This is chelsea080109's Chocolate Wedding!

My FMIL and I have never seen eye to eye on anything. It hasn't been a problem until my FH and I got engaged. Since then she has told me that she hates my invitations, can't understand why I wouldn't wear a veil because that IS what makes me look like a bride, and lots of other issues.

She offered to pay for my flowers. My parents are paying for our reception hall, when my mom offered to pay we were figuring about 150 guests. She can't afford to pay for a bigger number and the church can't hold any more people either.

My FH and I are paying for everything else. We are also buiding a new house so financially things are tight. We can't afford to pay for more then what we budgeted initially.

I finalized my guest list and it was okay with my FH's mother. My sister (MOH) emailed her asking for a few addresses so she could work on the invitations for my bridal shower. My FMIL asked my fiance AGAIN how many people she could invite so that she could make a list for my sister. She knows that we already have a final list.

My sister spoke to her and got the impression that she was trying to sneak behind my back and invite more people to my bridal shower so that I would then feel obligated to invite her friends to my wedding.

My future sister in law had very similar problems. My FMIL knows that we are on a very tight budget and that I want to keep the wedding family and close friends only.

Do I confront her?

I am in love with these Maggie Sottero dresses.

I need to get my act together and actually go out dress shopping some time soon...

I am making my own invitations to save money and I am really excited with the way they turned out. I bought everything from Michaels and started putting them together. I have two done and atleast 75 more to make. I am going to get a new paper cutter so that they edges cut easier and look a little nicer.

I also got heart shaped bubbles from Michaels. I am going to add a ribbon and maybe a sticker or something with our names and the date. I bought the silver flower girl basket on clearance at Michaels for $5. I plan on adding chocolate colored ribbon and a silk sunflower on each side.

For my centerpieces I bought 20 oil lamps from Walmart. These are going to go in the center of each table surrounded by a ring of sunflowers. The oil lamps will burn for all 5 hours of our reception so I don't have to worry about all the candles blowing out.

I was thinking that I would get my brides maids jewlery as a gift to wear for the wedding. I am wearing white pearls so I love the idea of the cream and chocolate pearls. The jewlery suits my tastes and not the tastes of my bridesmaids. If I did this I don't think any of my brides maids would ever wear the jewlery again...I need to keep looking for something that I like that all three of them would like too.

I absolutely love the way all the brown and white goes together in this picture. If they were all holding sunflowers it would be my wedding!

I think we are going to go with chocolate or khaki colored suits. If we go with the chocolate ones they will have a tan colored shirt underneath. I think it will still look really nice but be less hot for an August wedding.

I really love Carrie Underwoods hair style in the second picture. I don't want to wear my hair up, just enough so its not hanging in my face. I also know that I do not want to wear a veil.


I want to wear my great grandmothers pearl necklace. It is just a necklace so I am going to have to find earrings, a bracelet, and a tiara that match. If all else fails I am going to go to Michaels and get beads to make my own. I practically live in Michaels anyway so one more DIY wedding project won't kill me.

I am still in the process of finding my photographer. When I do I am going to make sure that I get a picture of out rings on one of the sunflowers like this. I think its so pretty and it fits in perfect with my sunflower obsession wedding theme.

I found the other pictures of the bride in the field of flowers and love them. My only problem is that there aren't any sunflower fields nearby in New Jersey. My mom planted a bunch of sunflowers this year and we have drying out and saving the seeds. Next May I am going to plant all the seeds in the backyard. Hopefully by August I will have my own field of sunflowers to take pictures in!

I already have my favors planned. I really like the sunflower lolli pops in the flower pot idea though. I know that Michaels has a mold to make the lolli pops so I might make a few pots full of them to put on the desert table with the cake.

I am pretty convinced that I have the cutest ring bearer in the world. Our son will be about 3 1/2 at the time of our wedding.

My FH originally said he wanted to get matching tuxs with tails for himself and Nathan but we went to an August wedding where the ring bearer stripped himself almost naked during the ceremony. He was very uncomfortable and sweating...making us reconsider the formal tux idea.

We might go for a lightweight brown or khaki colored suit with a short sleeved dress shirt underneath. I would rather have a less formal ring bearer than a naked one...



I think I am going to find a plain ring pillow and then add a ribbon and possibly a sunflower myself!