5 Cent Wine Sale

Posted by Khris in Steals + Deals

For those of you lucky enough to be able to bring your own alcohol to your reception venue, BevMo is having their 5 cent sale. Buy one bottle and get the 2nd one for 5 cents (on selected items). Prices start at $6.99 and there are over 150 wines to choose from. You can buy in-store or via the web, if your state allows it.

Linky Love

Posted by Khris in DIYBride News

As an ongoing expression of gratitude, I’ve been sending out some linky love to all of the awesome peeps who’ve either given DIY Bride a mention or a direct link. If you’ve missed my previous linky posts, do check out the fine sites I’ve mentioned here and here.

I’m truly blown away by the fascinating, creative, funny, and all-around-awesome sites that are coming in. Thank you all for being online and sharing your talents!

This month, I’d like to give a shout out to:

• Ron & Courtni’s Wedding Journal
• New Mexico Wedding Planner
• Manolo for the Brides
• Travel Betty
• The Wedding Vendor Guide
• Indecision 2008 – Cindy’s Wedding Blog
• Budget Wedding Guide
• Love is in the details
• Simply Me
• Classic Bride
• Gabe & Kate
• Always Fabulous Events
• An Excited Bride
• Marry? Me?
• Darling Make Do
• Promised Hearts

Registries

Posted by Khris in Wedding Planning

After my “About My Wedding” post a few days ago, I’ve received several emails asking what I’d change about my registry. (I had no idea registries were such a hot topic.)

I’m kinda squeamish about registries. The idea of telling my guests what to give me still makes me a bit uncomfy. I know, as a guest, they’re tremendously helpful. (As an aside, some of the gifts we loved the most were not on our list at all.)

Registries are a tricky thing because you’re selecting items that are in season now that are supposed to fit into your lifestyle/decor/living space for years to come. Unless you have a crystal ball, there’s no way you’ll be able to predict what your housewares and decor styles/needs will be in X years from now. And that’s ok. Pick what you love right now and enjoy the gifts.

What We Did Right

There are some things from our registry that we absolutely hit a run with. We’re still using our Anolon cookware and Henckels cutlery, 7 years after our wedding. Extremely satisfied with both. Our Kitchen Aid blender has served us well. Glass and metal mixing bowl sets from Crate & Barrel have been terrific and sturdy.

What We Would’ve Changed

• Cut back on the gadgets. We have more doohickies and thingamajigs than you can shake a whisk at. I love gadgets but we ended up with a lot of specialty tools that we don’t use and that are taking up precious space in our small apartment (or that were never used and donated to Goodwill).
• Cut out a lot of frivolous stuff. Related to the point above, we put things on our registry that we really didn’t need but added anyway because they were (a) at low prices points, (b) they looked cool, or (c) because they were on a list of “must haves” that we got from some wedding magazine or wherever. (This includes gadgets, duplicates sets of anything, special glassware, bar stuff, linens, decorative kitchen stuff …)
• Added more basic-but-pretty serving dishes. We entertain far more than we ever thought we would and had to add a lot of serving stuff to our supplies very quickly post-wedding.
• Never, ever asked for any vases. We ended up with 15 or 16 billion of them. (A slight exaggeration.)
• Put a registry for charity somewhere. I don’t remember if places like the I Do Foundationexisted in 2000, but I sure would’ve created a way for our guests to donate charitably. My DH just reminded me we did ask for donations to the cancer society as an option in lieu of gifts. No one did donate (that we’re aware of.)

Those are the major things we learned soon after the wedding that we would’ve changed. The short answer is we would’ve edited the list to our most basic needs and things that we absolutely lusted for that fit into our space and lifestyle. If we could’ve had that crystal ball we would’ve added a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, some quality tools for the grill, and some basic linens that could be transitioned from season-to-season. For non-household stuff, we would’ve registered for camping/outdoor gear.

Not earth-shattering, uber-fascinating info, is it? But you asked and, well, there ya go.

Crochet Wedding Cake

Posted by Khris in Decor, DIY Projects & Tutorials

It’s crafts like this that make me wish I were a fiber crafter.

Berroco, fashion yarn house, is offering a free pattern/instructions for making this most awesome Crochet Wedding Cake. Can you stand it? I’m dying over here from the cuteness.

The layers of the cake are separate. That means you can put stuff inside! Berroco shows putting china under the bottom layer. I think this would be darling for a bridal shower. Or as centerpieces/decor at the reception.

P.S. Berroco gives away free patterns every Friday.

About My Wedding

Posted by Khris in Khris' Corner

I don’t talk about my wedding much here mostly because it is now in the distant past. Next month will mark my 7th wedding anniversary and to reference it seems somehow odd.

Weddings haven’t changed that much since 2000, really. The trends are different, sure, and you guys have so many more options and resources now. My attitude about weddings has certainly changed and I know lots of nifty shortcuts and crafty stuff. But, at the end of the day, you’re all dealing with pretty much the same stuff I did waaaay back then.

Since many of you don’t know me that well – or at all – I thought I’d give a little Khris’ wedding 411.

Wedding Date: October 07

Place: (Ceremony) Berkeley Rose Garden; (Reception) Brazilian Room

Number of Guests: 120-ish

Catering: Serves You Right

Cake: Julie Durkee of Torino Baking (She’s since gone on to Food Network Fame. I’m so proud.)

Photography: Michelle Walker. Brilliant. Wonderful. We still love her and her work. Highly recommended.

Hair: Stacey Williams (genius); Makeup: Done at Preston Wynn in Saratoga.

Dress: Don’t remember! Mori Lee, I think. Purchased at Trudy’s Brides in Campbell, CA.

Bagpiper: Ian … cannot remember his last name. He was good.

Transportation: A 1940′s Citroen, owned and chauffeured by a friend of the family.

Wedding Night Accommodation: The Claremont Resort and Spa

Honeymoon: French Polynesia (Vahine Island and Bora Bora). Highly recommended.

Our DIY Projects: Favors (petits fours in a hand-cut vellum box), invitations/rsvp, programs, thank yous, guest book (doubled as the CD covers for our reception music) and all of our reception music.

What I remember most: Being outrageously, gloriously happy and sharing that with the most amazing people on the planet. Dancing. Falling flat on my arse because my bustle pushed the chair out from under me when I went to sit down. Being outrageously, gloriously tired at the end of the evening. The cake. Being silly with our friends and family.

What I would’ve changed: Nothing and lots. Saying I’d change anything feels like I’m saying I have regrets. I don’t. Buuuut…

• I would’ve picked the *right* dress for me. I was in a situation where I had to settle. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t me.
• I wouldn’t have gone into deep debt.
• I would’ve accepted more help from those that offered.
• I would’ve worked more with my husband to make the wedding and reception more reflective of us and not a variation of what was “the norm” or suggested at the time.
• I would’ve changed my bmaid situation. Too much drama, totally not worth it.
• I would’ve gone on honeymoon right away and not waited over a week to leave. I went to work the Monday after my wedding!  (We had originally booked  a spot in Fiji but they went into some sort of civil unrest right before the honeymoon. We had to change plans only a few weeks out and couldn’t get anyplace we wanted right after the wedding.)
• Reworked our registry. Cut out all of the frivolous stuff and gone heavy with the gadgety stuff we love and better dishes. (We did not, however, register for china and do not regret that one bit.)

My advice:

• Celebrate who are you now, not who you’ll think you’ll be in X number of years. We fell prey to the “Don’t do xyz. You’ll look back in X years from now and regret it.” spiel. Humbug! Hogwash! You will never, ever know who you’ll become or what your preferences will be in x number of years. Enjoy the now, my friends.
• Let go of your control issues. Doing so will save you from so much drama, tears, and stress.
• Work harder on preparing for the marriage than the wedding.
• Communicate. Love. Trust.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help or guidance.
• Don’t be afraid to set boundaries around your wedding plans or your relationship(s). Lots of people will have opinions about how you should celebrate your wedding.
• Treat each other with kindness, honor, and dignity. Always.
• Get the best photographer you can afford.
• Treat your guests with kindness and love. Invite only those that you hold dear.
• Have a fabulous, fun honeymoon.