Happy Halloween and Some Wedding Re-Cappage

First off, Happy Halloween to you all! We have a potluck every year at work and a costume contest, and here I am all dressed up:

Princess Leia a.k.a Miss Spaghetti - Personal Image

I'm in it to win it this year! I love Halloween and all the fun it brings to a normal workday!

On another more wedding-y related note, Bridesmaid S is now a married lady! The wedding was Saturday and was beautiful in every way. We had nice sunny weather, which is a blessing this time of year in Michigan. Yes, it was cold, and yes, all of the girls in the wedding party nearly froze taking group shots at Centennial Park in Holland. But the leaves were a perfect combination of reds, oranges and yellows, and there were plenty still left in the trees, making for some fun fall-themed pictures!

Since my phone had only a drop of battery life left in it by the reception, I had to stash it in my coat and didn't have it on me the rest of the night. Mr. S managed to take a couple pics for me (his dang Iphone camera really has nothing on the camera in my Droid, so sorry for the crappy quality)...

Our caramel corn favors with my custom label - Personal Image

Cupcake table display - Personal Image

It's really hard to tell in the picture, but her cupcake table display was absolutely adorable. A friend of hers made the cupcakes and the display stand. It is a 5-tier stand, and each level has it's own set of battery operated lights underneath, so no need to plug in! And the best part is, she said I can use it at my wedding if I want. Ummm...YA! Once I see some of the pro pics, I'll try to share some better ones of the details she put so much thought and effort into. Her personal style really showed through!

The rest of the night consisted of good food, dancing, a little karaoke, and of course, the Cupid Shuffle.  I will admit to at one point stealing the microphone from one of the groomsmen to sing "Closing Time" by Semisonic :)

I'll sign off for now, but stay tuned as I begin to research beverage options...
MUWWAAAAHAAAHAAAAHAAAA!

Getting Corn-y

Well it's finally time for Bridesmaid/Cousin S to get married! This coming Saturday is the big day, and needless to say I've been a bit absent from the blogging world as I have been helping her with lots of wedding projects! Last Saturday night was spent at S's house with she and Maid of Honor/Sister K (we are both bridesmaids) putting delicious freshly-made caramel corn by my good friend over at Marckini Concessions into favor bags. YUM! Such a great idea by S to have this for her wedding favors! In the midst of all the bag-filling and sampling, I didn't even snap a picture. But I will be taking lots of pics at her wedding this weekend, so I'll be sure to upload some.

So how did we do it? S bought plastic favor bags from Oriental Trading:

Image courtesy of Oriental Trading

We started with 6 plastic tubs full of caramel corn, and ended up with 170 bags. We tied the bags with ribbon:

Image courtesy of Oriental Trading (hers were cream colored, not black)

And slapped (carefully placed) a label on the front:

Personal design and image

Ta-da! A tasty and unique wedding favor. My other BIG project for S's wedding is all of her stationery. I designed and printed almost all of her paper goods for the day:

Invitation-Personal Image

Response Card-Personal Image

Advice Card-Personal Image

Place Cards for the head table-Personal Image

Ceremony Programs (Front and back)-Personal Image

16x20 Seating Chart, mounted on foam core and to be displayed on an easel-Personal Image

Table Number Cards-Personal Image

Phew! I'm done with everything except the seating chart, which needs to be printed and mounted at Office Depot since I can't print that big at work, and the programs. For the invitations, I used Cordenons Stardream Opal 105# cover weight paper for the backer, and S picked out some ribbon at Hobby Lobby that she liked. I used an image of the ribbon on some of the pieces to tie it together.

Anyone else have any big projects lately that are unrelated to their own wedding? Between S's wedding this weekend, and K's wedding in early February, I don't know how I'm going to get anything done for mine in June!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Vistaprint Label Deal

One thing I love is a good deal on paper products! If you need address labels, check out this deal at Visaprint...

Go here to select your label. Personalize it and add to your cart. Do not add any other items to your order! When you get to the shipping page, you should be able to select Priority Shipping for $3.50.

Your order total should be $3.50 for 140 address labels! I can think of so many things a bride can do with labels...

Thank You Labels - Courtesy of Etsy

Bottle Labels - Courtesy of My Own Labels

Favor Bag Labels - Courtesy of My Own Labels

Favor Box Labels - Courtesy of Magnet Street

Not to mention your return address labels! The best part is you can download a template, design your own, and upload it for print, and it is still only $3.50. I tried some myself to test it, because sometimes when you upload your own design it adds a fee to it. But not for this one :) So you can use your own monogram, icon, whatever you want!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Well Suited

I have to share with you all how very proud I am of my Mr. S today! If you recall from my post about dressing the men in our wedding, I wrote about how I was kinda sorta leaving it up to him. I want the guys to look good, but I also want them to be comfortable. Our wedding is in early June, and in Michigan that can mean just about any type of weather, but most likely it will be warm. So the decision partly fell on him since he, after all, would be the one wearing it!

Yesterday when I came home from work, Mr. S informed me that he had decided he and his groomsmen would be wearing black or navy suits, since most of them already own them. I am proud of him because he has been very laid back about almost all of the wedding planning we've done so far. When I told him he could wear whatever he wants, he still expected me to tell him what he wanted to wear! So the fact that he made a decision (a smart and money-saving one at that) is quite impressive, and much appreciated. The only thing we will have to pick out is what color shirts and ties to have them wear. This is exactly what the guys did this past August when Mr. S's dad got married, and the fellas looked great!

Image courtesy of Autumn Rae Studios - That's Mr. S scowling on the right (the sun was in their eyes a tad...)

Since that part is figured out, I've found a couple cute and inexpensive suit sets for the Little Noodle that just might work:

Suit Set at JCPenney - $25!

Suit Set at Sears - $36.99

Suit Set at Kohl's - $75 (this one is not on sale but most likely would be at some point)

I'll have to see them in person to check out what kind of purple it actually is, can't really tell in online images. Is there anything in your wedding that your hubby-to-be made a decision on, or that you gave him the option to do so? Were you happy with his decision?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Dessert Anyone?

Oh yeah, that's right, we're talking desserts. My biggest weakness. But when it comes to our wedding, I'm willing to put aside all thoughts of fat content and sugar highs, because we're making it all about what we LOVE. And that, good people, is dessert.

Neither Mr. S or myself are big cake fans. But our dream of an elaborate ice cream buffet with all the toppings was quickly put to rest when we were quoted in the range of $600 by a few places (ouch!). And that isn't really a DIY project I want to take on or handle on my wedding day (can we say, meltdown? hehe). So I've opted for a common middle-ground, a little something called the Dessert Buffet. I guess it's a rather popular thing these days, which was news to me. I've been scouring the 'net for ideas, and I've seen some super cute and simple ideas for them.

First, let's talk content. I've narrowed it down to a few simple snacks that I can probably make or buy myself. The first one is the increasingly popular "cake pop". My mom bought me this handy-dandy cake pop pan a while ago:

Nordicware Cake Pop Pans via Baking Bites

Now I have yet to actually use it, so the decision will be pending on my ability to figure it out and create something edible. Stay tuned for that!

The other items I hope to have are more traditional desserts, such as brownies, cookies, and maybe a few cupcakes. Using my mom's Cricut, I can cut out beautiful cupcake wraps in any kind of paper. Side note: this is a pretty big undertaking since it takes me about 10 minutes to do one wrap. Anyone who's used one of these machines can probably relate...or maybe it's just me...

Now, onto the decor. MOH K (my fashionista sista) has become a pro at making tissue paper poms. I really like the look of them in this pic:

via Sweet Designs blog

I love the different purples (my color), and the ways they incorporated the poms. I can have a few hanging, a few on vases, and even just sitting on the table throughout the desserts.

Or perhaps purple pinwheels as a backdrop:

via Live Smile Celebrate blog

I'm finding lots of pretty purple inspiration on the interwebs, so I don't think I'll have trouble deciding on some cute deco's for our sweet dessert table!  And trust me, I have been thinking about the painstaking task of making all these delicious treats. I have yet to really investigate whether this will be cheaper than buying pre-made, or paying someone else to do it all together. But one thing is for sure, I will let you know exactly what I find out! (Funny side note, when I typed "pre-made" it must not have been a word, because my auto correct wanted to change it to "pee-made"! As if that is a word, let alone a word I would use when talking about making food. Who comes up with these?)

Anyone else planning a dessert buffet? Are you making it yourself? Let's hear some of the treats you are having!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

A Delicious Love Story

Boy meets girl. They eat pizza. They live happily ever after.

Image courtesy of A Big Story blog

What have we learned from this story? That pizza is deeelish, and makes perfect sense for us and our reception dinner. What some might think is tacky, or "not fancy enough", sounds like just the perfect dinner idea for us and our park lodge wedding. But it's not just pizza, it's fresh salad, breadsticks, and chicken alfredo. YUM.

Can you tell I've got food on the brain? Last night Mr. S and I met with our first catering company, JT's Catering. It is a local restaurant/sports bar/take-out place that makes all their food from scratch. No jars or cans, people, it's all fresh. And we could tell. At first, Mr. S was leary, since he had never heard of them before (they are located aaaaalllll the way across town from where we normally venture). But once he started eating, his mind was made up. "I'm done looking, this is what I want." he said. Although I was thrilled for him to have an opinion, I casually let him know that until I was ABSOLUTELY sure we had found the best food for the best deal, I would continue to research our options.

The difference between JT's and a lot of catering companies that I've contacted is that we got to go in and sit down, have an entire meal, and even take home the leftovers. Most catering companies will give you a few bites of a few of your options. This is nice and all, but feeding us a massive dinner sure was a good sales tactic, and it worked like a charm on Mr. S. Overall, I was highly impressed with not only the service and demeanor of their catering manager, but also with the quality and taste of the food. They even offered to make Mr. S. his own special batch of cheesy bread for the wedding, since they only do plain bread sticks on the buffet (insert Mr. S's drool here). Oh, and speaking of accommodating, since my mom has to follow a gluten-free diet, they said they would make her a personal gluten-free pizza for no extra charge. Impressive!

The best part of all this, is that the catering manager didn't think he'd have any problems coming in at our budget ($9.50 per person). And he would include disposable plates and silverware, and set up and clean up service. He would also be able to include a dessert that they make in house, which is some kind of a graham cracker, vanilla pudding, chocolate pan of deliciousness, and I can't remember what he called it. Since we don't plan on having a cake, I thought this would be a great choice for a dessert. Our dream of having an ice cream buffet are dim, because of the cost. So I've been toying around with some kind of a dessert buffet anyway.

Is anyone else planning a non-traditional buffet for their wedding reception? What do you think of our pizza buffet idea?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

The "Bride Workout"

I've been a Tae-Bo fan since high school gym class, where we did the workout two mornings every week. Ok, so I wasn't much of a fan back then. But in my post-high-school life, I've come to really enjoy the workouts, and Billy Blanks yelling for me to "control my punch" and "lift my knees". Despite the goofy moves, I've found that Tae-Bo really has helped to give me energy, and to feel more toned.

I go through phases of being a very good Tae-Bo-er, and then things get busy or I just miss a couple days, and I'm off again. Of all fitness videos I've tried though, I've been most loyal to Billy. Therefore, I've decided my official "Bride Workout" will be Tae-Bo. I've got a DVD that has 8 short but challenging workouts on it.

Billy-Courtesy of Amazon

 

 

I've also found that if I don't do my workout in the morning, I won't do it at all. So doing one or two of the 10-minute workouts before work is my best option for success. I'm starting with a goal of 3 days a week. This also includes daily stretching, which is one of my favorite parts of working out. And, my to-and-from work walk 5 days a week (about 15 minutes a day total of power-walking).

So watch out Billy, I'll be joining your fitness gang again soon!

Do you plan to do some kind of "bride workout"? If so, what is it?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti