Details

I have to say, despite the stress, I'm having fun getting the little details together for the wedding. We don't have a ton of money, so I'm finding that things can be done for much cheaper if you make them yourself. (or enlist other people to make them for you) Granted it seems like you still have to spend here and there, but certainly not as much as if you had gone to professionals. Would I like to be able to hand everything off to a pro? Sure, but it's not an option. Anyway, my mom pretty much raised me in a DIY home, so this is really more up my alley.

So far it seems I've got most of the components for my bouquets/boutonnières. I've also purchased cupcake liners, which we are doing instead of an actual cake. Though I may still have my mom make a small cake for Mike and I so we can put it in the freezer. And our friend Lena is supposed to be making our cake topper, but I think she has to make some sketches and stuff first. I personally haven't spoken with her about it yet.

Going into the planning I really didn't have an idea in mind. I knew that we wanted red and black but I wasn't really sure what else I liked. I mean, I know what I don't like. So it's been easy to say no to a lot of things. Slowly though I've started getting a picture in my head of what I do want. While I haven't completely settled on table decorations aside from some candles on the table, I do have a rough sketch of how things will eventually look.

I took pictures of some of the details, and of some inspiration.

This is my inspiration for cupcakes. I'd love to actually have a giant tiered display like that, but they're expensive. So we're hoping to do one small tiered display and then platters on either side. I like the patterned cupcake liners with the white icing and the rose on top, and I think that's what we're going to do. The roses in this photo are real I believe, which I won't be doing. But my mom is going to make some roses with icing. She used to decorate cakes for a living for a while, so she knows what she's doing. I'm pretty sure she can ice roses in her sleep.

This will be the actual liners that we're going to use. Michael's craft store actually had some white and black damask patterned liners but they were sold out. They only had a handful of packs on order and weren't sure when they'd come in. So I just opted to find some online. These were the closest to what I wanted that weren't super expensive. They had some cuter ones that were black/white like I wanted, but they were RIDICULOUS. Yes, I want something nice but at the end of the day it's paper that's going to get thrown away. So I didn't want to spend too much on it.

This will be the ribbon that I'll wrap about the stems of the flowers in my bouquet. It was one of the first things I purchased and I started basing other details off of it. It's shimmery, though I couldn't quite pick that up in the photo. I'm not sure if I'll use it or another ribbon for my bridesmaids' bouquets though. I may just opt for red or white ribbon for them. I saw some nice sheer ribbon at Ben Franklin that I may go pick up.
I picked these up after I bought the ribbon a few weeks ago. I'll stuff them with Halloween candy and set them at the tables for each guest. Are you starting to see a theme here?

I'll be putting these in my bouquet to stick up a little above the flowers. Well, I plan to use them anyway. We'll see how it looks when we put them together.

And finally, our "guest book" so to speak. Instead of a guest book, your guests sign the plate with food safe pens. Then you 'fire' it in the oven to seal the ink onto the place. Afterwards it's safe to eat on, though I have no intentions of doing so. We'll probably display it in the kitchen or something. It is bigger than it looks in this photo, so I'm hoping that 50 signatures will fit. I may purchase a smaller guest book just to be safe. Either way, I really love the plate. I had seen it at Michael's a while back and showed it to my mom when we went back in on monday. She immediately told me to get it because she loved it too. heh.

My mom has been so great helping me with all of this. She lives out of town, so we mostly communicate through Facebook or on the phone, but she's been a big help. It's times like these that I wish she lived closer. Not only did she help me pay for a bunch of flowers and the plate, she is also paying for our invitations. These items aren't super expensive, but it's less money we have to worry about spending. Mike's mother has also been great with help too. She's been giving us money here and there and has made me feel much less stressed about the whole thing. I believe she also plans on either throwing me a shower or doing a reception for Mike's family who we aren't able to invite to the wedding. My bridesmaids are already throwing me a shower, so I think a reception for the family would be better. Either way, I'm super appreciative of anything she'd be willing to do, especially for people who we can't afford to invite.

Speaking of invites, Mike finalized them tonight and sent them off to be printed. They look great and I'm hoping it'll all print well on the actual invitations. Mike worked really hard on them! Now his task is getting our website put together. I had already made a rather generic one through theknot.com, but Mike wanted something that would be a little more personal. So he'll be starting on that soon. Mostly it'll be a place for people to RSVP and to get details such as directions, links to our registry and other information about the ceremony. Definitely DIY all around.

Anywho, that's my update for the time being. Nothing much else to report.