Weddingbee

Dear Weddingbee,

I have been reading your blog since shortly after I got engaged 4 months ago and really love it. As a New York bride, I find so many of your postings really apply to me. However, as a Jewish bride from a pretty religious family, I have had an additional set of challenges in trying to find ways to combine our religious practices with a modern twist, a DIY personality and a budget.

My wedding is next Sunday and I finally found the time to take pictures of some of my DIY projects. I really wanted to share them with you and your readers, hope you enjoy!

The invitation: I did all the art, wax stamping and glued all the ribbons. Originally I was only going to have the English card but my father requested that I add the Hebrew for my very religious relatives. In the end, I liked it better with the Hebrew - it created a wonderful “suite” of cards that wrapped up so nicely under the ribbon.

The Shoes: Having nothing to do with religion, but I had the hardest time finding shoes… My mom made the dress - it is a completely unembellished top with a big tulle skirt. All white, except pink petticoats you can only see when I sit or dance. I really wanted drop dead shoes with a lot of sparkle, but they all cost like, $2,000. (HA!) So I bought $45 dyeables online and hand covered them with swarovski crystals in a gradient pink story. They look AMAZING and I LOVE them soooo much!! And this is sooo easy to do with the proper heating gun and pre-glued stones!!!

With the leftover Rhinestones, I made personalized bags for the flowergirls to carry down the aisle. I purchased the solid white satin bags for $10/pc. and will fill them with the heart confetti, to throw instead of rose petals… it just seems more festive, and the bags will stay fashionable forever…

The Placecards: It is a Brunch/Lunch Sunday wedding so it needed to be classy but fun. Going with the pink theme, I wrapped rock candy lollipops and attached placecards to the handles. Just a fun way to start off the “This is gonna be a great party” feel of the day!

Our cocktail hour is before the ceremony and the reception after it. After the ceremony at a Jewish wedding, there is a requirement for the bride and groom to spend a minimum of 18 minutes alone together in a room. In addition, there is a tradition for the bride and groom not to see each other for up to a WEEK before the wedding, in order to build anticipation and not stress each other out right before.

That means the first chance I will have to take pics with my new husband is after the ceremony, before we join the reception. People expect to wait for you, but I wanted to keep them occupied while they waited. When people enter the reception room, they will see the tables decorated with an assortment of rose centerpieces. The displays are small but pretty, I did not want to spend too much on floral arrangements that go in the trash as soon as everyone leaves.

And so, to balance the flowers on the large tables, I am surrounding them with votive candles and chinese take-out boxes filled with candies. (My fiances bro owns a kosher Chinese restaurant so I got a great price on the boxes…) Those boxes are embellished with a ribbon and wax stamp that matches the invitations.

Then, at each place setting is a mini take-out container. Each one has a flag on it that reads on one side “Life is sweet, take home candy” with our names and the date and on the other side, I collected romantic and funny quotes about love, marriage, chocolate and life. There will be about 250 guests and I collected about 125 quotes so they will only overlap once. I think that will definitely keep people entertained, filling up their candy boxes and creating conversations about the quotes.

The Glitter fabric I used as a backdrop in these pics is actually the fabric that will be used in our Chuppah. I have also created pamphlets with the traditional “Grace after Meals” that are currently being printed and laminated. I wanted them to be waterproofed as they are used with food, so they are being printed by a company that makes menus for diners. I can’t wait till they arrive today! I will photograph and send pics of that as soon as they show up.

I totally loved this process and your site made it so much more fun to navigate! If any of my ideas are helpful to other brides, it’ll make me so happy!!

Thanks for your wonderful service and fantastic website!!

Love, The future Mrs. G…. Tova

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