Sample Bout and Corsage

We're working with Etsy seller April Hiler Designs on the bouts and corsages. Yesterday she sent us these samples. Aren't they great?

We're taking the pumpkin out of the corsage b/c it looks a little imbalanced, but I love everything else. Can't wait to see them all!!

Bouts

Recently I reacquainted Mr. T with my plan to create all of the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres for our wedding VIPs (he'd forgotten about this). I was explaining how the bouquets are made the day before, and the bouts/corsages have to be made the morning of.

"That's crazy," he told me. "You're not going to want to be doing all that work at the last minute. I don't think you should do it." I scoffed, but then I started thinking about it. We're going to have 5 bouts and 4 corsages. That's 9 things to make that morning. Hm.

So, I did what any good American would--I decided to outsource the labor, and I also decided to go with fake/dried flowers so we can get them done ahead of time. The good news is, we'll likely be at or under budget for these, so I'm not blowing our budget with this decision...just saving myself some anguish.

I pored over Etsy options and finally decided on a likely vendor. I like how she uses real dried elements in her work. We're going to make ours look "less harvest and more Halloween," but I think she's going to rock them. Here's a sample of her stuff:



Those are real dried lotus pods, and the pumpkin is real too!

So, I'm still committed to making the bouquets, but there are only three of those, and now my wedding morning has been freed up (I was having visions of getting up at 5 a.m. and hunching over flowers and floral wire...).

Phew. Mr. T heartily agrees with my decision, as you thought he might.

I love Etsy. Sigh.

Invitations to Printer: Check! Plus, other random tasks

I'm so happy to report that we sent the invite files to the printer yesterday and dropped off the black paper this morning before work. Hooray! That is such a weight lifted. We were ecstatic after uploading the files yesterday.

Also, the printer has already sent us a PDF proof of our invite. That was fast! The owner told Mr. T that they were in a lull at the moment, so the printing might only take about 2 weeks. Hooray! That means, if we have some time to spare, that we can consider doing custom postage through Zazzle or a site like that, to coordinate with our invitations. If we use the post office's postage, we're stuck with some not-so-thrilling options, but we'll suck it up if we have to. I just wish they'd updated the Edgar Allen Poe stamps with the new rate...sigh.

This weekend we also accomplished a few other wedding tasks:

• We made our registries live on our wedsite. We haven't added flatware yet, but we can do that later.
• We tried two more rehearsal dinner options. This is turning out to be much more challenging than finding the wedding venue! To summarize, the Vietnamese place closest to our venue sucks, so we're looking at opening our search to restaurants without private rooms.
• We purchased a custom return address stamp from Etsy.
• We booked our hotel room for our wedding night, plus our photographer's hotel room for two nights.
• We ordered our cupcake stand (cardboard, to be painted and adorned by us).
• We purchased gifts for my bridesmaid and MOH as well as our officiant.
• I purchased a wedding band for Mr. T from an online jeweler...luckily we can return it to the company if he hates it.
• We purchased envelopes for our invitations, with extras for thank you notes. We also decided that lining the envelopes wasn't worth the hassle, so that's another thing off my list.
• We put some thought into our first dance and decided what we're going to do (but I'm not telling!)
• I scheduled my first dress fitting for this Friday! This is when I try on the muslin version. After that they order the fabric and get to work!
  

Phew! Only another 120 things to go!

Groom's Gift

Because Mr. T has a habit of talking about buying things for himself, therefore making me nervous he'll ruin my carefully-laid plans, sometimes I cave and let him know what I'm planning.

The groom's gift is no exception. Yes, even this early.

Remember how I told you that I wanted to incorporate a sixpence for luck, thanks to the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence for her shoe"? Well, no way am I putting a coin in my shoe. That would make me crazy. Halfway through the ceremony I would need to sit down, remove the offending shoe, and shake out the coin.

I did, however, find another way to incorporate a sixpence: cufflinks! This site has some cute sixpence cufflinks, and I'm not sure, but I think I can request specific years/dates. They don't make sixpence anymore, so they're harder to find, but I thought the price was still reasonable and that these would make a cool groom's gift:


A number of sellers on Etsy also carry them.

Of course, I could also get him these cufflinks (from this Etsy seller):


Mr. T says, "Nice! I could literally wear my geekiness on my sleeve."