Lily's Planning Journal (Pictures And Diy)

[LilyPotter]

Lily and Rune - getting hitched!

 

My planning thread.

 

Phew! I've looked through what feels like the whole forum at BDW, and decided to make a planning thread of my own... Mostly to get everything out there, and to make sure that I don't forget anything! You ladies have inspired me sooo much, and I probably would be panicking by now if it wasn't for all the ideas and the amazing inspiration in general that you have brought me!

 

Meeting and engagement.

 

Rune and I met four years ago, on a new years eve party. We got together about 6 months later, and 3 months after that, we moved in together. He's the one, most definitely! 

 

Our engagement story is rather boring, because we aren't really engaged... Not officially, anyway. In August 2013 we were relaxing in our apartment - he on the x-box, and I was sitting in the office on the computer. Suddenly I got a mail from a travel agency that specializes on travels to Fiji, and package trips around the world. So I showed him the mail, and jokingly commented that we could do a trip around the world the next summer (June-August 2014) if we started saving in the next couple of weeks. He barely looked up from the mail and just nodded. "I see they do weddings in Fiji..? Geesh, I'd rather get married on a beach than having a big stuffy party here..." was what came out of his mouth next, and since that sentence, everything just came to place. 

 

We agreed on keeping it a total secret, and to this day, the only ones who know, are our two best men (what do you call a male maid of honor? Man of honor? Bridesman?), our photographers, our videographer, and you ladies in this forum! We're getting married on Taveuni Island, Fiji, July 14th 2014.

 

Rings.

 

Since he never proposed with a ring, I get two now when we get married! I'm not much of a bling-girl, so I wanted it simple but beautiful. His ring is a plain yellow gold 5mm band, which he loves! Getting him to wear jewelry is a project, believe me... So when he found something he liked, we shopped for me accordingly. 

 

 

The pics are taken with my iPhone, so sorry for the bad quality!

 

Attire.

 

When I first started looking for a dress, I didn't want anything overly special or expensive, as long as it was white/ivory. But as the months passed, and I didn't find anything I really liked, I went by a bridal shop in my home town, just to see what all the fuss was about. I tried on one dress... THE dress.

 

 

I'm wearing some awesome cobalt-blue shoes, silver jewelry, and my mothers veil (which I borrowed from her closet three years ago, and she still hasn't noticed).

 

My hubby to be is going to wear almost all black: Black shoes, tight dark blue (almost black) jeans, a black belt, a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a cobalt blue tie, and a black vest. 

 

Colors.

 

We chose colors based on my favorite pair of shoes, actually! They are a cobalt blue with a silver sequin heel. So the colors are Ivory, shades of blue and shades of green (because I want to use as much greenery as possible to decorate, and that is a rather safe color to go with... Every island has something green!). Here are two inspirational pictures:

 

 

Cake.

 

I've actually just mailed an inquire to a Fijian bakery, and what I want is a one tire ruffle cake with a blue ombre. Starting with a deep cobalt blue on the bottom, gradually turning lighter and lighter, until the top is in an ivory fondant. Something like this:

 

 

And we're also bringing a cake topper. This I bought from an Etsy shop on inpulse, but I'm still overly happy with it! 

 

 

I think it will look gorgeous on the blue cake, which will be 6" wide, and 6" tall!

 

Flowers.

 

We'll be having silk flowers for my bridal bouquet and grooms boutonniere, and fresh flowers (white and ivory) for our centerpiece on the dinner table and the wedding arch for our ceremony (resort takes care of that). I've ordered a bouquet and boutonniere from http://www.hibiscusflorals.com/ and they will be arriving in may. This is what we sent for inspiration:

 

 

 

[LilyPotter]

Resort.

 

We're getting married on Paradise Taveuni resort in Fiji. We loved the look and feel of the place, and it was greatly recommended by our travel agent. We're arriving the 10th of July, our photographers and videographer the 12th, and my makeup artist the 13th. Were having an engagement shoot and party the 12th (the photographers are throwing it! Isn't that just awesome! They are almost like friends already), and I'm having a trial run for the makeup the day before the wedding. We leave Taveuni the 16th of July. More about that further down! 

 

 

Doesn't it look like paradise?

 

Ceremony/reception.

 

We're having the ceremony in the tropical forest, right outside the resort itself. With our photographers as our witnesses, and our videographer as our only other "guest".

 

The reception is going to be very intimate, with just the two of us. Between the ceremony and the dinner, we're going inside the forest, and to a waterfall to take our photos. We're doing a trash the dress right then and there! So I'm actually looking for a dress to wear to the dinner... Thinking something along the lines of a cocktail dress... Preferably ivory or something with a sparkle! Or maybe even lace? 

 

 

Honeymoon.

 

Well... This is the fun part! Our mini trip around the world is a wedding and honeymoon all in one! We start here in Norway June 27th, and travel to London, and then Orlando, Florida. We're visiting the Harry Potter theme park for five days, as I'm a huuuge fan! From there we are traveling to LA, staying five nights, before we go to Fiji! There we'll be staying two whole weeks! Taveuni first, and then the luxury Quamea Island resort. From Fiji we go to Sydney, and stay there five days, before we go an visit our photographers in New Zealand (they live there - we're flying them in to Fiji). In New Zealand we're going to look through our engagement-, wedding- and TTD-photos, and make the album, before we travel to Tokio, and stay there for 8 days. We're celebrating my then husband's 25th birthday while in Tokyo, and then go to our final destination before we fly home: Copenhagen. We arrive Oslo, Norway on the 5th of August! Vacation, wedding, honeymoon and birthday celebration of a lifetime! x)

[LilyPotter]

​Ruffled chair covers.

 

Sunday, and wedding planning-/DIY-day! Today I finished the ruffles for my chair covers, but alas... I wont be able to show the finished product before the wedding, because I have to show them on the actual chairs... A sneak peek to follow!

 

First of all, my inspiration came form a picture I randomly stumbled upon while browsing through my pinterest homepage. This has now become my inspiration for everything "reception"-related! 

 

 

We will of course be having a much smaller table, and our colors are nothing like the romantic soft colors of the pic, but you get the feel!

 

Now, to the ruffles! As some of you may know, I originally intended to use a an ivory fabric, and then ombre dye it in my colors. But when I went to the fabric store, I quickly changed my mind. Firstly the thought of having to dye fabric in our small apartment (snow outside means no working outside at least until mid May ^^) made me rethink. So, with a fresh and clean mind, I started shopping! 

 

I ended up with four different fabrics: a beautiful ivory chiffon, a cobalt blue chiffon, a cobalt blue satin, and a chiffon with a beautiful, but rather neutral, blue/black/turquoise pattern. First things first! I searched for an easy tutorial, and ended up using bits of this site, mixed with some of my common sense x) 

 

First of all I made a pattern in cardboard, and then cut all of the fabric (with a rotary cutter) in equal circles. I wanted the ruffles to sit really tight together, and to look really full. The chairs are very wide as well (50 cm, made the owner of the resort measure for me), so I made a total of 144 ruffles for TWO chairs... Wow, that is a lot! I made 24 circles of the pattern chiffon, 24 of the cobalt chiffon, 48 of the ivory chiffon, and 48 of the cobalt satin.

 

Then I sorted the fabric in 24 piles (on the picture there are 12 shown). In each pile I had 1 pattern chiffon ruffle, 1 cobalt chiffon ruffle, 2 ivory chiffon ruffles, and 2 cobalt satin ruffles.

 

 

I then laid the piles flat out, laid them in a preset order (blue, ivory, blue, pattern, blue, ivory) so that there would not lay only blues on one side, and all the ivory on the other, and tied them together with a blue sowing thread. Was that really badly explained... Oh well, I tried!

 

 

Then I just did the same thing 23 more times, laid the ruffles out on my sofa to see how it looked. I must say I'm pleased with myself! Oh, and the shoes on the picture are the ones I'm wearing on the big day! Bad camera on my phone makes all the colors look weird, but in real life they look the same! EDIT: The ruffles on the pic are for ONE chair... In other words I made that times two

 

 

Now I'm debating with myself whether to have the pockets that go over the chairs or not... I was thinking to sow them all together, and just attach them to the back of the chair. The chairs on the resort are a dark brown, and as I mentioned before, quite wide. Last pic is of the chairs, and I think I'm leaning towards just using the ruffles, and let the top of the chairs be as they are... 

 

 

They use these chairs everywhere! I was planning to attach the ruffles right under the armrests on the back, and make it look like the chair was made with it on! You will not see any strings or threads anywhere. What do you think? 

Edited March 16, 2014 by LilyPotter

[csho]

@@LilyPotter WOW! Amazing thread!!! Everything looks like its coming together so nicely! AND what an amazing trip you guys have planned! That will be the trip of a lifetime! You guys will have soo much fun and it will be sooooo romantic just the two of you! So you don't plan on telling your family until you return? How do you think your families will feel?

And your ruffle chair pieces look awesome! great job with those!

[LilyPotter]

@@LilyPotter WOW! Amazing thread!!! Everything looks like its coming together so nicely! AND what an amazing trip you guys have planned! That will be the trip of a lifetime! You guys will have soo much fun and it will be sooooo romantic just the two of you! So you don't plan on telling your family until you return? How do you think your families will feel?

And your ruffle chair pieces look awesome! great job with those!

 

Thank you csho!

 

That's just it, it's just the two of us. That's how we want it. We never wanted a big party, because that is not us. We wouldn't like all the attention, and by the time we marry (in July), we've lived together for four year, so there is't anything we really need either. It is our day, and we've chosen to be a little selfish about it. Besides, we wouldn't had afforded the amazing trip if we did a huge wedding, and ultimately we just didn't want to risk it. We want to do this before children, so that we have this amazing time only to ourselves. The day will be captured by two photographers, and a videographer, so our families do get to take part in a way

 

We're planning of keeping it a secret until we get our albums, and then we are personally going to deliver them to my mother (in Spain), my father (a short flight away, but still in Norway), and the in-laws, and then the rest of the close family is getting a phone call, before we let the world know via Facebook. My mother may get a bit upset, for like two seconds, but she knows me, so I guess she will not be that surprised! My father I'm sure will start to cry once he sees the pictures, so no hard feelings from that amazing man. My in-laws would be more upset if we handed them an invitation... They hate social settings like that, so we believe that they'll be relieved that they didn't have to come But all in all: If our families do feel upset or neglected, we'll just have to explain why we did what we did, and invite them to a super casual dinner later in the year, because our next year will get tight moneywise

[csho]

Ohhh that sounds so lovely!!! That will be soo amazing! Personally I don't think I could it, mostly because I can absolutely not keep a secret! But it does sound sooo romantic and perfect for the two of you!!!

[brownsugarbride]

Could this be any more fabulous??! (I'm starting to wish I'd eloped!) I cannot wait to see your pictures!

[LilyPotter]

Okei... So not a Sunday, but I just HAVE to post before I go to work! Spent most of my evening pinteresting and etsying yesterday, and I finally found out what we are going to do for our table!

 

Table setting.

 

We are only the two of us, and I don't see the point of having a big table... At first I was told that the resort only had big dining tables, and nothing round to fit our "reception", but then the manager asked if a 30" table would be big enough, and I almost jumped and screamed YES! 30" is perfect! They apparently use these tables for breakfast and drinks in the evening, but we're going to use it to eat our first meal as husband & wife. The tablecloth I'm bringing is 108", and I love the puddle that creates at the bottom Okei, so here is the inspiration of what I was going for:

 

 

And this is the actual tablecloth I bought:

 

 

In any other setting it would be waaaaay to much, but believe me, it fits sooo well with the location for the dinner! Have a look (never mind the sunbeds... Not going to be there ^^):

 

 

And here is the table, and the chairs (haha, didn't think of that table when I showed it to you because of the chairs).

 

 

So... I was thinking the silver sequin tablecloth, with the white flower-centerpiece, cobalt blue dinner napkins (like shown on the very first photo, only different colors), square white plates, and the menu on top of the plate. Then the chairs will have the ruffles, but I'm leaning more towards having them like this:

 

 

That is the same amount of ruffles I showed you the other day, but I think maybe this style fits with the overall look? Sorry about the bad photo! Quickly resembled too

[csho]

Oh wow! This is all soooo gorgeous!!! Your dinner is going to be SOOOO romantic!

[FutureMrsSam]

I love your story! I love how everything is uncomplicated, can't wait to see the final product