Review: Foil-Wrapped Chocolate Hearts From Candy.com (My Engagement Party Favors: Part I)

Candy.com provided product for this review and is responsible for fulfilling the prize.

I work at home, so I was home when someone knocked at the door. I opened it, and there was a FedEx worker.

Lisa? he said.

Yup, I said.

Here you go, he said, handing me a box with ease. I took it, and almost dropped it.

Oh my gosh, I said. That's heavy.

Sorry, he laughed. I should have warned you.

The heavy box was ten pounds of hearts. Delicious chocolate hearts.

Which I promptly dumped all over the floor to count them. There were 549.

But I had to open one to try it.

So now there are 548.

Mmm.

The chocolate was from Candy.com, one of the sites you absolutely need to know about if you're ever planning on throwing a party. Weddings definitely included.

The site sells everything from chocolate to jelly candies to Tic Tacs. It's one stop shopping for your sweet tooth.

What's most helpful to brides-to-be is the fact that you can search candy by color. We're having a red theme at our engagement party, so I searched by red. There were 11 pages of choices. Red Cherry Rock Candy. Whirly Pops. Gumballs. Swedish Fish. Lindor Truffles.

So. Many. Choices.

If you are doing a theme -- like Vegas or Princess -- or if you're having a party for a specific occasion -- like graduation or St. Patrick's Day -- you can search by theme. There are 28 to choose from, including wedding.

I was, well, I was like a kid in a candy shop.

Many items come in bulk, which was great for me since I was looking for favor ideas. I needed something that I could get multiples of. And since I'm using these both in favors for the dessert bar, I needed something wrapped, something that wouldn't melt, and something that was engagement party perfect.

Red foil-wrapped chocolate hearts. Perfect.

And perfect tasting. The chocolate was really high quality. I'm a chocolate snob and I hate cheap chocolate. It just tastes so grainy to me. This chocolate was so good. It was really rich (much more than I expected) and really satisfying.

See, if you're a chocolaholic like me, you know you can't just eat one piece. It doesn't squash the craving for chocolate. This did. It's one of the few pieces of chocolate that I've ever had where I actually felt like it really hit the spot.

That's great for me because now I won't eat the entire box before it's time to put them into favors. And, speaking of favors, this is part one in my favors series. There will be two other parts. One is another piece of the favor, and one is the actual favor itself, which my mom is sewing. Yes, I'm sorta Bridezilla and found something on Pinterest that I liked and asked if she could make it.

She can.

If you're less of a Bridezilla and would rather just purchase vessels for your favors instead of employing your mom, Candy.com sells packaging as well. There are cellophane bags, tin cans, cardboard boxes, and more.

If you're looking for a candy gift, but you don't want to assemble it yourself, Candy.com has you covered. There's a gift section, which is filled with Godiva and Ghirardelli gift baskets, holiday themed baskets (like Halloween, birthday and more). The prices are great and the baskets look stuffed. When you choose a basket, you will know exactly what you're getting. Some sites will show you a photo and give you a choice of small, medium, or large. You don't know what size is in the photo, so you don't know what you're getting. Not at Candy.com. Here, you see exactly what you're ordering -- and the description of the gift basket has a delineated list of products there as well.

Interested in the site? Check it out and let me know your fave product. If you do it, well, you have a chance of being the lucky winner in our giveaway. Yup, one lucky person will win a $25 gift certificate to Candy.com.

Just click the Rafflecopter below to enter. The giveaway starts now and ends at 11:59pm EST on November 14, 2012.

Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homemade Invites

Our engagement party is a mini-wedding. We're planning on having 110 people, so it's definitely given me a lot practice for wedding planning.
I'm being very particular on details. I mean, our RSVP list is a spreadsheet on Google Drive so everyone who needs can have access to it. Plus, a little excel code in the form of =SUM(B2:B150) adds the rows for me so I have a really good grasp on headcount.

PS, Bridezilla says hi.

The snag that we hit is we ordered 10 engagement party invitations less than we needed. So, ten invites. What do we do?

I considered picked up a pack in the dollar store because, well, they'd be a dollar. And I can spare that. But a dollar here, a dollar there, and our wedding budget goes right out the window. Plus, dollar store invites are so impersonal -- and kinda, dare I say, cheap looking.

When you need something done, do it yourself, they say. So, I listened to the all-knowing they and I quickly put together an invite on MS Word. Well, MS Word Starter. My computer was so cheap, it didn't come with a real version of Word or the option of an upgrade. If I did, these would have come out a lot better since I did design on Word in a past life, but this time, I was really super limited.

No worries. I made a really simple invite, we printed it on cardstock we had laying around, and four on a page with a one-inch border meant they fit perfectly in the small envelopes we had lying around.

Done.


These are way more personalized than dollar store invites, plus, we didn't have to write them out. And since we had everything at home -- a computer program, ink, and paper -- they didn't cost me anything (I guess, okay, the cost of ink would be negligible, but I mean I didn't have to buy anything so no semantics please).

Are they the most professional looking invites? No. But they're also not ones that are ending up in my scrap book, so I'm okay with them.

(Let me interject here, in 2015. I've learned now about PicMonkey. It's a free photo editing software that you can use online. The stuff that I've been able to design there, like our wedding door hangers, puts his invitation to shame. If I could go back in time and redo these, I absolutely would. But with what I was working with and the skills I had, these are adorable. Good thing I learned about PicMonkey before the wedding, though.)

And in a pinch -- like, we forgot Aunt Edna's invite -- I can always just print an extra sheet. We don't have to reorder from a site like Minted. They're designed and done and saved until my computer crashes and wipes out my hard drive -- which would take my guest list down with it ... so it can't crash until at least November 24.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you ever design your own engagement party invitations?

Pin of the week: Do It Yourself Yarn Bottles

I was at the bar last night, watching the Giants game. Well, Pete was watching the Giants game. I was on Pinterest, looking at centerpiece ideas. 

My mom and I were throwing ideas back and forth, and Pete was saying, "It's just the engagement party, not the wedding."

This isn't just the engagement party. This is the practice wedding.

What? Too Bridezilla?

Anyway ...

One of my fave pins from my centerpiece searching was a DIY project to make yarn bottles. Drink the wine, wrap it in yarn, insert flowers, and you're done.

Pin of the week

I actually really like this idea. Yarn is incredibly cheap, especially since AC Moore and Michaels have 40% off coupons in the paper every week. Or you can buy a ton of yarn on Amazon for just a couple bucks. And, if you're already a wine drinker and have friends and family members that are too, just save the bottles.

My problem with centerpieces is that I don't want to get stuck with them after. Say you put two vases on every table. And I have ten tables. If no one takes them, I'm stuck with 20 vases. And what am I gonna do with 20 vases?

So this way, if I had 20 wine bottles and no one took them, well, who cares because they were pretty much upcycled garbage anyway.

Fantastic.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Red or white? What's your wine of choice?

Wedding Gag Gifts

A few days after Pete and I got engaged in September, my friend Mallory, who got married in July, said she had a gift for us.

It's a joke gift, she said.

I got a little worried. See, my cousin's bridal shower was in September and the joke gifts she got, well, they weren't "funny haha" joke gifts as much as "I hope these stay in the box and the bag they're in is not the one her dad is carrying out of the restaurant" joke gifts.

You know the ones. They come in indiscreet boxes without a card attached. They're for your wedding night, but really, they're for the trash (and you hope that isn't a day that a raccoon goes through your garbage and leaves it all over your lawn).

I didn't think Mallory had that perverted sense of humor although, really, some people just surprise you.

The joke gift arrived and it was heavy. Really heavy. 

I opened it and saw ...

We got this as a joke gift and wanted to pass it on to you guys! Start saving those pennies! she wrote in the card.

I laughed and laughed -- and gave out a little sigh of relief that it wasn't inappropriate.

We have it sitting on our table under all of our engagement cards, which are strung on the wall. We're going to keep it there until we get married, then we'll send it along to the next couple that gets engaged.

It's a nice tradition ... and one that doesn't make you blush. I found a similar wedding fund jar on Amazon. It doesn't have the couple on the cork, but you can find the figurines yourself and add them.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What's the best wedding gag gift you've seen, gotten, or thought about getting?

Update: This jar made another cameo on A Bride On A Budget here.

Dress Shopping Fail

Our engagement party is going to be our practice wedding. We're having over 100 guests, and I'm responsible for centerpieces, favors, all that.

I have a red theme because, well, this love is red hot (I'm kidding on the reason, of course, but we are having a red engagement party). So I want a red dress and I know the exact red dress that I'm looking for. I want it red in the middle and black on the sides so your eyes are drawn to the bold color and I will look extra super skinny in these photos that I will eventually show my kids and grandkids.

I went to JC Penney because I had a $10 off coupon and I'm cheap. I didn't expect to find my perfect dress for $10, but I expected to find my perfect dress for $10 off.

And I actually sorta found the exact dress I wanted. Except it was XL and I need XS.

I carried around the XL for a little while, thinking about trying it on. I figured maybe -- MAYBE -- it would magically fit because, seriously, look at those dresses behind the one I wanted. Those were my options. There one that's got lace for no reason, another with every color of the rainbow, one that's falling apart and strings are all over the floor. That's what I was working with.

The closest I found was the one below. It's more of a wine than red, but beggars can't be choosers (well, they shouldn't be but they really could be). Trouble was, the smallest size was size 4 and it made me look frumpy and shapeless, which is completely opposite of what I actually want. 

Next.

I gave up on red and tried purple, since that's going to be my wedding color. I figured maybe I could pick up something for my rehearsal dinner ... which will be happening in 20 months. But it's good to be prepared, right?

Well, this dress would be perfect if I decided to get implants right under my boobs. Look how much room there is. And if you look close, you can tell that the bottom is actually see through. Not very appropriate for any wedding-related party.

I tried on a blue dress because I completely gave up on any themes, and that's the one Pete saw. He said it looked like I was buying my Halloween costume.

So no dress for me yet. I have about a month to find one.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Any store suggestions? Clearly, I need help.

Best. Proposal. Ever.

Everyone wants to say they have the best proposal story ever. It's so sweet, so romantic ... so doesn't win unless you are Isaac's fiance.

I don't know Isaac. There's a good chance you don't know Isaac. But there's an even better chance that you will be crying by the end of this video.

 

BRIDAL BABBLE: I gotta ask: Did you cry?

Take Your Assigned Seats

I'm in the thick of planning my engagement party. There's less than a month to go. I have the restaurant, and we're pretty set on the food. The invitations have been sent, and most have arrived. I'm pretty set on favors and I have been throwing around ideas for the centerpieces.

So now it's time for the details. Like seating charts.

My cousin asked me if I was assigning seats, so I posed the question on A Bride on a Budget's Facebook page. Part of me thought hell yeah, Bridezilla will be assigning seats. That way I can put all the singles at one table and make them fall in love (completely eliminating their need for a plus one and my need for a potential no ring no bring policy).

Then, I'd sit all the cool kids at one table (aka our potential bridal party). And of course, I would set it up so Pete and I got to sit next to each other.

But then I thought this is all too rigid for an engagement party. Yes, there are going to be 110 guests, but I should trust that this group of our 100ish closest family and friends could set themselves.

I asked over on Facebook because that's what I do when I'm making non-life threatening life decisions.

Ashley had an excellent idea. She said to make suggested seating cards. The seats weren't assigned, but the tables were basically themed.

She said:

Every wedding I've been to, had assigned tables for the engagement parties. They weren't assigned each individual seat but this table held the brothers of both, the next held the sisters of both, etc. something to that effect.

Just so that people will mingle!

Love it.

The only reason we wouldn't be able to do that is because only I have brothers and only Pete has sisters, so I had to be a little creative.

I came up with:

This is great. The table could sit family, high school friends, college friends, old jilted lovers who ... who am I kidding. No exes at the wedding.

I also figured:

This table would definitely fit up quickly ... and help narrow down who thinks they will be in the bridal party.

I think this is a really cute idea and these cards are really easy to design using PicMonkey (which is a completely free design and photo editing program. I've used it to design everything from our wedding door hangers to the collages in our Favor Friday posts). Design them, then just print them on card stock, and set one at each table.

I'm worried, though, about people not feeling like they could fit at any table. I mean, sure, there could be a catch all like, "Sit here if ... you are a friend of the bride" or "Sit here if ... you came late and are looking for a seat." 

I don't want people having trouble finding a seat. This is a party, not middle school gym class. I don't want anyone to have trouble and feel like they don't fit, that they're picked last for the team.

So assigned seating might work. Or it might not.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you think there should be assigned seating at our 110-person engagement party? Should there be suggested seating? Or should there just be a free for all?

Need more table card ideas?
Check out our Summer Wedding Escort Card Ideas post.

Just Got Carded

CVS provided codes for 60 cards for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, opinions, experiences, and photos are my own.

There are a few things I need to confess. First, I'm obsessed with greeting cards. I send cards for birthdays, for holidays, for Wednesdays. Second, I'm obsessed with photo gifts. I always want to print a picture on something and give it to someone for every holiday.

It's a weakness.

When it was time to put together our invitations for our engagement party, there was no discussion. I was making photo invites. That was it. And, since Pete keeps telling me that the wedding is my day and anything I want goes, he was on board with photo invitations. Thankfully for us, CVS gave us codes so we could pick out 60 invites. The only caveat was that we were able to get three groups of 20. We were given a code for 20 4x6 stationary cards, 20 5x7 photo cards, and 20 5x7 folded cards.

Oh the possibilities that opened.

If you head over to CVS Photo, you'll see how many card options there are. You can get baby announcements, holiday cards, birthday invitations, and more. We stayed in the engagement and wedding category because that made the most sense. I mean, these were for our engagement party.

Edit for 2016: I was just reading this post again and it looks like CVS' photo site has changed. I can't find a wedding section. Also, the way to create cards has changed, so the tutorial that followed had to be removed.

 

When you get into the site, you'll see a bunch of designs to choose from.

Click on the design that you fall in love with (for me, it was the "together" card).  The card selection is the hard part. Everything else is easy. 

When you get your photo uploaded, you will get to the fun part.

On the left side, you will see your uploaded photo. On the right side, you will see the layout of the card. It will say, "Drag photo here" at the place to add your photo. If you choose a low-resolution photo, you will see that yellow triangle. It won't print when you get your cards made, but it is an indication that your photo will print grainy so you should either upgrade the quality in Photoshop or select a new photo.

I was able to add text to mine, so you will see a box with editable text. You're able to add text, spacing, change the font, color, size. Add them to you're cart, and you're done.

I absolutely loved the final product. I saved one of my fave cards for us and sent the rest out. Everyone was really impressed with the quality and presentation of the cards.

I made 60, and we're about 10 cards short, unfortunately. But no worries because I actually made homemade invitations for the last ones.

Speaking of cards, here are the rest of the cards we used during our wedding planning:

• Our Save the Date magnets
• Our wedding invitations
• Our Thank You cards

BRIDAL BABBLE: When you get a bridal invitation in the mail, do you save it forever or do you mark the date on the calendar and throw it away?

Funny Cake Toppers (Our top five!)

I don't know when it happened, but the new trend is to put the first initial of your last name on top of your cake. It's so simple. This is your wedding day. The day you've spent planning since you were a little girl ... and you put a letter on top of your cake?

There are so many more options out there.

It's a wedding. A celebration. A seriously happy time. And every aspect of the wedding should reflect that ... especially your cake topper.

Or maybe that's just me. But, since this is my blog, I sat down with my hilarious friend Kimie and we spent hours looking at funny cake toppers to find our top five.

Number 5

Purchase here.

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

Purchase here.

Number 1

BRIDAL BABBLE: What do you think? Serious cake topper? Or funny one? Let us know in the comments and post a link to your fave cake topper.

Wondering what cake topper we went with?
I actually made ours.  Check it out in our DIY Adirondack Chair Cake Topper post.

Are You A Registered ... Couple?

My cousin just texted to say her dad wanted to know if I was registered anywhere so he could get me a gift.

Yes, my cousin's dad. Not my uncle. See, she's not really my cousin, but we grew up together and we're really close. So I introduce her as my cousin. I don't introduce him as my uncle, though both my brothers refer to him that way.

Anyway, the point of this was not to reveal a family dynamic, it was just an introduction to talking about registries.

Right now, Pete and I aren't registered. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond twice in the past week, so we could have created our wedding registry then. But we went both times on empty stomachs, which means empty patience, so it wasn't gonna happen. Plus, our wedding is in twenty months. What happens if I fall in love with a table setting, add it to my registry, completely forget about it, and come my bridal shower, I open these plates that do not fit my taste and decor?

I can't fake happiness, so I would end up with this sly smirk on my face ... and the wonder what else was in the gifts.

So no, we are not registered yet. I will, however, register at Bed, Bath & Beyond because I love their coupon policy. The coupons never expire. Ever. And you can use them on gifts that you order off the registry, as long as you are ordering in store.

What I really wanted to do was start saving all my Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons. Then, when my bridal shower comes around, I want to give a stack to my cousin and ask her to stuff the envelopes with them.

I don't want my guests to overpay. I want them to save 20%. And I thought the nice way to do that was to mail them coupons.

My mom said no. She said that's tacky.

I told her that's very "me."

She still said no.

Sigh.

So okay, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to save my 20% off coupons and my $5 off $15 coupons and use them for myself. And come bridal shower time, if anyone needs one, just call me.

On an aside, if you do register at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and come wedding day there are still items left on your registry, you will get an additional 10% off them, so that's reason enough to create a wedding registry there.

BRIDAL BABBLE: When did you/do you plan to register? And where?

No Ring No Bring?

Have you heard of the "no ring no bring" wedding concept?

It's basically saying, "If you are not engaged or married, you don't get a plus one on your invite."

As a way to combat turning your wedding into a hook up for your single friends -- and making it so large you can't afford to pay the bill at the end of the night (which is more or less the real reason for this) -- you can invoke the no ring no bring rule.

The rule basically stats: If you like her enough to want to bring her to the most special day of my life, well, you shoulda put a ring on it.

I feel like the entire concept has to have some sort of asterisks to it. Like, if you're in the bridal party you should automatically get a plus one because you've spent so many dollars and hours on the wedding, the least the couple can do is allow you a second plate of food. And since you can't eat two plates, you can bring a guest.

And if you have a common law marriage but no interest in a paper marriage, you should be able to bring your other half. And if you're in a serious relationship, you should be able to bring that person too. The way things have gone lately, most couples live together before getting engaged. So a no ring, no bring policy would mean leaving the live in significant other at home.

But where does it stop? Where does it become tacky and offensive to your guests? Or is it always offensive?

Although, if you are offended and boycott the wedding -- as I have seen happen -- that does free up room for someone else, and helps keep the count low, which is a way to combat costs, which is what the couple was going for.

Personally, we didn't do this. If you were absolutely single with no prospects on the horizon, you were invited alone. But if our guests were dating someone, our guests got a guest. It wasn't up to me to place value on someone's relationship. If you had someone you were dating to bring, you could bring them. And if you were traveling to our wedding and didn't know anyone else who was coming (forcing you to travel and spend the weekend away alone), we gave you a guest too.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What do you think?

Pinterest Obsession

I like to think I'm crafty. I also like to think I could win American Idol if only I wasn't too lazy to wait for my turn to sing.

But, realistically, there's a better chance I'm going to be making crafts than making a record.

I mean, waiting on line with hundreds and thousands of other people? No thanks. American Idol can call me.

The whole crafty thing, that I can't shake. It's much cheaper to make centerpieces than to buy them, so the budget savvy gal in me wants to make them. But I have the attention span of a goldfish sometimes, and I really don't want to make eleven centerpieces for my 110 person engagement party.

Oh, but Pinterest is just so full of ideas, so stuffed with things I can make ... if only I didn't get distracted so easily.

This is why you have a mother and an unofficial maid of honor. Or, rather, why I have a mother and an unofficial maid of honor. I find things on Pinterest, pin them, and then text them in hopes that one of them writes back and says, "Oh yes, I will definitely pipe a man proposing and the girl saying yes on 120 cookies for your engagement party favors because that photo you pinned on Pinterest was adorable."

Right. That doesn't happen.

I started a Pinterest account last night and figured I would do a pin a week on this blog. Or, every week-ish. I still a little wishy-washy about the whole scheduling of this blog.

If you want to pipe 120 cookies like that for me ... or you're Randy Jackson and want to offer me an automatic spot onto this season's live shows, let me know.

And, speaking of Pinterest, don't forget to follow me at http://pinterest.com/abrideonabudget. Seriously. I'm begging you. I have a whopping three followers -- and one of them is myself from my other blog's account. The other two probably wandered there by accident.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you follow A Bride On A Budget on Pinterest?

Starting New

The day Pete asked me to marry him, I kinda had a hunch. He is convinced I didn't, but I'm a woman. Hunches? That's what we do.

The truth is: I didn't prepare.

My friend was so excited for me when I told her it was going to happen, she of course asked, "What are you wearing?" because, as women know, the outfit you are engaged to it needs to be planned.

I looked down at my fingers and replied, "Blue nail polish like an idiot."

Okay, I didn't say idiot.

But, knowing that a proposal might happen, knowing it was the day after our two year anniversary, you'd think I would at least give myself a French manicure or at least a pale pink. But no, I was stuck with the chipped polish from over the weekend that Pete and I had dubbed "car blue."

I didn't prepare for the proposal. But I am preparing for the wedding. Again, I'm a woman. Wedding dreams, that's what we do.

I'm pretty sure turning into bridezilla is imminent. I've already apologized to Pete for the crazy woman I will become. And I already explained to him that even if I become crazy, he can't take the ring back. This is a done deal.

What's not done is our budget. If you know me from my frugal lifestyle blog Drugstore Divas, you know I don't pinch pennies -- I squeeze them and use some form of alchemy to turn them into dollars. And that's what I'm planning to do as I plan for my wedding.

So stick with me, from my transition from a frugal fiance to a bride on a budget. It'll be fun ... and hopefully it'll be a way to tame the bridezilla forming inside me. I'm a woman. Apparently, it's what we do.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Are you ready to start your wedding journey?