What I did this weekend...

Assembled 130 of these little pretties for the escort cards. They are filled with personalized M&M's and red Jelly Beans...yummy & cute!
What are you doing for escort cards?

I'm not kissing for glasses clinking!

So you know the tradition...you're at your wedding reception and some guy in the back of the room decides to pick up his knife and start banging it on his wine glass.  Suddenly, everyone in the room catches on and does the same and the bride and groom are somehow forced to kiss one another in an effort to get all their idiot guests to stop banging on the china they are renting from an expensive caterer!

Well, maybe that's not the right perspective on that whole thing...but you get my point.  Who started that fiasco anyway?  I believe it was a middle aged man who had repressed his inner desires to become Alex Van Halen and always longed to be a hard rock drummer.

Anyway, I refuse to do that at my own wedding.  So when the guests start clinking those glasses at some point after we've made our entrance (as I know they will), we will suddenly have the DJ make an announcement.  The guests are going to have to 'work' for that kiss if they want to see us smooch!

This is a new trend that started several years ago.  I've seen some fun ideas for this at weddings I've attended.  One of my favorites is having the emcee or DJ announce that if the guests want the bride and groom to kiss, they need to stand up at their table (with all the guests at their table) and serenade the bride and groom with a song that has the word LOVE in it.  This was fun...we did it at a friend's wedding and sang the chorus from the Bon Jovi hit "You give love a bad name."  I thought that was funny.

Well, for us, we are going to keep it a little less embarassing.  Remember back when I shared my centerpiece mockups that I showed this little silver bell sitting on the tablescape?

It's a little silver bell with an abstract man and woman intertwined.

Well, that little bell has a little place for a card to be inserted at the top like so:

It was meant to be used as an escort or place card at weddings.  But we've decided to put one on each table and make a little card that will be inserted into the top of the bell.  It has the following little poem listed on one side:

We won’t kiss for glasses clinking

But instead for this bell ringing

Just shake it high and with pride

When you can answer the question on the back side.

On the other side are trivia questions about me and Mr. Fix It.  Questions like:

*  How long have the couple been dating?
*  How did he propose?
*  Where did the couple each attend high school?
*  Where is the couple going on their honeymoon?
*  Where did he take her on their first date?
*  Name two common surf spots he frequents?

If someone at the table thinks they know the answer to the question, then they pick up the bell and ring it.  The DJ will come over with the mic and ask them to read the question, give their answer and if they're right, then me and Mr Fix It will kiss :)

May seem kind of cheesy and silly but I'll be interested to see how the guests do with the questions.  I will of course strategically place them so that I provide questions at a table where the guests will have a fighting chance of getting the answer right.  I'm not going to put a question about Mr Fix It's surf spots at the table where all my cousins from out of state are sitting, ya know?

So, what do you think?  Silly idea?  Have you decided if you're going to do anything silly or entertaining to get the guests more involved in requesting a kiss from the couple?

The fiance finally loved something about the wedding!

So as I have mentioned in previous posts, my little honey is not overly thrilled about much when it comes to the wedding details and planning.  He thinks our colors (an aqua/turquoise and cranberry) are too 'red, white and blue' a la the Fourth of July.  He thinks I am going overboard with things like favors and such.  And previously, he said he thinks I'm going 'over the top' with the wedding shopping and plans.  My response was "Hey, over the top is what people use to describe something amazing so that means I'm planning a fabulous event!"  :)

However, we did sort of agree on our venue.  When I took him there for the first time his response was "We don't even need to look anywhere else...this place is amazing."  He's really happy with the caterer we selected and seems satisfied with the invitations.

The funny thing is, he typically fights me at first and then comes around and admits that the things I have been buying and planning are in fact pretty cool.  Like when I showed him the favors I bought for our teenage guests this weekend (flashing mouth guards that make their mouths flash different colors when they slip them onto their teeth), he laughed and said the kids will love them.  But of course, everything is followed with "And how much did that cost?"  (sigh)

Needless to say, I was thrilled when he came over this weekend and saw the samples of the labels my sister had created for the escort cards.  I found these cool little favor boxes in the shape of chairs that we will fill with the personalized M&M's (they will have our picture on them - but not quite as this sample below along with a little message): 

I am also including some red Jelly Belly jellybeans in the favor boxes.  And on the front of the favor box will be a sticker in our cranberry color with the graphic design from the invites and the table number. 

On the chair back, you slip in a vellum paper with the guests' names on them.  We will line all these up on a table and then have little signs on the table that say "Please take your seat" 

A little play on the words as they are picking up a chair to discover what their table assignment is.  And inside they are gifted a little sweet chocolate favor.

Anyway, my point is...when I showed them to the fiance since he asked what the labels were for...for the first time since I began sharing wedding plans with him, he actually said "Those are really cool...that is actually very nice."  Wait a minute.  Hold up.  You mean to tell me that the fiance actually likes something I have planned for the wedding?  Ah-mazing!  Now don't get me wrong, he followed it of course with the cost question and went on to say we could have put out little pieces of folded card paper and saved ourselves the $80 it cost to buy the chair favor, but seriously?  Is he kidding me?  These are the small details our guests will love and realize that thought was put into every aspect of the wedding.

Here is a sample of the boxes which we will modify as I mentioned by replacing the monogram sticker with our own label that will have a table number and printing the names on vellum in cranberry font:

So what are your ideas for escort cards?  And have you found your honey fighting you on things you have dreamed of for your big day?