A Few Quick Updates

Last Friday Night we went to the design lady that does flower-less centerpieces. She had some good ideas at a very reasonable price. So we have to think about it.

Saturday Morning we went to our florist appointment to discover that she forgot all about our appointment. So it was a sloppy appointment on her end since she was not ready. All in all, she was nice and had great ideas, but I think she is going to be way too expensive.

So we totally need to keep looking for another florist ASAP!

Saturday Afternoon we went to our cake tasting. And it went awesome! We booked him.

I showed him the design of my butter cream version of my fondant cake that I designed…We were pretty much able to stick with the butter cream version of my dream wedding cake. I am actually really excited about it. I think it is going to look really awesome! :)

At first Jon and I decided we were going to get every tier in chocolate. But then the baker asked us, “what about people who don’t like chocolate?” (Which actually includes my dad and my sister.) So then we decided that the top tier that we take home with us is chocolate. And the biggest bottom tier is going to be chocolate with peanut butter mousse! I am very excited for that! And then one of the other bottom tiers will be a marble cake…And then the other tier is going to be a yellow cake. We tasted all of the cake flavors on Saturday, and they all rock!

We also tasted three different butter creams. One was vanilla, one was more yellowy, and the last was chocolate.

The chocolate butter cream was soooo damn good! I was very tempted to order a full chocolate cake with chocolate ganache in between the layers and chocolate butter cream on the outside. But we did not do that.

All of the butter creams were yummy and not too sweet. He said they can adjust the sweetness level or add flavorings to the creams. But we decided to leave them as is. And we chose the white butter cream for the outside of the cake for the simple reason that my final design called for the cake to be mostly white. So that’s that.

I can’t wait until my wedding day to see my design brought to life in my actual wedding cake!! :)

Tomorrow afternoon is our Invitations appointment. So hopefully that goes well.

Oh and last Sunday I finally ordered our Save-The-Dates that a friend of mine designed for us. So hopefully those magnets will be coming in soon!

And those are all of the updates for now! :)

All that I have left to book is a cake baker and a florist. I have had the worst luck trying to book either one!

On January 23'rd we had an appointment with our first cake baker...But I got the stomach bug and we had to cancel. We told them we would reschedule...But we just haven't yet.

Then on January 25th we had an appointment with a second cake baker...We showed up there and they told us that the lady had to go to the hospital...They thought she might be in labor but they weren't sure...They said she'd call me back. Well I haven't heard back from her, nor have I tried calling.

On January 30th we had an appointment with our first florist. When she told me her address, she left out the town...So I assumed it was in one town and she assumed I knew it was in a different town much further away. So I spent a good long time driving up and down the street in the town I thought it was in...Until I finally called her and we realized the mix-up. So we canceled that appointment. And I haven't decided if we are going to reschedule it or not.

Tonight we have a centerpiece appointment for flower-less centerpieces. So we will see how that goes. I saw their booth a bridal show I was at on Sunday. They made really awesome centerpieces without flowers. And used like colored waters and lights and dried ice and stuff. I was hoping it would be original...But if I still use the centerpieces I bought a while ago, then hopefully they can still look classy and elegant. Unless these people have totally different bases they recommend for centerpieces...And then I just have to return all the ones I already bought. So we'll see.

Maybe we'll get there and see their samples and realize that none of them really work for a classy wedding. I don't know.

I am also hoping that they end up being cheaper than having flowers in the vases. And again, unique can be good.

So I figured it can't hurt to look.

Then tomorrow morning we have an appointment with a second florist...But technically our first appointment since it didn't work out with the other one.

And tomorrow afternoon we have an appointment with a third cake baker...But technically our first appointment since it didn't work out with the first two.

If we end up liking the flowerless centerpieces....Then we only need a florist for bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres...As opposed to centerpieces too. Oh wait, do we need flowers for the church ceremony? I don't know...We'll see.

So that's all that has been going on lately.

So we'll see how all of these appointments go.

Oh! And some exciting news...Jon and I totally decided on our honeymoon location!!

Get this...We are going to HAWAII! :)

I am sooooo excited! Because Hawaii has been my dream honeymoon location since I was a little girl! Eeeekkkk! :)

What sucks is how very expensive Hawaii is though. :(

I am having a hard time booking it because I keep trying to find the best deals on airfare and hotels. And I don't know if we should spend the entire trip in one hotel on one island, and constantly fly around for day trips to the other islands...Or if in addition to island-hopping, we need to do hotel-hopping too...

I might need to involve a travel agent for assistance.

On an other note...

My Mother said that "32 years ago when she got married" that the brides never knew anything about their Bridal Shower. They didn't even know when it would be...That their bridesmaids just picked them up one day as a surprise and drove them to the surprise location.

That is not how I am going to do things.

I love how my friend Nina had a Las Vegas themed Bridal Shower...Since her and her husband went to Vegas for their honeymoon.

Soooooo, I want a Hawaii themed Bridal Shower!

I am actually quite excited about the idea.

I will go buy some cute flowery dress to wear to the shower...And I will get my hair done in the low side bun style I wanted if I was having a beach wedding. And I will put a cute pink flower in my hair...Again, how I wanted my hair for my beach wedding...But since I am not having a beach wedding, and I am probably not wearing my hair remotely close to this style or even putting a flower in it...Now I get the best of both worlds!

And maybe everyone can get pretty leis to wear during the shower!

Original, I know. LOL

OK back to reality. Work for 5 more hours and then our centerpiece appointment! :)

My Centerpieces

More detail about Update Topic # 2...My Centerpieces!

There it is! Gorgeous, right?

Well, of course that is just the stock photo...But the idea is still the same.

It is hard to know how many of them to buy right now...Since we do not have a final guest count yet...But I was not willing to wait until the summer to start purchasing these.

Last Friday Mama Hines and I went to the local Joann's Fabrics and Michael's stores and bought every centerpiece they had in stock...So we ended up with 7 of them. And the stores said they are probably not getting any more in. I can order them online, but I would rather hold off on the extra added cost for shipping and handling right now.

On Friday my Mom and whoever else from my family that she forced to help me, ran around and bought 9 more.

Mom and I went looking all around on Saturday and Sunday, but came up empty-handed.

So for now we have 16 of these guys. My guess is we need about 20 of them.

They do not come with the tea light candles...So since there are room for 6 candles, I originally wanted each centerpiece to have 2 white candles, 2 black candles, and 2 fuchsia candles.

But I CANNOT even begin to explain how difficult it is to find any shade of pink tea light candles! If you are lucky, you can find a pale pink color...But that seems to be it.

Minus of course if you want to spend a fortune on actually making your own custom candles.

So I might have to settle on black & white candles...Or just white. The base is more like pewter than black, but that's close enough to black I guess.

And then I can just do hot pink flowers.

It looks like you can fit a dozen roses in each vase...But there is no way I am spending that much money for each centerpiece to have a dozen of any flower.

So one of these days I will buy some experimental flowers to make some mock-up centerpieces...And see what flowers and what quantity look good, without looking too cheap.

Also, I am determined to try out bamboo in them. If it doesn't look good, at least I will know that I tried it out!

Also, I am going to buy some mirrors to see how necessary mirrors under the centerpiece are.

Well, I guess that is about all I have to say about my centerpieces right now.

Oh, and if anyone is in a 3 hour radius of me and is looking for those centerpieces...Sorry, I probably bought them all! :(

K, 1 update down...6 more to go! ;-)

Searching for bargains...

I had the idea that maybe I should look for random items on sale, that could maybe be put together for centerpieces...Instead of just looking at the traditional 'wedding centerpiece' places.

I especially thought if I got some ideas now, then I could do some Black Friday shopping in a few weeks for some really good deals.

Here are some random (and not at all any of my original centerpiece ideas) items that I have come across so far:

Despite this not being my exact pattern, if these came in white with the design in black, instead of gold and brown, I would so totally consider using them.

If anyone is interested, Kohl's currently has the 4" candle on sale from $9.99 to $4.99, and the 6" candle on sale from $12.99 to $6.49

OK so this is red, not pink...But I still think the set is really adorable.

Plus I have always loved the whole "All because two people fell in Love" quote.

Kohl's currently has this set on sale for $12.49 from $24.99

OK So these (for the same sales price as the previous similar set) are less weddingy, but still cute...Have the word "Love"...AND are the correct black and white colors. :)

"Always Kiss Me Good Night" On sale for only $4.95 from $7.95!!

Another quote that I have always loved seeing on decor...And this one is actually an inside joke between Jon and myself.

Maybe I can make some kind of sign for decoration using my fabric for the background, and hot pink letters. :)

Back to Bamboo

I have come up with so many amazing centerpiece ideas in the last two weeks, it is unbelievable. I should be a centerpiece designer/salesperson! I would be rich by now. I have had some really creative and wonderful ideas. But now the problem is that I cannot decide on one that I 100% want to use for my wedding.

I am also trying to be fairly cheap...But still make a totally gorgeous centerpiece.
I know when I go to weddings I am rather critical of the centerpieces. So even though I don't want to go broke over making fabulous centerpieces, I don't want them to look like they came from the dollar store either.


And I have changed my mind for the millionth time. And as of today I have come back to the whole Lucky Bamboo Centerpiece Idea...

I want to document this idea, and then look back on it later and see if I still really like it, or if I change my mind and totally hate it.





Heart-Shaped Lucky Bamboo Stalk...Comes in 10" or 11" for $5 or $6 respectively (without a vase).



I came up with a couple of different ideas...Such as going to the 99Cent Store and getting additional straight stalks to add to the centerpieces (for only $0.78 each!!)
I also thought of adding pretty colored stones or pebbles.
Plus, depending on the width of the vase, I might need to put some kind of stone in the bottom of it to keep the bamboo stalk upright.
And I even thought of adding a water resistant illuminating light to put at the bottom of the vase...And/Or dying the water pink.


But then I found this:





I am pretty sure it is supposed to make the water a sparkly pink color.
And it is only $2.99/pack. AND each pack is good for one gallon of water. I have yet to pick the size vase I want to use, but I cannot imagine it needing a full gallon. So maybe I can figure out how to split one packet among several centerpieces.
The only problem is that I have never actually seen this stuff in person to know what pink color it will really look like or anything.

Maybe I need to order a few things and make a mock-up centerpiece?



Let's see...I think I will want to put it on a mirror. And possibly have 4 votive candles flickering around it...And scatter rose petals or pretty marble thingys on and around the mirror and base of the vase and the votive candles.

I also MIGHT want to (I would really have to see how it looks in person, and also the size and shape of the vase) tie a hot pink ribbon around the vase. Or use a piece of the black and white fabric to tie around the vase and a hot pink ribbon over that.

OR instead of using a mirror I can use a piece of the black and white fabric. And then I wont need to make a table runner like I was considering doing.

Hopefully that isn't getting too pricey. But I bet I can get a lot of those things at Michaels...And I can go each week with a coupon and slowly add pieces. (But not too slowly, in case they run out of something I need.)


Oh, and depending on how everything looks, I might add 1 single pink rose or a stargazer lily to each centerpiece. I really don't know yet...Just tossing out ideas.


I have a big feeling that something that keeps drawing me back to the Lucky Bamboo is how unique it is. I don't think that it is so far fetched that people will walk in to the reception hall and be all "WTF?!"...But at the same time they definitely will not be all, "this is so overused at every wedding!"

I do want a lot of traditional elements at my wedding...But some modern aspects couldn't hurt. Plus, as long as I am consistently keeping it classy, I don't really care what era or genre it is.

Damask Centerpieces

So I am not sure that the original bamboo centerpiece I designed a little while ago will match my new theme...


So here are a couple of damask centerpiece ideas I came across:



Just picture the yellow in pink.



And this one is in my colors! :)

Black, White, & Pink Wedding Ideas

Of course I would have pink instead of red


I love each of the tiers...But probably not together.


Black Tie Affair


Maybe we could make the thick black line hot pink! :)

STD ;-)


Lots of stuff


Centerpiece


Table/Chairs



It looks like someone else had my idea! :)


About a week or two before we got engaged, I drew my dream wedding cake.
Tonight I re-drew it to match my new theme.
I need to scan them in to the computer one of these days.

Of course, I don't know if I can find a bakery around here that will be able to pull off all of the elements of my dream cake...

More Color Inspiration

More about the black and white Damask/Paisley/Brocade patterns and splashes of hot pink wedding theme idea...

So I was thinking that instead of my girls wearing the pattern as a dress...They can wear solid hot pink and my MOH can wear solid black.

Or the girls wear solid hot pink with a black bow/ribbon/sash and my MOH wears solid black with a hot pink sash/ribbon/bow.

Since I do definitely want uniformity with my girls, I still always figured (and probably have mentioned a few times) that my MOH's dress will be slightly different. And this might be a good compromise since my sister really doesn't want to wear pink.

I originally figured they would all have the same dress style and color, and the top of the dress would just differ slightly (ie, strapless, halter, tank, etc.) so that the MOH could be easily distinguished from the other girls.

But the exact same gown on all of them, with the opposite color is another idea that I think I will run with.

I never really cared for the idea of say all the girls in dark purple and the MOH in light purple, for example.

But black with pink and pink with black, I'm liking that idea...

I mean obviously if my girls look horrible in pink, I will choose something else.

And then of course the hassle will begin to try to find a dress that will flatter all of them.

But right now, back to my wedding color ideas.

FLOWER GIRL DRESS!!! :)

I know I used to always say I didn't want anyone wearing black or white to my wedding...Black is for a funeral and white is just for the bride...But look how classy this looks:

So elegant!

Such classic beauty!

So now of course I have to rethink my wedding cake idea.

To something more like...

That. Only I would want all of the tiers to have that same pattern that is shown on the 2'nd and 4th tier...The white background with the black pattern. And then I guess the bottom of each tier could have an (edible) hot pink ribbon going around it.

More Lucky Bamboo Ideas

Continuing with the lucky bamboo theme, I had another idea for a centerpiece.
What if I take a vase with a stalk or two of lucky bamboo (probably either the heart shape or the twisty shape) and put a rose or stargazer lily or calla lily in the vase with it?!


So I hit up Google with my ideas, to see if anyone else has had those ideas as well...
And I came up with the following:



Twisty Bamboo Rose




Roses with Lucky Bamboo




Orchids with Lucky Bamboo



Another Orchid Bamboo variation




Calla Lilies with Lucky Bamboo




Flower Bamboo




Bird of Paradise, Calla Lily, and Tulips




Combination of James Storey Orchids, Asiatic Lilies, roses, tulips, lucky bamboo, carnations, gerber daisy eyes and black gems





So much bamboo to choose from!



Not bamboo...But I just came across this and thought that it was very pretty:



This contains bromeliads, orchids, and china berries

But it might be too tropical or beach theme looking for an indoor reception hall.
But still very pretty!

Lucky Bamboo Favors & Centerpieces

The site where that cute favor came from has tons of customization options! You can chose from 1, 2, or 3 bamboo sticks. And you can change the color of the rocks and marbles in the vase, as well as add gold, silver, or red metallic ties to the bamboo sticks.
I saw these and thought that they would make adorable favors, but I would prefer that there was some personalization...Maybe the vase could have our names and wedding date in-scripted on it.

Well they do offer a personalized tag:


Of course, this favor sure is simple enough that I could make it myself.
But sometimes the ready made favors actually come out cheaper than buying all the pieces yourself and putting them together.

I never really thought that I would do too much DIY wedding stuff. I just always assumed I would whip out my credit card and then deal with paying everything off later.
Of course, I love crafts, and I consider myself quite crafty. So I would probably have a ton of fun doing some DIY wedding projects.

As long as I obviously start them all enough in advance that I can get everything done without getting stressed and rushed.

I wonder if I could just find some twisty stalks to tie together and make them look like hearts, cheaper than buying the ready-made heart stalks.


With that being said, here are some more favors and centerpieces that I found:


So sweet!




Source


I never thought of using them as Escort Card Holders!





Source


I try to like them straight or curly, but can't help but love the hearts the best!



5 tier tower!



Cute!



Flirtatious




Pink Roses




Source


So after all of this research I just learned that there are several different kinds of bamboo...Some have leaves and some have flowers.


This is called Lotus Bamboo