My Wedding Lighting - Gobo & Uplights

Custom lighting at weddings is really popular these days but can be pretty pricey. And watching the tv show, Platinum Weddings on WE had me thinking that it wasn't even a possibility for me because I assummed it would be totally out of our budget. Lighting can easily run thousands of dollars depending on your location and the type of ligthing effects you want to go for. Luckily, something told me to check out a few lighting companies before I ruled it out.

After doing some research, I decided to go with uplights around the room and a custom gobo to have our names shining on wall. We used a company called Backstage (www.backstageva.com) based in Richmond, Va. They were great to work with and very reasonable. They charged $15 per uplight (par can) and the custom gobo was $79. We used about 14 uplights evenly placed around the ballroom. You can have any color light you want. We chose Neon Pink. The gel sheets, which is what they place over the lights to make them illuminate in your desired color, ran about $7 per sheet and can be used for 4 or 5 uplights I think. They also charged for delivery so altogether we spent about $500 on lighting. Not bad, huh?
BLOGGER TIP: One way to save on lighting is to rent the uplights from a company, but set them up yourself or have some family and friends set it up. That way, you save on labor and delivery

The custom gobo is really easy to create and you can have it shining on a wall or dance floor. I created my design in Powerpoint and emailed it to the guy. (By the way, this is the same design we used for the front of our programs. The key is to make sure everything ties together for your wedding. Its all about the details!) Once he received it, he confirmed that it was ok. And that was it!

Here is a pic of our custom gobo:


Another view:


This is what an uplight looks like:


I dont have a picture right now of how the uplights looked in my actual reception but it really created a beautiful ambiance especially for an evening wedding. My hubby was dead set against adding lighting to the budget at first, but after the wedding was over he was glad that he agreed to it. We can't imagine how it would have looked without them! Well worth the money! :)

FYI

I will definitely be doing a Real Wedding feature on my own wedding but Im trying to wait around for the professional pictures to come back first. The photographer said it should be about 5 to 7 weeks. But in the mean time in between time, I will continue to feature all my DIY projects and a few other wedding features as well. Hope you are enjoying my blog as much as Im enjoying writing it! :)

Wedding Linens & Things

Depending on the size of your guest list, wedding linens can really be a big hit to your budget. But there are ways to get around over spending on them. One option is to find a venue that includes linens. The venue I used included white linens but I wanted black satin tablecloths and white chair covers and that was not included.
Here are linens that came with the tables at the hotel we used:


Alot of wedding venues use Chivari Ballroom chairs. So if you luck out with a venue that uses Chivari ballroom chairs, then you wont need chair covers so thats a big savings.
Here is a pic of a Chivari Chair:


The chairs at the hotel we used didn't offer Chivari chairs and the chairs they had(see above) didn't go with my color scheme so I realized I would definitely need to rent chair covers as well.

I started researching where I would rent them all from. There were two local spots in the area but they wanted $18 to $25 a piece for round satin tablecloths and about $4 to $5 a piece for chair covers. Remember, we were expecting 220 guests so you do the math! Clearly, that was wayyy out the budget we set for linens. So I started looking for rental companies online. After comparing tons of them to each other, I decided to go with www.beyondelegance.com for my stretch chair covers and sashes. They only cost $2.75 per cover and $0.25 per sash. For my table linens, I went with www.qualitychaircovers.com. They only cost $13.00 per tablecloth!

The only catch with renting linens online is that you have to pay for shipping and you also have to make sure you ship everything back the next business day after wedding. But as long as you have plenty of people to help you out, its not really a major inconvenience and you save alot of money.

The linens arrive a few days before your wedding. You may want to have a steamer or iron on hand to knock some of the creases out. See below:

Black Satin Linens being put on table:


Here is how everything came together with chair covers and tablecloths:


Overall, if you are looking to save some money, renting linens online is typically way cheaper than using your local rental company.

DIY Damask Table Runners

Black and white Damask is a very popular print these days especially for weddings. It's classic and pretty much any color will look good as an accent with it. I think it has a very regal vibe and Ive always loved it! If the hubby would let me, I would probably deck out our bedroom in the print but I believe as he put it, "I dont want to see another damask thing after the wedding!" LOL

One of the other reasons I went with it as the theme for our wedding is because you see it everywhere which means it's easy to find items to use as decorations! Although, there are different variations of the print. So if you are using damask as your theme, you have to pick which one you want to go with. The version I went with is called Black Dandy Damask by Michael Miller. See below:

(I bought my fabric from www.craftersvision.com - only $7.20 a yard)

Initially, my original table decor involved having a damask runner on each table. I knew I wouldn't feel like making all of them though. But finding them online was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I found one girl on Etsy.com who seems to have the Damask runner market on lock...but she never got back to me. Then I ended up changing my table decor so now all I needed was 2 or 3 runners so of course I decided to just make them myself.

Dont worry if you dont know how to sew...this is a NO-SEW project! I cheated on this project and used the next best thing to a sewing machine....STITCH WITCHERY!! Basically, it a fusible tape used on clothing. Alot of people use it to fix hems on pants and stuff. Its the best thing since sliced bread for simple projects and its only about $2 or $3. They sell it at Walmart, Jo-Anns Fabric, or any other craft/fabric store.


What you need for this project:
Fabric
Iron
Ironing board
Stitch Witchery
Scissors

1. Cut the fabric to your desired length. I did mine for 6 ft tables.
2. Fold fabric in half, making sure to fold over one sides edge. See pic below.

3. Use iron to press everything down. It should now look like this:

4. Next take your STITCH WITCHERY tape out and peel off a long piece. Lift up one side of runner and place that in between the edges of fabric, then iron down. The iron will fuse the two pieces together.
5. Almost done. Now its time to create the ends of your runner. You want to make sure they are in a nice point. Just fold fabric over to create point. Once you do that and it looks good... use your STITCH WITCHERY to fuse it down. Follow steps on both sides. See pics below.



ALL DONE! How easy and quick was that?!

I dont have a pic of the actual runner alone but we used the runners I made on our sweetheart table and candy buffet table. Check out the pics:

My Wedding Candy Buffet

I've loved candy every since I was a kid! So needless to say, when I first heard about candy buffets at weddings, I told myself I would definitely have one whenever I got married!

Instead of doing favors, we opted to have the candy buffet act as the wedding favor. I bought black boxes from Michaels. They run about $24.99 for 50. But of course, who ever pays full price for something at Michaels? I made sure to use my 40% or 50% coupons. Next, I created the little tags on cardstock and cut them all out. As you can see, having to cut alot is a running theme with a DIY bride. (BLOGGER TIP: Try to get as much as you can printed out early so you wont feel so overwhelmed or get tired of cutting out stuff)

The empty boxes were then placed at each setting at reception. Here is pic of the box with tag:


Although I planned everything myself, I had to hire decorators (shout out to Sheneida Curry & Mrs. Curry) to actually set it all up for me since there was no way I would be able do it all myself. They were great! They set everything up just as I wanted and even added some great touches! Here is how they set up the candy buffet.





Finally, make sure you have a cute little sign for the table! Ours said, "All you need is love...and maybe a little bit of candy" (I picked that up somewhere on the internet..lol)


So here is the breakdown for my candy buffet:
Jars - They range anywhere from $7.99 to $20 at most places. Stores like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, & Home Goods are GREAT to pick these up inexpensively. Luckily, my decoraters had alot of the jars already so I only had to buy 3.
Candy - Most of the candy was either pink, black or white.
Here is what we had:
Hershey Kisses
Hershey Bliss
Tootsie Roll Pops - wrapped in Damask wrapping paper
Pink Lemonade Gum Balls
Strawberry Tootsie Frooties
Pink Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
Black and White Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
Clear Rock Candy Lollipops
Pink Rock Candy Lollipops
Black and White Salt Water Taffy
Pink, Black, and White M&Ms
Regular Pink Lollipops

Overall, I bought about $250 to $300 in candy I think. And from what I heard from guests, it was a HIT!! People were really filling up those boxes! :)

Here are some websites I used to buy some of my candy:
www.candycrate.com
www.acandystore.com
www.candywarehouse.com
www.orientaltrading.com

My Wedding Cakes

With so many options and creative ways to do cakes out here these days, its hard to choose what to go with! Not to mention, depending on who you get to make your cake, it could really break the budget. Most bakeries charge by the slice and that can range anywhere from $2.50 per slice up to $10.00 per slice (or more) depending on the detail involved in your cake design. I didnt want to spend a huge amount of money on a wedding cake. One way I cut costs on this was by finding a baker that charges by the tier instead of by the slice. That saved me alot especially since we had over 200 people at the wedding. My cake only ended up costing a little over $300 which is a STEAL for a wedding cake (and it served up to 250 people). A friend of mine (shout out to Candice H) recommended the lady I ended up using. Remember, recommendations from friends and/or former brides will really help out alot when planning.

Fondant is used for alot of wedding cakes. Its very pretty and certain designs require its use, however, it taste awful! Most people dont eat it anyway though. But since I love buttercream frosting, I opted to go with that for my wedding cake.

After hunting around for months for cake pictures online, I came across the design I wanted to go with. I gave this pic to my cake lady..see below.

My INSPIRATION wedding cake pic:


My ACTUAL wedding cake:

Top tier - 6 inches
2 tier - 10 inches
3rd tier - 12 inches
Bottom tier - 16 inches

As you can see, it didnt come out exactly the same but it was pretty similar! And unlike alot of wedding cakes that look pretty on outside, it tasted GREAT!! The top tier was butter cake, second tier was strawberry, the third tier was lemon, and the bottom tier was butter.

*Cake done by Angela's Sweets N Treats Pastries in Chester, VA

GROOMS CAKE
Grooms cakes have been growing in popularity for awhile now. Since everyone usually makes the wedding day all about the bride mostly, its a nice way to honor the groom with something he likes. So for example, if your man likes cars, then you could get him a cake made into the shape of a car or if he has a favorite sports team, you could get a cake made into the team logo.

A friend of mine, DeAndrea, who does GREAT cakes out of Richmond, VA helped me come up with an idea. Since he is apart of a fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, she created the Alpha shield and instead of the three heads normally on it, she replaced them with a football (since he loves football), a pen & pad (since he loves to write), and a mike and podium (since he is also a speaker). It turned out GREAT!

Check it out:


With table decor:


P.S. The grooms cake was placed beside the candy buffet.

If you are in the Richmond, Va area and want more info on DeAndrea and to see some of her great work, check out her website: http://soosweetconfections.shutterfly.com/

My Wedding Flowers - Wholesale or Florist?

Soooo being a DIYer, you had to know there was no way I was paying a florist to do the flowers for my wedding, right? :)

After doing tons of research on line, I came across zillions of websites selling flowers wholesale. I was a bit nervous at first about relying on an internet based company to get my wedding flowers to me. But after reading about tons of other brides who did it with no issues, I decided to go with www.fiftyflowers.com. They have a GREAT website, the prices are reasonable, and you can search for flowers by color. Not to mention they have great customer service.

I ordered 675 hot pink roses, 350 carnations, and 12,000 rose petals! It came up to about $1200 altogether. Much cheaper than what florist would have charged.

Now I would caution that if you decide to go this route, make sure you have PLENTY of help getting them all together.

So, my flowers arrived the Thursday before the wedding. They suggest you have them arrive the 2 to 3 days before your event. This is how they looked when they were delivered.


Here's how the roses are packaged:


Pic of the rose petals:


The flowers are shipped overnight to you without water, so they arrive dehydrated. You have to immediately remove them from packaging, cut the bottom of the stems under cold running water, and place in buckets of water. (FYI: You can get painters buckets from Home Depot. I paid $2.34 a piece and got about 11 of them)
Unfortnately, when the flowers arrived to my parents house that Thursday, I was the only one home so I cut all the flowers by myself!! Yes I cut 1000 flowers that morning. It took me about 3 hours. After doing all that, I think I can add florist to my resume! lol


Here is a pic of the flowers in the buckets:




I used the flowers for my bouquet, bridal party bouquets, and table decor at reception. The rose petels were used to line the aisle at church and were sprinkled around reception.

BLOGGER CONFESSION: I cheated a little... I did get a florist to do the guys boutonnieres and mother corsages. I didnt want to try my luck with those! lol

Stay tuned for upcoming posts on how the bouquets and reception decor turned out! :)