quotes

The following are some quotes that I'm come across while searching wedding quotes from movies in Google.  These are some of my favorite and would find some way of incorporating them into my wedding. 

"... when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"  - Harry from When Harry met Sally

"The hardest thing is loving someone and then courage to let them love you back."                        - Nick Mercer The Wedding Date

"If I tell you I love you, can I keep you forever?"  - Casper

"I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them." - The Accidental Tourist 

"I love him and I don't care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is."  - Jerry Maguire

"A dream is a wish your heart makes."  - Cinderella

A little something for the bachleorette party:  

"Here's to the husbands who've won you, the losers who've lost you, and the lucky bastards who've yet to meet you. " - Nick mercer "the wedding date" 

inspiration

So lately it seems like parts of my wedding have begun to fall into place.  From ceremony to reception to other services.  With these new found decisions I can further decide style of the wedding and get inspiration for the invitation as well as the save the date.

I look at various invites and found details that like but I want something that isn't cookie cutter.  There are a few different styles that I like with "love birds" and there are others with swirls and filigree type designs.  However they all remind me of something mass produced and not unique to my wedding.  I would love to have the invitation include details from my dress or represent the feel of the day but that would mean that I have to design it myself.  So I guess where I'm stuck is trying to take what I like and the details I want putting them on paper and then incorporate them into a layout that I can produce on the computer.

Using samples from sites like Exclusively Weddings, Storkie and B.T. Elements I found the wording that fits the day and layout designs that will inspire my final design.  Thankfully I have a few friends who can draw better than I can who might help me with the design.   I like the vintage look with a casual feel.  I don't want the invitation to suggest a formal event when we are shooting for a relaxed cocktail style event.

So as follows are design touches that I like.

How realistic is a $10,000 wedding?

Lately I've been wondering how realistic my budget is.  Can I really plan a wedding for $10,000 and still get what I want?  Can we afford to have friends and family come to the wedding?  I've talked to other people who are married or are in the final planing stages of their wedding who had the same idea I have, "I'm not going to spend more than $10000 on my wedding"  and they went over by 5 or 10 thousand.

I know there are books out there that can help you plan a wedding for $10,000 just like there are magazines that  have articles on the same.  They tell you to cut the guest list, be realistic about expectations and prioritize what you want to spend money on and then adjust accordingly.  So my list of priorities are reception, photography, dress and the groom's wedding ring.  I've decided to try to have a stress free wedding.  I'm not going to sweat the details. Seating charts forget about um, you'll all adults you can seat yourselves.  The wedding cake or cup cakes may be a DIY creation the doubles as a Favor.  Another favor idea is welcome bags, this way I can create one per group/couple versus one per individual.

 The ceremony is planned for a church that his family goes to and with his dad performing the ceremony we will most likely get it for free or next to nothing.  We are looking for a unique location for the reception a bowling ally, a favorite place, or a ballroom with little decoration needed. The less we have to spend on decor the more we have for other things.  This goes along with not worrying about the little details.  When I look into a venue I looked at what is included for the cost and how much we could enjoy the location.  I want a place that will be cool for photos but isn't like everyone else's wedding.

When we first got engaged I looked at various wedding supply sites and wedding shops though bridal sites thinking, "oh wouldn't it be cool if we gave everyone a bottle of wine with a stopper and glasses in the welcome bags" and 'everyone is coming to Vegas so what if we had personalized poker chips, decks of cards and the rules to Blackjack and poker."  I was falling for all these different details that I started trying to figure out how to make it affordable.  The more I think about the style of my wedding the more I can fine tune the details.   I want a simple yet elegant ceremony with a fun, relaxed reception.

The one thing that will help me with my budget is that I've talked with my parents about what they are willing to help pay for or if they will help pay for anything.  I know tradition states that the bride's parents pay for the wedding but I know that isn't a realistic expectation.  However, it is realistic to think that they could pay for my dress and the photographer (two things that are very important to me).  This leaves the biggest cost, the reception, to my fiancée and I.  On thing I would love to do, cost permitting, is to have a Candy Bar with jars of various candies that we like.  A mix of sweet, sour and chocolate.

So fingers crossed we will have the wedding of our dreams on a cost that isn't too crazy.

Dresses

The wonderful world of wedding dresses can be overwhelming.  (It's overwhelming to me and I haven't even started the search.)  Just like many other brides I immediately wanted to start searching for my dress as soon as I go engaged.  I soon realized there are a few important aspects of the wedding that needed to be considered before I started dress shopping.  I needed to know when I was getting married (or at least the time of year); where we envisioned the wedding taking place, how I envisioned myself looking and feeling; and the feel of my wedding day.  Do I want the traditional church ceremony followed by a reception in an ballroom? or Do I want to have a fun wedding that lacks tradition and is all about us?  Or do I simply want to elope?

I could immediately rule out elopement (our parents would kill us).  I could also rule out the fairy tale.  It isn't in the budget and I'm not a princess.  It's important to my fiancée that we get married in the church (it doesn't make a big difference to me but I want him involved and it's our day not just mine) and it's important to me that we have pictures and some kind of a reception afterward.  So here I am looking for dresses I like, that I think will look good on me, that I can afford to buy and that will fit my wedding.  Because we all know you can't wear a ballgown to the beach and a short gown in the winter.

I'm 95% sure that I want a fit and flare gown that is slightly A-line.  I'm not interested in the full ballgown skirt because I think it will get in the way. The pictures above are my two favorite dresses {which can be found at David's Bridal}(I know it looks like 3-4 but the two on the left are one dress and the two on the right are different views of the same dress).  I want something that will be elegant for the ceremony that is still fun for the reception.  I've seen both dresses in person and they are amazing.  The dress on the left reminds me of the Amsale Tyler gown featured in When in Rome (See picture at right) .  I would probably add a sash to the dress to make it look similar and to hide the spot in the back where the skirts overlap.  The dress on the right is the perfect mix of elegant and casual.  I love the 3-D floral detail on the skirt and the simplicity of the gown.  There are a few other dresses that I've seen that I like.  A few or actually bridesmaids dresses that come in Ivory (which means low cost and less wait time for the dress).    What it comes down to is how I feel and look in the dress.  I want to feel BEAUTIFUL and like I'm the only women in the world.  I want to put on the dress and KNOW that it is MY dress and it perfect for my wedding.  This dress will be in pictures for the rest of my life so it has to look good and make me feel good so that I look good in it.

So I'm taking a poll: Which dress do you like better and why? The two in one dress (left side of the photo) or the fit and flare with 3-D floral.  (both dresses are from Davids Bridal btw.) 

post a comment and let me know what you think.  

The plan so far... (its all subject to change)

So here is the plan thus far.    We are considering having a later afternoon ceremony with a cocktail reception.  The Wedding Colors are Midnight Blue and Purple. The Wedding Party will be made up of 3-4 bridesmaids and 3-4 Groomsman.  We are having a church ceremony performed by his dad. The reception will either be traditional (country club) or unique (bowling alley).   The flowers will be different depending on the person. As the bride I want a pop of color against my dress.  The bridesmaids may have the same flowers just in their own arraignments.   I like the idea of orange roses as a pop against my ivory/white dress, the Bridesmaid's purple gowns, and the Groomsman's navy suits. I may also decided to use blue and purple hydrangeas.

Musical Selections include:
  - Nothing Else Matters (instrumental) by Metallica
  - Canon in D Major
  - Can't take my eyes off you by The Jersey Boys
 - Then by Brad Paisley
 -  My Little Girl by Tim McGraw
 -  Cha Cha Slide
 - Cupid Shuffle
 -  Old time Rock and Roll by Bob Segar
                                

Real Weddings

Soooo I've had a lot of time on my hands recently,  (winter break = lots of down time) and started gathering inspiration for my wedding by looking at stories of other people's weddings.  I've found some useful tips as well as some great ideas.  One bride insisted on having a stress free wedding day.  Instead of planing everything down to the minute so just relaxed, made sure the big things were taken care of and let the little details wander off.  I know my mother would kill me if my fiancée and I did the "first look" prior to the ceremony but I think it's a great way to get a lot of photos done in advance.  One couple did a combo of both, they had a first look prior to the ceremony but the groom was blind folded so he never saw her in the dress.   Personally I want to get the posed pictures over with while my hair, makeup and dress still look their best.  I also want to spend time with my guests and enjoy the reception.  That brings me to another stress free idea: no seating chart.  Instead of wasting precious time, energy and resources; let your guests choose where they sit.  Why should I fret about a seating chart when everyone (for the most part) are fully grown adults who can find their own place to sit.

There were also some cost saving tips I found like DIY bouquets made out of silk flowers and wearing a white or ivory bridesmaids dress as a wedding gown.  BM dresses are a fraction of the cost of wedding dresses and can be accessorized easily. Add a sash here and a pin there and whoala  you have a wedding dress that is totally you.  I like to play about with dresses and pick out details in each one that I like.  Sooner or later I find myself sketching dress designs.  I know it would cost way too much money to have a dress made but it certainly helps me understand more of what I like. I contemplated ordering a simple gown and then adding my own touches to it later.  We'll see what I decide when I start dress shopping.

I don't want my wedding to turn into a total DIY event but some DIY projects are ok if they add a personal touch to the event or it they are inexpensive without looking like it.  So far on the big wedding to do list is: 1) find a reception location; 2) find a photographer 3) wedding dress 4) finalize the guest-list/invitation/save the date and 5) stay under budget.

Friends, family and the Guest List

When paying for your own wedding the cost of every little thing adds up.  Most magazines and websites tell you to cut the guest list as a way of saving money but really how much of it can you cut.  So far the guest list is only between my fiancée and I.  No one else knows who is and who is not invited.  My biggest pet peeve is that parents insist that we need to serve food at the reception if we have guests coming from out of town.  We would much rather host a cocktail reception someplace fun to keep costs low, than have a full blow ballroom that costs an arm and a leg.  The last thing we want to do is start our new life in debt.

So that brings me back to the guest list.  I want to have a mix of friends and family without going too overboard. I'm creating an A list and B list.  Not because one group is more important than the other but the A list is the people that I really want to be there and the B list are people who are close and I can invite in person a few months prior to the wedding or they are people that we will invite if we can but it won't cause any heartache if they aren't there.   Personally I can do without some relatives that I haven't seen or talked to in years but I'll extend the invite because it would seem rude to invite some but not all.

One method that I've found to politely suggest that we are keeping the guest list low is my writing, "We have ___ seats reserved in your honor" on the response cards and then filling in the number for that person, couple or family. We are also asking that people respond via phone or website (so we can save of postage).

Unfortunately we will have many guests coming from out of town so invites will have to go out early to get the best rates of flights and hotels.   With this in mind we may do welcome bags as opposed to wedding favors.

Thats all for today.