Wow - It's Over!

First let me apologize. I had NO IDEA that in the months leading up to the wedding I would have absolutely zero time to blog!

Sadly, and happily, our wedding is over now, and I can honestly say that it was absolutely perfect! I will no longer be writing in this blog, as it doesn't seem appropriate any more. However, I have started a blog called Adirondack Love in which I will be sharing photos and links to help people get ideas for their own weddings - and I focus of course on an Adirondack theme.

If you'd like to see the end result of our beautiful day, you can check it out in a couple places: Tiffany Wayne's blog entries here and here. (The second link contains a video, too!)

Thank you to all my readers for sticking with me! Hopefully brides in the future will still be able to use some of the information I have shared in this blog!

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Twitter Tag: Friday Favorite

I decided to start a new Twitter hashtag today: #FridayFavorite

I'm going to use this every Friday to post something that I really liked from that week.

To start it off I posted:
"#FridayFavorite is this photo of Terrarium Series No 1 http://bit.ly/hSH9Dp"

What's your #FridayFavorite this week?

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Terrarium Wedding Centerpieces

I cannot even express how excited I am that I finally made the terrarium centerpieces today! I've been waiting for literally months, and even though the wedding is (eek!) just two months away, I am still scared that they might die before then. Alas, this is the ONLY time I have left between now and the wedding when I could actually make them, so they are made! I followed the directions from the Indie Bliss website and I will sort of explain my steps here and show pictures of each step along the way.

STEP 1: I filled the bottom of the 32-ounce mason jars with smooth river rocks. I wasn't sure if I was going to run out of stones, so I basically just put enough that they whole bottom of the jar was covered. In retrospect, I wish that I had put a thicker layer of stones so that they would show more, but I am still happy with the result.

STEP 2: I put in about 1/3 cup of horticultural charcoal. This helps with drainage and also helps remove yucky gases from the jars.

STEP 3: Added a good layer of potting soil. I made sure not to get any kind that had fertilizers in it, because I read that moss likes very simple dirt to grow in. I measured out about 3/4 cup of dirt.

STEP 4: Added the moss. I bought these adorable little dots of moss from silknparachute on Etsy and they were absolutely perfect for this job. They were mostly small enough to fit through the jar openings and the ones that weren't broke apart gently.

STEP 5: Miniature animals! Of course I had to use animals of the Northeast so they would fit with our wedding theme! The terrarium that will be featured on our sweetheart table has two special animals in it just for us.

STEP 6: Using twine, I added tags with care instructions so our guests will be able to take the terrariums home and keep them thriving!

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Wedding Ring Engraving

We took our beautiful McFarland Designs rings to a local jeweler to be engraved. 

Our rings say, "KRISTEN/RYAN IS MY CONSTANT." Anyone who has watched the LOST series knows what that means. We really like how they turned out, even though my fingers are so tiny that the words inside my ring are also small.

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Reception Tables: A bit of Adirondack inspiration

moss table runners, birch candles, and tree slices with carved initials:
Bragging Bags

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Wedding Favors: Tree Seedlings

Weddings take away a lot of resources from the earth for a celebration that only lasts a few hours. It pained us to think about this, and when choosing what to give our guests as favors, we decided that we wanted to use this as an opportunity to give back to the earth for all that it has given us. I've been to several weddings where I received a favor that was cute, but not really useful, and not anything that was really meaningful. We want to avoid this, and so we have decided that for our favors we are going to give... tree seedlings!

We found a company right here in New York state called Tree Beginnings that offers a variety of different gifts for all types of occasions, all of which can be planted. Almost all of the items from this store come with free personalization in the form of little cards, slips that attach to the gifts, colors, and even packaging. We chose blue spruce seedlings wrapped in natural burlap with a green raffia bow. We figured that these fit the theme of our wedding best (the Adirondack woods) and had the lowest impact on the environment.

I was able to order one seedling as a sample just to make sure we liked them before ordering all 50 that we will need. I think this is a good idea for anyone who has to purchase mass quantities of something and isn't able to look at it first.

We realize that not everyone is able or will want to plant a tree after going home from our wedding, and we have a plan for that. We are going to put a little sign (in one of the picture frames we bought from Rustic Blend - see blog post here) on the table with the seedlings letting our guests know that if they do not want to take a tree and will not plant it, that it's ok to leave it on the table. We are also going to encourage any of our guests with larger property or a greater desire to take care of a tree to take more than one if there are some left over. Then, if all else fails, we will take the rest of the seedlings home and plant them ourselves in our own yard.

We are also going to use one of these seedlings during our vow renewal ceremony in which we have incorporated a tree planting ritual. I think this will be a really nice way to tie it all together and promote the idea that we are all on the same planet and our love is universal.

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Wedding Reception Games

We want our reception to feel very relaxed and have an atmosphere that mimics a happy family gathered at a campground. We decided to incorporate some games into the reception to make sure that everyone gets involved and isn't bored (especially the large number of people in our families who don't like to dance), but we are shying away from "traditional" reception games. Instead, we want to have games that families might play while camping!

So far we have decided that we want to play wedding Mad Libs and have fortune tellers (some people call them cootie catchers). I will write up the story for the Mad Libs game and we will have a contest and give prizes to the guest who writes the funniest story and the guest who rights the sweetest story. There is a great Etsy shop called Darling Girl Paper that make fortune tellers and I think they are adorable!

We've got those two games, but now we are are stuck! What other ideas do people out there in the world have for cute easy games that would remind people of camping with family? We need your help!

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