Bridesmaid Dresses

Well...it seems that it is official! I am getting word from Michelle that the bridesmaid dresses have been ordered (or are in the process of being ordered at this moment). Not the dress that Michelle originally had in mind nor the color. This is actually working to our advantage. Though the original color was cognac (like a rust or copper color), the new color is fern (a sort of olive green...more green than yellow) which is much easier to match with decorations and the like. Not to mention it is just an awesome looking color. Michelle will have to fill you all in on a future post on the finer details. But what I do know is this style of dress was just sent to the clearance rack for $79 (down from $150 I believe). Just another example of Michelle saving money...
(I think I am going to start a running total page...be on the lookout for that in the near future.)

Thank You

Just a quick thanks to everyone that has stopped by and checked in on our progress. After starting this blog just under 2 weeks ago, we have broken the 300 view mark and are gaining new visitors everyday! I am a bit of a stats junkie. It has been fun watching the trends...at the moment the DIY Pew Bows is the most visited posting with an average time spent on page approaching 6 minutes! I hope this means that we have helped some folks out there. 

Anyways, stay tuned! There are more posts to come soon..

Name Change...

Michelle is stressing about having to change her name, officially. She changed her name on Facebook years ago, but now the realization, I think, has started to set in. Really, as the man, I never really put much thought into what has to be done and all the hoops that need to be jumped through. Michelle found this little graphic that made us both laugh.

To all of the brides out there: I feel sorry for you.

To all of my fellow grooms: thank god it's them that have to change their name. LOL

The Flower Girl Dresses

Michelle made her way to JC Penneys again....this time on the hunt for flower girl dresses for Trinity and Payton. She struck gold!!

After sale price and two coupons...the dresses cost us $50 for both! Great find and even better price!

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The Guest Book

Michelle and I have been looking for alternative guest book ideas. We have played with several possibilities, including covering a plain guest book with fall leaves. Though it was nice, we were not impressed and felt that it did not fit our personalities. At the end of the day, we have come to the realization that the guest book as we all know it is old, tired, and boring. We asked ourselves how often will we actually drag out the guest book and flip through it? Once? Twice? Never.

Stock Photo - with a little addition :P

Michelle found a pretty cool spin on the guest book that does fit our "fall themed" wedding perfectly. It is the Wedding Tree! The concept is simple; there is a tree printed on canvas, ink pads of various "fall" colors, and a pen. Allow me to explain further...

Stock Photo

Stock Photo

Guests will find a large canvas with a tree painted on it where the traditional guest book would usually be found. Next to the "tree" the guests will find various colors of ink pads that they can choose from. Then they can ink up their thumb (or any finger) and press it on to the tree. Finally they can pick up the pen and sign their name under their "leaf". Like I said...simple concept.

Stock Photo

Stock Photo

We did find an awesome website that will allow you (for a limited time) request a pdf template be sent to you customized for your wedding - totally free! So we did...and this is what they sent us...

We plan on sending this PDF to Kinkos to print for us, then we will affix it to the canvas. Once we get this done we will be posting to show how it turned out. I will also post a link to the website where you can get your own custom PDF file created in the resource tab (if I ever get that put together). 

What you think of the Tree Guest Book? We would love to hear your feedback...

DIY Boutonniere Trial #1

This is our trial mock up of the groomsman's boutonnieres. Neither Michelle nor I are florists by any means; but we are happy with the outcome thus far. We may try and change somethings but we think this will be the basic idea of the final product.

There will be a DIY instructions following. We did not take pictures along the way while making this mock up. We had no idea that we would actually like it. Just a heads up, the calla lilly is fake (real touch). The total cost of making the one we have estimated at $1.85! We will give a better breakdown of materials and cost in the DIY instruction post.

Once we get the hang of making the boutonnieres, we will move on to a bigger floral project: the brial party bouquets.

SO....what do you think? Any comments and/or suggestions are always welcome!!

Invitation Update

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?!

We turned yet again to Ebay to try and find wedding invitations. We found a set that is more in line with the fall color scheme. The listing was for 2 boxes giving us a total of 80 invites and response cards. We are thinking that should just about be the right amount...

Total price including shipping $18.50

(photo from ebay)

Hopefully we do not have the same problems again. This seller seems much more reputable. God willing, the next update should be full of pictures with Michelle and Sue licking envelopes and sticking stamps!

The Perfect Dress on Ebay?!

So, as I was telling you before, we went to David's Bridal and I got to try on my dress it is a Satin side draped A-line with beaded metallic embroidered lace, it has a lace up back, and split back with lace appliques! It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! This is the perfect dress but the price is not, as dresses go it is not outrageously priced but for us on a DIY budget it is out of the question! I could not see myself paying over $1000.00 for something I would never wear again so very I was very disappointed but now the hunt was on...I would have this dress, I didn't know how but I would have this dress!!

So, I started scouring wedding sites like The Knot, Weddingbee, Recycled Bride any many many others. I found that dress for sale many times but not close to my size or price range....UGH Then I thought let me check Ebay and Craigslist but no one was selling that dress! I checked daily but the perfect dress was seamingly out of reach. I decided to check Ebay again and there was one for sale a size too big but it had a soiled train and you could tell by the pics dry cleaning would not help.

Around Midnight I decided to check all the sites again for new listings but no luck. Went back on Ebay for another look and a new listing was there... It was the DRESS!!! My size, the right color (Ivory), and a price I could not resist. Some might say it is tacky to buy your dress on Ebay but I call it recycling and this is my wedding! I bought the dress for $150.00, yes less than 1/3 of the price at David's Bridal! It's been dry cleaned and preserved by the seller and is in excellent condition!

After many messages with the seller, I found out that she didn't know if she should sell the dress and was about to take the listing off! But after our messages back and forth she knew she had to sell the dress to me, she said " I think that it is fate that you messaged me right when I was about to cancel the listing. I know you were meant to have this dress" She has made me one very happy bride!

So here is a little sneak peak at my dress...

Sean close your eyes!!!

Are they Closed!?!

Here's

My Dress!!!

David's Bridal A-line Side Drape Strapless Gown Style 9V9665

Enter Speed Bump #2

I would actually like to reclassify this as Pot Hole #1....

The other day I posted that Michelle had gotten on awesome deal on our wedding invitations (if you missed it you can catch up here.) Well, we have been having problems contacting the seller - and by problems I mean we email her and she does not reply. Here are some of the messages....

Dear coopersmom1102,

Will you combine shipping with the other listing of this kit?

- dtree754

Dear dtree754,

Absolutely! I only charge actual shipping costs!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Great we are off to a good start....

Dear coopersmom1102,
Awesome! I just won both of your auctions. Please invoice me the total with the combined shipping cost and I will pay ASAP. Thanks again!- dtree754

Dear coopersmom1102,
Have not heard back from you...can you please send me an invoice so I can pay you? Thanks!
- dtree754

Hmmm what's going on? 

Dear coopersmom1102,
Not sure what happened? Been trying to get a hold of you. Hope all is will. Still waiting for updated invoice for the 2 invitation auctions. - dtree754

We gave in and paid the lady....

Dear coopersmom1102,
Just sent you payment for the 2 auctions. Not worried about the combined shipping. - dtree754

Dear coopersmom1102,Hello! When should I expect you to ship the invitations. They are for my wedding and I need to get them out in the mail to my guests like yesterday...lol

- dtree754 

FINALLY A RESPONSE LAST NIGHT......

Dear dtree754,
We lost everything in our back room due to the rain and a roof leak. I am sorry. I just have my pc back today and u can imagine, my ebay acct was last on my list. I no longer have the invites. Sorry

Oh wow...and what about the money we sent her....

Dear coopersmom1102,

Sorry to hear that could you please send my refund asap. Thank you

- dtree754

Dear dtree754,

I'm sorry I wasn't aware that u paid already. Absolutely. I will do first thing in am. 

Dear coopersmom1102,
Need you to refund. You said first thing in the morning and we are now in the afternoon. Please refund by the end of the day or I will needed to open a problem ticket. 
Thanks!
- dtree754 

Dear dtree754,
No problem! Paypal website was down this am. Should have emailed you. Sorry. 

We are still waiting to get that refund. Seems like her 94% feedback record is for a reason. She has quite a few upset customers that she seems to have excuse after excuse for.

Well back to the drawing board...

I have no hard feelings with ebay. After all its not ebay, but the buyers and sellers that are the problem. Just seems like this is becoming a very common thing lately. Ebay should have stiffer penalties for people who cancel auctions after they have been won...oh well...

My Dream Wedding Shoes!

My dream wedding shoes are Grace Glitter Platform Sandals by Stuart Weitzman... only a mere $ 355.00! Just out of reach! LOL

After reading a bunch of posts all talking about their do it yourself project...Glittering their wedding shoes! Perfect solution, I was headed to buy a pair of heels, then to Michaels to get all the supplies needed: glitter, fabric glue and mod podge.

These shoes were the inspiration for my next DIY project! A woman on the Weddingbee.com glittered her shoes pink and they looked great! I thought well I can do that, so off I went!

First stop was JcPenney to purchase my heels, I had a $15.00 off coupon and every penny counts! While waiting for a salesgirl to help me, I started looking at the clearance rack and what did I see...Gold Glitter Heels!

J Ferrar Gold Glitz Heel...My wedding shoes!

Needless to say my DIY project went out the window and I purchased these J Ferrar Slingbacks! They were originally $70.00: clearanced for 27.99 plus we must subtract my $15.00 coupon and my shoes cost a whopping 19.99 with tax!!! I think that I will do a little diy on the shoes, I want to put I and DO on the bottoms with Gold Stones! I can not wait to wear them!

Short break from wedding planning

A friend of our asked me to create a cake for her mustache themed birthday party. I decided that to fit her personality, only a cake on an extreme level would do. What better than a giant mustache?

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Semi-DIY Wedding Invitations

All I can say is WOW!!

Michelle was on Ebay looking for wedding invitation kits when she came across 2 listings for Laura Ashley Wedding Invitation Kits. There are 50 invitations and response cards in each kit. Originally retailing between $150-$200 (from what we could tell from the current Laura Ashley line); Michelle won both listings! Our cost? $0.99 and $5.24 plus shipping for a grand total of $16.00.

Great job Michelle!!!

Stock photo

With the help of fellow DIY Wedding couple, Tara and Philip, we also have the perfect template to print on the invitations. Please check out Tara's blog. She has a lot of great ideas and instructions!

Get your own template here for FREE! (GREAT FIND TARA!!)

David's Bridal vs. Maidzilla: Round 1

I went to David's Bridal with Sue & Danielle to look at bridesmaid dress colors - not for a wedding dress! After searching though a ton of dresses, and blind from the sea of colors, we decided to take a gander at some of the wedding dresses. I found one and decided a quick try on to see if the style was right so we could continue searching at a later date. And this is where is gets interesting...My Maid of Honorzilla had a little heated exchange of words with the sales girl. The lady did not want me to try on anything.

The salesgirl said, "Schedule an appointment. We are closing in 20 minutes."

Sue's head spun, twice, I think. In an effort to keep this blog 'G-rated' I will paraphrase the events that followed...Sue told the salesgirl that she needed put me in this dress and any other dress I wanted to try on. The salesgirl was completely caught off guard and at a total loss for words! Needless to say, she helped me into the dress...but it did not end there! Sue felt it unnecessary to stand firm on her original statement to the girl. She said at that moment, "she will try on a dress with an empire waste now."

We will never know what was said between the salesgirl and Sue after the walked off in search of the empire waist. I think it is save to say that Sue won round one at David's Bridal. The manager was walking back from the racks with Sue and the salesgirl was never seen again.

I hope that Round Two will be less eventful...but then again that's why we keep Sue around. We will just remember to give Sue her medicine before taking her out in public next time.

Enter Speed Bump #1

As promised, our DIY wedding adventure would not be without speed bumps and pot holes. Enter speed bump #1!


If you are doing your own wedding...make sure if you go with an unconventional location for the reception (ie VFW Hall, Park District building, ect)...make sure they have linen for the tables. It may not seem like a big deal, until your look into the cost of buying or renting 15-20 120" round and 5-10 90x156" rectangle tablecloths! These babies range in price from $12.99 to 30+ a piece! If this is something that you have not planned on, it will be a HUGE blow to your already small DIY wedding budget.

We turned to our good friends...Ebay and Craigslist. Craigslist was dead on arrival! However, we found several really good auctions going for tablecloth lots on Ebay. (Remember to always double check shipping costs before bidding as tablecloths are heavy and will cost you 80+ more dollars!) We were very fortunate when Michelle stumbled on a really awesome buy it now/make offer listing. It was for local pick up only in near by Arlington Heights. The listing was for 22 black 120" round tablecloths for a buy it now price of $150. Even though black was not Michelle's first choice, we took a gamble and made an offer of $100. Rejected. We countered with $130. Time expired on the offer. We decided to come in with one more offer of $135. If rejected, we would just buy the listing for the $150. Well, 2 hours after submitting the offer, someone swooped in and bought the lot from under us.

Moral of the story: If the listing is really good and you know it...just buy the damn thing! But I digress...

We have combed over countless listings. It is very frustrating. Michelle did find a pretty nice website called Weddingbee. It is there that Michelle may have found our saving grace....keeping our fingers crossed! Hopefully in the coming weeks we will put this speed bump in our rear view mirror and move forward with out major traffic jams!

Wedding Favor Brainstorm

Michelle and I have been throwing around several ideas for wedding favors. We know that we want something meaningful and something that our guests will actually use after the wedding.

1. Candy wrapped in tulle
2. Personalized mint tin
3. Candles
4. Picture frames
5. Candy in boxes

We have thought, researched, priced, and thought some more...here is the shortlist:

1. Michelle's Oatmeal Cookies in a Mason Jar
(stock photo)

2. Homemade Vanilla Extract
(Idea and photo stolen from Tara's getting married Blog)

3. Hot Chocolate Kits
(stock photo)

What are your thoughts on the "shortlist"? We are not sure what we will be doing yet but we are open to ideas and suggestions!

DIY Pew Bow

Here is what you will need. A detailed supply list will be included at the end of this post.

Wired edge ribbon is very forgiving and hold the shape you set it in.

Wired edge ribbon has two sides. Satin side (left) and raw side (right). 

Pull some ribbon of the spool (18-24 in) and pinch with your thumb.

Create your first loop. I use about 10" of ribbon to create one loop.

  

Twist the ribbon over and pinch. The twist is very important to keep the satin side out for the next loop.

Almost there! Right now we have 6 loops. You can stop here or continue for a fuller bow.

Here we have 10 loops (5 on each side of the pinch). The bow is a mess right now, but that's okay. 

Tie off your "pinch" with a satin ribbon. You can also use floral wire if you like.  Rest your thumb...it will be sore.

Let out some ribbon for the second tail to match the length of the first one. Fluff your bow.

Cut a long piece of your organza ribbon. I used my arm to measure - shoulder to finger.
Center in your hands and make 2 loops.

Now cross the ribbons like you are tying a shoe.

Imagine a shoe lace...

Pull the loops and adjust the tails.

Here is your basic bow! Can you see the finish line?

Cut a piece of floral wire - about 6" should do.

CAREFULLY thread the wire through the knot of the bow on the backside of your bow.

Bend and twist the wire around your satin bow to attach.

I like to fashion the wire in to a hook to pull double duty.

Fluff it up and adjust as needed.

One down....19 to go....

This is honestly a very easy DIY project. If you can find the ribbon on sale...even better! We got the ribbon 50% off at Hobby Lobby. The satin ribbon cost $4 on sale. Organza was $2 on sale.

This is what you will need to make this bow:

• Wired 2.5" satin ribbon (color pictured is ivory)
• 7/8" organza ribbon (color pictured is rust)
• 7/8" satin ribbon - use the same color as your wired ribbon (optional)
• Floral wire (we used 18 gauge which is pretty thick - pulling double duty as a hook.)
• SHARP scissors 

A 30 foot spool will yield 2 bows of the "5 loop" variety (the one we made above). You could possibly get 3 bows out of the spool if you make the "3 loop" variety. The estimated cost of each bow (at the above cost for materials) is about $2.50 per bow. This is a HUGE savings compared to retail cost of a finished bow!

Let us know what you think or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions! Good Luck!