MOH K's Wedding Stationery Reveal

I was thrilled to do the stationery design and printing for my sister/MOH K's wedding earlier this month. Now that the wedding is done, I can show you all my hard work. WOOHOO! So without further ado, here it is! (all images personal unless otherwise noted)

Save the Date Card

Invitation

Response Card

Program Front

Program Back

Table Number Card

The table number cards in use - Photo copyright Autumn Rae Studios

Place Cards

And the place cards in action (these were used only on the head tables) - Photo copyright Autumn Rae Studios

Favor Bags (We made puppy chow and it turned out SO GOOD! Highly recommended if you are doing favors) -Photo copyright Autumn Rae Studios

And finally, the 18x24" Seating Chart

And now, since we've got a bit of image porn going on here anyway, have a looksie at some of the pics of my GORG sister and her beautiful wedding! She did a fabulous job at picking just the right details for her style, and who doesn't love some inspiration - especially if you are planning a winter wedding! Huge props to the photographers at Autumn Rae Studios out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The photos are spectacular! (all images copyright Autumn Rae Studios)

Bouquet/ring shot - always love these!

Us gals having a giggle (keeping ourselves warm)

And the gents looking dapper

The bride moments before the ceremony

Have you ever seen a more beautiful bride?!?!

The bridesmaid's gifts: pink rubber boots!

MOH K showing off her boots

The bride's shoes - ruffles add such beautiful detail!

Lookin' good ladies!

My favorite dance of the night - an un-rehearsed, upbeat little diddy my dad picked. The cutest and most fun father-daughter dance ever!

Sparkler exit

Cupcakes for dessert! Notice MOH K's nails - they are pink with silver sparkles that are thick at the top, and gradually decrease as they go down the nail. So pretty and unique!

Anyone else attend or plan a winter wedding?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

4 Month Check-in & MOH K's Wedding

Well readers, you may have noticed that I've been absent the past few weeks. With the exception of my blog posts about hosting my sister and MOH K's Bachelorette Party, and bridesmaid dress shopping, I haven't had a whole lot to say. But there is a reason for that...MOH K's wedding is TOMORROW!

I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone. Just like when we were planning for BM S's wedding back in October, we seemed to have so much time and then all of a sudden BAM it's here. The arrival of MOH K's wedding means that our own wedding is only 4 months away. Luckily, I've got a lot the big stuff done. Here's what I've checked off the list so far...

• Catering - JT's Catering (remember our tasty pizza/pasta feast!)
• Photography - Katy Batdorff Photography
• Venue - Johnson Park
• Wedding Dress - David's Bridal (stay tuned after the wedding for the reveal!)
• Bridesmaid Dresses - David's Bridal

Things I'm working on now:

• DJ
• Flowers
• Choosing hotel for room block
• Invitation design

As for the rest, I'm not thinking about any of it until after this weekend is over. I've been hard at work getting all the paper goods printed for K's wedding, which I will post after the weekend is through. Until then, stay tuned for lots more wedding planning goodies on the way!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

More Vistaprint Deals!!

You might remember last month when I posted about the label deal at Vistaprint. Well, it's back! And this time, there's more free/cheap deals to be had!

For a limited time (not sure how limited, since I can't find a date anywhere), you can score 6 products for FREE, all you pay is shipping. This includes the following products:

• 250 business cards
• 10 photo cards
• photo wall calendar
• ceramic mug
• t-shirt
• canvas tote bag

Just stop over here to choose your free item. Design it and add it to your cart, then come back and use the link again to add other items (if you want). Note that adding pictures, changing fonts/colors, etc. might incur extra charges on some products, so pay attention to what you select. Also note that you will pay shipping for all of these items, but I just had 4 items in my cart and shipping was just under $10 for all of it.

While you're there, you can also get 140 labels for $3.99. I uploaded my own design and they were still that price. Here's a peek at them:

Our return address labels - via Vistaprint

Also, I wanted to provide a way for our guests to share photos they take at our wedding, so I made a share site on Shutterfly. Guests can log in and upload their pictures so we can all see them. I wanted a cheap and easy way to give this info to our guests, so I used Vistaprint's free business card deal to make some cards with all the info on them. Do I need 250? Certainly not, but I can't really think of a cheaper and easier way to make them! I used one of their templates so they wouldn't charge me extra.

Photo sharing information card - via Vistaprint

At least it's a shade of purple. And the design isn't bad either. Some of the designs they have on there are, well, a little "ech". A little tip if you haven't used Vistaprint before: if you don't want text on a line, just leave the line blank. It took a little finessing to get everything on this bad boy, but in the end I'm satisfied with how it turned out! If you want to take advantage of any of these deals, I would recommend getting over there sooner than later, it's hard to say how long it will last!

Did anyone use a photo sharing site for guests to upload their pictures? What site did you use and how did it work for you?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Picture Perfect

Mr. Spaghetti and I had an amazing time last Tuesday on the beautiful beaches of Grand Haven shooting our engagement photos. Our photographer Katy Batdorff captured some gorgeous images of us and the sunset on the beach and the pier.

For a sneak peek at some of the photos, visit her website here. She took over 300 total, I couldn't believe it!

Were you happy with your engagement photos? Did it give you a chance to get comfortable with your photographer?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Photographer Update

Well in my last post I was somewhat, um, distraught, about photographers. Since then, I've googled just about every single photographer in the state of Michigan. I've gotten some quotes all over the board, from $450 up to over $2500, and I've scheduled meetings with my top 2 contenders!

First up is Katy Batdorff Photography, a local photographer with an artistic flair. I like the perspective of a lot of her shots.

And the second meeting will be with Huisman Photography, also from the Grand Rapids area. They are a husband/wife team that has a more traditional, but beautiful, style.

Before I give you the quotes I received from these wonderful studios, I'll explain what I was looking for in a photography package:

• engagement session
• 5 hours of coverage
• cd or dvd of full-resolution images with no copyrights

Based on my request, I was quoted $450 from Huisman Photography and $850 from Katy Batdorff Photography.  There is a small (big) gap in the quotes, and although price is a huge factor for us, having a photographer whose personality and style really fit with us is most important. Therefore, the decision will depend on how each of the in-person meetings go. And if neither really seem like the right fit for us, I do have a backup...

Alivia Duran Photography quoted $900 for a package with my specifications. She does stunning work and I would definitely be interested in meeting her, however she is out of the country currently and we won't be able to do so quite yet. We'll see how this weeks meetings go.

Happy planning!

Miss Spaghetti

Wedding Photography Woes

According to my handy little checklist, now is the time that I should start looking for a photographer. The problem with this is, I am a wedding photographer. My mom and I have a small side-business doing wedding photography. There are many things in our wedding that I am planning to DIY...wedding photography is unfortunately not one that I can do. Nor is it one that Mr. Spaghetti or  any family members would let me do (believe me, I've mentioned it once or twice and gotten quite a bit of flack).

So my dilemma lies in knowing how much it actually costs to photograph a wedding, versus how much people pay for it. I will tell you that the prices my mom and I charge are considered "budget", and are on the low end for our area. But so far the lowest price I can find is $700, and that is basically 5 hours of shooting and a DVD of all the pictures, copyright free. I'm not saying that wedding photographers don't deserve every penny they get, I know it is a lot of work. But average prices around here are $2000-$2500. I just can't justify that. Nor would I ever pay that!

Is there anything in your wedding that you couldn't justify spending much on? How did you handle it?