This is brennaandtoby's Yellow Wedding!

So I found a really nice rental company right here in my town I was completely unaware of. They have EVERYTHING! It's a family owned business, with beautiful tents, linens, glasses, china, lantern lights, etc!

A lady at work asked me if I wanted to nanny her kids this summer. Then we got talking about the wedding, and she mentioned that her friends own this place, and I hadn't even heard of it! I looked at the website and loved it! And if it all works out with the nannying, maybe we can get a little discount! ;-)

I'm definitely booking an appointment for when my mom comes in June (from Florida) to do a whole bunch of planning!

http://www.elegantsettingsltd.com/default.htm

I'm 99.9% positive we are going to be having the reception in a big white tent. It's going to be in the field behind Toby's parent's house, a little away from the ceremony (in the apple orchard not even 1/4 of a mile away). I can't see how we can get away with not having a tent, especially for weather reasons. I was really bumming about this for a long time because they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, but with my parents saying they'll boost up my budget (double!) and pay for it all, I feel a little better about paying for it.

Anyways, we will most likely decorate the inside ceiling ourselves. Do any of you girls have any ideas on how to decorate it nicely, and in a fairly inexpensive way? I was thinking maybe tulle or something. Maybe alternating the colors light yellow and light green? Would light green be too dark to put on the ceiling? It is a semi-formal/"business casual" wedding, so I don't want it to look too formal, but I also don't want to see the metal bars of the structure! Any ideas?

I'm not completely shut off to the rental company (TBA) decorating it, but I hope to find something less expensive and more creative.

We are thinking of taking a week long road trip honeymoon up to Canada. We live in NH, and Montreal is only about 4.5 hours away. We're thinking of driving up to Montreal, staying there a couple of days, then heading to Quebec for a couple of days, and then easily making our way back to New Hampshire.

I love love love road trips, and it will be sucha wonderful way to spend time together, both in the car, and in the cities. We're also thinking of stopping in some little towns on our journey.

Nothing is set in stone, yet, but I love the idea! Plus, we can drive the whole way with "Just Married" painted on the car! Yay!

I got this idea from a girl at work. Glass paint! I thought it might be a neat idea to make (decorate) our own champagne glasses for the reception, and also made one for each member of the bridal party. It could have their name on it with maybe daisies or something decorating it.

There's a bridal shower for a girl at work this week (I've never been to one before, so I'm really excited to go), and I thought it would be a good opportunity to practice making these glasses. They aren't really decorated very much because I don't know her theme or the date or anything.

I think it would be neat to give each glass to the bridal party at the rehearsal dinner, and then have them set at their places at the head table at the reception. Then they can walk around all night with a special glass, and they can keep it afterwards.

There is also a glass etching kit at Michaels that I may consider. What do you girls think? I might ask my artistic friend to help, because I am not artsy AT ALL! Any ideas/suggestions would be helpful, thanks!

Mine is small - $5,000 to be exact. I found out some good news yesterday, though.

Toby and I have very little money, both being recent college grads trying to start our careers. Because of that, we've been hoping my parents will pay for the whole wedding. I chose $5,000 because it seemed reasonable, and if they didn't pay for it all, we could pay the difference within a year *hopefully*

Yesterday my mom said that my dad said "If their budget is between $5,000-$7,000, we should plan to pay $10,000." This makes me feel so much better. Now, I can get a tent without feeling guilty paying about $1,500. I am still going to try to stay around 5,000-6,000, but it's nice to know I have some comfort space.

Toby's response to this: "Wow, that would be such a nice down payment on a house, $10,000!" Sigh.... I agree, it would. But I want a wedding!

I have been feeling SO STRESSED the past two weeks, and I need to vent!

I graduated from college in December, and I am 99% certified to be a teacher. The only thing missing is my Praxis 2 test scores. I haven't taken it yet, but I am taking it tomorrow morning. If I pass, then I am all set to be a teacher in New Hampshire. I took a practice test online this week, and I CRIED! It seems SO HARD! I have to pass it, because I need to get myself a job and start making *some* money!

That's another thing, I need to find a job for next fall. I also need to find a job for over the summer. Where to look, though? Up until two days ago, I was looking in the area that we're living in right now...but my fiance came home from work the other day saying that the grad school he was looking at doesn't have the program (MSW) he needs, so he needs to look at UNH... on the other side of the state. LONG story short, we are most likely going to be moving about an hour away, to the Concord area, so we are closer to his work (which will pay for his master's), and closer to UNH (which will still be about 45 mins-1 hour away).

How soon, though? Our lease is up in May, so VERY SOON! He needs to be 100% sure he's going to be going to UNH, then we have to find an apartment quick, move, all while I'm trying to find a teaching job and a summer job. (Assuming I pass this ridiculous test tomorrow).

The last thing that's been on my mind over the past two weeks has been our wedding, which makes me sad! AND I just found out that the VERY affordable photographer we were going to hire stopped doing photography, because he's busy being a vice principal. At this point, I just want to run off and elope. Thankfully, we have a long engagement, so we don't have to do that. Once this all blows over, I can focus on the wedding again. If we move, though, we'll be like an hour away from where we are now, where the wedding is, and that will make things a little more difficult. All of these things depend on each other, so it's hard to find a starting point!

I just needed to vent a little, sorry this was so long!

I found this on yourinvitationplace.com, and I love it. I like it much better than the one I posted below, and my mom approves, which is big news! haha!

I'm going to try to order a sample, and still look around in case something else catches my eye. I do like this one, though. It's daisy themed, like the whole wedding, but more elegant than the other one. Not too elegant, though!

What do you girls think? The one thing I notice is that it's on translucent paper, you can kind of see the envelope through it in the picture. That's why I want a sample, to make sure it's not too cheap.

www.invitationsbydawn.com

I saw this invitation in a catalog, and thought it was really cute. I kind of think that it goes along with our garden type wedding. It'll be outdoors in an apple orchard on my fiance's parents' farm land.

This is just an idea... who know what the final decision will be, my mind changes so much every day!

The picture shows the invitation, and it came with the other western pictures. I'm not considering the bottom pictures, except for maybe the one on the far right... maybe!

http://www.customcameracollection.com/index.asp?
PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=13
(The link \has been split so it fits better, so you need to copy and paste both parts)
personalized cameras for $4.00!

Photography isn't a huge deal for us. A friend of a good friend (my two junior bridesmaids' mom) knows a guy who does photography on the side. He did her parents' 50th wedding anniversary for $150 and did a fabulous job. He will cost more for a wedding, but we were thinking of hiring him for maybe about 2 hours. That way, he can photograph us (me hehe) getting ready, the ceremony, and then the pics right after the ceremony.

For the reception, we were thinking of putting personalized disposable cameras on each table for the guests to take some pictures. The cameras come with a card that says,

"Help us Celebrate
Thank You For Sharing This Special Day With Us
We would really enjoy seeing this special day
through your eyes.
Please use this camera to take pictures of each other.
Then just leave it on the table and we'll do the rest.
(Please use the flash for indoor shots.)
We Will Always Treasure These Memories"

I know we can't rely on perfect pictures from the not-so-professional guests, but I think it will be fun for the guests. We will have a photo hosting website where we will upload them to so the guests can get pictures if they want. We have a good friend who is great at photography who does it as a hobby, so we were thinking of asking him to make sure he gets a few good photos of the cake cutting, toasts, first dance, etc.

Depending on the prof. photographer's cost, we might be able to afford to have him stay longer. But if not, this is our plan. We are not able/willing to shell out over $1,000 for a photographer, especially if we know someone who'll do it for much cheaper.

How does this sound? Tacky and cheap? It's just an idea, we haven't had our meeting with the photographer just yet.

I love these pictures! It's a reminder that you have to be ready for anything and always have a sense of humor! This is the most exciting day of your life!

http://www.weddings.sc/blog/2008/01/21/funny-wedding-photos-2/

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/photobook

This is a website where you download software (for free), upload pictures and/or text, format things the way you want, then publish (Starting at $12.95), and you have your own book!

I'm thinking of making a book with pictures of Toby and me growing up, dating, and engaged, and making that the guest book! I can format it so there can be space on the pages for people to sign.

This way, it's something that we will want to look at more than just once, and it's cheaper than a lot of guest books I've seen! I know the wedding is way over a year away, and a guest book is the LAST thing I should worry about, but I stumbled on this website, and thought it was really cool! What do you think?

Also, it kind of goes with my bookmark, Save the Date idea.

I also think it would be neat to make a book of our wedding. We could pass around some cameras for people to take pictures of them at the wedding (or have some bridesmaids and groomsmen take pictures), and we could mix our professional pics and the fun ones and make a book about the wedding!

So at Michael's one day, I was flipping through a wedding crafts book, and saw a neat idea of how to make your own "Save the Date" cards, which will double as a bookmark. So, I gave it a try.

You take scrapbooking paper and tape it onto card stock note cards with double sided tape. Then, you do the same thing with the bookmark (A pack of 50 costs about $2.50). Next, you cut slits in the note card where the bookmark fits into. Decorate with lettered stickers, and voila! I'm not a fan of these letter stickers, so I'm going to experiment with some others. Toby found large clear address labels at Staples, that can double as personalized stickers. I'm going to give that a try and I'll post the result! Total cost for each completed card, including envelope: >$1.15

Edit: I finally thing I have made it the way I like it! I noticed some of the stickers are a little crooked, but it's a practice one! This is what I'll base the rest of the off of. At the bottom, it says "Invitations to follow" and I am also going to put our wedding website.

After viewing website after website of blogs, forums, chats, etc. I decided to finally sign up! So, this is where I will (hopefully) keep everyone updated on wedding things! Welcome! So far, not much has happened since Toby and I got engaged on Christmas morning. We went to the beach to watch the sunrise, and he got down on one knee. It was super romantic and so exciting! We can't wait to get started on the next chapter of our lives: marriage!

We finally decided on a wedding date (June 27, 2009), and it was easy to choose a location. We'll tie the knot at his parents' farm. 300+ acres of beautiful NH farmland. There are many fields to choose from and an apple orchard as well!

The wedding colors are going to be pale green and pale yellow, and the main flowers are going to be daisies!

Besides that, not much has been decided. Stay tuned for more!