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Brides are often told that when they find the dress—the one that will become their wedding dress, the one that they will walk down the aisle in and dance with their husband at their reception in—that it will hit them like a ton of bricks covered in sugary fondant and glittery tulle. Starry-eyed, they will make their way to the cash register where they will gush, “It’s perfect!” no matter the number of zeroes on the price tag.
Wait–let’s do a Zack Morris time out here. Am I coming across as a cynic? Jaded? If so, I apologize; it’s just that I’ve been down a few miles of hard road called “finding the dress”. It’s a road that started shortly after Mr. French Fries and I got engaged, and has been filled with a few, ahem, potholes. You see, I thought that this would be a relatively simple task. But then I made the mistake of reading too many magazines and too many (well-respected) wedding planning books, and I stumbled across a quote to the effect of “this will be the single most photographed piece of clothing that you will ever wear”. Oh! Well, now that you put it like that, there’s no pressure! I can just traipse down the aisle in any old thing hanging in my closet! It’s just going to be ingrained into our family’s history.
Looks like ribbon sashes aren’t just a current trend. Everything old is new again!
Source
Earlier this year, when we had so many days on the Wedding Countdown Calendar that I think it was in the 400 range, we met with a florist. She was a lovely gal, and I could see that she was quite talented. I told her what we wanted, which included bouquets, flowers for the guys, and centerpieces for around 10 tables (simple centerpieces: tightly packed white carnations in low glass holders). Easy peasy, right? Well, not so much.
We got her quote back, and the amount she was charging — for the centerpieces alone — was over our budget. We’re talking in the $150 range for a single centerpiece. Now, I understand that when you hire certain vendors you’re hiring their expertise, their skill, their artistry, and that floral design is no different. But I also understand that if I’m paying in that price range, I want a little more than just carnations. They were supposed to be a money-saver! Suffice to say that this vendor was out.
In the meantime, I hatched a plan to cut some of our floral budget — I axed the floral centerpieces for the tables. Some might find this shocking, but I didn’t really have an attachment to floral centerpieces to begin with. Between 10-12 tables for guests and 3 tables for our wedding party/ourselves, we’re talking about 15 tables, potentially. And that’s a lot of money for arrangements that are just going to die. So, instead, I came up with an alternative idea for our centerpieces. Candy.
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Our first round of cake tasting went well, all things considered. The people who helped us were very nice, and obviously well versed in weddings. We were seated at a little bistro table (the bakery is tiny) and given 2 pieces each of the four types of cake that I had listed. Those flavors again:
Clockwise, from the top left: red velvet with cream cheese frosting, genoise cake with vanilla mousse and sliced strawberries, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, and their signature cheesecake.
Doesn’t it look yummy?
Sometimes I’m reminded that most people don’t spend their time immersed in the world of Weddingbee, Style Me Pretty, and other various wedding blogs like I do. That said, when I thought of what to title my post, I immediately thought of the tagline “Giving our guests STDs”, as a sort of tongue in cheek wedding reference, but then thought better of it — what kind of Google searches would land people here?
Some couples who are marrying abroad/having a destination wedding do this, as there are complicated travel arrangements that need to be made in advance. Other couples send them so they can get an early read on who may or may not be coming (”Oh, we just received your save the date… unfortunately we’ll be in Iceland”). We’re sending them because our wedding isn’t a typical Saturday evening wedding, and will require most people to take off of work. We wanted to give people a head’s up. Oh, and we’ve changed our wedding date and location numerous times, so we thought it might be a helpful reminder for people.
When perusing wedding blogs for the last, oh… 12 months, I kept image files of a lot of the STDs that I really like.
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Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
Saturday was our first cake tasting, and I was possibly a little too excited about it. If it has anything to do with frosting and sugar and butter, well… I’m going to be excited. We went to a tasting at one of the more well known shops in our area. They did my sister’s cake (which was delish) and have gotten great reviews.
Now, let me preface this by saying I was 99.9% sure what type of cake we were going to get if we decided to go with this bakery before we even set foot inside of its doors. It’s not that I am a complete control-freak bride. Rather, I’ve had it several times at my old place of employment, and just had it for Sister French Fries’ and Dad French Fries’ birthdays a few weeks ago. Every time I’ve had it, it has been amazing. So, it’s a safe choice, even though it’s not exactly your typical wedding cake.
Because Mr. French Fries and I have discussed — and are in agreement — that this cake would be perfect, I hesitated to try it again, but we decided to add it to the list, just to be on the safe side. We narrowed it down to the following choices:
Yum! I took a picture of all of the choices and will report back in a separate post about our thoughts.
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At the tail end of summer two years ago, I met Mr. French Fries, the man who will become my husband. It was on a crowded patio around raucous bar patrons that he made me laugh for almost 3 solid hours, which led me to consider maybe going on a date with him. (Even if I did end up breaking that first date. True story!) If someone would have told me that I was going to meet my future husband that night, I wouldn’t have believed them, not in a million years. But, here we are — face to face — a couple of silver spoons… (name that TV show!). Anyway, point being: he truly is an inspiration to me and I’m so blessed to have him in my life.
Photo taken by MOH French Fries
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Ahh, the wonderful Miss Carrie Bradshaw. That girl knows her shoes. And while I long to strut down the aisle in a pair of Manolos (or Louboutins!) on our wedding day, I know that it’s not practical on many levels. First and foremost, it’s just not in our budget. They are so, so beautiful, and I know that if I got them in a color other than “bridal white” I would definitely wear them again. But can I really justify the cost? I guess it’s just the sensible Midwestern girl coming out in me, but I couldn’t. If I had, however… I would definitely be wearing these beauties; the Christian Louboutin “Dorset” in fuchsia. Yum.
I’ve always known that I’m not a typical bridal tiara kind of girl. I tried a few of them on out of obligation when I was out looking for dresses, but they didn’t really feel like me. They were gorgeous, no doubt, but I really am not a “bling” kind of girl. I thought that maybe I could find some pretty barrettes or a brooch to put in my hair for the wedding, but wasn’t exactly thrilled with either of those ideas, either.
When I received my veil, a single tier cathedral length beauty, I quickly determined that I want my veil to go over my up-do, so that was a start. I just didn’t know if putting something in front of my veil, like a headband, would be too much. Like so many things before, I debated back and forth. And maybe back again, just for good measure. I finally decided that I should look for something to go underneath the veil instead. Something so that if I decide to take off my veil for the reception, will still look “bridal” but not too overdone.
Fortuitously, in the midst of all of my dress drama, Muscari Design was featured on Weddingbee as having a 20% off sale. I had seen a few of their designs, and decided to click over. What I found was amazing, and just like that, I had found my hair accessory for the wedding. Muscari’s flowers were absolutely gorgeous, and fit the bill.
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So, like many things in planning our wedding, our wedding colors have changed several times so far in this process. We’re still a good bit of time out, so it’s not like any firm decisions (like buying bridesmaids’ dresses) have been made. I’ve considered pink & black, then various shades of pink, to purple and green, to pink and purple and blue, as well as a myriad of other options that I can’t even remember.
They say that painters have muses, from which they gather inspiration and ideas for their paintings. This past spring, during the yearly “Martha Stewart Wedding Show” (say what you will about Martha, but she does have some cool ideas) their set was draped with amazing, lush swags of baby’s breath. ‘Hmm,’ I thought. ‘Those look pretty cool.’ Last weekend in CA, we stayed with the Mr.’s cousin at their amazing house in the hills. Everything about their backyard garden was perfect. So perfect, in fact, they have actually hosted a wedding back there. While this wasn’t an option for us (deposits have been paid, people!), I couldn’t get the image of their backyard out of my mind.
When I returned home, I further debated our current color scheme (quickly becoming a pastime of mine). I didn’t know if the bold, jewel tones that we were considering was really the best option. I wanted something simple, elegant, and laid-back. And I wanted it to be fun. Suddenly the image of the backyard in CA flashed into my mind.
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It was a Saturday like any other. Driving down to his house in the morning with the windows rolled down, boxes of things for her upcoming move loaded in the back. When she got to the house, he helped her unload the boxes, and she started to unpack. He seemed insistent that they take a walk, but she was trying to unpack.
“Just let me get these ones in the kitchen done, and then we can go.”
”Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked, in an attempt to speed things along.
“No, but I’m going to have to do some serious re-organization of the kitchen. It’s not functional.”
He suggested that she take a break from the unpacking, relax a little, and enjoy the nice weather. She was slightly hesitant because she had not yet put away the pots and pans that were on the top of the stove. Little did she know that in a matter of minutes, she wouldn’t care where those pans were stored.
The walk down to the beach was warm — it had to have been 80 degrees, and it would probably be one of the last warm days of the year. While she had thought that he might be proposing this weekend, there was no way he was going to do it now. She knew how antsy he was about keeping the ring safe, and he was wearing board shorts and flip flops — there was nowhere safe to stow a ring. Also, he definitely wasn’t acting nervous. They talked about her moving in, their weeks ahead at work, what they were going to do that night for dinner. Normal, easy, everyday conversation.
Hive, it is with great honor, excitement, and a tiny bit of disbelief that I introduce myself to you! Last night was a night like any other - we were making dinner with old Seinfeld reruns playing in the background, when I decided to check my email on my iPhone. You know, nonchalantly… it’s not like I was waiting for a response to my Weddingbee application or anything.
(Ha, yeah right! Every time I checked my email, I was hoping for a “1” icon next to that little white envelope on my phone. When it would be there, my stomach would clench up a little bit and I would hope that it was a response from the ‘bee. 9 times out of 10, it would be an-auto generated junk email offering 2% off at one of my favorite stores, and my stomach clenching would be for naught.)
Anyway, back to our story. So I picked up my phone, and there it was — that little envelope icon, taunting me with a bright red “1” in its top right corner. So, I went into my email, expecting the aforementioned spam. I started reading what the email was about… and who it was from… and, well, let’s just say there was squealing. And jumping up and down in a counter-clockwise direction (why counter-clockwise? Not sure. It felt right at the time). Our dogs started going nuts, the cat ran under the dining room table to take cover, and I started talking about 500 miles an hour to Mr. French Fry about what was going on.
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Mrs. French Fries, Milwaukee Age and Occupation: 27, Paralegal Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Investments Advisor Engagement Date: September 20, 2008 Wedding Date: June 2010 Venue: Ceremony: Catholic Church, Reception: Hotel Ballroom About Me: I'm a Midwestern girl who longs to live in a warmer climate (my feet would be happy in flip flops any day!). I love travel, impromptu napping, grilled cheese sandwiches, my iPhone, singing with reckless abandon in my car, and Mr. French Fries.
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