DIY | 12k Wedding Blog

August 27, 2011 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes, DIY

So, don’t judge me, but I just picked up my dress from the cleaners yesterday.

Sure I got married two years ago and I put my dress in the cleaners almost a year ago. But whatever. Life happens.

Anyway, being the miser that I am, I didn’t want to pay the extra money to the cleaners to have them put my dress in a preservation box. They simply cleaned it and hung it back up for me in a white bag.

Aside: I’m pretty disappointed that they couldn’t get all the dirt and marks out of the hem area. The rest of the dress looks good, but I was had my hopes up for that part I guess. Oh well.

Anyway.

So my dress is hanging up and I need to find a way to actually preserve it. One day I may sell it, but I’m not really planning on it any time soon. So I need to figure something out for now.

Here’s what I gather from doing a little research.

The dress should lay flat to avoid undue stress and sagging on the seams from hanging
The box should be lined with acid free paper and be acid free itself
The box should be taped to keep out any bugs while the dress is in storage

A lot of the DIY preservation kits I’ve seen online are in my opinion too expensive. My other issue with them is that the creators of the boxes tried to be too fancy and ended up putting gold Victorian features all over it and making it look super gaudy.

It’s like wedding dresses have come up since the 80’s but the preservation boxes haven’t.

So as usual, I’m trying to figure out how to make my own preservation box.

So far, I’m thinking I’ll get a big white box and some acid-free tissue paper from Jo-Ann’s or Michael’s. Some of the pre-made boxes have windows into the box, bu I don’t need to be able to see into the box to make sure the dress is still there. I’m sure it’s not going anywhere. Since the box won’t be going on display in a museum and will likely end up on top of my portable closet in the basement, I think this should be sufficient.

What do you guys think? Have you seen any decent DIY preservation kits or should I just do it my way?

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Technorati Tags: acid free paper, acid free tissue paper, Bridal Gown, Bride, DIY, Preservation, preservation boxes, storage, Wedding Dress

My Dress – My Dress

September 1, 2010 by DetroitGyrl | Filed in: The Bride's Stuff

So.. a little back story about my dress. I’ve had this dress since early 2008 when I bought it for my friend’s wedding.. She wanted it as her bridesmaids’ dress. I ended up not being in the wedding and despite several futile attempts to sell and give away this dress -it was still hanging in my closet when it came time to write up my wedding budget.

Let’s just say that already having a perfectly good dress and spending $1000 on another dress (I think I want – because I haven’t actually gone to try it on) – seemed silly to me.. And with a great seamstress – I can totally look JUST the way I want to look – fabulously chic and elegant.

So… I have a perfectly good J. Crew Dress:

Which will look totally different once my seamstress (FMIL) is done with it. We’re adding crystals to the waist, a very beautiful and sparkly lace train and matching veil and dropping the shoulders. I also have one more surprise planned that I’m going to keep secret until the reception (of course I’ll be sure to post pics after the BIG DAY).

And let’s just say that I paid more for the fabric (at 50% off than I paid for the dress) because evidently J. Crew wasn’t impressed with this dress and put it on clearance way back at the end of 2007 and then brought it back at full price about a year ago.

So – discounted dress WINS over $1000 dress and TOTALLY helps keep us close to our 12K goal.

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, DIY, Dress

Take a Picture – Click! Click! DIY: Boudoir Pics

March 26, 2010 by DetroitGyrl | Filed in: DIY

Yeah.. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Not that the professional ones aren’t a great idea too.. In fact – they’re pretty inexpensive.. But for someone like me who doesn’t want to get all sensual in front of someone else.. or who has an FI who doesn’t want you to get all sensual in front of someone else. I have a few tips.

1. Lighting, Lighting, Lighting. The best way to get great shots in your own room is to make sure the lighting is JUST right. You have to try different things – opening a curtain, turning all the lights off and using the flash, putting a lamp by the bed but out of the shot, etc.

2. Clothing Optional. You can strip tease on film. Start in something he loves to see you wear and make it all the way to ALMOST Bare! (yeah – I rhymed that myself). Some guys like to be teased. Some guys like to see it all – and if you do them yourself – that IS an option. Just make sure you don’t let them get into the wrong hands.

3. The bed.. Make it pretty or pretty messy. Set the scene. Take test shots to make sure the bed looks the way you want it.

4. Creative angles. A tripod is ideal.. if you don’t have one – try sitting the camera on a movable table, the dresser, a drawer chest, etc. That’s what an automatic timer is for.

5. Set the mood. Have a glass of wine and play your favorite Jill Scott, Norah Jones, etc CD. Light some candles and remind your self how beautiful you are.

6. Try poses and faces. Take as many shots as you like.. Look them over and try again. They don’t have to be perfect because you’re the only one who’ll see them – until you’re ready to share them with your FI.

7. Have fun! Don’t be afraid to be daring in your pics. And laugh at yourself if you catch yourself in an awkward pose. It’s a chance to have fun with yourself.

If you’re really daring.. Get your FI to take the shots! It could turn into a REALLY fun date night.

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Technorati Tags: Candles, Cheap, DIY, Free, Inexpensive, Pictures

Headpiece: Splurge or Steal

August 5, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: DIY, The Bride's Stuff

Now that it’s getting down to the wire (T minus 17 and counting), I’m trying to figure out my accessories.

Bridal headpieces come in all different styles and designs but I think I’ve narrowed it down to two I really like. One, the mantilla veil, I think is a little more formal and I think I’ll wear one like that for the ceremony. But for the reception, I don’t want to be weighed down by a veil, but I would like a little fancy in my hair.

I’ve decided to wear my hair down, something like this, but with tighter curls:

I love the idea of a casual headband dressed up for the occasion. It should stay put and hopefully I won’t have to fuss with a comb or bobby pins while I’m cuttin a rug on the dance floor.

The steal option would involve a little DIY, but it shouldn’t be too involved. I’d by a regular headband and just wrap it in ivory ribbon before securing the flower to the headband.

Splurge ($675):

Source: Jennifer Behr Bridal Collection

Steal(~$55):

Source: Etsy Seller jennypickle

So I need a little reassurance before I order the steal flower. Help me out here – should I do it?

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Headpiece, DIY, fascinator, feather, flower, headband, Headpiece

Ringbearer Pillow – A DIY Tutorial

July 25, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: DIY, Wedding Party

Ringbearer pillows often fall into the too lacy, too traditional category. After doing some searching I found a few that fit my more modern sensibilities but you know me, I didn’t want to shell out the dough for them. So, of course I went the DIY route, and my trusty sister and sidekick came through with her sewing machine and crafty skillz.

Step 1: Cut out enough fabric for your pillow plus about a half inch for your seam. Pin along the edges so the material doesn’t slip when you sew.

Fabric for Ringbearer Pillow

Step 2: Sew along the pins. We sewed in an arch instead of straight across. I can’t really tell you why but I thought about pictures of other pilows that I’d seen and I always was drawn toward the ones that curved in on the sides. Sew all the way around the pillow except for the last 3 or 4 inches. You’ll need this space to stuff it.

Seamed Fabric for Ringbearer Pillow

Step 3: Turn the pillow inside out and stuff your pillowcase with polyfill. Stuff it pretty full and make sure you push the fill into the teeny tiny corners too. As you stuff, flatten the pillow out to give it the shape you’re looking for.

Pillow Stuffed with Polyfill

Step 4: Whipstitch the final few inches of the seam after filling the pillow. A whipstitch is just a hidden little stitch done by hand with needle and thread sans sewing machine.

Whipstitch on a Ringbearer Pillow

Step 5: Decorate your blank canvas of a pillow anyway you’d like. We wrapped our pillow like a gift in wide ivory ribbon with a half bow on one side . And we added a piece of then red ribbon to hold the rings. We pulled apart some silk hyndrangeas and put pearl buttons in the center where the plastic pieces used to be. All of the ribbon and flowers were sewed into the center of the pillow by hand just to make sure everything was secure.

And voila! A ringbearer pillow!

Ringbearer Pillow

Rings on a Ringbearer Pillow

Have you tried your own DIY Ringbearer Pillow? Any tips or tricks?

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Wedding Cupcakes It Is!

July 21, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: DIY, Reception

We just recently decided to go to with cupcakes instead of cake for our wedding. We’ve talked about it before but kept going back and forth. After getting a quote from our preferred cake baker and listing the pros and cons in this most recent conversation, we’ve decided cupcakes are probably best.

Cupcake Pros:

Cheaper than cake, at about $2 each
No cake cutting fee
Allows for a variety of flavors
Opportunity to do a DIY stand (!)

Cupcake Cons

I don’t get to use any of the cake inspiration pictures that I found

So as you can see, cupcakes are the way to go. I posted one inspiration picture that I really liked before, but on second thought the frosting kind of reminds me of piles of poop on the cupcakes. So, needless to say, I need more inspiration. Here’s what I got so far:

Source: The Forever Wedding Blog

Source: Prima Donna Bride

Source: WeddinGo

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Technorati Tags: Cake, Cake Cutting Fee, Cake Stand, Cheap, cupcake stand, cupcakes, DIY, Inspiration

How I Messed Up Our Invitations

June 30, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes

My friend Chris is a graphic designer and was kind enough to design our invitations for us. We ordered the invitations and the RSVP postcards. The postcards are perfect. No complaints. The invitations are another story though.

I ordered the invitations with dimensions 6″ x 9″. I ordered them with a treatment that would make them glossy in certain areas like the border adn on the words.

They came in the mail yesterday. And while I still really like Chris’ work, I’m kicking myself for a few reasons.

They’re an odd size. Our envelopes are too big for most standard envelopes, and now we have to order envelopes in special dimensions and we have far fewer options
The glossy treatment doesn’t look as good as I thought it would. In the areas that are treated, instead of just looking glossy, the color looks different altogether
We payed extra for the glossy treatment, and I think the invitations would’ve looked better in a plain matte finish. We could’ve saved money and gone with a different printer that printed in smaller quantities.
We have 1,000 each of the postcards and the invitations. What on earth are we going to do with all of them? The only reason we ended up with that many is because this is one of the few companies that does the glossy treatments and that was the smallest quantity they’d print in.

Invitation-Colors

Sneak Peek of the Invitations and the Different Color Borders

Of course, once the company ships your order, all sales are final. After all, I highly doubt two people with our exact names are getting married at our exact venue on our exact day.

I did contact their Quality Assurance department though, because of the blatant color difference. They agreed to review our prints but I have to mail some of our samples back to them so they can see for themselves.

Most wedding checklists suggests we mail the invitations 2 months before the wedding, which for us would’ve been June 22nd. Since we’re already behind schedule, I’m worried that putting it off any longer is not really the best idea.

Regardless, I’m going to send back some samples tomorrow and wait a few days to hear from them. If they take too long or refuse to reprint our invitations for us without the glossy treatment, we’ll just be forced to order the specialty envelopes.

Lesson Learned: When doing something in a non-traditional way, investigate the traditional way to understand why it’s worked so well for so long. Don’t blatantly neglect these standards when going your own non-traditional route.

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Technorati Tags: DIY, Invitations, non-traditional, printer, RSVP, wedding invitations

DIY Contest at The Bride’s Cafe

June 27, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: DIY, Free Stuff, Discounts, Contests

I just found out about this contest over at The Bride’s Cafe. All you have to do is send in pictures and a description of your DIY project by 6/30/09. That means you have this weekend to get it done. If you win, you get: