A wedding fit for a queen

"We're quite reserved a lot, the British, but when we go for it,
we really go for it''
The Prime Minister

I have to admit that I was intrigued by the royal wedding. I even contemplated waking up in the wee hours of the morning to watch it live, but I opted to sleep in and watch it later. I had heard all these rumors that everyone would be ripping off ideas from the wedding to include in their own celebrations. Since, I’m a bride-to-be I thought I should definitely watch it. I thought it was a beautiful ceremony, but to be honest… I’m not really sure what people would take from this ceremony. It was very traditional and didn’t really introduce anything new. I thought the music was very good. The two choirs, one orchestra and two fanfare teams performed wonderfully. The songs were very traditional well-known hymns and choral works as well as some specially-commissioned pieces. I loved the trees along the sides of the aisle. I thought that was a really nice touch and really add some visual oomph to the decorations. I was surprised there weren’t more flowers because I heard that thousands of dollars were spent on floral arrangements. I was really surprised at the lack of emotion. I really thought one of them would tear up during the ceremony. You can tell how much they love each other and I’m sure I’ll be a tearful mess on my wedding day. I really wish pictures of the reception would have been released I would have loved to seen the decorations and atmosphere for the reception. I did read that they introduced an American tradition… the groom’s cake. The wedding cake was massive with 900 individually iced flowers and leaves.

-Penny

An RSVP Postcard

“Together we laugh, we dream, we love … on this day we marry.”

My latest project has been getting our stationary items designed and ordered. I wanted to have all the invitation supplies ready when my mom came to visit (May 10-16) so she could help me assemble them. I don’t think that will happen, but at least I’ve got the bulk of the design work completed. Now, I just have to wait for all the pieces to arrive, put them together and get them in the mail. My goal is have them mailed by the end of May. It’s a good thing I have a couple weeks off that month to accomplish that goal.

I did something really different for our RSVP cards and I’m not sure how it will turn out. Instead of doing the traditional card with the tiny envelope … I decided to make a postcard (from Vistaprint.com) with one of our engagement pictures on it. We loved our photos that we got from Narrative Image so I really wanted to use them for something other than the save the date so I thought why not use them on a postcard. You’ll have to let me know what you think. I also thought about making envelope liners using our favorite engagement photos, but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to do all of that. I think one of the hardest parts of designing the invitations (which I really enjoyed … for those of you that don’t know I majored in Journalism graphics in college. I love design and I don’t get to do much of it in my current position at the newspaper so it was great to get back into this) was trying to decide what wording to use. I thought about using one of my favorite quotes: “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” or “Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” There are tons of other little sayings to choose from, but I ultimately decided to use “Together we laugh, we dream, we love … on this day we marry.” I really wanted to put an emphasis on our wedding date (9.10.11) and I thought that wording really helped to do that. It was really hard trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do because there are so many options out there. I’m happy with how they turned out so far. I’ll try to remember to post a blog once I get them finished so you can get a sneak peek before you get them in the mail.

-Penny

P.S. The top image is the front of the postcard and the bottom image is the back side.

Staying on budget

Love is that condition in which the happiness
of another is essential to your own.

Planning a wedding would be so easy if you had unlimited resources and financial backing. The most challenging part of planning our wedding for me has been achieving our vision but staying in our budget. I think I've done a great job of working within my budget but it's been difficult. I've found some amazing deals and I've saved us some serious cash, but there are a couple items we don't really have that much control over and that's the food and drinks portion of the reception… unless we're willing to cut into the number of people joining us. We've made sacrifices elsewhere to keep our original numbers. We really want all of our family and close friends to be able to celebrate with us. The food and beverages are by far the most expensive part of the planning process. But, it's the biggest party we're ever going to throw (probably) so why not splurge a little right?

I have 12 pointers for other brides out there who are looking to save cash on catering expenses.

1. During the cocktail hour, hand pass the pricier appetizers rather than offering them self-serve. Guests consume 40 percent less.
2. Serve the food in unique plates or ways. People eat with their eyes first, so focus on presentation.
3. There's no need to serve five courses after cocktail hour… stick with three.
4. Have salad of spring greens rather than traditional Caesar.
5. Some meats are pricier at different times of the year.
6. For a 20 percent savings serve family-style dishes.
7. Ask for a detailed price list for vegetables/sides to make better budget decisions. Not all vegetables are priced the same.
8. Going for midshelf instead of topshelf at the bar can help you save up to 30 percent.
9. Skip the champagne for toasts.
10.Close the open bar an hour early. This can save hundreds of dollars.
11. Stick with regular cake flavors that are more budget friendly.
12. Buttercream frosting will cost you less than fondant.

A wedding budget should follow this formula: 48-50% for the reception, 8-10% for flowers, 8-10% for attire, 8-10% for entertainment/music, 10-12% for photo/video, 2-3% for invites, 2-3% for gifts, and 8% for miscellaneous items. It's essential to allocate an extra 5-10% of the money for surprise expenses.

-Penny

To have and to hold

To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, from this day forward...

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post. I've been working so much that I haven't had much time for planning. My work schedule is supposed to be calming down soon so I'll have more time to focus on our upcoming nuptials.

I've been some time recently stressing over our vows. Adam and I have agree to write our own vows to each other instead of doing the standard ones. We thought this would be a great way for us to personalize the ceremony and it would give us an opportunity to speak from the heart. It sounded like a great idea, but now I"m worried I won't be able to jot down everything I'm feeling or I won't be able to say it effectively. I'm assuming this task will be pretty easy for Adam since he's a writer for a living. But, I think it's going to be a little difficult for me. I don't have the greatest way with words like he does. I did some research and found out that I'm supposed to talk about how great Adam is, how great we are as a couple and what we're vowing to each other. I think it's going to be challenging for me, but I'm for the challenge. I just need to take a couple days and start writing some things down.

I'll keep you posted on my progress with this... cross your fingers for me!

-Penny

Our engage-iversary

"True love stories never have endings"
Richard Bach

What's an engage-iversary you might ask? Well, it's a word to describe our one year anniversary of getting engaged. Cute, huh?

Last year Adam surprised me with a trip to Captiva Island for the weekend after my birthday. He rented a quaint cottage in the middle of the island that was within walking distance to the beach and several other restaurants. Little did I know that he had another very special surprise planned that would completely shock me. Adam and I have spent the past couple of years doing little weekend getaways for my birthday. The first year we lived in southwest Florida we spent the weekend at a local hotel pretending like we were tourists and it was wonderful. The year after we took a trip to Key West to enjoy some sights and sunshine. So, I didn't really anticipate anything different happening during this trip. Upon arriving in Captiva he asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. I packed up our tote bag and we were on our way. We walked to the beach and set up our chairs on the edge of shoreline. As the sun started to set he took my left hand. I noticed his hands were shaking and asked if everything was OK. He quickly replied yes. Then, he started to say a bunch of romantic stuff about how much he loved me... among other things that I can't even remember because of all the excitement. He got down on one knee and asked "will you marry me?" I accepted after saying "are you serious?" several times. The other beach goers cheered. He opened our cooler and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of champagne so we could toast our engagement. It was so sweet. I couldn't have imagined anything more perfect. I've known for a long time that he was something really special that I wanted to keep in my life. I feel so blessed to have him and I'm so excited that we're planning to share the rest of our days and nights together. Planning the wedding has been so much fun because I've gotten to bring out our unique personalities into all the details and make the day totally about us and our relationship. It's also helped me think back on all the good times and memories we've had. It's hard to believe that we've been dating for six years. It feels like yesterday when we met for the first time in the newsroom of Ball State University's newspaper.

-Penny