TMW

Aug102010

August 10 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib after finally settling on wedding dress #3, i’m rethinking my jewelry. at least i wear the necklace i bought all the time so it’s not wasted. http://bit.ly/9CYcIn

The neckline of my dress is fairly low, as I learned when I tried on undergarments last week. My favorite and best fitting bustier stuck over the top of the dress by at least 1″. The piece I have is royal blue with a brass setting and chain. My dress is champagne, and my hair piece is silver with clear rhinestones and crystals.


Necklace source: etsy

Now I am totally rethinking what I want to wear. I have a bunch of Swarovski pearls in Powder Almond and Copper that I was planning on making for my bridesmaids until our bridal party was taken out of the picture. Anything I see on Etsy with pearls I can remake easily. Yes, I’m that good. 😉 I love the look of a simple necklace with a large show piece off to one side. My concern is would that show piece stay off to the side? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Something like this:


Tweet: @msrib totally putting my married name on my new business cards cuz holy smokes, i’ll be Rebecca Fletcher in 64 days! http://twitpic.com/2ccxod

So.. yeah, I decided to put my married name on my new business cards. I sat there staring at the screen trying to figure out what to do and then it hit me… in exactly 2 months (since it’s 8/10) I will be a wife! It also made me contemplate the whole do I change my name internal debate. I have 2 brothers and thus, my last name will remain. I’m just happy to have a much easier to pronounce last name to give to my children. For the last nearly 34 years, I’ve had people mispronounce my last name and it’s getting annoying.

If you’re on any of the above websites, feel free to add me!

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Aug032010

August 3 TMW Post

Tweet: i really need to make my hair appointment at the @LuxorLV salon. for a 2pm ceremony, do y’all think 10 or 11am for a simple updo?

Tweet: anyone out there have good tricks for DIY hair updo’s? yes, i’m being conservative & doing my own for the wedding.

I am completely shocked at how much hair stylists charge in Las Vegas. Seriously, for the hairdo I want to get (a simple updo) I am getting quotes upwards of $90, with $120 being from inside the salon at The Luxor. The majority of the quotes do include travel to our hotel room. I had a simple updo done with much longer hair for a wedding in Pittsburgh and it cost me $50 plus a tip. This afternoon I took advantage of the amazingness that is the WeddingWire vendor search and shot off a short email to about 25 stylists in Vegas.

Good afternoon,
I am getting married on October 10th at the Luxor hotel. Could you please tell me what your charges are for hair (no make-up) and if you are available in the morning around 10 or 11am? Please include any travel charges and other fees.
Many many thanks! Becca

Easy peasy and straightforward, right? My only response so far is a quote for onsite hair and make-up for $200. Didn’t I specifically say no make-up? People that don’t pay attention enough to read my super short email don’t deserve my business. Oh wait, nor does a price that high!

Am I crazy to think upwards of $90 is expensive for a simple updo, no make-up in the convenience of my hotel or hotel room? Until I sent out the mass of emails, I thought $120 was the lowest price. Yeah yeah, you get what you pay for, but well, I suck at doing my own hair.

What would you do?

MOH Hair, from my Facebook page

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Jul272010

July 27 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – my last 10min: marshmallows on @levitymallows, flavors on @retrobakery, & searching reviews for wedding dress lingerie. #ohyeahimabride

Thanks to The Vegas Wedding Planner‘s blog, I have discovered a new Vegas treat. Homemade marshmallows in tons of different flavors made by Levity Marshmallows. Well, not tons, more like 10. They’re in Henderson, NV and have a strictly website business. After emailing the owner back and forth, we might end up getting 2-3 mallows for each guest. So, uh, is a bunch of mini cupcakes and flavored marshmallows too much? I didn’t think so either!

I sent out an evite to our potential Vegas guests to get an idea of how many we will be having. I do plan on sending out info packets and, of course, having welcome bags. I purchased a 10-pack of iron-on transfer sheets and figure I have enough to make 19 bags. I think we’ll be maxed out at 15 guests. Once I have a better number, I’m buying the bags and starting to find the goodies. Should the bags go per person or per couple? The water bottles are per person, but can easily fit 2 in the bags with other stuff.  I’m thinking the aluminum water bottle, deck of cards, candy, chips, gum, aspirin, transportation maps… what else do you suggest?

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Jul202010

July 20 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – i totally want to do this for our guest “book” for Miami: http://bit.ly/bsnMGS #wedding (even if i had one for my bat mitzvah…)

Image from BridalBuds

Seriously, how adorable is this idea?! I showed it to Steve and I think he liked it. Seeing as he’s the one that’ll be drawing the tree or whatever design we decide on, I’d hope so. I can’t decide if I want a small one – like 8″ x 8″ – for the handful of Vegas folks and a larger one – 16″ x 20″ or bigger – for the reception. Either way, we have this great huge half wall over the pass through in our kitchen where they would reside perfectly next to our ketubah. We’re looking at over 100 guests in Miami, so either we’ll make 2 of them, or just have a really small design. Another option is a very large mat framing a relatively smallish photo of us. My friend Abby did that and it was too cute. It was maybe 12×16 with a 5×7 totally off-center picture.

And the bat mitzvah thing? Yeah, I totally had a 2′ x 3′ humongous picture for everyone to sign. Mhmm… it’s crammed in a closet somewhere and was never hung up. Hopefully this one will be different.

Tweet: @msrib – just sent a bunch of inquiries for Miami vendors on @weddingwire… now the waiting for replies begins 🙂

I know that we have a quote from a photog whose work makes my little heart pitter patter, but I decided to do my due diligence (use this word all the time at work) and look around a bit, right? So yes, today I emailed about 15 photog’s in the Miami – Ft Lauderdale area this afternoon. Sure, I sent the same email to them all using @WeddingWire‘s fabu contact form, but whatev, it worked.  So far, I’ve received 1 email even remotely within our budget. Her images are totally amazing also, but, well… something is lacking. I think it’s the extra’s that K includes.

Photog K is $1100 for 3 hours of photos and a DVD filled with all our edited images. It also includes extra print credit of $150 towards any prints that we print through her.

“Images are usually processed within a 4 to 6 week time period depending on the current backlog and busy season. Once your images are ready, you will be presented with a link to your password-protected online viewing gallery.

High Resolution Files are include a personal printing license. These files are full resolution with no watermarks. Low-resolution, watermarked files are also included for personal perusal of your wedding collection or for sharing images online.”

Photog A is $900 for 3 hours of photos and a DVD filled with all our edited images.

“The above prices include my photography services, editing the photos for you, and putting them onto DVDs for you. I take about 100-200 photos each hour. All the photos I take on your wedding day will be edited for color/brightness/contrast/sharpness/etc, so they are ready to be printed. Then I will send you in the mail all the photos on a DVD (3 copies actually) about 4-6 weeks after your wedding.

Since you are receiving a DVD of very high quality digital negatives of all your wedding photos I do not offer any online viewing galleries, print ordering services, or wedding album design.”

I’m fairly sure if it’s just between these 2 overly talented photogs, it’s kinda a no-brainer. Which would you choose?

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Jul132010

July 13 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – is it possible to get a good photog for about $1200? in miami? yeah, i didn’t think so. i hate budgeting.

Tweet: @msrib – is music really needed? don’t need an MC or anything like that. just some background noise. not getting a dance floor. #budgeting

As seen in my last post, I am focusing on our Miami reception right now. I got a quote from one of my favorite photographers and it’s totally in our budget. She is local and I’ve coveted her pictures for a long time. It’s pretty much a given that she (or her hubby) will be doing our reception pictures and that makes me happy to no end! The best part is we’re not doing any traditional wedding stuff, not having a dance floor or emcee and are basically dubbing it as just a big party.

It’s been pretty much decided that we won’t have a band or DJ, just an iPod DJ for some background music. Although, the band at my cousin’s wedding yesterday was simply amazing! I got a bunch of videos of them singing and just… wow… they were awesome. This past weekend was the third wedding I attended while engaged. Sure, I’ve gathered ideas at them all, but this one was not full of ideas for me. Instead, I wandered around and gathered ideas on favorite shows in Vegas. What is your favorite?

Tweet: @msrib – aw crap. my test labels look terrible w/smeared text! apparently the clear labels hate me b/c they’re perfect on plain paper #wedding

I actually wanted to get started with our labels this past week, even though they aren’t getting sent until after our Vegas Vows. They’re all typed up in InDesign and I sent a PDF to myself at work to do a test run. Thank goodness I only printed a single sheet cuz on paper they were PERFECT… on the clear labels, not so much. The text was all super thick and bulky and totally unreadable. I was seriously bummed since I bought 100 labels for 85 envelopes. Meaning a very tight margin and I just lost 10 of them. *sigh* I’m totally bummed about it. Maybe the labels will have to be white since my envelopes are white. Grrrrr! I am annoyed, but whatever, they’ll still be pretty and embossed and… tossed in the trash almost immediately, right?

I printed them at work and think it’s an inkjet. Has anyone has good success with clear labels? What kind of printer did you use?

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Jul062010

July 6 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – how many professional photographers do i have on my feed… debating if i want pro pics for our uber casual wedding reception

I’ve been seriously debating this issue. Our big DAY will have plenty of coverage as included in the package by Scenic Las Vegas Weddings. As will 2 days later thanks to the amazing photo shoot we won with the amazingly talented Emeric Photography

In a series of responses from photographer and non-photographer friends, I was convinced that yes, we DO need a pro photog at the reception. As one friend pointed out, the party, with all our family and friends, will look like drunken party pics especially compared to our pro pics for everything else. So now, I need to figure out a budget for the January shindig and see how much cash we have to spend on pictures. I have a friend that I would love so much to use, but I just don’t know if we can afford her. Luckily she said she has a friends and family discount. She is one of those truly amazing photog’s with crazy high ratings on WeddingWire. I am in love with her work. Le sigh.

Tweet: msrib – as open as i’ve been w/all my dress choices, i think i’m gonna keep the final selection a secret until the pics are posted. maybe #weddingwednesday

I did end up purchasing the gown last Monday. I was in and out of David’s Bridal in about 45 minutes with my newest dress in hand. They had the size and color I wanted to try on. To be fair, I did wander around to check on other floor length gowns and tried on one other. Little Miss Indecisive is no longer so! The dress is in my closet. My mom said she like it a lot better than the last all lace one. I don’t have any pictures of myself in it as I was having major undergarment issues. Plus the straps are a bit big so I need to have then fixed before I’ll post any pictures. I suppose in this case, third time really in a charm!

Tweet: msrib – Hello mini future Mr & Mrs Fletcher! #caketopper http://twitpic.com/21eohx

And I leave you with a bit of creativity… all I need to do is spray on the varnish and we’re done!

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Jun292010

June 29 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – thoughts? screen printed or ironed onto canvas $0.97 bags. http://twitpic.com/1zf4cs

Tweet:  @msrib – what about “Thank you for joining us to celebrate for a few days. This bag will last you a lot longer… Please reuse it! Becca & Steve”

So, favor bags for Vegas… I definitely want to do something nice for the handful of folks joining us. The bags will include a polycarbonate or aluminum water bottle, sunscreen, snacks, playing cards, a map of the Strip and transportation/ restaurants/ shows around Vegas. Hopefully most people will have the show bookings done in advance, but you never know! My dilemma is still getting all this stuff to Vegas.

After all the feedback I received upon posting the above picture to both Twitter and facebook, it was suggested that I just use the tree and our names and date only.  And put the note about reusing it on a little hangtag. I already have hangtags purchased a while ago. My plan initially was to keep the wedding info on all favors to a minimum, but I’m told no one really cares what they say. I’d add this to my grocery bag collection and use them all the dang time. What do you think? Would you reuse this bag?

Tweet:  @msrib – i’m totally torn between dresses. short & sassy (not sold on the chunky top) or long & flowy http://bit.ly/dqTlWe vs http://bit.ly/cX5phN

I know, I know… I already bought a dress… 2 dresses, in fact. I did manage to sell the original one after well over a year of attempting to get rid of the dang thing. The short and sassy all lace dress is easily returnable thanks to Macy’s fabulous return policy.  Monday afternoon I went back to David’s Bridal to check out the long and flowy gown again. I tried it on ages ago and loved it. It was a definite contender for my bridesmaids… ya know, if I was having bridesmaids. I still need to decide which I like best. The DB dress hasn’t been purchased yet, but even still, it is within budget. My Vegas dress budget was $200 (scandalous!) and the DB dress definitely falls in that range. Ehhhh who knows! I have total dress indecision, just like @CelestialAxis has been having.

Part of my problem is that I haven’t really had the ah-ha OMG bridal moment since the first gown. Here’s hoping it comes sooner than later seeing as we’re getting hitched in 103 days!

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Jun222010

June 22 TMW Post

Tweet: Today is my parent’s 39th wedding anniversary.. in 39 years & 3.75 months, we’ll be celebrating ours too! 😉

There’s not a whole lot to say about this one. 39 years. That is a loooooong time! In those 39 years years they’ve owned 3 houses, raised 3 children, and owned hundreds of exotic birds and probably about a hundred dogs. Not to mention the odd creatures like goats, tortoises, koi, iguanas, and whatever else they’ve had. While we’re not going for the animal part, having 3 kids after 39 years is something I’d love to emulate. Even if there’s only 1 perfect kid – me, of course! 😉

Tweet: wedding ring mailed yesterday, remake payment just made… now to wait 8 horribly long weeks to get it back. going from 7.5 to 9 #justincase

My beautiful ring finally got mailed back. And what’s better, it was received 2 days later. Before I could even check the tracking, I got an email from the jeweler saying” it arrived, he’d use my old stone and crate the new one… and as a reminder, the current waiting time was 8 weeks.” Le sigh. 8 weeks until I have my precious back in my hands. The timing is pretty dead on since the wedding is just shy of 4 months away.

Tweet: The result of careful counting & lots of painful hot glue injuries: http://twitpic.com/1x510b

Tweet: All I need now are the pillars. #cupcaketower http://twitpic.com/1x6ag8

Tweet: Mini us! Now to hook to the base & varnish the whole thing #caketopper http://twitpic.com/1xannv

That’s right, I finally got some wedding DIY done… or at least seriously worked on. The cupcake bases are complete and I just need the towers. The cake topper is done and I just need to varnish them. We have normal varnish from the kitchen cabinets, but I’m thinking that it wayyyyy too thick. All the sites I was referring to used spray varnish. Too bad a bottle of spray varnish is about 10x what I need and costs like $8. Can’t they just sell a tiny bottle for me?

Tweet: Embossed envelopes… It’s a start! #wedding http://twitpic.com/1yki33

I am actually please with how these turned out. All the stamps I purchased and carefully planned and showed to people… they won’t work for embossing. I tried. All the text runs together. I guess that means everything else will just get stamped onto the envelopes. I did start that part… the stamping onto the envelopes. Our snazzy and complete fab return address stamp got stamped onto all 100 RSVP envelopes over the weekend. Only a handful were either too light, ink missing, or something else unusable. Not too shabby!

And I leave you with this, from Monday…
Tweet: 111 days until 101010! (cc @brokebride2be!)

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