Wed recap: Embarassing the hell out of the bride and groom

That's really what toasts should be referred to...because most of them (at least the ones the guys give) are usually pretty embarassing.  In our case, our best man, Mr Fix It's brother started off his toast with a total perverted comment.  Watch my lovely reaction to this...and remember that I was very active in my church and that all of our guests know that I am a passionate Christian who tries to uphold and lead by example with some conservative and traditional values and morals.  :)

Best Man's Toast

In the end, it was very sweet what he said...short and sweet.  Probably a good thing.  But man, really?!?

Up next was my sister.  Of course the girls always talk a lot longer. And though it may seem like a long time, her speech flew by!  She was really nervous about it...she does not like speaking in front of crowds.  At one point, she even said she was just going to write a poem and recite it...which I would have loved because she writes amazing poems.  But I am so happy about the wonderful speech she shared...it was heartfelt, full of old memories and actually really funny, too!  She did great...and when you watch this, you'll get a great glimpse of insight into who both me and my sister are and our pasts as well :)

Matron of Honor's Toast

And finally, I just had to give a thank you speech. 

Bride's Thank You Toast

Mr Fix It is also not good in front of an audience.  It's funny because he is so loud and boisterous and extraverted in general but when it comes to gettin' up in front of a large room of people, he freezes.  Since I do not and I actually sometimes love speaking in front of crowds, I went ahead and handled our speech.  I wrote it out months before the wedding and read through it a couple times.  But never really memorized it.  On the day of, I just spoke from the heart and what I could remember of what I had written out and I loved it.  Though I have to admit, this would be the very last thing I'd have to do on the wedding day as far as speaking in front of everyone and I was a tad bit nervous and so glad to get this thing done. 

And those were the three lovely speeches that were shared at our wedding reception.  What do you think? 

Do you have any memorable stories from speeches you have seen, received or given at weddings?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  I don't know if you did/plan on doing this at your wedding, but I highly encourage either the bride, groom or both to just share a few words. Doesn't need to be quite as long as mine, but just to say an overall thank you to those you love for celebrating with you.


All video clips courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Budget brides: Don't forget to use your wedding coupons!

So over the summer I was having SO much fun purchasing all of the little things online.  Here's what I have so far:
* Black Gloss Gable Boxes for Out of Town Guest Gift Bags

* My Memorial Vases courtesy of Jean M products (a small one for my fiance's mother and the larger one for my grandmother, grandfather and aunt)

  

* My toasting flutes courtesy of Get Married's shop

* Bridesmaid Gifts:  Jewelry Rolls (from Amazon.com) and Blue Parasols

 

   

* My Guestbook (Super excited about this fun idea from a previous blog post)

 

* Favor boxes (chinese takeout boxes) from http://www.papermart.com/

I made all of these purchases online and I always suggest taking plenty of time to browse the internet and see what you can do to 'bargain shop.'  But here are my latest tidbits of advice for wedding shopping:

Use the net and use your coupons!

That's right, I said coupons.  I recently discovered that you can do a google search for coupon codes by putting in the store name and the words 'promo code'.  I was able to get free shipping and save 5%  by using an online coupon I found and I saved 10% off my Guestbook by using a code that I found online.

Another great site I used to find a lot of my little detail items is http://www.thefind.com/. This site will let you type in a description or item name and it will bring up literally hundreds of stores online that are selling the items.  Don't get me wrong, it takes some leg work to find the best deal...I found a site that had my favors for 88 cents each but once I saw what the shipping costs were, the site was actually not that cheap. But I did find a site to buy my placecards from!  Definitely play with this site.

And I already mentioned in a previous post about why it's a good idea to buy items sooner than later for your wedding needs.  But another reason it's a good idea to start shopping sooner than later is that once you decide what you want, you can take your time browsing the net and your fave sites for when sales come up.

I listed a lot of information above because these are sites that I have found have the best deals for a lot of items that many of you may need...trying to save you some leg work.  The gable boxes for example - I bought 50 of them from this supplier rather than the 25 I would probably need because it was actually cheaper to buy more from a wholesale supplier than to try to buy the amount I needed from gift stores and such.

So ladies - any other suggestions for how to bargain shop?

Seriously Saturdays (Some Serious Toasts!)

Ok, so this weekend's Seriously Saturday is all about something good!  This is definitely an "Are you kidding me?" kinda post but in a totally awesome way!  Like, seriously - who could pull this off?!

I want these friends and future in-laws at my wedding serving up some amazing toasts like these.

For your viewing pleasure...they're not short videos but oh so worth it.  One had me laughing and the other had me crying!  What do you think?  Could you imagine someone pulling this off at your big event?

Seriously!  Think about the time and effort that went into those!  Seriously amazing!  To see the origination of Seriously Saturdays, click here.