This is weissbride's Purple Wedding!

I am having a backyard wedding. So we are going only semi-formal. However I have come to a stumbling block when it comes to the issue of Ushers. Are they a good idea?

I suppose I should enlighten you on the situation at hand. Yes, it is a backyard wedding, so semi-formal is key. We feel that ushers may make people feel that they have attended under-dressed for the occasion even though the invitation states clearly that it is only semi-formal attire.

However I do have an assembly of approximately one hundred guests attending our ceremony. Our guests range in age, from about 2 to 92 years of age. Thus we have provided refreshment and fans to keep all as comfortable as possible in the August heat.

We have decided against separating the families on each side, except for the immediate family. For the immediate family we wish to reserve enough seating to accommodate them in the front rows.

So do I use ushers to distribute the water and fans, help the elderly to their seats, and maintain our reserved seating, or do I simply put out the fans and water on a table with a sign stating for guests to help themselves and put reserved seating placards on the chairs?

When I had the idea of having a wedding arch and a wishing well for our special day, I had no idea that my future husband would tackle the idea head on. He, and his parents, have built both, by hand!! I could hardly believe my eyes as they showed me their hard work this evening. I am going to take photos and post them.

Both the wishing well and the arch have been painted and varnished to withstand the elements and will become permanent fixtures in our backyard after the wedding.

And to think that I had planned on renting both...

So that we can give our wedding a bit of a theme we have chosen butterflies... I believe more on the basis that they were incorporated on some of the first new additions to the wedding ensemble than to either of our tastes. However the more things that we decide to incorporate the easier the butterfly theme seems to become...

We have decided to add a few of these butterflies in the lavender colour to the vases containing the apples.... just to punch up the purple a little bit. We have also decided to place a few of the tea lights in between each of the vases so that there will be a little bit of ambiance as the night wears on...

The felt butterflies should also stand out wonderfully against the green runner down the middle of each table!!

Just a little update from a previous post....
I am no longer having two flower girls... which is okay as we have the addition of a ring bearer.
My sister, whom is one of my bridesmaids, has a little boy and he will be our ring bearer. As both children are under the age of three, we can not wait to see the out come of the two of them walking down the isle together.
It will either be a picture perfect moment, with the two of them walking calmly side by side.... or a fanatic race to see whom can beat whom down the isle.
Either way it is going to be a moment to remember....
Since my wedding colours are purple and green I have decided upon a pillow in the green and a basket in the purple. The cute thing is that these are colours opposite to what each child's apparel will be. ( I have my fingers crossed that it will look good!!)

Now I know that there will be enough liquor flowing at the reception that these most likely wont be used the day of.... however men will be... men...
The hard part is attempting to find gifts for the guys that will a) be useful and b) something that they don't already have....

We were lucky enough to find that in this gift... which will hopefully be paired with a little something more... what as of yet we are unsure.

This is part of the gift that we have decided to give to our bridesmaids. They are fun and functional, and have the ability to be personalized. I have decided that each will feature something different engraved...as I really want each girl to feel that she truly does mean something. They are not a group but each individual aiding me in their own special way on our special day.
That and a lovely pair of slippers. I will accompany a note with the slippers that reads:
"Dance around with your pretty shoes, and never miss a beat. But when they ache, just take a break, and wear these on your feet!"

Which I will be happy to also have after a few dances in high heals...

These are probably the only things that will be alike in each of their gifts, as they are all unique individuals whom have different tastes and wants/needs.

This is the basis for the male apparel. My FH has decided that he and his men are going to be comfortable in jeans. I am agreeing with what ever he has decided. They will not be wearing ties that are as bright at this, the are going to be black with a diagonal pinstripe in the plum.
They do want to have suit jackets however. I am hesitant on how they will look with the jeans, even though the jeans will be black. They want to go with just a simple white collared shirt, which is totally fine.

Any thoughts or input would be apprecitated.

I have decided to have signature drinks, which does involve some food colouring. I love the idea of a frozen martini or margaritas, especially since it is still August and the weather will most likely be HOT! It will be a nice refreshing way to cool down after a long day of photos and ceremony! I really like the idea of a pomagrante martini but I am partial to that, my FH really isn't too enthused on the idea, but he is letting me do it anyways! :D

We do have guests that will either choose not to consume any alcohol or will be under age. I don't see why they should miss out on the fun. I have decided to have a purple lemonade, since it is something that we all seem to drink a lot of. That and I am also having a nice Lime Sherbert Punch that I seen on a cooking show the other day. I thought that it was great, since the green colour does not have to be added, its natural. That and it is something a little icy and frothy for the kids!

I just love this little countdown ticker for your wedsite or blog. I have actually added it to the signature on my wedding e-mail. I know a little corny but what can I say... I just cant wait till that day comes!



You can also just get one to stick up on your desktop, so that way it can be personal rather than public!

My wedding dress is a halter top style and has beautiful embrodery on the back. However my hair is so long that it covers it, which takes away from the beauty of the dress.

I was initally hesitent on using an updo, since I have a tattoo on my shoulder that not a lot of people have seen. It is a tasteful tattoo, my daughters name on a banner with angel wings, but I was still hesitant to show it off so much. I was afraid of what it would look like in the wedding photos and such.

Then my mom had the best idea. She sugested that I buy a shawl from the same site that I bought my dress to cover the tattoo in the photos if I wanted to. I don't mind having my tattoo showing in some of the pictures but not all.

So this is the style I have decided upon for my hair. Initally I thought about going with a tighter, more structured braid in the back. Then I realized that my veil would be covering it for most of the day. That and this hair style seems to be a little more relaxed than the one I had invisioned. The only difference is that I will have bangs in my hairstyle. I have an extreamly high forehead and cannot pull off a style without bangs, either swept to the side or other wise.

So on my next day off I am out to get a test run of my hair style, to see how long it is going to take and what I have to do to my hair to make it work. (My hair is really long so I may have to cut it... which is fine by me!) I am super excited!

My daughter will be my perfect little flower girl, in the wedding of my dreams......
In reality she is only two and has an attention span to match. So in order to keep her in the wedding, I have decided to have the daughter of our family friends become our secondary flower girl.
This way if my daughter does not decide to cooperate, our friend, who is seven, will be more than capeable to walk down the isle by herself.

I have decided on a basket for each of them, since my daughter has days when she still isn't too keen on sharing. They will be tossing stems of wheat and pansy heads to coordinate with our wedding theme.

Also I am not going to let the possiblility of my daughter just running down the isle out of control get to me. She is only two after all, and that is a chance that I am willing to take.
Our attendants should more than understand the possablility of this. :D

I am not going to say that I am not leary about ordering my wedding dress from a retailer online. However I have been sure to research the dealer that I am going through very thoroughly. I am extreamly confidant that should I have any concerns that I will beable to have them addressed quickly and with my concerns at heart.
So with that I have ordered my dress and now am anxiously awaiting its arrival!

As soon as it arrives I will be posting pictures with me in it. Unfortunatly the pictures from the website are copyrighted to the extream so I am unable to use those. That and I will also update my opinion about shopping for a wedding dress online. ( My fingers are crossed that I can report good things!!)

This is the locket that I am using for my memory locket. It is the locket that my grandfather used during his time in WW2 to store my grandmothers picture. They are called "sweetheart" lockets, and were actually quite common in the WW2 period. Instead of removing her picture I am going to place my grandfathers picture on top of hers, and Ross's grandfather on the opposing side.

I was so honnered when my grandmother said that I could use/ have this locket. My grandfather and I were always very close, even though he died when I was really young.

This also means that the something old is covered for my wedding!

I have pondered about keeping more than just pictures from my wedding. I would like to give myself a little box commemorating one of the most important days of my life, as well as some of the work that I have put into that day. I wasn't thinking anything larger than a picture box, so that it wont take up too much storage space.

I was also contemplating building a shadow box so that I can display my wedding memories rather than keeping them shut up in a closet some where collecting dust.

Is anyone else considering this idea or am I going over board? Perhaps I just feel like I am doing a lot of hard work to be given away and most likely lost or tossed by the attendants. Any opinions or sugestions would be appreciated.

My future hubby works at our local John Deere dealership as a mechanic, and I have become an absolute John Deere fanatic since we have started dating. Most of the people we know associate us and John Deere as a natural paring. We figured that giving out tractor keychains were perfect wedding favors. (They will also double as entertainment for our younger guests! )
These will also match our wedding theme of a farm wedding, which is starting to become more of a reality everyday!To give them a bit of a personal touch we are simply attaching a card with our names and the date that can be removed before use.

Using the ideas for napkins found on popular wedding order sites, I have decided to personalize my own napkins. I bought a stamper and found a great deal on silver ink pads so I have enough to do them myself. My napkins I also found at an amazing price so I am really being a frugal bride. The silver is going to stand out briliantly against the purple napkins.

As I am only stamping these myself I am only going to personalise a limited number and leave the remaining napkins blank.
I have also decided to do a test batch to make sure that the ink does not end up on my guests if they are needed for cleanning up spills, etc.

I love this bouquet since my wedding colours are purple AND green. I have struggled to find a bouquet that uses green as an accent as it does in this.I seen this and instantly loved it, so now it is just to go to the florest and find out how much of a dent in the budget this is going to make.

The nice part is that since we aren't using alot of flowers at the reception the wedding partys bouquets can cost a little bit more than originally planned. We have decided that we will use the bouquets to decorate the head table after the ceremony finnishes by placing them in empty vases the same as those holding the apples at the other tables.

We always liked the idea of tents set up in the yard for the reception to be held in, and the great part is that we can also rent the dance floor along with it! We took advantage of the after christmas blow-outs and sales and bought up abunch of white rope lights which we will line the insides of the tent with to give off a little more light as the night progresses.

We have decided that since it is still only august and may be a little bit hot, that we are going to rent some tents and set them up for our guests to enjoy our ceremony under as well. (Also as a precaution incase of the weather not exactly cooperating with our plans.)

The wedding party how ever will only be covered if the weather does not decided to cooperate. Pain-staking work has been done by my future hubby and his father to build a wedding arch for us to be married under. However it is too tall to fit under the tent that we have rented for backup.

Since we are having an outdoor wedding we have decided to provide our guests with some fans to cool them selves along with some water. We are going to have our ushers offer these to each guest as they are seated, so that no one misses out on a cool refreshement.

To personalize them so that they can double as part of the wedding favors, we have decided to put our last name and 8/8/08 on the side of each fan in a script writting.

My future husband and I both have lost a grandfather and wanted to find a way to show that they were attending the wedding in our hearts.
We thought about candles or some sort of tribute in our wedding program but those were both too impersonal and easily over looked. We really wanted something rather personal and private.

So when I seen the idea for a locket to hold the pictures of both grandfathers which I could attach to my bouquet and carry with me through out the day I couldn't help but fall in love with the idea. It was a personal way in which we could remember those two special people who could not attend.

I am really excited about the large scale centerpieces that we have decided upon. The wedding reception will be held in tents outside, so the grand scale of the centerpieces will hopefully balance the large tables that are being used. We are placing them at six place settings apart to hopefully divide up the long tables and to help promote more intimate converstations and place settings.

We will be using the same idea as the picture, large vases filled with granny smith apples, to hopefully promote the fact that green really is apart of our wedding colour scheme. As an accent I was thinking either a purple ribbon or some allium heads to fil the spaces in between the apples.

Another idea that we had for decoration is simple wooden boxes filled with lavender of alliums. These would look great near the bar or the guest book.

We don't have a large budget for the wedding so we decided that anything that we could do ourselves we would. The invitations were a headache at the start, trying to find clipart, font and designs that we agreed upon.

In the battle of our likes and dislikes we had made eight designs that we liked. Some were duplicates, in two different colour schemes, since we could not agree with one another. With these templates in tow, we sought out the advice from our parents.

In the end we chose the design that we both had oringinally created. A single, simple rose with purple and green accents. This we recessed behind a simple block font, with our names contrasting in a script font.

Along the way we learned about traditions for creating invitations that we did not know. Such as the bride's name and the names of her parents always come before that of the groom and his parents.

The fact that we made our invitations together makes them truly unique and we are almost assured that no one will be able to purchase our invitation design.

We also created an email address and included it on the wedding invitation to make RSVP for our out of town or overly busy guests. They can simply write a quick email rather than trying to figure out a time to call and let us know. For the not-so tech savy individuals we made our phone number available as well.

We love the idea of the short dress on the right for our bridesmaids. Something simple that is also functional. They can either dress it up or down and wear them to another occasion. I figure if they are putting up with wearing something that I have chosen I might as well make it something that they will wear again!

I seen these little "love is..." cartoons on another girls site.
They are absolutly adorable and I am just going to have them printed and used as a fun decoration at each persons place setting.
Most likely they will just lay across each plate at the table, since there are so many to chose from we will beable to have a large variety.

My aunt was a cake decorater for many years and has kindly allowed us to have our wedding gift from her be our wedding cake.
We are having a purple and green wedding, so when I seen this cake I absolutly fell in love with it.
Ours wont look identical to this one, but I love the non-traditional idea of the stagered cakes rather than one that stacks on top of one another.