Cupcakes or Traditional Cake...I'll Take Both

We are lovers of all things dessert but I think cupcakes are our number one fave. And when I started thinking about what our cake was going to look like, I somehow started to gravitate towards pictures like these:

Kitchen Musings

Source

Style Me Pretty

When I first mentioned the idea to my mom, she was not that ecstatic, being the wedding traditionalist that she is. Of course, in her mind we should be having a 4 tiered wedding cake. And there's nothing wrong with that because I happen to like to the look of these as well:

Style Me Pretty

Project Wedding

The Sweetest Occasion

But after really thinking and getting back to our core preferences I think we'll be going with a hybrid of the two. A muti-tiered stand full of delicious homemade cupcakes (did I mention his mom is a great baker, she just doesn't know that I want her to help me make all these cupcakes yet, shhh) with a simple 3 layered 6 inch cake at the very top for us to cut and savor on the big day. I haven't decided whether I want to outsource the top tier or go DIY all the way.

I think this will save us a ton of money and bring a lot of fun and personality to the wedding. Now I have to start thinking about cupcake flavors and decorations...yumm!

I'm Not Crazy After All

I've had some serious wedding thoughts running through this mind lately. I'm second guessing one of my major vendor choices and I'm having a serious internal conflict over how I should proceed. I can't go into the details of the situation but in pretty generic terms I'm not really feeling one of my vendors based on some recent situations that have transpired which has made me a little less than convinced that they can pull off my big day properly.

I'm going to be honest, alot of the second guessing has been attributed to me not wanting to be perceived as a "bridezilla." So I did the best thing that I could've done...I called my MOH...and should have done it earlier. I needed an objective opinion here. I explained the details of the situation and I'm so happy I talked to her. She firmly reassured me that NO, YOU'RE NOT CRAZY! The things that I'm expecting in this situation are not bridezilla demands but reasonable demands that you would ask of any regular merchant nevermind a wedding vendor.

This snafu has made me realize that all the "newness" (yep, I said it) of everything involved in planning this wedding has made me second guess my everyday instincts when I shouldn't be. It's so great to have a support system and sounding board during this stressful time, I'm truly grateful.

Have you had a situation that has made you second guess yourself in your planning adventures?

Top Tips for Filene's ROTB Success

After writing about my experience with Running of the Brides (ROTB) here in DC, I thought it might be helpful to offer some tips to those of you out there thinking to tackle this event in your city. But before I get into the tips here's a link to the 2011 event schedule in case you were wondering.

{1} Keep It Simple Stupid - small teams are just as efficient as large ones and in my case a team of two was able to get the job done just fine.

{2} Have a Game Plan - No matter how large or small your team is having a plan of attack will keep everyone organized and on the same page. At the outset, my mom and I decided it would be better for us to split up to cover more area. We also decided on a rendezvous point at an obvious spot in the back area of the store where it appeared to be a little less crowded, plus there were full length mirrors available nearby as well, a great plus.

{3} Don't be Picky - the gowns are in plastic bags so they may not look like much of anything hanging on the rack when you first see them but scoop up anything that looks remotely like something you would want to try on. And in terms of sizes, bridal sizes are not street sizes, so don't get caught up in the number, plus alterations are your friend.

{4} But Know Your Style - It helps when going into the experience to know whether or not you like ballgowns or prefer mermaid style dresses but don't worry if you have no clue either. It can help you narrow down your choices and limit the selections to save some precious time in your hunt for the perfect dress. For example, if you know you don't want a cream colored dress, stay away from 'em. But continue to keep tip #3 in mind at all times.

{5} Stay on Your Toes - there are dresses lying everywhere, some of which are still being considered by other brides and others which just haven't been put back on the racks yet. So always keep an eye out for any dress that may appeal to you, but make sure you ask someone in the dress' vicinity if there is a bride still considering it, if not, take it away and try it on. It just might be the one.

{6} Dress for the Occasion - Wear something that fits closely to the body that you're also comfortable with others seeing as well. There are dressing rooms available but it's so much quicker to try on dresses out in the open. Believe me you don't want to be one of those chicks out there in your grannie panty bloomers for everyone to see. I decided to wear a pair of leggings and a strapless bra under a tunic style shirt that was easy to get on and off without revealing too much skin.

{7} Pack Light - Do yourself a favor and leave the big handbags and totes at home. Between carrying around 3-5 dresses at once and hunting for others, a large bag doesn't really fit into the equation. If I had to it all over again, I would have brought a simple wristlet to carry my essentials and a digital camera.

{8} Don't Overlook Future Alterations - For the budget brides, when choosing your dress think about how you want it to look when you're  walking down the aisle. If your vision requires a laundry list of alterations it might not be as cost effective as you think, buying a $599 dress that requires almost $400 in major alterations might not be such a bargain after all.

In the end, the biggest tip I could give would be to keep an open mind during the experience because it will go a long way.

Please share your experiences and tips if you've ever done ROTB, I'd love to see what you have to share. And I promise the actual photo of the dress is still on the way, I haven't forgotten.

I've Been Slacking...

Big time.

I'm referring to my wedding planning or lack there of. I started out very gung ho and got right into the knitty gritty of the major details because for the most part I was scared that everyone would be booked and I would be the sad bride with all the left over vendors that no one wants. But now that I have some of the big things out of the way and I've hired a wedding planning team, I've put planning on the back burner. To be honest it was relaxing not to have to think about wedding budgets and color schemes and bridesmaid dresses. I was just consuming myself with this wedding and I needed a mental break.

But now as we jump into the new year I think it's about time for me to get back into the game and start to iron out some details. So my next big things to accomplish are:

• Selecting a caterer
• Designing and finalizing our Save the Dates
• Finalizing our wedding website...aargh I really don't feel like tackling this one
• Start collecting addresses and contact info for our guests...another pain the arse

On the Hunt...Reception Venues

I started my search for venues in the same spot where many other brides have started, on the internet, with a google search. However, I must let the cat our of the bag, because when I really started looking at reception venues, we were newly engaged and not even thinking about when we would have a wedding (it just wasn't very practical at the time). So many of the places that I initially fell in love with like 2-3 years ago were sooo not going to work with our actual wedding budget. So I just nixed any venue that I had bookmarked circa late '07-'08.

I started to look at some of the other typical wedding websites to get ideas. I contacted a boatload of hotels (seriously, I think I still have like 25-30 random info packets on my laptop right now) in the DMV to get their wedding package information but I didn't feel like a hotel was the right place for us, I guess some part of me felt like it was a little too cookie cutter. But I've also seen beautiful weddings at hotels so to each his own. But there was one location that I thought might work, the Mason Inn and Conference Center, on the campus of George Mason University (GMU). My mom and I even went to take a tour, and we did actually like it, it was overwhelming love at first sight but it could work. I kept it on my list of possible locations but kept it moving.

Outside the Mason Inn

Small Ballroom

Table details

But the funny thing is, on the way to Mason Inn we passed a historic home just minutes away from GMU and I thought I knew what it was as we drove past (based on previous online hunts) and a google search confirmed my curiosities, it was Old Town Hall (OTH). It was also on my list of top reception venues to check out, I immediately scheduled a tour the next day for an upcoming weekend. Upon our arrival at OTH I fell in love with the building, it looked so elegant. As we toured the grounds I was pretty sure that I wanted to book that place ASAP. There were multiple locations throughout the venue that we could utilize and even an outdoor garden area that looked really nice and lush and perfect for cocktail hour. And I don't know about you but parking was also at the top of my list of must haves. I didn't want us to have to pay for valet parking or any kind of parking for my guests, it's just an expense I didn't want to take on. But I was happy to find out that there are 4 free parking lots within like 2 blocks of the venue which our guests can use. SCORE!

Old Town Hall

Main Floor Room

Expanded view of the Main Floor Room

As the days passed after my two initial visits I just couldn't stop thinking about OTH. But I thought maybe I should see a couple more places. So I headed over to The Lorien, a boutique hotel and spa in Old Town Alexandria. I was a little annoyed and didn't really want to continue with the tour after the woman told me that our date was already taken. I mean, really lady, you could've told me that before I came over here, after work, in the rain. But I played along seeing the sights and they were nice, but since I knew it wasn't even an option, I was really just window shopping. They also had many multi-function spaces and an outdoor area, but none of the inside spaces were big enough to accommodate both dinner and dancing, so those activities would have to be split between 2 rooms. Not a big deal for some but I thought it would be a little awkward for guests.

Source

Source

After that disappointment, with my mom in tow we headed over to The Lyceum in Alexandria, VA. I saw this venue suggested on many websites and wedding boards so I figured why not. But it just didn't do it for me. There was nothing that caught my interest. There were multiple spaces that could be used but one of the two spaces was within the museum and I'm not that fond of having cocktail hour around a bunch of artifacts. And the price wasn't right for us either, so it was ruled out.

So after viewing 4 possible venues and even dreaming about one for many a night, we decided to book one of them and I couldn't be happier. Stay posted for an upcoming post where I reveal our venue!

*All photos are my personal handiwork unless specified.

Money, Money, Money, Moooney...Mooonnneeeyy!

I am a budget bride and I don't have an issue with admitting that I'm planning a wedding on a pretty tight budget. Now, there are probably budgets out there that are even tighter than mine but to be honest what bride doesn't wish she had a little more money, you know 1k here, 5k there. Those dollars could really go a long way toward things that aren't within the budget. But when we finally decided to start planning the wedding there was one thing that we knew for sure...no debt for the wedding...it was going to be all cash. And additionally, we knew we were going to be the one's footing the bill for the entire shindig (unless someone wants to toss in a few dollars) and I'm probably not gonna say no.

Once we logically thought about how much we would be comfortable putting on the table for the wedding we settled on a budget of $12,500. And believe me that number still makes cringe a little, I mean there are so many other things I could be doing with that money, but I digress. And considering that the average cost of a DC area wedding is between 27k-45k (check your city here) I think were doing pretty good. But this budget is also very aggressive and we'll have to see if we can actually pull it off.

So with our budget in mind I did what every bride does and I plugged it into one of those wedding budget generators and the allocations were ridiculous, meaning, who on my type of budget would really spend almost $400 on stationary! But if you take a look below, I've compared what the "Traditional" budget generator says we should be spending on the typical categories and then tweaked the figures a bit based on how I foresee our money being allocated.

*The percentages shown are based on how each category makes up the total budget.

As you can see strictly based on budget we've prioritized the reception and photography over everything else, allowing it to take much larger portions of the budget than traditionally allocated. But those are the things which we are placing a higher value and were fine with spending the extra money in those respective areas.

The closer we get to booking additional vendors and really understanding our decor plans, we will be able to really zero in on the final estimates of our wedding day.

How's your budget holding up?

Keeping the Girls Updated...The Goods

I promised you that I would reveal the actual newsletter that I created to keep my bridesmaids updated about all the wedding happenings. Read about the contents and how it came about here. So without further ado, here's the first installment of the newsletter that they received. There have been some details omitted to respect everyone's privacy but you get the gist.

If anyone is interested in the template to make their own, I created it using Powerpoint so it is fully editable and can be emailed by request, just let me know by leaving a comment below.

Tip: If you do choose to tackle something like this I always convert any editable document into a pdf to help maintain the formatting and document integrity across various computer platforms (i.e. mac, pc, mobile phone, etc). If you have a mac pdf converting is built in. But if your a windows person there are a number of free pdf converters for windows but here's my fave along with a link to download.

• Primopdf (windows only)