Wedding Project: Groomsman? DIY

It's only here recently, like the past two weeks, that Bean and I have actually done wedding planning. We booked our dream location a few months ago, but hadn't done much planning outside of that. Fast forward to last week. Someone lit a fire inside us because, seriously, we have gotten so much done in these past few weeks! One thing on our to do lists were to ask my 'maids (check) and ask the groomsmen. I obviously put a lot of thought into asking my bridesmaids, but we hadn't put much thought into asking the groomsmen to be groomsmen. Bean planned a little trip with all of the guys to a rodeo on Friday night, but that was pretty much it. On Thursday night  I had a change of heart! I didn't want to boys to be left out! And really, more than anything, I wanted them to read + see what they should be looking like during the wedding. I called Bean (probably a little too excited) and told him about my idea, and he liked it too! Here is how I did it:

I asked Bean to bring home big envelopes with prongs, but they didn't have those at his work, so he brought back huge heavy duty zip block bags. At first I really thought this was silly, and I wouldn't be able to use them, but they turned out to be one of the best parts of it all. (If you want to put a lot of effort into asking your groomsman, but don't want them knowing you tried hard...put all of your goodies in zip block bags, it looks a little less neat!) 

One.  I printed out pictures from my 'Wedding Swoon' board on Pinterest that captured the look/attire of the day  rom the boys perspective. Two. I hit up Michaels Friday morning, for a few things to add to the bag that captured the feel of our wedding. Three + Four. I got these alphabet stickers that had a old world circus/carnival feel with the letters and colors. I got some card stock in the colors of our wedding; colors that the boys should be on the look out for, for their bowties. Five. I picked up some cards with tight ropers on the front that say 'Be Daring' and hand stamped what they should wear on the inside. I wanted the bag to be fun, too though, because the boys were having a night out at the rodeo. Six. So I got some different candies, including some caramel something called "Squirrels Nut Zippers." I thought I was so hilarious, and that they'd all think I was so awesome for finding those. hah.  Seven. The final thing I needed to get were some cigars. I was getting them honestly more for the novelty of having them in the bag, rather than thinking they'd actually smoke them. 

Well two funny things happened all because of these cigars...The first thing was actually more embarrassing. I'm obviously old enough to buy them, but having never bought anything because of my age before...I had no idea what I was looking for. I went in there sounding like a novice asking for "some cigars." Any other day would have been a-okay but as I was checking out, and sounding retarted asking for them, the guy behind me made the comment "oh, getting those for 4/20 eh?" HOW EMBARASSING. I honestly didn't even recognize the date. (And lets don't pretend that we don't know what it is...because we all do!) I had Dakota on my hip, and suddenly I felt like a pot smoking mother. Which I am not, by any means!! The other funny thing is that Bean has never once done anything "drinking/smoking/drug" related. So naturally, I assumed he would think the cigars were funny, but a waste of 4 bucks because he wouldn't be doing anything with them. Well, I was wrong! Him and the boys all smoked their cigars after the rodeo! 

If you plan on doing something similar, just know that boys don't need much. A few candies, something fun (lottery tickets or scratch offs would be cute too!) and a few visuals. All in all, these bags cost us like 10$ or less, for all 5 of them. It took me only an hour to get everything together. The hardest part was stamping every card with what they should wear, but you could just as easily write it instead of stamp it. You can make these super simple like we did, or really dress them up + include something fun like a tiny bottle of your favorite liquor or a fun camera! All in all, the bags were a hit and I'm so glad we made them! 

If you make them, I'd love to see!

xo, Meghan

Askin' my maids!

Although I have been rather silent lately about our wedding planning, the plans are in full swing around these parts! Sometimes it's so excited, and sometimes it's super terrifying thinking of all that I still have left to do! Maybe some seasoned wedding planners, or freshly married brides, will stumble along this post and offer some advice to me.

On my ever growing list of 'to-dos' has been a clever way to ask my bridesmaids to, well, be my bridesmaids. side note: I have very few close friends, (woe is me!) and only a few girl relatives, so coming up with the 4 bridesmaids I did was a feat in itself. It makes these boxes look like a  piece of cake!  I wanted it to be special, encompass the overall feel of our wedding, and be handmade. So naturally, when I saw this DIY right before we got engaged and couldn't shake it from my mind. I knew I wanted to ask my own bridesmaids this very way! 

When I found these boxes at Hobby Lobby, I thought they would be perfect for what I was trying to achieve, not to mention they were 40% off already! They were just plain cardboard, so I wanted to paint them a color from our wedding. -- Something you should know about me, and is very prominent in the creating of these boxes....I am terribly impatient. -- So, I bought these boxes and a tube of Martha Stewart paint in buttermilk yellow and set off to painting. After two coats looking like I had barely even painted, I gave up and told Bean to spray paint them. At 10 o'clock that night. Bless his little heart, he did, but since it was so dark and we only have a very tiny porch light, there were a few runs. I tried to spray paint over them, but well, you can see they are still there. Handmade imperfections are the best right?! (At least that's what I'm trying to sell! ;) Also, since I'm putting it all out there, and should you choose to do this for your one day wedding; I would like to politely suggest that you buy the wooden boxes. If you choose to paint them, or not because they are charming in the light wood!, the whole look will be a lot more pretty, put together and smooth. My impatientness took over here too, because instead of coming back a few different times, with individual coupons + wooden boxes, I needed to have the boxes right away. So I settled for these.

After the boxes were finished, I set out to collecting, making, and printing the contents. This was the fun part! I picked up paint chips in our wedding colors. I printed pictures from my pinterest board that showed the theme of our wedding. I added random instax pictures of Bean + I to the boxes from different times in our relationship. I made little flags, resembling these just because! I typed up little info cards, just like she did, because I wanted the bridesmaids to know what the day was going to be about, what they should expect, and how important they are to me! My favorite part of the boxes though, are the matching hankies that I found on my trip to Thomasville. I also really love these cards that I got at a local bookstore, in Thomasville as well.

 The boxes were complete on the inside, all I needed to do was add something to the lids. I picked out a few of  favorite fancy scrapbook papers at Hobby Lobby, ones that reminded me of our theme, and mod podged them to the tops of the lids. As far as the inside, I planned on writing "Be My Maid" or something like that on the inside, but when I opened up the boxes and saw the plain brown cardboard I had a much better idea! I painted the insides with the same color as the outsides, again, feverishly because I knew it was going to be covered up. I wrote the names of the girls on paper doilies and mod podged them to the inside just around the center.

I am SO happy with this project and the way they turned out. I've had them sitting basically finished in my craft room for going on two months, and it wasn't until last night that I took the time to type out the info and really complete the boxes. I sure hope that all my other wedding crafts don't take me as long as these did! I don't think they will though, because I made it mandatory that every bridesmaid attend a craft night in prep for the wedding! ;)

I'm so happy to be crossing this off of my to-do list, and adding it to my done list. I have about a million and one other projects I'd like to see magically move over to the done list! When is the proper amount of time before to start actually making things for the wedding? I have such a hard time making things for a space just from memory. I need to see and feel the space and make it accordingly. I guess I need to get over that hill though. Happy Tuesday! xo, Meghan