just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

I'm back! Exams have been completed ... successfully enough. And now that Christmas is over, I feel like I need a holiday to recover from my holiday. But, I have a trillion wedding-related projects to work on over my break from school (which only lasts 6 more days, eek!).

I find the whole balance act between school and the wedding is becoming increasingly frustrating. Though I knew it would be difficult, I don't think I ever entirely anticipated being so distracted from school by the wedding plans. Considering the fact that I'm one of those people who keeps themselves awake all night thinking about all the things on the To-Do list, it's hard to focus my mind solely on school for the 13 weeks of each semester. Plus, as the date gets closer and closer (6 months from Dec. 26th, but who's counting, right?) I worry more and more about how I'm going to get things done when I should be focusing on school. And I sometimes find myself fantasizing about how it might have been nice to fall in love when I was done school. Unfortunately, I just had to go and fall for my high school sweetheart and get stuck with the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with the man I love. My life is so rough. Okay, I kid, I kid.

On the plus side of all this mess, I have the privilege of absorbing myself in wedding projects even if the bliss will only last 6 days. First and foremost, I need to get the centerpieces for the reception done. After deciding against cuts flowers (mainly given their extreme expense and the fact that they're not the most environmentally friendly choice) we settled on potted flowers. Although they only account for something crazy like 0.1% of the photos of centerpieces I've seen since we got engaged, I love the idea of being able to replant them once the wedding is over and enjoying them for years rather than having to throw them out 3 days after the wedding. Since making that decision, I've found some amazing resources online and some really great sources of inspiration.




After seeing the last photo posted above, I knew for sure that potted plants were the way to go. And I discovered I could save even more money by using the most inexpensive container ever... a terra cotta planter. I found a great link from the maker of spray paint, Krylon, who have these DIY instructions posted of their website.


However, since we'll be buying enough planters for 15 tables (even though we really only have 10 tables, we wanted lots of extras) spray paint didn't seem like an affordable solution nor did it seem practical since we live in an apartment building in Canada where it's freezing cold 24/7 during the winter months. But the basic idea will be the same as those instructions.

I opted for water-based acrylic paints and got my trusty bridesmaids to help me pick out some colors at the local Michaels and spent the better part of a day cleaning them all off with water and soap. I got two 2 oz. bottles of each color and in the colors which had good coverage (avoid orange unless you want to do 17,438,937 coats) I only ended up using 3/4 of one bottle which means lots of left overs in case of emergencies. Now I just need to spray them with a finishing coat of spray paint to give them an iridescent look and I'll be finito. And I promise to post some photos of them so far once I can locate some batteries for my camera.

As for the rest of the winter break, I just have a small list of other things to do, such as : making the tags for the guest book tree, completing the fabric additions to the centerpieces, ordering a sash for my wedding dress, putting down a deposit for the rentals, figuring out what we're doing about a caterer, finalizing the invitations, getting the invites printed, ordering envelopes, deciding what the men will be wearing, bugging Mr. FP to finally ask his groomsmen to be groomsmen, deciding on the flower girls outfit ...

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I only have 6 months left?