Our Memorable Wedding

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.

I just got married one month ago (I can't believe it's already been that long!) and I had the most beautiful day of my life.  I was surrounded by my husband, family, and many of the people I love and that love me.  

The day was months and months of planning and of course, there were some stressors along the way (what wedding doesn't have at least a little stress?) 

Do you want to know what helped me? Getting my supplies at Oriental Trading.  I used a lot of local Facebook groups to get the best deals, because who wants to pay full price for things I am going to use for one day.. not me! However, for things that I couldn't find and that I knew would help make my day more memorable, I turned to the wedding section of Oriental Trading.

This was my venue for our upstate New York wedding.. very simple but it really was perfect for us.  

I loved the place cards from Oriental Trading.  They went along with our silver/light pink theme for our wedding and were the perfect touch. $3.99 for 50 of them - you can't beat a great deal! :) 

One of the highlights of our wedding was the candy buffet.  Our guests loved it.  I will say, it was a lot of work.  Buying all the candy and putting it together and making sure I had enough bags, glassware and scoops was a little stressful.  Seeing how happy our guests were though and how much fun it was - was all worth it.

We got a few candies from the pink themed candy buffet.  I love salt water taffy so we had to get it. :) 

Here is our beautiful wedding cake.  There are so many cake knives/servers to choose from and you can even get them engraved to treasure forever.  

 

Our unity candle was so special.  Our mothers lit the two candlesticks and we lit the candle during the ceremony.  I will say that it was a little windy and our candle blew out a couple times, but it made us laugh. :) I highly recommend doing something personal/special during your ceremony.

My advice to those of you planning a wedding (if you are on a budget):

1. DIY wherever you can and enlist the help of your friends.

I ended up doing a lot by myself but wish I had asked for more help - your friends/family love you and want to help :) 

2. Start a board on Pinterest to get ideas.

You don't need to share it with everyone, but it will be helpful to get inspiration.

3. Join local wedding Facebook groups.

I got a lot of my wedding supplies from local wedding groups that were selling for a percentage off because they only used the supplies for one day (just like I was planning on!) Please just be careful, go with a friend, and meet in a public place - do not put yourself in any danger. 

4. Search around for the best deals.

It might be time consuming, but if you can't find anything on local Facebook groups then check out Oriental Trading and other websites like Amazon for the best prices.  You won't be sorry!

5. Smile and enjoy every moment.

There may be things that go wrong during the planning process or the actual day of the wedding. Just smile and know that everything you do and every moment is one step closer to one of the most important days of your life.  Smile and have fun! :) :)

Wedding planning and purchases

Hi everyone!  So I am in the process of planning one of the most important days of my life... my wedding.  It's coming up this June and I am frantic. :) I have not been a bridezilla [I hope] by any means, but I am stressed to the max because of the $$$$. I am sure so many of you that have been through the wedding process or are going through it understand what I mean!

To keep the cost budget friendly, I have turned to different sites and DIY projects.  One site that I have found most helpful is Oriental Trading.  I have always turned to Oriental Trading for my teaching and crafting needs, but for my wedding?  Heck yes!  Last year, my beautiful cousin got married and being her maid of honor, I got a lot of the supplies at Oriental Trading from a card bird cage to special favors to bridal shower decor!

I wanted to give you all a sneak peek into my wedding and what some of my ideas are :) The colors are light pink, gray/silver, and black.  I am getting married in upstate NY where I am from and at the craziest time of year - the end of the school year!  :)

Something my fiance and I discussed with my minister was lighting a unity candle.  We loved the idea and I found these gorgeous unity candle. I love the personalization and the fact that Mike and I will be able to keep this forever.

Place cards! Perfectly simple, silver, and ready to be written on!  Instead of doing anything too fancy, I decided to be cost effective and "hire" a friend who writes in beautiful calligraphy for my guest names and table numbers.  50 cards for only $3.99!

Dessert?! Cake?! Who doesn't love cake... this is one of the best parts of getting married - cake tasting ;) And I had been thinking so much about a cake topper... should I put my dog on the top too?  Should I have Mike and my names?  A bride and groom silhouette? Hmmm...

The cake topper I decided on was simple and elegant.  I surprised myself because I was thinking cake toppers had to be elaborate and I have seen some pretty luxurious ones.  However, I went with a personalized cake topper where the glass shines just right. 

Hmmm... favors.  This was a toughie.  Being me and loving food/goodies, I am going with... a candy bar!  I am so excited.  I bought gorgeous glass vases on a Facebook wedding site with all of the scoops and supplies.  (I will pick out the yummy candy when we get closer to the wedding!)  

After getting the vases and glassware, I checked Etsy, Amazon, and eBay for personalized wedding treat bags.  I came across this pin on Pinterest, and they were beautiful.

 But with having a more cost effective wedding, I realized I could get plain bags and boxes for guests to fill with treats, and place stickers on them to make them a little "sweeter" (ha, see what I did there?) :) These thank you stickers are only $2.49 for ONE HUNDRED.  Say whaaaat?  Some of the prices for personalized treat bags were $2.49 for 5 bags or stickers!  I know these are not specifically personalized with my name on it, but I didn't think it was needed.  

Planning a wedding is about discovering what is really important to you, and what you can budget and live without.  I can live without those cute bags :)
If personalization is something you cannot live without, check out these cute options from Oriental Trading!

Centerpieces.  I saw this bling from Oriental Trading and I had to have it.  Such beautiful crystals (or "ice" as they call it) and very good quality.  I am going to be filling my vases with a touch of this ice and placing light pink roses in the vases with water.  

 Since I am not buying the fresh flowers ahead of time, I bought some fake flowers to get the effect of what it will look like.  I will also be placing round mirrors below the vases and votive candles around the vase.  I can't wait to see what it comes out like...and I can't wait to show you pictures ;) 

There's more to come with my wedding journey and planning, but I feel relieved to be on the right track with these great products.  Let me know what you think in the comments section below xo

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.