Practice Centerpiece

I think the cost of wedding flowers are outrageous!  Now don't get me wrong... I absolutely LOVE flowers (I even have a tattoo of a flower)... I think they are beautiful... but I think centerpieces and bouquets from florists are way over priced.... so we are thinking of another route... making them ourself!
My dad works at Trader Joe's and they always have some beautiful full blooms for a cheap price.  Hydrangeas are a great summer flower and TJ's has huge steams of these!  My dad picked up a bunch the other day (each bunch comes with three stems) and he and my mom put together this simple centerpiece:

I didn't take the best picture of this mock centerpiece... but at least it gives you and idea!  They lined the vases with white ribbon along the top too to give it a little extra touch.  The hydrangeas are white with a tint of green.  The pictures above really don't give it enough justice though... it's pretty, simple, and a little elegant... and the great thing is each centerpiece costs less than $7 to make! The great thing is that my mom was able to find a boatload of matching vases for the centerpieces after a couple visits to a thrift store... and is currently on the hunt for voltive candle holders at thrift stores too.
We would put these centerpieces together  the day before the wedding.... maybe even two days before.  This mock centerpiece was in perfect condition for quite a while, so making them ahead of time will be no issue to the appearance!

I'm also thinking of incorporating hydrangea into my bouquet as well!

Be My Bridesmaid update

So I finished my first DIY (do it yourself) project... attempting to make those cute "be my bridesmaid" cards that I came across from Anna of Rifle Design.   Here was the final result of the paper doll chain.....

I was able to find some paper on clearance from Joann's and got to cutting.  Whew it took a while since I had to draw and cut out 5 garlands of paper dolls, 30 dresses, and 30 hair-dos! I'm not such a great artist and had no idea how to draw hair, so it looks a little off... but overall it turned out how I wanted!
I then printed a poem on a piece of cardstock, collapsed the paper doll  and wrapped it in ribbon:

The poem that I printed on the card reads:
The day, the dress
the Bride, the Groom
the joy, the tears
will all come so soon.
Professing true love 
to my husband-to-be,
with family and friends
all watching me.
I hope the sun will 
be shinning down,
keep your fingers crossed
that I'll fit in my gown.
But there's just one more thing
that there needs to be...
and that's to have you
standing with me!
It's hard for me to believe that in just a little while,
Scott and I will be walking down the aisle.
Nothing would give me more joy and pride,
than to have you right there by my side.


I found the poem on a message board on one of the wedding sites I frequent... and thought it would be cute to include.
Since I got all the paper needed on clearance, it only cost about 20 cents to make each bridesmaid card!
I plan to mail them out on July 26th!

Photographer Update

We had a meeting with another photographer yesterday and I think this guy is going to be the winner!
 
George Payne from Grace and Elegance Photography was a wonderful guy and had a lot of experience in photography.  We love his style and really like a lot of the pictures he has taken.

He has shot at the Historic Oakland Manor before so he already knows the grounds and where good photos can be taken.... and a great plus is that he's cheaper than any other photographer we've looked at!  Score!
The package that we're leaning towards includes:
  -up to 8 hrs of coverage
  -one 10x10 leather flush mount album
  -Two 8x10 prints and one 11x14 print
  -minimum of 500 proof images on hi resolution dvd
  -wedding online proofing gallery and ordering
  -engagement session  (including one 11x 14 print and proof dvd)

We met with him for about an hour and really felt comfortable with him.  We're going over the contract and should be able to decide by the end of this week!

Caterer

We're coming close on nailing down our caterer.  Looks like we're leaning towards Atlantic Caterers They seem to give us the biggest bang for our buck and of course have received some great reviews from local brides.
My family is big on great tasting food.  I work for restaurant chain and my Dad manages a grocery store and like I mentioned before, my mom is an awesome cook and is always serving up some delicious meals.  We've been to so many wedding where the food was kinda yucky, so we want to make sure to pick a caterer that has some great dinner options that will be hearty and satisfying and won't leave guests hungry for more.  My parents really have done all the research for the caterer (since they are paying for the food and beverage) and we fully trust their judgement!

For cocktail hour, we would have a lavish Fruit, Vegetable, and Cheese Display.  The table is adorned with displays that boast the season's freshest vegetables to included fresh broccoli and cauliflower florets, zucchini, squash, carrots, Chinese snow peas, cherry tomatoes and others, complimented by an assortment of imported and domestic cheeses presented in wheels, wedges, and slices, garnished with fresh fruits, surrounded by gourmet cocktail crackers, broken French and pumpernickel breads, hearty Florentine dip, vegetable dip and cracked country Dijon. There would also be lump maryland crab dip with sliced baguettes too and in addition (2) hors d'oeuvres (TBD) getting passed around on trays by staff.

We would then have a seated dinner under the tent and as of right now it looks like we'd be starting with a mixed greens and baby spinach salad tossed with sliced strawberries, mandarin oranges, vidalia onions and glazed pecans tossed with a sweet onion dressing, topped with shaved asiago cheese. For the main entree we would serve filet mignon and lump crab cake with roasted marinated vegetables and lyonaisse potatoes.
This caterer also provides a cake with the cost (we choose one of the cake companies they offer to source the cake from) so we wouldn't have to worry about coordinating another vendor.
Coffee/tea service, china, flatware, linens, champagne toast, service staff, and service display and head table decorations are also provided with the cost.
Compared to what other catering companies offer in the area, this is the most reasonably priced for everything that they offer!  We have a tasting scheduled in a few weeks to finalize our menu!

DJ meeting and music needs

We had another meeting with a potential DJ yesterday.... C and J Entertainment  
From my research I read many great reviews on the company on numerous wedding sites... and even the bad reviews they received really weren't that bad... so I set up a meeting to see what they had to offer!
The meeting lasted about an hour and we learned so much!  The guy helped us figure out a rough reception timeline and informed us of all the song choices that we'll need to make.... I never realized how many specific songs are needed for the little events during the day!  Looks like we'll also need 2 additional mini speaker set ups for music in addition to our main tent reception since our ceremony will be out in the garden and cocktail reception inside the manor house.
All an all C and J entertainment seem to really know what they are doing so I think we're going to book them!

So now over the course of the next 10 months we have nail down some of our specific song choice needs:
ceremony:
  -type of prelude music
  -song for moms to walk down to
  -song for bridesmaids to walk down to
  -song for bride to walk down to
  -recessional song

Reception
   -song for parent introductions
   -song for bridal party introductions
   -song for bride and groom introduction
   -first dance song
   -song for father/daughter dance
   -song for mother/son dance
   -song for generations dance
   -song for cake cutting
   -song for last dance


  

first craigslist find

Craigslist is one of my favorite sites.  I'm on there at least once a day just to see what is being sold, what people have used for their wedding, and the price they sell it for.  People seem to sell everything on there!
After the wedding I plan on selling a lot of my purchased stuff as well... no point on storing some things that I will likely never use again. We'll be able to save storage space, get some money back, and help out a future bride at the same time.
A few days ago I was able to find a simple card box for just a couple bucks! I really haven't been on a hunt for one... but do know that I haven't been a fan of any that I've seen so far in the stores (which sell for like 20 bucks).  When I came across a particular post, the girl was selling it just for a couple dollars.  It is simple, collapsible, and easy to put together.   It's about 12" tall and 12" wide and in a octagon shape.  It's heavy duty cardboard with a pretty embroidered design on it (which you can really see in the picture). Later this year I plan on sprucing it up a bit to give it more with ribbon to give it some character.

If you are not familiar with what a card box is used for.... it's placed on the gift table at the reception and guests would drop their cards into it.  I've read about instances at past weddings where service staff or univited folks go to weddings and steal the cards (which are usually have checks or money enclosed).  The card box is a way to deter sticky fingers from grabbing cards that may just be laying in plain view on the table.
Hooray for craigslist for the cheap find and getting one of the menial tasks off my year long to-do list!