The Good News: Etsy is Awesome (The Bad News: David's Bridal alterations, not so awesome)

One of my bridesmaid's introduced me to Etsy.  I'd never used the site, but it is addictive and is full of fantastic wedding items.  I'd been trying to decide what to do about the Guest Book- do we do a traditional one or Wedding Mad-Libs?  I'd been looking on Amazon.com for guest books, but most were fairly plain or covered in white satin (which isn't really our thing). However, I found tons of "rustic" guest book options on Etsy, many of which were under $40:

I won't tell you which one we chose, because we want it to be a surprise.  We also found lots of cake topper options.  I'd always thought I'd want this cake topper:

BUT it doesn't really go with cupcakes, and frankly, the characters could use some modernization. Etsy to the rescue (I won't say which one we picked, but there is obviously a theme going on here):

In other news, David's Bridal alterations screwed up my dress.  Nothing that isn't fixable, but definitely annoying.  I had asked to have it hemmed, and when I went in for my fitting today, I found that their hem of the lower layers of my dress (which they did by pulling up the center rather than just hemming at the bottom) left a lovely line across my bum.  It was like they had just rolled up part of the lining and sewn it there, leaving a lump which was plainly visible beneath the outer layer of my dress.  At least the really nice alterations lady noticed it even before I did and was very annoyed at the person who had done the alterations.  She told me they would have it fixed by the 8th, 10 days before my wedding.  I'm in no way a Bridezilla, but if it isn't done right next time, I may get a bit upset- I paid $120 for a simple hem, and frankly, since all they do is alter wedding dresses, they should be able to do a simple hem correctly. 

DIY Centerpieces

Look at all the pretties!

You can in fact do DIY centerpieces for under $150 and with only about three hours of work- IF you have some good friends willing to help you.  Last night my bridesmaid and maid of honor helped me put together all the centerpieces, bouquets/boutonnieres, and other decorations.  Everything we are using to decorate with was purchased on sale from either Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabrics.  We used fake flowers because a) fake flowers can be made well in advance of an event and stored in less than favorable conditions (like jammed in a box) and survive well and b)  flowers are expensive, and florists even more so.  

Our centerpieces are made from:

- "rustic" cans purchased at $0.30 each from Michael's clearance section

- silk gerbera daisies in "bunches" ($1.11 each) cut apart with wire cutters

- gravel (to weight down the cans and keep the flowers upright) purchased from Home Depot for $2.50 (for 30 lbs!)

- Chalkboard table picks, $12.99 for 12 from Michael's (we only used 7, since we only have 7 tables)

We made slightly more expensive centerpieces for the head table, which were made the same way only with two large watering cans ($7.99 each), a larger set of silk flowers ($2.99 each), and raffia bows. 

Janelle, my bridesmaid who is a DIY goddess, also figured out to make the bouquets using floral tape, white ribbon, and raffia to hold it all together.  She also figured out how to make boutonnieres for the two guys. We had a slight problem with what to do for our "groomsperson", Laurel.  Luckily, she is wearing a gray version of the bridesmaid's dress, which includes a pocket, so we just tucked a flower in there, and voila! 

DIY Wedding Favors

Well, mostly DIY.  I bought the favors off of a bulk candy online store, as mentioned a few days ago, and had planned to put stickers on them with names and tables, or maybe puff paint on the ribbons.  Neither looked very good.  Then I hit upon a brilliant idea- why not use the rest of the paper from the wedding invitation kit?  I have about 25 pieces of green paper, which is definitely enough for 64 tags, and I have a calligraphy pen.  My handwriting isn't very pretty, but I think it works.  Here's what I made:

This came to me at 10pm tonight, while sick no less.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

In other news, is there a law that 1/4 of your guest list will just refuse to RSVP on time?  Jason and I have almost 20 people we need to call about their RSVP.  (We made the RSVPs due the 15th- about a month before the wedding.)  I want to get everything for the wedding done in the next week so that I can study for my exams without being distracted by (more fun) wedding things to do!

Cupcakes! (And spiders?)

Our cake tasting!

It's official- we're doing cupcakes!  Today the MOH and I went out to the burbs to try a cupcake place, and they were fantastic.  The bakery is called Aracely's, and it's a lovely little shop in downtown LaGrange (in the words of my MOH, "it's like a small town on a post card!").  The owner's husband met us with a plate of cupcakes to try- Carrot Cake, Red Velvet, Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate.  They were all fantastic, but we choose two (if you know me well enough you can probably guess which two I picked).  He walked us through the options and helped us come up with a few ways to personalize them- Jason's will be Chicago Bears themed, and mine will have flowers.  We were going to try to do something archaeology related, but the best we could come up with that they could do would be a whip like Indiana Jones, and we thought that just might send the wrong message.  Aracely's even sent us home with a few for Jason, since he couldn't be there to try them (he just had them for dinner).

The cost for the cupcakes was a bit of a splurge (around $250), BUT it eliminates a lot of hassle on the day of the wedding transporting cakes/cupcakes from Chicago to Willow Springs.  We also took care of mapping out the table arrangement at the site, as well as making a rather unfortunate discovery at the picnic grove- spiders and wasps.  I think we'll have to go the night before and spray some Raid.

Die wasps, DIE!

Rentals, Cakes, and Other Things I Don't Want To Deal With

I'm sure that I'm not the first person, and certainly won't be the last, to say "I'll be glad when this wedding thing is over."  If you want to save money, every single decision requires monumental research on multiple companies, phone calls, etc.  I'm so tired of it.  But, at least a few things I have been sorted out.

First off, I finally found a rental company.  We had originally planned on borrowing chairs/tables from Jason's work, but they couldn't supply enough of them AND we'd have to rent a truck to move them out to Willow Springs, it just became a better idea to rent.  A few weeks of research later I found Ultimate Rental Services.  In terms of prices for each thing, I've found better, but they cut me a break on the delivery/set-up/pick-up.  Our total for 64 chairs, 11 tables, and a generator, including delivery, set-up, and pick-up was $468.  They'll have everything set up by 9am the morning of the wedding (they'll even handle tear-down!), and the guy I spoke with, Martin, was fantastic.

This cake is exactly what I would want if
I could have anything I wanted for my wedding.

In our plan to save money, Jason came up with the idea of baking our own cakes.  His idea was to bake 5 9x13 sheet cakes, each decorated with something to represent an aspect of our relationship.  For example, there would be a cake decorated with fish, because we met at the aquarium.  There would even be a Tardis cake, because we both love Doctor Who (okay, honestly, Jason just loves Amy Pond).  However, the logistics of this are very difficult.  When do we bake the cakes?  How do we transport them? Where do we store them the day before the wedding?  The hotel?  Etc, etc. So now I'm thinking of going back to the cupcake route, and buying them from a local bakery.  I really do love the idea of incorporating into the wedding things about our relationship, but cupcakes are just easier.  If I could have anything I want, the Doctor Who cake on the left would be it, but it would be pricey.

In keeping with our "theme" of nature...

We did manage to purchase favors which are cute, practical, and cheap.  We ordered them from the Bulk Candy Store online, and they came out in total, including delivery, to $124 for 72 of them.  We are going to tie white bows on them, and then put stickers on one side that have the name of the guest and what table they are seated. I really hope they taste good!

So basically, as the wedding stands now we have a few of the major things taken care of (catering and alcohol being the 'big' things we still need to do), and 10,000 small things which I just don't want to deal with (like bug control, decorative elements, readings for the ceremony, the bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, actually making all of the centerpieces...).  I now have so much more appreciation for wedding planners. 

Ceremony Music

I'm endeavoring to be as non-traditional a bride as possible: while I've attended some fabulous traditional weddings for family and friends, for our wedding we want to be more casual and fun.  We understand marriage is a serious commitment, but we want to start our marriage off in a way that fits our personalities.  To that end, I've been trying to come up with ceremony music which will convey that sense of fun from the moment guests arrive, while still appeasing the more traditional members of our families.

A quick internet search will find you lots of websites which list non-traditional ceremony music options (some of which are still incredibly traditional).  One wedding site I really like is Offbeat Bride, which has a great list of "Here Comes the Bride" alternatives. It was through them that I decided on the Vitamin String Quartet for our pre-ceremony music.  Since we're just using an iPod and some speakers, we have lots of options. VSQ does string renditions of pop songs, which gives us just enough quirk to make us (and the more pop-culture-savvy attendees) giggle:

 

For the bride's entrance, I've got a few options.  One that I think is nearly perfect is "Once Upon a Time...Storybook Love" (imagine me entering where the music changes at 1:06).  I thought it might be possible to also have the bridesmaids walk in during the first minute of the song, but I'm not sure that's enough time for the two of them.

We also considered music from Doctor Who- in particular, Amy's Theme. It's a bit more dramatic/melancholy, but Jason absolutely LOVES Amy Pond, and we're both big Doctor Who fans (my Tardis cookie jar will definitely be making an appearance at the wedding).  As much as I love the piece, it isn't quite right for our ceremony.

I still have no clue what to do for the bridesmaids- I only have two, so it shouldn't take long to get them down the aisle, but if I do choose the song from Princess Bride, I need to pick something that will mesh well with it.  If anyone has suggestions, feel free to let me know!

Wedding Favors & Other Updates

We've less than two months to our wedding, and Jason and I have been terrible about doing ANYTHING for the wedding.  I think we are just hesitant to spend money or something.  But here are a few updates/tips we've learned:

- Rentals can be really cheap if you opt for non-traditional chairs and tables.  We're looking at having 80 chairs in "neutral brown" ($0.99 a chair) as opposed to wedding white ($1.50 a chair), for a total of $80, plus plain brown tables ($7 a table, 9 tables) for $63.  Plus $50 delivery and pick-up.  This is more expensive than our original plan of borrowing tables and chairs from Jason's work, BUT it saves us $100 on a truck rental, and the time in the morning of going there, loading tables and chairs, driving to the wedding site, unloading, etc.  The company will even do set-up for an additional fee, but I think we can handle that ourselves.

- Alterations at David's Bridal are ridiculously expensive. $120 for a hem! Seriously?  However I did save money on having the dress taken in by buying a ridiculous bra from Victoria's secret which makes you "two bust sizes larger".  Victoria's Secret: False Advertising Since 1977.

- Ebay is the way to go for bridal hairpieces, jewelry, etc.  You can easily find stuff there for a quarter of the cost at a salon.  For example, a bird cage hair piece at David's Bridal is $49.99- I found several on Ebay for $10.  Same thing with veils.

- Deciding on favors to give gifts is really hard.  However, there is so much available online for cheap, it's amazing.  These cupcake mixes are probably my favorite, but we really can't afford to get them- they are $2.29 each.  I found these flower wine stoppers though, which at $1.42 each, are pretty awesome, and really cute too.

.We had originally thought to do monogrammed lollipops, but I feel like we should give guests something more substantial than a lollipop that cost us $0.50.

I just realized- it's July, and our wedding is next month. Yikes!  We'd better get on that!