Thursday, August 21, 2008

Part II - Jennifer and Lance's Budget Conscious Wedding

"Next came the hunt for the perfect dress. As so many brides do, I changed my mind time and time again. In May 2006, I decided to go to a local dress shop and look at their gowns because I wasn't really happy with the one I'd chosen. The first one would have been better suited to getting married in my Mom's backyard (my original plan). I went in and found the dress. Since it wasn't a designer gown, it didn't have the designer pricetag. But it was based on Maggie Sottero's Dion so it had an expensive look for a low price. The dress, veil, and shoes came to $440.00.

I splurged on one area. The person doing the ceremony. We're not religious so we didn't want a church wedding. We also didn't want the Mayor doing it in a cold, impersonal ceremony at the courthouse. ("Do you? Yes. Do you? Yes? Good! You're married. Kiss her!" - Spaceballs) So what are the alternatives for people like us? In my research online, I came across an organization called Celebrant USA. They helped me find our officiant, Lois Heckman. And she was worth every penny. When we met with her for the first time at Shawnee, she was very personable and answered every question that I had. She was also intrigued with some of our ideas for the wedding, including the handfasting. I wanted something different from the unity candles and sand ceremonies that I had been seeing online and I wanted to incorporate a little bit of the Celtic flavor that has always interested me. Thus the theme was born: Our Favorite Things.

Lois was the best decision I made second to agreeing to marry Lance. She took the handfasting and ran with it. She also took the time to get to know us and really custom wrote a ceremony that was just so ... us. I recommend her to everyone I possibly can.


Since I wanted to incorporate our favorite things, I started looking for things that were reminiscent of us. I found our invitations online at The American Wedding Company. What says wedding better than a motorcycle draped in flowers? :o) Our favors and our cake were chocolate. Our centerpieces were made of candles and coffee beans. And I made our table numbers and table cards myself using a book theme, since I am a huge reader. That was about it in my DIY skill.

Our DJ was Lance's friend so he gave us a discounted rate. I found our photographer on Craigslist as he was just starting his business at the time. I found the woman who made our handfasting cord on eBay.

All in all, we had a fantastic day. The food was good. We got married in the most beautiful place possible for us. And we're living our happy ending."

Friday, August 8, 2008

Speaking of Cakes...

I stumbled across a great blog that I'm sure many of you will LOVE. It's called "Cake Wrecks" and it highlights professional cakes that have gone terribly wrong. I think it's something that you have to see to believe. The author of the blog features cakes with hysterical spelling errors, inappropriate cake themes, and anything else you could possibly imagine going wrong with a cake. Below are links to just a few of my favorites that have been featured on CAKE WRECKS!

"Speaking of Weeding"

Monday, August 4, 2008

I'm back...

So the past few weeks have been really crazy at home. I've been in and out of doctors appointments trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Well I'm happy to say that things are better and I'm ready to start blogging again!

If you have any questions or would like some advice on a certain event topic, just shoot me an email, I'll be glad to answer it for you!

Welcome

With this blog I plan to share my knowledge of the event planning world, whether its style trends, etiquette, or cost saving tips, I will cover it all. I also want to open the lines of communication with other professionals, soon-to-be brides or anyone else interested in what I have to say.

If you have a question about an upcoming event, need some advice or recommendations, please feel free to email me and I will respond to your request with a blog entry, unless you would prefer to have your question addressed privately.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts, ideas and suggestions with all of you. I hope you enjoy reading the "Event Planner's Diary".