10-10-10 Progress!
I keep intending to post a progess post on a nice round day like 50 or 45, but then I forget. I was setting this post up in advance so I could post it on the NEXT round day, but then I thought, "wait, that's going incredibly overboard."
Venue
We're having our ceremony and reception at The Bungalow Club in Los Angeles. We had our final meeting with the owner on Friday, during which we learned that there were only 70 chairs for the ceremony. For our 120-130 guests. I feel like an idiot because the shortfall is totally my fault, I didn't even think to ask about how many chairs there were until the final meeting. The owner attempted to convince me that, "people prefer standing for the ceremony anyways!" but I think in this instance I'll just have to rent 50 more chairs, will of the people be damned. Since the chairs are only going to be used for a 15-20 minute ceremony, I won't have to get anything particularly nice looking (read: expensive) so I've found a couple places I can probably get what I need for $200. Still, frustration!
On the less frustrating side, we also got to discuss the menu! We're having a cocktail reception with heavy apps served all night, from an hour before the ceremony to close. My fiance and I decided that we didn't really care about EVERYTHING that would be served, so instead we ensured that the few specific things we had to have would be provided, and the owner and chef would fill in the rest as they saw fit. What we ARE having:
- Sliders! We each picked our favorite flavor, my fiance is all about the steak sliders and I prefer the hamburger sliders with bleu cheese and onions. These come with little portions of fries as well, potato and sweet potato.
- Mac and Cheese! They make a baked mac and cheese with truffle oil that's amazing, I was over the moon when I found out they can do it in mini portions.
- Skewers! Another his-and-hers, he likes the pepper-rubbed steak skewers and for me, the chicken satay.
The venue got a new chef a few months ago who has been working on a new menu, so we cleared it with the owner to fill in the rest of the selections either with the current offerings or with exciting new things. We also added another hour of open bar (ouch), so now the bar will be open 30 minutes before the ceremony and close 30 minutes before the end of the reception, and found out the cost of covering the valet (double ouch) so that our guests will have somewhere to park.
Cake Croquembouche
I don't like cake :( I'm the person that eats the frosting off and then chucks the cake, even at weddings where I'm sure it's very nice indeed. So, we ended up going with a croquembouche (wikipedia link), which was way more trouble than I'd anticipated due to the fact that even in LA, only a few bakeries offered what we needed. We did finally get an order in, so we'll be serving a large tower with vanilla filling and chocolate ganache, flanked by two smaller towers: one with vanilla filling and the traditional caramel coating, and one with coffee filling and chocolate ganache. The bakery told us the chocolate ones would keep in the fridge for a week, so here's hoping for leftovers!
I also had custom cake toppers made on Etsy by Dandelionland
These are a surprise for my fiance- I told him I was having cake toppers made, but I didn't tell him they would be based on our video game characters :D
Bride & Groom
This is my dress:
I had my first alterations appointment last week. I decided to add straps so I could wear a non-strapless bra (my other option was longline, which I despise) and I'm having the skirt taken in and then tapered a bit so it looks like I have some hips. I can't wait to see what it looks like afterwards.
I rarely wear accessories because my taste runs strongly to the garish, but I figure the wedding day is the one day it can be forgiven so I did not attempt to understate. I bought a cute cocktail hat that I'll probably remove during the reception:
A vintage rhinestone necklace that reminds me very strongly of ones I used to pull out of my grandmother's closet:
And these utterly fabulous shoes:
My fiance went as simple as possible, maybe I stole all the flashy:
Wedding Party
At first, the bridesmaids were all given the task of finding, "whatever you want, red, knee-length if possible" but that proved too complicated so it was changed to "black, anything black". Only my FSIL has an outfit yet, but I think it's cute and most importantly, it was on sale.
The advantage of "anything black" is that if they leave buying a dress till the last minute, they could still theoretically buy one the day of the wedding. I really hope they don't do that, though. D;
They'll be carrying these lanterns from World Market down the aisle. I tried them out with battery tealights a few weeks ago but I was unhappy with how they looked so I think I will end up using real tealights and hope no one catches themselves on fire.
My fiance decided he wanted his groomsmen to match (with many dissaproving glares and pearl clutches my way, he does not approve of the Anything Black plan) so they will all be wearing this combo: (His lady groomsman will be wearing a black dress, her choice)
Last year for his birthday I got him a Taverncraft stein and he loved it so much that he decided he wanted to give them out as groomsman's gifts. Fortunately, one of the places they're made is local to us so we worked it out with the company to pick them up ourselves and skip on paying expensive shipping. I told him we could use them for pictures but no way are they allowed to FILL them on the wedding day, they hold 4-6 bottles of beer each.
Etc.
Rings! I have an engagement ring and don't wear it, but as soon as my fiance had his wedding band he started wearing it. I offered to buy him an engagement band but he said it was a waste of money since he already had the wedding ring, so I dropped the subject. His ring is white gold, mine is yellow:
I can't wait to wear my band, it's been very tempting in its little box ever since the package came.
Invitations! We are lazy so we went with the same design as the Save the Dates (this is the sample, so please don't stalk this imaginary couple)
I printed out the reception cards on my home printer but at the last minute decided I hated the RSVPs I had printed on business cards at the same time. In a panic, I ordered some from VistaPrint, but when they arrived I was not very impressed with the print quality. Also the fact that they had translated "Please reply by September 5th" into "[ npl~p }p~{zyo ^m September 5th" Disaster was averted when I went to Michael's for something unrelated and found 48-ct Martha Stewart printable invitation kits on clearance for $5 each. I bought two and yanked the RSVP cards, and I'll be printing our ceremony programs on the blank invitation so nothing gets wasted! It all worked out in the end. If I could do it all again I would have spent the damn extra $200 on the Wedding Paper Divas RSVPs that matched the invitations, though. Not worth the hassle.
Photobooth! My fiance really really wanted one, but I had given up on having a rental due to cost. I cannot pimp this Offbeat Bride post enough, we've borrowed a laptop and photo printer from a groomsman and bridesmaid, and we're buying a cheap stem lamp at IKEA. The venue has outlets on lots of interestingly patterned walls so we don't even have to make a backdrop. I'm pumped that I was able to find an affordable alternative so FH didn't have to go completely without.
Favors! Aside from a photobooth, my fiance also had his heart set on favors. I myself am not a big fan, but we compromised on them with the stipulation that they had to be easy and edible. To that end, we've bought these mini takeout boxes:
and we'll be filling them with bulk gummi bears, my fiance's favorite candy. Since there's no real places or seating, we'll stack them on a table near the door and guests can grab a takeout box on their way out.
Guestbook! My fiance had no opinion other than, "I want people to sign something." and while I considered a photo book of some sort, I knew I'd put it on a shelf and never bring it out again. Most of our friends who have had weddings have done signed mats for framed photos, and while I liked this idea too I didn't know if I wanted to have so many pictures of us hanging up after we took wedding pictures as well. I decided to have people sign the mat around a poster and looked at a bunch of really cool custom wedding posters on Etsy, but eventually settled on a poster that had nothing to do with weddings but had a theme I liked and thought would be nice to have hanging on the wall.
(The text in the circle reads,"In the vastness of space and time may you be present here and now") and I need to get off my ass and get it framed soon.
I'm a little sad the planning part of the process has ended, probably because that means the only parts left are the check-writing part and the massive stress-induced panic attacks part. It boggles me to think that the wedding will be over in a month and a half (and that I'll NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN), my fiance's family is throwing me a shower next weekend and people have bought things off our registry already and I get 2-3 RSVPs a day and people are booking plane tickets and and and and... lol. Crazy!
Venue
We're having our ceremony and reception at The Bungalow Club in Los Angeles. We had our final meeting with the owner on Friday, during which we learned that there were only 70 chairs for the ceremony. For our 120-130 guests. I feel like an idiot because the shortfall is totally my fault, I didn't even think to ask about how many chairs there were until the final meeting. The owner attempted to convince me that, "people prefer standing for the ceremony anyways!" but I think in this instance I'll just have to rent 50 more chairs, will of the people be damned. Since the chairs are only going to be used for a 15-20 minute ceremony, I won't have to get anything particularly nice looking (read: expensive) so I've found a couple places I can probably get what I need for $200. Still, frustration!
On the less frustrating side, we also got to discuss the menu! We're having a cocktail reception with heavy apps served all night, from an hour before the ceremony to close. My fiance and I decided that we didn't really care about EVERYTHING that would be served, so instead we ensured that the few specific things we had to have would be provided, and the owner and chef would fill in the rest as they saw fit. What we ARE having:
- Sliders! We each picked our favorite flavor, my fiance is all about the steak sliders and I prefer the hamburger sliders with bleu cheese and onions. These come with little portions of fries as well, potato and sweet potato.
- Mac and Cheese! They make a baked mac and cheese with truffle oil that's amazing, I was over the moon when I found out they can do it in mini portions.
- Skewers! Another his-and-hers, he likes the pepper-rubbed steak skewers and for me, the chicken satay.
The venue got a new chef a few months ago who has been working on a new menu, so we cleared it with the owner to fill in the rest of the selections either with the current offerings or with exciting new things. We also added another hour of open bar (ouch), so now the bar will be open 30 minutes before the ceremony and close 30 minutes before the end of the reception, and found out the cost of covering the valet (double ouch) so that our guests will have somewhere to park.
Cake Croquembouche
I don't like cake :( I'm the person that eats the frosting off and then chucks the cake, even at weddings where I'm sure it's very nice indeed. So, we ended up going with a croquembouche (wikipedia link), which was way more trouble than I'd anticipated due to the fact that even in LA, only a few bakeries offered what we needed. We did finally get an order in, so we'll be serving a large tower with vanilla filling and chocolate ganache, flanked by two smaller towers: one with vanilla filling and the traditional caramel coating, and one with coffee filling and chocolate ganache. The bakery told us the chocolate ones would keep in the fridge for a week, so here's hoping for leftovers!
I also had custom cake toppers made on Etsy by Dandelionland
These are a surprise for my fiance- I told him I was having cake toppers made, but I didn't tell him they would be based on our video game characters :D
Bride & Groom
This is my dress:
I had my first alterations appointment last week. I decided to add straps so I could wear a non-strapless bra (my other option was longline, which I despise) and I'm having the skirt taken in and then tapered a bit so it looks like I have some hips. I can't wait to see what it looks like afterwards.
I rarely wear accessories because my taste runs strongly to the garish, but I figure the wedding day is the one day it can be forgiven so I did not attempt to understate. I bought a cute cocktail hat that I'll probably remove during the reception:
A vintage rhinestone necklace that reminds me very strongly of ones I used to pull out of my grandmother's closet:
And these utterly fabulous shoes:
My fiance went as simple as possible, maybe I stole all the flashy:
Wedding Party
At first, the bridesmaids were all given the task of finding, "whatever you want, red, knee-length if possible" but that proved too complicated so it was changed to "black, anything black". Only my FSIL has an outfit yet, but I think it's cute and most importantly, it was on sale.
The advantage of "anything black" is that if they leave buying a dress till the last minute, they could still theoretically buy one the day of the wedding. I really hope they don't do that, though. D;
They'll be carrying these lanterns from World Market down the aisle. I tried them out with battery tealights a few weeks ago but I was unhappy with how they looked so I think I will end up using real tealights and hope no one catches themselves on fire.
My fiance decided he wanted his groomsmen to match (with many dissaproving glares and pearl clutches my way, he does not approve of the Anything Black plan) so they will all be wearing this combo: (His lady groomsman will be wearing a black dress, her choice)
Last year for his birthday I got him a Taverncraft stein and he loved it so much that he decided he wanted to give them out as groomsman's gifts. Fortunately, one of the places they're made is local to us so we worked it out with the company to pick them up ourselves and skip on paying expensive shipping. I told him we could use them for pictures but no way are they allowed to FILL them on the wedding day, they hold 4-6 bottles of beer each.
Etc.
Rings! I have an engagement ring and don't wear it, but as soon as my fiance had his wedding band he started wearing it. I offered to buy him an engagement band but he said it was a waste of money since he already had the wedding ring, so I dropped the subject. His ring is white gold, mine is yellow:
I can't wait to wear my band, it's been very tempting in its little box ever since the package came.
Invitations! We are lazy so we went with the same design as the Save the Dates (this is the sample, so please don't stalk this imaginary couple)
I printed out the reception cards on my home printer but at the last minute decided I hated the RSVPs I had printed on business cards at the same time. In a panic, I ordered some from VistaPrint, but when they arrived I was not very impressed with the print quality. Also the fact that they had translated "Please reply by September 5th" into "[ npl~p }p~{zyo ^m September 5th" Disaster was averted when I went to Michael's for something unrelated and found 48-ct Martha Stewart printable invitation kits on clearance for $5 each. I bought two and yanked the RSVP cards, and I'll be printing our ceremony programs on the blank invitation so nothing gets wasted! It all worked out in the end. If I could do it all again I would have spent the damn extra $200 on the Wedding Paper Divas RSVPs that matched the invitations, though. Not worth the hassle.
Photobooth! My fiance really really wanted one, but I had given up on having a rental due to cost. I cannot pimp this Offbeat Bride post enough, we've borrowed a laptop and photo printer from a groomsman and bridesmaid, and we're buying a cheap stem lamp at IKEA. The venue has outlets on lots of interestingly patterned walls so we don't even have to make a backdrop. I'm pumped that I was able to find an affordable alternative so FH didn't have to go completely without.
Favors! Aside from a photobooth, my fiance also had his heart set on favors. I myself am not a big fan, but we compromised on them with the stipulation that they had to be easy and edible. To that end, we've bought these mini takeout boxes:
and we'll be filling them with bulk gummi bears, my fiance's favorite candy. Since there's no real places or seating, we'll stack them on a table near the door and guests can grab a takeout box on their way out.
Guestbook! My fiance had no opinion other than, "I want people to sign something." and while I considered a photo book of some sort, I knew I'd put it on a shelf and never bring it out again. Most of our friends who have had weddings have done signed mats for framed photos, and while I liked this idea too I didn't know if I wanted to have so many pictures of us hanging up after we took wedding pictures as well. I decided to have people sign the mat around a poster and looked at a bunch of really cool custom wedding posters on Etsy, but eventually settled on a poster that had nothing to do with weddings but had a theme I liked and thought would be nice to have hanging on the wall.
(The text in the circle reads,"In the vastness of space and time may you be present here and now") and I need to get off my ass and get it framed soon.
I'm a little sad the planning part of the process has ended, probably because that means the only parts left are the check-writing part and the massive stress-induced panic attacks part. It boggles me to think that the wedding will be over in a month and a half (and that I'll NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN), my fiance's family is throwing me a shower next weekend and people have bought things off our registry already and I get 2-3 RSVPs a day and people are booking plane tickets and and and and... lol. Crazy!