First Official DIY... (it's a start)

With all the fabulous bloggers and future brides on Weddingbee and The Knot, it's hard not to be inspired to DIY. I've mentioned before my imperfect-perfectionism, so I've been skeptical. But the DIY section on Weddingbee was inspiring. What's that? I don't have to start alone, from scratch, confused? I found this one while bored at work, and made myself a little DIY-project during lunch!

I enjoy commisioning projects and finding real gems through Etsy, but after single-handedly funding a hypothetical-Etsy-child's first year of college, I thought it might be time for a break. This program was perfect. It seemed easy enough- and one sheet of paper for the inside? Psh! I could afford 200 or so sheets of paper! Easy and affordable you say? Go on...

I changed a bunch of things from the original template to make it fit our event. Except for the headers ("Thank You," "Wedding Party," etc) I justified the text to go to the outside edge of the page, either right or left. I loved the smaller, bold, all-uppercase type used sparsely throughout, so I made sure it was used and then made it green for a punch. I plan to talk to our invite/monogram/save the date/etc designer on Etsy and find out what fonts she used (so I can incorporate them) and what green she used (since I'm psycho.)

Our wedding will lead directly into our reception, cabaret style, so I included the menu in the program as well. I had to sort of guess on our selection of entrees and sweets, but that's what drafts are for, right?

Instead of the paper cover, I want to use a thicker-stock green paper (matched exactly per my OCD color matching tendencies, I hope) for a cover. Then, I will print on thicker white paper our monogram and affix it, as well as print the guest's name and affix it. That way- instant place card for the table! Oh I love the streamlining of it all.

Below is a picture I took to send to a friend of the very inside. The back of the "Thank You" one has our wedding party. If you can't see the text here, the top left are our Thank-You's, the bottom left is our Remembrances, and the Menu is on the right.

The back page will say:

Falling in love
is like owning a dog.

An Epithalamion by Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
so think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?
On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!
Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

IN LIEU OF FAVORS, A DONATION WILL BE MADE IN OUR GUESTS’ NAMES TO KENTUCKIANA PUG RESCUE, AN ORGANIZATION NEAR AND DEAR TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM.

I found the Taylor Mali poem (not sure what epithalamion means, so we'll go with poem right now) and his wonderful website encouraged its use. I think it's a great way to tie in our "favor" and describe our wonderful puggy love story.

What I had a hard time writing was the Remembrance section. It's a constant reminder that I will have no dad at the wedding. I also am missing all my grandparents, as well as my Uncle- my mom's brother, who died 20 days before my dad. My family has been through a lot, and sometimes I get jealous looking at wedding photos where the only person "missing" is someone's great grandma. I am consistently playing around with ideas of how to bring my loved ones into the wedding, especially my dad, but without it being a downer. Luckily, my family members are all upbeat, optimistic, and fun-loving and won't let any sadness rain on our wedding parade. Typical Irish! I love it!

When I showed Mr Pug the mock-up, he brought up an issue I hadn't thought about. His parents are divorced (have been, for many years) and his mom is now in a wonderful relationship with a female partner. We consider her to be family, so naturally we thought to order her a corsage, and mention her in the program, just like his Dad's wife, or my Mom's boyfriend. But Mr Pug worried that his mom's partner wouldn't want that. I hate the challenges that face men and women who cannot be 100% "out," and I would hate for her not to get the credit and respect she deserves for being a huge part of our life and relationship. This will be an ongoing issue for us as we want to be respectful but joyful about their relationship and the role it plays in our life.

It's always something, isn't it? I can't wait as this program evolves and becomes more set in stone. What DIY projects have you attempted? Which projects are you leaving to the pros? And what unique family situations come up when trying to do traditional wedding tasks?