Our Wedding by the Sea

I just finished my serving set, and since it's halftime for the SEC Championship game, I can post about it!

It took me three hours, on the dot, to finish this project.  I did work on it during the first half of the game and was obviously a bit distracted, so I probably could have finished sooner.  Anyway, here's my "how-to:"

1. Purchase your serving set.  Don't buy one of the plastic, "faux crystal" ones, even though their low price might be tempting.  The handles are not smooth, so it will be difficult to glue the rhinestones down and get the look you want.  I bought mine from Crate & Barrel (link goes to serving set).

2. Purchase your rhinestones.  I used 16ss hotfix rhinestones and felt they were perfect- any smaller would be too small and a lot work, and bigger would have fit awkward.  I got 720 crystal clear, and 720 light aquamarine (though I'm almost positive she shipped aquamarine instead, but I kept them because Fi liked the colour so much).  We got them on eBay from this seller.  Shipping was free, so that was an added bonus!

3. Purchase glue if you don't have some.  I highly recommend using E6000.  I barely needed any to complete the project, and it holds steadfast.

4. Purchase tweezers if you don't have them already.  I used a pair with a flat tip from Tweezerman.  I found that they were easier to use than those with an angled top.  I'm sure it's a matter of preference though.

5. Purchase Q-Tips if you don't have some.

6. Once you have all your supplies, put some glue on the top of the handle and use a Q-Tip to spread it over some of the handle.  Don't spread too much- the glue dries super fast.

7. Use your tweezers to pick up a rhinestone and place it where you want it on the handle.

8. Continue to use your tweezers to pick up/place the rhinestones in a straight line around the handle.  I really do recommend working around the handle, instead of straight down.  It ensures your lines stay straight going around, and gives you the opportunity to fill in gaps more readily if you need to.  You can see on my serving knife that I started to get sloppy toward the end, and it's because I didn't take my ow

9. Move onto the next row, and keep going until the handle is covered :)

And that's all there is to it!!

I can't believe there are only 300 days left!  I remember when I was counting backward from 455 (and had a different wedding date in mind).  It's amazing how much we have finished since then... and how much more we still have to do.  Our six-year anniversary is coming up, too, as well as Chris' birthday and Christmas of course, so this month will likely fly by.  I graduate on the 16th, so I basically have a lot of free time coming up as well :D

So here's the updates & plans for the coming month!

First and foremost, I sent out STD's to my OOT guests last week!  Only 10 of them, but still!  I've been hearing from everyone how they got them yesterday/today, and have been getting lots of compliments on them.  It makes it feel so real- we're actually sending mail to tell people that we're getting married!  And I checked weddingwire, and our website has had 11 hits!!  So exciting!!

Also, I went dress shopping with two of my BM's.  Morgan (in GA) plans to go on Christmas break to try it on.  If she approves, that's the dress we're going to go with.  Jen & Britta decided they liked the blue better and I agreed, but Morgan can choose if she wants to wear aquamarine (and match the others) or brownie (and be different) since she's the MOH.  Here are some pics of Jen & Britta trying the dresses on.  Jen doesn't have the flower accent belt thing on because it was too big for both of them and just looked silly hanging there- the smaller clasp size thing was broken.  The style is Alfred Sung D498.  It has pockets and is totally re-wearable.

So in December I need to DIY the serving set.  I also need to attempt (again!) to block hotel rooms in Stone Harbor for my guests since basically everyone is traveling for our wedding, including us.  The hotels I contacted months ago all said they don't "do" blocks.  So I'm a little nervous now about not being able to get this together, but I'll keep trying!

I will also be ordering paper for my DIY invites in December and starting to address the envelopes, cutting mats, and adhering them to the panel pocket or pocketfold (still haven't decided which route to go).  I don't know how to do choreography, but I plan to print everyone's address in a calligraphy font on printer paper, then use a light table to trace it onto the envelopes.  Could take forever, so I want to get started early.

Last but definitely NOT least!  I graduate from the University of Georgia on December 16th!  Finally finally finally!!  I am ecstatic and CANNOT wait!!  We are traveling to Georgia on the 15th so I can walk and are spending the weekend in Athens to celebrate my graduating and Chris' 25th birthday.  I got my cap, gown, and tassel in the mail last week.  The cap & tassel are fine, but the gown was messed up (it was sewn wrong) so they are rushing a replacement to me that should be here before December 7th.  Now I'm working on decorating my cap and need to figure out what I want to do with it.