I'm a big fan - of our FAN programs!

Thank you SO much all you lovely ladies who overwhelmed me with wonderful encouragement in comments on yesterday's post.  Though the rest of the day led to more wedding related frustration (post tomorrow), the night ended with us having our final menu tasting.  We do in fact LOVE our caterer, Steve of La Finestra and are excited for the yummy food he's providing as well as how amazingly accommodating he has been.  So things are moving along on the wedding front. 

The last thing I just finished were the final elements of our stationery.  Let me tell you that getting the invitations designed and done up was a LONG process - but well worth it.  The benefit is that now that I have the same girl (company) making the rest of our stationery items, she has all the colors and design elements and knows what I am looking for. 

She has just shipped the programs for the ceremony and has the place cards and some reserved seating cards in production.  For the program, again, I wanted something a little different.  When I first found these 'fan' programs on blogs and web sites, I fell in love with them.  Even though they've probably become a bit more popular, I still love the idea.  Here were the inspiration pictures I shared with Stacia of Serendipity Designs:

How cute is this program (ok, it's not a fan -

but I love the little images of guys and girls for how they listed the bridal party!)

Here's some of the great fan programs I love:

This one is actually an entire stationery set:

This one was from the wedding that inspired my color scheme:

Joyful Events Wedding Coordination

Joyful Events Wedding Coordination

And here's the proofs of what Stacia came up with for our own program:

These are the lyrics to the song that I will walk down the aisle to...we are having them printed on the back of the ceremony page of the program:

And here is our final product!!!

Did you put much thought into your programs?  Was there anything unique or significant / special about them?

100 Followers - And a giveaway!

It's official...I've been watching that little image on the right side of my blog wondering if I'd reach 100 followers.  Well, on Friday evening it happened:

YEA!

So of course, with a special landmark like this should come a giveaway of some sort, right?  I am excited to say that I have been contacted by a company to host a giveaway on March 1st.  I am in the process of finalizing the details so stay tuned next month for that one.  But for now, I'd love to give something away to a fellow blogger as a thank you for all of your support and wonderful feedback, comments and overall encouragement.

Problem is, I'm not sure what to give away!  I actually have two things leftover from the wedding (that hasn't even happened yet) that I am not going to be able to use.  I was thinking of selling them originally but figured maybe I'd just give one of them away instead.  So how about some feedback?

If you would be interested in one of the two following items, let me know.  By Wednesday morning I will announce which item I have decided to give away and will have a contest started that will end Friday evening with a winner announced on Saturday. 

Item # 1:  100 Red Chinese Take out Boxes

These are half pint size and measure 3" x 2 1/4" x 2 1/2"  I originally purchased them as favor boxes for the wedding but the red didn't match the deeper shade of cranberry that is my wedding colors.  So now I'm left with these brand new beauties.  You could use them to hold mini cupcakes as a favor at a bridal shower, birthday party or wedding.  Or for candy bar containers.  We decorated ours with colored ribbon and favor tags/stickers.  Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, they'd make a great way to package gifts for friends, a classroom, church group, etc.

Item # 2:  Flower Girl or Junior Bridesmaid Dress

                    

You may remember that I didn't feel like this dress matched the style of my wedding after we received it.  It was originally purchased for my 6 year old cousin shown above and can be worn shorter or longer depending on the height of the girl.  The turquoise sash is detachable and so it can be coordinated with any color.  You can even add some embellishments (rhinestones, brooches, flowers, etc) if you are crafty enough.  It is a size 8 and cost $85 at a bridal salon...brand new, never altered...could be an amazing prize and dress for the right bride/person.

So majority will win.  Whichever item gets the most feedback as being desired will be the one I'll giveaway.

Getting to see more of the 'vision' - The centerpiece mockup

So Friday my daughter and I headed over to Flower Allie in Fullerton to meet with my amazing florist, Allison and my wedding coordinator, Amanda.  You should really check out Allison's blog here...she is the coolest florist in Orange County.  Not only does she totally work with your budget, but she provides the same quality and glamour, if not more, than the 'high end' florists who quote you like $4,000 to $10,000!  And on top of all of that, she gets excited about your big day!  Since booking her she has said the following to me:

"Your wedding is going to be beautiful and the flowers will look gorgeous.  You'll love it!"

"You have so many great ideas, I hope you blog about all of this.  Will your photographer provide us with photos after?"

"Your event is going to look so great and it's going to look like you spent a ton more money than you actually are!"

Oh, how I love her.  And I found out that Amy Jean over at the Relentless Bride blog is also using Allison for her upcoming March wedding. 

So we were going there to see a mockup of what our tables and centerpieces are going to look like.  I have lots of pictures to show you!  But first, I just have to list a couple disclaimers:

1)  The lighting in the florist's shops is obviously not good.   We were set up in a corner that didn't get great light. 

2)  My camera, as I have mentioned, is not good at all for shooting true to color.  Therefore, with the not so great lighting and the bad camera images, please grant me a little give in how the final product will look.  This is why I think it's *SO* important to hire professional photographers to shoot your wedding day...they know how to work the lighting!

3)  In our actual reception room, you have to remember that we will have all the candles lit on the table with the mood lighting of the room and some perimeter uplighting in red as well.  So obviously that is going to affect how the linen colors and tabletops look in person or pro pics.

4)  We did tweak just a few things after seeing the mockups so what you see here will not be exact on wedding day.  The flower colors will probably be just a little bit different too for the little vases.

Personal opinion:  If your florist is not willing to show you a mockup of your centerpiece idea at *NO* extra charge, hire a new florist!  How can you possibly be sure your vision is being communicated well, you understand what they are planning, you know what the flower colors will look like with your linens, etc if you do not get to see a full mockup?  It was an absolute must for me and something I asked about when interviewing florists and made sure was in our contract!

Here was our inspiration for our centerpiece:

And here is the first mockup...Oh, I forgot to mention trying not to focus on the background shelvings and that wire stand in the back left corner :)

The 'tall' centerpiece

Yes, those are my actual linens I asked the caterer to loan me.  So now you can see the colors a little more realistically...turquoise tablecloths with cranberry napkins - both in satin. 

Here's a close up of the inside of the tall tapered vase...there is a Floralyte that is attached to the bottom of the top piece that will light up the vase (hard to see with the lights on in this pic)

Here's a close up of the little votive candles I got over at http://www.quickcandles.com/ Super cheap!  144 red votive glass holders with 144 candles for about $90 total.

Oh, see that little silver bell in the front of the picture?  That will also be on each table with a little card in it...more to come on what that's for in a future post :)

Here's another shot of it showing my luminary table numbers in the frames along with the little takeout favor boxes that will be placed at the top of each guest's napkins.  The napkins will all have a card tucked into it with each guest's name sticking out at the top so they know which seat is theirs. 

We didn't like that when you are sitting down at the table you can see the little floralyte at the top of the vase, so we collectively came up with the idea to wrap a thick turquoise ribbon at the top of the vase to hide it.  Allison found one in her shop that matches my linen color well and offered to do this for me.  We actually all loved it and thought it made the centerpiece even more unique.

So what are we changing about this piece?  I didn't like how there was a large amount of 'green leaves' in the center of all the tulips.  It just didn't look quite right to me.  So we decided that we will trim down the tulips just a bit.  We don't want it to look too bare, but we also want the focus to be on the tulips.  We are also going to have them hang over and drop down just a little bit more rather than standing so tall at the very top.

In the middle of our meeting, it started to hail!  So I just had to run outside and snap a quick shot of the ground as this rarely ever happens in So Cal:

Next up, our alternating centerpiece.  This is technically the 'low' centerpiece that will go on 10 of the 20 tables, but I don't like calling it the low centerpiece because it's really not that low at all:

I absolutely love this one!  The simple tulips submerged in a tall vase...gorgeous!  There are red gems at the bottom of the vase...did I mention my florist is letting us use all of these vases, gems, floralytes, etc at *NO* rental charge or delivery fee to us?  My coordinator offered to deliver them all back to her shop for us the day after the wedding (they work together often) and so it saved us the delivery charge.

See that little 'orange' colored dahlia in front of the vase?  It's called a satellite flower...it means you have one little flower scattered around the table surrounding the large focal point.  We are going to actually change it to a burgundy colored dahlia like this:

She originally had a red gerber daisy in there but I wasn't loving the look of the daisy or the color red.  So I asked her about a dahlia and we all loved it better.  We are also adding two more so there will be three of them scattered around the large vase.

What else are we changing about this centerpiece?  She is going to use a vase that is just a little bit wider and put 5 or 6 tulips in them instead of just the 4 shown here.

Above is a little close up of our table numbers on the linen...I used the same graphic from our wedding invites and the same turquoise and cranberry colors in them.  The only thing I can't seem to figure out is how to get rid of that little 'shadow' of the rim of the votive candle inside it that is showing???

Above is a close up of the napkin with the favor box.  Again, the colors are horrid!  Too orangey in the pic.  I am going to find a better satin ribbon to match the linens for the takeout box as the one I have is an aqua ribbon that doesn't match well.  But I love the tag we made and the pretty colors!

Above is one of the children's favor boxes...it is a circus shaped box from Bailey's Boxes.  Inside are all the little goodies I posted about here that we are gifting the little ones at the wedding.

And finally, for our cocktail area centerpieces, we are thinking of using some small vases with some daisies, tulips or little orchids submerged as well similar to these images below:

So there you have it.  With a few tweaks, come wedding day I think they'll look great.  But would love some feedback and opinions as well.  Is there something I am missing?  Do you have photos to share about your inspiration for your florals or centerpieces?  Is your florist providing you a mockup before the wedding to see what it will look like come wedding day?

Seriously Saturdays: I'm gonna kick his a$$ for makin' me cry!

So seriously...my fiance is a diva.  So much so, that when it comes to the topic of tuxedos, it's been kind of a running joke between he and I that he says he wants 'a white suit, white tails, white gloves and a cane or top hat.'  Seriously?  I kept trying to convince him that he is a white boy and that I will not have him looking like a butler!  I thought it was a joke...but....

When we stepped into Men's Wearhouse mid-December with his brother (and best man) and his nephew (our junior groomsmen) I couldn't believe that we spent more time in that stupid shop than I spent at ANY of the bridal salons I visited while shopping for my gown.  Two hours at a Men's Wearhouse?  Seriously?!?  What a diva!

I snuck in ahead of the guys and found a tux rental associate.  I told her I was hoping to just keep the entire wedding party in classic black tuxes with black vests and white shirts or even all black and then have the groom stand out in an ivory or white vest and tie.  (I knew Mr Fix It was not in love with our wedding colors of aqua/turquoise and deep cranberry so I wasn't even going to try to incorporate those colors into the guys' tuxes other than maybe via the boutonnieres). 

So what's the first thing Mr Fix It asks to see?  A black jacket with tails!  He put it on and it went something like this:

Him:  What do you think, babe?
Me:  (Grinning sarcastically trying not to laugh)
Him:  You're smirking...what's wrong?
Me:  Nothing, you just look like a circus ringleader!

Source

So that immediately nixed the tails idea.  Thank God!  Then the associate showed him the classic two button Calvin Klein modern jacket.  Very nice...perfect.  Just what we needed.  But no, Mr Fix It proceeds to ask about the white suits.  To which the associate politely provides him photos of the suits in their catalogue.  I quietly sit and say nothing hoping that Mr Fix It will figure out all on his own how stupid he would look in a white suit!  They ask me what color my gown is.  I tell them it is white but not stark white...an ivory white.  I tell them it is very formal and I am concerned that his white suit will not match the color of my gown or look formal enough.  We move on to the groomsmen tuxedos.

This process went fairly smoothly and much to my surprise, Mr Fix It and his bro decide to incorporate vests and ties that match the ladies' bridesmaid dresses.  Mr Fix It apparently believes his brother is somewhat of a fashionista and values his opinion so when he says it would look nice to have the girls and guys match, Mr Fix It is fine with selecting vests and ties in a red and turquoise color scheme.  We opt for black shirts which I actually really like, especially since the girls will be in red gowns with black heels.  And it just so happens that I brought my sister's matron of honor dress with me so we were able to easily match up the colors.

We came up with this (please ignore the silly smileless face of Best Man Keith):

We then thought about the junior groomsmen and four (yes, four!) ring bearers.  I proceeded to tell the associate and the guys about how my daughter (15 at the time of the wedding and so a borderline junior or regular bridesmaid) will be wearing the turquoise blue color in a dress very similar to the bridesmaids.  So we thought it might be cute to match up the junior groomsmen (10 years old) who will be walking her down the aisle and the little four nephews in a blue like hers.  So we came up with this for them (little Jr GM Josh of course smiled in his shot holding the vest up to him):

 

So these seemed so great to match my little girl's gown and probably the flower girl dress as well which has some ribbon embroidery of an aqua shade in it.  Sounded great:  big guys (GM) in red to match the big girls (BM) and little guys (Jr GM & RB) in turquoise to match the younger girls (daughter & FG).  Nice. 

We opted for a simple vest in black to match the pattern and style of the big guys' red vests for the two fathers and gave them white shirts instead of black so they'd still look like classy dads but separate them a little from the groomsmen in wedding party pictures:

 

Now I know they say you should have the ring bearer's in the same thing as the groom, but that just didn't seem to feel 'right' to us.  We loved the idea of the younger members of the party being in one shade of turquoise and the older members representing the red shade.  So all that was left was to finalize the groom's gear. 

We pulled out some vests in ivory, white and a platinum (silver) type shade.  Mr Fix It kept saying that he just really wanted to stand out and be set apart from the rest of the guys.  I understood that this was his moment and his day, too but I kept trying (with the help of the sweet associate lady) to remind him that he still needed to keep the wedding party looking uniform and consistent.  We already had two similar but different patterned textures for the red and turquoise vests.  So we didn't want to stray too far from that for him.

He took the black jacket over to a mirror and I glanced over to see him and his bro whispering in the corner.  They called me over and it went something like this:

Him:  Honey, I'm just not feeling the black.  I just think I need something different.

Me:  Like what?  (My hand was now on my hip and I kept still staring back and forth from Mr Fix It to his brother)

Him:  I don't know.  Maybe tan?

Me:  (Blank stare)

Him:  You're not feeling tan?  What about navy?  Navy might be good?

Me:  (Long pause)  Are you trying to make me cry?  (Yes, I seriously had tears welling up in my eyes)

Him:  No navy?  But I want to look different, babe.

Me:  Oh, you'll look different all right!  You'll look like you don't belong in the wedding party!  You'll look like a guest!  It'll look like one of the groomsmen is marrying me!

His brother:  That's true, you don't want the groomsmen to look better than you do.

Him:  Alright, I guess the black is fine.

Seriously?  What the hell?!?  I'm going to kill these guys!  I get that some guys like white suits and tan suits and navy or whatever.  I get it, I do.  There's nothing wrong with those.  But if you're going to do that, then the whole wedding party should be wearing something similar.  But no, my guy wants to 'stand out'...and not in a good way.  And I wanted timeless, simple, classic black next to my big ole formal extravagant light ivory gown.  Why the heck does he have to make every single aspect of the wedding plans he is involved in such a nightmare to finalize?!

We finally settled on this for Mr Fix It and he looks HOT in it!

 

So all together, the three vests and ties look like this:

I think even though they are slightly different patterns, they still look nice next to each other and have similar styles and shapes (the little round circles).  But of course, after we left, Mr Fix It commented that he is still not sure about his selection and may be going back to make some 'revisions.'  I'm gonna kick his a$$....seriously!

Stay tuned for the extended drama and continuing saga of the tuxedo selections (this one involves the costs and the reactions of the groom's family - my inlaws).  sigh

New Trends in Color Schemes

So just when I think I have come up with something very unique and different that no one has ever seen at a wedding before, it suddenly ends up on all the blogs and in all the magazines!  (sigh)  Oh well, I still LOVE my color scheme.  It is an aqua/turquoise with cranberry deep red accents.  You have to be careful with aqua and turquoise because there are so many variations - some even think of tiffany blue as an aqua which is truly not the color I chose.

It came to me while browsing through wedding web sites for coordinators.  I found a picture that I absolutely fell in love with not just the colors but the little favors and napkins and place cards.  And the funny thing is, it was from my very own venue (will blog on that later this week).  And so after confirming that was my color scheme, I began searching for dresses, favors boxes, ribbons, etc all to coordinate - but not overly done.

I eventually found a florist and while browsing through her books, realized that the florist I selected just so happened to be the same florist who did the flowers and deco for the wedding I used as my inspiration!  How awesome is that?  And then while browsing the blog about the wedding I found a company in Illinois that did all their stationery for the wedding and fell in love with her, too!  So now I have my colors, favor box ideas, florist, stationery company and inspiration all from the same wedding.  So funny. 

In some ways I don't want it to seem like I am just 'copying' it, but honestly, I always say there are no original ideas...only knock offs and twists on a previous thought.  So I am definitely putting my own twist on a lot of the elements I am incorporating.

But enough chatter...here are the pics from Joyful Weddings and Events:

My centerpieces will be totally different incorporating red tulips in some sort of simple spray like this:

My bridesmaid's are wearing these Jasmine Bridal B2 dresses in this berry color:

Photos:  Jasmine Bridal
My daughter (a bridesmaid) is wearing this dress (hemmed to match the other girls) from Jasmine B2 Juniors in Bahama Breeze color and the flower girl will have a white dress with a matching sash in the Bahama Breeze:

And finally, they will all be carrying bouquets very similar to this with blue hydrangeas, burgundy cymbidium orchids, black magic roses, jade green roses and kermit mums:

Yes, my wedding is still 6 months away but I pretty much have everything planned and booked...now all that's left is some tweaking as I finalize details with vendors and purchasing the fun stuff like favors, gifts, jewelry, shoes, and so on.  What are your colors and what do you think of these?