My Labors on Labor Day

So I ran around to a few places...

Picked up swatches at JoAnn's (apparently you only get 2 free, then you pay for the rest ... mine ended up being anywhere from $0.31 to $0.50). Some lime greens, cornflower blues, etc.

I also drove out to the Wedding Land mom and pop store in Riverside that Lexie was raving about, but they were closed.

And I popped into David's Briday for some swatches... $1.00 a pop. I learned the difference between satin (that smooth, shiny material) and organza (shiny, stiff, and hard) and chiffon (floaty, flimsy, flowy) and jersey (stretchy and clingy). I saw some bridal dresses...and have decided that some beading will be nice, but not too much... and I'm feeling more the white dress than ivory.

I'm mostly collecting blues and greens as I pick up swatches because I cannot really find any "pale orange"...I'm finding Boom-In-Your-Face Orange or I'm-Really-A-Pumpkin Orange. Corals and peaches are better than those oranges, but they're not really orange...

At Michaels, I looked at candles - the 3" floating candles are going for $1.99 each, and smaller 1.75" are going for $3.99/pk of 9.

JoAnns has the tall 23" tower vases for $14.99! Either we collect JoAnn's coupons from everyone's newspapers...or find them online if we're buying these ourselves...

I also picked up from The Dollar Tree a vase, fake flowers, and some clear stones to see what the centerpieces would look like to DIY for under $5 ;) I'll post the pix, when I'm done...

I read somewhere that you should do vases in threes...so I was thinking the orchid in water in one, a candle over an orchid in another, and what to do for the third? Maybe one orchid and one small votive... Do the votives in the metal/aluminum? holders float?

I also looked for those underwater LED lights...but couldn't find them...so gotta scout around online to find where I can find those.

By the way, fake flowers at Michaels and JoAnns are not cheap... One stem of vanda orchids - though they weren't cloth...they were...rubbery?/plasticky?/akin to real flowers but fake... - was going for $12.99! And then the butterfly orchids were going for $8.99!... Yeah...not so sure that fake flowers would be any cheaper than the real deal. Although where would I keep all the flowers for centerpieces if we have to make them before the wedding?...

And fieldtrip to the Flower District on Satuday. Public hours are done by noon, so maybe around 9 be out that way? Jillee's gonna be at the beach house, but I think I may drive out with Mum...esp. since I'm bringing Beatles Rock Band down to Fullerton on Friday night ;) Jess, be ready to rock out when you're back!

In the meantime, as I was laboring over this wedding craziness, I also made a belated birthday phone call to Mike, who left me with this mantra, "Do you want to be right or married?"

Something to keep in mind whenever I'm tempted to pull my hair out and scream...