I am a big do-it myselfer so I had the bright idea of doing the invitations all on my own and then was really lost on where to start. It's actually not hard at all! I made all my own 'Save The Date' cards and wedding invitations. Wal-Mart, and even Jo-Ann Fabrics, Michael's and I am sure some other places as well offer wedding invitation kits, but I chose wal-mart. I found the design that I wanted and then made sure I had the right amount with a few extra. In the kit is provided the larger card for the invitation, the card for RSVP, the envelop, I made a card for invitation to the reception, directions, found in the wedding/craft area some silver stickers to seal the envelops shut and even where I could make address labels to put on for return labels and the guest address labels which made it look really nice compared to my hand writing. I printed them off of my computer and they looked like the professional ones my sisters chose to hundreds for and I saved a ton that I could choose to use the money towards something else for the wedding. It was a great budget saving idea and it was awesome once I saw the end result of the invitations to know that I actually made these! I kept one and put it in my wedding keep sake box because in 10 years I know when I open that box I am going to look at the invitations and think, man I actually made these myself!! and I bought them from Wal-mart, who knew?! I definitely suggest it to any budget crunching or crafty bride!!

The favors I have chosen for my wedding continue with the reception theme of the desert buffet that I am having. The Suisse Shop that will be providing my wedding cake and desert buffet will also be doing my favors. We have chosen to do wedding cake cookies at each place setting. It's a two layer cookie, a circular bottom and a smaller circular cookie on top with a little cherrie blossom flower on the side that matches the flowers on the actual cake. It's just a very small favor, but a unique one and one I have not yet seen at any of the many many weddings I have been to over the years. The Suisse Shop is very good at working with you to come up what it is you are looking for if it is not something that they do not already have in their display book. When I said I wanted something different and not really seen much and sat down and talked about a lot of different ideas and went through the display book putting 2,3, maybe 4 different ideas together to make idea unique to my wedding. That is what I really respected about the Suisse Shop. They do not expect you to walk in and pick out of their display book what they already have done before. They want to hear what you have in mind for your wedding and then come up with a way to make that happen together with them. They brought their pasrty chef right in and we all talked about how we can do it as far as baking and decorating goes and it was awesome. For something different, but maybe still edible for your guests I would definitely suggest consulting with the Suisse Shop, they have some really great and unique favors!

This is a great Bar/Game place to go for adults. It is like a Dave and Buster's for adults. Definitely an entertaining and really fun place to go to celebrate your bachelorette party. They offer all the fun games, the mechanical bull if anyone is daring enough to ride (which after a few drinks, your girls may actually get some pictures of the bride on!), and a place where the bridal party and the bride and sit and hang out and have a few drinks together on this really special evening. Around here it is located right inside the towncenter mall which is another reason I would really suggest it for this party night because it is provides the perfect atmosphere for the night. There are a fantastic selection of restaurants for dinner that are in walking distance, the GameWorks, and then right next to GameWorks is another little place called Adobe Gilla which usually has some local live bands that play and its just a local bar inside the mall that is a great place to go to as well and would be perfect for the bachelorette party to travel to as well. This makes for a great selection of places to travel to that are all in walking distance so all you have to do is park in the parking garage or rent a hotel room in one of the hotels across the street and you are ready for a really fun, really crazy bachelorette night out on the town! And since it is a selection of places all located within the towncenter and they are all within walking distance of the GameWorks it is safe and there is a hotel right across the street. It provides for the a really fun, crazy night, but a safe night as well. And GameWorks and Adobe Gilla with the band provide many different ways of entertainment other than sitting inside a bar and just drinking. These places provide some actual activity that can be done which makes for a lot of fun memories and probably pictures to remember the night by!

I know, if I said once I will probably say it again right?! David's Bridal was the absolute best place I found anywhere around here for a flower girl dress. I searched everywhere from Once Upon A Child, to second Wedding Shops downtown where they sell wedding attire that was only worn once, to shops that sell white, plain baptism gowns for children of any size, and I went right back to where I started at David's Bridal. They have such a great selection of dresses from the ones that match real close to the bride's dress to dresses that can be spruced up with ribbons and sashes that match the color of your wedding. The dresses for the little girls were absolutely adorable and perfect for just about any style of wedding. I made sure to go in a few times and look like when they had their change of season gowns so I could get a feel for two different lines and I went in when they had some sales a few different times. I went in with the flower girl and tried the dresses on after having a chance to go in and look at the dresses myself just to see what I though I liked and then what I found I really liked and I was shocked at how it all changed once she had the dresses on. David's Bridal employees were great at working with me to add some color in some of the dresses to show me how I could change them around and they looked like a completely different dress when you try some of the little tricks they have! And don't forget her hair, it is just as important to her as your hair is to you! :) David's Bridal has some really good options for making the flower girl feel extra special that day in her dress and in her hair that day as well without having to have her hair pulled back in a bunch of bobby pins she might end up pulling out before the ceremony even starts. And the bonus, if the bride buys her wedding gown at David's Bridal, the rest of the wedding party gets a discount on all of their wedding attire and the bride gets a discount on any party dresses she wants to buy for all those bridal showers and bachelorette party you are going to be having! Definitely consider them for these important girls on your important day!

Bridesmaid dresses are probably the second most important dress of the day so my girls and I decided to head to the top wedding attire shop we know of, David's Bridal. Because David's Bridal was absolutely so fantastic with my wedding dress shopping experience we decided to go back to them for bridesmaid dresses. Without fail they were extremely helpful, wonderful customer service and we found absolutely beautiful dresses!! David's Bridal was helpful making sure we ordered the correct dresses even though I have girls spread out over 3 states and made sure the dresses were all delivered to me so they were definitely in the correct place the day of the wedding. Another great option of buying the bridesmaid girls at David's Bridal. Because the bridesmaid dresses usually set the color of the wedding theme and then grooms men usually match the bridesmaid, if you go with Davids Bridal they work alongside Men's Wearhouse and their colorschemes from both stores are exactly the same so you are guaranteeing that both the men and women would match if you are wanting to accent both attire with the same color, which was important to me. And David's Bridal had some great options for bridesmaid dresses!

For the Men the best place that my fiance and I found to go was to Men's Wearhouse. They had a great selection of tuxedo styles to choose from the classic black tuxedo to the more modern chocolate brown to the lighter summery tan and white. The prices are reasonable and negotiable depending on the accessories you choose to get for the tuxedos. Men's Wearhouse also has a really nice selection of suits for reasonable prices. There will be a lot of parties the bride and groom are requested to attend, or church marriage counceling to go to, family events, engagement pictures, and rehearsal dinners to host, he may need a new suit when you order the tuxedo. Or for the more relaxed weddings the men may choose to wear suits instead of tuxedos. The suits at Men's Wearhouse are definitely the type of suits you could wear in place of a tuxedo. The staff at the Wearhouse were really helpful, they pulled both tuxedos and suits for us to compare to and put many combinations for us to get clear pictures of. They were helpful and couretous at the same time, not at all impatient which was really nice to see in customer service!

Make-up for the bride is definitely a very important factor that a lot of thought goes into! For this I chose to go to the Clinique counter at the mall around town and recieved a free make-over consultation. To make sure foundation and everything would match my skin for the day I went in to the counter and explained that I would be getting married and I wanted a foundation that wasnt heavy because it was outside and would be hot and I would probably cry, etc... explain what you are looking for in your make up for that day, what color you are thinking and then let them perform their magic. I wanted something that would look great in pictures an really really dramatic doesnt always make every person look great in pictures. soft, natural, and accented, especially on your wedding day is definitely the classic way to go. So I had the make-over and was shown how to do all the tricks and eye liner movements and brow liners, etc. At the end I bought what I was interested in that day and then the attendant wrote all the items she had used that day with color and price and then as I saved for it over the next few months I could come back and slowly buy what I wanted. Clinique is a fantastic place to go for make-up on your wedding day. Not only do they have tons of colors and selections to choose from, but they also have make-up for sensitive skin and hypoallergenic so you can rest assured that on your wedding day your face and skin wont be blotchy and red and you wont be having any strange reactions and any make up you bought special for your wedding!

Flowers! If anyone is thinking about wanting to do the bouquets and center pieces on your own, Michael's the store that sells everything for crafts and art like thing is definitely the place to go. Depending on the type of flower you are looking for would depend on what time of year you would have to go to gather the flowers, but they have an excellent selection of artificial flowers for make excellent bouquets and center pieces. The artificial flowers are very colorful, very plush, they make great bouquets. And the best thing of all, the ladies that work in the flower section are fantastic resources to go to for help in what goes and gathers well together and making a great and well rounded bouquet. I think the woman and I spent over an hour on the floor out searching for flowers, but we had such a great time and we tried so many different combinations of flowers together and in the end, I had 5 bouquets and center pieces for 100 guests complete 12 weeks before the wedding. It was fantastic! oh yeah, and the price... well compared to using fresh flowers... I was speechless. Other than not having that fresh flower smell you would never know my flowers are artificial and I can be assured that there are no mishaps with my flower and bouquet order. Unfortunately neither one of my sister could do that and both of them were left the morning of the wedding with flowers, center pieces, bouquets missing, broken, browned, etc... I would say artificial is the way to go! And then you can use the artificial bouquets on the bridal table or wherever to decorate the reception.

For our reception my Fiance and I chose to do a Desert Buffet and a mini cupcake cake, which had the little bride & groom cake on top and then the mini cupcakes created the tiers of the rest of the cake. It was absolutely fantastic!! They had a great selection of cakes, fillings, and icings to choose from. They had such a wonderful selection of different types of pastries to accent our pastry buffet. The pricing has been great so far and is pretty competitive for what I am choosing to go for and what other pastry shops I have shopped around at. They will deliver and set up the cake which takes a huge stress off me that day! Plus, this is something I have not found anywhere, on the bride and grooms one year anniversay they will make the happy couple a new little bride and groom cake so they dont have to freeze that top cake anymore and save it a year- you can take that with you on your honeymoon and eat it if you want! At the Suisse shop you will get a fresh one of you choice to eat!!