I met my friend, Bridesmaid L, at St. Nick’s bazaar on Friday, and we hit the jackpot in the flea market. I picked up these 4 glass jars for a grand total of $3.50. Yessssss. L helped me carry them, in the rain, across the parking lot and then over the guard rail and across Pennsylvania Blvd. back to my car. I gave them a good scrubbing and have tucked them away for safe keeping.

I also officially asked L to be a bridesmaid after our trek in the rain. I had planned to all along, but I couldn’t think of a better (or funnier) moment. She’s very excited and already planning the bachelorette party. I mailed my card for Bridesmaid E a couple of weeks ago since she lives in New York, so I’ve got 3 confirmed girls! I’m just waiting for the right moment to ask FH’s sister to join the party.

Did you ever find wedding decor in surprising places? Or has any of your wedding party gone above and beyond for you? I feel really lucky to have these ladies by my side!

I’m going to start with what’s possibly the best song to describe how I feel about FH – “Everything” by Alanis Morissette. It’s a bit scattered and it’s dark at parts, but then you step back and see how amazing and beautiful it is. Yeah.

When I first started thinking about my Northeast PA wedding, I didn’t see a lot of reception venue options out there. There were the standard hotels everyone goes to, and a handful of country clubs. Most of them weren’t for me, though if I can get a good deal at one or two country clubs I would be happy to entertain the idea… But the point is, I was wrong! There are more wedding venues in NEPA than you can swing a dead cat at (I am nothing if not classy).

We’ve narrowed down our list of places to visit based on a few major factors:

• Price. The boy and I are on a budget. Our parents will help us as much as they can, but we’ve gotta be economical. We’re looking at more affordable options, as well as those that throw in things like the wedding cake and some basic centerpieces.
• Location – again, since we’re looking to keep our spending under control, I’m not expecting to be hiring a limo or any sort of driver the day of. This means that our families will be driving themselves around the day of. I don’t want to make them drive to Berwick or anything crazy like that.
• Party minimums – since our wedding is going to probably be around 100 people (please God, no more than that), we need to make sure our location can 1. fit that many, and 2. doesn’t require a minimum higher than that.

We have 2 visits scheduled for next week. I’ll report on them after we’re done, so wish me luck! If anyone has advice on good questions we should be asking while we’re there, I would be much appreciative. I can pay you in cookies and smooches.

At work today, I was telling one of my friends about some of our plans and how we are visiting the church next week. One of the guys in our department overheard us and he came over. He’s offered his “wedding planning and DJ” services once before and I politely declined, haha. He made the offer again and asked me what kind of ideas I had. This conversation ensued:

Me: “Well, I was looking at a lot of butterflies.” *points to picture of Martha Stewart cake*

Co-worker: “I’ll do you one better. Forget butterflies. Picture this – HORNETS.”

Me: *slowly backing away* Suuuure………

Yeah… it’s funny and has made for a good joke, but what scares me is if I told him yes, he would totally go through with it. Then my ceremony would end up looking like this:

Did you ever get some really funny suggestions for your wedding theme? How did you handle them?

Can’t you just imagine chairs wrapped in this with a matching table runner:

Then have a cute little favor boxes filled with, um, something tasty, lol, at each setting. I wasn’t sure I was really into the polka dots until I saw those boxes. I like the idea of using them sparingly with the purple and black theme. The rest of the table would be pretty simple, maybe some tulips in a small square vase with some tea lights around it.

And then (get ready, I’m almost foaming at the mouth over these), I’d scatter these around the table:

BUTTERFLY CONFETTI!!!! The precious, I wants it. I may have to buy these now cause I’m afraid they’ll disappear before I’m ready to buy. Dreamy sigh.

Since getting engaged a few weeks ago, we haven’t really done much planning. At first, I think it’s nice to just letting the whole thing sink in. We only get to be engaged once, and I’ve had a lot of fun telling all my friends and getting used to saying “my fiance”.

We broached the topic with FMIL last night, and she thought our time line for planning was a good one, and she offered to visit places with us if we wanted. While I’m ready to move forward on this with just FH if need be, it’s nice to know we have that support and that his mom is understanding even while things are tough. So now I just need to make a list of NEPA wedding venues to call!

Did anyone else ever have family health issues or drama delay their wedding planning?

She is attending a wedding this summer with her boyfriend. His uncle is getting married and he is in the wedding party. Apparently, the bride and groom are making everyone in the wedding party, and their dates, pay for their own dinner at the reception. It’s $100 per plate!

I guess what really gets me, is this isn’t a couple of kids fresh out of college trying to get by. The groom is lawyer and I’m pretty sure the bride also has a good job. They’re both in their 50′s, and the groom has been married once before. I don’t think it’s an issue of not being able to afford to feed the wedding party.

I was digging around to see what I could find on the subject, but Google is not being my friend today. I’ve mentioned it to a few engaged friends and they thought it was outrageous. Even FH gave me the suspicious eyebrow when I told him the story. Emily Post did sum it up pretty nicely in a section on dating, however:

“Whoever does the inviting does the paying.”

Am I wrong?