Prioritizing (updated)

One of the most practical pieces of advice I read in a bridal magazine was to make a list of must have's, would like's, and can pass.  I made my list and had B to the same.  

Not surprisingly, our lists were quite similar.

My must have's include a pretty dress (within my budget), good food, an open bar, good photography, and a photo booth of some sort.  (We haven't decided if we'll be renting a photo booth or doing a DIY version.)

His must have's are the same, minus the dress and with the addition of having his friends and family there. 

I'd like to do a candy/dessert bar that could double as the wedding favors.  We don't really want to do beer koozie, bottle openers, or shot glasses (no offense friends who have done them) because they've been at every wedding we've been at recently.  He's not in love with this idea, so there will be more discussions until we can find something we both like as a wedding favor.

I started thinking about items that are in a traditional wedding ceremony and what the "typical" must-haves are...and I don't really like all of them.

An elaborate cake isn't really a priority.  We'll have some sort of cake and I'm sure it will have silly cake toppers, but I'd rather go the cupcake route.  We can have a few options and they're easier to eat.

I'm thinking some sort of display like this:

(I don't like the cake, colors, or cupcake designs...just the display).

I have no interest in a fancy aisle runner, much less a personalized one.  Ones I looked at were upwards of sixty dollars and let's be honest, there's no way to reuse that long piece of fabric that just got walked on.  

My favorite aisle runner? Chalk.  (Of course, venue & weather permitting)

Hearts:

Forever starts here:

Still as cute, but washes off in the rain.  Plus way more personality than the traditional aisle runner.

Another idea I'm indifferent about? A professional DJ.

One of the gems from DENSI 2015 was festify.  Basically someone will run the computer (festify pulls songs from spotify) and guests can vote on their phones as to what song comes up next.  The DJ (friend) can override the song choices and guests can be involved in a fun new way.  Plus none of our friends have used this before!  Fingers crossed it's still a free app when it's wedding season.

Things we've cut:

A unity candle and worse, the sand art version.  

We have two very inquisitive cats and a teething puppy.  We plan to have children.  This just get broken and make a very large mess.

Programs:

We're getting married in the off season to not only save money but so it won't be ridiculously hot outside (again, you're welcome guests!).  I toyed with the idea of programs that could double as fans, but if the temperature is in the 70 degree range, that won't be needed.  Truly very few people save programs so I don't think they'd be missed.  

Instead, I'll be crafting something like this:

(Thanks Buzzfeed for the image...and the {article})

I've found a smaller chalkboard version at Marshall's, so it shouldn't be too tricky.  Worst case scenario is I can buy a wood frame or old mirror and some chalk board paint to recreate this.

And for those that really like programs, they can take a picture and have it printed.

Disposable Cameras & Wedding Hashtags

My guests all have smart phones.  We've heard good things about Wedpics, which is a free app that we'll ask our guests to download.  Also, I don't know what is with the wedding hashtags for twitter & instagram, but I think we'll be skipping that.

Recently married folks, what were must have's?  What are things you skipped?

Teacher Favs

Fifth in the Middle and Fancy Free in Fourth are two of fun teacher blogs I follow (and you should too!).  

She just did a post about teacher favorites and (not) surprisingly, ours were quite similar! Great minds must think alike.

Here are some of my favorite teacher things!  Some of them make my classroom run smoother and some of them just make my heart happy.  I wish I'd had all these things on day one, year one of teaching!

I think I must have asked PTA to do a little too much laminating for me because for teacher appreciation week, I "mysteriously" won a free laminator!  I use this beauty to laminate all my {centers and sorts} so they can be reused.

Costco stopped selling laminating sheets in store, so I now purchase them in bulk from Amazon.

I also trained my coworker's daughter to laminate and cut out for me, so she does that as a side job.  She is very involved in extra curricular activities (cheer, church, choir), so this is one of her ways of fundraising.  Plus B is very happy to not have to help!

If it's pink and/or has polka dots, chances are I want it...and office supplies are no exception.

My planner is pink and this year, I'm determined to stay organized! I also picked up several of these pink and gold polka dotted portfolios at Target to use next year.  One will be for writing conferences, one will be for reading conferences, and one will be for meetings.  

I organized by genre and I have coordinating solid and striped colored bins. I've gotten lots of compliments and love my classroom library!  It's inviting for students and fits into our cozy classroom.

What puts a smile on your face? Join the conversation!

Thank You Target Dollar Spot!

I try not to buy a lot of cutesy "teacher decor", but I couldn't resist these Dr. Seuss ones from the Target Dollar Spot:

(To be fair, they may have been three dollars a piece...I'm not entirely sure.  Either way, they were a great find!)

Making my pinterest dream wedding a practical reality

I love pinterest. I love bridal magazines, crafting, and this whole wedding planning process. I've been guilty of purchasing bridal magazines *way* before I was engaged, but it's okay now.  I can guilt free look in that section of the craft store! It's at least a year until our wedding, so I have time to savor these moments of our engagement.  

However, I'm not going into ridiculous amounts of debt for this day.  (Cue collective gasps from all the bridal magazines on the floor.)

We want a beautiful wedding.  We want to celebrate with our loved ones on a beautiful spring/fall/winter day (we're clearly picky with the seasons here) and enjoy a plethora of good food, good alcohol, and lots of laughing. 

We also want to finish paying off our vehicles (so close!), B's student debt (not so close), want patio furniture and re-tile the master bathroom (Seriously, there is carpet.  What were the previous owners thinking?!)  We also want to add a second security door and to continue to build our savings.  We plan on children in the future and from what we've heard, those munchkins are expensive!  So much of this wedding event will be carefully planned and done as inexpensively as possible...and I have no problem with that.  

I will shop the sales. I will use coupons.  I will attempt to make things on my own (provided it's a wise move.)  I will attempt to use things I already own and purchase things for the wedding that I can use again.

Once I've made up my mind on something, I'm not going to continue shopping around.  I think that's the most reasonable way to approach this process.

I'm trying to merge my pinterest & bridal magazine ideas with the very real-world concept of a budget.  

How we're saving money:

1) The time of year.  

We'll be getting married during the "off season".  We want an outdoor wedding when it's not ridiculously warm outside, so our wedding range is Oct/Nov 2016 and Jan/Feb/March 2017.  We'd toyed with the idea of a New Years Eve wedding, but then realized how incredibly expensive hotel rooms, even off the Strip, would be for our out of town guests.  (You're all welcome.)

2) The guest book.

I didn't want to buy something that we'd rarely look at again, so we decided on a large S to hang in our home.

I looked at custom metal and wood S's online and they were upwards of $80 a piece.  Considering we're getting two (one for the guest book and one for pictures), this wasn't a reasonable request.  

I picked up two unfinished 2 foot S's at a craft store for under twenty bucks (total, not each). 

I'll paint them myself once we've picked the wedding colors.  I've still got left over stain from redoing the cabinets, so I am thinking of staining just the edges to give a more vintage, rustic look.  As an added bonus, they already have cut outs in the back for hanging, so there is no need to drill into the sign and risk breaking it.

I'll pick up some markers for the reception and call it a day.  Total cost? Maybe $50.  It was a little more than some of the cheap guest books, but it's something we'll enjoy in our home so it's worth it to me.  

We'll hang the signed S in our hallway for our gallery wall and hang on to the other one for future family photos.  I assume it will be painted a light color, so I can always repaint it later.

I did find this sign today:

I'll be using it at our engagement shower, possibly wedding shower, and again in our wedding.  Three uses for $10 seems reasonable!  I could always repurpose it in the guest bedroom/bathroom once we're happily married.  (If you couldn't tell, I'm all about reusing things and getting the most out of what I buy.)

I love the font (and that I could use a coupon when buying it!) and will paint the frame to match the wedding colors...or leave it as is, I haven't decided yet.

3) Table Numbers.

Disclaimer: I love these numbers from an Etsy shop.  If I could justify spending eighty dollars on them, I would.

However, I can't.  Try as I might, I can't justify that much, especially when there's not a logical way to reuse them in the future.  They'd look pretty darn silly sitting around my house and would quickly get broken in my classroom.  I even looked online to see if someone was selling their gently used ones and they still want sixty bucks for the set.  They are beautiful, but not quite doable.

So instead, I think I will find a way to use these cake toppers: 

And wine bottles, chalkboard paint, flowers, and ribbon to craft something like this:

I don't have a clear image yet of what I'd like to do, but I do know I have a few empty wine bottles that I've been waiting to craft with!  I also know that if I asked my bridesmaids to help me drink wine for the sake of the table numbers, they'd gladly rise to the occasion.

I know there will be some cost in the table numbers.  I think the cake toppers are $3 a piece, so I'll either buy them slowly with coupons (another advantage of having a long engagement period!) or wait for them to be on sale.  There will be a cost in chalkboard paint (which I'm sure I'll use for many other projects) and burlap, ribbon, or flowers, but it will definitely be less then $80.  Plus I won't feel bad if at the end of the night they get tossed because there was minimal financial investment. 

4) The vase.

I loved this idea:

However, the vases I found online were a tad ridiculous.  One customized vase was $150 (Seriously.  It was white with the couples' names and wedding date...that's all.)

However, being the sane person that I am who is trying to avoid bridezilla-like actions, I found this one at Target for $7.

I picked up a three pack of metallic sharpies (which I obviously will use again), some fake flowers (they were on sale) and tada!  Total cost? $15.  (Which is totally within the budget.)

Guests at our engagement shower will sign the vase and we'll have a pretty new meaningful accent piece in our home.  Because I'm worried the signatures will rub off in the dishwasher, I plan to put fake flowers inside instead of real ones.  Problem solved!

5) The engagement party.

I could have ordered fancy invitations online or purchased the pre-made kits, but I don't have access to a printer until mid August and that doesn't give enough turn around time.

So instead I found these non-wedding invites:

I purchased some metallic sharpies (different from the vase ones, these are thinner) and will be hand writing them myself.  (Thank goodness for years in Student Council, as a RA, and as a teacher because I've perfected my "nice" handwriting with many, many signs over the years.)

The colors (black and white) blend really well with the serving dishes and decor we already own.  Conveniently, many of our serving dishes are also polka dotted, including the two new ones I picked up today.  (Thank you TJ Maxx for having reasonably priced polka dot dishes!)  The gold accent won't be hard to play up and picking up black and white plates will be a piece of cake.  Plus the color scheme is classic but still fun. 

B is just pleased I didn't bring home something floral or pink.  I did call him from the store to run the color options by him and he agreed on the black and white option. (I want him to feel included in this process but I also know he trusts me and doesn't want to be involved in every discussion.)  He made some sassy comment about the polka dots, possibly because I also found this gem (on clearance!):

But again, he's marrying me and the polka dots come with.

We'll be picking up some sandwich platters, appetizers, and cupcakes from Costco the day before the engagement shower.  I have some out of town folks who I know can't attend, so I'll be planning to celebrate with them when I'm in AZ (parents #2, you know who you are!).  I know my brother and his gf can't attend (because they're watching my mom's dog so she can come out) and my MOH can't attend because she's on the other side of the country, so I'll just frame large pictures of them so they can be included.  I see a few drunken selfies with the pictures, so be prepared!

I'm sure there will be many more thrifty short cuts as the wedding planning process continues, so stay tuned!

The kindness of others

A few days ago, a fellow former TFA-er posted in a teacher Facebook group that she had books she was looking to get rid of.  She accepted a teaching position in Washington and didn't want to haul all of these books up to her classroom since she was switching grade levels anyway.

I posted that I'd love to get my hands on them, especially since they were already AR leveled (HUGE time saver) and were within my students' reading ranges.

She texted and we arranged a time to meet.  She brought them to my house and when I tried to pay her, she refused.  She said she was glad they were going to be well loved in another classroom and didn't want money.

I insisted she take a Jamberry wrap as a thank you, which she happily agreed to.  I'm all about bartering!  I'm so appreciative of her generosity.  

Thank you Ms. T!

Don't Panic

We've been engaged for three weeks and we don't have a venue.  There's a few that I like and I'll look at them in September.

We don't have a date, just a five month range...which is over a year from now.  (Yes, beloved coworkers, a year from now.  I'm not in a rush, despite your loving pushes to get married in a few months. Too much pressure!)

We don't have colors picked out.  (I do have two very different color schemes in mind, which one we go with will depend on the season and the venue.)  

I haven't tried on a wedding dress and won't until December.  

We haven't taken engagement pictures (but I emailed my dear friend Amy to set up a date in October/November/early December).  Her photography skills are amazing.

I have asked my best friend to be my maid of honor and another best friend to officiate the wedding.  I haven't asked the other five bridesmaids yet (so if you think you may be one, hold tight!). I have a plan and it involves crafting (obviously).

Teaser:

I haven't thought about the save the dates and formal wedding invites (apparently you need specific dates and venues for that!) but I did make some decisions on our engagement party!  I'll be designing these online (etsy? minted? vistaprint? Who knows!)

This may be how B feels:

What I have planned: The Engagement Shower!

It will be over Labor Day weekend (my mom will be in town) and involve friends and family.  I want my mom to meet the other bridesmaids and get to know more of B's family.  I want to tell our engagement story and just cheers to a happily ever after.  

I picked up sharpies and invitations. 

 I stamped the envelopes with my snazzy wedding stamp. It looks like this, but with our info:

My goal is to get the invitations in the mail next week. I also bought thank you cards that match the invitations just in case.  We aren't expecting gifts but it's always nice to be prepared in case I need to write some thank you's. 

I've got a mental image of what I'd like our engagement shower to look like and have started a list of what needs to be done for that.  I've obviously made great progress on that front!

I also did start an excel document with addresses and columns for RSVPs, so that's an excellent start.  

I'm going to take my time with wedding planning because I want it to be a magical, wonderful day, not an event I am stressed about.

(If pinterest says it, it must be true!)

(I am aware there will be some stress.  However, I want to minimize it as much as possible.)

"Beautiful Anchor Charts" updated

I updated the "beautiful anchor charts" tab at the top of the blog!

Many images are repeats of what I blogged throughout the year, but I find it helpful to have all of my anchor chart images stored in one place.

Hopefully you agree :)