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!

Table top stands

I'm making some progress on my table numbers.


I said some... so what if I'm a procrastinator? I have 3 days until I need them finished. Again -- you'll see why I need them done so quickly even though we're still (I say that very lightly) 88 days away.

I was asked how I will keep these fancy things standing up on my tables by the lovely Laura over at Saying "I do" and while I haven't actually purchased anything... this is my plan. ;)

See these:

They're actually plate stands but I thought they'd be perfect for something like this because they won't take away from the table number (cause you'll barely see them) and if they're meant to hold up plates they must be sturdy enough to hold up a "lightweight" wooden plaque! ;) hopefully...

I've also considered these small easels:


They have similar ones at Michaels (wooden ones, plastic ones, colorful ones). The only thing I've found with these is that they have to be the exact right size or they don't hold the plaque up -- they just topple right over. But they're inexpensive and can always be spray painted (which is probably my new favorite thing... and definitely the best way to "paint") if I decide on a different color.

But that's my plan... and I hope it works out!

DIY table numbers, part 2

This is how I spent my day:

Oh, wait! That's not me...

I sat in the sun and played more of a supporting role in today's DIY project.


=) but the groom did a great job and they are looking amazing!

I really want this dress, or something like it. I'd love to make a dress change toward the end of the reception. And this one is a pretty good deal at $99!

I love it.

Weekend Decisions

This morning I emailed our videographer to let him know that we won't be able to have uplighting. Wanna know why?!

Because those tiny lights are $95 PER LIGHT.

There are so many things wrong with this.

I understand the lights change with the music, and someone has to set up the lights but $95 per light bulb...

And, if you want more than 10 lights... you can pay $75 per light. Ugh, no thanks.

So sadly, my dreams of having uplighting at the reception will just have to go into the "wait, how much??" part of my brain (along with my dream cake and the flowers I wanted) and my heart will be sad... for a little while.

I also told him that we won't be upgrading our video package at all. Right now, included in our package through our venue we have 7 hours of coverage and 3 edited highlight videos and things like microphones and a couple things that I don't even know what they are...

But when I talked to him he was all 'oh, well if you want to update to HD" (read: extra $750) and "oh, well you should upgrade to having two videographers during the ceremony" (read: extra $500) and when I was talking to him... I was all "Yes, yes I should!". Because, hello... I want everything and when a [good] salesperson is talking to you... you feel like you NEED everything.

But when Sean got home... and reality set in and he was all "what are you talking about" and "that's crazy" I thought "hmm, maybe he's right...."
Sean told me that if the video isn't up to viewing pleasure he would redo it for us (he has all the software -- because this IS what he does... for us, for his band, for other people) and he also said that in 2011 videos should JUST BE SHOT in HD... which is kind of true?

So it is what it is and there will be no upgrades for us.

And I'm okay with that.

Gifts

Hmm, have I shown you the end result of the bridal shower? This was my mom's living room...


Fortunately, it looks better than this... now. Unfortunately, Sean and I don't have any place to keep all of our amazing gifts [no kitchen, living room, dining room] so most of them must be kept in storage until after the wedding we own a house. =(

I posted about these a while back.

AND LOOK:



Thanks to Lindsey, I now own them! And I can't wait to use them at our wedding!

Lots to do.

Since we're nearing the 100 day mark -- well, okay I guess we aren't near 100 days technically because we're still at 128... but 100's close, right?

...Alright, fine -- we'll agree that we're four months away!

Nonetheless, I feel like I should be knocking things off my to-do list. But I don't really know what to do...

I know lots of things can't be done until I have some sort of definite guest list but here are some things I think I can work on in the next two weeks. [did I mention, I'm on vacation!]

- Invitations

- Bridal party gifts

- Choose jewelry for myself

- Practice wedding dance

- Pick readings

- Make programs
- Practice walking in my wedding shoes

- Choose our food
- Table names/numbers
- Choose music

I think everything & more can be accomplished! ;)

We'll see!

Candy and desserts.

I really love the idea of having a candy bar and/or a dessert buffet at the wedding. Even more, I love when all the candy has a color scheme and the desserts have cute signs telling guests what to expect. It's the best. I wanted pictures of this pretty popular trend so I looked them up on google.

[All these images are from Google.]

Cute, right?

So - question... is this something just to look at? Or do you think all the guests actually appreciate and eat said candy/desserts? And if it's only for show... is that okay?

It's so cute!

Food Tasting.

Last Wednesday, we had our food tasting and it was really fun!

Now, I'm not one to try food. Period.

I eat food as if I were a 5 year old. Chicken nuggets, pasta with shaker cheese - and basically food on my plate may not touch the other food on my plate. Get the picture? Yeah.

So, when I thought about a food tasting, I thought more along the lines of, "well, I'll bring as many people with me as possible so that I will have to try less things...". Which is exactly what I did!

We brought our parents, my cousin & bridesmaid Lindsey and Sean's brother & groomsman Jamie. so there was 8 of us in total... enough to fill an entire table.

When we walked into the venue the room was set up with different styles at each table - different centerpieces, place settings, colors, chairs, everything. I think it was so show lots of options and they had uplighting (which I love!). They had some companies there they must work closely with like a traveling beauty company, photographers, a cake bakery, etc. Luckily, I have all those things worked out but it was cool they offered them. They had their invitation books out so you could flip through and all the napkin colors to choose from if you felt like making a decision... we didn't.





After sitting down and chatting for a little while, the appetizers starting coming out. Lots of them were really great! In my opinion, they would be considered "normal" food - which I enjoyed. Of course, there was some shrimp option, I declined:


And some curry thing that I passed on to Sean (he loved it, so it'll probably make an appearance on July 16th), but for the most part I think it's going to be really hard to choose just a few to serve at our cocktail hour.

After that there was a salad course. It.was.so.good. And the presentation... well...



It's a cucumber wrap salad. It was really great.

Next we were served bread baskets which gave us a purpose to use the fancily designed butter on our table... the whole night I thought it was whipped cream but thought that would have been a little strange.

After, it was time for the buffet. There was so much food. Lots of food... there was no way I was trying. By the end of the line, my plate looked like this:


I guess it looks a little better than I thought. I sort of filled it with rice... which was great! But you know what wasn't great? That bright red nonsense of beef. Ugh I don't like that...

Sean's plate looked a little more full:


He made sure to take the fish. That red meat makes me sick even looking at it through a picture. Gross.

So basically our menu went from looking like this:


To this:


Luckily, someone else at the table had a pen!

Cake testing!

Here are some pictures from our cake testing at Konditor Meister.




It was a little upsetting, because EVERY little thing... is an extra and costs more money. =(

But I'm happy with what we picked! And I think our guests will enjoy the flavors, too. I personally think all wedding cakes are beautiful but I really wish I could have crystals and diamonds!

When we actually get our cake it should look a little bit like this...


I wish it could be square like this... just like I wish my tables could be square. But... both are too expensive to change.

Dirty Dancing.

Sean and I have picked our first dance song. Yay!

However, the other night we tried to dance to it... and we need help! Serious assistance...

Okay, we know how to sway as if we were at a middle school dance... and we know how to move as if we were at a club. But that "happy medium"... of dancing at our own reception with all eyes on us... we can't find it.

Luckily, last winter while I was attending bridal show upon bridal show I must have put my email down for a company that offers dance classes to couples. Fate? I think so.

The company is Boston Ballroom Dance Center and they are offering a "wedding crash course" dance class Feb. 13 for $125 a couple.

Unfortunately, I don't quite think I'm ready to venture out into the world of dance (never having taken a single dance class) with a group of complete strangers.

So private lessons... here we come!

It costs $400 per couple to have 5 private dance lessons including 1 introductory class. I'm pretty sold...

I mean, even though I'd love for our dance to be choreographed like the last dance in Dirty Dancing... I don't think it'll happen. And I'm okay with that.