Rehearsal Dinner, err Picnic

I think Tom and I have changed our minds about the rehearsal dinner more times than we have about the wedding. It's definitely been more of a pain in the rear end to plan. Our initial plan was to have a barbecue in my mother's backyard. Then reality struck, and Tom and I decided we did not want to spend the evening before our wedding doing dishes and cleaning up my mother's house. Then we started looking at restaurants, but reality struck again. Our wedding party is made up of a slew of picky eaters, and we struggled to find a restaurant that would satisfy everyone. To add, who exactly was invited to the rehearsal dinner? Just the wedding party? What about their immediate families that would be stuck in a hotel room without a car? What about other out-of-town guests that were traveling/staying with members of the wedding party? Cue the headache. 

Then, one day, while thinking of our ceremony venue, Tom and I had an epiphany.

We'll have our rehearsal dinner on the beach! A picnic! Our entire wedding party is coming from out-of-state and will be in town a couple of days before the wedding (their choice, not ours). Tom and I were trying to think of activities to do with everyone that would allow us to show them around Maine. Why not spend a day on the ocean? 

We decided to hold the ceremony rehearsal around 2 in the afternoon, followed by a rehearsal picnic on the beach. The wedding party is invited, of course, along with their significant others and children. If a couple of out-of-town guests want to show up, that's cool too. The entire point is we want to have a nice, relaxing afternoon before the hustle and bustle of the wedding the next day. 

So, we figured out the venue, what are we going to feed everyone? 

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Italians! Italians are a Maine thing, it's essentially a sub sandwich (just don't say that to a local), it's deli meat, cheese, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and pickles on Italian bread with a little oil. We are looking to give our wedding party the "Maine experience," there is nothing more Maine than a good Italian sandwich, except maybe whoopie pies, and we are serving those for dessert. I spent my day on Monday calling a local sandwich shop and, with the exception of paper plates and stuff, our rehearsal picnic is set.

Our menu: 

Italian sandwiches; choice of roast beef, turkey, ham, or salami

Finger sandwiches; choice of chicken salad, ham salad, egg salad, or seafood salad

Garden salad

Chips

Soda/Juice

Whoopie Pie

Have you planned your rehearsal dinner?

My Hair

Jenny, age 2

My hair took forever to grow. My mom has told me stories about how she would dress me up in a yellow dress, and people would still assume I was a boy. I didn't have my first hair cut until I was almost three years old. My younger sister had her first hair cut shortly after. I am happy to report that once my hair decided to start growing, it made up for the first few years, and then some.

For as long I as I can remember, I've had long hair. When I say long, I mean at least below my shoulders, usually about halfway down my back. I have had short hair twice, short hair being defined as chin length. At first I welcomed the change, then I quickly decided that I did not like it. I love how versatile long hair is. I can leave it down, ponytail, braid, head band, barrettes, the whole gamut. On fancy occasions, I have even been known to take a curling iron to it.

I look like a dork

As far as color goes, my hair likes to march to the beat of it's own drummer. When I was really little, it was a dirty blonde, as I've gotten older it has darkened a little, but I do not quite consider myself a brunette. I'm not a blonde either. I have always had reddish highlights, and on a couple of occasions I've dyed my hair auburn. In my teens, I hated the color, as an adult, I've come to accept it.

The one downside, MAJOR downside to my hair is that it is baby fine. If I don't wash it every day, it goes flat and looks oily. As far as hair products go, I can only use hairspray, and only certain brands of that. Otherwise, my hair is weighed down and looks limp and icky. My hair also refuses to hold curls for more than an hour or so. In terms of wearing it down, I can get about two hours out of it until it becomes stringy, so I have to carry a hair brush with me (thank goodness for the ones that fold!). I love my hair, it's just a bit high maintenance.

I really don't want to be messing my hair on my wedding day. Between being the center of attention of a hundred or so guests, and the frequent camera flashes, stringy hair really is not much of a option either. My standby solution to this dilemma is to just get a total updo. This is what I've done for prom and other weddings I've attended. It has worked thus far, so why change something that works. It's also become quite a game for me to pull out all the bobby pins at the end of the night. My record is 47 bobby pins and a hair elastic, which held my hair up for my friend Jennie's wedding. I was a bridesmaid. My "usual" is a classic French twist with a couple of "spaghetti strings" in the front (it's the closest I can get to curls). For our wedding, I decided to go a little different. Still doing the total updo, but after looking at hundreds of wedding hair pictures online, I decided that I want loops. Tons of loops.

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I gave the above pictures to the spa that the girls are going to get ready at on the morning of the wedding. The lady that I spoke to told me that it should not be a problem to put my hair up in a similar way, and she went on to explain that they have a stylist at the salon that specializes in this type of updo! She also explained that it takes a lot of hair to be able to do an updo like this, but that I should not have a problem. My hair trial is going to be this summer, so we will see how everything goes.

How do you want to/ how did you wear your hair on your wedding day? Did you have a pre-wedding hair trial?

I Booked a Spa!

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Last month, Tom and I went to a bridal show. One of the featured vendors was a local day spa. They were giving free mineral make-up demonstrations, so I decided to give it a try. The end result was the appearance of flawless skin. For me, this is huge. We'll just say that my teen-aged years were not very kind to my complexion. On top of that, the spa offered a bridal area where the bride and the bridesmaids could get ready for the big day. I was intrigued and took a brochure with the intention of giving them a call in the near future.

Well, I called them on Wednesday, and set up an appointment to visit the spa this past Thursday. I've never been inside a spa, and I think my jaw hit the floor when I walked in. The place is gorgeous, yet incredibly calming. Soft music is playing throughout, there are couches and comfy chairs throughout. It just looks like the kind of place you would want to hang out for a significant amount of time. I met with their consultant, she gave me a tour of the entire spa, including the bridal area, which consists of two dressing rooms and a large sitting area. The way it works is this, if the bride books a bridal package, than she and her bridal party can get ready in the bridal area for no charge. The consultant even offered to set up my bridesmaid's tea for me in the sitting room. The photographer is more than welcome to come to the spa to take pictures of the bride getting ready, and my florist can deliver our flowers to the front desk. It just works out perfectly. Then the best part, the prices are extremely reasonable. I booked two packages for myself the same day to reserve the bridal area, and Tom and I decided that we are going to book appointments for our mothers as a wedding gift. My bridesmaids are more than welcome to book services as well, and several are going to join me for a "spa day" on the Thursday before the wedding.

As for my services? The Thursday before the wedding, I'm going to have a massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure. Then the day of, I am going to have my hair and make-up done. This is going to be my first time ever at a spa, and to say that I'm excited is actually quite the understatement.

DIY Invitations- Work in Progress

On Thursday I got a package in the mail, it's contents are pictured to the left: 80 pocketfolds, 100 large and small envelopes, and a package of cream colored vellum. This can only mean one thing, invitation assembling is imminent.

This isn't the very beginning of the invitation project, I purchased ivory coverstock from a local office supply store back in February, and I have been slowly chipping away at printing and cutting inserts. With the exception of editing a couple RSVP cards and cutting out cards with our website information on it, I am happy to say the inserts are almost done.

With any luck, in the next couple of weeks I should have a pile of completed wedding invitations.

Six Months!

Six months! When did this happen, and where did all the time go? The wedding will be here before we know it!

First and foremost, my big news! I lost my job back in July of 2010 and I have been feverishly attempting to find a job since. Aside from household living expenses, even the most budget conscious of weddings still cost money. Tom managed to find me a job, we will be working for the same company. I start in early April.

Back to wedding. In terms of planning, this has been a rather relaxed month. All of the vendors are currently booked, and most of my DIY projects are done, so I really have not had much to do on either front. We did manage to get over to a local rental place and reserve all of the chairs for our ceremony. I also tried my hand at personalized hangers, and I think I did a pretty good job. I did a couple other DIY projects, but unfortunately they are presents for my bridesmaids, and since they occasionally read my blog, I'll have to wait until after the wedding to post about them. The majority of the time spent on the wedding this month has been in the form of shopping. I was able to find artificial starfish at a really good price, and, most importantly, Tom and I took advantage of a sale and ordered our wedding rings.

Tom and I also had the opportunity to attend our first bridal show, which happened to be held at our reception venue. While I was not able to get much benefit out of the many vendors featured at the bridal show, I was able to see a reception table all set up, and overall walked away with a much more cohesive image of what our wedding will look like.

I'm still in the process of collecting measurements and deposits from my bridesmaids, it looks like their dresses should be ordered in the next week or two. Our ceremony has been finalized and mailed out to our officiants. I have not heard back from either of them about it, so perhaps I should follow up. Our music playlist is still a work in progress, but that's okay for now.

As we get closer to the wedding, my list of "little things" to do seems to be growing. In the next month, I plan to assemble all of our invitations. I really want to get this done before I start working again. I also need to begin planning our rehearsal dinner and figure out food for that. Last on my list, I need to start figuring out where I am going to have my hair and make-up done on the morning of the wedding.

Until next month!

Valentine's Day, Part Two

Valentine's Day is a special holiday for me and Tom, aside from being a holiday of love, it is also our dating anniversary and our engagement anniversary. We decided to do something special this year since it is the year that we marry, and our last dating anniversary that we celebrate. As you can see from the picture to your left, I was thoroughly spoiled. Over the course of several days, I was given a set of freshwater pearl earrings, a purple sock monkey, a vase full of chocolates, and a flower arrangement from the same florist that is doing our wedding flowers. The purple roses in the arrangement are the same type of roses that will be in my wedding bouquet and Tom's boutonniere. Tom did good. He also took me out to dinner at a local German restaurant. In return, I bought Tom a box of chocolates, a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, and a set of hockey tickets. Valentine's was a bit over two weeks ago, tonight is the hockey game. We shall call this Valentine's Day, Part Two.

Tom has always been an avid hockey fan, so I am happy to report that I got him tickets fitting for a hockey fan. Second row, next to the penalty box. This is going to be good. We are also going to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner before the game.

Have I mentioned how much I love spoiling my Tom?

With this Ring...

A little over a year ago, Tom proposed and gave me my engagement ring. To say I love my ring would be an understatement. I just over six months, we get to exchange rings again. Rings that we ordered last week. Tom and I crossed another "biggie" off of the wedding checklist.

We were originally planning to purchase our rings in June. The primary reason being that we were going to purchase our rings from the same jewelry store that Tom purchased my engagement ring from. It happens to be a national chain store, so we were not concerned about the rings taking long to come in once we ordered them, in fact, a jeweler at the store promised us that the rings would only take about six weeks to come in.

I went to the jewelry store last week to have my engagement ring inspected. I have to bring it in every six months to be inspected to keep the warranty up to date. It's a quick errand to do, and they steam clean it in the process, so I am rewarded with my ring looking brand new again. Anyway, while there, I noticed that they were having a significant sale on their bridal jewelry. Specifically, the wedding band that goes with my engagement ring was on sale for a significant discount. I mentioned the sale to Tom when I picked him up from work, and we went directly back to the jewelry store.

Without further ado, here are our rings.

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My ring is a 1/4 carat diamond channel band set in white gold. The ring is designed to fit around my engagement ring. Tom's ring is a 6mm yellow gold ring. He wanted something simple. I was originally going to get a simple band, but because my hands are so small (I wear a size 5!) combined with the sale, my diamond ring is about the same price as the simple band. Tom was going to get a narrower band, but the sale permitted him to get the wider band that he wanted.

I promise that I will have better pictures of the rings once we physically have them. My ring is on special order and is not expected to arrive until May (good thing we didn't wait last minute to order), Tom's ring is in, but we put it on layaway until we can pay it off. Now that we have rings, the wedding seems even more real. I had a definite "bride" moment when I watched Tom try different rings on.

Starfish, the Not-Dead Kind

My apparent love affair with starfish started shortly after Tom and I chose our ceremony venue. We decided to go with a nautical theme, and for what ever reason, the starfish became a design element. Thus far, the starfish has primarily made an appearance in graphic form. For example, we have starfish on the belly band of our invitations, starfish are the back drop of our wedding day stationary, and foil starfish make an appearance on our personalized matchbooks.

You'll notice I didn't mention starfish in our decor. This is where I ran into trouble. I love the look of starfish, I don't love the smell of dried starfish. I also did not like the principle of decorating our reception with dead sea creatures. The reality of the dried starfish that people pick up at craft stores is this, live starfish are either farm raised or wild caught, and then kiln dried flat. That's not a very nice thing to do in my opinion. There are also horror stories online about guests contracting food poisoning and other illnesses from handling improperly cleaned starfish and seashells prior to eating dinner. All things considered, I quickly nixed any decor ideas that I had that involved starfish.

Then I went shopping, and I found these:

All the natural beauty of a starfish without the guilt of killing innocent sea creatures. These are artificial starfish made of acrylic. I'm in love. 

Made in China! Not real! 

The larger "white pencil" starfish are about six inches across, the smaller starfish are about three inches across. I bought 18 of the larger ones first (three packages of six), and I was so impressed with the quality that I went back and bought 60 of the smaller ones. The larger ones will be used through out the reception decor, possibly on the tables, on the cake, where ever. I have another plan for the smaller starfish...

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Escort cards! I purchased ivory "print-your-own" escort cards that I will print with guest's names and table numbers, then I'll pop a hole in each one and attach it to a starfish with a purple ribbon.

My starfish love is becoming a cohesive theme! I love it when things work out.

Are you using starfish in your wedding decor? Are you using real or artificial?

Our First (and last) Bridal Show

As far as bridal shows go, Tom and I missed out on them during the planning phases. Up here in Maine, wedding shows seem to occur around the beginning and very end of the year (off-season). At this time last year, we were not yet planning the wedding, and by the very end of last year I had already picked out most of our vendors, so I did not see a point. I did want to experience one, just so that I can cross it off my list of things that I have experienced. When we booked our reception venue, the event coordinator invited us to a bridal show that the venue was hosting. I decided that this would as perfect of a time as ever to go to a bridal show.

I should begin by saying that I have THE BEST fiancé, and that I owe him big time. Tom not only accompanied me to the bridal show without complaint, he also took advantage of the event and used it as an opportunity to connect with a local travel agent. I should also say that even though I've already book all of our vendors, I am very happy that I attended the bridal show. Many of my vendors were there, so it became possible for me to mentally pull everything together. Since it was our reception venue, they had a "typical reception table" set up (pictured above). I was very, very happy, to say the least. Also, they had a fashion show (hosted by the bridal shop I ordered my dress from!), so I was able to see how wedding gowns looked under the chandeliers, I was quite happy with that as well.

When we were doing our wedding cake tastings, Tom tasted the cake by the baker we hired and insisted that we make the deposit right then and there. When I asked him why he was so insistent, he explained to me that the cake was better than any wedding cake he had tried. At the time I smiled and nodded, at the bridal show, I tried a slice of wedding cake from another baker. To say Tom was right was an understatement. Our baker was at the bridal show too... so I made sure to tell her that the other baker confirmed my decision to book her for our wedding day!

We also had the opportunity to touch base with a couple of vendors that we had not yet booked. For example, Tom touched base with a local travel agent. We are only going on a mini-moon for a couple of days after our wedding in September, but we would like to go on a larger honeymoon at some point in 2012. This is Tom's project. I met with a representative from a day spa, and they did my make-up with Bare Minerals. I was really impressed, and I'm going to be contacting them about a bridesmaid's spa day and my day-of hair. We also touched base with a local sandwich shop about catering our rehearsal dinner. We also met with someone from our reception venue about hosting a possible Sunday brunch.

All in all, I would say it was a great experience, and I am really happy that I went. As I hinted in the title of this post, it will likely be our only bridal show experience in that I really can't justify going to another one. We have all of our vendors booked and contracts signed.

Did you go to any bridal shows? What was your experience like?

Is it just me?

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Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that once the word "wedding" is tacked on to something, the price immediately increases dramatically? When Tom and I first became engaged, a friend of ours jokingly commented that by adding the word "wedding" to something, the price immediately increases 5 times. At first I thought he was being silly, but then I started planning our wedding.

The proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" occurred when I started researching event rental companies to provide chairs for our ceremony. I called one location in search of 150 chairs. The gentlemen was ready to let me rent economical black folding chairs until I mentioned that they were for a wedding. Suddenly, he was only willing to rent me white "wedding chairs" for twice the price; because, in his words, the other chairs would not be appropriate for a wedding. Ultimately, Tom and I took our business elsewhere; however, this leaves me asking, why does planning a wedding imply that businesses can charge you extra?

The problem is, once you step back and look at things objectively, it is clear that the wedding industry does this all the time. For example, it is not common to find "wedding toasting flutes" on sale for $50 or more; whereas it is possible to buy an entire set of 12 champagne flutes for around $20. A sheet cake for a birthday party generally costs between $20 and $40, but wedding cakes average $5/slice. Then there are all the "personalized keepsakes" that are out there: personalized napkins, coasters, koozies, glasswear, etc. The other day I saw "personalized forks" for the bride and groom's "first bites of cake" for $40. No wonder the average price of a wedding is over $20,000.

To be fair, I will admit that I purchased personalized matches, on sale, to go with the candles that we are giving away for favors. I know some guests do appreciate a keepsake, so I wanted to leave that option. We are also planning to purchase a personalized server set. We happen to have a curio cabinet, and I think it would look lovely on display. At the same time, we are taking careful steps to select wedding accessories that can be used again after the wedding. I am also saving money by purchasing non-wedding specific items and decorating them to match our wedding theme and colors. The point that I'm trying to make is that it is unfair for the wedding industry to immediately increase the price of an item or service because it is labeled "wedding" and by doing this, many brides are lured into spending significantly more for something than necessary.

Have you experienced any price increases because of the word "wedding"?