Get your programs!

I took it upon myself to also create our programs. To create the "guts" of the program, I opted to use Adobe InDesign with the same fonts that have been consistent with all of our wedding things. I waited to complete these until the week before the wedding, after we had the coordinators review it and the Priest as well.

For the cover, we used black 8.5x11 cardstock that I folded with the bone folder in half.
To spruce it up a bit, I created a white sheet, about half the size, and put our information on the front and our monogram on the back.

I purchased a long stapler from Office Depot for $20 and Mr. H set out to help me create 150 of these babies. I'm not much of a ribbon person, so I opted to go with the stapling route.
About 20 programs into the job, Mr. H realized that I suck at stapling, so I was left to fold everything while he stapled them together.

Talk about a time consuming and tedious job! I'm so happy that we did them though; they are exactly what I wanted. Since the cover paper and the "guts" were all the same size, some of the white pages stuck out. Since I happen to work for a printing company, they let me bring them in and they cut them all to be exactly the same size!

Did anyone else find the programs to be as much, if not a bigger pain, then putting together the invitations?!?

For the rest of the girls!

I mentioned in my bridesmaid gift post that I created necklaces for all of the girls. I actually made these necklaces for all of the bridesmaids, readers and house party. Now that the rehearsal dinner is over, I can share with you my creations :)

We live in a small town east of Dallas, but the funny thing is that there is this incredible bead store in my hometown, which has caused Mom H and I to dabble in jewelry making for the past several years. We decided to take a quick class at our local bead store and off I went to shop and create. After the class, I purchased sterling silver clasps and chain, as well as pearls (real) and swarovski crystals. I played around with the lengths and with mixing the different beads and these are my results:

Three of the different necklaces. Sorry for the background, but those are the instructions that helped me to wire wrap the beads.

All wrapped and ready for the readers and house party! The black and white bags were found at Hobby Lobby - I love that place :)

Did any of you dabble into jewelry making for your wedding?

Still a Miss!

But not for long! I woke up early this morning, and the excitement is really starting to get here because Mr. H and I are getting married TOMORROW!!! We are headed to the hotel today to start organizing, primping and rehearsing for this big day, that has been a long time in the making.

Before I pack up my bag, load the car and head out on the road, I just wanted to say a special thank you to everyone here at the hive. Without this outlet, I don't know how I would have made it through the past fourteen months.

To my fellow Bees - you have been an incredible source of support, knowledge and creativity - without which, our wedding just wouldn't be the same. You have supported me, brought me back to earth when I got a little carried away, and entertained me throughout the entire process.

To the readers - it amazes me how a group of people who I have never met in person can become like my good friends. Your thoughts, opinions and ideas are what kept me, and I'm sure a lot of the other Bees, going.

To my bridal party - thank you for your endless support and offers to help during the wedding. I know I didn't take most of you up on the help (I'm a bit of a control freak), but just the offers meant more then you know.

To Mom H - None of this would have been able to happen without you. You and Mr. H have been the only constants in this long journey of planning and I'm so happy that you got to share in this experience with me. I look forward to walking down the aisle with you and Pops H tomorrow and to celebrating afterward. You are truly one of my best friends and not just my mom.

Last, but certainly not least, Mr. H - I can't believe we're finally here. What seemed like it would never come, is now only hours away. What a crazy journey this engagement has been, and I'm so ready to move on to the next stage of our lives together. I never would have imagined our friendship turning into something so much more incredible - and I wouldn't have had it any other way. We've been through a lot - with a lot more to come - and I can't wait to see what our future holds in store for us. I am a lucky girl to have found you, and even luckier to have kept you ;) You are my babe-o and I love you.

I've saved up some posts for you gals while I'm absent around here, and I'll try to pop in one more time after we've said our I Do's and are headed to our honeymoon.

See you on the flip (married) side!

Miss Hydrangea

OOT Bags!

Following in the footsteps of Miss Sundae, I bought my OOT bags from cheaptotes.com. The first totes that I ordered were entirely too small (math = not Miss Hydrangea's strong suit). So they happily exchanged them for another type of bag and I opted to get these black and white reusable grocery tote bags:

They were a little pricier then the others, coming in at $1.29 a piece, but we have very few OOT bags to create, so we only purchased 25. Luckily, they came in handy for my bridesmaids gifts and I still have some leftover so I can have cute totes for when I go grocery shopping - yay for no more plastic bags!

Some of the padrinos in our wedding happen to have a screen printing company (they do embroidery as well), and they were kind enough to print our monogram on all of the bags. I have to warn you, if you chose to go this route, that because of the type of material these bags are made of, the screen printing process can't be done as well because of the heat. Therefore, there's a chance that the monogram will one day fall off, but I'm so happy with how they look for now ;)

Each bag will contain two water bottles, various snacks that I am wrapping in cellophane bags with our monogram stickers to keep them closed, a copy of the Dallas CVB (convention visitor bureau) magazine and a TRAVELHOST magazine.

What creative things have you done with your packaging for the OOT bags?

Please Freshen Up!

I decided to put together some simple bathroom baskets for our guests at the reception. Using the boxes that I found at Hobby Lobby, I stuffed them with items that I found at my local Dollar Tree.

I started off by filling the bottom of the baskets with white tissue paper to help with the height. Then I placed some of the black, crumpled paper in to hide the bright white.



For the girls:Tampons, Hairbrush, Hair ties, Tylenol, Tums, Nail File, Bandages, Deoderant, Lotion, Hand Sanitizer, Hairspray, Flossers, Gum, Tweezers, Nail Clippers, Bleach Pen

For the boys:

Hairspray, Hairbrush, Bandages, Flossers, Deoderant, Gum, Tums, Tylenol, Nail File, Nail Clipper, Tweezers, Lint Roller, Hand Sanitizer, Combs, "Manly" Lotion

I forgot to take a picture, but I also made two signs, similar to our food station signs, that say "For the Guest of Mr. and Mrs. Ulises Torres." We had leftover table number stands, so I placed them in those to be put next to the baskets.

Where did you all find the best deals on the goodies to put in your bathroom baskets?

Presents...and more presents

But this time the presents aren't for us! The presents are for my girls - the four special ladies that will stand by my side on Saturday.

Before I go any further, I have to tell the girls not to read any further...

And I mean it...

Bridesmaids, stay away!


Each girl gets a black robe with their initials, to wear while we get our hair and makeup done. I also got one for myself with my new initials, but it's white with black embroidery.

They each get a huge white, ruffled bag that they can use for laundry, dry cleaning, or to stuff a bunch of stuff in them for whatever need they might have.

Inside these cute damask boxes that I found at Hobby Lobby is a necklace that I made. They are all sterling silver with black and/or white pearls and Swarovski crystals.

Each lovely lady gets some comfort for their feet. Mom H didn't want any of these, so instead I have a framed 5x7 picture that my photographer took of us when I had my bridal portraits :)

Since the bags that I got them were just too big to put the rest of the gifts in, I took extra OOT bags and stuffed them with their gifts :)

All for lined up and ready to go!

We have the blues...

(image from here)

With the wedding only days away, Mr. H and I are feeling a bit of the blues. We chalk it up to the fact that for the past 14 months, our lives have consisted of work, family and wedding! While we are so excited for Saturday to come, we are sad to think that are wedding planning days are almost over :(

I used to be able to watch wedding shows, like Bridezillas and Platinum Wedding religiously, but now when I see them on the tv I pass right by. The combination of nerves, excitement and sadness that the whole wedding lifestyle is coming to an end is just too much for me to handle.

I know that I'm looking forward to (finally) decorating our house, making some killer meals with the new kitchen tools I've received - and I'm sure Mr. H will be happy to have me spend more time with him then with our kitchen, aka craft, table.

Are any of you experiencing some pre-wedding blues before the big day?

Wedding Signage

When I woke up last Sunday morning to beautiful weather, after a rainy Saturday thanks to Hurricane Ike, I did a few things around the house and then hunkered down for a day of wedding projects. First up? The signage for the food stations and favor table.


I used the same fonts that are consistent throughout all of our wedding things, from the STDs, to the monogram to the invitations, and created signs to be placed at each food station, nearest the food that is available. Since we aren't having a seated dinner, my coordinators and I decided that the best option was to create a sign for each individual food. Here are the results:

The W Hotel has 4x6 frames, so I took a 4x6 piece of black cardstock and then placed the 3x5 card on top. Voila! Easy as that. I just glued them on and placed them all in a plastic baggie for the coordinators to place in the proper spots on the day of!

I am still a little sad that I didn't get to make menus for each person, but this was probably the best decision (and the least work). What did you all decide to do for your food - menus or cards at each station?

Hibernating Bride

Last weekend, after spending the whole rainy day (thanks Ike) running wedding errands with Mom H, I came home ready to hang out on the couch and watch some sports with Mr. H. What happened is much different.

(image from here)

I fixed myself a plate of leftovers and headed to our room to take a nap at six in the evening. I didn't wake up until 8 a.m. the next morning. Talk about needing some sleep! All of the wedding projects that I had waiting on our table for me to do were still there come Sunday morning. I knew that the week had left me tired and drained, but I didn't realize I would end up sleeping for FOURTEEN hours!!!

While Mr. H was a little sad that we didn't get to hang out Saturday night, I think that letting myself sleep that much was much needed, and left me with a lot more energy to face my few projects that I had left.

Have any of you needed to take a break - and rest - from the last two weeks of wedding madness?

Double Booking

This week I've had the unpleasant experience of finding out two weeks before the wedding that one of my vendors is booked for another event on the same day. It wouldn't normally bother me so much, except for the fact that I need them to arrive at our hotel one hour earlier then we previously spoke about, and the vendor threw a fit. That and the fact that I wasn't made aware prior that the vendor would be elsewhere before coming to see us.

(image from here)

The vendor had a not so pleasant phone conversation with my new wedding coordinator that, I could tell after speaking to our coordinator, left a really sour taste in her mouth. I called the vendor to try to resolve the situation myself, and also because said vendor wouldn't speak to my coordinator. Our conversation was not so pleasant as well.

After reading the contract, I realize that when we spoke a month prior the vendor considered the timeline I had then to be the final, agreed upon time. I did not.

I am completely willing to work with the vendor to find a resolution that fits all parties involved, but am still worried that the vendor's behavior will affect how things turn out on the big day. I have requested that they bring extra help, at my expense, otherwise I will have to hire another vendor to also work with us that day to make sure that all is said and done. At this point I would forfeit the entire amount owed if I was to cancel and go elsewhere.

Word to the wise - I wouldn't commit to any specific times (except maybe your venue) earlier then two weeks before the event. Items come up and scheduling constantly changes for the day of the wedding, and this can get tricky if your vendor has more then one wedding booked in the same day.

Have any of you experienced the same change in your wedding day time line that has caused an issue with one of your vendors? If so, how did you go about resolving the situation? Do you think that vendors should let their clients know that they have multiple events in one day?

*Please excuse me for not detailing the specific vendor that this is or getting extremely specific. I would like to keep it as anonymous as possible until the situation is resolved :)

Wrapped and ready to fill...

This past weekend, after my second shower, Mom H and one of my bridesmaids came over to help me with the (not so exciting) task of cutting ribbon, xyroning ribbon and labels, and, finally, wrapping and attaching them to over 200 3" cube vases for our favors.

Originally, we wanted these vases to be the escort cards for our guests, but, after determining the layout of the room and the size of the vases, we opted instead to make them favors that our coordinators will place on the escort card table once all of those have been taken by guests and everyone is in the reception room.

The labels and ribbon after being xyroned!

Mom H and BM H had the task of cutting the 200 pieces of ribbon, while I xyroned the labels. After a long day at my shower, I was getting a little cranky and tired so we decided that I would finish xyroning everything the next day and they would return to help me wrap. I surprised them both when, the next two days, while Mr. H watched football, I finished xyroning and wrapped all of the boxes (17 total!) of vases all by myself!

The task was a little tedious, but I'm proud to report that all vases are wrapped and securely resting in their boxes to be loaded and delivered with me to the hotel the day before the wedding.

If any of your plan to xyron ribbon, I suggest you use the permanent adhesive. It sticks to the ribbon better and is much easier to work with. If you really prefer the removable adhesive, I recommend that, after you xyron the ribbon, leave it as is for a couple of days. This way the adhesive really sticks to the ribbon and it's easier to apply to the vase (or whatever you are sticking it to)

Wrapped and secure in the box!

The final product!

Did any of you take on a wedding task that, when at first it seemed pretty simple and quick, turned out to be a lot more work then you imagined?

How are you September brides feeling?

Because I'm starting to feel nervous!

Today was the first day that I really started to get nervous about the wedding. Not nervous as in am I sure I want to marry Mr. H, but just nervous. When I browse through my Google reader and see all the wedding images, I get butterflies and a tingle. It's a strange sensation because it's like a combination of the butterflies and tingle that I first got when Mr. H and I started our relationship, but there are also some nerves in there too. I think it's just the culmination of having over a year to plan this event and now it's THISCLOSE to being here!

The sensations are definitely not bad ones, they are just so strong. I'm excited, happy, nervous, scared ... just about every emotion of the rainbow. I started off last weekend with zero motivation to do any of my wedding projects and, by Sunday, I was a wedding planning machine again. Then, today, the many blogs of featured weddings that I read daily really made my emotions go into overdrive.

I just worry that the emotions will only increase from now until the wedding (in 19 days). Do any of you fellow brides have some good advice for keeping your emotions in check as the wedding gets closer and closer?

FMIL Hydrangea Throws Me a Shower!

Last Saturday afternoon, FMIL Hydrangea and FSILs Hydrangea threw me a cute shower at a local hotel in our hometown. This shower was mainly for family members of Mr. H (he has a ginormous family) and a few of their close friends.

Mom H and BM H attended with me and we all had a great time! I was a little nervous for my mother as she had not been to one of Mr. H's family events before and many of the women speak little English, just mainly Spanish. While I'm still a little shy to speak it, I pretty much understand just about everything they are saying and it still catches them off guard at times when I answer their Spanish in English :)

We started off by eating - and man was it good! I forgot to take pics of the main spread, but it included ceviche, shrimp cocktail, fruits, veggies...yum yum yum! FMIL H also remembered my favorite cake and she bought a tres leches cake from this amazing Mexican bakery for us all to eat after we stuffed ourselves with seafood.

YUM - Tres Leches!

Then it was on to playing some fun games, where the girls split into teams to create toilet paper dresses. I got to be the judge (of course Mom H won :) )

Mom H in her bridal gear!

The women also has to put a napkin on top of their heads to try to draw a pic of Mr. H and myself (and those were some pretty hilarious drawings)!


A quick game of "hot potato" played with a bouquet later, we were on to blowing up balloons to see who could blow one up the biggest - but there was a little trick being played on yours truly. FMIL H and FSILs H poked holes in my balloons, so each time I tried to blow them up it popped. The first couple of times I really just thought it was an accident, but by the last time I was so scared because I was starting to think that they were playing a trick on me. Turns out, they had put little holes in each one - sneaky, sneaky!

We'll call it "Hot Bouquet"

You can tell I was a little scared to blow another balloon up at this point!

We finished out the day with presents and, although the shower was small and quaint, Mr. H and I made out with some pretty amazing gifts!


I'm really happy that all turned out well and that Mom H finally got to experience a little of Mr. H's culture and get to know his family better. How was it the first time that you introduced your family to you fiance's culture?

Hurricane, Hurricane Go Away

I check weather.com religiously, but not so much for our wedding day as I do just to see what my week in traffic will be like due to the weather. Today, with the fear that Hurricane Ike will be hitting the Texas Gulf Coast, I have been checking the weather a little more often to stay up to date.

(image from here)

Texas weather can be pretty unpredictable at any time of the year, but the end of September is always a toss up. You could be in 100 degree heat, a nice 85 degree fall day, or, on the rare occasion, freezing your butt off! I'm hoping for the middle of these, or somewhere close. Right now, the weather is really unpredictable as the hurricane season edges towards my home state.

Luckily, our wedding is still sixteen days out and all of our wedding is indoors, so rain won't affect too much ... except the outside photos before the ceremony that I'm coveting!

I just wanted to write this post to gather a little support for my fellow Texans (and really, anyone that is being affected by this weather) and, also, to the brides in these areas. While I know that it's not the most important thing - getting out of there safe is - you can't help but have a special place in your heart for the girls who have planned for so long and so hard to have this unexpected weather arrive so quickly without much warning.

How has the weather affected your wedding - do you all have any good advice/positive words?

*For those of you locals, HERE is a link to help and/or donate.

Obligatory License Pic

We did it! Yesterday morning, bright and early, Mr. H and I set off to get our marriage license! In Texas, it doesn't matter which county you receive your license in so long as you get married in the state of Texas. We are getting married in Dallas county but, to avoid any long lines or a wait, we went to the county clerk's office in our hometown (outside of Dallas county). We got there at about 8:15 a.m. and by 8:35 a.m. we were out of there!

Twenty minutes and $72 later, we were posing for a pic by the county seal.

As a funny side note, Mr. H's dad has to go to the county clerk's office quite a bit for his work. The women in the office are familiar with him, as they have seen him almost daily for over ten years. When he went in yesterday, they were excited to tell him that they had seen his son and help him with his marriage license. Mr. H's dad played dumb and acted like he had no clue that Mr. H was applying to get married and acted shocked and mad. He totally had them going, but finally fessed up in the end :)

With only three weeks to go, I still kinda feel like it isn't happening. After such a long engagement I've become accustomed to thinking that I have months to go until the big day. I know it's going to hit any day now as more and more wedding tasks are unloaded onto my plate.

How long did it take you to finally "realize" that the wedding was right around the corner?

Scrrrrrrrr...Where'd it go?!?

Talk about lovely timing. When we decided to create our wedding website with Wedorama, the highest increment of time you could purchase it was for one year. We've been engaged for well over a year now, so I assumed that when the site was up for renewal, we'd receive some sort of a notice. Today, when I went online to check our site, I found this: What a surprise only 25 days out from the wedding! I have a shower this weekend and our registries are listed on there. The last day to get rooms at our hotel for the special rate is THIS FRIDAY, which is listed on the site as well. I don't know how many people are actually referring to our site, but it satisfies me to know that I've made this information source available to our friends and family (and advertised it on just about every piece of paper I've sent them).

I sent Wedorama an email, as they requested, and I went online and paid to renew our site for one more year, and, as soon as I did that, it was back up and running. With the long weekend last weekend, I didn't bother to check up on it quite as religiously as I normally do, so I'm not sure when the site went down. Either way, with the problem now solved, I can breathe a huge sigh of relief!

What minor/major, unexpected glitches have happened to you with only a short amount of time to go before your big day?