I have 4 months

laurenclaire1386

To get a cake, a band or DJ, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, and a photographer. I'm working on the cake and photographer this weekend, and barring any disasters, should have deposits on both by next week. In all you married hags' experience, am I going to have enough time to get bridesmaid dresses in 4 months? And how long do invitations take to do? I'm looking on Etsy right now, so if you ordered your invites from Etsy, how long did it take?

So basically, I've sat on my ass for a while and now the clock's ticking and I'm scared I'm not going to have enough time to get this shite together.

AmoroAgain

You should be okay, but you have to keep on stuff.

Any reason you're going with Etsy over a commercial place that might be faster?

Brie2010

You'll be fine.  Don't sweat it.

Want to see a funny wedding pic I found on FB to cheer you up?  I've been cackling over it for the last several minutes.  So inappropriate.

andyandhillary

It depends on the dress company.  We used JCrew and the girls got them fairly quickly and only minimal alterations had to be done.  I highly recommend them. 

I can't help with anything else, sorry . 

Don't worry too much.  A friend of mine had a 6 week engagement and her wedding was great!

laurenclaire1386

Amoro, none in particular. I've just been browsing their invites and have found some I like. But the card place is on my list of Saturday errands, so I'm still shopping. Truth be told, I have no idea how long a commercial place takes.

jasmineh7777

I think desginer dresses take at least 3 months to get in. Could you buy off the rack?
If you really can't find invites in time, there are lots of places that sell the kits and you can print your own. It is cheap and easy, and they still look nice.

mags0607

Hey, I'm right at 3 months out, and just ordered my invitations this week, and my BMs ordered their dresses 3 weeks ago, and they will be in by Sept 1.

Breathe, you will get it done.

You should be able to do the cake relatively easy, and if you need photographer recs, I have a couple good ones.

The DJ or band I can't help you with, but you still have plenty of time, there are a million vendors out there.

And if you need to freak out, pm me, because we are in the same boat.

[Deleted User]

My dress and MOH's dress took 3 months to come in, then an additional week or so for alterations. But they were from a bridal boutique, so I guess it depends on where you're buying from.

pirategal03

I hope you're alright.  Because besides the photographer and cake, I still need all that and a florist too.  And I do not have 4 months.

The Etsy vendor I just contacted has about a 2 week turnaround from final proofs to invitations. 

mags0607

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_4-months?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2ffb7cef-bd22-4220-8a8c-63ff30d07eedPost:5eba7fc8-aed3-47b1-a155-4605da93fb29">Re: I have 4 months</a>:
[QUOTE]Amoro, none in particular. I've just been browsing their invites and have found some I like. But the card place is on my list of Saturday errands, so I'm still shopping. Truth be told, I have no idea how long a commercial place takes.
Posted by laurenclaire1386[/QUOTE]

If you get in a bind on invites, and have time to drive down to Metairie, GEM printing is pretty good, and will do most of their in house printing within 24 hours. They are very quick.

laurenclaire1386

I'm totally cool with buying BM dresses off the rack. My only concern is that my BMs are scattered across the state and I'm trying to find something that's easy for them to get to.

And yes, Brie, I'd love to see an inappropriate wedding photo

Mags, thanks.

diva1397

I'm in BR too, and got BM dresses at David's.  My girls ordered their dresses in October for a December wedding, so you should be fine.  Who are you looking at for photos and cake?  We got our cake from Gambinos (tasty cake, but we weren't overly thrilled with how it looked) and Amanda Meyer did our photos (she was great).

We had a friend design custom invitations for us (in watercolor and DH photoshopped in the text) and had them printed at Downtown Duplications.  It was cheap (less than $1 per full color invite) and fast (had them in a couple of days).  They also printed our programs (gold text on navy cardstock) and they were beautiful.  I highly recommend them if you're doing any custom printing jobs.

MattsPenguin

David's Bridal will get you bridesmaid dresses in about 2 months.

mags0607

Yeah, Davids or Alfred Angelo would probably be your best bet for BM dresses.

laurenclaire1386

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_4-months?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2ffb7cef-bd22-4220-8a8c-63ff30d07eedPost:0c632825-59db-4caa-9b47-623f828a3cd4">Re: I have 4 months</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm in BR too, and got BM dresses at David's.  My girls ordered their dresses in October for a December wedding, so you should be fine.  Who are you looking at for photos and cake?  We got our cake from Gambinos (tasty cake, but we weren't overly thrilled with how it looked) and Amanda Meyer did our photos (she was great). We had a friend design custom invitations for us (in watercolor and DH photoshopped in the text) and had them printed at Downtown Duplications.  It was cheap (less than $1 per full color invite) and fast (had them in a couple of days).  They also printed our programs (gold text on navy cardstock) and they were beautiful.  I highly recommend them if you're doing any custom printing jobs.
Posted by diva1397[/QUOTE]
I'm looking at Sara Kelley for photos. She's only done a handful of weddings, but I like her pictures, and her prices seem good. I've emailed her and I'm waiting to hear back.

I'm going to Baum's for the cake. I used to work there, and they totally suck as employers, but they do awesome cakes. I worked on enough of them to know. So as much as I hate to give money to people who caused me a summer of strife and anguish, they just have the best damn cake in town.

JoyTate1

I got my BM dresses from White House Black Market.  They were very helpful and called stores near my out of state bridesmaids and had them hold their sizes for them and everything!  When my sister got married we had to order our BM dresses 3 months prior.  I had to do major altering to mine and it only took about 2 weeks.

mandysmear

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_4-months?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:2ffb7cef-bd22-4220-8a8c-63ff30d07eedPost:5acf3f37-0036-4f3b-b559-f3dba879fbc3">I have 4 months</a>:
[QUOTE]To get a cake, a band or DJ, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, and a photographer. I'm working on the cake and photographer this weekend, and barring any disasters, should have deposits on both by next week. In all you married hags' experience, am I going to have enough time to get bridesmaid dresses in 4 months? <strong>my BM dresses were of a designer that was available at most bridal shops.  so i gave the style and colour numbers to my BMs and they went to whatever bridal shop worked for them.  i'm thinking 4 months is pushing it.  but, i could be full of it.  </strong>

And how long do invitations take to do? I'm looking on Etsy right now, so if you ordered your invites from Etsy, how long did it take? <strong>I think that there are some out there that can do them quickly.  You just have to find a good vendor.  I would probably contact someone soon.  As you need to send those babies out in 6-10 weeks, no?</strong>

So basically, I've sat on my ass for a while and now the clock's ticking and I'm scared I'm not going to have enough time to get this shite together.
Posted by laurenclaire1386[/QUOTE]

<strong>I booked my photographer about 2 weeks after I got engaged.  I chose my wedding dates around him.  He was my priority.</strong>  <strong>Waiting til 4 months out sounds crazy to me!  haha.</strong>

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I ordered my BM dresses on or around May 22 and I picked them up last weekend (July 10). So that's like 6 weeks? If you go to David's or Alfred Angelo they'll tell you that you need 4 months, but you don't. They also told me 4-6 months for my dress and it came in 9 weeks later.

I'd order invitations soon because those suckers take more time that you think to stuff and address.


Oh, and I still need a florist. FI wants to use someone who lives 60 miles away whom he found through a work connection. She takes 72 hours to respond to all my emails and I'm not sure how great her English is, but hey, she might be cheap.

Brie2010

Nothing like humping a minor league baseball mascot at your wedding reception.

laurenclaire1386

Thanks everybody. Looks like this weekend is get your ass in gear weekend.

laurenclaire1386

Brie, OH MY GAWD

mica178

When I was a MOH, jcrew was super fast for my dress.  The BM dresses are often on sale too.

I used styleshake.com for my BM dresses.  From ordering online to receiving the dresses was 3 weeks.  The tough part was my girls had to design their own dresses (although that was fun for them too), and a lot of them took a couple weeks to do it.

sarabellam

LC, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Off the top of my head, Bee, Fischey, and I all planned our entire weddings in roughly 4 months, start to finish. It will be okay.

temerityjane

I have almost that much left to do, except in 3 months, so I can't be much help.

However, I just ordered my invites from lvandy27 - http://www.etsy.com/shop/lvandy27

She's super fast, super responsive - we went through the proof process very quickly and printing should take 10 - 15 business days at the most, likely faster.

cluebee

It can be done! I didn't get my booty in gear until after Mardi Gras was over and everything went wonderfully well for my July 3rd wedding.

Sidenote: I loved Baum's almond cake and buttercream, too, so I can understand going with them for the wedding cake.

CLSchramm

Ditto pps who have said DB gets bm dresses in about 2 months. My Aunt ordered my cousins dresses in April for my June wedding with no problems.

I'm not much help on the photog or dj, but if you get in a bind with the invites, Office Max does mass printing for $0.10 for black and white, and I think $0.30 for color. I pre-bought all my invitations from Michaels and my programs from a bookstore. It took them about a week to do invitations and about a day to do programs. GL!

Meg1979

I think three months to get the dresses is fine.  We got our dresses from Alfred Angelo in two weeks and then two weeks for alterations.  They give a little padding just in case.  I think you should be fine if you have the girls get their dresses by next month.