Well, here we are. I simply cannot believe the Big Day is less than a week away. Holy Toledo!

This weekend, we turned the garage into Wedding Ground Zero. It’s the staging area for last minute prep work and the warehouse for the enormous load of supplies, decorations, and alcohol that we have amassed over the last several months. Our caravan to the lake will include 2 cars, 1 truck and 3 SUVs. Dang!

my OCD indulgence

Having such a tangible way to capture the wedding planning experience has been so special to me. It has been really fun reading back thru my blog posts and remembering the inspiration we felt, the projects we took on, the help we received and the real sense of collaboration we developed. Sure, planning a wedding is a lot of work…but it’s also a great time to discover how well you work together. For that, we’re giving high fives all around!

I’m so impressed that we were able to turn our vision into a reality and I can’t wait for the big reveal! It’s going to be totally awesome.

While the wedding is still about a week away, the next few days will also be filled with excitement, since both Eric and my sister will be celebrating birthdays! For the simple fact that there just isn’t any more time, this will be my last post before the wedding. I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with me and sharing this most special time in my life. Without a doubt, this year has been one of my favorites.

So, I bid you all adieu for now. When I return I will be a married woman! One of the luckiest in the world.

We are excited beyond words. We are humbled by the love and support we have received from our friends and family. We are filled with gratitude for each other. We are ready.

Let’s do this!!

I am always happy to see how contagious crafts can be…rather, how excited people are to indulge in them. Take for example Eric’s cousin, Eve. Her daughter, Amberli, will be one of our flowers girls! We’ve been emailing back and forth about dresses for the girls to wear, options for shoes, accessories, etc. Eve has taken on a very crafty approach and I’m thrilled at her handiwork! She recently sent me photos of the adorable bows that she made for the girls.

Eve actually sells her bows and she can take custom orders! Feel free to contact her at eatoledo@msn.com.

I’m pretty sure our flower girls are going to be the most beautiful, ever. I can’t wait to see them all dressed up!

As we get closer to the wedding date, I’m actually making progress on my to-do list which at times seemed endless. One of the remaining projects that was staring me in the face for months were the wedding programs. We actually debated having them at all, at first. We really want to maintain a casual and modest feel to everything and there’s something about wedding programs that just felt a bit too ceremonial. But, as we continued to design the wedding ceremony, we both agreed we wanted our guests to be able to follow along…and I found a really beautiful poem that will be one of our readings and I wanted everyone to be able to get to know it. Also, of course the music, which I really think will be the highlight of the entire experience, needed its own spotlight. Eric has been working on the music program diligently (actually rewriting lyrics and rerecording songs) and I want everyone to be able to appreciate his efforts.

So, yea. Wedding programs were obviously going to be the best way to let everyone follow along with the ceremony and be included in the special touches we have planned. With the guest list holding strong at 180+ I knew I needed to find a way to make them without feeling guilty about all the paper I’d have to use.

In a seemingly unrelated note, I recently transitioned from one job to another. It was a very big and exciting change for me, professionally!! While I was cleaning out my old office, I stumbled upon two boxes of blank stationary that had been left over from an office move. My boss at the time had told me to just throw it all away, but being the thrifty person that I am, I stashed the boxes in a drawer and only stumbled upon them as I was packing up to leave the company. Well, there you go. I now had paper for my wedding programs!

Once again, Eric worked his design magic and using elements from our invitations, created a program design that I fell in love with. They required assembly, but I’m blessed with wonderful (and patient) friends and family who were willing to help. Twice over the course of two weeks, I found myself sitting around a big table with Eric, my mom, dad, sister, her fiancée Chris and my lovely girlfriends, Amanda and Kathy. (What did I tell you? I am blessed BIG time) We worked in an assembly line measuring, marking, punching holes, threading yarn and tying little bows until all of the programs were complete! They are beyond adorable and I’m so proud that they were made by some of my most favorite people.

I couldn’t have done it without help and I’m endlessly grateful for the help I received. Here’s what the process looked like:

starting supplies (incl. yarn from an old knitting project)

cutting the back page

cutting the sections apart

sorting...

measuring and marking...

hole punching...

bow tying...

assembly line prep

Godsend Friends

our precious programs!

I think they are absolutely perfect. Plus, the memories of the time spent making them are even better than the money we saved by making them ourselves!