Southern Sweethearts: Time To Stuff Our Faces!

Our first dance song faded out and our DJ announced to our guests that the Lady & Sons-catered southern buffet was now open.

Once again, I wish we had more photos of the nom-worthy food.

Mr. Lab and I had already eaten, so we took that time to move around the room and socialize with our guests.

Bottom right photo by guest.

I also used that time to grab photos with my sisters since they left the square before formals.

Wait a second...what's that buzzing sound? Is that a bee?!?

Mrs. Crabcake and Mini! (photo courtesy of Mrs. CC!)

Mrs. CC drove all the way from the other side of the state to share our wedding day with us! :D

Pretty soon, it was time to do a standard at almost every wedding: cut the cake! Our DOC made sure to move our ceremony wreath to our reception for added decor. Before the wedding, I scoured the internet for a pretty vintage oval cake stand but had no luck. But I still loved the simple cake display, even though it bugs me that the table was off-center.

The cake didn't quite live up to its Martha Stewart inspiration because I opted for butter cream frosting over fondant, but I was still pretty darn impressed with Publix's handy-work.

What I wasn't impressed with was that they messed up my order and made it a completely white cake on the inside instead of one tier of red velvet and the other vanilla with raspberry filling! ARGH!

Mr. Lab and I went into the cake cutting with a firm understanding that there would be no cake smashing. I paid way too much for my makeup to have it ruined!

Little did I know that he had just chatted with the videographer who encouraged him to do it.

And honestly, I didn't care at all! But I did go after him to even up the score!

Next was the Sanford Stadium groom's cake that was my surprise to Mr. Lab. It was soooo hard finding the right baker to create this sweet masterpiece...and even harder to keep it a secret from Mr. Lab!

The score on the jumbo tron was our wedding date. And of course, I was winning! Mr. Lab married a highly competitive person. :) Btw, the real score from that day's game was a 38-0 shutout against [admittedly cupcake opponent] Tennessee Tech.

Photos of us at Georgia games surrounded the groom's cake.

Mr. Lab loved his cake!

And the cake was a huge hit with our wedding guests. Especially the Bulldog fans!

And my semi-DIY cake topper project wasn't lost on guests either!

Guest photo.

Someone wanted a piece of that cake and cut into it before we could! But we still did a formal cutting and this time, there wasn't any smashing. Glad Mr. Lab got it out of his system because bourbon chocolate cake with a Kahlua filling would not have gone well with my wedding dress!

Will you have a special cake for your groom? And are you implementing any cake smashing policies? ;)

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:

• Southern Belles Do Tea
• A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
• We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
• A Spooky Ghost Tour and My Last Fling
• Our Wedding Trailer
• Becoming a Blushing Bride
• I Slip Into My eBay Wedding Dress
• The Fellas Get “Sessay”
• He Got Boudoir, I Got Bling
• An Unplanned First Look
• Our Wedding Party…and Paparazzi
• Details Tell the Story
• Years of Waiting for This Moment (Ceremony Part: 1)
• We Tie the Knot with Faith, Hope, & Love (Ceremony Part: 2)
• My Wedding Party Poses for Mug Shots While We Take Formals
• We Shared a Private Dinner for Two During Cocktail Hour
• Our Wedding Party Lines Up for Introductions
  

Next Up: We Dance with our Moms!

*All professional photos by Lindsi Jones Photography. Some images may have been slightly altered by moi.

Semi-DIY Invitations: First Impressions

Because I wasn't having a particularly fancy invitation suite with letterpress, response cards, fold outs and all those other "fixin's" and whatnot, I knew I wanted to at least give the envelopes a wow factor.

I searched high and low for A9-sized chocolate envelopes (for my wonky-shaped invitations) in my city but always came home empty-handed. So I planned a trip with one of my bridesmaids over to Atlanta so I could check out Paper Source (the BEST excuse to finally visit such a coveted place in the wedding world!). I called ahead to make sure they had the envelopes I wanted in stock (shimmer chocolate-yummy!!!) and I also planned to do some other wedding-related shopping while in Atlanta to fully justify the $25 in gas-trip.

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When I got there, the sales associate already had my lovely envelopes waiting for me! But of course, I couldn't just grab my envelopes and leave like a good girl on a budget. Noooo, I just HAD to look around. But I'm glad I did, because I ended up finding my liners doing that! Many of you know that Paper Source has an extensive supply of fine papers and they do a great job of displaying them to entice ADD-impulse buyers like myself.

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Luckily, I found a stack of gorgeously printed paper that was half off! I originally planned to use the pink shimmer paper from this post, but Michael's ran out! Besides, they would have cost me more than the gorgeous brocade paper I ended up with.

I used a template in the store to count out how many liners I could get per sheet of paper. And because that number came to 10 sheets, I got an additional 10% off! Everything in Paper Source has discounts attached to how many of 1 item you buy. SCORE!

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I grabbed a few other items (like the liner templates and the ribbon for my bouquet) and then finally pried myself from "Heaven on Earth" to face my fate at the cash register...*

As soon as I had the chance, I began working on assembling my envelopes and liners and addressing them. One session turned into another session into another session.....and on and on! It took FOREVER. I even brought my invitations to work one night:


I finally had to delegate some of the work to bridesmaid Ashley (aka mash8!) and even Mr. Lab helped assemble some of the liners. I used Mrs. Sprinkle's advice and made the liners shorter than the template to save paper.


I used the Paper Source template to trace out one liner partly off the paper to make it shorter. Then I used that liner to trace the other liners out. (Still with me?) It took me a couple tries to find the best layout to get the most liners on one sheet of paper.



My technique worked because I ended up with way too much! And to think, the lady at Paper Source thought I could only get 4 liners per sheet (I got 9!). I have a left over stack of liners I may for Christmas card envelopes this year. :)

Next, the front of the envelopes! I can't afford calligraphy and unfortunately, not being able to afford something doesn't mean you quit liking it. Actually, I wanted it even more because I couldn't afford it. No worries! That's why "fauxligraphy" was created! :D

I bought a metallic pen at my local craft store. I tested it out on the paper the store provides before purchasing to make sure the color was pretty and it wrote with ease. Here's the pen I got:

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Then after several frustrating tries adjusting my printer settings, I printed out all the addresses in black (printer set to light ink). Black was the only color that would show up on the deep chocolate envelopes. I downloaded and used the "Renaissance" font on Dafont.com for free!

And then I began tracing over the addresses with my pen.


Sometimes the pen would clog and I had to shake it or bang it to get a flow going again. Make sure you have a scrap piece of paper to write a little out before going straight to the envelope or you could get blobs of ink on them!


I had to trace over some of the addresses a couple times to get rid of the "faded" look. Sometimes the pen made it through an entire envelope with no problems, other times it was a bit trickier. What seems like a million and one envelopes and days later, I had this:


And my stamps? Ordered from USPS for the actual price of the stamps plus $1 for shipping! They only took two days to arrive! I only used 1-3 stamps per envelope depending on which ones got extra inserts, but I put all of them on my mock invitation to show you the variety:


The best part about the invitation process was finding out that when Mr. Lab took them to the post office, he actually hand canceled all of them for me! I would pay a pretty penny to be a fly on the wall watching him doing that! I just think of all of us detail-obsessed brides being the only ones crazy enough to stand in a crowded post office hand-stamping a box of invitations. I really wish I had a photo of the occasion. lol Mr. Lab definitely got extra kisses from me that night! And he still doesn't get why it was a big deal...

*Next Up: The cost breakdown and the dinner rehearsal and bridesmaids' brunch invitations!
Previously: Invitations Part 1

The Bridal Party "Look Book": Inspiration Boards Included!

Okay, are you ready for the big reveal? *cue drumroll*

For my bridal earrings I chose the lovely gold and pink bow earrings for the amazingly low price of $13.oo plus $3.50 shipping and handling! (Can you tell I'm channeling my inner Billy Mays? Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.) Aren't they beauts?

I could have easily picked any of the choices in my previous post because they are all so beautiful. But it was ultimately the price tag and Mr. Lab's approval that did it for me. (I had him pick his favorite before telling him my fave-we both picked these!) I think they'll also compliment my dress and whatever pink shoes I end up with perfectly. My bridal "look" is coming along quite nicely but is missing a little something. Perhaps a dainty bracelet to match the earrings?

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I love the romantic and vintage look of cameos. And this bracelet fits pefectly into the bridal color scheme! But oy! Again with the price! $278?!? No thank you. Back to combing the interwebs for an affordable cameo bracelet....

Wait, what's that you got there Ebay? Oh, a cameo bracelet just as charming for a fraction of the price? I see how you do!

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So for less than $25, I will have wrapped up my bridal jewelry for the big day. Yes, I am a full-fledged bargainista. :D

Warning: Sensitive information coming up. So if you go by the WB moniker of Mr. Lab, stop scrolling now. I mean it!

In honor of these great new finds (and my obvious new obsession with Picasa's collage feature), I created a "bridal look book" inspiration board:




I'm being serious Mr. Lab. You go any further and I'll sell one of your kidneys on the black market to pay for my Louboutins! ;)




Okay, I think the coast is clear.

*TA-DA!*

This board features: My earrings and bracelet and the shoes I covet. My hair and makeup inspirations. My dream dress and a gorgeous fascinator. And an adorable clutch and lush bridal bouquet*.

And no, I haven't forgotten my bridesmaids! For them I chose the pink topaz and swarvoski crystal earrings.

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Although these are $39 a pop, I couldn't help but fall in love. They would match the bridesmaids' dresses so perfectly! So I crossed my fingers and contacted the seller in hopes of finding a way to negotiate the price. After a few messages back and forth, she offered to replace the pink topaz with pink quartz and give me a 12% discount because of the larger order. That brings the total down to $22.88 for each pair. Still a bit more than I was looking to spend, but definitely doable for such gorgeous pieces that I will be gifting to my fabulous girls. I may even see if my MOH's MIL (holy acronyms!) could replicate these for me since she's somewhat of a jewelry extraordinaire. Anywho, the moral of my Etsy story: never hesitate to negotiate price with ANYthing on Etsy. I saved a ton on my save the dates by negotiation.

And so the bridesmaids aren't left out of the inspiration board fun, I created this:

Their dresses will have a skirt closer to the chocolate color swatch shown. And I just decided today that I will be making their (fake) bouquets using dahlias, ranunculus, peonies, and possibly hydrangeas, all in a monochromatic pink tone. The girls will wear whatever shoes they like since no one will see them anyways. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want them to have necklaces to go along with the earrings, or just go with bare decolletages.

*Yes, I'm changing my bouquet color! You shall hear more about this soon enough!

Bridal Jewelry Lust

One of the many ways I'm cutting costs for the big day is through jewelry. I'm not a fine jewelry person because I usually lose or break it. I only buy cheap, fashion jewelry from places that frequently offer buy 2 get 1 free in the mall. I'm always warning Mr. Lab that the only expensive piece of jewelry I ever want to own is my engagement ring. So when it comes to wedding day and bridal party jewelry, I'm following my own instructions.

So began the search for the wedding jewelry. I knew I'd want something with a hint of pink in both my jewelry and the bridesmaids'. I happened to run across some gorgeous pink topaz drop earrings during one of my many Google searches.

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These earrings have gold in them, which isn't one of our colors, but I thought that they would blend in very nicely with the overall color palette and with my possible shoe choice. I was immediately thrilled that I may have found my earrings so quickly!

And then I saw their price: $525. Ouch.

Okay, maybe my search wasn't starting out too smoothly. But I still loved the pink and gold combination and decided to set off to the one-stop shop of inspiration with that color combo in mind: Etsy! There, I found not only a few choices for moi, but also for my girls! I even found a couple that have chocolate in them, to match our colors!

Click to enlarge!

Sources: left to right
Top: 1, 2, 3, 4
Bottom: 5, 6, 7, 8

How gorgeous are all of these?!? And they are all very reasonably priced. Even the more expensive ones come with a discount if you order a lot at once. It was hard sorting through so many beautiful pieces, but I think I may have my choices narrowed down to the ones I want for the bridesmaids and the pair I want for myself. But before I tell you which ones I picked, I want to know which ones would you choose?

Pretty in Pink: A Minor Color Change

Remember when I wrote about our wedding colors here? Well, I've had a slight change of heart.

I've been going back and forth (as evidenced here) on whether to include my all-time favorite color-pink-in our wedding. I just assumed that my manly future hubby wouldn't be okay with having pink as one of our colors. Plus, my favorite shade of pink is fuschia. Hot pink doesn't exactly mesh with an outdoor autumn wedding. But still, I kept fantasizing about all things pink (to the point that I haven't committed to any wedding color-related purchases in fear of my internal doubt) and finally decided to do something about it today.

Armed with inspiration photos of pink weddings, I sat Mr. Lab down and asked him his opinion on including the color in our wedding. I showed him an inspiration board that featured my next favorite shade of pink: "dusty" pink. And this board also included our other wedding colors we've already picked out: chocolate brown and champagnes!

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I was ready for the battle. But it never came. He immediately loved it!* We compared the old color palette to this new one and he said he preferred the pink. FMIL was standing nearby (we're currently at her house because my bridal shower was this weekend-update soon!) and she also approved. I felt so relieved and 100% sure that this was the color combo I should have picked in the first place.

Old Palette:

New Palette:



Both from here.

To celebrate my new color combo, I made a new inspiration board featuring some of the dusty pink from the board above! This particular board is exclusively for our ceremony alone:

Mrs. CP's shephard's hooks; chivari chairs; infusion jars; BM dress; Savannah paper; all other sources found here.

I'm officially "ooohing" and "ahhhing" over my change of heart. I'm in love with our color combination! Now I can finally start purchasing the accent color-related items I've been putting off because of the fear of changing my mind. Whew! *weight lifted from shoulders* :D

*I think Mr. Lab agreed so quickly because of the super adorable Labrador in the inspiration photo. Maybe that's because it looks so much like our Gabby (who was conveniently born bearing our wedding colors: chocolate brown fur with pink nose, lips, & tongue):