Save the Date Savings, etc.

I just wanted to alert you to the current living social deal for $50 towards save the dates, invitations, or other printing goods at Vistaprint.  For $10, you can get all your save the dates customized and printed!  You can't beat that.  I just bought mine, and will follow-up with the final product.  Here's the link to the Living Social deal!!
https://www.livingsocial.com/deals/294394?ref=conf-jp&rpi=52631836

Blinging More Than the Ring

So, it's your wedding day, and you want to look and feel like a million bucks.  Obviously!  And after all the effort in finding a perfect dress and shoes, you want the jewelry to match.  Some of you may be blessed with heirloom diamonds or pearls, but others might be wondering how to get the same effect on a little dough.

 

First, it is perfectly acceptable to wear costume baubles on your big day.  None of your guests will know how much the pearls you are sporting cost.  None of them will care.  If you can find a strand that makes you happy, it doesn't matter if it costs less than $10, like this necklace from Forever21. 

I personally love a more dramatic jewelry piece, which, even when faux, can still cost a pretty penny.   Take a look at this Aussie stunner.  This Swarovski bib will set you back almost $1400.00.  Sorry, no can do!

And this crystal choker costs $375.

But, see how much bang you can get with your buck after the jump!

This Week's Eye Candy: Chevron? You're On!

This week's inspiration came from this beautiful photo.  All at once this entryway is modern yet classic, bold yet chic.  Who wouldn't want a wedding that says the same?  So, I put together this Chevron* inspiration board to help get your creative juices flowing.  Chevrons are all the rage this season, and they are a fresh take on Spring and Summer weddings.  Best of all, you can incorporate the funky design element for little to no cost!

First, these adorable chevron cookies are easy to make, and easy on your budget.  Incorporate these goodies at a shower, or even at a dessert table.  The instructions teach you how to make them in any color your heart desires.  Yum!!

How about including chevrons into your papergoods?  How about FREE WEDDING INVITATIONS (plus free save the dates, thank you cards, response cards, etc.)?!!!  I know, I just said free chevron invitations! 

Yes, this paper suite is available for free at weddingchicks.com.  You can customize the language and the chevron colors.  You're welcome world!

And, in case you haven't had enough, here's a beautiful handcrafted watercolor chevron wedding invitation.  While the price seems steep at first, once your order is 150+ invitations, you are talking about less than $3 bucks for your own little piece of art! 

You can find gems like this all over Etsy.  So, get searching for the design element that inspires you!  Plus, don't be afraid to go bold with your wedding decor.  Weddings have come a long way from their pink and ivory ancestors.  The new rule in weddings?  There are no rules!  Have fun, and express your inner diva.

*Also, if you are a fellow law geek like me, shout out if you still think of deference every time you hear the word Chevron.  ;)

Another Setback

Christian and I have the worst luck.  I always feel like when things can go wrong, they do.  Thanks a lot, Murphy!  Sometimes even the best-laid plans fall through.  However, what do you do when that continues to happen?  A wedding is bound to have its hiccups, but at some point, enough becomes enough.  The other problem is I feel bad complaining.  I don't want to be a debby-downer, and I generally want to talk about my wedding in the most positive light.  On the other hand, these setbacks make me sad. I realized, talking about it on my blog is the perfect way to vent, and to get your thoughts on these issues.  Some problems are okay to ignore, and others are not.  But, sometimes a girl needs some prospective from her readers. 

So, to give you the back story...

lost weekends

This weekend I had big plans for, well, wedding planning.  Yet, somehow work got in the way again.  Christian, my fiance, and I both had so much work to do this weekend that we kept pushing our wedding planning projects off.  It's too bad, because one of my big goals was to start our wedding website this weekend. 

With so many [free] wedding website options, the process just seems a bit daunting.  I've heard great things about The Wedding Wire, eWedding.com, and mywedding.com.  Jamie has already started to work on her wedding website (yeh, she's way ahead of me!), so hopefully she can fill us in with why and how she chose the site she did.  And, I promise I will actually do some research this week, and share it with all of you.  I know, if I'm a total slacker then what can I offer my readers?  Well, I promise this week won't let you down!  I've got some plans for lots of cost-saving posts, plus a shiny, new inspiration board.  

Did any of you tackle any fun projects this weekend?  

Cheers,

Colby

Thursday Eye Candy: Hello Lavender

Every Thursday will feature some hot eye candy based on a simple inspiration.  Today, I've put together some of my favorite lavender pics after I saw these amazing (and way out of my budget) shoes from Mr. Alexander McQueen:

However, why not take something that I know is way out of my price range, and use it to help find other beautiful objects and ideas?  Affordable, purple beauty is just beyond the jump....

Apples to Apples

To compliment Colby’s post, I thought I would write my first piece about research – one of the most unglamorous yet important tasks of a new bride. I got engaged three weeks ago and am new to the process of wedding planning. While I was initially overjoyed to spend my days googling wedding stuff and pinning reception photos, I learned nailing down specific price details is very overwhelming. 

My fiancé, Phil, and I are trying to determine the city where we will get married ; we have three great choices (all of which involve planning the wedding at a distance with vendors with which we are unfamiliar): 1) Charleston, South Carolina; 2) New Orleans, Louisiana; and 3) Nashville, Tennessee. Because we love all of these cities and have personal or family ties there, we decided that price may be a good determinant. In order to determine if there was one city that was clearly more affordable or too expensive, we began internet-based research to collect quotes/prices and came to an early conclusion: this is overwhelming! Based on the information provided online and in response to inquiries, it is nearly impossible to figure out which venues are in our budget and which are not. Why? The quotes you see online include or exclude a variety of different elements; it is really a lot of work to try and turn the quotes into comparable apples.