DIY Large Framed Chalkboard

I finally have a wedding post for you!  And it's a DIY post as well.  Yes!

I wanted to display our table arrangements on a large chalkboard, like the example shown below. 

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As you may or may not know, large chalkboards that are framed are quite expensive.  So I figured I would just make one myself.  We bought an ugly mirror, and turned it into a goregous chalkboard with a white frame!

Supplies
1 large mirror- we got ours at Marshall's for $20.  You could just find a cheap frame as well on Craigslist.  But mirrors are often times easier to find, and you can just go to your local discount home goods store and buy a cheap one.
Chalkboard spray paint- Found at Jo-Ann's. Only $5 if you use a coupon.
White spray paint- We got a matte white spray paint at Lowe's for about $6
Masking Tape
Garbage bags

Total Project Cost= $31 (but we've been using the chalkboard spray paint for other projects as well...more bang for your buck!)

Directions
1. We decided to spay the chalkboard area first.  Tear garbage bags at the seams to make them easier to work with.  Tape the garbage bags onto the frame.  Make sure you tape it right at the edge so you don't cover any of the mirror, but also so you don't get any chalkboard paint onto the frame.

2. Spray 2 coats of the chalkboard spray paint onto the mirror.  Letting it dry between coats.

3. Following the directions on the can, take chalk and rub it on it's side all over the chalkboard and then wipe it with a cloth to give it that chalkboard look.

4. Tape garbage bags onto the chalkboard section now, making sure to go right up the edge so that no white paint will get onto the chalkboard.

5. Spray paint the frame.  Because our frame was a bronze color, we had to do 4 coats to get it completely white.

And voila!  You now have a beautiful large chalkboard with a crisp white frame ready for table placements!

Happy 1 Year to William and Kate!

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Can you believe it's already been a year since the wedding of the century?  I can't believe how much has happened in one year!  I feel like it's been so short and yet so long at the same time.  My own wedding is a little over 80 days away.  It's funny how much excitement and hype leads up to a single day of your life.  I can't even imagine the stress Kate Middleton went through before her wedding...I feel enough stress and I don't have the entire world watching my wedding!

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the Royal Wedding:

The two kisses by the royal couple were great, especially because you can tell how much they love each other.  But this flower girl's grumpy face definitely takes the cake.


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The ugly hats.


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Pippa and her bum emerging as a star.  Speaking of Pippa, has anyone heard her talk yet?  It fascinates me how she became a fashion icon overnight, and yet no one really knows anything about her!


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And my favorite part of the wedding...the trees lining the aisle in Westminster Abbey.  It took my breath away!

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What did everyone else like about the Royal Wedding?  Can you believe it's been a year already?

Groomsmen Style

Over the weekend I realized our wedding is only 4 months away.  Yikes.

Needless to say I had a minor heart attack.  I have my dress.  I pretty much know what I want to do with my  hair and makeup.  I have all my accessories and my shoes.  The bridesmaid are all good to go.  Basically the girls are doing just dandy.

Now let's talk about the boys.  This whole time I figured we would just go to Men's Wearhouse and rent tuxes.  But then I thought about it and realized tuxedos don't exactly fit the whole "backyard garden wedding" that we're doing.  Plus rented tuxedos never fit well and they always look so baggy.

So I hit the internet to see what else I could find.  I found a bunch of photos and had Matt look at them to decide what look he liked the best.  (I've found this tactic to be most useful in trying to get him to decide stuff for our wedding).

Turns out he really likes the look of black pants, black vests, and skinny ties. 

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I was impressed with this decision!  These groomsmen just look so hip and stylish to me.  Plus the boys will be a lot cooler for our July wedding.

Oh and of course he wants to add sneakers like the first photo.  Originally we were thinking about doing the whole converse thing that is grown to be quite popular.  But we realized that Matt is more of a skater-shoe type of guy.  He and his friends grew up skating with each other.  In fact, he wants to have some photographs of him skating with his buddies in their wedding-attire before the wedding.

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Therefore we decided Vans would be a more fitting option.  We're going to customize his on the Vans website to match our wedding colors and we're going to buy black and white vans for the groomsmen as their present from a Vans Outlet store.

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I'm excited about the groomsmen now.  I was putting all my efforts into the girls this whole time.  It's important to think about the boys since they will be in just as many pictures as the girls!  The best think about the vest look is that it's way cheaper then renting a tuxedo.  Right now at Men's Wearhouse they're having a buy 1 get 1 sale.  That makes the vests $30 each!  Plus some cheap black slacks, a simple black tie...I'm guessing the entire outfit will be under $100.  Most tuxedo rentals these days are around $150.  Score!

What looks are you loving these days for the boys? 

I'm also loving this mix n match look I've been seeing:

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Cardigans & Wedding Dresses

(The Wedding Chicks)

Although our wedding is in the middle of summer and in San Diego, I still have this fear the temperature might cool down in the evening and I will freeze to death.  One thing I've always loved about San Diego is the warm summer nights, which is one of the reasons we're having a summer evening wedding.  But we have had a few summers where it's scorching hot during the day, and much cooler at night.  For this very reason, a light cardigan would come in very handy!

(Left: Cameron Ingalls Right: Party Perfect)

(Left: Jeff Loves Jessica Photography via Style Me Pretty Right: Polish and Pout)

The cardigans look so sweet don't they?  I think it's perfect for a more casual wedding, and perfect for my backyard/garden wedding!  And as luck would have it, the other day I was at Macy's with my maid of honor and I happened to see a neutral cropped cardigan with silver beading on the clearance rack.  It was originally $80, and I snagged it for $20.  I guess it was just meant to be!

Has anyone else thought about what they would wear over a wedding dress or have seen any cool photos out there?  I would love to hear what other people's ideas are.  I can't be the only one who doesn't want to freeze on my wedding day!

DIY: Save the Date

I thought it would be fun to do a post about our Save the Dates.  As many of you know, we don't have a large wedding budget.  Save the Dates really aren't even necessary since most of our guests are in town.  But I love them!  I just think they are so adorable.

I threw around a bunch of different ideas for the Save the Dates.  One thing I was certain about: I knew I wanted it to be a postcard.  Simply because you can order 100 postcards from Staples for less than $50, and of course, postcards are cheaper to mail. 

Since we are incorporating a bunch of chalkboard elements into our wedding, I googled "chalkboard save the dates".  That is when I found this beautiful image:

(Daniel Photography)

Not only is it adorable, it would be super easy!  I bought a wood board from Michael's, chalkboard spray paint from Jo-Ann's, and chalk from Target.  I just sprayed the board following the directions on the spray can bottle.  My matron of honor, Brittany, wrote on the sign for me since her handwriting is much better than mine.  And I added the cute little heart in the zero.

Next, we all went on a hike on some trails in San Diego in the late afternoon to get the best light.  Climbing through brush, onto rocks, and hiking up hills is quite...interesting when you're wearing heels.

We tried a few adventurous shots (see me running across the street below to avoid being hit by a car) and some cute, natural ones.  We ended up with hundreds of photos, but most of them Matt and I are making goofy faces.  We're not very photogenic people to begin with, and we make each other laugh too easily.  But it made for quite an entertaining afternoon.

We ended up with about 8 really good shots that we had to narrow down.  I emailed out our top picks to our bridal party and our parents, and the decision was pretty unanimous on which picture we had to use.  Then I designed the back of the post card on Microsoft Word using free fonts from dafont.com, saved it as a PDF, and submitted it to the Staples website.  And Voila!  You have an adorable Save the Dates ready to be mailed out.  I told you it was easy!

Happy Weekend!

First weekend of March!  This year is really flying by isn't it? 

Archtectural Salvage of San Diego

This weekend, my friend and I are going to the Architectural Salvage of San Diego.  I'm really excited to check this place out.  They have old doors, windows, hardware...anything and everything.   I want to find an old mailbox for our wedding to hold cards!  Hopefully everyone else has fun plans and can enjoy this beautiful weather we've been having.

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The Vow & My Vows

A couple of my friends and I saw The Vow last night.  I’ve wanted to see it for a while since I’m a sucker for romance movies.   It was really cute.  It had all the things a romance movie should have: love, heart break, tender sweet moments, corny lines, and a perfect meet cute.  So yes, it was your typical romance movie, and it is probably nothing to write home about, but it’s a good movie to see with your girlfriends and have a good cry.  I always say we all need a little more love in this world…even if it’s Hollywood's fake version of love. 

On a side note, what was up with Channing Tatum wearing that awful fedora?  It looks so awkward on him.  I won’t even get started on the obvious wig they had Rachel McAdams wear.

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The movie did confirm my desire to write my own vows for our wedding.  I’m a bit terrified to stand up in front of 80+ people saying something so absolutely private and of my heart.  But I just can’t see myself saying the standard vows because I feel that our love isn’t standard.  There are different options though.  You and your fiancé can customize your own vows together and then say the same ones to each other.  Or you can each write your own personal ones, like in the movie.  I kind of like the idea of writing our own vows and then surprising each other with them during the ceremony.    But then again, what if my vows are really long and his are short?  Mine has too much humor in it and his has too much seriousness? Definitely a lot to consider and a lot to discuss with one another!

What do you think?  Do you like personalized vows or do you think the couple should agree beforehand what they’re going to say to each other? I’d love to hear other people's thoughts on this subject.

P.S. I think "Brand New Colony" by the Postal Service would make excellent vows. Would it be corny if Matt brought up his guitar and sang this song to me?  Yes?  Darn.  :-)