Our Aviation Wedding Plans, 09/19/09

[tortoisegirl]

I thought I would post our plans as they are a little unique! We're both really into airplanes, as my fh is a pilot and I work as an aerospace engineer. We're having the wedding at an aviation museum which has an outdoor deck that has a tented part (for the reception), and an unshaded part (hopefully for the ceremony). The deck overlooks a small airport. Our colors are white to match with the tent, black (mainly attendant clothing), and silver. Lots and lots of silver. I love all things metallic, including airplanes. We're doing a sunset ceremony with a dinner buffet reception. I've already booked a lot of the stuff and the plans are rather set. Things have gone smooth so far! I'm really having fun as planning, organizing, and shopping are three of my favorite things. It'll be sad when everything is done being planned and I'll have to find a new hobby.

The big project so far is crystal bead bouquets (I have a thread on it in the DIY Bouquet board). Our attendants, 3 each, are wearing things they already own. Suits (with airplane ties we're buying them) for the guys, and probably cocktail dresses or whatever for the girls. I have an informal tea-length halter dress I LOVE. We're doing a really informal ceremony. Once fh gets some time I want us to be able to book an officiant because that's kinda the most important thing of the wedding!

We get round tables with white tablecloths and black chairs included with the venue. Napkins as well. For centerpieces I plan to get some small but tall bud vases, and fill them with some blue stones for a little color, and then I'm getting some airplane cutouts in a shiney black and attaching wire to them and putting a few in each vase for some depth. I'll use a dowel to wrap the wire around to make sure curls in each, and hide the wire between two paper cutouts. Airplane confetti in silver will be around the vase, and then we'll have little silver plastic bowls of snacks like nuts and candy and dried fruit to tide people over while we're doing a short picture session before the reception officially starts. We'll have an open beer/wine bar for the guests and some background music by the DJ while they are waiting too.

The food will be really simple stuff. As long as it tastes ok I don't care too much. Nothing too formal as I'm calling the dress only dressy casual as it's kinda outdoors in the fall, so it could get a little cold for cocktail attire. I want people free to wear sweaters and closed-toe shoes if they want. All three caterers we're considering will let us stock our own bar so I was psyched about that from the budget point of view.

I'm planning to make a silver lame fabric-covered card box, and use the same fabric to make swooshes over the doorways to break up all the white plastic of the tent. Will also put some fabric under the cake since we plan on getting a budget-friendly cake. As long as it tastes good, I don't care too much what it looks like! Airplane cake topper of course.

The big surprise of the night is after everyone has had dinner and dancing has started, I have a caricature artist coming in for a couple hours to sketch our guests keepsake cartoons of them (and their date) in an airplane or something fun. I'm having a lot of people help me plan and throw ideas off of, and I haven't told anyone but fh about this! It'll be fun to surprise people (just have the DJ announce it I'm guessing).

I just ordered our save the date magnets which have a geographical view of our city from the wing of a jet. Hopefully people will notice the small details like that. I don't think I'll do any aviation stuff on the formal invites since we're doing seal-n-sends to be more informal and keep it simple. I am really uncertain about our guest list right now because even though we're inviting over 150 with dates, I'm guessing only 75 may attend. We just moved to a new city and none of our friends or family live close enough to drive. Everyone will be flying in so it's essentially a destination wedding. Most of our friends are just out of college and may not have the money. A lot of our family is also in the same boat, and even further away. Too bad it has to work out like that.

I'll be hanging white mini lights along the tent outline as lighting is a little lacking, and it'll set a nice mood. I'm hoping we'll be able to pull off a more informal event even though it is at night and a white & black kind of affair. Another decorative touch will be using metal for galvanized steel tubs for drinks, and putting the favor airplane lollipops (candy and chocolate choices) in sand in metal pails.

We'll be avoiding some of the traditional wedding reception stuff like a first dance (neither of us dance), but I made a fake bouquet for a bouquet toss, and I think it would be fun to just pass a microphone around for guests who wish to speak instead of scheduling toasts by certain people.

Our photographer will be a family member (although not immediate family). I'll just pay her expenses and a little extra and it's still cheaper for us! Win-win situation. The DJ was our big splurge so far as we didn't want to have any stress with announcements and cuing music. We got a white marble dance floor since it'll match the venue a lot better than the wood ones. The DJ is one of those big services with back-up and a lot of experience. Food is the biggest amount in my budget spreadsheet so far. I had never realized how much it is to get an event catered! For our area, I thought we got a good deal on the venue for having chairs/tables/linens included, as well as they'll coordinate some stuff for us like the set-up with the caterer, and have someone on-site to see over things. We also get the venue from early that morning until midnight, so we won't have to worry about having enough time to set up. Although, I don't think it'll take us long because the only time-consuming thing will be hanging lights with zip ties (all we are allowed). And, we have our wedding party and family members that all insist on helping with everything since I'm basically not asking anything of anyone until they get here.

My daddy is thankfully paying for most everything. I set a workable budget which is about half of the national average, and he said ok I'll do it! Awesome. My fh's parents are helping throw an alternative to a rehearsal dinner the night before for all our guests as we'll just do the rehearsal right before the wedding. They are also using their hotel points to get us a hotel room (which conveniently is located on-site at the venue) for the entire wedding weekend and then a little getaway in downtown. We're waiting a couple years for the big honeymoon vacation trip so we don't have to have as small of a budget and can know how much potential gift money we'll have towards it.

I have another family member who wants to be involved so I asked if she wanted to coordinate my way of getting around a bachelorette party--a girl's morning out the morning of the wedding so we can have brunch and get our nails done. I'm not very girly so even getting my nails done is a stretch! I plan to do my own hair since it's important for me to stay true to myself on the wedding day--I don't want to look back and see a lot of fakeness or not looking like myself reflected in the pictures. I'll be wearing crystal earrings and have heels so it won't be too un-girly. I'm getting my bridesmaids crystal jewelry, a piece or two depending on prices so it's the type and style of jewelry they may wear again. I'm trying to have my fh decide what to get the guys besides ties.

He's been included mostly through my asking him stuff, and keeping in mind what he's said was important to him vs. something he doesn't care about. He's just not the type that would get the planning done in the type of time frame I like! No one has been surprised with the amount of planning that has gotten done in just a couple months because that's just me. We had about six months after our engagement (December 2007) where we were still in school and not even sure where we'd live, so I didn't get to do any wedding planning. Now it's in full swing. It'll be almost a two year engagement by the time we get married but it's gone by so fast. We've lived together almost all our relationship (over 3 years) because we were friends first and it was one of those made to be things. Very glad we've done this; I couldn't imagine marrying something without knowing their little habits, clean vs. messy, etc. We've learned a lot about each other that will help our relationship in the long run.

Hope at least someone enjoys reading this. It'll be nice if I keep this as a wedding journal for us down the road. Who knows what will change in the planning in the next year? Best wishes to everyone.

[RosieAngel]

How cool! My Dad and I aren't professionals or anything, but we like to take flying lessons in the cessnas. :) An airplane-themed wedding sounds cool! And I love the casual atmosphere you're setting up. Casual weddings are tons of fun!

How many guests are you thinking of having?

[firespirit]

So if you are looking for additional ideas, we just got married at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and had a travel/aviation theme. Here are the pages in my journal that have pics of some of the stuff I made to go with that theme... (The journal is a lot to wade though so I found the pages with pics of relevant items).

This has the first crystal bouquets I made (I saw you were making those too) plus luggage tags and suitcase favor boxes..
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=2

Bouquets redone...
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=4

Boarding stub save the dates:
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=9

Boarding pass invitiations:
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=25

Suitcase card box:
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=27

Passport programs:
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=10569&page=29


I also found balsa wood planes on clearance at Michaels and thos were a big hit for favors.

[uptowngirl]

Sounds like that will be a fun wedding! My first thought was that you should talk to Carrie (Firespirit) since she just had an awesome aviation themed wedding - but it looks like she already found you!

[tortoisegirl]

Awesome...thanks everyone. Firespirit-sounds very similar to what we're doing!

Rosieangel-we're inviting a little over 150, including distant relatives, unmarried people bringing dates, and a few younger kids. For some reason I doubt we'll have more than 75 because of the travel involved, how many people we're close to that we're inviting (I feel obligated to invite a lot of family I haven't seen in years), and the economy right now as it is hitting the aviation industry hard and a lot of our friends are out of jobs. Also know quite a few people that probably won't come, and if they did, wouldn't bring a date. Should bring the list down to manageable, and our budget is good up to 100 people right now.

[tortoisegirl]

Here's a picture of my dress; unfortunately no one has been around except for fh so no pictures of me in it yet!

[Nekochanpurr]

What a neat idea for a wedding theme!! Sounds fun! :D I like your dress. <3

[tortoisegirl]

I was thinking about music today. I know our ceremony music will be pretty important as we won't be doing the "first dance" stuff as neither of us dance. I want to walk down the isle (my dad is giving me away) to Lonestar's "Amazed". I just worry that I'll tear up. That is my fh's and my song, and even when I hear it on the radio I get emotional. If I want to avoid crying at my wedding, is it a bad idea to play this? Should I just think about something funny to take my mind off the song?

For the prelude, I was thinking of stuff like Norah Jones...kinda softer music, but not classical. The processional will be very short so probably just one song. I really really would do "Watching Airplanes" (the country song), but I thought about the lyrics today and they are sad, not wedding-happy at all. Any alternative ideas, maybe something about sunsets or airplanes to fit the mood? We probably won't do the seating of the parents thing, so it would just be the six people in our wedding party and my fh. Could we just loop the chorus from the song a few times? Here it is:

Im just sittin' out here watching airplanes
take off and fly
tryin to figure out which one you might be on

we'd cut this out:
and why you dont love me anymore
right now im sittin' out here watching airplanes

Would people think about the entire song, or just be listening to what is played?

If we're hiring the DJ to do the ceremony music, would we just tell him the songs for what times, and then he'll fade them out because we won't want to listen to the whole thing for the processional and walking down the isle?

For the recessional, I want "You and Me" by Lifehouse. Always liked that song for some reason. Still need to think about what song for our entrance into the reception--probably something funny would be good. For the cake cutting, I think "Lost in this Moment" by Big & Rich would be fitting.

Can you tell my fh and I are into country? I'll have to see if he agrees with these songs, but I'm leaving the reception music up to him because I won't be dancing and I don't care too much about that music. We're also taking requests.

[tortoisegirl]

Got our save the date magnets from Vista Print today. The quality is decent (especially for the price), but I wish the text was a little more readable. The colors turned out slightly different than the screen. They should work ok though. We better finalize the guest list and get a few last addresses soon.

Found some shiny silver metal buckets at Ace for $4.29 each for favors. Decided to not even get sand for them because it might make a mess, and be heavy. No luck on galvanized steel tubs yet. I think they might be too expensive for us, so maybe I'll find some of those bendable plastic tubs with handles in white or black somewhere. Might only need one for water bottles for the ceremony as the caterer probably has enough for the bar.

Picked out jewelry for my moh and bridesmaids last night. It's crystal stuff to match the bouquets, and things I think they'd want to wear again. Plan to present it in a little monogrammed jewelry pouch. Each of them will get a bracelet, and either earrings (bridesmaids) or a necklace (my moh doesn't have pierced ears and I wanted to spend a little extra on her). i got myself some earrings too.

That's all for my update for today.

[tortoisegirl]

We went to an open house today at the sister property of a caterer we are considering. Not very much food to try, but everything was awesome. The lady we've been talking with has been very helpful, and we got the good vibe. Not at all pushy either. We're definitely almost 100% on this place, but there is another event we have with more caterers in a couple weeks, so we'll wait it out a bit.

[vicky_vicky]

Your theme is so cool! I like everything you mentioned! I would love t see a pic of your cake topper, do you already have one?

Your dress is gorgeous.

[tortoisegirl]

Got a lot done today! Ordered the jewelry after I had some time to make sure it's what the girls would like, and got myself some earrings. I am almost finished with the third bouquet, and then get to start mine. It's looking like I bought the right amount of wire, but I already ran out of satin ribbon.

Ordered from Joann's a lighted wedding arch (on sale for a lot less than they cost to rent), a plain card box to cover with silver fabric since I haven't found a good box and it was less than $4, black felt letters to say "cards", and stamp ink to go with an airplane stamp for our invitations to continue the airplane theme.

Called around to bakeries and found two within our price range (cake isn't huge on our priority list) near the venue that offer carrot cake and deliver (which is actually the only thing about the cake I won't compromise on). I'd love to do Costco sheet cake but they don't deliver, and I'm not having a friend or relative drive way across town to pick up a bunch of cakes in an area they don't know.

We'll have to go talk to the bakeries during the week though, which is an absolute pain because we live about 30-40 minutes from the area we're getting married in, and driving there after work during traffic is icky. It's also something fh is interested in doing, so we'd have to meet there and then have two cars to drive home.

I've been looking for the right cake topper and stumbled across a cool idea. They make acrylic airplane-shaped awards that would have the right look and size for the cake. They usually only take orders of 10+, but I could order a blank sample and take it locally to get engraved with our names and wedding date. That would still be under $50. I found some cool places that make custom aviation-themed cake toppers for $70-200+. That's kinda out of our budget, and what I'm thinking of could make a nice keepsake anyways.

Originally I thought of getting a crystal plane engraved, but all the ones we like are over $150 for the plane alone. Either way, I want to get a square mirror to set it on, since we're pretty sure about getting a stacked 2 or 3 layer square cake, very plain looking. The only thing fh cared about was that it was carrot cake with a good cream cheese frosting, and that he got to sample it first. Safeway's is really good (one of the places we are considering). I just don't want an ugly cake with flowers!

We'll probably not get the whole thing carrot cake though, maybe one layer can be a strawberry and cream cheese white cake. Definitely not keeping the top layer for an anniversary because I don't understand eating year-old cake. Do want leftovers though, and enough for people like me to have seconds (I'm addicted to sugar), so that means getting a pretty large cake.

I had a funny idea today to give the groomsmen $20 with whatever gift we're getting them (something small in addition to ties we bought that came it the other day and look awesome), so they can get their suit dry cleaned. I'm all about trying to cut down on costs for our wedding party. They are all wearing things they already own, and they would have come to the wedding even if they were not in it (travel costs). We also might help with hotel rooms if we can.

[tortoisegirl]

Vicky-that was funny-you posted about the cake topper while I was writing an entry!

[RosieAngel]

I like where this is going! I loooove carrot cake! :heart:

[tortoisegirl]

Turns out for some reason it is important to my fh to have a round cake...so oh well on the square idea. We did agree on a design though, very easily. We like the idea of polka dots on the cake if it's cheap enough to do, but no bows. We also like the simplicity of the plain one too.

No luck on the cake topper issue. Apparently I can't order a sample acrylic airplane piece because it will have a random logo on it as a "sample." Still scouring Ebay and such for a good deal. If anyone sees something cool and aviation-related for under $50 including shipping, let me know. =)

We have a meeting this week to try out a wedding officiant. That's pretty major on the things to do list since it's a necessity for a wedding! For some reason it was difficult to find a male officiant in our area who does non-religious ceremonies and doesn't seem too hippie (our families would probably be more comfortable with the whole non-religious ceremony thing if the officiant is more mainstream if you know what i mean).

[tortoisegirl]

**Awesome news**

I was searching Ebay for a cake topper (like I do everyday as well as look at Craigslist for wedding stuff) and came across the same item I lost a bidding war on a couple weeks ago. Exactly what both of us wanted! It was under my budget as well, and it's a kind of crystal figure we can get engraved for keepsake. Score...and just when I had given up too. See attached. I sure got lucky it was on Buy it Now.

[TeacherSonja]

I love your cake topper!

[firespirit]

**Awesome news**

I was searching Ebay for a cake topper (like I do everyday as well as look at Craigslist for wedding stuff) and came across the same item I lost a bidding war on a couple weeks ago. Exactly what both of us wanted! It was under my budget as well, and it's a kind of crystal figure we can get engraved for keepsake. Score...and just when I had given up too. See attached. I sure got lucky it was on Buy it Now.

Alright! I'll give you it's a great find and really neat! Buuuuuuut, it's not a Boeing plane :(. LOL!

Where (on the plane) will you have the engraving?

[tortoisegirl]

The stand on the bottom has a flat part that should fit names and date pretty well. I also would have wanted a Boeing plane, a 727 (my favorite). But, the DC-8 is pretty classic. The only other one I've seen in crystal is a 737, which I find a tad boring.

[Kay]

No luck on galvanized steel tubs yet. I think they might be too expensive for us.

You can get HUGE, round galvanized steel tubs at Wal-Mart in the section by the garbage cans/auto department (at least that is where they are at in my local Wal-Mart). Price?? Only $14.88. They have some HUGE HUGE ones for $34 (I think). I had already planned to use a few of these at my wedding and had found them for $32 elsewhere, much smaller... I ran into these last week by chance last week looking for something completely different!!

[tortoisegirl]

No tubs at our Walmart, but it's not a Super Walmart and has quite a limited selection. I did find some nice ones on Craig's List for $15 each (2 of them) that might work out. They are definitely large enough for drinks and look a little nicer than plastic. Also fits our theme/decor nicely. Thanks for the tip though! I really miss Super Walmart from before we moved. I was really used to shopping there and finding everything I needed.

Looked at cakes today and was told we should wait until next summer to order. FYI-Apparently Albertson's has a big sale every summer anyways for 25% off cakes and other bakery stuff, and you only have to put down a small deposit to lock in the discount. Safeway didn't have anyone to talk to but we got the funny look like we're planning ahead too much for a grocery store cake.

The wedding officiant we met tonight was awesome. Definitely going with him--got the good vibe. Price is right as well. Always a good thing.

When I was at Walmart today I picked up a bud vase and some glass gems to try out the centerpieces. Fh thinks the vases might be too small at the base and tip over if the table gets bumped so we'll have to just test that out. My guess is it'll be weighted down enough that it won't be a problem. Really nice bud vases for $1.50 by the way. I want a bud vase to cut down on cost of vases and glass gems to fill them, and something more vertical to put the airplanes on wires in so they stay up. I'll take a picture when I put it together because it'll make a lot more sense then me trying to explain it.

I already got the wire because we had it sitting around the house, and I ordered the airplanes with come confetti at a great place online that has confetti in every imaginable shape. Found a nice blue glass gem today. Not as cool as the ones I like at save-on-crafts, but no shipping and a slightly lower cost is good. Now I can also test how many bags of gems I'll need.

Picked up some sparkle silver lame fabric to make the card box, and also decided to make my own cake stand since I haven't found anything I like, and I doubt we'll want a cake stand to keep. Hopefully I can buy a square board planed flat enough to cover with fabric using tacks, and place the cake on it. Got enough for other small projects as they will come up so everything can coordinate. $3/yard was a pretty good deal. Bought more ribbon for the bouquets too. I'm making signs for things in black frames we already have, so it could be a cool border inside the frames too.

[Kay]

Glad I could almost help.

Looking forward to seeing a picture of the card box you make!

[tortoisegirl]

Picked up the tubs today--awesome! They were exactly what we wanted. Even fh got excited because he knew how much time I had already spent looking.

The centerpieces worked out perfectly. The vases are really stable, and look nice. I still want to take a picture, but I can use one package of vase gems (under $2) for three vases! So, assuming we need 12 centerpieces, they will be under $60 for the vases, gems, airplane cutouts, and confetti to sprinkle around. Glad we could try that out first.

Hopefully the card box won't be too much of a pain. No idea what I'm going to use yet to stick the fabric to the cardboard, but I'll test out craft glue to see if it will bleed through the fabric. Second choice would be tape. At least letting it sit awhile will test out the adhesive properties before the big day.

[TeacherSonja]

Hopefully the card box won't be too much of a pain. No idea what I'm going to use yet to stick the fabric to the cardboard, but I'll test out craft glue to see if it will bleed through the fabric. Second choice would be tape.

I have used a tape that is sticky on both sides and it held pretty well. It's so thin that you can't even notice it under the fabric. I wasn't sure if that's what you meant to use when you reffered to "tape", so I thought it would be helpful. :)

[tortoisegirl]

Started working on my bouquet over the weekend. I like the bead color even more on the wire strands. I made the wires quite a bit longer and the beads are slightly larger. More strands too. I'm excited to be close to finishing the bouquets.

[tortoisegirl]

I got out cake topper today in the mail and it's gorgeous! Also got all the bridesmaid's and mine jewelry and the pouches I got them. Our lighted arch is still on the way. I'm thinking of putting it together to try it out and see if I want to add more decorations or not. Still working on the save the dates. I got a cool airplane stamp but it came without a backer so I might have to pick one up so it will work and I can stamp the envelopes.

[Kay]

Do you mind sharing pics/prices/info on your lighted arch??? I would love see this. Is it battery-operated??

[tortoisegirl]

I bought it online from Joann's (you can easily find it by searching for "lighted arch" on their website. $29.99 marked down to $22.49 right now. They do free shipping on orders of $35 or more, or 40% off one item (not sure if sale items are ok). It plugs in as far as I know, with 200 lights. That'll work fine for us because we're having to run a network of extension cords anyways for the mini lights and the DJ. All the power outlets are on one side of our venue, and all the electronics are to be plugged in on the opposite side! I'll see if I can get a picture when we try it out.

[Kay]

thank you!

[tortoisegirl]

Hope that helps. Are you thinking of buying one? I looked on Craig's List and most people were selling them for more money!

[Kay]

I'm not buying anything yet... but I am looking, a lot! :D

[tortoisegirl]

The arch finally arrived. Silly thing too. I got the first package of stuff from Joann's and the packing list said the arch was there but it wasn't...arrived about a week later, and then the apartment complex didn't give me a slip that I had a package. And, now that we have it we have a busy weekend planned so it'll be awhile until we can try it out.

Got the officiant booked, and picked a caterer but haven't had time to set things up. I never did ask how much the deposit was either.

I have family coming in this weekend so I'll get to try on the dress and have them take a picture of me in it and get some comments. I want to see what my aunt thinks about the alterations I want to get. They are pretty minor, but she seems to know about stuff like that. I have been so bloated lately I hope the dress doesn't look horrible. Thankfully it's not at all tight around the midsection though (it needs to be taken in, and taken out in the bust).

[tortoisegirl]

No dress pictures, but my family liked everything I've bought so far. Yay.

[tortoisegirl]

Found a couple things while out shopping today. I bought a beverage dispenser (clear plastic with a black base) for water at the bar. Renting even an orange sports-type dispenser would have been more than I paid because it was a store going out of business sale. I don't want to have pitchers out on the tables because I don't like the look of it, and this will look cool at the bar we're renting (black granite I think).

Also found some zipties for us to put up lights with. Around xmas time we'll be light shopping as we need A LOT (close to 1,000 ft if we can swing it).

[NOTKT]

Sweet! Progress is always good!

[tortoisegirl]

Oh Yeah. I started working on our registries (researching big items we plan to ask for) because we're really picky...and I'm waiting on fh to have time to go over some stuff that I need him for like picking out aspects of our ceremony.

Found some awesome stuff to add to our registry. Lots of things I didn't realize that we needed until recently (we just moved into our first place without roommates a couple months ago), and some big-ticket things that are long overdo like a nice vacuum and a real set of pots and dishes.

While my family was visiting my aunt actually went out and bought us wine glasses because embarrassingly-enough we were down to one glass due to breakage and loss from roommates and such. It was nice of her, but I felt bad to not have the kitchen stocked.

[tortoisegirl]

Put the arch together today and it looked awesome. We got a little lazy and didn't put the lights on it except just draped it over one side to see that we liked the look, so I didn't bother taking a picture. We both agreed the white metal tubing with the white lights looked great as-is and we don't want to do tulle over it. No pictures, but the thing was a lot bigger/taller than we expected and an awesome deal from Joann's. It didn't come with instructions, but I'm sure the second time around will be much easier.

[EarlyBird]

Oh Yeah. I started working on our registries (researching big items we plan to ask for) because we're really picky...and I'm waiting on fh to have time to go over some stuff that I need him for like picking out aspects of our ceremony.

Found some awesome stuff to add to our registry. Lots of things I didn't realize that we needed until recently (we just moved into our first place without roommates a couple months ago), and some big-ticket things that are long overdo like a nice vacuum and a real set of pots and dishes.

While my family was visiting my aunt actually went out and bought us wine glasses because embarrassingly-enough we were down to one glass due to breakage and loss from roommates and such. It was nice of her, but I felt bad to not have the kitchen stocked.


its funny you mention this... When i realized what i truly needed was when my family/friends visited... i realized i needed washcloths (we have those pouffs we didnt realize we didnt have wash cloths)- extra wine glasses, Apple peeler (cousin is diabetic, she was eating an apple and doesnt like the skin, since i like skin, its never been a problem) etc etc.. thats how i did my registry :)

[tortoisegirl]

Haha. So many times recently I'll be trying to bake/cook, and realize I'm missing things because I had been using roommates...

It's surprising once you start looking how much stuff could be useful. No idea where we'd put it all in the kitchen though!

[caligal85]

It's surprising once you start looking how much stuff could be useful. No idea where we'd put it all in the kitchen though!

It's true! I've been going through the sites of the stores we plan on registering at and I keep seeing stuff that I'm like, "How many times have I needed that!!" or "I could have used that today!!"

[sunflowersummer]

I know you have a cake topper but I had to share these with you:

http://www.glasscaketops.com/planes.html

My FH is an aerospace manufac. engineering tech and loves anything to do with planes...but we're not having a plane theme so I said no to them! haha

[tortoisegirl]

Those are lovely! I wish we could have afforded one (I looked a few months back at them). I just got our cake topper back from the engraving place. Because of the shape, they were not able to engrave it. But, we came to a compromise with placing a small silver plaque on it with our names and wedding date. =)

[tortoisegirl]

Buying invitations this weekend because I got a free shipping coupon (saving $15!). Score. This is the time I'm glad we already picked out what we wanted.

[tortoisegirl]

It was a good weekend wedding-wise. We agreed on invitations and got the free shipping deal. Also worked on my bouquet a lot more. I could probably finish it in one more weekend. I'm holding off on the cake platter because I don't know what to do with it when I'm done covering it with fabric. Should I plastic wrap it to try and keep it clean? I don't want it to get dusty since we're putting the cake directly on it. I'm also afraid the card box will get dented if I decorate it before I have a box to completely put it in. I guess that's an excuse to hold off on that.

I finally heard back about making the group hotel reservation. They are charging about $30-40 more than the current going rate for group rates for next year. So, I'm planning to group book less rooms then I initially thought (they do the deal where a month before the event they release the rooms). Then, notify everyone that they should just go ahead and make the reservation early if they can. If they book without the group rate, they will pay less and have it fully cancel able. If they book with the group rate, when the month before hits, it is not able to be canceled/refunded.

I think that deal absolutely sucks, but not much I can do about it as this is the hotel we need to go with due to geographic locations. I also looked into getting a meeting room for our families and friends to hang out in the night before the wedding and have a little pizza or informal dinner. Guess what the rate is to rent a meeting room for the evening? $1,000. That definitely won't work as we're not paying much more than that for the wedding ceremony/reception venue that includes more extras. Renting a smaller room at the wedding venue across the street costs more than $1,000 as well.

My idea (original idea btw, reserving a room was fh's family's idea as they are paying for the "rehearsal dinner") is to reserve a picnic shelter at a local park ($55 thankfully) for the evening before the wedding. The cons of this are weather (which the time of year of the wedding might be cooler than people would like), and people having a short drive from the hotel. We can probably carpool and I wouldn't expect that to be a problem.

[Kay]

I would go for the park!

[tortoisegirl]

Yay! Hopefully people won't complain it's cold...but I plan to schedule it earlier as well.

[tortoisegirl]

I braved Party City today (Halloween mania) and found silver forks and napkins for 40% off. Also got some cool black sparkly tissue paper to put in the silver buckets to cushion the candy favors.

I've been looking for some small tallish metal buckets to brace the wedding arch (to fill with sand). Haven't found any yet. Looks like garden season is over. Still scouring Craig's List, which is rather fun.

Also bought some silver sparkly tulle on Ebay. Yay.

[tortoisegirl]

Got a draft of our ceremony and vows done. Our officiant has an awesome huge Word document of sample ceremonies, vows, readings, just about everything. Found things that I liked and edited. I'll have fh read over it and give me some feedback. Him putting something together wasn't happening, but he'll make time to give me comments on things when I ask.

It's pretty short and very us. I'd still love to find an aviation love poem but haven't found the right one. I can keep looking though because the officiant doesn't care if we want until the last minute to give him our ceremony script. I also put my MOH on the assignment since she's asked for things to do (she lives out of state from me and felt a little discluded).

Our invitations came in and they messed up the ink color by giving me gold instead of silver. I'm going to get that fixed, hopefully, and maybe change the invitation style if they will let me since I wasn't happy with that either. The printing and paper quality was awesome though.

We received a surprise in the mail. Got a second crystal airplane from Ebay. Not sure what to do because I'm definitely not paying to send it back, and the transaction was weeks ago. If I don't hear from the seller I might just give it as a gift or something to our officiant or someone special...

I need one more day to finish my bouquet and then that project will be done. I have tons of extra wire so that is something else to sell off on Ebay or whatever.

[tortoisegirl]

Our invitations ended up being a big mess. They sent them in the wrong ink color (gold instead of silver), and I didn't like the paper color. It definitely looked white on the screen and I missed the fine print that it was ecru. A week later, two phone calls, two e-mails, and they say they will re-print them in silver ink but can't change the paper (even though they already had to re-do them and it was the same price). The ink was more important to me than the paper, but it was disappointing not to get everything 100% perfect. No option to cancel the order either.

Hopefully I'll have the chance to write them a review because it is a generally well-reviewed company and I think their customer service is lacking.

[NOTKT]

Oh no! I'm sure they will be OK in the right ink, though. :)

[EarlyBird]

oh no! Im so sorry, i understand being upset about the color. i am dead set on ecru and if somebody sent me white id be upset. but you know, the good news is, its not necessarily something other people remember (an invitation) but i know that doesnt make it seem any better

[tortoisegirl]

They turned out well this time! Once the ink was fixed to our sparkly silver, I don't mind the ecru. Fh even likes them. The style was the big thing--we both wanted seal-n-sends that are very simple but still classy.

[caligal85]

They turned out well this time! Once the ink was fixed to our sparkly silver, I don't mind the ecru. Fh even likes them. The style was the big thing--we both wanted seal-n-sends that are very simple but still classy.

Glad they finally turned out. I think I missed this: what company did you go with? We're also looking at doing seal-n-sends.

[tortoisegirl]

Seal-n-send.com