Wedding Cake

I really loved our wedding cake. It kind of speaks for itself but each layer was a different flavor: strawberry grand marnier, chocolate with Oreo cookie mousse, red velvet, and chocolate with chocolate mousse.

We chose basic roses (mainly because of the cost...) but it really was gorgeous!


Our cake forks are the "Mr. & Mrs." forks I got as a gift at my shower! They are from Etsy.


We never bought a cake knife & server -- we just used the venue's.

We asked that the entire cake be cut up and displayed so that guests could have their choice of which flavor they wanted rather than be passed out from the kitchen. So, the DJ made an announcement letting everyone know where it was -- but we still had SO MUCH left over. Boxes & boxes!

We did freeze the topper and I guess we'll see how it tastes in a year! :)


P.S. - We leave for our Honeymoon on Sunday!

Our rehearsal dinner and wedding party gifts!

I must preface this post with a side note: Apparently, I've developed an ulcer in my left eye. And so I'm looking at my computer one-eyed. Crazy? I know. Because of this, I had to miss school today... even though I only have 3 days left. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else. I can't drive, be outside, see the sun, wear contacts, etc., etc., etc. But anyways...

Our rehearsal & rehearsal dinner was last Thursday.

Chelsey, Me, Brett

My matron & maid of honor!

Here's the whole wedding party... yah, it's pretty hard to get a shot of 16 people where everyone is looking (at the same camera) & smiling...

Dinner was really fun! It was also the place where we gave everyone their gifts!

For the bridesmaids... I may have gone a little overboard. Some things are just so cute! And I had to get them. Here goes...

These bags were really cute. I think they're from Target? They were purchased months ago and were the perfect size for all the girls to carry around the morning of!

My mom made these gift tags. They were so pretty and embossed with glitter so that instantly makes everything more wedding-ish.

I'm so forgetful and forgot to take pictures of the jewelry before it was wrapped [I'll point it out once pictures are posted]. But each of the girls got the same pearl necklace, and I tried to get all different pearl earrings but Kohls didn't have that many pairs. So, a few girls got the same ones. But let me tell you - jewelry from Kohls is totally the way to go. It's inexpensive to begin with and almost ALWAYS on sale.

I knew I wanted those pictures of the bridesmaid dresses hanging with my dress. So, I bought enough pink hangers to do so! And I thought I'd add it to the gift bag because it was bright pink?

My aunt offered to make these shoe bags for each of the girls. And they were PERFECT. I filled the shoe bags with metallic-sliver flip flips from Old Navy and I think the girls enjoyed changing their shoes after the ceremony. :)

I'm really lucky because another one of my aunts works at a salon and gets samples of so much stuff ALL THE TIME. And I don't know any girl who doesn't enjoy getting all the cute little stocking stuffer/sample things. So...

I found this back massager at Bath & Body Works and it was pink and cute so they all got one. :)

If you live by a Christmas Tree Shoppe... that's where all this stuff is from. I got the foot spa stuff in case their bridesmaid shoes killed their feet. The shoes were pretty high...

Lastly, Sean's band is sponsored by Monogram Apparel and they have cute neon sunglasses that I thought would be perfect to take fun wedding party pictures in. So, everyone got a pair!

I have to admit, the groomsmen didn't really make out as well. But it's because of what they got and boys aren't really easy to shop for?

Of course, they got pink and black gift packaging. Not that they necessarily noticed... :)

And gift tags...

And they each got the shoes Sean wanted them to wear during the wedding and pink socks. Do you remember We love colors?

And they each got sunglasses, too!

:)

Weekend Fun.

Today, I finalized everything with the florist. It's pretty relieving to get things done and know that flowers (and other things) will actually be showing up the day of.

I got some other things done today, and one of those things was to put together these little treats. :)

I wanted to make sure the centerpieces go home with someone (assuming someone wants them) and the way we're going to do that is sometime during the night the DJ will announce to everyone to check underneath their chair. One chair at each table with have a small pink envelope (from Paper Source) taped to it.


I special ordered black guitar picks (since Sean is a guitarist) and put one pick in each envelope:


:) I really love how they came out. So the person who has the envelope will get the first "pick" (!) to see if they want the flowers... if not, I suppose they could then offer them up to anyone else who may want them.


Happy 4th of July!

Almost...

Okay, first things first. The progress on my to-do list has been continuing. Here it is:

Monday AKA today:
1. Go to the mall to pick up our engraved wine glasses for our wine box ceremony and have my name and wedding date embroidered on a piece of fabric for my dress and look for a rehearsal dinner dress
2. Spray paint all the table frames, add some sparkles and make "The songs requested at your table are" signs (which reminds me I still have to show you all our invitations...
3. Try to buy easels for our table numbers
4. Email our officiant and make sure things are set - tell him our readings and vows
5. Reschedule our final dance class since we can't go on Friday
6. Finish our love banner

Tuesday:
1. Write thank you cards for gifts we've been receiving
2. Order escort cards pictures
3. Call the photo booth company and order the plastic sleeves for the photo strips
4. Make small labels for said photo booth plastic sleeves THE PHOTO BOOTH COMPANY DOES THIS FOR US ;)
5. Burn our ceremony music onto a CD
6. Make our photo booth, guestbook and card box signs
7. Blog about the fiasco that was the engraved wine glasses

Wednesday:
1. Crop pictures and create escort cards
2. Wrap bridal party gifts
3. Meet with our DJ and finalize all our song choices
4. Paint Mr. and Mrs. and Thank and You signs
5. Get our marriage license
6. Assuming we hear back from the people we've contacted because we haven't received their RSVP - finish our seating chart
7. Blog about our invitations

Thursday:
1. Write names on escort cards
2. Alphabetize and make master lists of the seating chart for the venue
3. Get some frames and print some engagement pictures
4. Blog about any DIY projects (hopefully they'll be done!)

Friday:
1. Finish anything that didn't get done
2. Manicure and pedicure
3. Get hair cut and colored

Saturday:
1. Finish anything that didn't get done

Sunday:
1. Last dance class
2. Hair trial

I know it doesn't look like I got a lot done today but I did lots of stuff that wasn't on the to-do list. And rather than add it to the list... just to cross it off -- I'm keeping mental notes of all the things I've done on the side. Trust me... it's a lot. For instance, I couldn't wrap the bridal party gifts because I had nothing to wrap them IN so I bought all the wrapping paper, tissue bags, and gift bags today. By the time I got home there was no time to wrap. See? Basically, it goes on like that for lots of things. And we're getting our marriage license tomorrow. ;)

Now, did you notice I crossed off "blog about my invitations"... well, here ya go:

Maybe you remember that I wasn't the happiest bride to-be when these arrived? But they slowly grew on me. And now, I thoroughly enjoy them and I'm happy with how they look. The response I got from people who received them was really positive and some seem to like them so much they still haven't mailed back their RSVP. ;)






Of course, everything went inside a white envelope that I didn't take a picture of because well, it was a white envelope. And we sent along a self-addressed, stamped enveloped for the response but I didn't take a picture of it because I'm a little lazy to blur out the address. But just know that we decided to have the envelope addressed to "The Future Mr. and Mrs. Duffy" and it was probably my favorite thing, ever.

That's all for now.

Paper Source Stamps

When we had our final details meeting last weekend, our wedding coordinator mentioned that it's usually a good idea to remind people of their meal choice by writing it lightly on the back of their escort card. Well... I went a step further. ;)

At Paper Source (have you been?!) they have these stamps:


...which we purchased today. ;)

And I plan on stamping the back of the escort cards. I don't think we'd necessarily have to write "beef" or "chicken" underneath but we were testing them out.

I like the black better... but the pink is really cute. So I think I'll use the black for all the options except for the kids meals (the chick!) -- and I'll use the pink ink for all the kids meals.

31 days!

Groomsmen

Type "groomsmen socks" into Google and you'll find some of my favorite wedding pictures. That's right. I said it. My favorite! I don't know why... but I just love this idea!




So I knew... I just had to do this, too!

My problem... I couldn't find the socks! I looked high and low... and nothing! Except for Polo... and let's be honest -- these boys are never wearing these socks again.. $9.50? Pshh!

So I was feeling a bit defeated... and sad... and like it wasn't going to happen.

I looked online, too! But all the pink socks had navy in them and while I love navy it has nothing to do with my color scheme.

But then!

My mom found this site: We love colors

Have you heard of it? I never had... but I'm glad I did!

They have 51 colors ranging from bright to dark... including neon ;)

And for $3.50 a pair (and only $5 shipping) I snagged 8 pairs right away.

I choose orchid pink:


Don't worry, this is just a color guide and the socks aren't this tall [imagine!].

But I'm so happy to find them and can't wait for their arrival! ;)

Oh, and thank you to all who gave advice about the anonymous RSVP... I think waiting for process of elimination is the best I can do.

;)

Happy long weekend!

Bridal shower scrapbook

Last Friday, I went on a scrapbook weekend in the White Mountains (New Hampshire). The idea is that you set up all your things on Friday when you arrive and can leave everything out (day and night) until you leave Sunday afternoon. You can scrap all day - all night. Anytime you want to. Pretty much the only time you stop is to go eat - which are meals that are included in your payment so no money is needed AT ALL. Your space, your hotel room and your meals are included in one bill and you don't have to think it. It's amazing.

If you're into scrapbooking... you should look into going away on one of these weekends. I love them ;)

I'm a relatively quick scrapper. I completed a number of things that I wanted to (thanks to power layouts) and one of my projects was to make my bridal shower scrapbook!

So... here it is. I love it and I spent about 13 hours putting it together.





















In order to make this book... I was at Michaels a lot. I don't like to buy things if they're not on sale... but luckily thanks to my DIY table numbers I had been going often and getting coupons every time. ;) I love coupons.