^ my wedding was around 4500, but that was around 35 ppl.

3/25/2009 8:37:20 PM

Fondant doesn't have to be awful - if made properly, fondant actually tastes like marshmallows and is really good. Not just cakes makes fantastic fondant - and their website doesn't actually do them justice. They made a spectacular cake for my best friend's wedding.

Their website is wearenotjustcakes.com. Pam and Laura are great!

3/25/2009 9:03:58 PM

That's not too bad. I doubt we will even have that many people at ours but we do want some extravagant things such as, at the beach, two big oceanfront beach houses for family, steel drum band, strings for the procession (might just use good ol ipod for this), and a good photographer. On food and alcohol we think byob and cooking on the barbie on one of the decks, my stepdad is a chef so it works out. The bridal party will most likely be just my sister, maybe my best friend too. Same with him....

I dunno if 10k can do it...

3/25/2009 9:07:19 PM

^Our budget is $5k for 100-120 people, depending on who actually shows up. We've got a string quartet, a DJ, and some other really awesome things. You just have to know where/how to trim the cost down. For instance, our venue was $200. It's a gorgeous riverside park with a historic building for the reception, but it doesn't break the bank. We've also enlisted the help of friends and family. You can have a nice wedding for a reasonable cost, you are just going to have to work at it, and you'll have to know what you really want.

3/26/2009 1:40:26 AM

i'm going to hope that Fumbler doesn't search for my posts and wouldnt think to look in here. chris, don't scroll down and read this...it's a surprise!!































shari, chris's sister, and i are planning on doing a forestry-themed rehearsal dinner (chris is a forester). we're using pine trees/pine cones/etc for centerpieces and really want to get a smokey bear cake. we don't want just a plain ole sheet cake with smokey's face on it. for the record i didn't think we needed a cake but shari really wanted one and it's not my money. we want something that's more 3d and creative. we are in rocky mount but shari will be coming from pittsboro and could pick it up on her way here. any suggestions for cake maker people that could do this for cheap? or, any bear shaped 3d tins that dont look like teddybears?

3/26/2009 9:01:03 AM

I don't know about how cheap she would be for a cake like that, but Your Perfect Cake in Greenville is wonderful. She's doing our wedding cake, and the taste tests were absolutely amazing. She's right next to campus though, so it'd probably take you at least 45 min. to an hour to get there from Rocky Mount. I'm not sure if you want to drive that far.
http://www.yourperfectcake.com/ Go to the "Photo Gallery" and then select "Animals" from the drop down box. She's got some pretty impressive stuff for that.

3/26/2009 9:32:27 AM

If anyone is still looking for a photographer, I highly recommend Laura Manzare, her work is amazing. You can find her at http://www.lauramanzarephotography.com

Shes from the Charlotte area, but is willing to travel.

3/26/2009 11:41:20 AM

So, I think I'm in love with this photographer: http://www.iamaposer.com/?p=431

3/26/2009 1:07:40 PM

I used Diane McKinney as my photographer (http://dianemckinney.com/)

She was so professional and such a sweetheart. Our flower person sucked so she helped my groomsmen pin on their flowers. She was also very professional and showed up early and dressed professionally. She was quiet throughout the ceremony (*This is so important. We went to a wedding where a woman wore sneakers and was sweating and nasty. She was huffing and puffing through the whole ceremony and getting in the way of guests. It took away from the whole atmosphere.)
She takes more pictures than she says she will just in case. And she has a whole lot of pricing levels. We got the cheapest one available that also came with the ability to own the rights of your pictures (there's only one that doesn't let you own the rights which is the cheapest.) She usually brings an assistant as well that took lovely pictures.
Anyway, I liked her so much that I wrote a review for her and told her I would be a reference for her in the future, which I've already done a couple of times.

3/26/2009 2:00:58 PM

this is our guy. http://www.tomsapp.com/TS_fl/index_loader2.html

after our engagement photos (which we did with our dog) he used some of those on his pet photography website http://www.wilmingtonncpetphotographer.com/ (yeah, that's us on the main page, haha)

3/26/2009 2:19:03 PM

Definitely check out http://www.scottclevengerphotography.com

I've used him through work for all kinds of photography, and he's going to shoot my wedding/engagement pics too. He's AMAZING.

3/26/2009 8:04:14 PM

se7entythree, that sounds like something Edible Art could do, but they're also kind of expensive for custom orders.

3/26/2009 9:08:15 PM

this girl gets TONS of great reviews http://www.cheyenneschultz.com/

and if I knew about her before...I prolly would've looked in to obtaining her...amazing stuff.

3/26/2009 10:22:04 PM

ill shoot your wedding for a thousand bucks. http://zerocoolbeans.org

3/27/2009 10:08:45 AM

^Not with that Carolina shirt on you won't

3/27/2009 10:11:19 AM

carolina and state alum. i can photoshop the shirt to state if you want. hah.

3/27/2009 10:13:47 AM

I would love to get Curtis Brown to do mine, but he does a lot of Broadway shoots in NY lately, hes incredible. His studio is located on glenwood ave downtown.

3/27/2009 10:14:44 AM

^^ That would be pretty funny actually lol.

3/27/2009 10:15:46 AM

grrr grandmommy. warning: WORDS

i went to visit my grandma yesterday and brought lunch over. she wanted to know where we are registered. i explained we had universal wedding registry online with most of the stuff we REALLY want on it, but that i understand some people don't like to shop online and will only shop in rocky mount, so we registered at target and belk for things that those people especially can buy (coughgrandmommycough).

so she says "well, where are your towels"
"at the company store online. they're in our universal registry"
"well...why dont you have any at belk?"
"these are a certain cotton-bamboo blend that we want. mom has some like it"
"well i bought her some at belk. you can use towels right?"
"yeah, but we don't neeeed towels and we registered for these at this place. there are sheets and some kitchen stuff at target here in town, paula deen plates at belk..."
"well i don't shop online"

UUGGGGHHHH. we dont want towels from belk. if you buy them we will take them back. she doesn't understand that we registered for stuff at target and belk, somethings we wouldn't have registered for period, just so SHE and granny could pick something out for us. apparently she's buying us towels.

i told her also that although i understand people dont like giving gift cards, the 3 things we REALLY REALLY need are a vaccum, washer, and dryer, and gift cards to lowe's and sears would be the best thing to give. pretty sure nobody's gonna buy us a $750 washer. hahaha

mom says she's just going to buy what she wants and we'll just have to take it back. it's frustrating b/c we registered for stuff w/ her specifically in mind. grrrr

oh well. i sent her an email with the entire list from everywhere in a PDF, as well as links to everything except belk (they won't let you directly link to it), so she could forward it on. i tried to tell her again that the stuff that we picked out at target and belk are available here in rocky mount.

3/30/2009 9:40:38 AM

my girl and i were doing the whole wedding planning thing, but it was getting way too expensive since we/our families know so many people. so we're going on a cruise with ~25 other people in June and getting married on Grand Cayman. Should be a fun time .

We are having a reception kind of thing when we get back for the folks that couldn't go.

I am getting pretty excited, hahaha.

/input

3/30/2009 10:02:24 AM

^That's a great idea. I really wish our families would have been up for that. But too many people would have had hurt feelings. That sounds like my perfect idea for a wedding though.

3/30/2009 10:10:23 AM

that has happened, as some people can't go, but they have gotten over it i think/hope

3/30/2009 10:19:12 AM

se7entythree I totally feel ya on the registry. I do NOT get the fascination with Belk, so we didn't register there. We did Target and C&B instead (and REI and Lowe's). Aunts and elderly (even our moms a little bit) are upset b/c we didn't register at Belk, register for enough items, or register for china and crystal. We registered for things we need or need to upgrade. This whole old school concept of registering is mind boggling to me.

3/30/2009 10:21:59 AM

yeah i was dead set against registering at belk at first. my mom eventually wore me down. true, i don't have more than 4 plates that match, yeah chris has a huge family that might come over one day, and yeah i really like the grass pattern or whatever on those, but I AM NOT REGISTERING FOR FUCKING CHINA. i do not understand that at all. hey let's spend a shit ton of money on something we'll use maybe twice, ever.

i tried really hard to find dishes somewhere else that i liked as much and for as cheap. they're just casual dishes, dishwasher and microwave safe. plus, i have some poorer, redneck-y family that don't own computers and won't shop anywhere besides rocky mount, and they needed something to buy. i tried to stress that nobody has to get us anything, but they insist.

3/30/2009 10:31:03 AM

yea we've been talking about this lately too and had some family members asking us about registry stuff (even though invites arent out and the wedding isnt until october ha). We feel the same way; e have people asking us about buying stuff similar to what you are talking about - expensive things that we really don't have an interest in picking up (at least not right away).

I can probably think of 100 items i'd want to put in a house after the two of us get married before I even considered getting a "nice"(ie expensive and useless) set of dinnerware. I guess its just a clashing of generations and what they think we "need" as a married couple.

Quote :

"^Our budget is $5k for 100-120 people, depending on who actually shows up. We've got a string quartet, a DJ, and some other really awesome things. You just have to know where/how to trim the cost down. For instance, our venue was $200. It's a gorgeous riverside park with a historic building for the reception, but it doesn't break the bank. We've also enlisted the help of friends and family. You can have a nice wedding for a reasonable cost, you are just going to have to work at it, and you'll have to know what you really want."

seems like you did a great job of being thrifty with what you got vs price. Our budget is around $2k and we are inviting 80 ppl I think. Of course its not going to be extravagant in the least but you certainly dont have to spend $10k to have a wedding.

[Edited on March 30, 2009 at 10:49 AM. Reason : ]

3/30/2009 10:43:30 AM

We have a few people who are upset we didn't register at Belks. We chose Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. My future mother in law even suggested we go register for the same items at Belks that we registered for at the other stores! Seriously, there's a target less than five minutes from their house, and she can get the stuff online if she wanted to, she's perfectly capable! What is it about old people and HAVING to buy wedding gifts from a Belks?

3/30/2009 10:45:56 AM

another issue is that they don't understand that i have lived on my own for 3 years now, plus my 4.5 years in college. i bought a house BY MYSELF 3 years ago. there's a LOT of wedding/house type shit that i just do not need. i already have it, have had it for a while.

amazing! i don't have a man living with me, supporting me, and i somehow afford to own all the typical stuff you have when you own a house!!!

3/30/2009 10:57:41 AM

you must be of the devil


/chit chat

3/30/2009 10:58:59 AM

We got SOOOO many towels....it was kinda funny after awhile ("oh look honey, more towels!!"). How many times can you be enthusiastic about towels?

I had the same situation with Belks and my family. I was easier just to do it and get it over with. I registered for kitchen stuff that I knew we would use - we got a knife set from there that was awesome - we use it everyday.

While I'm here: Any of you folks getting married need flower girl dresses? I have two, brand new with tags that were never used. Cheap!! $20

Size 6


Size 5

3/30/2009 5:57:25 PM

Those are flat out adorable!

3/31/2009 7:29:13 AM

i really like the 2nd one! if we'd not just ordered our FG dress i'd be all over that

3/31/2009 9:00:04 AM

Where in god's name can you have a wedding / reception without spending $1000? This is ridiculous.

4/7/2009 9:39:15 PM

Quote :

"^Not with that Carolina shirt on you won't "

bwahahahahahahahaha

4/7/2009 9:49:07 PM

^^$1000 and they provide some things? or $1000 you have to provide on top of it?

cause if you're dropping $1000 and they have access to 20+ round or rectangular tables and over 100 chairs, maybe a coordinator, set up or clean up, or other items like caterer instead of tables etc, then that's one thing...

if you're dropping $1000, but it's just a space and you have to rent EVERYTHING...that's quite another.

which are you looking for? a one stop shop or just a space where you still bring in your vendors and rentals?

4/7/2009 10:42:07 PM

Quote :

"Where in god's name can you have a wedding / reception without spending $1000? This is ridiculous."

your backyard, yo

4/8/2009 1:41:10 PM

Randi thinks our house/backyard might be too small....I don't know, I think it's the most economical solution, and we're trying to DIY as much of the wedding as we can, but the parking would be a problem.

For instance, ArtSpace has a room that's about 35' square. For the room--just the room--it's $1000, plus you have to become and ArtSpace member ($100), plus $25 an hour for security, plus a $500 deposit (refundable) for cleaning.

We don't have a lot of money to spend on this stuff, and we'd rather spend it on food, booze, and stuff like that. I don't know. We're just trying to figure things out.

4/8/2009 2:05:29 PM

renting shit is expensive. tents are expensive as hell. chairs not so much (like .25 per chair). it racks up QUICK if you need to rent any equipment

4/8/2009 2:07:27 PM

pretty sure my parents just spent the cost of the marriage license...had to get one witness or some shit

[Edited on April 8, 2009 at 2:10 PM. Reason : had a brickwall in the background in the pic i saw]

4/8/2009 2:09:15 PM

^^^ Depending on where you are, you can find some pretty good deals.

For instance, we're having our wedding/reception at Moratoc Park. It's a riverside historic old building in Williamston. It's $200 a day + $100 deposit. It comes with all the tables and chairs, and has a kitchen on site. So we've got family members grilling a pig. It was cheaper for us to rent the park that came with the building, than it was to pick a backyard or open space, and get a tent ($200-$300~ for 100 people) and then have to rent tables and chairs (another $300~).

[Edited on April 8, 2009 at 3:51 PM. Reason : ]

4/8/2009 3:50:30 PM

Quote :

"Randi thinks our house/backyard might be too small....I don't know, I think it's the most economical solution, and we're trying to DIY as much of the wedding as we can, but the parking would be a problem."

I didn't think about the parking... She's probably right.

I'm sure you guys will figure something out, though

then we can paaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrttttaaaaaaaaaaaay

[Edited on April 10, 2009 at 12:48 AM. Reason : I do sorta dig the museum/art idea though... but I don't know about budgeting these things ]

4/10/2009 12:37:30 AM

Don't know how many guests you're having spöokyjon but have you looked at this place: http://www.allsaints1875.com/index.html

I've heard it's reasonably priced and it says on their site they have tables and chairs available there.

4/10/2009 1:57:44 AM

Still waiting on the 2 official photographers to get pics to us, and we had disposable cameras on all the tables so everyone could take pics & none of those have been developed, and a few family members still have pics on their cameras that we've yet to see, so I still only have a very small collection of photos that people have sent to/shared with me so far from the reception.

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 8:49 PM. Reason : .]

4/12/2009 8:48:52 PM

warning: WORDS

mom and i have had some minor disagreements about things. we want lego ppl for cake toppers, she freaked out, i hung up on her (it's been 2 weeks of awkwardness). we want plain leaf japanese maples, it never occured to her that we wouldn't want lace leaf like she does. this will be the first mention of the guys' shoes.

what do yall think?
oh, denise is the wedding planner/florist. butch is my very gay haircutter dude.

Quote :

"ok, i will drop the lego thing. i am very grateful for the amount of work you have put into planning this whole thing and making it very easy for me. i'm also very grateful for denise's hard work too. while we love leaves and nature and i'm very happy with what we have planned and picked out so far, we just felt like there wasn't a whole lot of our specific personality in the wedding. maybe it's not supposed to be that way. i dont know. don't interpret that as anything remotely near us not liking anything at all. i'll give up the lego thing, but we do really really want the guys to wear converse type shoes. both denise and butch thought it was a great idea. we won't go with actual converse brand b/c they're uncomfortable for chris (very very narrow), but keen makes a version (they'll be off-white), like those i have, that are wider. plus keen the brand adds a little touch of who we are to it. we love the idea and i'm going to pull my bitch/bridezilla card on this one. i'm sorry one other thing is that we really want plain leaved japanese maples. the lace leaf ones are pretty sometimes but it's not what we want. plus, the plain leaved ones are generally cheaper (although that is not the reason we want them). i know you won't like some of our decisions but this is what we want. we haven't had strong opinions on most things. i do feel horrible for wanting to put my foot down on some of the details because you have done so much hard work and spent the money, but i feel like we can at least have these couple of things. everybody says it's our wedding, my day, and i realize for the most part it's not, it's for the family, but these are important to us."

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 10:33 AM. Reason : ]

4/13/2009 10:32:57 AM

I think that sounds fine. It shows that you're willing to compromise, but that ultimately, it is your decision, and there are some things that she will need to compromise on. I kind of like the lego idea for the cake topper, but I can understand where that would freak out your mother. This wedding is about you and your future husband, not about your parents or family. We've taken them into account for some of our decisions, but if it was important to us, it stayed. And seriously, if she's arguing over what kind of Japanese Maple is in YOUR wedding, that's crazy.

4/13/2009 10:43:49 AM

yeah. she hasn't quite argued yet but you could tell it had never ever crossed her mind that we wouldn't like lace leaf, even though i had told her earlier and she wasn't listening apparently.

she's stupid like that w/ a lot of things. like when she recently got glasses, i was talking about how i couldn't wear contacts b/c i have to take my glasses off to drive. she said "but i'm nearsighted, why would you need to take them off?"

wtf retard i am not you and i am FARSIGHTED

4/13/2009 10:47:15 AM

so it's been a couple of hours since i sent the email. she's read it. no response.

should i be worried?

4/13/2009 1:12:33 PM

though only you can really answer that...i would say yes and no.

yes b/c it's obvious that she's sitting and thinking about how she should respond, which means she probably disagrees with you and wants to give you her disagreement thoughtfully.

no b/c of the same reason...she's sitting down and thinking about how she should respond instead of firing off a reply that could make things worse.

4/13/2009 1:46:15 PM

i'm tempted to text her and be like "no response?" but i don't think i'll do that just yet.

i really never expected her to be like this. i feel like chris and i have already compromised on so much, a couple of BIG things, we can at least just have these two tiny things.

we didn't want a minister. we are not religious. we went w/ mom & dad's pastor b/c they were going to have a heart attack otherwise.
we didn't want a big formal thing, not that it's formal now, but it's a lot less casual than i wanted.

blah

i wanted to go away, have a tiny wedding in MT or somewhere. i can't wait for this to be over.

4/13/2009 2:08:52 PM

my friend getting married this weekend is having the same situation. and i can already tell whenever i get married, it's not going to be pretty (even though my mom thinks we agree on everything).

she's already told me that the wedding is a no-go (meaning she won't pay) if i don't get married in a church.

^ oh but i think your email was fine. definitely not combative at all.

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 2:23 PM. Reason : .]

4/13/2009 2:22:52 PM

i hate it when she does this. she basically pretended like nothing happened and she already knew about the shoes. SHE is the one who made it a big deal. no one had ever mentioned the shoes either. anyway...i get the shoes for the guys i wanted, the maples i wanted, and we're sneaking the lego people in chris's pocket. shhhh

i am now on a bridesmaid shoe hunt. i am 110% tomboy and have no interest in girly sandals. mom found these at belk today

but the straps are kinda too thick and the metal stuff on the top is kinda too much.
we're looking for cork wedges that are < prostitute heel height, and beige in color.

i really suck at knowing what looks good when it comes to this kinda thing. i don't ever wear those type of shoes and never will, and they have never been appealing in the least.

HALP

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 8:36 PM. Reason : ]

4/13/2009 8:35:07 PM