Thursday, May 21, 2009

Calling all Grooms!

The men in your life may appreciate Mr. Monkey and his hilarious insight on weddings and marriage.

Custom Guestbook


How adorable is this?

Let them eat CAKE!

Hmm, wedding cakes. I thought that I didn't care that much - until it came time to order one. I started pricing out cakes in Charleston - did you know a cake can start at $1375, before the design consultation fee, before the delivery fee, before the craziness?!

So here's a peek at what I have found that I like.

I like the simplicity of this one (minus the flowers):


I love the monogram on this one:

Pink Cake Box Blog

I love the ribbons on this one:


I think I like the pop of color on this one:

From the Knot

Bu
t I think most of all, I like the structure of this one:

(I can't remember where I found this! Sorry!)

So I think I am off to the craft store to buy some supplies to see if I can do the whole paper-flower thing... if so my flower girls will have some beautiful pomanders to carry thanks to Martha and WeddingBee.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Flowers


I got an estimate early on in this wedding planning that the flowers for just my bouquet (white mini-calla lilies) and my 5 bridesmaid's bouquets (mango mini-calla lilies) would be nearly $1000.00 - aka TOO MUCH. At least on this budget-bride's budget, TOO MUCH.

Some people have suggested that I use silk flowers instead, but they cost as much as real stems and don't look like them.

My solution: Wholesale flowers. I am getting my mini-callas for less than $2 per stem, and calla bouquets are SUPER easy to put together. Just check out these youtube clips for corsages, boutonnieres, and bouquets (1 and 2).

My entire floral bill will be about $150 for My bouquet, 5 bridesmaids bouquets, 5 corsages, and 12 boutonnieres. Chump change compared to the $1000 I was quoted for fewer products!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Bridesmaids and Shoes and MY Dress and MORE!

I know. I know I know I know. It has been FOREVER since I posted anything here - it's been since February! But I am back, I have graduated, I am jobless, and there are 59 days to the wedding so I will be here frequently!

Bridesmaids:
When I was choosing bridesmaids, I automatically had 4 in mind. The 5th girl I was going to ask was going to be out of the country during the wedding, which I learned before I asked her. So I asked another really good friend and she replied that she would love to - but she was moving to ALASKA and wasn't sure she'd make the wedding. Bummer. So I hemmed and hawed (is that a word?) and decided to ask a new friend. She said yes! Good to go with 5 bridesmaids, perfect to even out the 5 groomsmen. Until... 5th bridesmaid all of a sudden has something come up and can no longer make it to the wedding. I am now on 4th string 5th bridesmaid - whoever I ask will know this. Anyway, I regrouped and asked my childhood best friend, less than 3 months before the wedding. Fortunately, she pulled through for me and has been AWESOME! Thanks so much girl!

Dresses they have chosen, in the tentative order they will be standing:

(All dresses are from David's Bridal.)

As far as shoes, I was torn between going with a champagne color that might match the guys' khaki suits (from Belk's) and going with orange shoes that would tie in the other wedding color. Figuring the girls would never go for orange shoes, and knowing my sister was throwing a hissy fit not only about her dress but also about the champagne-colored shoes I had already chosen, I emailed the girls with the following shoes options:

Left: David's Bridal Style Jada
Right: Payless Shoes Style Karaway

Somehow the girls chose the orange shoes, which is fine with me! Now I just have to find myself some hot shoes to wear under my dress.

Speaking of my dress, I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and it should be in on Monday!!! I would post it on here but I don't want any chance that Caleb will see it before the wedding. Which is, coincidentally, in less than 8 weeks!!!