God Bless this Broken Road

I have a confession.

I had almost given up on love when I met Mr. Rucksack.

When we first met, I had just gotten out of a long term relationship. It was the kind of relationship where we both knew it was over long before we officially ended it, but when you've been together for so long you just sort of hold on. I won't go into all of the gory details, but it got pretty bad.

I remember one particularly sad conversation in which we laid it all out there and he told me that  the crazy can't eat can't sleep kind of love wasn't real, but that he could promise to be nice to me and take care of me. I stayed with him for another five months after that as our relationship continued to deteriorate. He began going out and drinking way too much and he stopped being so nice. It was at that point that I realized I not only was missing out on that crazy kind of love, but suddenly I was in a relationship with someone who wasn't even nice to me anymore. I blamed him at first, but now I realize how sad it must have been for him to be with someone that he knew wasn't crazy about him anymore.

Looking back, I know it would have been best for both of us if we said goodbye sooner, but I was so confused at the time. I had never seen a real relationship "work out" before. My parents aren't together and my grandfather died when my mom was in high school. My whole life was spent without any male role models and without a view into what a normal relationship looked like. It's not surprising then that everything I knew about relationships came from the movies  (where men are princes and love at first sight is abundant) and reality television shows (where women marry for money ala The Real Housewives). Seriously, what conflicting views on love. It's no wonder I was confused!

When I did leave my ex, I was determined to be single and really focus on myself. I was going to date and have fun and I wasn't going to settle for anything or anyone less than I wanted. I even (half-jokingly) made a list characteristics I wanted in my dream man. This included things like: a) tall b) from the midwest c) swimmer's build d) smart e) funny f) Cancer astrological sign g) big nose

I stuck with my plan for almost two months and let me tell you something, I was awesome at being single. Seriously, guys. I rocked it. I was waitressing at the time and had no day job, so my days basically went something like this: wake up, nurse hangover by the pool, waitress, party, sleep, repeat. Sometimes I got really wild and threw in hiking or beaching with the puppy, but really life was simple. I was healing.

Then one night I met Mr. Rucksack. I kid you not when after our first date I said "Oh crap!" because I knew my single days were over. After our second date, I actually called the few people I had been casually seeing to let them know I was now off the market. We both realized really early on that this was "it" - that crazy can't eat can't sleep kind of love that I had given up on finding. And not only were we madly in love and perfect for each other, but he had every single quality that I wanted in my dream man except for one. Any guesses on which he's missing?

Photo by Abigail Scott

Yep, his nose is much too normal sized. Although I now think that's probably in the best interest of our future babies.

I know how lucky we are and that not everybody finds this kind of love. Shortly after we met, Mr. Rucksack admitted to me that he never thought he would find love either and had pretty much committed himself to being a lifelong bachelor. I think that part of the reason we are so thankful is because we really weren't sure if it was going to happen for us.

You know how people always tell you that really annoying and vague theory of "When you know, you just know."? Well, that's exactly how it was for us. One day we just said "Oh....I get it now!" and haven't looked back since.

What circumstances led you to your fiance? Did you just know?

More Sake, More Philosophy

I'm pretty shocked at how well I've handled this whole wedding thing so far. Sure there have been some roadblocks and some difficult catering decisions. And we still have a lot that can be done. I may have had a couple of bridezilla moments about shoes choices and other minor things, but for the most part our decisions were relatively low key. I guess I just know that when it comes down to it, nobody will care about what the flowers looked like and how many favors we had or if the napkins perfectly matched our paper lanterns. And in the end, I don't really care either.

I have been doing a whole lot of thinking about this marriage thing though, which really if you're going to freak out about something wedding related is the right thing to freak about. I mean, to really simplify it the wedding day is just a giant celebration. It's the marriage that's kind of a really big freaking deal.

I pondered this out loud the other night after an absurd amount of sake courtesy of New Haven's most infamous hibachi restaurant.

To quote the hibachi chef: "More sake, more happy!" Indeed.

"You know, getting married really makes you think about your own mortality," I told Mr. Rucksack on our way home. I get really philosophical when I drink.
I tried to explain further, but probably made it worse. It was something along the lines of when you're just dating, you can pretend you're young and carefree. Time doesn't matter when you're in your early twenties and partying. You have all the time in the world. But now we're getting married and suddenly I feel older. Sometimes I forget that I'm 29 because I swear to you I feel like I'm still 21 and have said on more than one occasion "I can't think about that - I'm just a kid!" No sweetie, you're just in denial.

Most of the time I'm in my happy little bridal daze, but then it'll suddenly occur to me that I'm going to be thirty (someday!) and I'm getting married and I'm going to have babies and before I know it I'll be a mother (or grandmother!) asking "Where did the time go?" It's already going by so fast.

Of course, none of that means that I don't want to marry Mr. Rucksack. I am so ridiculously lucky to have found him and can't wait to be his wife. I just sometimes get wistful and wish I could redo the past 10 years again. Because seriously, who wouldn't want to relive college again?

Oh college, how I miss double fisting vodka crans all night and still being able to wake up the next morning to go to class.

But that's just me being sentimental. Because frankly, there were a lot of low points in those ten years that I for sure would not want to go back to. So, since time doesn't stop for anyone we're moving forward. And you know, I really do love our little life and wouldn't trade it for the world. And seriously, this face? Who wouldn't want to wake up to this face for everyday forever?

Did you experience similar realizations as you neared your wedding?

Our Peg People Cake Topper

One of the things I am most excited about is our cake buffet. Although I'm not a big fan of eating cake, I just love the idea of it. It's kind of like eggnog in December. Every year I get wildly excited when I see eggnog invade the grocery store shelves and every year I finish about half a cup before declaring "Over it!" and moving on to another holiday novelty.

Still, cakes are just so pretty and a cake buffet is my dream. It's both beautiful and - since we have friends varying across a spectrum of dietary requests (paleo, vegan, chocolate, no chocolate) - it's practical too.

A beautiful assortment of sweets via Sweet Bloom Cakes

So many options via The Sweetest Occassion / Photo by Emilie Inc

I knew I wanted each cake to have a topper to make them special and originally thought about collecting an assortment of vintage toppers. In the end, I decided that would be a lot of work and wouldn't be as put together looking as I'd like. So instead, I'll be creating bunting for each cake.

Via The Sweetest Occassion

But what about our special gluten-free paleo cake? Of course, that needs something extra special. Per usual, I fell in love with a cake topper on Etsy. But at $150 it was out of our price range.

Via Lollipop Workshop

What's a girl to do?

Admittedly terrified, I decided to craft it myself. Thanks to some crafty girls ahead of me like Mrs. Armadillo and Mrs. Splatterpaint I gathered my supplies and gave it a whirl.

I was most terrified of the painting part, but it actually went pretty well! The clothes were not easy though. In the end, I think they're fine, but if I look for too long I get the urge to undo everything.

Peg people in the nude!

All dolled up. I still need to figure out a way to make a bouquet.

What's your DIY inspiration - are you an Etsy idea thief like me?

A picture's worth a thousand words, and a photographer costs way more

Like most things I've taken on in the wedding planning process, I attacked the photography decision with a type A kind of fervor that can only be described as insane, or spectacular if you happen to be just as crazy as I am.

You see, I love the decision process and the massive Excel spreadsheets that go along with making an informed decision. It's probably why I'm a business analyst. I can spreadsheet and analyze all day long. So for me, finding a great photographer wasn't just about finding some pretty images. It was about comparing styles, prices, emotion, and reviews in a systematic way.

I started with a very specific methodology and requirements that were narrowed down as I dove into my research.

Requirements:
1. Bright, crisp images. The whole vintage Instagrammy look is really popular right now and I knew that was not for me. I want bright, not overly exposed, images.

2. Real looking photos. On the other end of the spectrum I don't like photos that are overly processed to be too bright or fake looking. Sky should be sky colored, not neon "look at me, I'm the sky!" blue.

3. That "it" factor feeling. This was one of those intangible requirements: the "I'll know it when I see it" feeling. Basically, if a photo got me to cry, get goosebumps, or to audibly say "wow" then it was a winner.

4. Low cost. Like most items on our wedding list, we had a tight budget for photography too. The cost requirement for us was under $2500.

Methodology:
Here's where I got weird with it. Most likely, the sensible place to start would have been with cost. However, I didn't want a photographer's cost to affect my thoughts about their quality. (High cost? They must be amazing! Low cost? What's wrong with them?)

So I started by judging the books purely by their covers and came up with a lovely and lengthy list of 28 photographers that I had ranked from 4-5 on my 1-5 point scale. Once I had my list, I looked up the prices or contacted the photographers for their price quotes. This was a heartbreaking process since I learned that a few of my top contenders were in the $5-7,000 range.

 Melani Lust made me cry twice: Once when I first saw her awesome wow factor photos, and again when she gave me her price list. Seriously, you guys:

Photos by Melani Lust

These couples look like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine. That's the look what I want.

Once I finally had my list narrowed down to the 10 photographers that were both in my price range and met all of my other requirements, I looked into availability. Now, I was really naive in thinking that 10 months was plenty enough time to book a photographer. Turns out they book up fast! Thankfully, I was still left with a nice little list of 5 photographers.

Sometimes you gotta throw it all away:
Wasn't expecting this subtitle from my super controlled methods, were you? Well, luckily fate stepped in here when one of my coworkers began to focus more on her photography career. "Say what now?" As she showed me more and more of her work, I began to become convinced that she should be our photographer. She loved all of the same photographers that I did (and even took classes with one of my favorites!), totally understood the style I wanted, and produced these amazing "Oh wow!" inspired photos.

Mutual friends of Abbey's and mine who clearly should be fashion models. Engagement photos by, of course, Abigail Scott

We booked her for our engagement photos partially for fun and partially as a test run for our wedding day. The results speak for themselves:

 

 

Photos by Abigail Scott

Shortly after receiving our images we signed a contract with Abbey! She's not only amazing to work with, but she fit all of our requirements and with a lovely "friendor" discount, she even comes in significantly under budget for us! Hell freaking yeah.

So now that I picked a photographer who was not at all in my carefully orchestrated plans, do I feel like I did all of that work for nothing? Not at all! I definitely learned a lot through that process, including what I wanted and what I didn't want in a photographer. Had I not done all of that research, I don't know if I would quite as positive about putting my trust in Abbey. Plus, I now have some amazing ideas for "must have shots."


How did you pick your photographer?

Sugar, Oh Honey Honey, We're going on a Honeymoon!

What does it say about us that we booked our honeymoon before we even booked our caterer?

I'll tell you: It means we were sick of looking at this:

If you're from or you have friends in the Northeast, then you probably got really sick of seeing all of those "OMG it's snowing again!" Facebook posts. Trust me, so were we.

Which is why we spent a lot of our time looking at beautiful far away lands where the people were warm and tan and happy.

Mr. Rucksack and I knew that we wanted to go overseas where we could have a mix of sightseeing and nothing-doing. Originally, we considered France, but the more we thought about it the more I knew I would not be able to relax in France. I would want to see everything! In just a couple of days of planning our ultimate French honeymoon I had a jam packed itinerary that left little room for relaxation. Mr. Rucksack suggested Croatia and the more we read the more we loved it.

The Knot even named Croatia as one of the top budget honeymoon destinations.

Image via The Knot

We fell in love with the mixture of old world charm and coastal vacation paradise. But I also read that traveling can be tricky in the area without a rental car, and I did not want to have to worry about navigating a foreign country.

We started looking at cruises, but realized that typical cruising just didn't feel like us. The last thing I wanted was to be on a giant boat with thousands of people on our honeymoon. While I know lots of people that love cruising, I wanted something more intimate.

On a whim I visited JetSetter - Gilt Groupe's travel site. I love all of those amazing sample sale sites, and Gilt is my favorite. I'd heard good things about JetSetter and Mr. America's coworker even booked her honeymoon through their personal travel services. To my surprise, right there on the front page was a flash sale for a small 49 person sailboat cruise through Greece, Croatia, Albania & Montenegro!

We did a little research and checked with my travel expert uncle, then quickly booked after drinking a bottle of wine on Valentine's day. I cannot wait to spend a week exploring on this baby:

Mountains, ocean and castles all in one place? Paradise, I tell you! 

Above photos via JetSetter

My amazing aunt & uncle are even gifting us our flight so that our whole vacation is now paid for! Since my uncle used his super duper traveler miles, flight times out of the tiny island of Corfu were a little limited which means we'll have to spend a few extra days in Corfu, Greece when we return from our cruise. Sucks to be us, right?

Photos via Marabella Beach Hotel

So now I'm sitting in my little office with my heater blasting on high just pretending this is my real view!

Did you start planning your honeymoon to combat the winter blues?

Love is a Mix Tape: Choosing the Ceremony Music

Mr. Rucksack recently received an email of wedding song suggestions from one of his groomsmen. Some of them were wildly inappropriate and some of them were totally awesome, but they definitely reminded me that we need to start thinking more about music choices.

Having just solidified our DJ for the big event, Mr. Rucksack and I sat down with little cousin GM Brobot to start thinking about our "must have" and "do not play" song lists. GM Brobot focused on the reception, putting lots of thought into his choices. My favorite picks from my 9 year old cousin's list? "Boombastic" and "Safety Dance". Yep, I told you the kid is cool.

Mr. Rucksack and I focused on our ceremony and first dance songs. Luckily, we have a full list of songs we consider "our songs." With our extreme love of music (hello, we met during karaoke) I'm happy that we're getting married on the beach and don't have any restrictions on the music we can play.

Prelude: "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. This is one of our all-time favorite songs and one that we duet together all the time. We knew we had to fit it into our ceremony somehow.

    
"I Will" by the Beatles. It's a classic and also a favorite here in the Rucksack house. It's also the first song Mr. Rucksack played for me on his guitar.

Processional: "Marry You" by Bruno Mars. I know, could we be any more predictable? But seriously, what a great song and I think our bridal party will have fun walking down the aisle to an upbeat song. Plus, this engagement video? Still one of my favorite YouTube videos ever.

Bridal March: "Sea of Love" by Cat Power. One of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I have ever heard. I was randomly humming this around the house for weeks before it finally occurred to me to use this as my entrance song. It's not only gorgeous and the perfect tempo, but it's about being by the sea! And who's getting married by the sea? This girl!

Recessional: "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. Mr. Rucksack sings this song to me all the time. I can't wait to smooch my new husband when this song starts playing!

Are you using non-traditional music in your ceremony?

Holy Whole Foods, Batman

In the past year, Mr. Rucksack and I have joined that whole Paleo/Crossfit cult you may have heard of. Because of our commitment to eat healthy, non-processed foods, Whole Foods is kind of our mecca. Of course, our love affair with Whole Foods isn't entirely new. In fact, Mr. Rucksack worked at Whole Foods when he was a graduate student in Hartford. (He worked in the cheese department and his dad still sometimes refers to Mr. Rucksack as the king of cheese!)

Soon after we got engaged, Mr. Rucksack and I were shopping at our local Whole Foods when I literally stopped to smell the roses. "I would totally just use these as our wedding flowers," I told Mr. Rucksack. He asked "Well, why not?" And I thought well, yeah....why not?

These tiny bouquets are a mere $9.99 and they're gorgeous.

Via Yelp 

Plus even more full sized (and cheap!) options from my last visit:

Whole Foods will work with you to create custom floral arrangements too, so that we won't just be buying up a bunch of flowers at the last minute. (Pretty sure that's what Momma Rucksack pictured when I first told her our plan.) The only downside is that because everything is sourced locally (which is really a good thing), we're extremely limited in availability. Luckily, the Milford Whole Foods Florist, Frankie, was able to help out. She made a lot of phone calls and was able to pre-order pink dahlias, pink ranunculus (my favorite) and billy balls.  The rest she'll choose from whatever comes in fresh that day. It's a little scary, but I think I'm in good hands!

From Left to Right: Dahlia via Wikimedia; Ranunculus via Whole Blossoms; and Billy Balls via Whole Blossoms

In addition to purchasing our flowers at Whole Foods, they'll also be making our cakes for our cake buffet. They have the yummiest strawberry shortcake layer cake and one of the best chocolate cakes ever - and that's coming from someone who's not a big cake fan. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't feel like I'm eating a pound of confectioner's sugar when I eat their cakes. While they won't be making our small paleo cutting cake (I'm trusting that to a gluten free baker), I totally trust them to serve up a bunch of yummy cakes for our guests.

I would honestly be happy scooping up any and all of these cakes on our wedding day. 

At $27 per cake we'll be way under the typical cake budget and our guests will have plenty of options.

There are a couple of downsides to going the grocery route though, two points that Momma Rucksack keeps pointing out every time she's given a chance.The biggest being that someone will have to pick up all of the goodies the day before the wedding. Currently I've volunteered myself and a bridesmaid, but we'll see what sorts of drama unfolds. Worst case scenario, there will be plenty of family and friends around that I can bribe. Not to mention, my car was born for this job:

Via Cookin with Mama

That's right. 3 rows of fold-down seats in that baby. We can fit all sorts of wedding goods in that trunk.

Would you consider using a grocery store for any of your wedding items?

A Bad Case of Bride Brain

Every now and then I find myself suffering from symptoms of the dreaded bride brain. Like most things in my life, I blame Pinterest. With all of those amazing options out there, it's hard not to suffer from bridal overload.

For instance, I recently saw these adorable ceramic strawberry baskets at Anthropologie and my mind immediately went to: "Must have cute Anthro inspired farm wedding! Somebody find me a farm!"

Via Anthropologie

With all of the moving pieces of wedding planning, it's hard to keep focused and not get off track once in awhile. My brain right now looks a little like this:

Don't worry, boss, there's still a little bit of brain matter left for the workday. But let me tell you, as soon as I get home and I have any semblance of downtime, I go immediately into bridal brain overload. This usually occurs during those 10pm-6am hours that I typically like to reserve for things like, I don't know....sleep. Thanks a lot, overactive brain.

Several nights in a row I actually woke up drenched in sweat with my brain screaming "Who's going to hang all the lanterns???"

Image via The Knot  / Photo by Shelly Mossman Photography

It was then and there that I decided I needed a Day of Coordinator. And it was the next day that I learned, DOC's can be expensive! I called a few wedding planners and was quoted an insane amount of $1500 for one day. Not including lantern setup because "We'll have to hire an insured decorating company for that." Um, what? Then what am I hiring you for?

Luckily, I also contacted Carisa from CR Socials. During our free consultation - where she bought a stressed out me a glass of wine - she immediately put me at ease. Carisa laughed at me when I blurted out "I was up all night thinking about the lanterns! Who's going to put up the lanterns!" She assured me she was fully capable of putting up lanterns.....and running our rehearsal, coordinating my vendors, collecting all of my DIY and purchased wedding decor, decorating, running our wedding, and cleaning up after.

"Oh yeah?" I chided, "And how much is that going to cost me?" I had heard all this before only to be burned by the cost. You can imagine the happy dance I did when I found out she fits right in our budget!

What sorts of things gave you bride brain?

The big bad "B" word

That's right: We're here to talk about the dreaded bridesmaid dress.I don't know about you, but when I think "bridesmaid dress" I immediately think "really expensive ugly freaking dress that I will never wear again." Something along the lines of this masterpiece:

Via UglyDress.com

I think I put a lot of unnecessary stress on myself over choosing bridesmaids dresses. The girls kept insisting that they would wear anything I asked them to even if it was a paper bag, but I wanted to make sure they were happy too. That meant I wanted to keep the costs low and the chance of wearing it again high.

I was really adamant that I wanted to choose dresses that cost less than $100, but it turned out that was easier said than done. While I found some options at David's Bridal, they were still a little too "bridesmaidy" for my taste.

Since Mr. Rucksack and I are getting married on the beach, I wanted the girls to be casual and comfortable. It was also important that they match the rest of our bridal party look.

Oh hello, model version of us poorly photoshopped onto a beach:

I had visions of the girls wearing preppy cotton sundresses in navy or in seersucker, but surprise surprise those classic preppy dresses cost more than a pretty penny at $250+ each.

Lula Kate: Sassy Stripes; Lula Kate: Zoe; Coren Moore: Laurie; & Thread Shiloh

Oh pretty preppy dresses, why must you tease me so?

It took hours of hair pulling and several visits to J Crew's website fawning over their $235 Navy Cotton Cady dresses, but I finally made a random move that changed the course of my bridesmaids dresses forever.

What I had failed to do in all of my visits to J Crew was to hit that magic little button that takes you to the factory website. I know. I can't believe it took me so long either - I always love the factory!

What happened next I can assure you was like a movie moment complete with happy love song soundtrack. If my laptop and I could have run in slow motion toward each other, that would have happened too. In my head, that's exactly how it went down.

When I clicked on "Dresses" I was transported to a magical land where bridesmaids dresses cost only $50 and where they looked exactly as I had imagined.

All dresses via J Crew Factory

I immediately sent an email out to a couple of the girls for advice and as soon as they gave approval, I emailed the whole crew with ordering information. The girls will be able to choose any of the above dresses or even one of the J Crew Cotton Cady dresses from the regular site. That way I'll get a somewhat uniform look, but the girls can wear what makes them the most comfortable. And hello...$50 bridesmaid dress? That is unheard of!

I'm really excited to see which dress they each pick and can't wait to see them all together!

Did you choose matching dresses for your girls or did you have a variety of styles - or even a variety of colors?

Fatherless Brides

This post is a really tricky one for me to write. I spent most of my life convincing myself (and my mom) that I was just fine without a dad, and really I was. I grew up to be a smart, funny, pretty, accomplished lady. I have a great mom and an amazing extended family. I am lucky in so many ways.

However, over the last couple of years I've grown increasingly angry. It came to a head last summer when my dad's son (my half-brother) died at the age of 22. He and I weren't close, in fact we'd only spoken through email. And yet, it killed me. There were months of grieving and being angry at my dad. It's starting to get better, but I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I missed out on knowing my sibling.

Wedding planning, too, has put an emphasis on the fatherless part of who I am as a person. I can get over my father giving me away on my wedding day. My mom - if she isn't crying too hard - will be walking me down the aisle and I wouldn't want it any other way. The aspects that bother me are things I never could have imagined would come up.

For instance, I obviously won't be having a father-daughter dance. I'm sure nobody will miss this, but selfishly I also don't want Mr. Rucksack to dance with his mother. I feel like their dance will put emphasis on the fact that I didn't get to dance with my dad. Even if nobody else thinks that way, I will and it will put a significant damper on my mood. I feel so selfish and childish thinking that way, but the pain has grown so significant that I really don't think I can not feel this way. (We will be inviting everyone to the dance floor after our first dance and Mr. Rucksack will dance with his mom at that point while I...awkwardly hug my mom? Not sure yet.)

The other thing that upset me? I will have to leave my father's name blank on our marriage license. Since he's not on my birth certificate and isn't part of my life, he doesn't get to go on my marriage license either. For some reason, this is just heartbreaking to me. I looked online for some guidance and all I found was a book titled My Ancestor was a Bastard with helpful tips for what to do if while researching your genealogy you come across a bastard relative with no father listed. Cue the tears. So many tears. And also a little bit of laughter.

I've been really into genealogy and have gone pretty far back (the 1500's!) on both sides of my family. Thinking about how my future relatives would be stuck with one branch of my tree made me realize: I have no right to my father's genealogical history. It was devastating. Did I mention that I was also reading Game of Thrones at this point? I couldn't have felt more like Jon Snow.

It's really hard trying to deal with all of these emotional issues while planning the wedding, especially since there's no solution. I've learned that my dad doesn't want to be my dad. He'll occasionally send me an email or a postcard but I've long since given up hope that we're going to have some sort of Hollywood ending where he suddenly realizes all that he's missed. I know it's something that I just need to deal with, but it's so sad. 28 years can go by, but the hurt doesn't lessen.

Who else is dealing with wedding related daddy issues? How do you "get over it?"

Funfetti Bridesmaids Gifts

Do you remember Funfetti cupcakes?

Mmmm....sugar. Via Preppy Pink Blondie

My best friend, BM Veronica, and I were all about Funfetti in high school, baking up cupcakes for birthdays and Valentine's day and PMS and just because we were 15 year old girls craving a sugar high. Maybe's that's where my not so secret confetti obsession came in. It's this funny side of me that loves all things glitter, polka dots, and of course sprinkles (yum!).

I've been trying to buy little gifts and start DIY projects as I see them and as I have extra money available. I know that if I wait until the last minute, they will never get done! It's also a lot easier to purchase gifts $50 at a time when I see a good deal rather than trying to spend all of that money at once so close to the wedding.

When I spotted these adorable chevron clutches in our wedding colors at Pick Your Plum, I knew they'd be a perfect (and at $7.95 each, inexpensive) gift for my maids.

Via Pick Your Plum

Even though they'd be great on their own, I wanted more. More confetti! More cowbell!

Luckily, I remembered an adorable Etsy find that I though maybe....just maybe...I could DIY.

Here's the original:

Via Twinklebird's Etsy Shop

I love the confetti and the quote! But I also wanted to use my wedding colors, and not have to pay $42 a piece. So DIY I did!

$25 later, and I have 6 of these cute little boxes:

I first gathered my supplies:

1. Colorful card stock. I used shades of aqua, pink, gold and navy to represent our wedding colors and paid between 50 and 70 cents per square.
2. Ring bases. I purchased a pack of 24 for $6 from Etsy.
3. Handheld hole puncher. The office 3-hole punch left the card stock bent and morphed, but the handheld worked great.
4. Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. This stuff is so cool.
5. Ring boxes or small favor boxes. I purchased a package of blue favor boxes for $5 at Michael's.
6. Xacto Knife

Then got to work:

1. Start by punching about a million tiny confetti pieces using your handheld puncher and card stock. My plan was to punch them all during our Thursday night television line-up, but that tiny thing is surprisingly loud so I was limited to commercial punching only. My hands also got really tired by the time Parks & Rec came on.

2. Once you have a sufficient amount of confetti, begin assembling your "jewels." I used some of my scrap booking glue (the same stuff I used for our Save the Dates) to hold two pieces of confetti together. (You could probably also use a bit of the Mod Podge.) I found the best way was to dab some glue on a piece of paper and then run the confetti through it so it gets an even coat. Then I stuck it to a matching piece of confetti because I wanted them to be nice and strong. (This was also helpful for the gold confetti pieces since they had a white back that needed to be hidden)

3. Once you have your double-sided confetti pieces ready, it's time to Mod Podge. This part took a second to get used to, but I found the easiest method was to squeeze gently into a big drop and then to swirl onto the confetti until it was spread evenly across. The Mod Podge begins to dry surprisingly fast, so you have to work quickly.

4. Check for air bubbles in between applications! I set aside an area of paper specifically to drop off bubbles before moving onto the next jewel. If you don't, you'll end up with tiny bubbles in your jewel and it will look like a boob.

5. Wait. And Wait. And Wait. The jewels will be dry in 3 hours, but it's recommended to let them sit for 24 hours before handling. Below are my pretty jewels (I made extras just in case some of them didn't turn out) and an example of what happens when you don't pop an air bubble. (See boob in lower right corner.)

6. In the meantime, assemble the boxes. I created the ring inserts by cutting a square of card stock slightly larger than the lid and then cutting squares out of each corner so that I could fold and fit them into the boxes. The little slit was created using an Xacto knife.

7. When the 24 hours are up, apply your dried confetti jewel flat side down to the ring by using a thin coat of the Mod Podge. (I tried hot glue and failed miserably since it kept drying upon contact with the metal ring and the glue bump it left was too big) Press down firmly for a couple of seconds and it'll be dry shortly after.

I placed my finished rings in their boxes along with some extra confetti for fun and now they're set to go.

They're certainly not perfect, but I think they'll be a fun addition to the bags and the rest of the gifts.

Have you tackled any bridal party DIYs lately?