We bought our supplies for our guest gift bags from Wal-Mart, which included water bottles, trail mix, chocolate bars, a map of Oklahoma City and a few flyers. You can get the flyers from anywhere, it’s a nice touch because it lets people know what’s going on in the city. I bought the gift bags from Wal-mart for $1 each, and then spent less than $40 on the goods we put in the bags. Wal-Mart is cheap for snack foods. We bought huge boxes of cracker jacks for $1 a box. The trail mix was $3 a bag, which is still cheaper than the grocery store. I think this was a nice touch for our out-of-town guests because then they had nice snack food, too.

It’s near a cemetery, which we did not know until our driver got lost and then slowed down in front of the cemetery. During the day the whole neighborhood is beautiful, the hotel is beautiful, the breakfast they serve is great, and I loved our wedding night stay here. The staff was nice and friendly. I love a hotel that has a good restaurant and an excellent breakfast menu.

This was where my sister’s husband bought his suit from, so I encouraged my husband to go here. I didn’t actually care what he wore, as long as he looked nice. I was more focused on how I would look. The store was fancy, really nice, and I’m pretty sure my husband hated being in there. I loved it in there but I was so distracted by the dresses. The fitting took less than 15 minutes, and then he was happy because it was fast and then it was over. He looked great. They also have suits for ring bearers, but we didn’t have any nephews old enough to walk down the aisle!

I scrapbook, so I thought that making invitations would be fun. It’s fun, but we spent lots of money on invitations making tools and papers and such. I spent about $80 on the papers, and then $20 on the lace, and extra $40 on glue and pens and sparkles, and then about $40 on things that I never used. I liked it, because it gave me a better idea of what would work for when we made the seating chart. Jo-ann is good because they have a huge selection of crafts, and you can use things you find in the scrapbook section, or the cards section, and then there are just so many things and ideas that you can come up with in the store.

This is where my mother goes to get her hair done. She made the appointment, and went with me to make sure my hair got done right. My mother was a perfect candidate for “whose wedding is this?” show, and she was horrible at the salon. My mother was set on me having a up-do from the 90s style. Luckily the stylist told my mother that the look she wanted wasn’t modern, and gave me a nice simple updo. The only thing I wished was that I had gone there sooner for a trial run, like the week before, because we spent maybe longer than we needed figuring out what would look nice. I think this was a nice salon, clean and well run, but it’s not where I normally go to get my hair done.

This was the hotel we chose because it was the closest to the airport. We were also looking for a place that would have a kitchen, and they do have a free breakfast, which worked in favor of the guests. We also snuck in a had a free bagel and no one at the front desk minded. It was a bit of a drive to the actual ceremony location, but the guests liked being close to the airport.

We decided that instead of giving small gifts, we would just make a big donation in the same sum of money ($3 for every guests that RSVP) to the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma. They have hundreds of smaller foundations to choose between, and we made two donations for the Alva Skate Park Foundation and the Lawyers for Children Foundation. This is the organization that will put you in contact with hundreds of active foundations. We felt comfortable donating our monies to so many of their causes, and chose two that we felt were closest to our beliefs.

We needed bridesmaid’s dresses and also a flower girl dress. My first goal was to not spend more than $40 on the flower girls’ dress. I suggest going around Easter, or after Easter, because they have many flower and fun summer dresses. We found something really cute and I bought it because it was $39. We also found the bridesmaid’s dresses here. They were the Jessica brand, and they were formal, long, and very beautiful. They were also on sale. The customer service at Sears is always good. The dressing rooms were a little ghetto, but otherwise the clothes were perfect. I was so happy that I saved so much money getting nice dresses here even if they lacked in the bridal suite feel.

I like David’s Bridal because they offer dresses in many different price ranges and styles and also in sizes. I went and found so many dresses that fit. I was worried that I would have to lose weight for my wedding, but I found a dress that looked right on me in the size that I was. The sales person who helped me was an idiot, though. She wore a really short skirt, and I didn’t think it was appropriate. I also think she was socially awkward, and it’s important to be good with people when you’re working with brides. I ignored her opinions and just asked her to get me dresses. I found my dress, but not because of her.

My best friend made a deal with me that she would go along and get tanned with me for the six weeks before my wedding so that I would have a nice back and look slimmer. People look slimmer when they are tanned, but just a little bit tanned. We bought time and we were able to get tanned by the minute. We chose this place because it was near her work, and it fit well into our schedule. It’s easy to get parking. The beds are also very clean. It’s a quiet store, and you never feel pressure to get tanned. The girl who worked at the front desk always was very nice and made us fell welcomed and happy to see us.