2009 January | 12k Wedding Blog

Ball Canning Jars as Reception Centerpieces

January 24, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

I saw this idea over at We Met in A Bar. It’s just a plain glass jar, dressed up with some really nice ribbon in a color of your choice. A quick Google search yielded these Ball canning jars. Depending on the size, you could get a 12 pack for as little as $6.99.

That means you could go from here…

To here…

For pretty cheap. Especially if you grow and cut your own flowers. (Yeah, we can talk about that later)

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Technorati Tags: Centerpiece, Decor, Flowers, jars, Reception, Vase

Pier 1 Glass Tumblers

January 23, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

Yep.

They don’t work for the theme of our wedding, but they’d be very nice in the right setting. They could work either as bud vases or candle holders.

And they’re on sale for $1.68-$2.18.

Or, if you’re feeling extra creative, you could fill the glasses halfway with sand, rocks or coffee beans and use them to hold table names/numbers on sticks. I realize I probably sound pretty incoherent on this idea, so I’ll elaborate on this in another post soon.

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Technorati Tags: Centerpiece, glasses, pier 1, table name, table number

Wedding Chair Covers: A Compromise

January 21, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

Me: I can handle planning the wedding by myself if you want, so feel free to participate as much or as little as you’d like.

Him: I don’t want to have to worry about anything but the venue, the food and what me and my groomsmen are wearing.

::fast forward several months::

Me, with my mind pretty well made up: I think we’re just going to go without chair covers altogether. People will be sitting in them anyway. You won’t even see the chairs in pictures.

Him: I don’t like that idea. We need chair covers.

Me: But they’re not cheap.

Him: We need chair covers.

——————————————–

I’m happy to have him actually interested in being involved in another part of the wedding, so I’ll go with it.

So, alas. It looks like we’ll have some sort of chair covers. Still working on pinning some down that look decent and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

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Technorati Tags: Chair Covers, Compromise, Rentals

Detroit Style Late Night Snacks

January 11, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

So you all already know how I feel about favors…meh.

But I do love the idea of a late night snack for our guests.

And I think I found a compromise between the two.

As far as local favorites go, a few important ones call Detroit home.

Better Made Potato Chips

Detroit Popcorn Co. popcorn

Vernor’s Ginger Ale

Faygo pop

They were all instrumental in my upbringing and have served me well through the years.

Right now, I have know idea how inexpensively I could get these items, but I’m going to call around and see what I can find.

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Technorati Tags: Better Made Potato Chips, Chips, Detroit, detroit popcorn company, Favors, faygo soda pop, late night snack, popcorn, potato chips, snacks, vernors ginger ale

Engagement Ring Pictures

January 7, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Photography

I, like everyone else followed suit after reading Anne Ruthmann’s post about taking shots of your ring. In the beginning I must admit I was guilty of the outstretched hand shot, which of course turned out quite bogus. After reading her post though, you can’t stop me. I have a little Canon Elph point and shoot and the pictures turned out pretty good in my opinion. I don’t know what I’ll do with them yet, but they’re too nice to not use.

A few notes that made it easier for me:

Find random objects to sit your ring on
I like food so I started with fruit
I used a piece of white paper as my backdrop
Don’t use the zoom feature but scoot in as close as you can
Play with lighting – I used a flashlight for some shadows

I had a difficult time focusing some of them where I wanted, but I think that’s something I can work on. Without further ado, a few of my favorite ring pictures:

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Technorati Tags: Camera, engagement ring, Pictures, ring

Wedding Chair Covers – A Necessary Evil?

January 5, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

Let me just start off by saying that I don’t like chair covers and that chiavari chairs cost way too much too rent.

So the chairs at our venue are not the most attractive. They are upholstered with a dark burgundy cloth and have black iron around the seat and back. But, they’re free.

I looked around at chair covers and decided that the ones I could most tolerate don’t have a sash but the cover itself ties in the back in a knot. Apparently this is called a pillowcase cover.

A friend of mine works at a linen place so I went in to get an estimate. These bad boys rent for $3 each + a $0.50 installation fee + a $75 rental fee! Do the math for 200 people and you’re over $700. For chair covers. Right.

And if i rent chair covers, they probably won’t look right with the tablecloths the venue is providing (which I need to double-check by the way), because the chair covers are satin and the table cloths are cotton. And I didn’t really want white.

I thought about just renting more attractive chairs instead of going with chair covers. Problem is any chairs I rent will likely not have the padded seats, which are essential, especially when you have older people who already have joint issues attending.

So I looked around some more last night and found some covers that seem to be a little cheaper but they’ll probably have to be the kind with sashes, which I don’t really like. I did happen upon one site that had them for $2 each including installation and delivery ( I think) and they were pillowcase style. The website didn’t specify but they looked to be cotton. That might actually work, but that still comes to at least $400. For chair covers. Right.

That’s a hard pill for me to swallow when I don’t want to pay a red dime for this.

This is turning into a much bigger issue than I’d like it to be. I want to just decide something and keep it moving.

What do you guys think I should do?

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Technorati Tags: Chair Covers, Cheap, Inexpensive, Reception, rental

Progress Checklist Check-In

January 5, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes

Here’s what we have so far:

My dress
Venue
Photographer
DJ

Here are the big things still left:

Caterer
Invitations
Cake
Bridesmaid Dresses
His Tux/Suit
Flowers
Reception Tables Decor
Photobooth (tbd)
Favors (tbd)

Help me here. What am I missing?

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Technorati Tags: Checklist

Oh J.Crew – Why Do You Tease Me So?

January 2, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: The Bride's Stuff, Wedding Party

New stuff for me to lust over on J.Crew’s site include

these:

and this, which has a similar neckline to my dress and comes in several colors including black:

Both are $200+, which is more than I’d planned on spending on either. Oh well. Such is life.

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Technorati Tags: Bridesmaid Dresses, Dress, JCrew, Shoes

Save the Date Postcards are on Their Way

January 2, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes

Disclaimer: I don’t believe that Save the Dates are always necessary for a wedding. Nor do I feel that they have to be very elaborate. If you have a lot of guests coming from out of town and/or a lot of guests who might not get the memo by word of mouth, however, they might be a good idea.

So I ordered our Save the Date postcards and they are officialy on their way. I created them myself using my li’l ol’ point and shoot camera and my minimal/questionable Photoshop skills.

I knew I wanted them to have a hint of Detroit and be something a little different. So I pulled an old Detroit Free Press out of our coat closet and took a picture of it on our living room floor. I colored out the main headlines and added in my own text and image.

Save the Date Front

For the back, I just put in some text and the same Detroit skyline image I used for my bridesmaid invitations.

Save the Date Back

The work of a professional graphic designer it is not. But I think it looks decent enough to send out. I happened to have a credit from a previous order at GotPrint.com so I ordered from them and only had to pay about $7 extra to have my postcards printed and shipped. Despite the fact that we are inviting 200 people, I only ordered 100 STDs. I figured everyone doesn’t need one, and for those who do, a lot of people live in the same household. Just saving pennies where I can.

Of course this is just the digital version, so I’ll post again when they arrive.

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Technorati Tags: Guests, Save the Dates, STD

Venue Profile: Flat 151

January 2, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Venue

Flat 151

Flat 151 is a relatively new event loft in Downtown Detroit. If not a historical Detroit building, I was really considering a similar type of loft space. They’re all over metropolitan cities like New York, Chicago, Atlanta and LA but they are few and far between here in the motor city. With all the empty buildings we have downtown, you’d think those would be perfect for converting into event lofts for people to rent. Could be for parties, wedding receptions, meetings, or any other gathering.

So, Flat 151 was recommended to me through a friend of a friend. It’s located on the corner of Congress and Shelby, right near a couple of the popular downtown clubs. We went to visit on a Saturday morning during the summer and were ushered through security and escorted around the building.

Here’s the rundown:

About 8000 square feet
Locked, private restrooms
Some form of front desk security
No parking, so valet would probably be necessary
There are big square columns about every 10 feet, blocking the view from several different angles
Built in kitchen area
Use caterers at the International Ballroom at the International Banquet and Conference Center
Very modern feel with lots of windows and views of the city
Rental fee – $3000+ (if I’m not mistaken… I’m a little fuzzy on this)

It ended up not being the right place for us because of the columns and the catering costs, but it could very easily work for someone else. This is all I can remember right now but if there’s something else you’d like to know, I’ll do my best to jog my memory.

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