Sorry for the hiatus, after the wedding we relaxed for oh, about an hour then spent the last few weeks finishing all the little projects that we've had outstanding here at the house, some that we're sitting around for months.  I constantly used the phrase, "after the wedding we can do it".  Well Mike was keeping track, and it was time to pay up.  We went so crazy doing them, that my motto was complete now, take pictures and write posts later. 

One of the first projects we finished was the ever popular "fauxdenza".  Basically a floating credenza made from Ikea cabinets and topped with wood.  I saw it first over at House*Tweaking, which used Chris Loves Julia as an inspiration, who linked to Brick House, who referenced the original genious Door Sixteen!  You get the idea, I did not make this up, people way cooler than me did it first and it was the perfect solution to the ugly entry corner we had going on in the living room.

I bought the Ikea cabinets months before the wedding, and much to Mike's chagrin, they sat in their flat-packed glory in a pile in the dining room.  We finally got to it a couple weekends ago and hung them on the wall.  It really was that simple:  assemble cabinets, install suspension rail, hang cabinets, add soft-close hinges and knobs, add wood to top and sides.


I bought the 24" high cabinets and we hung it right about the vent.  It landed a little higher than the previous table, but it feels normal now.

For years, we felt lucky that the old console table Mike made for our townhouse fit this little piece of wall.


Except I never really felt like it was our style anymore, and while we had storage in the ottoman, it wasn't really useful for the things that we needed to put in there, (i.e. board games, cards, and wii components).  It's getting closer to what I want for this room.


Even though the actual steps for this piece were really simple, it wasn't without some headaches and officially our first big fight of our marriage.  Yes, I'd say most of our arguments are about building things, furniture and decor more than anything else!  I bought the 24" cabinet knowing that I wanted to cut a hole in the back to fit over the outlet to have all our charging electronics hidden away.  Our outlets tend to be really high due to the high baseboard trim so I didn't see the problem.  Fast forward to installation day and Mike refuses.  He says it's shoddy work and he would negatively judge someone who did that, and would therefore never do it himself.  To add insult to injury, I didn't really measure and the outlet was really half above the vent and half below, meaning that I would only get the top plug inside the cabinet.  Mike almost had a stroke.  This is an almost exact recollection of what was said:

Me: "No one will ever see it because the cabinet sits so low." 
Mike: "I'll know it's there.  I' won't be able to sleep at night knowing it's there"

Really, hunny? 

In the end we came to a sensible solution, he would do it the way I wanted and if he hated it, he'd rip it out and I'd have to live with wasting the money and the old table.  Obviously I'm writing this post so he was fine with it afterwards.  He even said, "It doesn't bother me as much as I thought".  And that folks is a win in my book!

He did ask me if I wanted any mitered edges for the top, and I said it was fine just to lay the top on the side pieces.  We used birch cabinet-grade plywood, birch veneer edging, Minwax Dark Walnut stain (2 coats), and some polyurethane, (3 coats).


The most technical we got was when Mike scrolled the back edge to match perfectly with the old wavy plaster walls.  Anyone with a house 85+ years old will appreciate this small feat.

 
Now that it's hung I'm working on finding the right artwork and some actual styling more than the bowl of random objects and antlers we've got going on now.

Before we did this, I had a bridal shower back in July.  Because I'm insane, I decided to plan and make all the decorations myself.  I also didn't want to burden any of my bridesmaids with the hassle.  My sister hadn't yet got her teaching job, and a couple of the girls are in 3 different weddings this summer!  I picked a modern bee themed shower and went from there.  Since I was doing the decorations, my family and bridesmaids brought the food, helped set up everything, and one even rented the shelter.

It was blazing hot that day, but it was perfect, and everything turned out the way I imagined.  It was also good practice for our DIY wedding!

I chose a brunch, because who doesn't love brunch food, and 11am seems like a good time to hang out with friends, but also to get home with enough time to get stuff done.  We rented a shelter in our local metro parks and it was very cute nestled back in the woods.

It started with the invites which I designed myself and I'm super proud of.  I love bee themes, but didn't want it to be all black and yellow.  I wanted color!  I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, but in the end I just added things that I liked.  A couple people suggested selling the design on Etsy, and with all the things that I made throughout the wedding process I'm seriously considering it.


I pinned a lot of ideas on Pinterest, so if you want to check out my Shower board and see how I modified things, go for it.  Otherwise I'll jump right in.

The shelter door had 2 doors, but the first went right into the kitchen, so I wanted to let everyone know that they needed to head to the other side.  I used 2 of the those giant balloons with tissue paper tassels and a chalkboard sign that I made to let them know.

Here's where I should mention that I have only iPhone photos.  I was too engrossed in everything else, that I didn't take any photos, but my lovely bridesmaid, Anna, made sure to grab a bunch of detail shots.


The chalkboard says: 40 days til she's hitched (Please use other door) with an arrow.

Then around the building there was another chalkboard sign with another balloon (funny story - I only ordered 2, since they truly are massive, but they forgot to add that extra additive to make them float longer to one of them so they gave 3.  They might have thought they were doing me a favor, but it was a bitch getting these in the car!).




As you walked in, the first table had a little sign-in of sorts.  I found this really cute idea sold on Etsy, but they no longer offered it, so I made my own using my Silhouette machine.  It's called Dirty Laundry and the guests "air out your dirty laundry" by writing a funny story, memory, or just a hello on the cutout paper clothes.  It was great reading them all when I got home, and just as I thought, some were funny, and others made me cry.


The tables were covered with white table cloths, decorated with tissue paper flowers, (great cheap way to bring in color!) and black and white stripped runners that I made from stripped fabric.  The letter "M" was made by cutting the face off of a paper mache letter and filling with the little tissue paper flowers.


The tables each had a place setting with a pink napkin and a game sheet of "He Said, She Said" that I designed using the background from the invite.  It also had a stripped runner, and some tissue paper flowers. 



The favors at the settings were little honey jars that I added fabric tops to and a little tag.


The banner in the backgound above was made using coffee filters folded and then dipped in food coloring.  I also made a banner with the Silhouette.



Between the words I cut little bees.


I knew there would be a fireplace and so this was where Mike and I set up and opened presents, it was also a cute backdrop for the photos.

"He Said, She Said" was the only game we played and the guests read the questions, then guessed how many Mike and I would agree on.  We did horribly, something like 5 out of 12.  But it was funny listening to us guess wrong.  My sister videotaped Mikes answers and he was so cute and sappy and I looked like the schmuck because I thought for sure his answers would less thoughtful!  The winner was our neighbor and she won a pint of of honey from our hive, (which coincidentally we extracted after I bought honey for all of those little favors), and a bottle of our favorite mead. 

The food was amazing, and I take no credit it for it.  I gave each of the bridesmaids some ideas/recipes, but they did all the hard work.  You really can't go wrong with a spread that includes blueberry muffins, donuts, croissant sandwiches, fresh fruit, and sausage and cream cheese bites, to name only a few.



My mom's friend had a dozen or so cake stands she let me borrow and it made everything look so much fancier!

At the end we had a Kuerig station with a couple Kuerigs set up and coffees, teas, and hot chocolates available.  We don't drink coffee in our house, so I figured this would be a good way to cater to everyone.  I loved the chai latte!  Not pictured, but equally amazing was the flavored water.  My sister's boyfriend, Keith, always makes flavored water with fruits so I borrowed some large drink dispensers and he made a couple different kinds.  I want to say he had a lemon and orange, and a berry and mint, but I was running around too much to remember!

I wish I would have ate more, but like a wedding, the honoree never gets to eat too much.  Everyone said it was amazing though!

Since I had a bridesmaid gift that would be needed to be given before the rehearsal dinner I chose to give them their gifts at the shower.


I found a little make-up bag from Target that I added their initial with vinyl, and the earrings that they would wear for the wedding that I made, a gold bow ring, and a nail file.  I gifted each girl a shellac manicure for the wedding since I do it myself at home, and the nail file was the only way I could think of to present this.  I made all the tags and cards with my Silhouette.  The earrings holder has an M&M, the ring card says, "Thank You for helping me tie the knot!" and the nail file says, "Wedding Shellac Manicure".

Mike surprised me with yellow roses when he came to help me open presents, and I cried.  He's given me flowers exactly once in our 5 1/2 years together and it was weeks into dating and they were yellow roses because I made fun of him on one of our first dates for being very specific and describing something as "canary yellow".  Sometimes he's super sweet.  Only when he wants to be!

Overall I had a great time.  My hair was frizzy from the heat and my feet were bleeding from wearing bad shoes, but it was still perfect.  I had so much fun with all the details and it was fun planning something that I could make as girly as possible!

All my bridesmaids are amazing women and I was so happy to have them all there with me.  Not to mention look how pretty are they all!


I think the real star of the show was Mike though, not only did he not bother me during my marathon crafting nights, or laugh at me when I came home with three 36" balloons stuffed into the back of my car, he also helped set up, clean-up, open presents with me, and even ran home to make a quick sign after a couple people had trouble finding the drive!  Obviously, I said yes, so I knew what a great guy he was, but it made me even more excited to marry him!

So, over the weekend this happened:

Photo by Studio SPC

I have a lot to share about our big day, and all the parties and DIY that led up to it, but for right now we're getting our lives back in order. 

Thanks for sticking with us in the mean time!