This is hiiamamie's Red Wedding!

http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?pageSize=8&style=A3101

For Sale: $775

Paid $950, $75 for alterations (very little alterations - a small hem (1"-1.5" and bustle), $125 for cleaning and boxed. True to size. Bride is 5'9.5" and wore 1.5" heels.

There are tons of pictures on my website of the dress. The dress is a size 18.

This was my planning board and boy did it come in handy. We live 4.5 hrs away from of wedding location. I was able to perfectly communicate my floral desires with my florist through this blog and was able to show many members of our family what my plans were.

All the planning in the word will make you day go as smoothly as possiable, but it's your loved ones that may it happen at a DIY event. Everyone really stepped up and helped with everything from the decorating to the cake cutting to fixing my bussle that didn't hold. They went on last minute runs to town and covered up little mistakes some of the vendors made. I heard many stories this last week. Everyone did a great job helping make our day as perfect as possiable.

And thank you WeddingbyColor - your site is a great asset! You should advertise this site for destination brides. What a great tool to use to communicate your ideas!

See the pic/video link on www.amieandjaye.com to see our wedding pictures. And thanks for all the great ideas! The funny teeth were a huge hit!

Jaye's mom has his aunt's fountion (base is brown - we'll wrap it in tulle) - Jaye's mom will pick up chocolate.

I already have plates/ napkins/ sticks.

I need to pick up the dishes and food stuff for it. Should be easy! Small plates or tiered??

I'm not sure how to attach the tulle with flowers to little white posts/rods that we will push into the ground for the wedding. I know I can gather the tulle using florist wire or rubber bands and attach the flowers the same way. Any ideas on having the tulle attached to the rods? We are getting married on an island in the St Lawrence River - it will probably be windy.

We're going to have a couple flowers and 12" - 16" burgundy and pink ribbon hanging also. And have rose petals in the bottom of the tulle for color.

I don't want it on the brown metal folding chairs - it will get in peoples way - plus they are the cheap old school metal chairs - with the half solid backs - not much to work with.

We're going to use this tulle that runs down the aisle as the entry for the reception tent also.

I'll have to post a pic of them. They are cute and were very easy to do. They get the point across without a lot of fuss.

One program per party, not per person. - I'll need less than 50.

Folks can share - but I want them to have a clue when where to participate - so programs are a must. And the basket is coming from mom's house.

Bride - Amie
Groom - Jaye

Bestman - Tony
Groomsmen - Greg
Groomsmen - Andy
Groomsmen - Corey
Groomsmen - Mark

Maid of Honor - Angela
Bridesmaid - Jill
Bridesmaid - Lisa
Bridesmaid - Kelly
Bridesmaid - Julie

Janice - Grooms Mother
Harold - Grooms Father

Diane - Brides Mother
Ray- Brides Stepmother

David - Brides Father
Darlene - Brides Stepmother

Grandpa Mike (Bride's Grandfather and Officiant)
Grandma Norma

Aunt Charmaine (Reading)

I would like to run tulle up the aisle on both sides. I talked with Shane from Boldt Castle- this is fine to do.

We'll use small white stakes, since they are in the black and white photo to the right. I want the tulle to hang almost to the ground and be full!

With some small floral with pink and burgundy ribbon hanging (have).

We should be able to use the same decor for the enterance to the tent. (the ground is really hard there though)

We have loads of small candles for the tables and I'll be picking up candle sticks for the crystal candleabras.

Aunt Sue has graceously offered to help us with the centerpieces !! YEAH

Only referring to first 2 photos - all others were just ideas.


Ordered from American Floral Distributors:
Burgundy mini Calla (20)
White mini dendro. orchids (20)
hot pink roses(25)
dark red roses(25)
bear grass (1 bunch to use in toss flowers and isle decor)
White carnations (pick some up at store to tie into toss flowers)

Each centerpiece:
8" Bubble Bowl
Round nuetral 1' stones on bottom
white submersable floralyte
With 12 gauge silver wire wrap 1 calla to 1 orchid (orchid will hang over bowl)
float 1 pink opened rose

Supplies packed: Green floral wire, 12 gauge silver wire, white and green floral tape (do I need it?), wire snips

Need: carnations, 3 singe rose water holders, powder for water

Pack some sand and tea lights

Pick up 2 white pillar candles and about 1 dozen candle sticks

Need some flowers on the buffet tables, twine for the branches and fishing line. Aslo sand and tea lights for the bags (haven't ordered bags yet!!! . TAPE!

Running Burgundy and pink ribbon down the head table and maybe appitezer table also if enough ribbon. Will be using flowing ribbon on isle decor


the tea lights came in - 108 with glasses - good old ebay - hahaah :)

Our flowers will be pink and dark red. Aunt Sue is now in charge of the cake flowers! What a relief! I had no clue on how to handle this. I'll have to let Lorraine know when I send her the photos.

Note: Florist is delivering flowers to the bay area! $5 - can't complain!

I would like the guys (5 groomsmen, the 3 dads, and grandfather) to have some color along with their rose (no longer berries). See the second picture with the curly rose. The boutonnieres would be without the pink flower. Jaye said - no pink for the guys. I like that the rose is curly - it's prettier! Would that be mini burgandy carnations to the left of the rose in the second picture? Or something else?

Jaye (the groom) loves the calla boutonnier with the little flower, wrapped with burgundy! - This will be his if possiable! This is the second picture.

The ladies corsages (3 moms, 1 grandmother, 1 aunt who is doing a reading) - Something like simular to the guys boutonniers with the white, burgundy and add some pink back in - this would be a great start for theirs. Not much pink though. I wouldn't want it clash with anyone's dress (my mom -chocolate brown, stepmom - silvery 'champange', and mother-in-law hasn't got her dress yet. Grandmother is still undecided on hers. I like the shape of the coursage in the third picture (I don't think they will be this large for our budget though)

The calla is the winner for jaye! The curly rose with a little burgandy for the rest of the guys and for the moms/grandma/aunt - a little pink added would be nice.

I really like this girls makeup. Her eyebrows are thin and perfect, her eyes are dark with the purple and the top of the eye, under the brow is highlighted! I couldn't go this dark though - it's not me.

Lipstick is probably 1 shade darker than her normal color.

Looks wonderful and photographs great and natural. I'll probably go a little lighter on the liner - all liner seems to smudge on me (oily around the eyes - that's me)

These took some time and lots of teamwork, but they were low cost and our guests love them. Some took them to work to show their coworkers, some kids played with them, and some are on display in our guests homes. We have a few in our china cabinet. They look nice with the light shining through the glass bottles.

We burned the edged of the scroll, tied them with ribbon and twine, put treasures in the sand, and ran fishing line from the bow through the cork. This way, when the bottle was uncorked, the invitation popped out of the bottle.

We also rolled up a small RSVP card in the scroll to instruct our guests to RSVP on our website. It's a great way to collect email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses. Though it was to late before I thought about adding addresses to the web form.

We hand delivered our invites at Christmas to give our guests more than enough time to save for this trip. It's about a 4 hour drive for most of our guests.

Since we are getting married on an island in the middle of the St Lawrence River - I'll probably have an updo. Unless for some reason it's a very calm day. But I really like the half up half down look. It's more feminine.

I want the front to have a little height - I'm going all up - less to worry about - an with a 20 pounds dress - I'll be sweating. Ok - it felt like 50pnds - hahaa.

Since this was a DIY wedding I would like some pictures of the details.

This one with the groom looking like he is peeing is precious - we should have on of Jaye looking like he is peeing behind the tent and me catching him - funny stuff

I've picked up silly teeth for the whole wedding party - it would be great to have some pics with them!

I love pics when everyone is comfortable - staged candids!

I'd like a pic of the girls on the dock

I'd like a pic with my gramps - but I'm sure that will happen - we are both camera hogs - haha

update: email the florist a list (above post)- so they can have the flowers labeled Florist contract - all set

How will the flowers get the the Castle - we'll have to bring all the ceremony flowers with us and lay them out somewhere for aunt sue

All traditional shaped clutch/nosegay/round arrangement. The brides will be 1.5 to 2 times larger than the girls.

Bridal Bouquet:
I loved some other styles/shapes, but once my dress came in and I tried my dress on with my fake bouquet I made, the asymmetry of the arrangement took away from my dress. So I’m back to round! Also my eye was drawn toward the dark colored flowers – too much contrast with my white dress. My eye was drawn away from my face to the dark colored flowers. So I concluded, I want mainly white flowers (no large lilies or wedding flowers – I think they are kind of cheesy looking) with a little pink (not light pink or dusty rose though) and a little burgundy (not purply), and some pearls – they are so cute! I would also like my grandmothers cross tied into my flowers (don’t want the cross in plain view – it’s has some damage, I just want her with me. It’s my something old.) I’m a size 18, so I don’t want a tiny arrangement, but I also want to be able to see my beautiful dress (the bodice is covered with glass beads, sea beads, crystals, and pearls). I’m also planning on selling my dress after the wedding, so I would like my stems wrapped so my dress does not get dirty. The white sweetpeas are cute. Mine would be wrapped with a white ribbon. My budget is $80 for my flowers.

My Girls (one maid of honor and 4 bridesmaids):
I love the 2-toned pink and burgundy ribbon in the one picture with the 5 girls. But I would be ok with dark pink ribbons, burgundy wouldn't match and white - boring LOL.

Our dresses are not wine, they are burgundy (deep reddish - see the fabric swatch above) - but with a little tweaking - these flowers would be perfect for the girls – I would like to add just a little bit of little white flowers or crystal into these arrangements so they do not blend in with dark jewel toned dresses so much. In the picture with all the girls it looks like the bride’s flowers are in the front and the girls have matching flowers in a smaller size. What can I get for $40/ea for the girls? It’s cute to have their initial in their flowers like the other picture – so they know who’s are who’s – plus it’s a nice little detail.

I can drop off the initials and my cross earlier a few days before the wedding. Do I need to get an special type of letter? What time should they be picked up? My aunt (retired florist) will be pinning them on and setting up the vases and such on the tables - fewww and thanks! - again thanks