Featured Wedding – Bridgette and Michael

Our wedding today is brought to us by our very own fabulous photographer, Christina of Christina Carroll Photography. It's been so easy to work with Christina as our day approaches, and I just can't wait to see what she has in store for us on our day. Here is Christina talking about the wedding she brings us today...

"Bridget & Michael had such an elegant wedding. The ceremony was at St. Mary’s Cathedral and the reception was held at The Austin Club. The Austin Club was a perfect fit for this classy reception. After dinner The Wall Street Band kicked off the party and everyone danced the night away. In the end Bridget & Michael rode off into the night on a horse drawn carriage."

And now we'll let the pictures speak...

Only in Austin would you get a random alley in your wedding day shots!Don't these pictures look like they're having the time of their life? I hope our party turns out the same way...

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Be sure and hop on over to Christina's blog to check out the rest of the pictures of this fabulous wedding. As always, her work is outstanding! Hope you enjoyed the eye candy!

The "Waiting Game"

Oh my goodness...other brides are right – checking the mail is SO much fun! No, not everyday is fun, but when you’ve spent countless hours working on your invitations, and then you send them off in the mail, you start to anxiously await the RSVPs in the mail. Other brides have written about how much fun they have going to the mail box, and they’re right! It’s a blast.

You see, I don’t normally check my mail everyday. We have a PO Box in town near my office for most of the bills, and then get mainly junk mail at home. So, I try to stop and collect the bills once or twice a week and then we check the mail box at the house even less frequently. Until now! Now, I’m checking that bad boy each and every mail day!

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For the first few days it was one or two at a time. Then one day I got none. The next day there were three...and the following day there were EIGHT! I was so excited to take each one home and check it out. See who was planning on attending and who might not be. And this was a big question for us, because like most brides out there today, I invited more people than we really have space for at our venue. I figure this is ok, since the average acceptance rate is around 75%, right? Even though I know this, and I’ve talked to plenty of other brides, friends, family and vendors...I was still sweating when the first 15 or so RSVPs were all marked “yes.”

That’s good news, don’t get me wrong. But I’ll also admit that there was a little sigh of relief to get a few that were marked “no” as well.

But let me ask you this question. Now that the initial rush seems to be passing, is it normal to experience a lull or lag in responses? There are still almost two full weeks before the deadline that was printed on the RSVP passes, but I didn’t get one single note all weekend long. Not Friday. And not Saturday. That is perplexing to me. I have a theory though, and to me it seems that the longer people wait to respond back...the greater the chance is that they’re not coming. Did you find that to be true?

The bride inside of me that over-invited is a little relieved. But the bride inside me that wants a good turn-out is a little worried. I think that it’s normal to get a rush of responses right at the beginning and then a rush of responses more towards the deadline...but this waiting game is killing me! Lucky for me, when I collected addresses to build our database, I also collected phone numbers and email addresses. Yes, I fully expect to have to track people down to get an answer out of them. And that’s ok. I was one of those people for Maid Britney’s wedding last year. I’m a tad bit ashamed to admit the fact now, but I was one of those guests that had to be emailed (or IMed) to see if we were attending or not.

Now that I’m the bride, and I know all that rests on the number of guests coming to your wedding, I don’t think that I’ll ever be that person again. I vow right now to always send my RSVP in before the deadline...and as soon as I can, to be honest.

Did you experience this too? A rush of RSVPs hitting your mailbox right away...and then a little pause? How many people did you have to “track down” to get an answer our of? Just wondering...

On a “Roll” Again...

Yeah, I hear you. Cheesy title. Blah blah blah. I just couldn’t resist. Besides, if you can’t truly be yourself in all of your dorkiness glory in front of your friends (who are online and can’t see you anyway) then who can you be yourself with?

So despite my cheesy post title, I AM on a roll with this whole wedding planning stuff. I marked off not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR major things off of my Big To Do List today. It’s like stepping up to bat and hitting one out of the park, if you need a sports analogy. I just stepped up to bat, swung and knocked it out of the ballpark, and brought my three runners in...okay, enough about sports. I’m a girlie-girl, and a clutzy one at that, so no more sports talk! I’ve just been SO busy and I had to share.

Let’s see. What’s that? You want to know what I’ve gotten done? Ok, twist my arm and I’ll tell you...I’m kidding, you know that you don’t have to twist my arm!

Rehearsal dinner invite mock-up done and approved by a few people (I promise that I’ll share some pics soon!)

B’s wedding band ordered...or at least I’ve started the ordering process. I had to convo the seller on Etsy since I want some alterations done to the design...but as soon as I hear back from them, I’ll purchase the ring. Here’s a picture of it.

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You might recognize it from Miss Fro Yo’s post on weddingbee...I have actually been in convo with this seller for about a month now trying to find a compromise between their designs and what B wants in his ring. I think that he finally just got tired of going back and forth and he picked something completely different!

With the help of some of the ladies on weddingbee, I found and bought these socks for all of our groomsmen (and ring bearer) and B to wear on the big day - the black and purple ones...

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Do you like them? Can you tell from the picture that the little line of color looks like hot pink? Do you think that it’s as perfect as I do when you picture my socks? If you can’t remember what my shoes look like, click here for a reminder.

I had our first unofficial “meeting” with our officiant, who also happens to be a fellow co-worker and personal friend. (Is it still a meeting if it’s just emails back and forth? I think so!) He had given us some rough draft ceremonies several months ago, and B and I took what we liked about each of the ceremonies and combined it with bits and pieces of other ceremonies that we had found and liked. Then once we loved it, I forgot about it. As in, forgot to send it to the ONE person who needs to ok it. Oh well, better late than never, right? He got it today, read it, loved it, and he and I shared several very emotional emails back and forth about finding the right person and how touching certain excerpts from our ceremony are. I love that he loves it. I worked on it for quite a long time, so I’m glad that he doesn’t want to make changes.

Whew. (Insert a mental image of a tired bride wiping her forehead off!) That was a big day! This tired bride either needs a nap or a bowl of ice cream as a reward...

How is your To Do List coming? Are you whittling it down? It’s amazing to me how many things have to wait until the last 30 days or so...

Featured Wedding – Nora and John

Today, Pink Posh Photography brings us the CUTEST wedding. This one is chock-full of DIY details...and it makes me long for my own wedding day - to showcase my own hard work and projects! Check out what Pink Posh had to say:

"A few weeks ago, Thurst and I got to hang out with Nora and John at their Hoffstastic wedding. (I told you I was going to use the word Hoffstastic somewhere!) But really, when I didn't think I could love how fun and bubbly Nora's personality was before when I first met her wayyyyy back during their engagement session...I think I love her more now. When on the wedding day, most of the wedding party usually caters to the bride and groom and their wants and needs, I see Nora setting aside what she needed to do to get HER girls all pretty and ready for the wedding. Later on that evening when we went out to do some quick late night portraits, I noticed Nora was a bit fidgety...and really, really, really wanted to get back into the party. Whereas, John was happy to take pictures as long as it kept him off the dance floor. But stalkers, I couldn't be mad at Nora. You see, Nora had requested the DJ to play a special song that she wanted to dance with the kiddos she taught...and she was really concerned she was going to miss the opportunity to dance with her students. Yeah, she's that awesome."

Here's some eye candy for you...

A "first look" without seeing each other...

And now for the details...

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Do you love seeing ideas that you've had in action? I've thought about doing table names like hers...single words that invoke the feeling of a wedding...kiss, live, love, dream, hope...you get the point.

Wasn't that divine? Be sure to check out the blog on Pink Posh's site for more beautiful pictures from Nora and John's wedding day - these were just my favorites!

I Dream of Etsy...

Yes, if you read the post title just right, little visions of a Genie dancing around in her bottle might appear...or you might find yourself humming along the title song. Duh duh. Duh duh da duh duh. Duh duh. Duh duh da duh duh. You get the picture.

But it’s not little scantily-clad head-boppin’ genies that I dream of...it’s the most wonderful place on the internet – the world of Etsy. I’m sure most of you have heard of Etsy before, as I would think that most of my readers are brides and fellow weddingbee addictees...but if you by chance haven’t heard of Etsy, click here and it’ll take you there.

It’s wonderful. Truly amazing how many talented people there are out there. I’ve looked at everything from jewelry to paper goods and most recently wedding bands for B. The site offers some really great finds, and most of them are at more than reasonable prices.

And I long to open my own Etsy shop. It’s actually very simple, you just need to have goods to sell – anything that is vintage or homemade can be sold there for a small fee, and they will even give you an internet “storefront” for your wares. It is a secret goal of mine to one day open an Etsy shop. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time now, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to do this once the dust settles after our wedding. I’ve just had way too much fun creating all of the little projects that I’ve done for our wedding to not share them with others.

I can offer hand-sewn or hand-crafted items on there, like my kid’s activity books for those brides that want handmade but don’t want to hand make the goods themselves. I could offer printed paper goods, like my invitations and thank you cards and such. Or my pocketfolds - I could charge half of what regular stores charge for them, but still be beating the best price online anywhere. I could offer...oh wait. I can’t tell you about that one – it’s still a surprise to three wonderful ladies! Later, I promise...

The point is that I think that there are many things that I could offer up for sell on a place like Etsy. Especially since it’s a store that is targeted to people looking for fancy items, but that are still hand-made and less expensive than things seen on traditional wedding websites on the internet.

So what do you think? Would you open an Etsy shop? Are you as obsessed with Etsy as I am? Maid Britney and I were bemusing the fact that we don’t have more time to browse Etsy...until I pointed out that if we did have more time to browse, then we’d probably have more things than we would know what to do with! Staying on our budget is also important, so maybe it’s best not to have more time for Etsy right now...

The start up cost is minimal...just posting fees, and I could use examples of my own wedding items just to get started, adding more as I increase my “portfolio.” (I feel like an artist using a word like portfolio!) I think that this could work...but it’ll have to wait a bit. I’m ok with waiting, though. That gives me time to think it through and work on some catchy name for it.

Got any suggestions for a name?

Free Stuff...or Discounted Stuff...

I haven't done this in a week or so, but here's what I've got showing in my inbox...shop and save!
OvernightPrints.com - I've got two coupons for these guys. One says if you order $50, you get a free stamp. This promotion ends on Sept. 27th, and you should use coupon code 50STMP when ordering. The other promotion that they have running is a FREE 5x5 photo book or $10 off any purchase. That's amazing! What bride doesn't want a FREE 5x5 custom-made photo book. Let's see...this is a limited time only promotion and it expires Sept. 28th...use coupon code ONPFREE5G8 to take advantage of that deal.

Hancock Fabrics - Hancock's is running a foam and fiber sale, along with all McCall's patterns being $.99! Yea! And if you click here, I believe you'll get a 40% off coupon good for any notion item in the store. Just print it out and take it in with you.

JC Penney - They are still offering FREE shipping on orders over $49. Use code 49LEAVES during checkout to receive this offer. I don't know about you, but I've been seeing some of the cutest dresses there!

Underwater Boudior Session?

Here's an unconventional idea for brides out there looking for something a little different for their boudior session...the idea sounds a little bizarre, but check out these great images from Pink Posh Photography:

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I have SOOOO many questions...

How do you do that?

What kind of special equipment is needed?

And how does she manage to look so serene? I think that I would be making all kinds of funny faces...not to mention that I'm not that good at holding my breath. I wonder how long she had to hold it to let the bubbles go away?

Hmmm...something to consider though. And apparently this is something that Pink Posh does a lot of. This isn't the first underwater session that I've seen on their blog. Jump on over and check out the other images from this session or some of their other underwater sessions! You'll be amazed!