Now that it's all over....

Well, it's been about seven months since the wedding and I found there were a few things that I would've changed if I could go back and do it again. Things I would do differently: Invitations, programs, reverend, cake, some of the decorating aspects, and the dress.

Invitations: When I started making these I thought they were great, that is until I started looking at other DIY invitations that other brides were making. Some of them were so amazing and creative, you couldn't tell that they were DIY. I also made my own envelopes which ended up being more of a pain in the butt than expected. In the end, I wish I would've done them differently and more creatively.

Programs: I didn't really care for our programs but I left them as one of the last things we did so we ended up working on them up until the day before the wedding. We freaked out over nothing because we didn't even need all the programs that we had made. It would have been just a lot less stress if we hadn't of worried so much about them.

Reverend: I like to call him the Rent-A-Rev, he was just horrible. I got his name from the list of officiants at the courthouse and he was the worst $75 I ever spent. I met with him about 7 months before the wedding and gave him a word for word copy of the ceremony. We emailed occasionally whenever I had changes and met again in person a week before the wedding. We finalized the ceremony with only a couple of changes that he suggested and then went over the whole thing again. When I asked about what he would wear, he said that he had a black suit with a red tie that he wears with it. We discussed changing the tie color because I didn't want the red tie to clash with the burgundy and orange wedding colors. He said he would either wear black or the darker red tie he had and I said that would be fine. He also said that he would arrive at the wedding by at least 4:30 pm for our 5:00 ceremony. Well, he ended up not showing up to the rehearsal dinner because he was busy and didn't show up for the wedding until 4:55, that's five minutes before the ceremony!! I was totally freaking out and livid! I had been calling and calling him when I found out that he wasn't there yet and thought that we weren't going to be able to get married. So we finally got the ceremony going and was not happy when I saw him standing in front of us at the alter. He was wearing tan slacks, black pleather jacket and a red striped tie, which was nothing near what he was supposed to wear. He looked like a used car salesman! Then he began stumbling through the ceremony like he had never before seen the piece of paper that he was reading from. Seriously, he had it for months and I would assume that you would practice doing the ceremony before you did it. At one point my hubby and I looked at each other and started laughing because it was so bad. He started adlibbing crap in when he got too nervous to remember to read from the paper and one part of the ceremony consisted of him holding up ours rings and saying, "This rings are awesome! You should see these, you'll have to get pictures of them later." OMG! Then it started raining and instead of wrapping it up he decided to read slower than molasses and I almost told him to skip to the I DO's. It was a slow painful death and we were so glad when it was over. You can bet that he didn't get any good reviews from me.

Cake: The cake ended up okay but definitely not what I had envisioned. I think I would've made sure that she knew exactly what I wanted especially the grooms cake. It was two police cars and we actually only got one because it got destroyed during the transportation to the wedding. The one that survived did not look anything like it was supposed to and I was so dissappointed in how it turned out because it was a surprise for my husband. At least it tasted good....

Decorating: There are definitely some things I wish I could change. I wish we would've gotten the lights put inside the paper lanterns we hung but we just ran out of time. I should've made sure that everyone had put enough water in all the bowls and cylinders because some of the flowers caught fire from the floating candles when they were lit. I wish that I would've some lighting on the candy buffet table because I don't think everyone knew that it was there once the lights were out. We had a nacho cheese fountain at the reception which would've been just awesome if they had turned it on when I asked them to. The caterer was supposed to turn it on after we cut the cake but he had turned it on before the ceremony to test it out and left it on. It looked so good then but by the time the reception came the cheese had started to thicken up and did not run smoothly like it was supposed to. Everyone enjoyed it and said it tasted great but I was kind of upset about it because it was my husband's one major request for the reception. I also would've made sure the caterer gave us the final total much earlier but he kept stalling on telling me how much it was, we didn't know the final cost until after the reception had started.

Dress: I definitely would've checked around more for a dress that I loved instead of just finding a nice one that was cheap. I liked it at the time but looking back at the pictures I wish I would've had something better.

I also wish I would've made sure the photographer had gotten certain pictures that I wanted. There were no pics of our son/ringbearer with the groom and he was not in any pics with the guys at all. We also forgot to get pics of my husband with the cheese fountain and we didn't get any cool pics of the bouquets. These are things that I should've thought of but the day was such a whirlwind and didn't think about it. I would make sure that you let your photographer know exactly what pictures you want so there is no mistake. Oh, I also would've had someone videotape it all.

I think that covers most of things that I would change if I could do it again. But in the long run it wasn't that big of a deal. We are happily married and enjoying our life.

The Gifts

Being the money saver that I try to be, I turned to eBay for a majority of the wedding party and parent gifts. I just can't stay away from there, I'm totally addicted! I decided to get each girl a cosmetic bag and fill it with goodies like Mary Kay makeup, compact mirrors, a bracelet for their dress, blotting papers, etc. I got my maid of honor (my sister) and my matron of honor (fiancee's sister) each a special bag according to what they like, I did the same with the compact mirrors for them.

My daughter is a junior bridesmaid so I got her this bag because she loves monkeys so much. I got her a pink compact mirror and will fill the bags with goodies.

Here are the mirrors I got from eBay. I paid less than 10 dollars for each one.

I got these burgundy gem stone bracelets from eBay also, 6 for $24.

I had so much fun putting together the makeup kits from eBay. I got black Mary Kay satin bags, mascara, lipstick, satin hands, extra emollient night cream, eyeliners and will get a few more things to throw in.


For the guys we are getting these mason drinking jars with their names engraved on them. They were 7.95 a piece for 5 with 7.95 shipping for them all. http://www.engravableplus.com/


I got these great cufflinks for the guys online at http://www.wildties.com/. They were originally $45 a piece but were on sale for $5. I got 8 of these for what it would've cost for just one. They didn't have any Groomsman ones so I had to get some from another site.

I couldn't find oval Groomsman cufflinks so I had to settle for these rectangle ones with the same writing. These were also only $5 a piece and I got these at http://www.bride.com/.

I got these jewelry boxes from eBay along with some red ones for the moms gifts.


I got pearl brooches for each of the moms from eBay and used these nice boxes to put them in.

The Projects

Along with the invitations I had many projects on my DIY list. It only made sense to make whatever I could to save money. I wanted to make kids packs to keep the littlest guests busy during the reception and began scouring the web for ideas. I found a few coloring books that people had made for their reception which gave me a few good ideas. I found mazes, word searches and crossword puzzles which I added to our personalized book. Here is what the final product looked like.

I had so much fun putting together the kids packs! I got the boxes, coloring mats, mini books w/crayons, make a face sticker sets, games and candy from http://www.orientaltrading.com/. I got 50 glow bracelets for 9.99 from http://www.save-on-crafts.com/. I also picked up some noisemakers and misc toys from Wal-mart and Party America.


I made these cute little matchbook "mintbooks" that hold two mints in it out of plain cardstock I got from Wal-mart. I put my favorite picture on it and I think they came out great! These were so easy to make. The only tough part was making sure I stapled both mints in correctly so they would both stay in. It was a cheap project that I thinks adds a great touch of personalization.



I got boxes of bubbles for 4.99 per box of 48 online. I made tags for them that say "Please shower the Bride and Groom with bubbles as they return down the aisle as man and wife" and just tied them to the bubble wand.



I designed these tri-fold programs early on in the planning stages and left them alone until I was ready to print them.



Here is what a finished program with the bubble wand tucked in front would look like. I planned on having these placed in the chairs so I wouldn't have to worry about some poor niece stuck holding a basket of these with her little arms, lol.

I have since then decided I wanted to change the programs into fans since it will be still very hot in September and the ceremony is outdoors at 5 in the evening. I am still working on the look but here is what I've got so far:


We are having a candy buffet table and here are the bags I made for guests to fill up. I got these bags at Hobby Lobby, 50 for under $2. I made the labels from some UPS shipping label paper that I had left over. I have a whole box of the stuff and ended up using it for various wedding projects.



I also made water bottle labels from the UPS paper I had and printed two different kinds using our wedding colors. I just cut them with a paper cutter and they were easy to stick on the bottles. I got my water from Sams Club, it was the cheapest I could find. They sell 30 packs for 3.88 and I got 10 packs. I ended up with 300 water bottles for around $40.




Coming soon...
Favors, Ring Bearer pillow, birdcage, Centerpieces, Cameras

The Invitations

I pretty much did everything myself to save money. I got all my papers and cardstock from Hobby Lobby, mainly when scrapbook paper was on sale. I printed everything on my Kodak and Epson printers. I would suggest using a laser printer if you plan on printing pictures on vellum, I learned that the hard way. I spent a little more than I should have because I didn't keep an exact count of what I had and what I needed. I ended up with too much and not enough of some papers.

I printed the cover on burgundy linen cardstock, my favorite picture on vellum and the invitation on white linen cardstock.

I punched two holes at the top and tied ribbon through it.

I glued the "info card" on the back of the wrap I made from burgundy cardstock with the orange background for a pop of color.

I tied the whole thing together with a burgundy sheer organza ribbon.

I even made matching envelopes, which ended up being a pain because it was trial and error with finding an actual glue to keep them sealed.

I got an offer from http://www.vistaprint.com/ for free postcards so I made these online. The offer was for 100 postcards free, no shipping. I ended up paying 4.95 for them because I opted for color on the back to match our wedding colors. These cards came out great! I was so thrilled to find the calla design on the site since that is my wedding flower. I included these for the few people that may not have access to a computer or the internet. I did not include postage for these because I made it clear that we prefer RSVPs online and if they chose to mail back the postcard then they could do so if they provided the postage. To me, it would've been a big waste of postage to have maybe 5 people mail it back.


To save on postage, we are hand delivering a majority of the invitations and are mailing the out of state and out of towners. It may not be etiquette but I really don't care about that and looked for any way to save money for us.

The Flowers

I ordered my flowers online at http://www.flowersandfreshness.com/. I got 70 burgundy and 70 mini calla lilies for 199.98, shipping included. That was the best deal that I found for the amount of flowers that I wanted. The flowers will be shipped three days before the wedding in order to let them hydrate and bloom. We are putting the bouquets and boutonnieres together ourselves in order to cut costs. Here are some pics that I liked:

I love the look with the grass and berries.

Here are some possible looks for the bridesmaids.

The guys boutonnieres



Flowers is another place to cut costs too. Either use minimal flowers or forego them altogether. We didn't use real flowers for centerpieces so that saved us alot of money. Putting the bouquets together yourself cuts out all the labor costs and by ordering the flowers through wholesale stores you can save a bunch.

The Cakes

I found a local lady who is making our cakes. I found a cake stand that I fell in love with but lo and behold it could only be found in the United Kingdom. I could not find it anywhere in the US and started to give up hope until our cake lady found a guy selling it on the east coast. I was so thrilled!! Then she calls me and tells me that it was damaged during shipping and she is sending it back. She is now getting it from another lady who is also selling one out of Kansas, so she will drive there and pick it up herself.

I could not find a picture of the perfect cake I wanted but I found pics with the different elements that I wanted to combine into one cake. Here is the initial topper we got. Our cake will be white frosting with the G topper with burgundy and orange ribbon detail on it.

We are putting fresh burgundy and orange calla lilies on the three tiers.


She is also making two police car groom's cakes for us modeled after our patrol cars and is making the cupcakes for the kids table for free. The cakes and cupcakes cost together is going to be around $220.

An option on saving money in the cake area is to get a small cake made at wal-mart or some place like it and get either cupcakes made or sheet cakes made. It'll save you in the long run. You can also provide the decorations or flowers yourself which helped us save on the cost.

The Rings

We decided not to spend all of our budget on expensive rings just yet so we opted for less expensive alternatives. I really just wanted something nice for the wedding and plan on waiting to get a nicer ring. I found my dream ring at Zales awhile ago.

I got this ring that is a similar style to wear until we can afford something different and in all honesty you can't even tell that it's not the real thing. The lab created stones sparkle and shine just the same.

We got a titanium ring for him to wear at work so that he wouldn't mess up a really nice ring. I wanted to get a ring with some bling for the wedding but he didn't want anything with diamonds.


I know some people would not want to skimp on the rings but it is a way to save money if you are looking for options to cut costs. For me, it was an easy choice. I didn't care about the big fancy ring right away, I wanted to spend what money we had on the wedding. Our rings cost us less than two hundred dollars and that's something I can definitely live with until we can afford more. I think it might make for a nice first anniversary gift, lol.