Jazzing up the Venue

After we chose our venue, I started googling it to try to see some inspirational wedding pictures.  I eventually came across a local photographer's blog that featured a bride who decided to spruce up the space a bit by adding some pillows around the reception area, and more specifically on the benches that are placed throughout the venue.

Pillows on Benches / Image via Michelle Amarante Photography

Since we will be using the benches for VIP seating during our ceremony, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to make some pillows to make them more comfortable.  

So, I went to my favorite fabric resource, and went looking for some heavier fabrics - ones that would last through the wedding, and could later be used in our house, but also matched the colors I picked for the wedding - orange, yellow, green, gray, and white.  I found so many that I loved, so I bought them....all of them!

Please ignore the turquoise one - not a wedding color / Screenshot of Fabric.com order

Once the fabrics came in, I went out to Joann's Fabrics to buy pillow inserts, and then got to work at my sewing machine.  I was going to be creative and do a bunch of different types of cases, envelope, pocket, sham, etc, but then I got lazy and decided to just do normal pillow cases.

And because I was so lazy, I didn't even really measure much. Here's what I did:

Step 1 - Lay out pillow inserts.

Pillow Inserts from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Closeup of Pillow Insert from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Step 2 - Decide which fabric will go on each pillow.

 Chosen Fabric on Each Pillow Insert / Personal Picture

Step 3 - Trace pillow insert onto folded fabric. No picture for this step - couldn't take one while tracing.  Sorry!

Step 4 - Pin on trace mark for sewing purposes. Make sure to leave part of one side open so you can turn the pillow case right side out and stuff it.   

Pinned Pillow Case - Note open side at bottom / Personal Picture

Step 5 - Straight sew pillow case on pins and along traced line.  Make sure to reverse stitch your beginning and ending spots to make sure that your stitching doesn't unravel.

Step 6 - Turn your pillow case right side out, and stuff with correct size pillow insert.

Step 7 - Fold under the edges of the fabric at the opening, and pin shut.  

Stuffed pillow case with opening pinned shut / Personal Picture

Step 8 - Hand-sew the opening so that it stays shut.  

Finished Pillows / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Dandelion Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Suzani Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Ozborne Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

And that's it, folks! So simple!  I probably made all of these pillows in less than two hours. The most time consuming part was the hand-sewing, and that was distracting because I was doing it while watching Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef.  

I hope that the guests enjoy these, but not too much, because I want to take them all home with me after the wedding.  Do you think I need to put a sign up that says don't take the pillows? Should I add some ribbon to them to tie them to the benches like the other bride did?

Spicing up the Tables

When FI and I went for our tasting back in April, we talked with our representative from the catering company about rentals.  We are renting tables and chairs from them for both the cocktail hour and the reception.

As part of our catering package, standard china and linens are complimentary. We are able to choose from a basic selection that they have, unless you want to upgrade to one of the absolutely amazing sets of china they had on display for us in the tasting room.

I know you've already seen this one, but wow! / Personal Picture

Gold and Copper textured plates / Personal Picture

Silver trimmed plate - Sorry for the bad angle / Personal Picture

Now, as gorgeous and sophisticated as these plates are, we really couldn't justify spending more money on plates, so we decided to go with the standard white china plates.

In terms of linens, we were able to choose complimentary linens from a set that were hanging on the wall (and I can't find where the picture went!) that ranged from solid colors to black and white damask to stripes and starbursts, and everything. Some of the linens matched what we were looking for color wise, but we felt that it would be too much color in our reception space, so we ultimately decided on what was on our tasting table - an Imperial stripe in White.  

When I was originally planning our wedding, and deciding what linens to use, I came across a website appropriately named Wedding Linens.   One of the coolest part of their websites is that they have an interactive linen design center, where you can select your linens to see what they would look like when matched together.  

Knowing that we were likely to go with white linens, I picked that option and put it on our table using their design center.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center / That's supposed to be white, not sure why it looks ivory.

After selecting the tablecloth, I decided that I wanted to spruce up the table a little bit by using colored napkins instead of white ones.  I thought this may help it look a little brighter since we won't be having huge floral arrangements as centerpieces.

Since our wedding colors are yellow, green, orange, gray, and white, I figured it would be best to go with one of those. The gray color seemed too light, but also kind of darkened the overall look, so we eliminated that.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Light Gray Solid Napkins

The next color that I tried was green. The green looked nice, but with all of the green around the reception space because of the plants, I figured that this may be overkill.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Kelly Green Solid Napkins

The yellow napkins looked nice, and we both really liked the way that it looked.  We were concerned, though, that if we used the Lemon Jello, as we have planned for the centerpieces, that it may also be overkill with the amount of yellow at the table.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Yellow Solid Napkins

The last color that I tried was orange, and FI and I both agreed that this one looked the best.  It would help to spruce up the color just a bit, and it was bright enough that it stood out nicely against the white tablecloth.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Orange Solid Napkins

So when we were meeting with our representative from the catering company, I asked about colored napkins, and she brought over her swatch books of what was available to rent.  Being as frugal as I am, I asked about which fabrics were the least expensive, and she immediately responded by handing me the solid cotton swatch book. I flipped through each swatch until I got to the orange ones, and what do you know, but they had the most perfect shade of orange!!!

Solid Orange Cotton Napkin Swatch / Personal Picture

SOLD!!!!

So there you have it.  How did you decide on your table linens. Did you do anything special and make your own, or find a really neat or ornate pattern for your tables?

Save the Last Dance for Me

As you may recall from the beginning of our story as a couple, FI and I met in college, but more specifically, in the choir.  Not the church choir, but just the concert choir.  FI and I love music. LOVE LOVE LOVE music! In fact, as you may also recall, I am a former music teacher, so that's how much I love music.

Now, when it comes to music for the big day, we have kind of been putting this off.  We know that in terms of the reception, we want a lot of the Top 40 hits to be played, censored, of course.  I don't think I want my extremely Catholic grandfather listening to Cee Lo Green's non-censored version of "Forget You." In addition to Top 40, I am totally obsessed with music from the 80s. And when I say totally, I mean totally. I have so many 80s playlists, and all of Billboard's Top 100 Hits from the 80s (Actually, Billboard's Top 100 every year from 1970-1999. Awesome collection - you should get it!).  And then, I think to please some of the older crowd, we'll have the DJ play some of the more popular tunes from those times as well. We trust our DJ to come up with some good ones.

What I really wanted to talk about, however, was the music for the special things, like the entrances, and the first and last dances.  What you should know, is that my favorite artist is Josh Groban, and FI's favorite artist is Phil Collins (Don't Judge).  And while we both love music specifically from those artists, we aren't sure if those are ones that we want to use for our special songs.  I also like Michael Buble, and all that too, but at the same time, we don't want to use the same songs as everyone else (Why do I care so much about that? Ugh!).

So, here are a few I'm considering.

Entrance Song - Only FI and I are being introduced into the reception, so this is the only song that we have to choose, but what do we choose?

First Dance - Something from Josh or something from Phil? Or what about this one? Are the lyrics too risque?

"Forever Begins Tonight" by Patrizio Buanne / Video Courtesy of YouTube

Father/Daughter Dance - I really wanted to do Boston's "Amanda," but then I read through the lyrics, and I'm not so sure that they are appropriate for a Father/Daughter dance.  Thoughts? If not, maybe I'll have my dad choose. That would take the stress off my shoulders, at least!

"Amanda" by Boston / Video Courtesy of YouTube

Mother/Son Dance - I am leaving this one up to FI and his mom if he wants to involve her. I think it's going to be a tear-jerker. They have such a strong and special relationship. FI cries about it just on mention of the Mother/Son Dance.

Last Dance - Michael Buble's "Save the Last Dance for Me" is a contender, even though it's obvious. But, are there any other suggestions?

"Save the Last Dance for Me" by Michael Buble / Video Courtesy of YouTube

So, what are your thoughts on the music selections? Am I at least heading in the right direction? Do you have any suggestions or concerns with the picks so far?

Delicious Dinner

Wow, sorry about being MIA for the last few days. My Spring semester for school ended today, and I had some assignments and projects that needed to be finished. Now that those are done, though, I can get back into regular posting.

Sunday afternoon, after going to a few open houses (Did I mention we're house hunting? Well, if I didn't, we are. And it's so much fun!), we had our tasting with the caterer. Russell Morin only does tasting after you have booked them and paid a deposit on their services, which was fine with us. And in fact, that actually worked out well for us, because we had a chance to look at their options, choose our wedding day menu, and taste what we have chosen versus some of their standard meals.

When FI and I were originally in talks with caterers, one of the things that really sold us on Morins was the food choices, and how delicious they sounded.  We spent many hours coming up with our wedding day menu, and after this tasting, I have to say, we are so excited to eat this food again in October.

Now I'll get to the good stuff - the actual tasting - with PICTURES!

FI reading over our wedding day menu / Personal Picture

When we got to the catering office, we were invited to our private room for the tasting. They had a round table in the center, as you see above, with examples of their china on one wall, and actual tablecloths hanging on the other side. The china was gorgeous.  My favorite was this one, but we decided against paying the extra fee on plates, since ours were complimentary with booking.

White china with silver dots pattern / Personal Picture

Our catering coordinator, Ashley, came out and introduced herself to us (we have only talked in email and on the phone) and said that the copy of the menu on the table was to remind us of what options we have chosen.

Wedding Day Menu - Sorry for the name blur / Personal Picture

After reviewing the menu with Ashley to make sure that everything looked right, she went back to the kitchen to let them know we were ready to start the tasting. Not even five minutes later, she was returning with our first plate of hors d'oeuvres.

The first three of the hors d'oeuvres that we got to taste were the Smoked Chicken Empanadas with Roasted Pablano and Chipotle Cream, Chicken Saltimbocca - Chicken Wrapped with Basil, Italian Fontina and Prosciutto Drizzled with Pesto, and the Truffled Potatoes - Petite White Creamer Potatoes Twice Baked with Crispy Pancetta and Asiago, Drizzled with White Truffle Oil.  In the picture below, you will only see the Chicken Saltimbocca on the right, the Truffled Potatoes in the middle, and some really spicy extra hors d'oeuvres they added. We ate the Chicken Empanadas before I remembered to get a picture - but they were DELICIOUS!

Super Spicy Something, Truffled Potatoes, Chicken Saltimbocca, Missing place for Empanadas / Personal Picture

The next plate that we received was the next group of hors d'oeuvres we decided on were Goat Cheese Rounds - Local Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Wild Mushrooms on a Puff Pastry Coin and the Pacific Rim Beef Skewer with Asian Red Pepper Aioli.  Both of these were delicious as well, although the Pacific Rim Beef Skewer was kind of difficult to eat since there was so much on the toothpick.  The Goat Cheese Rounds were outstanding. And that is coming from someone who doesn't like mushrooms or goat cheese. These were probably my favorites.  

Goat Cheese Rounds, Pacific Rim Skewer, Some Lobster Wonton Thing, which was good, but another extra / Personal Pictures

The last hors d'oeuvres that was brought to us were the New Age Beef Wellingtons: Grilled Tenderloin with Boursin Cheese and Merlot Demi. These were also delicious, and I can't wait to eat ten thousand of these at the wedding.  

New Age Beef Wellington / Personal Picture

After trying all of the hors d'oeuvres, we decided that the Pacific Rim Skewer was just too difficult to eat, and that we wanted to replace it with something else, so we decided on Baked Ricotta and Roasted Pepper Bruschetta with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto. We did not get a chance to try this, but our coordinator assured us that it was delicious, and I have no doubt of that.  

The next part of our tasting was the dinner entrees. We decided to go with a dinner buffet, as we want to give our guests the opportunity to experience many different types of New England Style food.

First up, Ashley brought us out all the seafood options we chose for the buffet.  We chose, Rhode Island and New England Clam Chowder with Oyster Crackers, Clams Casino, and Pan Seared Marinated Center Cut Atlantic Swordfish Steak Laced with Garden Basil Aioli.  The chowders came out in mini mugs, with a clam cake on a toothpick resting on top. We were able to try both the RI style and NE style, and both were delicious. The clam cakes were some of the best I've ever had too, and I've had a lot of clam cakes in my 23 years of living in RI.  The Clams Casino were also very good, and I'm looking forward to having some of those at the wedding too.  The swordfish was my favorite of this grouping, though.  Swordfish is one of my favorite seafoods, and the fact that it was served with a Basil Aioli made it even better (I have a slight obsession with anything with Basil).  

From Back to Front: NE Style Chowder, RI Style Chowder, Clams Casino, Swordfish / Personal Picture

Out next plate of entrees was the non-seafood choices we selected: Grilled New York Sirloin with Brandy Mushroom Sauce, Rosemary Chicken - Grilled and Marinated Chicken in White Wine and Rosemary and Topped with a Dijon Mustard Sauce, and our sides, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Local Green Beans. The garlic mashed potatoes had the perfect amount of garlic in them without being too overwhelming, and went very well with both the sirloin and the chicken.  The sirloin was delicious, and even though I don't like mushrooms, they were also very good. The chicken was outstanding, and I wish that there were more.

NY Sirloin, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Rosemary Chicken / Personal Picture

After our entrees, the serving staff gave us a few minutes to decide whether that meal was what we were expecting and if we wanted to change anything on the menu. We decided to keep everything as it was, because we had absolutely no complaints at all about the meals.

Now, I believe that I have mentioned before that we are not having a cake, and that we are doing passed desserts instead.  Well, they didn't really care, because they gave us a cake platter as well.

Cake Platter / Personal Picture

This was a combine-your-own cake platter, which was very intriguing.  They even brought out a little guide to the platter so that you knew what each cake, inside, and frosting options were.  Some of our insides and frostings are in different places, but you get the idea.

Cake Platter Key / Personal Picture

To go along with this, they also brought out some after-dinner dessert drinks, which were spiked with different alcohols. Not being a very big drinker, I tried these, but wasn't a big fan, as you can see from the picture below of my tasted drinks - essentially nothing in them is missing.

Left: Chocolate Raspberry Shooter, Right: Baileys & Vodka Mocha / Personal Picture

Next, they brought out some of the passed desserts that we asked to try, since that is what we have opted for instead of a cake.  The two that they brought us were a Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich, and the Salted Caramel Whoopie Pies.  The whoopie pies were one of the items that we had on our original list, but after trying them, we just didn't think that there was enough of the salt or caramel flavors, we we switched that dessert out for the peanut butter cookie sandwiches because OMG, they were soooo good. FI actually only let me have half of mine because he wanted more of it. Yeah, it was that good.

Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich, Salted Caramel Whoopie Pie / Personal Picture

After finishing up the desserts, Ashley came back to talk with us about our menu, and make note of the changes that we made.  We also sat and finalized some other options, like linens and children's and vendor meals, but I'll talk about those things in another post.

Instead, I will leave you with a picture of the demolished Cake Platter. Why aren't we getting a cake again?

Cake Platter Demolished / Personal Picture

Check us out on the web!

Working in technology and having designed many websites before, I knew that I wanted this to be special and as near to perfect as possible.  I knew about all the free wedding websites that are offered out there, but I wanted something more unique, and more importantly, I wanted to be able to customize a lot of different elements.  So, I decided to create my own.  Although I know how to create websites from scratch, and have done that before, I figured that I would use something that I am familiar with, and not try to make it too complex, so I decided to use Blogger.

While I did use a free template offered by Blogger, I made a lot of different changes to it, adding my own images and text, and changing the layout, and made it my own.  I also took advantage of the deal offered, and purchased a custom domain name for only $10.

It took me a few months to get the site to be the way that I wanted it to look, but we finished it up this past week, just in time for the Save the Dates to go out.

Here are a few screenshots of the site. I hope you enjoy!

Homepage of our wedding website / Personal Picture

What to Do page of our wedding website / Personal Picture

Did you create your own wedding website, hire out, or use one of the templates offered by so many of the wedding idea websites out there?

Venue hunt, Part 2

FI and I met this morning with the coordinator at the second venue we chose to visit.  As soon as we walked into the venue, I got an incredible feeling. It was everything that we wanted, and while it didn't include tables and chairs, it still fell under budget, and more importantly, will cost less than a tent in a backyard.

We put a hold on our date. We are going to check things over, make sure that this is what we want, and then secure it.

But, I'll stop teasing you and show you the digs.  The venue is the Roger Williams Botanical Center at the Roger Williams Park in Providence!

Image via Google / Serendipity Photography

View of the Front Doors where I will make my entrance / Personal Picture

View from the Front Door where I will make my entrance / Personal Picture

View of the fountain where FI and I will stand and say our vows / Personal Picture

View of the reception space in an attached greenhouse / Personal Picture

This really is the perfect ceremony and reception space for us. It allows us to bring in outdoors in, and not have to worry about the weather cooperating, since the spaces are in greenhouses.

So, what do you think? Will it be perfect?

Venue hunt, Part 1

Well that was a disappointment.

FI was not pleased with the price estimate for the rentals, so we have decided to see what venues are around locally that we could get for our date, and most importantly, for a lot cheaper than renting the tent and accessories.

Living in New England is not easy.  The standard of living is higher than the middle of the country, but lower than the west coast.  But, generally, things are more expensive around here, especially during peak seasons, which our wedding date falls in.

In terms of venues, we knew we wanted to keep the outside, relaxed, casual-ish feel we originally wanted, so this immediately removed hotels and fancy-schmancy places from our potential venue list.  Others that were going to cost us over 5K were also removed from the list, leaving us with just a few places.  We looked at the websites online, and narrowed it down to two.  Yes, we limited ourselves greatly, but Rhode Island is only so big, and having lived here for 24 years, I kind of know what places I do and don't want to have our wedding at.

The first step was to call the places and see if they had our date available.  Being on a holiday weekend was playing against us, but the first place we called had it open.  So, we made an appointment, and went this morning to check it out - Kinney Bungalow.

Image via Kinney Bungalow / Seth Jacobson Photography

Kinney Bungalow was beautiful. It's a great house set on farmland, overlooking corn fields and down the street from the Narragansett Beach.  They had an outdoor ceremony space, which could double as a cocktail hour space, and all tables, chairs were included with the rental cost.  The inside had a bridal suite on the main floor, but the reception space was on the second level, which has 360 degrees of windows to enjoy the views, and a gorgeous brick fireplace that can be decorated as you wish.

Image via Kinney Bungalow / Photographer Unknown

There is a grand staircase leading straight up to the second floor, and behind that is an area for the bar to be set up and the catering to bring in the food.  However, depending on the number of guest tables needed, the dance floor could need to be separated from the dining area, because of the staircase and other rooms being in the middle of the second story.  

We really did like the space at the Kinney Bungalow.  It was gorgeous inside, and allowed for a lot of customization and decorating.  But, aside from the dance floor being separated, not creating a sense of inclusion of all our guests, it was right alongside a very busy road, and the traffic could be heard from the ceremony space, which is not ideal.

But, we still have one more place to look at, and if this next one does not pan out, I can really see us getting married here.