But I will leave you with this picture of us getting our marriage license. It summarizes much of what has been going on… we’re both tired from running around all day (that particular day, I had my makeup trial, Mr. Latte delivered some OOT bags, and we were behind on our “To Do” list), but were excited that our big day was near!

Oh hive, I just want to give you a big, fat THANK YOU for your positive enthusiasm, creative energy and most importantly, your unending support throughout the Latte wedding planning process.

You have all been a source of inspiration, knowledge and I am forever grateful for the hive.

Mr. Latte, it’s finally here! I can’t wait to live out our big day, become your wife (woah!) and finally start spending our lives together. Adios, 3000+ miles and 3-hour time difference! YAY! I love you a latte (you know you love it).

And here we gooo…

Love,

Miss Latte

I’m beginning to feel a little frazzled and like I need another month or two! Luckily for me, I’ve seen many a bee get stressed and feel like she couldn’t possibly get everything done, but totally pull it off with time to spare! I know we can do it.

What’s helping me to stay sane is a little organization. At the beginning of our engagement, I started out with one long list of things to do. Talk about overwhelming. On top of that, I was getting email reminders from The Knot every few weeks nagging me about all the “unfinished to-do list items” that I had piling up. No bueno. Then I stumbled across Mrs. Cheese’s post about how she was keeping her last minute to-do list from terrifying her by putting items into either a “sooner” or “later” category, according to the urgency of the task. It sounded like an awesome idea to me and so I created a Google Document with my to-dos organized in this format and spread the word to immediate families and the bridal party that they could take a look at it, too, if they were wondering how they might be able to help.

Unfortunately, this method of organization still wasn’t enough for my frazzled self and I still found myself staring at this impossibly long list and wondering where to start. And my bridal party, as awesomely helpful as they’ve been throughout this process, was having trouble looking at it, remembering that it existed, etc.

Enter: Fairy Bridesmaid, the most organized woman on the face of the planet.

She created an Excel spreadsheet for me that is saving my life. She created deadlines for every two weeks and organized my to-dos so that I know exactly what I should be working on next and when it has to be finished by. For instance, there were four items to finish by July 1st, five by July 15, and it continues that way until October.

Old method on the left, Fairy Bridesmaid’s schedule on the right

This has really helped my stress levels because I have manageable chunks of things to do and always know what the next project should be. At the same time, I don’t have everything scheduled to the day because that would probably just make me more tense if I had a busy day and got behind!

What’s your method of staying sane?

Miss Swan: [Choose your own random wedding detail and insert here]. Can you help with that? Thanks, boo.

Mr. Swan: I’m excited about getting married, but the planning is a lot. There’s so much to think about. [Isn’t he cute? He doesn’t know the half of it.]

Miss Swan: I know, and we’ve been doing this for about 10 months now. We’re almost there. ACK!! I haven’t done anything all weekend. Maybe I should do something today. Ughh….

I spent a whole lot of procrastinating this past weekend and definitely not enough on the wedding. I don’t want to be left out there scrambling the week before, BUT I think I am getting tired… of planning. In some ways I feel like I can’t think anymore about the details. I’m not necessarily the world’s most original person when it comes to wedding decor and details, so I feel pretty tapped out (escort cards, anyone? I will figure that out somehow). The funny thing is that I am not doing a ton of projects or things myself, and I’m still staring at a pretty long to-do list.

Given that we are now in the home stretch of planning, we should be amped right now.

Mr. Swan and I are getting more excited about being married each day, but I am amazed at how much this process can sometimes zap your mental energy.

Is anyone else thinking, ‘Are we done yet?’ For those with weddings soon, how are you keeping focused and full of energy?

I was thinking, ‘OK, I guess I would be alright with going a little over budget to spend a couple hundred dollars on this…’

A couple hundred? Hah!

We’d need at least three hours, I figure. I found out that for this vehicle, which seats 14…:

[source]

… Three hours would cost us $475. You get a lot for that price, though (champagne, red carpet rolled out for you, etc.)! If our wedding were fancier, I’d definitely consider it. I was a little disappointed that all of their limos were SUVs. I prefer the classic Towncar/Cadillac types myself.

Then there’s this other option…:

[source]

…It’s called the “Black Betty”, and it’s (pretty obviously) a party bus. It seats about 35 and it boasts a 5000 watt sound system and crazy lighting. I think it has a stripper pole in it, too. Not exactly our style, and for $100/hour (5-hour minimum), it’s not cheap either.

Short of renting a 15-passenger van (which, by the way, none of our regional auto-rental facilities have available), we were pretty much out of luck.

I decided to call the limousine company and ask about a discount for our weekday, non-fancy wedding. They offered us a rate of $100/hour (same as the party bus). In the end though, we still decided that $300 was too much money to spend on that. There’s also the fact that I get carsick in pretty much any vehicle I’m not personally driving. An empty wallet + a barfing (or doped up on Dramamine) bride is not how I picture our wedding day! So I think we’re going to pass on the limo.

Our transportation’s going to be a caravan of vehicles probably including my Honda Civic, Mr. Mary Jane’s Nissan Rogue, and our guests’ vehicle(s). Classy and streamlined? Maybe not. But budget- (and tummy-) friendly.

Are you renting wedding day transportation for yourself, your wedding party, or your guests? What factors went in to your decision?

No, I’m not fretting yet about our wedding weather (though I have been researching cute umbrella options, just in case). Right now, I’m too preoccupied with what all this moisture’s been doing to my hair.

(source)

Unlike Sister Bruschetta — who has awesome natural curls that seem to thrive when there’s extra humidity in the air — I’m stuck with wavy(ish) hair that reacts unpredictably at best whenever there’s a greater than 10-percent chance of precipitation.

And since the mister and I have resumed our morning visits to the gym with renewed enthusiasm (more on this to come), my a.m. routine has been squished into half an hour. Which means that my ’do is either all up (hello, ponytail), half-up or all down. Straightening my hair on damp days is a complete waste of time, so if I opt to let my locks air dry, I’m “rewarded” with an awesome and seemingly contradictory combination — limp and frizzy. I’m not crazy about options two or three — since they make me look like I’m back in college (or worse, high school!) — but don’t always want to stress my strands with daily ponytails.

I hate complaining this much when the answer — lose a few inches — is so obvious. With an elegant updo planned for the wedding, though, I know my fine hair could use a little extra “oomph”, so I’m not about to chop off any now that we’re under two months and counting.

So can you help me, hive? What are your go-to products to fend off the frizzies and give your hair extra (or, um, just some would be peachy) body?

My name is Alyssa and I am so glad I found these boards because I’ve been going insane the past few months. My boyfriend and I have been together almost seven years, and we picked out THE ring in March. I have been going NUTS waiting for it. My question is, for those of you who are waiting, or have waited, have you ever totally thought, ‘this is it!’ and then he did something like tie his shoe or stretch? On my birthday weekend, my man and I were in Chicago (my hometown) and I was sitting on a bench in Millennium Park, surrounded by blooming tulips. He got down on one knee - my heart fluttered - and then he tied his shoe. Haha! This also happened in an episode of The Office. Anybody else having all these false hopes? I find myself thinking, ‘What if he does it while I’m in the shower? Or, he could put it in my Diet Coke!’  I’m just making up all these crazy scenarios because I want it to happen so bad.

So, what “I thought he was gonna propose!” moments did you have?

SweetheartDealer

~~~

Please comment on the thread here!

Right now I am sitting in my parents’ kitchen getting my hair done. You might be surprised to hear this, but I didn’t have any trouble sleeping last night (once I actually got into bed, of course). We’re actually doing this. We’re actually getting married today!

There were so many times when neither of us was sure this would actually happen. But you know what? With every doubt and every uncertainty, you were there standing by my side, holding my hand. And knowing that you’ll keep on being there that same way after we’re married is one of the many reasons why I’ll say ’I do,’ today.

I’m so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with you!

Love,

Miss Bunny

P.S. Thank you, hive, for being there for these final weeks as I stressed and planned and stressed some more! Weddingbee saw me through the whole engagement process. It wouldn’t have been the same without you!

So what does this all have to do with our wedding?

Well, my second internship is in our wedding host city: Savannah! I will be working with a news station there for the rest of the summer. And while I’m there, I plan to get down to business. Wedding business, that is!

It has been incredibly hard planning a wedding 4 hours away from the city it is in. I don’t know how people plan true destination weddings across the country or even in a different country all together. I’ve only been to Savannah twice since becoming engaged and I didn’t get much done in those short visits. I booked our  reception venue site unseen and my FSIL (who thankfully lives in Savannah and is letting me stay with her for free) had to book our ceremony site for us (at least I got to use her local discount, woot!).

I want to maximize my time spent in my wedding city, so I’ve made a list of to-dos MUST-Dos while I’m there. The plan is that by the time I start my last semester of classes (finally!), I will have very few things left to do with the wedding, so I can focus more on school, Mr. Lab, and pre-wedding festivities (bachelorette party!!!). And of course, while I still have a bit of summer “free time”, I will begin/finish work on my DIY projects like the centerpieces, doggie table numbers, photo slideshow, and bouquets.

Whew, that’s a lot to do in 6 weeks! Hopefully I’m not missing anything crucial to take care of while I’m in Savannah.

If your wedding is somewhat (or totally) a destination wedding, what are your favorite tips to ease the planning process?

I had originally been planning a pomegranate and gold color scheme, and I found these cute, classic pomegranate-colored dresses (called vintage burgundy) on the J.Crew website.

Source

I thought the color was perfect and the shape would flatter all my ’maids. I was excited to cross something off my to-do list, as the wedding planning was feeling pretty overwhelming at this point.

As the planning progressed, an English garden, vintage-y theme began to emerge and, along with it, a new color scheme:

Cream, pale pale pink, and gold.

I thought I could keep pomegranate/berry as an accent color and that the bridesmaids dresses would still look great. But one fateful day as I was catching up on Weddingbee, I stumbled upon Mrs. Cherry Pie’s gorgeous Montana wedding. Something looked familiar about those bridesmaids dresses. They looked just like the ones I had picked out—only they were bright red! I frantically scrolled through Mrs. Cherry Pie’s backlog of blog posts to see if she had blogged about buying the dresses. Sure enough, she had—and the dresses were the exact same ones I had picked out, in vintage burgundy. Only “vintage burgundy” looked like this:

Beautiful, but not the color I had in mind!

Is it just me, or does that look distinctly like red, not burgundy/berry/pomegranate/what-have-you? This color, I quickly realized, would not work with the creams and pale pinks I had picked out for the flowers and decorations. I thought about just sucking it up, since the girls had bought their dresses so long ago, and J. Crew’s return policy is only store credit after sixty days. But I knew in my gut that I was going to be unhappy with that decision, so I emailed the gals and threw myself at their mercy. Luckily, they are all awesome, and they agreed to exchange the dresses for new ones.

Some mix-n-match, black dress inspiration.

We decided together that black dresses would be the way to go. I’m actually really excited about it because it means that each girl can pick out a dress in any style she wants–I love photos I’ve seen from other weddings where each ’maid is wearing a different style dress. And, even though it will be extra hassle for my ’maids (sorry, ladies!), in the end they will each have a chic black dress that they are more likely to wear again. Finally, the black dresses will allow me to add little black accents throughout the ceremony and reception in order to cut down on the sweetness factor of all the pastels. And the bridesmaids’ cream-colored bouquets (more on that later!) will really pop against the black.

While this isn’t the only time I’ve changed my mind about a wedding-related decision I had previously made, this is the first time it’s directly affected someone other than me. I’m realizing now that I really need to get it together and stop making decisions willy-nilly.

What lessons have you learned throughout the wedding-planning process?

Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.

This was also the first time I had really noticed any bride wearing a hair flower.

[source]

Hellllllo gorgeous! I NEEDED one!

Especially since I had already set my heart on a cathedral length veil. Beautiful of course, but not practical to keep on all night, and I was concerned that once I took it off I would start to feel less “bridal”. Obviously I wanted to avoid that at all costs, but wasn’t too interested in putting on something shorter, so I needed an alternative. So, my obsession with the hair flower began. (Thank you, Pootiekins!)

[source]

Then came reality, and the reality is that I am on a budget, a budget that is slowly seeming smaller and smaller. I love Etsy just as much as the next girl, but for real, $80 for a silk flower!? That is OUT OF CONTROL! I almost gave up. I even considered DIY, but I couldn’t even find a flower to start with. Then came Kasia Fink and her stunning and AFFORDABLE veils and fascinators! Recognize her? She’s Mrs. Sea Breeze!

[source]

I just placed my order for the Ella Fascinator. It may be her most simple piece, as she has others with feathers and netting, or of course, a full birdcage, but this is EXACTLY what I was looking for! And, for less then half the price of some on Etsy (not to knock them of course, as they are beautiful, but a girl on a budget is a girl on a budget)!

[source]

I can’t wait to see it and try it on with my dress!!

Are you making a hairpiece switch after your ceremony?

Well hive, we’re back! Officially Mr. and Mrs. Yorkie now for 19 days, with the honeymoon behind us, we’re just beginning to settle into married life. The wedding went beautifully (it was a Plan A day!) and even featured a few surprises, like thunder rolling overhead during Mr. Y’s vows to add a little emphasis.

I’d like to give special thanks to everyone for the well-wishes regarding my aunt. I’m happy to report that she recovered fully and was celebrating with us at the wedding!

I can’t wait for our professional photos so that I can start sharing all of the details from our special day with you. In the meantime, though, here’s a little taste with these great highlights from the ceremony captured by our very talented friend, Laurel.

When Mr Frenchie proposed, I immediately told him I wanted to get married on the 4th of July. What luck, the year we’re getting married my favorite day happens to fall on a Saturday, the most common wedding day of the week. I had already fallen in love with an inspiration board on Style Me Pretty.

As you know my wedding is not this weekend. *le sigh*

Unfortunately, the 4th falls in the middle of my summer quarter at school. That meant there was no way we could go on our honeymoon directly following the wedding, like we wanted. I also had no idea what would be in store for me with school projects and didn’t want my grades to suffer. *Booo, hissss*

Was there a dream date you wanted to get married on, but life got in the way? Make me jealous: are you getting married on the 4th?

source via twobrides

Since our venue doesn’t allow open flames, I plan on filling our mason jars with pretty vegetables and flowers. I’d love to have that glow-y effect of the flickering candlelight behind aqua glass, but it’s just not in the cards. I need the aqua jars, though. Need them.

Seeing as how I’m a whole hemisphere away from my venue (and my family), I can’t exactly troll through antique stores and Goodwill at my leisure.

(And collecting 40+ quart size mason jars locally and bringing them with me on the plane is rather impractical.) So, I did what any tech-savvy bride (on a budget) did - I started looking on my favorite site, eBay, I scoured the classifieds here on the ’bee, and I looked in the Portland Craigslist (my super awesome future step-MIL (FSMIL) has been the best with helping me locally!).

The result? Aqua mason jars are expensive. Like, really expensive. Unless you find them wholesale somewhere, you should expect to pay around $5 - $8 each, after shipping. I don’t buy that, though. I’m of the mindset that the value of an object is set by the buyer. I think these things should cost around $1.50 - $2 each, after shipping. Call me stingy, but it’s just old glass.

I must have been right, because I found my preciouses for $1.50 each on Craigslist, and in Portland. The seller has a lot of canning equipment. I told him I wanted to buy around 50 quart-sized aqua mason jars, and he said he had more than enough!

source via Bliss’d

This was great! Fantastic! I’d get my deal, and it’d be local!

But then the seller “educated” me on a few legalities of mason jars. He asked me if I was planning on using these for a wedding (let’s call it a “family reunion”, shall we?). He told me that if I planned on putting candles in the jars, he absolutely wouldn’t sell them to me. And if I was planning on drinking from the jars (I wanted to also buy around 80 normal jars to use as glasses), he also wouldn’t sell them to me. Um. WEIRD.

They don’t make mason jars like they used to. Apparently there’s a high probability that your beautiful antique blue mason jar will EXPLODE if you put a candle in it! The guy selling the jars said he was sued recently because a jar exploded at a wedding, injuring a guest! Also, he informed me that it’s illegal (at least in the state of Oregon) to sell canning jars for the purpose of drinking beverages. He recommended I buy these “drinking” mason jars from a supermarket - these organizations are too large to prosecute feasibly.

As much as I’d love to have beautiful mood setters like this:

source

… I don’t want my guests to risk injury! If you’re planning on using mason jars for candle holders, be careful! I recommend using newer jars (but don’t quote me on this - I’m not the expert!).

source via JenaD Events

This seller also helpfully informed me that certain types of flower food can dissolve the old aqua glass. I told him I was planning on using the jars for flower vases (this, apparently, was acceptable to him).

I thought I had all my ducks in a row (no candles! no drinking from the jars! no flower food!), so I asked my awesome FSMIL to coordinate locally with the seller. Turns out, he’s a complete kook. He yelled at her on the phone, proclaiming about how these aqua-blue mason jars are special, antique… they weren’t meant to be used at weddings! And he wasn’t going to sell them! And how dare she suggest that! Did she know that they could EXPLODE at any minute?? (Aqua-blue floral grenades!)

So- whatever. We washed our hands of this potential bargain; the red flags were definitely going off. But I’m still looking for aqua-blue quart sized mason jars.

I really don’t know where to look now. Do you know of someone who wants to sell their aqua-blue quart-sized mason jars to me? Or do you know of someplace to find them for relatively cheap?

If you’re taking a casual or laid-back attitude toward your wedding theme (and not everything has to match), have you been taking advantage of thrift shops?

From the time I went to college, I’ve been a big fan of garage sales, thrifting, eBay, and even dumpster diving. Only within the past year did I buy any new furniture; up until then almost everything I owned was used. I have many depression glass bowls and candle holders, ’70s-era wall hangings, and cute little tchotchkes that I’ve picked up over the years… each for under $5. My kitchen mixer cost me $3.49 at a garage sale, my utility shelves are someone’s discarded Target closet-system, and I found my ironing board in the alley behind a former apartment.

I find that thrift stores usually have a mixture of “garage-sale” and “grandma’s-house” stuff. Just think of some of the “shabby chic” centerpieces you could make with some of these previously-loved treasures.

For a couple of who loves to read: mismatched ornate reading lamps and stacks of old books on each table at the reception. You could just cut the cords off of the lamps, turn them in to votive-holders, and even paint the table numbers on the lamp shades. You could find books that match a common theme (example: romances, cookbooks, or travel guides), or simply books whose bindings match your color theme.

I found this great lamp for $1.49. (It even works!) Paperback books are usually 25 cents to $1 each at second hand shops, and hardcovers (especially old textbooks) aren’t much more.

How about some great brass accents for a guestbook table? Wouldn’t these look nice interspersed with framed pictures of grandparents and parents from their wedding days?

Trinkets like these are often under $1 each.

It’s easiest to find things at thrift stores if you have a very open mind about what you’re looking for. You can pretty much find stuff in any color, if you’re patient.

“Previously-loved” candles are always really cheap. And if they’re already lit when your guests arrive, how will they know you didn’t buy them new?

Patience really is key. You’ve got to have time to find the stuff you want. Then, you’ve got to be creative. Remember that dirty things can usually be cleaned. Keep in mind that wooden or metal items can be stripped, sanded or painted. A can of spray paint can turn ugly ’80s gold candle holders into fresh white ones in no time. Many types of furniture can even be painted and/or covered to inexpensively suit your wedding day theme or color scheme.

Are you a thrifty shopper, too? Has it helped you find great stuff for your wedding?

(source)

I shouldn’t complain. I’ll admit, I’m not typically the person driving. The boy usually drives and I find things to do to occupy the time. Things like picking potential songs for the ceremony. Things like entering our entire guest list into our table planning software. Things like figuring out who all needs to be at our rehearsal dinner. Oh, and things like choosing our wedding party. Yep, that was done in the car too!

We’ll be making the trip yet again this weekend, and it’s sure to be a busy weekend once we get there! My hair and makeup trials, finalizing our floral contract, my bridal shower, and a meeting with the ceremony musicians will all take place while we’re there. And let’s not forget some good old fashioned 4th of July fun! More than anything, what I’m looking forward to the most this weekend is enjoying a nice cold drink on the boat and relaxing with friends and family!

Now all I have to do is think of a way to pass the time during the trip! Any suggestions?

The permit consumed both our lives for the last 3 months, particularly, all of June. There were a lot of tears, a lot of swear words, plenty of begging and pleading, and now it’s all over and we’ve got it.

I’m so happy that it doesn’t even matter that it took 1 month longer than it should have (our paperwork sat on someone’s desk while he was on vacation for 3 weeks) or cost us over $2000 more than we were told initially. All that matters is we got it and we break ground Monday.

Getting our permit came at the perfect time. We’ve got less than a month to go and we both really need to focus on the wedding. Lucky for us, we planned ahead and made some decisions about the house (roofing, siding and kitchen) that should allow my Dad and his team work through our honeymoon without us needing to make any major decisions.

Anyone else have a non-wedding related victory lately that will surely help free up some much needed wedding planning time?

~~~

Mrs. Flamingo’s Favors

Favors: Imported Italian Sparkling Water + Donation to Quebec Breast Cancer Association
# of Favors: 96
Total Price: $192
Price per favor: $2

“When it came time to choose our favors, we decided to make a donation to the Quebec Breast Cancer Association. We felt as though our guests might like to leave the wedding with something in their hands, so we purchased Italian imported water. We created little cards and DIY pink ribbons with the mention of the donation in memory of my grandmother and in honor of my mother, who is a survivor.

The guests loved our favors and still talk about them today… some even shed some tears!”

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Mrs. Penguin’s Favors

Favors: Gocco printed coasters with jelly beans
# of Favors: 120
Total Price: $120 total
Price per favor: $1

“I wanted our favors to double as table decor, to give our plain white linens some pop, so I glued a tissue pom on the top of each favor to spice up the decor a bit! I printed 700 or so of these coasters myself, which was a huge pain, but for under $1 a favor, it was worth it. I smile when I see them around peoples’ houses!”

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Miss French Bulldog’s Favors

Favors: Birdie Place Card Holders
# of Favors: 140
Total price for favors: $483
Price per favor: $3.45

“Mama Frenchie found these adorable bird place card holders on a wedding favor website. Although they were a bit more than we originally wanted to spend, we justified the expense because they could be three different things - place card holders, favors, and table decor. I can’t wait to see these little guys in action on our wedding day.”

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Mrs. Cookie’s Favors

Favors: Cookies
# of Favors: 60
Total price for favors: $25
Price per favor: $.41 ($.02 per cello bag, $.05 per favor for kraft paper, $.04 per ribbon, pennies for Gocco ink and screen doubled up on multiple projects, $.30 for cookie ingredients)

“At first we were going to make truffles for favors, but we left the favors to the last minute and ran out of time. My mother graciously offered to step-in and bake 120 cookies the morning of our wedding — she said it calmed her nerves. I Goccoed the ‘Merci Beaucoup’ the day before on kraft paper, and then my dad and brothers packaged the cookies.”

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Mrs. Tulip’s Favors

Favors: Lavender Satchel, Handkerchiefs, Cookies
Price per Favor: $0.80 per Lavender Satchel

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Mrs. Butterfly’s Favors

Favors: Candle and matches
Price per Favor: Less than $3.00

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Miss Cherry Pie’s Favors

Favors: Cookies
# of Favors: 100
Total Cost: $150
Cost per Favor: $1.50

“We gave each guest a 3-piece sampler of homemade Polebridge Mercantile cookies, including snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, macadamia nut, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter. The cookies were set upon recycled paper crinkles in favor bags and tied with hand-stamped manila shipping tags for that rustic look.“

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Mrs. Pineapple’s Favors

Favors: Scarves
# of Favors: 100
Total Cost: $150

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Miss Joey’s Favors

Favors: Personalized Luggage Tags in Wedding Colors
# of Favors: 180
Total Cost: $85.74
Cost per Favor: $0.70

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Mrs. Quiche’s Favors

Favors:

Total Cost: $350
Cost per Favor: $23

“Our favors were the OOT bags for our guests. For couples, we did one per room. If two singles were sharing, they each received their own. Since most were couples or families, we were able to save quite a bit of money!

We knew we wanted practical & fun things - the best of both worlds. Along with your typical sunblock and bug spray, we included underwater cameras and local Jamaican flavors with Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and Appleton Rum. The bags were a huge hit!”

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Mrs. Plumeria’s Favors

Favors: Cookies and Magnets
# of Favors: 400
Total Cost: $350
Cost per Favor: ~$1.00

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Mrs. Corn’s Favors

Favors: Sand, Sea and Glass ornament
# of Favors: 120
Total Cost: $165.60
Cost per Favor: $1.38

The ornaments were such a labor of love and very appropriate for us since we collect ornaments whenever we travel. However, I didn’t want them to go to waste and I wanted everyone to receive a favor… so midway through the process, I decided to also make rosemary salt favors using the same vessel as the ornaments.”

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Mrs. Hot Cocoa’s Favors

Favors: Keychain
# of Favors: 275
Total Cost: $341
Cost per Favor: $1.24

“Kissing couple keychains from Fantastic Weddings in Hong Kong (includes the purple organza bags)!”

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Mrs. Tiramisu’s Favors

Favors: Flip Flops and CDs that doubled as escort cards

Favor: Flip Flops from Old Navy
Total Cost: $185
Price per Favor: $2 - 15% coupon = $1.85

“We purchased 100 pairs of flip flops (for our 187 guests), 75 in a range of women’s sizes, and 25 in a range of men’s sizes. This may have not been the case if we hadn’t had a severe storm during our wedding, but we had almost no leftovers!”

Favor: CD
Price per Favor: $3.55
Price Breakdown:

• Blank CD: $0.25
• Paperboard Case: $0.30
• Songs downloaded from iTunes (and used only the iTunes legal limit of 7 times each): $3
• Total for 125 (we made one per couple for married guests) = $443.75

“We chose to have flip flops available at the wedding originally so that guests could change out of their shoes in order to check out the rocky beach and cliffs at our venue. We had no idea that they would become an essential part of our day once the crazy thunder/lightning/hail storm hit! They were all gone quickly, and I wish I would have ordered a few more. It’s fun to see them still in use by some of our guests almost a year later!

As for the CDs, we fell in love with the idea of including a favorite love song from each of our parents, and member of our bridal party (half of whom were siblings). It was an interesting collection, and also almost guaranteed that our guests would enjoy at least a few of the songs! Just like the flip flops, we still run into these in our friends cars, or stereos from time to time which is a lot of fun. ”

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Mrs. Canary’s Favors

Favors: Tea cookies (2) with a sachet of tea in a Japanese folded paper box (from Amai Tea and Cookies)
# of Favors: 275
Total Cost: $1,375
Price per Favor: $5

“Everything was baked and assembled by Amai Tea and Cookies (which sadly is no longer in business). Kelli, the owner and head baker, created several concepts for us involving tea and cookies and we chose this one because of the beautiful ornamental box.

Mr. Canary and I love sweets and particularly cookies. We wanted something edible for the end of the evening. We chose Amai’s cookies because they had an Asian fusion flavor. Each box had two cookies (either Green Tea or Red Vanilla) and a sachet of corresponding tea. Everyone loved having something to munch on and many of our guests went on to order boxes of the cookies themselves after sampling them at our wedding!”

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Miss Stiletto’s Favors

Favors: Samples of maple cashew granola from a local non-profit bakery that provides job training for at-risk and homeless youth.
# of Favors: 125
Total Cost: $236.75
Cost per Favor: $1.89

“We really liked the idea of making a charitable donation AND giving our guests something sweet from that charity! Blue Sky Bakery is located just blocks from our condo and has a wonderful mission that we’re proud to support! And, we love devouring their yummy granola. ”

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Mrs. Margarita’s Favors

Favor: Tea - One Sri Lankan tea tin and one Indian tea tin from Adagio Teas.
# of Favors: 250
Total Cost: $1250
Cost per Favor: $5.00

We came up with the idea of doing something with tea since Sri Lankans and Indians alike are obsessed with tea. Mrs. Onion posted about using adagio tea samples for wedding favors and that’s how we ended up using that company. We loved the personalized tags that were on each tin and the fact that they gave us 400 little gold organza bags for free saved us from trying to find a way to package them. We just added a few crystal ornaments to each bag to jazz them up.

———————-

Mrs. Ballet Flat’s Favors

Favor: Candy
# of Favors: 150
Total Cost: $105
Cost per Favor: $0.70

“We had boxes of our favorite candies. I put some after-dinner mints (Mr. BF’s favorite) in cellophane bags and Hershey Kisses (My favorite) in a favor box that I purchased at Michael’s from the Brides magazine collection. The teal ribbon and cellophane bags were purchased separately at Hobby Lobby. Cellophane bags prevented the mint from seeping into the chocolate..I’ve had these mints made chocolate taste minty when unwrapped, so I wanted to avoid that. Edible favors, as always, are a hit and we brought one for each guest. I only brought 7 home with us. ”

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Mrs. Pomegranate’s Favors

Favor: CD
# of Favors: 150
Total Cost: $443.28
Cost per Favor: $2.96

Cost Breakdown:

• $123.28 Bulk CD Burning
• $224.00 Jewelboxing Kit for 150
• $50.00 Ink for my printer
• $21 IKEA CD Boxes
• $25 A-Z CD Dividers

“They doubled as our seating cards so I was able to combine two budgets into one. They ended up costing us much less than the favor budget alone ($3 each).“

I let my bridesmaids do their own flowers so they could have some fun, too! I decided to do my own flowers, and my florist friend Michael helped me with this, as well. He ended up helping me a lot more than I expected. I only did my bouquet and left the rest to him (the pro!). I just showed him my vision and he helped me bring it to life. I had another florist do my taller centerpieces since I didn’t want to bother Michael too much, but they didn’t turn out very well – oops! Luckily Michael was there to help me fix those pieces and they turned out great. He totally saved my day!

I would recommend that brides check out real flowers and see what you like and don’t like. You can have your bouquet as special as you can afford and do less with other flowers to keep your budget down. Centerpieces can be fancy but you don’t have to make them all uniform. By using fewer flowers you can save some money. I decided to use only three flowers to submerge inside tall vases and they turned out beautifully. Hire a florist you can trust, and take their suggestions. They’ve done it for many years and will be able to help you make your vision come true.

I looked into fake flowers too, to see if it was a better option. I would suggest getting real flowers. Fake flowers cost quite a bit too, if you want nice ones, so it didn’t make sense for me not to use real flowers. If you have a small budget for flowers, just get your bouquet and small bouquets for the girls and boutonnieres only. You can skip the centerpieces and just use a nice vase with a single flower to keep your costs down. By having nice vases, you don’t need to dress your tables up very much… just put single flowers in the vases. Of course, you can replace flowers with candles, as well.

I had so many other details that could take a whole book to cover but I won’t bore you with that. I’ll just shower you with pictures, instead.

The hearts made out of ribbons were a great childhood memory for me. My sister taught me how to make them when I was young, and that’s the only origami thing I could do nicely. I used them in our wedding as a thank you to my sister, who influenced me in so many artistic ways.

My groom… uhmm… he’s very unique and nerdy. Of course, that’s one of the many things that I love about him. He loves Batman, so he decided to go with a Batman cake. Throughout the planning process, we couldn’t find any good inspiration, so I finally asked him what he wanted on the cake. He tried to do some sketches and I was a bit unsure of what he wanted, so I decided to jump on the computer to design one to see if he would like it. We finally narrowed down what he wanted: a mix of 1966 Adam West Batman, and the Michael Keaton Batman symbol. We then handed the sketch over to Delicious Cakes. We were very pleased and couldn’t have been happier with the way the cake turned out.

And of course, the Batman garter:

Cake wasn’t my thing, really. I didn’t think much of it, at first. My husband is a big fan of sweets, so he was more excited about the process. Make sure you take your groom to the cake tasting! I didn’t know what to do with my cake until I saw a wedding special on Food Network. They were showing Marina Sousa making a wedding cake. I loved the cake, and thought it fit our style perfectly! I decided to substitute some of the elements to fit my tastes a little better. Instead of using just pearls, I added some glass beads and made the cake topper out of real flowers.

When I looked into having our cake made, the sugar flowers were extremely expensive. I found one place that orders their flowers online, and of course that made our cake a bit cheaper. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the daisies I wanted, and I was worried about it a lot. I took a huge risk and decided to try my hand at making sugar flowers instead. They turned out pretty good and I handed them over to Delicious Cakes and they certainly made my vision come true.

This process was a lot of fun for us and I found out that I really like baking and cake decorating. Ironically, I’m a horrible cook, yet I made kick butt sugar flowers. I was happy to learn new things about myself. I was a lot more detail oriented than I thought, and a bit of a control freak. LOL. At one point I was thinking of making my own wedding cake, but I knew I wouldn’t have any time to do it. I learned to compromise and let the pro help me execute my vision. I really did like the feeling of “I can do anything if I want to” during this process. I did a lot of projects and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I also learned that I loved planning a wedding and would like to do any type of event planning. I had a hard time keeping all my ideas under control, and I think it would benefit me greatly one day if I have a chance to plan somebody else’s wedding!

Dad with Flat Stanley

My dad passed away in May of 2008. He suffered from a rare autoimmune disorder, known as Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, or PSC. (So rare, in fact, that when you Google “PSC,” it’s only the fifth thing that pops up.) The layman’s explanation for it is that it causes your liver to function improperly, over time destroying it, bit by bit. My dad was diagnosed with the disease back in 1993. He felt normal at that time. He began to get pretty sick around 1999 or 2000. In January 2002, he had a very successful liver transplant. He bounced back to his old self, even going back to work again for several years.

My dad and me at my college graduation, with MOH D, the Dude, and my mom

In the Spring of 2007 (my first year of law school), he came down with a rare fungal infection in his sinus cavity. The doctors weren’t sure what it was at first, but soon we knew it was serious. He spent several days in the ICU at Baylor Medical Center, in and out of consciousness. We weren’t sure if he was going to make it. I drove back and forth frantically between Dallas and Austin, making sure to complete all of my first-year final exams. After all, everyone kept telling me my dad would’ve wanted me to finish the semester. When I left the hospital to take my last exam, I wrote my dad a letter in case he got better and was able to communicate again, letting him know how much I wanted to be there with him. Part of me believed I would never see him alive again.

My dad with me and my two brothers, Halloween 1990

After taking my last final, I headed back to Dallas. My dad was doing better, and they moved him to a private room and out of ICU. He had permanently lost some motor function in one side of his face, and he’d gone through multiple oral surgeries to remove the fungus–they took out half of his top teeth and cut a hole in the roof of his mouth. But he was 100% back mentally, and he was determined to fight as strong as ever.

Dad with teeny baby me

During the fungus scare, the doctors backed way off on my dad’s anti-rejection medication that he took daily to keep his body from rejecting his liver. After the scare was over, although he seemed like his regular, healthy self again, his liver numbers never fully went back to normal. He was back in the hospital by Thanksgiving of 2007, with his body showing signs of rejection. After this point, he continued to live life as fully as possible, taking trips with my mom and seeming like the same old Dad I had always known and loved. My mom took care of him every step of the way. He fought the disease with all his might, but she’s the one who enabled him to do that.

The whole fam at my youngest brother’s high school graduation, May 2007

By the end of the Spring semester in 2008, his health was declining rapidly again. My mom called me and my brothers to come home to be with him in his last days. He passed away on May 24, 2008, holding each of my brothers by the hand.

I felt cheated at first that I didn’t get to spend more time with him. I still miss him every day, but I know how lucky I am to have had such an amazing father. I know he will be with me on my wedding day, even though he can’t physically walk me down the aisle.

Whenever I think of my dad, I think of sitting on a chair at my parents’ house reading a book and hearing him strumming “Here Comes the Sun” on his guitar, singing along softly. That’s why I got this tattoo, dedicated to his memory. Now I will always carry a little piece of him with me, wherever I go. It also reminds me that no matter how sad his death is, the memories my family and I have of him will always make us smile.

It means “Here Comes the Sun” (roughly) in Irish Gaelic

My dad is the reason that I believe in myself. He always believed in me. He always treated me like a person, like an adult, even before I had fully earned that honor. I mean for this post to serve as a dedication to his life, as well as an acknowledgment that this wedding I’m getting ready to have, while incredibly exciting, is not the only thing that matters. I would give everything up–the flowers, the dress, the fancy cocktails, the ruffly shoes–to have my dad here once again.

While I don’t want to downplay the importance of the various talks — on subjects ranging from money to sexuality to religion — married couples shared with us that weekend, I will admit that, for us, one of the most valuable exercises was the icebreaker that kicked off the weekend.

Each person was asked to select his/her future spouse’s most endearing quality. What is that one attribute of your husband- or wife-to-be that, at this exact moment, sums up what you love about him or her? We were informed that this characteristic can and will change frequently — at any given time, there are a number of aspects jockeying for the top spot — and encouraged to continue engaging in this activity after the weekend concluded.

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We went around the room; first came the introduction (”This is my fiancee, NAME.”) and then that person’s most endearing quality. Soon, it was Mr. Bruschetta’s turn. He started to speak, and I could feel my cheeks turning red.

Mr. Bruschetta shared how he loves when I find something — often a really small detail or passing comment — so funny that I can’t stop laughing at it. Inevitably, he said, my delight will become contagious, and he’ll soon find humor in whatever amused me initially.

At first, I was pretty embarrassed by his explanation, worrying about how it made me sound. But then I realized that he had selected something that’s genuinely me, and captured a piece of a happy, carefree Miss Bruschetta. While others in the room looked at and spoke about the much bigger picture — how loving, supportive and faithful their future spouse is, for example — my mister chose instead to focus on such a small facet of my personality, showing he not only recognizes when this type of situation arises, but enjoys it himself.

Since that weekend, I’ve had a list running through my mind of Mr. Bruschetta’s most endearing qualities. Taking a cue from his detail-oriented observation, I focus on little things that might otherwise go unnoticed. Do I feel silly for admitting I keep this “other” list going? Yeah, a little. But doing so helps remain me calm, and reminds me that I could stop all the planning right now, and as long as Mr. Bruschetta is waiting at the end of the aisle with an “I do” on his lips, that’s all that matters.

Your turn, hive. At this precise moment, what is your fiance’s most endearing quality?

One of my bridesmaids is backing out.

To say the least, this breaks my heart. But I had a feeling it was coming. To make a very long and complicated story short, we have just grown apart. Very, very far apart. We were roommates in college and shortly after Mr. Cloud asked me to marry him, I asked her to be my maid of honor. Not long after that, things started to change. She got “busy”, and I started planning and expecting too much. We had a conversation and decided it would be better for her to be a bridesmaid, so she could still be involved, just with less on her shoulders. This should have been a warning sign. It has now come to light that she not only is tired of hearing about my planning progress, but she no longer wants to be involved. Period. Despite my bitterness about the situation, it was still hard to hear that, and I still cried.

I am trying to focus on the fact that I still have wonderful ladies who love me, and other people who want to be involved and are interested about what is going on. But it still causes me to second guess every time I open my mouth about any of these details. I find myself wondering who else might be getting upset or sick of it all. Mr. C says I can’t dwell though, and he’s right. I want people standing up with me who are there for ME, and love Mr. C and me, and want to celebrate with us. Not ones who think of us and our day as an annoyance.

So, I’m focusing on other things. I’m going to finish that pomander, and those posts, and be excited for our tasting with the reception site and my first shower!! I refuse to allow one person to put a damper on such an important and special event. REFUSE.

Instead, I will leave you with a pretty picture of our gorgeous reception venue, The Jefferson Hotel! I will be sharing all of its beautiful details soon because I am still swooning every time I see it!

Did your engagement result in a damaged relationship? What happened, and were you able to get through it?

While browsing around Williams Sonoma this past weekend, I happened upon our first signature drink…. the Cranberry Daiquiri. The description reads “the classic daiquiri gets a citrus twist in the cranberry-orange pairing”… um, what? the cranberry/orange combo is my faaaavorite. Since we hadn’t really thought about what we wanted to serve, and this sounded delicious, we quickly scooped up 15 bottles. My MOH (being the awesome gal she is) was fully prepared to carry these bottles throughout the rest of the mall - how’s that for dedication?

(Don’t worry, I asked to pick them up out back ;), they were super heavy!) So now, we have one drink checked off our list - I’m working on the second one—I’m thinking something lemon-y and blueberry-y.

I also need to come up with some way to serve them. The really large (3 gallon) infusion jars with spigots are more $$ than we would like to spend (i.e. I don’t really need two $120 jars sitting in the basement after the wedding).

So hive, I turn to you for your help. Are you having signature drinks? If so, how are you serving them?

Our wedding was spectacular! It was a huge blur, the whole weekend. But everything went perfectly smoothly and I couldn’t have asked for a better day. The Mr. and I were perfectly calm, cool, and collected. Well, after 3PM on Friday anyway, but we’ll get to that later.

We’ve only seen one photo from our photographer, but it is awesome!

I mean, is that really us? I can definitely see this one over the mantel (or something like that, since we have no mantel)!

By the way, she told Mr. CC when she was leaving that she had over 20 gigs of pictures from our day!!

I’m so glad to be back!!

Source

I know what you are thinking, and there is not a baby duckling on its way. However, that was the topic of the week at our couples counseling.

It was an interesting conversation to have, and while we’ve talked about it before, it was a good time to really look at a variety of issues. I thought I’d share some of the conversations that we had.

We started right at the actual birth and labor aspect. Now, because of my psychology degree and lifespan developmental/women’s issues classes, I have seen several videos of births. And honestly, it scares me a little bit each time.

I always thought that I would be one to ask for some medication to manage the pain. Our therapist asked if I had ever considered hypnotherapy during labor, because it takes away the pain. I had never heard of it, but after her explanation I would definitely consider it as an option. Has anyone ever tried hypnotherapy?

When do we want kids? Mr. Ducky and I have always said that we want to wait at least 3 years or so before starting to have kids. We are both young and really want to invest in our relationship and build a strong foundation as a married couple before introducing kids into the picture. Another huge factor is financial readiness. Could an accident happen and could we end up with a baby sooner, rather than later? Yes, but we are hoping this will not be the case. We both agree that we would like 2 kids.

I’d like to be home with the baby at first, but I don’t see myself becoming a full-time stay at home mom. As a therapist I am able to set my own hours and days that I work. I hope to arrange my hours so that I am working when our kids are in school and be able to pick them up and be home with them in the afternoon. Before they are in school, I would maybe want to work a few days a week and arrange child care accordingly depending on where we are at that point. Mr. Ducky is very supportive of these ideas. He knows that I love what I do and how much I have invested in my education. He wants me to be able to continue my work and be a mom.

How do we want to raise our children? Mr. Ducky and I had similar upbringings in terms of values and discipline. Our families were a good balance of strong boundaries and lots of support. We want to raise our kids in that same environment. We want to take our kids to church with us and teach them about our faith. There will be discipline, but also conversations of understanding and acceptance.

It’s really important to me that even after we get married, we continue to “date” and pursue one another. Our relationship will always be a priority and we will continue to be husband and wife as well as being parents. I think it is easy to lose those roles when the focus becomes the children. Mr. Ducky and I want to be accountable to each other that we continue to take time for ourselves and invest in our relationship even when children come into the picture. This means that we have to start the habit of date nights, etc., now.

While I don’t think either of us are ready for kids yet, it was exciting to think about the future. It also gave us a chance to reflect on the appreciation we have for our families. We are both lucky to have amazing parents that invested in us and gave us so many opportunities.

Alright, hive, now it is your turn for some questions:

• How many kids do you plan on having?
• When do you want to have kids?
• If you already have kids, what effects will marriage have on them?
• Do you or your partner plan on being at home for any period of time after they are born? Will someone be a stay at home mom or dad?
• How do you plan on disciplining your children?
• Have you and your partner talked much about children in the future?
• Do you share the same view on most things related to children?

What topics have you covered in your couples counseling or premarital classes?

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A while back, I posted about our BBQ menu. At the time, Mr. CB and I thought it would be fun to have margaritas as our signature cocktail. We live in New Mexico and in New Mexico you drink margaritas. We wanted to bring a little bit of that up to Colorado with us. The bad news is that our margaritas would cost $7 per drink. Maybe that’s not a lot to a lot of people. It’s not for us when we’re going out to dinner. But when you serve 100 people a margarita each, you end up with $700 in tequila, sour mix, and, well, ice. Say quite a few people want two or more margaritas. We could end up with a bar tab (just for hard liquor) as large as $1500 or more. We just can’t justify spending that amount on one type of drink. No budgeting article or website tells you to expect to spend 15% of your wedding budget on your signature cocktail.

That doesn’t mean that you lil’ buzzing bees can’t make this one at home and celebrate the holiday weekend. Reader eastwestbride asked me to share my recipe with you. It’s not exactly my recipe but it’s a friend’s and he was willing to share it with you guys, so here goes:

• 2 ounces premium 100% pure Agave tequila

Use silver for a clean and crisp flavor or reposado for more flavor.

Our choices of tequila: Partida for premium, Corralejo for mid-range and Cazadores if you’re going for economical and good

• 1 ounce Cointreau, which is orange liqueur
• 1 ounce fresh squeezed organic lemon juice (instead of sour mix)
• 1 ounce fresh squeezed organic lime juice
• 1 ounce pure raw agave nectar (You can find this at Whole Foods. It’s the most important ingredient because it brings out the flavor of the tequila and sweetens it all.)
• Sea salt
• 1 lime

1. Add all ingredients into a Boston shaker.
2. Add ice and shake.
3. Pour into a large rocks glass.
4. Garnish with sea salt on the rim or lime wedge.
5. Always provide a stirring straw or two.

He made this drink for me and it’s delicious. Not only was he a bartender, he and his girlfriend worked for a tequila company for years. (Note: none of the tequilas mentioned above were theirs.)

Did you have to give up something fun because of money? What was it, and how did you cope? (I’m going to go drink my worries away! Bottoms up!)

From A to Z, this month’s flowers are anything but typical. In the third installment of flowers of the month, I can’t wait to unveil some of July’s wonderful blooms.

As always, some of the flowers bloom longer than others because of weather issues. These are just a few of the many flowers that you will see during July and possibly beyond. Here are just a few that might interest you:

I’d prefer to have everything on our wedding day go in perfect order and on time - I mean, who wouldn’t? But beyond that, even though I’ve been trying to pay close attention to the happenings at all of the wedding receptions I have been to over the past 15 months (since getting engaged), I’m still worried that I’m planning things out in the wrong order. What if the toasts come at the wrong time? Will there still be enough people there when we do the garter and bouquet toss?

On top of my timeline worries, I have my photographer to think about. We’ve only booked her for 7 hours, but we’re hoping to tack an extra hour onto that, giving us 8.

Within that 8 hours with her, we want to start with getting ready shots of me as I get my hair/makeup done and get dressed, and then have her shoot through the main events at the reception. I didn’t think this would pan out quite as I wanted, but after playing around with things I think it may just work.

1:30 - Main photographer arrives at hotel, 2nd photographer arrives at church

2:00 - Hair/makeup is completed

2:30 -Bridal party heads to church

3:00 - 4:00 - Ceremony (probably will run less than an hour)

4:00 - 6:00 - Bridal party photos

6:00 - 7:00 - Cocktail hour

7:00 - Guests ushered into the ballroom

7:10 - Bridal party entrance

7:20 - Mr. & Mrs. Stiletto’s first dance

7:25 - Cake cutting/dinner served

8:15 - Toasts

8:30 - Dinner cleared/cake served

8:40 - Father/daughter dance

9:15 - Bouquet & garter toss

9:30 - Photographers leave

10:00 - Dancing!

11:30 - Last call

So… if you’re still with me - did I leave anything out? Anything grossly out of order? Any suggestions, or words of wisdom from those who have gone before me?!

Loved my J.Crew seersucker dress. We added little loops to each side at the seam & I used a bright pink grosgrain ribbon as a belt for a little POP of color!

While we waited for everyone to get to the wedding lawn, we all just meandered around together, took pictures, and had Red Stripe.

Then it was time to line up. Places, everyone!

As Mama, Petey Quiche, and I made our way down the aisle, I was surprisingly not emotional, & I am a very emotional person. I thought for sure that the waterworks would start—oh well. Oh, I applied a generic cross-hatch Photoshop filter to these pictures because they were blurry and looked bad (note, NOT from Ashley!) - but they are the only ones I have!

How artistic (haha)!

Annnnnnd… the rehearsal was over! Time for family pictures! I emailed Ashley in advance of the wedding because I wanted to make sure we got a few family pictures before the craziness of the weekend set in. A classic Quiche family picture is one where everyone is walking away from the camera, so we had to get one of those as well.

Up next - steel drums, a Jamaican BBQ, a bonfire & more!

The first 2 and last 2 pictures are by Ashley Colhouer. All others by any one of our guests (or us!)

Previously in the Quiche recaps:
Ya Mon! Back to Reality
Ya Mon! “Goin’ to Jamaica & We’re, Gonna Get Maaa-arried”!
Ya Mon! Who Zip Lines Before Their Wedding?
Ya Mon! Reggae Sailing

Our side yard/backyard

We decided, after a brief hesitation, to hold it at our house.

The Dude and I bought a house back in October, and it’s got a huge, shady yard perfect for a casual, outdoor buffet-style dinner on a long summer evening. I wasn’t sold on the idea of using our house at first because I felt like it would add another layer of stress to the days leading up to the wedding. I’d have to clean up before and after, and inevitably I’d end up freaking out over stupid details. Or so I thought. I have convinced myself, however, that having it at our home will be more special (and more cost efficient) than having it in a restaurant. Now I’m getting excited about throwing a backyard shindig!

Source

We’re gonna serve BBQ from The Salt Lick and classic bottled Texas brews, like Shiner Bock and Lonestar. Maybe throw in some Mexican Cokes, too, ala Miss Cherry Pie. I’ll probably get someone to cook some veggie burgers on our grill to have as a more healthful option. I’d like to keep the whole affair as eco-friendly as possible, so I plan on not using disposable plates or silverware. This might mean borrowing dishes and forks from friends or possibly even hitting up the local Goodwill. Either way, the mismatched look will rule the day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Excuse the poor picture quality, but look at the pretty lights!

The Dude has been wanting to buy a picnic table for our yard, so that’s priority numero uno on our list. Additionally, we’ll need to borrow or rent a couple tables and some plastic lawn chairs. The funkier the better, as long as they’re clean! The only “decorating” we’ll do is stringing up some white Christmas lights in the trees, for ambiance. The Dude’s been wanting to do this as well, so we’ll probably just leave ’em up after the rehearsal dinner. We’ll be going for a vibe similar to the picture above.

So that’s pretty much it: picnic tables, twinkly lights, BBQ, and beer. What do you think? Should I come up with something more theme-y or just stick to the chilled out, no stress vibe?

Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee classifieds and you might see it featured on the blog!

Other great items for sale:

Apple Green Raw Silk Dupioni Wrap by Bonzie - Make Offer

David’s Bridal White Wedding Dress with Red Trim size 18 - $350

Pronovias Oleaje Wedding Dress size 10-12- $900

3 Martha Stewart Wedding Cake Toppers - $12 each

Last Saturday, Mr. G and I got married! It was a surreal day filled with love, laughter, and pure joy. Every detail of the wedding came together wonderfully. I was floating on a cloud the whole day. Everything was so beautiful!

I hope to start recaps soon. And, in the meantime, I will be pumping out a few posts I didn’t have a chance to write in the weeks before the wedding. The above picture was taken by one of our friends at the start of the reception after we were announced as Mr. and Mrs. Glitter. Yippeeee!!

xo,

Mrs. Glitter

What better way to kill the nerves then by wearing a fabulous outfit!? So, a few weekends ago when my mom was in town for a whirlwind wedding weekend, we set out to find a few great selections.

For the first shower being thrown Mama Cloud’s best friend here in Virginia near where I grew up, Anthropologie came through with a perfect choice!

[Source]

I am in L-O-V-E with this dress! First of all, the colors of the shower will be black and white with splashes of pink, so I definitely won’t clash with the decorations, and it is SO comfortable. It doesn’t look like it in the picture, but it is actually a jersey material, so it’s forgiving and casual without being too sloppy or too dressy for an afternoon shower.

Next up, a shower thrown by Mama C herself in Boston where she now lives. She’s throwing a little luncheon/shower for family and friends in that area with a pink and green theme (my favorite colors, as well as the colors of my current kitchen).

[Source]

I found this at a Ralph Lauren Outlet Store. Ralph Lauren, how I love thee… and it was marked down from $159.00 to a mere $49.99! SCORE! Sorry for the small picture; it is no longer available for sale and my dress is out being pressed. Mine is also a gorgeous green color, not black.

Last but not least, the coveted J.Crew Pique V-neck Ruffle Dress in navy. I will be rockin’ this bad boy at a shower thrown by my FMIL in upstate New York, Mr. Cloud’s hometown.

[Source]

This has been all over the blog world since it came out, as well as being sold out in my size for quite a while. Well, I had a preferred customer 25% off card (not that my J.Crew card sees a lot of action or anything) so how could I say no? So I waltzed in to my local store and ordered from the red phone (hello, free shipping!! Yeah, I’m cheap). It was said to be back ordered until the end of July, but it arrived today and fits like a dream!

Since I am on such a tight budget these days, spending this kind of money might seem silly, but I like to think I can get some repeat wears out of them. Both the J.Crew and Anthro dresses will pack very nicely so they will be going on the honeymoon, and the RL dress is so cute I just need a friend with a summer wedding and I’ll be set!

What are you wearing to your shower(s)? Is anyone else as nervous as I am to open presents!?!

Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.

If one year ago, you had told Mr. Mary Jane and I that we’d be homeowners today, we’d have laughed in your face. Us? Homeowners? We make a decent-enough living, but we’re not that great with saving money. And we’ve historically been pretty comfortable with paying a rent and letting someone else deal with maintenance and repair concerns. Yet here we are, a little over 2 months from our wedding date, fixing faucets and seeding grass for our 80-year-old home.

What changed? Our priorities, I guess, as well as our comfort zone with renting. We like the idea of building equity, and we also really really wanted to stop sharing walls. It didn’t matter how nice an apartment complex we moved to: we consistently had loud neighbors whose domestic disputes and blatant disregard for their building-mates disrupted our generally quiet lifestyle.

What began with a dream of owning our own “four walls” turned in to a plan. We had to openly and honestly discuss our spending habits and our salaries, as well as how much of a sacrifice we were willing to make in order to save for the house we wanted. We also had to look at our bills and become comfortable with how much we could comfortably pay monthly for a mortgage. If we were to choose a larger or new house, we’d be giving up a lot of comforts we were accustomed to being able to afford. Whereas if we bought a smaller house or fixer-upper, we might be missing out on some of the perks we were expecting in a home.

Mr. MJ and I both have expensive tastes, so it’s hard to reign each other in sometimes. But keeping our future financial stability in mind (and where we’d like to be in terms of monthly bills) helped us stay on track. The house we bought is in the “middle ground”. Our house is a decent size and is in a quiet neighborhood. It’s missing some of the things we’d hoped for (like a deep-soaker tub and walk-in closets), but it’s got the main things we both had on our must-have list: air conditioning, a decent kitchen and a two-car garage. It’s also got some cool extras we never thought about (laundry chute, anyone?!). It needs a little work, but nothing that’s going to break our bank (maybe our backs, but not our banks!).

This is the living room. We need a rug. And a coffee table. But, all in due time.

Here’s the dining room. Mr. MJ’s parents kindly gave us the dining room table, which was being used in their basement as a work-table. The chairs are folding chairs. Someday we’ll have a “real” dining room set, but that stuff is expensive!

I painted this bathroom. It used to be dark, dark red.

Here are the two upstairs bedrooms. There is a bathroom up here, too. The bedrooms are sparse with furniture (the yellow one really has nothing in it aside from the garage-sale sofa, the thrift-store chair, and the gifted end-table). We painted the dark orange bedroom. It was previously navy blue with a tan stripe.

And here is the finished part of the basement, where we watch movies. The furniture down there is all from thrift stores and cost under $150, total.

Not shown is the unfinished part of the basement, which contains the World’s Oldest Still-Working Dryer. It squeaks like crazy but it was free (with mortgage ;)).

We’ve had a lot of fun getting settled in it, and we spend nearly every weekend working on the yard and visiting home improvement stores like Lowe’s for odds and ends. We’ve also tried to cut costs by either going without some items we want (like rugs), or purchasing/accepting used items until we can afford to buy stuff that’s more our style. (Notice that a great deal of our furniture is thrifted or handed down?)

What kind of home do you and your mister have (or plan to have in the future)? Have you had to make sacrifices or compromises to reach your goals together?

After hopping from one blog to the next, I came across Reese Dixon’s tutorial on DIY organza flowers. Perfecto! This floral embellishment was just what I was looking for to ‘pretty-up’ the gifts. I took a stab at it yesterday, and this project is a cinch!

All you need is:

• organza fabric (petals)
• beads (stamen)
• candle (wilt the petals)
• needle and thread

1. Cut 4 or 5 square pieces of organza fabric
2. Cut out petal-shaped patterns. I layered the fabric and cut the pattern once. This made the petal shapes inconsistent, but sloppiness really does work in your favor!
3. Hold the petal inches above the candle flame to wilt the petal.
4. Do this for each petal.
5. Layer your petals to create the flower. Set aside the bottom layer. Sew from the bottom of the flower, so the thread with your knot is on the bottom. Add the layer you set aside, and continue sewing. This hides the knot.
6. You’ll finish it off where you started, so the knot is hidden above the bottom-most layer.

And the finished product… TA-DA!

Floral embellishments are my new best friend. I’m thinking of other ways to use these things for our reception decor… perhaps escort cards or favors? How are you using floral embellishments for your wedding?

Mrs.K

~~~

Start your own Weddingbee Bio and you could be featured on the blog!

Let me start by saying that our welcome BBQ did NOT go as smoothly as planned. First off, the weather in Hawaii, while we were there, was extremely windy and more rainy than usual (even considering that Hawaii is usually quite rainy in the winter). We had our BBQ held at Bellows, which is an Air Force owned beach. I thought I had done my part and did all the legal paperwork to host our event there. I had to collect all of our guest’s driver’s license numbers and their vehicle information and fax it to Bellow’s security forces 48 hours before the event. The day of the event, my family and I got to Bellows and checked in. It was soooo incredibly windy that we were afraid everything was going to blow off the tables, and it definitely was too cold and windy to take a dip in the ocean. As the guests started to arrive, my dad and I started to get hounded by phone calls. The guard at the gate wouldn’t let our guests on the post. We had about 11 people that were stuck… off base. When I checked in for our pavilion by the beach, they forgot to inform me that I also had to check in with security forces to confirm the guest list I faxed them 2 days prior. Luckilly, one of the guests waiting outside the base was in the Army and he ended up signing everyone in as his guests. So 30 minutes later, everyone was on the post and started to enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately I was enjoying the day more than documenting it, so I don’t have many photos of the BBQ. Here are the few photos we do have:

Mr. Sushi adores the kiddies:

We got the buckets for $1 from Michaels and put cookies, stickers, coloring books and crayons inside for the kiddies. The kids put the buckets to good use!

See how windy it was? There was no beach swimming on this day.

I didn’t even take photos of the welcome boxes I made for everyone. But luckily, one of our guests did:

(rocks were placed in each welcome box so they wouldn’t fly away at the BBQ)

There was some variation to each box, but some of things we provided were:

• Cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Company
• Map of Oahu
• Crossword Puzzle
• Beach Ball
• Water Gun
• Playing Cards
• Postcards
• Stickers
• Hershey Kisses (to rep’ Hershey, PA)
• “Survival Kit” (included Spongebob and Hello Kitty band aids and Tylenol)
• Photo sharing Card/Instructions
• Welcome letter with wedding day timeline (vector images from www.istockphoto.com)

While I didn’t have “official” bridesmaids, I did have my two oldest and bestest friends in tow. So, to show my appreciation for them over the years, I made them their own little gift bags. My main gift to them was a Blurb book I made to showcase our friendships over the past 16 years. It took months to put together. Without them knowing exactly what I was doing, I asked them to send me photos of us and letters we wrote to each other over the years. Here’s how it turned out:

Amariah Rauscher from ollie ollie drew me this great illustration, which I used for the cover of the book.

On the first pages I introduced us. “These are a few of my favorite things… when I was 13.” In our middle school days, we passed around a lot of slam books, so I used the information from them to add to this page. I scanned in our signatures from old letters and added an old yearbook photo from our tween/early teen years.

There were lots of photos from our early teen years…

and I went through TONS of old letters, picked out the best ones, and added them, too.

I also made sure to add our most current accomplishments and milestones.

I ended the book with a poem of friendship and a photo of us when we were 18.

So while our BBQ wasn’t the fun in the sun I was hoping for, I did get to thank all of our guests for joining us in Hawaii with lil’ gifts.

If you’re considering a trip to Turks and Caicos, check out Fodor’s helpful tips here! To enter this contest, just leave a comment below! This contest ends tonight at midnight PST.

~~~

Miss Beagle’s DOC

DOC: Pam Donaldson w/ Celebrations Event Planning, Austin TX
Price: $795 for Day of Coordination (includes Rehearsal Dinner the night before); 2008 pricing

Prior To Wedding:

• Helped in establishing day-of timeline
• Helped with purchasing linen rentals
• Has been main point of contact between reception venue and myself
• Sends monthly reminder emails of what still needs to be done
• Provided vendor recommendations

Week Before Wedding:

• Contacts all vendors
• Coordinates rehearsal dinner
• Collects all reception venue decor for set-up

Day of Wedding

• Acts as contact person for all vendors
• Sets-up/takes-down decor (centerpieces, guest book table, gift table, favors, name cards) at reception
• Provides direction and coordination for ceremony and reception events
• Ensures all decor, gifts, food/cake go to designated persons for take home
• Returns linen rentals (this is our only rental)

“I hired Pam in November of 2008. Originally, our venue did not have an on-site coordinator, so I decided to hire a DOC primarily because we needed help with set-up and clean-up. Pam has been a dream to work with thus far and I only expect great things from her on our wedding day! She’s done so much more than I ever expected I would need and has always been my go-to person for wedding related questions.”

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Mrs. Gummi Bear’s DOC

DOC: Grace Lee
Price: $4825

“She isn’t a coordinator; she uses magic and makes miracles happen. She worked with us from day one, is the sweetest nicest and funniest person, and really cared about us. It was very personal and she met with us often because I’m crazy and I wanted things that were not possible. She arranged for us to get everything we wanted and even more. Seriously, I cannot tell you everything she did for us, but if you ever meet me I will give you a long list as to why I think everyone should hire Grace Lee.

While Mr. GB and I were super hands on, picked everything ourselves and did a lot of DIY and all the design and planning stuff ourselves, all the coordination, timing, vendor arrangements were handled by Grace. Anything that was conflicting, vendors who were not happy with other vendors, trying to persuade someone to let us have our way… she did it all, and yes, we got our way and did not have to give up anything we wanted in the end. Apparently lots of things happened on our wedding day (like a server from our caterer backed into the building and dented the wall) and I didn’t know about it until the next day. She made sure that I didn’t have to worry about anything other than getting married and being happy.”
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Mrs. Cherry Pie’s DOC

Vendor: Katalin Green Design
Cost: $4450 (2007 pricing)
Incidental expenses (travel time, mileage, lodging, extra hours, assistants, etc): $2600

Included:
Prior to Wedding

• Unlimited phone consultation & meetings
• Up to 4 8-hour days with planner (some applied to travel time in my case)
• 8 hours day of event
• Help with timeline development
• Event design collaboration
Walk through of ceremony and reception sites
• Suggesting and securing vendors
• Vendor meetings (with bride and independently)
• Negotiating vendor contracts and pricing
Itinerary development & distribution for vendors

Day Before Wedding

Walk through of ceremony and reception sites
• Overseeing rental delivery and beginning setup
Rehearsal coordination and instruction
Collection and distribution of essential items for wedding day
• Final day-of timeline confirmation

Wedding Day

• Ceremony preparation
• Timeline direction
• Reception setup (comprehensive)
• Decoration setup
• Reception teardown and rental collection

“We worked with Katalin Green of Katalin Green Design between June 2007 and September of 2008. She helped with nearly every aspect of our wedding! I spent a lot of long hours on the phone with her going over details while she talked to vendors on our behalf. Because we planned our entire wedding remotely and didn’t have the option of a “package deal” such as you might get from a resort, we had to have someone on hand to help establish our needs and find the right vendor to take care of them.

Katalin and her crew were also invaluable on our wedding day and the day before. They took care of receiving and setting up all of the rentals, coordinating our rehearsal, establishing a day-of-wedding timeline, setting up the rehearsal/cocktail/dancing area, placing decorations, and more.

Given the expense that I am still paying off, I have heavily weighed the pros and cons of a DOC/Planner in my head many times. Ultimately, however, I can’t know what it would have been like to try and pull off our wedding without Katalin… and I DO know that our wedding day was amazing, stress-free and went off without a hitch. I also think that if money were no object, I wouldn’t have had any doubts. So I’ve come to the conclusion that it was all worth it… regardless of my questions.”

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Mrs. Margarita’s DOC

DOC: Mary Sushinski, Occasions Bridal Consulting and Event Design
Price: $6300

Price included:

• Timeline Meeting (1 ½ Hours) TIMELINE & EVENTS SCHEDULE FOR WEDDING DAY
• Resource & Detail Meeting (3 Hours): direction / flow of the planning process.
• Design Meeting (2 Hours) References and guides to help you with floral design, linen selection, wedding elements
• FOLLOW UP DETAILS MEETING (1 ½ Hours)
• Location Walk Through With Couple (2 Hours) - ROOM LAYOUT FOR SET UP
• Final Details Meeting (1 Hour) REVIEW ALL PLANS / Phone Consult

Logistics Planning & Paperwork:

• Timeline
• Wedding Task list
• Vendor crew list
• Comprehensive Checklist
• Floral distribution List
• Setup Notes worksheet
• Location checklist
• Vendor resource list
• Beauty schedule
• Transportation schedule
• Bridal party contact list
• Wedding Calendar
• Marriage License Information
• Etiquette Advisement In Office Coordination:
• Constructing paperwork / forms relating to the wedding
• Correlate with vendors and client on timelines and logistics including power, load in, strike and so forth.
• Distribute detailed setup & strike instructions
• Vendor Recommendations
• Rental Coordination
• Determine rental needs and obtain quotes, coordinate rental order and verify setup/strike
• Final confirmations to vendors by e-mail & phone / Relay any final changes
• Orchestrate Ceremony/Reception Rehearsal (2hrs)
• Transferring (Check In) of wedding day items

Wedding Day Coordination:

• Wedding Day Director (15 hours) Ceremony Day
• 3 Assistants @ 10 hours each
• Wedding Day Intern for assistance if available
• Setup of Ceremony / Cocktail / Reception Elements
• Floral Distribution of Corsages / Boutonnieres
• Gather Family / Bridal Party for Photos
• Provide any necessary emergency items to Bridal Party Emergency Kit
• Distribute Final Vendor Payments / Gratuities
• Lineup of Bridal Party for Processional / Cue Musicians
• Verify Correct Seating Arrangements of tables, chairs and place settings.
• Greet guests and assist with seating direction
• Cue Vendors & Bridal Party for Reception Activities such as speeches, toasts, cake cutting and so on
• Collect Gifts and Wedding Accessories

“Mary is so sweet and warm and really just makes you feel comfortable and taken care of. She’ll push you to get key tasks accomplished but in a way that doesn’t make you even more stressed out.

She’s also incredible in high stress situations - which of course goes with the job. For example, we were allowed to bring our own alcohol to the wedding site. My brother went to Costco and filled a passenger van with booze the day before the wedding. Then he started to panic about getting it all there and being responsible for transporting it back. My brother decided to return it all and told me to not have any hard alcohol and serve just wine. I started freaking out. In a panic, I called Mary who found me a drink vendor in under 30 minutes for an incredible price!

I don’t think the wedding would have even happened if it weren’t for Mary. She pulled the day off with two ceremonies, a zillion things missing and a bunch of brown people screaming at her. Her day of coordination was incredible and I honestly wasn’t worried about a single thing when I was in her hands.”

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Miss Stiletto’s DOC

DOC: Marilyn of Honey Bee Weddings - Chicago, IL
Price: $750 for Day of Coordination (including the rehearsal the night before)

Breakdown of services:

Prior to Wedding

• Help with timeline development
• Itineraries for bridal party
• Itinerary development & distribution for vendors

Week of the Wedding

• Final meeting with key vendors
• Walk through of ceremony and reception sites
• Final vendor confirmations
• Vendor contact for the weekend of wedding
• Rehearsal coordination and instruction
• Collection and distribution of essential items for wedding day

Wedding Day

• Set up wedding favors
• Set up of paper items (programs, place cards, menus, etc)
• Wedding day direction
• Ceremony preparation
• Wedding reception set up
• Wedding gift delivery
• Reception tear down

“We went back and forth on whether or not we needed a day of coordinator, but are so happy with our choice and look forward to working with Marilyn! We want to ensure our friends and family members can relax and enjoy the day, not worrying about logistics, vendors or set up. Marilyn with be with us from start to finish on our wedding day and we know she will do a stellar job.”

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Mrs. Bee’s DOC

DOC: In Any Event, Leslie Price & Eyal Tessler
Price: $1500 (early 2005 pricing… has gone way up since)

Although I hired them for day of coordination, they went far above and beyond just day of. They:

• referred me to paebaek place (traditional Korean ceremony) who did such a great job - most people told me it was their favorite part of the wedding!
• took me to the garment district and help me choose linens. We got a fantastic price on them too!
• went with me to our florist to see our sample centerpieces.
• referred the band we booked.
• referred a judge which we booked.
• came to my apartment the night before the wedding to pick up programs, favors, menus, etc. anything that needed to be set up.
• did everything for day-of-coordinated the schedule, rehearsal…

“I think I hired my wedding planners - Leslie and Eyal from In Any Event - about a month or two before the wedding. We had an off season wedding so we were very lucky to get both the principal partners present on the day of - usually it’s one principal and an assistant.

They took care of the little things that we weren’t prepared for - they brought a steamer for the bridesmaids dresses (a lifesaver); when my cake had hideous orange piping (instead of red), they covered it with a white ribbon they brought; when my parents got stuck in the elevator at the end of the night, they waited with us until the firemen got them out… They probably did even more but I’m not remembering!

But most of all, they were there any time I had a question about anything from the day I booked them. They were the first to arrive at the venue on the wedding day and they were the last to leave. Because I had been working so closely with them from the beginning, I trusted them - I didn’t have to worry about anything day-of… I knew they would take care of it. That peace of mind was priceless.

Not only that, Eyal matched his tie to our color scheme. Now that’s service.

Unfortunately they no longer offer day of coordination, but at the time I paid $1500 for their services. Well worth every last penny.”

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Mrs. Eggplant’s DOC

DOC: Stacey Miller Designs
Price: $800 for two on-site coordinators

• Helped with timeline
• Contacted vendors and confirmed contracts month prior to event
• Coordinated rehearsal
• Stored our reception props/decor prior to wedding
• Point of contact person for all vendors
• Set-up/clean-up of all wedding elements
• Managed wedding timeline to ensure all things went as scheduled

“We hired our floral designer as our DOC! During our search for a DOC, vendors were charging at least $1500 for services. When Stacey offered to store and set up our wedding favors in at the reception, we asked her if she would do our day-of coordination for an additional fee. We saved some money because she was already our vendor and it was easy to work with Stacey because she already knew the details of our wedding from our floral consultations.

Stacy did an excellent job. She kept everything on schedule and not a single person approached me with questions the entire night. Stacey also managed to sew up a bridesmaid dress, find a lost camera, and coordinate seating for extra surprise guests without me even knowing a thing until the event had ended.”

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Mrs. Corn’s DOC

DOC: Colleen Kimmel at Classic Weddings
Price: $700 (in 2007) plus gratuity for continuous coverage from rehearsal dinner until everything was packed up after the reception ended; also included assistant.

Below is just a small list of the many things she did the day of the wedding:

• met all vendors at the fort and coordinated deliveries
• set up: rental company (tent, chairs, dance floor); caterer (linens, floor plan, table settings), florist, cake baker, ceremony musicians, sound man, band, photographer, Revolutionary War Reenactors, port-o-john deliverers.

“I recommend Colleen 100%, whole-heartedly!!

When I started looking for a Day-of coordinator, I found that many of the packages available are for a certain number of hours on your wedding day. I didn’t want to end up in a position where I was walking down the aisle and my DOC came up to me and and pointed out that her 4 hours was coming to an end, so I was very happy to find Colleen because we were able to work with a package that included her services from the Rehearsal Dinner through to the very last guest leaving the venue and her packing up all of the things that we would eventually need (centerpieces, extra favors, etc.).

My husband and I planned our entire wedding and contracted all of our vendors, so we did not need any planning services prior to the wedding. Because of my event planning background, I probably was in touch with Colleen much less than most of her clients. She actually called me a couple of times just to check in since she hadn’t heard from me in a while. Once the wedding got closer we were in touch much more often so that we could coordinate our final vendor meetings and have her there as well.

The list of services she provided on the day of our wedding and the Excel spreadsheet I gave her of all of the little details that I needed to be ‘just right’ are ridiculously numerous. Colleen did everything perfectly!! Exactly to what I had requested. The day was seamless and, more importantly, I was confident it was going to be seamless when I handed off my binder of information to her about a week prior to the wedding.

Considering how thorough and professional and fun Colleen was to work with I absolutely feel she and her services were well worth the cost; especially when you consider that she was available for the entire event, and not just a time limit. I hope this has helped. Again, I absolutely recommend Colleen.”

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Mrs. Hot Cocoa’s DOC

Wedding Planner: Angel Swanson, Events of Love and Splendor, Los Angeles
Price: $2600 (”Darling” package)

Included:

• Three (3) in-person meetings of two hours each. At least one of these meetings will include a site walk through to get a feel for your vision of the event. The remaining two meetings can be used for planning or visits to vendors.
• Unlimited contact via phone and email from the time of contract
• Production of a timeline for the event for vendors and bridal party
• Contact and coordination with all contracted vendors to ensure a flawless execution
• Organization and management of wedding ceremony rehearsal
• Set-up of all wedding elements not handled by a specific vendor (e.g. escort cards, favors, guestbook, table numbers, etc.)
• Production of a customized planning checklist to organize preparations before the big day
• Monthly e-mail “check-ins” with the client to ensure that all planning is coming up to speed
• Unlimited time on the day of the event, from set-up to tear down
• One assistant for guest counts up to 200. Add $200 for an additional assistant for guest counts of 200+

“Since I was planning our LA wedding from Boston, I knew I needed help. I found out about Angel from Mrs. Jasmine, arranged to meet with her when I was in LA, and developed a huge friend crush on her when I discovered that she a) used to work at Anthropologie (my mother ship), b) went into wedding planning after discovering that law school wasn’t her thing (my fantasy), and c) is not only crafty, creative, and organized, but squeezably nice to boot. She was worth more than her fees, as she gave us so much encouragement, inspiration, money saving ideas, vendor advice, and (wo)manpower.”

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Mrs. Tiramisu’s DOC

DOC: Karen Gazzara of Affordable Occasions, based in New Hampshire, travels all over New England
Price: (in 2007) $725 plus travel. This has gone up significantly since that time, which it should. We feel that we should have paid triple the price for the service we received.

“Working with Karen was truly one of the most enjoyable aspects of planning our wedding. We hired her as a “day-of” coordinator a year in advance, and communicated with her at least weekly, sometimes daily- and okay, and sometimes emails were shooting back and forth every few minutes for hours! What I was looking for in a coordinator was someone with experience who could help me make my vision come to life, and Karen did just that. She made it clear that she was available all hours of the day, also played the roles of counselor and cheerleader, and was a calming and reassuring presence in the stressful process of planning. I can’t believe the things that she had to deal with for us - a huge storm that destroyed our cocktail hour setup, a river in the tent during dinner, and a mostly powerless reception. She handled all of these issues, and more, with grace. I can say with certainty that we just could not have done it without her!”

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Miss Swan’s DOC

DOC: Christine Viola, Exquisite Affairs Productions
Price: $510

“She was running a promotion at the time I booked her, so I received a discount. Her prices for “day of” coordination range from $450- $750. She and other members of EAP also provide full wedding planning services.“

For my bridal earrings I chose the lovely gold and pink bow earrings for the amazingly low price of $13 plus $3.50 shipping and handling! (Can you tell I’m channeling my inner Billy Mays? Man, I’m gonna miss that guy.) Aren’t they beauts?

I could have easily picked any of the choices in my previous post because they are all so beautiful. But it was ultimately the price tag and Mr. Lab’s approval that did it for me. (I had him pick his favorite before telling him my fave—we both picked these!) I think they’ll also complement my dress and whatever pink shoes I end up with, perfectly. My bridal “look” is coming along quite nicely but is missing a little something. Perhaps a dainty bracelet to match the earrings?

Warning: Sensitive information coming up. So if you go by the WB moniker of Mr. Lab, stop scrolling now. I mean it!

Source

I love the romantic and vintage look of cameos. And this bracelet fits perfectly into the bridal color scheme! But oy! Again with the price! $278?!? No thank you. Back to combing the interwebs for an affordable cameo bracelet….

Wait, what’s that you got there eBay? Oh, a cameo bracelet just as charming for a fraction of the price? I see how you do!

Source

So for less than $25, I will have wrapped up my bridal jewelry for the big day. Yes, I am a full-fledged bargainista.

In honor of these great new finds (and my obvious new obsession with Picasa’s collage feature), I created a “bridal look book” inspiration board:

*TA-DA!*

This board features: My earrings and bracelet and the shoes I covet. My hair and makeup inspirations. My dream dress and a gorgeous fascinator. And an adorable clutch and lush bridal bouquet*.

And no, I haven’t forgotten my bridesmaids! For them I chose the pink topaz and Swarovski crystal earrings.

Source

Although these are $39 a pop, I couldn’t help but fall in love. They would match the bridesmaids’ dresses so perfectly! So I crossed my fingers and contacted the seller in hopes of finding a way to negotiate the price. After a few messages back and forth, she offered to replace the pink topaz with pink quartz and give me a 12% discount because of the larger order. That brings the total down to $22.88 for each pair. Still a bit more than I was looking to spend, but definitely doable for such gorgeous pieces that I will be gifting to my fabulous girls. I may even see if my MOH’s MIL (holy acronyms!) could replicate these for me since she’s somewhat of a jewelry extraordinaire. Anyhoo, the moral of my Etsy story: never hesitate to negotiate price with ANYthing on Etsy. I saved a ton on my save the dates by negotiating.

And so the bridesmaids aren’t left out of the inspiration board fun, I created this:

Their dresses will have a skirt closer to the chocolate color swatch shown. And I just decided today that I will be making their (fake) bouquets using dahlias, ranunculus, peonies, and possibly hydrangeas, all in a monochromatic pink tone. The girls will wear whatever shoes they like since no one will see them anyways. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want them to have necklaces to go along with the earrings, or just go with bare decolletages.

*Yes, I’m changing my bouquet color! You shall hear more about this soon enough!

I debated on different hairstyles previously, and even thought about being a short haired bride. Now it’s time to stop debating and get real… what’s a girl to choose?

This is my hair currently… except I’d curled it for a wedding and I’m sporting some fabulously awful roots (I’m hoping to make the color a bit richer before the day). I’ve got a decent amount of length going on, but my hair is pretty thin.

So, please help me decide!

A. This is still my front runner - I had posted it before. Not only do I love the cool loops, even though I can’t see the front, I imagine that there’s some volume/interest going on. I don’t want my hair flat against my head if at all possible.

Source: The Knot

B. So great! I love this. Although I hate that on The Knot you often only get a shot of the back. As I said above, I want volume. But this woven effect is fabulous.

Source: The Knot

C. One of Miss Hot Cocoa’s bridesmaids! I saw this and immediately dragged the picture onto the desktop! It’s similar to the one above - I must really be digging woven hairstyles these days.

Source: Weddingbee

D. A bit of a departure from the rest! I’m not normally all into curls, but I’m liking this. It has textures and detail and volume.

Source: Flickr

So, what do you think? A, B, C, D, or do you have a hairstyle that is just what I’m looking for?!

For us, it works out pretty well. We’re both kind of freaks.

Remember this picture?

Yup. Let’s just say we’re really lucky we found each other.

It should come as a surprise to you then that our save-the-dates were a bit less “unique” at first. Way back in February (when I had my head on straight and thought it was a good idea to get the STDs in the mail fast!), I cooked this little guy up in Picnik:

This picture was from our trip to Thailand - we took it the day we got engaged! Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get over how shiny my butt was:

So I sat on the STDs for a little while (no pun intended ).

Then we met Kyle Hepp, and suddenly we had awesome pics from which to make a better STD! And so I now present you with our (very belated) save the date postcard.

We went for something straight-forward for the reverse of the card (with info on our awesome FREE wedding website). For the front of the card, I decided our guests should probably get a sneak peek of who we really are:

Mr. Bear Cub - eyes unmistakably closed in the photo, per normal.
Miss Bear Cub - a giggling mess staring at my goofy guy.

Oh yeah, and swizzle sticks. We have a feeling only 1% of our guests will understand what “swizzle sticks” means. “Swizzle sticks” means “cool” just as “fiddle sticks” means “bummer”. Pretty obvious, no? I thought so. Swizz!

Our children are going to have an interesting array of vocabulary when they enter grade school.

Are you introducing your guests to some of you & your fiancé’s quirks before the wedding? Do you say swizzle sticks? It’s pretty much the swizziest thing ever!

Flowers I can’t have

We decided on a combo of pale pale pink and cream garden roses and spray roses, with green and pink hydrangea and dusty miller filling out the bouquets. Not only will the dusty miller match the Dude’s gray suit, but it will also provide a much-needed contrast to the girly pastels making up the rest of the bouquet. The hydrangea will contribute a lush, organic element. (The Dude liked the hydrangea!) The Dude also really liked the idea of fresh herbs, so we will be incorporating rosemary into the corsages, boutonnieres, and place settings. It’ll look and smell awesome.

You likey the cabbage rose?

Some green hydrangea

Dusty Miller (not to be confused with that guy that went to your high school)

Rosemary and lavender boutonniere

Abby also talked to us about the candles and other decor that we’ll have at the reception site. I told her about the soy candles that I’m DIYing, and she gave me some estimates of how many we might need for the ballroom where our reception will be. She liked the idea of putting votives into different-sized mason jars, and she also suggested we look for vases in varying sizes and heights to use for the floral centerpieces. We jumped all over that idea! In fact, the Dude and I couldn’t wait to get started on this project, so we hit up a flea market just outside of Austin right after our meeting with Abby. We ended up buying 23 vases and jars for around $16! We still have a ways to go (3 candle jars and 3 vases per table, at least 13 tables), but check out the progress we’ve made:

These need a good washin’

A close-up of our “splurge” piece ($3!)

Throughout the meeting, Abby guided the Dude and me through all of the options for flowers during the ceremony and reception, but she didn’t pressure us to order things we didn’t need. Our estimate was waiting for us in my Gmail inbox when we got home, and—surprise, surprise—it was right around the budget we had come up with independently! This was the case even though we didn’t discuss pricing at the meeting.

Abby was great to work with, and she seemed happy that we requested things that were a tad offbeat and that we trusted her judgment on a lot of things. I feel totally comfortable leaving the vision in her hands.

This is probably the most excited and inspired I’ve been at any point in the planning process. It was great to finally get the Dude in on something, too. I think he enjoyed the meeting about 40% as much as I did, which is saying a lot! When we were leaving, he told me, “You’re really good at this stuff.” Finally, he’s paying attention.

Did you bring your FI to your floral meetings? Did he enjoy himself?

These pictures were taken in Central Park. It was hazy/cloudy all day but I think it helped with the lighting.

(all photos by The Darling Life Photography)

This picture was taken on one of the piers in Chelsea.

We were so lucky to get to go to the High Line Park the day it opened. If you don’t know about this park, check it out here. It is super cool!

(all photos by The Darling Life Photography)

We also headed to my roof to take some shots… shhhhh… don’t tell my landlord. There was this cool beam that we sat on. It was fun up there. This was the first place we went.

(all photos by The Darling Life Photography)

This last picture we took on the street in front of some graffiti. I added the “love is real” to the picture, because I thought it was fitting.

How did you feel when you got your engagement photos?

I threw open the curtains, silently praying that the dry weather we had experienced the previous afternoon had held. It was too early to tell, but the sky looked promising and I was already on cloud nine – the perfect day to get married. However, before we could get to that, we had a long day of primping ahead of us.

I ordered a $22 cup of coffee to be delivered to the room and set about gathering up my things and organizing myself to keep my hands and mind occupied. My mother and sister were set to arrive in my room around 9 so we could all head to the salon together. Since I had a little less than 4 whole hours to kill, I drew a long, luxurious bath and tried yet again to settle down.

Since that took all of 30 minutes, I still had time to burn and found myself on my laptop checking Weddingbee! A post or 20 later and I heard the sound of a knock at the door – they were here! I was so excited to let them in, as to me, it meant the day had begun - it was time to get ready to get married!!

Unfortunately, not everyone felt my uber-enthusiasm as they were working on staving off the effects of too many margaritas and not enough self restraint. Since the $22 coffee was long gone, we made a pit stop into Central Market to round up some provisions to sustain us during our long morning of beauty.

I took this awesome picture!

Due to the unplanned pit stop, we rolled into the salon a few minutes late. However, I had built about 3 hours of buffer into the timeline, so I was totally unfazed. The hair and makeup team was ready to go and BMChristina and my girl, Jenna, were shortly behind us. By 10:30 we had assembled all the players and were on our way to getting beautified.

The girls went first, alternating between hair and makeup, followed by my gorgeous mother.

I wanted to go last since the ceremony wasn’t until 5:30 PM and I wanted the least amount of time possible between the last swipe of mascara and the descent down the aisle.

The team at Veilvet did a fantastic job and we were all incredibly impressed with the transformations that had occurred. The ladies took us from rough and hung-over to bridal perfection in only a few short hours.

Unless otherwise noted, all the fantastic photos are the work of the uber-talented Jenna Cole.

Previously:
Thursday.
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Practice Makes Perfect
Our Very Own Fiesta
Feliz Cumpleanos, Mi Amor!
Gifts of Gratitude
A Final Goodnight

To my knowledge, there are only two known cures for Augustitis: an elopement, or enhanced planning and organization. Fortunately, Mr. Bruschetta — another useful antidote to my particular case of Augustitis — recently stepped in with a simple, manageable way of tackling the to-be-completed items. (We were both inspired by Miss D’Orsay’s decision-making time line — it seems to have helped with her Augustitis, too!)

It’s not the most glamorous wall decor — or ::ahem:: handwriting, Dr. Bruschetta — but it does the job.

We’re taking it one week at a time, aided by simple supplies — giant Post-It Notes and color-coded Sharpies — and ten(ish) items from our lengthy list of tasks and deadlines. When we write out our “homework” (each Monday night), Mr. Bruschetta and I decide who will take the lead on which tasks. And, just because it’s not on the list doesn’t mean it can’t be started.

I’m lucky my mister knows me so well; I’m fiercely competitive, and do best when there’s a discernible goal. (But I also prefer things in smaller bites, so I can devote time and energy to them without feeling overwhelmed.) So, having several to-do list items in front of my face whenever I’m at home? And the incentive to tackle several other ones before they even make the list? We’re only on the second week of our “big paper” plan, but I’m already breathing easier.

Are you tackling your to-do list differently as your wedding approaches?

I also snagged this Foot Petals Bridal Stiletto Style Kit in a gift bag from a recent bridal event that I included in my care package to her.  It has 6 different types of foot petals, so Sophia can dance the night away in comfort!

I’ve learned so much about weddings through Weddingbee, it’s fun planning a wedding again!

[Photo Source: J.Crew.com]

We wanted it, we needed it, and we had nothing to wear it to.

The dress is classic, and beautiful. Everything a bridesmaid’s dress is usually not. So, I decided right then and there that I would not torture my maids in a frilly dress—no tulle for me! They would wear the Lindsey dress in all its beautiful glory. I have 8 girls in my party of all shapes, heights, and sizes. One of my girls is actually a junior bridesmaid, and at 13, it will even be appropriate for her! All I had to do was pray they were still in production if and when I ever got engaged. Lucky for me, Mr. Cloud didn’t wait too long, and as soon as the girls were asked and agreed to be in the wedding, I was on a mission to order the dresses.

And now I would like to offer a few hints for any other brides looking to order the dresses for their girls from the store we all know and love…

• Sign up for their email list, they often send out 20% off coupons, which are even usable for their wedding collection.
• Order in store if possible, from the red phone! Anything ordered there will have free shipping, and they will either ship them all to one address, or each separate.
• The stores often run extra promotions for signing up for the J.Crew card (the largest I have heard of was 30%!). The discount applies also to anything ordered the same day on the red phone.
• I had been told in other stores, and heard online, that you can have the dresses delivered to the store, and do a “try-on” before buying. Unfortunately this is not true. You must buy before any delivery, although they will ship them to the store if for whatever reason that is easier for you.
• If they don’t fit, you can bring them back to the store and do an “exchange”. They will ship it back for no charge, and also ship you the replacement with no shipping charges!
• The measurements listed for dresses on the website are pretty spot on. We were worried about this, so my girls ordered a size up from their regular dress size. We are now taking advantage of the above tip, and swapping them all for smaller sizes.
• I don’t know how accurate this is, but according to the helpful sales gal at my store, their wedding collection is made the same way other companies make bridesmaid dresses, meaning they are meant to be altered and have extra fabric at the seems. We haven’t gotten that far with ours yet, but I will keep you updated.

My girls will be wearing this beautiful dress in black, with the sash tied in a bow in the back, as modeled by my gorgeous baby cousin, BM C (not so baby anymore, she’s 13). This is pre-alteration, which she will definitely need since she is tiny, but it still looks super cute!

Did you always have a specific bridesmaid dress in mind, even before you were engaged? What does it look like?