Arbor Day Farm - Morton Barn Wedding

This weekend our family all went to the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, NE to get apples for Fall baking! We had a great time, walked some trails and even did a wine tasting. While we were walking we came across a BEAUTIFUL rustic barn just ready for a wedding!

It is called the Morton Barn. Apparently they rent it out for weddings on a regular basis. It costs around $8500 for a 200-guest wedding and reception. There are even vinyl flaps on the barn in case of weather!

There is a hotel on site for guests to stay in as well as for the wedding night. The only thing you need are your decorations and cake essentially! It explains it all in their wedding package PDF.

The money goes to a great cause... Arbor Day Farm focuses on conservation and enjoying the beauty of nature right here where we are!

Real Bride. Real Cool. Real Married!!!

Hey everyone! Remember our lovely Emily and Alex? Well they're officially hitched! Yup! 20 days and counting. Ems recently shared some swoon-worthy shots on her blog of the wedding DIY details as well as a couple of shots from the honeymoon and wedding itself!

One of the wood signs made by Alex

My BHLDN addiction turned useful.

From left, clockwise: Pennant flags by Em, their collaborative Save-the-Date, "Best Dog" ribbon with flower, mums, Steep Street Wedding Photo, vintage tablecloths, Steep Street dancing photo.

Congratulations you two! On being married and still being tan from Costa Rica!

OMG CUTE.

Preview of Wedding Photos!

I wanted to hold off posting photos of the wedding until I have the professional shots all back and cropped and balanced... but I can't help it!!! There's so many photos on facebook (cringe) that it won't hurt one thing to share about 10 photos that our family took!

Dress hung with lilafrances "mrs. finley" hanger

Only Child - Walking with Both Parents

Unity Plant - Funny story for later...

Butterfly Release - One Refused its Freedom to be with Walter

Mr. + Mrs.!!!

Spectacular Homemade Wedding Cake

Handmade Mason Jar Centerpieces

Carousel Ride!!!

Skee-Bouquet!!!

Hell yeah Carnival photos!!! Y'all have to wait for more!!!

While you wait:

Enter the giveaway!!! Only 2 days left! Simply leave a comment and you're in; No following, tweeting, facespacing or anything else necessary.

Cardigan Mini-Project

I am a huge fan of the bride-in-a-cardigan. Especially in my color, yellow.

However, it is not hard to find a picture of a bride in a cardigan. Even yellow cardigan bride comes up with a lot of results on google. I will wear a cardigan because I like this trend and a hoodie (like I usually wear) just won't do. To separate myself from the rest of the cardigan brides and yellow cardi-brides I replaced the buttons my cardigan was made with and sewed the replacements on, sourcing them from my very own collection. Now I have a special, very buttony cardi that is perfect for MEEEE!

LOVE IT!

Vintage Dress Alteration

BEFORE

Shawn and I have been "married" to each other for a few years now. We have lived and conducted ourselves in a way that if Nebraska recognized it, it would be commonlaw marriage. In light of our upcoming legal marriage we want to make a stand with Nature that we were married first, before the State said so!
That being said, we will wake up around Dawn on Thursday, pack up and hike out into the woods we love. We are going to pack my vintage dress, an outfit for him, and his camera equipment. We have found a spot already that we wanted to get married at. It is so beautiful with a sunken in creek bed and trees everywhere. Once there, we'll change, take some photos and privately discuss what we only want the other to hear. Some stuff I don't think everyone would care to see us get all mushy over at the Friday wedding!
So what do you think of the vintage dress's real purpose now?

AFTER

Very understandibly my alteration lady is too busy leaving for her Summer trip to finish up the hem shortening. So being the HiLLjO, I did it myself!And what do you think of its new length?

Sock Bunny Rabbits

I make sock monkeys and Shawn and I both have one, but for the wedding guestbook table we wanted something that tied into our bunny theme. Sock bunnies seemed a pretty natural choice. They're also a nod to the homemade bunny dolls Shawn's Grandma used to make when she was still here. The faces/profiles were made in the same way and shape.
Shawn's bunny with full details is here.
Here are ours so far together sans eyeballs!

Check out the spectacular button I found that matches my engagement ring. Square with a round stone! More on these soon!

Flower Girl Baskets - DIY Tutorial #7

I finally got my rear in gear and finished an easy DIY.

For supplies:

2 flower girl baskets

Yellow Grosgrain Ribbon

Hot glue gun + sticks

Fake flora

Instructions:

If your flower girl baskets are shoddy quality (like mine unknowingly were!) secure any loose panels/handles with hot glue and apply light pressure.

Next, practice placing the ribbon on your basket so that it will lay flat all the way around. Place a dot of hotglue in the center of the front and attach your ribbon there. Add a glue spot to the middle of each side while you wrap your ribbon around it to make sure it's secure.

Next, make your bow stylistically. Meaning: don't make a real bow, just one that looks supernatural-perfect.

So first make a little loop and secure it with glue. Then cut a piece to cover the middle. Then position it so it is perfectly in the middle. Wrap the edges and secure them with hot glue.

You should have something like this:

Then just glue this guy onto the basket ribbon.

So cute!!! Not quite done, though. Add some fake flora (not too much!!!) and you're good to go. I'm storing mine in the bags they came in so that they stay nice and safe! Plus it recycles the bags!







Extra Invite Karma

While doing a seemingly not-so-fun job of making additional incidental invitations, a goldmine hath been found. We have been sending our empty-inside, gold-embossed-butterfly outside Thank-you's for leftover invites. These are mainly going to Shawn's friends who he thought of after the blue butterfly invites were all mailed. People from work, you know? He helped, anyway!

I had to buy extra envelopes to finish mailing our blue invites because that's the only thing we bought too few of, so I can't complain about that! I ended up getting gorgeous yellow envelopes (small and large for Invite and RSVP) and I was originally irritated to pay more because the large came with cards.
The handmade ivory paper used on the blue invites is actually mounted intentionally on the "wrongside" so you can't see the metallic flake on the "rightside." It was too busy on the butterfly invite, but as you can see: they're just right on these guys!!!

And how gorgeous is the RSVP with the paper rightside showing with the embossed butterfly?

I guess the cards I was forced to buy worked out, too!!!
I just love happy accidents that come about from doing the right thing: invite all you love, damn the headcount.

DIY Tutorial #6 - Framed Chalkboard Signs

I am in love with the chalkboard trend for weddings.
They're cute, customizable and I think they're becoming increasingly easy to find. Save-On-Crafts has a bunch but beware their shipping charge... yikes!
I went the DIY route on this because I can't justify paying more for shipping than the total of my supplies!

What I started with:

1 jar of Crayola Chalkboard Paint
1 Foam Brush
2 Rustic 5x7 picture frames (with a hanger on the back)
A hot glue gun w/ glue sticks
1 (4) yard spool of non-wired ribbon in a width >1/4"
Paper to protect your work surface

Prep your frames by removing the cardboard inserts(don't throw them away!) and the glass carefully. I removed the easel-back but it was stupid-hard. If you leave it on, you can use the frame after the wedding possibly.

Lay out your protection paper and lay out 2 of the cardboard inserts from the frames. Paint each one in a thin coat of paint on each one in ONE direction and let dry. After they dry, repeat another thin coat of paint and let that dry as well.

Plug in your hot glue gun and glue one painted cardboard insert to the plain one so it's thicker.

Position your double-layer cardboard onto the back of the frame closure and glue it into place.

Once it has cooled and is secure, glue the inside of the frame edge and close the frame closure, applying pressure to seal it shut.

Flip them over and check out your handiwork.

To string them up, cut a length of 2 yds and fold the edge in half, then pull through the hanger loop. Make a double-knot at the height you'd like your bow and then make a bowtie.

Let your paint cure for 24 hours before prepping it for chalk. Once it has been a FULL 24 hours coat the entire surface with a sideways piece of chalk, wipe clean and then it is officially a chalkboard.
Rustic-Fabulous!!!

This Week's Pre-Summary + BHLDN Favorite Things

Hi, all. I sincerely apologize for my lapse of posts this week ahead of time. Shawn was sick from Friday and on through today still. I thought he had food poisoning so I took a vacation day off work Friday and stayed bed-ridden with him all weekend. So I was around his coughing and sneezing and fluids... and now I suspect he had the flu, as I am now starting some symptoms. I am also moving to a new department in my company this week. So I'll be busy, busy, busy 'til it is Friday once more!

For now, I will let you know: BHLDN has started a moodboard function on its website similar to Style Me Pretty's (although NOTHING is like Style Me Pretty boards!!!) where you can upload your own inspiration, and then go nuts with their product. I tried that avenue this morning with two very different boards. One is april showers-inspired and one is may blush colored flowers-inspired.

April Showers

Bring Blush Colored May Flowers

GO LOOK AND MAKE ONE!!!

Mason Jar Centerpieces

My mother in law, Donna went with me on my first wedding-related DIY shopping trip back in August/September. We went to Hobby Lobby because I was so overwhelmed by where to start planning that I couldn't come up with anything! SO not like me (I'm lucky my mom and my future second mom are both crafty)!
We were focusing on table decorations first. I knew I didn't want flowers on the table necessarily, nor anything else that impedes conversation due to size.
Luckily Donna asked the Million Dollar Question: "What do you like?"
I answered simply, "Mason Jars."
"Let's do jar centerpieces then."
"Okay!"
They're short enough to talk over, easy to find and afford, and you can customize the bizingo out of them. How would we choose to customize them, though?
Donna said she had experience glass painting so we went to the book section and found a book on hand painted glasses.

We liked the look of one design on stemless wine glasses.

She thought we could swap out the flowers in the design with sunflowers to make it match. We also thought a candle would be nice inside to bounce off the glass later in the evening and double as lighting! She added a ribbon around the threads and it was perfect.

When we went to the venue to look around and eventually book it, the venue coordinator, Kari, shared with us that she had centerpiece accessories. They ended up being perfect for our jars. Kari has table mirrors and clear pebbles to use on the tables! For no charge! YEE!!!
Over the last 6 months Donna has bought everything to make the centerpieces and ended up painting a case of Mason jars+ and also painting tiny sunflowers on a truckload of blue pebbles.

They look so amazing.
I can't wait to see how amazing they all look together on the tables!

Foreground-Set Fore-/Hind-sight Advice

I'm literally losing my mind. I'd say it's funny or lol but I'm having a seriously hard time right now at the last stages of planning the wedding. It's like I'm having cold feet about everything but Shawn_bunnay. I think this was brought about when I listed all our DIY projects and counted them yesterday. It made me feel... it gave me the sensation of sinking. What's more sad: most of the projects are done and I still feel like this.
Everyday I take my role in the blogging community very seriously. I'm not a professional... yet(Omaha brides are my favorite!), but I think it all starts with conducting yourself in a professional way with everything you do. To me this means returning the favor of compliments and growing the collection of blogs that I read into a well-rounded-topics-including-random community. So everyday on great blogs like Style Me Pretty, Hello Gorgeous, lovely little details and Grey Likes Weddings, I see wedding after wedding of gorgeous gowns, high-end venues and mind-blowing photography. This leads me to naturally compare our wedding to those weddings, and the problem is right there. Each wedding is very different, just like the people they are for. You cannot compare people so why would you compare weddings, the epitome of a personal celebration, to anyone else's?! I'm crazy for even going there, I now know that!
I just started thinking about how we planned: in a budget. We didn't plan by what we liked. I didn't want a $10,000+, artistically documented, couture gown, and Pantone-coordinated wedding planned by a design firm (That combination sounds like something I'd like to see, though!)
I wanted a $0, handmade, outside-y, heartfelt and candidly captured wedding that would have people driving home in their cars saying, "They really love each other."

And I think we have created that.

SHAWN+HILL JO

Sure our venue is the most affordable in town, but it's a higher-end restaurant; no bad wedding food for us! Plus our guests won't have to go anywhere else once they're there. It's a one-stop-shop celebration, which was #1 for me.
No, my photographer isn't "professional," but she's only such in the sense she currently doesn't have an office. She describes her business as "accidental" because she's really a nurse. The demand for her photography services at weddings is the only reason she's still doing her business. She's currently doing a wedding in Spain!!! Looking at her photos, I see that she thinks in pictures when she's looking at real-life. Who wouldn't want a photographer who can do that?!
Yes, I'm making our cake. I have tasted and tried every single cake I have ever seen and I won't apologize or backtrack when I say "My cakes are rockin'-- visually and taste-wise..." I haven't been beaten so far. Ask Shawn's friends...

35 DIY projects including design aspects of styling (people + spaces+events), graphic design, pastry design, textile design (including embroidery, hand-dying, pattern making, sewing and crocheting) is INSANE but people, this is what handmade wedding in under a year looks like. It is insane. Anyone who DIY's their wedding without a full year is nuts as well. I've been here to know!
Looks like I have some foreground advice set in the hindsight mind, but I hope that this helps anyone not to compare their wedding to anyone else's and simply love it in conjunction to the other weddings you see simply for what it is.

It's a celebration of the start of a marriage.

Invitations!

Invitations are done! Woo hoo! I went down to my parent's house on Saturday and assembled them all! It was quite the job but here's the final product...

They're all different because they're so handmade! 

I had two major meltdowns during the invitation process. When Shawn's Mom and I went to get them printed, I told them please do not cut them because I bought a paper cutter and I wanted to get to use it up! Plus I don't expect anyone but myself to cut each page and that's what I planned to do in order to make sure they're centered. Well the place cut the paper and ended up wasting 6 sheets of handmade specialty paper, which totaled 24 invitations that couldn't be made. I mean, they looked bad. I called and they credited Donna so we got our printing for free essentially.

Second Meltdown was the main design I had worked out didn't work out! I ordered a paper punch in the shape of a butterfly to stamp out where our names are now and write them on the blue behind it. The punch doesn't let you slide any kind of length of paper past it so you can only make confetti with it or put butterflies on the bottom of your paper or upside down anywhere else. Bah!

So this is what we could do and this is how they turned out! I think I love them!

Something Old - DIY #5

My something old is Shawn's Grandma's hanky. It's beautiful: all white with white floral embroidery and delicate edges. I wanted to embroider our monogram and our wedding date on it. I used all white thread and a tiny needle so the size of the needle didn't make holes in the frail fabric.

I stretched the hanky over an embroidery hoop and lightly penciled my work onto the fabric. I covered my pencil marks with white satin stitch and then handwashed it in lukewarm, lightly soapy water. I layed it flat to dry on a white washcloth, and Last month at this time we had the weekend where we found Shawn's suit, my something borrowed and my something old. 

MASON JAR GLORY!

Captured in real time. This has not been edited.

I only rotated it clockwise. The glory was simply captured for all of those who know not the glory of the mason jar. Now: plans for said jar.
This beauty will be a "Buttons for the Bride" jar at the guestbook table and then moved to the bar area so if any family members who previously gifted or had wished to gift the HiLLjO buttons, there is ample opportunity to drop 'em in the jar at the wedding.
Christmas of 2009 my mom wrote and called friends and members of our family to put buttons in a jar for me since I collect them... and the only thing I love more than a jar is a jar of buttons. So for a few months, my family members and friends scoured drawers and pockets for plastic baggies of extra buttons or any loose strays. The result was the container you see here on top of the washer/dryer since the jar they were originally in broke. Now we have a new jar and hopefully more buttons for the bride!