Petal Power...

Picking out flowers is easy. They are flowers and most of them are pretty. Well most of them....

Flea bitten looking nasty scabiosa

So after my short course in summer wedding flowers I settled on some colors and shapes to be used in my arrangements. Even though I am already saving money by using a friendor I suspect we will have to make a few exchanges due to availability (example some zinnias are shaped similar to dahlias at a lot less of a price).

POP QUIZ!!! Name the flowers



Rose Dahlia Chrysanthemum Gerbera Daisy (but a nice one)
Asters Spray Roses Calla Lilly Lisianthus
Greens Hydrangea

I got so excited after picking out the flowers that I wanted to see what they would look like. Being stranded in my house with no car and no clue where to get flowers in my new city.... I may have drank the power point kool aid and created a mock up of the centerpiece....

Scared?

Although my highly skilled artwork may give you an idea of how the colors will blend together... it doesn't do much for shape. With seventeen guest tables I am going for a bit of non-uniform look to break the room up... Ideally we could pick up some milk glass vases for low round centerpieces like these:



Once we get settled into the new house I will have to do a test run myself to see how it looks.

Anyone else out there deciding on flowers without an expert opinion? If so are you planning on doing a test run?

Keeping the motto....

Well hive... this has not been a good day so far. A 5:30am email as I was out the door for a business trip informed me I no longer have a job. Sucktastic (that is the nice way to put it). Luckily I have a very supportive family and partner. With a deep breath we will make this work until after the wedding when I can get a visa to work in the UK.

Did you have any major setbacks leading up to your wedding?

The first dance... the first compromise

Everyone tells you that marriage is a a constant compromise and raising a child is a team effort (insert many other sayings here). Well if being in a relationship was a primer then planning a wedding is college and you start having situations needing a compromise thrown at you, a lot of them.

I had a list of first dance songs I wanted but Mr. FMB shut down every one. Considering I was getting pretty much my way on most things for the wedding having Mr. FMB know and like "our song" was fine with me. In a flash of brilliance he sends me the following two links (over gchat of course- most of our pre-England life took place over gchat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tuTSi6Sck
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwRQqJsegw
I loved both and loved that he had picked them out on his own... so we decided to use one for the US and one for England... a great way to tie the weddings together.

What else has been a compromise? His morning suit, the food and many more. Maybe it isn't the wedding that I always dreamed of... but it has become way better.... the wedding we have always dreamed of. Going through this process together has even given me new dreams of what I want on that day.


Do you have a groom who has a lot of opinions or none? How do you work out planning differences when you have completely different views?

Music of the night (US)

Mr. FMB and I have different tastes in music, the kind of tastes that do not overlap at all. Maybe its the three years in age difference... or maybe it was that we grew up in two different countries. From our nights out I know I hate the dance clubs in England and he can not stand the bad pop music in the states. So music selection will be easy right?

Well luckily the ceremony music was easy. The traditional church only allows certain music and I just picked out the ones that we will be familiar with- decided on organ and trumpet and done. (The professor in charge did sing several of them to me over the phone which was very entertaining as I had just returned from cocktails with friends).

Cocktail hour was easy too... as neither of us will actually be able to attend Mr. FMB is not too fussy. So for cocktail and dinner it was the classic standards from my friends Frank, Bing, Ella and and Nat. During dinner I will throw in a few slow songs that I would want to hear but may not fit into all the other craziness like "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis and "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts (yes I will sneak a little country in).

For the dancing part of the night we banned any formal dances (chicken, electric slide etc). Mr. FMB only had one request- "Apple Bottom Jeans" because apparently it reminds him of meeting me in Texas (I am not sure if it is a compliment). Add in a spice of Rhianna, Bon Jovi, Donna Summers and the King of Pop and the only reason my family will leave the dance floor will be for another drink. We did have to decide on a few special songs for those moments:

Entrance Song: "Whole Lotta Love" - Led Zeppelin
Father/Daughter Dance: "Tale as Old as Time" - Beauty and the Beast
Cake Cutting: "Oh, It is Love" -HelloGoodbye
Last slow dance: "The Luckiest"- Ben Folds

However there was one song Mr. FMB was putting up a fight for... the first dance. Hours on YouTube and bottles of wine were wasted debating over this song. After returning back to our respective countries Mr. FMB had a stroke of genius and suggested "Feeling Good" but what version?

To be continued

My Confessed Floral Stupidity

Having a friendor take care of the flower arrangements means I need to do a bit more research ahead of time so I can help select the varieties. I have absolutely no clue about flowers at all but as I intended on planting my very own English garden in a month it is time to do investigation. According to a wide variety of flower websites these common wedding flowers will be available for my July wedding:

Alstromeria- Do not like the markings so a no for me

Asters-Maybe as a filler

Bells of Ireland- No because of the funny shape

Calla Lillies- Yes sparingly

Cockscomb- No for the funny name and fuzzy look

Chrysanthemum- Yes yes and yes in light green and white

Columbine- No too little

Delphiniums- No because of the funny shape

English Lavender- yes as a filler

Forget-Me-Not- maybe as a filler

Freesia- No, just don't like

Gerberas- Just not for my wedding

Gladioli- No because of the shape

Hydrangea- yes as a filler

Iris- No, never liked them

Larkspur- No because of the shape

Liatris- No because of shape

Lillies- No because of funerals and smell
Lisianthus- yes yes yes

Nigella- Um.... no

Queen Anne's Lace- Yes as a filler and it reminds me of home

Roses (regular)- Sparingly but they do come in a lot of colors

Rose (cabbage)- Yes! I love these!

Snapdragons- No because of shape

Stephanotis- Yes I love how delicate and clean they look


Stock- No because of shape

Sunflower- No, not for my wedding

Tuberose- No

Yarrow

Zinnia- Yes (and a way to mimmic expensive Daliahs)

Which are your favorites? Any good summer stems out there that I may be missing?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

This weekend Mr. FMB and I went back to his hometown by train for a day trip. Sadly when we phone googled to check the time table to come back it may as well gave us this image:


Yes, all trains had been cancelled the rest of the night. Luckily his parents put us up and a roommate back at home walked the dog. However this small transportation disaster (I had a game early Sunday to get back for) got me thinking about the US wedding transportation.

I have not been fully ignoring the fact that I actually have to get to the wedding. I have two parts planned already. First- planes!

Two tickets on a nice airline in July- $2400

First we will take a flight from London direct to NYC for about the price of our first born child. There are other guests that are taking less luxurious airlines with layovers and less legroom but for $200 extra a ticket I believe my sanity is worth it. (FYI- we will totally be going for the upgrade at check-in)

Next up- Trains

Two Amtrak tickets NYC to Boston- $120

In order to save on car rentals we will take the train up to Boston and wait to rent until we really need it. Now why don't we just fly into Boston? Mr. FMB and I may need to visit the UK Consulate in NYC for an interview for my rushed visa- so NYC was closer and I can get home to the mountains to wait for the paperwork to finish while he flies back to England without me :(

So... we have already spent close to $2,500 on getting the the two of us to the right state for the wedding. Now for the typical wedding limo choices right?

Limo rental for the day- $800ish (give or take a few)

The thought of paying for a car which I will only be in for less than an hour the entire day annoys me. Since our venue and church are just a staircase (be it a very large staircase) away, all I need a limo for is to the site at 2:30pm and back at 10pm. The parents FMB agreed with me and thought it was silly and I would far rather eat or drink that $800 thank you. So we started brainstorming for alternatives.

Nice sports car owned by family member- Free

Awesome- free. However this may need to be the grooms vehicle as there is no way I could get into a two door car in my dress. Although an attempt at this may get me YouTube fame. So I needed a much bigger car-

Yukon owned by family- Free

Bonus- if needed I can be laid flat across the back to fit into it easily. So in my head we are sorted. I should probably call those family members to double check. We also have the family benefit of the cousin valet service (old enough to party, too young to drink). They will be helping out with keeping all the guests safe.

Did you go the traditional route or non-conventional? Was transportation even important or just a way to get from point A to point B? Did other family members help out to take the pressure off you and your parents?

Friendors

Friendors- friends that are also wedding vendors. It hasn't make it into the dictionary yet like muffin top, couch surfing or tinfoil hat... but it will one day!

I have some awesome and talented friends. I am very lucky to know these people as I am saving thousands of dollars on my wedding because of them. My MOH's little sister is an awesome photographer and has done many engagement shoots but not a wedding yet. Seeing her work I am confident that she will do awesome and be able to get a great mix of posed and candid shots. A college roommate (may have been known as "Momma") is taking on the crazy task of doing my flowers. 17 table tops, cake, 10 boutonnieres and 2 bouquets... she is so type A that I have no doubt that they will be beautiful (how ugly can flowers be?). Also I want to give a shout out to a healthy friend who is cooking up muffins and goodies for the bridal suite to munch on.

Being the laid back non-planning bride I am I am confident that friendors are the right and economically sane choice to make for me. Would you take the risk? Are some tasks more "friendor friendly" than others?

DIY Ambition...

As we are waiting on our move date to the new house my DIY projects have been piling up until we have the facilities to execute. As I can not provide any tutorials past making our own STDs I will give you all a preview of what is to come. (Note: pictures are just representative of what I am aiming for)

US WEDDING

Ceremony program- we hope to be able to come up with a template to share. The small ribbon on top is just to add a splash of color.




Napkin decoration/Wedding favor- dried lavender with a note tied on to let our guests know we have made a donation in their name




Guest wish tree- still need some planning on this one




Directions/Wedding website/Hotel- Information card to add to our wedding invitation ensemble




Flowers- No I am not crazy... I am having a "friendor" help out on this one but I will need to do some background to be able to communicate.



THE UK SHEFF-DO


Bunting- to decorate for the wedding breakfast




Small Teacup Arrangement- for the wedding breakfast




Baking Biscuits- For the wedding breakfast (this may take a lot of delicious trial and error)




Fascinator- high chance for failure, may need to just buy one



Candy bar- to be divided by UK/US candy that we will sneak back from the US wedding. Also when a party starts at 7pm with guests traveling a little sugar will go a long way on the dance floor!




Homebrew- our "favour" and mainly to be run by Mr. FMB

Did your DIY ambitions turn out to be successful or complete messes? Was there something you thought was going to be easy and ended in disaster?