Mmmm…cake (and traditions)

Joey and I went to Haydel’s Bakery on Saturday morning (around 9:30am). Just a pointer for NOLA brides, go 9:30am or earlier….after we got there, the place got PACKED. However, the service there was impeccable. We met with a woman named Tonya, and she was extremely knowledgable and understanding in seeing our view for a wedding cake. We brought a picture of of cake I saw online for inspiration, as well as our palette colors. These two things helped the consultation go extremely smoothly! The only thing we lingered on was filling flavors..hehehe!

Tonya brought out a plate of six pieces of cake. They were all almond wedding cake but with different flavors. A small part of me wished they brought out some red velvet and cream cheese…mmm…but for a cake that was pretty much paid for with our reception, (I’ll explain pretty much in a bit) I wasn’t about to complain. Lemon buttercream, Chocolate buttercream, buttercream, Raspberry, Strawberry and Pineapple were the choices…and they were all pretty darn good!

With our reception of 150 guests, our reception was paying for a 3 tier wedding cake (really 2 tiers for the guests). We wanted to give our guests 3 choices of cake and not take chances in case people want to try them all, so we were offered to buy another tier for $35 dollars extra. Not too bad..so we added that!

Our flavors, after much going back and forth…and a lot of compromise…here is the lineup from the bottom up. Pineapple, Strawberry, Chocolate buttercream, and for our first anniversary cake yumminess, Strawberry :).

Note: Joey HATES chocolate, so he really did compromise for me on this one…thanks babe!

Another small note, the pictured cake below is fondant. I do cake decorating for a hobby, and while fondant is more smooth looking, it’s terribly nasty and expensive (like $20 in fondant at the store to cover two 8″ cakes). Your guests will peel it off the cake, and seriously, why not just do buttercream and make things easier on the guests(and cheaper for you!)

So, here is the cake that we showed Haydel’s for inspiration. Another thing that wasn’t free is the fleur de lis on the side…these are little molded sugar cubes, which we are having “painted” in a bronze color. These were $25 for all the fleur de lis needed for the cake…a little high IMO, but whatever :). The beading will be in teal, and the flowers will either be a mini bouquet of mine or an LSU inspired DIY cake topper. We really haven’t decided yet. We have time

Another idea I really didn’t give much thought to was the cake pulls. Haydel’s wanted to charge us $10 per charm (hells to the no!)….and then $25 for a new trend, a bracelet with the charm. The lightbulb in my little head went off…I could DIY these bracelets! Yet…another…project hehehe :). I don’t think I want the thimble charm in there…I want happy charms…old maid (I’ve gotten it before) is soooo blah!

So…..now I just need to figure out….how many cake pulls am I doing? Should I restrict this to the bridal party or branch out to all the single gals there?

 

Busy Weekend ahead!!!

I’m super excited! Joey is coming over to NOLA for the weekend, and we are getting some checks done!

* cake tasting
* Pre Cana meeting with the priest

Also, HUGE congrats to our wedding photog, Amanda Meyer, for being accepted into the WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association)!.

Also, save the dates are about to be sent out! Stay tuned!!

 

How to make your own Pocketfold invitations!

Since we are on a strict budget for the wedding, I decided early on that I would DIY as much as possible (without taking too much on) to save a dime here and there. I fell in love with the idea of pocketfold invitations early on, but websites selling them at over $1/piece, I knew this would be pricey. However, with the help of this DIY pocketfold bio, my creative mind started building a template. I used the Strathmore textured paper, which was on clearance at Mister Art because the Marina Teal color was being discontinued. I got the paper for about 80 cents/sheet, and bought up all 40 something odd pages of it! Then, I brought them to Kinko’s and had them laser cut the sheets into 4 pieces. Since the paper is 19×25 inches, it cut into 3 pieces at 7 inches tall, with a 4 inch tall piece leftover along the 25 inch. side. The cuts cost $5 total, just about and really saved me quite a headache of cutting perfectly straight 19 in. long pieces.

In my template, I have 7×19 inch pieces, and divided it originally as: 3″, 5″, 5″ with 6″ on the end for cutting the pocket out. Note: I only really needed 7×17 inch pieces for this project if 19″ is hard to find or if you are custom ordering your paper. However, after scoring my first one, it just didn’t fold into one another naturally. So, I went to another knottie’s blog (heatherkj’s Road to the Aisle) and found in her blog, that she had one 5 1/8″ score then one 5″ score, so that it would fold into one another smoothly. I tried that, and it worked (and it still fit in the A7 envelopes I bought!).

So, without further adieu, here is how to make a pocketfold in 5×7 size.

First off, the supply list. You will need:

* Large art paper that is at least 7×17 inches in dimension and is a thick cardstock, like 80 lb-110lb. (I recommend either Mister Art for the Strathmore paper or Anchor Paper for other brands..Anchor Paper actually carries the Strathmore line as well and still has Marina Teal!)

* Fiskars paper cutter with cutting and scoring blades. I bought my paper cutter years ago at Wal-Mart, so they won’t look the exact same as the one in the pictures you will see. The cutter is also at Michael’s, and you can often get this 40% off with the weekly coupons. The blades are also at Wal-Mart and Michael’s.

* bone folder (Mine doesn’t look like a standard one you will find, but they were in a two pack at Michael’s for $2)

* Terrifically Tacky Tape (at Michael’s for $3/roll but what I did is bought a bunch at a time with a 25% off TOTAL PURCHASE coupon found in every Bride’s or Martha Stewart Weddings magazine) I found that I need a roll for every 15-20 invitations.

* Pointy edge templates…you can use scraps to make the perfect pointy edges :). Mine went in/out about an inch on each side total. Just draw it out in pencil until you make what you like!

* pencil to trace pointy edges onto invites

Now that you have paid for the supplies, set up on a flat table with some good lighting and get ready to go. Once, I got in the swing of things, I could pump out 15 of these each hour that I really paid attention to it. This was rare though, because I would mainly do this while watching my reality TV :).

Using your Fiskars cutter, you can line up your paper straight with the edge at the top of the cutter to make sure your scores are straight and beautiful. There is a ruler along the cutter to help you find your exact edge for your score for up to 4 inches, and there is an expandable ruler that folds out from under the cutter as well, which you will use for the 5 1/8″ and 5″ scores. Remember, you are only using your scoring blade (grey) at this point. You don’t want to accidentally cut a fold!

Also, the quicker you run the blade along, at least I found, that the lines are straighter. Make sure you apply a fair amount of pressure but not too much. You can practice on scraps for a while, but it doesn’t take very long to get a feel for the scoring blade.

For the first score, you will score at 3″, then fold to make a nice flat crease with your bone folder.

Here is your first score…it’s hard to take pics and hold down the scorer and give you the idea at the same time, but yeah… here ya go!

For the second score, go another 5 1/8″ (using the fold out ruler under the cutter).

Here I am mid-score!

For the final score, go another 5″.

Here is where you will see the long 6″ leftover piece I end up with for the “pocket” that I really didn’t need in the end.

Now, this is how to make the pretty pointy edges for the pocketfolds using the template you  made.

Take the opening edge and line is up against your 3″ piece, then using a pencil, trace the edge onto your invite. Then, cut along the traced edge, either using your cutting blade (orange) or just regular old scissors.

Now, using the same edge on the pocketfold template, invert it and draw it into the 6″ edge (or 4″ if you do the 17″ long piece of paper). The trick is, you want the inner point of the pocket to be 2″ wide. So, what I did, was I measure 2 inches inside, then used that as the guide point to draw the pocket in. I used my cutter to cut the pocket, but you can use scissors here too!

Here is the pocketfold before you tape the folder in after all the cuts and folds.

Now, cut pieces of tape onto both the pocket and the 5″ side of the paper. This is another pointer I found off heatherkj’s blog. It helps the tape to stay permanently for the folder.

For this tape, the red tape backing helps you to see where you put the tape and position it. However, peel this off and stick the edges together to form the pocket!

Oooo..ahhhhh..the pocket! (I’m such a happy dork that these look great!)

Here’s a stack of them…there are two this size in total!

And here is a stack of untaped folders…I did end up finding that doing this in steps…score a bunch, cut a bunch, then tape a bunch…it’s easier and a bit quicker!

So there you have it brides….how to make a pocketfolder…and it ends up working out to about 35-40 cents/pocketfolder vs. a little over $1. If you start early and do a bit at a time, it’s not as daunting as some people say it is. As a scrapbooker/crafty person, I found this FUN

 

Flowers!!

I used to hate flowers…they die within days and you spend a lot of money on them. What a waste right?? Well, in the past couple of years, I’ve slowly learned to like flowers.

My first flower love: tulips. Tulips are beautiful, springy and just cheerful. I went to Utah last year for a conference, and there were nothing but tulip gardens everywhere! Tulips are just great…and they will be in my bouquet and my bridesmaids. Ahh tulips

This is a picture in Salt Lake City of a tulip someone broke off and put in a bench thing…

These are the beautiful tulips that Joey gave me after my Utah trip. He heard me raving about the beautiful tulips and had them waiting for me in my apartment. Things like this give me more reasons to marry the man, I tell ya

Love #2: Roses….Joey has given me roses a couple of times. I used to think they were cliche but now they are totally a beautiful flower to me. They are going to be in the bouquets as well :).

Roses that Joey surprised me with on Valentine’s Day. Totally made my week

Love #3: Peonies…OK, I’ll admit…I used to LOVE Bath and Body Works Peony spray, but after 2-3 years of using it in high school PE class to smell better, I hate it. However, a REAL peony…is gorgeous and smells light and great. I saw a peony for the first time on the Knot…and I instantly knew I had to have them in my bouquet. And that’s where they will be…

Some peonies

Love #4: Hydrangea…this flower has some significance to me in my life. When I was a baby, I had a hydrangea planted for me..it moved to my new house 8 years later…lasted about 20 years total. It bloomed around my birthday and it’s just a beautiful flower. These flowers are going in my bridesmaids’ bouquets.

Some hydrangeas…

Now, to see it all in harmony, here are the bouquet inspirations for my bouquet that I brought to my florist (who is totally awesome!)

I think the flowers are going to be gorgeous! I can’t wait to see them

 

My newest splurge and (slight) obsession!

Joey and I have been discussing cool options for invitations. We are still doing teal pocketfolds, but the paper inside has been the talk of the town, I guess I can say. Being that we are on a strict budget, my idea was to buy ivory cardstock from Office Depot and print black ink on it from Kinko’s…super cheap but great and simple. Well, we got a little more into thought and Joey’s idea was to print white ink on vellum, then backing it with bronze stardream paper. Beautiful idea, but I wasn’t so sure about it…

Well, I thought about it, and said, well we have saved $250 on flowers, mom has volunteered to pay for flowers and my dress (Thanks MOM!)….and in other news, dad is going to help out as well. I’ve been on the fence about a Gocco PG-5 machine for a while, but this made it affordable in our budget. I’m UBER excited about the Gocco, which recently came in.

What did I order and how much, you ask…

Gocco PG-5 machine - 148.00 from Paper-Source (with free shipping).

Supplies Ordered from Northwood (Judy was prompt with shipping and everything came in pristine condition. I ordered 2 white inks, 1 yellow ink, 1 turquoise ink, 1 brown ink, 1 black ink, 2 packs of ink block, 1 pack of ink mixing bags, 1 pack of lamps, 1 pack of screens. - $61.80

Our little splurge was **JUST** over $200, at a grand total of $209.80!

To justify this purchase and make it budget friendly, I’m going to roughly spread out my planned savings here.

We are printing invitations with this…if I added this to the expected expense of invites, it makes them rougly $3 each (about on par with printers that do simple invites, but I’m using the GOCCO for more than this)

We are printing programs with this…save some moolah this way too!

We are printing our own Thank You cards…no need to buy stationary, just precut cardstock, score and fold, then print on the GOCCO. Buy A2 envelopes and we are GOLDEN…

Another thing we are printing, which is a little off the wall and will contribute HIGHLY to the savings….personalized napkins! The Gocco machine is an oil based ink, making it not run with drinks on it, and it won’t pat off on people’s faces. After 45 minutes, the ink is there and STAYING. Personalized napkins are like $20 for 50 napkins…HELLO! Party city has cocktail napkins for 99 cents on sale! BIG SAVINGS HERE, especially with making second line napkins and these are fully customizable.

There are more possibilities as well…but for now, this is it and I can’t be more excited about it!

 

My creative juices are overflowing…

I’m 10 months and 4 weeks out…it’s so amazing! My excitement about planning this big day keeps growing and growing! So much to explain…so many blogs are overdue, but I want to make a tribute to my BM’s…these girls are wonderful and I want to introduce them to the world (and talk about a few ideas I have for them..)

My maid of honor…my dear sister Kimberly. She and I were roommates for 16 years of my life. We fight, we laugh, we cry, we tickle…we’ve tackled everything together. Sometimes I hate her guts…she is the scum between my toes…wait, stealing a movie line here (oh Darla!) Anyways, she is singing Ave Maria in my wedding..her voice is angelic and mine, well, I sing in the car and swear people outside are giving me weird looks when they hear me! Yay Kimberly…I’m so glad you are my MOH!

My bridesmaids…Rachel, Jenna and Katrina.

Rachel is my youngest sister…she sings too…really well. I’m sure I’ll have to make many trips to NYC to see her in a broadway show. She is a determined girl, and very opinionated. Once she raises an eyebrow at you, you know something went wrong. She won’t be able to get into any bars for my bachelorette…we need to figure these little details out here. However, despite her high school age, I’m glad she is in the wedding too!

Jenna is my dear friend from college. She is the smartest person I know. She is in law school…about to be a 3L (OMG Woods Comma Elle!)…and is just hilarious to be around. I’m comfortable talking to her about anything, and I’m so glad she is able to be a part of the wedding, despite her busy schedule!!

Katrina is another dear friend from college. This girl can sing some serious stuff too. Why do I know so many good singers? LOL…I’m slightly jealous here! Katrina is the type of person you want to have a beer drinking party with in the apartment fun area while playing pool and Pacman (remember?? LOL!) OMG good times…Katrina lives far far away in a land called Dallas and she is totally awesome for coming down to NOLA to be a part of the wedding!

Anyways, these girls are so wonderful. I can’t show them enough appreciation…and I want to shower them with gifts for being here for me! They rock!

A site I love looking at for gift ideas is etsy…I love helping a fellow crafter out. I want to start an etsy business one day…real bad, so in the mean time, I lurk and buy around…

I’m gonna showcase the cutest gift idea I’m considering. Girls wear jewelry…jewelry deserves a place better than a ziploc bag. And these, made by etsy seller punchanella, are wonderful and fairly priced at $28 each! Check out the cuteness!

 

Pocketfolds…

My latest adventure, just to get these done before things get hectic with planning, is the pocketfold invitations. I know my wedding is over 11 months away, but I’m DIYing these…and I want to not stress myself out over them. In actuality, I’m LOVING the way they are turning out so far!!

I ended up purchasing a sample pocketfold in Retangolo from Cards & Pockets to make my template. A $3.xx investment well worth it IMO. Their pocketfolds are about $1 each…the ones I’m making will be 30 cents. Before I was ever engaged, Joey and I wanted a teal and brown wedding, so one day, I was on websites looking for large teal paper and stumbled upon Strathmore textured art paper. The Marina Teal color was being discontinued on MisterArt. Anyways, the paper was about 70 cents/sheet plus shipping and handling. I bought up their stock of 48 pages. This paper, measured out, makes 3 pocketfolds per sheet. So, I have PLENTY of extras :D.

To cut the art paper, I went to Kinko’s. The provide a great laser cutting service that is $1.50/cut. At first, it sounded expensive to me too, but each cut can cut through 200 pages at one time. Grand total for 3 cuts through 48 sheets? $4.50…perfection!

I’m a scrapbooker, so I own a Fiskar’s paper cutter…the $10 one at Wally World years ago but it’s $15 on Amazon so not bad…anyways, it works like a dream! I purchased a score blade to use on the paper cutter and a bone folder at Michael’s to make my folds look pretty!

To adhere the folder part, I used Terrifically Tacky tape, also at Michael’s…used my 50% off coupon from the paper this week on it. I find that the textured paper helps to hold the tape..and makes for a better bond.

I made only 8 so far, but Joey and I are going to work on these this weekend and finish them. YESS!! Let’s get these pocketfolds done! Hehehehe…

 

Florist BOOKED!

I officially booked my florist, and her name is Christina O’Malley. She came highly recommended on the Knot for having beautiful flower arrangements at affordable, budget friendly prices! She works out of her studio in her home, so there is no overhead cost or anything like that. When I received her quote, she came in at $750 total for EVERYTHING! I had to book her….I just had to!

So here are the checkmarks…

Ceremony (check….$250)
Reception (check…$4800)
Photographer (check….$1500)
Florist (check…$750)

Oooo lawdee lawd! This is getting expensive! (but I’m in budget still)

Total spent so far: $7300/$10,000

Next up: Limo booking but I have a question for those who read this…

What do you think if I just rented a limo for the bride and the groom? My mom flipped out, but seriously to stay in budget, if I got a limo for bride and groom, party and parents/grandparents, it would be almost $1000. One limo would be about $300…but I’m also toying with the idea of a Vintage Rolls Royce for just us(same price and just cooler looking)…please comment!!

 

One year until I’m a Mrs.

…and according to the male coworkers, until Joey is stuck for life LOL!

Today, I went to get breakfast, and the cashier asked to see my ring. She said, “He must really love you.” All I could come up with (in my nasty cold voice) is “Yep! We are SO going to Houston this weekend!” (OMG…am I a nerd or what??)

It’s really unbelievable that when I was a little girl, I remember seeing brides as princesses. I thought, my mom and dad are married. One day, in a long time, I’ll be married too.

I’m sure you want the story on Joey and I…so here goes

In high school, I had zero luck with the guys, and looking at all the girls with their dance dates, (in those moments), I thought, frumpy ol’ Amy is NEVER going to find a man. ugh! In college, I really didn’t have much luck with guys either. I was more of a friend, which was fine. My luck started to change a bit in the middle of college. I started talking to guys online…sporatically (VERY sporatically) meeting up with them. Joey was one of them. At first, we were just too different. I was very rebellious (smoking occassionally, wanting to drink a lot) and he was just more mature than I was.  We didn’t work out after a month and I just blew him off. I was really mad that my first relationship didn’t work out.. We would sporatically (once again, really really sporatically) talk and I remember we met up a couple of times after my breakup with my second boyfriend. I remember a year or so went by and I just didn’t really care. I joined eHarmony and started dating this other guy in Baton Rouge. He was very much a workaholic and just really didn’t give me the time of day. We went on a few dates..but I realized…I could do better. Joey and I were talking a little more at this point, since he broke up with his then girlfriend. I don’t exactly remember what triggered it, but we decided to talk while he was away in California. When he came back, I wanted to date him again..just to try us again. Fast forward a little over 16 months together, and Joey is  proposing to me. Wow..unbelievable right?

To think, in a year, I’m going to be his wife. Joey has chosen to be with me for the rest of his life. It’s really amazing, and I’m really excited about it. I look at our house, and I’m amazed at the progress. I can see us starting a family and starting our lives together there. It’s so wonderful knowing this is all in a year. So, Joey, if you are reading this, maybe I can say this, Happy (-1) Year Anniversary!! <3

 

Engagement Pics!!

Our wonderful photographer, Amanda Meyer, took our engagement pictures for us last month. Finally, without further adieu, I give you a sampling of our engagement pictures (at least my favorites!)

I will openly admit and give a huge thank you to Sara Blakely for creating Spanx. I appreciate your products holding in my non-photo friendly belly