Flowers, Photo Booths and Registries

Wedding planning update!  But first I have a question:  WHERE did July go?!!

Over the past few weeks, I've had some fun with the wedding planning, and toward the end of the month Matthew even got to join in on it!

Photo Booth LOVE!

Let's start with my favorite:  I think this was the vendor I have been the most excited about booking for our wedding.  Shortly after Matthew and I discussed wanting to have a FUN wedding, I came upon the concept of having a photo booth at our reception.  Love. At. First. Sight!  Little did I know at the time, this tends to be a current trend AND some of them out there like to charge a LOT for their services!

Fortunately, I'm marrying the "King of Free" and I've learned a thing or two from him. Plus, I hate paying full price for anything :)  Remember that bridal fair I attended with my Maid of Honor and mentioned in a previous post?  Well, they had a Photo Booth vendor!  Heather and I loved them!  As I shopped around, I quickly realized they were offering the best deal around, particularly with the "bridal fair discount" offer.  So, if you'll be joining us on our special day, please be on the lookout for the photo booth during the reception...and feel free to bring your own props!  (Some will be provided, although I got the okay to bring others as well; just make sure they're labeled.)

Not sure what to think of this Photo Booth idea?  Here's a fun story for ya:  One of our friends shared with us about going to a wedding that did not have a photo booth and how they discovered that the wedding next door did have one...so they went next door and photo booth-bombed/crashed the wedding just so they could join in on the photo booth fun! :)

I can't wait to see what our crazy friends and family members do with this fun "attraction." Please keep in mind, in lieu of having a Guest Book for our guests to sign, we have opted for a Photo Booth, so please play along with us!  Even if you don't want to do anything crazy, we still want to know you were there celebrating with us!  Come on, it'll be FUN! :)

Roses are orange, orchids are blue, if you must take my leg, please leave the shoe!!!

I have to say, I'm kinda proud of myself on this one.  Having worked at a florist for a few years in college and beyond, I knew a thing or two about petals and stems and could speak the lingo pretty well (even after all these years)!  I even had more fun selecting this vendor than I anticipated (Do I keep saying that for every one?)  This time, I was prepared for sticker shock and was hardly disappointed...although... ;-)

Over the past couple of weeks, I received some good referrals from friends, made contact and set a deadline for myself.  There were two vendors who got back to me in a timely manner, so I met with and received proposals from each of them.  One of them impressed me at our meeting in a number of ways, including knowing what we needed for our Marian devotion flowers (better than I did!) and being openly mindful of our budget throughout the process.  We hit it off well and I left feeling comfortable about contracting with this one.  I met with the other florist the next day, and while there were other things that impressed me about this one prior to our meeting, we didn't have the same chemistry.  Her proposal also came in several hundred dollars higher and came with little in the way of details about flowers we'd discussed using (particularly, loves/likes/dislikes/hates).  So I went with the first one!  (I'm no fool hee hee)  I'm a little sad it's over, but I will have fun working with this florist on the details as it gets closer to November :)

Wherefore art thou Registry?

What woman doesn't enjoy going on a shopping spree, especially when she's not emptying her wallet at the end of it?  Right?!  Well, as difficult as it may seem to understand for some of you, this hasn't been the part of wedding planning that I've been the "most" excited about.  Don't get me wrong, I was definitely looking forward to it, and I totally "get" the purpose of a registry.

On the other hand, my Prince Charming isn't exactly "thrilled" with shopping, hadn't quite warmed up to the idea of a registry to begin with, and I was thinking in the back of my mind "What do we even NEED?!"  The answer to all of this came in the form of Great News!  And I don't mean the kind you never hear on TV (he he) or the stuff Jesus talks about (although nothing beats that kind of great news!).  What I mean is "Great News!" the KITCHEN STORE!

So, how do you help your fiance get over his apprehension about a wedding registry?  First, reassure him we are NOT "asking" for or expecting gifts, and explain how helpful a registry is to our guests who "want" to buy us gifts by taking out the guesswork for them, and, most notably, start by registering at his favorite kitchen gadget store!!  As soon as the consultant said "Let's start in the knife section" I knew he'd be okay.  At one point, the consultant couldn't scan fast enough and she even kept having technical difficulties with the scanning device!  We both truly enjoyed this fun shopping spree experience.  We added a lot of "nice to have" items as well as some great "upgrade" items, and of course we put some "fun" stuff on there too...of course. :)

And here's a great pic to sum up our fun day:

Matthew and our friend Marc who joined us toward the end

Throughout all of this photo/floral/registry fun, I also found my hair stylist!  It turns out I have a cousin who does special event and wedding hair - woo-hoo!  So of course I'm getting the family discount ;) and I'm meeting with her in a couple of weeks for some practice time.

The next sticker-shocking item I'm eager to cross off the list:  the invitations!  Let's hope they don't take my other leg - what will I do with the cute shoes I bought for the wedding festivities?!!

Thanks for reading! xoxo