Advice for the Newly Engaged Bride

Advice for the Newly Engaged Bride

April 25th, 2011 @ 3:14 pm by Ms. Gazelle
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If I could share one piece of advice with newly engaged brides, it would be:

Advice for the Newly Engaged Bride : wedding decor vancouver Gazelle1 gazelle1

Well, not right away, anyway!

Shortly after Mr. Gazelle and I had booked our venue, we were wandering around IKEA one day. We were in the candle section, and I spotted these long white metal trays.

Me: “Oh honey, look! These long trays would be awesome for building a centerpiece for our tables. And look! They are on SALE!”

Spurred on by the bright yellow tag on the shelf that actually said, “Hurry, this item won’t be around much longer!” we grabbed 12 of them. We wandered around the rest of the store, talking about placing tea lights in them and filling in the tray with small dark rocks. OK, I mostly talked about it; Mr. Gazelle mostly listened politely.

Perhaps this was a good idea, but at the time we didn’t have a clear vision for our wedding. I had barely looked at inspiration photos. Worse, I hadn’t really thought about the layout of our room or how big our tables are.

Photo by Randal Kurt Photography / Image via Brock House

I found a photograph of a typical setup of the tables in our reception room. Wow, there isn’t a ton of room on the tables between the glasses! I’m not really sure that there is a good space to put several of these long white trays out.

As the vision for our reception space developed, there was less and less room for the trays. I fell in love with milk glass, and there will now be simple bud vases along the tables instead. It is so easy to get those bridal goggles on that make everything sound like such a good idea. However, I now realize that impulse purchases relating to the wedding are a terrible idea! Sure those metal trays were on sale, but now they are hanging out in our basement next to the coffee and Brita filters with no concrete idea for their use. Maybe not such a good deal after all…

Advice for the Newly Engaged Bride : wedding decor vancouver Gazelle4 gazelle4

Have you made any impulse purchases relating to your wedding? How have those purchases worked out for you?

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29 Responses to “Advice for the Newly Engaged Bride”

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Member

AlliRae (message) 289 posts, Helper bee

Haha, this is good advice! My mom and I have made several (silly) impulse purchases at the fabric store, only to have to take stuff back later.

4/25/11 @ 3:22 pm (reply)

Member

vtbride2010 (message) 152 posts, Blushing bee

OMG - I am the QUEEN of purchasing things that I no longer need or want. Example? I purchased a ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket off ebay like 3 weeks after I got engaged. They were white - my dress was ivory. They were cheaply made and gaudy. Now I have an ivory pillow (that matches my dress) made by my future aunt-in-law and an adorable yellow basket for the flower girl that I found at Michael’s on sale. I spent about 1/4 of what I originally spent and they are SO much nicer! I could go on and on about the unnecessary money I’ve spent. OH well…live and learn - but this is VERY sound advice!

4/25/11 @ 3:33 pm (reply)

Member

TinyTina (message) 3,312 posts, Sugar bee

Haha I am an indecisive bride as well as a frugal (read: cheap) one and am so scared to actually purchase something because it might get used! I had big dreams of getting so many things done in advance, but I worry about changing my vision as the date gets closer so I haven’t purchased a dang thing yet!

4/25/11 @ 3:36 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Hyena (message) 1,882 posts, Buzzing bee

I’m glad I held off for a while on our centerpieces. I had so many ideas and changed my mind daily.

4/25/11 @ 3:37 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Snow Cone (message) 1,026 posts, Bumble bee

thankfully, your impulse purchase seems like it can be worked into the decor in a variety of ways… so maybe it won’t be money wasted! What about using some on your other areas, like the cake table or gift table? Or at the rehearsal dinner?

4/25/11 @ 3:38 pm (reply)

Member

utcalgirl (message) 148 posts, Blushing bee

I bought a few items to do trial runs of centerpieces. I was careful to not buy in bulk but just enough to see how I liked them. In the end all of my centerpieces have worked out and now that I know what I want/need I am shopping around for the best prices.

4/25/11 @ 3:40 pm (reply)

Member

MissCasey (message) 214 posts, Helper bee

I bought 50 star shaped tea light holders… with the intent of flipping them over and using those battery-operated fake candles to make it look like I had stars glowing on the black tablecloths.

Too bad no one makes battery-operated lights small enought to fit into the tea light part. Either I’m going to have to make battery-operated lights myself or not have them glow.

:o(

The worst part: I bought them a couple months before I was even engaged!

4/25/11 @ 3:40 pm (reply)

Member

cr6zy (message) 1,187 posts, Bumble bee

mine was silver ting (curly branch things) painted all different colors. they were on sale but i would have to re paint them. i got them home, tracked glitter through the house and then found out recently that i can but 3 times as mich in the right color on e bay for a5th of what i paid on “sale” soo ill be selling the crap ones to pay for the right ones.

4/25/11 @ 3:41 pm (reply)

Member

smiles1979 (message) 571 posts, Busy bee

Very good advice!
I bought plenty of items for centerpieces WAYYYYY too soon and found it VERY difficult to ‘make it work’.. So, some items I may end up with or have to resell…

Yeah, I just got soo wrapped up in the excitement…but I’m learning now to not focus as much on the ‘little details’ at first…but work on the ‘bigger ones first…’

(hugs)

4/25/11 @ 3:49 pm (reply)

10.

Member

missbiscuit (message) 1,050 posts, Bumble bee

YES. I bought these very pretty boxes made out of sticks woven together with the intention of using them to put our bridal party gifts in. Long story short, they didn’t get used for that, though we were able to re-purpose them to put flowers in during the reception. However, now we’re stuck with them again since we didn’t give them away and we have no idea what to do with them!

4/25/11 @ 3:50 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

Shannag

@Miss Snow Cone- great ideas! They would look great as a display for desserts on a dessert table or favors. Pretty versatile…

Totally agree with you on this! I bought two “wedding” dresses that I didn’t end up wearing. It was about $150 down the drain so not a huge deal but I’m definitely still kicking myself about it. Live and learn, I guess

4/25/11 @ 3:52 pm (reply)

12.

Member

oatmealpie (message) 152 posts, Blushing bee

Have you already had your bridal shower and bachelorette party? Even if the trays don’t fit in with the wedding reception, you could use them for a pre-event party or two.

4/25/11 @ 4:01 pm (reply)

13.

Guest

Allison

I totally bought 15 blue and green iridescent mosaic candle holders to use for centerpieces because they were half off at JCPenney and another 20% for signing up for a charge card. That was when my inspiration was peacock colors… Now my wedding is going in a completely different direction with a more whimsical vintage feeling, and I’m stuck with 15 candles I cannot use. Would anyone be interested in seeing pictures and purchasing some? LOL

4/25/11 @ 4:38 pm (reply)

14.

Member

mkewed2010 (message) 508 posts, Busy bee

OMG I was so intent on buying stuff in the beginning without a clear idea in mind. Now I have worked hard to repurpose alot of things, and probably have wasted a GOOD amount of money on stuff I will never use, but didn’t buy enough of it to try to sell. I totally agree!!!

4/25/11 @ 5:03 pm (reply)

15.

Member

toshella (message) 642 posts, Busy bee

I’ve only bought one thing so far - 16 shepherd’s hooks for aisle decor. Ask me in 12 months if I’m actually using them!

4/25/11 @ 5:15 pm (reply)

16.

Member

SweetSara (message) 292 posts, Helper bee

I bought a bunch of foam pumpkins right before I got engaged thinking I wanted to paint them silver and have a “fairy tale” wedding. We are going a totally different direction and have no use for them. Anyone want to take them off my hands?

4/25/11 @ 5:32 pm (reply)

17.

Member

jneden (message) 634 posts, Busy bee

I agree. I was in such a hurry to buy everything and then I kept changing my mind. I almost had to buy a new wedding dress because of it. I learned I need to stop impulse buying!

4/25/11 @ 5:46 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Pain au Chocolat (message) 1,698 posts, Bumble bee

I think we lucked out by not choosing our wedding colors until 6 months before the wedding. (Although I would not have told you that at the time.) It saved me from impulsive purchases.

4/25/11 @ 6:07 pm (reply)

19.

Member

mzlouis2b (message) 1,032 posts, Bumble bee

luckily i have very little storage and our wedding is so far away so i held back my desires to purchase things so far.

4/25/11 @ 6:18 pm (reply)

20.

Bee

Miss Pony (message) 4,175 posts, Honey bee

No matter how many times I heard this, I still ended up with expensive wood grain paper I now have no use for. I plan to sell the paper or donate it to a bride who needs it.

4/25/11 @ 7:57 pm (reply)

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