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Real BudgetsFeature Launched: July 3, 2007About: Real wedding budgets submitted by former brides.
Mrs. Locket, Ithaca, NYAge and Occupation: 25, Research TechnicianFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, former Banker hoping to become an Officer of the LawEngagement Date: June 15, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heron Hill WineryAbout Me: I am a little bit of everything all rolled into one: A girly gal with rough edges---I love to get dolled up just as much as I enjoy throwing on some sneaks to toss a ball with Mr. Locket. My love for crafting and creating is quite apparent and I've been referred to as a Wonder Woman/Martha Stewart/Stepford Wife hybrid (yup, I'll take that as a compliment). I adore sewing, photography, sculpture, good eats (mmm tapas), baking, snugging and oh, pretty much everything in between (there's not much I dislike). I am super excited to be planning our vineyard wedding and couldn't be happier to be marrying Mr. Locket. We are a quirky, fun-loving couple residing in our college town with our two pups Maple and Molly. We love to go on hikes, visit our local dog park and to bask in the beauty of many of the local falls and gorges. We are an indecisive pair, but together we somehow manage to make up our minds (it's the easy stuff that's tricky).
Hey all!! As promised here is that tutorial to those wooden spoons I showed you in my last post. I made these for a friend’s bridal shower gift last fall and she absolutely loved them!
Prep steps:
Pick out your font and decide what you want to write.
Use Microsoft Word or some other program where you can type your font and create a mirror image.
If using Word the easiest way to create a mirrored text is to use Word Art…type your message and then under Rotate (on your formatting palette) click “flip horizontal”. You should now see the mirror image of your text or image.
Print off your image using a laser printer (apparently the heat transfer will only work with a laser printed image) and make sure the template will fit nicely on your spoons.
Find yourself some wooden spoons (bamboo spoons should work too) preferably with a broad flat handle
These would be perfect: ( I found my spoons at Target for a few bucks) Read more…
Mrs. Pashmina, NYC/Catalina Island, CAAge and Occupation: 28, Arts EducationFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, IT AdministratorEngagement Date: April 26th, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catalina Country Club, Catalina Island, CaliforniaAbout Me: I'm a laid-back Cali girl who moved to NYC for school, and ended up staying for love. My fiance is a quick-witted Jersey boy, a self-proclaimed Foodie and the funniest man I've ever met. Together we love exploring the city streets embarking on our next misadventure---and yes, this often involves eating off food carts and trying "the next big thing". I'm the girl in the sundress, snapping photos and collecting trinkets of memorabilia along the way. As a girly girl at heart, I am excited about our romantic natural island wedding incorporating our American & Filipino traditions.
Lily & Frank’s wedding is one of my personal favorites. It was a backyard wedding with sweet, beautiful and heartfelt details. Lily’s hair is half-up with loose curls and two flowers pinning it in place. This is one of the hairstyles I currently have in the running.
Mrs. Cloud, RichmondAge and Occupation: 25, Sales RepFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Customer Service Manager/DJEngagement Date: February 14, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart & The Jefferson HotelAbout Me: Mr. Cloud and I are Yankees planning a Southern wedding to show our families from Boston and New York our fabulous city. We are complete opposites, resulting in a wedding to include bridesmaids in pearls and groomsmen in Adidas shell toes. I’m a sorority girl at heart with strong addictions to my blackberry, cherry Chapstick, Coach purses, the Boston Red Sox and our fur baby, Bella. I can’t wait to the throw the party of our lives and of course, marry my best friend!
I stayed up way too late the night before the wedding. I blame nerves, but it felt like as soon as I closed my eyes I was getting a wake up call from my fabulous makeup artist, Abegail. Abegail is good friends with my MOH, and the last time I had seen her I told her about a nightmare I had that I had slept through everyone getting ready and ran out of time to have my makeup done! Granted, everyone was getting ready in my room and there was no way that could actually happen, so she probably thought I was a little nuts, but was nice enough to wake me up with a cheery call at the crack of freaking dawn. 7 AMand I have never gotten along, but on this day I was wide awake in no time. As Abegail set up, mimosas were ordered and the room started to buzz with energy as my half-awake ‘maids trailed in. In addition to the bridesmaids I had invited a number of ladies, both family and friends, to stop by that morning so it quickly became a full house. I even had the hive there with me on my laptop!
To be eligible to win a Avery/Zazzle Wedding Organizer, review your favorite wedding vendors in the Weddingbee Vendors section and submit them to us here to be featured on the blog! Check out this post for more info on our great weekly prizes!
Mrs. Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
As many of you know, veils are freakin’ expensive. For just a little piece of tulle! I know when I was dress shopping, and the sales clerks would shove a veil on my head, I would flip out about the $150+ price.
And of course, with all the many crafty projects for our wedding, I thought, “sure, no problem, a DIY veil, easy-peasy!”
Uh, yeah. There’s a reason why veils are so expensive. They’re HARD to embellish!
If I’d wanted a plain tulle veil it would have been much easier. Or even a ribbon or crystal trimmed one. But oh no, not me, I wanted an embroidered veil!
So. Here are the details on how we made a two layer embroidered fingertip length veil. There are already a lot of great posts out there on the veil construction itself, so I won’t touch too much on that, but focus more on the preparation for the embroidering. Read more…
Mrs. Earrings, Fresno, CA/ Nelson, New ZealandAge and Occupation: 20, Student, Wannabe Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 19, Photography StudentEngagement Date: February 14, 2010Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Gardens of the WorldAbout Me: I'm a girl from down under who grew up in Indonesia and I'm marrying a California boy. I'm addicted to all things sweet, have never met a chocolate silk pie than can get the better of me, and have dreams of one day being a fulltime novelist. I go weak in the knees for lace, tea cups, and a beautifully crafted sentence. When I get excited about something (whether it is historical linguistics or the Beatles) I tend to go overboard in research, and planning this wedding is no different. Mr. Earrings is my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and somehow we combine all our quirks into one big happy mess.
We knew when starting this wedding planning thing that our biggest expense would be providing the food for 100 people. We looked around at a few catering companies that had wedding “specific” menus but none of them were remotely within our budget, and none of them excited our tastebuds. A potluck, or “punch and cake” reception were options but because so many of our guests are from out of town (or out of country!) we really feel like they deserve a full meal, and we can’t expect them to have to make a dish if they don’t have access to their own kitchen.
We considered self-catering everything, but after looking at all the logistics it all just seemed to overwhelming (especially considering all our other projects!). So we have decided to only partly self-cater. That is, we will be taking care of the beverages ourselves, making some cupcakes and fruit platters, and order in these kick-ass cheesecakes from a local cake shop (Needless to say, deciding on cheesecake flavours in currently Mr E’s favourite part of wedding planning. The deal is that I choose one flavour, he chooses another and we both choose a third together. Good times).
But who will take care of the honest-to-goodness fill-you-up-till-you-burst food?
Mrs. Frog, Phoenix, AZ/Chelan, WA
Age and Occupation: 29, Public Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Online SalesEngagement Date: February 8, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Amy's ManorAbout Me: I'm an opinionated Midwestern girl now living in the Valley of the Sun marrying a laid back Northwestern guy. I'm equal parts sass, silly and sweet. I'm fiercely loyal with a strong devotion to my family and friends. I have a not-so-secret obsession with apple juice, a new obsession with DIY projects and I love a really good cheese plate...with lots of wine. After 7 blissful years of dating, I'm having the time of my life planning the destination wedding of my dreams to my Mr. Frog-turned-Prince Charming.
A while back I shared some of the RSVPs we received back from our guests. After waiting for all of the stragglers, I have a second installment for your viewing pleasure. I have to say, this might be one of my favorite ideas - it’s been highly entertaining!
Oh and before I get to the RSVPs, did I mention we received a letter back from The White House? That was very fun!
Mrs. Sand Dollar, HoustonAge and Occupation: 24, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Electrical TechnicianEngagement Date: January 8, 2010Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: MacLean ParkAbout Me: I'm a domestic diva down to the core. I heart cooking, sewing, baking, decorating and making sure we have a hand-crafted home. The best part about the wedding is I get to incorporate it all! I make sure I put my art degree to good use by screen printing, craft knife cutting, and a whole lotta graphic design. We're having a big-time party on a small-time budget, and I promise to show you a boot-scootin', barbecue-eatin', finger-lickin' good time! Mr. Sand Dollar and I spend most of our time on DIY projects or traipsing around the outdoors with our two pooches Rory and Juno. I'm looking forward to sharing our journey with all of you!
I wanna go far away. I want a honeymoon that’s a) hot b) sunny c) relaxing. Mr. SD agrees. So where should we go?
I get the Travelzoo email every week, which has amazing deals on flights, hotels, and more. Last week we found an almost unbelievable one, one week in the Dominican Republic at an all inclusive resort including travel for $500/person. It seemed perfect!
The only downfall was we had to book within two days in order to take advantage of it, and we’re not usually trigger happy people. We’re banking that something this cool will come along closer to the big day. But a cruise or resort on the beach would be a great option for us.
Mrs. Cardigan, AustinAge and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems AnalystEngagement Date: August 16, 2009Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Vintage VillasAbout Me: I'm a native Austinite who was raised as a die-hard Aggie. Luckily, I'm a pretty persuasive girl because I managed to convince my high school boyfriend (now fiance!), Mr. Cardigan, to ditch his hardcore Longhorn ways and join me up at A&M, where we currently reside with our adorable dogs, Cullen & Ranger. We're currently planning a bright, cheery wedding with a ridiculous amount of DIY projects that I can't wait to tackle! I love crafting in any form, reading, and margaritas (I think I love them the most!). Organization is what keeps me sane and I love helping others, which is probably why I ended up as an education major. It gets a little chaotic sometimes when you're planning a wedding among all of the papers, projects, finals, and certification exams, but we're having the time of our lives and we can't wait to get started on our journey as husband and wife - and we're so excited to share our wedding with the hive!
I know, I know. The whole “STD” joke is totally overplayed. But it makes me giggle. ‘Cause I’m 12.
I’m so, so, so excited to be sharing our STDs with y’all (bahaha! See? It’s just funny!). I have always thought that I would be making our Save the Dates myself, for the sake of saving money (and because I’m a glutton for punishment and can’t turn down a DIY project!) but we actually ended up outsourcing them.
Steve Howe, one of our photographers, just so happens to double as a graphic designer. A very, very talented one, actually. I had seen some of his work previously, when we met with his wife, Melanie. He designed the STDs and invitations for their own wedding, and she showed them to us while we were there. I vaguely remembered her mentioning that they plan to someday expand their business from just photography into designing paper goods as well, so when it came time to design our STDs, I figured I might as well ask if Steve would be willing to do them for us. I emailed him, thinking that since they they hadn’t technically started up the design portion of their business yet, I’d probably get turned down. However, he emailed me back and said that he’d be happy to design our STDs for us. Read more…
Mrs. Hot Dog, Cheyenne, WYAge and Occupation: 23, Health Information SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Personal Trainer
Engagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Family Ranch outside Glenrock, WYAbout Me: I'm a city girl by birth and rural girl by choice. I'm ready to take on the world with a big heart and a big smile! I love all things crafty and DIY. I live in Cheyenne, WY with Mr. HD and our 2 fur babies, our dachshunds, Ollie and Mia. I love travel, adventure, Finding Nemo, '90s music, animals, and laughing. He is the cheese to my macaroni and together we spend more time watching movies than we probably should! I'm an old soul who is super duper excited to pull off our down home-rustic-chic-country wedding (on the cheap)!
And just what was I doing during those 6 hours? Tracing, cutting and gluing envelope liners!!
Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they turned out and I really feel like they added a lot to the invitations (post forthcoming!). Buuut it was definitely an unnecessary project.
The upside to this project is that it didn’t cost me a dime! I am a totally scrapbooking maven so I have a huge stockpile of papers. I decided that I’d like to use what I already have, and consequently, used several different types of papers for the liners. Want to see?
Mrs. Locket, Ithaca, NYAge and Occupation: 25, Research TechnicianFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, former Banker hoping to become an Officer of the LawEngagement Date: June 15, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heron Hill WineryAbout Me: I am a little bit of everything all rolled into one: A girly gal with rough edges---I love to get dolled up just as much as I enjoy throwing on some sneaks to toss a ball with Mr. Locket. My love for crafting and creating is quite apparent and I've been referred to as a Wonder Woman/Martha Stewart/Stepford Wife hybrid (yup, I'll take that as a compliment). I adore sewing, photography, sculpture, good eats (mmm tapas), baking, snugging and oh, pretty much everything in between (there's not much I dislike). I am super excited to be planning our vineyard wedding and couldn't be happier to be marrying Mr. Locket. We are a quirky, fun-loving couple residing in our college town with our two pups Maple and Molly. We love to go on hikes, visit our local dog park and to bask in the beauty of many of the local falls and gorges. We are an indecisive pair, but together we somehow manage to make up our minds (it's the easy stuff that's tricky).
Months ago I got creative in making a gift for a friend’s wedding… I hand burned her name and her wedding date into a set of wooden spoons. (DIY tutorial post coming soon!)
personal photo
The whole project got me thinking of all the great things I could do with my fun Hotmarks tool. Read more…
Mrs. Pashmina, NYC/Catalina Island, CAAge and Occupation: 28, Arts EducationFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, IT AdministratorEngagement Date: April 26th, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catalina Country Club, Catalina Island, CaliforniaAbout Me: I'm a laid-back Cali girl who moved to NYC for school, and ended up staying for love. My fiance is a quick-witted Jersey boy, a self-proclaimed Foodie and the funniest man I've ever met. Together we love exploring the city streets embarking on our next misadventure---and yes, this often involves eating off food carts and trying "the next big thing". I'm the girl in the sundress, snapping photos and collecting trinkets of memorabilia along the way. As a girly girl at heart, I am excited about our romantic natural island wedding incorporating our American & Filipino traditions.
I absolutely love watching videos from weddings. So what if I don’t know these people? I want to know what to expect at our wedding. And how else will I know what is gonna happen? I need some exposure! Initially I was getting ideas for vows, then it got shifted to looking at brides’ & grooms’ first dances. I’m no Alvin Ailey, so any tips would be great. Along the way I found some gems. Some of them are hilarious, some quirky, all of them Inspiration with a capital ‘I’. If only I can be this cool!!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
