Hiding In Plain Sight

I get so excited when I head to the mailbox and see a package!  I shouldn't be that surprised because I have been ordering things left and right for this wedding, but it's so exciting to see something other than bills and junk mail.

The latest package came all the way from Hong Kong!

What could be inside, you ask?

Yay, black light pens!  I picked up on this little RSVP trick from Mrs. Green Tea's post, who I believe learned about it from bees before her.  Gotta love the tips from the Bee!

There is a very high probability with our guest list that someone will return an RSVP that we can not read, or even worse, no name at all.  To nip this problem in the bud before it happens I ordered a couple of black light pens to discreetly number our RSVP postcards.  The numbers will match up with our guest list excel so if there are any un-readable RSVPs we'll be able to figure out who it is.

Who could it be?

Oh! It's guest #24

Are there any other super spy brides out there using a black light pen for their RSVPs?

Mo Money, Mo Problems?

I don't know about you, but I would like to test out that theory that more money results in more problems. Scratch that, just give me the money and skip the problems :)



I love numbers!  Math was my favorite class in school and lead to my finance degree.  No matter what my living situation was out of college (with a roommate or on my own) I was always the one to do the bills.  When Mr. E moved in he was more than happy to allow me to continue to deal with all of that. 

In the beginning Mr. E had an account with another bank, and did not have any checks so he would always take out money for his half of the bills and I would deposit it into mine.  This routine got pretty old pretty fast, with the all the trips to the bank so I suggested that he get an account at my bank so we could transfer money online. Well as luck would have it, my bank purchased his, so new bank account it was!  At this point we had the big talk on how we wanted to set up our finances. 

I don't know why, but I wasn't ready to have everything together.  And wouldn't you know, neither was Mr. E.  We decided to set up a "yours, mine and ours" deal where we each have our own checking and savings accounts and together we share another checking account.  At first that shared checking account's sole purpose was for bill transfers.  Once we were engaged it became the wedding fund that we would deposit into every month.  After the wedding we plan on using this joint account as our main account, depositing most of our paychecks into it and paying all of our bills.  We still like the idea of having our own separate "petty cash" accounts so we can surprise each other with gifts, or make those Coach purse & video game purchases without worrying.  I love that we were able to come up with a plan that worked for both of us, and in the end we will slowly transition into "our" money.

What are your plans when it comes to combining finances?  Are there any other number lovers out there? Seriously, give me a spreadsheet and numbers at work and I'm a happy camper.

Mail Us Some Love

Remember my guest book idea? It's ok if you don't, I won't hold it against you :)  Well more pieces of the puzzle have arrived, and it's time for a mock up!

Here's a refresher of the box I painted to hold some postcards

I ordered this mailbox (in white) from Walmart.com for $15.  I was very pleased with how fast it came in.

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I had originally purchased and painted these wood letters for a plaque to be displayed at the wedding, but ended up not following through with that idea.  (Any other DIY brides have that happen?) How perfect that they were the right size to fit on the mailbox?

I printed out a sign similar to the one used by Mrs. Pencils at her wedding to instruct the guests to leave us some love on a postcard.  We plan to add the postcards and strips from the photo booth into a scrapbook after the wedding.

The plan is to have postcards from various places that we have traveled to together.  If only I had thought of that prior to going on vacation!  Luckily BM Philly was able to send me some from Philly & Mama Elephant was able to pick up some Disneyworld cards when she was in Orlando for work.  We'll add in some more Vegas and New Orleans cards later this year.  If we can't gather up enough, we'll just supplement the rest with Dallas/Ft. Worth postcards or various ones from ebay or zazzel.

And now, the whole set up!  (Sorry for the white out of Mr. E's last name, but you know privacy and what not.)

I'm so happy with how this turned out and can't wait to see how it looks the day of the wedding. 

We're trying to decide between just collecting the postcards that night, or having Mama E take them home and then mail them to us over our first year of marriage.  What would you do?

Something Old

We all know how the saying goes: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. While there are some obvious items for my something new (dress, hairpin) and I love my somethings blue (shoes, earrings), I haven't nailed down my something old or borrowed yet.

Sadly, I will not be able to share this momentous occasion with any of my grandparents, as they have all passed on. There will be a memory page in the programs, but I knew I wanted to incorporate their memory with something more.

Picture of me and my two grandmothers at my first tap recital. Mom Mom is the one I am looking up at.

Thankfully my mom still has several pieces of jewelry from her mom (my grandmother more affectionately known as Mom-Mom to all of her grand kids). When I mentioned to her that I would love to use a piece of Mom-Mom's jewelry for my wedding bouquet, Mama Elephant came to the rescue with this brooch. (Doesn't it look very similar to icon of our very own Miss Brooch? minus the green)

Is that Gypsy looking on?

I love it! My plan is to have it pinned to the front of my bouquet similar to this.

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Did you incorporate any family jewelry pieces into your wedding?

Hive Help for Mr. E

Hey Hive!  I need some help for Mr. E.  Back in the day, I mentioned the ties we selected for the Dads, Groomsmen and Ushers, but we had yet to pick one for the groom. 

We did end up finding another slate tie for the best man, but still kept the navy one.  We thought this could be a possibility for Mr. E.

The only reason why I'm not gung ho on this look was because I didn't feel like Mr. E would stand out enough. 

During another shopping trip I found a blue and green tie (very similar to my original inspiration picture) and picked it up.  60% off? Yes please!

Mr. E is happy with either tie, but do you think maybe I should keep looking?

Which do you like best?

Option A (similar ties)

Option B (stand out blue/green)

Option C (keep looking)

If you have seen another tie (possibly online) that you think would look killer with the ties for the groomsmen, let me know!

Another Reason for a DOC

Another good reason to hire a wedding planner or day of coordinator?

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Halfway through our engagement (almost a year after booking our venue) we were notified that the event coordinator at our venue had resigned. I have heard of other instances when event coordinators have left a venue after a bride has booked her wedding, but I didn't think that it was going to happen to us.

The main reason I did not freak out upon hearing this news?? Kathie Seeley of Grand Events.  Mama E, Mr. E and I decided early on in the planning process to hire a planner to help us during the planning process and alleviate stress the day of the wedding. Kathie was the first vendor we booked!  She has been there from the beginning - she knows all of our plans/DIY projects, has copies of all of our contracts and will be the one in charge of everything the day of.  I like knowing that I will not have deal with any vendor calls on our wedding day.  I know that she will have our vision nailed down, and will be able to instruct the new venue coordinator to make sure that our wedding will be exactly what we're working so hard to achieve.  She has already saved us money by her extra research on our DJ & lighting package, and will be doing all of the flowers (in our budget) as well.

On a side note, ALWAYS get things in writing!  When I got in contact with the new coordinator at our venue, many of the prices had gone up.  None of these things (price per person on appetizers, price to open all the taps of beer, etc) are in the form contract that we signed with the venue.  The contract is mainly for the minimum, the deposits and the percentage of tax and service charge.  Thankfully I kept all of the email conversations with the prior coordinator where those prices were mentioned and the venue is happy to honor all of her commitments.

Will you be using a planner or DOC to assist in your big day?

The most expensive dress I will ever wear

That's right Hive, it's my wedding dress!!! I know you have all been on pins and needles waiting for this post ;) 

Mr. E is not a reader of this blog, but just in case..

OK, I think we're safe to proceed.

I'm so excited that it's in and it fits! After a handful of  dress shopping trips, I ended up with a dress I tried on in the second store. I lucked out and purchased my Mori Lee #2306 at another store during a trunk sale to get an additional 20% off.

Hopefully this means those weird wedding dreams of my dress coming in as a short blue tulle party dress will stop.

The front

The back...need to work on toning up my back

I LOVE the front with the beading and ruching

 

Beading on the bottom of the dress, and check out those sassy blue shoes!

 

And one more shot from the side

 

How long before your wedding did your dress come in? If it was a couple months (or more like mine did) was it hard for you to not want to put it on and lounge around like they did in the Friends episode?