Holy cannoli.. why is this $400 and why do I want it so badly?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/81894289/the-classic-crystal-and-petal-bandeau

I'm hoping it's a mistake and the extra zero was a typo

8/2/2012 2:43:19 PM

i still need to text you! i have not forgotten!

8/2/2012 2:45:39 PM

Date, Venue, and Band set.

October 26th is the date. Risky being so late, but it's never freezing during that time in Charleston and normally its still mild. Ceremony and cocktail hour will be outside, so its a risk we're willing to take. Rather be a little chilly than inferno hot. Stuff gets booked early in Charleston and we couldn't match venues for a Spring date and we definitely didn't want to do Summer. Just too hot.

Venue is the Confederate House for ceremony and cocktail hour and The Hibernian for reception. Confederate House is this old "widows of the Confederate war" house downtown Charleston (easy walking distance to reception place) with a ridiculous courtyard. We went to a wedding there recently and fell in love. It was the toughest place to book. Susan Sarandon's daughter just got married there apparently.

Hibernian Hall is just an old ass building that is within walking distance from ceremony and big enough to fit a 150 seated dinner and have a monstrous dance floor. Her parents love to dance and they keep going to weddings where "the dance floor was too small." If anything, I think it's too big (can seat 400 sit down dinner)...but I'm not paying, so fuck it.

Band will be "The Maxx." They were at her friend's wedding a few months ago and they were awesome. Website: http://www.themaxxlive.com/news/.

Now I've got to shore up the Rehearsal Dinner. A good friend of mine owns a restaurant downtown and he says he's going to hook us up. So I'm pretty much done. Going to leave it to the wedding planner, future mother-in-law, and the fiance from here on out. Bunch of, "uh-huh, that looks great" from now until the wedding date.

[Edited on August 2, 2012 at 3:11 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2012 3:10:58 PM

30 days

8/2/2012 3:37:40 PM

100 days for me

8/2/2012 9:57:38 PM

324 for me!

8/3/2012 2:02:41 AM

288 days out here. Getting married May 18, 2013 in the Outer Banks, specifically Kill Devil Hills. We've had a venue booked since April, Cypress House Inn--actual wedding will be on the beach and the Inn is right across the street from an access point, so all we have to do to get to the reception is cross the street. Reserved a photographer a couple of months ago (Rachael Hyde Photography). So the next step is going back there in September, when we have to figure out catering, an officiant, a DJ, and rentals. Somehow seems like a lot to squeeze into a 4-day trip...

Thankfully our guest list is pretty small (probably between 55 and 75 depending).

8/3/2012 9:00:52 AM

Quote :

"288 days out here. Getting married May 18, 2013 in the Outer Banks, specifically Kill Devil Hills. We've had a venue booked since April, Cypress House Inn--actual wedding will be on the beach and the Inn is right across the street from an access point, so all we have to do to get to the reception is cross the street. Reserved a photographer a couple of months ago (Rachael Hyde Photography). So the next step is going back there in September, when we have to figure out catering, an officiant, a DJ, and rentals. Somehow seems like a lot to squeeze into a 4-day trip... Thankfully our guest list is pretty small (probably between 55 and 75 depending)."

I am May 11 in Wilmington. Same situation. In communication with but haven't chosen DJ, officiant, or catering. Haven't started looking at rentals yet. This is a lot of crap that society has decided to do to us.

8/3/2012 1:13:09 PM

Having the ceremony and reception within walking distance of each other is the best. I wish more couples would do it.

8/3/2012 1:15:26 PM

my ceremony and reception are in the same place. gonna be sweet.

8/3/2012 4:27:22 PM

It's definitely nice not to have to worry about transportation, and was one of the nice things about the venue, the other being it was very reasonably priced (on condition of booking the entire inn for the weekend but it's only 6 rooms so that wasn't hard ) The only "issue" is that Dawn and I will probably be staying somewhere else after the reception, so we'll need to either book a limo for what will probably be a single <30 minute drive (seems pointless) or get a guest who hasn't been drinking to drive us (seems potentially awkward).

And regarding a few pages back--

Quote :

"When I married my husband six years ago, he had absolutely no input into the wedding planning what so ever. I don't know if it is that men just don't care (as long as you aren't spending the shit out of their money), or if they realize that weddings are the woman's domain. I like to think that they know that we've been dreaming and planning since we were little girls and want us to live our dream."

This is totally the opposite for us. Dawn initially wanted to elope, and while I as a male haven't been "dreaming and planning", our side of the family tends toward larger weddings so that's what I always figured on. I think we're at a happy medium with a small-ish, semi-destination wedding (her family lives near the OBX anyway) but with her in grad school now, a large portion of the planning from here on out is squarely my job. The fact that I have Opinions on these things can be a source of tension or humor though, depending on the situation.

8/3/2012 5:21:18 PM

Quote :

"my ceremony and reception are in the same place."

8/3/2012 5:45:52 PM

is anybody using a rewards credit card to benefit from spending $$$$ on a wedding? we want to do this but can't decide on specifics

8/6/2012 9:33:12 AM

^I've been thinking about the same thing. Haven't done any research yet either though. (Both of the deposits we've put down so far were checks but I'm sure many upcoming will take cards).

8/6/2012 5:18:41 PM

The card places charge a larger % than you get back, so ask if you can get a discount for cash or check.

8/6/2012 9:01:49 PM

First off, almost there! Had my bachelor party this weekend (New Orleans)! Wedding is September 22nd. We are just about set with everything. Now her parents want us to spend about a grand on lighting.

The venue is the same location as the reception, so we are good to go there. So far...stress-free.

8/6/2012 10:30:53 PM

apparently the flower places we are looking at have a $2k minimum.... what... the... fuck

8/7/2012 1:03:50 PM

^^^ Yep. A couple places gave us discounts for cash and a few wouldn't even touch credit cards.

Quote :

"or get a guest who hasn't been drinking to drive us (seems potentially awkward)."

As someone who had to do this before, it is awkward Of course it didn't help that I didn't know the bride and groom (friends of my boyfriend at the time) and they just sprung it on me last second (basically walked up to my car and were like, "So yeah, can we get a ride in your busted ass car filled with all your school crap in the back that you'll now have to throw in the truck to accommodate us?").

8/7/2012 1:26:41 PM

^^$2k for flowers? Fuck that. One of Dawn's bridesmaids has some flower arranging experience and knows a wholesaler they used for her sister's wedding, so thankfully we'll just have materials cost there. Even before that though we were going to save some money there--no floral table centerpieces or settings, nothing other than bouquets during the ceremony (the ocean makes for a fine backdrop), maybe a few pieces for accent under the reception tent. $2000 is kind of absurd IMO.

8/7/2012 2:53:29 PM

$2k is ridiculous. Granted I paid $100 for my bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, and ~9 boutonnieres. They were from the Piggly Wiggly, but they were damn gorgeous too.

8/7/2012 3:08:12 PM

We bought flowers from the Farmer's Market. She asked me what sort of flowers, colors, etc I wanted, how big they needed to be, and then she went to town. Spent $150 on 13 centerpieces and they were just as gorgeous as the flowers of the wedding I went to last month that the bride spent $1000 on flowers

[Edited on August 7, 2012 at 3:11 PM. Reason : a]

8/7/2012 3:11:42 PM

did you make the centerpieces or did the farmers market make them?

8/7/2012 3:15:32 PM

The lady at the market made them.

8/7/2012 3:32:42 PM

dammit, i need to get my lady on board with this.

[Edited on August 7, 2012 at 3:35 PM. Reason : the quotes... they didn't do well]

8/7/2012 3:35:23 PM

I got them from the folks that during the summer set up in the tent where the honey vendor and the German baker are. Lee Flowers I think they call themselves. You'll need to provide whatever vase you'll be using for the flowers (we used large mason jars).

8/7/2012 3:48:22 PM

does anyone know if there is anything like this in Wilmington?

8/7/2012 4:21:22 PM

uhhhh yall don't want to know how much we paid for flowers if you're in shock over $2k

but mind you, i didn't do any other centerpieces other than the flowers because my ass was too lazy to think of anything else

8/7/2012 4:21:33 PM

Quote :

"I got them from the folks that during the summer set up in the tent where the honey vendor and the German baker are. "

I try and get all my flowers for major events (Mother's Day, birthdays, etc) from the Farmer's Market...They are very reasonable (though they do jack the prices up on the Sunday that Mother's Day falls on)

I think the small bouqets (which are not very small) are like $8 and the large bouqets are $15.

There are a couple flower vendors out at the Farmer's Market but honestly I think they all are with the same company. I go to the one that is outside in the tent with the German bakery.

8/7/2012 4:28:23 PM

^^How many guests did you have though? I'm working with a guest list that will top out at 70 and probably be closer to 60, so $2000 would be the second largest thing on our budget after food. (Tied with photography)

Quote :

"I got them from the folks that during the summer set up in the tent where the honey vendor and the German baker are. Lee Flowers I think they call themselves. You'll need to provide whatever vase you'll be using for the flowers (we used large mason jars)."

I've bought from them before when at the farmers' market. Nice quality arrangement and the flowers lasted a while (other than the Irises, but those don't keep more than a couple days no matter how fresh they are).

[Edited on August 7, 2012 at 4:31 PM. Reason : Carrots]

8/7/2012 4:30:46 PM

we had 108 people 12 tables and then a head table. i only had 2 bridesmaids which is good because my florist told me that it's the bridesmaid's bouquets that start to rack up the price.

my flowers were a huge hit and i invited a lot of guests to take the arrangements home once the reception was over. i wanted to dry my bouquet because i LOVED it but we left for the beach the next day and i forgot to hang them

8/7/2012 4:35:26 PM

Quote :

"does anyone know if there is anything like this in Wilmington? "

I drove ours down to the beach But I'm sure if you hit up the Wilmington farmers market there's a florist there.

8/7/2012 5:25:36 PM

Anyone need a wedding photographer?

I normally wouldn't whore myself out like this, but it's relevant to this thread so I hope it'll fly.

http://www.ronnynause.com

8/7/2012 5:51:50 PM

Also, I offer a referral bonus for those of you who may have friends or family planning weddings/engagements.

8/7/2012 7:31:29 PM

Ronny your photos are stunning. I wish I didn't already have a photographer lol

8/7/2012 8:46:52 PM

Well I also wish you didn't already have a photographer.

Congrats to you, and best of luck to the photographer. I hope they do an awesome job and get you some rad images.

8/7/2012 9:52:09 PM

I wish I'd had Ronny instead of our piece of shit photographer.

8/7/2012 10:15:34 PM

Well, you can always get some nice and adorable portraits taken after the fact.

[Edited on August 8, 2012 at 2:04 AM. Reason : Great idea!]

8/8/2012 2:03:43 AM

^I'll be living in the greater NYC area so hit me up if you're ever up there and we'll arrange for something!

8/8/2012 7:35:06 AM

I think our flowers ended up costing about $600 and my friend made them... We had like 21 tables, the aisle runners, bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres, and other decorations

8/8/2012 7:38:03 AM

My flowers are costing an arm and a leg because my venue requires that we use a specific floral designer :/

8/8/2012 7:43:16 AM

Quote :

"I wish I'd had Ronny instead of our piece of shit photographer. "

haha what's wrong with them? Shitty business or shitty photos?

8/8/2012 8:46:24 AM

Quote :

"I think our flowers ended up costing about $600 and my friend made them... We had like 21 tables, the aisle runners, bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres, and other decorations"

Now that's what I like to hear. Since we're not doing floral centerpieces (and are probably going to have at most 10 tables anyhow) we should be able to get away cheaply even if we want to do kickass bouquets.

8/8/2012 9:20:52 AM

Anyone have a plain white/ivory aisle runner laying around they dont want anymore?

I want one to DIY for my wedding.

8/8/2012 12:35:36 PM

I'd use Ronny if I could afford Ronny

8/8/2012 3:44:33 PM

Well, looks like I have 98 pages to catch up on!

429 Days!

8/8/2012 4:03:49 PM

Quote :

"I'd use Ronny if I could afford Ronny"

My rates are very reasonable, I promise. Just ask! I'm always happy to help a fellow TWWer, so I can be flexible.

8/8/2012 5:22:51 PM

egyeyes, if you haven't found a headband yet that you like, Broke-Ass Bride did a nice feature:
http://www.thebrokeassbride.com/2012/08/cant-afford-itget-over-it-blinged-out-bridal-headbands-for-under-50/

8/8/2012 7:28:17 PM

i'll vouch for Ronny. half the pictures posted above are me and frybaby. you get great pictures for a great price, and he's easy to get along with (i don't normally say that about photographers, btw).

8/8/2012 8:46:45 PM

We got the flowers through Sam's club - they worked out perfectly I can send you some pictures if you want

8/8/2012 10:55:01 PM

Ronny, I really like your photos. I had someone do my engagement photos and there's just something different about the picture in your photos that make them more appealing. I don't know much about photography, but I feel like the company I went with, just brought a camera and took the pictures. Your photos seem like you used certain techniques to brighten or place emphasis on what you were focused on etc. I don't know. All I can say is I like your work, and I wish I would have seen it sooner.

8/9/2012 11:16:39 AM