Southern Sweethearts: Labrador in Wonderland

It's the moment you've been waiting for. Recaps...commence!

We woke up bright and early the day before the wedding to fight over bathrooms (6 girls in a condo with 2 bathrooms!) while getting ready for the bridesmaids' tea party I had organized.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been fascinated by tea parties. My curiosity peaked when I read the classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Can't wait for Tim Burton's take on the classic!

So it was only natural that I treated my girls to a tea party before the wedding! I sent out invites requesting that everyone dress up in "their best frocks and floppy hats".


I made reservations with the awesome staff at Savannah Tea Room. They let me make a custom brunch menu with no items over a certain price point (cause I was hella broke but still wanted to foot the bill for my lovely ladies).

When we arrived, we had a room all to ourselves and decided to take a couple group shots.

Aren't we all just too cute?!?

While I'm showing off photos of my gals, let me take a moment to talk about two very special ladies in my life.

My two moms: (L-R) MIL Lab Denise & Mama Lab Leslie

My mother-in-law Denise:

Simply put, without her this wedding would not have happened. She graciously opened up her checkbook and helped make up for our financial shortcomings. Although we had what most would consider a “budget” wedding, it was still too much for my mother and I to handle. She made sure all the necessary vendors had their final head counts and took care of all the big-ticket items (including our last minute hire of a cinematographer). I cannot wait to get my tax refund and proudly hand her a check for “loaning” us extra money to make sure our wedding was a reality. Not to mention, I can now officially say I have the best MIL in the world!

My mother Leslie:

Although she spent a lot of the wedding day stressing out loud, which got me worked up a bit, she was stressing about making sure my family was on their best behavior. The Labrador family is known as a rowdy bunch that butts heads quite often when at family functions. Thankfully she was able to keep them under control (for the most part-more on the exceptions later). I wish I could go back and spend a few more quiet moments with my mother on my wedding day. I know she didn’t get to fully enjoy being the mother of the bride and that makes me really sad.

Okay, back from the timeout! After the mini photo shoot, we ordered our meals and were very surprised when the food came to the table.

All of the food looked amazing and tasted just as good. And the portions were great considering how inexpensive it all was!

Some girls ordered quiche (no, not that kind of Quiche!):



Others ordered the salad:


And I had the chicken salad sandwich!

Om nom nom! I want to come through the computer screen and grab the sandwich off that plate!

And in addition to our tea (duh, this was a TEA party!), everyone had a plate of desserts:

Complete with an edible flower! It was actually pretty tasty!

And our waiter brought me a special treat for being the bride!

I took a bite of the strawberry to make it look like he was winking at me!

All of that yummy food for everyone (8 people) for only $168 total (beverages, tax, & tip included). Not gonna lie, I literally breathed a sigh of relief when the check came because I didn't know if I'd have enough in my bank account to cover it! VERY happy about my decision to go to Savannah Tea Room!

After we finished eating, it was time for my girls to open up their bridesmaids' gifts! I forgot to take photos of this part so I'll have to substitute that with photos of what I got them.

I started off by giving all the girls a gift bag that contained a monogram clutch in our wedding colors:

Clutches by Etsy Seller Longrunners

And inside the clutches, they found some wedding day jewelry:

Sources

I got myself a pair of the same earrings and the same necklace. In fact, I wore the necklace to the tea party and all the girls were complimenting me on it before they found out they were each getting one, too!

The last part of the gift was something I use all the time and think every girl should own. A purse hook! Theirs' looked just like this one but in fuchsia!

Source

I also gifted our moms a purse hook. But they also received a couple special gifts from Mr. Lab and I that I'll have to tell you about later!

The total cost of the bridesmaids' gifts was $23.96 each! Not too shabby! :)

Before we left, we made sure to get some more shots of everyone at the table.

My side of the table: Mama Lab, SIL & MIL Lab

The other side of the table: BMs Brooke, Ashley, and Brittany

And finally, Matron of Honor Amanda sitting at the head of the table!

How southern belles do lunch!

My tea party was truly enjoyable and a great start to the wedding festivities. There were a few annoying text messages during the brunch, but I'll have to tell you what they were and who they were from a little later.

Will you throw a bridesmaids' party before the big day?

Semi-DIY Invitations: It's What's Inside That Counts!

I've already shown you the "basic" invitation we sent to our guests. However, for a few special people, "deluxe" invitations were found in mailboxes.

The full "suite": stamped and "fauxligraphy" addressed envelopes, front and back of the wedding invitation, wedding map, liner, rehearsal dinner and bridesmaids' brunch invitations.

I held off sending invitations to anyone in our wedding party or family that would be attending the rehearsal dinner and/or bridesmaids' brunch to save on postage (I also hand-delivered invitations to people I see on a regular basis to do the same).

For the rehearsal dinner and bridesmaids' brunch (a tea party!) invitations, I really wanted to give my guests a sneak peek into what was in store for the events. So I found "templates" (aka, I may have gotten a little creative using some Google images...) online for both and printed them using Zazzle.com.

Rehearsal Dinner:

Bridesmaids' Brunch:

Now that you've seen all of the invitations, it's time to find out how much they cost. To be completely honest, this is the first time I've added all of it up. I was getting down to the invitation deadline wire and that meant being less picky about prices and just wanting to get them done and out the door.

Labrador Invitation Cost Breakdown:

Wedding Invitation Design: $18 (includes iStockPhoto image credits)
Map Design: $0
90 Wedding Invitations & Maps printed by Vista Print: $89.52 (includes envelopes I didn't use)
Rehearsal Dinner & Bridesmaids' Brunch Invitation Design: $0
20 Rehearsal Dinner & 10 Bridesmaids' Brunch Invitations printed by Zazzle: $36.95
100 Shimmer Chocolate Envelopes from Paper Source: $54 (10% discount for ordering 10 packs)
10 Taupe Brocade Liners from PS: $25 (1/2 off sale + 10% discount for ordering 10 sheets)
Liner template from PS: $9.50
USPS "Vintage" Stamps (20 Silver Coffeepot, 100 Tiffany Lamp, 20 American Toleware, 20 Chippendale Chair, 80 Green Wedding Hearts) : $38
Metallic Gold Pen: $4

Grand Total: $274.97
Cost Per Invitation (90): $3.06

These numbers are really skewed because I overestimated supplies so much. For instance, I only ended up sending about 65 invitations because many were addressed to couples or households. I have left over liners because I was able to squeeze so many onto each sheet. I also have leftover stuff I can use for future projects like my liner template, stamps, and envelopes. So I'm guessing the real cost is more like $2.50 or less per invitation. Nonetheless, I'm still out $274.97, but I think that's a more than reasonable price to pay for my "babies", don't cha think? Plus, I'd rather have leftovers than not enough! ;)