weddingplanning

Whenever someone asks me how Mr. T and I met I give the short version: “some friends introduced us.” They really don’t want the whole story—they just want to have an idea of how we ended up together if we were not in the same school or neighborhood.

I avoid giving the not-so-short version ’cause I sound like a 14-year-old telling her friends about her crush; somewhere inside me I’m still that girl. Maybe the English translation won’t sound so childish.

Once upon a time (2003) there was a guy with a crush on a girl. The girl thinks she likes the boy but isn’t sure; meanwhile the boy asks for the girl’s best friend’s advice. Eventually the boy and the best friend become close friends, and soon after the girl decides she doesn’t like boy after all.

Well, I was the best friend in this story. I eventually became Mr. T’s best friend and quickly developed a crush on him (silly girl who couldn’t be friends with a boy without falling for him). He eventually started to tell me about this girl he really liked, but my jealousy kept me from asking who the lucky girl was. It took him a few days to tell me I was the girl he liked, and you can figure out the rest.

Mr. T and me a long long time ago…

We’ve been together for eight years now, with ups and downs, short and long distances, in sickness and health…OK, I’m rambling here. I’ve enjoyed (almost…let’s be real) every minute of my time with him. Above all he’s my best friend and partner in crime. We grew up together and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him in my life.

How did you met your SO? How different is your life due to your SO’s presence?

This weekend I caught wedding-crafting fever. With the help of my awesome MOH, I finished the table numbers and the seating chart in record time.

I wanted to utilize our engagement pictures as our table numbers but had no idea on how to edit them in. Lil Boa worked some Photoshop magic to attach the table numbers to each of the pictures and created JPEG images of the seating lists. We printed the table numbers, the I Spy sheet, and the seating lists as photos at Walgreens.

The table number workstation

I used a simple plastic frame to display the the number and the I Spy.

Final product

For the seating chart, I was originally inspired by this beauty.

Photo by Eliza Claire Photography via Rock My Wedding

We had no luck finding a frame that was big enough to hold all our seating lists, but a little brainstorming found us a great alternative. We will be taping the ribbon, floor to ceiling, to one of glass walls that sits right at the top of the venue’s stairs. The seating lists were backed by leftover Violette card stock from the invitations and hot glued to the ribbons.

What DIY projects did you finish at the last minute?

Sorry if I’ve been quiet here lately in the hive. Now that our backyard wedding is just three months away, The Ginger I are on the hunt for vintage, gold-rimmed china for our mismatched dinnerware. Here’s a glimpse of our collection so far—we’re probably about 50% done finding everything we need.

I really enjoy going out when we have free time to search for items to add to the table. Our friends and family have been chipping in with giving us a plate or bowl to add to the collection to make it more personal.

Right now we’re mostly focusing on getting large dinner plates, small plates, bowls, and saucers. We’ll also have to get tumblers (for yummy alcoholic drinks) and drinking glasses (for water), in addition to teacups/coffee mugs.

We still haven’t gotten any napkins, but at least we won’t be using tablecloths on the wood tables, so that makes things a bit easier. It will be a while before we can cross this items off our to-do list, but I think it will look lovely once it comes together. We’re thankful we’re having such an intimate wedding, because I can’t imagine trying to pull this together with more than 20 guests.

We’ll also be having homemade jams of different flavors at each place setting (strawberry, blueberry, and blackberry variations). We did a test run with a ginger peach recipe, but we were less than pleased, so we’re hoping a mixture of berry recipes will be a hit.

We just rented our yellow and white striped canopy tent to dine under, so I’m excited for our yard to become an explosion of color this September. Hopefully we can bring our lawn back to life so there’s some green stuff beneath our feet. I’m looking forward to hanging string lights, paper lanterns, giant balloons, and streamers galore. Hopefully our neighbors won’t think a piñata threw up in our backyard. Cross your fingers it won’t rain…eep!

Is anyone else obsessing over mismatched vintage china as much as I am?

I have this friend that I’ve known since, oh, about the fourth grade, who’s always been there for me. School projects, Girl Scout stuff, even Christmas decorations—I’ve been able to rely on this friend for almost anything.

Even when I went away to college, and then moved up to the DC area, I’ve been able to visit this friend fairly often. Sometimes these visits aren’t particularly productive; sometimes it’s just to say hi. But it’s nice to know he’s always there for me.

I’m talking, of course, about my friend Michaels.

From Michaels

Why are you looking at me like that? Who did you think I was talking about?

You see, since I’ve always been able to rely on dear ol’ Michaels for craft-related emergencies, I knew I’d be able to rely on him for wedding planning.

Armed with a buy-one-get-one-50%-off coupon, Mr. Potion and I decided to pop in for a visit with Michaels just after Christmas to take advantage of the sales. We didn’t have a particular goal in mind; I’d assumed this would be one of my just-stopping-in-to-say-hello visits, and the coupon was mainly a just-in-case measure. We did, however, have some inspiration to guide our browsing.

You’ll recall from a previous post that the theme Mr. Potion and I settled on for our wedding is Our Geeky Adventure. This means our decor elements need to fall into one of two categories: geeky things and adventure/travel things. Books translate the geeky theme rather well, and I liked the look of having the ring bearer carry a book or a stack of books instead of a pillow.

Image via United with Love / Photo by Mary Kate McKenna Photography

Once I showed pictures like this to Mr. Potion, he liked the idea, too. We had both figured we would use a Harry Potter book with a ribbon tied around it, because we weren’t too keen on cutting one apart to place the rings inside.

And then my friend Michaels came through for me, like he always does. He had an entire shelf of hollow cardboard decorative containers, some shaped like books, some shaped like suitcases, some shaped like treasure chests. They were covered in different patterns and colors and came in several different sizes. Best of all, they were all on sale!

I won’t hold you in suspense any longer. We snagged this little guy for our ring bearer to carry:

{personal photo}

This book is tiny—the perfect size for Mr. Potion’s little nephew to carry in his hands. And it’s covered in maps, matching our “adventure” theme perfectly, though subtly.

Mer Pacifiq means Pacific Ocean in French / Personal photo

Here’s the inside. My ring decided to model for me to show you this little book’s utility. / Personal photo

Later, I’m going to hot glue some ribbon inside the hollow space so the rings can be tied on. We’ve gone back and forth about whether or not our little ring bearer will actually be carrying our rings down the aisle—there is the distinct possibility that, in his excitement, he’ll decide to show us how far he can throw this little book. Regardless, pictures will be taken with the rings inside to pretend it was done that way. Of course you, hive, will be the first to see the finished product!

To bring in more of the adventure part of Our Geeky Adventure, I thought it would be a good idea to use a suitcase (preferably vintage—you know, so we’ll be featured on hip blogs!) as a card box.

Image via Landlocked Bride / Photo by Steep Street

Image via Ruffled / Photo by Jonas Peterson

Mr. Potion told me not to tell you this, but I’m going to anyway—he didn’t even know what a card box was, or why we would need one at our wedding, until I showed him some of these pictures. Once I did, though, he liked the suitcase idea, too.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, Michaels followed through once again. On the same shelf as our little book, in the same pattern even, we found a (cardboard) suitcase!

It has buckles and everything! / Personal photos

It’s covered in the exact same map motif, and it’s nice and sturdy even though it’s only cardboard.

Later, I’ll make some sort of sign that says “cards”—either in a frame sitting next to the open suitcase, or individual letters hanging from twine inside, like in the inspiration photos above. I’ll be sure to keep y’all in the loop when it’s finished!

What is your ring bearer carrying down the aisle? Do you trust him to carry your rings? What are you using for a card box? Did your groom know what a card box is?

knvprincess143 is selling a pink lace bolero. She is asking $25.

Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!

Other great items for sale:

80 canvas covers for straw/hay bale seating, asking $75

Bridal comb with turquoise peacock feathers, asking $40

Burlap tablecloths and lace table runners, asking $200

Cobalt blue J.Crew suede heels, size 7.5, asking $75

Since our wedding is in late October and we both love candy and all things sugary and sweet, we thought it was only fitting to have a candy buffet! Mr. Beanstalk and I feel this is a great way to incorporate Halloween into our wedding (without being overly cheesy, of course). We’re planning to serve some of our favorite sweets and have treat bags for our guests to collect candy with (just like trick or treating…minus the going door-to-door part).

I love love LOVE candy corn, so this will definitely be a part of our buffet (plus, it’s festive!). / Image via Wikipedia

Now, I know the below photo is very popular amongst brides. It’s because it’s the epitome of what a candy buffet should be (in my eyes, anyway). It’s bright and fun and nostalgic. Even the decorations that adorn the table and walls are cute and playful! I love this image and want this for our wedding…my only hangup is the color!

Image via Amy Atlas Events

Now, I know it would look completely different surrounded by our decorations. With that said, would doing all different types of candy still be too bright and colorful for a wedding? This option does look really tasty…AND going this route, we could definitely use all of our favorite types of candy!

We could keep it simple and use our wedding colors as inspiration and do a strictly orange buffet…

Image via Weddings By Color

Image via Candy Warehouse

…or a teal buffet…

Yeah, I know this has a bit of blue in it! / Image via Candy Warehouse

…or even a brown buffet…

Image via Candy Warehouse

Is it me, or do strictly one-color buffets not look as appetizing? Another option would be to do a combination of teal, orange, and brown, which would allow me to use candy corn!

Or we could go more with a Halloween theme…

Image via Weddlady / Photo by Brad Howe Photography

Image via Candy Warehouse

Image via Amy Atlas Events

As cute as the above images are…I think we want our buffet to be subtly festive (not so in your face).

What do you think the Beanstalks should do…create a colorful candy buffet that’s playful and fun or create a buffet based on one (or two) of our wedding colors?

After getting engaged to Mr. Bracelet and deciding to have a civil wedding in Germany, I started looking into how we’d be able to do this. I contacted the Standesamt (registrar’s office) in my parents’ town and checked with the American Embassy for further information.

So, what do you need to get married in Germany? Not much if you’re a German citizen: your ID card (or passport) and a fresh copy of your birth certificate to be presented when applying for marriage. Germans are required to carry an ID card (or passport) with them at all times, so this was a no-brainer. I ordered my birth certificate by email and paid about $12 to have it issued and sent to me.

The list of documents required of Mr. Bracelet as a foreigner, or more specifically as an American, was quite a bit longer:

• Birth certificate: Certified copy issued within the last six months.
• US passport: Notarized copy.
• Affidavit: Since the US government does not keep track of a person’s civil statuses, Mr. Bracelet had to go to a notary public and swear that he wasn’t already married. In case of previous marriage(s), official proof of divorce is needed.
• Proof of income: The German government wants to make sure nobody is entering a marriage of convenience, for example in order to sponge off of state welfare. Although I felt that this was a bit ridiculous because Mr. Bracelet is a student, I respect that all foreigners are treated alike and there are no “preferred” countries. Luckily, the Navy is paying Mr. Bracelet a stipend, so he was able to have that certified.

A great tip we learned afterward: Wells Fargo banks notarize documents for free!

And since Mr. Bracelet resides in the US, he also had to fill out a two-page marriage application form in German to give me power of attorney, which included his personal data (name, date of birth, address) and his parents’ information. Beyond the basic requirements there were other non-required fields, such as his parents’ academic degrees. Mr. Bracelet was a bit surprised by the level of information requested, but I advised him to be as detailed as possible—anything to not give the German government a reason to dislike Mr. Bracelet.

Since we had planned to get married on our one-year engage-iversary, I was dead set on going to apply for marriage on the first possible day in November (six months before our date). As October progressed, I became quite antsy for Mr. Bracelet to get all his documents in order and send them back to me already. (Mail from and to Montana can take up to two weeks or more.)

A complicating factor was that all the English documents had to be submitted along with an official translation. So once I received the documents, I’d have to hire a government-accredited translator to translate the documents into German. I was in for quite a surprise when I inquired about pricing in Munich (where I lived at the time)—fees are assessed per line, but everyone charged a $70 minimum payment or more! So I decided to look in my parents’ area, which turned out to be much more reasonable: they charged only for the lines actually translated.

I found a nice lady who, after a quick phone conversation and viewing scanned copies, said she would do the translation for $35. I picked up the translations a few days later.

I couldn’t wait to get to the Standesamt to hand in our documents as soon as we were eligible to do so in November. I wanted to guarantee that we’d get the date in May and the location that we wanted. Since Mr. Bracelet was fast asleep on the other side of the Atlantic when I visited the Standesamt to sign us up, I don’t have any cute shots of me and the mister standing in front of the town hall or waiting “in line” (there was no line). I do, however, have a shot of our new town hall in bleak November weather:

{personal photo}

The registrar (who happened to go to junior high with my brother) checked our documents while I filled out the rest of the application and paid the $70 application fee. At the end of my appointment, she penciled us in for our date of choice. Why pencil? Because our marriage, due to one participant being a foreigner, still needed to be approved by the high state court. A few weeks later she sent me an email letting me know that everything had been approved. Yay!

What was your wedding paperwork experience like?

My girls met me at the entrance to the conservatory and asked me where we were going to take photos. On the other side of the property in front of the palm house, of course!

Even though Mama Funnel Cake dropped me off at the entrance so I would avoid walking on the asphalt, let’s walk over the muddy grass AND the asphalt to take photos in the chilly autumn weather!

“I don’t care if y’all are cold. I’m a bride and I’ve got a fire going on under my dress!”

(Photos by Brother FC)

Brother FC and BIL Funnel Cake were gentlemen and gave their coats to the ladies to use for a bit. But only for so long because we had some photos to take!

(Photo by Brother FC)

Apparently we all stink at fake laughing. Ha ha ha?

(Photo by Brother FC)

(Photo by Brother FC)

Tim got to work setting us up in some positions after we failed at the fake laughing.

BIL Funnel Cake and his “brotherheart” chumming it up.

Bestie MOH BM and me.

SIL BM (the one responsible for our buckeye favours among many other amazing feats!) and me.

Sister BM and me. Can you see the resemblance?

After the bridal-party pictures, Tim took a few shots of me and Mr. FC alone before we all headed into the reception taking place behind us. Unfortunately, the door to the palm house below was locked because it was too cold a day for us to use the terrace (included in the reception site!), so we had to make the trek back around the conservatory.

Don’t worry, though—the reception area lowers below ground level, so it’s not like all the guests could see us prancing around outside taking photos! In fact, the doors in the picture lead to a balcony inside that looks down on the room.

Next it was time for husband and wife to make their grand entrance!

Miss a Recap?

I’ve already shown you the many rings I’ve tried on in the search for the perfect wedding band, but there’s another piece of jewelry that will be purchased: Mr. T’s ring!

We started out with a traditional wedding band, but Mr. T quickly decided he wanted something with a little more flair.

Image via Blue Nile

Milgrain was also shot down because Mr. T said it reminded him of a coin.

Image via Blue Nile

Mr. T’s dad has diamonds in his wedding band, and for a long time Mr. T has said that he also wants diamonds in his wedding band.

Image via Fey and Co.

I loved this ring, but Mr. T wasn’t so sure about diamonds after all. He thought it might be a bit too flashy for day-to-day wear.

So he moved onto something a lot less shiny: satin-finish metal.

Image via Blue Nile

Image via Dimend Scaasi

He really liked this style. He tried on variations of this style in white gold, platinum, and tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide is a lot cheaper than gold or platinum, but it’s a brittle metal and might not stand up to a lifetime of wear. I’m really sentimental and would be very sad if the ring I gave to Mr. T on our wedding day broke. I told Mr. T I’d rather pay more money and get a more reliable metal.

We haven’t picked a final ring yet, but it will be white gold with a brushed finish in the middle and a high-polish finish on the edges.

I think it looks pretty good on him, and I can’t wait to put it on his finger in September!

What type of metal(s) did you and your SO go for?

You’d think because Mr. Coyote and I are having a super long engagement (22 months, what?!) we’d be totally ahead of the curve on everything. Aaaand you’d be wrong. Sure, we got most of the big ticket items out of the way, but one thing we totally dropped the ball on was the tuxedos. I have no explanation for this, but for some reason we just kept putting it off and putting it off until it was almost too late. In fact, the consultant we (finally) met with this weekend even chided us a bit for procrastinating so long. Whoops!

If you remember, I shared my tuxedo vision with you a few weeks ago and am proud to say that the entire color scheme I had talked about is being tossed out the window. Mr. Coyote, lil bro Coyote and even our consultant decided that the sangria vest/tie combo was “too girly” and was instantly vetoed. Silly men and their opinions. What do they know?! (Just kidding!) Actually, after discussing all of our options, I have been converted and am completely on board with what they want.

Mr. Coyote will be donning a two-button notch lapel tuxedo with a silver vest and necktie. I fought long and hard for the bow tie, but eventually lost the battle. I thought that *maybe* if he tried it on he’d see how freakin’ sexy he looks (I repeatedly told him that he looked like James Bond), but he was unconvinced. I did manage to snap a picture of him though—it wasn’t a total loss. I now have this photo to drool over for the rest of my life:

James Bond? Try Pee-wee Herman.

Side Note: Do you think he’d be upset if I made a Mr. Coyote-sized cardboard cutout of this photo and carried it around with me on our wedding day? Because the more I think about it, the more I realize that it needs to be done.

In reality, he’ll be wearing something more like this:

Except, it will be a bit darker (think of a silver color that falls in between the bow tie in the first photo and the neck tie in the second photo). Oh and his shirt will be a spread collar instead of a wing collar. Whatever. You guys get the point. I know so much about men’s formal-wear now that I’m just about ready to open my own tuxedo shop! Anywho, the groomsmen and fathers will wear the same tux and pattern, just with a black vest and tie. Simple, elegant and classic. Exactly what I was looking for. I’m glad the guys were able to convince me to drop the brightly colored vests ‘cuz I think they are all going to look mighty fine in silver and black.

As soon as we finished up our appointment, Mr. Coyote and I parted ways so I could head over to the seamstress and pick up my wedding dress! Even though we didn’t plan it this way, it was kind of awesome to see Mr. Coyote in his tuxedo and then immediately put on my dress. I was really able to visualize how freakin’ awesome we are going to look together on the big day!

Did you help pick out the attire for your fiance/fiancee? How much of an input did you have on the final decision?

Some pretty new designs from Fig. 2 Design…neon is sticking around a little bit longer it seems!

[images from Fig. 2 Design]

(Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod) times 30!

I’m a bee, I’m a bee!! I’m a, I’m a…I’m a bee!! Hive I’m a bee!! I might or might not have been singing that annoying Black Eyed Peas song’s chorus all day (which I first listened to on Mrs. Aardvark’s introduction post).

I can’t believe I’m writing this! Yesterday at lunchtime when I finally reached my desk and saw Pengy’s mail waiting there to be opened, I took a deep breath, prepared for rejection, and opened it. I barely reached the words “great addition” when I ran outside (not an adult glamorous run, but a weird 13-year-old all-over-the-place run), called Mr. T, and managed to say “hi” and “how are you” before bursting out “I got accepted as a Weddingbee blogger!” Yeah, I am excited.

So who are we? We’re the Toadstools! (But you already knew that.)

Me and Mr. T hiking this past Easter

I’m a goofy coffee addict who loves reading, online window shopping, daydreaming, and planning things, so wedding planning’s been heaven for me (even with the stress).

My fiance (can you believe there’s no proper word for it in Spanish?) is a fun, smart, sensitive, sometimes crazy, and extremely patient guy with an inner child that likes to go out most of the time and a great liking for video games. (Well, he’s a guy after all.)

We’re both Mexicans born and raised, who might be too influenced by the American culture. No seriously, we grew up watching American TV and listening to songs in English, and we live fairly close to the border, meaning we can just go to the US for a shopping weekend.

I work in wheat research, which means long hours under the sun, while Mr. Toadstool drives all over the state selling and supervising bugs for greenhouses, and you won’t believe their main product: Bumblebees!

That’s an actual bumblebee hive!

We’ve been together for eight years (!!) now and are planning our December wedding! Don’t worry, December is not that cold here—86°F at the most.

So why Toadstool? Man was it hard to pick from the fairy-tale generation. I hovered over Unicorn for a while ’cause it’s overwhelmingly cute, but once I gave my fiance a say in it, we settle on Toadstool because it fits us better (something about not being pink and girly). So we’re the Toadstools!

I’m so happy to be here (as a bee, I mean—I’ve been here a long time). I can’t wait to tell you all about our plans. Hope you enjoy it!

*All pictures are personal

Susan83100 shows off her DIY “will you be my bridesmaid?” cookies.

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Mr. Mole and I never created a overall budget when we started planning our wedding. Sure, we had some sense of the realistic parameters of our personal finances. This wasn’t going to be a wedding that featured three custom Vera Wang dresses or a nationally known live band. But we never set out to limit flowers to $X or catering to $Y. We decided on what things we wanted and then tried to find the best prices for them.

While Mr. Mole and I both feel really good about how and where we spent our money, neither of us knew exactly how much we spent in total—until I started writing this post. In the beginning of the process, I guessed that we would spend between $15-18,000. Mr. Mole estimated a little higher, at $18-20,000. We were both wrong.

Here’s the breakdown for our wedding budget and vendors, including our Las Vegas ceremony and reception on January 28th, 2012 and our Milwaukee hometown party on February 4th, 2012:

Photo by Brian Saculles

Las Vegas Rehearsal Dinner, Stripburger: $696 Our rehearsal featured salads, burgers, sides, and drinks for 19 people at Stripburger. We joined Lettuce Entertain You’s reward program, so we earned a $40 gift certificate after this dinner. The food and service was great!

Las Vegas Ceremony, Wynn Las Vegas: $3,942

Photo by Cashman Photography

• Las Vegas Marriage License: $60

• The Petite Ceremony Package at the Wynn Las Vegas: $2,590 This package included a dedicated wedding coordinator; private limousine from Wynn Las Vegas to and from the Courthouse for the marriage license; private check-in at the Wynn suite tower; one hour private use of the wedding salon; the minister to officiate the event; ceremony music; a twenty-four rose bouquet and complementary boutonniere; one hour of photography time and ten 5×7″ prints; wedding DVD; personalized wedding certificate and holder; two glasses of champagne; special turn-down service.

Photo by Cashman Photography

• Salon decorations: $961 We chose to add an assortment of candles on the mantle, and we also included aisle decorations: scattered rose petals and clusters of large vases with floating candles. The fact that the Wynn does not allow outside vendors meant that we paid huge mark-ups on our decorations. Oh well. It was beautiful.

• Minister’s tip: $50 As I’ve said before, our minister, Rev. Walter, was amazing. We were so impressed that we went back the next day to give him an extra tip. If you get married at the Wynn, be sure to request him!

Photo by Cashman Photography

• Extra 5×7″ prints, Cashman Photography: $225 Many casinos in Vegas have exclusive photography contracts with Cashman Photographers. This means that you cannot bring in an outside photographer unless you are willing to pay a fee: $750 at the Wynn, for example. We decided to use the Cashman photographer for the ceremony and just buy any prints we liked. Our package came with ten prints, and we ended up buying thirteen additional ones. Pro: We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of some of the photos that we received from Cashman. Con: Each of those photos ended up being really expensive. (A DVD with printing rights to photos from our 40 minute ceremony was well over $1,000. Ouch.)

• Programs: $56

Las Vegas Reception, Bouchon Bistro: $3,564

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Food, open bar, and wedding cake at Bouchon Bistro: $3,294 We had 20 guests at our intimate reception in a private room of a restaurant. This total includes tax, gratuity, and an extra $200 tip we gave our servers. The room minimum for food and beverage was $2,400. Bouchon is, hands down, our favorite restaurant in Las Vegas. Our experience there for our reception solidified that status.

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Centerpieces: $119 Candles, vases, and photo frames all from Ikea!

• Place cards: $31, cuddlecreature on Etsy We chose greyhound place cards as a means of including our dog into our wedding.

• Favors: $112

Photo by Gavin Gould

• Guestbook photo frame: Gift

• Guestbook sign and markers: $8

Las Vegas Photography, Brian Saculles: $2,100Our package included 6 hours of photography and a high-resolution DVD with printing rights. Brian took photos before our ceremony, after our ceremony, and at the beginning of our reception. The photos are absolutely gorgeous. We love all of the photos that we received. I do wish that I would have been more specific about some of the shots that were important to us (candid photographs of family, for example). My tip is to make a short list for your photographer of your “absolutely must have” photos. Anyway, I recommend working with Brian and his wife, Lyn!

Personal photo

Bride’s Attire and Accessories: $1,545

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Dress: $650, Lili Bridals I wore the Watters’ Tuscany, which has since been discontinued. We made substantial changes to the back of the dress and train in alterations.

• Alterations: $470, In Stitches Since the dress was a sample, this price included the cost of an initial cleaning and then some repair work. The alterations also included taking in the sides of the bodice, hemming, creating an underbustle, sewing in cups and edging the organza.

• Underwear: Gift

• Dress hanger: $34, rockabuycreations on Etsy

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Shoes (3 pairs): $240 I wore the Boutique 9 heels for the ceremony and pictures. I later changed into the Kate Spade flats for the reception. In Milwaukee, I wore the Charles David flats, knowing it would be too cold for open toes!

• Hair clip: $38, AmieNoelDesigns on Etsy

• Pearl earrings and necklaces: Gifts

• Clutch: $35, ModDotTextiles on Etsy

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Rehearsal/hometown party dress: $57, Nordstrom Rack

• Rehearsal earrings: $21, Banana Republic

Hair and Makeup, Amelia C.: $600My hair and makeup was $200, and I paid for my mom and my sister to have their hair and makeup done as well. Amelia C., with an assistant, came to our hotel room. She did an excellent job, especially on the make-up, and I tipped her 20%.

Photo by Brian Saculles

Groom’s Attire and Accessories: $1,141

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Suit and vest: $725, J.Crew Mr. Mole wore the Ludlow two-button suit jacket with center vent, the Ludlow suit pant in Italian wool, and the suit vest in Italian wool: all in black. We got a 15% discount on everything at J.Crew for having a student/teacher I.D.

• Tie: $64, J.Crew

• Tie clip: $79, J.Crew

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Undershirts (2): $35, J.Crew

• Button-down shirts (3): $238, Brooks Brothers

Paper and Stationary: $668

Photo by Brian Saculles / Edited for privacy

• Invitations: $325, SilhouetteBlue on Etsy For Las Vegas, we ordered the Bracket invitations with the Bracket RSVP cards with pre-addressed envelopes. For Milwaukee, we ordered the Sweetheart invitations with RSVP postcards with pre-addressed backs. We were able to customize the wording, the paper color, and the ink colors. We definitely recommend this shop!

• Stamps and postage: $70, USPS

• Personalized, self-inking address stamp: $36, foryoo on Etsy This was a great purchase. I’ve used it on everything from our invitations to our thank you notes to our bills. Tom Boonen, for whatever reason, also loves it and tries to eat it whenever it appears from its drawer.

• Moo mini cards (200): $46, moo.com

Personal photo

• Divine Twine: $20, Whisker Graphics We ordered the twine in oyster grey, and we used it for a wide variety of projects: our invitations, our Milwaukee favors, our programs. We still have a ton of the string left.

• Save-the-Date postcards: $25, ArchitetteStudios on Etsy

• Save-the-Date video poker machines: $134, Amazon

• Thank you cards (50): $12, Target

Gifts: $438

• “Bridesmaids”: $120 Each of the three “bridesmaids” received a clutch from ModDotTextiles on Etsy, a Clinique lip gloss, and a box of Altoids.

• “Groomsmen”: $108 Each of the two “groomsmen” received a folding knife and a flask, both purchased on Amazon.

Photo by Brian Saculles

• Parents: $210 All three of the sets of parents received an 8×10″ frame from Crate and Barrel. They also received an 8×10″ print and an Adoramapix photo album.

Milwaukee Party, Roots Restaurant and Cellar: $5,478

Photo by Gavin Gould

• Dinner and open bar: $5,196 We had 53 guests at our hometown party in the private Cellar. This total includes tax, gratuity, and an extra $200 tip we gave our servers. The room minimum for food and beverage was $4,000. Surprisingly, we did not hit our minimum! Roots gave us $260 in restaurant gift cards to make up the difference. We also earned another $200 credit on our frequent diner’s card, so we will be eating at Roots every time we go to Milwaukee from this point on.

Photo by Gavin Gould

• Ice cream cakes: $80, Dairy Queen For our 53 guests, we ordered two large sheet cakes and one 10″ round cake. We had at least 12 servings left over. (As an aside, I was super impressed with the decorations on the cake. How pretty!)

• Place cards: $56, cuddlecreature on Etsy We used the same greyhound place cards as we did in Vegas.

Photo by Gavin Gould

• Favors: $138, Amazon

• Reception decorations: $8 We did the framed photos on the quick (and at the last minute): we printed out six photos from our wedding ceremony at Walgreens, and we put the photos in frames that we already owned. Mr. Mole made the bar signs using Photoshop and put them in inexpensive black Ikea frames.

Photo by Gavin Gould

Milwaukee Photographer, Gavin Gould: $1,000 Gavin is one of Mr. Mole’s friends from the biking community in Chicago. We really enjoyed working with him for our “rock the frock” and hometown party, and we got some amazing shots. He sent us a flash drive with 330+ edited photos (color and black and white) within a month of our event.

Travel and Honeymoon: $6,006 The nice thing about our destination wedding was that our time in Las Vegas and Milwaukee felt like mini-moons! As such, I am accounting for the travel to and accommodations in both cities in the same category as other honeymoon expenses.

• Gas to and from Las Vegas: $85

• Wynn hotel room: $1,288We stayed at the Wynn for three nights. We originally booked the executive suite, but we were upgraded at check-in to the Parlor Suite.

Personal Photo

• Plane tickets (LAX-MKE): $283

• Intercontinental Ambassador Membership: $200 This one-year membership provides guaranteed room upgrades, late check-outs, fresh fruit basket (and other perks), and a certificate for a free weekend stay. We definitely got our money out of this membership already, and we have plans to stay in another Intercontinental property in the next few months.

• Intercontinental Milwaukee: $235 We stayed at the Intercontinental in Milwaukee for two nights. This cost also includes valet parking and tips for the duration of our stay. We received one night for free, as well as two free breakfasts at Kilowat and two free cocktails at the lobby bar, because of our Ambassador membership.

Photo by Gavin Gould

• Milwaukee Rental Car: $42 We ended up with the Kia Soul, or, as I like to call it, “that goofy hamster car.”

• Plane tickets (MKE-CAN, CZM-LAX): $1,068

Photo by Adventure Photos

• Secrets Maroma Beach: Free! We stayed at Secrets Maroma Beach, an All-Inclusive hotel, for four nights in one of the Junior Suites-Partial Ocean View. Our entire stay was free because we received a credit from the hotel for being bumped to a sister property (Zoetry) in April 2011.

Personal Photo

• El Presidente Intercontinental Cozumel: $1,280 We stayed at El Presidente Intercontinental Cozumel for three nights. We received a room upgrade to a beach-front suite for our Ambassador membership.

Personal Photo

• Cozumel Jeep rental: $160, Thrifty

• Snorkeling excursions and gear: $305

Personal Photo

• Spending money: $460 This sum includes money we spent on transportation, food, drinks, and tips.

• Kenneling for Tom Boonen: $600 In total, between our wedding, hometown party, and honeymoon, Tom Boonen was in a cage-free kennel for sixteen nights (not all consecutive). Poor guy. Now that we are home and have a second greyhound, though, he is lonely no more!

Wedding Rings: $1,035

• Mr. Mole’s band: $201, TitaniumKnights on etsy Mr. Mole picked out a titanium and white gold ring with a satin finish. We originally ordered the wrong size, so this cost includes a sizing exchange fee.

Photo by Brian Saculles

• My bands: $834 I chose a half-carat diamond and white gold band that was on sale from Rogers and Holland Jewelers in Milwaukee. I also ended up with a brushed titanium ring from Titanium Knights to wear as a “back-up” ring. I typically wear it when I am working out at the gym.

Total Wedding Cost: $28,213

The average cost of a wedding, at least according to this (somewhat flawed) article on Yahoo, has reached $27,000. We are over that amount if you account for our honeymoon/travel and rings. If you don’t, we ended up being below average: $21,147.

Regardless of which accounting method you use, we spent a lot of money on our wedding, especially when you consider the size of our guest list. Do I wish we spent less money? Sure. Could we have done so? Of course, especially in Vegas. But would I change anything? Nope. It was as an amazing wedding, and we had a fantastic time. It was all worth it.

(Plus, it’s all paid off.)

Photo by Brian Saculles

Did you miss a Mole recap?

• We had a recap before the recaps
• We welcomed our families to Las Vegas
• We rode in limos and danced with lions
• We rehearsed at Stripburger
• I got ready, emotionally and physically
• I took some glamour shots
• Mr. Mole had his moment in the spotlight
• We took some pre-ceremony photos together
• We walked down the aisle and started our ceremony
• We got married!
• We took photos with family and cheered with strangers
• We welcomed our guests to Bouchon
• We struggled to cut the cake
• We toasted and celebrated with our guests
• We focused on the details
• We created albums with our photographs
• We flew with the dress to Milwaukee
• We rocked the frock around the city
• We had cocktail hour at Roots
• We ate steaks and ice cream cakes

Previously, on Miss Potion’s Blog:

• I went dress shopping with a bunch of fabulous ladies.
• EVERY. DRESS. FIT. PERFECTLY.
• You should shop at The Timeless Bride!

So, did you guess which dress is The Chosen One? It’s time to find out if you were right…

But first:

Gandalf, from LotR / Plus my super sweet Paint skills

If you guessed the 1948 dress…

Squee! / This image and all following are personal photos.

…then you were right!

We all loved this dress from the very beginning. It was the only one I twirled in, and when the consultant brought out a veil for me to try on…I teared up. I looked so…bridal, as corny as that sounds. I compared every other dress to this one and none of them stacked up—did you notice that in the last post I had a minor complaint with all the dresses except for this one?

Granted, she looks a little imperfect in this picture. She needs to be cleaned, the skirt and the edges of the sleeves need to be pressed, and she needs a petticoat underneath to floof out the skirt (floof being the technical term). Also, as this was the millionth time I’d put it on, we were lazy and didn’t do up all the buttons, which is why they appear to not line up.

BUT I FEEL SO BRIDAL!!!

I’ve got a petticoat on in this picture, but it’s a bit too short—the skirt poofs out at the knee, but then hangs down. I tried on a crinoline that is fullest at the bottom, and it looked much better.

But hive, I haven’t told you the best part yet:

Wanna guess how much this sucker costs?

$299

You read that correctly.

All told, we snagged this dress, a crinoline (with alterations so that it fits right), and the finger-length veil shown in the photos for $497.04, which includes a cleaning (and tax)!

(I’m also wearing a crown in these pictures, but I decided not to buy that one. More on hairstyles later!)

Of course, this leaves me less than $3 for shoes, which ain’t gonna happen (well, OK, I haven’t ruled out thrift stores yet), so I will be going over budget for the bridal ensemble, but the gorgeous sleeves and neckline on this dress mean the only jewelry necessary will be a pair of pearl stud earrings—and I already have a (faux) pair! This pleases The Budget greatly.

Since this shopping trip, the dress has been cleaned and the crinoline altered, and my mom picked it all up and brought it back to her house. This means I haven’t seen the finished product yet! Of course you, hive, will all be privy to the trying-it-back-on experience. (But not Mr. Potion. No dress pictures for you!)

Did you manage to find a dress that fit without any alterations needed?

This morning’s HuffPo wedding page features an article by Charlotte Peters giving advice on choosing a wedding gown. Her main thrust: don’t pick anything fashionable, because it will one day look dated and you will wince every time you look at your wedding photos.

After all, minis are on trend right now, but – according to Peters – you will regret wearing one on your wedding day for the rest of your life the instant minis aren’t fashionable any more.

Me, well, I wouldn’t choose a wedding look purely because it’s fashionable, but to assume you’ll hate your own taste in five years because Vogue is now showing something very different is frankly insulting. I’m gearing up to celebrate my ninteenth anniversary with Mr. Twistie, and my wedding album makes me smile. Why? Because it’s an accurate and beautiful representation of an important day in our lives. Because it’s filled with pictures of people we love, some of whom are sadly gone from this world. Because no matter whether the clothes are dated or not, we all looked good. Peters goes on to say we should all follow the ways of the British royal family in picking our wedding gowns. They, apparently, and with the painfully blatant exception of Princess Diana, ignore fashion completely and thus wear entirely timeless wedding gowns that they can be proud of. Well okay, then.

Is anyone here honestly going to tell me that Princess Anne’s 1973 wedding gown doesn’t look like a gown from 1973? It does. It’s absolutely fashionable for its day… and it’s still a beautiful gown. But it got some serious chuckles in the eighties and nineties.

In thirty years Kate Middleton’s gown is going to look dated, just as Anne’s does today. That doesn’t mean either woman should have chosen a different gown. It also doesn’t mean that a woman with great legs who loves showing them off should cover them up on her wedding day.

Fashions change. That’s the point of fashion. Next week, whatever is in your closet now is going to be out of style. So my take is that you should choose what truly speaks to you. That way no matter how dated it looks, you can still look at it fondly.

You know, sort of like how you should choose a spouse by how well you get along and what values you share in common rather than choosing someone based on whether they’ve got a cool job or not. Cool changes, shared values are less volatile.

My wedding gown is as dated as it can be. Frankly, it looks like it stepped out of a production of Pride and Prejudice. I still adore it… and Mr. Twistie. Was it fashionable in its day? No, it wasn’t. Is it fashionable now? No, it isn’t. Is it timeless? No, it isn’t. Is it a perfect garment for who I was then? Oh, yes it is. Would I choose the same dress today? Quite probably not… and yet I still adore it. I still look at those photos happily.

Oh, and before choosing a wedding gown, I would choose a date and venue. It’s far easier to decide what to wear when you know when and where you’re going to be wearing it than to fit the venue to the dress you happened to pick. Peters disagrees with me, believing that the gown should be your first decision. But then again, she also believes that choosing a dress that isn’t utterly timeless will ruin your wedding album, too.

Your wedding is a big day in your life, but it’s a particular day, in a particular year, in a particular place. Spending too much of your efforts on denying fashions you love is just as big a mistake as trying too hard to follow fashions you don’t care about or dislike.

I would never advise anyone to sublimate their own tastes to the whims of current fashion on a day that’s such an important expression of your individual tastes and beliefs. If you hate the currently fashionable halter necklines, be my guest and tell the consultant at the bridal salon that you don’t even want to look at them. If you loathe lace, buck the trend!

But if you are dreaming of a halter neckline, don’t let fear that it won’t be fashionable in a few years stop you from picking it. If you have dreamed for months of that cool detail you saw in Vera Wang’s latest collection, don’t worry that it won’t always be the latest thing. It won’t be. And that’s okay.

Don’t pressure yourself with adding being utterly timeless to the list of reasons to stress about picking your wedding gown. After all, you’ve got to worry about: budget, ordering schedule, fittings, payments, accessories, pleasing your intended and quite possibly your parents, making sure the gown fits your venue and general wedding concept… that one dress already has way too many pressures riding on it.

Relax. Pick what speaks to you. I do agree with Peters that worrying too much about being fashionable is not a good idea in picking a wedding gown. I just think she takes it too far the other way.

Your wedding is a day when you want to present yourself as utterly you. Whether that’s someone who’s always on trend, someone who bucks trends for breakfast, or – as is far more often the case – something in between, you should wear what makes you feel like you.

Maybe someday you’ll look at your wedding pictures and cringe a bit, but so what? Another day you’ll look at them again and smile. You’ll realize that the most important thing about those pictures isn’t whether your hairstyle turned out like you’d planned or whether you managed to make everything look ‘timeless’ but the fact that it’s a record of who you were and what you felt on that one day, in that one year, in that one place, with the people you loved best by your side.

That’s the part that’s timeless, even if one glance at your wedding album tells everyone precisely what year the pictures were taken.

As I mentioned, one of the priorities on my New Orleans trip was cake tastings. I scheduled a total of four appointments and had a few walk-ins in mind as well. I had done my research and priced out the bakeries, so I scheduled accordingly—the bakeries I was most interested in first, on down the list. Since two of my top three contenders were located outside of New Orleans proper, I decided to make a day of it and head across Lake Ponchartrain for my first two appointments. Since I was going to be in her neck of the woods, I convinced Bridesmaid K to spend her day eating sweets and giggling with me…it didn’t take much arm-twisting!

I woke up early, drove the hour to the Northshore, picked up Bridesmaid K and we were off to our first appointment at Zoe’s Bakery in Covington.

We were the first appointment of the day, so it was a little disappointing to be kept waiting for ten-plus minutes. But when the chef, Shane, joined us, he was very cordial. Bridesmaid K and I really enjoyed meeting with him.

As you can see, the tasting was very simple—one bite of white cake with strawberry and custard filling and a bite of white cake with amaretto cream for each of us. I was a little disappointed to be handed a long list of yummy flavors (under the plate) only to be told we wouldn’t be able to taste them until we’d made a booking. I was still excited about cake, though!

Once we dug in, the cake was okay, but nothing spectacular—a bit dry. I reminded Shane that this would have to be my one and only tasting, gently expressed my disappointment at the lack of flavor diversity and explained that we really would like to try anything he had available. He rummaged in the kitchen and was able to bring us samples of the raspberry preserve and chocolate ganache filling. They were both delicious, but tasting them from a spoon didn’t give us the most accurate representation of how they would read in cakes. Bridesmaid K headed for their refrigerated dessert and pastry case to see if there were any other flavor combos available for purchase, but came up short.

Though we were impressed by Shane’s culinary pedigree and appreciated the 20% discount on a grooms cake when ordered in addition to a wedding cake, we left feeling just OK about the experience. So, we called Bridesmaid L to meet us for lunch, laughter and margaritas, and hoped for better luck later in the afternoon…

I’m sure I can’t be the only person who had a vendor meeting or experience that was just mediocre. Did you express your disappointment to the vendor, or just move on and spend your money elsewhere?

I actually have no idea if foxes like cake or not. I’m going to say yes, though, because there will be a couple of them sitting atop our wedding cake in just a few short weeks!

Waaaay back when, I found this cute little penguin cake topper that I decided I just had to have, mostly because they were just too cute to pass up. That, and they were coincidentally in our wedding colors.

Image via Etsy shop Kikuike

Then, right after I started blogging for Weddingbee, I found this insanely adorable topper and was instantly smitten.

Image via Etsy shop Kikuike

However, as badly as I wanted to purchase either one of them right away, I resisted. Both are above the $100 mark, and I wasn’t sure I could justify spending that much on a cake topper. I know that either one would eventually double as a little house decor in the future, but it still felt like a lot money, especially so early on in the planning process.

So I let it drift from my mind for a while, but eventually came back to the idea a few months ago. I decided to poke around Etsy some more, where I found these little beauties.

Image via Etsy seller Bunny With A Tool Belt

I die. They’re so simple, yet elegant, rustic and adorable.

Again, I waited. While not as expensive as the clay cake toppers, these guys are still not cheap and there has just been so much else that has needed to be purchased and paid for lately. Could I really justify it?

I sat on it some more, then had a random stroke of pure genius (okay that’s a lie.. I was inspired by my lady peachplum09). A while back, I randomly purchased two little fox salt and pepper shakers off of eBay for $3.50. I didn’t have a use for them whatsoever, but I mean…why wouldn’t I buy them for $3.50?

In an effort to save some dough and to actually find a use for these guys, I got my scissors and glue gun out and got to work trying to transform them into something resembling a bride and groom. Worst case scenario, if I effed it up or didn’t like how it looked…they were $3.50. Really, not a big deal.

A few hours later (yes, it takes me a while), I had this!

Don’t worry, I checked with Foxy…he’s cool sporting a flower. Think of it as a centered boutonniere.

I made the hat out of stiff felt that I cut and glued together, and the veil out of some tulle I had lying around (I still don’t know why I had that tulle in the first place) and little pink beads. I also added some lashes to make the bride a little more feminine! I think the whole thing came out to about $7 total, and doesn’t look too shabby for a relatively impromptu DIY project!

Were you able to re-purpose anything to make it wedding related?

Isn’t Karen and Richard’s English seaside wedding so charming – I mean, what’s more romantic than a sweethearts’ boat ride from the ceremony to the reception?!

Karen and Richard were married at the same church as the bride’s parents and grandparents.

Says Karen: “Our plan to transport our guests to the reception by boat was totally weather dependent. We had lots of rain in the days leading up to the wedding and even on the morning, things were looking dubious. Then, while we were in the church the sun magically came out so the boat trip turned out to be an extra special part of the day for everyone.”

Why did you choose this location for your wedding?  It is where Karen grew up and just a few miles from Richard’s home town. Karen’s family has run a boat building business on the same spot since 1922. We also wanted our wedding to showcase the harbour which is very special to both of us.

What inspired you when you were planning your wedding?  The novelist Daphne du Maurier was a big inspiration. She was married in the same church and traveled by boat to and from her wedding. Also her first novel, The Loving Spirit is written about a boatbuilding family and was based on Karen’s family’s boatyard. Karen also drew a lot of inspiration from American wedding blogs – Snippet and Ink was a daily read!

What was the best advice you received as a bride?  The best advice we were given was to organize the party of our lives. We took that very much to heart and it was the driving force in our plans. I would also tell other brides to savor the planning process. It does get stressful at times but it is such a special experience to plan your wedding that you should savor every moment. Also, make sure you look after your guests. Our wedding venue was quite isolated and we organized all the travel arrangements so our guests didn’t have to think about them. The fact that no one had to worry about getting from A to B helped create the relaxed atmosphere that was so much a characteristic of our wedding.

 

Vendors

Photography: Green Photographic / Bride’s dress: Ann’s Couture / Groom’s suit: Suit Supply / Tie, pocket square: Dessy

 

Dessy is a sponsor of Snippet & Ink.

There are many reasons to choose black dresses for your bridesmaids: The shade is universally flattering (and slimming), there's a good chance your girls will actually wear the dress again after the wedding, and your 'maids may even be able to wear something they already own (if you don't mind that all of the gowns aren't a precise match). 

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