Table names, programs, decorations, etc.

Table names...

I wanted to make our wedding as personalized as possible, like most other brides.  Rather than having table numbers, I wanted to think something a little more creative.  I loved the idea of having pictures of us in places we loved but I had seen that at many weddings and wanted to do something a little different.  I ended up with the idea of doing street names, ones that Adam and I have lived on.  Keller Lake Road is the road I grew up on, Freidel Drive is the street Adam's parents live on, we met when we both lived on Menomonie Street in college (only 2 houses down from each other), and we currently live on Roscoe Street.  I handwrote the street names on some green paper and put them in panoramic frames to make it look more like a street sign.  I had come up with many other ways to make it look more like a street sign, or personalizing actual metal street signs, but the frames were the easiest and most economically friendly.  Each person had a place card that was strung from tiki torches on the beach.  These were a lot of fun to make.  My original idea was to glue sand to the bottom of each card and put a drink parasol through it to make it look more beachy but it ended up looking kinda cheesy.  I found the cards and some Martha Stewart metallic beads at Paper Source and was able to make them look a little more classy and simplistic.  

Programs...

I wanted to make fans for our programs and make them round if possible.  I had googled 'wedding programs' and searched all of the images and got many great ideas.  I found a circle cutter at Michael's and was going to put the programs onto a tongue depressor to make it a fan.  Last minute, I decided to ix nay the tongue depressors and just put a ribbon on the bottom of the circle.

Guest Book...

I had gone to a few weddings that had a photo booth.  I loved it!  Getting a photo booth down to Mexico wasn't going to work, but a polaroid camera would be a 10th of the cost and just as fun!  I read a few reviews online and ended up getting the Fuji Instax Mini.  The pictures turned out to be about credit card size and I was able to purchase an album on the Adesso Albums website that fit the pictures perfectly.  Our guests had a blast taking pictures and now we have the best wedding guest book ever....that we actually look at!

Flowers...
I was able to look at a bouquet guide from Secrets Silversands but they didn't have any bouquets that I loved.  I really wanted a colorful bouquet and really wanted orchids.  The problem with orchids is that they are very expensive.  I started looking in magazines and online and I ended up finding one I loved! They were able to make it very similar to the picture and added a few orchids throughout the bouquet. I loved the way they turned out!

Ball Lights...

I wanted to have ball lights at our reception since it would be outside and to add more ambiance.  I have always loved the way they look and couldn't wait to have my first dance under them.  The hotel was able to bring them in for us and they ended up looking great! 

Table Decor...

I didn't want to spend a ton of money on our centerpieces.  Again, I wanted to add ambiance so I decided to have 3 vases with orchids and a floating candle.  It was a windy night so the candles weren't able to be lit so that kinda sucked but I thought the vases turned out great....and they were within the budget!  

Jewelry

So the big day was only a few weeks away and the time had come to start looking for jewelry for the wedding day.  I had kept my eye out when I was looking for my dress and for the bridesmaid dresses but nothing jumped out at me.  I looked online and went to a few wedding shops in Minnesota with my mom but again, couldn't find what I was looking for.  There were some beautiful vintage pieces at Brides of France but I couldn't justify spending $400 on a necklace.  All of the jewelry I kept finding was either super expensive or not really my style.  I was walking down Southport Avenue in Chicago and found Bourdage Pearls.  They had some beautiful jewelry in the window and so I stopped in.  I loved what I saw!  I went with a thick pearl and crystal bracelet with some pearl and crystal drop earrings.  The bracelet was a little more expensive than what I was planning on but it's a piece I love and will have forever.  I justified it by saying I will wear it for every anniversary :)

For the bridesmaids....

There is an awesome jewelry store in Chicago, also on Southport Avenue called M2 Boutique.  I really wanted to buy my jewelry from them but just didn't find what I was looking for or if I did find something I liked it was too pricey.  One of my friends e-mailed me a link to a necklace on etsy.com and I loved the style.  I ended up going with a different necklace and a pair of earrings by the same designer - madebysam.  I went with simple gold drop earrings with a pink quartz stone and a gold necklace with 3 small orchids one the chain and a pink quartz stone.  I really wanted to personalize the jewelry so I loved that the necklaces had each of the girls initials on them.  It was so easy to buy through etsy and madebysam gave me a discount since I was buying multiple pieces...all the little savings here and there really help when you're planning a wedding!  Thanks for making such beautiful jewelry madebysam!