The beads:
The napkin rings:
The vases:
The beaded mason jar experiment:
Yay! I had a lot of fun doing these. I’ve made about 25 of the napkin rings so far and my hands hurt. I’ll post more photos as I continue, but I believe I have found my centerpieces!
Save the Dates almost DONE. Now I need to update the website people will go to after receiving thier save the dates. Do you think it’s okay to only give info on the website or do we need to do a newsletter type thing like a lot of other brides on theknot.com have done for their destination wedding? I don’t know. I think all of the folk we are inviting have access to a computer and are fairly internet savvy.
I don’t want the extra cost/headache of putting something together.
Is the website enough?
I have not posted in a few days due to dental PAIN and getting my save the dates yesterday. I hand wrote the addresses on most of them last night, have just a few more to do and am contemplating cutting my hand off. My handwriting itself went from very nice to blah in about 10 envelopes. Maybe tonight will be better. As for the quality of my Wedding Paper Divas save the dates… I wish that the ink didn’t look so computer-y (is that a word) but for the price, they are very nice. Honestly though, if I had had the time, I could have done em better. So I am contemplating DIY’ing our invites; we need to cut back on spending for the wedding and that’s an easy couple hundred, whereas I could purchase paper and use my printer to achieve almost the same affect for chump change and my time. My time, which seems to be slipping away from me may be better spent doing other wedding stuff, but I’m not sure if I can justify paying for cut cardstock and a computer printer no matter how nice the design is.
I’m also DIY’ing our centerpieces as you know from my last post. I picked up a bunch of fish gravel for some vases I purchased at the thrift store and wasn’t too happy with the look. While browsing at Michael’s I found a book of wedding crafts and peeked at it, finding an idea for napkin rings I have almost finished. It involved tools I already owned (wire cutters and some other wire bending apparatus) and was really fun to do. I will post a picture when I get time to upload from my camera. Having that almost done is encouraging and I came up with an idea to use the same concept for our centerpieces. I tested three of them and I’m really happy with the way it came out, so we will see what I can pull off in less than four months. It will save a LOT of money to do these myself even if I have to ship them on island.
We also booked our photographer off of craigslist. She’s based in Portland and was having a destination wedding sale. Her photos have a very editoral look which is what Ok and I wanted and we are really excited to be working with her. She’s been published in a variety of places and is only charging for one night hotel. Her price beats some of the photogs on island and her experience and the quality of work is much higher, in my opinion.
Today I need to contact the caterer and work on group hotel rates for the guests. I don’t think the group rates will mean much considering it is the off-season and everything is ridiculously cheap for St Thomas– I mean these prices more than double in December. We will try to get everyone to stay on one side of the island, the BEST side, my side, the East End.
And with memories of Hi Ho Market on Smith Bay Road in my head, I’m off to work to save the world.
from pashweddings.com
“I made my own (25 for about $100). My Mom found glass goblets at the dollar store, we put fish tank rocks in the bottom, a candle (in holder) on top, and surrounded the candle with glass stones. We’re going to put one goblet on a mirror (the reception site had these) and put some confetti on the mirror also. It’s VERY pretty! Hope this helps!”
I really like [part of] this idea! Super colorful fish rocks with stark white candles? It’s the stuff Megan’s dreams are made of. I saw a similar idea using coffee beans the other day on some blog– one of a million I am currently reading now that I have retired from photographer hunting this evening (still no luck). The bride got a large glass bowl, filled it with coffee beans, added glass candle holders with white votives and voila, a beautiful centerpiece for $2, thrift store run required.
I really want to get all the centerpiece/tablesettings done because that will dictate all of the other decorations. One of the good things about Villa Botanica is that it doesn’t need a lot of manipulation. There’s so much natural beauty that it doesn’t need to be overdone but I’m obsessive and I know how I want things to look.
Speaking of simple decorations:
My concern here is transportation. How to get a million cheapie Ikea candles to St Thomas without them melting?
Off to look for favors now!
I’m sad.
I’ve been doing some research on booking a photographer and as of right now, I’m coming up short. I want an amazing photographer for a Wal-Mart Photo Center price. And it’s not happening. I greatly underestimated the cost for wedding photos.
So, I’m sad.
I have, however, come across some insanely gorgeous pictures. So many that every crappy site I see for St Thomas photographers makes me want to throw my computer on the floor.
Here are some crazy talented photogs:
I’m gonna go crawl into a hole now.
Oh, God. I’m scared.
This is what you are s’posed to have done by four month mark. My four month mark has come and gone.
Thanks, theknot.com!
THIS MONTHS TO DOS
Decide on a budget and hash out who’s contributing.
Knot Hint: For a quick and easy way to determine a budget, use The Knot Budgeter.
Pick your preferences for a wedding date and time, and finalize after okaying with important guests, location, or officiant.
Start interviewing caterers.
Start looking for an officiant who suits your style and spirit.
Choose a color scheme, if you so desire, taking into account the decor of the rooms/areas you have reserved for your ceremony and reception.
Decide on a caterer. Hash out a rough price per head and begin working on a menu.
Finalize the guest list.
Knot hint: When you’re done, make your life easy by entering everything into the Guest List Manager.
Start investigating any ethnic customs or cultural traditions you might want to incorporate into your ceremony or reception.
Sign your caterer contract and send in a deposit.
If you’ve chosen an outdoor ceremony or reception site, look into tent and lighting rentals.
Set up appointments with various florists to discuss options.
Decide on and meet with your officiant to discuss ceremony structure and any religious requirements (such as counseling).
Interview and get price lists from several photographers and videographers.
Knot Hint: Talk to your photographer about posting your photos using The Knot Photo Album so you can see your photos online and share them with friends.
If you plan to use frequent flyer miles to travel to your honeymoon destination, book your flight now.
Start looking into registering for gifts.
Knot Hint: Register from the comfort of your keyboard at The Knot Gift Registry.
Think about how you might want to wear your hair.
Reserve photographer and/or videographer, decide on a package, sign contract, and send deposit.
Knot Hint: Register your photographer with The Knot Photo Album.
Begin looking for a baker to make your big-day cake. Your caterer is the best source for leads.
Choose your florist and send a deposit to reserve their services.
Register for your wedding gifts, and don’t forget to include some choices appropriate for your upcoming bridal shower or engagement party as well.
Set aside blocks of hotel rooms for out-of-town guests.
Book a baker, choose your wedding cake design, and send a deposit.
Brides: Order your gown. Make sure you’ve asked all the critical questions and your order contains the correct information.
Start planning the rehearsal dinner. Provide the host with contact information for your attendants and any other guests.
Finalize your invitation wording.
Finalize menu and service details with caterer.
Order your invitations and announcements (don’t forget plenty of extra envelopes).
Start thinking about flower arrangement styles you like, and figure out what flowers will be in season on your wedding day.
Decide on a floral scheme, choose flowers, and negotiate prices with florist. Be sure to sign a contract outlining what you agreed upon.
Grooms: Decide what style of formalwear you will be wearing.
Reserve tables, chairs, and/or other rental equipment you’ll need (unless caterer or site is taking care of it).
Grooms: Start looking to buy or rent tux, suit, or other formal attire.
Book rehearsal-dinner site.
Compile packages for out-of-town guests with hotel reservation and city information, and mail them out.
Book hotel room for your wedding night.
Book your honeymoon flights (if not using frequent flyer miles) and make all your other travel reservations.
If you haven’t registered yet, be sure to do so before any upcoming prewedding parties.
Knot Hint: At least get a few items on your list. See the selection at The Knot Gift Registry.
Brides: Experiment with your beauty routine, self-tanners, and facials.
Consider specific ceremony and reception decoration needs like a huppah, aisle runner, etc.
Shop for and purchase wedding bands.
I love this idea. Does anyone know what those balls of flowers are called? I’d like to toss some in the pool. Speaking of the pool, I am still not sure which area of this massive villa we are going to use for the ceremony. There’s a pool, there’s gardens, there’s a great lawn, there’s a veranda, there’s a bridge, there’s tons of places! I think the pool idea is best because of the view it offers downtown. And I could DIY the pictured flower balls using foam and silk flowers? Zazzles, wanna head down to Michael’s and test it out for me?
Anyways, the pic:
I think Ok will like this shirt for the reception.
I’m thinking I’m getting close to needing this t-shirt. What do you think?
You’d think that googling ‘ikea wedding’ in 2007 would come up with something useful.
It doesn’t.
I got to thinking about googling just that last night while tossing and turning. I’ve been trying to come up with a budget friendly way to copy this table setting for the wedding. We’re only having five tables, so I figure if I can keep it to $20 a centerpiece (not including flowers) than I’m okay. And Ikea seems the simplest way to do it for a few reasons.
1. Ikea is budget friendly.
2. Ikea fosters independent design and gives a slew of choices for tablesettings.
3. Ikea is down the street from my house.
4. Ikea is budget friendly.
5. See all pictures below…
These tealight holders are only 99 cents!
I don’t know what these are, but I like ‘em.
As you can see, Ikea has a gillion things to choose from and I will be stopping by tomorrow afternoon to take my time and arrange some items together for centerpieces.
I’m wavering on my color choices lately, too. The more things I see, the more I just want to do bright colors– this is possibly to justify wearing bright red espadrilles under my wedding dress, but also because I want the occasion to be very loud, bright, happy, fun, exuberant, modern, joyful and exciting. Color is a good way to do that.
The Colorful Wedding. By Yours Truly.
Thank you for shopping at Wedding Paper Divas. We truly appreciate your business and hope that you enjoyed shopping with us.
I ordered the Save the Dates.
Lots of progress today.
Secured the venue.
Ate a chocolate croissant for breakfast because I could.
Picked a dress.
Scoured ‘Brides’ magazine for ideas.
Let Aziza tell me that Bridie should wear what I want because it’s MY wedding.
Bought Neutrogena Body Wash to make sure I’m smooth for the backlessness of my dress.
Got to thinking about flowers and how to get what I want for a good price.
Emailed a friend of mine on island that owns a flower shop.
How could I have forgotten about him?
Decided that I’m going to do my own centerpieces.
Yay. I’m done. And going to bed.
Javi and I went to The Unique Bride this evening. I read online that they were having a sample sale and I thought I’d kick myself if I didn’t at least stop by and see what a sample sale was like. I could think of a lot better ways to spend my time. There were a million dresses on the racks when we walked in. I filled out a little form and was told that my consultant would be with us shortly. In this time Javi and I were able to pick out about 6 gowns, most of them filthy along the zipper. Other than that they were in decent shape. The lowest priced was $599 and the highest, $1100. $1100 for a dress I’d have to get professionally deep cleaned and altered? I should have stopped then.
The consultant finally done, we’re escorted into our ‘room.’ It was outfitted with a pedestal, a big mirror, a bench and oppressive flourescent lighting. Wedding dresses, under flourescent lights. We should have run out as fast as possible.
I told the consultant that I’d like to be left alone with Javi because I was modest. And Catholic. She balked a bit but nodded and closed the door. Poor Javi! She had to help me into dirty overpriced dresses under terribly bright lighting (Javi and I work in the same office and we NEVER turn on the light, so I know both of us were uncomfortable).
And as it turned out, all of the dresses were all blah. Not one of them compared to any of yesterdays. And I walked out of that shop with all my flaws under that lighting stamped into my brain. This was the experience I thought I was going to have yesterday and was so happy to have avoided that I walked into The Unique Bride with my guard down. I should have known!
I will be placing a phone call to the second shop I visited yesterday. And that is the end of shopping for a wedding dress.
Packed my purse with a bottle of water, trail mix, my camera and a baseball cap in case my new short(er) hair got all messed up. Got on the 280 and headed to San Francisco.
Our first stop was at a cute shop called ‘And Something Blue’ in Pacific Heights. I had called them yesterday (yes, I know I shouldn’t have written ‘had called’, Dad) to make sure they had at least one of the Nicole Miller dresses I had been looking for. One was in stock.
Of course I went straight here after the phone call and typed in their name to make sure I wasn’t walking into a pit of bridal hell. The reviews were pretty bad– mostly about snobby teenage salesgirls who gabbed on the phone the whole time they were there. But I had aleady made the appointment and I was having a hard enough time finding stores that carry NM gowns so I was good to go.
Ok and I walked in 15 minutes late (but I called, like the Good Girl I am) and were greeted immediately by Tiara (yes, her name was Tiara and she was not a drag queen). She showed us to the exact dress I wanted and Ok and I tucked ourselves into the fitting room. I was all expecting one of these broads to come in with me so I wore my best underthings, but alas, it was just me and the Mister. 
I loved the dress right away. I would gush and gush but I figure the pictures will do it a better bit of justice than I right now:
The dress is made of ‘metal taffeta’ and had a super crinkly texture. It’s kind of a dark white and gives me cleavage! I’m not sure how I feel about the back of the dress, which has an odd tent like thing going on but I still love it. I asked about the length because I’m not sure what kind of shoes I will be wearing– they said it can only be adjusted by a seamstress since eash dress is not made to order. For the price they want + a very big alteration, I’m not sure if it is the way to go, but it was still a very nice dress for my first try.
On to ‘Starlet,’ a boutique on Fillmore right down the street from our favorite brunch place. I found this place on accident while looking for bridal shops in Pacific Heights to stop in while we were in the neighborhood. This was a bit more upscale than the previous shop, and the woman behind the counter was busy when we walked in. All I saw was poufiness at first and I was a bit worried that this would not be the store for me. And then…….. I saw her. The dress. It was hanging by itself on a post in the store and the minute I saw the stitching I knew I had to have it. The saleswoman came up to us and I showed her which one I liked. She suggested the ‘full’ version of this one and I balked. I did not want full. But I said I’d try it anyways. Here is the first dress:
I loved it– even the sample size fit well. I couldn’t get it zipped, but it fit. So, on to the ‘full’ size. I was hesitant. How could Megan, me, myself, I, like a ‘full’ gown? Well, see for yourself:
Notice the stitching on the sides. This is why I loved the dress right away. The biggest difference between the two is the hourglass shape the second gown alludes to with the different tiers.
The back is poufier which I actually really like. And it will be pinned up after the ceremony.
I am a very happy camper:
Ok was pretty happy also, in this shot I took at Elite Cafe where we went for burgers after the long day:
And that is my first dress day. It may possibly be my last. I really fell in love with the third dress of the day. The buttons on the back were something Mama Okun had mentioned back in September and here I found a gorgeous dress with those. The price is right too. The dress takes three and a half months to make, so if I want it, I have to order this week. I’ll keep you updated! Leave me some comments on which one you liked!
