Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

One of the most important events of your life might just be your wedding. It also might be one of the craziest, disorganized, mixed-up times of your life too. We’d like to help with that a bit with a free wedding theme we call Forever. Along with a handful of cool features we’ll get to below, Forever makes it easy to wrap your wedding up in a neat little blog on WordPress.com. You can show off every one of your best photos and highlight every important detail leading up to the big day and beyond. Forever …

Hello South Texas Wedding Readers!  Look at this post!  Want to start your own wedding blog to help your family follow the process?   Look at this template!  Cute, Cute, Cute!

We have our personal wedding website for all of our family and friends that we put on our Save the Date so that they can keep track of things.  If WordPress had this template when I started, I definitely would have gone with this one!!  Just a thought for y’all!

So excited!  I’ve been wanting to go there for a while to take a look at potential stuff for the wedding.  Well, we finally went!

I got 4 lanterns for our rehearsal dinner.  (I may go back and get more–our list keeps getting larger).   I’m thinking of alternating these with mason jars that have daisies in them.

I really like the size of these, they are for tea lights so they are on the smaller size.  You won’t have to worry about them blocking the view of people sitting across from one another.

We also got these little tealight holders.  I mean…little!  They are so cute!

These holders are just large enough to hold the metal tea light inside of it.  These are going to be used at both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.  We plan on creating a line of candles along the long picnic tables with the lanterns and mason jars in between.  And for the reception, we plan on having them around the cake table and the sign in table.  It get’s better…you can get 12, YES 12, of them for $1.99!!  I got 48 for $8!  You can’t beat that!

We also went and got more of those picture frames that I had got through the Upcycling Wedding Items.  I wanted to get a couple more before they discontinued them or something because that guest list keeps increasing too!  Better safe than sorry.

Hmmm…what else did we get?

Oh yeah!  We got 50 of our candle stick holders for the centerpieces for the reception.

For $0.49 a piece!  We’ll have 3 on each table!

And then we got tea lights.  Got a box of 100 for $3.99!  Even cheaper than the Dollar Tree which has them for 16 for $1.

Yay for IKEA and creating my dream wedding on a budget!

Remember I told y’all that I was buying some items from a friend who had just got married in the Upcycling Wedding Items post?

Well, we met up, I gave her $40 and she gave me 125 candle holders and 18 picture frames!!  GREAT!!

She’s getting some money back, I’m getting items for our wedding and nothing is being thrown away!

It was $10 for 18 picture frames which we are going to use as table numbers!   Had we gone straight to IKEA, these would have cost us $18.  

We also got candle holders…about 125 of them!  I paid $30 for these and if we had gone straight to IKEA they would have been about $46!  They are crazy steals, but they are good enough for me!  Almost half off and they were already good prices to begin with!

I’m excited to have more items towards our reception!

]]> http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/update-upcycling-wedding-items/feed/ 0 southtexaswedding tolsby-frame-for--pictures__0100784_PE244197_S4 http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/rehearsal-dinner/ http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/rehearsal-dinner/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:14:13 +0000 Liz http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/?p=1054 ]]> So, we have been thinking about our rehearsal dinner.   It’s less than 5 months from the wedding and we haven’t heard anything from his (my wonderful groom) side of the family about money/rehearsal dinner/any form of contribution.  Keep in mind, we live less than 20 minutes from both of his parents.  That’s a whole other topic though.

Needless to say, we are now having to plan the rehearsal dinner within our own budget since his parents are probably not going to host it.  We hadn’t originally planned on this so we are trying to go inexpensive, but we don’t want it to be cheap.

Another problem is that we are having a traditional Catholic wedding so there are MANY people involved.  It’s nice that everyone is involved, but unfortunately, we have to host a dinner the night before with everyone.   So, there are aunts and uncles included on both of my parents sides and I don’t want to not include my other aunts and uncles because they aren’t a part of the wedding.  So basically our rehearsal dinner will consist of over 50 people.  Yep!  Almost half of the wedding will also be at the rehearsal dinner.  Translation…We NEED cheap meals!

As y’all know, we live in the great state of Texas.  One thing the great state of Texas is known for is great BBQ!  So, this is our thought, go to a barbeque restaurant and chow down on some inexpensive BBQ!  We will have some people coming in from out of state they will especially enjoy the country cookin’!   In order to pull this off, we want to embrace the country style!  I call it “Rustic Chic”, but we are thinking lanterns, red and white gingham, mason jars, daisies, etc!  I hope we are able to pull this off!  We spoke to a pretty well known BBQ joint that’s less than a 5 minute drive from the church and they said they can work with our budget.  No more than $8 a person!

 This is our general idea, but the restaurant has long picnic style benches and we will use lanterns and mason jars for centerpieces.

Our goal is to make it look cute country, not cheap meal.

Let’s hope this works!

I showed y’all the design of our Save the Date created by Little Bit Heart, but now it’s official! They are sent off!

We used our gorgeous chocolate envelopes given to us by Little Bit Heart and addressed them with a Gold Metallic Marker. For the finishing touch, we added the Wedding Roses stamp created by the USPS!

I think that these stamps simply add to the romance of the chocolate brown and the gold metallic writing. Thank you USPS for creating event specific stamps!

I think a large part of having a successful marriage is to truly treasure each other and like this Dove chocolate says, “Savor small romantic moments”. After all, it’s the little, daily things that keep our relationships going for years and years. I have always said that I would rather have someone who is by my side day by day than someone who does grandiose romantic gestures once in a while. I mean, I’m still a girl, and I still need some romance, but not the large, extravagant type because I savor our small romantic moments.

I know many of y’all have seen the Bridal Hangers for your big day, right?  Well, I think these are so important for the before pictures of your dress, but why just you?  Many Bridesmaids and Flower Girls are getting ready with you on your big day too.  Why not take a picture of their adorable dresses, on adorable hangers as well?!?

Well, you can!!  Suspended Moments has created a Little One’s Hanger!!  I think that these are just the most adorable thing ever!!!  Our flower girls are going to have custom made dresses and I can’t wait to display the dresses on these hangers!

The one that I received from Suspended Moments came in white and has the name of one of my flower girls.  The white finish is great!  Another really important feature of these hangers is that the top of them are swivel.  I’ve seen other hangers where they don’t rotate on the top and that doesn’t create ideal situations for pictures (which are half the reason you are getting them, in addition to a keepsake).  You don’t have to worry about that with Suspended Moments, she’s thought of it all.  How has she thought of everything?  Because she was just a bride last June and as we all know, no one can be as picky about a wedding as the bride!

These hangers don’t just stop at giving them to your flower girls and ring bearer though, you could also give these as a gift to an expecting mother or as a toddler’s birthday gift!  This is a hanger that the mother of the Little Ones in your wedding party will appreciate for many years to come!!  All of this for only $20 ($17 for South Texas Wedding readers- see below)!

To Purchase: 

Everyone is a winner because Dawn, at Suspended Moments has also generously offered a 15% off discount to all my readers by typing in the code ‘southtx15′ at checkout.

To Win:

One lucky winner will win their own custom made Little One’s Hanger!  You can enter into the giveaway by following the entry options below.  [Leave a comment for each entry.  5 entries= leave 5 comments]

Giveaway Entries:

• Visit Suspended Moments and tell me another item you like (1 entry)
• Add Suspended Moments  to Your Favorites and leave your Etsy name (1 entry)
• “Like” South Texas Wedding on Facebook and leave your Facebook name (1 entry)
• Follow South Texas Wedding @SouthTXWedding and leave your Twitter ID (1 entry)
• Purchase a product from Suspended Moments using the 15% off code above and leave a comment with the product you purchased.  (5 entries)
• Subscribe to my blog via e-mail- found on right side toolbar (1 entry)
• Tweet: “I entered to win a Little One’s Custom Hanger @SouthTXWedding #wedding #giveaway http://wp.me/p1DdFA-gH” .  Leave your twitter name and the link to the tweet (1 entry- This can be done once per day.)

Make sure to leave your e-mail address in every comment so if you win, I can contact you.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail and if no response, a new winner will be contacted.  Entries will be accepted until February 3rd at 11:59 pm CST.   This giveaway is open to those who live in the U.S. and are 18 and up in age.

*All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review.  I did receive a Little One’s Hanger in order to host the review.  The winner’s information will be given to the sponsor and they will contact you regarding your win.

I feel like time has just flown by!  The Jan. 1 passing date was really a pivotal mark.   THIS is the year that we get married!!  It’s crazy!!!  It’s always this…”Oh, we’re getting married in 2012″.  Well, it’s 2012 NOW!!!  Ahh!!

This is it…the official months and days countdown begins!!

Times a tickin’!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I am SO excited about this year, because this is the year that I will become a wife!!

Also, it’s our Anniversary!!  5 years together!!  Yay!!

I hope y’all have a wonderful year and many blessings to you and your loved ones!!!

]]> http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/happy-new-year/feed/ 0 southtexaswedding http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/save-the-date/ http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/save-the-date/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:25:43 +0000 Liz http://southtexaswedding.wordpress.com/?p=1009 ]]> You can’t win if you don’t enter!!

As a blogger that hosts giveaways, I tell people this all the time!!  As a firm believer, I also enter into giveaways, ESPECIALLY those on blogs.  I entered into a very special one!  There is this adorable  custom paper goods and design company called Little Bit Heart that I had come across and they were hosting a giveaway for 100 5″ x 7″ Postcards from Uprinting.  When I got the e-mail that I had won, I was really excited because I knew that I could use them for our Save the Dates.  The part of the giveaway that I missed was the “Plus a customized file from our readymade collection”.

Oh Yes!

They have a collection of “readymade” Save the Dates which they can customize that they threw in!!

I was beyond excited about the second half of this!  Free prints is nice, free design is Great!!!

We started the process and they were AMAZING every step of the way!!  Our engagement shoot was pushed back further than we had expected and they were completely understanding about it.  Little Bit Heart was SO enjoyable to work with throughout the whole process!  There are just some people who can convey that they are genuine even via e-mail communication and they are definitely some of them!  Our colors are a little bit more unique and specific (burnt orange) and they were able to get them exactly how I wanted it!

HERE IT IS!!!

The AWESOMENESS doesn’t stop there…Since the postcard print from Uprinting is too large for a postcard stamp.  Little Bit Heart went ABOVE and BEYOND!!  They even sent me chocolate brown envelopes to complement our Save the Dates!  Aren’t they amazing!?!?!

We got our Save the Date in last week from Uprinting and  I am SOOO pleased with the way the design and print turned out!

I can’t wait to send them out!!