Category: Wedding

Vendors, Wedding

Sir Speedy – Vendor Review

nainadg

Vendor Name-  Sir Speedy

Location- Durham NC

 Grade- A+

Yes, I know they have a funny name but they really came through for me! I used their Durham location to get my wedding invitations printed and they did a fantastic job! They do the printing for our brochures and stuff at work and I had built up a good rapport with our sales rep -Amanda. She gave me a really good deal, cheaper than anywhere else- $60 for a 100 and only $9.00 for 5x7Euro flap envelopes. Not only was the price great, their graphic designer also made some changes for me at the last minute and they were able to get me the 5×7 envelopes in 2 days without charging me shipping. I had looked on Envelopemall.com and they were $12.99 plus $30 for 2 day shipping.  Because of them, I was able to get custom envelopes at a price I could afford.

I definitely push Sir Speedy whenever we have work projects to print and I will definitely use them to print my thank you cards.

Wedding

Invitation

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I have been meaning to post it forever, but here is a final version of my invitation, reception and rsvp cards that I sent out.

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You can click on the thumbnails for a larger view. I had them designed by Robin Makey, a very talented graphic designer and I had the invitations printed at a local printer and the enclosure cards printed at Vista Print. ( See my vendor reviews above).

We really like our invitation wording which said

Naina Doe

and

Jeff Doe

Together with their parents invite you to join in a

celebration of life, love and marriage

at 4pm

……..

Friends, School, Wedding

Something General

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It feels like ages since I have updated and I wish I had a cooler excuse other than “I’m so busy” but really, I have been super busy lately and I think it will continue like this.

Last weekend, my parents visited again, it was their last visit for a while, since they will be back in CA as of thursday. We spend Friday night and saturday morning assembling and mailing invitations. Sat night my mom and I had to run errands at the mall and buy favor kits. Sunday we went dress shopping for her, and we also went to our weekly potluck! I made a dry Channa- my take on a traditional Garbanzo bean Indian dish. I think it turned out pretty well and it was a huge hit!

 And now its back to the grind, I already feel like I’m swamped in assignments and due dates and its barely week 1 of school! Add in housework, work, gym, invitation mailing to the list and its just crazy.

Tonight I am going to the first of my 10 classical music concerts/recitals. This one is a rehersal of one my friend’s quartets. I’m looking forward to having a little musical interlude from all the regular worries of life.

Funny, India, Wedding

Kalyana Mandapa

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Contemporary Indian Mandap

Traditional, permanent Temple mandap

Jewish Chuppah

I had to settle for a smaller version of this

I know, I know, I am full of posts this afternoon. Something about a friday afternoon and caffeine overload will make me spew forth words. I am really excited today, after looking at Diamond Rental, Modern Display and Ambience rental , I finally found something that I can use as a Mandap (pron:maan-dup). There is a lady in Utah County who has a teeny tiny wedding decor business who agreed to lend me her “canopy.” I think my conversation with her was kinda funny:

Me: Hi, I was interested in renting your little canopy

Lady: We don’t have a little canopy, our standard one costs $1000

Me: No, you do have one, its on page 5 of your gallery

Lady: Let me look, No kidding I guess we do. I wouldn’t call it a canopy though, its a gazebo.

Me: Oh, either way, I’d like to rent it, how much would it be

Lady: Nobody has ever wanted to rent it, I don’t think I have ever had to price it before.

Me: Well…I ‘d really like to….

Lady: Let me call my husband and get back to you. I guess next time someone asks about that I’ll know I have it.

In the end, she and her husband are letting us have it for a very reasonable rate and I couldn’t be happier.

So, why am I making such a big deal about a canopy? Because in Hindu traditions it is essential to have the ceremony under a covered ground. The symbolism for the covered ground, usually by a 4 posts a cloth or flower cover is usually similar to that of a Jewish Chuppah. It symbolizes the beginning of the couple’s new home and the idea of marriage as being a shelter. In the old temples of India, there would be a permanent stone structure that would be set aside for weddings and they were called Kalyana Mandapas, nowadays though we often build temporary structure with bamboo and flowers. Having this symbolism was very important to me and I had to look really hard to find something that I could modify and use.

* I did not take these pics

Wedding

Weekly Wedding Update

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I have been a very busy bee this week in regards to wedding stuff! I have accomplished so much, even if I haven’t , it feels like I have and I don’t need anyone to burst my happy bubble.

Stuff I’ve done:

Ordered and ensured Invitations arrive by Mon or Tue of next week

Ordered Canopy/Background for the ceremony

Booked a DJ -yeeah! We got a fantastic deal and they are covering the ceremony and reception and they will play our music if we want them too. Woo hooo

Picked out stamps- Superheroes or Pollinators? We might do both

Got stuff for Programs

Decided finally on favors

Picked a few hairstyles to try out on my appointment next weekend.

Scheduled a cake tasting

Got Quotes on cakes

I know there’s still a lot to be done and I can’t believe how quickly time is going by. It doesn’t feel like its been 10 months since J and I have been engaged. In 49 days, I willl be a married woman.

Bzzzzzz…..Bzzzzzzzzz….Bzzzzzzz

Wedding

Programs

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So after after much thought, I decided I am going to make DIY programs for the wedding. I know its going to be a project making so many but it will be fun. Last night I went to Michaels and bought some supplies to make a prototype. I bought orange, brown , copper and cream cardstock and brown and orange ribbons. I also bought brown stamping ink and a cute little henna stamp for some embellishments. Its my project this week to make the actual finished prototype.

Here are the inspiration programs:

Funny, Stuff, Wedding

Ninja v. Pirate

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When J and I are feeling silly we have the vs. conversations. They can be shark v. tiger, elephant v. hippo, Geraldo v. Jerry Springer, whatever pops into our head at the time. Our all time favorite one, the one that has no clear answer, the one we visit and revisit all the time is the age old question of

Pirate v. Ninja?

 So this morning I had the idea of using Pirates and Ninjas on our cake as a cake topper. I was thinking of using the little lego minifigures like this

note* pics not by me, I do not yet own these figurines.

Dress, Wedding

Hairstyles

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Its a blasted 110 degrees here in sunny humid NC. I am sitting in my cool cubicle and whiling away the time looking at pictures of how I want to do my hair.

So far I like stuff like these:

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A very indian look, but I don’t know if it will go with my dress

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If I put my hair up, I definitely want to wear flowers.

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My hais not this curly, but products might help.

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Seems simple and chic

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Combines a lot of the elements I like: flowers, teased up look, waves

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Fun and flirty, I would want a flower with this.

Funny, Life, Wedding

Michael Jackson and Memories

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I came across this video on youtube yesterday, while researching for weddings. This made me laugh. J would never agree to something like this. But this made me laugh, and I have that blasted MJ song stuck in my head

Anyway, watching this video brought up memories of my childhood and how all my cousins and me included thought MJ was the coolest ever. This is a rather grim story, but when I was about 8 or 9 , one of my great uncles passed away. Since we were too young, we were given a room to ourselves while the funeral was being held. Since we were young and bored and didn’t really understand what was going on, we played some MJ tunes and danced around. Thinking about it now makes me feel bad that we were so disrespectful but I didnt’ know any better then.

Also, I think I just have a fascination with Michael Jackson, and I know most people my age do too. I know watching Brittney go wacko is what is captivating the nation at the moment, but somehow she still doesn’t have the same morbid curiouosity as MJ does for me. 

Life, Wedding

Boys and Favors

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I know, I am blogging a lot of wedding stuff today, but I’m suddenly inspired, maybe its the coffee. Anyway, I was thinking of favors this morning and I was looking at cute tins like the ones below thinking how well these would work, when it hit me, every single I guy I know is going to think they are super lame.

I have no idea what type of favors a guy would like? I wish  I had the time and resources or even ideas on how to do gender specific favors but I am at a complete loss except for mini bottles of liquor and shot glasses.  These will not fly with J because he thinks giving people alcohol related favors will give them the impression that we are boozers. Well, they will be getting the right impression, but perhaps not the most flattering one of us.

Anyway, it struck me the other day that its a vicious cycle for males and the wedding industry. Guys don’t like weddings because they are girly and frou-frou , so they tend to not be involved in the wedding process. The wedding industry therefore creates even  less items that are appealing to guys and the cycle continues.  I think its odd that even though its 2007 we still tend to think of weddings/marriage as something thats just important to women. Why is it all about the Bride? or her day? or how she is going to be a princess? Why are there no Groomzillas proclaiming- goddamn it , its their day and if they want to wear holey shorts and a plaid shirt that was last washed in the 90s thats what they’ll wear.

My little feminist heart is bleeding for Grooms everywhere at the present. Sigh.