The Wedding Pros

Ok… so by now you are wondering wow did this girl fall off the face of the planet? Did her fiancée ditch her? Not at all! Summer is upon us and life is CRAZY!!! 

Since my last entry things have gone bananas! Thank goodness my wedding is not for another 15 months! The three groomsmen we had lined up, all fell through. Long story… let’s just say it’s good to know who your true friends are in life, because after all is said and done you want the people who support you to be involved in your wedding. On a positive note, I have gotten all but one of my bridesmaids in for an initial dress fitting and they LOVE the dress! We ordered the beads for my wedding gown and the seamstress is currently working away at that. I also ran across an amazing jewelry maker in my travels and she does beautiful work with Swarovski Crystals. Hope Morsch of Crystal Creations sells her work at the Windmill in Penn Yan NY. Hope can also be contacted via e-mail at hmorsch@stny.rr.com. Let her know I sent you! 

I left off last time promising to talk about cakes, save the dates, table arrangements/flowers. I can only provide you with a brief over view on these topics. About a month or so ago my mom and I met with our local florist and discussed what I am looking for in a bouquet. Standing at 5’10’’ and weighing in a little more than I care to share with you I need a decent sized bouquet. No little gathering of three flowers for this girl! Planning a fall wedding this far in advance is difficult to chose flowers/table arrangements, but in order to work on your budget it is still smart to met with several florists. Choose a florist who has been in the wedding business for a while. Personally I have worked with this florist before and I know his work is far beyond what I can expect from most small town florists. After discussing what size bouquet and what style I am looking for comes all the other people who need flowers. Of course your groom needs a boutonniere as well as his grooms men and all fathers and grandfathers. Both Mothers also receive a corsage as do grandmothers. Then there is the priest or clergy member and anyone else you want to honor on your special day. Most churches are beautiful enough without flowers but if you want flowers on the alter check with the church first as some do not allow outside flowers in the church. If you are having an out door wedding don’t forget to factor in weather and make sure you have large enough settings for your location. 

Cakes… everyone loves cake, or so I thought. My fiancée mentioned to me that he doesn’t care what kind of cake we have as long as it’s not this or this or this. A week later he says I don’t even like cake. So what to do when one party of the wedding could care less about the cake!?! I have decided to have a multi-layer cake with multi-flavors. Recently my fiancée has fallen in love with carrot cake and my personal favorite is a white almond cake with raspberry filling. As long as we have those we will be happy campers. Wedding cakes are not only gorgeous but expensive! My wedding is approximately an hour away from where I live and have been doing most of my wedding planning. Many of the bakers I have talked to want a 100.00 dollar traveling fee, which is understandable with the price of gas, but I just want a pretty cake to eat at my wedding not a pretty cake that’s going to cost me a month’s worth of rent! When choosing you reception site make sure to ask about cake cutting fee’s many facilities charge anywhere from .75 cents to 2.00 per slice. Also if your great aunt Lou Lou wants to bake your cake (and I am sure she won’t charge you a 100.00 traveling fee!) make sure that it’s ok with the reception site. Many sites require that your cake comes from a certified bakery. 

Save the date cards have been an on going battle for me and my mom. When I got engaged I suggested that a year out we send out save the dates. She said no need everyone will already know you are getting married. Then three months later she calls me to say “I found a great deal on save the date cards, I picked them up for you” So needless to say we are sending out save the date cards. Wedding site after wedding site argues on when to send save the date cards. I will be sending mine out approximately 7-6 months before the wedding. Again our wedding is a holiday weekend so I want to give people amply time to make reservations at a hotel. 

I know that over the summer I have to set down and pick out invitations. So far I have not had much luck. Everything I have seen is super cheesy or just plain old boring. I know that most people just look at the date and see what good food they are going to eat, but I want people to look at my invitations and say “Ooo pretty invitations!” Hopefully next time I will have made some sort of decision on invitations. 

Summer has finally arrived in the Finger Lakes and I intend to enjoy every moment of it! Get out there and enjoy life to the fullest! If you have any questions regarding wedding planning please feel free to e-mail me… kswi0105@aol.com Next time I will discuss providing for out of town guests, starting that weight loss/toning program for the wedding, and how to deal with growing guest lists!