May 2013 Weddings — The Knot Community

Making my budget realistic

MamaBear904 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:47:53 +0000

My budget started out non-existent and when we realized how many guests (min) we would have to have there, we upp'd our budget. It was still aggressively tight but workable.

But there are some things that we did not want to compromise on and now that we are starting to get some "real" pricing in, that has us now re-evaluating our budget again. We can certainly afford more, without having to touch our existing savings, it will just limit how much we will be able to save going forward from now until the wedding.

Im still comfortable with what we're spending because we're not making frivilous choices or decisions, still keeping things to as much of a minimum as possible but still have the personal touches that mean something to us.

Getting to the point... budgeting sucks.

who was looking for pink and orange votives?

MamaBear904 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:06:50 +0000

Check this out. I found it on the DIY board. Are they affordable enough?
http://www.wholesalefloral.com/Votive_with_Candle_Pink_Case_of_25_p/canwdvotpink.htm

http://www.wholesalefloral.com/Votive_with_Candle_Amber_Case_of_25_p/canwdvotamb.htm

Your Order Has Arrived.

shano06 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:40:37 +0000

Subject of a new email and almost lost my mind. I called FI. 'Babe my dress here.! SQUEAL.! I gotta call your mom so we can pick it up. They said October 26, that was fast.!' So I'm all excited. BUT THEN. I opened the email and it's not my dress..just the veil. Lol. Got all excited. Called FI back and said false alarm. Lol. Y'all should have seen me. Lol.

Poll & Question about bridal shower/work people

jfox113 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:02:05 +0000

Ok so I am having a destination wedding. Our families are spread out all over the country and we decided to have the wedding in Florida because my grandparents are there and can't travel and also, it's FLORIDA :). My predicament is this... my mom and MOH keep asking me if I want a Bridal Shower and if I'd like to invite work people. The thing is, work people are not invited to the wedding, since it's in Florida and we are keeping it small and just with family. Is it considered rude to invite them to the shower but not the wedding or is this a nice gesture since the wedding is far away? I honestly have no clue! please help.

Hair Trial

Krikin22 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:17:27 +0000

Should I tip for the hair trial or can I just wait until the wedding and then tip based on the total for both?

Poll: Help me decide on a Guestbook idea...

TheyCallMeLiz — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:17:59 +0000

So I'm driving myself crazy with over-thinking the small details (as usual) and would like your ladies opinions on the "alternative" idea I want to consider for my guestbook. Please check out my site with the options I'm considering and vote on which you think I should pick. Feel free to explain why and feel free to tell me I'm officially losing my mind! LOL I'm a big girl and can take the rejection! Haha.

http://merryandmarried.weebly.com/the-guestbook-alternative.html

Speaking of stamps....

TheyCallMeLiz — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:44:57 +0000

I know the recommendation is to have the post office weigh a finished invite to determine final stamp price. The question I have for you ladies is this:
"at what point will you do this?"

Im worried that if I weight it in say, October, buy stamps and the price changes in Feb, I'll be stuck with adding penny stamps! Eeeek.

Ideas for our theme?

lyssagalee — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:59:19 +0000

My fiance and I are planning our wedding for May 2013. We want it to be clear that our theme is Beauty and the Beast without it being too over-the-top. This ist he perfect theme for us, we think, because when we talk about his past, he always talks about how I tamed him, like Belle tamed the Beast. Nothing is set in stone yet, of course, but we've tossed around a few ideas. We want to incorproate the most important aspects of the movie into the ceremony and reception in creative ways. To begin with, for centerpieces, we're thinking candelabras (During Belle and the Beast's first romantic dinner, their centerpiece was a simple candelabra.) or a single red rose in a glass dome over a round mirror; perhaps we will use both ideas - one on the head table and the other on the guests' tables. If we can afford it, we'd like to rent a chandelier to hang over the dance floor. The reception site we're looking at is a castle set on a golf course a few miles from the church. It's got a grand ball room with a balcony, similar to the one in the movie. Our colors are still up in the air - imagine that! Before we decided on the Beauty and the Beast theme, we were planning to go with lilac and silver. I still like those colors, but because of the importance of the red rose, we have to include red in some way. At first I wasn't too sure about combining purple and red, but red and lilac roses look wonderful together, accented by some white flowers, perhaps lilies, for my bouquet. As far as bridesmaids' dresses and favors, we've got very few ideas to work with as of now. Any ideas?

Help!

Mhanley4567 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 23:40:27 +0000

I'm trying to export my guest list from TK guest list tool. I've done it once before, and I said to myself "that will be useful later when I need it". Now i need it and I can't figure out how I did it! What am I missing?! The only thing I can think of is I was at work before using a PC, and now I'm at home using Safari. Maybe there's a difference?

Hey ya'll!

PJBHL5 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:38:33 +0000

I've been MIA. Long crazy last week.
Patrick's last day of work is Friday, so this morning was the last time he had to set an alarm for 3:45 and run out the door at 4am to drive the 2+ hours back home to go to work. The last morning he left a dry-erase message on my bathroom mirror telling me how he can't wait to see me again in a week.... Only 3 (possibly 2!) days of work left!

The stamps out right now

keystoneXOXO — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:47:54 +0000

....suck. Haha, I am such a loser about paper products, but my FI and I have actually HAD our save the dates in a box in our living room for about ... a month and a half now, all because I couldn't find a damn stamp that I liked!!

Ended up going with the bonsai trees since we're getting married in the woods. We'll be at a barn at Fallingwater, and there was an amazing stamp dedicated to Frank Lloyd Wright and Fallingwater in 1998 that would have been so perfect...I wanted to track those down but they were like $1.70 per stamp! No thanks. Too bad I didn't know 14 years ago that I'd be getting married there.

Anyway, we're finally sending them out today - so excited to hear what our guests think about them! I put a ton of time into them and am kinda in love.

frustrated and a bit frantic

HeatherC21 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 03:00:38 +0000

I went to look at my second choice for ceremony sites tonight with the FI and my fam. No one was that thrilled with it. The first choice I wasn't thrilled with. So my options are to settle for a place that is ok or to change my date to September to get the ceremony site I originally wanted. I have already changed my date from June to May to get the reception site. Should I change it again??? I am a bit overwhelmed to say the least. The only things I have put deposits on are the reception venue and the photographer and they are both flexible.

So should I change the date yet again???

Show me your plans for programs & menu's

TheyCallMeLiz — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:50:20 +0000

Lately I find myself feeling uninspired by everything I've seen for programs and menus. If you have something fun and/or unique, please share!

Sample invites ordered

MamaBear904 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:41:20 +0000

So I took advantage of the .01c deal going on a VP to do some sample invitations. I uploaded my design and after much trial and error (layout issues, cropping issues) I was able to finalize an order of 10 sample invitations. I think my total will be appx $10 which is not a bad deal for samples. Once I determine the quality of the print and to make sure my layout jives with what I saw online, then I will feel much more confident about ordering my invites and inserts online. Phew, step 1 complete!

QOTD 8/27

SSaltzman87 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:23:25 +0000

Anyone have plans for Labor Day Weekend?

Officiant fee

turtleslove — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:17:20 +0000

Our officiant is an old friend of FI and he told us he will not be charging us anything to do our ceremony. We plan on comping his hotel room, but we also want to make a donation to his youth organization to thank him.

My question is what is your officiant costing you? We're always looking for ways to cut costs, but I definitely don't want to insult him by not giving a large enough donation.

Thanks for your input!

Invitations!

worrelsj — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:04:15 +0000

DF and I went to a paper store yesterday and had them do a mock up for us for our wedding invitations just to have more options. We totally love what they made for us and the best part is that for 80 invites, they'd be about $1.66 an invite, so roughly $145.00 total. That includes everything we'd need in paper and I know printing won't be too much more. This allows DF to create our invite design with exactly what we want, which is the problem we were running into on different websites. I'm so excited to finally know how they will look like. I know it's going to take some work to make the invites and assemble them, but I'm looking forward to it!

The moose was just for fun because I love them! Although, we might actually adhere them to the reception cards because our reception venue has an up north/cabin theme. lol.

QOTD 8/28

SSaltzman87 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:50:02 +0000

e pix ....

Danny&Mel2003 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:43:54 +0000

are here 13 days after must say I love the quickness and love love how they turned out.

here's the link to my album!!! he took over 300 pics these were fav I actually didn't post any of the save the date chalk board I made just in case we use as a save the date pic i want it to be surprising!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152036889345212.889361.507380211&type=1&l=9c00f61f6d

DoC.??

shano06 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:26:17 +0000

So my venue contract says that we only get an hour before our rental time to set up anything that the venue itself doesn't provide. For me that's the centerpieces, and putting the menus and programs down. I'm worried about that getting done in an hour. The hour before the wedding starts I'm gonna be getting my dress on and stuff. No way I can set up. My BMs are gonna be dressed, don't want them setting up in their dresses and make up sweating out their hair. I dnt want to rely on anyone else, because there's a huge chance it won't be done the way I want, or people will back out last minute. The venue said they can set up my centerpieces as long as they're not elaborate, which I don't think they are. But somebody will need to oversee them in case they have questions. I'm really leaning towards a DoC so I don't have to stress over this. Is it worth it.?? Are yu ladies getting one.??

Semi check

SRRL18 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:50:23 +0000

I just ordered the bulk of the beads that I need to make my bouquets!

Etsy Find.!

shano06 — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:13:37 +0000

So I'm on Etsy making my list of wedding items that I'm ordering from them. I peeked over into the invites and save the dates, and saw these two posts. The store itself is DIY. They make your paper items for you, and email it to you. Take it to staples, and print it yourself. Its good cause she does the STD, Invite, Menu, Response Card, Reception Card, Table Numbers, and Thank You Cards. I was like hey good deal, but then I was like well if all that matches, my programs will be an outcast. So, the question is should I order these and have a different program, or should the program match if everything else does.?? Here are the two links.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64724643/love-squared-wedding-save-the

http://www.etsy.com/listing/100233839/pucker-stache-custom-wedding-save-the

The first one will be red to match our colors instead of that brown.

Anyone else tired of the Wedding Guest list?

AMISSA31 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:33:20 +0000

I am!! LOL Geeeshh! Our Save the Dates have gone out.....the venue holds 240...our list has 225 people. We agreed not to add anymore.
I have had 2 people ask if they can get an invite?? (awkward!) These people are ex-wives of family members. The ex's also said they understand if they cannot get one. I said "thanks for understanding".

Do you ladies go to any bridal shows?

MamaBear904 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:08:41 +0000

I went to my first one yesterday (as a bride). I used to be a vendor, so I've definitely been to them before. . .

It was pandimonium! I dont know if its just chicks checking out free food and drinks or if there are legitimate brides looking for vendors, ideas and deals.

Do you ladies go to any bridal shows? What are they like near you?

First dance

SRRL18 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:07:50 +0000

As driving to work this morning I heard Making Memories by Keith Urban. I've heard this song countless times but it made me tear today thinking about dancing with FI at our wedding. I plan on making him listen to it tonight without mentioning to him what I'm thinking of using it for.

Have you thought about a song for your first dance yet?

I got my dress!!! (A little long, sorry!) - PIP

deviousmuse — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:32:06 +0000

Thanks to everyone that gave advice on my wedding dress shopping prep. I really made sure that I was open to dresses that had elements I otherwise wouldn't have considered, and I ended up with a dress that I LOVE.

Saturday was Day 1 of shopping with my mom and all 4 bridesmaids, and our major stop was Bridals by Lori, which is home of Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta. My mom couldn't bear the idea that we go dress shopping and not go into that salon, even though I knew that 90% of the gowns in there were over my top-line budget. But I wanted to make Mom happy (and she was buying the dress), so in we went.

The first dress I tried on was one she picked, and mostly budget-friendly, and I thought it was going to be THE ONE. Well, that was until my consultant Flo brought out this gorgeous silk dress with a raw edge silk skirt with flowers. Oh, honey. It was AMAZING. And then she had me walk out onto the runway with the mirrors, and that was when Monty himself got ahold of me. I got jacked up in a veil, blusher, earrings, hair clips, belt... you name it. They even had my bridesmaids pick out dresses and stand next to me for the full effect. Talk about a sales pitch! (Monty said since I was so tall, I was like a lifesized Barbie doll that he just wanted to play dress up with. And then said, "Honey, when you're up here, there is no other bride." I just wanted to put him in my pocket and carry him everywhere.

Sadly, however, I knew I would blow my budget WAY out of the water (the money my parents are giving us is to cover my dress and our honeymoon), so we decided to think on it for the night and check out our Sunday appointments.

Ladies... let me tell you something. The dress I found at Alfred Angelo has EVERYTHING I loved about the SYTTDA dress, and even is better in some areas. And it is 1/3rd the cost (and under budget)!!!

The dress is in ivory, will have a corset back, and we're going to have the applique moved onto a black belt to accentuate my waist. It should be here early in December. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

And just for giggles... Monty having fun playing dress up.

BOLO: A new weekly thread!

MamaBear904 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:52:55 +0000

I would like to propose the idea of doing a new weekly thread. Monday's seem to be fitting, since its the beginning of the week. BOLO (Be On the Lookout Of). I think it would be a great way for us to maybe share things we are looking for but have not yet found. That way, if another bride comes across it and remembers, they can share the info!

For example: This week, Im on the lookout for an online sale or coupon code where I can get my shoes (like zappos or shoes.com). Im also on the lookout for crinkle overlays for my tables (on sale).

So if you ladies happen to come across a coupon code or sale on these, let me know! And if you are looking for anything specific this week, here's a good place to ask!

Tips?

sarahaleen — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:21:54 +0000

Who all are you supposed to tip? Are you supposed to tip the florist and dj? Gratuities are included in our reception contract with the caterer. What about the officiant? What is the average percentage we should tip if everything goes well? Just want to budget for everything possible!

mom vent

msbdumas — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 23:14:58 +0000

Everytime I bring up working on my DIY projects my mom is always like your BMs should be helping and blah blah blah..maybe I dont want there help. I dont mind doing things myself. She is really working my nerve about it. Have you/are you going to ask your BMs to help with your DIY projects ?

Too early to register?

jfox113 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:02:05 +0000

We are going to register this week at BBB. Is it too early? I know things can be discontinued so we'll definitely keep an eye on it, but wondering if 8 1/2 months out is ridiculous?