Posts in the 'Reception' Category
December 10th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
This is a repost of a guest blog I did for my boo Sasha at Sparkliatti last month… but in case any of you missed it, here it is again! Enjoy!
I’m completely in love with creative and original ideas that won’t drain your budget! When Sasha asked me to bring some of my budget decor savviness to her blog, I thought, let’s get to the heart of the matter… or at least of the room: The Table.
Table decor can either be unique and memorable or fade into the background of a wedding – but whether you’re dropping $1 or $100 on it, why waste a chance to surprise and delight your guests with fun and distinctive design? I struggled for days to find inexpensive yet dynamic ways to spruce up our tables without busting our budget, and today I’m sharing my top 5 ways to save on money but stay rich on impact.
1. Having a rustic affair but want to give your tables flair? A large roll of kraft paper can serve as a no-muss sub for linens for much less. Don’t forget to toss some crayons near the kids’ seats…. or everyone’s seats for that matter! Instant interactive fun for your guests!
2. Prefer the feel of fabric? Buy a bolt of unbleached muslin or burlap fabric and use pinking shears to cut tablecloths or runners with character (and leave your sewing kit out of it)! Use baker’s twine to tie a rock into the corners of your tablecloths to help weigh them down.
3. Craft poms are my new obsession. Fill some clear glass bowls, vases or glasses from the flea market with the colorful bunch, or hot glue them to some branches in a vase, and check centerpieces off your list for pennies! Fill paper cones with the leftovers for a fun toss alternative to rose petals that will look whimsical and darling in photos.
4. Save the cost of vases altogether, and cut down on the number of flowers you buy. Pop the heads off some larger stems such as spider mums or orchids and scatter them along the center of the table with some smooth river rocks or seashells woven between them.
5. Bring the outdoors in for tables that add texture and visual interest. Use mosscloth for dynamic table runners or centerpiece elements. Its a natural and inexpensive way to wow your guests, and comes in various shades of green to suit your palette.
I took my own advice, and our guests loved the moss centerpieces!
I hope these ideas help inspire some of you to take your table decor to the next level while keeping your budget in check. Saving money on your wedding decor is often as easy as thinking outside the box! Now go, unleash your inner budget bad-ass and make your tables sing!
What’s your favorite outside-the-box saving tip for table decor?
July 15th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
I’m thrilled to bring you the “party time” edition of my bestie MaPo’s Fairie Tale Wedding! Missed Part 1? Wondering what a MaPo is? Find it all here!
But before we get to the partying – and oh, was there partying – let me rewind to quickly highlight a few wonderful details of the rehearsal that I left off the last post!
For instance, MaPo’s drop dead perfect Charlotte York inspired rehearsal look:
And a tiny peek at their insanely adorable and talented Day-of-Coordinator, the always fabulous Mrs. Emerald (aka Charlene of Sweet Chic Events) along with warm and charismatic Reverend Jim, aka Rent-A-Rev.
And the uniquely perfect bridal party gifts that MaPo made for each of us! Customized aprons! Mine said “Dana’s cafe: Would you like melty cheese on that?” – a callback to our shared love of all things melty and cheesy. Hunter’s said “Hunter’s Ice Cream Parlor: We do not tolerate lactose” – shouting out to Hunter’s inability to enjoy regular ice cream without, shall we say, unpleasantness. We absolutely luuurve our aprons!
Ok – so now that the rehearsal tidbits are settled – onto the PARTY!
We all came in, paired up, girls with boys. I walked in with the Best Man, Feta’s big brother Kalamata (who later gave one of the best toasts, evah – so funny and personal).
Then came the couple of honor!
I managed to make it through my toast to them without crying, which was quite a feat! I talked about how wonderful it was that we both helped eachother find our mates, and what a special treat it was that we now got to plan our weddings together. I talked about how every time I see Feta look at MaPo with his melty eyes, I know that they were meant to be. And it’s true!
I like to imagine MaPo is emotional in this shot, but really, she’s probably just swallowing wine 
After all the toasts, which were all funny and emotional and perfect, MaPo and Feta made a toast and the bridal party all did a shot of Ouzo together. As a greek myself, I can tell you that Ouzo is an acquired taste, at best. It’s thick and strong and tastes like anise (black licorice). The faces we all pulled following that shot were priceless. You can see my reaction here, and I grew up with this traditional aperitif!
They cut their gorgeous and tasty cake….
And then they danced their first dance as husband and wife, to Let Me Roll It, by Wings. I loved it because it was kinda sexy but totally sweet, and MaPo sang to Feta the whole time, looking more blissed out than I’ve ever seen her.
The father-daughter dance was up next. When she was a little girl, her favorite show was Fairie Tale Theatre, and every single day she watched the Cinderella episode, her father would come dance the music from the Ballroom scene with her. Her very own Prince Charming. Having this song was a complete surprise to her father, and a very touching moment for everyone.
Look at what a princess she is!
After a delicious dinner we all busted quite a move! They had a friend man the “DJ booth”, having him run an iTunes setup which was not only budget friendly, but added a nice personal aspect to the night. The music choices were perfect, so the dance floor stayed packed all night.
I wish I had some pictures of the traditional greek dances we did, in honor of Feta’s heritage. My favorite was the money dance, where we all danced in a chain while Feta’s family members showered everyone with dollar bills! It was literally raining money – what could be better?
I was very happy to get to spend some quality time with the bride that night… loving on eachother.
Whoa – that’s a lot of love! Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol!
MaPo’s joy was infectious and radiant all night long.
Check my mom in the gold, just killin’ it on the dance floor!
All in all, it was just a mystical, wondrous winter fairie tale of a wedding night. I am all verklempt just writing this, and reliving the happiness of each fabulous moment! Best of all? The whole thing was so budget-smart – from her $90 dress to the artificial flowers to the friendor DJ – but not one minute of the wedding suffered for it. No one would ever have been able to tell. But, yo, I just did, cuz I keeps it real with you readers, hear?
Stay tuned for a MaPo bonus: Part 3 – photo studio shenanigans!
(all photos courtesy of my dad)
July 8th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
This weekend, I’m going to experience some very happy wedding deja vu. My Bride$hare buddy is getting married, and Hunter and I are thrilled to go back to the Bungalow Club for the first time since our wedding 6 weeks ago, and enjoy some of our decor, drink delicious mojitos, and dance our faces off, for the 2nd time around.
These are the fateful paper lanterns that spawned the whole idea for Bride$hare! (photo by Dan Chen)
Way back when, Rebecca saw a blog post of mine lamenting the desire for paper lanterns to spruce up the space at my venue, and she contacted me to suggest we go in on them together and share them. That was just the beginning. Together, we were able to co-purchase and recycle many items from our weddings, which went perfectly with Hunter and my mission to both save green and be green in our wedding plans! In fact, the reception venue owner likes them so much, she might even buy them off of us after the fact and keep them up, which means future brides can benefit from them, too! My bridal karma meter must be off tha charts, son!
These manzanita trees will make a repeat appearance this weekend, too!
Having a Bride$hare buddy was not only a great way to be more fiscally and eco-responsible, but it was also the beginning of a fun and resourceful friendship. Whenever we researched or booked vendors/hotels/rehearsal dinner venues, we’d check in and make suggestions or give feedback to one another about it. We talked invitation design and oohed and aahed over eachother’s creations. We generally supported eachother in a way that most brides only find via message boards, and that was a priceless bonus of the whole experience.
Together, we shared roughly $4,000 worth of goods/services. It was so inspiring, that I set up a website for other brides to connect and get their own share on! Saving all that money was certainly thrilling, but after blogging about it what excites me most is the amount of interest in and embracing of the BrideShare concept from gals all across the web. I encourage you all to try and share and save – after all, green is the new white! So whatcha waiting for? Go get you some!
I am so happy for Rebecca and Rupen this weekend, and can’t wait to celebrate with them, and raise a glass to our collective good fortune.
May 8th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
Le Sigh. This would go so beautifully at our wedding if we had all the monies.
Isn’t it gorg?!?
(via StyleMePretty)
April 16th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
Early on, we knew that finding a fly DJ for our wedding was one of the most important elements for us. Whenever we picture “the perfect party” (which is, after all, what a wedding should feel like to the couple of honor), we see a packed dance floor, sweaty faces, hands and feet flailing, singing along. So, one would think that it would be the first vendor we book, but nay, less than 6 weeks to go and we still didn’t have our Spinner locked.
There were a few hindrances along the road: we have very eclectic taste and wanted a DJ who wouldn’t play “typical wedding music” all night. We also love mash-ups and were hoping to find a DJ who could blend old and new tunes to create unbearably danceable beats that would please all generations. Lastly, we wanted a DJ who could actually spin, mix and scratch (with real vinyl)- rather than just playing a “playlist” of full-length songs all night.
We’d gotten a few recommendations, and had set up a few interviews, but we were starting to feel like finding “the one” was just a pipe dream. Then one late night I was googling around and was hit with the funkiest freshness I’ve heard in a while. I had found The Flashdance, and I was mesmerized!
The Flashdance is a supa-pimp coop-site hosted by Michael Antonia (aka the Human Jukebox), the rad kids at Our Labor of Love Photography and the photogenius that is Max Wanger. Its chock full of mindblowing inspiration in the form of wed-pro interviews, playlists, photos and more.
The kicker? Michael lives in my neighborhood, and is one of the rare (but smart) DJs who actually puts unedited samples of his work online, so you get to know his style right off the bat! His beats are so hot, I got a fever just watching! He also puts up playlists and has a email list for free mixes every month. If I weren’t already engaged, I might be in love
The Wedding Spinner 2 from Michael Antonia on Vimeo.
We met with him last week over some guava cheese pie, and we were blown away by his knowledge, background and style. He meets all our criteria, and them some! He gave us a couple mixtapes, which we promptly put on repeat and forced all our friends to groove to. My current favorite? A mash-up of “Colors” by Ice-T and “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper. Dope level: Orange, yo!
I hope-pray-hope he is available for our wedding date, because I really believe he was sent from DJ heaven to be our dancefloor pimp. I’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime, I recommend heading over to The Flashdance for some mind-blowing beats and amazing photography inspiration.
PS: How much do you love this photo? 
Yeah, its from The Flashdance, too.
February 27th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
Meet my new secret lover. The one I would be with, if I weren’t with the one*.
via Snippet and Ink
Delicious, no?
——
* If this one and that one had a baby, it would be ahhhhmazing.
February 23rd, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
Finding a unique cardbox to fit our theme was a difficult undertaking. As much as I love the classic mailbox, vintage luggage and the sweet birdcage ideas, they weren’t quite right for our theme. I searched high and low to find something unique, exciting and memorable that spoke to us – but when I stumbled across For The Modern Bride I knew I had found the answer!
I love these darling boxes! They can be customized to match every element of your event, from size/layout to color scheme to embellishments and embroidery. They’re a wonderful keepsake idea and a supersafe way to ensure no greedy guests or interlopers grubby paws get inside and steal your proverbial candy. What I love the most is that they look like what they are, so there’s little room for guest confusion, and they make a great decor piece to get your gift table going!
For The Modern Bride also carries unique favors and does custom monogram, invitation and all other paper goods too! Its a fun way to carry a theme through all elements of your wedding – they can help you create a vision and provide all the elements you need from invites to placecards to aisle runners and favors…. its basically a one-stop bridal shop for a completely customized event. Easy peasy, yo.
Their favor selection is very reasonably priced, starting at around $0.50 each. They’ve got great eco-friendly options such as plantable petal cones and bamboo coasters, as well as more traditional selections. But my favorites are the “owl always love you” soaps and the perfect for us lucky elephant candle. All favors are 10% right now, bonus!
Looking through their paper-goods designs, I was very impressed with the variety of their work – they can suit any theme or style from the most buttoned-up preppy to the very whimsical and funky affairs, and every style is uniqe to the couple. They’re open to anything, if they don’t already offer what you’re looking for, they will develop it – I love a company open for a challenge!
I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of FTMB before, but I’m so glad to have found them. I’m currently working on a cardbox design with them, and can’t wait to share what they come up with for our funky and colorful Magic Carpet Ride theme! The girls there have been so sweet and accommodating, I feel like we’re old friends. Its rare to find a company who can handle so many wedding design elements with such personal flair, I just had to share them with y’all!
Have you found a unique card box or design element that you’re dying to share?
February 9th, 2009 by The Broke-Ass Bride
I have a question. How do you time out your processional music, if using popular tunes?
I mean, as it stands, we’re thinking of using 1 song for the bridal party/families, and another song for my grand entrance.
Our aisle is probably all of 20 seconds long to walk.
So, how does it work? Do we fade it out when its time to switch tunes and then fade it out again after I reach the altar? Do we genetically alter the songs to be xx minutes long? But then, what about the fact that my walk is only going to last all of 30 seconds of a 4 minute song? Should I just suck it up and do one song for the whole thing, so my song doesn’t seem so… piddly?
Tell me, wise ones. How do you do it?
