Col & LA (wedding talk)

[Amber1279]

I found a great wedding idea today while reading on Wedding Bee. I had heard of the brides renting photo booth's ... but they are WAY out of my budget. This bride to be blogged today about how she is planning to set up her own

I ran the idea by my mom & my Dad is gonna make a "booth" with PVC pipes and we will attach a curtain. Then simply set a digital camera on a tripod and after all the guests have taken a photo we will print them out. All we will really need to by is the photo printer (since the small one we already had broke)

After the photos are printed the guests end up with 2 "photo strips" on a 4x6 and they keep one as a favor and then put the other in the guestbook and write a note

[wildblueeyez]

this sounds like a lot of fun for both the attendees and the Bride and Groom!!!

[mixedclawzz]

That is such a great idea! I've heard of people renting them, but never thought to make your own.

[lizzyfizzy]

what a fun idea, amber!!!!

[pbumbaca]

That sounds like a very fun thing to do!

[ColleenSwerb]

Very fun idea Amber! I might have to consider it

[LeeAndra]

Very cool! I'm still trying to think of some fun thing to do during the reception since we're not having bouquet toss, garter toss, anniversary dance, bridal party dance, dollar dance, etc. so maybe I will put on my thinkin' cap and give that a whirl.

When is your date??

[ColleenSwerb]

We're not doing garter/bouquet toss either! Good call wedding buddy

[LeeAndra]

They are SO not my thing.

BFF had the quintessential traditional wedding reception: first dance, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, bridal dance, anniversary dance, cake-cutting, open dance, bouquet toss, garter toss, open dance, dollar dance, open dance.

It was just a hassle for me as a co-MOH. Who is 'allowed' to dance now? Dance and then sit down. Dance and then sit down. Etc. There was not a lot of flow, and I think as a result, a lot of people did not dance as much as they might have otherwise (the cash bar did not help in this regard, either!).

I want mine to be a big ol' party with as much dancing as possible, so we're eating dinner and serving cake so they can happily nosh while we first dance and mother-son-father-daughter dance... and that be it. The rest of the night they can drink from the hosted beer & wine bar and shake their groove thangs. No rigid schedule, no interruption of flow, just DANCING! Woot!

[ColleenSwerb]

Sounds just like how I want ours to be!! I don't like the dollar dance or the anniversary dance anyway and would rather just skip it. And NO ONE likes hte bouquet/garter toss. NO ONE. It's like pulling teeth to get people out there for that anymore, so we're skipping it.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaartaaaaaaaaaaay baby!! LOL!

[Amber1279]

The ceremony is 9-9-09 in Vegas but the "party/reception" will be 9-12-09 at my parent's place here in Yuma.

There may or may not be a First Dance (I am still trying to talk Bill into it) There will be NO other "special" dances. It is my second wedding (even though it is his first) so we want to be WAY less traditional.

I won't have a bouquet to toss so we won't do the garter either (besides most of our friends are married, or they are already engaged).

We will cut the cake, because that is just FUN! Although there will only be one small cake and then LOTS of cupcakes.

There will be LOTS of food & LOTS of Dancing that is for sure!

[LeeAndra]

That sounds like fun, Amber!

Since this is both of our second weddings, but neither of us had a traditional first wedding (mine a Friday night w 18 people and 'reception' at Outback Steakhouse, his in Vegas), we are having a bigger wedding than either one of us had before, but still small and unique compared to more traditional wedding standards.

Ha. That made sense in my head at least.

[ColleenSwerb]

FUN Amber! Friends of mine (been together for like 10 years or something) always say that they are just gonna go to Vegas and do it on the spur of the moment. If I get a text that says "Elvis. You have x hours to get here." I'll know it's time to buy a last second ticket out to Vegas, LOL!

LA, I get ya

Ours is currently sitting at 177 ppl Thankfully, we know of a bunch that won't show, LOL!

[Amber1279]

oh I totally get it what you mean. It is a little harder to plan a "semi-traditional" wedding I am finding.

I already did the HUGE budget wedding my first time around. It was the "typical" So Cal beach weeding w/ a reception at the Hilton. Big poffy dress, 3 tiered cake, photog, video, ect ect. I don't wanna do that again. I have decided that this day is about us and having fun, not impressing people *like I was kind of doing the 1st time)

[LeeAndra]

It's been fun to plan things I never got to have before: professional wedding pictures, a real reception, a church with some meaning to us, etc. At the same time, since we're paying for it all ourselves, there's no pressure from anyone else on what we 'should' do or are 'supposed' to do. Our guest list will be between 80-95, and those will only be immediate family, aunts & uncles, grandmothers, bridal party, & very close friends. We really want everyone who is invited to come and will enjoy having them all there. I love that.

A couple people I've mentioned the wedding to have been horrified to hear that my wedding will be 4 months after my sister's. Even after assuring them that that was not the plan and the dates just worked out that way since the proposal was a complete surprise to me, they think I should postpone my wedding to some 'more appropriate' time in the future. I think not. The only overlap in guests will be family who all live in state, anyways, and since my parents are not paying for my wedding... what's the big deal?! I know if it was my first wedding and I was dependent on my parents to finance the wedding, I'd be so worried abt it, but since it's not, I think it's fun. Maybe we will be pg at the same time, too!

What I lost sight of the first time was that love is the most important thing and at the end of the day, I'll be Jeffy's wife. How cool is that?!

[Amber1279]

4 months is a decent gap - I wouldn't be worried either. My 1st DH's sister got engaged right after he & I did and then planned her wedding for about a month AFTER my wedding. Now, ex-DH & I were living in So Cal and just about all of our family on both sides had to travel. His family is from Missouri so it was plane tickets and hotel rooms. Which was a BIG expense. Her wedding she decided to have at her DH's home state & town so HER family had to travel AGAIN. I couldn't even go to her wedding because I couldn't take more time off - plus we didn't have the $ for 2 plane tickets. It was ridiculous she planned it so close.

I do agree that I also lost sight of the most important thing the 1st time around. This time it is about Bill & I. In fact a friend asked me the other day if I wanted her to comeo to the ceremony in Vegas. I flat out told her it was 100% up to her. All that matters is that Bill & I will be there and our immediate family.

[Amber1279]

Oh - and we are NOT doing Elvis LOL. What made me decide on Vegas (besides Bill's family is up there) is that Mandalay Bay is having a special on 9-9-09. I love the idea of a trilogy anniversary date, and the price of their special is perfect for our budget. Plus Vegas will be fun!