Do-it-yourself card box

I'm not crafty at all. Like, at all. I can't even spin yarn balls (more on that in another blog). I've never been creative and I have difficulty figuring out how to make things even with simple instructions. But I found something that I loved! A DIY card-box, for when the guests brought a card as a gift or as a wish-you-well and need somewhere to put it. I got the idea from this post, but we had to change it up a little bit. We bought cheap Dollar Tree picture frames and when Jared tried to screw the L-brackets in, the frames started to crack! So we improvised with a glue gun instead and it worked just fine. Next we used foam board to sit on the L-brackets. I covered the top of the foam board with a cute piece of green fabric I found at Wal-Mart (did you know they sell just "swatches" for like a buck? That was perfect size. I even had some left over...I'll figure out what to do with the rest). I hot glued everything I could, even the fabric onto the foam board. On the bottom, I just rested of the foam board on top of the L-brackets so the cards would have somewhere to land. It was really super simple! I have one piece left to finish. I'm going to try to find a lazy Susan so I can put it on the bottom and it'll spin around, like in the Road to the Aisle blog.

I spent less than $20 on this. 4 frames from Dollar Tree ($4), 4 mats ($5), 4 pictures ($1), 4 sets of L-brackets ($4), a cork board ($1), and a piece of green fabric ($1). I don't know how much the lazy Susan will be but I'm guessing not more than a couple of bucks!

The pictures we used were sort of fun. They're from our engagement shoot that our friends did. The one with the date in it was when we were trying to take a cute picture with our date in the background and Jared's phone rang. It was funny that our friends kept snapping pictures and the looks on our face b/c we didn't recognize the number. The other picture of us laughing is from Jared making some sort of inappropriate joke while we were trying to pose sweetly on a lawn. Then I love the picture she got of my ring...I didn't even know she took it until she sent it to me! It's the only "close up" I have of my ring so far. And the last picture is just one of my favorite pictures of us...it's just sweet :)

So here are the pictures of our card box. I'm pretty proud of it. Actually very proud.

Pictures, again.

I've been trying to compile a list of all the types of pictures I want the day of the wedding. As I said before, the pictures are the whole reason we're not just eloping. We want the memories and the pictures to look back on. So they're extremely important to us. I'm a bit photo-obsessed, definitely.

So in compiling this list, I've realized the ceremony pictures and the pictures of us seeing each other before the ceremony are the ones I want most. So people dancing, pictures of the centerpieces...all of those I could do without (though I want pictures of those too) as long as we get a billion pictures during the ceremony.

 I'm really set on making the ceremony sweet, fun, sentimental and very us. Jared is on board with it too, luckily. I've been to very long weddings (like Catholic masses) and very short weddings (vows, rings, kiss, done) and we both want a memorable and sentimental wedding. We want emotion, damnit! We want to laugh, cry, fall in love with each other all over again. We want it to be fun and memorable for all, though, not just us.

We've pretty much got an itinerary of how the ceremony will go. And I'm so excited for it. That will make all of the planning worth it to me. (And you all know how much I hate planning this damn wedding)

Here are examples of some of the pictures I'm set on. I pulled some of them off of a wedding forum I'm on and some are from Google Images. I don't know who the photographers are, but these pictures are very much NOT mine, they will never be mine, I didn't pay for them nor have I been paid for posting them (so there goes my copyright get-out-of-jail-free card). Of course the list goes on and on and on and on...my poor friends who volunteered to be our photographers! I still want all the normal pics...like my BMs together, the groomsmen together, pictures of us individually, pictures wiht the parents...etc. But some of these are my favorites :)

Ok seriously, how awesome is this?

I love feet shots

A sweet shot of the couple

The first look! Oh I can't wait to do this one

I like angles.

Details like this are so sweet

Another first look shot! I LOVE THIS

I want the faces of each of us seeing each other before the ceremony for the first time

A great moment

The perspective here is awesome

I love the idea of "diving" into the dress

Very cool

Pictures Pictures Pictures...

I'm obsessed with pictures. I'm usually the only one of my friends who has brought a camera, and if I'm wearing a cute outfit, I try to get pictures of myself in it, standing with my friends. And I will not hesitate to say "No, take the picture length-wise!" I want pictures of everyone when we go out to places, and I love smiles and goofy looks. I love pictures!

I also upload pictures like crazy to Facebook, something that I'm sure annoys my friends. I take pictures of license plates, for example, that are funny to me. Vanity plates, mostly. I've even got people on board now! People send me pictures of funny plates, or they tag me in their Facebooks of ones they find out and about. So I know people know I'm picture-obsessed, but I always hope I'm not annoying about it.

And I'm definitely by no means a photographer...just love pictures. Memories! That's what they're for! Memories, people! I want to remember everything!  I know I get that from my mom. For years, she's given people gifts of pictures and photo collages. Bless her heart, she's not a scrapbooker or crafty by any means, but I love that she's so sentimental about them. For Jared's birthday, she gave him a collage she made of baby pictures of me. She loves them too.

So it goes without saying that my wedding photography is, with the exception of marrying Jared, the MOST important thing to me. The most! I want pictures of everyone...people dancing, people eating, people tying their shoelaces. I want pictures of me getting into my dress, getting my hair done, my bridesmaids getting dressed. I want pictures of Jared's face when he first sees me, pictures of my face when I first see him, pictures of us hugging...it's safe to say my photographers,  my very wonderful friends Chris and Kim, will have their work cut out for them.

My dream is to be featured on Style Me Pretty, as I mentioned in my last blog post. I swear, sometimes that's the whole reason why we're doing an actual wedding, rather than something simple. I WANT TO BE AN SMP BRIDE! Please? Oh please.

We're having a DIY photobooth, another thing I mentioned before. I want pictures of people having fun, letting loose, being goofy. I want pictures of everyone who came to the wedding. I want to know they had a good time! I want to look at the pictures one day when I'm old and losing my mind and say "Wow, it looks like people had fun. Was I there? Oh, I must've been. There I am!"

I got these done so I could look at myself

I'm also a little narcissistic, but only in the Greek way, not the psychological-label way. I love looking at myself and thinking "I'm pretty in this picture. Oh! I'm prettier in this one! Ooh and then there's this one!" So lots and lots of pictures, please.  Not because I'm the bride, but because I'm, well, Mehgan. That's me.

I know I'll have a bunch of poses and SMP links to share on a future blog post, if I can motivate myself enough to write more often than every few weeks, to give an idea of what I want, and to also organize a list to give to my photographers of shots I "must" have.

I've told Jared from the beginning that I want the pictures...not the dress, not the shoes, not the flowers...the pictures. That's what I'm most excited about, other than the fact that I get to marry him.

Have I mentioned before I can't wait to marry him? Gosh, i can't wait. He's the absolute best.

Ok hopefully I'll write more sooner! Bridal shower in 2 weeks. Bought my outfit tonight. Can't wait!