Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm excited, no matter what happens!!

Your menu sounds divine!

Okay, so please help. Booze is done (working on the wine), Caterer is planned, venue chosen, staffing soon to be confirmed, dress obtained, invitations procured but not yet sent out (oops, but we did do save-the-dates), Jay is working on his clothes, I am working on finding accommodations for the 30 people coming from out of town (for a total guest list of 34). What else do I need? Everyone says flowers and a photographer. I don't like cut flowers, but I figure cute little succulent plants could stand in for that, and maybe something with lavender. I don't really like photos but I think my mum will kill me if we don't have some photos. We do need to find a commissioner, but I don't care that much about that part. We have our rings. OMG they are gorgeous. And probably the most expensive thing other than my degrees that I will ever own. Oops.

What are my next steps? Everyone keeps asking me how the planning is going as if I should be doing something?

ETA and my dress is a bit big as I have lost some weight, but it's flow-y so I don't really care. Should I get it taken in? I like to think that I'll gain the (mainly bust) weight back by the end of March, but my body has been weird lately.

You can get creative with flowers or other decor, doesn't need to be flowers in the usually sense. You pretty much need someone taking somewhat decent pics. My BIL took pics at mine but it was very casual, we didn't have a wedding party or anything, so you might have a guest who has a decent camera and a decent eye who wouldn't mind setting some time aside to do a few pics for you, but that really depends on your guests and the style of your wedding.

Music? Favors, if any? Gifts for any wedding party you might have?

Photographer is fairly important unless your friends will definitely take lots of photos. I had ZERO cut flowers at my wedding and instead got pretty potted plants that went on the porch the next day. My bouquet was origami and my bridesmaids held lacy fans.

I had potted plants/flowers for table decorations. I did have cut flowers for my bouquet, but there are so many other crearive things you can do (and of course, you don't have to carry anything if you don't want.)

I think a photographer is important. I mean, maybe you'll get photos taken and won't care about them later in which case you're only out money. If you don't do photos and you regret that later, there's no do-over. I hate having my picture taken with the fire of a thousand suns and having multiple cameras on me all day was tiring, but it was totally worth it (and hell, I say that as someone who has been divorced for twice as long as she was married!) The pics are a little slice of my life captured, including grandparents that are no longer with me.

I'm going to agree that a photographer of some sort is important. Even if you don't want to drop major dough on a professional, is there maybe a friend or family member who does this kind of thing as a hobby? That way you'll still be able to capture the memories. I also hate seeing myself in photographs, but I have a feeling that at some point, I'd get nostalgic and want to look back on that day, even if it wasn't necessarily for the photos of myself... it'd be great to see family, friends, my partner, etc. having a good time.

I really like the bouquets that are made of brooches/buttons. They can get pricey, but at least it's something that you can save that will always be pretty! I also like the idea someone had of an origami bouquet.

As far as the dress goes, from what I understand, people normally go in for several fittings, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to have someone take a look at it just to give you a better idea of whether or not the necessary alterations would be quick to make if things aren't back to fitting the way you want. Even if a dress is supposed to be flowy, it's still nice if it drapes properly, you know?

Get a good photographer! Their photos are such amazing keepsakes. We had a friend do ours (tiny wedding) and they were so bad. Out of focus, blurry and just bad. I don't mind much in the grand scheme, but it is nice to show your friends, family, kids the photos and we can't do that. Now I get prof photos all the time for Leela :)

My friend, a good friend, is an amazing artistic portrait photographer, emphasis on artistic. She said she'd do free wedding photos for her friend. They were beautiful but they were very dark, almost like "a softer world." It was sort of hilarious to see how the photos turned out and I think her friend was happy anyway but yeah... hire a photographer.

Okay, you guys have me convinced that I can't hire my cat as our photographer.

hey girl!
We hired a friend who is also a professional photographer for our wedding. She gave us a reduced price (and also reduced service - fewer hours, etc... ). We just really wanted a photographer for a couple of hours during the ceremony & afterwards for a some family shots. Even then, it was pretty expensive. That and the food (and the rings) were our main expenses. Everything else was really cheap/free. I have to say though, I really LOVE the pictures she took and it's pretty cool to have some really great nice shots from our wedding. And you know me, I'm not too fussy about these things. But still, it's a wedding and - like it or not - it's a pretty special deal.

Also, I don't remember your dates, or how much you'd have to pay, but my cousin Eliza (who owns the B&B) took some REALLY good shots at our wedding and often does the pics at the B&B. If she's in Victoria at the time, maybe she could do it????

Oooh! I'd be into that! I feel like I'm both ahead of the game and behind because I have the venue/food/drinks paid for already, but still haven't sent our invitations (gah!) though we did send out save-the-dates and the date is firm. It's March 30th, so if Eliza is available that would be cool, and oh my gosh, I should book her B&B for our wedding night!

Get a photographer with a journalistic style -- they can capture your day in an artistic way without you having to "pose" all day. And do both the wedding and the reception. :)

I need to remember this one. I really don't like posed pictures much... I know sometimes it's nice so that you can get a good family photo, but mostly I like good candid shots of people having a good time.

You need to do something for music for sure! It doesn't have to be expensive, but it needs to be there. The very cheapest method is probably to assign a friend to be in charge of making sure the correct music from someone's iPod gets played at the right moments. But of course this does require a speaker system of some sort. You need ceremony music, and then background music during cocktail if you are doing that and dinner, and then if you wan to have dancing you need music for that for sure.

I am so glad we spent the money on our photographer. She was so great and we have some amazing pics. I was so nervous the whole day that I barely remember the wedding, but the pics remind me. I made my own album, so I didn't have to spend even more money on that.

For music I put my sister in charge of a play list and the venue gave us a boombox which we hooked up an ipod to and I put a friend in charge of putting on the music.

Oh yeah, music! The venue is my workplace, so I know about what we offer in terms of that. We have a stereo system and we're just going to make an iPod playlist. Jay is much more into the music aspect than I am (I am weird and I only like listening to music when I'm alone or driving), so that's one thing he can be in charge of. His musician friend whose music I dislike is thankfully not coming, or else we'd be subjected to beat-boxing and his hyper-narcissism.

Okay, you guys have convinced me on the photographer, thanks!

For music, if you don't want to hire a DJ, you can also rent a sound system and hook a laptop up to it and just have someone use iTunes to do it.

The bride at a wedding I went to last summer works at a secondhand store, and for months before the wedding she bought every single fake flower that came into the store, a bunch of vases, and did all the wedding flowers out of that. It turned out awesome, especially since they didn't have "colours" they were trying to stick with. Big, bright, mismatched blooms everywhere and it totally worked.

So I got a photographer! Is it horrible that I'm a little bit nervous about him because he answers every email I send him within like, a second? I met him at an event I was working and really liked him...but I don't understand why he needs to have coffee with me next week when my wedding is two months away. I mean, just take pictures?

I also got my truffles worked out. And the invitations sent! So hopefully people will come. I just can't wait for a few days off work, honestly.

I'm signing off for awhile, PPK! Today is my 6 year anniversary, and we're getting technically legally married. Then tomorrow we're having our big wedding and reception and then leaving for Hawaii right after. yay!!!

maybe he's one of those people who's always on his mobile? I booked a photographer the other day (she's an old friend who I found out has started a photography business) and she messages almost immediately from her phone! It wigs me out because I need time to think things over.

Maybe he wants to talk photo styles and stuff? I never knew there was so much to weddings but my photographer goes on about "so what style photos do you want, what type, how this how that"...it's all complicated!

Meeting for coffee is a great sign! Our photographer is awesome, and does that with her clients - she just wants to establish clear expectations and get a sense of what is important to you. I know many brides feel like they have no time in the last two months before the wedding so maybe he's just trying to get some time in before you get before you get consumed in the whirlwind before the big day.

Congrats Nebraskalaska! Have fun!

huzzah!!!
I am so happy for you two!!
xo