DSMeeBee in Boston Wedding Magazine!

DSMeeBee Wedding Cake Toppers was recently featured in Boston Wedding Magazine! Thank you so much to Boston Wedding Magazine for the opportunity and for the support! DSMeeBee LOVES Boston Wedding Magazine xoxoxxox <3

DIY Ostrich Feather and Fabric Flower Topiary

Ostrich Feather and Fabric Flower Topiary

I had an extra terra cotta pot left over from my centerpieces and I wanted to incorporate it into my wedding. I thought about it a little and decided to do something with the left over ostrich feather from my menus and some left over fabric I had in my house. I love the way this topiary came out and it will be a nice addition to my candy buffet table. 

Things you will need:

• Terra Cotta Pot
• Gold Spray Paint
• Floral Foam
• Cotton Balls
• Colored Marbles or Stones
• Wooden Dowel or Branch
• Large Styrofoam Ball
• Ostrich Feather(s)
• Polyester Fabric 
• Gorilla Glue
• Elmer's Glue
• Box Cutter
• Acrylic or Crystal String
• Paint and Paint Brush 
• Candle 
• Decorative Wooden Heart on a dowel - I found mine at Michaels
• Letter Stencils or Stamps - Stamp Ink
• Long Sewing Pins

Optional:

• Sizzix Die Cutter - to cut out the shapes for the flower petals

Step 1: 

Paint your terra cotta pot and let it dry. Trim down a piece of floral foam to fit into your pot and push it down into the pot. With the extra pieces fill in the excess around the main piece of foam. Apply a good amount of gorilla glue around the base of your dowel and push it into the center of the foam. Start pulling a cotton ball apart and using Elmer's glue glue it to the floral foam and cover its exposed top. Glue down a layer of marbles or colored stones on top of the cotton. 

Your base is done! 

Step 2: 

Cut out circles or hearts for the flower petals. I prefer to used a die cutter for this but you can do this by hand as well. After you have a good pile of polyester fabric shapes start heating one edge with a candle flame. Hold one fabric piece at a time over the flame and watch the heat melt up the edges. This will only take a few seconds and then repeat until your pile is done. Note: I prefer to used a long candle stick because when candles in a jar melt the flame is harder to access. 

Step 3:

Paint the dowel any color you want and let it dry for a few minuets. Center your foam ball on the dowel and firmly push down till the ball is stabilized on the dowel. Once the ball is stabilized start arraigning your ostrich feather(s) and push them into position. Then taking a long sewing pin start pinning petals to the ball. I always use gorilla glue on the end of the pin before I push it in because gorilla glue expands when it dries and will help keep the pin and petals into place. Leave a the bottom of the ball empty and start pinning your crystal string to the bottom of the ball. Making sure to have put gorilla glue on the pin before sticking it in. Continue doing this around the bottom of the ball until you meet the first loop and again use a pin and secure the end of the crystal string. You can also use other pins to try to secure your crystal string as well as hot glue to glue them to the pins. Continue adding fabric petals as you were before you added the crystal string until the whole ball is covered with petals. 

Step 4:

Since my topiary is for my candy table I wanted to make a little sign that said CANDY. I found these pre-made wooden hearts on dowels from Micahels and all I did was painted it white let it dry and stamped the word CANDY on it. Since I only had black ink I went over the letters and design with some gold paint and painted the edges gold as well! Once I let the whole thing dry I push the dowel into the floral foam and glued some stones around it for support. Very simple but very cute and super girly! 


Allow for everything to dry before you start moving the topiary around and there you have it! An elegant and quick decorative piece for your candy buffet, escort table or even for a centerpiece.

Thanks for reading and I hope this tutorial inspires you to make something beautiful today!

30 Wedding Lessons Learned From Planning My Own Wedding

30 Wedding Lessons Learned

I learned so much from planning my wedding! There were a lot of laughs and honestly a lot of tears and stress. Here is a list of 30 lessons I learned from planning my own wedding!

1. In my case my wedding brought up a lot of sadness. My Mother died when I was 12 and planning a wedding was extremely hard for me to do without her. I was completely taken off guard with the overwhelming sadness I felt and how much I missed her. I always miss her but the wedding triggered so much unanticipated pain. The way I dealt with my feelings was to make things that added personal touches to the wedding. It was my way for her to be there although I know she is always looking down on me. I added a pinned picture of her to my bouquet so I could carry her picture all night. I wore her garter from her wedding. I framed a photo of her in her wedding dress and took a photo with it and I mentioned a favorite memory of her in my vows. Including a passed loved one in a wedding can be very tricky because you don’t want to bring down the happy occasion but for me it was extremely important to have her presence felt….at least by me.
2. You are never ever ever ever (I could write ever about a thousand more times) going to please everyone. Even people you don’t think you are going offend you probably will! Try to keep this in mind while planning every part of your wedding. I don’t know if it is the stress of trying to create a magical perfect day or trying to bring so many people together. In the end traditional WEDDINGS ARE STRESSFUL!  No matter how you slice it there will probably be a melt down at some point….be prepared! My favorite saying is “it’s your day do what you want” that maybe true but is totally not how it is going to end up with families involved!
3.  Let some things slide. Pick your battles! If there is something you are really firm on try to reason and try to keep your cool.
4. Give people deadlines to get back to you. If you have firm deadlines with plenty of time for people to make decisions they will have a harder time going back on those decisions.
5. Plan in advanced. Even if people are calling you crazy book or make decisions earlier rather than later! You will be surprised how many brides will already have you beat. Dates fill up fast at popular wedding venues and if you want a special day plan it right away.
6. Don’t buy super cheap bridesmaids dresses. I bought my dresses online from China and the hems were all wavy and the craftsmanship was pretty bad. In the end it cost 3x more to fix them then I paid for the dresses! Avoid buying dresses online unless you have already seen them in person.
7. Hand making things for your wedding can be an amazing way to create personal touches on your special day BUT if you don’t have time it is better to just spend the money. Don’t over extend yourself!
8. Choose vendors with good repetitions.  Make a list of a few vendors you like for each category of your wedding such as the cater. Call each of them and get a feel for them. If you don’t like them off the bat but they are the least expensive option….don’t go with them! These are people that you are going to have to work with….choose wisely.  People that you are paying for a service they be nice at least to your face!
9. Only show your wedding dress to people you know will be supportive to you. If you love it then why do you need to know others opinions? I was asked by a "friend" to see a picture of my dress and she told me it looked like a bunch of napkins! Hater! Don't be shocked if others are not supportive and excited for you.....they might be jealous! 
10. Think long and hard about your bridal party. Don’t just ask someone for the sake of being nice. It is much better for someone to be mad at you for not being asked in the beginning then to have an out of control bridesmaid on your hands. These are the people that are there to support you so make sure that you pick supportive people! It will make your life so much easier! In the end you never know how a friend will act as a bridesmaid until you are in that situation. All you can hope is that a true friend will be there for you no matter what wedding drama comes up and she will smile ever step of the way! 
11. Make sure your registry is clearly written on your invitation! I thought mine was some people didn't see it. 
12. Take care of your skin and do something nice for youself! I actually made an appointment with a beauty adviser at Sephora. There is a minimum of $125 purchase but it is totally worth it! If you’re going to spend that much anyway you mind as well get great advice from a trained skin professional.
13.  Think positive! Focus on the fact that you are going to marry the love of your life. Don’t lose track of that because of negativity surrounding your wedding. It is hard to see the positive if everything around you seems to be going wrong but no matter what stay positive!
14.  If you are paying for the wedding you should in theory invite who you want. Give your families a cap on who they can invite. This can be a huge issue for young couples that want to keep their wedding budget friendly! Make sure you and your FH are on the same page with this issue. You need to stand as a united front!
15.  Exercise! This is not just good for your body but it is also a great stress releaser. Join a cardio kickboxing class and take it out a punching bag! I also found swimming to be a great way to release stress. You will feel better and it will help you stay calm in tough situations and of course loosing a few LBs is always nice when your wearing all white!
16. A wedding is the one time that a bride can be completely selfish! Don’t become a bridezilla but do what feels right to you. You should always listen to your heart. You did when you said yes to your FH why not do it while planning your wedding!
17.  Some people will not RSVP! Even when you try to contact them to ask they may not respond to you. If that is the case….you probably want to send the cops to their house to see if they are alright or you don’t want them at your wedding anyway. If people can’t even bother to RSVP in any form then forget about it. 
18.  Expect people to blow your minds! When planning a wedding people will do the rudest things! Such as RSVP yes and then not show up. I honestly can’t think of anything ruder than saying you will be at a wedding when you know your dinner is already been paid for and then don’t show up. You may as well erase that person from your contacts! RUDE! Also on the other hand there might be some last minute people who will just show up. It is annoying but somehow it all just works out. Just let it play out and hopefully you have an understanding cater! 
19. If you decide not to give everyone a plus 1 that is fine! It is totally up to you if you’re going to give a person a plus 1. But be prepared for people to be mad about it. For some reason people feel that they have the right to get mad at you even if you have invited them to your wedding. Keep in mind you are paying for them to come and not a stranger.
20. I invited 150 people to my wedding knowing that it was too many. I thought that maybe 120 would come which was a perfect number but in the end only 80 came! Wedding guest lists are a crap shoot! People you think will come will not and people you never even thought would show up will (even uninvited people) lol! You never know but don’t invite more people than your venue/chapel can hold. In the end you maybe regretting that you didn't invite enough people but less is more.
21. Even if you can’t afford it go on a honeymoon! It doesn't have to be crazy or super luxurious but you will need some time to regroup. Planning some time to spend alone with your new husband will be great for you both. I was not planning to go on a honeymoon but when ½ of my invited guests RSVPed NO we decided to go! I am so happy that we did because I was so stress and the vacation from life was amazing! I highly recommend it!
22. Make lists! I don’t know if you are a list maker but I am a list junky!  It is very hard to keep track of everything you will need to do while planning a wedding. I printed a calendar and made sure to write down specific dates I needed to have things done by. As it got closer to my wedding checking things off my to do list was so gratifying!
23. Look at wedding blogs and diy wedding blogs. People are so creative and you never know what is going to inspire your wedding.
24. Save photos, magazine clippings, and any inspirational images in one place. When you go through them you will get great ideas for your wedding!
25. Do a makeup and hair trail! I went with a very reasonable hair and makeup artist and loved the way she did my hair but really didn’t like how she did my makeup. Make up is so personal because it is your face! Make sure you and your makeup artist is on the same page and the only way to do this is to do a trail!
26. Even if you think your day-of-schedule it right on the money....give yourself at least 1 hour extra. It is much better to have more time to take photos before the wedding then to be in a rush! I thought I had plenty of time starting hair and makeup for 3 bridesmaids plus me (the bride) at 11am for a 3pm wedding. But I was still a little late! I wish I had given myself at least 1 more hour! 
27. If you can buy your own alcohol and provide it to your cater or venue it is going to save you a ton of money! I went with a cater and venue that didn't have a bottle opening fee, which also saved us a lot of money. One great thing about Massachusetts is that there is no tax on alcohol and we went to a place that had discounted liquors. I had 80 people at my wedding and we ended up paying $360 for alcohol. I had budgeted $1,000.00 and we bought almost $700 worth of alcohol and returned what was not opened. In the end paying only $360 for alcohol was totally worth the 2 trips to the package store! 
28. Things will be forgotten! I had made program fans for my ceremony and my husband forgot them at our apartment! Such is life! You want everything to be perfect but that is just not going to happen....you got to roll with it! 
29. Find a wedding officiant that suites you! I was so lucky that our Priest was amazing. We had only met him the week before the ceremony because our first option was unavailable and the Priest that ended up doing the ceremony as a favor was out of the country. In the end he was great but the stress of trying to reach him and deal with the ceremony via email was hard. I totally lucked out. I thought the ceremony was not a big deal but in the end it was my most favorite part of the wedding. The right officiant makes all the difference! I would suggest to find someone that suites you as a couple early on. It was so hard for me to find a Priest because my husband's family is from El Salvador and I wanted to find a bilingual Catholic Priest that was willing to do our ceremony in our chapel. It was difficult but being able to have everyone understand and be part of the mass was great and made me feel really happy. 
30. For wedding transportation I ended up getting a stretch cadillac escalade. Which was actually a great idea because 90% of my guests were out of state or even country. But I wish I had gotten a shuttle van instead. The escalade only had 2 doors at the very end and it was hard for the older people to get in and out. If I were to do it over again I would have gone with the more unattractive shuttle for my older guests. 

Remember at the end of the day all you really want is to be married to your husband and have a great time doing it. The disagreements on stupid things will start to fade away and you will hopefully be in wedded bless. Don’t let negative energy over power your day or your life. Smiling and truly feeling happy on your wedding day is what matters most…..don’t let the wedding haters get you down! :) 


xo Danielle 

Non Traditional Non Floral Boutonniere Tutorial

Non Traditional Non Floral Boutonniere Tutorial

Since my bouquet and my bridesmaid’s bouquets are non traditional and non floral there was no way the guys would be wearing flowers. From the very beginning of my wedding planning I proclaimed I would not have any flowers! Don’t get me wrong I love fresh flowers but I always get so sad at the end of a wedding and all the flowers either get dumped or you have to beg people to take them home. Since 90% of my wedding is out of state or country there is no way they are taking a floral arraignment home! I messed around with different styles and materials for my non floral bouquets and boutonnieres and this is what I came up with!

Things you will need:

•      Ostrich Feathers
•     White Thin Malleable Floral Wire
•      Buttons
•      Hot Glue
•      Pin with a pearl head
•      Ribbon

Step 1:

Get your buttons and lay them out. Take your thin malleable floral wire and leave a “steam”. Thread the wire through your buttons and thread the wire back down toward the steam and start wrapping the wire tightly around the steam. Use your pliers to make sure the buttons are firmly in place and the wire is firmly wrapped. Make 4-5 button flowers for each boutonniere.

Step 2:

Get your ostrich feathers and cut them down to size.  Place your button flowers on top of your feather and position the steams and glue them down with your hot glue gun. Wrap your ribbon around the base covering the glue and wrap it up the steam with the ribbon and glue it to the back of the boutonniere. 

Step 3:

With a pearl head pin push the pin through the ribbon and the boutonniere can be pinned to any suite jacket or tux.   

It is an easy as that! Thanks for reading and following!! 

Large Wedding Frame Prop

Wedding Frame Prop

For my wedding I thought it would be super cute to have a large wedding frame for everyone to take photos behind. Of course the easiest way would have been to hang the frame but my venue didn’t allow you to hang anything! So I came up with this design and one of my best friends and her husband made this amazing frame for me! This project was such a cute element for my wedding and created an opportunity for super cute pictures.


Tip - Buy crown molding for the frame. It can be much cheaper than buying such a large frame. One stop at Home Depot and your set!

A big thanks to Kristin and Mike…..Love you guys!!! xoxoxox

My Vera Wang - Organza Fit and Flare Gown with Bias Flange Skirt

When I first saw this dress online I knew it was the one for me! I mistakenly tried it on first and didn't have the "love" "say yes to the dress" feeling. But after trying on many other dresses I knew it really was the one for me! 

I have always been in LOVE with Vera Wang but I could never see myself spending Vera's prices on a wedding dress unless I was marrying Richard Branson. So when Vera Wang came out with the White Collection for David's Bridal I was there trying on dresses the debut weekend. 

I love love love this dress but it comes with a straight neckline which I changed to be a sweetheart. I am so glad I did because the dress became so much more me and much more romantic. I recommend trying to find a good reasonable seamstress. I ended up paying $150 for the hem, bustle, and sweetheart alteration. The hem and bustle alone would have been $150 at David's Bridal and also DB dose not change the design of any of the wedding dresses they sell there, so I would have had to go to another shop for the sweetheart. I went to http://marialisabridal.com/ in West Roxbury. I live in Boston so it was about a 20 min. drive but Maria Lisa did a wonderful job! 

I got married at the MIT Chapel in Cambridge MA by the famous architect Eero Saainen. If you have ever been in there you would know that the wall gently wave toward the alter. I love that my wedding dress resembled those waves of the chapels walls. 

I think my dress was perfect for my soft romantic wedding theme and it made me feel beautiful, which is the most important part! 

My DIY Finished Button Bouquet

DIY Wedding Cake Stand

DIY Wedding Cake Stand

Super simple and super fast to make! I have seen 16” round wedding cake stands ranging in price from $100-600. There was no possible way I was going to spend that type of money on my stand when I knew I could make one myself. This tutorial shows you how to put together simple everyday objects and make something new!

Things you will need:

• ·         16” Round Lazy Susan – I got mine at Ikea for $8
• ·         Planting Pot – I also bought it at Ikea for $8
• ·         Beaded Trim - $6 a yard at my local sewing store.
• ·         Tin Foil
• ·         Double sided Tape
• ·         Cardboard – 2 pieces large enough to cover the top of the lazy susan with a few inches overlap.

Things from home:

• ·         Scissors
• ·         Hot Glue Gun
• ·         Pencil
• ·         Cutting Mat
• ·         Box Knife

Step 1:

Place your lazy susan face down onto the cardboard and trace it. Cut it out and put it aside. Take the lazy susan again and trace it face down leaving around  1 ½”  space around the tracing. Measure out 1 ½” around the traced circle and draw larger circle round your original tracing. (The amount of space round the circle is determined by how wide your beaded trim is.) Cut the circle out along the outside circle and cut slits from the inside circle out creating little tabs. Make these cuts every ½” or so all the way around the circle. You may even want to lightly score the inside circle to make the tabs fold down easier and more evenly. If the tabs are not folding well cut more slits to relieve the cardboard. 

Step 2:

Using double sided tape, tape two pieces of tin foil together by overlapping them on their long side. Put the foil onto the top of the first circle you cut out (the one without the tabs) and fold down the sides of the foil down being careful not to wrinkle the top. You may need to cut slits so the foil sits flatter. Again take the double sided tape and tape down the foil to the underside of the cardboard. Put a good amount of double sided tape on the bottom of the foil circle and place it on the tabbed cardboard lining up the edges with the inside traced circle. Make sure the folded tabs are facing down. Firmly push down and make sure you have a good seal.

Step 3:

Place your assembly of sandwiched cardboard and foil and place it on top of the lazy susan. The tabs should be facing down wrapping around the edges of the lazy susan. Grab your hot glue gun and your beaded trim. Start applying hot glue to the folded down tabs and glue on your trim. Make sure your trim in even and firmly glued down. You may even want to go around the bottom inside edge of your trim with some craft glue for extra strength.

Step 4:

Place our lazy susan into your planting pot or vase and you’re done! I told you it was easy! If you want to glue the lazy susan to the pot it is totally up to you but I wanted to use it after the wedding so I simply place it inside the pot. All you have to do now is tell your cater to lift the cake from the lazy susan!

Fun and simple cake stand that will cost you a fraction of what you would pay retail. The thing I love about this tutorial is that it makes you look at everyday objects in a new way.

Enjoy and happy making! 

DIY Wedding Card Box

Wedding Card Box

Need a pretty box for your wedding guest to put their cards but don’t want to pay a ton of money? Then this DIY tutorial is perfect for you. This is a very simple project that shouldn’t take you very long to finish and you won’t spend over $20 on it!

What you will need:

• Large Sturdy Box
• Fabric of your choosing
• Spray Adhesive
• Double sided Tape
• Artificial Flowers
• Ostrich Feather(s)
• Artificial Flower 
• Pencil or Fabric Marker

From around the house:

• ·         Scissors
• ·         Hot Glue Gun
• ·         Metal Ruler or Straight Edge
• ·         Iron
• ·         Box Cutter

 Step 1:

Test to see if your fabric can wrap around the whole box if it doesn’t then you can also do this tutorial in pieces but it is much easier in a single piece. Measure the sides of your box and add 6” to that measurement and start cutting out a strip that width out of your fabric. Make sure you are cutting the strip long enough to wrap around the box with some extra for overlapping the seam. Iron the fabric and put it aside….do not fold it.

Step 2:

Using spray adhesive spray the sides of the box or use double sided tape. Get your ironed fabric and start by overlapping one corner by a few inches and make sure the fabric is over lapping the top and bottom of the box by a few inches on each side. Push down the over lapped corner of the fabric and smooth the fabric around the box making sure there are no air bubbles. When you reach the last corner where you overlapped the fabric measure the distance from to the overlapped corner and fold the fabric onto itself creating a seam at that corner. Again iron down that seam and using spray adhesive glue the fabric to itself. Then glue that seam down to the overlapped corner.

Now you have your box wrapped with fabric with a nice seam in the back corner.

Step 3:

Now take your scissors and cut each overlapped corner down to the box edge. Put double sided tape along the inside of each side of the box and tightly fold down the fabric to create an edge. Do this for all sides of the box and also to the bottom of the box.

Step 4:

Cut a rectangular hole in the top of your box and spray adhesive over the top of the box. Place a piece of fabric large enough to cover the top of the box with plenty of fabric overlapping on each side. Put double sided tape on the edges of the box top and on the inside of the top. Fold over one side and make sure the fabric is nice and tight. Fold the opposite side and do the same. Now as if you were warping a gift fold the fabric to make nice neat corners and tape the fabric done. Do this for the opposite side as well. Trim any excess fabric and use the hot glue gun to reinforce the fabric inside the box top only.

Step 5:

Get your box cutter and from the inside of the box top cut an X from corner to corner being careful not to fray the fabric. Use the double sided tape to tape down the fabric triangles to the inside of the box top.  When you turn the box top over you should have a fully covered top with a nice rectangular hole at the top for cards.

Step 6:

Embellishment time! This is the fun part! I used elements from other projects I did for my wedding. I used a dusty rose ostrich feather that I used for my wedding menus on top of the box as well as a artificial magnolia that matched the dogwood blossoms I used for the large vase elements in the front of the reception hall.

Now your guests will have a lovely place to put their thoughtful cards.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and I hope it saves you some money!