Our Favors

(www.studiothisis.com)

I was asked to make my Buckeyes for a BBQ party this past weekend, which reminded me that I never posted about my favors. (Oops, three months later).

I really wanted to do chocolate Buckeyes (being from a long line of Ohio State graduates), but I also wanted to do something with my husband's irish heritage. I know it was pretty much a typical favor - but I still thought it was a neat way of showing both our personalities.

So a friend of my sister's created these - Chocolate Buckeyes, a chocolate clover leaf and then our initials. They tasted amazing! I then printed out our "logo" and found ribbon that matched our colors, which we alternated on each box.We had one issue. The boxes became a little too greasy, so we had to find new boxes the day before the wedding. I then used my bridesmaids (my own little sweatshop) to put them all together.

Less than 24 Hours...

Final DIY project was completed today! I ended up wanting to do chocolates for favors. My sister's friend who is now starting her own business said she could help with the chocolates - we did a buckeye (because I am from Ohio), a clover leaf (He is irish) and then our initials. The funny part is I always carried around a real buckeye for luck, so we just thought this was a cool idea.

The chocolates arrived from Columbus yesterday via my sister so we boxed them up today. They came out looking great. Unfortunately, some of the chocolate (the buckeyes) made a grease mark on the original boxes, which meant new boxes had to be found. My sister's friend actually sent some with us but I fretted that they were too big, and then we could not find liner that could fit either. At this point -I just found tissue paper and then placed them in the box. At first I did not think they looked great, but then with ribbon and our logo sticker on them - they came out really well. I don't want to ruin the surprise for my guest so I will wait and then make sure to post some photos up after the wedding.

But before I head off to bed, I did want to show off the groomscake. My sister's friend also created this! It came out perfect and my fiance who is a huge superman fan could not believe how cool it looked. If anyone is looking for a very reasonable priced chocolates and cake (My feeling is you would have to be in the Columbus area for it to work) - Please email, and I will give you her contact information - she was awesome!

I am off to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow! Thanks for the blog love - A Windy City Wedding and Semi-Hipster Homeowner - You guys are too sweet!

Kick Off Those Shoes!

(StudioThisIs)

Last summer when I was looking through my photographer's work, I saw these shots and knew I totally wanted to do something like this as well. It fits me because when I was five-years-old, I attended my uncle's wedding and they could not get me off the dance floor. Many years later, I am still the same way, so I love this idea of having comfy shoes for your guests. So tonight I headed over to Hobby Lobby which was having a sale on flip-flops! I picked up about 12 brown and 12 fushia flip-flops. They are not the best quality but for a $1 each - I can't complain about the price. However, I started having buyer's remorse when I was at the counter and the woman behind me asked what I would be doing with them. I told her and she did the "oh wow." weird look. I raced home and thought maybe this was a stupid idea. Then I saw this shot and said screw it - I am so doing this.

(StudioThisIs)

Lovely Favors

A couple month's ago, I found Karen Smallbone through Jaime's site. I think she is one of the best in creating unique and cool favors, so I ended up buying some items from her store which hopefully I will later show here as our favors. But I would recommend her to anyone. I asked a ton of questions and she always emailed me back with answers (Yes! Isn't it so nice when a vendor actually responds back to you!). Even if you do not buy anything, I would look through her custom favor ideas - they are so beautiful.

Yes! She is alive...

I feel so much better. I got a call today from my wedding planner. Yeah!...but I was so busy with work that I had to cut it short. So we are going to talk more about meeting up later. Sorry again for lack of updates - but just a busy week. One great thing - Ohio State won, so that definitely makes for a great thanksgiving. On Saturday, we tailgated in the rain, but I made the best chocolate/peanut butter Buckeyes ever. I finally figured out what my problem had been before - mix some crisco before melting the chocolate. For our wedding, we are probably going to have two things that we feel bring us luck - buckeyes (not the nut but the chocolate ones) and then four leaf clovers (my fiance is irish). I have a friend who has already offered to make the buckeyes (yeah, after spending all Friday night making 60 buckeyes that was enough for me), but then also doing chocolate four leaf clovers. I am thinking as favors but maybe instead including these in our welcome bags.

The Photo Booth

I have wanted something fun for my guests instead of your typical favors as a memento from the wedding. At one point I thought it would be neat to have Cold Stone Creamery cater a desert bar and my guests could get their own sundaes (I read about it once in a Brides magazine). Now I am thinking how neat would this be? The Photobooth Company. You rent the booth and your guests can take a ton of photos of themselves. And it looks so retro! You then get a copy of all the images. Heck instead of a guestbook - you do this!

I found this company off another cool wedding planner's site - Pearls Events. Who had a bride and groom do this recently. I am really contemplating it...but again - what about my budget?