Vendor Review: Abbott Party Rental

Hi friends! To start off my Vendor Review series, I am covering our rental furniture vendor, Abbott Party Rental, based out of Lombard, IL. One way to save money on your wedding is to find an event space that is a la carte. This means you get to shop around for the best deal on chairs, tables, linens, etc, but it also means that you are responsible for finding a good company within your budget limitations that can provide quality service and products.

My First Choice

I researched and compared prices for what had to be every rental vendor that worked in the city of Chicago. I made a spreadsheet with all the different pricing, offerings, delivery charges, restrictions, etc. At the end of my exhaustive research, I decided on Party Central. They had the best pricing and a huge selection to choose from. I called to set up my reservation with them and they were totally nice and courteous on the phone. However, during our phone conversation, I found out that they do not pick-up or deliver on the weekends during non-peak dates. My date, May 7, was just before the start of their “peak season.” BUMMER! I needed Friday delivery and Sunday pick-up. No bueno.

Abbott Party Rental - Pricing

The next-best pricing I could find was for Abbott Party Rental. They were able to deliver and pick up on the days/times I needed, so they were the winners. I ordered the following:

• 110 White Wood Style Chairs with Padded Seat

• 10 36” Round Tables – 30” High

• 12 36” Round Tables – 42” High

• 10 90” Round Tablecloths in Charcoal Gray (for lower tables)

• 12 132” Round Tablecloths in Charcoal Gray (for highboys)

• 12 Sashes in Charcoal Gray (to tie highboy tablecloths)

The total for the above before tax, delivery, tip and fees was $837.00. Phew! Who knew rentals were so darn expensive?! Heads up, ladies! Make sure you plan for this to take a nice chunk from your budget if you are not choosing a venue that has rentals included.

Delivery was $90.00 (nice!), plus a “damage waiver” of $50.05, fuel surcharge of $16.74 made my grand total $993.79 – coming just shy of my $1,000 rental budget! That was a close one.

Quality & Service

  It doesn’t matter how much you save if what you get is shitty. This is now my mantra as a budget-wife. Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Abbott was not THAT bad. (Just remember that mantra for the future.) On a five-star scale, I give them a 3.

Customer Service
I have very little to complain about their customer service. I had pleasant phone calls with my representative and it was easy to set up and make changes to my order. They still use fax, which is a little irritating in 2011, but it’s not a deal-breaker. They were fast in their responses to me and kept up with email surprisingly well!


Delivery / Pick-up
Here is where they definitely lose the first star. I had the day before my wedding scheduled out perfectly: pick up people from the airport, get a mani / pedi with a girlfriend, meet the rental delivery people, set-up the chairs and tables, etc etc. You can imagine my surprise when I got a phone call while relaxing in the pedicure chair saying, “Hi, Crystal? It’s Abbott Party Rental. We are here with your delivery.”  Ummm… no. You aren’t there because you aren’t scheduled for another hour. And you aren’t scheduled for another hour because I don’t have access to the event space until then.

Ha! So, I panic and start calling my DOC, Hollie, over and over and over and over again. She, of course, is on a conference call (because she’s not technically working for me for another 4 hours) and can’t answer. I call Alexis at Kitchen Chicago – no answer. I call Charlene (from Sweetchic Events) and HOORAY! She answers! Not only does she answer, she says she’s not far from Kitchen Chicago and will go meet them right now and take care of it. Bless her heart! I got my toes polished up and took off before they were even dry so I could let Charlene get back to her day. The delivery guys were still there with her when I got there, and I was informed that 2 tables were missing from the delivery. In addition to the added stress of arriving early, I was short some tables! I don’t even know if they ended up bringing them at a later time, but I do know that I paid for them!


Rental Quality
To start on a good note, the linens were exquisite!  They were a nice quality and color and they were all accounted for. I know the linens really helped dress up the space and they were well worth the $336.50 that we paid. I originally contemplated making them myself with wholesale fabric and some quality time with my sister and her sewing machine. After doing the math, however, it was actually just as expensive and was going to take up way too much time. If you plan to use your linens again, then doing it yourself is probably more economical. But for one day, I was better off renting.

Highboy table with tablecloth and sash.

The other star was taken away for the furniture quality. Not only did the delivery guys not open the straps for us so that we could get the chairs off of the dolly (my dad almost snapped a finger off trying to help us!), once we got to them, they were dirty! They honestly looked like they had just been dragged down a dusty dirt road. It took so much extra time to find cleaning rags and detergent and to wipe them down that the whole rest of the day’s schedule was falling way behind. I’d also like to point out that while the description says “wood style”, they are not actually wooden chairs. I was mislead, but I suppose not entirely lied to. I was disappointed to find that they were plastic resin chairs in the style of wooden garden chairs. They still looked nice once they were all set up (and cleaned up), but I was a little disappointed.

You can kind of see our chairs here.

Thank you to my mom, dad, nieces, nephew, Michelle, and Hollie for the extra chair cleaning help! :)

Suggestions

If I had a wedding during peak-season (summertime) or had flexible delivery/pick-up dates, I would go with Party Central for rentals. I can’t attest to the quality of their furniture or linens, but my dealings with them were stress free and their pricing is extremely competitive.

Make sure you give yourself enough time for room set-up if you are doing it yourself! I could have used an extra 2 or 3 hours. Cushion your schedules, girls! Please leave any suggestions you might have in the comments for other readers to use!

Just because. :)

I Did It!!! (Part 1)

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been MIA for an unforgivably long time… I was starting to feel just a tad overwhelmed with work, wedding planning, and guest preparations. I’m sure some of you can relate. But worry not! I made it through alive and am now a happily married lady that is ready to get back to blogging for all of you who are just trying to have a wedding in the city without putting yourself (even further) in debt.

Since it has been so long, I don’t even know the best way to cover everything so I’m going to break this up into multiple posts for the next couple weeks. I’ll start with pictures of our wedding venue though because I have received emails and comments from some folks that are dying to know what Kitchen Chicago ended up looking like! So to get this party started, I give you a set-up/decoration post. I hope you all like it! Leave me some comments if you have any questions about anything!

The Venue – Kitchen Chicago

Kitchen Chicago filled with our guests (100 of them) and a whole lot of love.

 I’d like to start this section by giving a huge shout-out and “thank you” to Alexis and Nicolle from Kitchen Chicago for being so helpful and accommodating with my non-traditional wedding. Every request and inquiry was given a response quickly and I don’t believe there were any requests that were denied. (Of course, I only asked things within reason…)

A nice view of the ceremony setup before people took their seats.

When the rentals arrived before I got there, Alexis was able to buzz them right in and oversee the drop off (along with the fabulous Charlene from Sweetchic Events, but that’s a-whole-nother post). When the chairs were dirty (again, this deserves another post as well), Alexis was right there to help me and my friend find some rags and cleaner and wipe them all down. When the night was over and some decorations were still lingering, they found a welcome home in the closet until she had another event scheduled. The rentals couldn’t be picked up until Monday and guess what? She let me leave them there! (Originally, there was an event scheduled for the next day but the solution was to house them in the garage until pick up! How accommodating!) I have to say that when you are down to the wire in planning, a vendor that is willing to work WITH you instead of against you is so very helpful and much appreciated.

You can see our bar table set up in the left corner.

Beautiful details like this keep decorating to a minimum.

 My Flowers

I love flowers very very much. They are nice to look at, brighten a room, smell nice, and generally make me smile. But when it came to choosing flowers for my wedding, well, I was stumped. I had a very small budget for these pretty things and I put them near the bottom of my List of Things to Worry About. I did, however, know that my bouquet, along with boutonnieres and corsages for our parents and grandparents, were a necessity. The decorative ones took a backseat. After doing some very complicated and intricate investigating (read: Yelp searching), I found a place near-ish to Kitchen Chicago called Adams and Son Gardens on Western. 

With my Mom, sister and hydrangea bouquet after our First Look.

I went on location to scope it out and was greeted with friendly, smiling faces and a ton of beautiful options to choose from. The lady there that does the arrangements (forgive me as I forget her name!) was actually already booked for my wedding day - May 7. After explaining that I didn't need arrangements for the whole place, just the bouquet, 3 pin corsages and 3 boutonnieres, she said she thought she could squeeze it in for me. Yaaay! I was so excited! I requested a hydrangea bridal bouquet (cheap!) and anything yellow for the rest that would fit in my budget. She made them all up for me well within my budget for a grand total of $143.33. My (now) sister-in-law graciously picked them all up for me to save delivery charges and dropped them off at my sister's where I was getting ready on the day-of.

Walking down the isle with my dad and his boutonniere.

While I was setting up the space on Friday before the rehearsal with my dear friend, Michelle, and amazing coordinator, Hollie, I realized that there was something missing. By the way, not a great thing to think the day before your wedding. Michelle foolishly asked me before we headed out to our rehearsal dinner, "Is there anything else I can do at all?" to which I replied in a last-minute decision, "I think I need flowers." Eeek! Now, Michelle has a degree in Interior Design so she knows a thing or two about color and form and I trust her style completely. This, however, does not mean she is a florist. Instead of protesting, she kindly accepted with a smile, asked me what "feel" I wanted and said "I'll take care of it." What a friend, huh? My clumsy description of what I wanted was something along the lines of: wild flowers, yellow, rustic, pretty. Ha! How "bride" of me. Anyways, this is what I got:

Exactly what I was hoping for!

She went out the next morning to begin her search and ended up hitting the jackpot at Whole Foods. For $160.00 she was able to give me an arrangement for every guest table and for the food, cupcake, and welcome tables!!!! The Ball jars were lent to me mostly by Hollie (some were Michelle's) and made the whole thing come together.

Welcome Table

As a Welcome/Guestbook/Gift Table, I used one of the big, beautiful wooden tables that Alexis has in the event space. She helped carry it out of the doors to the hallway with the elevators. There is a nice little alcove there before the doors to the event space that was a perfect spot to keep large gifts and a greeter if you have one. On the table, I also set up a dedication section with photos of our parents and grandparents at their weddings. All 6 of those couples are either still together or were together until death, which was really inspiring for us on our wedding day and something special that I think is pretty rare these days.

Welcome Table - that's my maternal Grandma's wedding book!

I also purchased a plain white, wooden cutout "G" from the craft section of Joann Fabrics (for our last name) and a wooden planter box to use as a card box (with plastic lining removed and turned around to hide the "Fleurs" lettering on one side). Total for those items was about $10. The photo prints were about $15-$20 and the frames were $1 each from the Dollar Store. 

Other Decorations

Hollie from Sweetchic was absolutely fantastic with helping keep my decoration costs down by lending me her Ball jars (used for flowers), Christmas lights (for the banister and staircase, seen below), and the cupcake stands and platters (also below). At the suggestion of Hollie and Charlene, I bought 72 candles and holders from Quick Candles to place on tables and around the event space to create a mood and make the place look more "decorated." This cost me a total of $50 after shipping and was well worth it. I also had a banner made to put above the cupcake table that read "Love is Sweet." That was a gift from my friend Cathy that was made by her disgustingly talented sister. She also threw in some cupcake flags she made that matched the banner which were supplemented by my mother-in-law with wedding ring toppers and Martha Stewart food picks from Joann Fabrics.

Borrowed holiday lights.

Borrowed cupcake stands, homemade and store bought flags.

So you can see our layout.

We had the above setup for the ceremony and with the help of Hollie and some willing guests, the chairs were moved around and tables (high and low - 36") were brought out from the area through that door to the right in the photo above to look like this for the reception:

Chairs around the low tables and cloth to the floor on the highboys.

I think that covers everything for the decorations! I had some balloons tied to the gate outside to mark the location since it's tucked away a bit from the street and put up a sign that said "Gomez Wedding" on the door. I think it turned out great and ended up looking just decorated enough but not overdone to compete with the beauty of the space. A post about our rentals (tables, chairs, and tablecloths) is on it's way.

Let me know what you think in the comments! And if you have any suggestions for other readers or questions, post those too! Can't wait to fill you in on more of our budget wedding!

Our Budget Invitations - 46 Days

About 6 weeks, you guys! Can you believe it?! :)

Invitations: a necessary evil

I know, I know. I have many graphic designer friends and lovers of all things paper, which is totally cool! I can fall in love with beautiful letterpress invitations at a stationary shop or on Etsy as fast as the next girl, but here is my hang-up: snail mail is SO 2001.

Some people say “… but there’s something so pure and special about mailing a letter these days. It’s so exciting to get a piece of mail that isn’t bills or junk!” I say it’s just a pain in my rear. I get all these extra pieces of paper cluttering my house and it costs MONEY to mail things. Emails are free! And then when you get the paper invitation in the mail, you usually have a paper RSVP along with it that will just sit and sit and sit in your house until you finally stop being lazy the day before the due date and take it to the mailbox. At least in the city, it’s not always the most convenient task to mail a letter. I’m lucky because I have an outgoing mailbox in my condo building AND my work building – a rarity.

The 2011 Invitation

So now that I’m done going off on how I think letters should be phased out, I’d like to introduce a new trend. (Maybe it’s not new, but I don’t hear about it very much on the grapevine.) Electronic invitations!!!!! And no, not E-vite. Bleck! I think the times need to change to make sending electronic invitations the norm. Etiquette people, can we talk about this, please? It just makes more sense. People are on their computers and/or smart phones every day! This is part of their daily routine at this point. Get an email that isn’t spam? Respond! It’s so easy. You click “reply” and write back. And then you’re done! It’s magic!

I must say, I’m being a tad hypocritical. We sent paper save-the-dates, on my request. My fiancé insisted on doing it online and I said “absolutely not!” Some part of me just REALLY wanted to mail the save-the-dates so our friends and family could get one, put it on the fridge, be happy for us… I think I had a “put my 'A' paper on the fridge” moment. They turned out just how I wanted them to, but they may have been a little too good. Many people that got them in the mail overlooked them (at least at first) as junk mail since it was printed professionally postcard-style. It looked like a marketing piece to them. Meh, oh well. Lesson learned.

Electronic Save-the-Dates

The person who really changed my mind about the whole thing is my (fairly) newly engaged friend Michelle (from this post). It went like this:
About 1 month after she said “yes,” I got this email in my inbox with the subject “Tyler and Michelle’s Save the Date.” First of all, I was impressed that she was able to nail down a date so quickly. Secondly, that took NO TIME at all. She didn’t have to choose the stationary vendor, choose the colors, go back and forth on designs, wait while they printed, and wait for the shipment. Michelle has some graphic design skillz (the z is necessary) that she put to work to design a JPG that she simply attached to the email.

 (The attached save-the-date edited by me for privacy, of course. How perfect?!)

There was a nice message to the recipients in the body of the email letting us know that the save-the-date was attached and she took the opportunity to let everybody know that it was ok not to come. Most of their invited guests are from out-of-town. She worded it in the best way ever (I’m not going copy and paste here simply for privacy’s sake but if you want to do the same and need help, just email me!) to let out-of-town friends and family know that they shouldn’t feel pressure to make the trek to Chicago and that they will still love them no matter what. Also attached to the email were 2 lovely engagement photos of the couple, which gave it a nice personal feel. For the older folks and select others on their guest list, they took the design to a local printer and got some to snail mail. Everybody wins!

Our Invitations

I immediately regretted not going this route. My fiancé was right for a change. (Kidding, dear!) This was the best idea ever! Since Rafael wanted to do electronic everything from the start, I gave in and we met in the middle for our invitations. Since our budget is quickly depleting with various other wedding needs, I decided that print-at-home DIY invitations would be the best for our budget and time restraints. We headed off to Michael’s and picked up 2 boxes of 40 of the easiest-to-assemble invitations. I didn’t want to bother with ribbon and glue and all that mess. I also didn’t want the recipients to open like 50 envelopes and ribbon ties just to get to the message. We picked out some from the Brides Magazine line that they have out now. It only ran us about $80 = $1/invitation.

(Our Brides Magazine invitations. Not too shabby.)

I know, I just said that online is the way to go. Before the invitations went out, we made a Facebook event with one of our engagement photos and the exact wording from our paper invitations. The people that responded on Facebook before we went to address the envelopes did not get a paper invite (so as to not bother them a million times and waste postage). Also, on the paper invitation, we asked that responses be given at our wedding website. On our *free* website, it allows you to import your guest list from an Excel document and it will organize this lovely RSVP feature for you (projectwedding.com). We didn’t have to pay for all of the stamps on the return envelopes and we don’t have to rely on the USPS to get our responses. Chicago’s postal system is inadequate, at best.

Since the invitations came with response cards, I decided to use those as rehearsal dinner invitations. All labels (and rehearsal dinner wording) were printed on Avery shipping labels and printed at FedEx/Kinkos for a total of about $21.

 (Our rehearsal dinner invitations - shipping labels on response cards.)

The responses are rolling in on both Facebook and our wedding website and we’re so excited that it worked! I have so much more to share now that I'm getting things in order! I'm off to the wedding of my fiance's best friend in Florida this weekend and I'm so excited to see what they did! And to visit with my future in-laws and fiance's friends! Many pictures, coming soon.

Wedding Season

It’s that time, ladies and gents! My fellow bridal bloggers are getting MARRIED! Congratulations to my beautiful friend, fellow blogger, and former college roommate, Mallory from 11eleven11 and Moxie Missives and her new husband, James. She’s not just a bridal blogger but a truly captivating writer. I know she has been working her little tush off to move a wedding up 8 MONTHS and to begin working for herself in the direction of her dreams and ambitions, and I am so proud of her. Even though we haven’t seen each other in person in years (to change next month, yay!), I feel like we’re closer than ever because of this shared time in our lives. It’s been so helpful to have a group of people who know exactly what you’re going through in life and to share your triumphs and disasters and to feel their excitement with them and their worry with them and to have helpful and encouraging words at just the right times… It’s like reality TV circa “Real World: Seattle” - when it was actually real! (Anybody else have a crush on Nathan?)

CONGRATULATIONS, MALLORY & JAMES! May you have many many fabulous years together!

The People Must Eat – 64 Days

I want to start by wishing all the best to my friend and fellow blogger, Jennifer of City Girl Bride, at her wedding this Saturday. She’s been through a lot in her planning process and I’m so glad she’ll finally tie the knot and go on a fabulous honeymoon. Congratulations, Jen! You did it!

On to my wedding craziness… One of our biggest problems we've run into (one-off crises aside) is food. Food is expensive. At first I was all about being the offbeat bride and starving everyone to save us some money. Ok - not STARVING, but just not providing more than what I would at a normal house party. A dinner isn't necessary and many couples are cutting big ticket traditions like sit-down dinners from their weddings in favor of more non-traditional receptions. Non-traditional is my favorite! However, the more I thought about it, the more I felt terrible for having all of our guests (the vast majority from out of town) come to our wedding and stay for hours with only some cheese and crackers and cupcakes to munch on. "But beer is filling!" said the momentarily college-aged Crystal. While true, beer IS filling, something tells me this will not be sufficient to hold a group of possibly 150 people over for 5 hours.

Jordan’s Food of Distinction

On the suggestion of my newly engaged friend Michelle (see my last post), I called up a company called Jordan’s Food of Distinction. From the name of it, I thought “I can’t even afford normal food, let alone food of distinction.” However, I followed the advice and gave them a call. On the call, I learned that they are also an all-inclusive caterer which means that they will not only provide the food, but also the rental furniture (chairs, tables, etc), the servers, and will even act as a sort of “coordinator” for the event and everything! Fancy!

The woman I spoke with was named Pam and she was FABULOUS – very easy going, professional, and friendly. She made me feel comfortable telling her my budget (which can sometimes be difficult if you are dealing with a high-end company and you have a very modest budget). She asked me a few questions like what I was willing to do without to stay in budget. (i.e. Could I do disposable plates, cutlery, etc? Can we cut out high-priced meats like beef and seafood?)  My answer, of course, was “whatever can keep me in my budget.” In a couple of days, I had a sample menu and an itemized invoice in my inbox to review. I was floored with how delicious everything sounded on the menu and that it was in (or right around) our budget! I asked for Latin-themed food that didn’t require our guests to sit-down to enjoy, and I got a lovely menu with a delicious-sounding “taco bar” as the main event. It was perfect.

Long story short, we didn’t end up booking with them. After re-evaluating our budget post house-buying, we really didn’t want to push it and this option, while definitely an affordable option for most, was pushing what we felt comfortable paying. But please check them out and speak with Pam if you are looking for a nice custom menu and somebody to handle your rentals for you! You’ll be surprised what you can get for your money.

Our Food

So, here is what we ended up deciding on: family-cooked appetizers (in the industrial kitchen at Kitchen Chicago – perfect!) supplemented with chicken, steak, and pork tortas from the Costa Rican BYOB restaurant on Milwaukee in Wicker Park called Irazu.

Potluck style 

(Source)

Appetizers: My fiance’s family was so kind to offer to cook for our reception. Luckily, his family is very easy to please in that they are all happy as long as they are together. They love spending time with one another and they love to cook for people. And boy, are they good cooks! My future mother-in-law helped me pick out some appetizers that would be fairly simple for them to make on a large-scale and to keep well on the table without a ton of rental chafing dishes and whatnot. (I’m so lucky to have awesome future in-laws – the entire extended family is just a treat to be around.) Here is what we came up with:  mini chicken & cheese quesadillas, tostones (Dominican fried plantains), tortilla chips & guacamole, veggies with ranch dip, and assorted fruits with this delicious fruit dip my future M-I-L makes. Nothing requires a fork! I am budgeting about $200-$250 for ingredients from Costco for all of this.

Tortas: Irazu is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. Not only is it BYOB, but the prices are unbeatable for the amount and quality of food. (Go visit them right now if you haven’t. It’s so worth it. Oh! And try an oatmeal shake. I mean it. Fair warning: cash only.) Now, Irazu’s tortas are HUGE. I mean, half of one leaves me so full I want to sleep. So, we are having them all cut into quarters in order to be more finger-food friendly and to make sure a ton of food won’t go to waste. It will fit in perfectly with the rest of the food and will be a very filling (and delicious) option for all of our hungry guests. Can I also brag that this will only run us about $300 including delivery?

Dessert: Have I mentioned lately that my future in-laws are great? ;) My future mother-in-law makes this secret-recipe carrot cake that is out of this world. I didn’t even know I liked carrot cake until I had hers. When my fiancé and I started talking about our wedding cake, this carrot cake popped into my head and I couldn’t let it go. No other cake is going to be as good; this I know. So I asked her if she would be willing to make carrot cake cupcakes to serve as our “wedding cake” for the big day. She agreed and I couldn’t be more excited to see everybody’s reactions when they take a bite. Yum! Also, my future sister-in-law is taking a cake-decorating class to learn how to make the icing pretty to display on a cupcake stand (or two). Love her! Take THAT expensive wedding cakes!

 Pretty! 

(Source)

So, the moral of the story here is that there ARE affordable options in the way of caterers, albeit few and far between. And don’t be afraid to contact your favorite local restaurant, no matter how small, to see what they can do for you. Even (and especially) if they don’t normally cater weddings or events, they could have some really budget-friendly options for you that you may not have even thought of. Call them and start the conversation. Food is what they do, so they should be able to give advice and steer you in the right direction at the very least. Chafing dishes and catering equipment are available for rent if you need them at most rental companies. Think outside the box, and don’t let yourself get played by the over-priced caterers in this city!

Bon appetite!

3 Months and a House

Can you believe it?! In 88 short days, I will be all dressed in white and walking down the isle to wed my handsome groom. I am so excited! *Insert high-pitched squeal!* Though, I have so many things to sort out still that I'm having stressful wedding day dreams where nothing is done and I'm scrambling to get chairs and food. Those are the worst. But here's why I still have so much...

Since my last post, my fiance and I have become homeowners! We purchased a beautiful condo in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows and exposed duct work and stainless steel appliances...!!! Everything a girl could ask for. Now that I'm settled (though still without internet, hmmpf), I would LOVE to get everybody caught up on my wedding planning and all of my discoveries since my last post.

First and foremost, I want to give a huge CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Michelle and Tyler on their recent engagement! It is so nice to have a fellow bride-to-be to bounce around the city with looking at dresses and chatting about our roadblocks and triumphs. SO EXCITED for this beautiful, happy couple!

(just because I love this bouquet)

Flaky Photographers

I may have mentioned my photographer in a previous post - family friend, immensely talented. We had a contract and plans to fly her in from California for the big day. Well, long story short: She bailed. After having what I can only imagine was a full-blown panic attack, I started desperately asking around for recommendations. On a budget as small as ours, good photographers are few and far between. WAY far between. I couldn't find one (that fit my slightly snooty standards). I was looking for a full day of coverage and rights to all the photos for $1000. While there are options out there in this price range, the picture quality seemed to reflect the cost if you know what I mean. And pictures are THE only thing I will have after this day to show my kids and grandkids, family that couldn't make it, etc. Big deal in my book.

So, after enlisting the help of my sister, we started our search. We found many close-but-no-cigar options - either they were just outside our budget or just below par on creativity (comment or email me for some great Chicagoland options!). Just when I was going to give up hope completely, my sister offered the creativity and services of her fiance. Why it didn't dawn on me a long time ago that he is a very creative and talented photographer/artist, I don't know. She said she was holding off on offering to see if we could find another option for fear he will be too distracted by our family members to get good coverage. I say, free & talented is the best combination and I am very grateful for his generosity. We'll make sure that everyone we know has their digital camera in hand all day to catch any moments he might get stuck talking to our grandpa - which is both highly likely and almost impossible to squirm out of.

Crisis averted.

(See my photographer/future brother-in-law's artwork & portfolio here. Though, please beware NSFW! He has many artistic nude photos and it is possible they could be right on the home screen. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

Bye Bye, Down Time!

Most brides know that there is a lull in your planning schedule if you have the typical year from engagement to wedding. Well, mine has come and is now packing its things to leave forever. I started planning fast and got a space booked and a wedding dress right away. But some things just can't be booked a year in advance...and some don't need to be. It was still too early to map out the tiny details. Not anymore. I'm coming up on our 6-month marker next weekend and it's time to get my booty back in gear.

The Wedding Salon
I haven't been completely ignoring the wedding lately, to be fair. I went to the Wedding Salon event at Sofitel Chicago with my best bridal blogger buds Hollie at Thrifty in White and Jennifer over at Peach Bride. We got to taste a few passed appetizers & desserts, get our pics taken in every photo booth we could find, and drink as much wine as we could get our hands on (which didn't end up being much because the place was so packed).

I blocked out the first one for everybody's sake. Jen, I LOVE the tiara. ;)

#1: Silly, #2: Awkward

Since our tickets were free via a promo code, it was well worth the trip just to get some ideas for hair styles and table decor, but I have to say that these events are NOT for the bride on a budget. They're great for inspiration and free wine but don't expect to actually find a deal there. The only thing that might end up working out is a honeymoon package from Sandals, who had a booth there. Oh, and Hollie's incredible chalkboard writing capabilities that I may have to barter for all-you-can-drink wine and/or DIY help. (Hollie, look what you got yourself into.) :)

House Hunting
Since I am slightly insane, we have started our search for a home while also planning a wedding! How exciting though, right?! If I'm sparse on the posts, that would be part of my excuse. We're taking our time and visiting places every weekend in various neighborhoods in Chicago (but mostly in Lakeview/Lincoln Park/Downtown). I must say I think I'm getting better at narrowing them down online first before we go see them because we are getting closer and closer to the perfect place every week. THIS is what I want to spend our money on, NOT the one-day event that is our wedding. So, in a way, the house hunting comes at a perfect time to keep me on track with our wedding budget. I'm so excited to have a place in mind when I'm registering for gifts!


The fiance and I are off to NYC next week for a family wedding and I am SO EXCITED to get to take some mental notes while I'm there. Seeing one in action will definitely get my creative juices flowing and inspire me to start getting things wrapped up for my own!
190 days...

DJ. Check!

Have I ever told you how much I love checking things off of lists? I want to make lists all day long just so I can check things off of them.... breathe, check! eat, check! Anyways (I almost just wrote "anyhoodle" like my pal and fellow blogger, Hollie at Thrifty in White hahaha), I have checked off a few things that were pending on my list from my last post and this makes the checker-offer in me very satisfied.

Save-the-Dates
As I mentioned in my last post, I got my save-the-dates from the vendor blimpcat on Etsy. We had some issues with the postal service, but when I finally got them in I was DELIGHTED! Blimpcat had wrapped the cards up in this adorable blimpcat custom wrapping paper and tied it with a bow and put it in a box with pretty tissue paper.

Kitties! Ribbon!

A "thank you" card is attached to the top, handwritten from the lady I had been in contact with regarding my order, Kate. This was such a lovely gesture that I had to take a picture of it.

So nice.

Maybe this is typical from vendors on Etsy and I have just been missing out all this time, but I thought the little extras were a very nice touch. They have very much earned my recommendation.

We had one tiny problem: the somewhat glossy finish on the card makes even permanent markers smear. Luckily, our brilliant friend John recommended we use shipping labels. Not only did this solve the ink smudging problem but also the terrible handwriting problem that both my fiance and I have been stricken with. My handwriting would have taken those beautiful cards from a 10 to a 2 in as little as a few pen strokes.

So we bought Avery shipping labels from Amazon.com (use that Prime membership!) and used the template that they have available for free at www.avery.com/templates to create a 10-page PDF. After trying and failing to print them on our own, we brought them to FedEx where they printed them for FREE! I love free. Thanks, FedEx/Kinkos. The labels & ugly Liberty Bell stamps have now been affixed and our save-the-dates are currently en route to a home near you. Total shipping costs including labels: $40.

Disc Jockey
I would like to take a moment to thank my wonderful fiance for helping book the DJ. Thank you, my love. ;) Who knew DJs were so darn expensive?! Goodness gracious! There was a moment there in our planning where I thought we would have an iPod (or in our case, Zune) wedding. I was given many wonderful recommendations for DJs that I'm sure are great, but I can't justify spending that much for a DJ when I have my eyes on a new house. I also know that a DJ is important and can make or break an event. Conundrum.

I started researching and comparing rates online and panic ensued. Almost every DJ was over $1000 for 4 hours, with a couple $795+ exceptions. The new "it" DJ group for the nontraditional Chicago wedding, Toast & Jam, came highly recommended.....for a quoted $1295. I know you guys rock and everything, but it's just not in this savvy bride's budget. So then I remembered the DJ from our company Christmas party last year. Rafael and I liked them so much that we were talking about them days later. They really felt the vibe of the crowd and kept everybody dancing. They even had Lupe Fiasco in their library! Thumbs up!

I asked our HR department for the information and they were very helpful in giving me the name (One Stop DJ Service) and their pricing from last year. I knew we were in business. I contacted them (despite their terrible, horrible, ugly website) and was promptly contacted with a quote for 6 hours plus 1 hour of set-up/tear-down time at $795. After about of day of not responding to them, they called me and left a voicemail saying that if we pay the deposit by the end of the month, they would take $100 off of the price. Better yet - if we pay in FULL by the end of the month, they would take $200 off the price. Now we're talking. I handed it off to my fiance and he got them all paid up and booked for the low low price of $595 (though we miss every penny).

218 days to go...

Save the date! (8 months to go)

Hola amigas!
All of a sudden, I woke up and I only have 8 months left to get everything together. I know it seems like a long time but I'm already starting to hear "I'm sorry, we're not available for your event date." Jeez, fellow brides-to-be! Rush much? I'm kidding. I get it. Early bird gets the worm. So, I still have a long laundry list of things to consider in the following months including but not limited to:

• Book a DJ
• Address and send save-the-dates (see below!)
• Meet with florists - choose one
• Choose invitations
• What are my guests going to eat? Drink?
• Who will bartend?
• Table decor - what is it going to look like? What is realistic for my budget?
• Find & book an officiant

Those are the main ones I need to take care of before January when I really start getting details in place like footwear, accessories, ceremony scripts, hairstyle, decor specifics, etc etc.

Notice, NOT on the list is "Order save-the-dates." You know why? Because I already did! I found them on Etsy from a vendor called blimpcat. The woman I was in contact with, Kate, was very attentive and helpful. They should be arriving to my office today (although it's not looking good, USPS).

Proof from blimpcat

They are simple, cute and don't tie us down to a theme for invitations. However, they DO set the color scheme. Perfection. $130 well spent. The final pieces also have our wedding website address for our guests to find maps, hotel booking information, and (sshhh) registry information - free from projectwedding.com, I might add.

Up next - book a DJ. One that is well under $1000, please. Thanks. :)

The Dress

Wow! It's been a while, huh? You look so grown up! :)

Since my last post, I have been a planning monster, and today I'd like to announce that I have purchased my wedding dress! Yaaayy!!! Actually, I purchased TWO wedding dresses. Let me explain...

First try
I started out where I think every bride should start her search: David's Bridal. Some brides get this look on their face when they hear the words "David's Bridal." They get all scrunchy-nosed like you just put plate of liver and kidneys in front of them. Listen up ladies! David's Bridal is a GREAT resource. They were so very helpful. I went in not knowing the first thing about wedding dress styles, sizes, colors, etc and now I feel like a pro. They help you find styles that you feel great and look great in and they will bring you as many dresses to try as you can fit into your time schedule. Find your perfect style here and then shop online if you don't find The One in the store.

I tried on a ton. After 2 visits, I realized that strapless was the way to go for me and on my 3rd visit I purchased one!

Note: I will not be posting pics of myself in the dresses as my fiance will not be pleased. He is determined to not see me in white until May 7, 2011 as I walk down the isle. I am obliged.

Dress #1: David's Bridal

There she is! David's Bridal dress style WG9859 (if you want to see better pics). I felt like a princess bride. You can't tell from the photo, but it has little sparkley things all over it - not sequence, mind you. Heaven forbid. And it fit me so well too! I was absolutely glowing when I had this dress on.

So you're wondering, "Sounds great! What went wrong?" Nothing really, but the whole time I had this tiny little voice in the back of my head saying, "Isn't this a little much?" The whole theme with my wedding is laid-back and not showy. Just a celebration of love and commitment. This dress says (a little too loudly) "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" It has the train that I would have to bustle and the appliques all down the front and the sparkles and the ruching.... plus it was about $624 on sale... $124 over my ideal budget for a dress. Finally, after about 2 or 3 days, I decided that it wasn't the one. Yeah, I felt great in it...but it just wasn't me and I didn't want to start going over budget on things. Fortunately, David's Bridal has an AWESOME return policy. I had 10 days to cancel my order without paying a dime. They refunded me 100% of my down payment (half of the total) and that was that.

On to other dresses!

Second Try
My sister, knowing that the first dress wasn't right even before I realized it, made me appointments at two bridal consignment shops on the Saturday after I canceled my DB order. She knows me better than almost anyone, I'd say, and I was very excited to have her there with me to choose the perfect dress. She's very honest with me too and that is extremely helpful for this very important decision....perhaps a little too honest at times. ;)

The first place I tried - I Do, Inc. Designer Bridal Consignment - was terrific! It is a very small, family-owned boutique on the far west side of Chicago. They have gowns in all shapes, sizes, and colors and from all eras. They let you go into their storage room and forage through the tight isles of puffy dresses. It's worth noting that this is a task for only the most serious thrifter. Luckily, that is exactly what my sister and I are. I actually prefer to look through things myself than to have people wait on me and bring me stuff. (I'm sure this boutique will cater to any bride, though. If you want to be waited on...still give them a try!) This boutique is also very budget-bride friendly. They ask you outright what your budget is and tell you frankly what to not even look at. I really appreciated that they didn't make me feel shy about my modest budget and really helped me get the most of it.

I found some really great vintage pieces in that storage room. But the one I loved the most was a fairly new piece from....wait for it.... DAVID'S BRIDAL. Yes, I ended up with a David's Bridal dress anyways. It has my favorite elements from Dress #1, but none of the over-the-top glitter and appliques. Best part: it was only $250! That is half of my budget for gown and accessories!
Note: The following were taken from http://reviews.davidsbridal.com.

Lovely, figure-flattering ruching!

No train = lots of dancing

So, there you have it. We canceled my second appointment that day and I paid for half of the dress right there. They are holding it in a temperature-controlled room for me since I don't have central a/c in my apartment and I will go in early next year to start my alterations. However, it almost fits me like a glove. Just a couple tiny adjustments, a small sweetheart dip in the neckline and it's good to go! Even the length is perfect for a nice pair of cute, comfy flats or kitten heals.

Dress. Check!