Wedding Invitation Stationery

So don’t do sweets! Do mini burgers, or mac and cheese bites, or french fries. Pick food that you both like.
If you decide to go with a cake, what about cupcakes? We had a cupcake tree at our wedding and it was a huge hit. We put a round, 8" cake on top to cut. Also, we didn’t tell our baker that it was for a wedding, so she didn’t charge us the wedding prices and we saved tons of money. Our friends did the same thing; if you cake doesn’t look like a wedding cake, just tell them it is for a party (which is exactly what the reception is) and you will save money.
As for the start theme, I love it! You can find paper stars at any party store. You could put them on navy blue table cloths, sprinkle around a little glitter, and then cover the table with glass. And hang stars from ceiling. As many as you can, all different sizes and on different string lengths.
Also, you might want to check out party store’s now for clearanced New Year’s things as they usually have stars on them.
Good luck and congrats!

He should ask his ex wife unless you have a friendship with the woman.

Cake ideas: (if these aren’t the right colors, you just tell whoever is making your cake what colors you want in place of what’s on the pic)

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-cakes.aspx

(there are also a lot of cakes with flowers or patterns or butterflies.. you could always substitute these with stars and it would be gorgeous!)

Invitations:

http://weddings.theknot.com/odb/themes/invitations/Results.aspx?type=23&

And when it comes to decorations, I just went down to my local florist, told them what flowers I wanted, what color, and how many boutonnieres I needed, how many flowers for the bridesmaids, and they had pics for me to pick out a bouquet. They also have pics of reception flowers or ceremony flowers and you can decide how much you want to spend on that.

Also, (I’m doing exactly what you’re doing) to save on pricey floral centerpieces, I’m buying m&ms in my wedding colors and personalizing them with me and my fiance’s names and spreading those out on the reception tables. Just an idea.

Also, have you decided what color your bridesmaids dresses will be? silver or blue? what shade of blue are you discussing? Anyway, lots to do!

Wow, you just took my wedding and my best friend’s wedding (both 2008) and conglomerated them!

Mine is the experience with your fiance being married before with a little one…and also seeming not to help with anything – we had quite a few arguements going like "you don’t even care about this because you had your wedding already!!!" ….call it hormones, wedding stress whatever – it works out – and may happen to you…just breathe when it does and remember why you’re marrying him!!! By the way – you have help – I ended up doing this entire thing by myself due to arguements, religious belief differences and the fact that my wedding party were scattered all over the globe…

You don’t have to ask the ex-wife – that’s his baby to deal with…….He just has to go ask – but if it’s a bad break up don’t set your hopes on getting her – she may not even get to come to the wedding (like mine). But remember it’s not the end of the world – you 3 can celebrate later another time

My best friend used your colours………..so I’ll tell you what she did. She got married in Texas – so not sure how that compares to Portland. And hers was outdoors……however, everything wtih the colours were indoors during the reception.

The ceremony used 2 tables with the blue and silver tablecloths – her unity sand ceremony used white and blue sand.

Her chairs were white with blue ties.

Our bridesmaid dresses (sorry I was a bridesmaid) were the blue – the maid of honour had a sliver of silver on hers – they were all different dresses of teh same "pool" colour.

Her cake was blue and white and pool coloured on a silver base.

She had glass "fishbowls" on the tables with fake ice (the gel stuff) and little flashing blue lights in them – those were sorta cool. Except that it was too bright cause the hall wouldn’t let her close the windows (would be better with a evening wedding maybe?)

She had the colours on her invitation and on the favours – which were sample perfumes …

She went with Tiffany Blue and Silver.

Otherwise…….if you want ideas, google image search blue and silver weddings.

You can also go to theknot.com and look up blue weddings (they have weddings by theme…lots of ideas!)

If it’s a navy and silver wedding – my goodness girl, very very elegant!

Ideas for any blue and silver – you have stars right……

1) Beach theme – light blue and silver – gives you teh opportunity to add a few yellows/browns and creams/whites if needed. Also can use starfish instead of stars

2) Night sky theme – navy and silver and gold – very cute……..tumbling stars from the "heavens" (ie. the ceiling or tall centrepieces), wrap star garlands around your vases for your centrepieces, sprinkle stardust on teh tables

3) Night fairies/Midsummer’s night dream theme – can defiinitely be really really romantic!

Hope these ideas were some help! Good luck and congratulations!!!!

Go to this website for some fresh DIY Ideas

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6Y70mVJoiUBMPFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMWNwMXBkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0Y4NjJfODc-/SIG=11hdd5kof/EXP=1231496123/**http%3a//www.stylemepretty.com/

I am sort of doing the same thing, but am in Australia so cant recommend anywhere to go.

We have decided to do cupcakes on a stand, as we can choose all different types of cake to have and the display looks amazing. If you google it you will find some fantastic photos.

We are making the cupcakes a few days before, and freezing them as they freeze really well. We have had a trial and it worked like a treat. My sister in law (to be) is decorating them with those little silver star lollies, sounds very cheap and juvenile but really is effective.

As for the groom not helping, they dont care, its just a day to them. My fiance glazes over and says "hmm hmm" when i talk wedding.

I don’t know what sort of relationship you have with your fiances ex wife, but perhaps you could invite her to the service to see her daughter part of the bridal party. She would probably accept the idea of her daughter being there if she could be involved somehow even as a spectator.

Good luck, remember that it is a day to enjoy. I have been told to not stress out with the planning, you are supposed to enjoy it. and you are doing the right thing by asking for ideas as I found this to be really helpful, especailly on wedding forums.

I think some websites could help you as well

http://theknot.com

http://brides.com

Congrats !!!

Having his three year old daughter as flower girl is a really sweet idea, but the chances that she will want her mommy there with her are VERY high. If you don’t mind his ex being there, then go ahead and ask her. She’s only 3, and daddy will be very busy that day, so having her mommy there would probably be a wise idea. Be prepared, however, for some hesitation on her mom’s part because age 3 is awfully young. Even if she turns 4 by the day of the wedding, she still might be too young to understand what’s happening. I don’t mean to put a damper on it, but it’s a distinct possibility. If you have a nice relationship with her mommy, give her a call, invite her over one afternoon for tea, and ask her yourself. If you don’t have a nice relationship with her, it’s time you cultivated one, because you’re going to have to interact with her forever, and there’s no time like the present.

As for the decorations, you might want to go easy on the stars, or it might end up looking like a high school prom, which would be bad. Why not keep the star theme to the cake and the invitations, and keep the rest simpler? Maybe you could find some jewelry with stars on it for bridesmaids gifts, or other subtle things, like maybe having small and tasteful amounts of star confetti on the tables at the reception. That way you can still have stars here and there, without having them hanging from the ceiling.

He might not like sweets, but find out if he likes fruits, because they can make cakes with whatever filling he and you like, and make it not as sweet. A fun thing might be to have him come along to a cake tasting with the bakery who’s making the cake, and that way you can pick the one you like best together.

Why do you call him "the groom", rather than "my fiance"? (Just curious …)

Best of luck !!

Sounds like you could use stars as a theme, ours is snow/snowflakes(12/05/09) Using snowflake Christmas Ornaments for favors. We have made a ton of snowflakes (glittered, plastic stuff we got from Michaels and a snow flake paper punch to make them, and check them out for invitation materials too, ours are amazing and don’t look homemade either, like some DIY invites.)to hang over the dance floor by using fishing line of different lengths and helium balloons.
As for cakes are you DIYing it too? A good place to find cake designs is Wilton World of Cakes magazine available on wilton.com you can buy your supplies there too.
If you need fabric try stumpsprom.com they also have other cool stuff (I believe they have a star theme set too.)
We are doing our flowers: afloral.com for video instructions, grocery store for practice flowers, then AmericanFloralDistributors.com, rosesource.com, globalrose.com, growersbox.com for bulk flowers. American has an amazing online picture catalog if you need to see pics of flowers/greenery.
It is cheaper to use the church fellowship hall than to book an outside venue and easier too. Outside venues can be booked a year or more in advance and often you must use their caterer(EXPENSIVE). Church halls, you can do your own catering, and they often have equipment you can use.
We also are doing our reception as a buffet with 3 family members doing the cooking. If you need ideas for this, our menu is posted on here in answer to some questions (the easiest to get to is best answers one). It has a dessert table included, to see what these look like go to Murano desserts.com, we decided to use them as a roll model.
Congrats and hope this helps!

I just want to say I think it’s endearing how excited you sound about your wedding! Lots of brides arrange their weddings without major outside help. You can totally do it. As with most things, the internet is the best place to start your research…this is such a broad topic with so many options and decisions, it would be hard for us to give you specific advice. But there are a million wedding planning resources online, so have at them. Good luck!

I am doing alot of DIY as well.

Some of the things are:

Wedding cake – Very simple to make. The easiest way is to use a cake mix or buy an already made cake (dense mixture like chocolate mud or fruitcake) and roll out some premade fondant icing over it. You then smooth the sides and edges gently with a woodern paddle ($15 from cake decorating stores) to remove creases or folds. Cake stores also sell already made fondant flowers. Stick them on your cake however you see fit.

Flowers:
Florists will charge you ridiculous prices for flowers. Go to a wholrsale cut flower store or a flower market and buy your flowers. In the link at the bottom there is a tutorial on how to tie flowers. Just a tip, to have them last wet a sponge, have a small plastic bag over that, place the bottom of the stems in then cover with a robbon wrap when you make your posie. Very simple. We were quoted $1600 for flowers, DIY it is costing $200

Invitations:
The easiest way is to design them in word and print them yourself. Find the invitation you like on the internet, and copy it to the best of your ability. For different free fonts go to: http://www.fontfreak.com/fonts-a.htm
I have never been able to find them, but the invitations from the movie ‘the count of monte christo’ would be perfect for your theme with the blue and silver and stars.

Clothing:
I wouldn’t recommend you DIY your dress, but you already said you have an ideal one so we will skip that.
You can still DIY a veil. All you need is some bridal tulle, a hair comb or clip and whatever decoration you choose: beads, crystals, feathers etc. Cut it in an oval shape, fold in half and running stitch the folded section all bunched up. Sew it to the comb and decorate.
For a bircage veil go to:http://mysite.verizon.net/res0da3o/birdcageveilbio/id10.html

For heaps of other DIY projects go to:
http://www.diybride.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=8

Also: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Easywedding/files/
You have to sign up (takes 2 seconds) but under files there are lots of DIY projects.

I’m doing mine all out of pocket as well. Our colors are chocolate and sapphire. I’m making my own invites on the computer and are going to punch two holes thru the top of them and tie blue and brown bows thru them… you could tie yours with blue and silver and attach tiny stars on the ribbon (check your local craft stores). I’m making my own programs on the computer and am going to take them to staples and have them printed on khaki colored paper and am going to roll them up into a scroll and tie them with blue ribbon (you could do the same but with your colors). For food, I REFUSE to have catering and am going to check out sams club. they have pulled pork and meatballs that you can toss into roasters, as well as potato salad and such… very cheap and the food is really good. the only darn pew bows i can find around here are white and my dress is going to be off white, so i am buying (at a local craft store…hobby lobby…etc) huge huge ribbon and have my gma help me make the bows and sew them together. davids bridal has some great deals on dresses as long as you keep and eye out. for my centerpieces, im buying baskets and putting my "gifts" which are going to be roses made out of hershey kisses wrapped in blue saran wrap (you know the kiss roses) with our names and the wedding date attached to the stem.

as for the flower girl thing… your husband should have no problem getting HIS daughter to be the flower girl… she’s not just his exes daughter… shes his daughter too. he just needs to tell his ex that you guys are getting married and would love to have his daughter in the wedding and would be willing to share cute flower girl pics of their daughter with his ex.

o and as for cake… local bakers are always always cheaper… ask around… there are tons of secret bakers or ppl who bake on the side that would make a cake for about 100 bucks. or you could always do cupcakes.

another suggestion is to buy big stars in silver you can hang from the ceiling at the reception with blue ribbon or cord or whatever… you could even make your own stars from some silver thick paper….
be creative and have fun…. its your wedding and i promise that youll remember better than anyone.

CONGRATS and i hope this helps

If you want a Tiffany blue theme, check this out:
http://www.weddingloco.com/themetiffanyblue.html

Since you love stars, how about a making magic theme? Buy silver cardboard stars from a party shop, get small dowel rods and spray paint them silver. Write on the star in blue sharpie both of your names, the date and "Making Magic". Hot glue the star to the dowel and you have magic wants for the favors. Place them crosswise on the place setting and you have one of the coolest magic wand favors. Its totally original!
Keep it romantic, silver candles or blue candles on the tables. Silver stars on a blue cake.

Use twinkling lights on the head table under blue tulle for a romantic star filled sky look.
Have fun!

I don’t really know the situation between you and the ex-wife. But, if ya’ll are friendly, just tell her that you would really like it if his daughter could be a flower girl. I would definitely pay for her dress though. I mean, you will be her step-mom soon! You can either invite her as well, or work out some kind of arrangement to get her home before you leave for your honeymoon. As far as the decorations go. With your cake, if you want to make it, Michael’s has all the supplies you will need, and you can find great recipes on-line for wedding cake. Also, Michael’s offers cake decorating classes so you could get some ideas. If you don’t want to try that on your own, you might consider going to a bakery inside a grocery store. Publix, Wal-Mart, Target etc. all make wedding cakes. Publix can get expensive depending on how extravagant you want to go.
http://www.sedonaweddingcakes.com/images/star07.jpg
Above is a link to a beautiful star themed cake that might work. And if you don’t want it that color, you can just do it in white and have the stars be silver or blue to stand out.
http://www.cakesunlimited.net/thumbnails/W334.jpg
Here’s another one that’s pretty nice and simple. i might would go with a little less stars, but the idea is nice. Also, if you want a larger-looking cake but don’t need that much, most bakeries will let you have a layer or so be decorated cardboard. They will make the cake look like the picture but a few layers can be fake.
As far as invitations go, I did mine myself. I went to Michael’s and bought a box of 40 for $19.99. They were absolutely beautiful and they looked like I’d payed a lot more! They have really easy to follow instructions and a lot of times, you can get coupons off their website or in the store.
With the decorations, if any of you are the least bit creative, you should be fine! I found most of my stuff at the Dollar Tree! It was inexpensive, and it looked great! Your wedding will be memorable to your husband because he gets to marry you! So don’t worry about that part! My husband wasn’t really involved in our wedding planning either, but he had a great time and we couldn’t be happier! Congratulations and good luck! If you need anything else, just message me!