getting lost in stupid stuff

[star sparkle]

We're having trouble finding a DJ. That's one of the few jobs I assigned my fiance, and he has contacted four or five people. He's not getting any replies, which is strange. No one wants our business, apparently. I'm concerned about the DJ because I'm a little picky.

Have you tried Gigmasters? I used it during my harpist search and it was a great resource. You specify your area, what kind of music/DJ/entertainment you're looking for, and it comes back with a list of people matching your criteria!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

Yesterday, our first out of town couple made their flight reservations to come out for our wedding. Eeek! Somehow that makes it all seem much more real??

Ha! Oh it's real alright! I started to freak after the rsvp's started coming in. In my mind it went like 'oh, this really IS happening' lol

 

[distracts]

Stacylikessparkles, your shower looks like it was fun! You look so pretty - I love that dress. And the cupcakes look yummy!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

Stacylikessparkles, your shower looks like it was fun! You look so pretty - I love that dress. And the cupcakes look yummy!

Thank you! It was definitely good times and I felt FABULOUS!! I couldn't believe I found the dress at the very last minute and it worked out so perfectly.

 

[Phdecorate]

Stacylikessparkles - not really sure what kind of green earrings you had in mind. I would suggest Etsy, do you ever shop there? You can find so many great things. Here is one suggestion, I think they might work for a wedding and they are only $15....
http://www.etsy.com/listing/89079954/green-chandelier-earrings-emerald?ref=sr_gallery_15&ga_search_query=Green+chandelier+earrings&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmadeGreen+chandelier+earringshttp://www.ross-simons.com/products/775643.html

Wow, that link is long, I hope it works

So exciting to have people making plans, star sparkle!

I am getting married in 42 days. Yikes, I have a lot of things to do!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

Stacylikessparkles - not really sure what kind of green earrings you had in mind. I would suggest Etsy, do you ever shop there? You can find so many great things. Here is one suggestion, I think they might work for a wedding and they are only $15....
http://www.etsy.com/listing/89079954/green-chandelier-earrings-emerald?ref=sr_gallery_15&ga_search_query=Green+chandelier+earrings&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmadeGreen+chandelier+earringshttp://www.ross-simons.com/products/775643.html

Wow, that link is long, I hope it works

So exciting to have people making plans, star sparkle!

I am getting married in 42 days. Yikes, I have a lot of things to do!

Thank you for the link! I will be sure to check it out I LOVE etsy and always find little goodies from there.

I have 32 days...and I'm starting to panic a bit lol

 

[star sparkle]

Okay, so now that the "easy" decisions have been made (man, venue, photographer, harpist, dress, shoes), I'm getting really anxious and feeling stressed out because I really just have no freaking idea how I'm supposed to decorate my ceremony and reception space. Most things I'm reading online say that your decoration inspiration will come from your theme--but what if I don't have a theme?! I have colors, and that's about it. I've seen things I like online, but I don't know how to translate that from a general concept of "things I like" into wedding decor.

I've always been completely hopeless and lacking in the decorating department in general (like, I don't do it, ever, not even for holidays), so I feel like I'm in way over my head and it's distressing. I've asked my mom for ideas, and her response is something like "Well, what do you PICTURE in your head? What is your wedding vision?" Um, thanks, that's no help. I tell her and everyone else my colors and the general vibe I'm going for (simple elegance), but nobody has been able to help me. I spend hours and hours googling and it's truly not a problem at all to find looks and pieces that I like, the problem is how to take it from a computer screen to implement it in reality.

This whole decor sitch is starting to make me want to scream and pull my hair out.

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

[quote="star sparkle|1345584809|3255015"

I've always been completely hopeless and lacking in the decorating department in general (like, I don't do it, ever, not even for holidays), so I feel like I'm in way over my head and it's distressing. I've asked my mom for ideas, and her response is something like "Well, what do you PICTURE in your head? What is your wedding vision?" Um, thanks, that's no help. I tell her and everyone else my colors and the general vibe I'm going for (simple elegance), but nobody has been able to help me. I spend hours and hours googling and it's truly not a problem at all to find looks and pieces that I like, the problem is how to take it from a computer screen to implement it in reality.

This whole decor sitch is starting to make me want to scream and pull my hair out. [/quote]

Deep breaths! Ok, we can totally help!! What are your colors? Can you attach some pictures of what you like? maybe we can help in the whole translation process!

 

[star sparkle]

Deep breaths! Ok, we can totally help!! What are your colors? Can you attach some pictures of what you like? maybe we can help in the whole translation process!

Haha, thanks! My colors are ivory and gold (which was inspired by my dress and shoes, obviously. Yes, that's how original I am ), and I think I want to throw in some blush pink accents.

I'll link to some stuff I like a little later, I have some pinned on Pinterest but I'm at work and can't get on Pinterest here. Boo!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

Deep breaths! Ok, we can totally help!! What are your colors? Can you attach some pictures of what you like? maybe we can help in the whole translation process!

Haha, thanks! My colors are ivory and gold (which was inspired by my dress and shoes, obviously. Yes, that's how original I am ), and I think I want to throw in some blush pink accents.

I'll link to some stuff I like a little later, I have some pinned on Pinterest but I'm at work and can't get on Pinterest here. Boo!

Lovely color scheme! It will be super romantic and I just love that!

One of the most simple wedding center pieces that you can easily do is get a nice glass jar/canister from any craft store, fill it up with some iridescent colored marbles (also at the craft store) and place a nice light pink colored rose in the canister and fill up (over the top of the rose) with water. Place around a few simple white votives or tea lights (you can buy little glass votive holders for cheap at Ikea) around the center piece and maybe even a few mirrors underneath the votives and call it a day. Simple, romantic and elegant. My cousin had something similar at her wedding and I just loved the sweet feel of everything with the candle light. Am I way off here?? I'm sure I can think of a ton of other options, but this just flashed in my head.

 

[blacksand]

Lenox is great for ivory and gold. Too expensive, I would think, for decorations on each table, but maybe you could get some inspiration from the Lenox website? I don't know, I'm a big Lenox fan. It's our wedding china.

Ladies, I am about 90% sure my bridal shower is this weekend. I feel weird even thinking this, because we're 4 months out and I'm, well, not supposed to know anything. As I said earlier, I try not to check my registry too much, but I went to add a few things to it the other day and noticed a whole bunch of things had just been purchased. Odd, because my wedding's not until December. Also, my matron of honor, who lives in Florida, is up for a [rare] visit this week. Her brother and sister-in-law, who live in France, are also in town. I figured this was because they wanted to visit with my MoH and her husband and daughter, so it's not super suspicious on it own. This Saturday, we are supposed to be having a christening for MoH's daughter. The extended family has not yet met the baby, so everyone is very excited. I am crocheting her a baby blanket as we speak! But here is the thing: MoH and her husband are not at all religious. I was surprised to hear they were having a christening. The christening is at a banquet hall (it happens to be the same hall I rented for MoH's shower when she got married). I asked if they were having a minister come to the hall or if we were just having a big party and calling it a christening, and I got a very vague reply. Then today, I received a dress I had ordered to wear for engagement photos. FI saw it and immediately said "you should wear that on Saturday!" I said I had been planning on wearing another, less formal dress instead, and showed him which one. He said "No, I think you should wear the new one! I think lots of people will want to take pictures of you with the baby, you should wear a nice dress for all the pictures!" Ok...wtf? Why would anybody care what I'm wearing? Why would they be taking pictures of me at a baby's christening (not mine, and I'm not the godmother)? And most importantly, since when does my fiance have opinions about what I should wear? He's never made a comment like that to me ever before. Ever. He always asks me what to wear to family functions.

But I am confused, because everyone is genuinely excited to meet the baby (myself included!), and I want her to have her special day. And there were printed invitations to the christening. And I know MoH's brother is bringing a special Belgian lace dress for the baby to wear. So...I do think the christening is real. But maybe it will be on Sunday? Or maybe my shower is Sunday? It could be that I'm totally off base, but I really don't think so. Everyone is acting strange, buying gifts off the registry, and being vague about their plans for the weekend. There is definitely something up. I will just try not to get my hopes up so I won't be disappointed. Honestly, I'm so excited to meet the baby that I know I'll have a blast no matter what. But... I'll be wearing a nice dress, and I'll be sure to do my make-up.

 

[distracts]

Okay, so now that the "easy" decisions have been made (man, venue, photographer, harpist, dress, shoes), I'm getting really anxious and feeling stressed out because I really just have no freaking idea how I'm supposed to decorate my ceremony and reception space. Most things I'm reading online say that your decoration inspiration will come from your theme--but what if I don't have a theme?! I have colors, and that's about it. I've seen things I like online, but I don't know how to translate that from a general concept of "things I like" into wedding decor.

I've always been completely hopeless and lacking in the decorating department in general (like, I don't do it, ever, not even for holidays), so I feel like I'm in way over my head and it's distressing. I've asked my mom for ideas, and her response is something like "Well, what do you PICTURE in your head? What is your wedding vision?" Um, thanks, that's no help. I tell her and everyone else my colors and the general vibe I'm going for (simple elegance), but nobody has been able to help me. I spend hours and hours googling and it's truly not a problem at all to find looks and pieces that I like, the problem is how to take it from a computer screen to implement it in reality.

This whole decor sitch is starting to make me want to scream and pull my hair out.

Umm, decorations are a major puzzle to me as well! Even more puzzling is that, unlike you, I am a decor whiz in the house. Once I got out of high school I magically acquired the ability to make my living space look magazine-perfect. BUT while I have ideas for wedding stuff, I can't figure out how to do it without breaking the bank. My venue is an art deco theater, and we are doing a kind of art deco/art nouveau/edwardian mashed up theme, and it's really hard to figure out how to make it look glamorous. I wish we had picked a spare loft space because then we could have done fun paper crafts for decorations (like Bastetcat's gorgeous wedding decor, except I wanted to make them with old books), but my fiance couldn't envision a wedding in those spaces... and was opposed to cutting up old books for decorations.

I think ivory and gold is a lovely and classic color scheme though that you should be able to find a lot of stuff for! What is your venue like? And how many people will you have at approximately how many tables?

Here are a few random ideas from my pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160811466372/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810368104/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810346442/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810175917/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810179545/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810138781/
http://pinterest.com/pin/20055160810138794/

And hmmm, Blacksand, that IS very suspicious!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

Lenox is great for ivory and gold. Too expensive, I would think, for decorations on each table, but maybe you could get some inspiration from the Lenox website? I don't know, I'm a big Lenox fan. It's our wedding china.

Ladies, I am about 90% sure my bridal shower is this weekend. I feel weird even thinking this, because we're 4 months out and I'm, well, not supposed to know anything. As I said earlier, I try not to check my registry too much, but I went to add a few things to it the other day and noticed a whole bunch of things had just been purchased. Odd, because my wedding's not until December. Also, my matron of honor, who lives in Florida, is up for a [rare] visit this week. Her brother and sister-in-law, who live in France, are also in town. I figured this was because they wanted to visit with my MoH and her husband and daughter, so it's not super suspicious on it own. This Saturday, we are supposed to be having a christening for MoH's daughter. The extended family has not yet met the baby, so everyone is very excited. I am crocheting her a baby blanket as we speak! But here is the thing: MoH and her husband are not at all religious. I was surprised to hear they were having a christening. The christening is at a banquet hall (it happens to be the same hall I rented for MoH's shower when she got married). I asked if they were having a minister come to the hall or if we were just having a big party and calling it a christening, and I got a very vague reply. Then today, I received a dress I had ordered to wear for engagement photos. FI saw it and immediately said "you should wear that on Saturday!" I said I had been planning on wearing another, less formal dress instead, and showed him which one. He said "No, I think you should wear the new one! I think lots of people will want to take pictures of you with the baby, you should wear a nice dress for all the pictures!" Ok...wtf? Why would anybody care what I'm wearing? Why would they be taking pictures of me at a baby's christening (not mine, and I'm not the godmother)? And most importantly, since when does my fiance have opinions about what I should wear? He's never made a comment like that to me ever before. Ever. He always asks me what to wear to family functions.

But I am confused, because everyone is genuinely excited to meet the baby (myself included!), and I want her to have her special day. And there were printed invitations to the christening. And I know MoH's brother is bringing a special Belgian lace dress for the baby to wear. So...I do think the christening is real. But maybe it will be on Sunday? Or maybe my shower is Sunday? It could be that I'm totally off base, but I really don't think so. Everyone is acting strange, buying gifts off the registry, and being vague about their plans for the weekend. There is definitely something up. I will just try not to get my hopes up so I won't be disappointed. Honestly, I'm so excited to meet the baby that I know I'll have a blast no matter what. But... I'll be wearing a nice dress, and I'll be sure to do my make-up.

Uh-oh!! For fiance to give input in regards to what dress you're wearing, I would totally be suspicious, as well! What should he care unless MOH asked him to look out for what you would be wearing. Hmm...I think it might be your shower weekend, as well! Good thing you're at least a little prepared and won't look a mess lol HAVE FUN either way! Maybe it's a joint Christening and Shower?! That would definitely be a new thing that you won't expect!

 

[blacksand]

A joint party would be interesting, but kind of strange for my dad's side of the family (not related to MoH), my friends and FI's family to be invited to MoH's daughter's Christening. But who knows? It's all very strange, because I'm really pretty sure there is an actual Christening happening at some point! I was thinking maybe my shower would be Sunday, or next weekend. It still could be Sunday, but FI's advice regarding the dress for Saturday doesn't make sense, then. And I know it's not next Saturday, because a [guy] friend of ours just announced he's having a pool party and two of my bridesmaids RSVPed yes already. So maybe my shower is tomorrow, and the Christening Sunday. Honestly, as exciting as this is, I will be really sad if the poor baby doesn't get a Christening party! I've been really excited for it! I finished crocheting her little blanket today and I'm going shopping tonight to buy another gift for her. Looks like I might be bringing gifts to my own shower! Oh well, I will try to stop sleuthing, relax and enjoy the weekend no matter what happens!

StacylikesSparkles, are you ready for your second shower? Did you buy/pick out a new dress?

 

[star sparkle]

blacksand- Can't wait to hear what happened this weekend!! Sounded mighty like your shower, but if it wasn't I hope you still had a blast!!

distracts- Thanks for those links! I also think I would have a much easier time if I was working with an unlimited budget (obviously, wouldn't we all?), but my wedding will be SUPER small so I can't justify spending a ton on such a small event. As of right now we only have 16 guests, plus the 2 of us, so 18 people total. We plan on doing only one table for all of us. The venue is an amazing restaurant, with the ceremony and reception being held in two separate spaces.

Here are a couple photos of the ceremony space. The first one is small, but it's the best wide angle picture I could find. Not shown in the photo is a fireplace area to the far right, and a cool fountain to the left where I think the harpist will be set up.

 

[star sparkle]

And here are a couple pictures of the ceremony space. I won't use those green table linens or the candle lantern things pictured here, I'm think of doing all ivory linens and finding a pretty gold table runner to go down the center. But not sure what else I could/should do to spruce up the room?

 

[gammygam]

Warning: totally long ranty post to follow. Sorry I had to duck out on you ladies, I literally had a wedding meltdown...never thought I'd be one of those brides to say that! (Basically triggered by a racist comment from SO's aunt).

First, star sparkle, my wedding colors are the same as yours! My dress is ivory and gold too so those are the primary colors in my wedding scheme, but the thing is you don't have to stick with just ivory and gold. I really was happy that I was able to bring in aqua blue accents from my ring and that the venue also had hints of blue. My dress also has hints of silver beading to really make it pop...so I brought in silver too. Let me post a few things for you to think about (and I totally don't mind if you take them for your wedding!).

I got the majority of my stuff from Hobby Lobby.

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=156227 Going to add a bit more bling, I guess if you really asked me what my theme was for the wedding, it'd be bling.

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=156295 Candle holder, guestbook, cake cutter and flutes are the same as well.

Now for what you're really looking for, the centerpieces. We are having a champagne jazz brunch on a Sunday morning so I really wanted clean, sleek and elegant centerpieces.

 

[gammygam]

So basically, invitations FINALLY went out. And honest to god, I'm really not trying to be a bridezilla here. I really do appreciate the effort that my fmil and his aunt put into it. Only, I've had some of my invitees ask me what the invitations say because they got smudged and had a double line of text in some of them. In addition, I specifically asked for no embellishments and there were rhinestones placed crookedly throughout. Then, we only asked for one of our registries to be included and they insisted that both of them be placed in the invitation. I know that this makes me all sound OCD but I'm pretty sad that the invitations turned out badly. Much of my family (I'm from a different culture) and friends will not be able to attend the wedding but were really looking forward to receiving the invitations. MY BMs have privately told me that the invitations look bad after I asked their opinions...thankfully, no one else has said anything. I guess on the bright side, at least they are finally out with less than two months to go to the wedding.

His aunt made a pretty racist comment about my mother. Now that some of the shock, horror and anger has worn off, I'm hoping that its just sheer ignorance on her part. In addition, she's pretty controlling and overbearing. She seems to think that she's the best at wedding planning, when she ignores all my opinions and yes, did I mention calling one of my vendors to cancel my order/deposit? Thankfully, we are in a position to hire a wedding planner. My FI was originally against the idea, but I was having so much stress that my hair was falling out in the shower (gross and tmi!) along with nightmares and I literally fell apart on him one night the past week. Having the wedding planner to be the neutral 3rd party has been fantastic so far...when she heard that we hired one, she sent a 5 page email to my SO (not exaggerating) about how we were wasting our money and a list of other things we need to think about/do, not to mention emphasis that she can do all of this.

I never believed that weddings could be as stressful as people made them out to be, and now I'm a total believer.

 

[star sparkle]

gammygam- Thanks for the links! I'm totally feeling your vibe, I think we're going for the same type of feel - classic, elegant, and sleek. I LOVE those centerpieces, I've bookmarked a gazillion that looks just like it. For me, I think I want everything to be much shorter so that conversing won't seem awkward for our small group, so I might nix the flowers floating inside. FI and I picked out some short, oblong clear vases that can fit like 3 floating candles across the top, and we'll add something like gold and clear stones in the bottom. My only thing is, WHAT ELSE can I put around each one that won't make it seem cluttered? I'm afraid of having too much going on, but I'm also afraid of not having enough. KWIM?

And wow, I can't believe your FI's aunt! Maybe it's time for your FI to step in and tell her she needs to back off a bit? I mean, why does she think it's HER job to plan YOUR wedding anyway? I can understand FMIL wanting to be involved, but his aunt? You have my sympathies!

I kind of have the opposite problem in that I feel like nobody is interested in helping me figure things out. My mom hasn't been too helpful with ideas, FI just doesn't know anything about planning a wedding, and my friends just laugh when I voice my frustrations as if I'm joking. FMIL lives out of state so she's not around to help with ideas, either. Le sigh.

 

[gammygam]

Star sparkle: I think that's so awesome we got the same type of feel going on for our weddings. I totally think that your venue is gorgeous (I'm not a big fan of halls that you have to really dress up, kwim?) and you don't need to do much with your centerpieces. Originally, I was going for more of a centerpiece like this, but I realized that for a brunch wedding, it didn't seem quite right, felt a bit overdone with the candles. However, if you're looking for something to dress up the bottom of the vase with, I love the rose petals and tea light candles. I think its beautiful and not overdone for an evening reception.

The aunt and fmil come from a good place, they really do. However, they just have completely different ideas than mine of what I'd like. Honestly, I wonder daily if I shouldn't have just eloped?! But I fell in love with my dress and its not really an elopement type dress. The thing is my FI has tried to step in and that caused tension between him and his mom and ended with her crying and him apologizing. Of course, then I felt like a giant witch and apologized too. Seriously, its a minefield! And I completely do love my fmil. However, she even said that I'll probably end up with disagreements with her throughout the process before he even proposed.

Anyway, enough about me, I'll be here to bounce ideas around with you, when do you get married? Our date is Oct. 14th.

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

A joint party would be interesting, but kind of strange for my dad's side of the family (not related to MoH), my friends and FI's family to be invited to MoH's daughter's Christening. But who knows? It's all very strange, because I'm really pretty sure there is an actual Christening happening at some point! I was thinking maybe my shower would be Sunday, or next weekend. It still could be Sunday, but FI's advice regarding the dress for Saturday doesn't make sense, then. And I know it's not next Saturday, because a [guy] friend of ours just announced he's having a pool party and two of my bridesmaids RSVPed yes already. So maybe my shower is tomorrow, and the Christening Sunday. Honestly, as exciting as this is, I will be really sad if the poor baby doesn't get a Christening party! I've been really excited for it! I finished crocheting her little blanket today and I'm going shopping tonight to buy another gift for her. Looks like I might be bringing gifts to my own shower! Oh well, I will try to stop sleuthing, relax and enjoy the weekend no matter what happens!

StacylikesSparkles, are you ready for your second shower? Did you buy/pick out a new dress?

Soooo...did you get a nice surprise shower this weekend? Mine was pretty great and I had a great time getting to know FI's family more, which was nice. I didn't have to buy a new dress,a s I found one in my closet with the tags on lol

 

[blacksand]

Soooo...did you get a nice surprise shower this weekend? Mine was pretty great and I had a great time getting to know FI's family more, which was nice. I didn't have to buy a new dress,a s I found one in my closet with the tags on lol

So glad you had a nice time, and how lucky to find a "new" dress right in your own closet!

I did get a surprise this weekend! I started to really doubt myself Saturday morning, when MoH posted a picture of her daughter in a white lace gown on facebook and said "it's DD's big day!" Everyone was commenting things like "God bless your little one," so I thought...okay...maybe she is getting Christened today! But then FI was visibly nervous in the car, super tense and driving way too fast. He kept inisting that I text MoH to let her know we were on our way (I kept arguing that she knew we were on our way, as she invited us to the party!). So then I knew for sure what was happening. When we arrived, MoH and her DD were standing outside. DD was not wearing her white dress. MoH said DD was just a little cranky so they came outside for a walk. Imagine going for a walk during your daughter's Christening! Haha. So we all went inside together, and my whole family, FI's family, and some of my closest friends were all gathered inside and shouted "surprise!" when I walked in. The first thing I asked was whether there was also going to be a Christening for the little one, because I felt horrible taking a party away from a little baby! They laughed and told me the Christening was, in fact, Sunday, at a church. Then I went and got some champagne punch!

The whole day was amazing, but it went by so fast. It's all kind of a blur. Most of the day was spent opening presents...goodness gracious my family and friends were generous. It took forever to open everything, but we got so much great stuff. I can't wait to have everyone over our place and cook with our new cookware, bake with our new bakeware, and serve everything on our pretty new dishes. I don't have any pictures to share because I was pulled in twelve different directions from the moment I walked in the door. It was crazy! I hope someone got nice pictures and will send them to me soon. FSIL put together a slideshow of pictures of me and FI growing up that made everyone cry. I have a kind of a rollercoaster relationship with her, which I won't go into here, but I just never know what to expect from her. I certainly did not expect a sweet slideshow, and it was wonderful. I really hope our relationship will continue to improve from here. The food was amazing, but I hardly ate a thing, I was so excited. I was so starving I ordered Chinese as soon as we got home. FI says it's a little preview of what our wedding day will be like. He's probably right. It was an amazing day, but at the end, I was left kind of wondering what just happened. And then we got up bright and early on Sunday to go to the real Christening and spent another awesome day with my family. Crazy, crazy weekend. I still haven't had a chance to just relax and reflect on it all. But what an amazing feeling.

 

[mogster]

Deep breaths! Ok, we can totally help!! What are your colors? Can you attach some pictures of what you like? maybe we can help in the whole translation process!

Haha, thanks! My colors are ivory and gold (which was inspired by my dress and shoes, obviously. Yes, that's how original I am ), and I think I want to throw in some blush pink accents.

Hi there! I was overwhelmed and paralyzed with indecision (I'm extraordinarily grateful for my friend who helped me map out ideas) AND my colors are also ivory, gold, and pink so I thought I'd list out what I'm doing in the case that you might find any of the ideas helpful.

For the ceremony, I ordered a spray for the arch with pink and white flowers. I found scrapbooking paper at Joann called "Victorian Parlour" and also white pearl paper. The white pearl paper is not too thick and I can put it in the printer to make signs (e.g. table numbers, "Reserved", chair signs, etc.). I bought bulk pink roses from Costco and am making my own pew flowers by twisting the scrapbooking paper into cones, putting in roses, and hanging them with string pearls ($2.50 for 30 ft. at Joann).

For the reception, I ordered gold chiavari chairs and white lace overlay for the tables. The venue provides gold-rimmed dinnerware. For the centerpieces, I bought 9" pyramid vases and am filling them up 1/3 with water, laying 5 roses on their sides so that the buds form a circle, and then a chrysanthemum on top. I'll have a few tealight candles around the centerpiece.

For the gift table, I have a gold birdcage I found at Ross for cards, a wish tree (making tags from the scrapbooking paper), apothecary jars with pink and white candy, decorative boxes from Michaels, a punny sign made from wooden letters, and a gold framed picture of us. I bought another gold frame for the seating chart (replaced the glass with a black poster board), printed the names onto the white pearl paper, and glued them onto the poster board with some decorations.

There's also a paper flower kit in the "Victorian Parlour" series and so I made a garland with the flowers and string pearls/ribbon.

Hope that helps!

 

[star sparkle]

gammygam- Thank you! I'm also trying to figure out where the line is between not enough/too much, because my wedding is also not an evening wedding. We're doing it as a lunchtime event so I know I don't need to go way overboard, so that's a good thing at least. OMG, your date is so soon!! Ours is 2/2/13, so still just over 5 months to go!

Stacy- Haha, don't you just when you find that hidden gem in your closet?? That's awesome!

blacksand- Your shower sounds amazing! And how sweet that they all wanted to surprise you? Aww, I'm so happy for you! What did you end up wearing?

mogster- WOW! Thank you so much for sharing, I love all of your ideas! I especially love your pew flower idea, it sounds lovely. I may have to do some variation of that; sounds like a great way to get flowers in without breaking the budget. Do you have any photos of your paper flower garland? I'd love to see it (and anything else you might have photos of)!


I went to Michael's the other day and saw that they already have a teensy Christmas section popping up.. I'm hoping that as Christmas comes and goes, there will be TONS of gold accessories and things that might give me inspiration.

 

[blacksand]

Gah. We need an officiant.

I really don't want to deal with finding an officiant. The long and ugly backstory, in a nutshell, is that we wanted to have a Catholic ceremony. There is a priest who has known me and my family since I was a little girl, and FI and I have been meeting with him regularly since we got engaged. We both really like him and would like him to marry us. The issue is that FI was married before, so he needs an annulment to get married in the Catholic church. He applied for one well over a year ago. This is why we have had such a long engagement. The compromise was that we would get married December 22, 2012 no matter what. We thought it would be enough time for the annulment process, but we booked a ceremony room at our reception venue just in case the church didn't work out. Well, it does seem that the annulment is in the final stages and will probably go through, but it is taking forever. The priest we have been working with told us that the judge working on FI's case died recently, so his cases are now in a kind of limbo. We are getting to the point where we have to make a decision, since we have to send invitations out soon. So we have to go with the sure thing. We'll have a simple ceremony at the reception venue.

So now we need an officiant. I am kind of heartbroken about not having the ceremony I'd always dreamed of, although I appreciate all that FI has done to try to make it happen for us. I really don't know what to look for in an officiant. I don't want anything too trendy or contemporary, really, just a traditional ceremony. But I don't want a stiff JoP who doesn't know me or FI at all and doesn't infuse any kind of spirituality into the ceremony. FI and I decided we do not want to have a friend or relative officiate, because it would be impossible to choose just one person, and FI's feeling is that it doesn't feel as "real" if we have a friend do it, almost like we're playing wedding, not actually getting married (please, I mean no offense to anyone who has done this! I have seen absolutely beautiful weddings performed this way. It just isn't the right thing for us). I have also seen people who claim to be Catholic priests who will perform weddings anywhere, but these are not actual Roman Catholic priests, and I feel like that would be rubbing salt in the wound. I guess a JoP or some sort of non-denominational minister is probably the way to go. Sigh. Time to start looking. Fun!

 

[gammygam]

Aw blacksand,

I'm so sorry to hear that. That totally sucks, I went through the same thing but at least, I didn't have my heart set on a Catholic ceremony. We ended up not being able to book the gorgeous church because of our timeline plus finding a venue. So my sympathies with you there

We ended up booking an officiant through online reviews and from me asking my vendors (photographer, wedding planner, etc) for recommendations. It's been easy breezy so far, so hopefully you'll be able to do the same.

Btw, I spent all day today ordering and researching welcome bags. Can we say OCD?! However, I did manage to get them (I have a lot of OOT guests that I wanted something nice for) at $10 per bag.

 

[blacksand]

Hi gammygam,

What are you including in your welcome bags? We have just started thinking about ours (and realizing that we did not include them in our budget...oops!). I am freaking out about costs lately, dear God wedding are expensive. I want to keep the cost down for sure, but like you, I have quite a few OOT guests and I'd like to do something nice for them.

We got A LOT done this week and last. I FINALLY got the last bridesmaid to order her dress, which was a HUGE relief. We had to do super rush delivery, but it should be here in plenty of time. Yay! We booked our DJ. They were not the cheapest, but they can do exactly what we want them to do for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, and they really seemed to get us better than anyone else we talked to. Plus they saw me swoon when they showed us a picture of some snowflake gobo lights, so they threw those in for us for free. We booked our florist. He's a friend of my parents and I know he will do a nice job. I did NOT know that I was going to have to decide on exactly what I wanted for every bouquet, every corsage, every centerpiece, etc. right there and then. I was totally unprepared for that. Yikes. But he walked me through it, put some samples together for me so I could visualize different combinations, and we hashed it all out. So glad that's done. We booked two meetings with potential officiants. We booked our rehearsal time at the venue and moved up the rehearsal dinner time. We finalized the design for our favors (custom ornaments), and put in an order. I ordered faux fur wraps for all the bridesmaids and a cloak for myself. And an aisle runner, unity candle, and a cake cutting set. Yes, this week I basically hemorrhaged money. Yikes. But we got so much done, and we stayed within our budget [barely]. I am feeling so much better now. No more nightmares about being unprepared on my wedding day.

 

[star sparkle]

So, just thought I'd post in here and see what everyone is up to!! blacksand, I know your date is fast approaching! How is everything going for you? Are you mostly done, or do you still have a bunch of loose ends to contend with?

As for us, last night FI and I finally got the chance to go to our venue and sample the food! It was all amazing and we were able to decide on all of our menu components, so I feel good that we can cross another thing off the list! We sent out invitations earlier in the week so it was nice to get that done, and I've got my first dress fitting appointment in a week and a half (two days after Thanksgiving, ugh, but whatever)! We went to the tux rental place this past weekend and we found a winning combination for FI, so yay for that too!

OH, and I GOT MY WEDDING BAND!!! After endless searching, I finally found something I liked that goes well with my ering! I got it last week and I'm just loving it. Also last week I received some earrings I bought off etsy as possible wedding earrings, and they're just fabulous!!

(Wow, the last couple of weeks seem to have been extremely productive in my wedding-planning land!)

It's crazy that as much as I've gotten done, there's still so much to do.

 

[blacksand]

Hi star sparkle! Sounds like you've made quite a bit of progress! But... where are the pictures? I want to see the wedding band and the earrings! And your dress when you have your fitting! I had my last fitting yesterday and it came on the heels of eating whatever the heck I could for a week without power after the hurricane, so...yeah. I did not lose any weight at all. Two days after Thanksgiving is rough, but you will be fine! I figure it's more realistic that way anyway, so you don't go in super skinny for alterations and then have to wear a very tight dress on your wedding day while you're eating lots of rich food. Lots of brides get sick that way, so I think it's for the best, really. And you will look amazing!

 

[chloeishere]

Yikes! I'm definitely stressing out on this wedding planning stuff. First, I kind of think I'm missing the bridal gene and my well meaning future in laws and relatives are making me a little crazy. There are so many small things that I haven't thought about. This past week, my fmil's sister (SO's aunt) yelled and reamed me out on the phone (yes I'm planning long distance) about...cupcakes....the next day, my fmil and his sister called to apologize on behalf of the aunt. Invites haven't been sent out, and the wedding is in 2 months...not to mention there were no STDs or anything like that because he wanted a short engagement. Also, my idea of a small wedding has gone out the window...there are 238 invited guests and I get heart palpitations looking at the list. I've never wanted a big wedding but, he has a big family and lots of friends plus cousins. Pretty much the idea of getting up and saying I DO with a bunch of strangers looking on is making me really nervous. I haven't shared that fear with my SO or my future in laws, my mom says I'm being silly and its wedding jitters. I think I really need a professional and detached 3rd party to step in.

Have you ladies experienced any of this or am I just cuckoo? I hope you guys will share any and all stories.

For what it's worth, you are so not alone! I also feel like I'm missing the bride gene... I've never dreamt about my wedding, or planned it out 300 times (nothing wrong with that, but I'm just not that way). I actually wanted to elope or do a small court wedding, but my fiance's family and my family really want a wedding (and due to the family circumstances, our parents might not have any other children get married, so all the pressure is on us). There's so much to do all the time, a million tiny little things that MUST be done, and I'm expected to do it all and be happy about it, because I'm the bride (but I'm not that kind of bride!).

I've already had a few meltdowns with my fiance, and he's been really supportive, but most of the time when I delegate a task to him (photographer, cake) he requires so much prodding to get it done that I should have just done it myself so I wouldn't have to worry about nagging him about it, or remind myself to check in with him on the tasks he still needs to do. He did find a great photographer, to be fair, but I ended up doing all the cake stuff anyway.

And I wanted a wedding with less than 50 guests (the less the better)... I think we ended up inviting about 230 people. "Our parents' only chance" and stuff. I regret not standing up for what I wanted, now, but the save the dates have already gone out so I'm just going to have to deal. I haven't even MET some of these people! Why do they need to be invited to a wedding for two people they don't know, or met my fiance when he was a baby?

Ugh. I so totally sympathize. Then my mom and fMIL keep telling me about how they did it/ how they wanted it done, but I'm NOT them! I'm not religious, I think trains are pretty, I under no circumstances want a "Precious Moments" wedding topper. I almost ended up buying a wedding dress that made me want to cry because they were so convinced it was perfect (thank god I didn't. I found a wedding dress that I love last week, and it's made it feel less burdensome because at least I'm going to feel like a beautiful woman [instead of a virginal, disproportionately huge-breasted pre-teen which is how the other dress made me feel] at my wedding).

Re: a bunch of strangers watching you get married-- I know what you mean. You know what? F--- them. You are getting married to the man you love, who cares what a bunch of random strangers think about you, your dress, or anything else about the wedding. Your happiness is not dictated by your skill at planning a big fancy party, or your wedding budget.

Finding "the dress" somehow brought my focus back on me and him... He's going to think I look amazing, and I'm so happy to be marrying this man. The rest can go to hades.

Good luck! You are not alone.