Pearls Are Always Appropriate

After buying our groomsmen gifts last night, I was in a shopping mood and I had a mission.  I needed to find jewelry for the big day.  Well my motivation didn't last too long and I found myself on Pinterest daydreaming.  And then I found it - my jewelry!

I clicked on the pin and it brought me to the site:  www.weddingdressbee.net.  After only a few minutes, I had deduced that this was a site full of cheap knock-off's made in China.  After reading mixed reviews about the site, I went to search for my dream jewelry online elsewhere - no luck.

So, I decided to go for.  I purchased my jewelry (necklace and earrings) for just $24.96.

Here it is!  I will keep you posted with how everything turns out.

Groomsmen Gifts

After my recent bridesmaid gift purchase, my fiance I decided it was time to figure out groomsmen gifts.  We'd gone through the standard ideas:  flasks, mugs, pint glasses, booze, pretty much anything booze related, and cuff links.  None of that would do - my fiance wanted something different.

During our discussion yesterday, we realized that all of his groomsmen love to ski (they've all gone on multiple ski trips together) and so he wanted to get them a gift related to that.  What we came up with:  extremely awesome ski socks.  My fiance and I both ski and we both own these socks (we actually bought them for each other one Christmas without knowing) and we LOVE them.  They are sweat-wicking and padded in all of the necessary areas to make ski boots comfortable (which if you ski, you know how difficult that is to do).

So we went with socks for each guy and will be adding in a gift certificate to their local sports store good for their next ski "check-up" (waxing, sharpening, tuning, etc.)  We haven't bought the gifts cards yet - we are holding out to make sure they don't have some sort of deal on them sometime soon.

Total cost:  $40 for the socks (including shipping) + $120 for the gift cards = $160 for 4 groomsmen.  

The Search for Outer Envelopes

A while ago I discovered that I needed outer envelopes for my Vistaprint invitations.  Since then, I have been searching for great deals on envelopes.

First, if you are using Vistaprint invitations and their envelopes as inner envelopes, then you need a size A8 envelope for your outer envelope.

Here is the breakdown of sizes:
Vista Print Invitations:  5" x 7" (actually 4.61" x 7.17")
Vista Print Envelopes:  4.75" x 7.50" (slightly bigger than invitation - perfect for inner envelope)
A8 Envelopes:  5.50" x 8.125" (next size up from inner envelopes - perfect for outer envelopes)

First things first, you CANNOT find A8 envelopes anywhere in stores.  The closest thing that you will find in stores are A9 envelopes (5.75" x 8.75").  And stores only sell them in white.  In my opinion, these envelopes are just too big.

Just in case you are interested in the A9 envelopes here is what I have found.  Craft stores don't sell them (I checked A.C. Moore, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby).  You can find the A9 envelopes at office supply stores.  I found them at Office Max ($16.99/100ct.) and Staples ($13.99/100ct.)

Returning to the search for A8 envelopes - your only option is to buy them online.  I still haven't ordered, but here are my top three sites..

1) envelopesexpress.com:  This is my current favorite.  Sample are completely free (including shipping).  This is the only site that I have found with this offer.  They also have a large variety of colors.
Cost:  $42.30/100ct + $0 shipping = $42.30

2) envelopemall.com:  Samples cost $1.50 per envelope with free shipping.  However, shipping on a regular order is not free.  Also, they have a more limited color selection unless you go with metallic envelopes (these are NOT good for shipping, they confuse the machines a the post office).
Cost:  $21.95/100ct +$10.01 shipping = $31.95

3)  jampaper.com:  Samples are free plus $3.25 shipping.  They have a large variety of colors.  Also, when I signed up for the email, I got a coupon for 15% off my first purchase.
Cost:  $28/100ct + $13.09 shipping = $44.74

Happy Feet for All (Bridesmaids Keep Out)

I opted to have my bridesmaids each pick out their own pair of shoes to go with their dress.  The only requirement was that they had to be silver.  From what I have seen, most of them aren't opting for flats (which is totally what I would do).  My thoughts:  several inch heels + hours of pictures + hours of dancing = painful and tired feet.

I decided a while ago that I would probably just pick up a pair of plain silver flip-flops for each bridesmaid just in case they wanted something to change into at some point during the night.

Yesterday I read about an awesome deal to get them at Target for FREE - yes FREE!  They were going on sale at Target for $2 a pair and there was a $2 off per pair coupon.

How did I get enough coupons for all 5 bridesmaids?  Helpful hint:  you can generally print out 2 copies of the coupon per computer.  For me that usually means using my laptop, my fiance's laptop and the desktop.

The Veil Unveiled

So my $150 veil just arrived in the store a few days ago and I picked it up today.  The detailing is gorgeous and matches the dress perfectly.  However, after actually holding it I still don't understand how it cost that much.  Oh well, I'm happy with it, so I guess it's just one of my wedding 'splurges'.  I'll have to add a better picture later.

There's an App for That

A couple of months ago I discovered the Wedding Party app.  It's a completely free app that creates a timeline of your wedding events.

How does it work?

1.  You go on-line and set-up your weddings profile

2.  Guests download the free app

3.  They enter your wedding party name that you've created (we just used fiance's last name)

4.  They can start taking pictures and leaving comments which are uploaded to wedding profile/timeline

How do you tell guests about your Wedding Party app?
1.  E-mail them invites from the website 

2.  Add a link/info on your website

3.  Add info about it to your invitation insert

4.  Put info in Out of Town Guest bags

5.  Use their free printables to place on tables at wedding 

6.  Word of mouth

Registry Rush

Bridal shower invitations are going out soon, which means my fiance and I really need to finish up our registry.  As I talked about before, we are registering through myregistry.com.  It's super convenient to link all of our registries.  As far as stores go, we are registered at Kohls, Macys and Walmart (they were the only ones that had the ancient traditional Corelle dishes that we wanted).

Once we had a list of the different appliances, etc. that we wanted, we had to decide which brand, model, etc. we were going to register for.  I found www.consumersearch.com extremely helpful in making these decisions.  So, if you're stuck on something I strongly recommend that you check it out.

So what did we register for?

Kohls
Home Classics Extra-firm Jumbo Pillows (for the spare bedrooms)
Perfect Comfort Memory Foam Pillow (LOVE these pillows)
Oneida Flatware (decent priced brand that works for all occasions)
Oneida Bake and Take 9"x13" Pan s(non-stick, sleek-looking, and comes with a snap on lid)
Oneida Cupcake Carrier and Baking Pans (non-stick, can bake a dozen cupcakes and carries 2 dozen)
Nordic Ware Springform Pans (best non-stick pans and built to last)
Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker (pricey but worth it; auto-sets the time and temp depending on how much rice and water you put in)
Ninja XL Blender (perfect for making smoothies for a multiple people)
Wine Enthusiast Electric Corkscrew (seemed to outlast the other brands)

Macys
Godinger drinkware (reasonably-priced, classic drinkware)
Pyrex food storage containers (Pyrex - enough said)
Faberware Percolator (rated better than any other percolator and last much longer than coffee pots)
OXO containers (great for storing everything, instant vacuum seal)
Cuisinart DLC-2009CHB Food Processor (best food processor by far and includes all of the attachments)
Corningware Bakeware (Again - enough said)
Hotel Collection Bath Towels, MicroCotton (super luxurious, yet affordable)
Dyson Animal Complete Vacuum (the best for any pet owners)

Wal-mart
Corelle Dishes (last FOREVER)

Buyer Beware

I recently talked about buying my sashes from tableclothsfactory.com.  After looking at the first few, I already found some issues.  A few days later I went through ALL of them and noticed even more issues.  Several of a the sashes had issues (tearing, snagging, missing thread, dirt, etc.)  I went through every single one that had an issue an took a picture.

I got onto the chat with tableclothsfactory.com right away and told them about my problems.  First, they told me that they would be sending me replacements and then told me they couldn't about 5 minutes later.  They said that my pictures that I sent them showed the sashes as they were pictured online (which was definitely not true).

After pointing out that this was not true, the sales rep ended the online chat.  I tried multiple times to start the chat again, but they ended when they saw it was me.  I ended up filing a complaint with the BBB that the company ignored.  Long story short, I strongly advise anyone against using tableclothsfactory.com.