^ SO AWESOME! I love the "Wolfpack NCSU" stitched onto the flower at the bottom!

You all are so crafty! I'm thinking I'm just going to avoid my desire for DIY projects (because I am not crafty) and just hit up the sales between now and next fall!

Found our photographer! Now...onto the venue!

5/18/2010 6:56:44 AM

what are the flowers for, wolfpackgrr? they're cute!!

5/18/2010 8:16:52 AM

I'm going to make all the bouquets out of them

5/18/2010 9:20:11 AM

that's awesome!

I've decided a florist is too expensive so I'm going to buy flowers in bulk from Sam's club and make stuff like this:

5/18/2010 9:28:33 AM

love your felt flowers wolfpackgrrr!!

[Edited on May 18, 2010 at 9:54 AM. Reason : r]

5/18/2010 9:53:56 AM

My friend ordered her flowers from Sam's Club, and they were great. Her family was worried about the quality, but they were all perfect. She had white hydrangeas and roses.

5/18/2010 10:09:55 AM

those flowers are awesome wolfpackgrrr!!!

5/18/2010 10:34:22 AM

My best friend did Sam's club flowers too. The only downfall was her hotel room the night before the wedding was FREEZING because she wanted to keep the flowers in perfect condition. All pics are blocked here at school and I wanted to see wolfpackgrl's!

Oh well, tonight I guess

5/18/2010 11:14:42 AM

Aww thanks guys

If I hadn't decided to go the felt flower route, I'm sure we would have done Sam's Club instead. Florists are $texas and I don't have that dough.

Here's a mock-up of the bouquet itself:


I'll probably flesh it out with some felt leaves or something.

[Edited on May 18, 2010 at 11:26 AM. Reason : s]

5/18/2010 11:24:24 AM

Quote :

"I've decided a florist is too expensive so I'm going to buy flowers in bulk from Sam's club"

That's so weird, I told my mother this same thing earlier this morning. I looked at the reviews on Sam's Club.com yesterday and apparently you get PLENTY for the price!

I'm still having a very difficult time finding a venue. Is anyone doing an outdoor Fall wedding? Where are you going to have the ceremony/reception?

5/18/2010 12:41:20 PM

^ What's your budget? I'm going to try to get River Ridge Country Club in Raleigh... seems like it would be pretty for a fall wedding too


Yeah I figured it's pretty hard to F up daisies ... I'm glad they got great reviews though

That looks great wolfpackgrr!!

5/18/2010 1:30:30 PM

^no freaking way! I had a little meltdown yesterday and told my fiance to plan the whole thing, and that's the location he picked. Budget currently is between 10 and 15k, but I'm having a VERY hard time budgeting even for that (this includes Rehearsal dinner). Are you looking at Fall 2011 or for this fall?
I have only found one venue that I've visited and liked a lot...but I've only visited about 4 places.

5/18/2010 2:42:13 PM

My mom set a budget of around $10K and when I showed her the pricing for River Ridge she was really surprised... It's $3000 I think for ceremony and reception charge but you also get a big bridal area, groom/groomsman changing area, really nice patio and scenery, and then 150 white folding chairs with 15 tables that seat 10 people... so if you can keep it under 150 people pretty much saves you a rental fee for that!

We mainly like it not only for how it looks but also because you don't have to use their caterer and you can get a special liquor license so we can stock the bar ourselves.... I still need to go look at it though.

5/18/2010 2:50:28 PM

^oh realllly, because the e-mail i got was that "All alcoholic beverages must be purchased through RRGC"...lol...

because that was honestly a big deciding factor. We plan on drinking at the wedding, and having drinks a plenty! Would rather have a crappy location with lots of drinks then a snuffy location with $40 bottles of wine and $6/beer!!!

5/18/2010 3:11:02 PM

Oops sorry, should have worded better. Yeah we're a little put-off by the fact that you have to buy all beer/wine through them but you can bring your own liquor once you get the permit.. This is what the lady sent me:

Quote :

"What if I want liquor available at the reception? You can have it! All you have to do is obtain a special occasion alcohol permit. The website is http://www.ncabc.co. You will then be allowed to bring in your own liquor and mixers and our bartenders will make the drinks for your guest. It’s an easy process and a cost cutter!"

And here's the prices for wine/beer:

Quote :

"River Ridge requires that all alcohol be purchased from the club. How does that work? We invoice based on consumption. While other venues charge per person, we charge per drink. The cost is $2.50/domestic beer, $3.50/Import beer and $5.00/house glass of wine. There will be a 20% gratuity added to all beverages sold. Specialty requests may be made. The bartender is $20/hour."

The gratuity/bartender cost are a little steep just sucks because most of the places that I've seen around Raleigh that fit what we want (and size) are $Texas

5/18/2010 3:18:57 PM

^still, that's a good deal! I like the idea of charge per drink. I looked at a vineyard down in Wagram, NC that gave you a discount on their wine and you could bring in whatever cases of beer you wanted and they'd set it up and pass them out! So, a Corona goes from $3.50/bottle to $1/bottle!

This could be too good to be true...I think I have found a bartending service that allows you to purchase your own alcohol, and they serve it for you. Is this normal?

5/18/2010 3:39:47 PM

As for daisies in handmade bouquets, we did that for mine, and they turned out just fine. We actually ordered my bouquet and all the individual daisy stems from Piggly Wiggly. My bouquet was AMAZING, and all the bridesmaids turned out perfect. Total cost <$100.

5/18/2010 7:27:05 PM

katiencbabe, have you checked out The Barn at Vahalla or Snipes Farm Retreat? All the pictures I've seen of those places look amazing.

Another spot that's nice is West Point on the Eno. They have a big open area you can reserve, put up some tents, bring some kegs of beer, and you're good to go! It's a public park so the rental is cheap and you can do whatever you want as far as caterers and stuff go.

5/18/2010 8:53:34 PM

I didn't know about the Eno River place! I'll have to look into that.
The Barn at Valhalla is the type of venue I want, especially for a fall wedding. I'm looking into it (went to take a look but they had events going on), I'm just a little worried about the space (can it accommodate 150 people comfortably with a tent outside?). Also, the doors have to be closed because of the music, so the people stuck outside won't be a part of the dancing!

This is probably a ridiculous question... Has anyone been to the newer Angus Barn Pavilion at the lake? I'm assuming it's super duper expensive, but if it's not then I'd be very interested.

5/19/2010 2:15:39 PM

^ It's $texas but gorgeous.

5/19/2010 7:43:35 PM

I've started work making our invites. They're pretty awesome if I do say so

5/23/2010 6:52:12 AM

LOVE this bouquet


^You should show us! I'm pretty sure if I tried to do our own invites they would end up looking like a 2nd grade art project

5/23/2010 9:50:22 AM

Well it's not much to look at (in the design phase) but this is what I have so far:



This is my first time working with vector images so it's a big learning experience. I'm pretty happy with how it's looking so far. I'm going to be filling the space with a lot more than what you currently see. I just got tired after working most of the day on just this haha.

Anyway, it's basically two separate circles that will be held together with a brad. As you turn the blue circle, it reveals the information located on the white circle.

5/23/2010 10:05:23 AM

Holy cow, so creative! Are you sending an RSVP card, too?

I really want people to just RSVP through the our wedding website...but I don't think some of the older folks would know how.

5/23/2010 10:09:29 AM

Nope, people can either RSVP on our website or call us. I included our phone number in the RSVP section for people who can't figure out how to work a website. Considering how straightforward the website we're using is I think even my grandmother can figure it out

5/23/2010 10:15:23 AM

i love it!

5/23/2010 10:48:49 AM

I love the spinning idea. That might be a neat way to do the programs too. Just two circles with a brad inbetween.

My fiance's mom has taken her part way seriously and has already bought all my table centerpiece vases without showing them to me first....Here's to hoping they are pretty

5/23/2010 2:43:30 PM

i think i may be done with one of our save the dates!

(we're making 2...which are completely different from eachother and gonna send them as postcards )

pm me if anyone wants to see

5/24/2010 7:31:31 PM

Oh man, so I bought a Japanese wedding magazine just for shits and giggles today. I wish you could see the pictures!! It's like the 80s exploded and barfed on a wedding.

5/24/2010 8:07:57 PM

ehehe, id loveeeeeeee to see that

5/24/2010 8:16:10 PM

Maybe I'll see if I can take some clear pics with my camera when I get home.

5/24/2010 8:28:49 PM

I am super excited and need to share with someone

my mom and stepdad are throwing us an engagement party so I'm going to try to do my first DIY project (as a sort of test run for the wedding)

I want to do these centerpieces since it's a relaxed backyard party:










I think I'm going to go the Farmer's Market for a lot of the flowers right before the party.... and have any of you had experience with Trader Joe flowers? I want a bunch of random (but kinda cheap flowers)... I love mismatched stuff

5/25/2010 3:03:42 PM

^tell me what they turn out like.

that is EXACTLY what we're going for for our wedding!!

5/25/2010 3:05:14 PM

I want to find some antique vases, too... but those can wait for the wedding

I'll take pictures when it's all said and done engagement party is June 12th

5/25/2010 3:06:52 PM

^june 12th?!?!

cody and i wanted to do june 11 (if we had an engagement party)
it's our pre-anniversary

5/25/2010 3:07:42 PM

Just to remind you guys, I DJ weddings and have quite a few years of experience. I price it REALLY well for your big day and can be of tremendous assistance and help.

if youre interested let me know, I have many references on TWW and in general.

Just send me a PM and I'll be more than happy to assist.

5/25/2010 3:09:54 PM

yeah, I picked a random Saturday in June for my mom I'm just worried people will see it as excessive, especially if we push the wedding up to next year... if I get into school, though, it'll be something nice to do since it'll be such a long engagement!

5/25/2010 3:10:26 PM

nah. don't worry about what other people will think!

do what you want to do girll!

5/25/2010 3:12:06 PM

Quote :

"and have any of you had experience with Trader Joe flowers?"

I buy them regularly. Good flowers, last a good while too.

5/25/2010 4:40:23 PM

My friend last year did the mason jar centerpieces. They looked really nice. I think the main flower was gerbera daisies if I remember correctly.

5/25/2010 7:54:05 PM

We did mason jars too...3 different sizes so they looked tiered, 3 at each table, and four large half gallon mason jars at the food table. Each jar had a "garden gathered" bunch of various late spring & early summer blossoms. I got the list of what they were somewhere...but hydrageneas, wax flower, gerbera daisies, were the main ones. All white, ivory and green flower except an occasional confetti rose.

5/25/2010 8:12:04 PM

for those having a DJ...what kind of quotes are you getting?

5/25/2010 9:00:12 PM

I've gotten ridiculous quotes as high as $2000 for 4 hours of music

JT3bucky gave me a very reasonable quote though

5/25/2010 10:46:36 PM

Have you guys seen this place yet?

http://7raleigh.com/

It just opened up. Wowie zowie, Batman

5/26/2010 1:03:47 AM

that's where our photographer had her last boudoir session! I hope mine gets to be there

5/26/2010 8:33:33 AM

it reminds me of Eyes Wide Shut or an Edgar Allan Poe story.

[Edited on May 26, 2010 at 9:33 AM. Reason : ]

5/26/2010 9:33:22 AM

hot!

5/26/2010 9:50:21 AM

that place looks sweet.

had a photographer contact me about it a month or so ago.

awesome for pictures.
not for a wedding (imho of course :beatup )

5/26/2010 10:48:17 AM

I don't know, I think you could have a bad ass steampunk wedding there if you were into that sort of thing.

5/26/2010 7:12:11 PM

^oh i agree with you there! 100%

but im not into that sorta thing (hence the imo )

5/26/2010 8:12:50 PM