lanterns

I need to buy paper lanterns, like, this week and I keep losing the web site.

10 8" beige lanterns

10 12" beige lanterns

10 8" sage lanterns

10 12" grass green lanterns

this is a story about how much i rule.

Last night, Darren and I were brainstorming guestbook ideas and came up with an awesome one. We think it's awesome, anyway. Acquire a bunch of old wedding photos from antique stores, have guests write messages on them, and then put them in our wedding scrapbook or a separate book.

Well. I thought to myself "I bet I could find some on ebay." So I did a quick search and right there on the first page was an auction for a full album of vintage wedding photos. For five bucks. Ending in 34 minutes. I bid, I won. Rock.

Unrelated: I bought the ties.

Also unrelated: Instead of going to Ikea and getting a bunch of matching vases, we're going to scour Goodwill/thrift stores/antique stores and find a bunch of random ones. All the flower arrangements are going to look the same so I figured it might be a little more interesting having a variety of vases.

I am pleased.

ikea

I'm looking for some kind of placemat-type thing to put under our centerpieces to make guest tables a little more interesting. Sooo... list of options below.

A bamboo-looking one from ikea

This one is apparently made from palm leaf.

And this one is bamboo.

More palm leaf.

fans

Looking for inexpensive paper fans to include with the programs at the ceremony, the cheapest place I could fine them was here. 100 programs, with 100 fans. Doo doo doo.

Aaaand I may have found a cheaper place for lanterns here. Or here.

It all comes down to shipping costs. And whether I can find them at a lower price locally, like the dollar store.

decor, finalized.

I ordered my first batch of flowers today! Gotta make sure they don't suck before I order the rest. Here's what I'll end up with:

This vase ***edit** HOLD UP. Shipping for those vases is as much as the actual cost. DEALBREAKER.

So instead, I'll find some bud vases and fill them with some twigs (or these twigs... probably the first ones because they're cheaper. Heh). and a single daisy (I'll break up the bouquets) for the centerpieces.

I'll make some garlands for accents on the head table and probably buffet table.
The centerpieces on the head table are going to be made with three vases I got from work and some vase gems, so we (me, Marsha, Kate) can put our bouquets in them.

I'll make boutonnieres for the ushers/pins for the attendants with these flower heads.

Similarly, I'll make groomsmen boutonnieres with these wooden flower heads.

Darren's boutonniere.
My bouquet.

Ladies of honor bouquets.

Boutonnieres for our dads.

Wrist corsages for our moms.

Finally, because ceiling draping is so expensive (like $600 minimum, srsly!), instead we'll hang green and white lanterns up (sans actual lights). The tent lighting we're renting plus the shitload of Christmas lights I acquired should provide enough light- the lanterns will just be there to add a touch of awesomeness.
ALSO, I bought a new flower clip for my hair. Ordered it yesterday. The other one just wasn't doin' it for me. Or, the other two that I got when I ordered one. I mean, I like them, but I like this one better:

So maybe the other ones can be for mah ladiez.

(for my own reference: today I ordered the bridesmaids bouquets, 1 daisy bouquet, all the flower heads for pin-making, and the flowers for garland-making).

ooh

This vase is super neat.

I kind of want to buy a couple sets of them and, instead of putting full bouquets at each table, do a single flower. With twiggy accents, like this. Or these. Or both! I might find different flowers for the centerpieces altogether... maybe just the two types of branches? Hmm.

Also, I might have my ladies of honor wear these wrist corsages instead of carrying bouquets.

Double hmm....

At the wedding fair, there was a catering vendor who had these fantastic plastic forks that totally looked like real silverware. I picked one up and was like OSNAP! These are plastic! WANT!

And I can get them here. Or here. Or here. Booya!

more stuff

Sounds like we're going to Vegas. WHAT UP?! Darren's parents have a timeshare there and they're not going to have the time or money to go this year, so they offered it to us for our honeymoon. Amazing.

Anyhoodle. Darren mentioned paper lanterns, so I'm looking into places I can buy them wholesale. So far this place has the best prices. Oh wait, maybe this place does. IKEA has them, but $4 each? Really? Come on.

And finally, iffn' we end up getting tables and chairs for free from Darren's grandma's church (hope, hope), if the chairs are ugly, I'm going to have to get covers. And this is the cheapest place I can find them.

Doo doo doo...

rocks rock

I was thinking more about centerpieces. Right now the plan is to put these daisies into these jars. I'll have to trim the stems. And I'll put ribbon or something around the tops of the jars.

Well, I felt it was lacking. So, long story short, I decided that I'd fill in the empty jar space with rocks. Easy and a little more interesting to look at, plus it will hide any damage I do when I hack off the long-ass stems on those flowers. I figured black stones, since it is one of our colors and is under-represented in our decor thus far. I can buy a 5 pound bag of smaller stones, and a two pound bag of larger ones, and mix em up for jar fillin'. So easy. And cheap. Like the whorish rocks they are.

more purchases

I spent $25 on 480 feet of white Christmas lights. Actually I used a Wal-Mart gift card I received for Christmas. So... I think it's safe to say that the probably 20 x 60 foot tent that we're probably going to rent is probably going to be sufficiently lit.

I also bought ribbon, and safety pins for decorating purposes and attaching the pins to the back of the bouttonieres because they're made of wood and corsage pins are a bitch anyway.

lights and such

So if we get married on the farm, our reception would be in a tent, and we'd have to consider lighting it.

BAM. We could put these lights inside these lanterns (and these ones). Those plus white Christmas lights draped over the ceiling would probably do the trick- the less we have to worry about extension cords, the better. These lanterns even have build in LED lights.

Unrelated: I like these for centerpieces. But I also think I'd want something brighter... like perhaps these, or this guy.

We could put small bouquets in mason jars- they're super cheap at this site. I think they'd be cute and definitely fit if we had a farm wedding. :) Tie some ribbon around the top... heck yeah.

We need to start making decisions. Darren will start a discussion, like "I think we should get married in September," but the conversation dies before we actually, you know, decide anything. I feel bad trying to force him into actually planning stuff, but it's going to have to be done at some point. Blurgh.