Here is a closer look at the Welcome book I added to the OOT bags.

     Below are 2 of the pages that I added to the welcome book so that our guests were in the know about our events for the weekend.  If you plan on making an itinerary, making welcome books are so fun and easy.  For you Aruba brides, if you'd like the pages just ask me and I'll email them to you!  I added maps of Aruba (geographical, hotel, & restaurant maps), Aruba info, a thank you note, photoshare site info, guest room phone list, & Papiamento/English translation, so thats 13 pages total. 
  

  I bought plastic photo albums from the Dollar Store and printed the pages on linen paper and cut the page in 4s.  I informed the guests to turn the Welcome Book into a photo book after vacay, so that's a 2 for 1 deal!

Here is some Aruba info I added...Weather, transportation, phone calls, just the island basics!

     How do you plan on informing your guests of your wedding events?

     I sent out little reminders, in the form of a brochure, for all our guests traveling to Aruba.  I'm such a DIY junkie that I wanted to let  our guests know how excited we are and to keep them informed about the happenings.  I have a huge scrapbooking supply so this project was inexpensive (I just had to by the linen paper).

When you open the brochure you'll notice a thank you note (left side), a packing list (middle), and a house checklist (right side).  On the back side, I listed several means of transportation to and from the the airport so that the guests wouldn't feel at a lost when they walk out of the airport.  Lastly, I listed the itinerary of our wedding events (welcome dinner, wedding day, snorkeling cruise, & farewell breakfast), so that our guests can plan their trip accordingly.  

Here's a close up of the packing list!  I was trying to be funny and told the guys to pack their speedos & told guests to pack "sleeping clothes or not."  In the brochure we also made it a note to tell the guests to not bring gifts- them being in Aruba was GIFT enough for us!

     Doing this project got me even more excited about the trip!  Several of our friends and family received them and loved them, so they too got super excited.  What did you do to keep your guests informed or get them hyped about your upcoming wedding?

     Trivia cards!  My fiance is gonna kill me, but maybe I might try to pull this one out!  I was thinking about doing some sort of ice breaker game for our guests at our Welcome Dinner and perusing through Wedding Bee today, I found this...

                                        Created by Mrs. Kitten

     Wouldn't that be fun!?  I can create questions based on the fiance, myself, and our relationship.  It'll be kind of like our Wedding Shower game, "Who knows the Bride the Best!"  We could just place the cards on the tables during the Welcome Dinner so guests can get to talking and get to know each other.  Mrs. Kitten also put their engagement picture on the other side, sort of a business card type created by Moo.  But instead of having them made (I'm a little inpatient), I can just create it myself, another DIY project!  I was thinking of maybe printing out wallet size engagement pictures and mounting cardstock on the back, what do you think?!  Yea or nay!?
     Well I'll see what my DIY list looks like now and maybe I can pull this off, if not, I hope it was an inspiration to you too!

     I just found this picture and I feel in love!  I know you hear me say that a lot, but its true!  During my wedding planning our MAC and the Web have been my vice (just ask my fiance)!  Anyway, when I was thinking about what I wanted to stuff in our OOT bags, I thought it would be neat to add some Virginia flair to it since that's where we live together.  Thinking of things that were "Virginia,"  ham was the first thing that came to mind, but whose gonna give that as a gift?!  Not me!  Then I thought PEANUTS!!  That would be a not-so-much-hassle thing to bring right?!  So in my search I found this today! 

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     Isn't it too cute?  Now I just have to look for the sack and stop by our local Virginia Store (another excuse to go to the mall and shop)!  Don't you just love it when when you get inspired by others!? 
     Oh yeah, do you think this will be a problem at the airport or customs!?  I hope not 'cause I'm lovin' the idea!

I have to show off my fiance's attempt at his DIY project!  I'm so proud of his work!  Months ago we agreed on making shell boutonnieres and actually finished that project months ago, but then he came across this:

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This fun and funky bout. was found on peppermint cloud's Etsy shop.  This picture inspired the fiance to create his own version.  He was all about this project!  He dragged me shopping on Friday for the materials and then he finished it this evening!  Here's the first prototype: 

Cute huh?  Thanks to Peppermint Cloud for inspiring my fiance to DIY!  Anything that inspires him to participate in our wedding planning gets me excited even if its a change in plans!

Sorry I just had to add another picture, just because I'm so proud of him!  Has your Fi been inspired to DIY or participated in your wedding planning? 

I finally found the paper I needed, remember the 8.5x14 lavender paper I was looking so hard for!  Well I found it at another office supply store in town.  Here's how our wedding programs turned out: 

I initially wasn't planning on doing programs, but had made tissue packets months ago and then I saw Mrs. Cupcake's accordian programs and fell in love!  What do you think?!  I'll soon post a DIY with the templates I used, so stay tuned! 

Stalking my favorite wedding sites always gets me in trouble!  I tend to make my to-do list longer because of that fact.  Initially, I never intended to make menus, programs, OOT postcards, or anything paper DIY.  But after finding this picture from Mrs. Pengy, I couldn't help myself but to add this to my DIY list.  Though it's not costly or hard to make, it's just something else I have to lug to Aruba.  After all, it's the little details that count right?!  Yeah, I'll just keep telling myself that.

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I just copied the same concept above.  To get started I bought the paper punch, created the menu in Word, then proceeded to print, cut, and mount.  Easy, beautiful, and cheap, three of my favorite words when it comes to wedding planning! 

What projects did you do add to your list with no prior intentions?