Thursday, January 29, 2009

Vintage Prairie Wedding


I was looking through local photographers' blogs and came across this picture at KampPhotography and thought it was beautiful.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bakerella = Amazing


One of my favorite baking blogs is Bakerella, if you haven't checked her out I suggest you do!

I was going through her latest posts today and came across Mii Cupcakes. How cool is that for my nerdy BF? Could I make this work for a wedding? Or perhaps I should just attempt it for Valentines.

Which reminds me of the gift I had planned on purchasing for Valentines this year until I found out it cost $35+ to ship to Canada. They do have Custom Mii Wedding Toppers though...

One step behind...

As much as I love planning for a wedding that has yet to come to fruition, searching the internet for inspiration, it kills me when I come across ideas that I thought were uniquely mine and realize that actually Martha Stewart thought of it too.

Like the use of hay bails for ceremony seating rather then chairs, via Ritzy Bee Blog.




I need to get engaged/married before I run out of ideas!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Wedding Movies

I've been sadly absent for the last two weeks as I've been swamped with work but I did get a chance to go to Bride Wars and love, love, loved it!


There is just something about a chic flick dedicated to weddings that makes me giddy, which has me racking my brain now for others.


I've watched:
- The Wedding Planner
- 27 Dresses
- 4 Weddings & A Funeral
- My Best Friend's Wedding
- Monsoon Wedding
- Wedding Crashers (not really chic flick)
- The Sex and The City movie
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding
- Runaway Bride
- Mamma Mia! The movie
- Father of the Bride
- Made of Honor
- Licence to Wed
- The Best Man
- The Wood

I think that's it. Anything I'm missing that I should watch?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Bridesmaid Dress options

Although I would like to make all the dresses I do love the simplicity of Jenny Yoo's designs. My future four BMs are all different body types so I would like them to wear something they are comfortable in but still look like they are in a 'party' rather then just guests standing beside the bride.

What do you think of these dresses, taking in consideration that I'm currently obsessed with the previously posted collared dress?




Sunday, January 11, 2009

For him...

As much as I'm all for the big day being the bride's day I still think it should hold meaning for the groom. Now my bf is a huge video gamer and heavy metal fan...not exactly interests that you would see aligning with my prairie chic wedding vision. How would you incorporate them in with out them seeming completely out of place?

Well searching online for ideas I came across this cake but I just can't see these working for me. Any suggestions? And what do you think of including a few metal songs for important moments? Not that I would know, without consulting the bf first, what would be appropriate.




In my defense

So apparently white, red & blue = Red, White & Blue of America and since I'm NOT American, rather Canadian, this is a no go.

Well I like it regardless.

Mainly I love red and white(see that's Canadian), and thought the addition of blue took away the Christmas feel. Not to mention that I'm currently in love with the collared dress below,from Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine, and thought that color scheme would work. Other ideas are welcome though.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Okay this has got to be the best thing ever...

I came across this today and words are beyond me. I would love to include this in my own future wedding but I see this far surpassing my budget. A wedding shot with 8mm.

Loving the Red, blue & white combo

I've been picturing a fall wedding for so long, with browns, oranges, and other warm colors, that I was very shocked when I fell in love with the color scheme of white with red and robin blue accents. How gorgeous would it be to wear red heels with your white gown? And the color combo reminds me of a family picnic, very inline with my vision of a backyard BBQ.

Like this wedding shown over at Snippet & Ink today...

My current budget estimations...

Before I start spouting off ideas that I have, here's the budget I'm working with right now for 200 guests... $10,900.00

Food, Alcohol & Corresponding rentals (dinnerware, flatware, etc) $6000 - Backyard BBQ theme, still not sure on the 'Open Bar' idea...more on that later.
Ceremony & Reception venues $1500
Music $0 -plan to use an MP3 player/laptop, make playlists and borrow a speaker system.
Flowers $150 -I really don't care about flowers and assume we can do some DIY work to create what we need.
Favors $200 -I figure $1/guest is fair as how many people actually REMEMBER their favor at the end of the night?
Invitations and other Stationary $150 -Another DIY project, letterpress, although beautiful, is way out of my budget
Our rings $200 -this is NOT including the engagement ring, that's the future fiance's expense!
Officiant $200
Photography $1000 -this extremely low budget is based on the assumption that family professional photographer will agree to do it for this cheap OR I get one of my friends that are starting out
Wedding Cake (& cupcakes) $100 -I'm assume the ingredients won't cost more then this but basically bff's Nan was a professional baker so that's my vendor!
Wedding Party gifts $200 -not 100% sure what I will be purchasing so this may increase, I'm leaning towards custom made jewelery for my BM's but who knows what he'll pick for the GM
Beauty & Pampering, day of $200 - this is JUST for me, is it cheap to not get the BM's too?
Groom & Groomsmen's attire $600 -I'm assuming he'd pay for the gm since I'd be paying for the bm's but who knows
Bridesmaid Gowns $200 -I plan to have 4 BM and being a bm myself 4 times I strongly believe that a bride should pay for their dresses UNLESS that bride is willing to let them pick WHATEVER they want and since I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to details I want to make sure they get the dresses I want. Now $200 seems low for 4 girls but alas I plan to have them made! We'll see how that ends up working
My dress $100 -WHAT!? I know these is extremely low but I refuse to spend a fortune on, all be it a gorgeous gown, a gown that I will wear for less then 24hours. So I'm budgeting enough for material to make it myself, and by myself I mean the future finance's mother...
Veil & accessories $100 -Again, DIY here we come. I'm currently in love with the bird cage veil but since I wear glasses I'm still not sure

Okay I think that covers it. Hopefully I haven't missed anything big and that when the day comes I can stick to this budget! Or come under...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Why am I writing this blog?

At 26 years old I have already been a bridesmaid in four weddings and helped out planning and organizing another two, not to mention the countless ones I've attended as a guest. I love weddings and more specifically I love planning them but alas I am not yet engaged.

Until recently I thought I was alone in my obsession to plan my own wedding, down to the nitty gritty details, subscribing to Martha Stewart Weddings (much to the bafflement of my boyfriend...one day babe, one day...) and attending wedding shows but then I decided to go outside of my normal website reads of The Knot and Martha and search through blogs for inspiration and found heaven!

I am not alone! There are others like me. And because I love making lists and researching I am going to use this blog to document my pursuit of the perfect wedding...for me!

Here is an overview of my vision and challenges:

1. I want a beautiful, prairie chic wedding on an affordable budget, currently I'm working with $10,000 but my maximum is $15,000. I refuse to spend more.
2. I have a large family on my mother's side that is very close, so my side of the guest list is AT LEAST 100 but could be as high as 150 and I'm guessing my future fiance's will be about 50. This means cutting the guest list to save money isn't an option, unless I want my family to disown me.
3. I need a venue that can hold my guest list but allow me to stay on budget while still maintaining the prairie chic feel that I want. I haven't been able to find that yet in my area - a prairie province in Canada.
4. Luckily I love DIY and plan to do as much myself as possible.