The Creative Bride

Picture courtesy of Premiere Planning

This Creative Bride has been swamped.  Between creative wedding planning and a constantly filled work calendar, we are oh so ready for the Big Day!  We’re closing in … only 11 days left.  We’re down to the details now, and don’t worry – I’m taking lots of notes of future blog posts to fill you in on how we did it!  So hang in there creative readers, I’ll be back in full force post-wedding.  You may even get a few teaser posts in the next 11 days!

One of the best things about blogging is the creative responses I get from all you readers! Yesterday, I got an email from a reader who recently went to a wedding and experienced a Stone Blessing Ceremony.

Such a cute idea, a stone blessing ceremony allows guests of the wedding to be an active part of the ceremony and give the bride and groom blessings and good wishes.  Each guest receives a stone when they arrive at the ceremony and are asked to hold it throughout the ceremony, filling it will all the love and good vibes they are feeling throughout the ceremony. At some point during the ceremony the stones are collected and given to the couple as a physical symbol of the love and support of their guests.

There are a variety of ways to personalize your stone blessing ceremony and make it your own. You could have someone offer a prayer over the stones and have the groomsmen/ushers collect the stones and place them in a pretty glass keepsake vase. Looking for a creative guest book option? Put a table just outside the ceremony for people to stop at before entering. Have a small piece of paper attached to each stone and ask people to write their blessings or wishes before putting them in a pretty vase or bowl.  Or forget the paper and just have them sign the stones! Then, sometime during the ceremony, have the officiant ask the Best Man or the Maid of Honor to bring the vase to the Bride and Groom. Once you receive it, hold it up to the sky and have someone pray for all the wishes to come true.  If you’re having a beach wedding, you could ask guests to pick up a shell that is nearby and throw it into the ocean as they wish you well.  Having a small wedding?  Give your guests the opportunity to say their blessing or wishes out loud.  The possibilities are endless!

The prayer liturgy might look like this:

All of you were asked to write
something good you wish for (Bride) and (Groom),
and place it inside a vase so we can pray together
for ALL those good wishes to come true…

(name of person assigned to bring the vase),
would you please bring the vase to (Bride) and (Groom)?

(Bride) and (Groom) please raise your vase of wishes up to the sky.

May you always keep the dawn in your love,
the harmony in your song.
May you love deeply and laugh much.
May you see many sunrises, and enjoy many rains.
May you dream together, and value the little moments.
May you continually discover each other,
and may your love grow,
as you share and listen carefully, open heart to open heart.
May your marriage be forever blessed.
And may all these good wishes come true!
Amen.

One of the most important things to not forget in the midst of all your wedding planning is your marriage license. Every state has different requirements for your marriage license, so make sure you give yourself enough time to research the specifics before the last minute! Most marriage licenses are issued by the county rather than the state, so make sure you know which county to need to go to.  A quick google search can probably give you just the info you need.  Be careful of general websites though – every county might be a little different, so make sure to check with the local office that you’ll be heading to.

It’s not likely that your marriage license will be free, so make sure you include it in your budget. But – there may be ways to save money on that very important item too! A lot of states are encouraging premarital counseling and will give you a discount on your marriage license if you’ve completed a course that covers specific items. If you’re getting married by a church officiant, your ceremony cost probably includes the cost of premarital counseling – so why not do it?  Many church officiants require premarital counseling, so ask them if they can tailor it to comply with the requirements. And let’s be honest, we could all use a little bit of premarital counseling before embarking on the biggest journey of our lives – the money saving aspect of premarital counseling is just a bonus!

If you read wedding sites regularly, you’ll see all sorts of information about making sure you get your invitations to the calligrapher. If you’re on a budget, be careful! Calligraphy costs can be anywhere from $0.70 a piece to $5.00 a piece, depending on what’s being calligraphied. This wasn’t a viable option for us.

If true calligraphy is important to you, search for a calligraphy class and learn how to do it yourself. The cost probably begins around $100. You’ll not only end up saving money on calligraphy costs, but you’ll also gain a skill that you can use to make a little money on the side in the future!

Or, check out your guest list – is there someone on it that you know has the skill and gift of calligraphy? Don’t be afraid to ask for their help. They’ll probably be honored that you thought of them. Most people would love to help you with your big day!

The option we chose, at least for our invitations, was to print our own calligraphy. With computers and printers these days it’s amazing what you can do right in the comfort of your own home! There are tons of free fonts out there that work great for “calligraphy.” It takes some research and a little bit of technology knowledge, but we had a blast deciding the font and figuring out the specifications for the printer. So not only did we get free calligraphy on our invitations, but we spent good quality time together doing it!

Save the Date cards aren’t necessary for everyone! If you’re not careful, they can add on to your costs for no real reason. But, there are times when Save the Dates are a good idea. If you’re having a destination wedding, if you have a lot of out of town guests coming, or if you’re like us and need to let people know when your wedding is but need extra time to decide on your invitations, save the date cards are a great idea.

There are several ways you can do save the dates for very little cost. Here are just a few ideas:

1) Watch for deals at places like Shutterfly, Artscow, Snapfish, Walgreens, etc. These places specialize in photo gifts and their competition is rising. If you catch their deals, you could end up paying next to nothing for your save the dates!

2) Go green! Send an email Save the Date. This not only saves you printing costs but also saves you postage costs. Not to mention it’s environmentally friendly! Mypunchbowl offers online party planning from start to finish. It even helps you track RSVPs! Honestly, I wish I had discovered this site BEFORE we sent our Save the Date and invitations! The Knot also offers free email save the dates.

3) Be creative! I bet you have access to free construction paper, cardstock, printer paper, markers, crayons, or all sorts of other crafty items. Make your own save the dates. They don’t have to match – put your own personality in them. Remember how your mom’s favorite gifts growing up were the ones you made yourself? Save the dates are no different – your guests will be honored that you made them a special piece of art!

Most of all – HAVE FUN! Get your creative juices flowing. You’d be surprised how much creativity is sitting in your head waiting to be used!

When we first began talking about our wedding, we decided we would take a delayed honeymoon. We didn’t think we had time (or money) to plan a wedding and a honeymoon in only 101 days. We had plans to head to Chicago for the wedding of my dear friend and MOH in September so we decided we’d take off on our honeymoon from her wedding.

And then, the countdown kept going and the number of days got smaller, and the planning got more hectic, and we decided that we really didn’t want to go right back to the real world the day after the wedding. After hectic planning in the midst of working and holidays, we decided we’d need a break and would really love to celebrate married life together right away.

So we began honeymoon planning. We promised from the beginning to be honest about our budget, so you should know that our honeymoon is separate from our wedding budget. For us, our honeymoon is a very special vacation, so while we are being frugal and smart, we are trying to decide exactly where we’ll be going.

Cancun?

Hawaii?

Costa Rica?

There are great travel deals out there, so it’s been a blast to research and dream! In fact, there are so many great travel deals out there that we are overwhelmed with possibilities. Recommendations?

My how time flies!  The number of days before the wedding is getting smaller and smaller…

So sorry we’ve been MIA the last few days.  Lots of planning happening.  Stay tuned for more creative ideas!

photo courtesy of Winston's Wisdom

Happy New Year from Creative Bride and Creative Groom!

One of our next tasks is to find a budget-friendly champagne for our champagne toast.  I know many of you rang in 2010 with bottles of champagne – any recommendations?

One of the biggest expenses at many wedding receptions is the entertainment.  Do we have a dance floor, do we hire a band, a DJ, do we find a friend to control an ipod and make our own shuffle list, or is there something else we can do for entertainment?  Little did I know before the engagement, Creative Groom is not a dancer, so we opted for no dance floor.  We are currently working on other creative entertainment options, but if we were to have a first dance, I’m pretty sure it would be to this song:

Creative Groom and I never promised to have a traditional wedding.  We did promise it would be classy.  If you can think of a tradition that happens at weddings, we’ve probably figured out a way to change it up a bit.  One tradition that won’t be going anywhere is the tradition of Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. I am currently trying to figure out the best way to incorporate all of these things in a creative way.  It looks like my bouquet may end up being the carrier of most of the items.  Check out this idea from Karen Tran Florals – it’s exactly what I’ve been dreaming of over the last couple of weeks.  Take an old family brooch, add it to your bouquet, and viola – your something old is taken care of.  Now, if I could only figure out how to incorporate the something blue as well…

Photo Courtesy of Karen Tran