WEDDING!!

Maybe one of these days I will sit and post about about all of the trials and tribulations that went in to Jon and I picking our wedding venue and ceremony sites.

But for now I will just say that we finally decided on the venue that we fell in love with on one of our appointments a few weeks ago. It is perfect. And the date we liked best from what they had available is August 21, 2010.

I called the Church and booked us for a ceremony on that day as well.

We decided on 5pm...But maybe we should change it to earlier...We haven't decided on the time the reception will start yet.

We bring our deposit to the reception venue on Saturday.

So there it is.

Jon and I will be getting married on August, 21, 2010.

Our first biggest and hardest wedding decision done and out of the way.

I must admit that I feel like a huge weight has been lifted...But I am sure it will soon be replaced by some new stressful wedding decision.

And now the countdown begins.

Only 291 days 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. :)

LIttle bit of this, little bit of that...

Flower Girl Dress for my black and white theme...Alfred Angelo has done it again! :)



OK So maybe this is a little too cartoony or babyish...But I think this is really unique and cute:


Cute STD, no?
I wonder if we can steal this idea and use our actual pictures...And maybe my color theme for the background...



And here is my color theme...Yay! :)

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.

PS

Two things just occurred to me.

1) I also need a dress for the Rehearsal Dinner. :)

2) I have to be really careful with getting black and hot pink things...Because I don't want it to look too Sweet 16.

And I want to make sure that nothing looks juvenile. I want to keep everything looking elegant and classy.

So maybe I need to stop looking at party dresses in the Juniors department?

Also, I think that it is good that I am shying away from just pink and black decorations...And focusing a lot more on the black and white with pink accents. I think as long as I keep incorporating the black/white/pink combination, it will keep it classy and less babyish.

Dresses for Me :)

I have been so crazy focused on looking for bridesmaid dresses that I haven't stopped to think about me.

So here goes...I came across a few dresses that might be cute for Engagement Photos (if we ever get any done) and an Engagement Party (if we ever have one.)

Or I can always wear one for my Bachelorette Party.

OH! I also need a dress for my Bridal Shower, too.

Yay for lots of new dress purchases! LMAO! ;)

This dress is pretty much my colors (it is cream, not white) and pattern...Oh and it is currently on sale for only $5.99 Yeah, so I might just have to get it because ummm it is only...$5.99!!

Again, this dress has my colors (well, cream again, not white)...And it is not as cheap as the previous dress, but at $22.80, that's really not too expensive either.

I probably totally need this dress for one of my events...Since it absolutely displays all of my colors! :)

If only this dress had pink instead of red, it would be perfect, too!

There are surprisingly a lot of black/pink, black/white, and even black/white/pink party dresses out there...Which must mean that I picked an 'in' theme for my wedding. Hopefully that is a good thing. I am not going to post every dress I have found...Just a few.

I have been coming across a lot of zebra and cheetah prints in black and white, but I am not really feeling them...At least not to match my theme. Unless I was just going for colors...

...Then something like this could work...

This dress is another possibility, based on colors.

Again, this dress is based on colors.

The thing that is good about this dress, is that it has sleeves that can cover up my shoulder surgery scar...Which is the reason I am considering capped sleeves for my wedding gown.

And then of course, I also wanted a white dress...To play up the whole 'bride' theme.

This dress is cream, but it is oh so cute! And it is only $27.80!

And the Damask Continues...

I went to a Bridal Show with my Grandmother yesterday.

She must have been good luck, because I won one of the drawings!

It was a cake from one of the vendors there.

So nothing helpful for the wedding...But I still won something. :)

My family ate about 1/2 of it last night already. Hehe

I talked to a couple of the cake vendors there and showed them the cake design I drew...And they were all so impressed that I came up with the idea by myself. Go me.

Anyway, I found a guy (not the place I won the cake from) who said he can make the exact cake as I described...And it will supposedly be less than $1,000...Which is fantastic! Because I really thought for all of the intricate details I want, that they would charge me an arm and a leg. So I am really excited about that.

When I told several of the vendors my wedding colors/pattern...They all said how popular that was lately. I don't even know what gave me the idea for that style choice...So I had no idea it was popular.

But I guess it's good that so many other people like the idea too...It shows that I'm not totally crazy with my color and style choices then.

Also, I got to thinking...Instead of just having my MOH wear black with pink trim and the maids wear pink with black trim...Maybe they should all wear black with pink.

Because I got to thinking about flowers.

I want pink bouquets. And against a black dress it will look really sharp and it will really pop nicely I think. But with a pink dress, what kind of flowers could they hold? I guess they could hold pink flowers against their pink dresses, but I feel like it just doesn't 'pop'...You know?

And there is NO way they are holding black flowers!

There is always white flowers with the pink dresses...But I think that I am loving the idea of black dresses with hot pink accents and pink bouquets...And maybe even hot pink shoes!

I still need to find a way to make my MOH stand out.

Unless she is the only one who gets a pink ribbon with the black dress, and the maids just get the black dress without pink...

Or maybe they get pink ribbons and she gets a white ribbon...

Or back to my original idea that they all have the same dress...In this case I guess black with pink trims...And they all have halter tops and she has strapless...Or whatever style they agree on.

Just something subtle to make everyone know she is the MOH, without ruining the uniformity I want.

And now for some fun inspiration:

Guest Book and Pen Set...I can probably make that.

Or Black with white designs.

I am planning on going to a fabric store to look for the exact black & white pattern I want, and then try to make a lot of these things instead of buying them...Hopefully it will save money, but also this way everything will match 110%!! :)

I will probably pick white with black designs, as opposed to black with white...But I can decide better when I see them in person.

And if I was ordering all of these items, the patterns wouldn't be the same and all. So I think for the uniformity that I want to be pretty strict about, I will be forced to have a lot of DIY projects.

Which will be fine, if I can get things figured out and then start the projects soon. So I can do them all nice and calmly over the next 10 or so months. And not be stressed and rushing to do everything like a week before the wedding.

I was thinking of making my own table runners...Jon said I should make my own tablecloths and chair covers too...But come on now, who has THAT kind of time? Even if we have like 10 months until the wedding. LOL

Plus, I don't have a sewing machine. Sooooo, I think that will pose a problem for the big crafty items.

This is a Unity Candle...But I had been thinking about something similar for a centerpiece. Like probably just the middle candle. But it was just an idea I had as an alternative to flowers.