Things have been crazy lately!  We are attemping to get our invitations out and of course I am waiting on my finacee's addresses.  I have been traveling a lot lately to weddings and my maid of honor's home, so I haven't had a lot of time to blog.  I am going to my "MOH" home this weekend to finish up my centerpieces, necklaces, and misc.  crafting.  I finally finished designing the reheasal invites and I am thrilled to be done with those.  I bought a new camera and hopefully I will figure out to put photos on here soon.  I really can't believe how easy all of this DIY ideas have been.  It is hard to find a modern spin on DIY with an eco twist.  My bridesmaids think I should wirte a chic modern green DIY wedding book.  I think I have zero time as it is and It will go on my to do list.  Anyway I am hoping to finish up my bridesmaid bags also this weekend.  The following weekend we are going to P'cola Florida to my parents house to put all of the decorations together and leave them.  We are also going to try to find someone to marry us, make all of the food and try it out, attempt to fix my hair ourselves, and a list that seems like it goes on forever.  Sometime in the middle of this I have to find time to study for classes, work, exercise, and eat.  Oh yes and that wonderful little called sleep that I have somehow been missing out on lately.  Now I realize why people hire wedding planners. 

Last night a bunch of my friends came over to my maid of honors house.  I cooked and amazing organic and healthy meal and we drank wine and worked on my decorations for the wedding.  It was a blast.  I decided to take old records and melt them down into unique bowls for centerpieces and extra decor.  They turned out awesome!  I had the oven turned to 250 degrees and I don't believe it took over ten minutes.  I just kept and eye on the records and watched for them to melt down over the bowl they were sitting on.  I do recommend using a little bit of cooking spray or pam to make sure they don't stick.  The other idea i had was to use all of the bridal magazines and make the pages into paper flowers.  We lightly painted both sides of the pages and after they dried we scrunched them together to make flowers.  I am going to attach them to both white lights and to wire "stems".  Since the wedding is at 5pm it will go from day to night.  I don't believe the lights will get hot  enough to cause a problem, and i think it will add an extra element to the reception.  I ended up hand stamping my rehearsal dinner invitations and using a glue writing pen wrote a C for my new last name and sprinkled onyx glitter on the glue.  I turned out gorgeous.  I am going to my other maid of honors house for the weekend.  She lives about 2 hours away and we are going to finish all of the decorations.  I am not sure if I ever want to do anything crafty again in my life :)!  I am just kidding but I am very tired and can not wait until we get the final touches done so I can relax a little bit and get some much needed sleep!

So if you have not heard of Wai Ching, you need to stop what you are doing and google it right now!!  Her dresses are not only gorgeous but eco-friendly, affordable, handmade, and completely customizable!!  Chrissy lives and works in seattle, but I am in alabama and she has agreed to make my dress by my measurements, and get it to me by november 1st!!  Amazing!!  I can not wait to try it on for the first time!!  As for the invites, I ended up sending my doodle to a graphic designer who shaped up my drawing and made it into a beautiful template for invitations!!  How great.  The whole thing cost 50 dollars for my templates.  That includes my direction cards, and thank you notes.  We are using an email address and phone number to get RSVPs.  I have also made some other key decisions.  For our bridesmaid gifts I am making totes from organic cotton and using stencils for names and deco, and then making jewelry for each girl.  I also figured since our wedding is outside in florida I am going to throw in some flip flops for those tired post wedding feet!!  The groomsman gifts are going to be handmade cufflinks.  My fiancee has picked out images specific for each man.  I saw a greta idea yesterday.  Making origami flowers.  I am going to give this a try, but I have a feeling that we will be using potted plants instead!!  I a trying frantically to get as much done today as I can, school starts tomorrow and I will be cramped for time.  

katy

So I have been inspired by a friend to try and design my own invitations.  I started fooling around with it today and it is so much fun.  I drew this really neat graphic and just playing around in publisher seeing if I can get it looking good.  So far it looks great.  I am not sure if I mentioned our rings in my previous blog.  My parents gave me a five generation engagement ring.  I is absolutely perfect.  We are using my grandfathers old rings to melt down and make our wedding bands.  It is neat to have recyled gold but especially since it is from important people in our lives. 

I am new to this blog.  Actually I am new to all blogs.  I have never done this before.  Anyway I live in Alabama, and have recently changed my wedding date from May 9, 2009 to November 1, 2008.  We have also changed venues from our home to my parents home in florida.  I am trying my hardest to attempt to have a green wedding, but let me tell you, it is not easy!!  Not only is it nearly impossible to find products and services that offer green alternatives, when you do, it is crazy expensive!  I had orginally planned to make my wedding dress and my bridesmaid dresses, but due to the newly enforced time restraints I have decided to buy a used dress.  I asked my bridesmaids to wear their favorite black dresses, and if they absolutely did not have one they liked that I would still make one for them.  I have bought most of the decorations from other brides, in attempts to not buy anything new and reuse as much product as I can.  Their are websites that offer classifieds for brides and i would list them but I am not completely sure about the rules on listing websites and such.  Instead of trying to find eco invites, I have found a graphic desiner to make my invitation templates and found recycled cardstock to print on.  I am not using respose cards and asking for RSVP by email.  We are using locally grown organic flowers and fruit and doing most of the catering and cooking ourselves to ensure it is organic.  If anyone has any suggestions for and DIY green southern bride, please let me have it!!