DIY Wedding Bouqets

So, I'm a little behind on my posts, being a little busy planning a wedding and all. But I had to post these photos of our bouquet tests from a few weeks ago. The dahlias of my dreams were no longer in season, and my poor babies I planted haven't even blossomed yet. But I think I made due just fine with this selection of burgundy carnations, roses, and asters. Lovely!

Putting the bouquets together wasn't as difficult as we expected either. We just had to clean all of the leaves and thorns off, grab a few center flowers at the top of the neck and keep twisting as we added more flowers below. I'm pretty pleased!

Chef Applause

Kudos to Chef Thomas Schultz at the Iron Horse! The chef for our wedding reception just was awarded 3 and 1/2 stars from the Journal Sentinel dining critic Carol Deptolla. We have had the pleasure of having Chef Schultz's cusine at both Branded, and at Smyth the restaurant at the Iron Horse. You can read the review here.

Photo Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Benny Sieu

A $13,700 Wedding

Well, I might have blown my budget a bit, but after taking another look at our expected expenses and some places I was able to save a few bucks... we've successfully gotten the wedding down to $13,700 (without the rehearsal dinner). I'm pretty pleased!

Plans are really rolling now. I've had my first dress fitting, which was awesome. Except for the whole fainting part. Ladies, don't lock your knees for a half hour! We met with our third, and hopefully final, event manager at The Iron Horse. Dianne seems great, and we have faith that she won't leave us high and dry like Cheyne did (she quit without notice, and with no call to us).

I also met with my friend Paul, who is so graciously showing me how to purchase wholesale flowers. There's not much we can do now, being that what is in season now may not necessarily be in season come September, but he gave me some ball park pricing, and we're going to save a fortune doing them ourselves. I've already got some really cute vases from Dollar General (classy, I know) for $40. And did a little test with Peonies for the effect I'm going for. Simple and sweet (and easy). It took me about 3 minutes to put this vase together, let's hope the DIY Bouquets go as well!

Speaking of DIY: I've also made both of my veils! One for the ceremony and one for the reception. Check a sneak peek (no peeking Mark!) here. The first was only $30 and the second for only $7. Thanks Joann's!

DIY Wedding Flowers

After much thought, we've decided to design and put together our own flowers. I have a source for wholesale blooms, and think we're on the right track. So far, my main inspiration has been the pom pon dahlia I posted earlier. Here is a little bit of inspiration from all over the web. Of course the colors will match our red and celery, but these arrangements, bouquets and boutonnieres are just what I'm looking to do.

Four Months

So... Not that we're panicked, but Mark and I just realized that it's almost four months until the big day. We still have a ton to do. But the big things are pretty much set. Whew! Here's the list...

5/12/2009 Do: Make and Order Invites (Check time, phone number, no. needed)
5/12/2009 Research: Train Schedule
5/14/2009 Do: Tasting
5/15/2009 Decision: Choose Tuxes
5/15/2009 Decision: Florist or DIY?
5/15/2009 Decision: PA or DJ, find quote from Selective Sound
5/15/2009 Do: Meet with wedding planner
6/1/2009 Do: Book Rehearsal Dinner: Working on Quote from Ginger
6/12/2009 Do: Mail Invites/Print Envelopes
6/15/2009 Confirm: Flower Girl Dresses
6/15/2009 Do: Register
6/30/2009 Confirm: Photography with Francis
6/30/2009 Confirm: Video by Steve and Evan
7/1/2009 Decision: Decorating Everything (Aisle Runner?)
7/12/2009 Do: Cake Design
7/12/2009 Do: Order Pies
7/15/2009 Buy: Candles for ceremony
7/15/2009 Buy: Flower Girl baskets
7/15/2009 Buy: Wedding Band
7/15/2009 Decision: Songs for first dance, processional/recessional, Wedding Party dance
7/15/2009 Do: Plan Ceremony
7/15/2009 Buy: Champagne Flutes
8/1/2009 Buy: Bridal Party and Parent Gifts
8/1/2009 Confirm: Lighting Choices
8/1/2009 Decision: Tent Set Up (what goes where)
8/1/2009 Do: Make Playlist
8/12/2009 Confirm: Sound Equipment or DJ
8/12/2009 Do: Get Marriage License
8/12/2009 Do: Make Programs
9/5/2009 Confirm: Heaters, side walls, for tent.
9/12/2009 Get Married.

Flower Girls and Goomsmen

Time to start thinking about the rest of the bridal party. Let's start with the cute contingency, the flower girls, my two nieces, Caitlin (7) and Claire (1.5). Right now I'm entertaining the idea of putting them in matching dresses, but different colors. I've found some sleek (god, can you call a little girl's dress sleek?) flower girl dresses. By sleek, I guess I mean sans gaudy flowers, pearls, ribbon roses, and rhinestones. Whew, glad that even exists! They come in white, and red (pictured here with rose, I would get it with a red sash). I just can't decided if I should do matching white dresses, or put the baby in bright red. Part of me thinks it could be just completely adorable, but the other is leaning towards tacky. What do you think? Weigh in! A or B?

For the groomsmen, nothing says prom like red vests and ties, so I'm definitely leaning away from that look for the boys. I love the idea of making our secondary color celadon. It's a nice light blue/green. And if you know me, you know it's my favorite color. I'm kind of obsessed. Some call it Silversage, (you know who you are!). So, until further approval from the groom, this is what I'm thinking for the gents.

Paper Balloon Lanterns

Just found these awesome hand made paper lanterns from Popbaroque. They're made from paper balloons, like the ones we all made as kids. Hers are made with magazine pages, but I am thinking of making some from paper printed with the pattern of the wallpaper at the Iron Horse.

In Cake News

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of hearing from Nicole Chibnik from a brand new cake and pastry company in Chicago, Flour. She was looking for a designer to work with her on their identity and marketing. Funny, I told her, I need a wedding cake. The rest is soon to be history. She and Janet Lee have been absolutely wonderful to work with, and I'm proud to say, we just completed their logo. Simple and classic, it's just what they were going for.

Next week Mark and I are headed to Chicago for our tasting with the Flour gals, and I am so excited. In the short weeks since I met them, Flour has picked up some of the best wedding venues and restaurants in Chicago as clients. Next thing you know this duo will have their own reality show. We're still working on designs for the cake, but Nicole has even pitched the idea of DesignScout and Flour joining teams for some of their designs in the future. How exciting!

And The Quotes Come Marching In.

I have this lovely little online spread sheet with my wedding budget. Three simple columns, Goal, Best Guest, and Actual. Up until now, there have been very few items in Actual, but they're filling in fast. Our first solid quote from The Iron Horse came in. $4,000 higher than our budget. But this was just so that we could trim ourselves. It looks like we might need to forgo the Kobe Beef Tartare and the $400 cheese plate. Ah, and that specialty cocktail I was dreaming of, well, I can keep dreaming. Mark enthusiastically asked be "but when else in my life am I going to get a $400 cheese plate?" and we agreed, for his retirement.

Prices are also coming in for our outdoor rentals. The tent, chairs, lights, sound system and dance floor are adding quite a few line items to the budget that I hadn't accounted for. Well, at least not $2,000 plus. It's all part of the big picture I know, but it really does seem quite ridiculous to drop $500 for a dance floor for one night. I think we can make due with dancing on the new cement, after all, we have a cheese plate to pay for.

Once those two quotes are out of the way, that should be the majority of our budget. I have been working on some ideas for decorating ourselves that should save us some money. I just bought some Dahlia tubers that I'm going to attempt to grow all summer for the wedding. Beautiful little red pom pom dahlias. Also, I think I'll be growing some tall grasses like I mentioned before, for the altar. I had the idea today of supplementing the design there with lots of clear glass trifted vases with candles in them. A sort of wall of hurricane candles in all different shapes and sizes, with grass coming up behind them, and river rocks below. Also, I was thinking about using river rocks as the sides of the aisle – although, i can just see them now, all kicked all over the place. We went to the most beautiful beach in Michigan for my friend's wedding and you could collect them by the hundreds. Maybe a summer camping trip is in order to go collect some. For the tent decor, Mark's aunt let me know that the branches I am in love with are actually curly willow, and she has a dying curly willow tree in her back yard that we can get branches from. Score!

Save the Dates

So, I definitely need to get better pictures, and perhaps a tutorial, but I wanted to get these up. They're so fun. Thank you so much to my friends and bridesmaids who helped me assemble them!

Decorating Outside

Decorating a tent isn't easy. This is my conclusion after my first attempts at gathering inspiration. My design goals are something sleek and modern, without all of the coldness that modern decor can project. The Iron Horse does a wonderful job of this inside, but how does one take a giant vinyl tent, complete with rain barrels for support and giant poles, and class it up a bit? For this, I think I'm going to need a little help.

Let's start with the basics: After the ceremony and every one is ushered inside, we'll be setting up a few tables for mingling. Something like 2-3 larger rounds on each side of the entrance to the dance floor, and 3-4 high top bar tables along each side. So, I'm thinking we need some center pieces. My latest craze is Manzanita branches, they're really beautiful, and really expensive. So Mark and I might be taking a hike in the woods on the hunt for similar branches. Or, my ficus just kicked it, maybe we can harvest that for some mangy branches. Either way, the center pieces here all show flowers affixed to the branches, or some other ornamentation. I love the hanging votives below.

These clear glass center pieces are also pretty awesome, they're all from CB2 and relatively inexpensive. I like the look, elegant and classic, with a nice twist.

As for the the tent itself, I have no idea really, how to decorate. Do I skip all of the hassle and just rent some colored lights to warm it up. There's a great little theatre supply store where I can rent some cans and gels and cast a nice hue on the vinyl. So far, I am leaning away from what the wedding industry is apparently calling "twinkle lights." I call them the Aco Christmas Special. I love this fabric design, but have no idea where I can rent such a thing in Milwaukee, at least not without hiring a super expensive event decorator. Also, these branches could tie in well with the center pieces I like. Time to email Sarah the horticulturist and figure out what the heck they are.

Bride's Pies and Groom's Cake

So as we begin thinking about the style elements of the wedding, it's definitely time to think about dessert! Of course cake is where we should begin, but let's cut to the chase. PIE! One of my lovely clients is Hoosier Mama Pie Company, a (now) Mom and Pop bakery in Chicago. With a cute 1930s, Depression Modern feel, working with their identity has been nothing but a blast, and after a few years, their amazing skills and flavors have taken them quite far. A quick visit to Paula and Craig's shop yesterday yielded what I have to say is the best apple pie I've ever had. Seriously. No nepotism here, completely amazing.



So, with the hook up of the century, we have to go with pie, pie and more pie. I think Paula called it "all the pie we can eat," which is a lot of pie. Nonetheless, I'm a semi-traditionalist at heart, and would love to have a small cake as well. My current fascination is with Lovin Sullivan Cakes. Their modern, clean and beautiful designs are my inspiration for where to begin my own hunt in the Midwest. Kudos!

The Traveling Photo Booth

Since we started dating, Mark and I have always taken advantage of the classic photo booths strewn throughout Chicago. Our house is littered with photo strips from the old Holiday Club, The Long Room, The Rainbo Club, Shubas and the rest of the city. Something about Chicago and photo booths I tell ya, Milwaukee is bone dry. I guess in a way, that makes them even more special. For our wedding, when stumbled upon some website for classic photo booth rental, I couldn't help but want to make that our one big splurge! After hunting the web, and a million sites for classic booths that were just way too shady and expensive, and a few more for new-fangled digital photo booths that spit out paper prints with fiesta borders, I had all but given up... until I found The Traveling Photo Booth out of Madison, Wi.

These guys really seem to have it down. They have well designed and tasteful booths with a cute as hell logo and blue velvet curtains. Their service so far has been excellent. The booth prints two sets of the same strip, one for you and one for your guests, and you can choose color or black and white. Also, and most important to me, they actually resemble classic photo booth prints. They're a little larger, but the same proportion. They even have the same effects with a vignetted edge. Each set of images are printed with a code, so our guests will be able to go online and take a look at their pics, remove anything that got a little rowdy, and order prints of their, or any images.
Photo: Mark and I Circa 2001

They will have an attendant working with our guests to make a guest book throughout the night. Not to mention, we get all of the 12 mb images on CD. I can't wait to share the booth with everyone, I think it might be the highlight of the night.

Flowers

I'm hoping to keep our flower budget to a minimum, the hotel is so well decorated that we don't have much to do, but I am definitely loving this look for the bouquet. I love how rich this bouquet is, and the berries. I am also in love with the idea of succulents. I've found some awesome images of them in bouquets, and in centerpieces. I'd love to grow a few batches this summer and see how we can incorporate them.


From InStyle Weddings, Winter 2007


These center pieces are affordable, and adorable. I can't remember where I found them, I discovered them before I started this blog, but mystery bride, MccKathy, I'm happy to give credit if you email me.


And these gorgeous DIY Succulent Centerpieces are from Kristina at Lovely Morning, you can see her post here. I love the idea of incorporating thrifted vases and pots like this.

Two other ideas I'm considering for cost conscious decorating are tall grasses, and believe it or not (it was a long, long week at the studio) brussel sprouts! I don't know, something about their geometric shape, and the tall stalks, they're pretty hip in my little eye. Also, Sarah, my bridesmaid Kimberly's sister has offered to help us with any grow-it-yourself projects we may want to tackle! I love her suggestion of growing tall grasses at varying heights all summer and using them at our altar. I can see it now, a little city scape of tall brown grass, leaning brussel sprouts and gangly succulents. Ha! Is there a patron saint for green thumb?

Image credit: Jervie, All About Gardening

On to the ideas.

So for the past few months I have been collecting ideas and samples from around the web. Time to share a few, so let's get started.

We've decided to go with varying colors of reds for the bridesmaid's dresses. Also, I really want the girls to love what they are wearing so they will all choose a dress.

This is where we are so far:

September 12, 2009: Our Wedding Day

A venue, at last. We've decided to go with The Iron Horse Hotel. So far they have been nothing short of awesome. Cheyne Chase is our contact there, and she's been the absolutely wonderful to work with. I'm not sure really sure how to start, the past few weeks have been a flurry of getting started with actual plans, quotes, ideas and stressing a bit.

I guess I'll start with how we imagine the night will go.

Our guests arrive at a boutique hotel in Milwaukee, a former bedding factory in the warehouse district. To the left of the hotel is a large patio, surrounded by a rock garden with three giant metal drum fire pits, and over looking the white 6th street bridge modeled after the Calatrava designed Milwaukee Art Museum.

We will have our ceremony on the patio, under a tent, something short and sweet, and somehow incorporating a candle light ceremony. As a kid, my favorite memories were of Christmas Eve candle light ceremonies. While neither of us are very religious, something about the feeling of holding my little candle, lit from being passed from one person to another, watching the entire church fill slowly with light, strikes a chord, and makes one really feel a part of something. I'm really hoping to harness that feeling again as part of our ceremony, we'll see!

After the ceremony, we will head inside for a cocktail hour to my favorite location in The Iron Horse. Our guests will mingle between the lobby and the library, sit amongst the worn leather chairs, warm fire places, and a great view of down town. Servers will pass gourmet hors d'oeuvres, and open bar will begin with our signature cocktail and beer and wine.

After some time, we'll head back out to the patio for a toast and dancing, under the tent. Afterwards, guest can stay and dance, or go and mingle inside and enjoy the photo booth (so excited!).

The rest of the night will be mostly a cocktail hour, some cake cutting, late night pizza from Pizza Shuttle, and dancing. One of the nice things about having our event at the Iron Horse, is that we can celebrate into the wee hours, as the lobby is open 24 hours, and the bar doesn't close until 2 am.

I'm sure there will be more details to come, but so far, so good. So far it's been an interesting ride, and, thankfully, we have over 7 months to go.






Photos: The Iron Horse Hotel