Razzle Dazzle Zazzle

I have been waiting on the Zazzle postage sale for almost a year! I really wanted to create custom postage for our wedding invites (because let's face it, it IS the most important piece of mail you'll ever mail) but alas, at $20 for a normal "book" of stamps, it was one of those things that got nixed quick. That was until I got the email from them..."3 days only, Zazzle Custom Postage at Face Value Sale!" And 15 minutes later they were ordered. :) Not knowing how much our invites will cost to mail, I figured I'd overshoot a bit with $.88 per invite. Lord help us if it's more than that. :)
The postage was SUPER easy to make (after the designing of course) and it took no time at all for Zazzle to place the order. I also elected the extreme snail mail option to save on shipping and yet, literally 4 days after I placed the order, they arrived on our doorstep. It would have taken longer to get to me if I chose the 2 or 3 day air mail option.

So without further ado, here are the beautiful stamps that will adorn our wedding invites!

Postage Stamp #1, our official monogram.



Postage Stamp #2, My all-time favorite flower and our wedding date.



What it will look like together! :)

Floral Trial Run

I also did a half trial run of our ceremony flowers while my mom was in town. I'm really happy I did this because it helped me realize I need more flowers! I am very pleased with the way it turned out though and cannot wait to see these setup in the church. :) I hope it looks somewhat similar to my inspiration photo! We'll have rose petals scattered all around the base of the vases and down the aisle as well. The pictures speak for themselves! (and please excuse the living room backdrop, haha!) And this is only half of it; the remaining arrangements look exactly the same but pointing towards these as noted in my setup. What do you think? :)

*this picture is shown without the peonies on the right, which are shown in the photos above.

Wishing Us Well

While my mom was here a few weeks ago, I decided to tackle a project I'd been putting off for a bit. I created our card box! :) But this isn't just any card box (have you met me???), no I went all out for this one. I purchased paper mache boxes from Hobby Lobby, some Champagne colored spray paint, ribbon and scrapbooking paper. The result? Voila!

Very easy to make, only took around 20 minutes and the most time consuming part (outside of drying paint) were the card slots. The box has a hole on the bottom round box to allow cards to fall further down and prevent overcrowding.

DIY list is dwindling down but definitely more projects are on their way! :)

Let Them Eat Cake!

But before we do, let's eat some delicious dinner first! :) Curtis and I had another meeting yesterday with Celebration Catering, our official caterer for the wedding. We set this up so we could see all items we were going to have at the reception and then adjust our quantities according to sizes, tastes, etc. I'm pleased to say that everything tasted exceptionally delicious! :) Everything was very fresh, cooked to perfection and perfect in terms of presentation.

All of the items will be placed on glass sheets we found at Home Depot (of all places!) that will be held up by vases filled with flowers. Here is the inspiration photo:



And to keep all items fresh, hot and looking perfect, our caterer has agreed to only set out 30-50 items at a time and replenish as needed from the kitchen. The glass sheets make that easy to do as well for the staff since they can simply pick it up, take it to the kitchen, set and bring it back out. Only I would think about the logistics of how our caterer will be adding items at our reception to our displays....

So here's the entire menu! The items range in sizes so I think we may have some of the items cut in half to keep the size roughly the same across the board. Plus it will double the amount we have instantly that way!

Cocktail Hour: These items will be passed during cocktail hour from 7:30-8:15/8:30

Pita Triangle with Hummus, Roasted Red Pepper and an Olive


Mediterranean Skewer- Tomato, Olive, Cucumber & Mozzarella (feta didn't work out so well) with Greek dressing drizzle


Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Skewer


*Also having Bruschetta but not pictured


Dinner Hors D'Oeuvres

In case anyone forgot, we're doing a heavy Hors D'Oeuvres dinner featuring foods from countries Curtis and I have visited while we've been together. We'll have 5 tables setup on the right side of the room, each one a different country with Italy having 2 tables. We'll have Italian, Greek, Caribbean and Asian cuisines so our guests can feel like they're have a small sampling of the places we've been to. :) Obviously nothing can compare to a Greek Salad in Greece or pasta in Italy but Celebration did an excellent job recreating some of our favorites!

Our Greek Station:

Shrimp Baguettes; shrimp with dill cream cheese on a crostini


Spanakopita; traditional Greek dish of spinach and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough

*Any leftover Greek Skewers or Hummus triangles

Asian

Crab Rolls; Our favorite! Crab and Rice wrapped in a Won Ton wrapper


Spinach Mandarin Orange Salad; spinach salad with mandarin oranges in a Poppyseed dressing


Chicken Satay; served with a Peanut Dipping Sauce

*California Rolls Not Pictured

Caribbean

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Roulade; chicken, raspberry chipotle sauce and lettuce wrapped in a sun dried tomato tortilla


Teryaki Pork Tenderloin; pork tenderloin with mango, pineapple pico de gallo on toasted yeast round.

*Jamaican Jerk chicken tasted but not Pictured. It was too good we forgot to snap a picture! :)

Italian

We'll possibly have an "action" station for our pasta we tasted before. A chef will prepare the pasta as you like and served in a martini glass. The sauce is a wonderful alfredo cream sauce and it will fill you up fast!

Cheese Tortellini pasta with Garlic Cream Sauce; served with pine nuts, sundried tomatoes and scallions. Delicious!


Pesto Chicken Sandwich; chicken breast with pesto and herb mayonnaise served on a sweet roll. About the same size as a slider.


Baked Brie Crostini; baked brie, strawberry and walnut on a crostini drizzled with praline sauce

So much food!!!


I hope everyone enjoys this as much as we do! Celebration has been wonderful to work with and I can't wait to see all of this setup at the reception! :)

I won!!!

I've been an avid reader of WeddingBee for over a year now as it provides a place where brides can come together and brainstorm/show off wedding ideas! A good portion of my wedding plans have come from Bee inspiration. :) A few weeks ago I entered a contest they were holding through a partner of theirs, Gracious Bridal, for a prize pack of Mindy Weiss loot. I've entered a bunch of their contests but with over 500 people entering, I knew it was a long shot but...

I WON!!!

And I got a shout-out on the site! :) So in less than a week from the winning announcement, my prize pack arrived and I couldn't be happier! The quality is top notch and I'm thrilled to have some of these items I've wanted but maybe couldn't afford or just haven't ordered yet. Behold my prize package!

The entire package! :)

A shoe bag that says "My Wedding Shoes" and shoe satchels that say "Sole" and "Mate" on them. A Do Not Disturb sign

My wedding day bridal tote! It says "To Have & To Hold"

Groom's Survival Kit; pretty cool stuff in it!

Ring pillow, chicken cutlets and a Honeymoon travel kit that includes; luggage tags, Passport Journal, postcards, a candle, a "Honeymoon in Progress" Do Not Disturb sign and a black backpack that says "Honeymoon in Progress!" I'm hoping the backpack will help us with a flight bump to first class at some point on our trip. :)

I'm so happy to have won this and can't wait to use it all in action! :) Thanks Gracious Bridal from a very gracious bride! ;)