet.  All I'll have to do is take this ribbon off before the big toss, and the bouquet will burst into six mini bouquets!

I can't wait to see the look on my girls' faces when this thing gets put into action!  What about you?  Are you doing anything different for your bouquet toss?

Wedding Cupcakes and...Pi?

Nope.  Not a typo.  Pi.  I'm at the stage of wedding planning where we're SO close to the big day that I'm basically becoming delirious.  Remember my plan to use a cupcake tree to display our wedding cupcakes?  I ordered one from Save on Crafts for only $26.  It was relatively inexpensive because it's basically just pieces of cardboard.  Unfortunately, that means the edges looked like this:

I decided to purchase some ribbon to line the outside of each tier.  When I got to the store, I found some lovely green grosgrain ribbon, sold in spools of 18 feet.

I realized that I didn't have the measurements of each tier's circumference.  How was I supposed to know how much ribbon to buy?  Then, I remembered something: a formula from my past.

I could calculate the circumference of each tier, and then I'd know how much ribbon to buy to wrap around the edges!  Brilliant!  The only problem was that I didn't have the radius measurements either, just the diameters.  Oh wait, two radii equals the diameter!

I whipped out my phone and plugged in 3.14 x each diameter into the calculator.  The grand total of all five tiers' circumferences was approximately 20 feet.  I bought two spools of ribbon, headed home and warmed up my trusty glue gun.  I glued the ribbon around the edges of each tier, which resulted in the following:

{all personal photos}

Ah!  Much better!  The best part of this story is that this project took place on March 14th...Pi Day!  So, I used pi to calculate something in real life.  It just goes to show you...kids, listen to your algebra teachers.  You never know when life will hand you a word problem!

Any other Mu Alpha Theta alum or Mathletes out there?  Care to share your nerdiest wedding planning moment?

Dress Up & Say Cheese!

Instead of having a guest book at our reception, we will have a photo booth where guests can leave a photo instead of a note.  Well, actually, ours isn't a photo booth...it's a fauxtobooth!  Our guests will pose in front of a DIY-ed backdrop, rather than inside an actual booth.

There is a great deal of beautiful fauxtobooth inspiration on wedding blogs.  Some involve cute props made out of felt or paper:

Source

Some involve beautiful vintage frames:

Source

Some are unique to the wedding's theme:

 Source

Ours will be what I like to call "thrift store chic."  Mama Lioness is a master thrift shopper and has been collecting funky fauxtobooth props for over a year now.  After we threw in a few of our own contributions, here's our collection thus far:

 A light up magic wand

 Lots of fabulous hats

 Florida Gators stuff!

 A fancy fan

 An old, distressed shawl

 Two Marie Antoinette wigs

 All kinds of awesome eye gear

 UCF Knights gear

 And finally, a faux-gold Cadillac chain.  Be jealous.

Remember that old mailbox that I found?  If not, here it is with our last two props.

The rest of our props just so happen to fit perfectly inside the mailbox.

And here's the painted front of the mailbox!  Prop set-up complete!

Bee tee dubs, this is what my wedding guest room looks like right now:

Gasp!

Are you doing a fauxtobooth?  What are you doing for your props?

Love is Sweet

You guessed it; this post is about our candy buffet!  When we first decided to do a candy buffet as favors for our guests, we looked into the catered options.  There are plenty of convenient options out there...but they were WAY out of our budget.  We decided to put it together on our own.  The problem was that we didn't know where to start!

I searched the internet far and wide to gather information to help build our candy buffet.  Honestly, this community is the best resource I found.  Still, it was hard to find all of the information we needed in one place.  I needed to consider volume, weight, number of guests, colors, and local resources.  So, here's a little breakdown of what I learned:

• There is a fabulous website called Candy Warehouse that sells wholesale candy.  The site is organized by color, so it's really easy to coordinate candy to match your wedding.  Since the candy is sold wholesale, it's significantly cheaper per pound.  The downside is that most candy comes in 5 or 10-pound bags.  Now, if you're doing M&Ms or Jelly Bellys, that's pretty good!  If you're doing gummy bears, that's a VERY large bag.  The other downside is that you're ordering online, which means you have to pay for shipping.  If one kind of candy is sold in 10-pound bags, and you're doing a buffet so you're probably going to have several types of candy, that's a pretty heavy package.  The shipping will most likely end up costing you more than the candy itself.
• If you're looking for a place to buy in person (i.e. skip the shipping costs), Fuzziwig's Candy Factory, also known as Sweets from Heaven, is among the best.  It's a nationwide candy store, found in local malls.  It came highly recommended from a few friends and a few Hive members, so I decided to check it out.  The employees were very familiar with the concept of a candy buffet, and told us that they had helped pick out candy for many other couples.  They were very helpful and definitely helped us get the most for our dollar.  Candy cost approximately $10/pound.
• Everything I read said that you want to buy about 3 pounds per guest for your buffet to look full.  I disagree.  The best advice I can give is to consider volume, not weight.  We ended up going with about 0.25 pounds per guest, and I feel like it'll be enough.  I mean, that's how much a hamburger weighs!
• Finally, I learned that it's important to do a dry run!  Allow me to walk you through the process...

I already had all of our containers, as I had been collecting them over the last year or so.  I spread them out over our coffee table.

Lion Corgi did not understand why a bunch of glass was so interesting.

Then, I brought in my 20-pound bag of candy.

I should probably mention that we have no chocolate in our candy buffet.  I know, right?  It's crazy!  But gummies were the cheapest, and we splurged on some jelly beans.  M&Ms were out of the question.

I wanted to fill the vases up with the candy, but I didn't want the vases to get all sticky.  Cleaning that many vases seemed like something I did not want to do more than once.  So, I left the gummy candy in the bags and eyeballed it.  I set up our little sign, and I filled the narrow bottles with pinwheels that I had purchased from Etsy.

The total for the vases and the candy came to about $250.  Divided by 120ish guests?  I feel like $2 per guest is pretty good for favors!  And honestly, I don't even miss the chocolate!  It's colorful and it's full of sugar.  What's not to like?!

Are you doing a candy buffet?  What tricks did you learn when planning yours?

One Last Paper Project

My trusty ol' Epson has certainly been put to use while planning this wedding!  Lots of card stock and tons of ink later, it's printed everything from invitations to Save the Dates to all sorts of signage.  Now that we're drawing closer and closer to the big day, I figured it was about time to round up every last bit of leftover card stock and print one final paper project: the ceremony programs.  And I'm really excited to share them with you!  The project itself isn't that exciting, but it's a first glance into our ceremony, which I'm looking forward to more and more every day!

I designed the program to fit on #10 paper, front and back.  I used Monterey BT, which has become one of our signature fonts.  Instead of using Ecuyer DAX, our other signature font, I used another serif font to avoid too much clutter: the aptly named, Georgia.  Then, I printed front and back on #10 ivory card stock.

The front reads:

• Processional: "Married Life" by Michael Giacchino (yes, the song from "Up!")
• Officiant's Greeting: "Love" by Roy Croft
• Declaration of Support
• "I'm Yours"/"Over the Rainbow" a la Jason Mraz & Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole, respectively: performed by MOH Sister Lioness and two of the Lioness cousins.  Yes, one of those girls plays the uke.  She is that awesome.
• Romans 12:9-18: Read by Stepsister Lion
• "Union" by Robert Fulghum: Read by another awesome Lioness cousin
• Declaration of Intent
• Exchange of Vows
• Exchange of Rings
• Sheva Brachut, Hebrew Scripture: Read by some friends from PT school
• Pronouncement
• Recessional: "Everlong" a la Vitamin String Quartet (we're entering our reception to Foo Fighters' "Everlong," so we thought it'd be appropriate to bring things full circle!)

Holy moly, you guys.  We're getting married!  It's surreal to see the ceremony written out like that, but it makes me grin from ear to ear.  The back lists our wedding party and our parents.  It also includes a message of gratitude from us, in both English and Spanish!

We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone for being here today.  Your presence makes this day even more meaningful!  We are truly blessed to be surrounded by the love and friendship each of you bring into our lives each day.
Queremos decir gracias a todos por venir hoy. Esta dia es mas especial por su presencia. Estamos bendecidos porque tenemos su amor y su amistad todos los dias.
{with love /con cariño}

Julia & Dave

Remember that beautiful old chair that I found at one of my favorite antique stores?  Well, here's a little mock-up to show what the programs will look like on display at the ceremony:

And here's a picture of Lion Corgi entertaining herself while we complete yet another DIY project:

What do your wedding programs look like?  Did you decide to go the DIY-route?  How do you plan to display them?

Goofy Pictures & Silly Names

Bear with me, Hive...this is gonna be a long and photo-heavy post!  I recently sat down to make our table numbers.  And I'm using the term "numbers" loosely.  You see, our tables aren't really numbered at all!  We picked out one picture for each table.  Some were representative of some of our favorite things.  Some were representative of some of our favorite inside jokes.  Then, we came up with silly names to correspond with each photo, most of which involved using the word "table" as some kind of pun.  Best of all, I found these ornament-shaped cards at Paper Source!

But Miss Lioness!  What in the world would you need ornament-shaped cards for?  Your wedding isn't anywhere near Christmas!  Well, turn it upside down...

Booyah!  Hot air balloon.

I printed out the table names in green ink, using the font Monterey BT and some leftover label paper from our wraparound labels.  Then, I sliced them up with a paper cutter.

Next, I stuck each label onto a "balloon."

Then, I trimmed the excess label paper so that it fit neatly on the balloon.

Then, I did the same thing with photos.

Then, I repeated these steps for each of the 17 cards.

{the front}

{the back}

What's that?  You want to see each individual picture?  I mean they're mostly just embarrassing nerdy things or memories from random Disney vacat--OKAY!  (Lioness wedding guests, leave now if you wanna be surprised!)

There's Gold at That There Table

Disney World, 2006

There used to be a little McDonald's french fry cart in Frontierland and for some reason, this sign became one of my family's favorite inside jokes.

It's On Like Table

Disney World, 2009

Clearly, a Donkey Kong reference.

The Table Who Says Ni

Savannah, 2009

A Monty Python reference.

The Bunny Butt Table

Our first apartment, 2009

Corgis' rear ends look like they belong on some kind of rabbit.  Lion Corgi is no different, and this is our favorite family photo.

Please Stand Clear of the Table

Disney World, 2007

The Disney monorail says "please stand clear of the doors; por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas."  We were actually waiting for the tram when this picture was taken, but we figured it was close enough.

The Tarzan Table

Costa Rica, 2010

Ziplining is awesome.  I highly recommend it.

Knights of the Round Table

UCF E-Pics Session, 2010

UCF's mascot is the Knight.  I think the rest of that name is self-explanatory.  Photo by Evan Hampton.

Where the Girls Are the Fairest, The Table Is the Squarest

UF E-Pics Session, 2010

A line from "We Are the Boys," an old UF song.  Photo by Evan Hampton.

Eat More Table

Chick-Fil-A, 2010

Mr. Lion and I have dressed up for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A four years in a row now.  What?  They give you free food!

That's What Table Said

New Orleans, 2010

We saw this sign in NOLA and immediately decided that we don't deserve it, because we constantly use the "that's what she said" joke.

Would You Sit at This Table for a Scooby Snack?

Gainesville, 2005

Our very first date.  He wore a blond wig and an ascot for me.  Those other kids in that picture somehow made it into our bridal party...

Beer Pong Table

Gainesville, 2005

Mr. Lion and I first met while playing beer pong.  It may sound strange, but that silly game is still very near to our hearts.

The Table

Atlanta, 2009

Our friend threw a watching-party for the season finale of "Lost" one year, and we decided to dress up as characters from the show.  Mr. Lion and Lion Gman Ryan both decided to dress up as Charlie, and accidentally wore the same outfit...complete with Guitar Hero guitar.  This card doesn't actually say "The Table."  It's just the Dharma Initiative logo with a table on it, instead of a swan or something.

{by Sister Lioness, of course}

Aren't You a Little Short to Be a Table?

Disney World, 2006

Mr. Lion was pretty psyched to meet a Storm Trooper.  The name is a line from Star Wars.  Don't judge me.

I Love Table

South Shore of Massachusetts, 2009

This is the town my family grew up in, where we have summered for four generations.  It was a really big deal when I took Mr. Lion there, knowing that we would someday bring a fifth generation there.  The lighthouse in the distance flashes once, then four times, then three times, thus the nickname of the "I Love You" lighthouse.  So we decided to call this picture "I Love Table."  It also doubles as an "Anchorman" reference.

The Happiest Table on Earth

Disney World, 2009

This one's going on our sweetheart table.

Who's At This Table?

Yankee Stadium, 2006

I'm a Sox fan; Mr. Lion's a Yankees fan.  I couldn't come up with a name for this picture without using the word "evil," and he couldn't come up with a name without using the word "rings."  We agreed on a "Who's On First?" reference.

{all personal photos, unless otherwise noted}

It's not the most beautiful DIY project I've made so far, but I definitely think it'll make for a good conversation-starter!  What are you doing for your table numbers or names?