JACKPOT...

Found a great inspirational website for all things weddings... and it's all nicely categorized here!

From Candles, to cakes! You can even find your dress bio here too!

numbers...

248 = number of days since we got engaged
17 = number of days since invites went out
38 = number of days till RSVP deadline
37 = Number of RSVPs received
6 = number of regrets
7 = number of days till I have my final dress fitting
56 = number of days till the wedding

What does this mean? That out of the 100 invitations that went out, 37% of our guests have responded and out of the 37%, 86% of them are coming! WOW! I guess that is about right... But still... numbers are truth and kinda make you do a double take and you realize you are having a party! Yes, I knew that already... but sometimes it doesn't always hit me when I'm making menus or place cards or programs.

Another way to look at it? In order to get all the responses back, I will need to get an average of 1.66 RSVPs back a day to hit the target. :P

(my boss would be soo proud of my little analysis!)

Waste...

is what I hate. I hate spending hundreds of dollars on flowers that will only be used at the church. If I have to have them, I need to find another use for them at the ceremony site. The main centerpieces at the church already have a spot... but the aisle flowers? Where the heck am I going to put them?

So, going over and over this in my head, I realized I will suck it up and pay a little more... (BOOOOOOOOOOO) and have Pomanders... aka, flower balls!



How to make them... Thanks Martha!!!

Source

Source

These would be great to hang over the dance floor or in the trees. Got any other ideas of how to use them?

Back to reality...

I am one person. One person who takes on a MILLION DIY projects. And this ONE person will not make little flags for her cupcakes...

This one person is fickle and has changed her mind because she found THIS:




This one person is floored by the beauty of little cupcake. Just too cute to eat!!!!

Yes... I know, I am a big dork. A big dork addicted to cupcakes!


Source of photo

But they are soo pretty...

That is what the devil on the left shoulder saying to the angel on the right shoulder about these shoes.

I do not need another pair of shoes for the weekend, but when I was on a search for some Mary Janes, I stumbled upon these:

Delman Shoes: gold rose 'Willy' flats on sale for 89.99 (regular price 255.00)!!!

They even come in BLUE!!!!


Then I came across these Stuart Weitzman white satin 'Temptress' pumps on sale 95.99$



Now because I will listen to my angel on the right, who just reminded me of my love affair with my beauties to the right, I will have to pass on these little gems to you!

Taking risks...

I want a very traditional wedding with traditional photos and my Hyde personality wants an off the wall wedding with off the wall photos. I think the Hyde in me is pushing me to do the Trash the Dress session and also push the envelope with the photos, because to me, the photography is the masterpiece and why not go big with it.


FIRST PLACE (8x10: 2007 FIRST HALF) at WPPI
"Waiting for Validation"
JB Sallee
Lewisville, TX U.S.A.



THIRD PLACE (8x10: 2007 FIRST HALF) at WPPI
"Prisoner of Love"
Marie Labbancz
Robbinsville, NJ U.S.A.

Source

I loved both of these photos because they weren't the typical bridal portaits. They tell a story and you want to stare at them for hours.

Are you willing to take a few risks for your wedding photos?

Inspirations Part 8

I never once wanted a spring or summer wedding. I always wanted a fall or even winter (pre-holidays) wedding. To be perfectly honest, our wedding day is the picture of perfection in my eyes. But I can't help but design a winter wedding too in my head.

So on to some inspirations I found for centerpieces that are simply amazing. I really might us this for some winter dinner party or something! :)


Source


Source


Oh I love the first one... How the baby's breath compliments the pearlized balls and the red little sprigs just add the little splash of color.

An inspiration to end all inspirations:

While reading through weddingbee today, Miss Gummi Bear blogged about this great designer. So I clicked and what did I find? A wedding cake with CANDY on it! What a great inspirational cake for the faux cake for the candy bar!


Rebecca Thuss

Wiping off the drool from my mouth, I am IN LOVE... thank you Miss Thuss for making such a grand design!

Then, I found this:



OH NO... now I want little flags on the cake too! On to the drawing board to make cute little flags! :)

Circle of love...

That's what I'm told what wedding bands represent. The undying love for one another.

It was probably out last major purchase (major as in... selling off another organ to pay) we have before the wedding.

We decided to trek back to the Jewelry district and check out Oscar's Design Jewelry. This is where we first went to find my e-ring and because how nice and reasonable with that, we figured they'd be the same with part two of the jewelry buying.

First we checked out my FI's bands. He must have tried on 30 different bands. He liked the first one but I wanted him to check out multiple styles so he could see what is really out there. He ended up falling for this design (criss cross mesh shaped) ring. I know, I did not explain it as elegantly as it looked. I've never seen this ring before and it was simply divine. I think one of the big draws to it was that it didn't feel heavy.

Next we went over to the sparkly portion of the store and picked out my band. My portion wasn't as fun cause it was the second ring I found. It matches perfectly so I couldn't question it. It's covered in princess cut diamonds and is the same size of the band portion of my ring. While I was waiting for the man to finish up the paper work and cleaning my e-ring, I tried on some other rings just for fun. Lots of gaudy, bold rings, dripping in diamonds. Nothing I'd want, but it's always fun to see what a 40,000$ ring feels like on! Once we saw the price tags and then letting the guy bring down the price on his own we whipped out the plastic and signed on the dotted line. HOORAY! In and out within 30 minutes!

We also got them engraved but I'll tell you about that some other time!

How was your buying experience? Quick and easy? or Slow and painful?

JACKPOT...

We got 6 RSVPs today. Only one of them was a no, but I had a feeling it would be. Kids + school = limited traveling. Then I got a big square envelope...with my AMAZING bridal shower invitation.

I feel soo blessed and happy... excited and thrilled about it all.

What a great trip to our mailbox!

Food Menus

My printer is going to kill me. I keep printing tons of stuff!


My next adventure is our menus for the tables. I ordered 150 Stardream Circle Card 5-1/4" from Envelopemall.


I then went to my trusty MS Word (I'm too ghetto to purchase publisher or anything like that...) and cut and pasted the menu that our Catering company gave us. Because Stardream paper is the biggest enemy to my otherwise easy going wedding planning, I printed out 20 at a time and each one I laid out all over the house and sprayed with aerosol hair spray so it dries better.

Finished results:



Cost: 36$ + shipping. I'm not including ink or my hair spray because, well, I used them for everything. Now, realizing I might have over my 150 count... I will be ordering from PaperSource because shipping isn't as much and it would get here sooner.

FOUND!

On the way to dinner, we saw a Smart and Final and decided to drop in to find the elusive Martinelli's cider in 187 ml splits. What do you know, they had them! We also got busy and bought some candy for the candy bar:

• Black Licorice


• Gold coins (not for candy bar... for something else!)


• Ice Blow pops


• Life savers white mints


• Red Hots


• Atomic Fireballs


• Gummi Worms

This is added to what we already have:

• Red Vines


• M&Ms

We are about 80% there with all the loot for the favors and the candy bar!

We still need or are considering to buy this...

• Gummi Grapefruit


• Cherry Slices


• Jelly Belly® French Vanilla


• Chocolate Mini Mints


• Chocolate Caramels


• Jawbreaker Boulders


• Natural Rock Candy

Anyone have any other ideas? The guidelines: candy must be red/black/white. I'd prefer to find more white types or black types of candies since we already have a lot of red.

Inspiration Board

A few nights ago, I decided to change up my mood board and add it the little contest Style Me Pretty is having.

And what do you know, she put it on her site! :)

Here is the board...


At the end of one of these weeks you get to vote... so I'll let you know and if you could just drop my name, that'd be great! :)

Bobble wha? cont.

Just got an email from the amazing people at Whoopass Enterprises. Don't you just LOVE that name? Anyhow, our bobble heads are done!

Now... for a sneak peak:



Did you think I was going to show you it all? You'll have to wait and see like everyone else!

Now, this is a package I am going to stock the fed ex guy for!

Surprise package...

Two weeks ago, my BM and I sat down on the computer and ordered some custom colored M&Ms. Well, the day we had to leave for our Engaged encounters, we found a package with this inside:

YIPPIE!





They were better packaged than what you see! They even came with some frozen things to keep the chocolate from going bad. Why is there pink in there? Oh, I ordered them for one of my BMs... you'll understand in time!

stuck on you...

After receiving an email from Zazzle that the price of the 41cent stamps were going up, I quickly hounded my FI to order the pretty little ones I just created so we had enough for all the thank you cards.

While we were ordering, I checked how many left over stickers we had from our STDs. So I played around with the designs and made two more stickers and ordered them too. So now, we have three different types of stickers... Here are the two I just created:





Now, why are we using these? The stickers will sitting on the candy bar, next to the bags so people can fill them up and use the stickers to close them! :)

Did I need this? NOPE... but at this phase in the planning I could care less! What do you think was your most random and unneeded expense?

69,168... part 2

So I ran again last night. 3.5 miles. A little further and still felt good. I'm a little shocked I ran faster than the night before and did more hills.

Now... lets see if i can keep up the rhythm...

69,168

That's how many feet I need to run (or in my case, job/walk) in two Sundays. So in a moment of clarity, I realized yesterday I needed to started to train for a half marathon in less than two weeks! :| So I ventured out in my running shoes and my heart rate monitor on, and tunes echoing in my ears. I ran 2.4 miles and surprising me enough, I ran it all, and kept a pretty good pace. Today, I'm a little sore but already looking forward to running again tonight, and maybe running a little further this time. I signed up for this Half a few months ago but just never got around to training. Yes, I was that lame. Now, in 11 days, I'll be dragging myself and running with one of my BMs around Anaheim!

So why am I toturing myself? Because I like pretty shiny medals, sorta like running and well, this is my way of working out for the wedding. It's a shame I can't use the motivation of wearing bikinis on the honeymoon or maybe my WEDDING DRESS.

Did you have troubles motivating yourself? How did you go about kicking your butt into gear?

Wedding Salon... IN LA!!!

The Wedding Salon is coming to LA on September 26, 2007. Though most of my stuff is completely done, I just love the whole planning aspect of parties!

Show date: Wednesday September 26, 2007
Show hours: 4 pm to 9 pm
Venue: The Four Seasons Los Angeles
Address: 300 Doheny Drive - Los Angeles, CA 90048

If you register now, they have a promotion, 2 admission for $75. But for the swag you get and the amazing experience you'll have, it is far worth it!

Go Register here!

More Postage...

In a recent turn of events, I have realized I am going to be short postage for the thank-you cards. I can't have that, can I?

So what did I do? I created another stamp.



In total, I have created 4 different stamps for this big event. This is the last one, I promise!

Link to other stamps.

Getting around...

Here is a better picture of the map. If you click on it, you'll get to notice the detailing of the church and other parts of our wedding we wanted to point out. We wanted to keep it more clean than other types of maps and I think my brother did a great job.


So why am I posting about this again? Well, I received a few emails about the map... My brother is an amazing graphic designer (been at it for decades)! He also does monograms (he did our Logo too! ), wine labels, candy bars, and other various detailing to make a wedding more personalized for you! To get ahold of him, you can email me at louvigilante [at] hotmail [dot] com. Please put in the subject line name of this blog so it won't go to the trash can by accident!

Personalizing gifts

While browsing through another one of my favorite sites: Vista Print. I came across the cutest idea for my BMs. Then I remembered I have enough loot to give them so I wanted to pass on this idea with you!

Personalized stationary! They have a ton of different styles. Here is my favorite:



The the envelopes to match them:

Front

back


The note cards run about 7.49$ for 10, and the matching envelopes are 3.99$ for 10! You can even get away with changing their invitation to a folded stationary card and save a few dollars there!

I'm sooo tempted but now we are getting close to going over budget for our gifts to everyone... So I'll be good!

Photo Books

Need to order a photo book? Here are some great discounts I found:

30% off all photo books at Kodak Gallery. promo code: JUSTFORYOU ends: 8/24/07

20% - 40% off your purchase at My Publisher. Promo code: SUMMER2040 ends: 8/22/07


It's a great present to give your parents after the wedding! :)

the evolution of the Invitation from hell...

I was going to write this elaborate post about how it was difficult but I will instead just show you the finished products and where I got the good to make my lovely invites. Lots of
Outer envelope... isn't the calligraphy beautiful? Thank you again Monica! You're the best!

There is a inner star dream quartz envelope but I was too lazy to take a photo of that... and here is the actual invitation! Closed... it took a few hours to perfect how to the ribbons to go around without them moving. We finally realized we had to cut slits and weave them through.

Now it's open! :) the little label isn't there to keep it closed... it's just there to look pretty.

Here are our reception and RSVP cards. Most people got a different reception card. The last 5 invites got these. :)

Here are the amazing maps my brother did for us! He sent me the digital copy and then I put it into word and had them printed out at a printers to keep the black. I also did a write up on lodging and directions on the opposite side. Once we got them printed and cut, we realized the white edges from the cut (it's white paper, with black ink!) so my loving FI went over every edge with a permanent marker and made them all black! How sweet!



All the envelopes and that black enclosure came from Envelope Mall. The layouts came from MS Word. Just centered it. Ribbon came from craft store.

So... what do you think? :)

Being engaged...

with each other... it was a vow we made this weekend. This weekend was our Engaged Encounters and I have to admit it I am beat from it. It's 44 hours (they count sleeping work too!) of intense and emotionally draining talking and writing and communicating with your FI.

It was long and hard but we learned a lot... and at the end of the weekend be became betrothed to each other. A deeper engagement than we had before. Would I recommend it to other engaged couples to do? Sure. It was a good experience and something you will remember for the rest of your life together.

Did you do any premarital counseling before the wedding?

I lied...

Okay, I took the photos of the invites... starting writing the post about it and realized I just don't have time to finish it. After this weekend is over, I'll have more time to post it.

So... when I said I would post it today, I lied... it'll post on sunday... but our pretty little red envelopes with RSVP's have been finding their way to the mailbox! :)

How fast did you get your first invite?

Speedy delivery...

Sent out the invitations Monday morning.

Coworkers and friends in neighboring areas received them the next day!

Talk about FAST!

HOORAY!!!

"A wedding is a day... a Marriage is a lifetime!"

This weekend is our engaged encounters retreat. it's 36 hours long from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. It's a little intimidating but when I think about it, I am glad we are doing it (well that, and we MUST in order to get married in a Roman Catholic Church).

I found a little list of things to pack for and looking at it and some of the photos on the Retreat Center we're going to, I'm getting a bit excited!

Meals are provided beginning at Saturday breakfast through Sunday lunch.

Please bring non-perishable food for snacks: fruit, cookies, crackers, etc. We will make a community snack table from every one's offerings.

Please bring at least two six packs of your favorite soft drink, water or fruit beverage to share. No alcoholic beverages. Coffee, tea, and cocoa will be provided all weekend.

Comfortable, casual clothing is suggested. Bring bathing suits and towels if you would like. We will have some time Saturday afternoon, to use the pool.

Please bring a bathrobe, towels, washcloths and your toiletries and medication

Bedding is provided but you might want to bring extra blankets in case it's cool at night or for laying out on the lawn.

Sleeping is dormitory style, men in one area and women in another. Please pack separate bags. You might want to bring earplugs and a flashlight.

Catholic Engaged Encounter is a full weekend experience, starting at 7:30 PM Friday and concluding about 4:30 PM Sunday. Please plan on being present for the entire time. A Certificate of Completion will be given out at the end of the weekend for you to take back to your priest.

We graduate?! How neat! For more information about Engaged Encounters, you can go HERE. It isn't just for catholics, but for everyone getting married. I think counseling before the wedding to get ready for the marriage is extremely important. Learning some tools to get through the first years are always helpful! Are you planning on going to any type of premarital counseling?

Can I have ten honeymoons?

Because on top of all the places that I really want to go and won't be trekking there, I found another place to add to the list.

From the lovely people over at Fiji Travel, I got the following email:

R/T Airfare from Los Angeles to Nadi on Air Pacific
Transfers to/from Resorts | 5 Nights Accommodations for Two
*Children Eat Free | **Includes Daily Breakfast | ***Includes All Meals
Rates are Per Person Based on Double Occupancy
Sale Period: August 13th, 2007 - November 30th, 2007
Travel Period: August 13th, 2007 - March 30th, 2008
Travel Blackout Dates: Depart Dec. 16 - 30, 2007 Return Jan. 1 - 31, 2008
Packages Must be Purchased within 3 Days of Reservation
Does not Include Airline Tax, Airport Security Fees or
Departure Tax - All Approximately $250 Per Person
--------------------------------------------------
Starting from: $1095 Airfare & Accommodations
Resorts Offered: Tokatoka Resort $1095| Naviti Resort $1300*
Warwick, Fiji $1305** | Hideaway Resort $1310
First Landing Resort $1346 | Outrigger on the Lagoon $1450
Mana Island Resort $1710** | Castaway Island Resort $1798***
Matangi Island Resort $2565***

I wanna go! I wanna go! If you decide to go to Fiji... can I stow away in your suitcase? :)

We're using Fiji Travel for our honeymoon. They have been great with prices and very nice. We had a little glitch on the planning but nothing to even mention. I like them because their website is really informative and yet when it's time to do the booking, you deal with an actual agent. When booking your honeymoon, did you find it online or through a travel agent?

Hand cramps...

That is what I didn't have! Why, because I didn't address my envelopes! I had the BEST CALLIGRAPHER IN THE WORLD do my invitations. Here name is Monica C. and lives and works in beautiful Hawaii. Even though she lives far away, she went beyond any other vendor I've used thus far! She is my favorite and I love every vendor I have! :) She's sent out examples of her work, kept in contact with you and gave updates from time to time and double checked names with you if she had questions. Amazing! Here is an example of her artistry.


(my apologies for my horrible photo taking skills.)


When it was time to get the envelopes back, she packaged them well and even put the cutest little card in there for me!

She is reasonably priced and has an eye for detailing and the end result is perfection. I can't think of a better way to add that extra touch of class to your invitations.

Her email address is monica.choe [at] gmail [dot] com. ([at] = @ [dot] = .) Again, I can't ooze more praises for her! Now... go inquire!

Flower holders...

One of the things I was initially looking forward to doing was making my own arrangements, then one of my BMs smacked some sense into me and realized I just won't have time to do that since I had SO many family members who I rarely see be in town and I should spend more time with them than dead flowers.

While the flowers were such a big deal to me of what I should get, I also thought about what vases to put them in. I wanted something pretty but couldn't spend a load of money of vases I'll never use again much less need 20 of them laying around the house. So, I headed over to my favorite budget friendly website and found these. All below 5.00$ a vase!


$4.99
$0.99

$2.49
$2.49
Source

So many great selections and these were just a few I found! These would also work well with showers and other types of parties.


As for flowers, I found Wholesale flowers at the beginning of the process and wanted to use them. They seemed to have the best selection and were priced very well. For my favorite flower at the moment: Ranunculus, for a bunch, $15.00. Most Flowers have 7 to 10 stems per bunch, many of their foliage products have more than 10 stem. Shipping is free for orders over 150$ and they only ship overnight!!! What a great deal!

Going Postal...

99% of the invitations are completed and I trekked over to the Post Office to mail them. On the way there, I said a little prayer to make sure they postage was correct (yes, I was a maverick and didn't get them weighed). Hooray... right on the money. So I dropped them off and said good bye and the count will begin today of how many RSVPs we get back. :)

Now tonight I have to finish up five more invites for misc people we have to hand deliver them too. On Friday when I know the majority of them are finding themselves to the mailboxes, I'll post how we did them.



What a sigh of relief to be done (mostly) with them! How soon did you get your first RSVP back?

days slipping by...

I have three friends getting married within one year of today. One is getting married a few weeks before me and two after me. The two after me have about 6 months and the other has 10 months to go. (still following me?) I remember what it was like to be in their shoes... where the wedding seemed soo far away and knowing how much stuff needed to be done but thinking, why bother when it's a million days away?!

I remember that and also watching the X's on the days filling the all the page and my turning the months came more often than not. Life just started passing by at such a rapid pace I never thought I could stop and just catch my breath.

Heading into the final stretch of it all, I must say that all the wedding planning has really been fun. I know the first initial part of the wedding planning is stressful but once you got your site nailed down, the rest has been a blast. Sure I have some not so nice things to say about DIY invitations but I know after it's all said and done, I'll be happy with the results.

Anyhow, this post has nothing to do with crafty little projects or vendor reviews, it's just a moment to stop and smell the roses and realize in less than 3 months this little miss planner will be little Mrs. planner!

I day* draws near...

Oh the pressure of invitations are getting to me. I know I've blogged a ton about them and after Friday, I will post them and what I did. (Most of our guests should have gotten them by then!)

Everything now is sitting nicely on my dining room table in stations. I have all the necessary equipment (double stick tape, scissors, glue, ruler, etc) in the middle and now just waiting for time to roll around so I can cut, glue and stuff them into their pretty little envelopes!

Once these are done, I will be able to sit back and just enjoy the little projects left. I think the main one I'm looking forward to is making a mock candy cake topper of us for our faux wedding cake! :) I know, I'm such a geek!



*I day is Invitation day!

Scrambling...

I-DAY* is only 2 days away and I'm starting to get a little flustered. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I have yet to PRINT OUT THE WORDING OF THE ACTUAL INVITE! During lunch today, I'll be going over to the printers to hand over the goods to have them print and cut. I no longer will cut anything! I HATE cutting. :)

After this, everything is ready to be put together. The only other main task is to assemble the already half made reception cards.

This has been ONE long task that I know I'll be very proud of when it's all said and done but until then... I will allow myself to obsess if I have everything completed!

In a minor revelation that I had last night, I realized that I didn't have barrettes for my Bridesmaids, or myself. I pulled in my MOH to help me find cute little barrettes for all our hair and she found me this:


Source

But I'm a little sad since they only have 4 in stock and I need a minimum of 5. I emailed the company and am now playing the waiting game to see what they say.

In the meantime, I found these lovely sets of jewelry that I can't show just in case a BM staggers over to this site! :P I know I know... just one more thing to add to their swag bag! But I say my girls are worth it and want them to look as beautiful as possible! :)

Anywho, anyone know where I can find a barrette like this one?

My m&m's....

Shifting through the Sunday ads I came across a coupon for custom printed m&m's. Go to mymms.com/offer24 and you can get a free bonus bag of custom m&m's. Minimum purchase is required and offer expires 10.21.07.
You can pick your party colors and LABEL it with your names!!! :)


What a cute idea for weddings and showers!

I'm a junkie...

for labels...

Here are a few labels I whipped up on the fly and sent to get printed out:

For the shawls I ordered:



For the flipflops I ordered at Old Navy... (Yes I know, it's a bit more than I wanted to spend but I rationalized it that I'm only getting six pairs... 2 pairs in each size). Thise was completely inspired by Miss Emerald!



I wrapped the items up with the same type of ribbon I used for the invitations and then glued the labels I made to them. I just printed the labels on bright white cardstock and then cut and cornered the edges.




Super easy project... :) hhmmm... I think I might need a small basket for them as well as small table.

dead flowers.

Going back to my thoughts on flowers... yes, I know I'm obsessed... I wanted to figure out if there was a way to add in more of "my colors" into it all. I have black and just the flowers after that. So, do I add dead black flowers? NOPE...

I found these photos that I think I will tell my florist I want too! She is going to hate me when this is all said and done!


Black Bacarra Rose

Calla Lilly

I think perhaps instead of the black water we can have these flowers scattered in the arrangements.