Bouquet-making SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, so I had wonderful aspirations to turn this....

...into this...

...and I failed. The calla lilies I have are nearly the same size as the orchids. It looks funny. So, ok, let's try to do this, while still upholding the shape of the already-slaved-over bouquet

Nope. The calla lilies got in the way of the orchids. And the orchids wouldn't stay put.

So now, I'm back at step one. I took apart the whole bouquet and I'm starting from scratch. After already having spent two ENTIRE days putting the first one together. 

FUCKK!! I'm so frustrated at this crap. I should've just waited until I had the orchids, but NOOOOOO I'm too impatient for that. I have to have it done, NOW. So now I get to start all over again. 

I don't get a prize or anything, but there's an award in my heart. Cue cheesy music.

A fellow knottie, gpapale1, has put this bio, MY bio!, on her recommended links! Woo! I feel special. I'm up there with jena.n.ross! Wowzas! 

Oh and I noticed a few weeks ago something totally NUTS. Gabrielle and her FI have the same anniversary date as Mr. Margarita and I! Well, it's off by like two days. But whatever, it's close enough. And we're getting married on the same day too! That's some funky Twilight Zone stuff.

Anyway, it's just really cool because I came into this blog, having done maybe two or three extracurricular projects. I'm not much of a crafty lady. 

Until now, that is! I can't afford the glitzy and glamorous wedding that I've envisioned, so I have no choice but to turn to DIY. And I really didn't think I would be this good at it. But now that I know my potential, the sky's the limit!

Well, more like $10k's the limit. But that doesn't sound as good.

Thanks Gabrielle!

So I was adding up the cost of all the materials for my invites, including all the materials that needed replacing after I fucked up the tilde on Mr Margarita's name, and after I redesigned the pocketfold (at first, I didn't want the outer flap. Now I do.)

Well, they didn't turn out too terrible. But the cake isn't perfectly round, so they're lumpy. And I put too much shortening in the candy melts (to make it easier to dip), so the candy coating is soft and translucent. They're also grossly sweet. My nieces loved them, but anyone over the age of 12 sort of gags on them. I think I may end up getting someone to make a cake. I've found a few people on craiglist who will do what I want for around $200. Which is this:

I'm under budget by about $3K, so I think we can spare an extra $150 for a decent-looking cake. Perhaps we'll book the DJ from craigslist ($200 less than who we were looking at) to make up the difference. We'll see.

Oh and the tablecloths came in last night! I'm stoked. They're even prettier than I expected them to be! And for such a steal of a price! I plan to sell them after the wedding for $5 each. Who could pass up a price like that? Anyway, full review under (duh) Vendor Reviews.

Gotta go to work now.

So Fathers Day was yesterday. My maids just so happen to be my family, so everyone congregated at my parents house for BBQ and gift-giving to the best Dad in the world, mine!

Ok so I made my sister-in-law my maid of honor and I made my sister my bridesmaid. Why? Because my sister lives 60 miles away and has four kids (toddlers & teens). I've got a lot of DIY projects I'm going to need help with and I didn't want to burden her with too many responsibilities when my SIL lives 10 minutes away and has only one child, who is old enough to look after herself. I had good intentions with this decision and thought my sister would feel grateful that I didn't dump a lot of responsibilities on her while still including her in the wedding.

She didn't feel grateful. She got offended. Even after I explained my reasoning...


And I am one of those brides that wants to please everybody. So what's a girl to do? I can't make her MOH and drop my SIL down to bridesmaid when she's putting more work into the wedding than my sister. I can't give my sister more things to do because that would be wrong. I've tried time and again to include her in wedding stuff to make her feel important, but it remains in the back of her mind, "I'm just a bridesmaid..." I think it's because when I include her in wedding stuff, either my SIL or my mom tend to take over, and its also all about me, so she doesn't feel important.

So I create these bridesmaid baskets (DIY ---> Gifts) for both my girls to enjoy (but put more effort into the one I'm giving my sister). I want my sister to be happy and feel important and have something that was made just for her and realize that she is a big part of the wedding, not "just a bridesmaid".

I used a whole day putting them together and I thought they came out really nice. My sister came to my parents house this evening but she couldn't stay long enough to open the package I gave her. I wrapped the basket in transparent shrink-wrap so she could get a glimpse of what was in there, but not delve into the cutesy just-for-my-big-sister details (like a picture of us from Christmas 2000, where she's tickling me among a pile of presents).

I just got a text from her, which reads:
"Hey! Just wanted to thank you again for the SUPER-SWEET package you made for me. I will probably use everything in it! That was really nice of you to take the time to put all that together, and I do feel special because of it! I love you, sweetie, and I'm proud to be a part of such a beautiful event in your life, no matter the label. Love you, kiddo! Goodnight!"

Bridesmaid basket #1, a success! Now I can go to sleep at night knowing that my sister's jealousy has been dissolved.

Ok, scratch the carnation centerpieces below. I don't love them. I don't. I LOVE tall centerpieces. And I'm trying to keep the flowers consistent (calla lilies and cymbidium orchids). I decided it wouldn't fit if I threw in carnations out of nowhere. And I wouldn't like them as much as I love THIS!

Wow! Now, isn't that impressive?! My guests would be ooh'ed and ahh'ed to their hearts content with these bad boys. I may get a handful of approval nods with the other ones. They're too easily forgettable. But THIS! This they will remember for years to come! And that is my goal. To wow them. And to out-do my cousin, who married a millionaire, on a tenth of the budget she had. Yeah! So?! Don't judge me! At least I'm honest.

I figured I'll do something totally unorthodox...I'm going to have two kinds of centerpieces (gasp!). Four tables will have these and five tables will have calla lilies, like the picture below. This is mainly because Momma Margarita bought 10 giant pink calla lilies at Michael's when I first announced the colors I decided on...and we haven't figured out what to do with them. Here is the solution:

So anyway....Hobby Lobby had half off dried naturals this week so I figured now would be the perfect time to begin collecting materials. Went to Hobby Lobby, went to the Dollar Tree, and even stopped off at the wretched Wal-Mart to grab some glitter (why on earth does the Dollar Tree not have loose glitter?? They've got everything else you can imagine, except that. Go figure.) Ended up putting them together, sans orchids, since I haven't gathered the money to order them yet.

Here's the tutorial I got the idea from. I used it mainly for the picture, didn't follow her instructions at all. $32 each? Pssh I can so do better than that...right now I'm looking at $16 apiece.

So I'm writing up my own tutorial under DIY ---> Decor ---> Centerpieces


I have no clue where or how I'm going to store these for the next year...I guess it's a good thing I'm only making  four of them.

Wish me luck!

WTF? Every time I try to go to TK, google chrome stops me from proceeding, saying its found malicious software and that the site may have been hacked. Woah. Anyone else experiencing this?

My bio helped a bride today! She saw the same STD tutorial as I had, and thought it was ridiculous how much it was going to cost her...until she found this bio! Hers will probably end up being cheaper than 67 cents each since she's making more than I did. I saved her time and money and gosh darn it, I'm proud of myself. That's the main reason I started this website, to help other broke and frustrated DIY brides.

Went shopping at David's Bridal today and tried this one on 5th. Loved it the second I put it on. 

It has everything I was looking for! Pick-ups, check. Sparkles, check. Unique design, check. I went in looking for a ballgown, but couldn't help but love this one better than any of the ballgowns I tried on.

When I came home, I was fretting about how to afford this gown plus the alterations I need.

Then, I got on ebay and GUESS WHAT I FIND??!! THE DRESS!!!!! Only one size too big. For how much? $150!!!! Even with alterations, it will still be cheaper than retail!