Saturday, August 24, 2013

DIY Program Fans {with free template}

Aaaahhh, wedded bliss! Now that we are finally husband and wife, I can start posting my wedding DIY projects! Even better, I have some professional pictures to show them off! Thanks Katy Weaver Photography! The not-so-awesomely-perfect photos are courtesy of myself and some friends in these upcoming posts.

This DIY I'd like to delve into is our program fans, which were a big hit at our wedding! Especially when the temperature was almost pushing 90 degrees during our ceremony.
Katy Weaver Photography
Pretty, no?

I created this design, and printed it via VistaPrint, just like my DIY invites. You can find the template below, if you would like to create your own program fans!

Notice, that the two sides share a middle line. When I cut out the program, I folded it in half along this line first, and cutted both sides at once. This created almost a book. I simply glued a large popsicle stick between the two, so the two sides are permanently folded over the stick. Then decorate as you wish! 

Seriously, that easy. 

Here are a couple more of my crappy shots of the programs. Link to the template is below.




For anyone interested in the template I created and used, here it is in powerpoint: Program Fan Template
To upload to Vistaprint: The slide has been created to be the exact size of the "flyer" option on VistaPrint. Once you finish your design, save the slide as a PDF. This keeps the slide from re-formatting when you upload it. Once it is a PDF, you use that to upload onto the "flyer". The flyers aren't super heavy duty, and there was quite a bit of flex in the fan when completed, but they still did their job beautifully.

To learn how to save your pennies on VistaPrint items (I saved over 70%!), check out the blog of a friend of mine: weddingtips101

Happy Planning!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Best Bachelorette Game {EVER}

This weekend, my girls hosted the best bachelorette party! It was a wonderful mix of a little fun and a little naughty. We stayed at a beach house on the coast, and it was simply wonderful. :)




One of my bridesmaids was inspired by a game played at her own bachelorette, but made one all her own. I just have to share it for anyone looking for a HILARIOUS and fun game that involves all the girls for a little raunchy fun!


One (or many) of the bridesmaids creates "gift bags" for the bride before the big night. She places different mixes of items into the bags. The picture above is from one of my bags. She makes enough bags (with 3-5 things each) for each bridesmaid or party-goer, except the bride. Yes, she can make one for herself. The best way to do this is make all the bags look the same. All of mine were white paper bags with white tissue paper covering the goodies. You'll see why in a minute that this is important. The bridesmaid also needs to bring enough index cards and pens/pencils for each girl as well.

Here are some of the things included in my bags:
Panties
Sex Toys
Headache Medicine
Pregnancy Test
Bubble Bath
Edible Underwear
Phallic Candy
Listerine Strips
Candles
Lubricant
Condoms

When everyone is ready to play the game, the bridesmaid brings out all of the bags, and places them in the middle of the girls. No one knows what is in which bag, and the bride doesn't know what's in any of them. Each girl randomly takes one bag, an index card, and a pen, then secretly looks in her bag. 
*Keep the items secret even from your fellow bridesmaids!*
On the index card, you write a scenario of the bride and groom using ALL of the items in your bag. I quickly found out, the raunchier, the better. Make it as detailed or as funny as you would like. Then put the index card into your bag, and recover the items with the tissue paper. 

I as a bride found this was a perfect time to sip my mimosa and watch the sunset from our balcony! 

Once everyone is finished writing their scenarios, all of the bags are placed back in the middle. The bride then opens each one, shows off and explains the items in the bag, and proceeds to read the story on the card. If you would like, you can also have the bride guess who wrote each scenario for a fun bonus game. 

Make sure someone has a camera on hand, to capture moments like this.....


...and this...


Happy planning everyone!
PS... want a couple more pics? I thought so: