So as like pretty much every other girl on here I have thought about my wedding almost my entire life, and I knew from the beginning it was not going to be a "traditional" wedding.
My DH and I do medieval reenactment so that was a real big part of our life at the time. So we decided that we wanted to have a medieval themed wedding.
I did not want to do period because well... I had some un period ideas for my dress (also because my DH has bad taste in suits *gag*).
So of course the most important thing was designing my dress. I knew there was no way for me to go buy one.
Heres sketches that I did a while ago.
This was my original idea for the front and back.
Which progressed into a design more like what it turned out to be.
I thought making my dress would be my first priority but finding my fabric was a pain...
I knew what colors I wanted from day one Purple, Black, White, and Silver.
I know... A lot of colors...
We officially started planning in march of 2006.
I think the month or so prior I started searching online, playing on the DFTW site and really came up with a base for our wedding.
After talking it over with my family we got a budget set. I'm shallow and proud of my thriftyness so I'll let you know that my budget was 23k
And I was to plan for 100 guests, I ended up sending invites to about 200.
Here is the invitation we ended up choosing
Oh also to be honest Ive never read a PJ or TR ever so my format is probably really unconventional.
So where was I... I keep getting distracted by my mother as I type this. Lol.
Oh so in March we went in for our planning session I knew my colors I had a really good idea as to everything I wanted.
Because I was on such a budget there were some main things that had to be done. I had to have a weds wedding I also had to have it in the middle of the week. Now this was a mixed blessing. Because it was in the middle of the week and in the morning less people were able to make it. But... it cost less not only because less people came but because fri-sat weddings are almost double the price for food and venue.
I also did not want to have to decorate my reception all too much ($$) so we choose the Atlantic dance hall. And because I still was having about 100 guests I had to use the wedding pavilion.
So I was able to walk into my PS knowing where and when my wedding was going to be. We choose Oct 25.
Now another thing I did that saved me a ton of money was No alchy... I have alcoholic uncles who get really stupid and i wanted our wedding to go as smoothly as possible. So I said NO BAR!!!! No Wine no champagne. CIDER FOR ALL!!!
My inlaws were not to thrilled with this. They even offered to pay for the bar 100% I still said no. Unless you have been around drunks its hard to understand how difficult it is to keep them inline. Also 10am wedding with a 11:30-12ish reception... We didn't need drinks like that.
Flowers: I love Roses! and because I knew I was going to do a colored dress I decided to go with white roses. I even asked disney if they could manage to put in some Lavender sprigs into the flowers and they wernt sure if they could get it. But Low and behold they pulled through!
Flowers are one of the most expensive items there, so once again to save on money I did the un traditional thing. My Brides mades carried staffs instead of flowers, they were while polls with white toppers and had Purple white and silver ribbons hanging down.
Another money saver was that I made all the center pieces for the reception.
I found glass tubes for about 1$ each somewhere on the internet and had them shipped to me I filled them will small glass marbles and then ordered purple lightcubes.
They were meant to be filled with water but when I got to the reception Disney had made and oopsy and forgot to put the water in... Oh well it cant always be perfect.
To make the larger tables center pieces a little decorative I made a silk flower ring to go around the vase. Disney made a double oops and forgot to use the rings I made... I think they got stuck at the bottom of the box and so they were never placed out.
I honestly didnt even notice till like later in the day. lol
Heres a picture from when I was working on them.
Oh yeah... So back to my planning session... Gosh I''m so scatter brained...
It was fine it didnt last to long my WP was Karyn.
We tasted cake I told her everything I wanted I already knew what cake i wanted and told her the colors.
And well... That was pretty much it.
We communicated over the phone the rest of the time. I bugged her probly a few times a month if not more.
This is when I went into sewing frenzy.
My mom and I made most the outfits for anyone dressed up at the wedding.
Including all the wedding party cept for my MIL and FIL.
Because I had choose for my dress to be purple with white underskirt I had the girls wear white Chemises with purple bodices and the guys white shirts, purple vest (all purple was the exact same fabric just different sides) and black pants.
Heres the girls bodices in the works.
Other things that I made that i don't have pictures of (damnit) were, the programs, crypacks and bubbles.
The programs were adorable I'll find one and take pictures of it after I move into my new place. We did a hand hastening so I had to explain what that was int he program. The cry packs I think I snagged the idea from someone on here or maybe it was somewhere else in the internet I did them in a pinkypurple paper and tucked a tissue inside. Then for the bubbles I bought really cheep at a dollar store and to make the match the wedding I wrapped a think purple ribbon and then a thin silver ribbon on top of that and hot glued them down. Placed all the items into baskets and let my younger cousins hand them out at the wedding.
Food:
OH!
The food at disney is just amazing. And its also a great way to save on some cash. We did a buffet style and open seating.
This cut back on the headache so much...
And for our cocktail hour since there was no booze we had a breakfast thing. With Juices coffee, fruit, and pastries.
I unfortunately never got to try any since I was so busy getting to the reception...
Because I'm such a F&W festival freak i really wanted the beer cheese soup from Canada at our wedding.
And they were able to make it happen.
We had a bunch of different things I honestly cant remember what we ate.
All I know is our guests love the soup and the cake the most hehe.
Right Arelys?
Gifts:
I decided to do 2 things for gifts to our guests.
I ordered purple fold up boxes that I filled with 4 Pieces of chocolate from a local chocolate shop that I used to work at.
Then on the top of the box I sealed them with sealing wax. I was able to find silver sealing wax online designed for glue guns.
It made it so much easier and they looked amazing.
The only Picture I was able to find was some of the chocolates at table with people sitting there.
Lol
Also since there was no alchy at the wedding I gave away bottles of wine.
My uncle makes homemade wines and as a wedding gift to us he made like 30 gals on apple and honey wine and bottled them.
I designed and printed all the lables and we gave 2-3 bottle of wine to each family that attended.
Now on to my Shower.