The Flower Girl and The Budget

I know, such a great combination, right? Well, I figured I'd soften the blow of budget discussions with these way cute pics of The Roo - nickname of the most fabulous Flower Girl ever. Seriously.

Cute as all hell, right? I hear her walk down the aisle was quite focused on her task at hand. I will hold off on the story until I see if JCP was able to capture it.

I took these photos while I was waiting to walk down the aisle. I swear, that was the longest thirty minutes of my life. The Roo was really good though. You knew she was bored as hell with all the waiting and waiting. There was no fussing or whining or anything.

So, I am ready to share all things budget related. I'm not quite sure how to go about it though. I feel a little oogy about sharing the final totals on everything. Is it in poor taste to bring up the exact total of our wedding? I have two major numbers - the cost of everything and the cost of everything without the rings and honeymoon. I did that because the rings and the honeymoon were two areas where we had already started saving for prior to getting engaged. The honeymoon savings was originally my Bikram yoga fund. I sacrificed my yoga practice for a honeymoon! I'm going to get back into practicing as soon as possible because I have totally missed it!

The Candyman and I had started saving for our rings around September or October - right around the time when he and I started shacking up permanently. We had about half of what we paid saved up. We were super-duper-uber blessed that we were given a family heirloom diamond and only had to pay for the setting, my band and his band. His band was actually more expensive than most men's bands. However, we felt it wasn't a place to skimp since he'd be wearing it forever-ever. If we'd had to buy our own diamond, we'd still be engaged instead of married. For reals.

One thing The Candyman and I had decided on from the very start is that we would not, could not, staunchly REFUSED to go into any sort of debt for this wedding. It simply was not an option. The other rule we had was that we would absolutely NOT touch my savings. I've got the required 6 months salary saved if I should ever lose my job and it's something I worked really hard to get to. I wasn't going to blow it all on stuffed mushrooms (regardless of how super-yum they were) and tulle. No sir.

So that being said, I'm still trying to figure out how to share the budget breakdown. I can do it by percentage to total. I can talk about where I was over and where I was under. I can give SOME cash totals, or all cash totals (must check with The Candyman though to see if he's down with that, yo). I'm going to add a poll to the top of the blog. Vote for what you want to see.

God, I love polls. Totally fun because the are anonymous and all those people who don't like to leave comments can still participate with a clicky-clicky. Yes, you know who you are.

You can vote for more than one option. Go vote.

The Littlest Princess!

So this little love-nugget is my flower girl. You cannot tell me she isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen! She's growing up very girlie. This makes me very happy because I am very girlie. My MOH is also mommy to The Littlest Princess (TLP) and my MOH is not girlie. She's very feminine, but not girlie. Like, I think of my MOH as a woman. I think I thought this at a really young age, now that I think about it. At any rate, she left Bonnie Bell and her Jordache jeans behind her in high school and all focus went to (and still is) most things academic. She got all A's in college, except for one B+, I think. She has two Masters Degrees and is working on her PhD at a really cool place (one that I won't divulge for anonymity, but trust me when I say it's impressive. And cool.). At any rate, I have often berated my MOH for her lack of girlie-ness. To see it in her daughter is just adorable.

Anyway, I digress. Sorry, it happens. Y'all should know that by now, I suppose. As I was saying, flower girl. Cutie-pie in the extreme. Quite girlie. Quite sassy, I think. I haven't seen her in a few years, but I do hear her on occasion. She's well spoken for a girl her age.

They all live a gazillion miles away so the dress hunt (both TLP and MOH) has been remote.

After several emails with my MOH and her mom, we got the dresses narrowed down to three. Two I found on FlowerGirlDressforLess.com and the other I found on J.Crew. I loooooove me some J.Crew. I was stoked to hear about their wedding section! My aunt ordered all three to see which looked best. My aunt used to own a needlepoint shop that made flower girl dresses and baptizing gowns and such, so knows her stuff. She is a self-proclaimed fabric snob. Who can argue with that?

So the cool thing about FGDL is that they have a free return policy. So says the front page of their website. CHECK THE DETAILS! One of the dresses was on sale, therefore could not be returned. Lame. It's OK though because it was a dress for less, so at least it wasn't a huge chunk of change. Annoying none-the-less.

Here's my aunt's feedback on the dresses:

Here are the pics. No, the cap sleeve is not a contender for the wedding. J Crew is it - if you agree. I am keeping the cap sleeve for two reasons. TLP will love it, and I can't return it. They did not indicate that on my order, but the invoice is marked "final sale item." I would protest if it were really expensive or if I didn't think TLP would love to wear it. She can wear it here and practice for the wedding in it:) As I said, I am going to doctor it. It just is not a real quality dress. The tank from FGDL is very pretty and the fabric is nice. But it is heavy, the hem is not pretty, and the zipper in the back is bulky and shows a LOT. It doesn't look very comfortable and I think we may have trouble getting TLP to wear it - because of comfort. The J Crew has an invisible zipper in the side and is just nicer and more delicate all the way around. So not only does it look nice, it will be way more comfortable to wear. If you want to post pictures of the J Crew on your blog, I will take time to take better pics later. I was in a hurry today and didn't tie the sash well, etc. You can see it peeking out from the side. I will take front and back pics or, better yet, put it on TLP and take pics.

Isn't that just the best feedback!?! It's not often that you find people who think invisible zippers are important and are willing to share pics for the blog!:)
Here are the pictures!

This is the dress we can't return, but that my aunt will "doctor" for TLP. I think some removing of fake flowers is about to happen. I can feel it a gazillion miles away.....

This is the tank style that got returned. Bad hems and big zippers do not past The Aunt Test.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! It's gorgeous silk with micro pleats at the waist. Love it!

Can't you just see TLP in her gorgeous silk JCrew gown with her little Thirty-Something-Bride crafted basket walking down the aisle? How cute is she going to be? Wait, what if she up-stages me? ;0)

DIY Flower Girl Basket

Again, me with the knock-offs! I swear sometimes I feel like I don't have an original bone in my body. This time, I'm channeling a lovely Etsy shop called Y & E Bridal. They sell a lot of cute stuff, one thing that caught my eye was a flower girl basket. She had two versions, one with doves and one with little finches (or some kind of non-dove bird, not sure what it was). They were cute as hell. A little pricey for a basket in my opinion, but cute all the same.

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But even in their cuteness factor, the baskets weren't exactly what I was looking for so I set out to do it myself.

Purchased at Hobby Lobby for a whopping $2.99!

I already had some moss that I had as a color reference for work, so grabbed a handful of that. Seriously, it was no more than a handful.

I know I hate dealing with hot glue and hot glue guns, so I intended to use very little. I started stuffing the little basket crevices around the rim, using my fingers and some tweezers on smaller areas.

The dreaded hot glue gun! After I got as much moss in as I could with my hands and no glue, there were a few light areas that had to glue moss on to. Did I mention I hate hot glue? It just gets everywhere.


I also got a set of four little finch-like birds at The Lobby for $1.99! They come with little wires stuck in them, so I positioned them on the edge of the basket and wrapped the wire around once (you can see the wire on the second photo below). I secured it in place with hot glue.

I tucked some more moss around the glue on the bird and on the inside edge of the basket, just to hide the glue.

I have a ton of extra ribbon that I didn't use on my invitations, so I just took two pre-cut lengths and tied bows at the base of the handles.

And voila! My own little flower-girl basket. Since I had most of the supplies for this, it cost me less than $6.00 and is exactly what I wanted.

I think from start to finish, the whole thing took me 90 minutes, tops. I was also scrolling through Google Reader at the same time, so I can't be sure how much time it really took. I might add a little more moss later on, but I think I like the moss-minimalist look.

I am now looking at three knock-off things from my wedding: my OOT Bags (thank you Wedding Chicks!), my Reception Fun booklets (thank you Guestbook Store!) and now my flower girl basket (thank you Y & E Bridal!)! But isn't that what all these websites are for? Inspiration? I do hope so.

What are you knocking off inspired by?

P.S. Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weddings! Go here to enter!

Is He The Pink Panther? Or Lipstick?

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You all may remember my quickie post regarding my 4-year old flower girl and her theories on God. Apparently, she has changed her current beliefs. Her mother reports:

Theology update from this morning at breakfast:

The Girl (out of nowhere): "I think God is the Pink Panther."

The Pink Panther, lipstick. Either way, I'm good.

Flower Girl Loot

So I am 99.8% sure I'm going to do OOT bags. I've already purchased some snacks from Costco, so it looks like it's heading in that direction. I've been seeing all these "By My Bridesmaid/Flower Girl" invitations and such and really didn't think I had to do anything like that for the flower girl. But the more I thought about it, the more I'm thinking that goodies might help sway a 4-year old into behaving. Probably not, but what the hell do I know about kids? That answer would be "big, fat zippo." I do know the Flower Girl is totally into girly princess crap, the antithesis of her clog wearing-flowy skirt-all I own is elastic waist garments mother, aka - my MOH! Cousin, don't try to deny, you know it's true.

At any rate, in my shopping excursion last weekend, I found a cute little store with really cheap princess crap. I thought I'd make my little Flower Girl her own special princess OOT bag. The stuff was so cheap, I couldn't pass it up!

The booty.

The princess bag. It's pretty big - a small duffel size, I guess. It was all of HK$33, or $4.50.

This is a princess place mat. Does a four year old have a need or use for this? I have no idea. However, it was cheap and flat - ease of transportation home is key.

Princess notebooks. These are lined pages she can draw in. The princess pen lights up and has a rolling stamp built into the cap. How cool is that?

A little zippered pouch. You know, for your strawberry Lip Smackers!

I'm not sure of the purpose of this, but it's a little towel. It's bigger than a hand towel, but smaller than a regular bath towel. I'm sure it's paper thin. However, it could be used as a blankie, or a cape. Perhaps an interesting princess turban?

I think it all totalled up to about $12 or so. I can't remember what it all cost. I have to admit though, the sales girls in this place were falling all over themselves to help me find all the princess stuff they could. It was pretty fun. Definitely $12 worth of entertainment for me.

I'll add sweets and goodies to the bag too. I'm hoping this will bribe her sufficiently enough to walk down the aisle without too many issues. Her mom will be coaxing her from up front, so I'm sure it will be fine. Since I'll be experiencing my own stage fright, I'm sure a little girl will have some of her own!

Did I do OK? What do you guys think? To be honest, I'm kind of thinking of keeping the place mat for some reason. I think it would be a good take-out dinner thing I could use. I'd call it my Princess Place Mat. All the other girls will be jealous. It's true. ;)