Weddingbee Blog

Today is my final fitting at Mark Ingram. Sorry… I didn’t bring my camera, so y’all won’t see pictures of me in it again until the wedding.

My dress did not require a lot of work — a two inch hem, the lace sewn in on the bottom, a bustle, the lace top taken in a little and the sash needed to be shortened. Mark Ingram charged $485! I wish I had said something to the store because this seems like way too much money for what is just routine work for a wedding dress — but I just handed over my Visa.

I checked around on The Knot and most girls spent between $250-$350 for similar work. The only places that charge more are the high-end bridal salons like Kleinfeld and Mark Ingram because they have you (and your dress) captive; sure you can take it back and have it altered on your own, but it’s easier to just leave it where it is.

So, this is my dilemma: do I now have to tip the seamstress? I checked various sites and asked a few friends and most agree that unless the seamstress does something extra special, there is no need to tip! Frankly, you can have a dress made for $485, so there’s really nothing she can do that’s “extra special” for the amount they charged me.

Today’s Daily Candy featured a great design-it-yourself handbag site: Freddy & Ma. The Hazel Purse would make a beautiful (if at bit pricey at $165) bridesmaid present and with over 400 available fabric options, there has to be something that goes well with their dresses!

Birthday Express is a children’s party supply resource. They have over 150 party themes — from Dora to Sponge Bob Square Pants to Bob the Builder offering everything from invites to pinatas. No … I haven’t changed my wedding theme to Fairy-tale Unicorns ;).

But I have decided to order ready made kid’s favor boxes ranging from $4.29 to $5.00. Many of the favor boxes include items that I don’t want at the wedding: pull-back style cars (I don’t want cars whizzing around), playdough, bouncy balls, and the gumball machine with tiny candy (choking and tripping hazard), so it limits my options. I thought about ordering a different one for every child at the wedding, but knowing my niece and nephews, that might turn into World War III, so I think I’ll order the “Jets” themed ones for everyone.

Here are some of my faves:

Check out these FREE offers at Vista Print. The postcards and magnets would make great Save the Dates!

Offer ends May 31st, so this can be a weekend project.

(or the trials and tribulations of trying to be a DIY Bride)

I tried. Really I did. I made designs. I printed mock-ups. I found discount printers. I really tried. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, so I am officially giving up my role as a do-it-yourself-bride.

I had my menu cards printed by Catprint. Their prices are great (turned out to be $50 for 150 cards), turn around time is only 7 days… the only problem is that I designed my menu cards in Word, using three colors (RGB or a combination of red, green & blue), while they print in the superior 4-color CMYK printing (a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow & black).

What was a bright chartreuse and papaya in RGB translated into quite drab olive and burgundy in 4-color printing. I don’t blame Catprint (although I wish they had a warning on their website), but since I don’t own MS Publisher or any other program where I can design in CMYK, I’m quitting the print & design business. Instead, I’ll be relying on the wonderful folks at whiteaisle to design and print everything for me in a bit of a hurry. I’ll post pictures once I have everything in hand, but the designs I received today were beautiful! Live and learn….

If you read my blog regularly, you might think that I’m getting married to… my dress? my shoes? my calligraphist? The poor groom rarely gets center stage. So here’s his chance to shine… all decked out in the tux.

In our building lobby (showing off to the doorman). The cigar is just for show, he’s never smoked anything in his life.

The tie looks a bit weird because the shirt isn’t buttoned. Thankfully, he noticed sooner rather than later that the shirt needs cufflinks and studs. He wants something basic — no cutesy “Groom” cufflinks — and also not that expensive, because he’ll rarely wear them (unfortunately, he’s not into expensive shirts).

We stopped by Thomas Pink this weekend, but didn’t find anything that we loved. I think I’ll head over to Links of London at lunch. These sets are nice and reasonly priced:

And Studs:

I had my second fitting at Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier today.

I had my first fitting back in March and I’ve tried to be good since then. Nothing dramatic, but I did manage to lose around 8 pounds, which translated to around an inch off of each of my measurements. I can definitely tell that I lost weight in my regular clothes, but I just don’t see it in the dress;-(

Front View: Second Fitting

First Fitting (March)

I want to make the bow bigger and get a sparkly pin to put in the middle.

Second Fitting: Back View

With my sister’s veil (something borrowed)

The way I wish I looked ;-(. By the way, the model is wearing nothing underneath the lace top, which is why you can see the lace all the way down. Clearly, that’s not an option for me.

EDIT: I am wearing just an off-white bustier underneath. There is an off-white camisole that comes with the dress, but it’s just extra padding (which I obviously don’t need ) and covers more lace than the bustier alone.

With a month to go before the big day, Mr. Firefly and I headed down to the NYC Marriage Bureau at the Office of the City Clerk at 1 Centre Street this week. The Marriage Bureau opens at 8:30 am; we arrived 20 minutes early and there was already a bit of a line outside the building (not everyone was there for the Marriage Bureau).

Once upstairs (after passing through metal detectors — what has the world come to!), the entire process took around 30 minutes. It felt like a trip to the DMV — stand on line to get form; fill out form with black ink; stand on line to have man type form into computer (why the black ink if someone is going to type it in anyway?); stand on line to pay and get print-out of marriage license.

No pictures allowed inside, but we took one in the hallway… please ignore my crazy hair!

A few tips:

- Show up early… by the time we were leaving at 9:00 am, each of the lines was considerably longer.

- Both the bride & groom must come together.

- Bring a money order for $35… no checks, no credit cards, no cash.

- Bring your own black pen and a form of ID. Michael and I brought our passports to be safe, but a driver’s license is fine too.

I have to admit I LOVE Costco (we’re old skool and call it Price Club in my house). Going there is like a little excursion; you never know what you’ll come out with — water, razors, multi-packs of anything and everything, the best tomatoes in the city (the medium sized ones on the vine), paper plates, cleaning products, brownie bites, cheap books ……. you walk out spending much more than you planned. Apparently, you can also walk out with an $87,000 diamond engagement ring…

This is my question: does a man who spends that much on an engagement ring shop at Costco?

5.08 ct, IF Clarity, G Color Diamond Ring, Platinum
Only One Available

You’ll be happy to know that shipping and handling are included!

I’m wearing an ill-fitting white tank dress, beaded on top, with a bolero-style jacket. I just came back from the salon, with a Tina Turner-style hair cut. I’m a bit upset, but no one else seems to notice.

“If you’re not ready soon, we’ll have to postpone the wedding until next week.”

I look like I put my fingers in the socket; I clearly can’t get married looking like this! I comb my hair and it gets a a little better. Perhaps if I go outside, the humidity will flatten it out? On my run back (yes with the wedding dress on) down Washington Road in Princeton, I see the Duke Lacrosse team going for a team run. Go Duke. I get back and my hair is finally lying flat, except the humidity has caused it to curl up a bit.

“If you’re not ready soon, we’ll have to postpone the wedding until next week.”

I can see the people sitting in the church (yes, I’m Jewish) waiting. I’m a bit sweaty, but I can do this, I look okay. The dress is a bit loose on top. Should I wear the jacket? I look in the mirror and argh! I’m not wearing any makeup.

“If you’re not ready soon, we’ll have to postpone the wedding until next week.”

I wake up. Its 6:00 am.

Some of my girlfriends took me out on Saturday night for a bachelorette outing. I had a few ground rules — no stupid t-shirts, no candy necklaces, no kissing strangers, just a chill night.

Dinner at Cafe Noir in Soho.

My best friend and maid of honor now…

… and 21 years ago.

Still pretty sober… drinks at Circa Tabac.

… later that night at … hmmm, I’m not actually sure!

And this is what I blame for my hangover .

We look for love, no time for tears
Wasted water’s all that is
And it don’t make no flowers grow
Good things might come to those who wait
Not to those who wait too late
We got to go for all we know

Just the two of us
We can make it if we try
Just the two of us, just the two of us
Just the two of us
Building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I

If you haven’t guessed Just the Two of Us is our first dance song. It was my second choice (after Chaka Kahn’s Aint Nobody, which we’d never be able to pull off) and luckily on my band’s repertoire.

We’re taking lessons at Fred Astaire Dance Studio on the Upper East Side - one of the few studios not on the west side or downtown. With less than 3 months to go ’til W-day, we bought a two 30 minute lesson trial and ten 45-minute lesson package.

Today was our sixth dance lesson and it’s finally clicking. We’re keeping it simple — combining 5 or 6 different rhumba moves that we can alternate. Next week, will learn an entrance move and finale. We’re actually enjoying the lessons quite a bit and might continue taking them after the wedding is over.

For more NYC dance studios, check out NY Weddings.

A bunch of ladies requested the template for the water bottle labels, so here it is - Water Bottle Blank.doc. All you have to do is put in your names or monogram in the box and change the colors accordingly.

Wedding planning is making me quite crafty!

Sorry for my paltry postings lately. But just because I haven’t been posting doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy on wedding work.

First, I finally perfected my water bottle label design … I was able to fit three strips per page and will have color copies made at Kinkos or Staples. Cut to fit. Glue on. Presto. Cute and cheap.

I’m also working on cocktail menus to place at the bar. I borrowed a template from this knottie AmyinSydney. I’ll post pictures as soon as the project is complete!

We’ll be having at least four kids under the age of 5 at the wedding. To keep the kids busy and (hopefully) out of trouble, I plan to buy a bunch of books from Manhattan street vendors. I’ve also designed a personalized coloring book using templates from this great site.