Invitations...

Now that our invitations have finally arrived at their final destinations, I figured I'd share them with the blogging world. I spent a lot of time on these and am quite proud how great they turned out.

In January, while I was in Utah, my sister helped me score some plain white, pocket fold invitations from Walmart. I bought 25 for $15. They included three inserts and all of the envelopes needed. We downloaded cute fonts from dafont.com. The invitations we purchased came with a link for templates. That was really helpful since we printed them all at home. It was a little tricky at first but I was able to figure it out and get all of them printed.

After all the inserts were printed, it was time to dress them up. I purchased a stamp and some grey ink from Hobby Lobby.

The belly bands took WAY longer than they should have. There was probably an easier way to make them, but of course I took the long route. First I cut 12 x 12 paper into 2" strips. Then used a 1 1/2" stencil to trace our letters on the back of the paper. If you plan to do this project this way, make sure you trace the letters on backwards.

Next, I took a xacto knife and hand cut all of the letters! I know...that is dedication! Luckily I only had to make 50 of them and it took me a couple of weekends to finish them all.

Once they were all cut out and trimmed, I glued a yellow 2" strip onto the back. I used Elmer's glue which I wouldn't really recommend. Once they started drying, they developed some curves. Even after I put them under a heavy object, they still weren't completely flat.

Once the bands were all finished, I wrapped them around the completed invitation and glued them together. With out further ado, here is the final product:



Like I said above, I am really proud about how these turned out. I've gotten quite a few compliments regarding them. It made all the time I spent making them well worth it!

xoxo,

Megs

*All Personal Photographs*

The Weight Loss Chornicles: Falling off the bandwagon...

....and getting right back on!

Yes it's true, I somewhat fell off the bandwagon. The last week and a half, it was really hard for me to stay on track. I was really stressed about getting our invitations out but now that they have arrived at their destinations, I can get back to going to the gym. Yesterday, I finally set up some appointments with a personal trainer. Hopefully this will keep me on track and motivated. I'm excited to start working towards my fitness goals.

xoxo,

Megs

6 Months...

I can't believe it's been six months since I had surgery. After a couple of months of physical therapy, I feel that I am doing really well. I recenlty got a gym membership and have been working out as much as I can. I'm pretty sure my legs are about the same size now.

My scar is looking good, although I think it may have gotten darker while I was outside one day. I don't really have much pain anymore, here and there I'll get a pins and needle feeling on the area that is still numb. My ankle feels a little tight some times in the morning but as I go throughout the day, it lossens up.

xoxo,
Megs

And The Winner Is...

A while ago, I posted here about how I was undecided about my centerpieces. You'll also see that I posted here about how my decision may become easier. Well I am proud to tell you that I think I have finally decided on what will be on the tables. And the winner is.....Lemons & Vases! Thanks to all who voted and gave me in put. After months of trying to decide, I found yet another BEAUTIFUL inspiration and decided to model my own centerpieces after it.

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See...isn't is so cute!!! I found this picture one day and the next week, Hobby Lobby decided to have a HUGE sale on all of their glassware! OMG! Of course I had to go check it out. When I made my way over to the nearest store, I was pleased to find plenty of affordable vases! How affordable you ask?! Well I only paid $2 for each vase! I saved $20 on vases alone. I know, I know....in an earlier post I had mentioned that I may just barrow some vases, which = FREE so why did I go out and buy 10 vases?! Well truth be told, I'm kind of a control freak....and my DOC (Day of Coordinator) has been kind of flaky lately (that's another post for another day).

Anyways, I got totally excited about those vases that today, I bought a bunch of lemons to make a mock up! Here it is:

*Personal Photograph*

Matthew thinks that there needs to be a little "something else" but can't quite put his finger on it. I like the way they look and think that once they are in the actual reception, they will look great. I'm open to any suggestions you may have about how to make it look "better." 

Breakdown of Items & Costs

Vase $4 ea - 50% = $2 ea

Curly Twigs $10 - 50% = $5 for 100 pieces

Lemons $.39 ea x 6 = $2.34

Ribbon *Already had from another project*

Total projected cost for centerpieces = About $50 to make 10

xoxo

Megs

The Venue

I've realized with all this wedding talk, I've never shown any pictures of what our venue looks like. We booked our venue, Chapel at the Farm, in December of last year. After months of searching for a decent priced venue in Arizona, I stumped across this little gem. It's not anything spectacular, but I think it's perfect for our vintage, homade wedding. One of the biggest reason I wanted to check this place out was the fact that you were allowed to supply just about everything. The only required vendor we had to choose was our DJ and we still got an amazing price!

Matthew & I decided to go check the place out in person one day. So we drove out to Gilbert and were quite pleased with what there was to offer. The venue is set up in a park like setting. There is a pavilion towards that back where larger receptions and ceremonies can be held. This is where everything will take place for our wedding. Also, the farm house has rooms for the bridal party to get ready. Since we have a larger bridal party, we'll only be staging pictures in these areas because they are kind of on the smaller part. All in all, we are very excited to get married there. Amy, the woman who runs the venue, is an amazingly sweet lady! She has been helpful throughout this whole process! With that said, I'll leave you with a few pictures.

View from the Farm House

The Farm House

Back part of the Pavilion

Side View

xoxo

Megs

*All Personal Photographs*

It's All In The Details: Lighting Up The Night

Decorations are something that I've been stressing about. Mostly because I plan on DIY-ing as much as possible. I've shared my inspirations for centerpieces here. I'm still not 100% sure which one I'll choose but in a recent conversation I had with my Day of Coordinator, she mentioned that she had a ton of vases and her friend also has a lemon tree....so that is swaying my decision a bit :)

Anyways, I wanted to share the inspiration pictures for lighting that may appear on the big day. The first one up, paper lanterns. From day one, I knew that I wanted some paper lanterns some where in the mix. While searching on google, I found these delightful ideas:

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Paper lanterns are an easy way to add beautiful lighting and random pops of color! I'm trying to decide if I just want to stick with white because I may have another idea for adding color in...you'll just have to keep an eye out for that post! :)

Next up....luminaries. I'm thinking about using these to line the side walks. Since we our ceremony will begin around sunset, it will be nice you look out during the reception and see some soft glowing lights. Here are a few inspiration ideas.

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Aren't the last ones just adorable! Maybe I can sprinkle a few around the reception to tie in our vintage feel. I think that the first two ideas were be relatively easy to create. All you would need is a white paper bag and some creativity!

xoxo

Megs

 

The Weight Loss Chronicles: Sweating Like An Oldie

A couple of weeks ago, I bit the bullet and joined a gym. I know...I know...I said I would never join a gym again, but the reality of it is that I needed better exercise equipment because the sorry excuse for a "gym" we have at our apartment complex just wasn't cutting it! Also, I joined a local, family owned gym...no corporate BS here! Just friendly people!

This week was the first week I worked out there. As usual, I received a free personal training lesson just for joining. And of course I used it asap! From my previous experience with a personal trainer, it is totally worth the money! I mean think about it...in about six months I lost around 30lbs, dropped 4 pants sizes, and two cup sizes. I was in great shape! Anyways, the initial consultation basically shows you some exercises that help strengthen certain areas of your body. All the exercises I was shown, I was very familiar with. I was actually quite surprised that I hadn't lost as much muscle as I thought I had. For example, on the leg press machine, the weight was set around 110lbs and I did 3 reps of 12. When I was in great shape, I believe I could do around 200lbs or maybe even more. Finding out that I wasn't as weak as I thought I was going to be was good motivator for me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for some type of personal training, their prices are pretty decent. Depending on how many you buy, you can get them as low as $30 per an hour session. I just haven't decided on how many session I want will need.

 On another note, as I've been attending this gym more and more, I've noticed a plethora of older people. I think this is another reason I feel more motivated to work out. I don't have to worry about being hit on while using a machine or feel self conscious about how I look in my clothes. I just go and sweat with the oldies!

Today was a great day of working out. I lifted weights for about an hour and then hit up the elliptical for cardio. I stayed on the elliptical for 30 minutes and burned around 240 calories. That's an average of eight calories a minute! Go me! And I felt like I could keep going! So this brought me to my next question, How many calories would I need to burn per a day to lose 1-2lbs in a week. Once I got home, I googled this of course. I found this website, which states that you need to burn 3500 calories a week or 500 calories a day (3500/7) to lose about 1lb of fat a week. Remember that it must be 500 calories above what you are taking in. To keep track of how much I'm taking in vs burning, I've been using this app. So far today, I've burned roughly 2,629 calories and eaten about 1,607 calories. That means today I've burned around 1,022 calories! Holy Smokes! I'm so proud of myself and can't wait to see what I can do tomorrow.

Until next time....

xoxo

Megs

Sharp Dressed Men...

Dressing the men of the wedding was by far the easiest decision for me...because I didn't have to make it! haha! I left this one completely up to Matthew. Since one of our colors is Grey (and it's his favorite color), he decided that he wanted to wear a Grey suit. So a couple of weekends ago, we ventured over to the mall. Our officiant had recommend a store that had great prices.

We walked into Nick's Menswear and were greeted by a gentleman who was quite knowledgeable. Since Matthew is so tall and skinny, he recommended a slim fit suit. We browsed around the slim fits while he attended to another customer. When he came back over to us, Matthew had found a suit that he liked. It came in a few different colors. He settled on the a medium Grey with white pin-striping. Matthew was hoping he get to have a vest underneath but the store rep told us vests aren't worn with slim fit suits because they add bulk. After placing his order, he got measured for alterations. The only thing that needed to be done was shortening the length of the pants. After the measurements were taken, the store rep told us it would be done in two days!

Don't mind the goofy look on his face! :)  (Personal Photograph)

Although we still haven't settled on what the groomsmen will be wearing, here are a few inspiration looks we've come across in our search.

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Hopefully we Matthew can decide on the final look for the groomsmen soon. October keeps inching closer and closer!

xoxo

Megs