The ULTIMATE Wedding Gift

Immediately after becoming engaged, my parents told me what our big wedding gift would be. I knew for years they would do this, because they did it for my sister. They would give us one of their timeshares for our honeymoon.

Timeshares are awesome! You don't have to eat out every meal. You get awesome amenities! It takes the cost of going to awesome, cool places affordable. So the only question left was, "Where do we want to go?"

B didn't really understand how affordable timeshares make a vacation and so he wanted to do something low key, such as, Yellowstone and seeing the Redwood Forest. Let me tell you peeps, that is not my idea of a honeymoon. I'd love to go there myself, but I see it more as a family vacation to do with our children once we are married. Right?

My mind quickly went to more romantic and exotic spots in the world. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. I really want to see the volcano actively spewing out lava. How many places can you see that and how often does life give you at least one week off to do whatever and go where ever you want? This is where we needed to go.

Mount Kilauea

Hawaii

I stressed Hawaii. B fought against it saying it was too expensive. You see, B doesn't have a regular job. He makes enough to pay his part of the bills, but if we didn't live together, he'd be struggling big time! So, he was worried. I, however, was not worried. I am a firm believer in "where there is a will, there is a way." My mom drilled that into my head growing up. I asked him if he didn't want to go to Hawaii and that wasn't the case. He'd love to, but the money was holding him back.

First, I looked up airfare. This was where our biggest chunk of money was going to go. I found them starting over $900. Not too bad for Hawaii. My mom told me she had enough frequent flier miles for one round trip ticket that would be expiring before she could use them so we could have them. Yay!! Since mom had to buy the ticket with her card and B and I wanted to be on the same flight next to each other, the tickets had to be purchased together. I asked her if B and I could pay her back over some time for the second ticket. She offered a deal, B goes to the farm when he doesn't have work and works off his $1000. Sweet!

At this point we know a location and we know how we are going to pay to get there, so the next step, which island?

Were you worried about affording the honeymoon of your dreams?

Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos is a Filipino politician. Her husband was President of the Philippines and when he was kicked out of office, they fled the country. She left behind in the palace, 2,700 pairs of shoes!

Imelda Marcos in the museum of her shoes.

Growing up, my mom always called me Imelda Marcos, because of my love for shoes. There was one year (yes I mean a whole year) where I went shopping almost every weekend and when I went, it wasn't a successful trip unless I purchased something for my feet. I had soooo many shoes (but not as many as Imelda). I have since realized the comfort over fashion, but I still long for beautiful shoes.

Naturally, when planning the wedding, my shoes were near the top of my list. When in high school, the style of heels ladies were wearing were my all time favorite. Unfortunately, the heel styles now basically disgust me. I get a terrible feeling in my stomach just thinking about wearing shoes with heels such as these:

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I know you fashionistas out there are shaking your head at me, but I can't bring myself to do it. Also, I have a big problem with wearing pointy toe shoes. I wear size 10 people. I don't need any extra length added to my feet!

Going along with the color scheme of our wedding, I knew I wanted to wear red shoes. Lets face it, I own 4 pairs of red pumps, but a girl needs options! But, I couldn't wear just ANY color red. It had to be THE red. So I searched the internet for my options:

My neices would LOVE these!

Uh, No!

Lovely, but a little plain for me.

I jest with the first two, but the shoe above still leaves me desiring some fancy. If you'd like a laugh, i suggest googling red high heel shoe images. Hilarious!

I LOVE the ruffle!

This one is beautiful, but I don't care for platform shoes, so I have to say no.

Uh, Yes!

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! This shoe has the elegance and the fancy I want. I can wear this shoe over and over again. The heel isn't too high so my feet won't be screaming. AND the red, is perfect! A bonus: $50 from DSW. Can we say BARGAIN?

Check! One down ... a million more to go!

Are you going to sport colored shoes?

Some Fame

Two of my previous post have been about hiring famous people to be apart of your wedding/reception and music choices for our wedding. Well, boy do I have news for you!

Jamie, my family friend who is singing in our wedding ceremony, is the lead singer of a band. And next weekend, his band is opening for Montgomery Gentry in Cherokee, NC.

 

Velvet Truckstop - Jamie is on the right

How crazy is this info? I love these musicians and Velvet Truckstop gets to open for them. AND VT's lead singer is singing in our wedding. WOW!

Have you gotten news about vendors that has blown your mind?

Do Re Mi

Music is a very big part of my life. I took piano lessons for a really long time as well as voice lessons. I sang in the chorus of all of my schools, children's choir at church, and select chorus in high school. Also, I began singing in the adult choir at my church in the 6th grade. As you can imagine, I love music! I have a very eclectic taste but there are a few types I don't care for, such as, rap.

Usually at outdoor ceremonies there is either a string quartet or music is played on a stereo. The string quartet would be nice but is too formal for our wedding and is way out of budget. Having such a love for music and musicians, I couldn't imagine the music coming from a stereo. Lucky for me I have connections!

The pianist/organist at my home church, Marcy, has two electric portable pianos. I called her up to ask if she would play the music for the wedding and she couldn't have been more excited. I have to meet up with her in April to select the music. I know it will be amazing because she is so amazing!

Marcy said she has anything from romantic country songs (LOVE!) to classical. I always knew the song I would walk down the aisle to, but I wasn't sure what song my ladies would walk to or what to play for filler. Then, one day while stalking the Weddingbee blog, I heard a song with an amazing title, The Scientist by Coldplay. I got this idea from Mrs. Hamster. The melody of the song is so beautiful and when slowed down, it is perfect for my ladies to walk down the aisle. I purchased the sheet music and a few instrumental piano versions from iTunes to give to Marcy.

 

For the past few years I have been listening to a particular song, performed by different people, and loved every arrangement I found. I really wanted this song to be sung at our wedding, but I didn't know if the lyrics would be appropriate. So I looked up the meaning. It is an old English folk song from the 1600s that is about the challenges of love. "The Water is Wide" has a few depressing lyrics, but in the end it is about over coming all the challenges and the love surviving. Since it is a folk song, it requires a certain style of voice (in my opinion).

My mom's best friend's oldest son is in a band, Velvet Truckstop. Upon singing the song for my parents and discussing possible soloists, we all felt that Jamie would sound great with this song. Plus, he plays mandolin and guitar and two of my favorite versions use either one of these instruments.

As for me, I will be walking down the aisle to Cannon in D. It is my all time favorite song to play on the piano and I think it has such a romantic melody to it. I know it is commonly used, but I don't care about being original. It fits me and that is all that matters.

Did you have difficulty choosing the ceremony music? Is there a song that is so special to you that you must play it during the ceremony?

Nutritious and Delicious

B hasn't wanted to be involved in too many wedding decisions, but there were a few on which he had huge opinions. The most important of these, was the food.

Food!

B and I, like most people, LOVE food. And good food at that. Food that is nutritious is B's preference, but he has no problem eating food that just takes mmm mmm good without it being good for the body. Before meeting B, I didn't think much about whether or not I was getting a balanced meal and how the food was effecting my waistline. I'd eat anything that smelled, looked, and most of all, tasted good.

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I knew right away I wanted to have Bar-B-Que at our wedding and lucky for me, B, thought it was a great idea too. What kind of BBQ you ask? I love pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with coleslaw. Mmm mmm good! Not everyone eats pork, so we had to think of another guest friendly protein. During college, my dad developed a BBQ chicken recipe. We have been preparing BBQ chicken halves all of my life; therefore, the natural protein to serve at the wedding would be BBQ chicken legs. My youngest brother knows the recipe the best and has been BBQing for large groups of people, including weddings.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Along with the BBQ, I insisted we must have macaroni and cheese. My all time favorite food, is baked macaroni and cheese. My mom heard that serving baked macaroni and cheese at events can be problematic and the preparation is very involved. My plan was to prepare it a few weeks ahead of time and thaw it out the day before and bake it the day of. This is no longer the plan and I will post later a recipe for the best prepare ahead of time baked macaroni and cheese. B and I put our feet down to my mom and insisted we must have Mac&Cheese!

Other items for eats will be green beans, rolls, fruit salads, and maybe some baked beans. This is going to be the best homemade BBQ wedding reception EVER! I salivate as I sit here writing this post.

You may ask, aren't you nervous about you and your family making all of the food? My response is, Oh Heck Yeah! But I know that if we all chip in and go with the timeline, it will all workout just fine!

Do you have any insane plans for the food, as in, doing it yourself?

My Little Man

My nephew A will be our Ring Bearer. And, oh boy, is he excited! He is a little disappointed that he doesn't get flowers like the girls, BUT he gets something special!

There are so many different directions one could take for the ring bearer. They could carry a Bible, a bowl, a book, OR they could carry the standard pillow. I spent a lot of time thinking about what to have A carry, and not to point out faults of my nephew, but he is a bit clumsy. I mean, he is 6 years old and full of more energy than I can fathom at this point in my life.

B and I aren't much book readers, so the book idea was out. Neither one of us are really religious (I am much more so than he), so the Bible was out. Due to the clumsiness of A, I didn't want to risk a bowl being broken and A cutting himself, so what was left? A pillow. I know, i know, how original?

Let me show you some pictures of pillows that ARE original:

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The last one is a great option for those couples with 4-legged friends! I was in K's wedding and her ring bearer was her family's Pekineses. He wore a tux and it was adorable!

None of these options really appealed to me. Since I am making flowers out of many different materials (paper and fabric) why shouldn't I make a flower for the pillow. The pillow part was easy, cut two squares, sew them together with stuffing. I've done it before, so that I was not worried about. What I did fret over, was the flower. What kind should I do? How big should I make it? What fabric would look best?

And then I saw it! I saw the most perfect ring pillow I have EVER seen. Where did I see it, you ask? Well, I saw it on one of my most favorite and my go-to website for all things hand-made, Martha Stewart.

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I went to JoAnn Fabric and I bought all of my supplies and followed the tutorial on from the website. My pillow doesn't look exactly like the one pictured above, but it is still beautiful:

I am really happy with how it turned out! I am still thinking of ways to display it or use it after the wedding. Ideas?

Are you doing something unique for your ring bearer to carry?

Cardboxes

Many people like to give the bride and groom money and they usually put it in a card. Then there is the problem of where do these guests put their card? Do they just lay it on the table with the other presents with the risk of it getting lost or stolen? Maybe the couple put out a basket to collect all of the cards. This solution only solves the first problem.

Everyone wants to think that none of the people they are inviting to their wedding would steal gifts, cards, or money, but the reality is is that someone might. The thief may not be a guest. They may be a vendor of some sort or maybe even a waiter. No one wants to worry about this happening on the most joyous of evenings, so we must think of a way to combat this before it even happens.

While lurking on the DIY board on The Knot, I discovered a cute and fun DIY project that other brides have done: cardboxes.

DIY cake cardbox

Most people have decorated stacked boxes that can be circular, square, or mixed. They have decorated them with paint, paper, fabric, glitter, etc. But these type of cardboxes never appealed to me. Others have decorated birdcages and mailboxes. While pretty, these don't solve the theft problem. Then I ran across someone who had made a box out of picture frames. All I have to say is WOW!

It was such a neat and unique idea. I had amazing E-pics I could put into the frames and then once the wedding is over, I can put them up in my house. So I began looking around for black 8x10 picture frames that were simple, inexpensive, and wooden. This was not easy. Most of the frames I found were too large, too expensive, or too ornate.

While on a trip to VA Beach, I discovered they had an AC Moore. I had seen people online raving about AC Moore but unfortunately, Charlottesville only has a Micheal's. It turned out AC Moore had just the frames I was looking for, plus they were cheap! They were $4 per frame. I then ran to Lowes to purchase the necessary brackets to affix the frames to one another in a box shape. I have a friend that emails me a couple of time s week with coupons and deals on all kinds of items. She ended up sending me a deal for 5 free 8x10 photos. So, I picked out 5 E-pics and had them printed and shipped to me for FREE!!

I first put my pictures in the frames. Using my drill, I drilled holes and screwed 2 L-brackets to each of the long sides of the frames. I also screwed 1 L-bracket in the middle of both the top and bottom of each frame. Once all of the frames were attached in a box shape, I traced out a piece of cardboard to the size and shape of the bottom of the box. With the brackets going downward, I rested the cardboard inside the box on the bottom. Using duct tape, I affixed the cardboard to the brackets.

You can see the duct tape through the slit (the white line in the slit)

I then cut another square to fit the top of the box and cut a slit in the middle of it to fit cards. Using batting and fabric, I covered the cardboard to still allow the slit to show. This was the tricky part since I needed the fabric to stick to the cardboard. Duct tape didn't work and ended up showing through the slit. So I took another piece of fabric and sewed the top fabric to fabric on the back all the way around each side and the slit. I then used thread to tie the board to each of the brackets so the top would stay attached to the box. I purchased an inexpensive turn table (lazy susan) from Walmart and duct taped it to the box.

Woala! Here is the finished product:

Have you thought of what to have guests put their cards into? Do you think you will attempt to DIY a cardbox?