Weddingbee Blog

… is that there’s a UGA football game on the same day. When Mr. Lab and I picked out our date—before we even got engaged—it was originally a bye weekend. Mr. Lab and I are HUGE college football fans, so I didn’t want my dream of an autumn wedding to conflict with a UGA game. But since picking the date, the university added another game to the schedule.

What’s worse is that it’s a home game in Athens, where a handful of our guests (and we) are living now. I’m hoping people will be okay with missing this game. I’m guessing it’ll be a 12:30 PM kickoff with an easy win (at least on paper), so Dawg fans on our guest list will be able to watch the entire game—if aired on a network in Savannah—before the wedding even begins. I’m looking into getting a TV in the reception area somewhere so people (including me!) can stay up-to-date with other big games that day. I have to find out if they already have cable hookups to do this. I feel like I’ll be like the guys in those Verizon V-Cast commercials who are checking score updates during a wedding and honeymoon. I know Mr. Lab and I both will ask for updates at least a couple times during the reception from people with iPhones!

Are any big events (sporting, or otherwise) clashing with your wedding date?

My wonderful bridesmaid Brittany threw Mr. Lab and me an amazing engagement party a few weeks ago. Another bridesmaid, Ashley, my MOH, Amanda, as well as some of Brittany’s roommates, helped out with the decorations and food setup. I could not believe how fabulous the party was. I expected just a few bottles of wine and some cheese (since I knew the guests were expected to bring either a bottle of wine or a block of cheese), but I had no idea that they would have so many delicious hors d’oeuvres as well! The girls really outdid themselves. They made me wonder if hiring a caterer for the reception is really necessary…

Brittany started out by sending adorable Evites to the guests. Here’s the main banner of the invitation:

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As I said, the food was absolutely amazing and yummy! There were mini burgers, mini strawberry cheesecakes, herbed potatoes with dip, fruit, and stuffed mushrooms. Brittany even went so far as to find napkins with a damask theme! How thoughtful is that?!?

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I have gone back and forth, and back again when it comes to ideas for table numbers. I started out thinking I’d want to do something with wine bottles, for instance, we’d name every table after a different type of wine. Then I thought about incorporating our engagement photos, but ultimately decided that I’d use those for our guest book.

Then I came across the cutest idea from another wedding blogger! I could incorporate 3 of the most important things in our lives into the table numbers: our dogs! Mr. Lav and I have 3 Labrador Retrievers that are our “babies”. We seriously consider them our children.

Dixie, the golden lab, is about 11 years old, and Chris got her back in high school. He found her after keeping an eye on a box of puppies left behind in a park by someone. He came back at the end of the day to find only one left walking around all by herself, and decided to take her home. He initially had to hide Dixie from his mom until she “warmed up” to the idea of having a dog. She grew up to be the perfect dog that basically takes care of herself. You’d be hard pressed to find her doing anything wrong.

Here’s Dixie ready for Christmas gifts! She had already gotten a sniff of the Milk-Bones awaiting her!

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I’ve always known I would want a separate dress to wear for the dancing portion of my reception. I don’t want to get my wedding gown trashed after I break it down for one too many songs, LOL. So after dinner, the cutting of the cake, the bouquet toss, and the first couple of dances, I’m going to change into a “bridal cocktail dress”. We’ll also probably hit River Street for the “after party” and I’ll need a short dress to party in. I may add an inexpensive short veil to the ensemble since I’m not too keen on one for my actual wedding gown, but feel like I’ll miss getting to wear one on our wedding day. This way, people will know I’m a bride while we’re out on the town! I had originally planned to buy a dress like this:

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Lindsi (our photog) just sent over the photos from our engagement photo session a couple of weeks ago! We chose the beautiful campus of the University of Georgia as our backdrop, and the photos turned out AMAZING. Take a look for yourself!

Here are highlights from our engagement photo session with Lindsi Jones of Lindsi Jones Photography. Click on the photos for bigger versions:

We started off with pictures in the Founders’ Garden, which is still beautiful in the middle of winter with no full blooms.

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After the Running of the Brides, my girls and I drove about an hour to a bridal salon that carried the Jim Hjelm gown I’ve been eyeing since getting engaged. I was disappointed with my luck at the ROTBs, so I was hoping to lift my spirits by trying on a dress that was really my style. I decided before we got there that if it looked good on me, I would do anything necessary to get it. I already had a gown in my possession that I could sell to offset the cost, but I was contemplating selling one of my kidneys on the black market after trying on this baby…

Mr. Lab take note: If you happen upon this post and read any further, I WILL go Lorena Bobbit on you!
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I’ve decided that I’m going to make our centerpieces a DIY project. I’m just not big on floral arrangements because quite frankly, flowers die. Of course, if we had an unlimited budget, I’d be more for elaborate floral arrangements in a heartbeat.

So my idea for the centerpieces is to focus on mood lighting. I’d like a soft, romantic feel to the reception hall. And since I have a slight love for vintage/antique items, I think I’ve found my choice for the focal point for the tables. We’ll be doing a combination of lanterns, tea lights, floating candles, candelabras, and submerged flowers (preferably orchids).

Every other table will have either the lantern surrounded by tea lights, the floating candles and submerged flowers in mason jars, or a vintage-style candelabra to keep with the Southern theme.

One of the clear perks of making my own centerpieces is getting to keep my creations after the wedding. I will be able to use them as home decor, or even dress them up as gifts for friends! Not to mention, I’ll save money on the floral bill.

Here are some pictures of the items I have my eye on:

These are the main lanterns I’d like to use for the reception site. I can get enough of these to decorate the whole space for less than $100! They’ll look super cute after the wedding as indoor and/or outdoor decor for our home.

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Now that we’ve finally picked out wedding colors, I can start thinking about color details. I absolutely love the emerging trend of wedding shoes in the same hue as one of the wedding’s accent colors. Because deep red is one of our colors, I will be shopping for shoes similar to these:

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So, I had originally planned to dedicate this post to finding our wedding colors with your help. But after spending a few hours brainstorming at my one of my bridesmaids’ houses along with another BM, I have not only found our colors, but also some choices for their dresses. Thank you Ashley and Brittany!

Color Palette Made Here

Here they are! We’re going with shimmery deep chocolate (the color shown doesn’t do it justice), taupes, champagne-brown hues, and a deep red. It’s hard to really show it online, but I think the pictures of the BM dresses will help get the point across. We’ll be using the brown colors as the main hues for the BM dresses and my dress sash. The red will be used as an accent in the flowers, on the men’s ties, and in some decor.

As for the BM dresses, I found some Jim Hjelm designs (my fave bridal designer) that I absolutely loved a while back. But I put them in the back of my head because they are a little pricey, and didn’t want to put my girls in an awkward position of possibly not being able to afford them. But after receiving a catalog from Jim Hjelm today and showing the girls the dresses, they both agreed that they loved them, and have more than enough time to save for them (the dresses average around $210-$250). We haven’t decided on long or short dresses, but we’ve picked out a few style choices with our wedding color combo. We wrote down the pros and cons for having long and short dresses, so once we see them in person, it’ll be easier to make a decision if we haven’t by then.

Here goes!
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Running of the Brides was absolute chaos! I was prepared in terms of team organization, signs, mirror, etc., but I just wasn’t prepared for a lot of things thrown my way the week leading up to the event.

First to go wrong was the “free” part of a contest I won back in February. The contest coordinators, Atlanta Occasions, really dropped the ball on the specifics of my winnings. I hate to throw anyone under the bus, but one of the reasons for me starting this blog was to be honest about my entire wedding planning experience and to give valuable insight to other soon-to-be-brides out in cyberspace about potential vendors and such.

Anyways, the contest description was for a FREE gown at the Running of the Brides, plus team uniforms for the event. However, I got an email just 9 days before the event from a coordinator saying that she had my $249 Filene’s Basement gift certificate for me. I was like, “HUH?” There was absolutely NO fine print or mention of a gift card. I was under the impression that I would pick out a dress, my name would be on a list at the register, and I’d walk out not paying a dime. She tried to “assure me” that 90% of the gowns were sold at the $249 price range. But that wouldn’t cover the taxes, or the fact that I could end up picking a gown in the $499 or $699 range. There wasn’t even a mention about the team uniforms. I sent her a polite email basically asking what happened to the original terms. And I basically got an email back saying that since they didn’t have a big turnout with the contest entries, I got the shaft. I was not pleased with this. I had already re-budgeted the money saved for the ROTBs by paying more on my photographer deposit and putting down money for the reception and ceremony sites early. But I sucked it up because of two things: 1) $249 is better than $0, especially in this economy, and as a college student planning a budget wedding and, 2) I very well could find my dream dress at $249.

Then, my team started to shrink.
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I’m on a very tight budget for my wedding. I’m not even sure of the final budget number (I’m dreading the “how much can you help me” talk with my mom) but I have a working number in my head. It’s going to come from leftover loan money, lots of extra shifts at work, cutting back in everyday spending, selling stuff on eBay, whatever Mom can give, and of course, Mr. Lab’s family.

I prefer not to list the budget number until after the wedding, where I promise I will break down all the wedding costs one by one. And if any of you are REALLY wanting to know how much I’m spending, I’m sure that you’ll be able to keep track with individual items as I book, reserve, and pay for them. But that would make you a borderline stalker.

With all that said, I will routinely list ways I’m planning on saving money during the planning/paying process. One of those ways is with the dress.
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Hi Hive! My name is Miss Labrador Retriever and I’m so excited to be a part of such an amazing community of creative wedding planners!

I was so happy to find out I was the newest bee, and equally thrilled to snatch up the coveted Labrador icon! The timing of the doggie generation couldn’t have been any more perfect. You see, Mr. Lab and I are the proud parents of 3 (yes, THREE) Labrador Retrievers: Dixie (yellow), Madie (black), and Gabby (chocolate). I’m sure you’ll hear a lot about them during our wedding planning (doggie table numbers anyone?).

Mr. Lab & I at dinner on St. Simons Island in summer of 2008

About Us:
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