DIY: Holiday Decor Blocks

It's no secret that I love special occasions. The decorating, the food, spending time with our family and friends, having time off work and the memories made are just some of the reasons I love when holidays or birthdays roll around.

A few months ago I told Jesse I thought we should have decorations year round to celebrate every kind of occasion. We got to thinking and decided that the best idea would be to create something that could work for a variety of special occasions - and we decided on these blocks!

They are seriously so easy to make and they can be personalised for whatever special occasions you want to celebrate - and they can also be used to display your favourite quotes! 

But enough chitter chatter, 

Let me show you how to make your own DIY Holiday Decor Blocks! >>

Wedding: Our Gluten Free Candy Bar

Previous Wedding Recaps: My Thoughts on the Day//Our Wedding Video//Hair and Makeup//The Dress//The Ceremony//Our Wedding Photos//The Reception Styling//The Photo Booth//Our Gluten Free Wedding Menu

As you know from our last post, we had an entirely gluten free wedding (with the exception of a few beers) so naturally, we wanted our candy bar to be gluten free too.

At first, it was something we almost deemed impossible - but thanks to Big Lolly. Sweetcheeks Cookies and Cakes, Unique Vintage Events and Timbermill, we were able to pull it off and it looked incredible.

Our Candy Bar was absolutely gorgeous and we wanted to style it up to match with our rustic vintage theme and everyone loved it.

As soon as I saw Timbermill's Rustic Country Kitchen Bar, I knew it would be perfect for our candy bar. Jesse wasn't so on board as he thought it was a little too rustic, but I knew with the pretty candy jars and some bunting it would look incredible. We also used Timbermill's Wooden Trestle Tables for our food tables so it all tied together perfectly.

The beautiful Candy Jars, Candybar Sign, Mirror Plates, Bunting, Tongs/Utensils and Candy Bar Sign came from Unique Vintage Events and Deb has the most incredible showroom ever. Seriously - she has everything you need and more!

For our candy bar, I made up a sweet little sign, held in an Ikea Tolsby Frame ($1.99 per frame!). All I did was design a 5x6" sign and have it printed at Kmart on photo paper (for 9 cents per print) and then slipped it into the frame.

The sign said:
Love is Sweet
This is a treat,
we are offering to you

On this beautiful day,
that we say "I do".

Use the scoops,
choose what you like.

Leave some for others,
be polite

As you might be able to tell - our Candy Buffet sign, as well as all of our other signs, were designed by me to match in with our theme. Our Invitations, RSVP Cards, Cake, Photobooth Strips and Cake all had our heart logo which I designed. It's made up of tiny little hearts in one big heart.

I design things for clients all day long in my business - so naturally, I wanted to put my design skills to the test and come up with a "wedding logo". It was a very complicated process. As much of a perfectionist as I am, I'm worse when doing something for myself - but in the end, the heart came together perfectly and I LOVED it. I DIYed most things for our wedding (the signs, the designs, the menu, the canvas etc) and even though it added a little bit of stress and extra things on my to-do list, I wouldn't have done it any other way.

But onto the important part - the candy!! 

If you're a gluten free-er you'll know how impossible and expensive it can be to find gluten free candy. But don't worry, I've found a solution. Gluten freebies, meet Big Lolly. 

Big Lolly have an incredible gluten free candy selection - and it's all really reasonably priced! For our Candy Bar, instead of choosing a colour theme, we wanted to have lots of colour and variety as I've heard way too many complain about boring coloured candy buffets where the candy tasted awful despite looking really good (seriously, white candy buffets kind of limit you to peppermint and coconut candies). 

We went for a selection of different candies so everyone could find something they like - and so you know the quantities if you're planning to have a candy buffet at your own event, I'll list them too! We had just over 90 guests at our reception and there was lots and lots of leftover candy.

• Choc Bud Jewels - 2x500g bags at $5.06 each
• Milk Bottles - 2x500g bags (which I can't seem to find on the site at the moment)
• Multi Coloured Choc Drops - 2x500g bags at $8.34 
• Fizzy Worms - 1x2kg bag at $17.60 per pack 
• Gummy Bears - 1x2kg bag at $17.60 per pack
• Fruity Frogs - 1x2kg bag at $9.90 per pack 
• Kiss Lips (because my initials are KISS!) - 2x500g at $4.87 per pack
• Hard Jubes - 2x500g at $3.78 per pack

The milk bottles, chocolate jewels and chocolate drops were a definite Kristy favourite (as they were candy I could eat!!! I will definitely be buying any of those again :P) whilst Jesse is a fan of gummy lollies so he loved the frogs and gummy bears. The frogs were definitely the winner for Jesse though and he hid the leftovers for himself ;P 

We purchased little vintage stamped paper bags from an eBay store for our guests to put their candy into. 

But tell me, candy bars - yay or nay?

What's your favourite candy? 

I'm a chocolate girl but milk bottles and freckles take me back to when I was a little girl and my Pa would bring over treats for us every now and again :P 

Next post: The Cake!

Wedding Vendors in this post: 

Candy Buffet Hire: Jars, utensils and decorations hired from Unique Vintage Events - uniquevintageevents@yahoo.com.au

Gluten Free Wedding Cake: Sweetcheeks Cookies and Cakes - info@sweetcheekscookiesandcakes.com.au

Country Bar and Trestle Table Hire: Timbermill Rentals - sales@timbermill.com.au

Gluten Free Candy: Big Lolly - support@biglolly.com.au

Invitations: Invitation Tea Towels - info@invitationteatowels.com.au

Graphic Design/Printables and Logo Design: Yours truly! If you're interested in having anything designed for yourself, just email me!

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Wedding: The Invitations

I teased you all with pictures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - so now that they're pretty much all sent out, it's time that I shared all of the details.

We didn't want your ordinary invitations - and we didn't want fussy invitations either. We wanted something that was unique, special and something we could keep - and that's when we found Invitation Tea Towels.

It was very "us" - something cute, memorable and Jesse thought it fitted this "kitchen goddess" perfectly. 

I'd come up with a heart design which we're using throughout the wedding (you saw it in our DIY Wedding Mad-Libs Post) so of course we included it.

I've blanked out the details, obviously, but as you can see - Invitation Tea Towels allowed us to develop our own design, using one of their designs as the inspiration. We used the Kaleidoscope Heart Design as inspiration - adding our own heart and wording and using the same colour as found in our original heart design.

The invitation reads; 

Because you have shared in our friendship and love, we Kristy Sayer and Jesse Jones along with our parents, invite you to share the beginning of our new life together as husband and wife. 

This was a message we came up with early on as we wanted something that was more personal than your usual "Mr and Mrs xxx and Mr and Mrs xxx invite you to the wedding of their children...." etc. Each and every one of the guests at our wedding are important people in our lives - they've supported us, the big move, the visa process, our careers, this blog - they're true friends and family members who mean the world to us. 

We paired the invitation with an RSVP and Wishing Well Postcard. All our guests have to do to RSVP is cut the postcard on the line, attach a stamp on the back and send it away. The back of the RSVP section has our address pre-printed for easy send off. I designed them all myself (as that's what I do for KISS Freelance Designs) and had them printed on Matte Postcards at Vistaprint.

Wishing Wells are becoming more and more popular, however, in a previous post I realised that it's still a little bit of a controversial choice. We discussed this choice with our friends and family who told us that this is what they thought would be the best option - and what they'd be happiest with considering our circumstances. 

Many of our friends and family members told us they'd be happier putting the money into a bank account versus a card, so the back of the wishing well card has our bank details for anyone who wanted to do it that way. 

The poem on the Wishing Well card was written by me and says; 
Kristy and Jesse are making a new start, 
Now together in Australia, they never have to part. 
They're more than ready to make a house their home, 
But there's a lot of saving to do before they can roam. 
A gift of money, an amount you can afford, 
Would really be appreciated, you can be assured. 
But most importantly, the couple requests, 
That you come to the wedding as their guests! 

The back of the card also lets our guests know that if they'd prefer to buy a gift, or give a card, that's more than fine - and there will be a place for those on the day as well.

Vendor Details: 
Invitations - Invitation Tea Towels
www.invitationteatowels.com.au 
Invitation Tea Towel's Facebook Page
+ 61 (2) 9519 1099
Available to ship worldwide or pick up in Sydney.

RSVP/Wishing Well Cards/Wedding Mad Libs - 
Designed by me (if you're interested in getting your own custom printables/invitations etc - contact me at KISS Freelance Designs - I design for clients all around the globe!).
Printed by Vistaprint.

But tell me,

If you're married/planning - 

what were your invitations like?

If you're not yet married -

what's the best wedding invitation you've seen?

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Wedding DIY: Mad-Libs for your Wedding (Wed-Libs!)

Mad-Libs have had a bit of a comeback in the world of weddings and parties - and "Wed-Libs" can be found at weddings all over the world. When I was looking at some ideas for little activities fun things at our wedding, the idea of having our own "Wed-Libs" cards sounded like a good idea.

Wedding sneak peek: Our reception will be spread across two levels - a roof top and a ground floor level - and guests will be free to roam up or down, wherever they like. As we have so much space, I wanted to make sure there was something to entertain guests wherever they were. 

Mad-Libs are a light hearted and easy game which you can adapt to pretty much any situation - but I did them just a little bit differently. Rather than having a list to fill in words on the back like traditional mad-libs, I went for a simple "fill in the blanks" style where guests can add in whatever they choose. 

I looked on Etsy and found hundreds of Mad-Libs/Wed-Libs versions to purchase, however, as I'm launching myself into the world of graphic and invitation design, I decided to create all of our wedding printables ourselves.

I designed the card myself, making sure the colours/fonts/style fitted with the rest of our themeing (another sneak peek!) and then tailored the text to ourselves. 

The card reads: 

"When I first heard Kristy & Jesse were getting married, I shouted "..................!" because they are the ............. couple. A few words of advice as you enter this ................ journey. My best advice? Jesse always remember ........................................................................... and Kristy, never forget............................................................................................................. Make sure you both ................................................................................................... I wish you both a lifetime of ............................................................. Love from ..........................." 

Before designing them, I made sure to find out Vistaprints' Specs for Postcard Printing and made them exactly to size - this way, all I had to do was upload my design and print them. I found Vistaprint postcards were the cheapest (and I tested out the quality of their printing on some other designs first!) and when I received them they were perfect! 

I ordered the Recycled Matte Postcards (which cost a bit extra) so that is was easy for our guests to write on the postcards. They arrived within a week and I ordered them at a time where Vistaprint had specials on (they always have specials on, so keep an eye out!) and saved heaps. 

Price Comparison:

DIY Version + Printing on Vistaprint: $28.73 including postage 

Etsy Design: $18-30 plus printing and postage 

Etsy Printed Cards: Up to $200 for 100 Printed Cards PLUS postage. 

So, the DIY option is certainly cheapest - and I've actually designed a couple of mad-libs cards for readers and friends already! (And being a Bride-to-Be, I'm making sure that all of the prices of my invitations/printables etc are affordable, reasonable with the highest quality results) 

But tell me, what did you DIY for your wedding?

and if you're not married yet, do you think you'll be a DIY bride? 

Stay tuned for more of our DIY wedding projects and wedding sneak peeks!

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