Wedding Decor and Favors

I spent part of the weekend at Mares house relaxing, escaping, and catching up with her.  Life is about to get incredibly hectic and I wanted to make sure we got some QT in before my "month of insanity" starts.  Her house is so tranquil, peaceful and calming that getting to spend any time there is truly like an escape from every day life and stress. It's perfection!

In addition to catching up, drinking champagne, and relaxing we did a ton of wedding stuff! Mainly sourcing the supplies we need for centerpieces and favors, as well as completing the trial run for the actual centerpieces.  Take a look at this beauty: 

It features a DIY mercury glass vase (which doesn't show well), fresh evergreens and a variety of hand made flowers. On a whim we decided to add a few silver/pewter glass ornaments to the arrangement, and I love the the way they look.  Not too kitschy- but just right! We will most definitely be adding those to the arrangements! I have many more photos of the two different arrangements we made, but I'd like to share them with you later, when I'm focusing on all of the floral wedding details. 

As I said, we also tackled the wedding favors.  

I must admit- I wasn't even planing on having wedding favors, and here's why; 1. even the "cheapest" favors add up quickly when your buying for 150 people. 2.  I don't want to give cheap wedding favors. 3. Do people really remember what favors they got at each wedding they have attended, or are favors one of the judging factors of a wedding? No.

Anyway, all that went out the window when we realized our decor could do double duty as wedding favors too! Any budget conscious bride will appreciate how wonderful it feels to stay on budget, get the decor look your dreaming up, and send their guest home with a little "thank you"!  

(** if you are attending our wedding and don't want to know what the favor is, then stop reading!**)

Part of our already planned decor includes using a handful of these DIY mercury glassed votives at each table.  I got the clear glass votives here  (for 33 cents each- score!) and we applied the finish ourselves which included rimming the edge with silver german glass glitter which ties in other features of our decor.  I love them, but wasn't thrilled that I'd have to make about 100 votives to be used on the 15 tables we have. Then it hit us... if we make 50 more then we planed the votives can be the favors! YESSSS! Being a very sentimental person, I loved the idea right away, imagining couples burning their very in-right-now mercury glass votives and thinking back to our wedding every time they look at it.  At least that's my hope :)  

Then, it felt like the stars aligned when I realized that months ago my mom had purchased 150 of these so-cute favor boxes for the wedding when we found them on sale at TJ Maxx. (is it obvious yet how much I love a good deal?) And while they they are too small for the votives, they do fit 3 small tea light refills perfectly! Done and done.  We picked up those bulk tea light bags at Hobby Lobby and got to work filling 150 boxes. Then we focused on embellishing the boxes to fit with our wedding theme. 

Each guest will have this sweet little box waiting at their seat which holds three tea lights and a note that thanks them for coming and asks them to please take a glass votive from the table at the end of the night. 

Each of the boxes will be embellished with silver satin ribbon and sprigs of natural boxwood that has been jazzed up with splashes of german glass glitter. 

In the end I still know a favor is just a favor, and many of these may end up in the trash. Mercury glass isn't everyones look and I understand that. Most importantly I think these favors truly represent our wedding and the aesthetic guests will find at our wedding.  We put a lot of love and attention into each of these little favors and I know that will be noted and appreciated. I'm thrilled that while I may not have a lot of money in the "favor" budget, I've certainly got time and love to give and I think these favors highlight that!