Genevieve's Wedding

First Christmas & Wedding Memories

2011-12-17T17:11:00.001-06:00

A few new additions to our holiday tree...

"1st Christmas Together 2010" From Sean's parents.

"2010 Our 1st Christmas Together" From my mom.

A peacock that reminds me of my mom's MOB dress.

A peacock feather that perfectly matches the pattern on the bridal jacket I wore.

"2010" An ornament to remember our wedding from my mom.

A "crystal" chandelier that reminds me of the centerpieces at my wedding.

This year is our second Christmas together. I intended on putting together a post like this just after Christmas last year. I was going to put it on this blog and my married blog, which I have since deleted because I never used it. What happened? I was just too stressed out and depressed over how terrible our first Christmas was. Sean and I were so busy trying to make everyone else happy we forgot to do what was best for ourselves. Plus, in trying to make everyone happy, I feel like we ended up making nobody happy. There was no point in calling everyone trying to move our half a dozen Christmases around just to try to make someone happy. This holiday season is promising to be much jollier since we are sticking to our decisions as a couple instead of letting other people make decisions for us.

With that being said, happy holidays to each and every one of you.

10 Things You Must Do After He Pops the Question

2011-12-17T17:02:00.001-06:00

According to me, Genevieve; because every wedding planning blog needs a ‘you’re engaged, now what?’ post.

1. Open a new email account that will be dedicated to wedding planning.

Do you really want to give your personal email away to every potential vendor and wedding website you sign up for? To be honest, I did not create a new email but I really wish I had.

In this new email account you can setup folders like venue, caterer, photographer, videographer, DJ, ideas,… This will help you stay organized, which will help you keep your sanity when things start to get crazy. You could even set your name to Future Mrs or Miss Nearlywed so you have some privacy.

2. With your new email address, signup for every wedding related website, newsletter, and forum.

Since it isn’t your personal email address, why not give it away like a prom queen? All of the “junk mail” could actually really help you. Lots of websites will provide you with countdown emails, which can be pretty exciting. Tons of websites will send you checklist updates to keep you on track. Other websites will send out emails with gorgeous inspiration photos. The Broke-Ass Bride sends out a newsletter with great steals and deals. You can also get planning articles, giveaways, and all kinds of other wedding material sent straight to your inbox.

Forums are great for asking questions, discovering ideas, getting feedback on ideas and projects, venting, and just general chit chat with people who are also wedding planning. Remember, not everyone in your real life wants to hear about your wedding all of the time.

Tip: Check out my planning resources tab for wedding websites.

3. Brainstorm what type of wedding you really want.

Before you can decide on a date and vendors, you should decide what kind of wedding you want. Do you want a casual, laid-back wedding; or a glamorous over-the-top wedding; or a simply elegant, formal wedding? Do you want a big wedding or a small wedding; an outdoor wedding; an evening wedding? Do you want a spring, summer, fall, or winter wedding? Do you want a huge bridal party or just your one sibling? Do you want children to attend? These are all important things to think about before you get deeper into planning.

It might help to think of all of the weddings you’ve attended. What was your favorite part? Do you want to incorporate something similar into your wedding? What was your least favorite part? Do you want to eliminate those things from your wedding? For example, I’m not huge fan of cocktail hours or having to find the ceremony site, then having to find the reception site. So I had my ceremony and reception in the same place and went straight from the ceremony to dinner.

4. Nail down a theme.

After you have been bombarded with wedding inspiration in your wedding email inbox, start narrowing down a theme. Even if you don’t want a “theme” wedding, you need a theme to tie everything together. It can be a color theme or something more abstract like a romantic theme. Either way, you will need something so that everything flows. This will also help you make all kinds of decisions from your venue to your invites. Just make sure that your theme fits in with the kind of wedding you want to have. For example, if you have a traditional themed wedding, you should probably have traditional music.

Tip: Check out my at a glance tab and make your own wedding at a glance.

5. Decide on a Budget.

Figure out how much money you could spend on your wedding, your max budget. Then decide how much you actually want to spend. Maybe you could spend $10K, but you would rather use $5K for the wedding and $5K for a new car or down payment on a house.

Tip: Check out my budget breakdown tab.

6. Prioritize the big ticket expenses.

Rank the following items from 1-10, 1 being the most important:

___ Venue

___ Bridal Attire and Accessories

___ Cake

___ Entertainment (DJ or Band)

___ Centerpieces

___ Stationary (invites, programs, etc.)

___ Food

___ Flowers

___ Photographer

___ Videographer

Now that you know what is most important to you and your groom, think about skimping on the bottom five so that you can splurge on the top five items so that you can get everything you really want within your budget. If you don’t prioritize wedding expenses you may end up having to up your budget. We all know how to splurge, so here are a few quick ideas on how to skimp on these items:

Venue – Ask around to see if anyone is a member somewhere with a free banquet room.

Bridal Attire and Accessories – Look for a sample or used gown and borrow or DIY accessories.

Cake – See if you know anyone who will make wedding dessert, it doesn’t have to be a cake, as a wedding gift to you and your groom. Or consider having sheet cake instead of tier cake, it will save a small fortune.

Entertainment (DJ or Band) – See if you know anyone who will provide ceremony music as a gift to you and your groom or for a small fee. Does one of your friends, siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins play an instrument? Ask around to see if anyone you know has DJ equipment or has access to really cheap rentals. See if you can have someone MC an IPod reception.

Centerpieces – Have non-floral centerpieces. Use free or borrowed items.

Stationary (invites, programs, etc.) - Purchase print-your-own invite kits when they are 75% off, when new styles are coming in.

Food – Consider having a reception during a non-meal time so that you can just have some snacks and dessert.

Flowers – Make DIY artificial bouquets.

Photographer – Find a hobby photographer or friend looking to build their portfolio.

Videographer – Have a family friend videotape the wedding. Everyone knows someone with a video camera now-a-days.

Tip: Check out my steal vs. splurge tab.

7. Decide on a rough guest list before you look at venues.

Wedding venues have an ideal number of guests. You don’t want to look at venues that won’t fit all of your guests, but you don’t want a huge venue that will look empty either.

8. Book the most important vendor and set the date in stone.

If you have your heart set on a certain vendor, don’t set your date in stone until you have that vendor booked on that date. If you have your heart set on a specific date, know that some vendors will not be available that day so you might not get your top choice in venues, DJs, photographers, etc.

9. Ask your bridal party.

If you Google ‘how to ask bridal party’ or ‘will you be my bridesmaid’ you will get a million creative and cute ways to ask your bridal party to be in your wedding. While these are great and can make your bridal party feel special, don’t forget that you can always pick up the phone, call them, and ask the old fashion way. Or you could even just ask them the next time you see them. If you don’t have a lot of time, it doesn’t have to be fancy. The important part is to give them plenty of notice.

Also, remember to give them as many detail as possible when you ask them. Tell them what days you need them, what they will be expected to pay for, etc. They have lives too and need to save to buy bridesmaids dress, hair, and whatever else they will be responsible for. They work and will need to make sure they have the wedding day off.

10. Tell everyone!

Since your wedding is probably over a year away, make sure nobody else gets engaged and picks the same date that you’ve picked. You can send out save the dates or just spread the date via word of mouth.

Sometimes You See Something That You Must Share...

2011-12-17T13:02:00.002-06:00

...Because it makes you laugh your you know what off.

{Source}

Can you read these? They say:

[Bride's First Middle and Last Name]

Invites you to Her wedding

And hopes you are impressed by the gown

And decorations while you enjoy the

Minimal food and cash bar

Please deposit all large gifts in the lobby

Cash gifts can be given directly to the bride

Who's that sap in the tux?

Don't worry about him

He is just the lowly groom

Recap: My Photo Upload Cards = EPIC FAIL

2011-10-22T12:33:00.001-05:00

Almost two weeks ago I attended a fantastic wedding. Like any other wedding guest, I brought a camera a snapped countless photos.

The couple had beautifully designed photo sharing cards. So the day after the wedding I uploaded the photos I took. It reminded me of how excited I was to see those first few photos of my wedding surface. Plus, I really wanted to see what my wedding looked like from the guests' point of view. I can't even really describe how anxious I was to see my wedding photos in the first two weeks after the wedding. Of course by the time the pro pics rolled in I wasn't as interested in them. Which is why, as a wedding guest, it is important to post those wedding pics on the share site ASAP! Uploading them to facebook or your blog is fine, but you should also upload them to the share site so the newlyweds can have all of the pictures in one spot.

However, this also reminded me that I had never recapped how my wedding photo share site turned out... It was a huge fail. Only two people uploaded photos! One guest uploaded photos of their own free will. My dad eventually did after some persistent nagging from me. DH's parent's gave us a CD with photos they took. SIL apparently posted them on her blog, IDK I didn't see them. But my bridesmaids never even posted the photos to facebook or anything.

I know people took pictures, b/c I have photos of them with cameras! I wondered if it was my photo upload card design. Looking back I should have put a little bit more time into them. I wondered if I should have looked around for a better inspiration to base mine on. Or maybe I should have chosen a different share site. IDK.

That being said, 34 people did join the photo group room so hopefully those people enjoyed seeing all of the pro proofs and edited photos I uploaded. I also uploaded our honeymoon photos and bridal shower photos too.

After reading another blogger bride's post about this subject, I know I am not alone on this one:
Born to be Mrs. Beever (Stacey) @ Thoughts of the All Consumed Bride

Recap: THE Dress

2011-10-14T19:22:00.002-05:00

Ah, my wedding dress. The dress. The first item I purchased for the wedding.

I've written so many posts about wedding gowns. Very early in my blogging bride journey I wrote about THE dress. The post was missing some details so I expanded on my dress buying experience in a post responding to a reader 's questions. I also wrote about over-the-top fantasy dresses, second thoughts, bustles and fittings, and advice. But this is probably the most significant post, for me at least. If you are already married you know why, but if you're a nearlywed it's because of the amazing feeling from finally getting wear your wedding dress and realizing all that it represents. So with out further ado, The Grand Finale of wedding dress posts...

If you're a follower of this blog, I can't bring myself to use "Genevieve's Wedding" because it's weird to talk about myself in the third person, you've seen my dress in action in my other recaps. But here's a post dedicated to it!

The wedding dress is so important. It's the last thing you wear before your life is forever intertwined with your significant other. Since it's the last thing you wear as a single person, in front of all of the your family and friends, it needs to represent your personality and individual style. The dress also sets the tone for the wedding i.e. simple, glamorous, relaxed, elegant, formal, fun, hip, and/or ...

I thought it would take months of research and reflection to selecting the dress. Boy was I wrong! While browsing eBay, a couple weeks after getting engaged, I saw the dress and had to have it. Before I saw it, I had a completely different dress picked out in my head. I was certain I would choose a dress with a pickup skirt. But there I was bidding on a dress with a plain A-line skirt. Looking back, it was the neckline that had me hooked. I loved the asymmetric look. It's a shame it became trendy before my wedding. It seemed so unique when I bought it. Anyways, there I was bidding on this dress. I had to win it! I don't know what possessed me. I just knew. IT. WAS. MINE. and nobody else could have it. I kept telling myself I would only go up five more dollars, but I kept breaking that. Thank goodness the other bidder gave up after going back and forth for $30.

Monday, November 3, 2008 12:40 PM I received my PayPal receipt for $76.24. I can't believe it's been almost three years!

I was so mad at the delivery people for just ringing the door bell, leaving the dress, and walking away. Something could've happened to my precious dress in the time it took me to sprint across the house, down the stairs, back across the house to the front door. Of course it was fine. I was so excited I tried it on immediately. Sean was there so I made him zip me up and take pictures. It was great having someone there to share in my excitement.

Fast forward to my wedding day. My dress was perfect. It fit into the wedding perfectly. I felt like I wasn't overshadowed by the dress, but it still made a statement.

Let's not forget about the bustle. It's a big part of the dress.

That brings us to today. The dress is still hanging in my closet.

I don't know what to do with it. I was going to sell it or donate it, but I can't bring myself to do either. I keep thinking what if I have kids and want to make their christening gowns out of it? What if I want to do a trash the dress photo-shoot? What if I want to re-purpose it as a throw pillow? I wouldn't get much money out of it because I didn't spend much. It would be a different story if I had spent hundreds or thousands of dollars on it. Then I would want some of that back, but I didn't. So it hangs in my closet. I did take it out for a photo-shoot though.

Your turn! How did you find the dress? Was it the dress you thought you would choose? What did you (or are you going to) do with it after the wedding?

PSA: Glass Vases on Clearance at Target

2011-07-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

PSA = Public Service Announcement

On Sunday I was at Target in Woodbury, MN where I noticed these vases.

They are on clearance for $7.28 (from $14.59). They look like they would make a nice centerpiece vase. HERE they are on Target's website with all the stats. However, they are not on clearance on the website.

I did happen to see THIS tall square vase that is on clearance online though. It is 50% off which bring the clearance price to $5.08.

Thumbprint Guest Book Tree Ideas

2011-07-24T20:39:00.003-05:00

I just noticed I missed a question on Formspring from two months ago. Shoot! I'm sorry for the huge delay. This is a really good question too. It is one that I have asked myself so I already have an answer!

Question: Any more tree ideas? can they be printed off?

Answer: The answer is yes and yes!

I thought about taking a photo of a special or good looking tree and having the photo printed on a canvas or poster. All of the photo sharing sites have options to print photos on a poster or at least I think they do... I think they even have options for printing on canvases now too. Otherwise, there seem to be tons of websites that are similar to canvas on demand where you can have your image printed on a canvas. The key here is to plan ahead so you can take the picture during the winter or early spring when the tree is naked. This way the thumbprint leaves will pop. I'm pretty sure you could sketch, draw, paint, or mosaic a tree on a small sheet of paper, like letter size, then scan it in and have that image printed on a canvas or poster. I'm sure there are free templates available that could be printed. Another thing to remember when getting images printed is to never pay full price. Sign up for mailing lists for all of the websites you are interested in and wait for coupon codes! Don't forget to sign up for websites like Groupon, Living Social, etc., that also post online and local deals.

If you want a printed thumbprint guestbook tree to cut out the DIY-ness of it, you could always buy one that is handmade for you from Etsy. There are tons or pre-printed trees, many of which can be personalized by the seller. Some of them even come with leaves for guests to sign instead of actually making a thumbprint to eliminate the messiness. All of the following can be found on Etsy please click the {Source} to get more information on each.

{Source}

Lastly, since this is suck a popular guest book choice it is all over blogs and forums. So Google printed thumbprint guest book tree, painted guest book tree, ... whatever you are interested in! Google away! Get on a wedding forum and make a post titled SMY Guest Book Tree or something similar and you will get tons of replies with pictures of other brides' trees as well as links and pictures of their tree inspirations. It helps to look at tons of examples and choose a favorite to use as your jumping off point. I say jumping off point because you might not want your to look identical to someone else's. Or maybe you do... IDK. Remember to keep your time limit and budget in mind when you are picking your jumping off point. Remember it doesn't have to be a tree. It can be multiple trees (like mine), an abstract tree, ... whatever speaks to you and will be beautiful displayed in your home. Maybe you do flowers with bright colored thumbprints, maybe you do balloons, or maybe you do a wreath. Do you get where I'm going here. Maybe it has your favorite saying instead of your wedding date and names. Maybe it has no text. Maybe it has birds, butterflies, frogs, or bugs. Maybe it has a tire swing hanging from it or something interesting in the background. Maybe it has roots. Maybe it already has leaves and guests just sign their names. Maybe you glues something onto it to give it dimension.

{Source}

Good luck and have fun finding and creating the perfect thumbprint guest book tree for your wedding! The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for the great question. Keep them coming!

This post reminds me that I never posted my finished guestbook thumbprint tree! I promise I will get it on here eventually.

MOB is Still Tired...

2011-06-23T17:47:00.000-05:00

My mom recently informed me that she is still tired from my wedding. It was over a year ago! LOL. Which makes me embarrassed that I haven't finished this blog yet... Anyways, I thought that was funny and wanted to share.

RSVP Advice

2011-06-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

Oh the RSVPs! They're exciting then stressful and sometimes confusing. We spend so much time keeping track of them and adding them up right before the wedding. I want to put my two cents in on this hot topic before I wrap up this blog. I know I've written several posts about RSVPs, but I want to put it all in one place and expand on what I've posted so far.

First I want to talk about a handful of different kinds of RSVPs that exist now. I think it is really important to think about all of them to pick the best one for your unique guests.

The phone RSVP. This is where you just include a phone number for your guests to call with their RSVPs. There are a lot of benefits to this option. It doesn't take up much space on the invite or reception card and you don't need to provide an envelope for guests to mail it back to you therefor it's green. I think it's also safe to assume all of your guests have a phone, hopefully... If you are like me, this option also has some draw backs. Who wants to get a hundred phone calls? I hate talking on the phone! When I was a teenager I loved talking on the phone with my friends, but now... ummm just text me, email me, or send me a facebok message. I'm quite and I have a really bad habit of mumbling. Sean and I don't even like calling for takeout so the thought of getting all of these calls was overwhelming to say the least. I know I could have let every single call I received go to voice-mail, but I would have probably had to call people back to clarify things like name printed on the escort card, who wants to eat what, ... So that is why we didn't choose that option.
The email RSVP. This is where you include an email address for your guests to sent their RSVPs to. This option is green just like the phone RSVP. My only worry with this option was that everyone might not have internet access so they would have to call! Oh no! Also, from what I used to read on the boards, it looks like this option doesn't get people to RSVP in a timely fashion any better. If you choose this option make sure you set up an email address just for RSVPs. Remember to also include all of the information that guests should provide for you (e.g. meal selection) since there won't be anything prompting their replies.
The wedding website RSVP. This seems like a great option. Everything about the email RSVP also applies to this option. What makes this option different is all of the additional options these tools have. Some websites let you enter each invited guest's name so people who aren't invited *cough, children, cough, cough* can't RSVP no matter how bad they want to. Muahahaha! Um... that was an evil laugh... Anyways, most of them have seating chart apps that will automatically have everyone who RSVP'd yes entered in. This seems like it might make certain things easier like how many of each meal type you will need to give the caterer. I didn't choose this option because of the reasons listed in the email RSVP.
The old fashion reply card RSVP. This is the option I choose, if you don't remember. While this option isn't very green or cost effective, it seemed like the easiest option for me. If you choose this option make sure you word your RSVP accordingly. I'm convinced people don't know what to do with the "M________" line. As "wedding planners" we know it is for Ms. Mr. or Mrs., but the average person doesn't always. So if you are into formality and must have the "M______" you should probably number the back of the RSVP cards with a guest list that has the corresponding numbers just in case someone doesn't write their name.

Whichever RSVP type you choose you will need some way of keeping track of the RSVPs. It is important to keep track of them to have a headcount for the venue and caterer and know who hasn't RSVP's yet. I used excel. It was really easy for me to keep track of the numbers, as well as who's RSVPs I was still waiting for, in excel since I already had my guest list in excel. I had a system... Once I got an RSVP in the mail I entered the numbers of meals in the meal column next to the mailing address then changed the row for that mailing address to green. The bottom role was the sum of the chicken and veggie columns as well as the grand total, the sum of the two sums. Then I would copy and paste the individual names into my escort card list. It was easy despite my long winded explanation. I promise. I won't get into the other ways you can keep track of your RSVPs.

How should you word your RSVPs? However you want. Just make sure you include your RSVP deadline and prompts for all of the information you need (name, meal choice, ...). Make sure you have a vegetarian meal option and/or a note saying contact ____ if you have allergies or special dietary needs. When you don't eat meat, it is such a turn off to get an invitation in the mail and when you go to RSVP the meal choices at chicken and beef... It is also a good idea to write out what the actual meal is because "chicken" is so broad and "vegetarian" is even worse because all people can think of is a plate of veggies. I know I saved a lot of money by printing "butternut squash ravioli" instead of "vegetarian," because lots of non-vegetarians ended up choosing this cheaper meal over the chicken. You could even put pictures of the choices on your wedding website.

How should you pick an RSVP date? Figure out when your caterer and/or venue needs a final headcount. Your RSVP date should be at least a week before that, but two weeks before that will make life much easier for you. Keep in mind that lots of people won't even RSVP until after the deadline. You will also need time to track down people who didn't RSVP in case they didn't receive their invitation, make a seating chart, and make escort or place cards. However, make sure you give your guests about a month to RSVP, so mail your invites at least a month before the RSVP date.

Do you have any tips on RSVPs? Do you have a favorite way to RSVP to weddings? How did you keep track of your RSVPs?

Unity Sand Container Alternatives

2011-05-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

Remember how I made a shadow box picture frame for my unity sand container? No. See it HERE.

I knew right away I wanted a picture frame, but at one point I did consider doing something that fit in with our vintage theme better. I was thinking about getting some antique wine decanters from ebay or goodwill.

{Source}

Bachelorette Party Alternatives

2011-05-30T01:53:00.002-05:00

I had a fabulous bachelorette party, but I don't think I ever posted my backup idea. I think a fun idea for a bachelorette party is to have an old school sleepover with pizza and wedding movies. It is cheap, clean, and fun just in case everyone isn't up for going out and male strippers. If I was planning my bachelorette party this year I would have loved to go see the movie Bridesmaids on the theater! It looks so funny. It reminded me that I never actually finished and published this post.

If you are interested in this idea here are some ideas for wedding movies / TV series:

Reader Question: Bouquets & Crystal Strands

2011-05-29T23:37:00.001-05:00

Question:
How did you make the bouquets? They look sooo real! and what did you use for the crystal strands? I want to make some and was thinking about using earring hooks at the top to hang on branches/vases. What did you do?

Answer:
I made my bouquets by removing all of the leafs and separating the flowers that came in bundles. I couldn't find my wire cutters so I just grabbed a lopper from the garage. Then I arranged them in a vase how you would normally arrange a flower bouquet that you leave in a vase.

Once I got them all in arrangements I was happy with, I held the stems tightly in my hand. I put a rubber band or twist tie to hold everything in place I made a few minor adjustments before I wrapped the stems in floral tape.

Finally, I finished them off by wrapping ribbon around the stems and securing it with pins. I wrapped feather ribbon around the top of the stems.

Pics of the final product at my wedding is posted HERE.

I used a loop of fishing line to hang my "crystal" stands. I think an earring hook would work great and might be a little bit easier to hang exactly where you want to hang it.

Advice: Choosing a MoB (or MoG) Dress

2011-05-22T22:27:00.001-05:00

I was going to post this on mother's day, but I got distracted....

If you are a Mother of the Bride (MoB) or Mother of the Groom (MoG) this post is for you! If you are a bride who's mother wants them to pick their dress for them this post is for you too, but this will be written to the MoBs and MoGs.

Rule #1: Don't wear a white gown to your child's wedding. White should be reserved for the bride and possibly the flower girl(s) / bridesmaids depending on where you live. In my opinion, wearing white to your child's wedding is like putting a curse on yourself. My friend's MIL wore white to her son's wedding and I bet she regrets it! She got her period and leaked all over her skirt not once, but at least twice that I know about! Even though everyone tried really hard to help her wash it out you could still see it in a handful of the pictures. She was late for the mother son dance because of it. Plus, white wasn't a very flattering color for the dress she chose.

Rule #2: If your dress selection is more extravagant than Hillary Clinton's MoB dress keep looking...

{Source}

Rule #3: If you dress has more bling than the bride's keep looking... Yup, iridescent fabric falls into this category.

{Source} Where's the bride? Oh there she is.

Rule #4: Don't wear red, hot pink, or any other "look at me" color unless it fits into the wedding theme and the bride insists.

Rule #5: Don't wear a strapless gown. If you do find a strapless gown you love just wear some kind of cover up with it. Just like rule #2 #3, and #4, it will actually detract from your look because it will make you look like you are trying to hard.

{Source} IDK what it is, but something about the MOB in a strapless dress just doesn't look right.

I don't think you need to wear a full sleeve. My MIL wore a very flattering off the shoulder dress to my wedding. It was perfect!

We all know I thought my mother's dress was too blingy. Luckily, you can't tell how sparkly it was in most of the pictures. I loved my MIL's dress!

Rule #6: Don't wear something frumpy. Just because you shouldn't wear a really youthful flashy prom dress doesn't mean you should wear a frumpy grandma dress either! The bride doesn't want you to steal the spotlight, but she does want you to look great. There are many gorgeous and age appropriate choices out there.

Rule #7: Don't wear the same color as the bridesmaids. You're special so you shouldn't blend into the bridesmaids. That being said you don't want to clash with them either clash with them either because that will make you stick out in an unflattering way. You should coordinate with them. Make sure you check with the bride to make sure you don't wear one of the wedding colors, but wear a color that accents them well. My mom's blue dresses looked great with my light green and truffle color scheme.

Rule #8: Talk to the other mother! You will be in many pictures together so it looks better if you coordinate. You don't have to be matching! Plus, you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I have read a few forum posts about how upset the MoB was that the MoG upstaged her. However, I always think the mom who looks overdressed is the one who looks bad.


{Source} The mom on the left looks like she is trying too hard especially compared to the mother on the right.

In conclusion, remember that it is your child's big day and they should shine the brightest. It isn't a competition to see who can find the most beautiful dress, it isn't prom. Find a dress that looks great on you, but it also appropriate. Communicate with the other mother and the bride to make sure everything will coordinate well.

Share Time: What guidelines did you give your mother's for picking out a MoB/MoG outfit? Did you have any problems finding outfits?

Wedding Price is Right

2011-04-30T23:28:00.000-05:00

On Thursday I was listening to the KDWB's morning show while I was driving to work. Why am I blogging about this on my wedding blog? Well they were doing "wedding price is right" in honor of the royal wedding. Of course I missed the good part because I had to go into work! Anyway as I was walking into work I though newlyweds and nearlyweds might enjoy this. So HERE is the Podcast. It is towards the beginning.

Could you guess how much someone's wedding cost based on them describing it? I would have guessed her wedding was around 9K since I feel like 2004 was before all of the crazy wedding blogs, wedding websites, and wedding shows really took off. Now there is so much pressure to have your wedding look like the fake staged weddings plastered all over the place and have a dress that looks like it could have come from Klinefeld. But I could be wrong. I can't believe how much everyone else guessed! I won't say what they guessed or how much her wedding was though. You will have to listen.

I guess they did this other mornings too, but it must have been after I went into work so I didn't hear them. There other Podcasts are HERE if you want to listen for more of "wedding price is right."

Reader Question: Guest Book Thumbprint Tree

2011-04-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

Question: Where can I get a picture or transfer of a tree to make my own tree of life?

Answer:

I am going to assume this question is about my thumbprint guest book tree seen HERE. Yes, it is still on my list of things to recap. Hopefully I will get around to taking a picture of it and posting it on here soon.

Anyways, I used Google images to find an image of a tree I liked. Once I found one I copied and pasted it into Microsoft's excel. You can use the printer settings so have it print it the size of your canvas, it will print on multiple pages unless you have a letter size canvas. You can tape the print outs together to make your template. You can either cut it out and make a stencil out of it like I did, you could free hand it, or if your canvas is thin enough you could put your print out behind it and trace the outline on your canvas.

I hope that helps!

Reader Question: Centerpieces

2011-04-30T21:09:00.011-05:00

Question: I'm getting married in November and working on a similar center piece idea. What would be your advice to keep the price down? What would you do diff and what are the specifics to what you bought? Thanks

Answer:

Oh the centerpieces... kind of a sore subject for me because of the way they were setup at the wedding after I spent a considerable amount of time on them.... but this is a great question!!!

Let me start this post off by saying I am sorry for taking so long to respond to this question. I'd also like to make a list of the posts related to the centerpieces before we really get started, because there are so many.

Original Centerpiece Design
The Vase Crisis
Candle Holders
Candle Making
"Crystals"
Trial #1
Table Numbers
Trial #2
Trial #3
Setup Team Disappointments
Details: Centerpieces

And just in case you don't feel like looking through those old posts and don't normally read my blog here is what the centerpieces looked like:

{How I wanted them to look)

Alright, let's get started. I should start by saying that the centerpieces ended up taking a lot more time and money than I thought they would and that I never went back in and updated the budget breakdown (that's another post).

The first problem was the vases. I thought I would be able to get vases for $1 each plus tax... too bad someone didn't buy them right away like he said he would. The lesson here is when you find a good deal just go for it. Don't worry about being able to carry everything yourself, just figure out how to do it yourself because you can't depend on anyone. Let's face it no one really cares about weddings even your husband who insists on having the big wedding. Mistake number 1. See post vase crisis.

I ended up buying the same vase for four times as much because it was the cheapest thing I could find. I should have just changed the design and used a different vase from the dollar tree, something from craigslist.org, any free mismatching vases I could find for free, or just glass container from products myself, my friends, and my family use (baby food, salsa, tomato sauce, alcohol bottles, ...)!!! That was mistake number 2. See post centerpiece design.

I think I will talk about the "crystal" strands next. I loved them! Even though they were tedious, I really think it saved money doing them myself and they looked great (in my trials)! I bought the 144 green hydrangea pedals on ebay for only $6.04 including shipping. Sean picked up cheap fishing line at target I think. I bought the beads with coupons from Michaels. Unfortunately, the way the setup team hung them didn't show them off very well. So I have mixed feeling about whether they were worth it or not... I sold them in my garage sale for $30 after the wedding so I got all of my money back on them.

The diamond confetti was a splurge, but I think it was worth it. I bought 1,000 4 carat confetti diamonds for $7.59 and 1,000 1/3 carat diamond confetti for $2.39 from ebay. So if you want to save money you could definitely do without them.

The candles were a huge splurge. See post Candle Making. They cost around $165! It turned out they were pretty much a waste of money. I don't know if anyone appreciated the extra candles (except for me). The receiving line went so much quicker than expected that dinner was served early and it wasn't even close to getting a hair darker! The staff didn't like how hot they burned so they said it was fine if they were only lit during the dinner. In my mind they were going to be lit all night, including after dark... opps. Did I mention that my venue provided 3 votive candles for each table at no additional charge? Mistake number 3.

What's next? I guess I should talk about the branches. They were free from my backyard until I spray painted them! The branches were really dry so they just soaked up that spray paint like crazy. I must have spent around $12 on spray paint! I did have tons of branches though. My biggest disappointment with the branches wasn't the branches themselves. It was how the setup team arranged them. I wanted them to look like mini tree without spending a fortune on manzanita branches, but as it turns out I could have saved my $300 buck for the setup team and just bought the manzanita branches for around $150 and paid my sister's boyfriend to put the chair covers on and set up the few other things! Which leads me back to the fact that I should have just changed my centerpiece design to something that was both cheap and easy to setup for anyone. Seriously big mistake! When I went in the reception room there was pieces of broken branches all over the floor! I was so disappointed that they used less than half of the branches (big waste of time and spray paint) and that they used branches that either didn't make it through transport or they accidentally broke when there were so many other branches to choose from! Plus I felt like each centerpiece simply didn't have enough branches in it which made them look ugly like twig centerpieces instead of mini tree branches. I mean come on! Mistake number 4.

The glass gems didn't cost too much. I can't find the price right now, but I bought them all on sale or with coupons for at least 40% off at Michaels. I think they are a necessity for this type of centerpiece unless you buy a vase that has a heavy base. I didn't want the branches to make the centerpieces too top heavy or off balance so I used the glass gems to weigh the base down to help balance them and keep them from toppling over during the reception.

The table numbers were basically free for me because they were made out of things I already had. I used stickers I already had from the flip flop rack and the punch and paper came straight out of my scrapbooking supplies. I bought the ribbon for other things too. When I first started looking at wedding ideas I thought for sure I would do frames table numbers but this seemed cheaper and didn't conflict with the design. I could have used the venues table numbers for free but I didn't really like them.

The mirrors. I almost forgot about them because the venue provided them for "free." They didn't cost me any extra but I'm sure they are built into the price of the food and beverage minimum (which I didn't have to pay because I switched my wedding date to the off peak season). I loved the look of the mirrors, but if you are really on a budget I think no one would have missed them. I wouldn't buy mirrors new. I would only buy them if you can find them cheap for rent or used on craigslist or other classified site used.

I think that is everything from the centerpieces. Here is a quick breakdown to answer "what are the specifics to what you bought?"
Mirrors- free from venue
candles- $165
vases- $62.51
Beads for "crystal" strands- $15
Fishline- ~$10
diamond confetti - $10
table numbers- free used from stuff I had around the house
vase filler- ~$15
flowers- $6.04
branches- free
spray paint for branches - $12

That adds up to around $300 not including the setup fee. Crazy! Notice that most of that was for the extra candles I stupidly decided I wanted. I thought I would spend around $60 ($12 for vases, $15 for vase filler, and $30 for the stands).

What would be your advice to keep the price down? I hope I mostly answered this above. I would not worry about having tons of candles, because I really don't have many pictures with them and they don't add as much as it looks like in the pics on the knot and in magazines. Don't splurge on the extras like diamond confetti and mirrors because people won't really notice and they don't make a huge statement in the pictures. Just keep it simple. If you want to have hanging stands, the branches need to be arranged correctly so splurge on manzanita branches or arrange the branches yourself and set them in concrete or something. If you can find a good deal on branches in the color you want it might be cheaper than spray painting branches from your yard.

What would you do diff? (keep in mind I got married in the spring, but I chose my centerpiece design based on my original October wedding date) If I could go back in time I would just changed my design to something that was very easy to transport and setup that nobody could possible screw up. Like these DIY chandelier centerpieces.

{Source}

But with candle sticks or vases from the dollar tree! Or a green colored kissing ball sitting on a vase (from the dollar tree) with a few "crystal" strands hanging from it down into the vase like a cheaper version of this:

{Source}

Or this one that is a combination of the first two:

{Source}

I hope that answered your question and once again sorry for the long delay. Let my know if I missed anything or if you have any more questions.

Why I didn't have childen at my wedding...

2011-04-30T12:06:00.002-05:00

{Source}

They don't enjoy themselves. Plenty of adult don't like going to weddings so why make innocent children suffer through them? Probably for the the cute photos right?

I am so glad I didn't have children at my wedding. I went to a wedding a few weeks after ours and I couldn't really hear the ceremony because all I could hear was the kids. The worst one was the ~1.5 year old in front of me who babbled the whole time. Unless you are a parent, they are just too hard to tune out. Plus, it's not like they are going to remember being there or understand the significance. I know a lot of people enjoy having kids at weddings, but if I ever have kids I will not bring them to any wedding even if they are invited.

{Source}

Real Simple

2011-03-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

Hi! I just realized I haven't posted anything in a long time, about 5 weeks. Don't worry I'm not done wedding blogging yet. I thought I would have all of my recaps finished by the fall, but I still have a lot more things I wanted to recap, but haven't gotten around to... Let me know if there is anything you would like to see sooner rather than later or if you have any questions you want me to answer.

You may have noticed some changes around here. I switched to the new blogger template since they have the new fonts and other cool stuff now. I don't like change but I was hoping it would make this blog load faster. I don't notice a change in speed but hopefully you do. It is probably slow because I put too many pictures in my recaps... but recap pictures are one of my favorite parts of wedding blogs! So I just dump all of my related photos into the post, which is partially because I am lazy and don't feel like picking out the best few pics.

To make a quick post more interesting, has everyone seen the cover of the 2011 Real Simple Wedding magazine?

{Source}

I have to admit I was a little excited when I saw it in the grocery store early this year. Why? Because of the green bouquet on the cover! Remember my bouquets? They were green too. I love those shoes too.

Facebook Page

2011-02-17T20:46:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed...

{Source}

I deleted my facebook pages!

It must have been more than a month ago now.

I hope you don't mind.

I wasn't very good about using them and I didn't like that I couldn't comment on other pages as my page. I didn't like that I couldn't have a separate feed for pages my page "liked." So I found myself only using my personal page and always forgetting to click that pages tab. Let's face it, social media is better when you actual use it!

Ironically, a week ago I found out that facebook made "major improvements to Pages."

LOL. Maybe I should have held out a little longer? Or keep up on things so I would have known this was coming? Oh well.

Honorary FG

2011-02-12T19:04:00.002-06:00

Since we had an adults only wedding we didn't have a flower girl or ring bearer.

While I browsing the mall for possible bridal shower outfits I popped into Old Navy. I picked out a white skirt that I didn't end up wearing. While I was waiting in line to check out I saw something that I had to have!

{I have ugly red carpet in my bedroom}

It was a purple dog t-shirt that said flower girl on it. It wasn't my wedding colors and the cat was not going to be in our wedding, but it was 75% off of $5 so I had to pick it up b/c I thought it was so funny! I thought about taking a picture of her in it and having it displayed at the wedding to be funny, but it didn't end up happening.

I think it is cute when pets are in wedding pictures or wedding ceremonies. Miss Pug is probably my favorite example of this. Check out THIS post. Her flowers are amazing too. Yes, they are very similar to my inspiration flowers.

Have you ever seen pets involved in a wedding? Are you incorporating your pets into your wedding?

Fauxtobooth Props

2011-02-12T18:36:00.002-06:00

~~A few weeks ago~~ A month and a half ago I posted a handful of pictures from my fauxtobooth HERE. I know it was more like a photo op since I didn't print the pics, but I like to call it a fauxtobooth since it was kind of photo-booth-y. I've seen the DIY wedding photo booth called a photo wall and photo-unbooth too... but what you call it doesn't really matter and isn't what this post is supposed to be about...

Anyhooo... I realized that since I didn't post many pics you couldn't really see all of the props. So I took some pictures of the remaining props to share with you since I don't want to post many drunken fauxtobooth pics. Guests walked off with some of the props. They must have been upset I didn't have a printer...

{the frames, my favorite prop}

{patriotic and mardi gras beads. the red beads with chilies disappeared.}

{grass skirts, shell bikini, and flower clips. the coconut bikini disappeared}

{the pink and black feather boas. the white one disappeared}

{cheer leading accessories, the other megaphone disappeared}

{whiteboard with dry erase markers}

{The green hats. Originally they were the only prop I was going to have so I bought a bunch so ppl could walk off with them.}

{The basket that held all of the props.}

{Paper pirate hats}

{Wigs. The orange one disappeared.}

{Leis}

{DIY mustaches}

Ok one more fauxtobooth pic:

{This pic has the missing coconut bikini, white feather boa, and orange wig in it}

Details: Attire

2011-02-06T13:38:00.002-06:00

{Mother of the Bride Dress}

{Groom's Vest}

{Bridesmaid Dress}

{Mother of the Groom Dress}

{Fathers}

{Groom}

{Groomsmen}

{Bride's Dress}

Reader Question 2

2011-02-06T11:40:00.000-06:00

Question:

I have a question for you about the silver labels you put on your favor boxes for the candy buffet? I am having a hard time getting the labels printed. Did you print them yourself or take them somewhere? Thanks!

Answer:

Hi! sorry I took me so long to get back to you. I've been a bit under the weather.

Anyhoo, the short answer is - I printed them myself.

If you're new here and want to see the favor boxes they're posted HERE.

The long answer -

I purchased 1" round Avery Permanent Mailing Seals from Office Depot (or Office Max I don't remember). They can be printed on with an ink jet printer or written on by hand.


{Source}

The packaging has, "Use Avery Template 5247 avery.com/templates" printed on it. So I headed over to avery.com/templates and typed 5247 into the, "Search Templates & Software Enter product # or keyword to find available Templates & Software" data field. It came up with results. The template I needed was search result #6...I downloaded the template, which happens to be a word document. All I had to do was type whatever I wanted into the text boxes. I changed the font, color, and text size but that was it! I stuck them in my printer and they came out looking like this:

{Really bad personal photo... sorry}

Since I didn't run into any problems I don't know if this helps... but I hope it does!

Is there anything more specific that you are having trouble with?

If the ink is smudging I would print them one at a time or make sure to carefully take them out of the printer before the next set lands on tops of it. Or you can change your properties to print in draft mode.

You might want run regular maintenance type things on your printer like cleaning the heads out, running the alignment maintenance, ...

Maybe try downloading the template again and type one letter in, but don't touch anything else, then see if it prints correctly.

Do you have a wedding related question? Feel free to ask me. I'm no expert, but I have learned a few things from planning my wedding and stalking the wedding forums.

Bridal Party Dance, Part 2

2011-02-04T18:34:00.002-06:00

I guess I shouldn't have written about dancing by myself in THIS post... It turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy...

Bridal Party Dance Part 1 is HERE.

The wedding party dance.

*Sigh*

It was a big fail.

It was probably the worst part of the wedding... for me at least...

I'm going to need a web redemption after everyone sees it...

Why?

I was dumb for thinking our best friends would help us get the party started with a fun dance. I guess I should have ditched the wedding party dance...or gone bridezilla on them by making them attend mandatory dance practices with Sean and I! I could have made these dance rehearsals fun by buying food and drinks for them to enjoy. But who wants to dedicate more than the required 1.5 days to a wedding that isn't their own?

Most of the bridal party didn't even look at the video or listen to the song. No one attempted to learn any of the moves. In the beginning of the dance nobody really attempted to dance.

They

all

just

watched

me.

Let's be realistic. I knew nobody would actually learn the whole dance. I knew nobody would know all of the moves. I thought they would at least dance instead of standing there watching me. I thought maybe some of them would do their own thing and some of them would copy me. I know I brought this on myself for saying they didn't have to learn it. I know it is my fault for not being clear that we would still be doing it. I am not mad at any of them. I don't have any hard feelings. I know it is all my fault that it turned out this way.

But seriously, who just stands there and watches their friend make an ass out of herself?

Who lets their new bride feel like a ginormous moron because nobody will dance with her?

WTH?

Lucky for me, some of that part of the video was edited out.

When I looked over my shoulder and realized no body was dancing my confidence disappeared.

I felt incredibly embarrassed...

which let the stage fright creep in...

which made me completely forget the dance!

{Realizing non of my bridesmaids are dancing}

Worst of all, the DJ stepped on the cord halfway through the dance! The music stopped. The videographer also stopped recording at this point. I thought THANK GOODNESS the DJ is rescuing me from this nightmare! But then the DJ started the song right back up from the beginning. I didn't know what to do! I just started dancing again... big mistake! I guess I was thinking other people might join in after seeing the beginning of the dance??? I did put the link up for it on the facebook event I made just incase anyone wanted to do a flash mob type thing. But of course no one jumped in. Fortunately, the wedding party danced a little bit more the second time around... kind of... you can see for yourself from the pics at the end of this post...

I had Sean make the CD with all of the music for our wedding day. I made the mistake of not listening to the version of "Jai Ho" he burned. The ending was really long in the version he chose and it was different than the ending in the videos that I used to learn the dance. The total length of the song was 4.5 minutes. Add on the half we danced before the song restarted... it ended up being the world's longest wedding party dance. No. I am not being dramatic! Okay, maybe a little bit but it was WAY too long of a bridal party dance!

It would've been interesting to see the video of the entire wedding party dance, but it is probably better (less embarrassing) for me this way, where it cuts out when the DJ stepped on the cord:

When I watch it the audio is a little bit behind the video... idk what's up with that...

Share Time: Are you doing a bridal party dance? What song are your using? Have you ever seen a bridal party dance fail in person? What was the best bridal party dance you've ever seen?

RSVP Statistics

2011-01-29T23:53:00.001-06:00

What percent of invited guests RSVP yes?

What % RSVP no?

I'm putting my guest list together and I'm curious, what percentage, on average, of a guest list, will RSVP no. I don't want to invite too few (there's a room minimum), but I don't want to invite too many either (we're on a budget, aren't we all?).

These are questions I saw on the wedding boards all of the time while I was planning. There is a rule of thumb that 20% will RSVP no and decline your invitation.

So I thought I should share my wedding RSVP statistics. Hopefully it adds a much needed data point to some poor bride-to-be's research to find the actually average.

Our RSVP count was:
Chicken - 96
Ravioli - 24
Decline - 47
Awaiting Reply-5 (AKA Never RSVP'd or replied to efforts to get a hold of them so they were assumed to be a decline)

That's 120 accept and 52 decline out of 172 total invited.
Therefor:
69.77% RSVP'd yes or accept
30.23% RSVP's no or decline

I should add that none of the out of town guests RSVP'd yes. If I was a real blogger I would have kept track of how many people who RSVP'd no were from out of town... Oh well.

Also, not everyone who RSVP'd yes actually came to the wedding...