Table number alternatives

Going along with my "elegant whimsy" theme, I thought that the table numbers would be the appropriate place to add some whimsy into our reception decor. Both the Mr. and I double majored in English Lit in college. For a rather small department, surprisingly, we didn't meet in the department.  We also initially connected over our love of reading. When we both worked at the dorm, I was working at the front desk one night and he came into work to take my place at the front desk. This was before we ever began talking or flirting. I was reading a non-school book. He told me a few years later that he saw me reading and that peaked his interest because he was used to the wild party girls in college. Yeah, we are nerds and we love it!

So I thought it would be great to make our table numbers, not numbers. I had seen couples do pictures for table numbers such as Mrs. Tiramisu. 

(Mrs. Tiramisu)

I have also seen locations that are significant to the couple,

(Brett Charles Rose Photography)

Sports teams, 

(Cersise and Saphire)

Or even TV shows! This couple considered doing a different Dharma station from LOST as each table. 

(Cerise and Sapphire)

I really liked this trend because it added a personal touch to the wedding. I decided to make our table numbers authors! We will have at most 10 tables so we chose 10 authors to have as our table numbers.

This was a great project because it was something the Mr. was actually interested in so I was able to get an honest opinion from him. I compiled a list of authors that either I liked, he liked or both of us liked. Then I went on a mad search on Google for quotes related to love from this author. This may sound like an easy task in theory, but you do not yet know our taste in literature. For example, if we love Jane Austin- no problem. The problem is, we both detest Jane Austin! 

Here is the list of our authors/table numbers:

Toni Morisson

J.K. Rowling

Robert Frost

Henry David Thurau

Earnest Hemingway

Cormac McCarthy

Robert Jordan

Ayn Rand

Friedrich Nietzsche 

Anton Chekhov

As you can see, some of these should prove to be no problem when deciding on a quote, others are more problematic. Stay tuned to see what quotes we actually chose and how we made the table numbers!

Did you use traditional table numbers or did you do something different and significant to you?

Invitation insiration

Like I have mentioned before, I am a tight wad. To this effect, I decided I would be embarking on the task of making my own invitations. My plan was that since we had a year and half engagement, I would make them and then put them in a box on a shelf until it was time to send them out. I learned from previous Bee's that making invitations can be a long and laborious process so there was no harm in getting started ASAP. Seriosuly, I saw the drama that other people have been with. Why did I think I should do this to? Why are all of you considering making your own invites?

I am NOT a graphic designer so I thought I should stick to simpler invite layouts. Luckily, since I am a graduate student I have access to Publisher without having to buy it. I watched some demos on Youtube and I drew from my inspiration.

(Rachel Nicole Photography)

Loved it but when I tried it ... not too good- I am not an artist ...

(Project Wedding)

I liked the dots because I knew I could make a dot! Pragmatic.

'

(Project Wedding)

I loved the organized pocket fold.

I decided I wanted a pocket fold invite with a postcard RSVP and informal wording. Coming back to my "theme" I wanted elegant whimsy. The elegant would be a clean cut modern invite and the whimsy would come from a funky edge. Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

Did you choose to make your own invitations? Where did you draw inspiration?

My four legged bridesmaid

After about  a year and a half of dating, the Mr. and I were living together and really wanted a dog. We wanted a pet so bad that we would go to the mall pet store just to sit and play with the little puppies. I have grown up with Boston Terriers- they are hands down the best pet anyone could own. I convinced the Mr. to get a Boston so we started the search on craigslist and Boston Terrier rescue websites. On a Saturday I found a posting for a Boston, free to a good home. We called the owner and went to their place to visit in about an hour of seeing the post on craigslist. They called her "baby girl" - the owner's 3 year old named her. She listened but was sooooo hyper for attention! We fell in love with her and brought her home :)

(personal photo)

Like I said she was a little bit hyper when we first got her. Who can blame her though, she was left at home all the time by herself and her people didn't seem like they loved her. She just really wanted to be loved and desperately needed some structure. It was only a few short months before she go spayed, she had a cherry eye fixed, her named changed to Bella*, and she learned some manners. She is now our little buddy and has brought us even closer together.

(personal photo)

As much as I love her, we don't want to deal with a dog as a bridesmaid. She would be pretty cute though! I am tempted to splurge on a doggie t-shirt for the week of the wedding!

(Cafepress)

We have always obnoxiously refereed to the Mr. and I as mommy and daddy to Bella - yup we are "that couple". I can just imagine a picture with the Mr., Bella and I before our rehearsal- but she is so damn cute she might steal my bridal spotlight!

Who wants to include their pet in their wedding? Who is disgusted by my love of my pet?

* We did not name her after the character  in Twilight. I DETEST TWILIGHT!

The Fake Dress Roller Coaster Ride

So I have decided on my dress- but it's a secret! I might not be a traditional lady but I do have certain traditions I hold true to. The only problem is in my heart of hearts, I am a penny pinching granny. Seriously guys, the Mr. makes fun of me all of the time for how cheap I am. Now don't get me wrong, I love beautiful things- I just refuse to pay top dollar for them. I am the queen of TJMaxx, Marshalls and Ross. I LOVE me a clearance rack. And generally speaking, the word "boutique" is considered a trashy swear word!

(The Frugal Wedding Project)

This cheapness comes out in full force when it comes to trendy purchases or purchases that won't be used often. A wedding dress doesn't fall into the same "trendy" category as my peacock feather headband I chose to make over buy. That wedding dress does fall into the category of "won't be used often".

(personal photo)

So what will this cheapy bride do? Turn to the Weddingbee forums- duh! I found great information about ordering a replica dress from China. I have read horrible posts about deals gone wrong and great ones about deals gone great. I have contacted dress makers and gotten quotes. So here begins my journey to get a cheap replica dress and I want to bring all of you other brides on this journey with me.

Here is the way I look at it. I could spend about $175-$200 on a replica dress and love it. Well the real designer dress is about $1200. This would save me about $1000, that is a big save. At the same time, if I get it back and hate it, an extra $200 on top of $1200 when I buy the real dress isn't as noticeable of an expense. In the end, the risk is worth the reward.

This being said, I have come up with some guidelines for this process and I will share my roller coaster ride of a wedding dress search (ups and downs) with my fellow brides. I know others have thought about doing this but may have been too scared to take the risk. Well here I go, I am climbing the ride and I am about to go over the first drop!

(Thunderbay)

How about you? Did you think about a replica or did you know you wanted the real thing? Are you scared for me for taking this risk?

Whimsical Elegance

Starting out wedding planning, I didn't want to necessarily follow "the rules" of the elements of a wedding that I had to do. Part of that was having a theme. I don't mean to poo-poo the idea of themes because I have seen some images of beautiful themed weddings such as Mrs.Elephant and her beautiful travel theme. I just couldn't put my finger on a theme that said something about the Mr. and I.

We aren't rustic,

(My Wedding Dream)

We aren't nautical, 

(Squidoo)

we aren't beachy, 

(Wedding paper divas)

we aren't world travelers (despite our desire to be), 

(Green wedding shoes)

we certainly aren't classic,

(With this favor)

 ... we are oddballs though. 

(personal photo- the Mr.'s Zoolander face)

This began me thinking about our venue. It is such an eclectic hodge podge. So if the venue I am obsessed with didn't have to pick a theme, why do I have to! I say that off the cuff, but we have stumbled into a theme: "whimsical elegance". 

When people ask me what type of wedding feel I want to have I always say the same thing. "I want an intimate ceremony that reflects us as a couple and I want a PARTY for a reception." As a whole, I want an elegant wedding- I want a certain level of refinement because it is a very special day. This being said, we are still oddballs that don't take ourselves too seriously so we want a wedding that has an element of whimsy. 

I'm not entirely sure how this theme will express itself (yes, I just personified our theme) but we will see how this goes. 

Did you pick a theme out from the beginning or did it organically grow? Someone- tell me what you see when you hear "whimsical elegance".

Dress Porn part 3

So I continued to search for my dress. In this process I learned just how much of an over thinker can be I can be. This is not always the case with me, but this was a big purchase and I wanted to make sure I knew my options. That Jasmine dress was still in mind as the dress to which all others were compared.

I went to a shop with my mom and we tried on some Maggie Sottero's. The one that stood out to me was the Gwenyth.

(Maggie Sottero, Once Wed)

Sorry this shop wouldn't let me take picture of myself in the dress :( I loved the shape of the dress and I loved the burst of pleating out from my hip. I loved the corset and the sweetheart too. Even though I loved it, I didn't have that feeling that some brides describe when they say a dress is "the one". I still had plenty of time so I kept looking.

personal photo

I liked this dress a lot because again it was a Maggie. I liked the corset and the fit and the sweetheart and the rouching.

personal photos

This dress was about a size to small so around my waist in the front shot so it bunches a little more than it would. I really liked this one and it shocked me that I looked nice in a more trumpet/mermaid shape. I mean, look at that butt if I do say so myself!

(David's Bridal)

I checked out David's Bridal for good measure and liked this dress but it was a similar price to the Maggie's I had tried on and the fabric and construction were a much lower quality. 

I had obviously revised my precious criteria for a dress. From flowy and simple to structured and interesting textures. 

So which dress did I choose? You will have to stay tuned. Which one do you like the most? Did your dress choosing process have you changing your mind at every turn?

Wedding nightmares

It has happened, I have now experienced two wedding nightmares. This doesn't surprise me much because I can be a very anxious person and tend to have nightmares surrounding life changes like new schools, college, and new jobs. When I was a kid I would get so excited for my birthday or Christmas that I would break out in hives ... yeah, I know, I am a freak show. So this being a part of my history I knew that it was only a matter of time before I was going to be having wedding nightmares.

Dream #1:
After all of the wedding dress hunting that has been taking place, I was bound to have a dress dream. In the dream we get married and walk back down the aisle and for some reason the groom and groomsmen go one way and the bridesmaids and I go another way. Well my girls and I go around a building and we are faced by all of the guys with supersoakers full of red paint. They destroy us! It was all in good fun like little boys attack little girls with squirt guns on a playground. In no way was I subconsciously thinking of the guys as malicious ... just stupid boys. Naturally I woke up and told my Mr. who thought this was very funny and even told me that it was a great idea- he is very sarcastic, one of the many reasons we get along so well.

(Katie Neal Photography)

Dream #2:
So I was getting ready for the wedding at some weird hotel. I realized I had about 14 bridesmaids and I knew none of them. They also had bad attitudes and I had never picked out a dress for them to wear. So I just told them all to put on whatever dresses they had in their suitcases (don't know why they all had suitcases ...). Then I realized about a half hour before the ceremony that I had forgotten to schedule a hair and make-up person so my mom and I were trying to through my hair in a pony tail and do my own make-up. I was also crying like a whiny toiler. Then as I was getting ready to walk down the aisle I realized I had also never remembered to hire an officiant so we couldn't get married.

(Bridesmaids Movie)

So while I may feel very calm about this wedding while awake. My subconscious/unconscious (depending on  what psychological or philosophical ideals you prescribe to) is very stressed out. Sorry sub/un- conscious!

(glam)

What kind of crazy dreams have you experienced while wedding planning? Am I crazy?