^oh wow! in the final run!

how long did you have to plan?

4/9/2010 2:29:45 PM

Quote :

"HAHA, good luck with that and let me know how that turns out. Me and my fiance have 36 days to go and I can't wait until its over with."

That makes me just want to go to Vegas!

4/9/2010 2:34:31 PM

We got engaged in October.

^We have talked about eloping several times. My only advice is this, don't get mad if he doesn't get as excited as you do about wedding stuff.

4/9/2010 2:41:23 PM

^^ have fun and don't let people tell you what you "have" to do or "should" do. That's what stresses me out the most.

I'm a fan of eloping. We are planning a wedding in October at the Grove Park but just went ahead and got legally married so all the paperwork etc is out of the way. Now I'm just planning a party! An overpriced party, but still.

Try not to get overwhelmed with all the choices you have

Oh, and congrats!

4/9/2010 4:22:29 PM

congrats! Joie's advice on the previous page was very good advice. I'll add to the "things you really want" pick 3-5 things that you are most important, wanting to be yours and not wanting to waiver on.

also agreed ^

I had some stressful moments in planning (guest list), but for the most part I really enjoyed it and our wedding day (hell the whole weekend) was such a great time for us, friends and family.

And for those about to get married, here was my motto for any wedding day mishaps--"As long as the chapel or reception hall aren't on fire...I don't care." Use it, embrace it, let it set you free.

4/9/2010 4:37:24 PM

Hey old friends...just poking around...this thread makes me very nostalgic! Have fun planning those weddings! I forsee some beautiful brides! It goes soooo fast! Before you know it, you'll have a few years of marriage under your belt and you'll be popping out cute kids. Life is good!

4/10/2010 6:42:11 AM

Thanks for the advice! Luckily I'm pretty laid back when it comes to planning stuff, I'm just worried about being too relaxed and letting people add stuff to the wedding that is just not us. But we'll see how it goes.

Out of the 3-5 things I should hold dear and make sure I don't fold...can one of them be a pinata? I really love them, and we could put airplane bottles inside . Maybe that can be for the reception dinner.

So far I think I've picked a date (without picking a location just yet! )
- It's about 18 months away, so I think I'll have time to reserve a place.

Some of you may have your own wedding website. Which company did you go with? I'm thinking about going with WeddingWindow or maybe NearlyWeds. Any suggestions?

4/10/2010 8:18:59 AM

^i went with wedding window. really easy to use.
i picked it b/c of the reviews it had
it's not done. at all....but im a little pressed for time until April 30, and then I'll be getting on the ball with it



18 months? i think youll totally have time! any ideas of where?





[Edited on April 10, 2010 at 9:55 AM. Reason : http://nachojelly.com]

4/10/2010 9:52:18 AM

^WOW your site is super wonderful, they should use it as the sample!! After seeing it, I definitely think wedding window is the best choice! Once I get it set up I'll make sure to share it, but it'll take a little time.

No idea where it's going to be. Right now both of our families have connections on rentals and wedding stuff. We're in Raleigh, my parents are in Rocky Mount, his family is in Laurinburg (Southern Pines area), and my brothers are in Charlotte. I love the Barn at Valhalla (chapel hill) but would be perfectly happy with just a field somewhere.
We've narrowed it down some...it's going to be in NC! Also, somehow my dogs will be in my wedding, so it'll probably be an outdoor ceremony.

OK I'm getting excited now

4/10/2010 10:17:25 AM

deemarie started planning our wedding in december and we're getting married may 22

it's not that big of a deal

[Edited on April 10, 2010 at 10:36 AM. Reason : but women have a tendency to blow this shit out or proportion]

4/10/2010 10:36:29 AM

^^i'm so excited to hear your plans.

i just googled the Barn at Valhalla
that place is GORGEOUS.


what kind of dogs do you have?
and thank you.



[Edited on April 10, 2010 at 11:25 AM. Reason : ^where are yall gonna be?]

4/10/2010 11:21:44 AM

Katie - congrats!! The dogs in the wedding is also a need of mine. I want a best dog. Look on weddingbee.com at the DIY and search for dogs..they have some CUTE little doggy ring carrying apparatuses. I plan to make my own.

We are not having children in the wedding so I plan to put the ring bearer "pillow" on my pup and have him walk down the aisle with the best man.

Quote :

"has anyone done their ceremony and reception in downtown Raleigh?"

When are you thinking of? Be sure to check for local events that are going on - I know artsplosure has their student art show in the marbles museum zanzibar room in mid-may so if you're planning for that time, keep that in mind.

Quote :

"Also, have any of you paid for accommodations for your bridesmaids? I read that you're supposed to, but my mom didn't know of such a thing."

I was a MOH in a wedding where we had to travel (3-4 hours) and me plus 2 other BM's hotel room was shared with the bride the night before...then she went to the bridal suite the night of and the room was rented out for them other BM's the night of. I actually got a separate room to stay with my fiancé (then my boyfriend) and we paid for that.

Discounted beach house seems to be what we are looking at. We have been looking at the NC Aquarium. The lady at the Fort Fisher one has been AWESOME. So helpful.

4/11/2010 8:38:41 AM

^Have you determined where you'll do your ceremony at? My family has always loved the outdoor chapel at the Trinity Center (sound side of emerald isle, episcopal), but i'm not sure if you can do weddings there. Just an idea!


Finding a venue that will accommodate 150 people is not difficult, but finding one I like is!

[Edited on April 11, 2010 at 9:36 AM. Reason : ok!]

4/11/2010 9:28:05 AM

umm, can you maybe resize that pic? i can't get anywhere near the whole thing on my screen.

4/11/2010 9:29:13 AM

^^That is gorgeousss. I would love more information. What can you tell me about it? The web page is kinda hard to decipher..lol

I found one girl on facebook who had her wedding there and I asked about it...we will see if she responds.

[Edited on April 11, 2010 at 3:10 PM. Reason : ..]

4/11/2010 3:09:28 PM

Quote :

"^where are yall gonna be?"

are you asking where the wedding is gonna be? it's at a church in pikeville, nc. she's from near pikeville. i'm from the other side of that county.

4/11/2010 3:27:35 PM

So I have an idea and it could either turn out super cute and be unique and a total money saver....or, it could go horribly wrong and be ugly and we'd have ugly but delicious mistakes...

I have wanted a cupcake cake since the first time I heard of one...and the cupcake shoppe charges $3 each...for a hundred plus guests, that's out of my budget....Wedding cakes are always so dry and fondant is gross...and identical cupcakes are boring.

A few months ago, I hosted a cupcake decorating party and it was a total blast. We had beautiful cupcakes that were so many different colors. I LOVED the outcome.

In the midst of wedding cake talk, a friend of mine asked when the next cupcake party was and CLICK..I started thinking that would be very fun and cute to have my friends make cupcakes for my wedding....but even better, have a station for cupcake decorating at the outdoor barbecue rehearsal dinner and make three icing colors and the piping bags, and just let it fly. I don't really care about the cake because I am just going to buy a little two layer cake that is plain and simple and then have cupcakes below it...so why not?

Is this....tacky and cheap....or cute and neat?

4/11/2010 5:10:45 PM

NRR and I are having a cupcake cake for our wedding next month. We bought a cupcake tower from http://www.cupcaketree.com/ for $40. You can decorate it anyway you want to so it's completely personalized to you and your wedding.

His grandmother is going to bake the cupcakes and then for the top tier, NRR and I will have our own smaller wedding cake.

I like the idea of having the cupcake decorating station at the rehearsal. It's not cheap and tacky, it's cute and resourceful. I'm sure your family/friends at the rehearsal would love to help and if you're worried about what people think, just don't tell the guests...haha.

4/11/2010 5:44:56 PM

i like cupcakes at weddings. i had a friend do that. smaller personal wedding cake and then lots of pretty cupcakes on cupcake trees for guests.

4/11/2010 6:06:09 PM

^^^ cody and i are having cupcakes too.

and i don't like the idea of the cupcakes being all the same either!

i think the ice-your-own cupcake is a GREAT IDEA.
you can have different icings and toppings (like spinkles and nuts and cookies!)




[Edited on April 11, 2010 at 6:54 PM. Reason : ]

4/11/2010 6:54:03 PM

that being said....

does anyone in here know where i can get cupcakes like this?


i havent really search for it yet...but i figure ya'll might know

4/11/2010 6:58:15 PM

those are freaking awesome!

does that cupcake place in raleigh do stuff like that? they might. i'd start there!

http://www.thecupcakeshopperaleigh.com/

i really like these cupcakes from their gallery



[Edited on April 11, 2010 at 7:13 PM. Reason : .]

4/11/2010 7:09:55 PM

^ive look there and i think their cupcakes taste DELICIOUS...but most of their cupcakes look the same, just have different colors.

i want a little more variety....


i guess i could talk to them to see if they could do that....

4/11/2010 7:25:11 PM

^ yea that is what i noticed like they are funky but all the same just different colors

i don't know any other cupcake places off the top of my head

4/11/2010 7:49:06 PM

Hmmm, here's somewhere to start:
http://www.piece-a-cake.com/cupcakes.html

Those little flowers are sugar flowers....they are like, royal icing. Most of these pictured in the link appear to be fondant or plastic.

4/11/2010 8:27:07 PM

Personally I think Cupcake Shoppe make some dry cupcakes

4/11/2010 10:25:16 PM

We are getting married at the Duncan House on Front St. in Beaufort, I've seen pictures from other weddings done there and it has looked great.

http://duncanhousenc.com/index.html

4/12/2010 7:10:43 AM

Quote :

"When are you thinking of? Be sure to check for local events that are going on - I know artsplosure has their student art show in the marbles museum zanzibar room in mid-may so if you're planning for that time, keep that in mind."

We checked out Marbles on Sunday and loved it. The 30% discount doesn't hurt either We're looking at October 8, 2011. The event coordinator didn't mention anything going on at that time so we should be good.

We're going to make our decision by the end of this month since we're going to the bridal expo next Sunday at the fairgrounds. For more info: http://www.foreverbridal.net/
The site is blocked at work so I don't know the direct link to tickets, but they're $8 online. I hope to get a better idea of what everything costs.

4/12/2010 8:47:09 AM

we're having trouble finding a place for our wedding night in Asheville

it's not a big deal since we're leaving early the next morning to go to the airport but we'd like to stay somewhere nicer that isn't a regular hotel. We don't want to spend $$$ on somewhere like Biltmore and most of the B&B's in the area required two night stays

4/12/2010 8:51:44 AM

You can get one of the cheaper rooms at the Grove Park Inn and stay under $150. They're super nice too.

4/12/2010 8:58:39 AM

yeah, that was my original thought because I've heard such good things about it, the virtual 360 look didn't really impress me though. The rooms looked pretty plain


if I was a baller, I would get one of those themed rooms for like $800

4/12/2010 9:13:24 AM

I've stayed in one of the lower end rooms. They might not look special, but they are pretty nice. The views are always great, the bed was more comfortable than anything I've ever slept on, nice TV, and great bath. Granted, it's not one of their themed rooms (which are awesome), but it was easily the nicest room I've ever been able to afford.

4/12/2010 9:16:29 AM

Check out the Grand Bohemian. Four diamond, brand new (opened last year- it is directly across from the main gate to the estate. Last summer their prices were very reasonable for something that nice. I worked at the Inn (on the estate) and you can get a room + tickets for about 200 if you play them right. Don't even consider getting a rack rate suite.... they will almost always upgrade wedding nights for free to one of the nice Grande rooms.

4/12/2010 9:45:12 AM

^ that was actually in the lead of the places we were looking at last night

I wish we didn't have to deal with that 2-night minimum stay. 1900 Inn on Montford looks pretty sweet, we might have to go back there for an anniversary or something

4/12/2010 9:53:01 AM

we aren't getting anywhere with planning...we can't even decide on a date. shit is getting annoying.

4/12/2010 10:00:40 AM

^
do you two have different ideas or you just can't decide period? i've found the hardest part of planning so far is deciding where to hold the ceremony and reception since that might influence other parts of planning (e.g., preferred caterers, etc.).

4/12/2010 12:05:15 PM

Any one know of any other outdoor chapels like the one posted above?

Requirements:
-preferably sound side or near the ocean.
-Emerald Isle or Carolina Beach.
-Cheap

4/12/2010 5:42:27 PM

Quote :

"My family has always loved the outdoor chapel at the Trinity Center (sound side of emerald isle, episcopal), but i'm not sure if you can do weddings there"

yes you can; a friend of mine from HS got married there this past year

^Old Baldy Lighthouse? Prolly not be cheap though
You can set up an outdoor area at Orton Plantation which overlooks the river

4/12/2010 7:47:55 PM

i dont go to a whole lot of weddings but i went to one of the most fun weddings ever this weekend

there were fireworks over the chapel after the couple exited & there was a shot cart that made an appearance on the dance floor 3 times, totally stocked. not to mention the drunk food that came out around 2am. amazing!

it was in mexico so some things were prob more legit there but the shot bar was a total hit!

4/12/2010 8:03:01 PM

So basically just have alcohol and then late night food to take care of the over consumption of alcohol?


How important are booze to your wedding plans? My choice of venue does not allow liquor or kegs so we are somewhat limited.

4/12/2010 8:11:21 PM

^ Pretty sure my family would rebel if there was no alcohol

Quote :

"we aren't getting anywhere with planning...we can't even decide on a date. shit is getting annoying."

A lot of the time the venue determines the date. Do you guys at least have an idea of the time of year you want the wedding?

4/12/2010 8:27:07 PM

Turns out one of the possible schools doesn't have a spring break... so if I go there, March wedding will be out the window BUTTT I would be able to do April 2012. So that's good.

Anyway, official date will be happening in the next few weeks... yay

4/13/2010 8:16:57 AM

we're getting married at a methodist church and having the reception there, so no alcohol

both our families would freak out anyway if there was alcohol and there'd only be like 10 of our guests who would drink anyway

4/13/2010 8:31:37 AM

^ that's the total opposite of my family

Meme and Grandma would be wanting to know where the damn wine was.. but most of the family is Catholic, so..

4/13/2010 9:53:35 AM

looks like we are going to Vegas in August.

4/14/2010 5:40:10 PM

^awesome.

4/14/2010 5:52:03 PM

I would be content with a cheesy Vegas wedding chapel, but we are looking at a package deal at Caesar's Palace, The Venetian, Luxor, etc. A tad bit classier, but still not religious or overdone in any way.

4/14/2010 8:24:59 PM

Congrats! I saw some neat save the date cards printed on playing cards for a Vegas wedding.

Speaking of...What do save the dates usually cost?

We nixed the luggage tag idea and decided on "message in a bottle" save the dates...now we have two options of bottles and I'm having trouble.

These, which are fairly small but very cute and cheap at 50 cents a piece......Comes with ribbon and a sticky printable tag so we could mail them.

Or buying these in bulk...They cost about 52 cents a piece and include the corks but no tags:


[Edited on April 14, 2010 at 10:09 PM. Reason : ...]

4/14/2010 10:08:53 PM

Quote :

"Speaking of...What do save the dates usually cost?"

we did ours ourselves...btw printing, paper & magnets prolly $1.25 ea including mailing

so I guess that's what you would need to think about w/ yours. while they are $0.50 each to buy, how much will it be to mail the item? and how many are you mailing? ours were in an envelope so it was standard mailing (and b4 the price went up last year)

granted we sent STD for almost every household invited from the guestlist, so ~60 STD mailed
we couldn't do anything more than standard mailing

[Edited on April 14, 2010 at 11:37 PM. Reason : we did DIY magnet STD cards]

4/14/2010 11:34:03 PM

I made save-the-date postcards through Vistaprint. 100 postcards with shipping cost me $15. Stamps cost 28 cents each.

4/15/2010 12:16:17 AM