So, You Think You’re Invited To The Wedding?

Finding out a couple is engaged is exciting for everyone! You want to know everything about the wedding: date, venue, dress, and most importantly if you’re invited!! If you’re not close family, or one of the bride and/or grooms best friends, don’t assume you are going to get an invite. The couple may have limitations due to budget, space in the venue, or they simply would prefer a small, intimate wedding.  Wait for them to bring up if you will be there to celebrate with them, or wait for the ‘save the date’ in the mail. You can still be excited for them, without asking. 

You may think that since you’re friends with the engaged couple, it’s okay to say: “I’m invited to your wedding, right?” but that is NEVER okay, and ALWAYS rude.  You’re putting the couple in such an awkward situation by putting pressure on them like that.  They may already know that you unfortunately didn’t make the final cut, so they now have to tell you off-guard that they can’t invite you, or they have to lie.  For the engaged couple, it’s best to say, “we’re still figuring out our guest list and budget, but we hope we’re able to invite everyone.”

If you’ve never planned a wedding before, you may not realize that inviting just one extra guest could cost the couple upwards of $100! It’s a meal, dessert, and drinks for one extra person. Plus with more people means more tables (which may not be included in the venue cost, so it’s an extra rental cost), and another centerpiece, and if it’s a floral arrangement, they really add up!

So really think before assuming you’ll be getting an invite.  A lot goes into planning a wedding.  I know first hand that the hardest part about planning a wedding is trying to please everyone.  You may not understand the stress the couple has already experienced trying to find a wedding date that works with everyone important in their lives, as well as getting their dream wedding within their budget, in the process. You adding one more thing for them to stress out about isn’t fair.  

First be excited for the couple, and wait patiently to see if you will be with them on their special day. 

XO, Val 

My Tips on Registering.

Today I'm going to give some of my advise on registering for your wedding!!

target.com

• First off, don't register too early!  I know it may be tempting to register the second the initial excitement of the engagement wears off.  Unless you’re having an engagement party, theres really no need to register right away.  If you are having an engagement party, you don’t have to register for everything, just enough for the party.  In my opinion, you shouldn't register until about six months before the wedding. If you register too early, those items may not still be available when people go to buy the gifts.  There also may be seasonal items you register for, without knowing that they are seasonal. You also might even know what you want a year out from the wedding.  
• Register at two or three different stores. Just because there are four Dillard's within a 10 mile radius of you, doesn't mean everyone has one close to them.  Some people prefer to go into an actual store to buy a gift, rather than buying it online.  
• Don't just register within one price point.  Register somewhere affordable, like Target or Bed Bath and Beyond, somewhere in the middle, like Macy's or Dillards, and somewhere a little more luxurious, like Crate&Barrel, or Williams Sonoma.  Some people will want to buy you a bunch of smaller, less expensive items, and others will want to buy you one big ticket item.  
• Don't go in blind! Sit down together and decide your color scheme for your house, and the overall feel you want for your home.  Also, make sure you know what size bed you will be purchasing- if you don't already have one- so you know what size bedding and sheets to register for.
• If you don't have a home together yet, make sure you are registering for all the essentials.  If you're starting from scratch, this list from Real Simple is great!!
• Make a home together! Some other advise I would suggest is, if one of you have a house, and the other is moving in, try selling what you can, and buy and register for things together.  The reason for this is, you want it to feel like YOUR home, not his home and you're a guest.  
• Make sure you're not registering for the same item at multiple stores.  For example: stick to bedroom and bath items at Macy's and all kitchen items at Target.  You don't want to receive two different knife sets because you forgot you already registered for one at another store. 
• So you'd rather just have cash instead of gifts? It makes sense to think that if you only want money for your wedding- because you already live together so you have a lot of stuff for your home- you'll only register for enough for your bridal shower.  That is a good thought, but it may backfire.  Some people just prefer to give gifts, so if there isn't anything left on your registry two days before the wedding, they may just buy you something they think you might like.  Make it a point to let your family and bridal party know that the two of you would prefer money for a down payment on a home, so they can spread the word to guests if they ask.  If you have a registry somewhere, the store is usually pretty good about letting you return items for something you'd prefer, if guests do buy you something you didn't register for.  
• Don't put where you are registered on your wedding invitations!! Why is this you ask? Guests are not required to bring you a gift, even though most will bring one.  Originally guests would find out where the couple was registered though word of mouth, now it's more common to include your wedding website somewhere in your invitations.  Your website will give people your registry information, and other information about your wedding.  

I hope this was helpful for you!! Is there any other advise for couples who are registering? Leave a comment below!!

XO. Val

Wedding Planning Time Line | Eight/Seven Month Mark

If you've had a year to plan your wedding, by the eighth and seventh month mark, most of the big things should be taken care of (deciding on the date, deciding on the theme, picking a venue, figuring out the approximate number of guests). There are, however, a few things that could be done at this point.

• Engagement Pictures: If you haven't had engagement pictures yet, now is a great time! If you're having a summer wedding, fall is a great time to have pictures taken.  If you're having a fall wedding, summer is a great time to have them! 

one of my engagement pictures via Maddy Hastings

• Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Party: Since a lot of the big wedding plans are taken care of, you can start to think about planning your bridal shower and bachelorette party.  Even though these are both usually thrown by family and your bridal party a month or two before the wedding, it's still good to give your input. Do you want to go to Las Vegas for your bachelorette party? Or have a low key night with friends at a nice restaurant? Make sure you are clear about this a head of time before any planning starts.
• Buy Your Wedding Dress: By this point in the planning process you would have looked at hundreds of dresses online, and probably tried on plenty, too.  If you haven't bought one yet, you really need to.  Bridal shops need up to eight months to order your dress.  You don't want your dress selection limited to the sample dresses because you waited until six months before.

Hayley Paige

• Designing Save The Dates: If you're sending save the dates, now's the time to start finalizing your guest list.  You're going to be sending them out six months prior to the wedding, so at eight-seven months you'll need to figure out who you're sending them too, and start designing them.  
• Find Your Bakery: You should wait until you figure out how much your venue, food, and alcohol is gong to cost (that will be most of your budget) before you decide on your dessert.  If it's in your budget, go for that beautiful 5-tiered wedding cake you've always dreamed of! If it doesn't fit, go for a small 3-tiered cake to cut, and sheet cake (hidden in the back!) or cupcakes for the guests, that will save you money!  
• Finalize your photographer, videographer, florist, and DJ: Make sure by this point you've signed the contact and given the deposit for these vendors! 
• Start thinking about your honeymoon: Decide where your dream destination would be, then visit a travel agent to see if you can find a deal that fits into your budget.  Be open to alternative locations that have the same feel.  

Happy Planning!

XO, Val

Six Things Couples Don't Think About When Having A Backyard Wedding.

Today I'm going to be talking about a few things people don't think about when they decide to have their wedding in their backyard.  The best thing about having it in your backyard is you don't have to pay to rent a venue, you can easily start to set up for the wedding whenever you want, and after the wedding you don't have to worry about getting everything out by a certain time.

There are a few things to consider, however:

1. Parking: Where are all of your guest going to park? With 200 guests, you could have 100 cars, or even more if couples/families don't drive together! Having people park on the street five blocks away, and walk  to your house isn't the best thing to do.  My tip: What you need to do is find a large parking lot, like a church or a school (it will be empty at night), less than a mile away.  You'll of course want to get an okay from them, and the city.  If the lot is close and not on a busy street, you could rent/borrow golf carts, and have someone drive your guests over to the reception.  You could find a limo company that has a shuttle bus that would fit 15-20 people at once, so you could easily transport them to your house. You'll have to have to for the whole time, however so it will be expensive.  Something else is a valet service.  Have people drive up to your house, and the valet will park their car for them.  
2. Bathrooms: Your wedding is taking place outside, which means the outside will look put together and clutter-free. The house, however will be where the caterer is prepping food, and where all the prep work for the day happened.  Do you want people walking through that? Also, people will be drinking, and the bathrooms will get trashed. Not that your friends and family won't respect your house, but when people are drinking they sometimes aren't thinking. Can you imagine 200 people using one, or maybe two bathrooms all night? There will be lines the whole night, which means people will be missing important parts of the nights festivities.  Your bathroom also might not be able to handle so much use in one day. My tip: Rent luxury porta potties.  Yes they do cost a lot, but it's just something you have to consider.  
3. Caterer Prep Space: When you bring in a caterer, they need a place to work, cook, and keep things warm.  Hopefully your caterer will be honest with you about what they can use in your kitchen, and what they will need to bring in/rent (extra stoves, etc.) and if it will cost you more, once you decide on a menu, and they see the property. 
4. Sound:  Obviously if you're having your wedding at your house, there are neighbors! You have to think about the loud music that will be playing late into the night.  You must contact the city before your event to make sure you can even have your wedding in your backyard. You DON'T want the cops showing up to break up the party at 9:00.  You also need to talk to all of your neighbors and let them know about your wedding so they can prepare for the noise. 
5. Theres going to be a mess:  When it's dark outside you're not going to notice the napkins, and empty beer bottles on the ground.  The next morning will be a lot to clean up.  You'll have to sort out all the rentals for the rental company to pick it up.  Tables clothes and napkins put in linen bags, chairs and tables taken down, etc. Having a team help you either that night, or the next morning would be a good option. 
6. Day Of Coordinator: And finally, you need to have someone in charge!  Yes I mean hiring a wedding planner to help plan before hand and day of, or even just a day of coordinator.  When you rent a wedding venue, there are people who work there, but when you are having it at your house, it's just you and your family.  There has to be someone to make sure the day goes smoothly, someone to answer all of the questions (there will be A LOT!), and to take care of anything that goes wrong.  Yes things will go wrong, but that shouldn't be something the mother of the bride should have to deal with.  They will also help set everything up in the morning, and take everything down, and clean up at night.  

Happy Planning!

XO, Val

outside wedding. by vebullock on Polyvore

Garden Wedding Ideas
elizabethannedesigns.com

Whimsical Floral Wedding Invites By The First Snow
weddingchicks.com

A Romantic Outdoor Wedding in Washington
theknot.com

North Carolina Lovebird Wedding
ruffledblog.com

Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding!

I understand that everyone has a budget, and there are plenty of ways to keep costs down:  

• Trim your guest list by eliminating kids, and plus ones.  
• Use candles instead of flowers as some, or all of your centerpieces. 
• Check with your venue and see if they have vases, votives you can use before you buy/rent them.
• Skip chair covers and sashes if it's an extra cost at your venue.  
• Have a buffet, or family style instead of a sit down dinner. 
• Have a small cake for the two of you to cut, and have sheet cakes (hidden in the back of course!) or cupcakes/cake pops for your guests. 
• Forget the limo and/or Photo Booth unless it fits into your budget. They're both fun, but not necessary.  
• Try to borrow a veil, sash/belt, and/or jewelry from a family member or friend as your "something borrowed/old". It will save you so much money!

Here are some examples of things not to do when looking to save money: 

• Not feeding your vendors. I once saw an article about ways to save money on your wedding, and one was not serving your vendors, or giving them a cheaper meal.  This is something that is not okay.  Your vendors will work VERY hard on your wedding day, and they deserve more than a turkey sandwich and a bag of chips.  

• A cash bar. It's NEVER okay to have a cash bar.  When someone gets invited to your wedding, they won't expect to have to pay for their own alcohol.  Limit it to just beer and wine and one or two signature drinks if you have to cut bar costs, but don't make people pay.  

• Only having one entree.  Some people think that a good way to cut costs is to limit people's choices to only 1 entree instead of the standard 2 or 3.  You will probably save $2-3 per person that way, but not everyone likes/wants chicken.  It's best to have chicken or fish, a red meat, and a vegetarian option. 

• Not having a DJ.  Some couples feel like hiring a DJ is an unnecessary cost when you could use your friends speakers and an iPod.  This is fine if you're just looking for some background music throughout the night, but not if you want people to dance and have a fun time.  A DJ is what really gets the party started.  There are ways to find a cheaper- but still a good- DJ.

• Skipping Hors d'oeuvres.  My number one rule is: your guests should NEVER be hungry! When your guests arrive at the venue for cocktail hour, there needs to be food! I'm not saying you need to spend $5-$10 extra per person for a ton of food that will fill up your guests before dinner.  You should however have some kind of cheese, fruit, veggies, etc. to hold them over.  

Happy Planning!!

XO, Val.  

just married. by vebullock featuring silk scarves

Kate Spade silk scarve
katespade.com

Rosey and Josh's Wedding | September 20, 2014

I met Rosey and Josh almost a year ago when they were looking for some help planning their September wedding. We went to Quail Hallow State Park in Hartville, and we all fell in love with it!  They were such an easy couple to work with!! If things didn't go exactly how they wanted, all they cared about was getting married.  What more could you ask for?!

The Ceremony.

I was a good blogger and actually brought my camera with me to this wedding! I somehow had a few seconds during the craziness to capture the brides creativity, and the happy couple! 

Because September 20th is so unpredictable when it comes to weather, we decided it would be best to rent a tent from Sullys Rental, and have the reception under there incase it rained, or was really cold.

If I would have guessed what the weather would be, 80 degrees and sunny would not be it!! Besides it being a little windy, we couldn't have asked for a better day!  Even though renting the tent was originally for rain/cold, it was a good thing we had it to keep the sun off everyone!

Rosey was one of the biggest DIY brides I've ever met, and to top it off she is EXTREMELY creative and crafty!

Toni from Dishes by Design and her team made the best wedding food I have ever had in my life, and I've had A LOT of wedding food! Rosey wanted some autumn food, so Toni suggested butternut squash ravioli with pecan cinnamon sauce!! It was my favorite part of the dinner! Everything else was a 10 out of 10, but those ravioli were a 12! I meant to take a picture of the dinner, but I ate it WAY too fast! Even the Hors d'oeuvres were superb! Toni and her staff were all extremely professional, and helpful.  

When Rosey told me that the woman making her cake was making a couple different flavors of cake and cupcakes, I didn't image such verity! It was such an adorable setup, and to top it off, everything was delicious!!

Having an outdoor wedding will ALWAYS have it's challenges, but we couldn't have asked for a better day! In my opinion it was a perfect wedding.  It was a beautiful venue, the weather was great, the food was delicious, and the guests had a great time! All those things together are what make an excellent wedding!  I was so happy with the way to day turned out, and I hope Rosey and Josh feel the same way! 

XO, Val. 

Julie and Dave's Wedding | July 19, 2014

I've known Julie for years, and helped with two weddings that she was a bridesmaid in.  I'm really happy both weddings went well, because soon after she got engaged, she called me asking to help her on her big day! She explained that she didn't want to worry about anything that day, and really wanted to enjoy it! Julie was a VERY DIY bride, and worked so hard on her wedding day! I wanted nothing more than to make the day she planned so perfectly to go as smoothy as possible.

Olivia Grace Perspective

Something VERY important to the couple was that people had a good time, and they did! The DJ was great and made sure people were out on the dance floor all night long!  Since Dave is a DJ, and does weddings all the time, I knew he'd have the best DJ for his own wedding.

Olivia Grace Perspective 

Unfortunately it rained on and off all day, but they made it outside at the right time, and got some AMAZING pictures! Olivia of Oliva Grace Perspective did SUCH a beautiful job! She's so sweet, so easy going, and such a professional photographer for being so young!    

  

The best way to explain Julie is 'Classic Beauty'.  She has beautiful pale skin, that doesn't need a drop of makeup, and then that gorgeous dark hair a la Audrey Hepburn.  I couldn't wait to see how lovely she'd look on her wedding day, and as you see, she was stunning!  Julie told me how great the day was, and how happy she was to finally be married.  Dave on the other hand didn't need to tell me.  I don't know Dave very well, but what I do know is he absolutely adores Julie. Dave couldn't keep his eyes off his new bride the whole night, there was such love and happiness in that look.  It was very special to witness their love. 

Olivia Grace Perspective 

Olivia Grace Perspective

Chris of Chris' Floral worked very hard with Julie to get the exact color of flowers she wanted.  The bright colors REALLY popped with the bridesmaids classic black Vera Wang dresses. 

Olivia Grace Perspective

Olivia Grace Perspective

The team of stylist at MC Hair did an amazing job on hair and makeup for the bride and bridesmaids! 

Olivia Grace Perspective

Olivia Grace Perspective

Julie and Dave were a pleasure to work with.  I'm so happy they chose me to help them on their special day! 

XO, Val.

Jen and Mike's Wedding | July 11, 2014

I had the pleasure of working with Jen only nine months after I helped her older sister Rachelle with her wedding. Being laid back is something that runs in the family! They both cared about getting married, and the rest of the details didn't matter much!

On the day of the wedding, Jen- who's already gorgeous- was STUNNING!! She would have loved to have her wedding outside, walk barefoot through a field, and put fresh flowers in her hair.  But being Catholic, that wasn't really an option for them.  She settled for a beautiful church wedding, a great pair of shoes, and a lovely crown of fresh flowers (and bouquet) from Chris' Floral, in her hair.  

Jen and Mike's First Look with Gra Photography, and the reception took place at St. George Fellowship Centre in Akron.  

Right after they their first look! So happy!!

I'm so happy I got a picture with the newly weds!!! 

Jen and Mike were such a pleasure to work with.  They are so in love and couldn't stop smiling the entire night!! 

XO, Val. 

The Perfect Fall Wedding!

When you think of a fall wedding, you might think rustic, and a red, orange, yellow and brown color scheme, but it can be much more than that! When I think of a fall wedding, I of course think of the beautiful changing leaves, and crisp fall air, but I also think of rich colors, and hearty food!

Fall weddings have always been a very popular time to get married.  If you’re having a fall wedding, don’t think that you have to have bales of hay, pumpkins, and burlap.  It also doesn't mean you have to have a halloween themed wedding!!

Instead of putting your bridal party in orange, try plum!  Orange, yellow, and red flowers will really pop!

Some couples think that since they are having a fall wedding, they need to have part or all of their wedding outdoors.  In Ohio the weather is VERY unpredictable! If you have your wedding in early fall- september, and early october- you could have nice weather to be outside, but the leaves probably won't change by then.  If you wait until mid-October into early November, you'll have a much better chance of beautiful fall leaves, but it could be 30 or 40 degrees and there could even be snow by then!! Everyone wants that perfect 60 degree day with the beautiful leaves, and the slight chill in the air.  The chances of getting that are, unfortunately, very rare.

You can still have the feel of a fall wedding without being outside.  Your centerpieces can have fall colors, you can have pumpkin flavored desserts, or your favors could be a delicious caramel apple.  You can even have a "candy bar" where guest fill a bag with candy!  It's like adult trick-or-treating! YUM!!

fall wedding by vebullock featuring fall home decor

As you can clearly see I LOVE fall! It's my favorite time of the year! If you can't/don't want to have your wedding in fall, it's also a great time to do engagement pictures!

Happy Planning!
Val



Red Arrow Photography

Fall home decor
etsy.com

Fall silk wedding bouquet in rust and burnt yellow, bridal bouquet
etsy.com