Wedding DIY

Finding decorations for the wedding reception was pretty tricky. Everything was so expensive so I decided to either borrow or make it myself. The only thing I rented was tables and chairs and I found those here for super cheap! (At least way cheaper than other venders.) Thank goodness for the most patient mom and wonderful bridesmaids. So I thought I would share some things we made! Hobby Lobby was awesome and usually had really great deals on things. Anyways here are some easy things you can make!

First off I used a lot of pallets. We found different businesses trying to get rid of some and used them to make quite a few different things. 

Here's one of first things we did. My bridesmaid Heather found a very similar idea on Pinterest and so we decided we would try it! We put it right inside the gate people walked through and stood in line. Not only do I love the wood/pine contrast but we were able to put different things onto it that described Zach and I.

Here's how we did it. We found a few picture frames from my brothers wedding and the dollar store and then I decided on a few different pictures or sayings that I felt best described us and our relationship. We used twine and looped it through where a nail would hang. Then, to keep it in place, we took about a two inch long piece and tied it around where the twine was looped through. This kept the picture frame in place. We had to hold up the picture frames and kind of adjust them to where we wanted them and they could slide a little bit if we needed to but it turned out to all fit really well. To keep it on the pallet I would wrap the twine around the end of that wood piece and then tie it. We then used some extra burlap and lace to add some texture. Heather had the amazing idea of getting fake weed flowers? I don't know how what you would call them but we used little clothes pins as you can see in the picture below. 

We also used pallets to make little signs we put on the corners directing people to the reception. My father-in-law is really good with wood so he was able to cut the planks in half and the use the back of the pallet for what we stuck in the ground. Zach and I were going to spray paint them but then that was a bad idea. We were also going to do a cute saying but realized there wasn't enough room. Putting these together was quite hilarious, but it worked! We made three of them like the one below and then other one was at the entrance of the gate and said #ZachandJan it really turned out a lot better then we thought. It was so easy and cheap! People sell these for like $45 on etsy. Maybe I'll start a business. 

The next idea that we did I got on Pinterest and then added my own kind of flare. Hobby Lobby always has these great sales on glass jars and bottles. My mom and I had to go a few different times to get all that we needed for the center pieces on the tables but it was just fine. Zach spray painted the mason jars a soft gold/champagne color that we used for flowers (as pictures below). We also found these bottles that you can see below and filled them with sand to hold twigs that we just used from trimming our trees, to hold pictures. We also used some twine around the bottle to mark how much sand we needed but also just to make it tie all together more. Since I wanted to use hints of gold throughout decorating I decided to put Rolo's on all of the tables. I was a little worried they would melt and get gross but since it cooled off a little for the evening they ended up being just fine. We also borrowed the burlap and navy squares from my mom's aunt that I refer to as my fairy god mother. She has everything wedding. 

Here's another view. The above one didn't have the wood piece under it yet. We borrowed these as well. You can also see the candles in the picture below. These are just battery candles that we turned on. It gave it a nice warm feel. 

For little favors we did burlap bags that we found in bulk online with Hugs and Kisses Hershey's. Then we printed out the saying, cut in squares, and tied with twine.

Since the reception was held in my backyard we had to figure out a way to keep everything lit up. I wanted the light to look natural though. Not just lots of spot lights. Again my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and found some lanterns we could hang in the tent! (We borrowed the tent from Zach's sister's in-laws). Setting this part up was a whole lot of chaos. We needed to be able to do all the draping before hanging the lanterns and people were trying to set up tables and chairs and we had this huge latter that we were trying to move all over, it was crazy. BUT it turned out PERFECT! We used thinker twine to tie the lanterns in the tent. We then also borrows lights from Zach's uncle and strung them across the yard. You can see that in the following pictures.

Here's another shot of the side of the tent. We used burlap and navy ribbon to tie the fabric around each pole of the tent. Also the chars and tables are all from the link given at the beginning of the post. They were AWESOME to work with. 

Another little DIY project we did was with large tomato juice cans. We used tomato juice because it was the cheapest. We washed them and set them outside to air out for a few days before using them. We also had a few tiny lanterns so we decided to line where the line would go. We filled each can with a little water, drilled hole into the side and the used twine (of course) to hang it from each rod. SUPER easy.

The above picture led to a table (pictured below). The chair and table rental came with two long tables and a high table. Plus all linens. Here's how we used one table.

We used the other long table for gifts. We found these letters again at Hobby Lobby for a really good deal. We put them on the gift table along with a little bird cage thing for cards.

For our sign in book I wanted to remember and see the faces of the people who were signing our book! So we did a little polaroid picture area. We made the sign (in the picture below) by getting the little flags at party land (for like a dollar) and then my cousin cut out the vinyl for us! This is where people stood as my cute cousins snapped their picture. (isn't my husband the most handsome guy ever?)

I think I'll stop there and not bore you any further :) but if you weren't able to make it to the reception here is basically a tour of how it all went. I wish I could relive this day over and over. It was one big party with great music, amazing food, and lots of love.

Hopefully this helped get your creative juices flowing. If you would like to borrow something let me know! We still have all of it I believe. If you have any questions about other things I would love to answer them so don't be shy!

And with that I think I'll wrap up the wedding blog posts and wish to relive the best day ever.

All photos taken by Alixann Loosle Photography.

a little update on the newlyweds.

I use my blog as a journal and since getting married I promised myself I would be better at keeping the little memories that i know one day I will want to read over again. 

Marriage is quite something. It's hard but it's so wonderful. You learn you do things a little weird and your spouse definitely does things a little weird. Learning about those odd things though can be so entertaining. 

Zach and I have now been married for a whole two months plus a few days. I feel like when I say that out loud it doesn't seem that long but it's felt like a lot longer. In a very good way. Anyways here are somethings we have encountered within the last few months and memories I want to always remember.

- I oddly like to pick scabs. Don't judge. I know it's so gross. Zach, however likes to go mountain biking and always comes home with a new scratch or two. A few days later we will be snuggling while watching our favorite show (details to come) and I will feel the scab and i just have to pick it. It usually turns into a wrestling match which I lose. Gross right? Hilarious all the same.

- If I don't put Zach's clean cloths in the drawer they won't ever get there. They will end up on the dresser or desk or floor or back in the dirty cloths. So we've decided I'll put away the laundry so it's a win win. 

- Changing your last name is like trying to get out of North Korea. Plus we lost our marriage license already. Winning.

-Suits. No not the clothing. The TV show. Have you watched it? No? Do it. Right now. We are slightly obsessed. When we returned from our little CA get away (details to come) we came home to HOURS of homework. We decided we just needed one episode before we started the homework. Then we decided we could do our homework and watch another episode. It turned into a lot more then just 2 episodes and needless to say we were both up past midnight trying to get the homework done. whoops. But that's living right?

- One of my favorite things about Zach is that he can be so goofy. We will be getting ready to leave and he will grab me and start dancing in our little living space. Sometimes it will be crazy country dancing and sometimes its just slow but he always has a song that he will sing as we wiz around. 

- We recently took a little trip to California and I was so excited because Zachary has never, I repeat never, been in the ocean! When we pulled up to a beach by the pebble beach golf coarse and the sun was shining and there was no wind and it was PERFECT weather i squealed with excitement! The most perfect day! So Zach and I grabbed hands and raced into the ocean. It was awesome. We then went to Santa Cruz and did the board walk and ate good food. We spent the next day tandem biking to the golden gate bridge, eating Thanksgiving at the Hard Rock Cafe, having our minds blown by the amazing Circ Du Soliel, and driving to Santa Rosa. The next morning we explored where my dad spend most of his life. We were able to visit his friend, Bob, who owns a surf shack at Bodega Bay, walk through the house he lived in growing up, going through his high school, meeting more friends, and ending the night with treats and some good ol' BS. We played BS every night of the trip. Zach took the cake for the most wins by the end of the trip. Saturday we went shopping at Union Square. There were still a lot of black Friday deals so that was nice. My feet weren't too happy with me by the end of the day but I still enjoyed shopping at my favorite places. Later that night we found a great burger joint in Oakland and then ended the night and the trip with visit the temple. It was great. I loved spending time with my family and creating more inside jokes. We all have a lot of fun together.

- Since getting home school as hit real hard. Finals are coming up here right around the corner and it's stressful. Plus i decided i didn't (and couldn't really knowing myself) do 17 to 18 credits a semester in manufacturing engineering. My dreams of graduating by 2016 were a little crushed but as soon as I allowed myself to create a better schedule that really only added a semester and a half I have felt so much better. Zach is so good at being a supportive husband. Every time I am so worried about school he lets me cry and talk and still makes me feel like I can get through this crazy thing they call college. 

- Christmas is coming up and i am so excited! I LOVE this time of year! I wish it would snow already so that as I'm listening to my Christmas music I really feel like it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

- we are learning. more and more everyday. sometimes it's hard but the hard parts make the good ones even more worth it. Tiff one of my dearest friends who got me through my senior year of high school and has taught me so much about life recently said, "Getting married is strange because you just up and leave the life you've always known. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's hard. I like to say that I'm learning how to newlywed & I'm really glad that Quinn and I can be so patient with each other." When I read this I thought it was perfect. I still do! Marriage is a weird thing. But it's the best thing. 

I often think to myself: how lucky are you to be in love with the best guy around?

Sometimes life is just so good and I think it's the little things that made it that way.

Here are some good ol' iPhone pictures from the trip.

Zach and Jan Wedding: dream dress, dream price.

I thought I would take a quick study break to take a minute to reveal my biggest secret of my wedding.

I got my dream dress and even got to design it for under $400 (including the belt around the waist).

Crazy right? I thought so too. BUT. Since it worked like a complete dream for me I wanted to share the secret with each bride to be. 

I found a dress on Pinterest and tried to find out where that bride had purchased her dress. There were some things I loved about the dress but other things I wasn't too fond of. In any case, I wanted to find the store so I could look there myself. Turns out it lead my to an Etsy page. This girl had her dress made and then sent to her. I pondered the idea and was terrified but extremely interested. I spent HOURS looking at different Etsy stores. Once I found one I liked I would look at every review and try to find the good reviews and the most terrible ones. I would follow one shop and then it would bring up related shops and on and on I went for, like I said, hours. I finally came to a lady name Angel. Angel had over 300 reviews on wedding dresses alone that she had made. I still wasn't so sold on the idea so I emailed her. I had her send pictures of dresses she was currently working on and had her send me pictures of dresses she had done in the past. Her work was incredible. 

Since I helped model some wedding dresses my senior year of high school for Allyses Bridal, I knew what I liked and what I didn't like. (Side note: if you want to do this, go try on dresses before you just find a picture of what you like. Sometimes you like something completely different of what you thought you would like.) I want something simple that I would be able to move freely in but also something modest and something I felt fit my personality. After I decided to may be have Angel make my dress I looked at Pinterest for what I had in mind. I found something VERY similar and then tried to find every angel of the dress I could. I then sent those pictures to Angel with the adjustments I would want made. I wanted a different fabric for the sleeve, no lace appliqué around the waist, and made very sure she knew I needed it to be modest for where I would be getting married. Angel was SO good to work with! She confirmed that she could create the dress and repeated all the differences I wanted in more "sewing" terms, and was very patient. She also sent a measurement guide and told me what measurements I would need to take if I went through with the purchase. There were some fears, I'm not going to lie. She lives in China so I was nervous about quality and if it would arrive on time, I worried if I would measure correctly, if the dress would even fit, etc. BUT I knew if I really didn't like how it turned out I could have my aunt who is a seamstress work some magic or try and sell it online for what I paid for and find a dress at a bridal store. 

So I went through with it. 

Angel sent me pictures of how to measure the places that needed to be measured and said she would have it done and to me in 4 weeks. Pretty great I thought. I stayed in touch with Angel the entire time she made my dress. I had her send me pictures every other day or so so that I could see how things were coming along and she even let me make slight modifications if something wasn't how I wanted it. She was SO patient and easy to work with. PLUS. My dress was at my door step in only 16 days. She knew I was stressed with how little time I had so she made sure it was done quickly. Her name fits her quite well I think.

So did it fit? 

LIKE A DREAM!!! Way better than I would have EVER thought. I didn't need a single alteration. Not even one. I then searched Etsy again to find a belt to add a little to the dress. 

There was only one thing I wish I would have done different. And it was my own fault. I was sure that I would wear Toms when I got married. I did a pageant where we did the whole heal thing and was self conscious about how I walked in them. (It's a pageant thing.) So when I measured my length that I would like the dress I did it in Toms. After we got our engagement pictures back we thought it would look better if I was in heels. SO my dress was a smich shorter than I would have preferred but still perfect. 

How was the quality?

Like I bought it from a bridal store. Seriously. I'm almost a little worried about writing this to how people will look at my dress now, BUT I had to share this hidden gem of wedding planning. I got so many compliments of how simple and elegant it was. You would have never known the difference. 

Why did I do it this way?

I'm not usually a risk taker. And it wasn't that I couldn't afford an expensive dress.. However, I got to design exactly how I wanted my dress to be. It was totally unique and totally me. I LOVED IT. And that is how every girl should feel about her wedding dress. That's why I wanted to share this. YOU can have your dream dress for a dream price. 

Were you nervous?

Yes. Swear words, yes. At one point I even thought "this isn't going to work.. what were you thinking?!" BUT it did. Like a dream. I know there are some people who just can't do it like this. You're afraid that something that is a BIG part of the big day will go totally wrong. That's okay! Find you dream dress at a near by bridal shop! They are great too! Just know you have a fantastic reference to use Angel. 

What's her contact information?

You can reach her by email: AngelWen79@gmail.com

If you are nervous about it, I would LOVE to help you or answer questions. Angel and I become quite close and as I recommend people to her I send her an email. We have stayed in touch so if you need any help at all please let me know.

Side note: she is not paying me to write this. She actually has no idea I'm writing this. I just wanted to share this secret so that other girls have options. :)

Here are pictures of my dress.

I couldn't find a great picture of the back but it had a slight "V" 

Plus a little add in: Zach got his suit from True Gentlemen. His good friend owns the company and does an AMAZING job. You can find them on instagram with: @truegentlemansupplyco or there website here. They let you customize every inch of the suit. Zach even put our wedding date in the suit! They are a great company. If you use them let them know Zach and Jan sent you :) Again they aren't paying me to do this.

Here are some pictures of Zach's suit: 

Well that's it for today folks. I better get back to studying. Pray that I don't fail my material's science test will you?

All pictures taken by Alixann Loosle Photography

J+Z Wedding: What I Found Most Important

I've had a few people ask how I did certain things for my wedding and I also want to remember every detail because it was the most perfect day, so I thought I would do a little blog series about it!

Like most soon-to-be-brides, I had no idea where to start. I searched Pinterest for timelines and what was most important but quickly discovered I wasn't going to be engaged for a year (I had two months and one day and it was perfect), I am LDS which makes quite the difference as far as location, dress, etc., and I wanted my wedding to be ME, not an exact replica of someone else on Pinterest (though I did get many ideas from there).

So first things first, I found an old notebook and started to write down what I felt was most important. The list I started with ended up being quite different then what I actually ended with. Through my experience here is what I found most important:

1. A good photographer. I used Alixann Loosle. She is THE BEST. She has traveled all over the world to do what she does and captures emotions and moments perfectly. Her dad actually used to do our family pictures, since our families have always been really close, and she has done all the weddings in the Henderson fam so far. We LOVE her. I know a lot of people want to save money and I didn't want to spend a ton either but after getting all my wedding pictures back, if there is one thing I would suggest to be willing to spend money on, it would be a GREAT photographer. Those pictures are what you look back on for the rest of your life. Here's a little bit of her work:

Engagements

Bridals. (side note: I did mine without Zach and I actually was so glad I did it this way. The first time he saw me was in the temple and was something so special and I'll always have that with me.)

2. Food. Most people come for the food anyway, right? Well Zach and I wanted something that was us. While we were dating he made waffles all of the time so we thought of doing the waffles ourselves as that would turn out to be fairly cheap. After talking it over with my mom, she really didn't want to have to deal with a huge mess and would rather be enjoying the night rather than making sure all the food was okay. So we looked for caterers. This was beyond frustrating. I didn't want to pay hundreds for some desserts that I didn't even like. We asked our favorite waffle company Bruges if they catered and they said only by food truck. At first we didn't know what to think. We were having the reception at my parents home and didn't know if it would work out. The main Bruges guy was willing to come to my house a few weeks before to make sure it would all work and was SO nice. So we did a food truck and it was probably the BEST idea we had. He also had specially made plates for my family and Zach and I which were so delicious. If you haven't ever been there, go. Right now. For drinks, Zach is obsessed with milk so we did that and then some lemonade.

My father-in-law actually made this table for us. He did an AMAZING job.

3. Easy, but still nice, invitations. I think this is a big stress of weddings. How to gather all the invites, put it together, write it all out, don't leave out anyone, etc. Here is what we did and it worked better than I could have dreamed. I had one of my bridesmaids in charge of getting all the addresses off of Facebook and put them in a word document for me. My mom just so happened to still have all the addresses from my brothers wedding earlier that year and then I had Zach's mom give us a list of addresses as well. I then put them into an excel format so we could have them printed on our invitations. As we were deciding what our invitations should look like, I was very set on NOT sitting around for 48 hours stuffing, tying, stacking, hole punching, etc. invitations. I just wasn't going to do it. We had a neighbor get married the previous month and they did a postcard invitation. We thought that was genius and decided to do it ourselves. First it saved us SO much time. All we had to do was put a stamp on it and send it to the mail. EASY. SO EASY. Zach and I did it all in under an hour. PLUS it saved us money. We used Color Quick in provo. They were cheap but still very professional and fast. We did have to do some envelopes to invite people to the ceremony but most people were family so we didn't have to buy a stamp.

Front of invitation

Back of invitation. The stamp went in the top right corner and the person's address was just a little right from my bum :)

4. Make the reception fun! I'm going to do more on the reception later but as I was preparing for my reception I knew I wanted to be able to look back and think, "That was perfect." Now lots of things will go like you didn't plan but that's okay! I would suggest a few things: ask neighbors, families, and friends to help you set up if needed. I made like 4 maps of where I wanted everything to go and handed them out to bridesmaids and family. This helped me feel like I wasn't completely loosing my mind because they could look at the map and know where I wanted something to go. We still have people tell us that they felt like they were at a big party with close family and new friends. It was perfect. Also: take some time in the reception to laugh! Do some dancing, make your first dance something fun and most importantly ENJOY EVERY MOMENT!

5. WRITE IT DOWN. Seriously. If you have a thought, write it down in the notebook. My little notebook became somewhat of a diary and went with me everywhere during those 2 months and 1 day. I could cross things off, write reminders, and stay on track.

I know this isn't a regular list like you would find on pinterest but it's what I found most important. I was quite stressed but looking back it was all completely worth it. If I could relive that day over and over, I definitely would. And that's how I think it's supposed to be.

If you have any questions feel free to comment or email me: janalehenderson@gmail.com

To come: how I got my dress for under $400 and still got to design the whole thing :)

Zach + Jan: One Month

Well folks, Zach and I have survived the first month of marriage. Survived is definitely the wrong word because it has been so wonderful but I guess we will keep it. 

For our one month we got Zach a mountain bike (I couldn't resist, he was like a 5 year old on Christmas morning), I got a new (extremely warm and so cute) jacket from the mister Zach himself, we went to the temple (our goal is to go weekly and so far we've done pretty well), Texas Roadhouse, and ended the night skating of course. Due to my terrible feet lately we haven't been able to skate for very long but I do love watching Zach skate. He's sooo good. I have to try and keep up with him so as he swoons the girls he skates by, they know he is taken :)

As we were going from activity to activity we talked about some of the best moments so far. Zach is determined that I am out to get him. You see "the basement" as we like to call our humble abode isn't "tall person proof" there's a spot when going down the stairs that if you are skipping just right and happen to be six feet tall, your going to get a nice forehead reminder of it being there. To add to that, I just so happen to have this habit of turning off the lights when Zach is about half way down the stairs. next thing i know Zach has missed the next step, hit his head, and slid down the rest of the stairs. hahaha. i even just chuckle thinking about it. it really wasn't too funny (but it was all at the same time.) don't worry he ended up being okay. i also have this bad habit of leaving drawers open and they like to greet Zach's shins in the morning. opps! so far he has prevailed and i've tried not to laugh too hard. don't worry, he gets me back by scaring me around each corner making me almost pee. 

Marriage has been awesome. you learn a whole lot and get to spend everyday with your best friend. when i'm having a bad day because of school or something i love being able to come home to Zach, tell him all about it, and then make a Sonic run to get an Oreo shake. he is a gem! though i don't have any wedding photos back yet (hopefully with in the next week or so!) i do have some pictures of our latest adventures. here's to a month and the so many more i get to spend with the best guy!

late night in-n-out runs

general conference weekend. 

zach tried to get me as close to the camera with out dropping me. he didn't drop me but got pretty close. and i screamed. jesse just happened to get the most classic picture of the whole thing. marriage isn't this scary i promise ;)

fall adventuring up bell canyon. 

lagoon! this is one of my favorite rides. 

we went to lagoon with our favorite couple and it was perfect.

wedding post(s) coming soon, so stay tuned!