Our favors have arrived!  Here is a photo of two of the glasses we are giving as wedding favors. 

Personal Photo

So that the design is visible we think we might put white candy in them or maybe we'll go with the tissue paper (as shown) so our guests can easily wrap them up and take them home.

Personal Photo

I got the glasses from DiscountMugs.com and they came out to $2.65 each (including shipping) when I bought 144.  They arrived a day earlier than I expected too.  I ordered them October 14th and they arrived, in perfect condition, on November 3rd.  I requested only standard printing and shipping times (no rush).  It was really fast and easy.  We used our own design, but they have many cute images that you can have them print on the glasses along with text.  They also have flutes, shot glasses, and mugs among a wide selection of other items.

Thank you for the award Bicoastal_Bride and for the shout-out from Born to be Mrs. Beever!

1. I work as a structural engineer and I am a LEED AP.
2. I have won awards for playing dodgeball.
3. Both my fiancé and I are only children.
4. I don't like chocolate or coffee.  Most people, including my fiancé, think I'm crazy, but I just don't like chocolate.  I'd rather eat an apple.
5. I'm the kind of person that needs a lot of sleep.  If I don't get at least 8 hours a night I'm cranky, sniffly, and I get pimples.
6. I'm allergic to cats.  I have to take allergy medicine before I see my fiancé's parents.  Due to my allergies, my fear of birds, and Sean's refusal to care for a creature that isn't soft and cuddly, We won't be getting any pets.
7. My fiancé introduced me to Star Trek: The Next Generation shortly after we started dating.  Since then we've watched all the TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise episodes, as well as most of the fan-created series.  Many of the episodes were on laserdisc.  I've recently become a trekkie, but I've always been nerdy.
8. Between my fiancé and myself we've had 15 vehicles over the past eight years. We haven't leased any of them, and only one was bought new.  There were 4 Ford Taurus SHOs (his), 3 Saturns (mine), 1 Lincoln Mark V (his), 1 civic (mine), 1 mustang (his), 1 cavalier (mine), and we currently have a Cadillac Allanté (his), a Mercury Tracer (mine), a Dodge Ram 1500 (his), and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (ours). I think we're going to use the Allanté (convertible) as our send-off car.
9. Both my fiancé and I like wine.  I had my first glass (it may have been a plastic cup) of Peter Vella at his apartment before we started seeing each other.  Since then we've come a long way in our tastes, well beyond wine pong and the Manischewitz challenge.  This was helped significantly by our attendance at Saturday tastings at local wine shops and a couple of self-guided wine tours through Illinois, Missouri, and, most recently, Washington.  To incorporate this in our wedding we will be using corks as place-card holders (my thumb is healing nicely by the way) and we will be giving wine glasses as favors.
10. My fiancé and I bought our house together almost a year ago.  Having a house is great.  We've been able to have friends come down for the weekend and stay with us on several occasions.  I get to have a garden in the summertime.  Sean gets to paint a hallway glossy black. 

Thank you for reading!  I'd also like to especially thank Bicoastal_Bride, Born to be Mrs. Beever, New Mexican Bride, Mrs.Eder in the making, jessienchris, MrsMc, Soon2BMrsBook, HopeCdavis, Almost Mrs.Telo, Just Say Yes Events, and heather_n_will.  I know that's 11, but most of you have already received the award, and you've all been so helpful and encouraging to me that I can't leave any recognition out.  I'd recommended that all you bloggers who haven't done so already, even those I didn't specifically mention, fulfill the request of the award.

The directions are simple:

Post the award on your site, write 10 interesting things about yourself, and then pass it on to 10 other bloggers.

Personal Photo of Minnesota Fabrics Brochure circa 1980

I made my wedding veil.  It is actually not that difficult and even with some minor screw-ups (ironing the tulle and attaching the comb backwards the first time) I was able to create a nice veil in about 4 hours. 

Materials I used for an elbow-length two-tiered veil:

• Comb
• White tulle - I used a 60" x 54" scrap piece given to me by a friend after her wedding.
• ¼" white ribbon - 7 yards.  You can also use lace or bias tape.
• White Thread - 125 yds
• Needle
• Tape measure or yardstick
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine - If you don't already have one, you might want to just skip the trim and you'll get a veil that doesn't have a defined edge.

Here is a table of how much material is required for different length veils:

 Step 1:

Lay tulle flat and fold in half twice.

My photo of first fold - hot dog way

My photo of second fold - hamburger way

Step 2:

Cut curved line in fabric.

My photo of cutting curve in fabric - upper and right sides are edges of fabric.  Fabric is folded about the lower left corner.

Step 3:

Unfold to ellipse

My photo of unfolded tulle after cutting curved line.

Step 4:

Sew ribbon along edge of tulle.  This is by far the most challenging and time-consuming step.

My photo of sewing on ribbon - I folded the ¼" ribbon in half and tucked the tulle edge inside the fold, sewing through two layers of ribbon and one layer of tulle.

Step 4:

Gather tulle along line in center of ellipse, by hand.  If you want to be mathematical about it, gather from one focus to the other.  This will create a veil that is equal in length in both the back and front.  If you want the front to be shorter, move your gathering line along the minor axis (perpendicular to the direction of the gather line).

My photo of tulle with ribbon around edge - the ribbon in the middle of the ellipse shows the line along which the tulle will be gathered.  It is approximately 18" from one side and 36" from the other side.

Step 5:

Sew tulle onto comb by hand.

My photo of gathered tulle and comb. 

If you place the comb concave side down and the gathered tulle, folded at the gather with the longer side on top, and then sew the tulle to the comb along the gather line you will wind up with the shorter side on top when you put the comb in your hair.

And there you have it, a veil made by you.

Personal photo of me in one veil I made.

Personal photo of me in another veil I made.

Which veil do you think I should wear?

What is your veil like?

Like Bicoastal_Bride, I'm using corks as place-card holders.  In the previous week, I've cut enough corks for about 100 places, which means a maximum of 25 corks to go.  As Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was starting last night, I settled down in front of the television with Sean and continued on my cork-cutting project.  As I was cutting the fourth cork of the night, the cork slipped and I managed to cut off a good chunk of the tip of my thumb with the razor-blade knife. 

Sean ran out and got some liquid bandage and antibiotic cream as I tried to stop the bleeding with a rubber-band tourniquet.  I rinsed the wound with water and dabbed it with an alcohol-soaked paper towel.  I then replaced the skin fragment I sliced off, coated it with antibiotic cream and applied a couple of layers of liquid bandage.  That was the last cork I cut of the night, and we missed most of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Due, at least in part, to my medical emergency, we decided to spend the rest of the evening watching House on DVD.  Before going to bed, I wrapped my wound in gauze and medical tape so it wouldn't bleed on the bed.  I will spare you the pictures of the mutilated tip of my thumb, but here is a picture I took of my bandaged digit.

Personal Photo

As a bonus, you can see my aquamarine engagement ring in this photo.  I'm glad I decided to start cutting the corks more than seven months before the wedding, because if I cut myself the day before, or even the week before the wedding I would have to be bandaged through it all.  I think I'm going to go to the doctor and make sure I'm up to date on my tetanus shots.

My injury was not in vain, however; as the cork place-card holders look great!

Personal Photo

I am using my business cards to keep the corks stretched out for the next six months or so until I get all the place-cards written. 

I wish you all safe DIY!

In a previous post I was debating what paper I should use with my invitations.  I chose metallic.  The invites are print-at-home white invitations and reply cards with a pearlized border.  I bought the invitation kits at Wal-Mart for $19+tax for each pack of 50.

Photos Courtesy of Sean Powers

I ordered the metallic paper from paperworks.com.  I'm not sure that doing the invitations myself saved me any money, but I know that they are exactly what I want.  For your information, my invitations cost about $1.45 each, including postage.

One of the unique things about my invitations is the lack of a reply envelope.  Instead of having my invitees respond by mail, the reply card instructs them to respond either at our website, or by telephone.  The website is really the backbone of our wedding information.  For the few invitees that are not hip to the internet scene, like Grandma, I will include all the important information from the website (Menu, Accommodations, and Directions) in their invitations.  Besides my love of technology and my disdain of high postage, I chose to omit the reply envelopes because I want to give my guests food options for each course. Including checkboxes for all those choices made the reply card very full, very fast.  The other somewhat unique feature of my invitations is the "wrap" with the guests names, rather than an inner envelope.  I'm hoping this small reduction in the amount of paper used keeps me from having to pay any additional postage for overweight invitations.

Another way I am avoiding postage and utilizing the internet is by e-mailing my save the dates, except for those to Grandma and others without a computer.

Image based on Wedding Paper divas, but edited to include my wedding information (the background matches my website background)

I probably wouldn't have done save the dates at all, except the bridal shower is going to be January 9, 2009 (yes, 4 1/2 months before the wedding) because that's the only time between now and the wedding that my bridesmaids will all be in Chicago.  I figure I should probably at least send out save-the-dates before my guests start getting shower invitations.

So, I'm not really a "picture person". I apologize for not posting many photos because I understand that many of you are picture people.  I'm trying to post more pictures, but I apologize in advance that most will be rather lame.

I've seen so many engagement photo shoots from fellow blogger brides, which are awesome, but I didn't have any engagement photos taken and I don't plan to. Well, at one point I planned to have a single engagement photo taken because I got a coupon in the mail for a free photo from a local photographer; but I gave the brochure (with coupon in it) to Sean because one of the photos in the brochure was of one of his co-workers.  Sean never brought the brochure back. Anyway, I wasn't going to pay to have someone take an engagement photo that I don't need. I'm also not planning on having any professional photography or videography at my wedding. I have the fortune that one of my bridesmaids is a great photographer. She even majored in photo for a trimester, until she realized how expensive of a career choice it is. I would have asked her to do engagement photos, but she lives in Seattle, WA and I live in Champaign, IL. My father has also offered to take photos at the wedding. Even so, I'm still spending over a thousand dollars on photography though. Sean decided that since we were saving money by not hiring a professional photographer, he was allowed to spend the saved money, and then some, on purchasing a DSLR camera and several lenses.

 Picture courtesy of Amazon.com

Instead of a portrait photographer, or a photo-booth, I plan on setting up a camera on a tripod in the ceremony room for all the posed shots and the guests to have their photo taken. Mostly I count on all the guests to bring their digital and/or film cameras and to either download their photos before they leave the reception, which is a great idea I got from blogger brides, or send us copies of their prints or negatives. We will then post as many pictures as possible on our wedding website and send our guests any raw photos they request, or have them printed for them at their local Walgreens.

As for videography, I'm not really into that either. Why do I want to relive the wedding, when I have my new husband with whom to live each day? I'm afraid that by the time I will want to watch the video to remember the wedding, I won't have an electronic device capable of playing it back. Regardless, my cousin has volunteered to video most of the wedding.  I think he may focus on his son, the ring bearer.  I'd be fine not being on video at all,  I'm really more of a behind-the-scenes person.

In summary, don't be afraid to use the talents of your family and friends to make your wedding day personal, special, and budget-friendly.

So I've been getting a lot done this week. I've ordered the favors (wine glasses), I've made an activity placemat for the kids, I've ordered paper, and I've ordered Sean's tuxedo. I had a snafu with the tuxedo though. They didn't send the vest with it, only the jacket and pants. I'm very happy with the speed of the delivery, though. I ordered the tux on Tuesday and it came on Thursday. The omission of the vest is one of those reasons that makes me glad that I still have plenty of time before the wedding to get it corrected. I'm also glad that I got tired of waiting for Sean to order the tuxedo and ordered it myself. I fear Sean would have put it off until like a week before the wedding and he would wind up being vest-less. By the way, here is a picture of the tux Sean will be wearing.  My dress is ivory too, not white.

Picture Courtesy of Men's USA

I think that the vest error got to me a little too much because last night I had a dream about my wedding being a disaster. It started off that the vegan entrees came covered in cheese, so I told the chef about the problem and when I went back to my seat there was a ham sandwich and a plate of fish. While everyone was eating I had to go around the restaurant where the wedding was (I'm not even having my wedding at a restaurant) and ask everybody if they ordered the ham sandwich and the fish. Then, by the time I found the people, sitting at table 20, who ordered the ham sandwich and the fish, and got back to the reception, dinner was over and most of my guests had left, except for a few that were dancing. I got all upset that I didn't get to take the first dance and I started crying. Then I woke up. Has anybody else been thinking about their wedding so much that they're literally dreaming about it?

So, I think I've finally decided on a caterer. I contacted the first caterer on January 22, 2009. All in all, I've gotten proposals from 4 caterers, I've met in person with three caterers, and I've contacted a total of 7 caterers. Here are some of my experiences with the caterers I contacted, for those that may be interested in caterers in the greater Champaign-Urbana, IL Area.

LA Gourmet - (Estimated $74.02/person) This was the first caterer I contacted because they looked like they did very elegant food. I used their website to request a proposal on January 22, 2009. I requested a vegan option and a non-vegan option for a seated meal. They got their menu proposal to me on April 9, 2009. When I got their proposal it was for a family style meal. When I questioned this, they said they did not do plated meals. Therefore we eliminated them from our choices.

Cameron's - (Estimated $62.46/person) I got an email from Cameron's with general pricing for their standard entrees (none of which were vegan) and the additional fees and taxes that they charge. I did not follow up with them because they were removed from our venue's approved caterer list.

Classic Events - (Estimated $86.18/person) I called Classic Events on August 10, 2009 and they got back to me with a rough draft of a proposal the next day. I didn't take any action because I was waiting to hear back from the other caterers. While I was waiting my venue decided to remove Classic Events from their approved caterer list.

Michael's - (??) I called this caterer to just get an idea of costs and the man who answered the phone told me that entrees start at $20/person. I assume that doesn't include anything except the entree, but they were also removed from the approved caterer list.

Jim Gould - (??) I contacted this caterer on August 10, 2009 and arranged a meeting for August 19. I spoke to Jim Gould, the restaurant owner, who said he would meet with me on the 19th. My fiance and I arrived at Jim Gould's restaurant and the scheduled time and then waited for a half an hour before we met with Terry. I have sent Jim a few e-mails since I met with Terry, but I have not yet received a proposal, but it has only been two months since our meeting with Terry.

Chef Benjamin - (Estimated $72.54/person) This was actually the second caterer I contacted, back in April. I got a proposal from them almost 3 months later, in July. Their menu looked decent, but we were not thrilled with their bar packages. The beer and wine package and the well liqour package said it included plastic cups. We would have had to insist on glasses.

Minneci's - (Estimated $58.04/person) This caterer was added at the same time the other caterers were removed from the approved caterer list. I was able to schedule a meeting with Rob, the restaurant owner in less than a week. My parents, my fiance and I met with Rob (who was a half hour late due to an overrun dentist appointment) on September 26, 2009. He got us a proposal by October 1, 2009, and my fiance and I went for a tasting on October 5th. Rob was ready for us at the tasting. He didn't require a deposit and wasn't planning on preparing a contract until we specifically asked him to do so. Now we are just waiting for him to consult with his lawyer about putting together a contract for us. While his methods are rather unorthodox, his prices were much less than any of the other caterers. The price doesn't seem that much different because he charges by the drink at the bar and he estimated that each guest will have 6 drinks, which for our guest is certainly an overestimate. Also, this price includes gratuity, which I'm not sure the others do.  So, just for emphasis, this is the caterer we plan to go with.

I am so glad that I started looking for caterers when I did, because I had no idea it would take almost 10 months to find one that would do what we wanted at a reasonable price. Even so, catering (including open bar) will probably account for between 50% and 60% of our total wedding budget.

This past Saturday Sean, my parents, and I visited our venue: http://cityview.cumtd.com/Default.aspx

There were people there setting up for a wedding when we visited.  We also got to meet with the venue coordinator, which was not planned, but after speaking with her we have decided to reserve the whole floor, rather than just half of it.  We will have our ceremony on the South Side and our reception on the North Side.  My wedding is becoming more and more traditional, which isn't what I like, but the whole wedding isn't really for me, its for my family, so I might as well appease them.  Both my parents and Sean's parents didn't like my idea of already being seated at their dinner places during the ceremony.  Oh well. 

After looking around at the Terminal, we met with the last caterer on the venue's list.  Despite the caterer being 1/2 hour late and our meeting feeling somewhat rushed, he seemed more interested in helping us meet our budget than the other caterers with whom we spoke.  We'll see if he can get us a proposal back in less than two months, and within our budget.  I have not been especially impressed with any of the other three caterers I have already contacted.  I'm contemplating getting into the catering business, creating a food service that actually acts like a business.  Anyway, I'm still waiting.

Well, since I've been treating this blog as more of a wedding Q&A forum rather than a documentation of my proceedings, I have another question for the populace.  Today my question stems from a conversation at work.  I asked my cube neighbor whether she prefers glossy or metallic paper.  She said she prefers metallic, but that glossy may be classier.  Naturally, she asked if it was for my wedding, which it is.  I want to use the paper to wrap around each invitation and response card instead of using two envelopes.  It isn't my primary question, but I'm still curious as to the general opinion regarding metallic vs. glossy paper (40-100#), and where to get approximately 50 8 1/2x11 sheets of it.  Or should I do vellum?  Anyway, my question is how much of my wedding planning should I share with people who won't be invited?  I just feel that if I shared a lot of opinions with a co-worker about their wedding, I would expect to be invited, and I would feel a little bit offended if I put in effort to help them and then wasn't invited.  Do other people think like this?  Thanks!