Aylee Shares

If you're a DIY bride, then you may be interested in the resources provide by a very talented lady named Aylee. Her Aylee Designs website provides ideas for DIY projects and very detailed instructions, templates, and supply lists to create them. These projects include wedding invitations, program fans, save-the-dates, and more.

She freely offers the information to everyone, and if for some reason, you just don't have the time or desire to DIY, you can engage Aylee to create the project for you. She also does custom monograms. FI and I are using her fan program template as a guideline to create our own.

I recently made a prototype, and it looks great so far. As for the wedding monograms, I love them, but I just wasn't interested in having someone else decorate my name and charge me for it. I started thinking about how I can create my own wedding monograms. First, I tried using PowerPoint, but it wasn't quite right. Then, I used Microsoft Publisher, which worked out perfectly. FI and I are really pleased with our new monogrammed labels. You can truly customize your print project, with the graphics, fonts, and designs you like. You can even save them as commercial print quality JPEG files. These are just of few of the monograms we've made, slightly modified of course.

Don't have the software or don't want to spend alot on it? You can download a free 60-day trial of Microsoft Publisher 2007 from office.microsoft.com!

DIY Programs

I went to Paper Source one afternoon to browse and get a feel for the products available for do-it-yourself projects. I was really into scrap-booking in high school and have always loved putting together invitations and such. There was no Paper Source were I grew up, so we had to go (walking up hill both ways in the snow) to Michaels in my youth. :) Needless to say my jaw hit the floor when I walked in the door and stayed there. Paper Source just has so many cool toys and paper and STUFF! I was a kid in a candy store...or maybe just a bride in a stationary shop.

I'm not 100% sure I'll DIY our invitations, but I will DEFINITELY be DIY-ing the programs and I collected quite few ideas on my visit to Paper Source.

I loved the over size hang tags.

They would make a great backing for a4x6 size program using contrasting text paper and a ribbon or metal brad to fasten the pages to the hang tag.

Program information could be printed on the paper and then cut with an exacto knife or paper trimmer to fit the hang tag.

www.michaels.com

I also liked the book mark card for a similar style program, but in a larger size.

The folded backing is also a cool option. The backing is a little bit heavier (think card stock versus regular paper), so this would be a good way to create a slightly more formal DIY program.

Here are a few examples of the program ideas I had that I found on the knot and knottie bios!

from The Knot and Knottie Bio Mrs.Arego

These two styles can be accomplished with the hang tag or book mark. The brad is attached at the bottom, but I think I'd prefer to to the brad at the top.

from The Knot

I luuuv the super preppy plaid ribbon on this folded backing style program

All images from Paper Source unless otherwise noted

Paper Source Workshops

I've heard wonderful things about Paper Source, and have always wanted to check out the store. But really, what's the point when I know I'll be ordering my invites from Paperzest? Well, there's this one little factor called the FMIL. And mine, whom I adore, is a graphic designer and would love to take part in our paper projects in some facet. I let Christina at Paperzest know up front that there needed to be a few projects left for Mr. Shirlington's mom, and instead of trying to talk me into letting Paperzest do them, she told me to have FMIL email her if she had any questions at all. I've said it before, but this is yet another example of why I enjoy working with her.

So I've decided that I might drop in on one of these Paper Source workshops in Georgetown so when I offer to help FMIL, she doesn't find me completely devoid of DIY know-how. There are the three interesting ones:

Wedding Invites
Sun, Feb 10, 2-5pm GT

Paper Source requests the honor of your presence at this one-of-a-kind workshop on wedding event invitations. We will look at several examples to determine what style you prefer, then learn how to design and produce your own save-the-dates, shower invites, rsvps, and, of course, the pièce de résistance, your invitations! You'll experiment with several different papers and designs. In addition, we'll talk about how to "mass produce" your handmade treasure and learn different techniques for using ribbons to help you "tie the knot". A discussion of addressing and printing will follow. RSVP soon!

Beyond the Invitation: Wedding Event Invites
Sun, Mar 2, 2-5pm GT

Just as there's more to the ceremony than "The Dress", there's more to announcing the wedding than "The Invitation". Join as we go full circle in planning your special event: we'll start with ideas for Save-the-Dates; move into bridal shower, rehearsal dinner and bachelor & bachelorette party invites; then discuss RSVP options and accommodation cards. The emphasis will be on creativity and projects you (and your bridesmaids or groom!) can do yourself when developing an overall look that tells everyone just how special your day will be. With the techniques you learn in class, you'll be able to go beyond the invitation and make all of your printed pieces special with beautiful Paper Source papers.

Wonderful Wedding Album
Wed, Mar 5, 6:30-9:30pm GT

Whether you're the bride- (or groom)-to-be, a member of the wedding party, or just want to create a very special gift, this is the workshop for you. The starting point is Paper Source's medium screwpost album kit with pre-drilled and pre-scored pages that accommodate both horizontal and vertical pictures. You'll cover the boards with our glorious Japanese paper paired with one of our imported bookcloths and embellished with a ribbon trim. Add finishing details such as covering the exposed screwposts with matching paper and you'll have a treasure of an album. We'll guide you through every step of the process: cutting, gluing, folding and binding. The album you make will be as special as the couple getting married!

DIY Makeup And YouTube

I don't know if any of you out there have started looking at the costs of hiring a makeup artist for your wedding but in our area you are easily looking at $100-300+ (add another $100 or so for hair). I'm a complete idiot when it comes to putting on makeup and as much as I'd like to save costs and do it myself I know I don't have the skill.

BUT

I was reading the recent issue of Marie Claire and they have a page with their Beauty Director Ying Chu. She said that YouTube is filled with video tutorials on how to do makeup. She specifically recommended the videos of makeup novice Amy04 and the videos of professional makeup artist Tricia Sawyer (alias theChuckt). You can do a search for "bridal makeup" or "wedding makeup" and find videos by other artists as well.

Maybe with some practice you might be able to save yourself a couple hundred bucks on your wedding day or the hassle of a trip to the makeup counter for instructions.


^Video on Neutral Wedding Makeup from Amy04



^Video on plumping your lips without injections or plumpers from Tricia Sawyer aka theChuckt

Philippa Tarrant

I'm still in the midst of choosing a florist but before I started even talking to florists I did a ton of research by looking at different floral websites. I wanted to be able to offer my florist plenty of images that would easily convey the "feel" I was going for. Plus I wanted to find as many floral types as possible in my wedding colors that I liked so if [insert name of really expensive out-of- season flower X] was not available then I could say "well that's o.k. what about flowers y and z?"

I really liked the artistic talents of D.C. florist Philippa Tarrant. As you can see from the
photo below she uses a lot of vibrant colors, unique textures, and has a modern approach to floral art.




For the average bride with the average budget someone with such skills might be out of your price range but that doesn't mean that you still can't draw inspiration. If you look outside the "wedding" album on her site you can get a lot of of unique ideas that could be easy to create and possibly even to Do It Yourself (DIY). So if you are a budget bride I bet with some practice you could imitate some of the below









The added bonus is that with minimal floral designs like the ones above you can really save money on flowers because you're only using one or two flowers per display and/or using non-floral materials such as branches.

For more beautiful pictures or if you'd like to contact Philippa to see about your own wedding check out her website.