This was a very brilliant idea! We heard about it a few months before our wedding, and we opted for the free online wedding album right away. We told all our friends who we knew would have digital cameras about the site, and three months following the wedding we had over 500 wedding pictures. Friends just keep uploading pictures that they took right onto our website, and it is soo much better than having all these pictures emailed to us. It was great to see pictures from our wedding from so many different perspectives. We quickly upgraded, just because we wanted to download and save some of the pictures.

For my bridal shower, we decided that it would be nice to relax and pamper ourselves with a day at the spa. My sister is a big fan of Skin Sense, and she goes once a month for a message. If you plan and call ahead, the spa is really good about booking groups and giving a group discount. They have packages that range from $80 to $400, and we opted for a midrange spa treatment. I loved getting a manicure, and a pedicure, and getting a message really helped take away the stress of school and thinking about the wedding.

Reception Location:

This was a very elegant affair! We had decided that we wanted to have a reception party with all our friends and family, and we found that the Grand Terrace offered us exactly what we wanted: a beautiful, elegant setting, with a great menu, a dance floor, and also a great planning and organizing staff. We had two meetings, the initial to talk about the possibility of having the wedding party, and the second to confirm all the details. We essentially had two wedding planners on site during the entire wedding party to make sure that everything went smoothly. They were also able to take care of the flower centerpieces and the cake, which was great! I loved having someone make all the decisions for me!

Catering:
Michael Opdyke was (and maybe still is) the Executive chef and Food Services Director at the Franklin Hotel, and provided us with several great menus to choose between. Each menu consisted of a first and second course, an Entrée and a dessert, along with the cake that they made for us. The prices of the menus vary, and the more expensive menus has more gourmet food. We chose the food that we liked, and that our friends liked, which was more simple. They also offer the option of having a buffet, which also has a great selection. I would have to say that the food at my wedding party was some of the best wedding food I've ever had. If you like food, you should really consider the Franklin Hotel and Michael as your first catering option.

Cake:
They were able to make the cake for us, which looked and tasted beautiful.

The silk flowers were from Michael's Craft store. We didn't want there to be dead flowers on the dance floor, so kept the organic flowers for the church only. It worked out really well.

The Dogwood Tree Floral shop made my bouquet for my wedding, but rather than having Dogwood Floral make a bouquet for each flower girl, we simple bought several big bouquets of their pre-cut flowers and let the girls on the morning of the wedding make their own bouquet. We gave them some spools of string and ribbon, and they were well entertained for at least thirty minutes. It's a bit messy, but it's also really cute seeing all the girls walking down the ailse with their own bouquet. For the reception, we gave them a silk flower bouquet which one of the mom's had made for each of them. The silk flowers were from Michael's Craft store. We didn't want there to be dead flowers on the dance floor, so kept the organic flowers for the church only. It worked out really well.

This is a beautiful small chapel on Meredith College. It is really the perfect setting for a small, intimate wedding. We were going to have a large reception for all our friends, co-workers, and family, but for the ceremony we wanted to have exclusively family and close friends. I was a student of Meredith College when we met, and there was no problem contacting the events office and figuring out when it would be possible to be married at the chapel. The service was very beautiful, and we were able to speak with the chaplain for several months before our wedding to explain what was important to us, and also what made a marriage strong, which was good for us because counseling always makes a marriage stronger.

There are two Salon Blu in Raleigh, but the one I usually go to is the Brier Creek Salon Blu for hair cuts and dyes. Because they knew me, my stylist had a great idea for my hair. I set up a consultation with Matt and we tested out some styles and found one that I really liked. We did a really sleek style for the reception, it looked very elegant, and it stayed in place all night. One week before the wedding reception I also had my color done again. I was the only one that had my hair done, the rest of the bridal party opted to do their own hair at home.

Three years ago we had found a beautiful antique ring in a store in Chicago, and I loved it! I said right away that I wanted it to be my wedding ring. My husband surprized me several months later with the same ring when he proposed to me. He said that I had made the engagement very easy by picking out the ring and admiting that I wanted to get married. The ring needed to be resized, and we brought it to Todd. We also bought our wedding bands here. Todd also appraised the value of the engagement ring, and cleaned the ring so that it really shone. The store is family owned and run, and it was great being in a family atmosphere when we fixed and bought our wedding rings.

My mother helped me pick out all our invitations and save-the-date cards from Costco. I was rather surprised by the nice selection. We were still able to find the nice letterpress style that is so popular. We needed about 300 cards, mainly because we would be sending many overseas to family and friends that we knew would not be able to make the wedding. We copied the wording we wanted from sample invitations, and then selected and ordered the cards in less than an hour. Remember to have all the correct information, like the date and the time and address of the ceremony and reception! My friend spent hundreds on her cards and forgot to include the time! Wording is much more important than having something pretty!

I have been to bridal shows with my friends for my friends, like the Southern Expo, but never for myself. I could never imagine me being able to decide between all those vendors. Too much choice is not good for me!