Aphisiglovessae''s PS Wedding Journal!

[aphisiglovessae]

The Guest Book

For the guestbook, I just got a regular 10 x 10 scrapbook and covered it in red satin. I then handpainted the chinese symbol for Love on both sides. I also used a chinese bracelet from when I was a kid. It has a piece of jade and a coin hanging from it.

Book and supplies: approx. $15.00

 

[decodelighted]

Girl, I need you to plan MY wedding. I''m super impressed with your creativity and great finds and cost-cutting tricks. You should keep the pictures and pitch a story to a local newspaper or magazine with all of your finds/ideas/DIY projects. It''s great that you''re clueing in us P-scopers, but I really feel your info deserves an even larger audience!!

Awesome work! Look forward to seeing the rest of your plans!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Wow, thanks!! You''re making me blush.

 

[RockDoc]

Jenn....

No wonder Drew got engaged to you..... LUCKY GUY he is!

Blushing? Well, you do like red.... so that isn''t so bad, is it.


You''ve certainly created a far more interesting wedding than those who spend a small fortune.


Rockdoc

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Ha ha, thanks Bill. I guess you could say we''re a pretty interesting couple so this totally fits us. We like to do stuff a little out of the ordinary and we couldn''t be happier with the results.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The cake flowers

I finally finished both the top and bottom of the cake flowers:

Does it suck?? I'm not sure...

 

[Skylah]

I think you did an amazing job with the flowers! It must be horrible for your Mom during weddings and other flower-filled occasions. But because of your creativity, you can still have gorgeous flowers and your Mom can enjoy the day allergy-free!

What a great idea!

Congrats on your upcoming wedding! You must be so excited!

 

[Strawdermangrl]

WOW! LOL, I am really impressed, the last photos of the flowers you posted look like they are real and professionals made them for you!!

Nice job, thanks for sharing your joy- what a great idea!!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Aww thanks, you''re too kind. I was really surprised at the quality of these flowers when I received them. They were MUCH better than I anticipated, and they were less expensive than Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Joanns. I''ve always liked flower arranging, but I never thought I was very good at it.

 

[SoonIHope]

I agree, I think they look amazing!

You totally should start a DIY program, everything you''ve done is soooo great! And/or just do all the preparations for my wedding.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The invitations!!!

OMG!!! I'm almost finished making my invitations!!!!!!!!!!! Reality is really starting to set in and I couldn't be more excited.

The invitations are 5" x 8". The picture shows both sides of the RSVP cards..

Total Cost (without stamps): approx. $60.00 for 100 invitations, RSVP Cards, envelopes (small white ones and large red ones) and gold double happiness seals

ETA: The wording is as follows:

Each day begins fresh and new
knowing I'll be spending
it with you....
Jennifer XXXXX XXXX
and
Drew XXXX XXXXXXX
Invite you to join the celebration
as they tie the knot
on Saturday, July eighth
two thousand and six
at three-thirty in the afternoon

Place and address

Join us for beer/wine and heavy hors d'oeuvres
following the ceremony
(I don't like this part really, but it was per fiance's request. He wanted to make sure that the out-of-town guests knew we were going to feed them well and whatnot.

)

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The invitations cont..

Oops, I forgot to attach a pic of the cute seals I found. They are actually clear and gold.:

 

[LollyBear]

I love the guest book and invitations; they are amazing! It''s hard to believe they are hand made.

p.s. your cake flowers are perfect!!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Date: 3/8/2006 9:17:12 PM
Author: StephensBride
I love the guest book and invitations; they are amazing! It''s hard to believe they are hand made.


p.s. your cake flowers are perfect!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

 

[MissAva]

You are doing an awesome job, you have been creative and really shown how with effort a lovely wonderful wedding can be had without spending the down payment for your house. I agree you ought to take all of these photos and submit to Brides’ or The Knot. Everyone is always talking about how to save money but you have actually done it. Well done!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Date: 3/8/2006 9:26:36 PM
Author: Matatora
You are doing an awesome job, you have been creative and really shown how with effort a lovely wonderful wedding can be had without spending the down payment for your house. I agree you ought to take all of these photos and submit to Brides’ or The Knot. Everyone is always talking about how to save money but you have actually done it. Well done!

Thank you so much!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The invitations cont..

Sorry for all the pics, I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!!!

Here's a close up of the font I used:

 

[qtiekiki]

I love your invitations. Very modern while incorporating your Chinese culture.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Date: 3/8/2006 10:30:48 PM
Author: qtiekiki
I love your invitations. Very modern while incorporating your Chinese culture.

Thanks! I tell you what, cutting all that cardstock and glueing them together was a huge pain in the butt!!! The best way to cut cardstock? a metal ruler and an exacto knife (craft scalpel with a pointed blade)! I'm very satisfied with the results though. I wanted traditional Chinese invitations that were elegant, but my fiance thought all the red and gold was a little too tacky for him, so we compromised and my mom helped us come us with this alternative. I just had to make sure I didn't use red ink!! If you're Chinese I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who aren't: Red ink on white paper is symbolic of a death threat. My mother told me that when people were executed (when she was young), their announcement or whatever would be red ink on white paper. I'm not sure if that's still the case, but traditionally that's what it means. She said it was ok to have the double happiness red though.

 

[msb700]

to echo what everyone else has already said, u did an amazing job with the preparations and the designs, ideas! ur really talented and it shows in ur work..

im not really a fan of fake flowers, but urs are truly amazing and look so natural! (and good work on the designs as well)

everything looks magnificent and ur love shines thru it all...best of luck!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I got my red envelopes today and I bought a gold ink pen to write addresses on them. It looks SO COOL!!!

 

[blueroses]

Wow. You could really make a little side-career of this--or right a book, article, etc. as others have suggested. You have a GIFT! It''s going to be really beautiful!!!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Hmmm... That's a thought... Wonder if it would make me some money?

Thanks so much for the compliment!

 

[BrightSpot]

Wow, Jenn, everything looks amazing! I can''t tell you how impressed I am with all of your lovely details & how you were able to keep it all within budget! I agree with blueroses--you should start a business! You definitely have a gift.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The Bridal Shoot..

My photographer's wife recently visited some gardens in Mobile, AL that she thought would be perfect for my bridal shoot. Even though it's about an hour away, my photographer is really itching for something new to photograph, and said he would love to shoot there. There isn't much to photograph in Pensacola for weddings and such. You basically have the beach, the forts on the Navy Base and the beach, and some parts of historical downtown. He's basically shot all those places a million times from a million angles and he's excited to shoot in these gardens. I can't wait either, because there's an oriental garden that would be perfect for pictures with my qipao (if I can ever find a new one that fits). The rest of the gardens are beautiful too.

Here's some pics of the oriental garden from the garden's website:

 

[sunkist]

oh Aphi, those gardens will be wonderful for bridal photos. You recently posted a picture of your qipao. Is that one not going to work now? It was so pretty!

Your flower for the cake topper are amazing! They look so real and you''ve make a beautiful arragement!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Yeah, when I posted it I said it doesn't fit. My chest is just too big and as much as I would like to have them reduced, I can't do it just for a wedding.

I'll have to keep searching and maybe pay a lot more for one that actually fits. The original dress I posted also was shipped with a stain that won't come out so it wouldn't be wearable if it did fit. I got a new dress in a different style as replacement, but it's smaller than the first one!! I just gave up with this company. Good thing I didn't spend but 30 bucks and got two dresses. I'll resell the second one sometime to recoup some of the lost money.

ETA: Thanks for the compliments. I'm pretty proud of my flowers. I just finished the flowers for the middle of the cake too. I'll post pictures soon.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Have you found one for yourself yet??

 

[aphisiglovessae]

The flower arrangements...

I finally finished both big flower arrangements. My mom is really going to hate the fact that there's a lot of pink in it. She hates pink. But I couldn't help it, that's almost all I had to choose from. Red orchids and lilies were almost impossible to find and I wanted colors they came in naturally. I'm hoping that since everything else in the wedding is red, they'll blend in and won't be so obviously pink. Sigh....

Here's some more pictures. Sorry the colors look dull and icky, it's a cloudy day here and that was the best photoshop could do to fix it.

Do they suck?? I'm not sure...

 

[sunkist]

Date: 3/16/2006 6:59:39 PM
Author: aphisiglovessae
Have you found one for yourself yet??

Hi Aphi, I just saw your post in LIW about a question for me over here! Sorry it took me so long to see it

No, I haven't found one for me yet. I've only been searching online because I'm not even engaged yet

Let's seeee 3 more months and I think he'll ask the question! I'm starting to verbalize more of the styles I want and the diamonds I want to get, and he's said several times that we can go try on rings or buy a stone, but when it comes down to it he's still wary of doing this stuff online. Even though he buys plenty of expensive stuff online... Anyway , sorry this is so off topic from your wonderful wedding thread

So about cheongsams- I want a red one, but not too bright of red since I'm a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed white girl

I REALLY like the one that Albicocca has posted from Shanghai Tang!!! I think maybe a mix of red and orange would look good with my skin tone? Another thing is I need one with short sleeves as opposed to sleeveless. Most of the cheongsams that I see online are sleeveless.

Will you buy another one online or at a dress shop?

ETA: and NO! your flower arrangment do not suck!

They feel very South-Pacific to me