I'm Dumping My Sweet Tooth

I have a sweet tooth, one of the worst I've ever known. The only person who has a sweet tooth that might be worse than mine is my maid of honor. She just came to visit this week and I was shocked that I was the voice of reason, saying no to chocolate here and there.

The reason is because I have been telling myself that once June 1 hits, I'm going into wedding diet mode and I am breaking up with my sweet tooth and going to the gym.

Everyone laughs at me. I laugh at myself. But goodness knows I'm gonna try.

So for my cousin's last night here, we went out for fondue. And. Ate. Everything.

"It's our last meal," I said, reminding her that on June 1, she too has to go into wedding mode.

So I've been good. At least, I've tried to be good since. I don't actually have to be good tomorrow (since it's the last day of May), but I just had my last meal.

At least, the last meal I think I'm having before I go into wedding mode. Which will probably not be my last meal, to be honest.

But just in case it is ...

I just had a strawberry shortcake. It's fruit and light whipped topping, so it's not really that bad for me.

What is bad for me is how nonchalant I am about getting into shape before the wedding. I don't want to look back at my wedding photos and think, "Really? You had to eat chocolate every day and not take thirty minutes to go to the gym?" I don't want to show my wedding photos to my grandkids and say, "Grandma was too lazy to tone her arms and shockingly, lifting ice cream to your mouth doesn't do that."

I have all of today to figure out how to get myself unlazy and motivated.

One of my bridesmaids said to write the words "Wedding dress" and tape them in my fridge and cabinets. But it won't work. I'll just move the notes to get to the chocolate. Really, I have no shame. And very little self control.

I figured maybe if I blog it, maybe if I tell the entire Internet that I'm going to start getting into wedding diet mode, then maybe I actually will.

Ask me tomorrow how it's going.

BRIDAL BABBLE: How can I motivate myself to get into wedding diet mode, give up excess chocolate, and start working out? The flabby arms aren't motivation so I need some tips!

Giveaway: 300-Thread Count Sheet Set From Brylane Home (Ends 6/5)

In case you haven't been around the last few days, I've been telling you about bedding at Brylane Home.


We were able to review the 300-thread count sheet set (which I think definitely needs to make an appearance on your wedding registry).


Our sister blog, Drugstore Divas, was able to review a comforter set.

Speaking of, we are joining together to give away a 300-thread count sheet set to one winner. You are able to select the bed size and the color. These sheets are amazingly soft, so I'm super excited that someone else gets the chance to try them out. 

Entering is easy. Just use the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway starts now and ends at 11:59pm EST on June 5. The winner must be 18 or older and a US resident. The winner will be contacted via the email address left in the Rafflecopter form and will have 24 hours to respond before another winner may be selected. Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Bride on A Budget received no compensation for this giveaway and is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

BRIDAL BABBLE: If you won, what color sheet set would you choose?

Presents From My Maid Of Honor

My maid of honor came to visit for Memorial Day Weekend, which has been awesome. We went to see a venue together, fake saw a second venue, and have been talking about wedding stuff nonstop.

It's been amazing.

Also amazing is that she brought us two presents from New York.

One was a bag filled with New York bagels (because bagels from home are incredible and bagels from everywhere else are not worth wasting your calories on).

The second was ten pairs of Old Navy flip flops for our flip flop basket.

She got an Old Navy gift card as a gift and was so super generous and used it to buy us flip flops. Eight of the ten pairs are a women's 9 because it's basically impossible for me to find them in my local store since they seem to be so popular. And since they are so popular, we need to stock up on them.

I told Pete that if we don't have at least 30 pairs of flip flops for our basket, we're going to look pretty silly and it just won't work.

These ten pairs will definitely help.

With my maid of honor down here, I'm still no closer to my goal of picking a venue (which means more sleepless nights) but at least I'm closer to my flip flop goal.

One thing at a time, right?

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which gift would you prefer: bagels or flip flops?

Want to see our finished flip flop basket?
Check out our final flip flop basket post.

Would You Buy Your Wedding Dress At Target?

I'm okay with Target. I don't go there hardly ever because it's a hike from my apartment, but I would go a bunch when I was in New York because there was one in the mall and one was walking distance from my house (not that I would walk to Target because it would involve walking back with something to heavy or bulky to realistically carry back).

I really like Target enough to actually call it Target and not try to jazz it up by calling it Tarjay. Maybe for a store like Marshalls, you want to make it sound French and high end. But Target is fine with me.

Well, fine for things like bedsheets or garbage pails or groceries. But my wedding dress?

No.

Just no.

But yet, Target decided to sell wedding dresses.

According to this article on Yahoo, those dresses above are part of the collection, which starts under $100.

You can check out the full press release if you're so inclined.

I understand you want to save money, but that's why there are things like trunk sales. I just don't know that I could walk into my wedding and have the following conversation.

Someone: Where did you get your dress?
Me: Target.
Someone: Wait. Did you say Target?
Me: Um, Tarjay?

I mean, imagine being in the entertainment aisle. You decide you want to buy Guilt Trip because you really like Barbra Streisand, and to your left is Father of the Bride. And it reminds you that you haven't gotten your wedding dress yet, so you might as well put down your cart filled with items from the Dollar Spot and try some gowns on.

No.

Just no.

You can take a peek at the Target bridal collection (which boasts wedding dresses, bridesmaids gowns, flower girl dresses, and more), if you're curious. The bridesmaids dresses all cost $69.99, and I'm sure my girls would love to pay that. By comparison, I paid $200 for the dress for my cousin's wedding in March.

So the price is right, but the location just seems so wrong.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Be honest. Would you buy your wedding dress from Target?

The Pinterest Syndrome (and how to avoid feeling inadequate about your DIY skills)

Pinterest is the most amazing website if you're engaged.

It's also the worst thing to ever happen to a bride.

Here's the thing. When you get engaged, you have absolutely no idea what it takes to plan a wedding. You say yes to the ring, call all your friends, and then you start planning. You don't think about chair covers and centerpieces and wedding welcome bags originally, but there gets to be a point when you have no idea what to do so you consult Pinterest.

And Pinterest is there to comfort you with a plethora of ideas.

And then next thing you know, you're sitting in your living room on a Friday night, cutting out letters from cardboard boxes and wondering if maybe you could make your own table numbers.

Buy table numbers.

Don't sit at home and think you have to make everything. And don't try. If you don't make everything, don't worry and don't feel inadequate.

Not every bride is making everything. I honestly don't know a single bride who made everything for her wedding. I mean, how many brides do you know who cooked the food, make her own cake, and DJ'd the entire affair?

There are companies out there (I've come across a few) who you hire to design your table settings, to create your color scheme, to craft your centerpieces. These companies do have Pinterest pages, as do the brides who hire them, as do the guests who attend the wedding. There's a good chance that someone will take a photo, post it online, and it will get pinned. It'll circle around the Internet and get back to you. And you will pin it and think, "Wow. Someone made that. I should make it for my wedding."

Yes, someone made it. But maybe it was made in a factory in China. Or maybe it was made by a professional.

It doesn't have to be made by you. And that's okay.

You don't have to make everything. You don't have to plan every detail. You don't even have to have a reception. The only thing that is required of you is that you promise to love your fiance for the rest of your life.

That's what's most important: that you and your fiance will be melded together (by God, the minister, the justice of the peace, whoever) and you both are promising to love and honor each other from that day forward. You are throwing a party in order to celebrate and thank your friends and family for coming to the ceremony where you took a vow to love one other person for all of eternity.

If you made or bought your centerpieces, that's not what's most important.

Remember that.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What's the one thing that you absolutely refuse to DIY, no matter what? (Mine is my vows. I do not want to and will not write them.)

It's Perfect, But ...

Don't read this post.

Seriously.

Don't.

Reading it will just be wasted time that you can't get back. Like the wasted time I spent playing Candy Crush at 4:30 in the morning because there was no way I was sleeping.

So I'm writing this post to purge myself of all these stress and pre-panic attack emotions that I'm carrying around right now ... and you reading it will only give you stress and pre-panic attack emotions.

So seriously. Stop reading. Unless you want to keep reading. You have free will. But I warned you ...

We went to see a venue yesterday. We went to see two venues on Saturday. It's like Groundhogs day. All venues, all the time.

They're all perfect, but ...

There's always a but. Which is a sentence that would probably make me laugh if I wasn't so stressed out right now.

There was the venue we liked, but the view of the beach was obstructed. There was the venue we liked, but it was $178 a head and that didn't include a New York cocktail hour. There was the venue we liked, but it was $150 a head for two passed hors d'oeurves.

There were two venues that were basically just rental spaces and you had to do everything yourself (including recessed lighting, and I have no idea what that even means, so I would definitely overlook that and we'd end up eating dinner in the dark).

The were the countless venues that were just ballrooms, and we don't want that.

There was the venue that had a flood in the parking lot that "happens when it rains." It rains here. All. The. Time.

There was the venue that's not booking next year.

There was the venue that didn't call me back (we're going on six weeks now).

There's the venue that did call me back but is way too small for us.

It's not like I haven't done my research. It's not like I'm not trying. It's not like we're not spending our weekends seeing a trio of venues. We're just not finding what we want.

And what we're looking for, it's not that specific. We want a venue on the beach that actually has a view of the beach, that will serve a cocktail hour and a plated dinner, that isn't just a ballroom and doesn't have (as Pete puts it) "that same corny carpet." We don't want a room where we have to do everything. I want to rent an all-inclusive venue. I don't want to have to figure out where to rent chairs and tents and recessed lighting from.

I have all photos of the venues we've seen, and I really wanted to go through them and post about the different venues and the hunting process. But I didn't want to have to end each post with a "but."

On the plus side, staying up until 5am meant I finally beat level 208 on Candy Crush, which I've been stuck on for months.

I've always been a silver linings kind of gal.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What is recessed lighting?

Unplugged Weddings: Do Or Don't?

When my cousin got married in March, all of us girls were waiting upstairs in her parents' bedroom while she took her photos. She took some alone, some with my aunt, some with my uncle, and some with each of her girls.

They were all taken in the same corner of the room, and I wanted to capture the experience as well.

Although that didn't exactly go as planned.

My photos were supposed to be of my cousin, but the focal point is the photographers. In theory, I could have pushed the photographers out of the way so I could capture the photo on my iPhone. But the truth is, no matter how good the camera on the iPhone (and it is pretty spectacular), I am not going to get a shot that is better than the one the professional photographer, with his equipment and expertise, is taking.

And while I would have loved to have this photo for my personal album ... so would my cousin. And that's why brides spend thousands of dollars for a photographer. The bride can't take her own photos, so she hires this person to do so.

What happens if this guy couldn't get the shot because me and the other girls in the wedding party ran in front of him to take it with our cell phones?

At the ceremony, I sat in the front row as my purse sat in the limo. No cell phone photos for me. Instead, I actually watched the ceremony and enjoyed every second of it through my own eyes, not through a camera screen. I don't have ceremony photos in my personal collection, but I'm okay with that because I have the entire ceremony remembered (and if I really wanted photos for myself, I could order them through the photographer's website).

I bring this all up because yesterday, my brother's girlfriend sent me an article written by a photographer about Unplugged Weddings.

The concept, she says, is simple. Ask your guests to refrain from taking photos.

Now, while that does sound harsh, guests taking photos can actually ruin the wedding photographer's shots.

Case and point, this photo from the post on Corey Ann Photography:

Is that the shot you want in your wedding album of your dad walking your down the aisle?

Honestly, I don't think I could imagine asking my guests to refrain from taking photos during my wedding day. I would prefer to encourage them because they might get shots of things I didn't see. But it does run the risk of me never getting to see shots of things I want to see -- like my dad's face as we're coming down the aisle.

Cell phones make everyone a photographer, but before this, everyone took photos with a point and shoot camera, so this is nothing new. But the concept of an unplugged wedding? That's new to me ... and really worth considering, it seems.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What do you think about an unplugged wedding? Good or bad idea?

Review: Brides Rustic Chic Table Numbers From Gartner Studios

There are so many things to worry about when you're planning a wedding. So many things to do, to make, to buy, to figure out.

My best suggestion is: Don't make everything.

It sounds like a great money saver to make every single thing you can. But that is a time drain -- and will completely stress you out. With a few weeks until your big day, you don't want to be sitting there, surrounded by glitter and scissors, wondering who told you it was a good idea to DIY it all.

My other suggestion: Make some things and buy the rest. And go ahead and combine these things.

If you remember, I wrote a twine-wrapped wine bottle tutorial last year (you can click that link to see it).

After you go through all the time to make those for your centerpieces, you don't want to make the actual table numbers as well. This is where the Brides Rustic Chic Table Numbers From Gartner Studios comes in.

These table numbers come in a pack of numbers 1 to 12 and a second pack has 13 to 24. We here at A Bride On A Budget got the first 12, although, now that I think about it, I might have more than 12 tables so the second pack would have been good to pick up too.

No worries. These are available online or at Michaels stores for $6.99 for the entire pack (in store only, it seems. The ones online are similar but different).

I actually love these so much. They are the "rustic" line (which means they're a sand brown with white numbers). There's also an "ornate" package, which has a different edge and is white with black lettering. The brown numbers matched the twine-wrapped wine bottles perfectly.

Assembly is easy. There is a tab with a slit on both sides. Slide them within each other, and you're done.

Like I said, easy. And when it comes to your wedding, you need a few things to be easy.

What I really like is that both sides are different. On the package, the table numbers are both pictures with the front being the way the "1" is positioned. But I sorta really love the way the "2" is, with that gap at the top.

You don't have to worry about these falling down at the wedding either. The package includes a set of 24 stickers, so affix them to the bottom and these will stay secure. These are pretty heavy duty as well, so they should stay up on their own in case you misplace the stickers.

They stand up a lot better than if you were to print your own on, say, printer paper or cardstock. Plus, they aren't homemade, so they don't look homemade. That's the key here. You can make as much as you want for your wedding, but if it all looks homemade, it will be borderline tacky. The twine-wrapped wine bottles, they look purchased. Don't ruin that illusion with printing out numbers on a piece of paper and sticking it in front.

What I also really liked about these table numbers is this is all you need. With a printed piece of paper, you're also most likely going to need a frame to display the number in. Even if you get a frame from the dollar store, you're looking at $12 for twelve. Since this package is only about $7 for the whole package, you're saving money. Excellent.

Gartner Studios has a ton of wedding items, everything from invitations to place cards to favors. We actually got a chance to review a second product from the brand, but I'm keeping that a secret for now.

BRIDAL BABBLE: How did you (or how are you planning to) display the table numbers at your wedding?

UPDATE: We actually did use these at our wedding. If you look at the photo in this post you can actually see the number on the table.

The Waiting Game (& how Jesus invented the three days rule)

I was on Pinterest the other day and found this fantastic pin about how Jesus invented the three days rule.

Okay, so I have to share (but keep going after it to read about weddings).

So, according to How I Met Your Mother, that's where the three days rule came from. It isn't, obviously, but it's a rule I always adhered to because, well, you were supposed to.

It seems like wedding coordinators do the same thing.

On Saturday, we went to see this venue:

Amazing. I mean, that looks more like a resort than a wedding venue. And yet, it was a venue. But oh, not just a venue. Possibly the venue.

We loved it. We loved almost everything about it. Yes, there are a few little things that aren't exactly perfect (like the fact that it was an hour away, which I mentioned the other day).

The place was amazing and the price ... well ... we don't know.

See, when we were there, someone was getting married.

So we got a tour of the venue, we got to sit with the coordinator, and she said she would email us a proposal early in the week. She couldn't do it right then because, well, that wedding needed her.

We saw her Saturday. No proposal yet. I'm trying to be patient. I mean, if it was a guy I met out in town who I wanted to date, I'd wait until Tuesday to freak out.

Except, if you know me, freaking out is one of the things I'm best at.

I have high, high hopes that this place is in our budget. But we won't find out until we get the proposal. Fingers crossed that one) it's in our budget and two) that she emails soon before the anticipation drives me mad.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Be honest: Did you ever follow the three days rule?

Leave The Cooking To The Caterer (and other advice from a professional)

I was on Facebook yesterday, and I saw a sponsored post. Usually I ignore them, but this one had a delicious photo attached.

Would you be able to ignore that?

Me either.

Turns out, the sponsored post was from BRIDES magazine, saying Peter Callahan of Peter Callahan Catering (who is also the author of the small plates cookbook Bite by Bite), would be on hand to answer questions. If you couldn't make the live chat (which I wasn't able to attend), you could leave a question on the magazine's Facebook page and he would reply.

Of course, I had to post. And I had to tell my friend Erika, who is also getting married next year, to ask a question as well.

Since these answers might help your wedding planning, I wanted to post them here.

My question: We are planning a faux-destination wedding. All our guests will be traveling (we will not). Since the rehearsal dinner does traditionally include out of town guests, we want to invite almost everyone invited to the wedding. With that in mind, we've decided to have a BBQ rather than a rehearsal dinner at a restaurant. Since we don't have friends in the area, we aren't planning on making it a pot luck. We do want to have the majority of it catered, but I was thinking we could do a few items ourselves, preferably desserts or things that I can make before the rehearsal at the church. Any suggestions on what we could make and store and take to the rehearsal dinner. We're thinking that maybe 100 people might show up. Or, should I just leave it all to the caterer? And, in that case, would I order food for 100 people or order for less than 100 because I won't be able to store leftovers.

Peter's answer: always have enough food for maximum number of guests, ad i would make things only that can be made way ahead and frozen like some small brownies that can look chic in 1'x1" size, but really if you have ability for the caterr to amke all, i would have them do it, as you will have so much going on the days up to the wedding, especially with everyone coming in from out of town...


Erika's question: I'm having an outdoor wedding, buffet style. do you do apps buffet style as well or hire a caterer to do passed hors d'oeurves?

Peter's answer: i think small hors d'oeuvres are preferable passed, especially outside with sunlight and bugs, but if its more the feel you want stationary, they can be done that way as well

I am really happy that I was able to ask a professional for advice. See, I found these adorable strawberry shortcake kabobs that I really really wanted to make for the rehearsal dinner. The whole reason I was okay with doing a BBQ is because I wanted to make those for dessert.

But with a professional suggesting that I leave it all to the caterer, I'm going to listen. If it was anyone else who said no, I would have done it out of spite. But a professional, okay, I will concede this battle.

I have a feeling that just made things a lot easier.

If you are planning and you have a chance to do something like this, to ask a professional a question -- free of charge -- do it. It will definitely give you peace of mind and/or point you in the right direction (or show you that you are on the right track with your decision making). Professionals might not know everything, but the have certainly planned more weddings that I have, so I'm definitely heeding their advice.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What answer would you give my question above?

Pin Of The Week: Bridal Party Hangers

I run a frugal lifestyle blog called Drugstore Divas. And, on that blog, I got a chance to review a personalized bridal hanger.

It was awesome and I absolutely loved everything about it -- except the price.

Unfortunately, buying eight of them for my bridesmaids, plus an extra one for my mom and maybe my grandma, add up to be way out of my price range.

But I could make them, thanks to the idea I found on Pinterest, which is this week's pin of the week.

I actually quite love these bridal party hangers and think they would be awesome to have in the bedroom, with all the dresses on them, and take a lovely photo. Plus, I can't imagine they'd be all that very expensive (or difficult) to make.

Bridal Party Hangers

What You'll Need:

• Wood hangers
• Ribbon
• Sticker letters or puff paint

What You'll Do:

• Stick the bridemaids' initial on the hanger. If you're extra crafty, you can use puff paint. If not, a sticker works.
• Tie a ribbon around the hook portion of the hanger.
• Gift these to your bridesmaids.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What do you think about these bridal party hangers? Possible or impossible to make?

Venue Hunting

I've been looking online and found a venue that I quite love. It's on the beach, outdoors, open, maybe on an island.

We have a bunch of islands around here and you need to take a ferry to some of them, so I wanted to make sure this one wasn't on a ferry-only island. So I mapquested the trip from here to there.

It's a 54 minute trip from my apartment, about an hour from the church I go to every Sunday. 

I guess I could pick a church that's down by the venue, but would I be able to take pre-cana classes at my church? Or would we have to travel an hour each way every time we needed to take a class?

Logistically, my guests could stay down by the venue, since they are traveling anyway. But what about for me? Would it be a logistical nightmare for me to plan a wedding that far away?

I need advice.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Is it worth it to travel to check out the venue? What do you think?

Sarcastic RSVP Card

Planning a wedding is stressful. There's so much to do, so much to plan ... so much to go wrong.

Wouldn't it be nice if people just told you what they were going to do wrong before it happened so you could anticipate it?

My friend Kimie found me an RSVP card that covers just that.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which of these sarcastic responses is your favorite?