Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Production Schedule

My fiance's family was on vacation in San Diego from Arizona so we went to hang out with them this past weekend. I missed my self-set Friday deadline for creating a production schedule. However, it is now completed. My main schedule is quite detailed, but the general idea is as follows (These are, for the most part, the deadlines):

Aug. '09 - Oct. '09:
  • Finish all printing/ stationary research
  • Decide on colors/ logos
  • Finalize guest list
  • Get addresses and e-mail addresses for all guests

Nov. '09 - Dec. '09:
  • Create drafts of save the dates, invitations, response cards, scavenger hunt cards (for kids), table number displays and escort cards

Dec. '09 - Jan. '10:
  • Revise stationary drafts
  • Make cupcake toppers
  • Begin meeting with caterers

Feb. '10:
  • Shop for fabric for table runners and chair sashes (for ceremony)
  • Print scavenger hunt cards

March '10:
  • Begin making table runners
  • Begin guestbook
  • Finalize all catering, equipment and event rentals

April '10:
  • Purchase cupcake tower and design decorations for the tower
  • Purchase kids prize (for scavenger hunt)
  • Send out save the dates

May '10:
  • Begin making chair sashes
  • Finish table runners

June '10:
  • Make facility signs
  • Finish chair sashes
  • Print menus

July '10:
  • Make all final payments to vendors, etc.
  • Mail invitations

August '10"
  • Make reception playlist on iTunes

September '10:
  • Make seating chart
  • Print escort cards

Thursday, July 23, 2009

My Wedding Sweat Shop- Opening Soon (I hope)

Up until now, crafting has been a hobby for me- leisurely activities to pass the time. However, to get all of my wedding projects done in time, I am launching into full production mode. The first order of business was setting up an area in my TINY house where I can work. Last night, I bought a cute desk from a woman on craigslist. It needs a little TLC, but that will have to wait. It fits in the allotted space, has built-in storage and seems sturdy enough to sew on...and it was only $40. Now I need to plan. I hope to have a production schedule prepared by the end of the week.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Action Plan

Paper- All stationary will be designed in Adobe Photoshop using various digital scrapbooking tools and my own designs. They will then be printed on tagboard and embellished in some way.

Flowers- All flowers will be purchased the day before the wedding at the Los Angeles Flower Market in downtown LA (I currently live about an hour and half from LA, so driving to their downtown markets is not terribly inconvenient). My mother, sister, future mother-in-law and I will then prepare them as bouquets, boutonnieres, table arrangements, etc.

Fabric- I currently plan on purchasing fabric from an online store or the garment district in downtown LA. I will go where I can get the better deal. I will then sew sashes for aisle chairs (for ceremony decor) and the table runners on my sewing machine at home.

Decor- The cake toppers will be painted wooden figures; I will probably purchase all supplies from Michaels'. All candles, votives, vases, etc. will probably also purchased from Michaels and perhaps painted or embellished with ribbon, etc.

Other- Since their will be kids at the wedding, I wanted to have something fun for them to do. So, I am going to create a scavenger hunt card (more paper to design..yay!) and give them each a disposable camera. The scavenger hunt card will have things like "people hugging" or "someone laughing loudly" on it. The first child to take a picture of each of the things on the list will get a prize. My current thought is a $15 iTunes gift card or something. (By the way, this idea came from the Summer 09 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings).

So Far...
Yesterday, my fiance and I spent the day at various stores doing a little price research. As you might have guessed, I am trying to be as organized and methodical as possible. Contrary to popular belief, doing/ making things yourself is not always cheaper. It is very easy to underestimate how much of a particular supply you will need, or not include necessary tools you may need to buy in your project budget. I had planned on building a letterpress, designing the polymer plates and ordering them from Boxcarpress.com and then making the stationary that way. However, after visiting home depot, it would easily cost me $40 for just the wood for the actual press, plus another $15 for thread-rod and hex nuts, another $15 for the book press tool, $60 for all the polymer plates I would need, not to mention ink, an ink bryer, and all of the paper. For a wedding of a little over 100 guests, letterpressing my own stationary would easily cost 3 times more than buying it. Since that does not fit in my budget, I have decided to go with standard print instead. Less exciting, but I will actually be able to incorporate more color since DIY letterpress does not easily lend itself to multicolored projects. Other than that, I was pretty much on target with my initial price estimates for items like floral tape, candle votives, mason jars, etc.

My next big decision will be on the color scheme. Originally, I wanted bright olive and slate blue hues, but since I am going to be using seasonal flowers form the LA Flower Market, I can't rely on being able to purchase any flowers in those colors and I don't want to use only white. I am currently contemplating red, tigerlily orange and a bright cerulean since flowers in those colors are common and available all seasons. I need to decide in the next month...so we will see what happens.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Setup

My wedding is exactly 14 months and 13 days away. The fact that most of the event is already planned probably seems a little crazy. However, take into consideration the following:

  • I plan on doing most of it myself. By that I mean, I am making: the save-the-dates, invitations, reply cards, programs and all other stationary, bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages and all other floral elements, table runners, cake topper, guestbook, creating a wedding playlist on iTunes and all other general decor for both the ceremony and reception. These are in addition to general planning tasks like booking venues, creating a menu with caterers, securing an officiant, etc.
  • I currently work full time and will only have nights and weekends to complete all of my projects.
  • Although my wedding is not for another 14 months, I only have 11 months to complete all projects (except for flowers and the seating arrangement which unfortunately cannot be done until the last minute). I hope to be starting graduate school in 11 months and once that begins, I will be in class 14 hours a day (not including time for assigned reading, papers, and the general school whatnot), leaving no time for wedding projects (not even nights and weekends).

I imagine that while my seemingly-premature planning no longer seems so premature, I might still seem a little crazy. I should note that I enjoy learning new skills and doing things myself. It is because of this that I am attempting to pull off a mostly DIY wedding. (Although, those who speculate that it is because I am very particular and can't find pre-made things to my liking might not be completely wrong.)