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Now that I’ve got the flowers, I can’t help but thinking of ways to do the bouquet toss.  Once again, I do not want the traditional, ordinary way of throwing it to a throng of single ladies.  Why? It’s not just that I’m not being traditional.  It’s also a lesson learned from several weddings I’ve gone to.

The wedding reception of my friends J & C was the best example.  C, the bride, did the traditional, ordinary way of throwing it.

First attempt: the bouquet landed on the floor.  Did anybody from the big group of single ladies try to catch it at all? Nope.

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Second attempt: the bouquet landed on a table.  What did the single ladies do while the bouquet was hurling in the air? Stood still as statues, with their hands stiffly on their sides, pretending to be Corinthian columns, and hoping that the bouquet won’t even touch them.

Now C already got a bit annoyed at the girls and, without the tiniest smile on her face, crossly ordered them, “Will you please catch the bouquet?”

Third attempt: luckily, the bouquet went flying right in front of one girl, who most likely, out of surprise, raised her hands just to her chest level and caught the bouquet.

You get the picture.  This is one of the big reasons why I have to come up with a creative way of getting the bouquet into the hands of one of the single ladies. The ladies in my hometown and circle of friends are too shy to fight over the bouquet.  They just do not want the audience to get an impression that they’re desperate to be the next to marry.

However, I don’t want to just give the bouquet to, perhaps, the couple who has been married the longest, or to an attendant or relative I want to honor.  I still want it to be a fun process, with the bouquet going to just one single lady in the party.  Here are some ideas I came up with:

1. Throw a bunch of individual flowers, the total number being one less than the number of girls in the crowd.  Each one will then be able to get a flower, except one, who will then be the recipient of the bridal bouquet.  (This worked perfectly at my friend F.’s wedding.  We, single ladies, all scrambled to get a flower, so we don’t end up getting the bouquet.)

2. The name of each single lady in the party will be written in separate pieces of paper.  Then, without looking at the names, each lady will pick one and hold on to that name during the bouquet toss.  The twist is that, whoever catches the bouquet will have the option of keeping the bouquet for herself, or pass it to the lady whose name she is holding. (I just thought of this idea out of the blue, while brainstorming for a friend’s wedding a couple of years ago, but we never used this idea.)

3. Tie one ribbon to the bouquet.  Then have a number of other ribbons made to appear as if they’re also attached to the bouquet.  Now, all the single ladies will have to grab a ribbon each. At a certain time, each one will pull her ribbon.  Whoever holds the only ribbon which is tied to the bouquet gets it.  As for the other ribbons, nice charms or small trinkets can be tied to their ends, so that the other ladies will also get “consolation prizes.”

At first, some months ago, I got amused by the tissue paper flower bouquets that many talented DIY brides have been doing.  But after some months of thinking, I realized that the cost of a tissue paper bouquet (monetary and time and effort to make it) was not really worth the sacrifice, as I can just get artificial flowers from the clearance store for a cheap price, just a few dollars more than the cost of raw tissue paper, but minus the time and effort to make each flower of the bouquet.

So, there you are, ladies and gentlemen, presenting my bouquet!

No, actually, this is not yet the finished product.  This is just how it looks like when I bought it from the store.  Now tell me, isn’t it lovely enough to be a bridal bouquet? Each bunch of 5 flowers cost me $3.95, so 3 bunches (for my bouquet) plus 1 bunch (for the throw away bouquet) cost me less than $16.  Not bad, considering that I intend to keep this later and probably turn it into a living room table centerpiece at home. Now, just a few more ribbons and glass beads and stuff, it will be good, very very good enough.

We’re booking the venue this week!!!

That’s the grand staircase at the lobby…

In the past weeks, I had been contacting hotels and asking them about their wedding packages. It’s usually easier and less stressful to just get a package, because each package usually includes free use of venue for about 4 hours, either a buffet or plated meal for at least 100 people, a room at the hotel for an overnight stay and discounts for other rooms, free assistance of spinner for music, free use of a bridal car for about 3 hours, etc.

At first, I inquired at this hotel which has a brand new extension, with a brand new ballroom and a roof deck swimming pool. I was interested with this hotel because I was part of the architectural team who prepared the building plans of the new extension, but I haven’t seen the finished product in person because I have already moved away when it was finished.

The package they had was wonderful and less expensive than others, and the place was luxurious and popular choice of many rich-and-famous folks of the city. However, they had one fault: they failed to reply to my email (containing several questions about the package)… and I had been waiting for one month already for their reply! Then, thinking they must have missed my email, I sent the same email again to them. Still, no reply.

A week later, I got tired of waiting for them. Of course, I cannot wait forever for them, because I can’t start working on my STDs and invitations unless I make the date sure by booking the venue.

While waiting for them, I had emailed other hotels and asked them about their packages. One hotel in particular, caught my interest. It’s also a new hotel, and I was also part of the architectural team that built it a couple of years ago, so I’ve been to almost every corner of that hotel, from the reception lobby to the elevator machine room. What particularly impressed me was their promptness in replying to my emails, which they answer in less than 24 hours!

Then, there’s also their wedding package, which turned out to be a lot cheaper than the other hotel, but has almost the same inclusions, and a couple of items which weren’t in the other hotel’s package.

Last week, I emailed my mom instructions and sent her the money, so she can book it in person, on my behalf. This week, she’s going there to book it. I’m excited!!!

Here are pictures I have collected of the hall we have chosen:

(okay, that’s me, clowning around with a colleague,
before the hotel officially opened to the public)

(the construction guys from our office, showing us around)

(how it looked with the lights on, on opening day)

C.) STRETCHING THE MONEY.

As you have probably noticed here in my blog, I am really trying my best to stretch the money.  From my bridal gown, to my favor boxes, and so on, I am trying to look for ways to make my expenses as less as possible.  According to one wedding book I have read just yesterday, an average wedding costs Au$31,900, while if a bride takes the cheapest option, the budget can be Au$8,800. And yes, the crazy me is aiming for something that’s half that price!

So much for the drama, here’s a list of ways I’m trying to stretch the money:

Designing and sewing my own bridal gown.
I’m proud to be saving thousands of dollars on this item! An average wedding gown costs nearly $2,000, so that means I’m saving nearly $1,900 by having a $100 budget for my bridal attire. See this post for the longer story of DIY-ing my bridal gown.

Recycling boxes for my favor boxes.
See this post for the long story.

Ask around a lot, before booking.
Before the engagement proper, Prince Charming and I had been talking about having our reception someday at Hotel A, which was were we attended a friend’s wedding reception for the first time together. After getting officially engaged, my heart was set on Hotel B, because the pictures they have of weddings held at that place were so beautiful and their wedding package costs 20% less than the price of Hotel A’s package. I was on the verge of booking the place, when they failed to answer one important email I sent. Due to the delay, I got impatient and began emailing other hotels to inquire about their wedding packages. Hotel C replied a few hours after I emailed my request, and gave me details of their wedding package, which has almost the same inclusions as that of Hotel B, but costs 15% less than Hotel B’s package.So really, ask various vendors and compare their offers before booking one.

Tiara.
I’m borrowing one of my nieces’ tiaras, as they have lots which they use for their proms and other formal parties.

Shoes.
I found a nice funny-colored neon pink flats at the mall the other day, which was on sale for $5 only. I’ll probably wear them to the reception. Prince Charming already gave me his approval on that whimsical plan.

Hair and Makeup.
I’m doing it myself, or get my aunt or sister to do my makeup.

Photography.
People say I should not skimp of this one, but I will. And why not? The cheapest professional package costs more than my reception package! My family and friends have digital cameras and video cameras anyway, so I’ll let them be my photographers. Aside from that, a friend of mine (who has a serious photography hobby for years) recently mentioned that if I will shoulder his travel expenses (which costs only around 10% of the cheapest package of a professional photographer in the city), he will be my photographer for free. I think I’ll go and have a chat with him about this deal and grab it if he seriously agrees!

Flowers.
I’m having wrist corsages, which contain lesser flowers, for my attendants instead of bouquets. For my own bouquet, I’m planning to buy nice artificial flowers at a thrift shop, arrange them myself and add some bling-bling maybe, which will be another DIY project for me. After the wedding, I can keep the flowers and probably put them in the living room vase later when we get our own house.

Decorations.
Renting is cheap, but it’s like money disappearing like bubbles in the air. After the event, its gone. Instead of renting, I intend to buy some inexpensive fabric to use as drapes, etc, for the reception hall. After the reception, I’m saving the fabric and turning them into fabric thingies in our new home: curtains, table clothes, pillowcases, aprons,… perhaps even a skirt or baby clothes.

Invites.
DIY, of course. I learned from another bride blogger (sorry, I forgot which one) that it is wise to buy the envelops first, then plan the size of the invites around that, and that I did. Also, do a mock up invitation first, before buying materials in bulk, so that if the materials didn’t look good together, or if the color or texture doesn’t feel right, you don’t have to throw away a whole ream and buy a new whole ream.

So, how about you? How are you stretching your wedding money?

Time out from the “wedding money matters” topic, for a very special occasion today…

If someone who doesn’t know that this is a bride’s blog and that I’m getting married in October, he might think I’m talking about human pregnancy by this post’s title. Hahaha…

But no, I’m not. Prince Charming and I are actually conservative people who are going to reserve all “extreme romances” for after the wedding, so there’s absolutely zero chance about pregnancy before the wedding.

What I’m talking about is that exactly nine months from today is already my wedding day! It’s so exciting! Why? Because soon, it will be eight months, then seven, then six, and so on and so forth, until the big day comes, when I become like a cold-blooded reptile… that is, having cold hands and feet, when they’re supposed to be warm as I’m supposed to be a warm-blooded human being.

Being exactly nine months away, let’s do a little review/evaluation of the wedding planning.

The November-December list was:

~ Choose a wedding date and time (Done)
~ Make a wedding website (Done)
~ Make a wedding budget (Done)
~ Make a record keeping system for payments (Done)
~ Select & book venue for the wedding and reception (Have selected. To book this month.)
~ Start making a guest list (Done)
~ Select a wedding theme, style & degree of formality (Done)
~ Select attendants (Have officially asked MOH and 1 bridesmaid. Two BMs to go.)
~ Start making a wedding scrapbook (lazy! lazy! lazy! ..haven’t started! Grrr!!!)
~ Start looking for caterer, photographer/videographer, florist, reception entertainment (Done)
~ Start planning on bridal attire (Done)

Obviously, I need to work on the wedding scrapbook. Oh, scrap! But, yeah, I should… Maybe tomorrow, after going to the Ultimate Bridal Event.