decisions, decisions, decisions. i really dislike being an indecisive person. *sigh*
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
the most expensive day...
a couple weeks ago, david and i met with our first (potential) vendor for our wedding: Sofitel San Francisco Bay. we've known for quite some time that we wanted this hotel for our reception, and we've been in casual contact with the catering manager over there since our engagement. we finally had a formal meeting together where we discussed some questions we had about the facilities and banquet options. at some point we realized that we severely underbudgeted for our reception...by like, almost 50%. we were working off the prices from their regular reception menu not knowing that they had a wedding reception menu that listed totally different prices. sadly, we left the hotel feeling somewhat unaccomplished and, once again, trying to figure out how we are going to pay for the most expensive day of our lives.
see, we've tentatively decided to go through with trying to purchase a home sometime in the near future. the market right now is really good for buyers, and in trying to take advantage of that we're running into a few problems. i know that david and i will eventually figure this all out -- it's just a matter of readjusting everything and reworking the numbers. in the meantime, i've been trying to figure out ways to cut down the cost of our wedding. here's what i came up with:
see, we've tentatively decided to go through with trying to purchase a home sometime in the near future. the market right now is really good for buyers, and in trying to take advantage of that we're running into a few problems. i know that david and i will eventually figure this all out -- it's just a matter of readjusting everything and reworking the numbers. in the meantime, i've been trying to figure out ways to cut down the cost of our wedding. here's what i came up with:
- hiring just a videographer that can freeze video shots and turn them into photos instead of hiring a photographer. we'd have my cousin (a photographer just entering the wedding world) take photographs.
- forget about the chivari chairs i would kill to have. ($8-$10/chair)
- have my wedding dress made instead of buying it.
- have a family friend do the flowers (i'm not so into her style of design, but she won't charge us for labor, just the flowers)
- rethink our initial desire of paying for all 14 of our wedding party's attire (sorry guys...=( )
- forgetting about our honeymoon
- cutting down our guestlist
the latter 2 i really hope we don't have to do, but those 2 options are probably the ones that are going to save us the most money, especially cutting down our guestlist. i've spoken to so many people that wished they could have invited more guests to their wedding. every part of me just wants all the people that have touched our lives in some way to be able to celebrate with us, after all community is something david and i identify so greatly with. i guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
Monday, March 31, 2008
how long is too long?
if i had the money to hire a ridiculously high-priced wedding planner/event designer who could arrange every little detail for me -- and get me married in a month -- i'd do it. i've only been engaged for just over 5 months now and am already restless. sure, wedding planning is fun and has slowly taken over my life, but there's a huge part of me that simply wants to be married to the man i love so that we can start our lives together. patience is a virtue, i know, and i realize i should heed my own advice and savor every minute of our engagement. i guess i just have those moments where i'm so anxious for our lives to "officially" begin.
when we do tie the knot we would have been engaged for a year and 8 months. that's a lot of time to plan a wedding. a bit too long to be engaged, in my opinion. but, if you're trying to save up for your future, much time is needed.
on another note, i am happy to say that we were able to find our favors in the philippines! at a whopping P2.75 (that equals about $0.07 if i did my calculations correctly) apiece, our favors were a steal! needless to say, david was ecstatic. i don't even think he took a close look at the favors -- the price spoke for itself! (just kidding, david!) i'll post pictures once i put the favors all together. alone, they look quite cheap (hey, what can i say, they're from pinas!). but paired with some nice ribbon and filled with tiny goodies, they'll be a hit. one can only hope...
when we do tie the knot we would have been engaged for a year and 8 months. that's a lot of time to plan a wedding. a bit too long to be engaged, in my opinion. but, if you're trying to save up for your future, much time is needed.
on another note, i am happy to say that we were able to find our favors in the philippines! at a whopping P2.75 (that equals about $0.07 if i did my calculations correctly) apiece, our favors were a steal! needless to say, david was ecstatic. i don't even think he took a close look at the favors -- the price spoke for itself! (just kidding, david!) i'll post pictures once i put the favors all together. alone, they look quite cheap (hey, what can i say, they're from pinas!). but paired with some nice ribbon and filled with tiny goodies, they'll be a hit. one can only hope...
Friday, March 7, 2008
the evolution of a color palette
i wanted to generate a color palette from the photo that i found a couple nights ago so that i could have something concrete and visual to carry around with me and have for a reference when buying stuff for the wedding. so, i visited this site's palette generator and had them generate colors from the picture. it was a very simple process:
first, i uploaded the picture onto the website. the generator came up with these colors:
i liked what it came up with, but the generator left out the color green. so then i headed over to colourlovers and used their free program to come up with the exact colors i wanted. i had both windows open so that i could recreate the colors as closely as possible:
finally, after some tinkering and experimentation, i came up with the end result:
voila! so, what do you think? i think it's perfect. i think i can finally start making some concrete decisions when it comes to the wedding details. how exciting!
first, i uploaded the picture onto the website. the generator came up with these colors:
i liked what it came up with, but the generator left out the color green. so then i headed over to colourlovers and used their free program to come up with the exact colors i wanted. i had both windows open so that i could recreate the colors as closely as possible:
finally, after some tinkering and experimentation, i came up with the end result:
voila! so, what do you think? i think it's perfect. i think i can finally start making some concrete decisions when it comes to the wedding details. how exciting!
survival of the fittest
i wish i lived in ny. for this reason only:
that is insane. i think i'd want to go this route just so that i could say to my kids one day, "your mommy got her wedding dress by running with a bunch of crazy ladies!" haha...just kidding. i hear somewhere that the dresses that they have retail for up to $10,000 but are priced between $250-$600 at that particular store. that's a pretty hefty markdown, especially for those on a strict budget. i guess the craziness would be worth it, and the experience itself would be pretty cool.
that is insane. i think i'd want to go this route just so that i could say to my kids one day, "your mommy got her wedding dress by running with a bunch of crazy ladies!" haha...just kidding. i hear somewhere that the dresses that they have retail for up to $10,000 but are priced between $250-$600 at that particular store. that's a pretty hefty markdown, especially for those on a strict budget. i guess the craziness would be worth it, and the experience itself would be pretty cool.
the search has ended (for now...)
one of the first things i did when starting the wedding planning process was to try and pick colors for our wedding. it seemed like a logical starting point from which all other decisions would be made. so, i began my search on the web.
at first, i really wanted to have a black, white & _____ theme:
i'm really drawn to blues and greens, so i started to search for ideas with that color combo. seeing as gray is to be the new chocolate brown for weddings, i thought that adding it into the blue and green mix would be a nice compromise to not having any b&w. it wasn't until today that i stumbled upon the following image while on the Weddingwire blog:
it was exactly what i was looking for! i was suuuper excited to finally find the perfect combination. now i just have to approve with the other half of d&d -- you know how into "colors" he really is! you would think that guys wouldn't care much for this stuff...but not david! :)
at first, i really wanted to have a black, white & _____ theme:
(image from Jennifer Skog)
(image from Miss Chickadee from Weddingbee)
i'm really drawn to blues and greens, so i started to search for ideas with that color combo. seeing as gray is to be the new chocolate brown for weddings, i thought that adding it into the blue and green mix would be a nice compromise to not having any b&w. it wasn't until today that i stumbled upon the following image while on the Weddingwire blog:
it was exactly what i was looking for! i was suuuper excited to finally find the perfect combination. now i just have to approve with the other half of d&d -- you know how into "colors" he really is! you would think that guys wouldn't care much for this stuff...but not david! :)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
this in an S.O.S
CALLING ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
one of our favorite photographers (we have many!), apertura, is holding a contest for a free engagement shoot! we really want to book these guys for our wedding, but they are super expensive -- and for good reason. their work is amazing. so, we have a favor to ask of you. if you find yourself bored on a rainy day within the next couple weeks or so, could you please send them a story/short essay and photo of david and i as an entry to their "blogstalkers unite" contest (click the link for details!). they're going to pick the best story/couple and announce the winner on their blog. we thought that enlisting the help of a few of our blog readers would fit perfectly with the theme of their contest.
the photo above and below can be found on their blog. aren't they stunning? so, would you consider helping us out? david and i would be eternally grateful. thanks, friends!
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