Wedding Favors

I've been trying to come up with a not-too-expensive-but-still-cute idea, for the wedding favors. So far, my only two ideas are either bottles of Round Barn Rootbeer, or maybe some cupcakes. Let me explain.

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Since Round Barn Rootbeer is the signature soda at Pop's on Route 66, it's easily available. They have all of the stock of it, at the location in Arcadia, in a warehouse. The problem is the price. Once I get a better idea of the actual guest count, I can get a real price, with a possible discount. At least a 20% discount would be ideal, but who knows if they'll give it to me. It probably won't be until the end of August before I'd know for sure.

The other idea I had, also plays on the theme of the venue.

I think making mini red velvet cupcakes with either spice cake domes, or maybe maple frosting domes, would be way cute. The problem with that, is that there would be no sort of keepsake aspect to it, which I know would be ok with some people, but then others (family mostly, probably) would want something they could keep afterward.

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So, I don't know. I still have some time to think on it, but I really hate not having things decided in advance.

Build Your Own Sundae Bar

I think we've moved on from the idea of a chocolate fountain. $250 just seems like such a waste for something that you don't even get to own afterward. And remember, that doesn't even include the food to dip into the chocoalte.

So, we've sort of mostly decided on a build-your-own-sundae bar. I'm really excited about it. We're going to go brave, and do homemade ice cream too, so I think that'll make it special. And yes, we will have to buy the super-duper ice cream maker that Keith's been wanting, but at least it's something we'll get use out of, after the wedding for years to come.

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These are the toppings we've come up with so far:

Peanuts
M&M
Oreo
Butterfinger
Nerds
Coconut
Chocolate Chips
Gummi Bears
Sour Patch Kids
Cherries
Chocolate Syrup
Caramel
Strawberry Syrup
Pineapple Preserves
Cool Whip

We'll probably have to narrow those down to a select 5 or 6 though.

Needless to say, I'm really glad I've got all of this milk glass now. All of the extra peices can be used to hold the candy toppings. I think it will look SO pretty.

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The one bad thing, is that this means I'll have to have at least 1 more server. Courtney has already agreed, and Diana is willing, so I think I'll probably also ask Heather and maybe Shala. I still need to think that through though.

Ring Corsages!

For my future sister-in-law, Shanna and for my good friend JenniferW, who are going to be my usherette and greeter respectively, I decided to do something a little different than the traditional wrist or pin corsages. I saw a simple idea on Flickr one day, and went with it. I decided to make ring corsages for them.

So, I talked to the craftiest person I know, Dana, and she give me a couple of ring blanks to practice with. Thankfully, I never had to use them, because I found someone on Etsy who could do exactly what I was imagining.

So, I contacted Kirsten at FlowerThyme and she jumped right into her task. I requested that they be "sort of absurdly large" and she complied.

I just received the finished rings in the mail last week, and they are wonderful. I hope the girls like them as much as I do!

Aren't they neat???

Milk Glass

I took about a week off from posting. Most of the stuff I've been working on, I can't really post publicly, because it all has to do with the bridal party gifts. I've also ordered my veil and my cake topper, but I'll wait to post about them. I want to have the veil in hand before I give my thoughts on it. I hope I'm as excited about it, when I see it, as I am right now. So, on to some things I can post about right now...

I've loved milk glass for a long time. I've always thought it would be a nice addition to the wedding decor, but didn't really know how I should incorporate it.

Well, this blog post kind of put me over the edge, and I knew I HAD to find a way to get it to all work together. Thank god I chose white as an accent color, instead of ivory!

So, for the past week or so, I've been hitting up all the thrift stores in the metro, looking for milk glass. I'm now up to 73 pieces, and I think I've got enough. I'll still keep looking, but don't plan to buy any more duplicates.

Here are a few photos of all of my finds. Some of these pieces (about 9) are ones I already had. The rest are all new.

I hope to be able to use this plate for my wedding cake.










So, now that the china cabinet is full, including the top, I have no idea where I'm going to store all of these, for 4.5 months. I told Keith he needs to build a display case, but he doesn't seem too keen on that. After the wedding, I will be selling a good deal of these pieces, but I know I'll end up keeping quite a few of them. I love them all!

Bouquets & Bouts

This is my original inspiration board, for all of my wedding party flowers. The images are all from WedIdeas.com. I had originally planned on ordering from them, but I'm going to try to pull it off cheaper, on my own. Basket Market, here we come!


At this point, I'm leaning toward adding in some of the dark purple callas to my bouquet and to also 1 to Keith's bout. I still like the idea of black ribbon instead of white, for everything. I might try to add some sort of smaller purple flower into Jenni-fer's bouquet and to Mark's bout.

I'm also going to try to make some sort of ring corsage, for JenniferW and for Shanna. This is the inspiration for that.

Wedding Nightmare

Saturday night, I had a dream about the wedding.

I didn't realize it during the dream, but once I woke up, it was clear that we had gotten married on Frontier City.

I remember someone paging me, and I had to run through the mud to find out what was going on. It turns out that my dress maker had given my name to some photographer who wanted to do a bridal portrait right then. It took forever before someone told me that though, and I was so angry at having to run through the mud. No one would listen to me or answer my questions.

The next thing I know, I'm sitting there realizing that I forgot to bring rice or birdseed for the guests to throw as Keith and I were leaving. Two women, who apparently worked in some kitchen at Frontier City, volunteered to help out. They gave me a big pot full of Spanish rice, as a substitute.

Thankfully, I woke up before the Spanish rice started flying.

Money Talks

We basically don't have a real set-in-stone budget. I wish we did, but there's just no way. Keith and I are paying for the majority of this shin-dig on our own. So, I'm basically having to search for all the necessities, and then try to figure out the payment schedule for things.

Here's the rough draft of what everything (so far) will cost.

Our Venue - $350
The Round Barn in Arcadia, OK
I found this location after months of searching. We'd actually considered it for a while, toward the end of 2009, but at that point we were still hoping to find a location that allowed alcohol. The Round Barn does not. But, the price is right, it's a really fun and unique location, and we both liked it when we went to check it out. We'll be getting married "in the round" in the loft. Our guests will sit at some round and some long tables during the ceremony and reception. I'm considering using some of the benches that the barn has around its perimeter, to make a few rows for the immediate family to sit at while the ceremony is going on. We'll see how that goes though.

Our Cake - $350
Sugar in Norman
We don't go for our official cake consultation until June, but from looking at their website, I'm going to guess that our cake will be roughly $3 per slice. I have no idea if Keith is going to decide to get a groom's cake or not. He'd also like a chocolate fountain, and IMO that would be an ideal replacement for a groom's cake.

My Dress - $1,000
I can't even believe that I agreed to this $1,000 gown. But I really do think it will be worth it, in the long run. I'm having it made my Moe at Bridal Showroom in OKC. I'd give you more details, but I'm too afraid that Keith will end up reading this at some point, so I'll stop there.

My Shoes - FREE!
Ok, not really free... they cost me about $100 when I bought them. But, that was 2 years ago. They are Sofft brand. They are black. I love them, but never get the chance to wear them. They are sitting in a special shelf, all by themselves, in my closet, probably getting dusty. I really need to get them into a bag or box or something.

My Veil - $32
I've been searching for a veil since October. I really didn't think I'd find one until after I had my dress in hand, because I just couldn't picture any of the ones I was finding, with the picture I have in my head of my dress. But then the other day, I just happened to search the right string of words and found the perfect veil. I was on Etsy and put "elbow veil" into the search function. Up came the "CAILYN Elbow Lettuce Edge Veil" by MarlaJDesigns. I almost cried when I saw it. I promptly emailed Marla and asked if this was a one of a kind, or if it might still be available on June 1st. She replied and said that it would still be available and even said that she'd add a blusher to it, for free! So, I'll be ordering my veil on payday, and I am SO excited.

My Jewelry - FREE!
Again, not really free, but it's all stuff that I already own. I'm just wearing my diamond studs earrings that Keith got me several years ago and my mom found a black onyx neckalce that belonged to her mom in a lockbox. I think I'll wear it too.

Keith's Tux - FREE!
Keith will most likely get his tux for free, with the rentals of the bridal party. He does want this fancy pair of shoes he saw at Men's Warehouse though. They were only $100 so that's not bad.

Photography - $695
When I started looking for a photographer, I almost immediately got greatly discouraged. They're so rediculously expensive. After pleads on Facebook and through texts, I had a few promising leads, but still wasn't satisfied. My mom called one day and told me that someone she works with is married to someone who does photography. I quickly googled Juniper Photography and after looking through the pricelist, quickly filled out the contact form. Keith and I met with Robyn Icks on May 3, 2010. Her price was right, she answered all my questions the way I'd hoped she would, and she was a real pleasure to speak to. So, late in the game, we officially booked our photographer and I immediately felt like this 1,000 pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Centerpieces - $310
I'm getting bulk flowers from Sam's for my centerpieces. We're also borrowing some of JenniferW's sister's mason jar collection, so that part won't cost a thing. The rest of that price, comes from the submersible candles that we'll be using.

Linens - $190
I think I'll just go with black tablecloths for all of the tables. If I rent them from Marianne's Rentals here in OKC, that should come out to roughly $190.

Food - $250
I'm really just guestimating here. We're just going to have some fruit and veggies, and some small finger foods like that. I haven't even begun to price them yet. I need to do that.

Cups & Plate - $85
We'll most likely go for paper cups, plastic plates, napkins, and forks from Party Galaxy or somewhere similar.

So, all of that added up, is $3,177. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Of course, I fully expect that to double between now and October 15. I haven't even been able to go and price the faux flowers we're using for the bouquets yet. I'm sure I'll have a heart attack when that day comes.

Save the Date

Even though we don't have a ton of out of town guests, I still wanted to send out Save the Dates - or "STDs" as the wedding boards would have you call them. I knew I could make them and print them myself, cheaply, so the expense wasn't a big issue. So, shortly after we got engaged, I started designing them.

Here is the journey of the design of our Save the Date postcards. Some of these make me shudder. What was I thinking?





*Please note that the following one was done so long ago (back in November) we had only looked at one venue, so I was using the OKC Zoo as a stand-in for anywhere I needed a venue name.











And finally, I got it just right, and sent these out on May 6, 2010. Everyone got them really fast. It took less than 24 hours for the folks down in Altus to get theirs. I was shocked.



And so that I didn't have to try to fit too much information on the front, I printed the basics on the back. Now we'll just hope that everyone reads them. I've already had one person say that they got our "invite" in the mail.

Inspiration Board

I finally made an inspiration board yesterday. I thought about doing one a long time ago, but never got around to it. One of the "new" features on TheKnot is that you can create one, from the stock images they provide. Well, none of those images really inspired me much, so I made one from some of the images I've been collecting for the past 7 months.

The Inspirations, from left to right and top to bottom...

Cake
Bridesmaids Dresses
Veil
Instant Photo Guest Book
Bridal Gown
Bridal Bouquet
Card Box
Bridal Party Bouquets
Bridal Shoes
Directional Sign
Centerpieces
Groom's Tux
Hair and Headband
Venue

Dress Shopping

Keith, if you happen to be reading this, please stop now. Do not go any further!

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Dress shopping was the first thing I did, with regard to the wedding planning. I aleady knew what I wanted, and I knew I wouldn't find it at David's Bridal or at Alfred Angelo, but I still wanted to try dresses on. I also wanted my Bridesmaids to try on dresses, and hopefully find one that everyone liked.

So, my mom, me, Jenni-fer, Amy, Kristen, Becky, and Barbara all went dress shopping on November 7, 2009. We had a lot of fun.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from that day.









As I said, I already knew what I wanted, and it wasn't any of those gowns. So, on November 21, 2009, I went to see Moe at Bridal Showroom in OKC.

Here's the inspiration photo that I took. My dress will be something like this, except in a white silk.



And now for the Bridesmaids dresses. We did find the ones we wanted at David's Bridal, but of course they were being discontinued. So, as not to chance it, I asked Moe if he could make them instead. He can and he is. The girls will go for their first measurements sometime in June 2010.

Here's what the dress will look like.


Everyone will be wearing black shoes.
Jenni-fer's dress will be black.
Amy and Kristen will both be in Victorian Lilac.
JenniferW (usherette) will be in black, with 3/4 sleeves.
Shanna (greeter) will be in Lapis, with 3/4 sleeves.

First Post

I should have started this bio long before now. We have a regular wedding website, but I need someplace to keep all of my thoughts and plans straight. I need a place that all of the guests don't have to see. I have a feeling I'll be rambling a lot here. Please bare with me.

If you'd like to visit our regular wedding website, go to http://Keith-Tisha.com/

For now, I'll be trying to update this planning bio, as soon as their is new planning news to share.