to one of my FAVORITE stores....Flower Factory. I got an email last Saturday that our local store will be closing. And it's the only one in the STATE! I didn't have any plans for the day so I went ahead and headed up in that direction. I'm so so so glad that I did! I got some AMAZING deals on silk flowers! Plus, I finally found the perfect bird cage for our card box & a crate for our ceremony programs. Check out all of the goodies!

With about 5 1/2 months to go [and through the suggestion of the MOH] I finally made my DIY To-Do list...and holy cow, do I have a lot of work to do :) Obviously, I will have some help on things with my mom and other family/friends. Here's a run down...

So upon searching for decoration ideas, I came across a post about shepherd hooks at the Dollar Tree. After lunch on Sunday, I took a little trip over there. Sure enough...42" shepherd hooks for $1/each. I seriously bought all 16 that they had :) They are a little on the thin side as far as the quality of the metal, but they will work perfectly for the one day that we will need them for. So then I paid a little visit to the Bloomington store at lunch one day...and bought them out too :) We had previously purchased some 4' sturdy ones and was wanting more, but couldn't justify the cost of spending $3-$5/per hook for a one day thing. I am super excited about these. Here are just a few little inspiration photos of what they could become :)