Save the Dates!

Wow, I haven't posted in a bit.  When I started this I was thinking I would be on it! So, I will try to do better... Well, since I liked the swirls, I wanted it to be a constant theme like I said in my post below.  I don't know that I have a particular "theme" to our wedding, but I am into details that probably no one will notice but me. lol.  Isn't that usually how it goes though? So, I think I went through a few designs when it came to my Save the Dates.  Each level I knew something didn't look right or feel right.  I think with all the things I have decided on some reason it just clicked that it was final.  My invites... that was it i didn't want to make any changes and was content.  My dress, the save the dates, the colors were the same.  People were convinced that I would change it, but I'm good.  I guess maybe because I have a tad bit of indecisiveness in me. ; ) . But it's kind of weird that with these things it just is what it is when I am happy with a final decision.  When its not right, I know that something is a little off.  I think that I may even be surprising myself... 
     So, with most of the things that I design I usually have to make it even, and not so much an even number... more like symmetrical... and I'm not even sure if thats the word I am looking for... like I wouldn't just put two circles on a page, because even though the number is even I would like three instead.  haha. Who knows if that makes any sense to anyone but me! Here is the front of my design before I go on explaining...

     So, naturally I put three circles.  My first one had the swirls and a border, then "Save the Date" went on top of the border.  I wasn't happy with it because I fell like it chopped up the flow of the design.  It got me a few tries to get it this way, but I am very content with it.  Once I get more memory for my computer and load my creative suite, I will definitely put a how-to up for the swirls in illustrator.  Once I got familiar with it, it really wasn't that hard.  I can't wait to design many more things in life! I did contemplate whether I wanted to put the 09.10.11 on the swirls, I was thinking about making three smaller circles under the "Save the Date", but I decided to just bold the date.  I feel like it works, I don't want it to be too cluttered... Here is the back...

(I of course edited it... I did it the lazy way.. so some of my design is missing where is name should be..you get the point!)

     When making a Save the Date, where is one to begin? I had no idea! I made all of this from scratch.  I did not have a template and I am pretty proud of how it came out... Even the heart was made by hand! lol.  Getting every single square perfectly was hard, then I was like well make a row and copy and paste! That made it a lot easier!  I see alot of these with the calendar, so I thought it was a cute idea.  I made them postcard size for easy mailing.  The lines on it with the decoration on the end is a paint brush that I thought was neat.  You can see it also on the invitations swirl if you look closely... I will put our engagement picture in the picture spot of course... and you better believe I will do my best to match the colors! One thing about me I guess is that I am very matchy matchy. I want everything to flow and coordinate.  

     I think I will just print them on cardstock.  I was going to have more extravagant STD's, but since I picked up more DIY then originally planned, I think it is safe to say this is fine! and there you have it! Save the Date design...DONE! 

First DIY - Invites

     I don't know how many pictures I have saved on my computer of invitations that I liked, but none of the were IT.  I spent many a night on google searching for something I was totally in love with.  Then it hit me, it would be my first DIY project. I was going to design my invitations... 
     I found a lot of inspiration from the Road to the Aisle Blog... that one pops up many times on my google searches.. It first popped up when I was going to make my own pocket folds.. I didn't want to have to do all of those, so I opted to buy them on paper and more for a fairly cheap price and a fantastic quality... I purchased them in Aqua Lagoon.. 

     And then on the inside of the invite would have about 1/4 of an inch of the pocket fold showing.. then a piece of orange cardstock, then the text would be on an ivory piece of paper.. I just made a quick mock up in paint to show you...

     The design was the first thing I made.  I made the design in Illustrator.  Photoshop is my favorite program, but I had already used my 30 day trial. So, I decided to try Illustrator.  I have only worked with Illustrator a little bit in college, but I didn't use it all the time like I did photoshop.  I got a little familiar with it and I do love the program now.  (And decided that I needed to buy the Adobe Creative Suite, so I don't have to deal with trials anymore!) So, I decide that since I was going to customize it I really wanted to make us a monogram. R&R are perfect letters, right? Agreed.  So, I fell in love with the font Zapafino.  It's such a gorgeous font.  I wanted a belly band around the invites, so I was going to make a piece of card stock to put on the ribbon to hide the two ends of the ribbon meeting. Of course it would land on the front of the pocketfold... Here is what I came up with... (the R's are Zapafino, the "And" is Papyrus)

     I tweaked and tweaked the actual inside of the invitation many times, but like when I found Mr. Bloom, you just know when you have IT.  Each time something wasn't right I knew.  I knew it just wasn't it.  Moving this here, and this there and all that kind of stuff just to get it perfect.  I felt when I first begin the project I had no idea what I was doing.  How was I going to make it look like it wasn't made by a 5 year old? haha.  I mean, It's the first invitation I have ever designed. I didn't know if I could make exactly what I wanted.. I haven't exactly finalized the wording, but I finished the design and couldn't be happier with it..  It's my first "baby." haha.. The first of many DIY's and there is nothing that I would change about it... ( I have of course edited out the names)(The wording font is BlairMdITC)

      I want everything to be consistent.  So, the swirls is going to be a definite theme.. The next time you will see them will be in my Save The Dates... In my next post. : ) .

Tiffany Who?

     So, the first thing I wanted to tackle was the color scheme.  Ever since Mr. Bloom and I talked about having a wedding we decided on white, red, and black.  I think thats the only color he wears and we thought it looked nice.  There it was settled. Easy... Or so I thought.. After we picked our date I was weary of those colors.. everyone does the red and the white thing, its very common. The wedding is in early September (which I feel is more summer than fall).  I just wasn't feeling those colors anymore... My mom and I love purple.. So naturally I went straight for the Lavender... and I love green, so here I thought I had it again.. I started thinking it was too eastery.. I didn't want it to feel like a Spring Fling.. Is choosing colors supposed to be this hard?? Probably not. lol. Then, one night I was at a friends house and by chance my color scheme came to me... She makes bows and was making some at the time and her little daughter was playing with all the ribbon on the floor.  Two pieces caught my eye.. An aqua and an orange ribbon.. I loved it together.  I did make a minor tweak.  When I got home I happened to glance at my Tiffany box and knew that was the color I wanted.  I've been told by many vendors that they usually see it with brown, but they love it with the orange.. 
    Ohh Tiffany.. the problems she causes me!! First off I don't get why many people feel that Tiffany is aqua.  Common misconception I guess... It really should be called Tiffany Green.. It is way more green than it is blue.. So, whenever I ask linen people if they have Tiffany Blue they say yes.  Then I go to see it and its Aqua.  Why did I pick a color that was going to make my life hard?? So, I thought long and hard about changing it to Aqua.. I told my mom and she said, "No! It's too beautiful!" 
     So the next day we went to a fabric store and found the exact color we needed... Hmm.. I guess we are making the table overlays!! haha.  She did find a pretty cute runner for 3.99 online though.. So, she reassured me that this would be okay..
     I got my invitations that I am DIY'ing from paper and more.com and they are perfect.. I bought the pocket folds and the paper.  I made the design and will print them myself.. 
     My FMIL emailed me some cute tiffany blue boxes she found online.  When I went to go by them, the boxes were a dollar and the shipping was twenty dollars!!! So, I found the same ones on the knot (eggshell blue).  When I heard my package came from them, I was gearing myself up for disappointment.  They are going to be wrong, they are not going to work out, its going to be a disaster... When I opened the box and laid my eyes on them I was soooo excited! They were perfect! 
     So, It got me thinking.. maybe Tiffany Blue isn't such a bad color. I'm sure we'll see as times go on.. And there you have it.. my FINAL color scheme: Tiffany Blue, Orange, and Ivory...

The name: DIY Bride in Bloom.

     After Mr. Bloom and I got engaged, the itching for everything DIY came about... Designing my invites, card boxes, favors, centerpieces... and much more is going to be a task, but I know that when I see my final products it will be worth it.  I made that, I did that...not to mention the rest of my support group.. 
     My Groom... He is a sports-watching, sports-playing, sports-loving guy.  He has pretty much figured out what is and isn't important to him when it comes to planning a wedding.  Colors? Not so much. Cake? Ohhh Yea! He gives his input when I ask, and I can kind of figure when he wouldn't mind I made some decisions without him... He is very artistic so he gives great input when it comes to designs and things like that.  And, most of all he knows when I just need someone to make a decision for me.. Sometimes I can be a bit indecisive, and his decide and go attitude definitely helps me out a lot! Sometimes we brides need to remember that we are indeed marrying men.  Wedding planning is not the most exciting thing to them...they have not been thinking about it since they were little.. so I try not to get upset when he is into ESPN more than my "Does this match that" questions...
     My main DIY helper is... My mother. I love how excited she is.  Reading my bride magazines (which my brother bought me a two year subscription for my birthday! ha ha) and marking the pages for me.. I guess some people may see that as overbearing, but so far so good.  She is happy to help, and allows me to veto some of those crazy ideas in her head.. I have two older brothers and am her only daughter, so I am sure you can understand her excitement...She only wants the best of what she is able to give me.  I couldn't have a more supportive mother, who is maybe even a little more crazy about DIY'ing than me! I definitely hear I can make that alot! She is also very creative and talented and if she dreams something up she thinks she can make it happen! So, we definitely aren't in need of ideas! 
     Then you add my future mother in law... I like to call them Double Trouble... ha ha.  She has no daughters, just 3 sons! She and my FFIL got married fairly young and fairly quickly, so she never got to have the total wedding planning experience..  Unfortunately for her MIL's get very bad raps... But I am here to state on the record that not every mother in law is a monster in law! I am extremely lucky.  I am happy to include her when it comes to the wedding details.  She has been there through the picking of the venue, the dress, and discussions of linens and the overwhelming bridal extravaganzas! Her input is very important to me and I am very excited that she wants to be apart of it.  I wouldn't have it any other way! 
     Then I have 5 willing bridesmaids! Though we are not down to the nitty gritty they have been there to listen, to give input, to shake their heads or tell me everything is going to be beautiful.  I couldn't have picked a better group of girls! 
     Then there is...Friends and Family...I am already very thankful of the family that has offered to pay for certain aspects of the wedding and the friends that have volunteered themselves for assembly parties.  When planning a wedding, any help you can get is appreciated...
     And last but not least, don't think I forgot about Dad.  Though he may not be into DIY'ing, talking about color schemes, or assembly parties...he does want the best for his Princess.. (23 year old princess..ha ha) My mom likes to call him the "Budget Enforcer!"  Lol.  He tries to keep us in line! We'll see how that goes! 
     Though I have read some wedding blogs, I did not commit their formats to memory.  So, Is this how other people start their blogs? I have no clue.. But to me.. getting a feel for who I am, who I am completing this journey with and other little tidbits about me is important.  I  am now a blogger, a "wedding planner", and a self proclaimed DIY'er... This most definitely makes me a DIY Bride in Bloom. : ) .

About the Bloom Bride.

Well, I am marrying Mr. Bloom.  (What a name right!?) It will definitely be better that the long hispanic name I have trailing on me now... Not that I dislike it or anything, but spanish speakers get upset with me when i pronounce it "wrong". haha. So, I am welcoming Bloom with open arms! We met when we were sixteen...yes. high school sweethearts... Our 7 year anniversary is on 10.10.10. And to answer the most common question I get.. Yes, we stayed together the whole 7 years! No break ups! I don't really like telling people that we are high school sweet hearts because of the stigma that comes along with that. I am not marrying him  because I am scared I can't find anyone else or because I'm just settling for what I am familiar with.  I am marrying him because I am beyond in love with him. After almost 7 years of togetherness, not a day goes by where I am bored with our relationship.  We have not fallen into some boring pattern, we are still learning and evolving into the best couple we can be... We got engaged on our 6 year anniversary.  Even though I had always dreamed of getting married on 10.10.10, that just wasn't in the cards for us.  We wanted to be done with college before we took the major leap into Life! So, we decided on the next best thing 09.10.11. I joked around with the date once, on a separate occasion my FMIL (without knowing I joked about it) mentioned the date, and finally my father (also on a separate occasion) mentioned it would be funny.  There you had it! It was meant to be! We had finally set a date! 

First Post! : )

I have been contemplating having a blog for a while, but I really didn't have a reason to blog.  Then I became engaged! After researching and reading so many bride to be blogs I was inspired to do the same.  (Thanks mainly to The Wedding Bee) So.. here I am planning a wedding.  I had no idea that I was going to want to be a DIY bride.  I am creative and love designing. Would there be a more perfect thing to design and plan then what will be one of the greatest days of my life??  I think not! So here I will be, pouring out my excitements, my wedding worries, and just plain planning stories! I've been told to enjoy the journey and I hope that you readers will do the same!