Cross-Border Shopping Success!

So I mentioned that last weekend my parents and I hit up the States for a little wedding related shopping trip. I was able to get a lot of stuff crossed off my list!

1 - Foam board

I bought three sheets of this board to use as the base for my flower initial DIY project. They are foam-core boards covered in cardboard, so although I will still have to use a glue gun to attach the flowers rather than just jam the flowers into the board, at least they are sturdy. I bought three with the intent of attaching them together to make it nice and thick. (Total cost - $3)

2. Fake Flowers

So I bought greenish white hydrangea stems to use to cover the flower initials. I literally bought all flowers they had in stock, so hopefully it is enough! Each stem has 6 blooms on it, and I bought 12 stems. The overall quality was pretty good, considering they were from the dollar store! (Total cost - $12)

I also got a single stem of white phaelanopsis orchid from Michaels. They were on sale for %40 off, so the price was very reasonable. I'm not sure if they are real-touch or something like that, but they have a really nice, almost waxy texture. Super realistic! I was very happy with this purchase, and I plan on using them to decorate a set of willow branches I previously bought. (Total cost - $6)

3. Thank You Cards

They are very generic but super cute! Plain white cards with two embossed rings that are a shiny, sparkly metallic. We will probably include a small picture from the wedding to personalize them a bit, but those decisions won't be made until well after the wedding! Best ever was the cost... for a box of 50 cards and envelopes, they were only $2.99! So, for two boxes our total cost was only $6. Ridic.

4. Invitations!

My plan for the longest time was to craft my own invitations. Then I realized how much work THAT would be (sourcing cardstock and other supplies, printing, cutting, assembling, etc.). I then had the idea to just buy something simple and custom from Etsy. But even at $3 - $4 an invitation, the costs could quickly add up. We stumbled upon these at Target on clearance and I bought them on a whim. D wasn't with me so I crossed my fingers he would like them, and luckily he did! We are going to add some colour in the form of ribbon, custom labels, etc. and try to come up with a cute design. You'll just have to hang tight to see what they look like all done up - suffice it to say that right now they are basically white cards with a black border, a silver pocket, and black envelopes. Very basic, but very easy to make our own. So it will still be a bit more work that having them made for us, but it's not so back as starting from scratch with a stack of blank paper. Should be fine... fingers crossed! (Total cost - $60).

So basically, for around $80, we took care of a huge chunk of what we needed. Invitations are definitely a huge expense, so I feel like we really dodged a bullet on that one. And $6 for our thank you cards? That's what I call shopping success!

What has been your been your biggest bargain so far?

One Big Thing to Check Off the List...

So D was here for the past week (which hopefully explains my absence!) and we were able to get a few wedding-relates things knocked off our list. The biggest one by far is that we FINALLY signed the contract with our caterers! We have been in contact with them since probably September of last year, so this has been a long time coming. We had to wait to sign the contract with our reception which took forever, and then it was just a waiting game for D to come to town so we could meet them together, in person, and finalize details and menu options.

Our reception venue had a pre-approved list of about 6 caterers and we had to choose one of those options. We went with the most affordable one, which luckily has also got amazing reviews. Which is good, because unfortunately we won't be able to taste our menu before the big day. I'm a little bit nervous about that, but I have talked to a few people who have had events catered by this company, and they are all good so far, so hopefully it will all work out. Fingers crossed!

Now onto the good stuff! I'm sure you're wondering what deliciousness we picked for our menu! Our guests will arrive to the cocktail hour where there will be hot and cold passed apps - a pretty traditional mix with things such as chicken brochettes, bruschetta, spanakopita, chicken profiteroles, spring rolls, etc. Pretty standard. We chose 2 meat options and a vegetarian option for our dinner. The meat-eaters will start with a spinach & goat cheese salad, followed by with either chicken stuffed with mushrooms and asiago with garlic mashed potatoes or baked cedar-infused salmon served with an asian sesame sauce and wild rice. Both come with fresh and local seasonal vegetables. For dessert, a raspberry mousse. Later on we will have wedding cake and a late-night dessert buffet. For the vegetarians, they will start with a quinoa salad, followed by a main of portobello and tofu skewers served with ginger rice and BBQ ratatouille. Their dessert will be apple pie with coconut vanilla ice cream. Hope it's okay! It all sounds very 'wedding food,' so I hope it all looks and tastes okay.

I found it a bit weird that for our vegetarians they had to have an entire separate menu. Like, we can't choose just a different main dish for them. Hopefully it all works out and people aren't jealous of what they don't get. We know who our vegetarians are, so we are just going to pre-order the meals for them and not give the option to the rest of our guests. The reason behind this is that the vegetarian meal is almost $15 more per person than the meat options. Boggles my mind. But it is what it is, so we will make the best of it!

So that's it when it comes to food for the wedding! Like I said, we will have a late-night dessert buffet which is as-yet undetermined, but it will probably consist of cake, cupcakes, cookies, cannoli, etc. I am weighing the options of a chocolate fountain since we actually own one (I bought one for D one year as a joke... it was like $8 on ebay!), so we will have to see how the logistics for that work.

Now I just need to think about signature drinks. I know that I want some, but I need to think of what. Any suggestions?

Did you have an easy time when it came to picking your wedding menu? Does my menu sound okay? And changes I should make? I am definitely open to suggestions!

Wedding Roadie

So tomorrow I'm heading to the good ol' US of A for a little wedding shopping spree. I have been trying to gather supplies for some of my DIY projects and have noticed that a lot of things are soooo much cheaper in the States! So I've been making a lost of what I need and figuring out where I can get the best deal. Some of the things I'm looking for are:

1. Fake flowers

So I was at a Canadian Michaels this week, and I saw the price tag on one stem that said CAN - $16.99, US - $9.99. Ridiculous. So I'm armed with 40% off coupons and am hoping to find a good selection! I will probably also hit up a dollar store or two - you never know what you can find. I need these for my flower initials and to decorate a set of curly willow branches with an as-yet determined purpose.

2. A Vintage Birdcage

For cards, natch. I'm totally jumping on this bandwagon - the only problem is, I haven't been able to find these anywhere in Ottawa! I don't know if I should hold out for spring and start hitting up garage sales, but I will definitely keep an eye out for these tomorrow.

3. Shoes!

I'm still pretty undecided as to what I want, but we'll see if something catches my eye.

4. Favour boxes.

We saw these on our last foray across the border, and haven't been able to find them here at a comparable price. I'm still undecided what exactly will go in them (still holding our for macarons!), but if we have the boxes, I'm sure we can find something that can go in them. Just like Angels in the Outfield...

5. Bridesmaids Gifts

'Nuff said. Looking for some cute things for my ladies. I will probably hit up TJ Maxx to see what I can find.

6. Cardstock





Michaels has their paper on sale. And an extra coupon. I might try and pick this up so I can start working on paper products, such as signage... We'll see how that goes!

7. Aaand, last but not least, honeymoon clothes!

Even though I might not know where I'm going, I definitely want some cute, summery, beachy clothes to wear on our trip. So far I've bought a cute bikini (loving floral prints right now!) and some espadrilles. I also bought a jumper at the end of last summer (not 100% how I feel about it yet. But it was Miley Cyrus with Max Azria for Walmart. Love. Haha.). So, we'll see what else I can find. I'm thinking another bikini or two, some cute dresses, and lots of shoes!

The shopathon is on! Any suggestions for places to go and things to buy? Yay for cross border shopping!

Right Now I'm Loving...

Paris Hilton's Footwear Collection!

I'm still on the hunt for my wedding shoes, and am on an ivory/nude/gold kick right now, so these are a few pairs I've stumbled upon. There are definitely a lot of options out there from Paris Hilton... just try not to say 'That's Hot' while trying them on.

Love the sparkle encrusted heel.
This might be a future DIY project for my ultimate wedding shoe!



Sweet little side bow



Valentino-inspired bow. I like the shorter heel height -
definitely hard to find cute shoes with a moderate heel!




Take a peek at that pink heel!




Love the rosette



Big bow, again.

So what do you think? Yay or nay on PH shoes? And why am I having so much trouble choosing my wedding shoes?

And just for fun... how cute are these?

All images in this post from here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone had/is having a great day celebrating! D did a good job - he surprised me and had flowers delivered to the school I was supply teaching at today. It was super random but so thoughtful! They are so beautiful and will definitely hold me over until I see him again (this Sunday! I'm so excited!).

Now I am just watching 'The Bachelor' with some Valentine's treats, and my 'date' Rylee. Not a bad way to spend V-Day alone...

How did you spend your Valentine's Day?