Family, Friends & Favors

I've been so overwhelmed with all of the details swimming around my head that I really need to step back and take things slowly. I've gotten so excited in the past couple of weeks that now I'm somewhat at a stand-still because I just don't know what needs to be done now, or in any type of order actually. I've only been to two weddings in my entire life, both of which were completely different from the other. With all of this wedding overload being said, I guess I should start with the guest list? Please let me know if I'm starting off with the wrong detail!

When we talked to Cathie about having her backyard as our location, I told her we could cut our guests down to about 45. YIKES. J's family tree is quite complicated... I actually needed a drawing to understand at first. My dad's entire family will be traveling from Michigan (atleast I hope so, I can't wait to see them!!) so there is no room to cut family members. This means a majority of our friends won't be able to attend. We've written down a few names of our closest friends (we are homebodies so this list has dwindled down a bit) but we ultimately have to leave out a lot of people we'd typically want to be present. As of now, our list has not been finalized. I haven't even decided who I'd like to be in my bridal party. J's obvious best man is his little brother & his good friend will be a groomsman. I can't seem to find any girl friends that stick for an extremely long period of time, so I hate to commit so early (bad, I know). Since 45 seems like an impossible number, I'd like for 60 to be the absolute cut off.

While I don't have a definite number pinned down, I'm already looking for favor ideas that could either be ordered for cheap or DIY. With our low budget, DIY is definitely the way to go but I'm starting to feel as if every ounce of creativity is slowly slipping away from me. It's a scary feeling... especially in the middle of wedding planning! I used to do graphic design & my plan was to design our invites, but now that seems impossible.

Here are some favors that i just LOVE:

1. Macarons (or is it macaroon?): I've never had one, but the lady who owns Petites Bouchées was at the bridal show I attended in January. These were so cute. I've never heard anything bad about the taste, so I need to give it a shot:

source: Petites Bouchées

2. Homemade cookies (or other dessert) specially wrapped in these adorable DIY packages:

source: Style Me Pretty

I did a quick estimate of the cost to order the supplies & it's definitely cheaper than ordering ready-made favors. The question is whether or not I'll be up for baking the night before the wedding. Any volunteers?

3. Simple chocolate chip cookies served with organic white milk. This is my FAVORITE combination. I found a great spread that showed exactly what I'm looking for but I can't find the link now. How cute would mini bottles of milk & cookies be? (I kind of have a 'thing' for chocolate chip cookies... I can never turn them away) :)

Once we went to my cousin's wedding and she gave away leftover cake in personalized goodie bags, we decided that's what we were going to do too. It saves money on extra favors AND it helps get rid of leftover cake. That's still up in the air because we changed our minds to have cupcakes rather than cake, but now my mom has said that she'd like to buy my cake -- so who knows! You've been warned... a majority of the things I mention in the early months of this blog could very well change a million times before anything is set in stone.