Wedding Harmony

If You're not familiar with Vicki Grafton and My Simple Details, you should be. Vicki planned her own Bali wedding and it's been plastered all over the place. I'm sure you've seen in on Style Me Pretty or even recently on The Budget Savvy Bride's Wedding of the Week. Anyway, Vicki was the planner for the event in the below video. The camera work leaves a little to be desired, but it wasn't like it was being filmed by a real videographer (at least I HOPE not). Still, you get the gist. Really clever and those guys can SING!

Enjoy.

Best Groomsmen Medley from Vicki Grafton on Vimeo.

The Bloomin' Truth - Flower Budget

I'm not big on flowers. I knew this wasn't going to be a huge chunk of my money. Don't get me wrong, I love flowers. But they are so expensive. And they die.

On top of it, I used to work for FTD. I was the Product Development manager for their floral containers. I know a lot more about the inner workings of flower shops, florists and floral wholesalers than the average bride, in my opinion. I certainly know what I don't like:

Leather Leaf (hello, 1985)
Plumosus (it sheds little tiny green needles - like a mofo!)
Bear Grass (hello, 1997)
Baby's Breath (unless you are doing an all Gypsophilia thing like these:)

From The Martha, of course.

Found this on The Sweetest Occasion. Never knew about this blog. It's AWESOME!

I found this on Weddingbee (God, how I hate that site), but don't know the original source. If ya know it, lemme know!

I am not a big rose kind of girl. I like some weird flowers, most of them happen to be cheap. Lucky me! Now, I don't know if this was the smartest thing for me to do, but I only interviewed one florist. Yup. Just one. And I have no recollection as to how I found her. I think I was just hunting on-line, found a link to her on some seriously obscure wedding web-site and then found examples of her work on Flickr. I made an appointment, talked to her about what I wanted and what I knew about flowers. I was up front about flowers not being the bulk of my budget and that I wanted to trim the fat at every possible turn. She was totally down with it. Her name is Angela Sadler.

I think we went through about 6 or 7 quotes until we got to where I wanted it. The thing is, I had a hard time deciding what I actually wanted to do with the flowers at the reception. You can read about that here. I finally decided, bit the bullet and went for staggered bud vases scattered on the tables, mixed with small votives (provided for FREE by Mere Bulles!). I got my bud vases on sale at Crate and Barrel, Target and Ikea and had a total of 5 different shapes and styles. I bought WAY too many. The good thing was that I was able to return ALL the vases to Target (I did get a merchandise credit because I had purchased them long ago), and I sold a good chunk of the C&B bud vases to Angela. I still have the Ikea ones and some of the C&B ones that I will offer to sell here as soon as I can get my act together.

I met with Angela a few weeks before the wedding at the local wholesale florist place to review and pick out flowers as well as to show Angela the bud vases. Apparently, most brides don't do this. Angela made a comment about how involved I was! I'm not sure if this was a good thing or what, but I like to see what I'm buying. Anyway, you can see what we did here.

We kept the ceremony flowers super-simple since I knew it was going to be a short service. Why pay tons of money for something people are going to see for 30 minutes, tops? Owen Chapel has it's own unique charm, so I didn't want to over-do it. We had wreaths on the doors, a large wreath inside and two large alter arrangements.

How did I save? A few ways:

1. I saved $25 on the large wreath by purchasing the wreath myself. It was about $13 with tax and coupon use at JoAnn's, so it saved a little over $10. Hey - every little bit counts!
2. I saved $5 each ($10) on the door wreaths. I bought those on sale at Micheal's for $3 for both.
3. Going the bud vase route versus centerpieces saved me about $500 from the original quote! Angela had really affordable arrangements using BIG flowers like hydrangeas, football mums, gerbers and stock. We used really beautiful variegate pittsporum and snow berries as the filler, both affordable.
4. We had one large corsage for my mom and then smaller corsages for the other females in the group (no MOG for us, so no need).
5. We used really big, really inexpensive flowers in my bouquet: gerbers and football mums. The most expensive flower was a garden rose that we added, just to make it a little different than the MOH's bouquet.
6. I had my go-to girl Alecia take one of the alter arrangements as well as the door wreaths to Mere Bulles to add to the ambiance there.
7. I chose teeny tiny little button mums with fern curls for the boutonnieres. The guys really liked them and they were CHEAP!

Here's the budget breakdown.

The delivery and set up was "free" - I just took out the bud vases Angela bought in trade. The total here doesn't count the $60 I made back from the returned Target vases. Hopefully, I'll get a little more back if I sell the remaining Ikea and C&B vases. I was really hoping to come in under $1500 on this and I might in the end. Who knows.

There was one thing that I didn't like about all of the flowers and that was the handle on my bouquet. Again, I blame no one but myself for not being more specific. I had wanted the stems of my bouquet wrapped in the left over lace from my mom's mantilla. I mean WRAPPED - like how they do it with the ribbon. I also had a pearl pin I wanted put on. Well, she used just the teeny-tiniest piece of lace, I think to preserve the lace usage, but that's not what I wanted. She could have used it all! At any rate, the lace shifted around as did the pin and looked a little tattered at the end. I assumed that the bouquet stems would be wrapped all the way down to their ends. That wasn't the case. I was afraid that the stems would touch my dress and leave a mark during photographs!


Wedding Tip #3: Be as specific as you can. Assume nothing. If you don't ever ask for it, you can't be sure of what you are going to get. If a vendor gets snippy because you're asking too many questions or giving lots of direction, let them or move on. You have a right to know exactly what you are paying for.

I really enjoyed working with my florist. She was happy to give me references, even one who had a wedding at Owen Chapel before! I contacted everyone and they sang Angela's praises and were straight up about her short-comings, the only one being that she wasn't one to reply immediately to emails. Knowing this bit of information saved me a lot of worry. Since I knew she would eventually reply, I could contact her in advance of needed info and wait out the response. She knew if I called, I needed her and she would call back in a jiffy. She was a great vendor to work with. I liked her personally and kinda wanted to get to know her more and just hang out. I think because I was around her age, she got me. That's how it all ended up though - we hired the vendors who understood The Candyman and I as people and treated us that way. That makes it all good.

The flowers were simple and beautiful. Mixed with the candlelight at Mere Bulles - they were STUNNING! The good thing about using the bud vases was that we were able to add them to different areas in the venue without a bunch of extra arrangement costs. We had some added to the fireplace mantel, the place card table and the cake table.

Gorgeous!

Budget ReCap -o- Rama: The Reception Venue

You guys know that I was totally in love with our reception venue, Mere Bulles from the moment we stepped inside. The brown walls and ivory crown molding are accented by amazing artwork all over what was once the grand manor house of Maryland Farms (horse breeding country, back in the day). Right when you walk in, there's a killer spiral staircase with a gorgeous chandelier. The main dining room has a gorgeous old mantle and fireplace. There are built in bookshelves all over the house and it's just so damn inviting.


This feeling was extended to us by the fabulousness of one Carlin McQuiddy, their kick-ass events coordinator. I mean, she fed us their famous Charleston She-Crab Bisque the second we came in for our appointment. I mean, damn. She'd never even met The Candyman and she knew the way to his heart - straight through his stomach!



I have nothing but good things to say about Carlin and the fine people over at Mere Bulles. They took care of us. The treated us with respect and were attentive and responsive to every single thing we requested. We made one mistake though. Ooooops. Here it is:


WEDDING TIP #2: It's possible to get too distracted by the details. Don't forget to double check your budget. You might be really far UNDER.


Yes, UNDER. Here's what happened. Again, I can only really blame only myself for this. Carlin said she should take a little of the blame, so I'll give her some too. If you have a band or DJ at Mere Bulles, you have to do a whole house buy out because it's a house and you can hear the music throughout. At our first meeting when Carlin told us the price of a whole house buy out, I put my spoon down (remember, she was feeding us) and was about to bolt. She quickly informed us that a whole house buy out on a Sunday was HALF THE PRICE of a Friday or Saturday. I picked my spoon back up and said, "Carlin, please tell me more." The Candyman was oblivious to this. There was food.

You can also bring your own wine into Mere Bulles even though you have to pay a cork fee. I knew I could get budget savvy with the booze so opted for this as well.

Here's where I fucked it all up:

See, I had this AMAZING spreadsheet, y'all. Seriously. Formulas and links and all that crap. I love Excel spreadsheets. Like, love them. My dad is the Master of Things Excel and I call him all the time for advanced workshops via the phone. Anyway, I had this kick-ass spreadsheet that linked the booze tally page to the Mere Bulles tally page, that all linked up to the total page. Sweet, right? Right.

One day at work, I found this other formula and format that I thought was uber-bitchin' so I did that during my lunch hour. I sent the spreadsheet home to myself and did a little copy and paste into the Master of All Mack-Daddy Spreadsheets. Yeah. When I put the new format into one of the worksheets, I erased the link that went from the booze tally to the Mere Bulles tally and NEVER fucking noticed. NEVER.

As the RSVPs came in, I updated both worksheets and the totals went down on their SEPARATE pages. However, I didn't really look at those pages individually because I had already set up all the functions, so all I had to do was update the number of people. The overall total was going down but not by NEARLY enough. And again, I NEVER fucking noticed. Yes, there are a lot of "fucks" in this particular blog. You'd drop the F-bomb a lot too if you were $1000 UNDER the house buy-out.

Here's what this means. I started out with a total of 88 people and 21 kids invited to the wedding. I allotted total food and alcohol for that many people, erring on the high side for booze. As the numbers went down, the food and liquor pages went down, as did the total, but it was only pulling from the food tally. I basically had budgeted that 66 adults would drink 200 beers and six cases of wine. Yeah, sure. Maybe if those 66 adults were 21 years old at a freakin' South Padre Spring Break wet t-shirt contest. WTF?

I want to know when exactly I got so stupid. Was it the diamond on my finger? Was I constantly distracted by the shiny things? Or just constantly distracted? Oh, who knows. So here's what happened....

I come cruising into Mere Bulles (gushing, mind you because everything looked so damn pretty), the DJ is announcing us and I see people standing around with cocktails. Not cocktails in the generic, I'm-offering-beer-and-wine, but like scotch on the rocks and martinis. Lots of them. Um, what? I can't see THIS many people ponying up for cocktails when there's FREE beer and wine. I desperately make eye contact with Tabitha and she pulls me directly over and starts talking. Fast.

Tabitha: Don't freak. You're under budget. The manager opened the bar.

Me: WHAT?!?

Tabitha: Dude, you're UNDER budget. The manager ran the numbers and he says that every person in this room can have 6 drinks and you will still be UNDER budget. He opened the bar.

Me: WHAT?!? No. That can't be right. I ran the numbers too (and I did, just not the way I thought I had)! No. No. No.

Tabitha: Yes. I swear it's OK.

In my head: Do NOT let this freak you out. Do NOT let this freak you out. Trust the manager. Trust Tabitha. Let it go.

Me: OK, fine. But I swear, if we go over budget because the bar is open.....

Tabitha: You won't.

Me: OK. I need a drink.

And guess what? We were still WAY under budget. I could have served prime rib. I didn't have to buy all my wine and worry about having good wine and not going over budget. I didn't have to mess with all of that.

The thing is, I am so okay with everything. People enjoyed the food. People enjoyed the drinks. Everyone had what they wanted and that was perfect. I still don't care about prime rib because I think it's disgusting. Our wine was yummy. And I could return the unopened portion, which off-set the $1000 under budget by $300+.

And here's the BEST part. Mere Bulles did not have to open the bar. I had a signed contract that stated wine, which would be provided by me and beer, provided by them. They, by all legal accounts, did NOT have to open the bar. And they did. Because they are cool. Because they are fair and because they are a classy establishment who cares about their clients. Period. They were going to get paid regardless of what they served and they went above what was legally and contractually required. How often do you hear about THAT in the WIC (Wedding Industry Complex)?

On top of it, Carlin sent us some gift certificates that we can use at Mere Bulles. Again, she didn't have to do that. It was a super-nice perk.

Here's some other fabulous things about Mere Bulles:

1. The staff was top-notch. People commented frequently to me that the service was great.
2. The food was top notch. I heard "best wedding food" several times.
3. The staff participated in an impromptu group dance during the reception. Fun!
4. The staff loaded all the presents for me into my parent's car.
5. The staff had all of our chargers and bud vases cleaned and cleared and packed up and ready for us to pick up the next day.
6. Carlin's immediate responses to any and all of my inquiries.
7. They were concerned that my cake plates were a little wobbly. The cut all the cakes so people could just pick up a piece and enjoy! Nice. No stupid cake cutting fee (clearly the dumbest up-charge in the world).

Thanks to everyone at Mere Bulles for a wonderful reception! Regardless of where I came in, it was the most perfect evening ever and worth every penny, spent or not!

I'm sure there will be more pictures to come. I pulled these of Mere Bulles from their website gallery.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah..................

Long weekends are so hard-core-crazy-rock-n-roll. I love them, LOVE THEM! It was such a wonderful weekend on so many levels.

On Saturday, The Candyman and I went to our reception venue, Mere Bulles, and met with Carlin regarding a lot of little details for the reception. Since I'm bringing in a ton of stuff, I wanted to make sure it gets put where I want it all to go!

I took a few things into Mere Bulles with me and had asked Carlin to have our linens set up for me to play with. I did and it just looks so super-fab, I can't even tell you. I took in my chargers, my bud vases and a mock-up of my favor box. We even swung by the Harris Teeter and picked up some ivory flowers to put in the bud vases, just to get a good visual! I'd share pics, but you know what? I want to keep this one secret! You're just going to have to wait until I do recaps to see it all! ;) I will show you this picture of the flowers though. I put them all in an arrangement when we got home. They looked so pretty in the morning sunshine, I snapped a quick picture!

Saturday night The Candyman and I had a date night out at PM on Belmont. It's a happy medium for us - I can get sushi and he can get a burger! Yum! It was great because we had one of those kinds of really meaningful discussions that make you a better, stronger couple. You know what I mean?

Sunday we did nothing. And I mean nothing. I think the most productive part of our day was the nap we took all snuggled up on the couch. Well, I guess that's not totally true. We did wander out for sustenance and I did put all the favor boxes together. Let me tell you how much I hated doing this. Why? Because it involves tying bows. I hate tying bows. Hate. I just can't get bows to look right - ever. I have a feeling it might have something to do with the fact that I'm left-handed and learned to tie my shoes from another left-handed person who was taught by a right-handed person. My bows always look like crap. So, I spent way too long tying and retying the stupid bows.

Here are all the boxes I put together a long time ago- back around Easter. They have been sitting in the attic, waiting....

Remember all the thank you tags I printed and punched out? No? You can read about it here. I took all of those and punched a hole in them to thread the ribbon through.

Then I set to tying, retying, tying, retying all the damn bows. Why? Because I am a freaky, OCD perfectionist, that's why! Don't judge. So, you might be wondering to yourself, "Why is The Thirty-Something Bride tying all these bows around boxes with nothing in them?" Well, I'll tell you why. Because when it comes time to pack these suckers, all we'll have to do is slide the ribbon off, stuff the boxes and slide the ribbon back on. I think that would be much easier then trying to tie a bazillion bows the way I want them the day before the wedding, no? That way we can get a nice assembly line going of moms and cousins and aunts and stuff a bunch of boxes and be done!! I really do not want to stress about stuff like bows two days before the wedding. That would be mega-lame of me.

It's a sea of boxes!

It's a sea of bows!

I can't believe that The Big Show is only 33 days away! I've got most of the tasks and projects done, I just need to finish things up - like place cards (can't do it until all the RSVP's come in) and table numbers (again, RSVP's for the final numbers). I feel like I'm just humming along. Stress is at a minimum right now. Although, I did dream I was fired last night. Maybe that was the sign for me NOT to buy the expensive dress from RueLaLa. Hmmm.....

P.S. As I was finishing this post up on my lunch break, the office manager came in and asked me if I was available to go to Minnesota the week of October 5th. Um, hello? Getting married that weekend folks, no can do. Keep your fingers crossed that the sadistic powers that be don't actually make me do this.

"I Wish" Wednesday

Oh, the wish is easy today! It's for TIME! The tick is tocking, and I do not mean the one associated with babies!

I had abandoned the idea of DIY personalized match boxes, but I'm rethinking the idea and I'm placing that blame on The Graphics Fairy. If you aren't familiar, you should be!

She has awesome FREE graphics for personal use. There are limitations, so just know her rules before you download, etc.

I found this super-cute antique style frame that I added my own text to. I dropped the image into a template I made in Word that will fit and cover the match boxes. I'm not totally loving it, but it's close. The font needs to be bigger and I might rotate the whole thing. The date falls on the spine of the match box and then the other text on top and bottom of the box.

Source

She also has this vintage Marriages list that I simply love! Go get lost on her blog. It's worth the time sucker.

Source

Thoughts? I could really go to town on this if I just had some more TIME!!! Anyone know where I can get some more?

P.S. Don't forget to enter my contest for 100 FREE Save the Date Cards from Rachel Jasper Designs! Enter here.

I've Fallen into the Internet and I Can't Get Out!

So you know how you can totally get lost in the blog-o-sphere? I do it all the time and it's a total time-sucker. I read about something cool and click on a link. Then I see something else on that site and then click on another link. Suddenly, I feel like I'm in the 70's Fabrege Shampoo commercial (and so on and so on and so on). Blogs are the worst. I mean, come on! They really are. I follow 80 bazillion blogs and want to read each and every post on every single one but I simply do not have the time. Especially now that I am in wedding crunch time, coupled with the fact that I'm working double-time to help keep my company afloat so that I can pay for said wedding! I just need a "pause" button for about a day. Maybe two.

I'm totally off track here. My point is that I got lost on the Internet the other day and found the cutest Etsy shop. It's called Natalie As Is. She doesn't have many item, but what she does have rocks. Hard.

look at the gorgeous handmade sketch books! I think these would be perfect for a registration book - or simply a wedding gift. Maybe for a bridesmaid? The paper is acid free, so could be used as a photo album too. Lovely. Just lovely.


The other really interesting this she has for sale are Cupcake Pamphlets. Uh, come again? What the hell is a cupcake pamphlet? This is:

She has 2 volumes of 3 eight-page pamphlets contains the illustrated recipes. The first volume has:

~ Marbled Lemon-Berry Cupcakes with lemon Chantilly cream

~ Earl Grey Cupcakes on pâte sucrée with dark chocolate filling, earl grey Italian meringue butter cream

~ Walnut Browned Butter Cupcakes with browned butter & Scotch pastry cream filling, white chocolate walnut glaze

These are handwritten recipes that are accompanied by watercolor and graphite illustrations. Ingredients are given in both weight and measure. The pamphlets are ink jet printed on 28 lb acid free paper and hand bound in a vellum jacket. So cool! I headed over to her Flickr page and found these examples of her mad baking skills!


Who else gets lost in the Internet? Do you find as many interesting things as I do?

Reception Fun

I suppose I could have a traditional guest book or registration book, but I'm not sure what the point of them is. I mean, I invited all the people, I should know who's there right? They (assuming) RSVP'd, so what is the point? Is there one? WWEPD (What Would Emily Post Do)?

Well, I've seen and read a lot of creative options - anywhere from Polaroid pictures (an AWESOME choice, but pricey) to write-on platters. I wanted to have something that I could look back on with interest and love on our special day. What the heck would that be? I did a lot of searching and I thought that a time capsule of some sort would be cool. Have people write messages to us 1, 5, 10 years later that we could open on our anniversaries. I thought that might be a bit much to get set up, so I came up with another idea that The Candyman was OK with. He really doesn't get why I'm doing a lot of the things I'm doing. Well....because. That's why. I really have no idea. Because it's fun. At least I think it is. And, I have all this left over card stock and I wanted a useful project.

So here we go! The idea for the set up came from a great source called The Guestbook Store. I really think what they offer is reasonable and totally cute. I'm all for it. I think if you're not a DIY kinda bride, this might be the way to go. They have other options for birthdays and showers. Check it out! However, I am a crafty bride so figured out my own way to do this.

First, I decided what I wanted the guests to tell us. I wanted to know who they were, where they came from and how they knew us. I have a section for predictions, newlywed advice and special memories they want us to recall. Because I don't have special artwork software, I did a lot in PowerPoint and Word using free online clip-art, fonts and tweaking colors. I printed the front and back page on one side of the card stock and the interior stuff on the other side.

Getting ready to assemble.

The inside of the booklet.

1/8" chocolate brown ribbon from Michael's at $.50 a roll, with a 20% off coupon! Love my coupons.

A 1/4" heart shaped punch. The Candyman loves this thing! It really is fun to punch out hearts! I got this at Michael's too for $5.99 with a 40% off coupon.

To fold the card stock so that it looks professional and pretty, I scored the booklet on the inside first using a bone folder ($5.99 at Micheal's with a 20% off coupon).


Then I folded the booklet with the score on the inside, matching up the corners and then sliding the edge of the bone folder along the crease to make a nice, professional fold.

Then I punched the heart shaped holes on the outside edge of the booklet. I cut about 2-1/2" of ribbon, created a loop and slid it through the heart shaped hole and threaded the ends through the loop to keep the booklet closed. I know a lot of the loops will get lost when people fill this out, but that's OK. I think it looks sweet.


So the plan is to have these and a bunch of pens out during cocktail hour for people to fill in and have some fun! We plan to read through all of these on our first anniversary.

Are you having a traditional guest book? If not, what are you doing?

Calling All Music Snobs

Source

While I used to consider myself a know-it-all music snob, I long ago relinquished that title to those with more time on their hands and the wherewithal to engage in the activity. I have better things to do like play Mafia Wars and Scramble on Facebook. Oh right, and plan a wedding. And blog about it.

Early in the planning stages I found a cool article in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. She listed "songs you won't hear at every other wedding." The same article can be found here. Or, you can just see the list below:

For the Cocktail Hour
"I Only Have Eyes for You," Billie Holiday
"How Deep Is Your Love," The Bird and the Bee
"Tupelo Honey," Cassandra Wilson
"It's Wonderful," Ella Fitzgerald
"Soledad," Jorge Drexler
"In a Sentimental Mood," John Coltrane
"Stop, Look, Listen to Your Heart," Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross
"I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," Nikka Costa
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," Shelby Lynne

For the Dinner
"The Weight," Aretha Franklin
"Wind Cries Mary," Jamie Cullum
"Don't Speak," Leela James
"Easy," The Commodores
"All at Sea," Jamie Cullum
"Shelter," Ray LaMontagne
"This Must Be the Place (NaiveMelody)," Talking Heads
"Across the Universe," Rufus Wainwright
"Closer," Travis
"The Look of Love," Dusty Springfield
"More Than This," Roxy Music

For Your First Dance
"Sea of Love," Cat Power
"Thank You," Lizz Wright
"Northern Sky," Nick Drake
"Brighter Than Sunshine," Aqualung
"In Your Eyes," Jeffrey Gaines
"Somersault," Zero 7
"Isn't It Romantic?," Tony Bennett
"A Case of You," Joni Mitchell
"You're the Best Thing," The Style Council
"Baby, Now That I've Found You," Alison Krauss
"Here Comes the Sun," Nina Simone

For the Father/Daughter Dance
"Maybe I'm Amazed," Jem
"Sweet Pea," Amos Lee
"In My Life," The Beatles
"Isn't She Lovely," Stevie Wonder
"I Can See Clearly Now," Jimmy Cliff
"A Song for You," Gram Parsons
"To Sir with Love," Al Green
"The Wind," Cat Stevens
"Have You Met Miss Jones (Swing When Version)," Robbie Williams

For Boogie Time
"Heart of Glass," Blondie
"Let's Stick Together," Bryan Ferry
"Mercy," Duffy
"What'd I Say," Ray Charles
"Ring of Fire," Johnny Cash
"Some Kind of Wonderful," Joss Stone
"Modern Love," David Bowie
"I Only Have Eyes for You," The Flamingos
"Valerie," Mark Ronson with Amy Winehouse
"Twistin' the Night Away," Sam Cooke
"('Til) I Kissed You," The Everly Brothers

For the After-Party
"If You Find Yourself Caught in Love," Belle & Sebastian
"Who the Cap Fit," Bob Marley
"Sirenes de la Fete," Brazilian Girls
"Following," Chungking
"Beautiful World," Colin Hay
"Heartbeats," Jose Gonzalez
"Cupid," Jack Johnson
"Karmacoma," Massive Attack
"Je T'aime Moi Nnon Plus," Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
"Little Black Sandals," Sia

I've downloaded a lot of these for my own enjoyment, except for Belle & Sebastian. I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than listen to that melancholy, wrist-slitting crap. I also sent a copy of the list to my DJ. She's including these on her play list too. Very cool.

I also gave the list to my dad in hopes that he will choose a good father-daughter dance song. I don't know if it's his job to pick, but I think it would be nice if he did. It's also one less thing for me to worry about, right?

I'm also starting to think about the Do Not Play list. Off the top of my head, I've got:
The Macarena
The Electric Slide
The Chicken Dance
The Hustle
Love Shack
Grease Mega-mix
Theme from Friends
That's What Friends Are For
U Can't Touch This
Achy Breaky Heart
Gonna Make You Sweat
YMCA

What's really scary is that all of these songs were on Top Wedding Song Lists from various idiotic websites. What's on your Do Not Play list?

Goodie Bag

I've got a lot of random stuff that I've been meaning to share, so I'll do a little catch-all here in order to get it all out!

I saw these in the Two's Company catalog and am smitten. Makes me wish I was having a beach wedding!

This is a board I created from a wedding featured in Veranda magazine (I subscribe). I didn't get it posted very quickly and then it was featured on Style Me Pretty, so there wasn't a real rush. My thoughts? Pretty. Gorgeous. Expensive.

Briar Press has tons of FREE down loadable "ornaments" like monograms, borders, birds and beasts, flowers and lots of others. These are just a few I like.

GORGEOUS etched champagne flutes from Anthropologie. These were only $12 each. I almost got them for our toasting flutes, but stopped myself. I might go back and get them though.

They also had the etched pattern in wine glasses. I love the merchandising here - how they've planted herbs in the glasses. Actually, chives in back and I'm pretty sure that's a strawberry plant on the left. I think this is a grand idea for table arrangements. Lovely.

These are on sale at Pottery Barn. They aren't for sale on their website though, in-store only. Cute for bridesmaids, but contemporary enough for groomsmen. There are lots of men out there who like scented candles!

I love these! It's felted soap from Anthropologie. The wool encases the soap and as you use it, the felt exfoliates your skin and the soap shrinks. When the soap is gone, you cut open the felt shell and replace your soap and re-use! Re-Use. Re-Cycle. Go green, if and where you can. Great BM gifts, at $14.00 each.

Last, but not least - I was perusing local letterpress companies and found this non-local company F2 Design from Lubbock, Texas. They have this awesome letterpress poster of Blues/R&B/Funk master Little Milton. Grits Ain't Grocery is a great song (The Candyman will be flabbergasted that I know it) with oddly romantic lyrics:

If I don't love you baby
Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(Oh yeah! Let's get into it. Listen.)

All around the world, I'd rather be a fly
I'd light on my baby and stay with my woman till I die
With a toothpick in my hand I'd dig a ten foot ditch
And run all through the jungle fighting lions with a switch
Because you know I love you baby
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Now if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(Oh baby. Uh! Listen.)

All around the world I've got blisters on my feet
I'm trying to find my baby and bring her home with me
You better run into me baby and be convinced
If you don't run it to me right now woman
You ain't got no sense
Because you know I love you baby
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Well if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(C'mon y'all. Hit me. Oh baby. Listen.)

All around the world I never will forget
I lost all my money, my woman, and my pet
But I've got to have you baby and I will settle for nothing less
Give up all my good time baby and stay for happiness
Because you know I love you baby yeah
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Well if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

The very first dish I ever made The Candyman was yellow grits (none of that white crap) made with whole cream served with this salmon salad I make (grilled salmon, green onions, red bell pepper, lemon juice, olive oil - done). They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Mission accomplished! :)

ThurFriday with Photographers, Bloggers and The Candyman

Shhhhhhh...don't type so loud!

So the wine-tasting event held at Casa de Thirty-Something Bride and The Candyman went very well last night. Considering how last minute this little fete was, I think it was a rousing success!

Farm cheese, Camembert and grapes.

This little gathering was more than just wine tasting, it was a meeting of the Bridal Blogging Minds of Nashville.

*Note to self: we should start a club as such and call ourselves the BBMN's. I'm appointing myself Social Secretary.*

After some sporadic emails between myself, some other local bridal bloggers and my photographer, I realized very quickly that there were several of us who were all planning different meetings at different times. I figured, let's all get together in one spot at one time and drink some wine while we do it. I think everyone was "mission accomplished" by the end of the evening and I got great feedback on possible wedding wine selections!
The attendees were:
Me and The Candyman
Liza, from Maiden to Married
Ashley from Ashley's Bride Guide
Jonathon and Sharon Campbell from Jonathon Campbell Photography
Tabitha from Life* a la Mode

Sharon, Ashley and Jonathon

What I can't believe is that this little gathering lasted FIVE hours! If it wasn't a school-night, we could have lasted a lot longer, I think. Or not. My head is certainly not happy with me and I hear something greasy, cheesy and fried calling my name for lunch, that is for certain. I didn't take pictures until late in the evening, so didn't get as many action shots as I'd hoped for. Everyone took turns with JC's camera and he's promised me pics to post. He might be busy nursing his own ThurFriday headache right now! Hair of the dog, my friend. Do not discount it.

As I mentioned in my last post about the booze, there were 5 official contenders:
Puerto Viejo Chardonnay, Menage a Trois Chardonnay, Sacred Stone Red Blend, Montes Malbec, and Grao Vasco Dao. Tabitha brought over a bottle of Yard Dog white blend. I screwed up and served that last so I don't think it got a fair shake in the taste-test. Here are the results:
Ashely: Viejo as the Best White, Doa as the Best Red
JC: Viejo as the Best White, Montes as the Best Red (tied with the Dao)
Sharon:Viejo as the Best White, Montes as the Best Red
Liza: Viejo as the Best White, Montes as the Best Red (tied with the Dao)
Tabitha: Viejo as the Best White, Montes as the Best Red
T30SB: Viejo as the Best White, Montes as the Best Red
The Candyman: He drinks Sweet Tea, period.

The culprits. Don't blame ME, blame the WINE!

The clear white winner was the Viejo which would be $8.09 per bottle after The Wedding Discount. Not bad! I need to give Yard Dog another quick taste tonight to see if it needs more consideration. OF COURSE, the red that would win is the most expensive! The Dao was a close second and is super affordable, so I might give that a longer thought. The Malbec was such an easy drink though. Hmmm....

I've got to head out today for Comp Shopping (yes, I get paid to SHOP!), but I wanted to post this early to thank everyone for coming over last night for a wonderful ThurFriday event! We talked some shop, but mostly got to know one another a little better. It really was a good time for me and The Candyman and I hope everyone else had fun too. I would like to do it again soon. Thanks everyone for a wonderful gathering. Happy Weekend to All!

The Hootch

Nashville Brides! Make sure you read all the way to the end to hear about the DEALS happening this weekend at Frugal MacDoogal!

So Sarah Elizabeth, another bridal-blogger-fabulouso, mentioned her upcoming issues with buying wine in Tennessee. You can read about it here.
Tennessee sucks when it comes to Blue Laws. A bunch of other states suck at this too. It's called separation of church and state, people. At any rate, they exist and that means you can't buy booze (except for beer) on Sundays. It means you have to go to a liquor store to buy wine and spirits. You cannot buy wine or spirits in the grocery store, but you can buy beer. You cannot buy wine and have it shipped into the state (for instance, through a Wine of the Month Club). It's ignorant and antiquated. Politicians are afraid to upset a core group of rabid religious constituents. It doesn’t matter that the laws are hypocritical (as in legalizing the sale of “immoral” alcohol but restricting it only one day of the week, unless you’re in a restaurant, in which case it’s okay). Nor does it matter that it’s an infringement upon the rights of people to engage in commerce. Nobody in the legislature has the courage to stand up and strike them down. Pussies.
Yeah, it's my blog and I can get preachy and inappropriate if I wanna.

And, back to the subject at hand.....
I'm allowed to bring in my own wine to Mere Bulles, but still have to pay a cork fee of $15 for every 750 ml and $30 for Magnums (1.5l). Meaning, The Thirty-Something Bride needs to find her some cheap wine! Cheap, but good.
I consider myself an expert wine drinker. I'm just really good at it. Really, I am. Can I tell if the grape that made the wine is from the Rhone Valley, circa 1997 - the year they had the light frost late in the season, thereby adding a hint of acid to the blend? No, I cannot and I could care less. If it tastes good, I'll drink it. If it doesn't, I won't (okay, I'll drink the crappy stuff too, who am I trying to kid?). There are some really good, fairly inexpensive wines out there and I'm on the hunt for the best!

First though, we need to talk about where to go. If you don't live in a lame, Blue Law state, my vote would be Costco. They have a good selection and their prices are decent. I found two really good online sources too: BevMo.com and MarketViewLiquor.com. The downside is paying for freight. I almost ordered cases from Market View and had them sent to my folks in the state they live in. I was going to have them haul the cases to Tennessee before The Big Show. I am SURE I would be breaking some sort of law doing this. But don't worry, I don't think we have to resort to criminal activity to get our drink on.

First of all, the Costco's in Tennessee do have liquor stores next door that sell wine and spirits at a discount. The prices are good, but not fantastic.
We also have Frugal MacDoogal that offers a wide variety of wines and liquors at dang good prices. The Candyman and I stopped by on Saturday to check it out. We picked up the following wines for a trial run.

Sacred Stone Red (California), blend of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, Sangiovese and Zinfandel, 87 points, $8.99

Menage a Trois Chardonny (California), 84-90 points depending on the year, $8.99

Montes Malbec (Chile), considered a 'Bordeaux varietal', Malbec has characteristics that fall somewhere between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, 84 points, $11.99

Puerto Viejo Chardonnay(Chile), 87-93 points, depending on the year. $8.99

Last night I was over in East Nashville getting my hair done by Wynn, the most amazing hair stylist EVER over at Chop Shop, which just happens to be right behind The Woodland Wine Merchant. I love this wine shop! Everyone who works there is amazing. I spoke with Will and Courtney and they helped me pick out this wine:

Grao Vasco (Portugal), Red Blend, 85points, $8.00

When my folks were here over Easter weekend, we all tried this wine and liked it a lot. I bought a case already.

Cline Pinot Gris (California), 80 points, $9.99

The Pinot Gris had a bit of a blush color to it and that surprised me. I am not a big fan of whites unless it's a beefy Chardonnay, but I liked this one. I'm not sure if we'll keep the case, but I need a light white to offer.

Here's the skinny on the deals!
Frugal McDoogal - 10% off cases over $10 a bottle, EXCEPT if you're a bride. Then, it's 10% off per case no matter what the cost. SWEET! You can return unopened and unchilled wine. I spoke with Jeff, their wine manager, and he informed me that THIS WEEKEND they are having their bi-annual sale! They will have a huge selection of wine AT COST! The 10% does not apply to that discount (boo, hiss), but I'm hoping the deals will be good.
The Woodland Wine Merchant - 10% off cases of wine and you can mix and match your cases. You can return any unopened and unchilled wine. I can't wait to try the Grao Vasco as it comes in Magnums, which in the end, will save us money.

My advice at this point is to shop the market hard for deals and steals. They exist, you just need to find them! Don't snub the infamous Two Buck Chuck, available at Trader Joe's (except in Tennessee). It's not the best, but it's not the worst either.

Tomorrow night I'm having a little meet and greet, wine tasting thing with some special guests I'll reveal on Friday!