Groomsmen Gifts...check

Present time!! Now that everything for the boy's gifts has arrived, I wrapped them ALL tonight! I'm pooped, so quick blog update, mostly pics.

I have yet to blog about the gifts cohesively. Here is my attempt at cohesiveness. (My word of the day). Each boy is getting a custom made pair of Red Converse as I blogged about here.

Each boy is also receiving a pair of cuff links I made a million years ago and blogged about here. They are swarovski crystals!

And lastly, they are getting a beautiful black tie that we got from The Tie Bar. I blogged about it here.

I got some lovely white wrapping paper from Party City. Plain white wrapping paper was actually a little difficult to find. I have a TON of ribbon from the centerpieces so I used that to complete the black and white appeal of the presents.

Custom Converse are HERE!!!

Yeppers! They have arrived....those beautiful 8 boxes that I've been waiting a few weeks for! They are here!!

It all started with Converse inspiration photos...

And the fact that back in the day Greg's uncles wore red Converse to one of the uncle's weddings. Greg instantly wanted to wear red Converse.

You can design your own Converse on their website....you can pretty much pick ANYTHING you want....it's very cool, plus you can customize a personal ID on each one!

The boxes!!

The shoes!!

And the personal ID....their name and 9410 which is our wedding date!

These will be a part of the groomsmen gifts! And we got some for our Dads too!

Groomsmen Newsletter

So yes! I sent our groomsmen an email that explicitly states what they need to get and what they don't need to get. I thought pictures were appropriate. Did I do this with my bridesmaids? No. Why might you ask did I do this for our groomsmen? Well for a few reasons.

1. My brother is in the bridal party and I see him asking me at the rehearsal dinner what he was supposed to wear.

2. Since we aren't doing the commonly used rented tux I thought our boys might get confused. 3. One of our groomsmen was in another wedding a few months ago and he was frantically searching for suspenders the night before the wedding.

4. THEY ARE BOYS....did I really need the other reasons?

I sent it out a few days ago and a couple of the groomsmen were happy I think to finally get some sort of communication from us about the wedding. I made the email months ago but was afraid I would change my mind about what I was having them wear.

I don't know if this makes me a control freak (which I never really considered myself) or just fabulously organized for once.

I'll take the latter!

Ties for the guys

I started getting a little frantic last week and started ordering different things online that I would need for the the wedding. Today the ties for the guys came! We ordered black ties for the groomsmen and red striped ties for the papas from The Tie Bar

This is a picture of the black herringbone tie.

And here is the red, black and white striped ties for the papas.

The ties are very nice quality and were only $15 a piece. A great deal!

These will be part of the groomsmen gifts and gifts for the papas. I am very happy with this purchase and would definitely recommend them! One more thing checked off the list!

DIY: Cufflinks

Yesterday I made a few sets of cufflinks as part of the gifts for our groomsmen. They were actually very easy! I bought the cuff links and chessboard Swarovski flat backs and glue from Fire Mountain Gems. I love this website!

I cut some holes in a box and stuck the cufflink backs in to hold them steady. I used G-S Hypo Cement glue and put a thin layer on the flat back. This glue comes with a very fine point so it is very easy to keep the glue under control.

I then placed the Chessboard crystal on top of the glue. The tricky part was lining the crystal up perfectly. The backing measured 12mm across and the crystal was also 12mm. It took a bit of playing around to make sure the crystal was centered perfectly. I did not want any of the backing showing around the crystal. Then I just allowed them to dry overnight.

And Voila! Cufflinks in under 20 minutes! It's all about getting all the supplies you need!

I think these are going to look great with the groomsmen's white french cuff shirts!

Cuff Links

I've decided to make cuff links for our groomsmen as part of their gifts. I've made lots jewelry for my sister and friends and myself, but I've never made cuff links. I scoured Etsy to find inspiration.

Tomatomade

I like the personalization that you could do with this type of cuff link, but I was a little anxious to make them with the resin like I saw in this blog.

tinytokensdesigns

I really love the idea of doing them with each person's initials, but I wasn't sure I wanted to take on the task of figuring out how to stamp them, etc. I like DIY, but I also don't want to waste my time and money on something that won't look great.

Bits and Badges

Now I think these would be very easy to make, but a little less formal than what I was thinking.

JMGJewelDesign

I like these because they will be very easy and classy. Although I lose the personalization with these, I think these will be a "do-able" DIY.

I ordered the supplies from my favorite jewelry shop Fire Mountain Gems. They have a great deal on shipping, you can stuff the box and the shipping is $5. I'll post updates and pics when the supplies come in.

Chucks No Tux

The Men: Part 2

Converse

The groomsmen will be wearing red converse, hopefully with their initials and wedding date on the back (see pic below). On the Converse website you can customize any pair. It's pretty cool, definitely check it out.

There is a little history behind this. Greg's dad and his uncles wore red converse at one of the uncle's weddings. Greg liked the idea and wanted to carry on the tradition. I thought it was a great idea! So the groomsmen, ushers, etc will be wearing red high-top converse and the bridesmaids will be wearing red peeptoe pumps. I think it'll look really cute!

Groomsmen Attire

The Men: Part 1

While I want Greg and the other boys to look very handsome on our big day.....I don't want the same "rented tux" look. Through my months of searching I found a look that I really like.....Vests

See more inspiration below:

Once Wed

Our colors are black and white so this picture below is the closest to what I am looking for. I think it will be simple and yet classy. I like the sleeve rolled up look also. Greg really wants to wear a jacket so he will probably get a suit with a vest. I think they are all going to look GREAT!

*I found these pics a long time ago so I'm not sure where I got them. Let me know if they belong to you so I can give you credit*