For all brides who need ideas on common questions such as wedding day timelines, gift ideas, registries, and decor visit WeddingBee's Wiki! 

Some of my pages are FRIENDS ONLY, so please add me! I would love to be inspired by YOUR bio :)

Wedding colors:

Colors taken from Msxtal

I'll be in champagne, girls in purple, guys in navy blue, with gold, ivory, brown, and hints of green! Purple, blue, and gold are the birthstone colors of me, my mom, and fiance's Mom. :)

Date: October 22, 2010

• Ceremony: Church of the Assumption, Galloway NJ
• Venue: The Chelsea, Atlantic City NJ
• Rehearsal Dinner: Gourmet Italian Cuisine, Galloway NJ
• Engagement Picures: Dave Austria
• Photography: Danielle Hopkins
• Save the date video/Videography: Persempre Videos
• DJ: DJ Apt One
• Florist: Flower and Balloon Boutique, Philadelphia PA
• Limo: Atlantic Limo, Atlantic City NJ
• Engagement/Wedding Bands: Milanj Jewelers, King of Prussia PA
• Groom Tux - Custom-made by Frank DeRito, Newtown PA
• Groomsmen Tuxes (Navy Blue): Galelli Tux, Philadelphia PA
• Cake Stand/Centerpieces: Home Goods/TJ Maxx, www.crafta.com, www.shopwildthings.com, www.save-on-crafts.com
• Bridal Gown: Brides and Grooms, Newark DE -> Maggie Sottero Rhianna Royale
• Bridesmaid Dresses: Brides and Grooms, Newark DE -> Belsoie L3017
• Bridesmaid Accessories: Clutch from Aldo, pearl necklace and earrings (gift from FMIL, hand-made in the Philippines)
• RD Dress: Lulus,  H&M
  
• Bachelorette Dresses: ASOS
• Save-the-dates: Magnet Street
• Registry: Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Amazon, Disney
• Hair and Makeup: The Little Touches
• Veil: Unique Vintage, GlamitUpToppers
• Male Sponsor Gifts: Pocket Watch from Tempus Fugit
• Female Sponsor Gifts: Pearl Rosaries
• Honeymoon: Walt Disney World
• Reception items (Cake server/toasting flutes): Bed Bath and Beyond
• Invitation/Program Designer: Nestingproject on Etsy
• Limo: Atlantic Limo
• Marriage Preparation: Engaged Encounter 6/11-6/13
• Candy buffet bags, small velour bags (sponsor gifts), welcome bags: www.papermart.com
• Mr. and Mrs. wood letters, trim for birdcage holder, lace trim for votive candles, cardstock for YAY flags, misc. DIY items: www.joannfabrics.com
• Votive candles + candleholders: www.quickcandles.com
• Fake flowers, misc. DIY items: www.michaels.com
• Rehearsal Dinner Invites, Favor and welcome bag stickers: www.vistaprint.com
• Door hanger/welcome note: www.zazzle.com
• Reception dress: www.edressit.com
• Bridal Shrug: LoveChildBoudoir
• Boudoir Pictures: Scott Church
• Candy for candy buffet: BJs, www.groovycandies.com, www.candywarehouse.com
• Cake Topper: www.dazzlemeelegant.com
• B-Pic Book: www.adoramapix.com
• Guestbook: www.aandibooks.com
• Bathroom baskets: www.joann.com
• Photo frames: www.homegoods.com
• Wedding necklaces: www.gilt.com, www.anntaylor.com
• Reception shoes: www.nordstrom.com
• Wedding shoes: www.ninewest.com
• Thank you cards: www.magnetstreet.com

My beautiful engagement ring! Tacori 2620 with an Asscher-cut diamond!

The Ring!

                                             A close-up view of an Asscher-cut diamond

Our Wedding Bands!

I have the matching Tacori wedding band for my e-ring, and FI has a Tungsten ring with 1 diamond in the middle (He wanted one too!)

10/22/10!!!

We are getting married at the parish I grew up at, then heading to The Chelsea for the reception! Here are some inspiration photos what they can turn the ballroom into. We were looking at pictures on their 5th floor, but logistically, it wouldn't work because the dancefloor is not in the center.  We'll head up there after the reception! We are doing cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and stations!

More pictures of the venue on their facebook album

Food tasting was on 3/20/10 - about 7 months before the wedding! Thought it was early to decide, but I'm not complaining!

We are having these hors d'ouevres:

• Chicken lollipops with a soy ginger sauce
• parmesan-encrusted lamb chops with mint jelly
• beef sliders with a pickle, mustard, and ketchup
• ahi tuna served on a wonton chip
• vegetable spring roll with a soy ginger sauce
• mini crab cakes

Salad martinis

• Fall salad with spinach, cranberries, goat cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing
• Caesar salad

3 food stations:

• Roast beef with all the accoutrements
• Pasta primavera - made to order
  
• Lobster Ravioli - made to order
  

Cake flavors: bottom two layers will be white cake with vanilla bavarian cream and fresh homemade raspberry jam and top layer of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (see cake post with my inspiration)

The presentation was absolutely perfect! Wish I took pictures, but I was too busy eating all the food! :)

We will be adding lounge furniture and "conversation spaces" to an already elegant and gorgeous ballroom, so we want to keep the centerpieces along with the theme of modern vintage glam. Here are some pictures of some of the candelabras and that "chandelier" look that we want! We bought some of the opulent treasures cupcake stands, single candleholders, and other candelabra-like fixtures from Home Goods. If we can't find anything similar, we'll probably order a mix of the ones below.We will have high top tables, so we might just add small table lamps, and these big mamas will be on the larger tables. I love the idea of lace-covered votives, so we will be DIY-ing these too!

Links: www.save-on-crafts.com

www.shopwildthings.com

SEMI-DIY CENTERPIECES!

The dress! It looks blue in the picture, but it'll be more purple like in the second picture:

This is a picture of one of my bridesmaids in the dress! The girls are allowed to wear any shoe that is in a light gold/champagne color. They are all wearing clutches and wrist corsages down the aisle instead of the traditional bouquet.

I got inspired by this photo below. LOVE Sex and the City, especially Carrie's fashion-forward style! My florist is getting large cream-colored roses with a lime green ribbon (it'll catch the color of the greens in my bouquet).

   I want the wrist corsage to look like below, without the feather:

Bridesmaid Gifts: Clutch, Day-of Jewelry (pearl necklace and earrings), gold compact mirror from Forever21, satin hanger for their dress (DIY'ed), thank you note, jar of nutella, LOVE wine stopper, mini red bull + mini absolute vodka, and a bridesmaid emergency kit all inside a cute tote bag (various totes from Forever21)!

Here are the tote bags from F21!

This is exactly what I am going for! Love that lace!! Unfortunately, it sold out very quickly! *****And it came back in stock and on sale a few months later! I bought this gorgeous number! So now, I have two lace dresses! The dress I don't wear will be for the honeymoon :)

The dress is from ASOS. This is my new store to find fun dresses!

...since we're doing a joint bachelor/bachelorette party on a Friday, then girls-only on Saturday...I had to buy another dress! Also from ASOS:

Weekend details:Joint Bachelor/Bachelorette (and my birthday!!) party in Philly on 9/17, then girls only trip to DC 9/18-9/19! Yay!

Dress is from Lulus! Got it on sale! :) Now I need to look for shoes and maybe a bolero to wear over it!

8/1/10: Decided on a different dress! I bought this dress from H&M a few months ago, and it would be perfect for the RD! Couldn't find a pic of just the dress, but here's a girl wearing it! It's a sweetheart neckline cream-colored dress with goldish streaks

Rehearsal Dinner Invites! (From Vistaprint)

Dinner is at an Italian Restaurant:

I want! I want! Find them here: www.zappos.com. They're both 4.5" high. I may trip, but I'd risk to wear these! :drool:

   --> Bought these from Amazon! *EDIT* Got these 5/12/10, but the strap didn't fit right. Considering getting another shoe or getting a smaller size. They look hot, though!

Found another pair that was seen on the boards. I need to try them on though!

Just bought these 8/2/10. Nine West Ensign from Endless. It's a 1/2 small, but hoping that they will fit!

3 tiers of round gold cake with ivory lace detail on the bottom edge of each tier. Pearl strands will also be added.

Cake flavors: Two tiers of super delicious (and light!) white cake with raspberry filling, top tier of chocolate mousse of chocolate ganache filling :)

Cake topper inspiration:

or

Cake Server and Champagne Flute Set

Jubilee Pearl by Lenox

I saw this, and thought this was awesome!

http://daisypinkcupcake.blogspot.com/2010/01/vintage-brooch-bouquet.html

But my bouquet will look something like the one below. Purple with lime accents! Flowers will include purple iris, purple lisianthus with lime cymbidium orchid accent.

So far, we only know that we have a navy blue tux, brown shoes, navy blue/gold tie, and matching socks! They are also wearing a snazzy tie clip. More pictures and ideas to come! The guy here...looks like a wax mannequin.

 Groomsmen gifts: Tie, Socks, tie clip, cigar, pocket square, mini redbull, mini Jack Daniels, and mini grey goose

Best man: Cigar humidor

All the groomsmen gifts will be in these fun lunch boxes we found at Five Below!

I've always loved arts and crafts! I've gotten a ton of inspiration from everyone here!

These are a few things that I have done or is still a work in progress: Church Pew Cones, Lace-Covered Votives, YAY flags, card holder, and MR and MRS signs. I still need to do my toss bouquet, my dress hanger, BM dress hangers, Welcome bags, Bathroom baskets, candy buffet items, and our centerpieces!

Here is our ring box!

Door Hanger/Welcome Note

Idea came from weddingbee

Bridesmaid Hanger

Materials: Satin hangers (8pack from Bed, Bath, and Beyond); Crystal Garland (Save-On-Crafts); Brooch (Fabulous Brooch), initial pendant (ebay - Amsco Online), thread

Sewed the crystal garland onto the hanger. Attached the brooch. Wrapped the necklace around the hanger. Easy as 1-2-3!

My cupcake stands for the Rehearsal Dinner!

http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/semi-diy-cupcake-stand

Semi-DIY Unity Candle

Spray-painted the holder gold and added pearls around the vase.  Added some embellishments to the taper candles.

I made stickers on Vistaprint! Two versions are for the welcome bags, and one version for our favor bags! They were having a 50% off sale, so for 260 glossy stickers, they were $75!

Originally, we were thinking of renting a photobooth, but when we talked to our videographer, he told us he could lend us his studio stand for our photobooth! Score! Here's a pic, and where you can get one for about $120.

   +      + 

Now that we have a stand, we can use ANY background color we want. I think we'll be choosing a neutral color or one of our wedding colors. Here's a link for all the colors you can choose from! We're getting the background for about $50 because of it's large size.  And luckily, since our wedding is near Halloween, we'll have a plethora of options for our props. Since we're doing a vintagey-theme, we def need fake mustaches, feather boas, large picture frame, and top hats! I think we'll throw in pre-made signs like "KISS", "LOVE", "CRAZY", "FRIENDS", etc. so that they can connect words or just hold.(Rather not have people write what they want in case they really go wild!....keepin' it classy here!). We'll include instructions, and have a table full of props! I'm excited! Our photographer's husband will be taking the pictures. Just need to figure out prints since we want to double them as favors.

We're also thinking of adding an image to the background like this:

The $13 decal is from Target. So the whole photobooth will cost about $250! (stand + background + decal + various props).  :D

I love music that reaches into your soul, that makes you dance, and that finds meaning in your life.

We are still working on our playlist, but one of my favorite wedding blogs have made it easy to find those special love songs.

http://greenweddingshoes.com/tag/music/

I will be making a "getting ready" mix for the day of, but these songs can be great for the ceremony, reception, photo slideshows, and anything else. All of these songs really make me smile :)

Possible First Dance Songs:

Sweetest Love - Robin Thicke

Can't Take My Eyes off of You - Lauryn Hill

Against the World - Robin Thicke

Announcing *Our Wedding Soundtrack!*

Entrance song for Wedding Party: Shots by LMFAO (instrumental w/hook)

First Dance: Daydreamer by Adele

Wedding Party Dance Medley: Here in my arms by hellogoodbye/Because of you by Ne-Yo/DJ got us Falling in Love by Usher

Parent Dance: Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder

Cake-Cutting: Grow old with you - Adam Sandler

Bouquet Toss: Maneater by Nelly Furtado

Garter Removal: You'll Find a Way - Santogold

Garter Toss: A-Punk by Vampire Weekend

Last Song: Always Love You - Theophilus London

So since we are doing a fun cocktail reception, I wanted to do our invites on coasters! The designer is The Nesting Project, and our coaster invites are on her site! :) Each coaster is double-sided with information for the main invite, accommodations, directions, and our website. We also included a quote, "Remember tonight for it is the beginning of always."

Half of our guests will be doing online RSVP, while the other half will be doing the traditional RSVP postcard. For the online RSVP, we added a place to enter a code on our website so that we can easily track their information. The RSVP postcard will also have a code in the corner in case they don't add their names.

I'm so excited to send these out!

Invites sent on 7/31/10 with an RSVP date of 9/1/10! 205 invited, expecting 160

RSVP stats as of 9/2/10:

Yes: 157
No:33
No response:15

Friday, October 22 – Wedding Day! ☺

9am - Bridal party gets ready at the hotel suite

10:30 - Groom and groomsmen get ready

11:00 - Photographers/Videographers arrive for "getting ready" pictures

12:00 - Bride and bridesmaid pictures; Groom and groomsmen pictures

1:00 - Bride and Groom "First Reveal" Pictures on The Chelsea hotel rooftop

1:20 - Wedding party takes pictures around hotel, boardwalk, and casino

3:00 - First Limo picks up groom and groomsmen to go to the church

3:15 - Second Limo picks up bride and bridesmaids to go to the church

3:50 - Wedding party is assembled

4:00 - Ceremony begins

5:00 - Ceremony ends, family pictures (no receiving line)

5:30 - Champagne toast with wedding party, then travel to The Chelsea

6:00 - Wedding party arrives ("sparkler" picture with bride and groom), night pictures on the boardwalk

6:20 - Bride and Groom take more pictures around the hotel

6:50 - Wedding Party and Bride and Groom parents assemble to be announced

7:00 - Cocktail Reception begins, Wedding party is announced

7:10 - Bride and Groom first dance
          Wedding Party Dance

7:15 - Prayer by Fr. Mike

7:17 - Unity Candle Ceremony

7:20 - Toasts by MOH and Best Man

7:25 -Hors d'ouevres are passed/Open dancing

8:00 - Parent dances (one song)

8:05 - Open dancing/Stations open

8:45 - Cutting the cake

8:50 - Bride changes into reception dress

9:15 - Bouquet/Garter Toss

9:30 - Open dancing, cake served to guests

10:55 - Last song

11:00 - Reception ends

11:30 - After Party at C5!

The same designers that did our coaster invites did our programs! I love them because they're smallish so girls can't complain that they don't fit inside their purse! They are 4 inches wide and 6.5 inches tall!

The quote above the picture was also on our invites: "A friendship that was shared by two has turned into a love so true"

OLD - Using the bouquet I caught and the garter that was put on from my bridesmaid's wedding two years ago

NEW - Dress, shoes, jewelry, accessories

BORROWED - Crystal rosary for my bouquet

BLUE - Light Blue perfume, blue underwear

Yay! I'm happily married! It's been awhile since I posted, but I definitely want to share some of my favorite photos! The day was simply amazing, and of course, it went by so fast! My advice to those who are planning the wedding is to definitely enjoy every nanosecond. My fiance (now husband!) planned a wedding in less than nine months! I had lists everywhere. Boxes of our DIY, wedding gifts, and arts and crafts accumulated in our dining room and living room. I stressed about money. I spent long hours (well into the wee hours of the morning!) on PW, getting ideas and meeting great people. But without a doubt, I would do this all again! It was a memorable day that our friends and family still talk about, but more importantly, it was a day that was about us! Enjoy!

Will post more! I'm trying to create a slideshow, since there are so many photos that I love! Photography by Danielle Hopkins.