Escort Cards - sort of

I found this cute idea in the DIY section over on Style Me Pretty .
Here it's used as a table number but I thought I could use them as escort cards. Since my colors are aqua and white with crystal and silver elements, I will use white bags but the ones slightly smaller than the ones shown here. The problem with the white ones though is that they have no handles. I got 25 for $2.99 from Michael's. I got 2 packages but I don't think i'll be using all of them. I also don't think i'll be using strawberries. I'll work on it and post a pic when i'm done. In the mean time just feast your eyes on these delicious little beauties.

What are your ideas for table numbers/escort cards.

DIY Napkins

I don't want any disposables at my wedding. Well that's not quite true, the drinks from the bar will be in clear plastic cups since guests will most likely be walking around or dancing with their drinks. This will limit the extent of potential accidents. The dinner tables will have no disposables however. I've kinda given up on looking for prices online. I've resigned myself to the idea that i'll be making pretty much everything myself with the help of friends and family, of course.



So here's my idea for my napkins. I found this napkin making tutorial and it looks easy enough. I bought these white twin sheets from Ikea for $1.99 and was able to cut out (28) 15" squares. I will then hem 1/2 inch all around and end up with 14 1/2 in square napkins. If this works, then the cost of 80 napkins for my entire guest list will be about $6 for the cost of 3 sheets plus the cost of thread. Stay tuned.

What are your plans for linens?

Happy Turkey Day everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving day to all the beautiful brides (and grooms) and their families. Don't forget ladies, we have to squeeze our litle fannies into our sexy dresses, so not too much stuffing now.

The Top Ten Hair Mistakes Brides Make

According to Project Wedding.

1. You forget your veil or headpiece. The veil factors into your overall look, and its length and style may determine if you’ll want to wear your hair up or down. If the veil hasn’t arrived yet, ask the bridal salon to loan you a sample, or at least bring along a photo when consulting with your hairdresser.

2. You cut your hair days before the wedding. Stay away from the scissors and don’t plan on getting a haircut right before the big day. Instead, do it a month or two prior to the wedding to ensure that you like the cut and it will work with the hairstyle you’ve chosen.

3. You don’t carefully choose your stylist. You will remember your wedding day forever, so choose someone you trust to style your hair. If your hairdresser doesn’t typically do wedding hairstyles, ask him or her for a recommendation, or speak with friends or other brides who have had hairstyles you’ve admired.

4. You experiment with hair color.
Talk to your stylist about how you envision your hair on the big day, and let your colorist know if you are planning on wearing your hair up or down. It’s also not advisable to dramatically change your hair color before the wedding. You want to look like an enhanced version of you, not someone completely different.

5. You only try one style. Just as you tried on several wedding dresses (even if you knew the first one was the best), have your stylist show you at least three different looks based on your description of what you want.

6. You go to your consultation without any ideas. Pictures speak louder than words. Gather photos (e.g., from magazines) of hairstyles you like. This will give the stylist an idea of the kind of style you’re seeking. The stylist can’t make you look like the person in the picture, but he or she can attempt to copy the hair as long as the texture and length are not an issue.


7. You forget about touch-ups. If it’s in your budget, consider having the stylist stay after the ceremony and throughout the evening to do touch-ups to your hair—or even give you a completely different look. If the expense is too high, ask the stylist for tips on how to touch up your own hair during the reception.

8. You forget about the dress. Your hair should always complement your gown. Select your gown first and then decide on the hairstyle with your stylist.

9. You think short hair is your only option. If your cute bob doesn't jive with your dream of having long locks on the big day, ask your stylist for extensions. This temporary fix can be a perfect solution.

10. You forget about the groom. Although you’ll be the focus of the big day, you will want his hair to look just as good. Make sure the groom gets a good haircut a week before the wedding.

Wine and Cake

In keeping with my crystal theme, I wanted my wine glasses to be crystal. Not for all the guests but for us and maybe the wedding party tables. The prices for crystal glasses were out of this world. Like these here from Waterford cost $100 for 4.


Tiffany had these beauties for $40 each.

That was the case with all my searches. I however have an account with Macy's and they occasionally (and by occasionally, I mean all the time) send me sales brochures, catalogues and coupons. Last summer a friend of mine was visiting from the Caribbean and wanted to go there, so I browsed through the brochure to see what deals she could get and voila, there they were

and the really great part was that they cost $26 for 4 of each set. Just for that day however, there was a coupon that could be used to bring the price down to $9.99 for 4. Thank you Shirley Ann! If I hadn't been looking for sales for her, I would never have found them. I was able to get 32 crystal glasses for $80 making it $2.50 each and I can use them in my house after. Service for 8, yay! I got 8 of each, water glasses, wine glasses, champagne flutes and liquor glasses. That takes care of us and our wedding party.

Our cake knife and server had to also be in the crystal family and of course everywhere I looked they cost an arm and a leg until I went to walmart to look for Thomas DVDs for my son. There they were on sale for $9.97. I was lucking out everywhere.
aren't they purty?

My Guest book

Now I had a really hard time with my guest book. I didn't want the blah white book with one line for a name and well wishes that ran anywhere from $14 for the really really plain ones to the high forties for the ones with slightly more embellishment. I started researching as usual and saw tons and tons of good stuff. Some I would probably use like the wishing well and others I wouldn't dream of using like the clothesline with paper pinned to it for each person to write their wish ( a bit much for me) and definitely not within my theme. Since i'm an 'outside the box' type of person, I wanted to do something that was my own or at least tweak someone else's idea to make it my own.

An idea that had me salivating was this gorgeous photo book. It's exactly the type of thing I wanted and it came in white and pastel blue, either of which I could use.

The concept is to take polaroid pictures of your guests when they arrive at the ceremony and they get printed instantly. You then place the pictures in the book and during the reception, the guests can find their pictures and write their wishes next to them. I mean isn't that so cool? One of the biggest problems with the regular guest book is that people wish you well but not print their names and you're left wondering just who wrote what. This was one way of solving that.There was a huge problem however - THE PRICE! The cheapest I could find was $59 and then I had to find a polaroid camera, (not the easiest thing to find these days). Where the heck was I going to find a poloroid camera? I went to the source of all sources, Ebay and found some but they were really expensive and then I would have to find film, another issue since these things are not being made anymore and I was told that the film expires so I had to be careful not to buy expired film on ebay. Sheesh!

So I decided to research alternatives of a similar vein and found this kit It cost $147. The kit includes the book of only 30 pages, the instant camera, and the film for 40 photos. You can add more pages and extra film for extra money.

This meant that I could only take 40 photos and place 30 into the book. That just wouldn't do since I have 80 guests and they're not all couples, plus there was realy no way I was going to spend that kind of money on a guest book, however cute and definitely not with my budget. I was determined to get what I wanted however for about $20 even if I had to make it myself. Well I didn't have to. Out of the blue, Oh my goodness!! I remembered the guest book I had used for my son's shower. It was perfect, except that I had already used half of it for the shower. I felt it would be a little tacky to use the same book with pictures and well wishes from my friends at the shower so I went down to papyrus to see if I could get another one. I had paid $24 for it. Did I mention it was the perfect color?
and the inside


But alas, it was not to be. Papyrus didn't carry it anymore and they didn't have any guest books other than the same boring old white stuff. I was thoroughly frustrated at that point. Just when I had such a eureka moment and thought I had solved my problem.

Since I work only 2 blocks away from Papyrus, I checked back often to see if I'd have any luck. Just maybe they'd find one in the back under a box or something. You see I now had it firmly in my head that that was the book for me.

After about 2 weeks of driving the sales people crazy, a darling young man called me (I had left my number, and my email address - desperate much?) he said that they had received some books and although he didn't know if it was what I wanted that I should come and check. Needless to say I was there before you could say 'wedding-planning-driving-me-crazy'.

I found the most PERFECT little book. I mean everything about it was perfect.

First of all, it's aqua. It has this really great picture on the front with the word BEGIN on the front. I mean how appropriate is that. And to top it off, there's a little butterfly on the bottom. Butterflies just happen to be one of my favorite things.

And if that wasn't great enough, it's like they tailor-made the inside just for me. On the left page, there are lines for writing whatever you want and on the right page is a space with a border that fits a 4x6 picture and it only cost $16.95. And it has space for 100 pictures. If you look really closely, you can kinda see it. I am estatic and ranting.
I can have someone take pictures of guests as they arrive at the ceremony and print them during the cocktail hour. We can then circulate the book during the reception so guests can put in their thoughts.

Sigh, I'm soooo happy.

Accessories

I really want to have a tiffany "little blue box" wedding and i've tried to really stay true to that in many ways. This is my DIY ring pillow.

Similar ones sell for $24 and up. I was able to make mine for $3 and if I do say so myself, I think it's adorable. Really what's the point of spending a fortune on something that will be used for 30 minutes. I still want everything to be pretty and classy but I'm not going to keep them after the wedding so to me splurging on them is not important to me.

My card box is like the one shown here from wedding main street. It cost $100 or something crazy like that. I made mine for the cost of the wrapping paper which was $13. I picked up shoe boxes from payless and wrapped them with the paper like presents. I bought some ribbon for $1 and a huge bow for $1.99 from Michaels and used some rhinestones that I picked up from a craft store somewhere in North Carolina for $3 for three bags of 120 each. My bow is alot bigger than the one shown here. It covers the entire top of the top box. I didn't put a picture here because it's not assembled now. I wouldn't be able to store it, since it's so high. Tiffany blue gift wrapping paper is very expensive and I looked everywhere before committing to this one from Sophie's Favors It is the exact shade.

My flower girl basket has been reassigned to being the bubble basket. Since I was told my ceremony venue (the park) won't allow flower petals, my flower girl will carry an aqua pomander made from tissue paper hung from a ribbon and my bubble wands will be placed in this basket.
I was told it looked like something from Claire's anyway. Since I made it for about $3, I don't feel so bad and I still get to use it for something else. I'll give it to my flower girl when we're done.

These are my cute little aqua bubbles that i'm going to tie a sheer white ribbon to.

MY FH and I - Borrowed from another blog

So I got this from another bride's blog who also borrowed it from another bride, so share and share alike. Just copy and paste into yours and make the necessary changes to your answers.


1. What are your middle names?

Solange (yucky) and Anthony (my son's first name).

2. How long have you been together?
3 years!


3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
One year exactly. We met and he gave me his number, I didn't call because there was alot going on with me at the time. We met a year later and he gave me his number again.

4. Who asked who out?
I called him about a month after he gave me his number the second time and he asked me to the movies the following saturday.


5. How old are each of you?
I am 33 and he will be 39 soon.

6. Did you go to the same school?
We both grew up in different countries, so.....

7. Are you from the same home town?
See answer to 6.


8. Who is the smartest?
It depends on who you ask but I think we're both smartest at different things. He's very into politics and is much smarter at that stuff than me, I however know the answers to all kinds of trivia, important or not so much.

9. Who majored in what?
He has a masters in public health and I have a BA in Accounting (almost).

10. Who is the most sensitive?
Definitely me. He never allows himself to get too emotional, annoys me sometimes. He get's upset when all these people cry on reality shows. In all fairness, I do too.

11. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We live in New York and we've been to North Carolina to visit his parents and we recently went to Florida for a week.

12. Who has the worst temper?
Well, I think it's me since i've never seen him really lose his, I certainly have. (many a time).

13. How many children do you want?
We already have a wonderful, beautiful, adorable son but we (especially me) want one more, preferably a little girl.

14. Who does the cooking?
Mostly me, but Saturday is his day and sometimes he will pitch in during the week if he gets home first and I give him detailed instructions.

15. Who is more social?
I would say both of us are pretty social, so i'd say equal.

16. Who is the neat freak?
Neither of us, I try to keep the house moderately clean but with a 2 year old, it's pretty difficult. I enjoy playing with my son alot more than washing dishes or washing floors.

17. Who is the most stubborn?
Definitely him, I think i'm really good at compromising, although I have to say he's getting better.

18. Who wakes up earlier?
Me, I don't have a choice. When my son wakes up, I gotta jump. He wakes up sometimes, especially if i'm not well or extremely tired.

19. Where was your first date?
At the AMC theater on 42nd Street in NYC.

20. Who has the bigger family?
He does, although he only has 4 siblings and I have 5. He has alot of Aunts and Uncles and cousins and neices and nephews and I dont since my mon is an only child and my Dad has one sister.

21. Do you get flowers often?
Not as much as I'd like.

22. How do you spend the holidays?
Thanksgiving at Granpa's (his not mine), Xmas at my sister's and the rest of the smaller holidays, we just spend it with each other really.

23. Who is more jealous?
We honestly haven't had any opportunity to be jealous. We're pretty committed to each other.

24. How long did it take to get serious?
Immediately. From the first date, we've been inseparable since. We moved in together after 3 months of dating.

25. Who eats more?
He does although I come in a close second.

26. What do you do for a living?
He is a Health Educator/Councellor and I'm an Operations Manager for a small investment company.

27. Who does the laundry?
He does ours and I do the baby's.

28. Who's better with the computer?
DEFINITELY ME!

29. Who drives when you are together?
Him all the time, cause he likes to take charge and I like to be driven.

30. What is your song?
We don't have a song that is 'ours'. We need to find one, maybe we will from the songs chosen for the wedding ceremony.

Flower Power

Crystal bouquets to me are so elegant and so in keeping with my tiffany, crystal theme. I first heard about them from this message board at favorideas.com. Another Tiffany bride mentioned that she had used one for herself and real flowers for her ladies. I had never even heard of crystal bouquets. So what did I do next? I googled it of course and all kinds of things popped up including the price. As usual everything that says wedding has to be priced sky high. They started at $450 per bouquet. Are you kidding me? Then I saw this wonderful post from one of the knotties over at The KnotShe gave detailed instructions on how to make them and there were lots of wonderful photos of the finished product by other knotties. For some reason I can't find the link that took me there but .Project Wedding had a similar one. The task seemed a little daunting but i'm a DIYer damn it.

I have since finished all 5 bouquets using crystal and silver beads and ribbon from Micheals. It was a relatively simple process but very time consuming and tedious. Boy my fingers hurt from pinching that wire. Ok so i'm getting ahead of myself. Here is one of my babies. This one is for my bridesmaid.



The pictures don't do it any justice at all.It's not dolled up with the ribbon yet. I'm using silver wired ribbon to wrap around the stem and then let some flow down past the stems.

I love, love,love my bouquets. Believe it or not, this bouquet is made up of 500 stems with 500 beads. 400 crytsal and 100 silver. A pack of 550 cost $3.99, I bought 4 and a pack of 400 silver cost $2.99, I bought 1 and used 40% off coupons so it was a steal. $450 my aunt Fanny and that was just the starting point. I also bought a pack of aqua beads from a craft store in North Carolina when I went there for a week in August 2008. (I pick things up everywhere I go, always on the prowl). I wanted to make mine a bit different from that of my ladies so I made them aqua and crystal instead of silver. I also made it bigger - 600 crystal and 140 aqua beads. They were the perfect shade. Shiny, shiny, shiny. Boy oh boy how they sparkle. I can only imagine the brilliance of all five sparkling in the sunshine at our outdoor wedding. ohhh, I can hardly wait!

What to wear, what to wear

When we chose our attendants, the main thing I wanted them to know is that I didn't want anyone to feel like they had to go out and spend alot of money because I know what the economy is like now (as does everybody else).

My FH is wearing a Michael Kors (his favorite) black suit that I got from Macy's during a men's sale for an awesome price. The cost of renting a suit or tux is ridiculous, although I think there's a promotion at Men's warehouse where the groom get's his tux for free if you rent for the other groomsmen, but I figured if the guys already had black suits then that would be one less thing for them to pay for and who doesn't have a black suit. Now it's their choice entirely if they want to go out and buy or rent a new suit.
My FH was a groomsman at a wedding 2 years ago and the tux and shoe rental were something like $280 - $300 and had to be returned early the very next day or he would incur additional rental charges and they weren't even that great in the first place. The suit I got him cost $450 but I got it for $182 and we don't have to return it the next day or any other day. This is not the exact one in the photo but it is a two button suit very similar and he can always rent or buy a vest if he really wants one.
from macys.com

From day one, I already said that I didn't want the guys to wear tuxes but just black suits. I don't even care if they all wear different suits, just as long as they're black, but they'll all wear a white shirt, the same tie (pictured here) I got them from Amazon.com for $15 each. So for those already owning a suit their final cost is $15 for a tie and black shoes if they don't have any. Oh and a white shirt. They may want a new one.


Our wedding party is made up of two ring bearers who are my nephew and his nephew respectively; a pretty little flower girl who is my niece; my sister who is my matron of honor; three groomsmen who are my FH's friends since they were kids, and three bridesmaids who are my two cousins and my FH's sister. Our son will be dressed like his daddy and serve as a best baby. So he'll have a best man and best baby.

The ringbearers will wear black suits which I already know they own, with white shirts and aqua or white ties, whichever one is easier or cheaper to find.
So their total cost would be about $10 for a tie.

The bridesmaids will wear this really great dress that I got from promgirl.com. It is perfect for an outdoor event and since they're all really thin, the fact that it is pretty revealing is no problem.
The dress is really light turquoise/aqua but the true color isn't captured here.
They'll wear silver heeled sandals and very little jewelry since the dress itself has so much natural bling. There are stones around the waist and a circular brooch like thing with tons of crystals that links the right sleeve/strap to the rest of the dress. Very pretty.


My matron of honor is wearing something else in the same color but we haven't found a dress for her yet. My sister thinks she has all the time in the world.

My flower girl will wear an adorable white dress from David's bridal with a pool sash and pretty silver ballet slippers.

AS FOR ME, I have a dress from David's bridal that I kinda like but as any wedding planner will tell you, your dress should make you cry or at least speechless the first time you try it on. My dress doesn't do that for me. I like it but I don't get that aaaahhhhh when I put it on. Here's a picture.
It's a pretty dress but I just don't know. I tried selling it on this website and when the first person showed any interest, I pulled the ad. I'm just not sure what I want to do about it. I'm afraid that if I sell it, I won't get something else at the price that I paid for it in a style that I like or love. Then again, i'm afraid that on my wedding day, I won't feel the way I'd want to not loving the dress. If I see a dress that I really like at a price that I like, I would probably buy it but then i'll be stuck with two dresses and if I sell mine before hand then I may not find another. UUGGGGGHHHH! I just don't know what to do.

Cake or cupcakes?

Stacked tiffany boxes were my perfect image of my wedding cake when I first picked our theme but once again sticker shock got me. It's the word wedding man, I tell ya! I thought that uuhhmm maybe I would attempt my cake on my own but as big a DIYer as I am, even I pick my battles. I'm no baker so I won't attempt to make a wedding cake to feed 80 people. My sister in law (my brother's wife)is a really great baker but she says she has problems with fondant which is what I would my boxes covered with. It just makes for a smoother consistency which I think is the best for square cakes.Plus the cake cutting may be an additional cost since cake cutting fees can really add up. My future sister in law is also an excellent baker and we've gone through different cake ideas but i'm not sure where she is on fondant.

Here are some of pictures of what I had in mind. I love the stacked look and this way I would just need a fondant bow, so no need to buy a cake toppper. yay! one less thing to add to my budget.







The last one would be aqua an white though, not pink. I'm not sure where I got those pictures from. I see so many pictures during my countless searches and I just copy them to my computer without their labels or websites so if anyone sees their pictures here, i'm not taking any credit for them. I honestly don't remember who to give credit to. My apologies. In future, I will make sure I get all the necessary info since i'm now reposting.

Another idea i'm toying with if the stacked boxes don't work out, is cupcakes. They're really gaining popularity at weddings these days and pretty much anyone can make cupcakes, even me. I just have to find a good recipe.
I've seen so many pictures of cupcakes in all kinds of colors and beautiful displays.
from marthastewartweddings.com

I even saw square cupcakes, I thought they were soooooo gorgeous and alot classier than round cupcakes. Plus they would be in keeping with my tiffany box theme.

This one is from sweetdesigns.com

Most weddings i've been to (and i've been to many), the wedding cake would go to waste because most people are so stuffed after cocktails and dinner that they just have a few bites. After spending so much money on a cake only to not have it eaten, to me is a big waste of money. So at least with cupcakes, they have the option of taking it with them in the clear boxes that I will provide if I decide to go that route. They can be covered with aqua icing or even aqua fondant with a white icing or fondant ribbon. Hmmmm, i'm really loving this idea.

I'm kinda torn between the cupcake shapes. One of the advantages to the round cupcake is how easy it is to frost or ice them. Just use an icing bag with your favorite icing or frosting and perfectomundo! Square cupcakes however need to be iced all over I think to look their best and I have never seen square cupcake cups. But round or square, cupcakes are an uber gorgeous and much cheaper idea. I can also have a combination of square cupcakes and a large square cake for cutting like this one. These are adorable.
This one from ivcc.co.uk


Then there's the idea having a small 2 or 3 tier stacked tiffany square cake for cake cutting on a cake pedestal and cupcakes on a cupcake stand for the guests.
I can have my cousin who is a construction worker make me a cake stand using plywood or MDF. I thought I could get some white satin fabric and have him cover plywood cut into 4 squares measuring 18", 14", 10" and 6" from bottom to top, then I could place the aqua cakes on those shelves or teirs and it would kinda look like a tiered cake. I think it would look really lovely. Any one of those options would be lovely actually.

Where in the world?

I have a little over eight months left and I still haven't booked a place yet. I've always wanted to have an outdoor ceremony and I had the perfect place. A friend of a friend offered me her home in Connecticut. She had over 2 acres of land, an outdoor pool for hosting cocktails around and everything just seemed to fit perfectly and the best part is that it was free. Well since the hated economy pulled the stunt that it did, she now has her house on the market, so that's out. So then I started calling up country clubs or other wedding sites, I couldn't believe the prices they were asking to host an outdoor ceremony and a reception indoors. It seemed crazy to spend that much money on a five hour event, even if it is my wedding. I realised that it was pretty much the same thing every where I called or visited. Apparentely when vendors hear the word wedding, their prices suddenly quadruple. It's ridiculous.

I kept seeing a park as a good option on many websites or blogs, so I called up my park and recreations city office and was told that I could have my wedding there for only - wait for it- $25 for the permit. That's it, that's the only cost, and I can take all the pictures I want after or before the ceremony. And guess what, I have just the park, it's so pretty. My FH and I are going to drive there in a few days to see where the best spot would be for us. I'll take some pictures for you.

There are a few issues with that option though, for instance I can't use any flower petals or anything that will cause any damage like stakes in the ground or anything like that. Honestly, that's not a problem for me. The park has such pretty flowers and well manicured grass that I wouldn't need to do that much anyway. I also have the option of having a beach wedding since the park borders the beach. I may get seats for our grandparents, but I figured the other guests won't mind standing for a 30 minute ceremony. I could rent chairs but I think it would be a really big hassle since they would have to be delivered way in advance and because it's a public park, someone would have to be there to watch over them and that's just too much. It would take hours to set up and deliver and pick up and clean up for a 30 minute ceremony and I just don't want to give that hassle to anyone. It should be a happy day for everybidy especially us. I don't want to have to worry about anything.

Wedding Plans

I started planning this wedding since 2008 so I had a really great head start. The internaet has been my alpha to zeta. I mean i've researched every and anything, from the order of the wedding ceremony to wedding night do's and dont's. I mean everything. Every night after I put my son to bed, it's surfing time. I even "research" at work (shhh don't tell anyone).

Believe it or not, in spite of having tons of stuff done already, I still don't know where the wedding will take place. I have some ideas though. I'll keep you posted.

So this is how we met.

So it's September 2005 and I walk into the Doctor's office and this really nice guy helps me through the process of registering and really went out of his way to just help me get comfortable. Hmmmmm, I thought, there aren't that many nice guys left anymore. My sister who was with me kept saying, "I think he likes you".

Anyway,we talked for a little while and then he gave me his number. I took it and put it in a drawer and forgot about it since I had just moved and wasn't really looking for a relationship at that point. He crossed my mind every now and then though. A year later, same scenario. Again he gave me his number and I took it home. About a month after that, I came across his number and decided to call. Well we talked for ages and made a date to go to the movies the next weekend. We went out for the first time on August 26th, 2006 to the AMC theater on 42nd street in NYC and saw Idlewild starring Outcast. We have been inseparable since.

We moved in together 3 months after our first date, have now been together 3 wonderful years, have a beautiful little boy who's about to turn 2 in a few days and are finally getting married August 7th, 2010.