Shhh...Can you keep a secret?

As I previously mentioned, I used latex flowers....and I am SOOOO very happy that I did! The results were beautiful, as you can see below. Plus, they were stress free: my family and I arranged all them one afternoon; we delivered them to the reception venue a few days before the wedding and on the day of the wedding, my family simply poured some water in the vases and set some candles around.....VIOLA!!

What do you think???

RELATED POSTS:

http://theinartisticbride.blogspot.com/2008/11/holy-sticker-shock.html

Recession Depression: Reception Venue

Alright, I've already handled the biggest stressor...the reception venue.

I was very fortunate to get it in writing that I reserved the right to make any changes to the production--thanks Mom! Hard to believe, huh? Well, I booked the venue almost 2 years in advance, so Mom made sure that I was allowed to edit the contract.

So, today I notified the venue that I may need to evoke my right to make changes. I simply explained my situation and that I hoped to retain the original contract, but was unsure at this point. The only area to be hit will be the alcohol. If I remove the drinks, this will reduce the cost by over $6000! Plus, it will also mean that the reception venue is paid completely.

I'm really sad about possibly losing the alcohol, because let's face it: free drinks make guests stay longer and have more fun! But, oh well. I guess a dry wedding is better than bankruptcy...

Recession Depression

I was recently laid off at my job, I've been unemployed for almost a month, with little hope on the horizon. This is extremely stressful because I am paying for the wedding with little help from my mother, who will be covering the cost of the catering. Now with just over 90 days until the wedding, I'm faced with a dilemma, if I want to cancel with any of my vendors, it has to be done in the next 48 hours (90 days before the wedding).

I can see everything I've hoped, planned, budgeted and in some cases paid deposits for going rapidly down the drain. What do I do? Do I forfeit my deposits and do without? Do I try to renegotiate?

Right now, I am weighing all my options. Before Friday, I have to decide on the reception venue, photographer and band.

Stay tuned....

Did you know...? Napkins

The Winter 2009 issue of InStyle Weddings is on the shelves and my wonderful fiance brought me a copy. As usual, it delivers inspiration.

I instantly fell in love with the cocktail napkins from Christina Moore & John Ducey's wedding featured on page 307. The napkins had various funny little-known facts about the couple.

For example, "Christina has worn glasses since age 6. John wore corrective shoes when he was 6. Nerds find nerds." "Christina was crowned an Acteen Princess. John received a perfect attendance award. No, they did not "peak" in high school."

The picture isn't posted on the InStyle website yet and my scanner is broken, so here is a picture of the picture:





I loved this idea so much that I immediately began planning ours. I plan to have 10 different facts printed on the napkins....more to come!

For your butt

Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about chairs obviously!

Before my marathon planning session, I had budgeted for chair covers and ties at our reception (my venue already has chairs). This was going to cost me $975 for basic (black or white) polyester linens, shipping, taxes and labor. I’m not known for being cheap or frugal (actually, I’m known for being the exact opposite) but this cost stuck with me throughout the process as ridiculous. I just couldn’t see spending more on chairs linens than I did for invitations and I always thought that money could be better spent elsewhere, like an additional food item or better liquor! But I just swallowed my feelings and agreed on the chair covers because I thought I had to have them and renting prettier chairs was out of my budget.

Then, I returned to the reception venue with my fabulous planner and my new reception venue coordinator (my original coordinator doesn’t work there anymore). After seeing the chairs, my planner thought the venue’s retro black chairs, white retro barstools and white gladiator chairs were perfect for the lounge-y theme I envisioned.

Here are some pictures of the chairs (I couldn’t find any pictures of the white barstools, but they are the same as the black chairs only taller and white!):

What do you think? Are these chairs acceptable? What kind of chairs are you using?

Source

Linens N Things

I recently met with my wedding planner, reception venue coordinator and caterer for a three hour marathon planning session, which finally provided me with a clear picture of the reception!

One of the first things we decided on was linens. My reception venue works with BBJ Linen. I highly recommend checking out their selection and website, they have thousands of gorgeous, modern, traditional and even thematic choices and tons of inspirational photos.

We decided to go with two different linen choices: the Black Floral Silhouette and Black Classic. Each linen will go to the floor.

The Floral Silhouette will be used on the Hi-boy tables with a Lime Lamour Chair Tie wrapped around the table leg a la this photo:

Additionally, there will be three regular (60 inch round) tables covered with the Floral Silhouette and Lime Lamour Chair Tie used as a table runner scattered amongst the regular tables to add some interest.
The remainder of the regular tables will be covered in a black cost-effective polyester with a Lime Lamour table runner. According to my wedding planner, who has worked with Preston Bailey, table runners are the NEXT BIG THING! You heard it here first!

My cake table will be covered with White Classic and a Silver Sparkle overlay.

The Groom’s cake (we’re southern…it’s required by law or something) will have a simple black polyester linen without the Lime Lamour table runner because it would probably clash with his golf themed cake.

What do you think of our linen selection? What are you planning to use? What do you think is the next big thing in wedding table linens?

All photos from bbj linen.

FORE! The Groom

Please forgive me for the horrible title, but I couldn’t resist. My hubs-to-be is a huge, huge, really big golfer, so when deciding on a groom’s cake, a golf-themed cake was the obvious choice. Here are a few inspiration photos we are taking to the baker:

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

I’m leaning towards a golf bag and he is leaning towards a huge golf ball on the green. I know that “officially” I am supposed to decide on the groom’s cake design, but it really is his cake, so he can have the final word.

Is anyone else bucking tradition and letting others make decisions concerning your wedding?

Candle Craziness

We are planning to use lots of candlelight throughout our reception, on all the tables, and maybe even one like this:

The next step was deciding on the candles themselves. I, of course, spent way too much time thinking about this and wound up with a list of requirements for the candles:

• be available in a variety of sizes
• not drip excessively
• last for at least 5 hours
• not stink
• not smell too strong
• not be vanilla scented
• be white, not ivory
• be cheap

After receiving several recommendations from family, friends and some florists, I went to Michael's and purchased their white clean linen scented pillar candles to test. And....they meet all the requirements, they are quality candles with a very very light, clean scent and are super affordable (especially if you use a coupon!).

If you're in the market for candles, this bride-to-be recommends Michaels!

Do you over analyze small details too?

I want MORE candy!

Here is a follow-up to my earlier post about bags for the candy bar.....

First, I realize that I left some product information out.

I used Color Box pigment ink pad in black ($3), Stamp n Stuff embossing powder in clear ($4) and a Marvy Heat embossing tool ($19.99-I think), all products came from Michael's.

Additionally, I just learned from exploring at Michael's that there are pigment ink pens! This is SO much easier than the tiny paintbrush I mentioned earlier. Plus, the Micron .45mm black pen was reasonably priced at $2.99!

Lastly, after looking way too much at these bags, I decided they were missing something. So, I added a lime green ribbon looped through two holes to each bag. This will allow guests to tie the bag closed and it adds a pop of color!

For this, I used some chartreuse thin ribbon (50 cents for 10 yards) and a McGill 1/4 inch round hole punch ($5.99) from Michael's. It was very simple, I just punched two holes about 3/4 inch apart on the center of bag about 1/2 inch from the top of the bag and then threaded the ribbon through leaving the loose ends on the front of the bag.

Do you constantly add to your DIY to-do list too?

I want Candy!

We are having a candy bar at our wedding because my fiance is a huge candy freak, specifically m&m's. I ordered some bags from http://www.papermart.com/ (read review here) and they definitely needed to be beautified. The above picture is the end result--and I am so proud, I'm becoming crafty!!



INSTRUCTIONS

SUPPLIES

• Paper Bags
• Paper Cutter
• Border Punch
• Stamp Pigment Ink
• Embossing Powder
• Embossing Tool
  Tiny paintbrush (only required if you're a OCD perfectionist)

1. I cut off about an inch from the top of the bag to get rid of the ugly number 2, using the paper cutter.
2. Next, I used a border punch to add some interest to edge of the bags. I used the border punch pictured below by Fiskars from Michael's. I hate, hate, hate this thing! It broke very shortly after using and I had to reassemble it myself multiple times (it's missing a piece in the pic above). On the positive side, it is easy to line the paper up and get straight cuts.
3. Next up is stamping. I used my logo stamp and black pigment ink. It's important to make sure you use pigment ink because dye-based ink dries too quickly for embossing. I had a really difficult time getting the stamp perfectly even and accurate throughout the logo, so I ended up using a tiny paintbrush dipped in the ink to perfect the stamped design. But as you can see below, many of the bags were beyond repair.
4. Pour embossing powder on the stamped bag. I used clear powder, because even if a few sprinkles are left on the bag no one will know because they dry clear. Be sure to pour a lot of powder, think heaping mounds like the picture below. TIP: let the powder sit for a few minutes before dusting off the excess.
5. Pour the remaining/excess powder onto the next bag or back into the container.
6. Using your embossing tool, heat and melt the powder on the bag. It's really easy to tell when it's finished, the design will be shiny and raised.

That's it! You've embossed some gorgeous candy bar bags!

REVIEW

Cost: Ultra cheap!

Difficulty: Medium, there is definitely a learning curve

Time: a lot, but not as much as you think! I averaged about 15 minutes for 10 bags. My advice is to break it up into groups of 10 and do a little at a time.

Have you used embossing for any of you wedding techniques? What sort of bag/container are you using for your candy bar?

I'm obsessed!

Look...just look! At all these great centerpiece/decor ideas using my favorite cymbidium orchids.


I can't wait to receive my artificial flowers so I can begin getting the centerpieces ready!


I've been daydreaming about this setup all day...I would love to use it on one of the buffet tables! It's just so pretty!




I've seen these curtains or garlands many times and I really like them. Has anyone else tried this project?



Source

Holy Sticker Shock!

After I posted about my centerpiece ideas yesterday, I got excited and started to do some pricing research on the green cymbidium orchids I envisioned using. Well, I was shocked…shocked, I tell you.

At about $15-$25 a stem, they were too pricy for me. According to the pictures I posted yesterday, I would need at least 2 stems per centerpiece (each stem has 6 blooms) depending on the size of the vase.

19 tables x $15 a stem x 2 stems per table = $570 = too much for me.

I was really disappointed because I spent over a year searching ruthlessly for centerpieces. I looked at candles, but that made Mr. Inartistic very nervous—he had visions of the entire reception venue going up in flames. I even considered using these fabulous feather centerpieces. But it didn’t feel right. I knew I wanted these crystal wedding trees on my tall boy tables and even though I’m not a flower person, some flowers at the reception are necessary. So I decided on the submerged cymbidium orchids idea.

Not wanting to give up on my ideal centerpiece and months of research, I went searching for alternatives.

I remembered that my fiancé’s dad’s best friend sells very high end silk and latex flowers to florists, gift shops and interior designers. I gave him a call and much to my delight he had green latex cymbidium orchids available for wholesale B2B costs!

I was extremely concerned about the tacky/cheap factor; so I had my mother’s friend, a retired florist, come with me to examine the flowers. We were extremely pleased with the quality. They are latex and the perfect color and size. Plus, every single bloom on the stem will be perfectly full and beautiful.

The price for one stem is about $17, and it includes several blooms (I forgot to count and take pictures….I know…bad blogger!). So, for about $700 I was able to get 42 stems. I know, I know…this is more than the aforementioned cost to have real cymbidium orchids. But here are the reasons I decided to go with the latex flowers:

• These can be assembled early. My mother’s friend generously offered to arrange them in the vases for me.
• They will look good throughout the day, from what I understand real orchids are very fragile.
• One word: ebay! I am hoping to resell them after the wedding and recoup some of the costs.
• No one will know they aren’t real because they will be submerged—i.e., they can’t be touched!

Plus, I did actually order several extras, so I can use them for other potential DIY/decor projects.

I won’t receive them until January 2009, so I’ll post a review and more information then.

Has anyone else considered using faux flowers?

Bags for the Candy Bar

I ordered these white paper bags from http://www.papermart.com/. They were priced really well at $11.76 for 500 bags, which is more than I need, but I'll use them for something--right? Plus, this price was way better than Michael's, who wanted a ridiculous $3 for 12 bags!!!!


They arrived in less than a week. Yay for fast shipping!!


My only problem is the number 2 displayed on the top of the bags. I think I am going to trim the top of the bags to get rid of it (future DIY!). They also have the recycled symbol on the bottom, but that doesn't really bother me--Green is in!



Anyways, I definitely recommend this vendor because of their great prices, fast shipping and excellent communication!

I'm always looking for great vendors, so leave a comment if you know of any!

A New Twist

Source

I love this Good Things from Martha (of course). The only problem is the colors available at For Your Party don't really match our theme (and I'm a ruthless color/theme snob).

After months and months of scouring the internet and following dead end leads, I may have found someone to who can provide them in either black or white. It's a nice man in Taiwan and it will take over a month to produce them and get them to me in the Deep South.

I'll let you know how it goes and provide contact information at that time.

Has anyone done this project or something similar?

Z Gallerie

Maintaining my Z Gallerie obsession for the week, here are some fab things from Z Gallerie that would look great as a part of your wedding decor:

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7133-10-beaded-candles.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7072-10-yardley-pillar-holders.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7063-10-quintet-taper-holders-set-of-5.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-6959-10-occhio-votive-holders.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-6927-10-bella-pillar-holder-10.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7174-10-lumiere-glass-bowl-red.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7165-26-talia-table-linens-brown.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7116-26-squared-jeweled-trays.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-7038-26-silver-rhinestone-napkins-set-of-4.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-4888-15-mirage-tray.aspx

http://www.zgallerie.com/pc-2298-15-large-atlantis-clam-shell.aspx