Counting Down to Our Fairy tale coming true - UPDATED 10/18 About This Page:

[MGW]

I was at a wedding with a mashed potato bar this summer, what fun! I'd never heard of it before!

[OhToodles!]

My mouth is now watering!!

[orionchika]

You are just rocking through those plans.... They sound totally fabulous!!!! Can't wait to read more.... Also, love the idea of a mashed potato bar.... Yum!!!

[DrDolphin]

Sorry its been so long since I've posted - to be honest, there hasn't been too much wedding planning going on in September. I had my Planning Associates class to finish musings and then Chris and I took a weekend to head out of town http://web.me.com/drdolphin/Terris_website/Blog/Entries/2009/9/20_hiding_out.html.

Yesterday saw me back at wedding planning - I bought my veil, blusher and headpiece. And I owe Chris a major THANK YOU for this. I have been stressing over the veil issue - just too many choices and options, which I don't do well with at all. I need it narrowed, and culled and then I can chose. So - Chris and Monica (our wedding planner) conspired to get my veil for me... Here is the story -

Chris has listened to me kevetch and look at website after website with veil options. I had looked at David's Bridal and Alfred Angelo (wedding stores) was just thought there prices were too high.... for a a couple of pieces of tulle and a comb... So - Chris decided he was going to do something to help me - he asked Monica to find out where I was in the veil choosing arena. She sent me an email asking me - and I replied back with 1/2 a page Whining (ok I was whining) about being overwhelmed, not knowing where to start.... etc, etc. Thursday my co-workers took me out for lunch for my birthday, and Chris came with. After he left (I didn't know this) - he went to Alfred Angelo and talked to the manager - who looked at my dress (w/o chris seeing) and looked at the veil options, andhe bought me a gift card to "cover all the options"....

So - Friday night, we were laying in bed talking - and Chris gave me my birthday card - he had already given me my present - my Vera Bradley purse - so imagine my surprise when there was a gift card in the card from AA for me to use for my veil.

So yesterday I went veil and blusher shopping. I had enough on the card to get them, with some left over, and bought my headpiece too - I only need to get pantyhose and a torsolet and my wedding ensemble is complete. Boy - and I a lucky woman!! The girls at AA were gushing about how sweet Chris is...

We put down our deposit for our caterer - Biscottis.... and we also put down our deposit for our ceremony music - http://www.thestringgroup.com/AudioSamples.html. We will have a string trio to play our ceremony music. I am really happy with how everything is going.

We meet with Monica on Tuesday to see what is left to do - I know linens are still on the to do list, as well as bridal party gifts, finishing our invites (more on that in a moment), writing the ceremony and making programs are all on that list....

6 Months and ONE day!! Wow - how time flies!

[DrDolphin]

Invitations and Tuxedoes – (I just spent 20 minutes typing this and accidentally closed the window…. Time to redo).

Two things that did get worked on over the last three weeks – invites and tuxes. For invites, I wanted a pocket folder set up – as a planner, we all know that having all the pertinent information in one place makes errors less likely to occur. Since more than 75% of our guests will be coming from out of town, I wanted to only have to do one mailing of information. And while we have our wedding website with similar info on it – few people will have that in their hands while driving from the airport to the hotels or to the ceremony location. And I really didn't think Jennifer and Dave wold write "The Passporter's Guide to Terri and Chris' Wedding"....

A co-worker of mine did a similar pocket idea for her wedding a little more than a year ago – she got 250 of them for $500.00. I only need 77 (plus a few extras for mistakes, etc) so I had been pricing 85 or 90. I figured that with a budget of $400.00 I should be able to get exactly what I wanted. I made an appt with the printer, went in and found out that it would be closer to $600.00 for mine since mine was a foldover while hers was not – OUCH!! I called a couple of other printers and got the same info… ok that is not gonna work. Monica (our planner) gave me a few websites to look at and I was OVERWHELMED. When I did find the format (but not color or style) I wanted – I read the pricing - $350 for 100 pockets and invites, $50 for 100 reply cards and $50 for each insert card – which meant three more cards at $150 (hotel info and two sets of directions – no printing on the back….) $550.00 plus shipping and tax, and there were none that worked with our colors. This was really upsetting me. So – the last option was my least favorite – DIY. I should say that I am NOT a crafty person at all. I don’ paint, draw, design, color, etc… I HIRE people to do that for me when I need something to look nice…. But I was able to find Wilton’s DIY invite kits – that while they were not our colors – white and pearl doesn’t clash with anything and there ARE pearls on my dress… so I can make a small leap there. So we decided on this one -
It is called "String of Pearls pocket invite".

We found that our local Joann Fabrics carried them and went there. Online they were $34.95 for a box of 25. In the store – they were on SALE (a woman’s favorite word) for 30% off – right about $25.00 a box. We purchased four boxes (extras in case I screw up). Then this past week, I was having a discussion with Patrice – a friend and graphic designer at work about the invites. She has already made a logo for the wedding – it’s still being tweeked – but here is the draft –

And she thought we could plus up the invites a fair amount. I brought in one of them (the example from the front of the box) and we went to Michaels – and she went to work. I haven’t seen it yet – but she promises this will be easy for me to do… and affordable. My two favorite words.

Now on to Tuxes for our crew. We have 12 tuxes – the groom, best man, two groomsmen, one Jr. Groomsman, one ring bearer, two ushers, two Jr. Ushers, the FOG (father of the groom) and FOB (father of the bride). Everyone will be in a two button black tux (tradition) with a colored vest and euro (long) tie. The guy that helped us seemed nice enough, even though he said he did not work at this particular store often (WARNING WILL ROBINSON!!). He helped me figure out the colors (first – always bring your color swatches) and here was where I had to make a change. My girls are in alternating clover and horizon (blue and green – remember the peacock feather) – so I had originally thought to do the groomsmen the same way…. Well the clover vest has a HIDEOUS pattern and the horizon was basically plain.

We decided after considering the clashing patterns that we would put all the grown up men in the blue horizon with clover pocket squares and green boutonnières…. Ok – at least that should tie together. The FOB and FOG as well as the Jr. ushers and ring bearer (the grandkids and granddads) would wear champagne vests with ivory pocket squares.




MW has a great computer system that allows you to log in and check who has been fitted, who got what basically… well I logged in the other day – and saw that none of the blue guys had a “pocket square” listed. ??? So while I was out running errands yesterday – I stopped by MW. The young man (a different one) who helped me told me that there was NO WAY they could do clover pocket squares since that is no a “catalog color” and I could do ivory – but how does that tie back to the clover dresses (that have already been PURCHASED??). I asked to speak with the MANAGER. I told him the situation, the promises made by his employee and how I expected him to honor that promise – and he said that if I can get clover material – they will A) reimburse me the cost and B) make the pocket squares. So – guess who now gets to go material shopping? That’s right – miss I am so not crafty! As Chris said to me last night “I am so glad I am marrying a planner”. Could you imagine how POed I would have been to discovered on Saturday before the wedding, or worse – SUNDAY at the wedding???? And the one thing I keep remembering about the original gu - he kept saying that the last thing he wanted was a "POed bride" - well buddy - you almost had one!

So - that is where the planning stands today. I am going to Joann's today to start the pocket square material hunt and run a few other errands and we meet with Monica on Tuesday for more planning.

[chezp]

What a great story about the veil. Love the tuxes.

[KMB733]

That was awesome for Chris to get you a gift card so you can choose a veil.

The tuxes look great.

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats on the veil Terri!

[lauriep]

What a great couple of updates. Chris is definitely a keeper--how sweet of him to figure out a way to solve the veil problems for you. Love the wedding logo and invitation solution. Good luck finding the right color material for the pocket squares!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Things are sure coming along Terri. Thanks for sharing this whole experience.

[orionchika]

Lots more done...YEAH!!!! What a sweetie Chris is..... You are truy one lucky gal...well actually you both are blessed to be getting each other.....

[goofysdtr]

Chris is AWESOME!

[OhToodles!]

What a sweetheart Chris is!! Glad the planning is coming along. Sounds like MW has some issues. Glad you found out about it then. The day of my wedding I discovered the dads (mine and DH's) had wrong vests and ties! Luckily, this was a small shop and my in-laws met the owners to get correct colored vests that day. I'm sure everything will come together beautifully!

[mcc0313]

What a nice surprise about the veil...that is just too sweet. Glad that the last few purchases were taken care of. Love the invites and the colors of the tuxes. It sure is flying by in terms of time.

[twins4me]

Wow...you've gotten a lot done! I think you have a keeper...what a great gift for you! The next six months will fly by. Remember to slow down, breathe, and enjoy all that will to come.