all ablaze

Since "The Great Student Loan Debacle" from last week has been solved as of today, I've predictably turned some of my focus back to wedding plans. And do you know what I realized? Our good old contact Patty from Lemp has not yet mailed our contract for our venue! I hope that sounded dramatic in your head. But I am starting to wonder just how long she thinks it's going to be before I call or email her about it. We definitely don't want to be naggy but it's difficult to make other decisions without the date booked absolutely. The venue is the biggest chunk of our budget (which we desperately need to stick to) so the sooner it's taken care of, the better.

While most things about a wedding are costly, some things don't need to be. Like flowers and other decorations. DIY is a great way to save a little cash and you don't necessarily need to sacrifice anything in the way of style.

Let's talk centerpieces. Being the creative, project-loving soul that I am (wink, wink), I'm doing all of the decor myself and that includes centerpieces. I knew I didn't want just flowers in a vase and one night when I was in that half awake, half asleep place, I had the thought we should use branches instead. Insert people singing hallelujah here.

I looked at images online to get some ideas of what other people had done previously and came up with my own design. Online searches for branches found a wholesaler that offers bulk amounts at a discounted price that also includes shipping. Awesome. So I ordered "test branches" and made a centerpiece with them that we loved. Combined with red roses and hanging tealights, they are seriously the shit. And they aren't going to cost a fortune. Because I waited until I had coupons for Michael's (ya know, the arts and crafts store?) and bought all of the vases/sand then, I saved about $100.

But maybe I should warn ya: it was a good idea to "test" out the hanging tealights on my sample because I discovered real candles make solid attempts to light the branch on fire. Yeah. But it's all good...quality artificial tealights look just as nice.Getting things done early that are slightly time consuming, like centerpieces, wedding favors and other (non-floral) decor is going to save me stress in the end. And doing them myself means that I can have the design I want without breaking the bank.

briana :)