Ed and Elaine: DIY

November 19, 2005 | Leave a Comment

Here are some pics of my DIY stuff. These are the table name signs.
I used photo frames since I figured I could reuse them afterwards.
I mean, when else am I going to use table number holders?

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Home & Design, Love and Marriage, Wedding
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Ed and Elaine: Wedding Budget

November 15, 2005 | Leave a Comment

So, for the planners, here is a post about budget:
We wound up going about $3000 over budget, which really isn’t that bad. We originally only wanted to spend $2000 on the reception, bumped that up to $5000 and ended up spending about $8000. Another grand or so on the ceremony.

Here’s the break down:
Ceremony package (site, photography, officiant…) - $700
Additional pre ceremony photography (Alt-F) - $900
additional ceremony photography (friend did at cost) - $110
Dress and alterations (Celebrations Bridal) - $500
reception dress (Dillard’s) - $70
shoes - $70
His suit and alterations (Zara) - $450
his shoes (at Nordstrom Rack) - $70
flowers (just corsages, etc. not centerpieces) - $80
reception photography (found someone off Craig’s List) - $250
disposable cameras (amazon.com) - $50
centerpieces (DIY) - $100
wedding cake (Smith’s grocery store) - $200
grooms cake (Freed’s bakery) - $130
kid’s entertainment packs (99cent store) - $30
wine (Lee’s Discount Liquor) - $1500 (lots left over)
food and reception room rental (luncheon at $35 per person, $10 corkage) - $3500
picture frames for seating chart and gifts (from Ross) - $100
wedding weekend activities (dinner, hike, brunch, massage) - $4-500??
Hotels for parents - $400

We did a lot ourselves. We haggled to get prices down. We received some help from family in DIY projects. And we made a budget at the get go so we couldn’t go way overboard. If we hadn’t done that, we easily could have spent $20,000 rather than $8000. Also, since we paid for it all ourselves, we really made it a personal, DIY type of affair.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Love and Marriage
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Ed and Elaine: Reception Day!

November 13, 2005 | Leave a Comment

We had our reception today. It was fantastic, really wonderful!

Our friends and family celebrated with us today with a luncheon. I hear the food was good, though I didn’t eat much of it. We had a lot of mingling to do. The service was excellent, I have to say the Stratosphere wait staff is great. The wine was good, my husband chose it all himself and delivered it himself. But he got just a little too much and now we have tons left over. It won’t go to waste, believe me. The centerpieces looked great. The favors were enjoyed. The kids packs appreciated (see pic below).

The cakes were beautiful.
groom’s cake:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Here is the wedding cake:
It has two Es facing each other.

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

The music - a friend who sang with a guitar - was perfect!

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Some of our guests:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

The best thing about it was the toasts. We arranged for some friends and family to give some toasts and they were absolutely awesome toasts! Our friends were hilarious and touching. Our parents gave tear-jerking speeches. Everyone seemed to like it and we received many comments about how intimate, touching, different, and romantic our reception was.

Cutting the cake:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

The tables:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Desserts:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Photo Mat (before guests signed it):

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Table name signs/cards:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

Me, talking to Joey, Ed is on my left:

Elaine and Ed's wedding reception

A few things didn’t work out quite as planned, I will list as a precaution to those who are still planning their receptions.
- Our friend’s guitar was split by a careless security officer. Our friend amazingly managed to play it, but it is seriously damaged.
- The bakery for the groom’s cake (Freed’s) did a wonderful job decorating the cake to look like a wine bottle, but they put “since 1958″ on it even though my husband asked them not to. We’re not sure why. It was a kind of weird. But no one noticed.
- I screwed up one of the table name signs so some people were confused about where they sat. But we got it straightened out. It was just because that was done last night and we were exhausted.
- The room was rather small and we had a few more people than we originally anticipated, so the mingling at the beginning was rather tight. But people worked with it and it definitely lent itself to the intimate and romantic feeling we were trying to achieve.
- We had one wedding crasher. She didn’t eat so it wasn’t a big deal.

I will have more pictures soon.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Love and Marriage, Miscellaneous, Pictures
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Ed and Elaine: Reception Weekend Activities

November 12, 2005 | Leave a Comment

About our pre-reception hike…
We planned a “wedding weekend” with some activities so we’d have more time to spend with our out-of-town guests. One such event was a hike. It was fantastic!

We walked along a slight slope for about 2 miles, stopped and ate some cheese and drank some wine and then meandered back to the cars. Along the way, we saw some burros. They were so friendly they came up to us and we pet them. Ed and I timed it so we might be able to see burros, but boy did we luck out! I am sooo glad we did this. It was one of the best things about the weekend!

Here is a burro:

Ed taking a picture of burros:

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Love and Marriage, Travel & Adventure
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Ed and Elaine: Reception

November 11, 2005 | 1 Comment

Update on my dad: He’s actually not talking to my brother, I got it wrong. He’s not talking to anyone. He won’t answer the phone at all. And he’s not coming.
Today is veteran’s day. He’s a veteran, maybe it has something to do with that…

We had a lot to do this week. We did the centerpieces, all the origami, the table signs, the seating chart, got the wine and champagne, made the weekend schedule and delivered it to the hotels, made the kids packs, got the signature photo mat ready, paid for the flowers, picked up the rental van… and on and on… We were rushing this morning but now I have a second to relax.

We’re having a group lunch today and then a hike. Tonight we’re going out. The girls are going to Chippendale’s and the guys are doing a poker night. We’re meeting up later.

I’m nervous and excited to meet all these people. I am so glad the wedding ceremony is over and we can relax and have fun with all our guests.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Love and Marriage
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