My 'found' treasure- my lovely bouquet

We had a long engagement. Longer than most.  We got engaged May 28th 2011.  We got married June 1, 2013. We were engaged 2 years and 2 days.

2 whole years to plan a wedding!   I entered every dang wedding blog giveaway possible, and believe it or not, I won quite a few!

On June 14th 2012, I won my bouquet.  I never would have dreamed it would come out as gorgeous as it did.  You can see the winning post here.   It wouldn't have been possible without Big Day for 10K hosting the giveaway and EightTreeStreet offering up a free bouquet in the giveaway!

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Loved. It.

I seriously don't even have the words for how awesome and perfect this bouquet was.  Maribel from EightTreeStreet was so great to work with (even with it being a giveaway)  She asked what I envisioned and she followed it to a 'T'.  The vibrant reds and yellows, burlap and get this...firefighter flair!  

See for yourself.

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How utterly perfect are those firefighter charms?

Maribel loved it so much as well, she submitted it to a few publications. 

Here is the bouquet featured on the blog The DC Ladies 

Here is the follow up post over at Big Day for 10k

Here is the bouquet featured on Pretty Pear Bride

Do yourself a favor and if you see a giveaway: enter enter enter! Any giveaway you see that you like, enter it.  You just never know! It might be your most favorite thing you've ever won! 

Thanks again to EightTreeStreet and Big Day for 10k for the opportunity to win this!

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Bubbles, Rice...YAY!

Throw rice at us, it wishes us a prosperous marriage and future.

Huh? 

Tradition or not, I never really liked the rice idea.  Maybe it's because I know the twisted humor of my friends and family.  No, the rice would not daintily be tossed in the air in a fit of joy.  The rice would most likely be pelted at us with wicked and evil laughs, (all in fun of course) get stuck in my eye, or better yet, my ear.  Yeahhh, let's pass on the rice shall we?

(It also helps that rice is banned in most places.  More namely, the state park we got married at.  Whew.)

Lots of brides do bubbles.  Yes! Let's get soapy before our reception.  I decided to pass on that too.

Being a DIY bride, I wanted something fun and different.  I came across some pennant signs like these for proclaiming excitement after the ceremony.

 Source: etsy

Source: Project Wedding

These are adorable!  I had to do them.  

A couple packs of dowels, multi color cardstock, mom's printer and we were in business.

I won't mention the glue gun injuries that occurred.   Oh, who I am kidding, I have serious issues with glue guns whenever I use one.  Yep. I'm special. Don't hate.

 

I found this rusty old milk jug in mom's house.  She was using as as decor in her living room.  Snatchies!  I stuffed it with some raffia and it was love at first sight.  

 Photo Credit: Ulitmate Party Central

My friends had a blast handing them out!

Photo Credit: Ultimate Party Central

My guests loved the sentiment and I loved the photo op!   I thought my husband was going to crouch down too.  We are both on the tall side and you couldn't see the guests directly behind us.  I guess I was wrong, so I just look silly here.  Silly is fun though!

Another successful DIY!

Whirlwind Wedding!

I can't believe I haven't posted since Valentines Day!

Subsequently, that was around the time I got a part time job on top of wedding planning so my free time was basically shot down to oblivion.

The wedding was beyond phenomenal.  All of my little DIY touches were recognized and fawned over. It was a great feeling for people to acknowledge them.  

I'm going to break everything up into smaller posts so as not to overwhelm- I had a lot of fun touches I want to share.

Probably my most favorite was my MR and MRS burlap banner for our sweetheart table and the LOVE IS SWEET burlap banner for our cake table.

Here they are just laying on the couch.
I'm still waiting on the photographer photos but here is a less than stellar one showcasing them in use.

Yes, I am aware we were sitting on the opposite sides as the Mr and Mrs- It makes me chuckle. :)

We've been married almost 2 weeks and I do not want to admit it's over already.  I keep looking at pictures.  It was honestly the best day of my life and I think my husband would agree.  *coughhebettercough* 

That is still so odd to say.
Husband. 
Huuuusband.
Husbaaaaand. 
It is going to take some getting used to.