Booze: Check!

If anyone's wondering what $1300 worth of alcohol looks like...




There you go! Our original budget for alcohol was $1500, so we came in $200 under budget AND we also bought 8 bottles of wine for the rehearsal dinner, which was not in our initial alcohol budget at all.

We will probably end up returning some, but we just didn't know what folks would want to drink. Beer? Wine? If wine, red or white? If red, pinot or cabernet? If none of the above, vodka or tequila? And so on...so, we probably overbought, but I really, really don't want to do a beer run in the middle of our wedding. We also bought toasting champagne (excuse me, sparkling wine!). We'll have 3-4 bottles of champagne for guests to drink before the toasts if they prefer to drink champagne...those are Moet, left over from Mr. T's cousin's wedding. The toasting ahem, sparkling wine is Gloria Ferrer, which was a recommendation from my codancer who loves champagne, so we totally took her advice with no hesitation. We are also serving the same chardonnay (Benziger) and pinot (Castle Rock) that she served at her own wedding, so thanks, Rachel!

For the cabernet we went with Smoking Loon, which Mr. T likes, and for beer we went for two more of his faves (and also locally brewed!) Anchor Steam and Trumer Pilsner. He also picked the vodka, of course, which is Ketel One, and I obviously picked the tequila, which is Corralejo (Herradura is my fave but was a tad expensive, unfortunately).

Buying the alcohol took all day. First I placed an online order at BevMo. I saved 5% because it was my first online order (Score!). We also got our chardonnay for essentially half off because of BevMo's five-cent wine sale (buy one bottle, get the next bottle of the same wine for five cents, on selected wines! Double score!). After we placed that order, we had to wait an hour for them to get everything together so we could come pick it up. So we went to Safeway, because they had an amazing deal on wines. A discount for 6 or more bottles of the same wine, PLUS an additional 10% off for 6 bottles of any wine, period. We saved $110 on 24 bottles of wine. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for suggesting going there as our first stop! Triple Score!

Our next stop was Trader Joe's. Unfortunately they were sold out of the margarita mix, but we did buy the rest of the wine for the rehearsal dinner there, plus the remaining bottles of pinot (Safeway didn't have enough in stock).

After Trader Joe's we swung by BevMo to look at beer and pick up our order. We bought two cases of Anchor Steam there, and at this point my credit card was declined. "Oops," I thought, "I should've called them." I bet hundreds of dollars of alcohol purchases in an hour raises some red flags. So I put the purchase on another card, and we picked up the online order. The woman who helped us out to the car complimented us on our wine and tequila selections (patting myself on the back again...and Rach, you should too, since you picked the chardonnay). "It's for our wedding," I confessed with a smile, and she congratulated us. All day I told people about the wedding, whether they wanted to hear about it or not, since we were getting a lot of attention around our massive alcohol purchases.

We dropped off all the booze thus far at home and I called my card and reassured them that yes, it was me, buying crap for my wedding, nothing to worry about. The operator congratulated me and restored my card to good standing and we were off again! [Lest anyone worry about my credit card spending...no worries, it's just on the card until I can transfer money from our savings account, which takes a couple of days. We're a no-debt wedding! As a matter of fact, we have extra in our wedding savings. Hooray!]

Next we took a break from alcohol and went to Target. We bought CANDY for the candy buffet. $100 worth of candy is a lot of candy, but unfortunately I didn't get a pic of that one to show you. We also bought coloring books for the niece/nephew. I had a crisis in the middle of the lane at Target. I literally could not pick up the coloring books with the Disney princesses on them. "There must be something else," I kept muttering. I had no idea I felt so strongly about this issue until I was confronted with corrupting my niece with them. Finally Mr. T suggested Dora the Explorer and I grudgingly went along with it. He of course had it easy and picked out a superhero coloring book for his nephew. Anyway, we also picked up frames for the parent gifts (we're going to give them wedding photos, so they'll get the frames with "picture coming soon" signs in them), plus tooth whitening kits (yes, we're vain), and I got some cute Halloween tees for myself for $6 each, which I thought was a score. As we checked out the checker (who reminded me of Kristin Wiig's character on SNL) asked if the candy was for trick-or-treaters or if it WAS ALL FOR US. And then she said people sometimes told her they were going to keep the candy for themselves. We're talking about 20+ bags of candy, here. That's frightening!

Our next stop was another Trader Joe's. They did have the maggie mix, and by making nice with one of the employees, we got it in an unopened box. Hooray! After that we went to another BevMo, and since we were under budget, Mr. T approved the purchase of the Crystal Head vodka that I'd been dreaming about. It's going to look so awesome on the bar!



Plus if we run out of vodka we can crack it open.

After BevMo #2, we proceeded to Michael's, where we bought flower petals for our flower girl, spray paint for some of the used frames we bought for venue signage, more glitter for pumpkins, two types of glue, and other random stuff.

We were also supposed to make a stop at Pet Club for the littles but it was closed at this point. It was probably for the best, since we were soooo tired by then.

And finally, we stopped at Andronico's for two things:

1. Individually wrapped candy corn packets--we love candy corn and had to have it at the buffet, but we don't want any open candy, just wrapped. Andronico's was the only store we found the packets in!
2. The Trumer Pilsner beer, which was on sale, and because of the sale, they had cases in stock, which they normally don't. Quadruple score!

And then we went home and collapsed.

To-do list for this week/weekend

1. Meet with officiant re: vows again.
2. Finalize seating chart.
3. Work on signage for bar, cupcake table, buffet table, candy buffet, gift table.
4. Work on escort cards and room map.
5. Buy alcohol.
6. Decide where we're buying pumpkins.
7. Buy parent gifts.
8. Buy candy for candy buffet.
9. Practice corset lacing with MOH.
10. Send out rehearsal dinner invitations.
11. Decorate cupcake tree (this might have to wait until next weekend!).
12. Wash and decorate candy jars.

I'm sure there are about 80 other things I'm forgetting at the moment. Here we go!!

Flower DIY Workshop, plus random stuff

The MOH agreed to take a DIY flower arranging workshop with me in a few weeks. Since it looks like we're now having flowers on the tables, as well as my bouquet, the two bridesmaids' bouquets, and boutennieres for Mr. T, his best man, our officiant, the dads, PLUS corsages for the moms (and my grandma, if she comes), and it also looks like we dumbly decided to do it ourselves (with Mr. T's mom's help), I thought some training was in order.

The workshop is $75 per person (supplies are provided), and they walk you through all of the items mentioned above. While I think it's worth it, I also think that the MOH shouldn't have to pay for my bright ideas, so that's $150 added to our budget...which I'm wrestling with. I know it will all be cheaper than hiring a florist to do these things, so I suppose I just need some perspective. Right? Plus, if we're just hopeless at it, that will be a nice warning well ahead of the wedding, and we can start replanning our tables and talking to florists. So I guess it's a worthwhile investment. Right?

Speaking of bouquets, I just love feathers in them. Here are some fun photos from the interweb:






I really love the idea of feather boutennieres and corsages. We can make them ahead of time, and then use those same feathers in the bouquets to tie everything together.

Regarding the centerpieces, we've been struggling with how to incorporate the candy jars into the centerpieces, now that we've added pumpkins/flowers into the mix. I couldn't help but be interested in this candy-themed wedding on Weddingbee. First, I love their invites--candy bars with a golden ticket inside! Who wouldn't love that??




Second, for their escort cards, they used images of candy to convey the guests' dinner choices. You can barely see it, but the cards were clustered atop different boxes of candy--whatever candy your card was on coordinated to the table where you were sitting. High-concept, but I guess it worked for them:


Here are some pictures of their centerpieces:



I love the bright colors and how the candy is also in the vase with the flowers! Nice.

Here's a picture of a menu on the table...they put a different quote from Willy Wonka on each table's menu. I love these people!


I've been talking about my love for papercutting...look at these great numbers and letters I found via Weddingbee, for an Etsy vendor:




I love these! Sigh. Maybe we can recreate something like this on the invites...

I found another great pumpkin image, sort of like the Martha Stewart pumpkins I've been admiring:


I also found some great cake images during my search for cupcakeries. Look at the amazing Corpse Bride cake, complete with cake topper to represent the two brides:


And look at this great Hello Kitty zombie cake! Obviously not a wedding cake, but I love it:


And finally, speaking of HK, I love this pic of a Hello Kitty wedding done in Japan! The bride and groom run the Hello Kitty museum in Germany. Look at the top of her dress!

Random Images from the Internet--dresses, decor, and a cake

It's gotten to the point that when I Google "red wedding dress," I get sent to my own blog. However, since dress shopping is at hand, I tried again last night. First I emailed David's Bridal for an appointment. That's right, David's Bridal. I'm not looking forward to it--although part of me thinks it might be hilarious, especially with the MOH in tow--but I want to try on a variety of silhouettes and DB is probably the best place for that. I also thought they might actually have samples in my size, although perhaps that's hoping for too much.

Here are some images that I liked. The first is just for fun--I don't know when she wore this, but Madonna's dress is pure craziness here:


It's so over the top, I love it! This next dress looks gorgeous on the model but I guarantee it wouldn't look as good on me. Still, I love the color, the mermaid skirt, the embroidery, the jewelry...sigh. She looks like a princess. Albeit, a princess with a headache.


I have been looking at some vintage styles as options. I love the one below but worry again that it would not look good on my figure. Still, how fun and sassy!


In comparison, the dress below looks a little bedraggled...this is not a wedding dress, just a vintage dress someone's wearing, but despite the obvious signs of wear and the weird bunching under the skirt (pull it down, girl!), there's something about it I like.


Again re: silhouettes, I love the mermaid style but am concerned about how it would look. I love that I am a curvy girl and have no issues with showing that off, but I also want the dress to be flattering. I like the back of this one (and the color!) and I wonder if this style, which doesn't seem to be full-blown mermaid, would work? I worry in particular about the upper thigh region, if you know what I mean. Plus satin shows everything. It would have to be a different fabric, for sure. That's about as much train as I would want, I think.



These styles were also called "slight mermaid". Hm....a possibility?




I kinda like the back of this one. The bustle doesn't seem too overwhelming or ridiculous. Still, would this make one's ass look big?


Moving on to my other obsession: pumpkins. Look at this awesome monogrammed and dated (in roman numerals, no less) pumpkin! I love it, although I'd need help with the roman numerals. Once I get past 29 I have issues. Although, they didn't do the whole year. Maybe there's hope for me yet.



I love this sweet photo outside with the glowing pumpkins. So spooky and darling.



Below is (kinda) our table settings: pumpkins with flowers in them, and mini-pumpkins as votives. Our flower colors would be different colors, though.


I really like these silver pumpkins. So elegant and Cinderella-like, somehow. I am definitely considering painting pumpkins.


This is not a real pumpkin, but interesting:


Here's another idea I've mentioned before that we might do: placecards on mini-pumpkins. Cute, huh?

And this has nothing to do with pumpkins, except for what we might put in them: I like these branchy things. Very Halloween.


Mr. T and I love candy corn, so I loved this photo. I love ring shots in general. We definitely have to have some of those (ring shots and candy corn, that is).


I found a bunch of cute Halloween wedding stamps on Zazzle, but was less enchanted when I realized I'd be paying over double the normal postage amount for them. Um, no thanks! But, these are cute.


And finally for something completely different. I am also obsessed with leopard print, although I doubt it will appear at the wedding. Look at this awesome cake!!! OMG I love it.


I also like the leopard martini glasses, featured at the same wedding. Sigh.


That's it for now! More inspiration to come.

Centerpieces

In a moment of brilliance (I do have them sometimes), I turned to Mr. T and said, "We should ask your mom to do the table centerpieces for us."

Mr. T's mom is an advertisement for DIY; she refinishes furniture and has single-handedly (well, Mr. T helps when he can) decorated her house and landscaped her yard. We showed her some inspiration pix and asked her to run with it.

This is what she presented us with on Thanksgiving (the flowers are a bit wilted b/c I didn't think to take pix till a few days later):





The pumpkin is an artificial one from Michael's that she got for 75% off. As tempting as it was to stock up on these after Halloween, I think having real pumpkins will add a certain something. The flowers are a mix of a $7 bouquet from Trader Joe's and stuff from her yard, as well as a few things from craft stores (the feathers and fruit, dunno if you can see these in the photos).

The wreath underneath is to cover up the dish with DRY ICE underneath, which I love. I don't want folks to be breathing it in during dinner, but I think it doesn't last very long, so we could just have it billowing around during cocktail hour and then it would be done by the time folks wanted to sit down.

So, I imagine Mr. T's mom will come up to stay with us a few days before the wedding, and we'll go flower shopping...it's funny, as much as I thought I didn't care about flowers at the reception, it looks like we'll have them after all, but we'll do it DIY, not the florist route. I'd like more fall colored flowers than what's shown here--reds and oranges--but otherwise I love these. I also got inspired as we were talking about these centerpieces and asked Mr. T's mom if she'd help us DIY the bouquets and corsages, etc. She said she would! I think this will lower our costs considerably.

I'm not sure how we'll work in the candy jars. I know we could have a candy bar, but part of me likes the idea of having them on the tables. We're still thinking about that part.

Shopping Adventures

I was in Walgreens this morning picking up your usual drugstore stuff plus a card for Mr. T's business partner's wedding this Saturday (this is the first wedding to happen out of the 8 or 9 engaged couples that we know--Mr. T and I keep telling each other, "Research!").

I noticed two "same sex couples" cards in the wedding section. Wow, even at a chain like Walgreens, they adapt quickly. I bet those cards aren't available outside of CA or Massachusetts, though. It's funny how the opportunity to make money will override any homophobic feelings. It's oddly encouraging to see the capitalism at work here--true equality! I also recently heard a jewelry company advertising wedding bands to all different types of couples--they really had to talk fast to squeeze it all into that 60-second advertising spot: girl-girl, guy-guy, AND guy-girl were marketed to. "We don't care who you are, we want your money!" It feels like the future has arrived.

Speaking of shopping, I was at Michael's this weekend and noticed they have the Halloween stuff out (two months early!). They have "treat sacks" available for 29 cents each--perfect for our candy favors. Based on my sketchy and incomplete research, that seemed like a good price to me, but I haven't bought them yet. It just felt too soon. I might go back though. If I wait until the post-Halloween sales, I'm worried they won't have enough.

First Wedding Purchases!

This weekend Mr. T and I went to visit his mom (my FMIL, or future mother-in-law) and she and I scoured all the local thrift shops and yard sales for glass jars for our candy bar. We ended up with 5 jars for just under $10, much better than the $15/jar price I've seen online. FMIL says she'll keep checking for interesting/good-sized jars periodically. It's nice to have a partner in crime. I mean, Mr. T is of course excited about the wedding, but possibly not quite as excited about going to every thrift shop in town to find that one perfect jar.

I also found some LED tea lights at the Dollar Tree. They are not as bright as real tea lights, but they will stay lit a lot longer, and will get us around any weird candle rules the venue may have (only in certain areas, only a certain type of candle, etc.). Plus, I think they'd be great in pumpkins, so we don't have to worry about putting tin foil in the pumpkins.

So, we made our first wedding purchases! (Aside from magazines and books, that is.) How exciting.

I also found a great stained glass lamp for our room, but that has nothing to do with the wedding. Actually, if I were being really budget-conscious I wouldn't have bought it, but come on. A deal is a deal, right?

Decor: Part one of many

I could really write quite a few blogs about decorating, especially for Halloween, but since didn't want a 20-page entry today, I thought I'd restrain myself and talk only about decor ideas from Martha Stewart, or MS as my grandmother calls her.

First, let me back up a bit and say that when it came to wedding priorities, flowers went to the bottom of the list. Yes, I want a beautiful bouquet (what it will look like is another potential post subject, but I'm restraining myself here, remember?), but Halloween doesn't scream "$2000 floral arrangements on the tables" to me.

So...what does it scream (no Halloween pun intended)? I went to the authority, MS, to find out. I discovered that she and I have a shared obsession: pumpkins. I love carved pumpkins. I don't know if I could ever pull off some of these creations, but I have this Halloween to practice, right?

Without further ado, take it away Martha! (All photos courtesy of www.marthastewart.com).

First, let's start off easy: A nice autumnal centerpiece:



I don't really want assigned seating (again, another post in the making), but if we did, we could use these cute place cards:



I like "Halloween trees" but they appear to be quite expensive based on my internet searches. Here's MS's version:



These are candleholders wrapped in tissue, to look like jack-o-lanterns. Cute, huh?:



This is pumpkin decoration even I could do: glitter pumpkins. Ooooh:



Okay, I know I said no flowers, but I like the cobwebs here. Maybe one arrangement for the guest book table?


Speaking of flowers, maybe at our table we could have a hollow pumpkin to keep my bouquet in:



I like the idea of dry ice in a pumpkin, but there will be some kids at the wedding (I think), so I'd worry about policing them around the dry ice. Here's a cute pumpkin fake punch bowl, and a candy bowl with dry ice underneath:




Speaking of not kid-friendly decorations, we won't be having these apples, but I liked them. I like the idea of the apple-bobbing tradition, but the reality of everyone's saliva in the same water is icky. This has the idea without the ick:


Mr. T and I like the idea of a candy bar, since it's Halloween; there are lots of nice candy jar decoration options, like these:


Here's another way to display candy (lollipops, to be specific), and all you need is a drill!



And yet another way to display candy, also involving a pumpkin!:


I like the idea of words on the pumpkin, and I like that the carving doesn't go all the way through the pumpkin, so it's just a nice glowing silhouette. Mr. T and I could do our initials in pumpkins using stencils, like these:



Here's another pumpkin decoration that I could pull off: Pumpkins carved with cookie cutter stencils. We could do hearts! I quite like the row up the driveway; would be cute for an aisle, no?:




And another pumpkin that would involve the drill: Pumpkins with xmas lights sticking out of the drill holes. It sounds weird until you see it:


I also like these spiderweb pumpkins, but they would require a bit of skill:



Also requiring skill would be these silhouetted pumpkins. I adore the skull on the white pumpkin:



And finally, my favorite ones. I love that they're white; even though I'm not wearing white the white pumpkin says "wedding" to me, as does the "lace" pattern. These seem like they would be really hard to do, but again, I could practice...right?:





I can't remember who suggested it, but someone said my rehearsal dinner could be a pumpkin-carving party. I laughed, but hmmm....