DIY Wedding Decor

We just love working with WCIU, You and Me this Morning.  For our segment yesterday we focused on Bold Color a BIG trend this wedding season.  If you missed our segment yesterday you can view the video here.  Below I have listed all of the details and vendors involved  in this segment!  Enjoy!

All floral design was provided by my very talented sister-in-law Tiffany Burdick, Owner of The Petal Boutique.  We chose to design bold colored pomanders.  Each created with carnations!  Can you believe how gorgeous they are!  Pomanders can be carried by your bridesmaids or used as pew decor.  After the ceremony we suggest re-using them as the centerpieces as you see here.

Our Bold  Hot Pink linen was provided by Unique Party Rental!

 This escort card display is so easy to make.  We chose paint chips from a local home improvement store in the various colors of our theme. The very best part of this is the paint swatches are FREE! We punched out the circles with a 3 inch circle craft punch. So all you have to do is write out your table assignments and tack them right to the cork board!  We had some fun listing the names for the segment!  Zach Morris was invited!

 Here is our gorgeous bridal bouquet designed by Tiffany Burdick with The Petal Boutique.  It was created with white roses, white peonies, white ranaculus, and white lilacs.  We wanted the bouquet to be completely white but have alot of texture!  And might I add that the combination of the lilacs and peonies made this bouquet smell wonderful!

 To add our bold colors to the bouquet we added a colored ribbon wrap.  Doesn't this look fun!

 We work with Dessert Designer, Kelly Siebens with Lillycakes and I had been begging her to make a "lillycake cake," and this segment was the perfect opportunity for her to launch this new product!  Isn't it great!  We had the cakes decorated to match our bold theme as well.  This cake held 200 lillycakes!

 Bite-sized desserts are such a trend right now and I think this is a great way for Brides and Grooms to have a very fun and creative yet affordable wedding cake.

I hope you enjoyed all the details!  If you have further questions or would like to speak with us about designing your wedding you can contact us here.'

Holiday Party

We were so excited we were asked to create another event on WCIU's You and Me this Morning. With the holidays just around the corner we are happy to share with you some of our tips and ideas for your holiday party!

Step Number One:  Pick a Main Color

In this case we chose Red!  But you can choose any color you would like.  We incorporated this color in our linen, napkins and centerpeices.

We incorporated the red color in all of the aspects of our centerpieces.  We used fabric to wrap clear flower vases to give the table more texture.  We also spray painted  clear candle sticks from the Dollar Tree red to match.

To really add some dimension to our table we decided to pick red roses and carnations as the flowers.  Using these flowers you can make a very lush centerpiece at an affordable cost.

Step 2: Choose an Accent Color

For Christmas the traditional colors are Red and Green, but to avoid being too matchy matchy we only used Green as an accent color. These Green chargers we found at Target were the perfect touch of color our holiday table needed.

Step 3: Add a Personal Touch

This may seem way too simple but it is true, people love to see their name in writing! Especially if you are hosting an event in your home, having designated place settings for each guest makes any event more elegant.  We folded the red napkins into a small square and wrapped them in ribbon to look like a present.  Then to add that personal touch we printed each guest name on shimmer card stock and used a tag punch to punch out each name. After that we just secured each tag to the ribbon to complete the look.

Holiday Party Secret!

Want to impress your guests with decorative dishes but cant afford to by fancy china?  These decorative plates we found at the Dollar Tree!  They offer many colors and patterns to choose from. 

Step 4: Add a Signature Drink

This drink does not have to be alcoholic it could even be a punch.  Having a signature drink gives the guests an opportunity to try a beverage that wouldn't usually order.  For this holiday party we used a Peppermint Martini for our signature drink.

Peppermint Martini

Ingredients

•5 ounces of Chopin vodka

•1/2 ounce of Peppermint Schnapps

•Candy canes

•Pour all of your liquid ingredients into a shaker 1/2 full of cracked ice.

•Give a good 20 vigorous shakes and let the shaker rest for half a minute.

•Strain your lucious peppermint martini into 2 martini glasses.

•Add a candy cane in each glass for garnish.

Enjoy!

Step 5: Give each guest a favor to take home

This started when we were all kids.  As we were getting ready to leave our friends birthday parties we received a goodie bag to take home filled with treats and toys. I don't see why there is any reason as adults we can't still receive a goodie bag at the end of an event!  For this segment we wanted to include a treat special to Chicago.  Garrett's Popcorn was the perfect choice.

Candy stations and dessert bars have been very popular at weddings and events.  Why not downscale and have one at your holiday party?  Here you can see we filled the Garretts popcorn into various vases and inserted a scoop on top.  At the center of the table was a gift bag that included a bag to fill with popcorn, a twisty tie to seal your popcorn bag, and a list of favorites foods and drinks for your guests to check out next time they are in your neighborhood!

Step 5: Enjoy yourself!

Holidays are a great time to catch up with friends and family. Save the dishes for later and be a guest at your event!

Baby Shower on a Budget

A few weeks ago we received a call from WCIU "The U" issuing La Di Events a challenge.   They challenged us to plan a gender neutral baby shower for 8-10 guests on a budget of $100. We were asked to use items that are already in our homes and items that are affordable to buy at the store.  We were up for the challenge!  The "Baby Shower on a Budget" segment aired this Wednesday November 3rd on the WCIU morning show You and Me this Morning. Enjoy the video!

Scroll down to learn more details about the products used in this segment.

Tablecloth

We used a twin bed sheet from Target!  The twin sheet will fit an 8 foot table.  If you have a round or oval table you can use a fitted full sheet!

Advice and Wishes

This is a great way for guests to share their advice with the mom to be.  We cut up pieces of scrap booking paper that we found at Michaels.  Place the scrapbook pieces on a dish or tray you have in your home with a pen or a small point permanent marker.  For the advice and wishes sign we printed out the words on the computer and glued it to a piece of folded scrapbook paper.  You can set out any clear vase you have in your home for the guests to place their wishes in.

Food

The best way to save money at a shower is to not schedule the party at a meal time.  I would recommend 3pm.  This way you can just have a few items to eat and save money on food.  For the segment we cut up fruit and placed them in glasses I had in my home to make individual portions for each guest.  This also saves you money because you do not have to buy plates for the guests to put their food on.  We displayed the fruit on a dish I had in my home and to add some flair cut a piece of scrap booking paper to line the dish.

Guest Seating

It is always nice to incorporate your guests in the shower.  Ask each guest to mail you a baby photo to be used at the shower.  Place each photo in a picture frame, these we found at the dollar store.  Place the pictures at each guest place setting so guests can find their seat.  It also will be a great conversation piece.

Flowers

I was so excited when I found these sundae dishes at the dollar store.  They were perfect for our baby shower theme.  We used the sundae dish as a vase for flowers.  The flowers we purchased were from Jewel-Osco and we chose flowers that were affordable and matched our theme, mums and carnations.

Cupcake Stand

To make this cupcake stand we took one of the sundae dishes turned it upside down and glued it to a plate from the dollar store with ceramic glue.  Now you have a very chic and affordable stand to display your homemade cupcakes at the shower.

Cupcake Flags

Cupcake flags are very popular but you don't have to spend alot of money on them.  You can make then yourself.  For these flags we traced a tea light candle for the circles on scrapbook paper.  Next we cut out the circles and taped a toothpick to one of the two circles.  Last we took some stick glue and glued the two circles together.  For a finishing touch we added a Wilton baby foot sticker.

Drinks

For the drink we chose a traditional lemonade.  To add to the look we sliced up 6 limes and added them to the lemonade.  We displayed it in my Colin Cowie drink dispenser.   This was not included in the budget because I have this already in my home.  But you don't have to use a fancy drink dispenser you could use a pitcher or a punch bowl you have at home.  You could also pour individual glasses for guest to take.

Coasters

Instead of playing games at the shower you can set out these baby shower trivia coasters by Wilton.  This is a great way to still add some fun to the shower without playing multiple games.

A BIG thank you to WCIU and You and Me this Morning for asking La Di Events to be a part of their morning show.

I loved spending my morning with Jeanne and Melissa!

I hope you enjoyed the "Baby shower on a Budget" segment on You and Me this Morning.  I know I did!!

For more details on items we used in this segment or our planning services please contact us here.