# My Alice in Wonderland Wedding Journal <3 (May 5, 2012)



## Shilo

I'm new to BnB and figured I'd start a wedding journal. I've been with my fiance for almost a year and a half. We got engaged on Christmas. We plan on getting married in the next couple of months at the courthouse. However, we are planning a wedding for a year or two from now to renew our vows and for our families to come to. It will be Alice in Wonderland themed (more Tim Burton style). I'll use this thread to post my ideas and plans. We don't have a date set yet but hopefully it will be in early 2013 :)

I'll keep editing this first post to add ideas as well as what page the picture for the idea is on :) I have a tight budget so most of my stuff will be DIY projects and I'll be sure to add those pictures and explain how I did everything. Most of my stuff will be bought at thrift stores & yard sales over the next year or two and painted and refurbished to match my wedding.

*Edit*
Plans on post #13


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## Shilo

Oh and I'm always open to suggestions and ideas so feel free to share! Our colors will be plum, aqua, pink, yellow, and with hints of black and white. Will post a swatch later!


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## honeybee2

welcome to brides, love the theme!

I personally love both dresses (gorge, you have good taste!) but I do prefer the first one! xx


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## Mynx

Loving the theme! There's another bride in here doing a Tim Burton inspired theme too, only her's is NBC :D Welcome to BnB and Brides n Beyond! :hi:


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## xpatchx

Woo welcome! What a fab idea for a theme! I'm doing favours of little glass bottles with corks, with forget me not seeds in them, and a tag round the neck that says "Plant Me" and a thank you note on the back of it, but thats the only AIW bit in my wedding!

Can't wait to see ideas xxx


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## Shilo

Thanks girls! Here are some ideas...

For my tables, I want long tables. And going down the middle I want an assortment of candlesticks, teacups, vases, etc. I want it to look really random and eclectic.

For the candlesticks, I found a tutorial for painting old ones to look how you want. I plan to buy random candlesticks over the next year or so and paint them in my wedding colors to save $$. Ones like these:
https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/78589268_w39wr1PH_c.jpg

As for the vases in the middle of the tables, I will buy clear glass vases in an assortment of shapes and sizes at Dollar Tree for just $1 a piece and use a painting tutorial I found to get them to look how I want. It will cost me less than $1.50 to make each vase. Like these:
https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/78589486_FKJh3Bx7_c.jpg

Also over the next year or so, I will buy teacups in my wedding colors or plain ones to paint myself. I'll use a hot glue gun to stack and glue them together and put some flowers on top. Like these but not the same designs:
https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/78586487_rYKPWKiE_c.jpg

I have more ideas but this is it as far as the center of the table goes for now! :)


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## Shilo

Here are the 2 dresses I plan to pick from. They're both under $750 and unless I try them on and hate how they fit, I'm 98% one of these will be the one!

#1 https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/78622543_H12Po7g3_c.jpg #2 https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/78616524_Js6iAq0g_c.jpg


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## honeybee2

Just a few ideas I found, hope you dont mind??

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=a...4&tbnw=135&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=a...4&tbnw=135&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=a...&tbnw=135&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:0

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=a...rt=22&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:22&tx=136&ty=8

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=a...tart=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0&tx=94&ty=77


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## Midnight_Fairy

welcome, love the theme x


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## Shilo

Thanks ladies!

And of course I don't mind ideas, I'm always looking for new ideas. Thanks for the links, I actually plan on doing some of those things. I'll post more ideas here in a little bit :)


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## dontworry

Welcome! I love the table ideas, especially with the floral things being incorporated. You don't often see patterned things on the tablecloths and I think that will really stand out.

Looking forward to keeping up with your updates!

-Stalking!-


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## libbymarks198

love love love dress #1!!!


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## Shilo

Sorry for the delayed updates! We have finally started officially planning. We don't have a set date yet but it will be in April or May... to catch you all up here is what's currently going on with the planning and basic idea of the wedding plans.

Our colors are pink, purples, and blues with hints of black & white stripes. We don't really have a set budget but it will def. be less than $5,000. We're aiming for about $3000

I really wanted black & white striped tablecloths but they're so hard to find & too expensive to make. So right now our basic plan is to have black tablecloths with black & white striped table runners. I'm waiting to buy our tablecloths until there's some online sales on Black Friday so then I can resell them after the wedding and actually make money. I haven't bought the fabric for the table runners yet but while at JoAnn Fabrics, I found these 2. I'm hoping the bigger stripes are still there later, if not the small ones are a back up plan:

https://i55.tinypic.com/34zknch.jpg

https://i52.tinypic.com/1zgqmxj.jpg

I plan to have 8' banquet tables instead of round tables. Down the center of each table, I plan to have one giant teacup or teapot in my colors in the center with flowers in them. I found giant teacup & teapot planters at Walmart for $10 a piece. I'm not sure how they'll look repainted so I'll have to buy one and try it. So none of this is set in stone yet. I also plan to buy a bunch of glass candlesticks from Dollar Tree for $1 a piece and paint them with glossy paint in our colors and have about 4 on each table with tall candles. I also found some colored glass bottles at a place called The Christmas Tree Shop for $1.50 a piece that I'll randomly put on tables with "Drink Me" tags and keys hanging off of. I also plan to hunt thrift stores for a random assortment of candlesticks to paint in our colors. I also plan to try and find an assortment of teacups to put candles or floating candles in. My mom's friend is also giving me all her baby food jars for me to turn into little glass jar candle holders. The centers of the tables will be very eclectic. Here are the keys I plan to buy to hang on the "Drink Me" bottles:

36 keys for $16
https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/157315092_QypsarKj_c.jpg

I plan to also have paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling in our colors as well as white twinkle lights. Of course you can't have Alice in Wonderland without the lanterns. I found a site where you can buy them in bulk for about $1.15 a piece.

As far as cake, we plan to have a small cake for me and my fiance and then have cupcakes for everyone else. My sister works in a bakery so her and I will make all the cupcakes. They'll have icing in pinks, purples, and blues and be in black & white striped cupcake holders. I'll make or buy little "Eat Me" signs to stick into them. Here are the cupcake holders I plan to buy:

50 for $3.50
https://img0.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.187150456.jpg

I also plan to make cupcake stands for the cupcakes. I'll use my $1 candlesticks as bases and random plastic/glass trays as the plate part. I'll paint them all with glossy paint and glue them together in random color combos & sizes. Like these which is the tutorial I plan to base them off of:

https://www.shelterness.com/pictures/diy-colorful-cake-stands-4-500x749.jpg

My favors will be little corked bottles. I found some clear tiny ones or I found colored rounder big bottles for $1 a piece at The Christmas Tree Shop. I haven't decided which ones I'm using yet. The colored ones would look better but I'd have to buy corks for them and they're more expensive. I'll fill them with colored water or some other kind of drink. I'll hang a "Drink Me" tag on each one with a black & white striped ribbon and a little charm. I already bought all the charms for the favors, all having to do with Alice in Wonderland. Here are the clear corked bottles I might use & the charms I bought:

100 for $57
https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/154431279_MFP6FEtZ_c.jpg

30 flamingos for $2.99
https://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/pict/1706816729866464_1.jpg

15 teapot & teacups for $1.99
https://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/pict/3305984047736464_1.jpg

10 keys for $1.99
https://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/pict/1905626916176464_1.jpg

14 playing cards for $1.99
https://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/pict/1905624724056464_1.jpg

As far as flowers, I plan to have a brooch bouquet. Somewhat expensive to make but they're beautiful & something I can keep forever. I plan to keep my eye on auctions for brooch lots on ebay. As far as flowers for the teacups & teapots for the reception, I'll use wholesale fake flowers in pinks, blues, and purples. As well as for the bridesmaids bouquets but I'll add a brooch or two to their bouquets to tie it together with mine. I plan to wrap the stems of the bouquets in black & white striped fabric or ribbon with a brooch on it as well. Here is my brooch bouquet inspiration which also happens to be my colors:

https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/157357490_Qo7ZmgCv_c.jpg

For my fiance & the groomsmen, I plan to make these:

https://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/166338661_xnkEewYs_c.jpg

My 2 nieces will be flower girls. I'm unsure on their dresses yet but I either want them to have a black & white striped sash or one of these bows on a headband:

https://i56.tinypic.com/2jaygy0.jpg

Now to the dress... I know I showed you guys the 2 dresses I was considering but I found my dress and it's neither of them lol. It was totally unplanned. I was at JoAnn's looking at those fabrics I showed you. There was a David's Bridal next door so of course I had to go in. They weren't busy and offered to let me try some things on. So I tried on 2 dresses I had saw online. I loved the first one and thought for sure it was the one. I was about to leave and spotted my dress. I didn't think I'd like it that much but I tried it on and as soon as I saw it, I loved it. That was it... end of story. Here is me in the dress.... it was 2 sizes too big & this is before she clipped it to my size. It looks alot better when it's clipped because it fits and shows my figure so well. I feel so small in it!

https://i54.tinypic.com/2ywfwd4.jpg

Here is a picture of it online that shows the details better:

https://bios.weddingbee.com/pics/94739/W0YGACP4LZXAUPXMFR.jpg

The beading on the waist wraps around to the back & goes down the train. It's beautiful. I love it so much and stare at it constantly lol. I haven't gotten it yet but I'll be going in next weekend to put my deposit on it & order it.

Now to my venue stresses. I really wanted an outside wedding that allows outside food & alcohol. We plan to have about 75 people & want to make the food ourselves. I have searched high & low for a place that allows this. Any place that does is too expensive, too small, not attractive, etc. I have been so stressed about it. So now I am considering renting a tent which is about $600 but the problem is where to put it. There is a huge field next to my grandmother's that belongs to the neighbors. I have messaged one of them on FB asking if they'd mind if I had a tent there and my mom has emailed my aunt asking if we could use her property. If neither of them say yes, one of my cousins has a big yard. So here's hoping one of them says yes because I'm getting desperate. As a back up plan, I found a campground that would let me rent the whole place for $500 for two days. I'm still waiting to hear back from them on their food & alcohol policy so everyone keep their fingers crossed for me.

So there you go... the basic & long plans for my wedding. I will update you guys with all my DIY projects as I go along. Such as my brooch findings for my bouquet, candlestick findings, painting of the candlesticks & teapots, making of my favors, etc. 

I'd love any and all feedback. I'm so excited!


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## peanut08

Ahh your dress is lovely, its alot like mine, take a peek its on here sadly im selling it https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...e=STRK:MESE:IT
I am in love with your flowers, i wanted something like that but couldnt find it in time, my dh proposed on new years eve and we were married 13 weeks later!


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## Shilo

Thanks. I just hope mine look as good as my inspiration picture.

I started my hunt for brooches for my bouquet, candlesticks, and vases for cupcake stands. No brooches but I found some vases & candlesticks. I got all this stuff for $9. I'm collecting for now & I'll start to paint later :)

Vases for cupcake stand bases

https://i54.tinypic.com/2b1uad.jpg

Candlesticks for my tables

https://i56.tinypic.com/bjbmz8.jpg

I'm also on the hunt for white tea cups. We plan to paint them and use them as candle holders on the tables too. I might stack and glue some as well. I found these 3 plus my mom has a whole box from an old set she said I could have. So yay

https://i51.tinypic.com/4l1tli.jpg

I also found a corked bottle I can fill with colored water or paint for the tables. Of course it'll have it's key & drink me tag hanging off. Here it is with & without water

https://i55.tinypic.com/29yo0tg.jpg https://i56.tinypic.com/302oobp.jpg

So anyways, that's my findings for the day. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on anything I find and when I start painting and making stuff :)


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## Shilo

I think I decided to change my favors because after thinking about it, I don't see a point in the "drink me" bottles. I came up with 2 ideas, which one should I go with?

1. Old baby food jars - spray paint the lids silver & make candles in the jars. Tie with a black & white striped ribbon and add a charm and "take me" tag

2. Same idea with the ribbon and charm but instead of candles, do the corked bottles with candy in them


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## Mynx

I personally think the candy in the jars would be nice :) They might be more suitable for the men at the wedding as well as the women ;) 

We had candy and heart shaped chocs in our favours bags and they went down lovely for everyone :thumbup:


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## Shilo

For anyone interested, I've also made a site for all my wedding stuff

wonderlandwedding.weebly.com


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## Shilo

*Officially* bought my dress Saturday. And they had my size so I got to actually see it fitted.

Also updated my wedding website yesterday

https://i53.tinypic.com/172rky.jpg


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## dontworry

Beautiful dress, truly!


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## Shilo

Thank you, I just love it so much :)


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