RHome410: affordable event planning

Showing posts with label affordable event planning. Show all posts

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Looking Back...

January:
Reading through the titles of old posts, I see 2 significant steps. Changes in our pizza crust recipe made a difference in our lives on a weekly basis, with improvement in the taste and texture of our pizzas, and an easier pizza-making routine:

Pizza Crust....The continuing quest for the best.

And making our own yogurt was a new and successful experiment, although I haven't done it since. I will again, someday, though, when I gather all the right equipment, so the process can better fit my multi-tasking life.

Bucket List Item: Making Yogurt

February:
A gadget that's made a big difference in our breakfast menu and added to our nutrition:

New Oat Flaker/Roller

March:
I shared routine things that brighten my days...

Routine Sustenance

and my weakness.

My Not-so-secret Problem: A Bowl Addiction

April:
We have 3 birthdays the first week in April, which are usually the big events of the month. This year however 2 engagements took center stage!

Good Things Come in Twos!

May:

Twosome Tuesday: Wedding Dresses

We, of course, started prep at a quick pace, aiming for 2 summer weddings.

We finally met Prince Helium in person, and he was a blessing on the spot when Prince Go-for-It passed out from a sinus infection, resulting in a worrisome trip to the ER.

A Princely Scare and the Comfort Food Hug for After

June:
Wedding prep and discussions continued, and the in-laws' house remodel, with the kitchen I designed and built by Hubby, and with other decor choices I'd made, was coming together.

Update...In-laws' Remodel

July:
Nothing could beat out our first wedding for the #1 blessing and accomplishment!

Wedding #1: Check!

August:
The in-laws' remodeled house selling in one day was big news (In-Laws' House: SOLD), but, certainly, Wedding #2 ruled this month.

Twosome Tuesday: I suppose you want photos?

Twosome Tuesday: Photos from Wedding #2

September:
It was time to get life back to normal. I tried a few new things in cooking, we started excavation for the garage addition, and I made a gruesome discovery in the sewing room (I'm Not a Screamer...). But my biggest project was refinishing the kitchen table and refreshing the finish on the island.

More Stripping at our House, Part 2

October:
We discussed finances in the Money Monday, the Series in adjusting to our adjusted (lower) income... and fed 26 for the cross-country team pizza feed.

Pizza for 26

November:
I celebrated my Blogiversary, but mostly enjoyed Thanksgiving, headed up by the newlywed chefs.

Thanksgiving Prep - The Day Before

Thanksgiving Meal

December:
This has been a month full of activity, joy, and busyness.

Getting a new oven is always a biggie...

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday- Oven #5

Family Christmas Festivities

and hosting a Christmas party for my side of the family was an honor and a delight.

Hubby-built Bookshelf

Also, so great to have the bookshelf up and operational for that.

But Christmas with our own brood in our own home is always the best.

Glimpses of our Blessed Christmas

Link up: Top Projects of 2011 Party

Thanks to seeing it on Sugar & Spice in the land of Balls & Sticks, I'm linking to Southern Hospitality's Link up: Top Projects of 2011 Party. I hope this post suits the theme well enough. My 'projects' this year didn't all have before and after, and weren't all home-oriented, but it's been a wonderful, wonderful year full of great blessings, projects, and progress.

I am thankful for all the events of 2011, and look forward to what God has planned for us in 2012.

Happy New Year to you and yours!!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Twosome Tuesday: Things I'd (try to) Do Differently, Part II

We left off last week in Twosome Tuesday: Things I'd Do Differently, Part 1 with #3 of the 6 things I thought I'd like to improve on in future weddings, so I'll go on from there...

4) Timing. The last few days it gets tough to keep up the consistent pace necessary to finish strong without a rush at the end. Organization along the way is crucial. Short on time and energy nearing Wedding #1, I started filling boxes with things we needed to take to the venue for the wedding and reception. However, they were filled as things were ready, not by how and where they'd be used on-site. That meant kitchen, dressing, and reception items were all mixed up together.

Princess Bossy took a couple of days before her wedding to enjoy friends and let some of her to-do list wait. Spending the time with people was definitely more important. But keeping up some discipline before and after, or delegating more tasks, may have prevented our heading out late on the day of the wedding...Which, in turn, may have left more time for her to oversee the reception decorations exactly the way she would've liked.

We all survived and the weddings took place...and without big sacrifices or any real problems. It just could have been a little more relaxed. It might have prevented the brides second-guessing any little details about their special days.

5) Getting help. I was warned. (I do remember that, JC.) Thinking that our family and a few of the kids' friends could do all that needed doing for set-up, clean-up, and keeping food and beverages flowing during the reception was naive.

Thankfully, I could see that I was going to be in over my head for the Sassy/Steadfast wedding, setting up the buffet to feed the 40 people involved and attending, getting beverages and cake ready for reception guests, and also making sure the church youth were doing the tasks, as needed... all while hosting, visiting, and enjoying.

So I put in a call to my dear friend, who had been asking how she could help, and who was happy to come early and take on a lot of the burden.

Her husband joined her. I felt badly that they spent the night running, but being wonderful people with hearts for helping, they insisted they enjoyed being a part of things more than just sitting. They saved my night, from beginning to end. I don't know what I would've done without them. It was for their daughter that we made and decorated cookies last December, so where I surely didn't do it so I could be repaid, I feel good that we'd been able to help them, too.
(That task described in
10 Things Learned While Baking and Decorating 500 Cookies )

Princess Bossy has amazing friends who made ALL the food for her reception...And a feast it was. Shrimp appetizers and 3 amazing main dishes: Salmon, Pork, and Filet Mignon. Also many salad options: Orzo-basil-cherry tomato, Carrot, Lemon Dill green beans, and Cucumber-fennel. I am not doing the people or the dishes justice, but it was a table-full. They made it, brought it, set it up, and cleaned it up. A fantastic help.

Princess Bossy had the foresight to hire 2 young ladies to keep serving dishes filled, do some bussing, and with help from our kids, serve cake and the champagne for the toast to each table. It worked pretty well and the price of the help was well worth it.

The reception ran behind and the time to clear out of the park-owned building came rushing upon us. I'd say that about 3/4 of the crowd was still there when the ranger brought the racks for the tables and chairs. This was not a venue that offered the option to pay more for an extra hour or two. It was "Be out by 10 PM." Period.

The couple's get away was amidst a flurry. As they headed toward the door, the room was being dismantled and cleaned right behind them. The whole crowd ended up working together. As the host, I found this a bit mortifying... as a tired Mother of the Bride, I felt completely blessed to be surrounded by such helpful and loving folks who thought nothing of pitching in to help. It sounds a bit tacky to have the guests roll up their sleeves and help out. But I don't think a one of them went away with that impression, or any negative reaction about how things occurred. There was such a spirit of good-natured camaraderie.

The week after that wedding, 3 of my friends from junior high came over for lunch. One of them mentioned how she'd had a lot of family and friends make the food for one of her daughter's weddings. She called and asked certain people to make enough of their well-loved specialties to share. Then she hired a chef for $200, who brought chafing dishes and kept all the cold things cold, the hot things hot, and kept things filled for serving, then cleaned up after. I wish I'd talked to her a few months back! What a grand idea.

6) Savoring the moments. 5 days after Princess Bossy's wedding, I sat watching our niece walk down the aisle at her wedding. Tears rolled down my cheeks. It's not that I was overly emotional about that lovely wedding, but I just sat there and realized I'd never get to see either of my older daughters do that again.

I felt like, maybe, because I had so much on my mind, that the wedding ceremonies were a bit of a blur...I felt like I hadn't stopped and thought to really drink in the experience at the time.

Maybe it was unavoidable. Maybe it wasn't that the activity had me distracted. It's probably more that, like any special moment in our kids' lives, it went so fast and only seems like a blur in retrospect. Having a video is one of the things we gave up, due to budget. Now I wish I had videos to watch over and over.

All wedding photos by Mode Weddings

Thank goodness for their amazing photos. The smiles in those pictures really tell the stories.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Twosome Tuesday: Things I'd Do Differently, Part 1

I have thought of 6 things (so far, anyway), that I would do differently after my experience with the 2 weddings we had this summer.

1) Choosing colors, specifically for bridesmaids' dresses. Not that this is something over which the mother of the bride has control, but I would encourage any bride not to set the wedding colors before seeing what's available in dresses, styles, and even napkins and plates, that she will like.
When one hits the shopping mall with a preset "perfect" color in mind, it's not always easy to meet the dream. As we shopped, we saw dresses and dresses the girls could have loved, if they were the 'right' color. I kept thinking that if the color hadn't been chosen first, they could've fallen in love with dresses, and been happy to make the color work, too.

If the color itself is that important, I would elect to head for the fabric store, find the color in fabric and get patterns for appropriate dresses. It may seem like a time savings to shop and find ready-made dresses. I can say that sure wasn't the case for either of our weddings.

2) Invitations. I have mixed emotions about having printed our own invitations. It was great to personalize them, deciding our own wording and even adding a photo of the couple to Prince Steadfast's and Princess Sassy's. With their wedding and reception, requiring 2 different types of invitations, and with Princess Bossy's small wedding, it only made economical sense to create our own....Maybe.

It did cost more, per invitation, for smaller quantities of printed invitations, of course. But when we had to buy 2 types for Bossy, after the first ones wouldn't accept the printer ink, and then with both, because of the square envelopes, we had to pay additional postage, the savings were decreased.

--And they took a LONG time to print, since most home printers, ours included, are a little touchy and need the invitations to be fed, one at a time. Also, they need constant supervision, since, for whatever reason, 40-some invitations will print just fine, then the next one will print half off the page.

The other issue for me had to do with the invitation styles we bought from what was readily available. When I was considering ordering custom printed invitations from Einvite.com, I made sure we'd have the classic, formal invitations with inner envelopes. The options available at Michaels didn't offer a double envelope design. I was sad about that, but thought maybe that was an unnecessary and out-dated concept, and decided to let it go. I wish I would've thought that through more.

Image from Invitations4Less.com

I think the lack of double envelopes caused some confusion, and possibly, hurt feelings. It is customary, and good manners, to allow people to bring a guest to accompany them. But you don't indicate that on the address, but usually, on the inner envelope. The outside might be addressed to "Mr. John Smith," but the inside would say "John and guest." This problem showed itself, especially for a member of the wedding party who had a girlfriend not close to the couple. She felt 'not invited,' and he didn't know what to do, and was too shy to ask. It also would've been nice to be able to let older, widowed great aunts and uncles that they were certainly free to bring anyone they wanted who might drive them or keep them company. It just isn't possible to contact everyone individually to let them know, and the inner envelope would've solved the problem quite easily.

3) Dessert. I have talked about this before on Two Thoughts on Wedding Cakes, Part 1 and Two Thoughts on Wedding Cakes, Part 2, so won't go into too much detail. Again, not something the mother of the bride will have control over,

but I will encourage the younger princesses when they marry to have whatever kinds of desserts they want and use a much smaller wedding cake, or to use a style of cake that employs several free-standing cakes instead of the tall tiers.

I have given you enough to read today, so will continue this next week...

Thursday, August 18, 2011

A Bit of a Break

Thanks to Princess Sassy and Prince Steadfast, Hubby and I had a "Thank You" night away at Alderbrook Resort this week. They came out to join us for dinner that evening, and a walk on the dock in the moonlight... They love us. :-D