Weddingbee

Something for your Bridesmaids? Personalized make-up bag for only $20 from Bagettes.com. I think it would look even better with a childhood photo.

Monogrammed silk photo albums perhaps for your proofs? They come in lots of colors and two sizes ($138 for the small and $173 for the large). Unfortunately, the album doesn’t have pockets, so you have to post photos with glue dots/photo corners.

One of my fave brands for albums is Molly West - lots of fabrics perfect for weddings, baby, or just random pictures.

I work for American Express and yesterday this card was being promoted at the company. I didn’t even know.

So one of my co-workers got me a free magazine! So sweet. She had Carly Roney sign the magazine for me. Hahaha… I lub free crap.

I’m gonna surf through it and add any interesting stuff onto my online resource entry and update it for you ladies. I’ll let you know when I’m done. It’s 832 pages so give me some time. For those of you still looking for a dress I suggest you dish out the 10 bucks and buy the magazine. It has over 900 wedding gowns posted.

I have tons of ideas… I fall asleep trying to think of new things and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because of a recurring nightmare. Which is usually me running out of money to pay the vendors.

I know don’t tell me. P-s-y-c-h-o!

If you have any suggestions or something you want me to research let me know. I’m down for the research. Bring it on.

From an email…

my best friend is getting married and i am her bridesmaid… i have to help my friend’s mom in planning the shower, obviously the bachelorette party, etc. was wondering if you have any links/ideas re: party favors/games to play at a shower, bachelorette party ideas, etc…

Personally I’ve only been to 1 bridal shower and 1 bachelorette party in my entire life (which I planned as the maid of honor). I guess I was one of the first to get married amongst my friends. My friends also threw me a bridal shower/bachelorette party in Vegas when I got married so technically I’ve been to 1 1/2?

Both bachelorette parties were in Vegas - my parents read this site so suffice it to say that there were penises (fake ones), strippers, gambling, and lots of debauchery. I can’t say that I know too much about planning bridal showers and bachelorette parties, but here are a few ideas…

This is from the bridal shower I planned for my friend.

• Kitchen themed shower which means everyone brought kitchen related shower gifts.
• Guest favors - I purchased cookie cutters and attached a recipe for cookies (and more stuff I can’t remember) and put it all into gift bags.
• All decorations were in the bride’s color scheme - fuschia & tangerine.
• Had food catered from a favorite Cuban restaurant Versailles.
• Drink - French martinis. Vodka, Chambord, & pineapple juice.
• Games played - I never, toilet paper wedding dress, how well does the bride know the groom (and vice versa), who knows the bride the best, guess that jingle, purse scavenger hunt, etc… Everyone had a blast with the games. You have to do a lot of prep for these beforehand!
• Game prizes - antibacterial hand soaps from Bath & Body Works (and more I can’t remember). We had a grand prize too.

Toilet paper wedding dress was one of the most fun and popular games. We had everyone break up into groups of 3. One person served as the bride and the other team members made a wedding dress out of toilet paper. The last dress won - they even made a garter!

Bridal Shower Ideas

1. Alice’s Tea Cup where you can host your very own mad hatter tea party!

2. Little Shop of Crafts party where you can do any craft in the store - pottery, mosaics, wood, plastercraft, beading, make a tshirt, or make a teddy bear.

3. An activity party like rollerskating, ice skating, bowling.

4. Host a party at someone’s apartment or at a restaurant.

5. Naughty/sexy themed party - sex toys and/or lingerie as gifts.

6. Wine tasting party.

7. Take a naughty class together - lap dance, strip tease, blow job, how to talk dirty, role play.

8. Take a dance class together - hip hop, belly dance, salsa, samba, bollywood, african.

9. Take a cooking class together.

10. Take a flower arranging class at Flower School or at the New York Botanical Gardens.

Bachelorette Party Ideas

1. It’s obvious but, Vegas baby! You can’t go wrong.

2. Tranny bars like Lucky Cheng’s or Lips - always lots of laughs.

3. Hire a private erotic balloon maker for a party. I met him at Lucky Cheng’s and he’s hilarious!

4. Weekend roadtrip.

5. A girl’s day out at Coney Island.

6. Have a tarot card reader, palm reader, astrologer, or psychic come and give everyone readings.

7. Slumber Party - pizza, movies, popcorn, makeovers, games and alcohol!

8. A makeover party. Hire a makeup artist come and give everyone makeovers. Then go out for a night on the town!

9. Girl’s night out… and don’t forget the karaoke bar!

10. Strip club! It’s all in good fun.

Links

1. All About Showers - bridal shower games with worksheets that you can print.

2. Party 411 & blissweddings - more bridal shower games.

3. 101 Bachelorette Party tips - ideas for themed bachelorette parties.

4. Bachelorette Party Ideas for girls that are a little bit wild.

5. Webtender, Barmeister, Digital Bartender, Realbeer, Barnonedrinks - drinking games.

I’ll add more ideas as I think of them. Meanwhile, please share your best bachelorette party and bridal shower ideas!

I went with a friend from work to buy bridesmaids dresses; she was skeptical about Lord & Taylor, but now is a convert. Lord & Taylor has an old & dowdy reputation, but the (female) CEO has upgraded their merchandise in the past year. The dress department is fantastic — great styles, lots of sizes, everything hanging neatly. They had a couple of great printed wrap dresses (either BCBG or Laundry, I think) that I want to check out for work.

The color is really more plum than purple (as it appears in the pictures). It’s crazy how everything is slowly coming together. My next goals are invitations, veil and cake… and of course, the ever-present losing weight!

I thought this was really cute.

I can already picture it on a cake table or by the guest book table filled with water with flowers here and there or even filled with stones or colored gems. Ooh or even small tealight candles.

nj wedding shop for $35.90
the wedding ring for $34.00
where bride’s go for $29.95
weddingstar for $32.98
expressive ink for $29.95

happiness is when I’m near you.

comfort is hearing you snore even though I can’t go to sleep because of it cause you’re so FRIGGIN loud.

caring is massaging me because my back went out even though you’re HURTING me and I’m telling you to STOP but you WON’T cause you want to KILL me before the wedding. Your plan failed sucka, I’m still alive! Muhaha!

confidence is when you hold my hand when I’m nervous about something.

laughter is when we make fun of stupid people which we do a lot.

warmth is when you hold me during a scary movie which I was probably FORCED to watch AGAINST my own will.

unity is when I do the dishes and make dinner and you take out the trash even though it’s my day to.

memories are when we flip through the scrap books I made you.

family is when you want to send my mother money to help her out and the one time we took lil hannah to Chuck E. Cheese and I was the only one small enough to go with her through the cheese factory which smelled like puke. But I took one for the team!

loyalty is when someone is mean to you and I want to claw out their eyes and kick them in the balls for upsetting you.

understanding is when we fight and make up and try to see where the other person is coming from and then I can go days reenacting your temper tantrum and you call me an ass but that won’t stop me butthead.

hugs are when we’re in the apt and you’re doing something and I’m doing something and when we walk by each other I just walk up to you and say “ah-na-joh me” (hold me) and you just hold me for a few seconds before we go back to what we were doing. The best thing about that is that you’ve never turned me down.

jealousy doesn’t exist. Except if you count that one time when you got mad at the boy at 3rd floor and you wanted to throw a shot glass at him from across the room and I kept asking you “so please explain in detail what you were feeling” and you kept telling me to shut up ’cause I had this big smile on my face ’cause I’ve never seen you get jealous but I wouldn’t shut up cause that’s just not what Ladybug does.

stubborness is something that we both need to work on. I just want to take this time out to let you know that even though I’m the one that says sorry most of the time that’s just because I want you to shut up. So that’s right, now you know I don’t mean it all the time. So there! It doesn’t mean you’ve won. Technically I win ’cause I got you to shut your trap. So that calculates up a bajillion girlfriend points for me. You’re way behind stinker. Only 25 points. How embarrasing.

and last…

love is knowing that you will be by my side till death do us part. Most likely it will be you first because i’m Ladybug. j/k. If you die I’ll die too cause I know you’re really just trying to get away from me. Haha sucka your plan would have failed again. Muhahahaha!

as you can see…we’re never serious.

(All images from Ceci unless otherwise noted)

From a reader…

I’m looking for invitations on sites such as Mygatsby, whiteaisle…etc. but I don’t understand all this lingo. What should I look for? Do I really need to order the STD cards, menu, programs, rsvp cards, etc.?

These are all the wedding stationery components:

1) Save the Date Cards - Save the dates are usually sent out 6 months to a year before the wedding if you’re having a destination wedding, a large number of out of town guests, or a wedding around a holiday. This provides guests sufficient time to make travel arrangements.

2) Invitation - The invitation indicates information for the ceremony when the ceremony and reception are held in the same location. If the ceremony and reception are held in 2 separate locations but is semi-formal, you may print all the information on the invitation but make sure it’s not too wordy. For formal events held in 2 locations, a separate reception card should be used.

3) Reception Card - The reception card is usually smaller than the invitation and includes information for the reception.

(New Leafletter Press)

4) Outer Envelope - Outer envelopes were historically used because invitations got dirty during the delivery process. This way the contents would be protected and a clean inner envelope could be presented to the lady of the house. Your return address should be printed on the back flap of the envelope and your guest’s title, full name, and addresss should be printed/calligraphered on the front.

5) Inner Envelope - The inner envelope is no longer necessary, but a lot of people choose to include the inner envelope if the wedding is a formal affair. We had inner envelopes because it’s just a little more exciting to have to open that extra envelope. Inner envelopes are addressed less formally than outer envelopes with the guest’s name printed on the front. Omitting this piece is a great way to cut costs on invitations.

6) Inner Envelope Lining - For decorative purposes, the inner envelope may be lined with tissue paper or paper.

(Paper-Source)

7) Tissue paper - Tissue paper was used to separate each invitation layer because ink used to take a long time to dry back in the day. This kept each layer clean. Today it serves a decorative or formal purpose.

RSVP Cards or RSVP Postcards - RSVP cards are filled out and returned by guests so you know who will be attending. Less formal events can use RSVP postcards which will eliminate the need for an envelope (and save you money!).

9) RSVP Envelope - Guests return their RSVP cards in these envelopes. They should have your name and address printed on the front.

10) Travel Information / Hotels Cards - If you have secured a special airline rate or blocked hotel rooms for your guests, you may choose to include a separate card with this information. This is often sent with the save the date card.

11) Parking / Transportation / Map / Direction Cards - If you have made special parking/transportation arrangements for your guests, you can include a card with that information. If you have a lot of travelling guests or a venue that is difficult to find, you may also choose to include map / direction information. These cards can be included either with the save the date or with the invitation.

12) At Home Card - This is a very formal card that indicates your new address as a married couple and when you’ll be occupying that address. I think hardly anyone uses this anymore.

(cardsupply)

13) Ceremony Programs - Programs provide guests with information about the ceremony and the wedding party. They’re not mandatory, but most people choose to do them. They’re also a nice keepsake for guests.

14) Menus - Menus are not mandatory but they’re a nice touch. One can be placed on each place setting, or there can be 3 or so per table that guests share.

15) Escort Cards or Seating Chart - Escort cards are usually organized alphabetically by guest names. They indicate which table a guest is seated at. A seating chart serves the same purpose. You can allow guests to sit anywhere at their designated table or you may choose to have assigned seating with placecards.

16) Table Cards - Once a guest picks up an escort card or looks at the seating chart and finds out what table they’re seated at, they will look for the corresponding table. Table cards are usually numbered but you can be creative and choose to name them anything you like.

17) Placecards - Placecards look like escort cards and are put at each place setting designating assigned seating.

18) Thank You Cards & Envelopes - You may choose to get your thank you cards printed at the same time you print your invitations to have a uniform theme throughout.

Barebones this is what you’d need:

1) Invitation
2) Outer Envelope
3) RSVP Card
4) RSVP Envelope (Unlese you’re doing RSVP postcards)
5) Escort cards
6) Tablecards
7) Ceremony Programs

You can order everything through one company if you’d like everything to match or follow a specific theme. I ordered the 1) save the dates, 2) invitations, 3) seating chart, and the 4) programs, placecards, table cards, and menus from 4 different companies. I also made travel/accomodation cards myself and bought thank you cards after the wedding. Everything can be ordered separately and at different times. You can also make everything on the list above if you’d like and save a lot of money in the process (although it would be quite time-consuming!)

After you’ve selected your staionary, you have to choose the type of printing - engraving, thermography, letterpress, embossing, and regular printing. Read up on that here.

Additional Tips:

1) Some companies may include extra envelopes, but if they don’t order extra envelopes because you will make mistakes addressing them. Calligraphers usually request additional envelopes as well.

2) Number the back of your rsvp cards because some people will return them without filling out their names.

3) Invitations are typically mailed 6-8 weeks before the wedding date. You may want to send them out a little sooner if you are having a destination wedding or a large number of travelling guests.

4) Take a complete invitation to the post office and have it weighed so you can affix the correct postage.

5) Have the post office hand cancel your invitations because they look so much lovelier that way.

I ordered invitations from mygatsby.com for my brother’s wedding, so I’m familiar with their ordering process. It was also a lot easier knowing what to order, having been through it all with my own wedding. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask. Hope this helps!