I threw another huge party!!!

So as if planning a wedding for 190 guests at a huge venue with lots of different vendors and aspects to deal with wasn't enough...I decided to throw a mini version of a wedding just 9 months later!

This past February 9th my daughter, Little Miss turned 16.  And just like getting married, turning 16 is a *BIG* deal...so of course we wanted to do something spectacular for her.  Alas, I came up with an idea to throw her a surprise Sweet 16 party with dinner, desserts, a DJ/dancing and a mock faux-to booth to entertain her.  It was quite a feat that took over two months of planning, shopping and conniving since we had to enlist a lot of help to pull off the surprise.  And of course, just like with a wedding, it wasn't easy either! :(  We ended up having a few hiccups that seriously stressed me out.

Here is the deets and the photos and video to show all that happened:

1)  Come up with the guest list.  I enlisted 5 of her best friends to create a guest list which ended up with 100 people on it:  17 family members and 83 friends.  Funny thing was, with 15/16 year old girls, the guest list ended up with over twice as many girls as boys.  In the end, we had about 55 people actually able to make it. 

Here are some of her friends from the night of the party:

The theme colors were black and white with touches of silver.

That crazy lady on the right is me with some of my daughter's besties who helped me pull off the surprise by coming up with a guest list and passing out invitations.

Some of the food we had set out.  We kept it to easy finger foods for teens. 

2)  Pick a date.  I wanted to throw the party the weekend before her actual birthday (which fell on Wednesday) so that she wouldn't be expecting anything.  I picked Friday the 4th because it turned out that was a minimum day and the last day of finals for the semester.  What a great way to celebrate ending your finals - a big party!  Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that several of her best friends are cheerleaders and athletes and Friday nights mean games for high school students.  So we probably would have had closer to 70 or 80 people show up if we would have held the party on Saturday.  :(  Oh well, live and learn.

3)  Pick a venue.  I called tons of recreation centers, club houses, even hotels to find a location big enough to hold a DJ, food, tables and about 70 people.  Most of them were either thousands of dollars (way out of our budget which was about $1500) or they had hugely ridiculous limitations due to the fact that it was a 'teen' party.  For example, one place told us we had to pay an extra $200 in security for the teenagers and we could only rent the place from 6 to 10 pm which included set up AND clean up time!  That's just silly.

We thought we had the perfect place when we found a clubhouse that was the perfect set up in a reasonably close neighboring town for only $100!  We had a friend who lived in the area and could rent the club house for us.  Due to stupid miscommunication on the part of the clubhouse representatives, the day we went down to reserve the room, they told me they had just rented it to someone else!  I was livid.  And desparate.  Then suddenly Mr Fix It suggested I look into the YMCA. 

We ended up booking a room they had there which was going to cost $540 for the night.  It had some downside:  1)  every single guest would need to bring a signed waiver from their parents (or self) to get into the party  2)  we had to have all of the food outside on a lawn/patio area instead of in the acutal room because it was an exercise/fitness room that they didn't allow food in.

It wasn't perfect, but it was somewhat close and it was somewhat affordable and it was better than all of the other options.

I booked it mid-December.  Cut to February 1st...3 days before the party.  I received a phone call from the YMCA profusely apologizing that they couldn't allow us to have the party there that night because they received a notice from the electric company that their power was being shut off that evening to have repairs done. 

Needless to say, I spent a huge amount of time on the phone with the YMCA and the electric company trying to think of other options but it was pointless.  I called Mr Fix It crying since we had mailed out 100 of these little pretty invitations designed by my sister:

Note they all have the YMCA address on them.  UGH!

But suddenly it came to me...I had a friend who lived in an apartment complex that had a clubhouse.  I called the apartment complex and by the grace of God they had an opening for Friday so I called my friend and asked her if she would reserve it for me and she met me there the next day.  In the end, it all worked out even better than we hoped because the location we ended up at gave us a cheaper rate, longer usage time, a mini bar area for the food - inside, better furniture, a patio area, a location for the photobooth and a great big room to dance and eat in!

So we took this place which was located like 5 minutes from the kid's school:

With this room we rented:

 And turned it into this:

Video first, then pics:

Cupcake table

My sister made all those little cupcake toppers (she sells them on Etsy by the way)

This picture doesn't do the toppers justice because they are actually super bright and colorful in real life.

The DJ set up right in front of the fireplace.  You can see the pink and black tablecloths and little balloon and decor centerpieces we used on the right. 

My sis made the signs that read Happy Birthday Jordan and Sweet Sixteen.

There was plenty of room for us to move furniture around and all the tables, chairs, and sofas were included in the rental fee.  We just rearranged them the way we needed to make a dance floor.

I bought bunches of decorations from a web site called Windy City Novelties...great stuff! 

Highly recommend.

We put silver fedoras and metallic pink beaded necklaces all around the tables for the kids to take home as favors and wear around.  Again, from Windy City...super inexpensive!

Here you ca see the set up of the tables, cupcake table and mini-bar food area.

The invitations came in an envelope with this graphic on the front...it had the guest's name in pink across the top left corner area.  Loved it!

 The back of the invitation envelope had more graphics like this one that let the guests know there'd be a DJ, dancing and food!

And of course, we pulled off the super fun surprise part:

Did you notice on the left side of the video those flashing balloons?  Yeah, how cool are those?!?  Here's a clip of them in the room.  We had them all over:

Again, I got these from Windy City Novelties and rented a helium tank from a local party supply store.  They were a huge hit.  If you choose to try them, I suggest getting an extra pack or so from how many you'll need as there were a couple that were defective or didn't work :(

Mr Fix It ran around all night with a camera taking photos and helping run the photobooth area.  Here's some of the great shots he got:

My sis acting all gangsta...or tryin' to

Kids in the photobooth

Hangin' with guests

Little Miss as she walks in for the big SURPRISE!!!

Being silly with 2 of the only 7 boys that were there that night :)

Girls gettin' groovy on the dance floor!

Mr Fix It acting like he doesn't enjoy himself hangin' with Little Miss' friends.  We truly love her group of girlfriends...they are really good girls and so fun to be around!

Every teen likes to get a piggy back ride!

The back patio area of the clubhouse...it overlooked the pool and the kids could hang out there and get some fresh air after tearin' it up on the dance floor.

And shawty got low, low, low, low....

I love this one because I have no idea what I am doing and Little Miss has that typical 'You're an idiot' teen look on her face.  :)

Such a great shot of her being surprised.

And even more dancing!  My little one is just like me...she could dance all night regardless of what everyone else is doing.  I love it.

Ok, this one is kinda scary...those are 2 of her best girlfriends in the background.

Little Miss and her dad with the photobooth props.

You can't tell from this photo but those dreadlocks actually light up and flash! 

The pretty birthday girl

Toasting with cupcakes

This was a cute shot of my daughter with her dad's whole side of the family that was there.

So all in all, we had a great time.  She was totally surprised, we ate good food, danced all night, got silly and after cleaning up, I collapsed in bed exhausted! 

Share Time:  Have any of you thrown any other huge parties since or before your wedding took place? 

Keeping little secrets...

So remember how I told you about my photobooth?  I shared like a massive amount of fun pics from the day that we received on a CD from Cheesy Photobooths.  It was definitely a huge hit of the wedding that kept the guests busy, entertained, involved and having fun.  Well, what I neglected to tell you was that it was the one thing I kept secret from Mr Fix It during the wedding planning process.  Check out this super brief video:

You see, way back in January of 2009 (the month after we were engaged) when we first began to go over the budget, I shared with Mr Fix It that the one thing I really always wanted at a wedding was a photobooth (and a magician).  I had told friends about the idea in the years before we were engaged and even watched some of them take that idea and use it at their own weddings.  So now it was my turn.  I investigated a few companies and found several.  It's easy to find them nowadays as they are ever increasingly popular.  Back when I first came up with the idea, the faux-to-booth was not really popular yet as a budget conscience way to include this so I was all about the real thing - vintage style photobooth you actually get into.

One of the companies even offered a booth that shot pictures *AND* video!  So cool.  But that was like almost $1800 for 4 hours for that one.  And I knew I wanted a booth for at least 6 hours and I knew I couldn't afford that.  Well, Mr Fix It actually said we couldn't afford anything for a booth.  He told me, "Nope...not gonna be able to swing that one."

Well, I did a horrible thing.  I went ahead and rented one without telling him.  Isn't that so bad?  My friends would tease me saying that I was already starting off lying to my husband but I would justify it by telling them that I was the one paying for the entire wedding (he paid for the ring and the honeymoon and the house renovations) and that it was going to be a 'surprise' for him.  So I couldn't tell him if I wanted to surprise him with it, right? 

Anyway, flash forward 16 months to April 16th and our wedding day.  Mr Fix It still had no idea about the photobooth.  They showed up mid-afternoon while we were taking photos.  I didn't say anything to Mr Fix It about it at all....until we were getting ready for our grand entrance at the reception.  This is how it all went down:

Our grand entrance consisted of the guys entering from one side of the room, the girls entering from the opposite side and me and Mr Fix It entering from the middle of the room behind the fireplace.  So we sat on the fireplace hearth hiding from everyone while each of our bridal party was introduced.  While we were sitting there, we had a conversation that went like this:

Me:  So baby, what do you think about the photobooth?
Him:  Yeah, everybody loves it.  It's a huge hit.  But I am telling you right now, that if this is how we are starting off our marriage with regards to finances we're going to have a huge problem!
Me:  (acting all sweet and coy like) But honey, I swear I will *NEVER* do anything like this again!  I promise.  It's just that it's our wedding day and you know how much I wanted a photobooth.
Him:  I don't care, I said we couldn't afford it.  It's *our* money, not just yours.
Me:  I know and I swear I won't ever do it again.  I'll never make a large purchase without first consulting you.
Him:  Yeah, you better not.
Me:  I promise I won't.
Him:  The thing that bugs me the most is that if you would have just come to me and asked me about it again, you know that I would have told you to go ahead and rent it.

Yeah, really?  I highly doubt that!  Maybe he would have but I didn't want to take that chance.

In the end, it all worked out and it truly was like one of the biggest hits at our wedding.  Thankfully Mr Fix It didn't get any more upset than that brief conversation.  The funny thing was, for our grand entrance, which happened right after this conversation ended, our DJ introduced us by saying:  "If you think you've seen the best in ultimate fighting, just wait until the honeymoon's over!"

Share Time:  Was there anything that any of you brides (or your grooms) kept from you until the wedding day because they knew you wouldn't be thrilled about it?

If he's getting cold feet....

Over on Chocolate Lover's Confessions, Mr Milk talked last week about a joke he made that he might be getting cold feet.  I commented on his post about the little gift I am giving Mr Fix It on the morning of the wedding regarding 'cold feet.'  Since I had a couple blogger friends mention they want to steal my idea I figured I'd share the site with you all.

While I'm at it, maybe you can give me some feedback?  At first, I wanted to get socks for each groomsmen that would be personal to him.  For example, for Mr Fix It's surfing friends, I could gift them these:

For his brother who is an environmentalist nut, I thought about these:

For Mr Fix It himself, how about these?

The problem with that, was that getting different colored silly socks for each guy would not make for the greatest shot (in my opinion) that I was hoping to nab like this:

So I thought about it and decided perhaps argyle *IS* the way to go.  So which of these two do you think I should go for?  The classic black with the red in them (all the guys will be in black tuxes and shirts with red vests) or the bright fun red with grey?

I'd get the one on the left in red from http://www.tonsofsocks.com/ ($13.50 per pair)

These are from http://www.sockdreams.com/ and are only $7.00 per pair

So, ladies?  Which ones should I go for?  I am leaning towards the black ones just because I'll save half the money I'd spend on the Ralph Lauren ones.  But the RL ones are brighter and funner.  But the guys might actually wear the black ones again?

Anyway, the point is...once I buy them.  I will throw them in with their groomsmen gifts that we're handing out at the rehearsal.  But Mr Fix It will get his on the morning of the wedding (I'm going to have a brother hand them off to him while they're getting dressed).

And his pair will be wrapped in this cute little label that I found on this site

  

They have a different one that is very similar but with a little more color and a slightly different phrase as well.  The label is only $7.50 and they e-mail you a .pdf document to print it on whatever paper you want.  You could probably DIY but I don't have time at this point.  It says "For My Husband To Be -  For your potentially Cold Feet - From your loving Bride"

Cute, right?

And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free $25.00 gift certificate to MyWeddingFavors!  Click here

A sneak peek at my BIG surprise!!!

Ok, so I have eluded to the fact a few times that I have a special surprise for all of our guests that is my absolute most favorite thing about the entire wedding!  And it is also the biggest DIY task that I have taken on.  I have been working on it since July and have spent countless months (off and on) and hours trying to piece it together.  But alas, with only 79 days to go until the big day, I am just getting super antsy about wanting to share at least a little bit of a teaser with all of you fellow blogger brides about what I am hoping to finalize within the next month.

Of course, none of my family and friends read this blog, but just to be safe, if you are a family or friend and you want to still be invited to my wedding, then you will absolutely jump ship right now and get the hell off of my blog site!  Love you ;P

Words of Wisdom - A Bride's Keepsake

I absolutely love throwing/planning weddings. I even once seriously considered becoming a wedding coordinator - even had business cards made. But alas, it is not meant to be for me other than through my own wedding dreams and the assistance of helping friends and family when they have planned their big affairs.

So when it was time for my baby sister to get married 3 years ago, I made sure I pulled out all the stops to make her big day as special as possible...including all the fun events and parties leading up to the big day.

One idea I came up with that I thought I would share with the blogosphere was our main gift to her at her bridal shower. We had at least 40 family and friends attend a luncheon in baby sis' honor. For the months leading up to the shower, I became a nuisance to every invited guest...for I asked each person (even those who were invited and yet could not attend) to please e-mail me a photo of them with their significant other (or with the bride if they were single) as well as e-mail me a very brief message with their blessings or words of wisdom on being a bride, wife or making your hubby happy.

The very first gift that baby sis opened at her shower was the book we (I) had made her with everyone's contributions.  Now she has a lifelong keepsake from her big day that she will always be able to read and remember those that celebrated her and 'showered' her with love, blessings and words of wisdom. 

In today's day and age, just about anyone can easily make professional looking hard cover albums on internet sites...I prefer shutterfly.com.  This was the creation we came up with: 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Another take on this I've read about is asking each guest to make a scrapbook page and bring it to the shower to place in an album for the bride at the event. 

Now I know that most of you brides will most likely not tell your MOH's and BM's what to get you for your shower, but thought I would share this anyway as I know you will inevitably host or attend a shower in the future and might find this a thoughtful surprise for the guest of honor.  And maybe your BM's follow your blog and might see this little post and be inspired?  It was so much fun to put together for her and so much more fun to watch her open it and browse through the photos of loved ones.   She's not emotional like me, I would have bawled...but she really loved it.  Here's a little 1 min video of her opening it up (sorry the first few seconds are a little blurry):

Do you have any special gifts or surprises that you have received or planned for a bride on her celebratory shower or bachelorette party?

Our proposal on one of the saddest days of my life

I was never one of those girls to want to start questioning her boyfriend as to when 'we were gonna get married' or start talking about marriage. I just always trusted that God would work it out if it was meant to be...though after almost 5 years together, I was starting to get antsy.

October, 2008 was a turning point in our relationship. In Cabo, he told me he loved me for the very FIRST time after having dated for almost 5 years!  Wait, I need to do a little time out from the proposal story:

What I love most about him is the fact that he told me in the beginning of our dating relationship that he would never tell another woman he loved her until he was ready to put a ring on her finger. I began telling John I loved him a few years ago, but I never wanted him to say it back. The day he finally said I love you to me (which was in October, 2008 in Cabo), I knew that we were going to be together forever. I never needed to hear the words from him...John always lets me know how much he loves me with his actions and in subtle ways that God has allowed me to appreciate so deeply.

Us in Cabo (Oct 2008) visiting the wedding chapel...

little did we know we'd be looking for venues only 2 months later!

So anyway, in Cabo, while walking down the beach with not another soul around (except for the person who took this picture right before we started our stroll) he told me he loved me for the very first time and he also shared that he could completely envision spending his life with me. One night after we returned from Cabo, while we were cuddling watching tv, John simply said to me: "So I guess we should start looking at wedding venues probably." In his own way, it was how he let me know that the proposal was forthcoming.

In some ways I feel like John proposed several times because over the next few weeks, John would often bring up wedding comments and talk of me being his wife soon. He started talking about remodeling his home to prepare for me and my daughter, Jordan moving in and stuff like that. I would nod or smile or make a simple comment in response but didn't really make a huge issue of it. However, within a month I started booking appointments at wedding venues for us to start trying to get together a timeline and budget needs. And in December we began to shop for wedding rings.

A lot of our family started asking why we were making these plans without officially being engaged, but I knew that we were heading towards the inevitable question so it didn't bother me.

Christmas morning 2008: John knew that my mom and I were pretty bummed about the fact that we were going to be spending the first Christmas of our entire lives away from my sister, Julie. I mean I was really sad.  In my 36 years I had spent the 34 years that I had my baby sister with her on every single holiday of our entire lives!  And to top it off, my Grandma, who is always with us on Christmas morning was getting tired in her 93rd year and had decided to spend Christmas morning in her own home. So we spent a much quieter Christmas morning with just my mom, John, Jordan and I.

As we started to open stockings, John directed me to a box of Godiva chocolates he brought with him. He told me to open them because he bought them for me (he prefers See's Candy over Godiva). When I opened the box, I noticed a note wrapped around something. I unwrapped the note and out popped a ring. The note was short but sweet; it simply read:

I love you and you're always so sweet to me. We have so much fun together so why not spend a lifetime like this? Will you marry me?

I knew the proposal was coming (I mean we had already shopped for rings) so I didn't think I'd be too emotional, but suddenly I found myself completely choked up with tears rolling down my cheeks. My mom looked over at me and asked me why I was crying. I held up my hand with the ring on it and she immediately started getting choked up and fighting back tears. As I looked at John and leaned to kiss him I think I managed to squeeze out the words "Of course" but they sure didn't come easy since I could barely speak.

My beautiful ring:

My mom thanked John for letting her be a part of the experience and he told me later that he really wanted to make sure my family and specifically Jordan was a part of the proposal. Of course, my sister was not happy when I texted her an image of the ring on my finger and she realized that the first Christmas she had ever been away from her family her big sister gets proposed to - and she wasn't there!

Some pics right after the proposal on Christmas morning:

So the man of my dreams made the hardest Christmas in my life the most memorable one and I will be forever thankful to God for giving John the heart to provide me with a thoughtful and loving surprise.