This is soon2bmrsb's White Wedding!

Hi Girls!
So I bought my invitations off cardsandpockets.com a couple weeks ago and I am very happy with them. Now there is a sale going on, I'm sad I missed it but I thought I'd pass it on to you girls. The sale is only on for 14 days until May 21st. Enter coupon code "14day" at checkout and you get 20% off. (It does not apply to custom orders).

A note to fellow Canadian brides: The shipping was pretty steep, then remember the conversion rate to Canadian dollars and I was charged another $30 on arrival because of customs. Overall, turned out fairly expensive after all of that. So use the coupon code while you can.

I'm almost done putting together my invites. I have to finish addressing everything and I'm using a wax seal to seal the pocketfolds so that will take a while as well. I can say it was a real pain printing everything. if I could do it again I would probably get them printed professionally, but I am still happy with the result. I might put up some pictures soon. I'm hoping to send them by tomorrow. (3 months to go!)

So, how did you choose the date you chose?
Is there a story behind the date, or was it completely random?

So I keep having these dreams that everything just goes wrong at my wedding. Usually my photographer isn't there and I don't even notice until the reception. Last night my cake, centrepieces and my MOM were missing as well.
Am I alone in this?
4.5 months left.....

How long did you date before you got engaged?
3.5 years

Did you get the ring you wanted?
Yes. I love it. I wanted a princess cut solitaire with a plain band.

Was the proposal a complete surprise?
No. I was hoping it would happen on the trip.

Do you wish you had a bigger/smaller diamond? If so How big or small?
It's bigger than I originally wanted but I'm not complaining. I wanted about 1 carat and got 1.7 carats

Did you cry when he proposed?
I felt like I was going to. My eyes may have welled up a bit.

Was the proposal romantic or creative?
Romantic. On a caribbean cruise off the coast of Belize.

Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?
Greek Islands! It's not definate yet. It's the most popular and pricey time of year for Greece but I think it would be worth it.

Are you buying his wedding band for him?
Yes.

Have you gone over your original wedding budget?
No. I'm aiming for a few thousand dollars less than our original budget. We're paying for everything ourselves and we want money for a down payment for a house.

What day of the year will your wedding be?
Friday, August 7, 2009

What kind of weather?
Well if I could choose, no rain, but I don't want it to be too hot either.

Inside or outside?
Outside ceremony, inside reception at the same venue. We also have access to the patio.

Church/justice of the peace/other?
Pastor

How many people will be there?
We're going to invite about 130. Lots of family lives across the country. My perfect number would be 108.

Time of day?
5:30 or 6pm since it's a Friday.

Any kind of theme?
Not really.

How many bridesmaids? Who would they be?
4. My 3 best friends, and my 21 year old 'neice'.

What kind of cake/what will it look like?
I honestly don't care much about my cake. Probably 2-3 tiers. I don't know what it will look like yet. I like plain ones with flowers or ribbon on it.

Where will you have the reception?
Golf and Country Club

What kind of dress will you have/color/material?
It's white. Strapless. Empire waist. Lots of beading and sparkly-ness going on across the top. Silver ribbon under the bust. It's a fit and flare, kind of like a mermaid style. It's plain under the bust. Fake buttons down the back. There are pics in my blog. The one pictured iis Ivory/Gold

What kind of flowers in your bouquet?
White. Not positive which ones yet. Possibly a few different kinds or maybe all white roses.

Kind of engagement ring?
Princess cut solitaire, white gold.

Kind of wedding bands?
Not sure yet. I don't want a plain band but haven't found anything that looks good with my ring either. We were considering tungsten for him but we're worried because they can't resize tungsten.

How will you wear your hair?
I like the low style buns. But again, have not decided.

Who will be important to be there?
My close family and friends in the wedding party.

Will the reception be big or small?
About 110 for dinner. I might invite some people to come after dinner.

What will the groom wear?
Black tux, black vest, black dress shirt with a white tie. The groomsmen will be wearing the same with a silver tie to match the bridesmaids.

How long on Honeymoon?
About a week

What will you do?
Relax. FH didn't want to do any sight seeing on his honeymoon.

Will it be modest or costly?
I'm hoping to find a good deal.

How old will you and the groom be?
I'll be 25, he'll be 26.

How long will you be engaged before you get married?
1 year, 5 months

Live together before or wait till married?
We're living together already.

Take a long time to plan the wedding or will it be simple?
I didn't start planning right away. About a year to plan.

Will you do it yourself or with family or hire someone to plan the wedding?
I'm doing it myself. I thought I'd need a planner because I don't have experience with this kind of stuff. But everything is working out and I think I'm doing well.

Will you write your own vows or use something pre-made?
Pre-made

Okay ladies, what are you planning on doing for your wedding? Are you going with an open bar, cash bar, or something in between?

Well I'm planning on inviting my officiant to stay for dinner and seating him, but what about the other vendors - the DJ, photographer, etc? Are we supposed to provide them meals? If so, should I be including them in the seating chart?

It's getting exciting.
Finally got names and addresses for our guestlist from all our parents and I was able to get them organized.
I ordered some sample paper from cardsandpockets.com . They have really good prices although the shipping is kind of steep. No shipping charges for the samples though. I was planning on making my own pocketfolds out of cardstock but it's almost as cheap to just order them. (and a lot less work!)
Something I haven't mentioned yet: my FMIL loves to quilt and she agreed to make our ring pillow and she's going to make us a signature quilt. So, instead of a guestbook, the guests will be signing on a quilting block and FMIL is going to assemble it all after the wedding. I love this idea and I think I'll appreciate it much more than a regular guestbook.
Is anyone else doing an alternative to a guestbook? I'd like to hear your ideas

I have a few things going.
First is my card box. I'm unsure about the silver paper. I might put a black border on the top box. Or else make the border the same as the bottom box and do the rest of the top box black. I also need to make a nice B out of wood. This one is just for iillustration purposes.
I made a basic centrepiece. I got all the materials from the dollar store. I bought 10 LED lights online for $4 that I plan to put in the stones to give off some light. I might put some tealights around it as well. I don't like the wire holding it up. I'm going to try some fishing line to see if I like it better.
Very early prototype of my invitations. I'm going to get some nicer paper and put some different graphics on it. The bottom part cuts off and is sent as an RSVP postcard. I love the wax seal as well. I know you have to be careful mailing the wax seals. Some people say to put and extra envelope over top. My mom told me they can be marked to be manually sorted so hopefully that will be okay.
I love the idea for the menu card holder. I am going to put people's names on them so they work as seating cards as well. The instructions are on Martha Stewart Weddings website: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/clever-places-for-place-cards-menu-stand
I found these blue and green bottles at the dollar store as well and I'm not sure what to do with them. They only had 3 of each colour.
I also found a 60x80 cm artists canvas last weekend for $7. I bought some batting and I plan to make a ribbon board to display my escort cards similar to this http://lavenderlimes.blogspot.com/2008/10/ribbon-board-tutorial.html

We had a productive weekend. We went to meet our harpist on Saturday. She is going to be playing at our ceremony and she played a few different songs for us. I originally wanted something unique to play for the processional but she started playing Canon and I knew I had to walk down the aisle to that. It is so beautiful played on the harp. Is anyone else using a harp? Do you know any music that would be nice for the signing of the registry, recessional, etc?
We also met with our Cake decorator. She knows my mom so we're getting a good deal which is good because I don't want to spend a lot of money on cake.
The best man and groomsmen are also starting to plan the Stag and Doe. I'm excited, it should be a lot of fun.
We were hoping to start our registry this weekend as well but that got put off until another time.

3 of my bridesmaids are my best friends who I've known for years. The longest friendship being since grade 2. My 4th bridesmaid is my 'niece' who is 4 years younger than me (She's actually my brother's ex-wife's daugther.) She is also my flowergirl's mother.
I decided to go with silver bridesmaid dresses. My original colour scheme was white and silver. My original plan was to decide on a colour and length and let them each pick out a dress that flattered them the best. I have 4 bridesmaids each with different body types so I never imagined we'd be able to get the same dress for each girl. We went to Nicolas and Elizabeth in London and found this dress and it looks great on all of them. It is tea-length and the colour is called 'Cafe' but it has a shimmery lace overlay so it looks silvery. We ordered the dresses a few days later so they should be coming in a couple months.
My flowergirl will be 3 1/2 by my wedding. My nephew is going to be my ringbearer and he will be 4. They get along great and are adorable together.
We looked at flowergirl dresses there as well but they were over $150. I couldn't imagine spending that much on a flowergirl dress. My one BM works at Zeller's in the fashion dept and she told me about these Thy Thy dresses. The first time I went I didn't really like any of them but she called me when they got a new shipment in and we found this dress for $40. The FG loves it and she was very excited to show it off.