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Shbobdb posted:Any ideas for Groomsmen's gifts? I'm thinking a custom growler for each but half my folks aren't all that into beer, so that, uhhh, complicates it. Not really sure what they'd want. I've got a solid mix of Williamsburg-academics, Sunset Park socialists, businessmen and farmers. So . . . a broad range. I'm kinda stuck. This is what we're giving ours: celebratory cigars cufflinks custom bow-ties comp their hotel room You know, you don't have to give them all the same thing. Individualize them: - gearheads/mechanics/guys who love their cars - book of car wash certificates - gift certificates to Steam, iTunes, Google Play store, etc - sports buffs - ticket to the next game or a jersey from their team - music buffs - ticket to concert in town/the opera/whatever - gun buffs - box of ammo for their hardest-to-find ammo - golfers - personalized golf club links - calligrapher - bottle of nice ink or a very nice hand-carved wooden pen - tabletop gamer - a game they're missing from their collection, or a nice set of polyhedrals/dice - engraved Leatherman - takes care of himself - spa/manipedi certificate - steampunk - goggles or other costume pieces, the more unique the better
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Jul 10, 2014 19:36
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We're not having groomsmen, my fiance hasn't been here all that long so he hasn't really formed any super solid friendships and he also doesn't feel the need to really make it official since the guys that are coming are all his friends and will help him out and do whatever and give him a stag night etc anyway. I guess they're a kind of unofficial grooms party? Anyway, I on the other hand am pretty close to the girls in my bridal party and I just finished making them their gifts last night  I was going to put the hanky inside it but the packaging is so cute so I am just going to tie it all up with some brown twine.  Clockwise from bag: Travel pack of tissues, one side tissue removed and replaced with a little emergency kit, nut butter sachet (something that can be eaten without lipstick disturbance!), lip balm, clear nail polish, oil absorbing papers, hairspray, hanky, nail file. We're also paying their accommodation, $150 dress contribution (they can wear whatever they want in navy), paying for hair and makeup (incl lipstick for touch-ups) etc.
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Jul 11, 2014 00:03
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Does anyone know any good photographers in Melbourne, Australia? Just don't know if something is too cheap or too expensive. Also I feel like a lot are charging a lot for printing different things when there are plentiful services available for that.
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Jul 14, 2014 12:33
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Getting married. In 5 days. Found out that a friend and his girlfriend who were all "Meh, maybe we'll show up. I'll let you know" are now coming, and I found out through one of my bridesmaids. It's so nice that he didn't actually let me know he was coming for sure with less than a week to go before the wedding. I am now one guest away from max capacity.(we won't have enough tables and chairs for more people) I just hope more unexpected people don't show up.
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Jul 14, 2014 15:13
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teacup posted:Does anyone know any good photographers in Melbourne, Australia? Just don't know if something is too cheap or too expensive. Also I feel like a lot are charging a lot for printing different things when there are plentiful services available for that. Though I guess if you're lazy like me having the photographer deliver prints might actually be handy- 8 months after the wedding I still haven't bothered getting anything printed yet, ha!
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Jul 14, 2014 16:12
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nyerf posted:We had our wedding in Bendigo, approx 90 minute drive north of Melbourne. Local photographer there did a deal for $2k- 8 hour coverage for two photographers, editing and post processing in colour and b+w, full rights to the photos; and all high res photos delivered on usb sticks. We got hundreds of photos, well worth the money I say. What! So cheap - many I can see are far more for that and offer less in terms of hours on, with maybe some printing thrown in.
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Jul 16, 2014 00:23
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nyerf posted:Though I guess if you're lazy like me having the photographer deliver prints might actually be handy- 8 months after the wedding I still haven't bothered getting anything printed yet, ha! I got a bunch printed because it was only a couple bucks a print, then looked at frames and went  at frame prices and so the photo prints are still in the cardboard they came in six months later.Get canvas prints. It's like $20/picture and they still look good not framed.
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Jul 16, 2014 02:44
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Yeah that is super cheap! An amazing photographer who is also a friend of mine (photographer first, that's important) is doing my wedding and she charged us $2500 plus travel but she is also coming up to my town (she lives in Noosa, I'm in Rockhampton QLD) to do our post-destination-wedding party back home. So really it's a mega bargain for us but that's sorta mates rates. teacup - she networks a lot, would you like me to ask her if she knows anyone good in Melbs? This is the e-shoot she did for us which was included in the package.
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Jul 16, 2014 03:10
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Holy loving poo poo balls. I get married in 93 days and I feel like I don't have jack poo poo done. Dress is bought, reception and ceremony sites reserved, DJ booked, food planned (don't have to finalize until 2 weeks before)
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Jul 16, 2014 03:15
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:Holy loving poo poo balls. I get married in 93 days and I feel like I don't have jack poo poo done. Dress is bought, reception and ceremony sites reserved, DJ booked, food planned (don't have to finalize until 2 weeks before) 94 days for me, are you Oct 18? There's prob some kind of time difference, haha. You sound super organised!
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Jul 16, 2014 03:28
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Sharks Below posted:94 days for me, are you Oct 18? There's prob some kind of time difference, haha. You sound super organised! Yes I am Oct 18th. Organized my rear end!!!! Are we using the same date? What do you have done?
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Jul 16, 2014 04:05
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Sharks Below posted:Yeah that is super cheap! An amazing photographer who is also a friend of mine (photographer first, that's important) is doing my wedding and she charged us $2500 plus travel but she is also coming up to my town (she lives in Noosa, I'm in Rockhampton QLD) to do our post-destination-wedding party back home. So really it's a mega bargain for us but that's sorta mates rates. She has a few recommended photographers on her website so I'm sending emails around. Not getting married till October 2015 so still some time but want to look around!
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Jul 16, 2014 04:15
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teacup posted:Does anyone know any good photographers in Melbourne, Australia? Just don't know if something is too cheap or too expensive. Also I feel like a lot are charging a lot for printing different things when there are plentiful services available for that. Check out Elleni; she's a good friend and colleague of mine when she was up in Brisbane, is all sorts of incredible, and an all-round talent: http://ellenitoumpas.com.au/weddings/
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Jul 16, 2014 04:44
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SuzieMcAwesome posted:Yes I am Oct 18th. Organized my rear end!!!! Are we using the same date? What do you have done? Well my situation might be different since I have so few attendees! I have 15 people plus photographer and celebrant (both friends of mine). Celebrant booked Photographer booked Our flights booked Ceremony booked at a berry farm - fully pre-paid for venue hire and refreshments immediately following Reception is booked - we booked out a small and gorgeous restaurant for the evening My dress measurements have been taken and I have my first fitting next Friday - paid Makeup and hair for bridesmaids is booked & paid for Everyone has booked flights All accom is booked Honeymoon campervan booked & paid for All but one of my bridesmaids has picked their dress and shoes and I have given them their contributions & little BM gifts Hens night (bachelorette party) all booked and being organised by my BMs Cake booked Flowers booked Rings bought Still to do: Hair trial with veil Finalise styling (table decorations basically) & order bits and pieces for that Write vows Have engagement ring cleaned Ummm there is probably stuff I'm missing!
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Jul 16, 2014 05:33
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Getting married in 3 days. I probably won't be able to sleep the next 3 nights. Also, the forecast says Saturday is going to be cold and wet. I was looking forward to getting married in the yard instead of the garage. 
Nessa fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Jul 16, 2014 |
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Jul 16, 2014 16:11
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Nessa posted:Also, the forecast says Saturday is going to be cold and wet. I was looking forward to getting married in the yard instead of the garage. Don't bother looking at the weather, you'll just stress yourself out. A snowstorm was in the forecast a few days before my wedding and by the time my actual wedding day rolled around it was bright and clear and the snow didn't roll in till much later that evening  (It was still 10 degrees out)
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Jul 16, 2014 23:16
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Nessa posted:Also, the forecast says Saturday is going to be cold and wet. I was looking forward to getting married in the yard instead of the garage. Yeah, don't freak out. You can do absolutely nothing to change it. We had this mess of a storm bearing down on us. It was forecast to hit at 4PM, which coincidentally was exactly when our outdoor ceremony was planned to start:  It didn't start raining until 8PM, after dinner and when everyone had already moved inside for the bar. Which is good because our indoor ceremony plans were totally half assed and would have been a huge mess. Lesson learned, do not trust the weatherman. But trust the radar. 
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Jul 16, 2014 23:35
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How does it cost $18k to feed 100 people? And more importantly, why are we doing this and not just going to the courthouse? My fiance's Persian family had better appreciate this.
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Jul 17, 2014 05:59
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I really like the pageantry and bigness of weddings. Happening in less than a month and the total bill is going to be around 23K for 192 guests. Not that I haven't worked hard and scrimped and saved and yada-yada, but I feel really lucky that I am in a position to throw a party on this scale for a bunch of people I love. It's a wonderfully exciting and humbling experience. Plus it is a huge loving party.
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Jul 17, 2014 08:28
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Jamais Vu Again posted:How does it cost $18k to feed 100 people? And more importantly, why are we doing this and not just going to the courthouse? My fiance's Persian family had better appreciate this. 18k for the whole thing or 18k for only catering? We spent ~7k on food for 100 people and we had some pretty tasty food from a wedding caterer. Are you doing a 7 course meal of caviar? Edit: in a major city too, not middle of nowhere Alabama
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Jul 17, 2014 17:19
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LogisticEarth posted:Yeah, don't freak out. You can do absolutely nothing to change it. We had this mess of a storm bearing down on us. It was forecast to hit at 4PM, which coincidentally was exactly when our outdoor ceremony was planned to start: I'm still hoping that the rain just misses the farm. Sometimes the weather out there can be completely different from the weather in the city, since it's over an hours drive away. Everyone was also telling me I'll be too warm to wear something over my shoulders, but at this point, it looks like I'm going to be shivering in my wedding photos.:/
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Jul 17, 2014 17:47
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Ring insurance price check: $77.50 a year for a $6,200 appraised ring. It's my local house/car agent quote, sounds high to me, but i know nothing.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:53
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Nessa posted:I'm still hoping that the rain just misses the farm. Sometimes the weather out there can be completely different from the weather in the city, since it's over an hours drive away. I was in my friend's wedding party and they decided to get married on December 30th. With the windchill it was around -30 out. Just be sure to bring something warm to wear between photos and you probably won't look like you're cold at all.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:55
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My wedding was January 25th, I think I can lend some advice on being cold during photos We had a car with the heat cranked just outside each shot, and I had a cloak to wear between shots if I wasn't ducking into the car. Move around a lot, too. I don't know what your dress is like, but mine had me sweating after just a small amount of moving around since it was so heavy. We got ~800 photos, there are precisely two pictures where you can tell we're cold and they ended up being some people's favorites for some reason. I'll try to remember to post them when I get home. Edit: Candid between posed shots picture, you can tell I was freezing my rear end off:  (My in-laws love this picture for some reason, I think they have a giant print framed in their house) Actual posed picture:  Can't tell it's below 20 except for the snow. You'll be fine
Problem! fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Jul 17, 2014 |
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Jul 17, 2014 19:21
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:18k for the whole thing or 18k for only catering? We spent ~7k on food for 100 people and we had some pretty tasty food from a wedding caterer. Are you doing a 7 course meal of caviar? 18k for the catering (from one of our two options) for a June wedding in Monterey, CA. Tri-tip, chicken, taco bar, passed apps, and a cheese table. We will probably go with the other caterer (who is also Persian, which made my in-laws perk up), who quoted about $65/head for everything including staffing and rentals. We will supply our own booze - beer, wine and two signature cocktails. Luckily, my in-laws are well off and willing to pay for the catering, but... Jesus, it seems like too much for one day.
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Jul 17, 2014 20:38
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$65/ head is WAY more reasonable for that than $180. Holy hell will caterers screw you on weddings if you don't do your research. Either through selling you too much food or just plain old overpricing. For what its worth we spent about $8500 (including booze and staff tip) for 115 people in eastern PA and felt like we got a great deal. Not sure how that stacks up regionally to Monterrey.
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Jul 17, 2014 20:48
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bathhouse posted:Ring insurance price check: $77.50 a year for a $6,200 appraised ring. It's my local house/car agent quote, sounds high to me, but i know nothing. Ours is $87/year through state farm renters/car for a $10k appraised ring. It was a little bit higher when we lived in KY.
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Jul 20, 2014 01:56
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 I tricked a girl into marrying me First of all, thanks to all goons who posted... I dunno 6-9 months back when I was worrying myself sick about preparations and vendors and whatnot, I got some real inspiration out of this thread. I know this isn't the "brag about my wedding" thread but I wanted to mention that mine happened with nary a hitch and combing through this thread was a big help! We got so incredibly lucky I can't stand it. We went about this in a bit of a non-traditional way where I (I'm a dude) was just as deeply involved in the planning process as my wife was and planning was rough. She works with the state legislature here and runs 14 hour days from January through June, so things needed to be DONE about 6 months ago. - We're not religious, we only had a reception (read: big party) at a family house in upstate New York - Total budget was about $25k all in (NY prices  ), 100 guests. No engagement ring, no real proposal, I had just bought a car?- Wife tells people who ask that she parks the ring in the driveway because it's too big to fit in the house. A couple of takeaways that I thought were particularly important. - First, the fewer people involved at any step of the decision-making process, the better. My wife's family tends towards suffering from too-many-cooks syndrome. We went through the checklists that TheKnot provided and did our research, allowed for some opinions and debate, but then stood firm on our choices. It is your wedding, YOU should feel in control and if that requires being a bit autocratic, then so be it. This (ideally, HEH) only happens once. - Second however is a corollary to the above: we became well-versed in abdicating responsibility to our vendors. We made sure to pick people who were good at their jobs. Then, having never thrown a wedding and not being an event planner or a florist or a photographer or a chef, just said "Here's our idea, run with it!" Turns out, this works incredibly well. Artists will create art, IF YOU LET THEM. We came in with no preconceptions of how we wanted our wedding to go, and left with complete satisfaction! - Third was just to rely on the resources you have, and throw money at the ones you don't. This actually helps save money in the long run. If you have connections, call them in! As soon as we announced our engagement people started making offers to help, chances are you will have this happen. My wife's sister is a professional pastry chef, she made a simple layer wedding cake and then hundreds (my god, swimming in them) of cupcakes, for free. My mother made my wife's wedding dress. My mother made her own wedding dress 43 years ago. That said, if you hit a wall or do not have any idea how to proceed on a certain item, think about how you're allocating your budget towards it. It sounds trite but your budget should facilitate your ideas, not constrain them. - I guess fourth: we didn't bother with bridesmaids or groomsmen. Holy poo poo what a nightmare that sounds like. Here are some pictures (still waiting on full res digitals from the photographer):  Wife  Wife  My goony rear end  Post-ceremony, way to go mom Hurray! We had also been contacted by a reporter prior to the event and we got published in the NY Times wedding section on the Sunday after the event. Unbelievable, everything worked, I'm so happy! Thanks thread 
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Jul 20, 2014 02:59
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Congrats whitey. Brag all you want!
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Jul 20, 2014 04:06
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Nessa posted:I'm still hoping that the rain just misses the farm. Sometimes the weather out there can be completely different from the weather in the city, since it's over an hours drive away. I had the opposite problem - middle of summer with 100% humidity by the ocean and the AC in the brand new hotel we were in was on the fritz. Had to wipe my face several times during the ceremony. e.g.  Wife looks just fine of course. We just celebrated four years. Time flies.
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Jul 21, 2014 03:33
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leidend posted:I had the opposite problem - middle of summer with 100% humidity by the ocean and the AC in the brand new hotel we were in was on the fritz. Had to wipe my face several times during the ceremony. e.g. Set your face with powder next time. Congratulations!
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Jul 21, 2014 07:01
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Finally did the wedding thing. I am glad that poo poo is done with. A road trip was tacked onto it because there was no way I could fit my dress and everything on a plane, and the driving sucked. It was hugely DIY, and it involved my aunt and cousins being my fairy godmothers and letting me do ridiculous poo poo like mail 100 flowers to their house. One cousin did my hair and makeup and another did flowers. If my family weren't already crafty, then I wouldn't have been so trusting. I haven't sat down and crunched numbers but we did pretty good (probably under 7k), we just didn't invite anyone too distant so food was like $300 and was made by the venue. That's two zeros. After getting a quote from an outside caterer for $5k for what I thought was a "small" (75, kosher) wedding, I decided if I only see these people at funerals, they're not invited. I can always see them the next time someone dies. I hacked up the guest list. My mother's side is crawling with cousins because her mother was the youngest of 8, and I'm not close to any of these 2nd cousins and don't even have them on Facebook. I decided to be Bridezilla and we only invited like 20 people. Because gently caress it. This is more of a milestone thing for the two of us than a giant party for all the random Irish relatives to get drunk at. The only thing we splurged on were the photographers. I've known them for years so I got two shooters for $2,500, which is a super crazy deal. It helped because one other cousin was having a baby at the same time (we announced our wedding date and then they decided to announce their due date was the day before) so we got to cut down on even more people! Edit: we were expecting a horrible storm that day too, I kept checking the weather and there was going to possibly be a tornado as well, but absolutely nothing of the sort happened. It was nice clear humid Midwestern June day after all.
samizdat fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 22, 2014 00:49
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So the wedding finally happened. It rained on and off all day, but managed to withhold itself through the ceremony. So many things went wrong on Friday and Saturday morning that I'm amazed that it all came together in the end. I got so many compliments on my table design and was asked what book or magazine I got it from. My bridesmaids were seriously telling me I should go into interior design. I don't think I'm quite good enough, but it was a nice compliment anyway! My bridesmaid and cousin are absolute saints. They did so much work! We also realized that my mom prepared way way too much food. We were expecting up to 75 (63 came), but I'm sure we could have fed 250 people, and nearly had the place settings for it too. My mom is terrible at estimating how much of a thing she needs and how much time it will take her. She made meatballs, fish and chicken, but made each batch to feed 75 people. I really wish I had known sooner, or else I would have told her that she could have cut her food bill by 2 thirds.
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Jul 22, 2014 08:59
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115 days until the date. My parents, who have never had to deal with any standard wedding etiquette or procedure, booked the limos because according to my future MIL that's one of the responsibilities of the grooms family. My dad did his best, our wedding party is too big to fit in standard limos so the rental company recommended a hummer limo to fit us all. My future (and incredibly racist) MIL went ballistic on the phone at my fiance making her break down in tears. In my words (because hers were not fit to be repeated), the hummer limo was not "classy enough". I cleaned the whole thing up by swapping them out for a less exciting limo bus. At this point we are both counting down the days until we never have to talk to her parents again. Why didn't we just elope?
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Jul 22, 2014 18:10
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couldcareless posted:
Man I love most of my in-laws and I was even asking this question throughout the process. You can do it, just don't let their insanity affect you financially
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Jul 22, 2014 18:20
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Yeah, the whole mother-of-the-bride thing is more difficult to navigate than I thought. My mom and I are really close, and growing up she always lamented home her mother (my grandmother) totally ran the show for my parents wedding, decided the guestlist, venue, food, everything, and how her second marriage at a friend's ranch was so much better than that first stuffy hotel wedding to my dad. My fianc and I could afford to pay for our own wedding, but don't want to completely deplete our savings when we're looking to upgrade to a bigger place and start a family soon, so when my mom and step-dad started offering to pay for big chunks of the wedding (food, booze, service) I was all excited because I thought my mom had learned what not to do from her mom. Then she starts talking about adding like 40 extra people to the guest list, including friends of hers from growing up and business associates of my step-dad, people I've never met or don't remember, plus their spouses. I've written off keeping it in the double digits as I originally hoped because my blended family is already up to 50 people for my side, but now we're talking about going from 100-120 to over 150. I guess I shouldn't complain as the cost per person affects the food and service more than anything else, but we might still have to have a come to Jesus talk about expectations. She's already picked the theme: "effortlessly elegant" which is not really the funky DIY direction I was going in...
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Jul 24, 2014 23:02
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Question about suiting. I have a light grey suit that I am going to wear and a single best man. There are 8 other men in the rest of the 'wedding party': my dad, her dad, my brother, her brother, and two buddies from university that are ushers. What is the good way of indicating that they belong to the wedding party without having everyone rent matching suits (I do not want to pay for everyone to rent a suit, nor do I want to have to make other people buy a suit of a specific color)? We have boutonnires for all ten men, and mine will be a little bit different from the other nine. I was thinking about telling everyone to wear some shade of gray suit and perhaps get everyone matching ties. However, the tie color may not go with everyone else's suit, depending on the shade of gray they have. Any thoughts on my options?
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Jul 28, 2014 20:52
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Jose Cuervo posted:However, the tie color may not go with everyone else's suit, depending on the shade of gray they have. Optionally, you could rent out matching vests for everyone to wear in lieu of suit jackets or tuxes. But then you have to ask everyone to wear the same color pants, which they may not have, which may start creeping into "expensive" territory.
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Jul 28, 2014 21:49
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Jose Cuervo posted:Any thoughts on my options? We just did the boutonnires thing. That seems like a pretty no-frills way to go about it. Everyone wore black suits and my husband wore a black tux that matched my ivory dress/glitter shoes by having silver/gray accents. His boutonnire was also a bit different and also matched my flowers more. (However, I think the only people wearing full-out suits anyway were the wedding party and our officiant. They were nearly half our wedding guests right there.)
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Jul 28, 2014 22:19
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Jose Cuervo posted:What is the good way of indicating that they belong to the wedding party without having everyone rent matching suits (I do not want to pay for everyone to rent a suit, nor do I want to have to make other people buy a suit of a specific color)? I'm doing the same thing, providing ties and boutonnieres. If the tie color doesn't go with a grey suit, you're probably picking a gross tie color.
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Jul 29, 2014 01:12
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