Weddingbee Blog

Now that the wedding is drawing nearer, I have become very conscious about the money I spend because I need to have enough left over to pay my vendors on the last week. Can you imagine if I ran out of money? Eeeek!!

Anyway, one way that I am saving money (albeit only a hundred bucks or so), is to have “shared” menus at each table. Instead of one menu per person, my menus will be in tent card form. I guess when I go to weddings, I only take the programs so I don’t think menus are as important. But that’s just me.

I will have 3 per table, which should be plenty for the people to share. However, I didn’t know what to put on the other side of the tent. I didn’t want to leave it blank, so Mr. Butterfly and I have decided to write the story of how we met, or a timeline of our relationship, or something else personal. I think that the guests will really enjoy reading about it.

When I actually write the story, I will post it - I promise!!

Oh, the last detail of my menu that I really wanted is the pictures of the cow and the fish from a previous blog. Since many of the guests are Korean and may not understand the menu, I wanted to put pictures of the animals on my menus too. Does anyone know where I can get them?

Reader Leena generously sent in a template and pictures of her program! You can use it as a guideline to come up with your own, or just change the relevant information on this one. Thanks Leena!

Download the word file here - Program Template Final.doc

Based on Mrs. Bee’s program, I have finally written up a draft. I have been feeling guilty about not doing this for the past week, and it feels good to actually start on it.

Cover
Ms. Butterfly
and
Mr. Butterfly
November xx, 2006

(image of double happiness from the invitation)

Twenty Four Fifth
New York City

Page 1
The Marriage Ceremony
Uniting
Ms. Butterfly
and
Mr. Butterfly
on Saturday
xxxxxx of November
Two Thousand and Six
at xx O’Clock

Order of Service
Processional - Cello Suite No. 1 in G: Prelude by J. S. Bach

Bride’s Entrance - Wedding March by R. Wagner (Here Comes the Bride)
Wedding Message - Rev. Jim Covington
Exchanging of Vows
Exchanging of Rings
Pronouncement of Marriage
Presentation of the Couple
Recessional - Wedding March by F. Mendelssohn

Page 2
The Wedding Party
Parents of the Bride
Brother of the Bride

Parents of the Groom
Brother of the Groom

(insert calligraphy from invitation)

Maid of Honor
Bridesmaid
Honor Attendant
Junior Bridesmaid

(insert calligraphy from invitation)

Best Man
Groomsmen
Ushers
Ring Bearer

Page 3
Paebaek Tea Ceremony

In Korean tradition, the marriage between a man and a woman represents the joining of two families, rather than the joining of two individuals. This ceremony was originally intended as a way for the bride to pay her respects to the groom’s family, with whom she traditionally lived with after the wedding.

The bride and groom will enter together dressed in ceremonial Korean wedding attire. Their parents, the honorees, will be seated in front of a table laden with various edibles and tea. The bride and groom will bow deeply to the honorees, then kneel as one pours tea. Once each honoree drinks the tea, they impart wisdom, advice or a wish for the bride and groom’s future.

Finally, the honorees will throw dates (symbolizing girls) and chestnuts (symbolizing boys) which the bride will try to catch in her skirt. According to legend, the number of dates and chestnuts caught signifies how many children she will bear. Later in the evening, the bride and groom are supposed to eat the dates and chestnuts that were caught.

The paebaek ceremony was originally a way to pay respect to the groom’s family but since brides no longer live with the groom’s parents after the wedding, many couples have modernized the tradition. Relatives on both sides of the family are often invited to participate and offer blessings to the couple.

Page 4
The bride and groom would like to thank:

Officiant - Rev. Jim Covington
Coordinator - Mrs. Bee
Makeup - Ms. Snail
Hair - Hidy II Hair Studio
Floral Designer - Flowers of the World
Photographer/Videographer - 5 West Studios
Venue - Twenty Four Fifth Ballroom
Paebaek Ceremony - Rose something…
Ceremony Musicians - X - violin, X - violin, X - viola, X - cello
DJ - Manhattan City Music

(insert calligraphy from invitation)

We would especially like to thank our families and friends for their love and support. A special thanks to all of the girls at Weddingbee.com for allowing me to share this special time in our lives.

What do you think? And if there are any mistakes, please point them out to me! Had it not been for a reader, my invitation would have said “Room have been reserved…” The horror!

I feel I have remained pretty calm throughout my wedding planning process so far. I may have had my first bridezilla moment yesterday morning. I have mentioned in a previous post how I could not participate in picking out invitations couple due to my work schedule.

I waited about 2 and a half weeks for an email from the printing man. Nada. So, my mother and I stopped by 2 days ago. I wasn’t completely in “love” with the actual design though everyone (my mother, future MIL and fiance) said they picked out the invitation that screamed me. I can’t exactly pinpoint what I didn’t like really.

Actually, I guess I can.

1. The white and silver color scheme wasn’t really doing much for me.
2. My fiance’s name happened to be first on the invitation and RSVP envelope. I have nothing wrong with putting my wonderful man first but not on the invitations.
3. The font didn’t scream elegant. It looked like something I could easily write.
4. The invitation was basically something completely opposite of what I was hoping for. It looked too classic and conservative. Very Banana Republic. I was thinking more modern and contemporary.

2 days ago, I walked out of the print shop with changes in the name placement, font and invitation colors. As much as I wanted to look through the hundreds of invitations the place had and change the actual style, I left it so I wouldn’t offend the other 3.

I’m having second thoughts about the invitation all together. I talked to my mother yesterday morning, which of course led to frustration and an argument. (This is why I’ve tried to just go with the flow and not voice my 2 cents when it came to wedding anything.) Not only did I not sleep well the night before, but I was on the verge of tears. All over invitations. We called the print shop to see if the order has been put through because if not, I wanted to make some additional changes. It was a little too late. Everything was put through except for the actual invitation.

So tomorrow before I head into work, I’ll be stopping by again to see if I can make additions to the invitation, to look over fonts and colors again. The sheer ribbon that’s part of the invitation is going to be a freebie thanks to the printing guy. I’ve got to hand it to him - with me being indecisive and not completely thrilled with everything, he’s really doing everything to accommodate me, my feelings and trying to help my mom understand by telling her it’s the one important day of my life.

I came across Joy by Mel Lim’s wonderfully vibrant invitations, stationery and favor packaging through Hostess With the Mostess today. Her joyful designs are inspired by seasons, flowers, and Chinese symbology, fusing Chinese culture with a modern Western lifestyle.

This letterpress note set would be a great addition to a bridesmaid gift bag.

Read more…

I’m at the point in my wedding where I can write the programs. I already know what time the ceremony will start, what will happen after the ceremony, what time the dinner will start, who is in my wedding party and all of the people who are important, and who I want to thank.

What I don’t know is how to start writing a program. And I’m also not very organized, because I cant find a single program from the 3 weddings I’ve been to last year.

I know that you also write the music that everyone walks down the aisle to - but I haven’t quite decided on the music for the last piece. What do I want to have playing when Mr. Butterfly and I walk back down the aisle as a married couple. Probably the Wedding March….although I have no idea how that will sound with a quartet and not an organ.

Anyway, can anyone help me write the damn program? I am so confused and lost!! I need examples to see, please?

Thanks!!

I recently came across Rattle-N-Roll’s rock concert poster baby announcements.

They reminded me of Miss Caterpillar’s cool rock poster wedding invitations that her friend designed and created for her.

Many of you commented how you’d love to have something similar for your wedding, and now you can! Rattle-N-Roll offers save the dates, invitations, and thank you cards. You too can be a rock star… or least have a rock poster invite.

After months of obsessing, two sets of printing, infinite outings for additional supplies, hours of manual labor and the resulting wrenching shoulder pain…OUR SAVE THE DATES ARE DONE!

They are, as you can probably guess, completely DIY. I was conflicted foreeeverrrr on exactly how much information we should put in them since all our guests will be travelling from afar and we are offering many of them lodging for free in family houses, but don’t want people who don’t get offered lodging to be offended, etc.

But now they’re done! We just have to get a few more addresses, weigh the final product to make sure it’s not over $0.39 (pleeeeeeease, please don’t be!!!), and drop them in the mail. I took a bunch of in-progress pics, so I’ll post those (& the final product) in a week or so when I can assume most of our guests will have received them! Yay!

Now we just need to actually… plan the wedding!!!

Amy and Mary Beth, the duo who comprise Peculiar Pair Press make letterpress invitations that incorporate all of the elements that, in my book, make a spectacular invite: they are elegant, beautifully made, and a hair whimsical. Amy sent me an envelope full of samples (FYI they cost $15, but she didn’t skimp!) and I just had to share some of them with you all.

Here are the samples spread out:

Below are several of my faves:

To be honest, I haven’t exactly done the math on how much these little gems cost just yet, but hopefully the price tag won’t break my bank account if Mr. Lily and I decide to go for them!

Save the dates are an area where you can be more casual and have a little fun! Check out what these creative couples did for their save the dates.

bmrosen’s animal cracker save the dates (front and back).

debbey’s nod to the awesome cartoons of the 80’s like He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, etc., where the villians join forces.

dcrall’s concert ticket save the dates. And we thought we came up with this idea!

Benyah’s tabloid magazine cover save the date.

And jopoptosis shows us sometimes save the dates can be as simple as this.

About a week ago, I requested 3 free sample invitations from Exclusively Weddings. They arrived a couple of days ago. I’ve decided that I need an invitation with, at least, a little bit of color, even if that color is only cream. This is what they sent me:

This one was really tiny and very…plain and white.

I have similar feelings about this one.

This one was the only one that I liked. The border looks kind of yellow, but in person it’s cream-colored.

Of course, I have a while to decide on invitations, but it doesn’t hurt to start getting ideas now. I’ve fallen in love with this Peony invitation from WhiteAisle.com. It’s soooooooooo pretty.

I have heard horror stories about how hard it is to get your invitations hand cancelled from the post office. Some post offices wont do it at all. Others will send you to 4 different lines (and we all know how long those lines can get at the post office). So I was not expecting anything different when it was my turn.

I happened to be at the post office buying the 63 cent wedding stamps.* While there, I asked the woman helping me if they did hand cancelling. She told me to just drop off the invitations to the customer service line and that would be done. Of course, I didn’t believe her. I mean, how could it be so easy? No way.

A few days later, I finished my invitations and walked over to the post office at 5:30pm. It was 30 minutes til closing and I knew that the employees would be desperate to get out of work. I took my bag of invitations (about 40) and the customer service asked if there were less than 50**, and then took my bag.

That. was. it.

Now, I didn’t have an extra invite to mail to myself so I don’t know how they turned out. Perhaps we can ask one of the recipients to send in a picture? (ahem…Mrs. Bee?)

If anyone lives on the upper east side, go to the post office on 91st and 3rd avenue. They are by far the friendliest post office that I have ever been to, and everyone who works there is very helpful.

~~~
*I think it’s ridiculous that the 63 cent stamps only come with the 39 cent stamps on one sheet. I already had all my 39 cent stamps. What a waste of money.

**The first 50 invites are free to hand cancel. Each one after that costs you extra - I don’t know by how much. I think only 5 cents.

Here they are!!! As promised, here are the pictures of my invitations and the 2 day process of putting them together.

First, run the tape along the back of the invite panel.

Mount the invitation to the backing layer.

Run the tape along the back of the backing layer.

Mount the backing layer onto the pocketfold.

Run the tape along the back of the top layer of the seal.

Mount the top layer onto the backing layer.

Run the tape along only the top 1/3 of the backing layer.

Mount the backing layer onto the pocketfold flap.

Organize the 3 inserts.

Stick the inserts into the pocket based on size. This is what it looked like completed.

Completed invites from the outside.

Adrienne from Custom Programs sent over extras of everything! When you order or buy the materials for your invitations, make sure you order at least 15% to 20% extra on everything. I thought I only needed 50 invitations, so I ordered 60. It turns out I needed about 55 (more if I have to move onto my B list). And of course, I did make a handful of mistakes. If Adrienne hadn’t sent over extras on top of the 60, I would be totally screwed.

Anyway, there they are. I’m so proud…..*tear*

For those of you who were inquiring about the invitations, I did a little investigative work. The invitations were made by Kate Spade.

Got two invitations in the mail today! One for Miss Butterfly’s wedding next month (but I’ll let her post the pictures), and another for a morning after brunch at the Martha’s Vineyard wedding Mr. Bee and I are attending this month. Both invites were done in thermography.

Am I the only one who gets this excited over receiving wedding invitations?