Every bride knows that DIY party favors are not only budget friendly, they are also the cutest and the most personalized gift one can ask for.  Instead of spending several dollars on fancy candles, picture frames and towels, why not spend around a dollar on creating something that can WOW your guests?

Needing some fun and creative ideas?  Get ready!

DIY Ice Cream in a Jar — A cool treat for a warm day!
Ingredients:

• glass mason jar
• ribbon
• rock salt
• small zip-lock bag
• half and half individual packets
• sugar & vanilla powder
• printer
• labels

Instructions:

1) Print out the labels for your jars, cut out and personalize the side label to say what you would like to your guests
2) Pour 1 cup rock salt into the bottom of each jar
3) Pour 1 tablespoon sugar & 1 teaspoon vanilla powder into a small (quart size) zip-lock bag and make sure it’s tightly sealed
4) Combine the bag of powder and 8 of the half and half packets in each jar
5) Tie on your front label with twine
6) Tie on your side labels with ribbon for your guests

All your guests have to do is to add ice and shake for about 10 minutes,  voila!, it will magically turn into a nice cool treat as a late night snack!

DIY Candy Poppers
Materials:

• tissue paper roll
• double stick tape
• scissors
• 1.75 x 5 piece of cardstock
• ribbon
• page of crepe paper
• candy

Step One: Place double stick tape on crepe paper put tissue paper roll on tape and roll across crepe paper apply tape on end of crepe paper and secure.
Step Two: Twist one end of crepe paper and secure with ribbon, tie in bow.
Step Three: Fill roll with candy.
Step Four: Twist other end and secure with ribbon, tie in bow.
Step Five: Fold cardstock and cut on an angle, to create a “flag” look write message and attach tag to finished roll.

From creating the color scheme to designing the floral arrangements, from customizing the buffet menu to planning the layout of the venue, Gary and I did it all.  Now, without further ado,  here is Even and Richard’s wedding.

As you all know, there are gazillion things that need to be planned prior the wedding; therefore, usually 10 to 12 months are being put aside for the whole planning process.  Nevertheless, time may not be a luxury item that all engaged couples have.  In our case here, we were being approached by the mother of the groom six weeks before the wedding.  Yes, SIX WEEKS ONLY!  But that’s not it, the most nerve wrecking part is that the wedding took place on February 10th, which was two days before the Winter Olympics began!

If you are a Vancouverite, you’d probably know all hotels and restaurants have been fully booked at least a year in advanced for the Winter Olympics.  Given that February 10th is the full dress rehearsal for the international event, finding a decent venue was just extremely difficult.  But fear not, for I am the “wedding goddess”, whatever the clients ask, they shall receive.

The mother of the groom asked for having a nice hotel in downtown as the venue, and *BOOM!* I got them a nice banquet room on the 34th floor at the Hyatt Regency Hotel with nice mountain scenic view.  After finalizing the venue, I then worked with the catering manager about customizing the scrumptious gourmet buffet menu for them.  As the bride and groom were 3000 miles away in Shanghai, and the parents of the groom didn’t have specific vision for the wedding, I had to create all color combination and designs, make all the decisions, and hope to God that they’d like it.

Since the client wanted to have an elegant and luxurious style wedding, I decided to go for the purple/pink/silver color combination.  Given that it is an intimate wedding of 30 people at a mid-size banquet room, it is important to use fancy backdrop drapes to decorate the room and use gorgeous vertical floral arrangements to make a statement.  I had a blast playing with the room layout, designing the centerpiece arrangements, and organizing with all the other vendors.

It was a busy 6 weeks, but it was fun!  That again assures me how much I love wedding planning.  If I ever win lotto max, I’d quit my full-time job in a heart beat, and do wedding planning for free!