DIY Life

In last week's edition of Wedstravaganza, I covered creation and use of the wedding website as a planning aid for those too-close wedding dates, visiting Target and Dillards for the wedding registries, creating the wedding program, choosing a place for the rehearsal dinner, and selection of a minister to perform the actual ceremony. Those were some pretty large projects to tackle and get finalized, but ya gotta do 'em, right?

This week, I'll tackle some pretty important projects that allowed my wife and I to really pull a nice wedding together in only five weeks. We wanted to make our day very special even with a severe planning time crunch, so with all the planning paying off by week three of the five-week period, we decided to find a nice frame at a local Hobby Lobby store and have a 5x7 insert cut out so we could eventually place a black & white wedding photo there.

Until that time, we planted a family image in there and planned on having the glass removed so that wedding invitees could sign the backer board (with the five-pack of Sharpies we invested in) with well wishes. The photo above contains only a few, but by the wedding night, the entire frame was covered with signatures and wishes for our new family. It was, in a word, one of the neatest treasures from that special evening. In one fell swoop, we had this project done, so we put it aside until the wedding night came. Date: July 18th, 2007.

Next up, we tallied the RSVP count. So far, the online wedding website contained about 41 RSVPs, and we had received about 25 through the mail. In other words, the timing of sending out the invitations turned out to be perfect. With a little over two weeks to go, we were getting a firm grip on what to plan for in terms of guest count, which turns out to be quite important for a wedding location so the correct number of ceremony chairs and reception tables can be set out -- not to mention the food preparation, which leads us to the next item: what would be served at the reception?

The menu at the Dominion House was fantastic -- there were several packages with many choices, but we had not made a choice yet at this time. A guest count was going to drive this decision, so we waited until just under two weeks remained before the wedding to give an accurate wedding guest count as well as food selections for the reception. If you'd like to see what the guests had a view of before feasting on our chosen selections, see the below photo.


So, after choosing eight dishes (compromising a full meal, not finger foods), we headed towards choosing our cake designs. This took an afternoon appointment, since there were hundreds of choices to go through for both the bride's cake and the groom's cake. The bride's cake, of course, would have as many levels as needed to ensure all guests in attendance were able to take a bite. Of course, the 'final' count wasn't in yet, but that number would be firmed up completely three days before the wedding.

Based on our final guest count of 150, the bride's cake ended up being four luxurious layers tall and was stunning (and tasty). Flavors in the cake included orange, lemon, and Italian marble. The groom's cake? Easy pickings -- totally chocolate with chocolate-covered strawberries all around and chocolate shavings on top. This cake was gone within 10 minutes of serving time (at least from our unscientific estimate). We ended up seeing the empty platter at the end of the reception -- which told us this: mission accomplished. Just for your mouthwatering needs, below are images of both cakes as they were completed on the night of the ceremony. If you're about to eat lunch while you're reading this, turn away now! Be sure to come back after lunch, though.


After the cake flavor and decoration selections were completed, we still needed a wedding photographer. We decided against a videographer because photos, when well taken, speak louder than moving images and sounds. Plus, we did not want to have wireless microphones and other equipment to take away from the beauty of the ceremony. We did, however, have a dear friend of mine setup a MiniDV camcorder in the reception ballroom to capture the reception.

And, that brings up back to the photographer. Using a personal connection (my mom), we were able to talk to a professional photographer and book the date at a very reasonable cost. Felicia, thanks so much for your work -- it will be with us both forever, and it's also with countless relatives and friends now. We can't thank you enough. And to Jaime, my friend -- although I didn't expect you to show up with with digital SLR rig, thanks so much for capturing many other moments for us on camera. Your close-ups and professional shots were truly breathtaking. Ever thought of shooting weddings on the side, my man? I'll give you a reference anytime with superb aplomb.

Now that we had the wedding photography, food, cake selections, and other small (but important) projects in the book (as it were), out next set of projects -- with only a few weeks to go -- rested on finding a bunch of old pictures to scan in and use for a reception PowerPoint slideshow, as well as deciding on beverages (to alcohol or not to alcohol) for that special evening. Add to that the completion and printing of the wedding programs, finding the right place to buy all the flowers for that special evening, and booking a deejay, and we're still only about 60 percent complete in planning our wedding in under five weeks. Those projects will be detailed in next week's edition of Wedstravaganza, so be sure to stay tuned this time next week right here at DIY Life as I continue the journey for you. Until then, ciao! Oh, in case you want a final image of just the fruit selection from our reception food choices, feast on the picture below until we meet again.