I mailed out my save the dates today

I have been a busy lady for the past few weeks DIYing up a storm. I mailed out my save the dates today! Unfortunately I got stuck with poler bear stamps.  Darn post office. I ordered the postcards free from vista print and just paid shipping.

Tent Chairs Tables: DONE

I just got off  the phone with Ann from Saco Hill Party Rentals. I am all set and booked for Agust 27th 2011. I called 10 different companies! Saco Hill Rental is 50 miles away from Wellsboro. Ann has a very small delivery fee $35. For my  30x45 tent 14  60" round plus 5 long tables and 100 chairs my total for Thursday delivery- Sunday pick up is $406.50 Not too bad hu? Ann was very sweet! She is a single mom who runs the rental biz by herself. She told me she fought to keep it and has owned it for the past 10 years.

Shop around, ask for prices, don't be afraid to mention a competitor price that is lower. Heck, try a different area it may be cheaper!

Zeki The Tailor (the tailor part 2)

We planed on going to the tailor Friday morning. Unfortunately the dear husband needed to finish writing a program. He was busy at the computer all day. I was so disappointed. I wanted to buy my dress so bad. He works so hard for his family :)

We ended up going today. The place was really hard to find. He was getting really frustrated too. I couldn't count how many times he stalled out. I tried my best not to laugh. The place was a little hole in the wall.  The old man had a lot of experience you could  tell and the shop has a ton of good reviews. We had the kids with us. He was happy to see the children and treated them to lolly pops for being good little girls. We spent $20 all together. Hopefully we won't need too many alterations.

I ordered my dress!

Chair Covers Oh my!

Ok, we have established I am a bargain hunter.  I have been searching craigslist for wedding things. 2 weeks ago a woman was selling 100 self tie chair covers for $320. You can get 100 self tie chair covers off ebay for $280 with free shipping. I offer her $175 2 weeks ago. She huffed and puffed  telling me "No I'm sorry The lowest I will go is $300 I paid $3.32 plus shipping and half of the cover were not used."

Last night I saw an ad for 100 self tie chair coves for $280.  It was the same woman. I offer her $175. She said "No I'm sorry $280 is what I'm asking you can't even rent 100 of these for that price!"

I can't???? I contacted a rental company and asked for a price quote for 100 self tie chair coves.  The man told me $450. Oh my! I asked him if that included setup or delivery. He quickly said no. I told him I could purchase new covers for $280.

I could tell his jaw dropped. After a few moments he asked me where I could purchase them.  I gave him the name of the ebay seller cvlinnens.  After a long pause he said "Where can I get china dinnerware?" Hahah! I asked him again how much it was for chair cover rental and did it include set up and removal. He told me $190 and yes set up and removal included. Bingo.

I had no intentions of renting. I would have taken the offer if I did not feel like going through the hassle of re-selling them.

Back to the woman on craigslis. I kindly told her again that I could purchase them new on ebay for $280 . I also told her I could rent them including set up and delivery for $190. I offered her $175 and told her I could pick up asap. I doubt she will respond...I will probably purchase them for $280, but for now I will wait until she offers them again :P

Save The Date PART 2!

So after speaking with Eamon about the wedding we have decided to go with the easy rout. We came across a great deal for post cards (FREE!) well, plus shipping. We paid $6.80 for 100 postcards.  The company vistaprint has a bad reputation. I can see why they are tricky and if you do not read everything just so you could end up sighing up for other services. The cards do have a small vistaprint.com printed at the bottom of the post card on the revers side. The logo will be cleverly covered with an address label. So, not a bad deal we plan on going the same route with the thank you notes. They are a little more expensive than the diy way but not by much.

So, yes we are doing the invitations ourselves. I have found several cheap places to get quality card stock for about $10 per 250 sheets. I will list those later as well as my exciting trip to the bridal shop!

SaveThe Date: Project Begins

Well it is time to get my butt in gear! My wonderful Aunt Jo has gathered together all the names and addressees of the family. Isn't she awesome? I am waiting on Eamon's half. So...Now what? Save the date time! I have a lot of family that lives out of state. I guess the trend is to give people more notice. I'm cool with that.

I looked for a reasonable diy invitations and came across oodles of options. Lots of great temples are free. We have chosen this free temple from empapers.com. It is a full black and white kit and did I mention it is  free? I found a download from weddingchicks.com where you can customize the colors as well as having matching RSVP cards. I just need to print them on card stock and mail them out.

Instructional video: From Wendy Dahl at dahl wedding company

Other contenders in the diy invitation race:


Crown invitation set by Etsy user Camille Chun. Click to view shop.

 Download at weddingchicks.com

Rose invitations and many more choices can be downloaded at downloadandprint.com

Celtic invitation set download at pashweddings.com