This week's theme: ETSY

This week, I'm going to be posting on the goodness that is etsy (your place to buy & sell all things homemade ... in a safe place on the internet).

For those who are reading who found from the world of wedding blogs, you no doubt know all about etsy.

For those who are reading from my friends and family, you have probably never heard of etsy. I know I hadn't before about 6 months ago.

etsy is amazing. And I'll go through why it's so amazing over the next week.

The lovely and funny redframe is getting married today.

How can you go wrong attending a wedding that put out a teaser photo like this: (Source)

Green weddings

Apparently, it's very "in" right now to have a "green" wedding, meaning a wedding that is environmentally friendly. I've posted on my desire to have an ecologically friendly wedding before.

The trouble is, sometimes there is a competition between what is eco-friendly and what is budget-friendly. I'd love to be completely carbon neutral, including off-setting the carbon used by guests to travel to the wedding, but that could become quite costly. I also want to use silk flowers, to save money and Wade's allergies. However, silk flowers create a non-biodegradable waste that real flowers do not.

Sometimes, being environmentally friendly saves money. For example, driving a fuel efficient vehicle uses less gas, which creates less pollution and costs less to drive. If you turn off the water while your brush your teeth, you save water and money. But sometimes it costs more to be environmentally friendly, such as purchasing carbon credits to offset the carbon (pollution/waste) generated.

So how do I strike the balance between ecological and budgetary concerns?

I will try to coordinate carpooling amongst guests to reduce the number of cars driving between the ceremony site and the reception site. That only costs me time, and saves my guests' money. I will also look into the cost of off-setting the carbon footprint generated by those driving between the ceremony and the reception site. Fortunately, the church requires us to remove the ceremony flowers, so flowers can do double duty at the reception, reducing the flowers used. As I've already discussed, we may be able to take advantage of some local foods and drinks.

How else can we consider the environment in our wedding?

Ugly Dresses

This bride did not even complete elementary school. She has goals of becoming a model. She's 16, her husband is 17. Her wedding cost $100,000, all paid for by her father (who is just 33, by the way). And she wore this:

This dress weight 425 lbs. That is all I will say about this dress:


These images are all from this website.

... If I could hold a bouquet everyday, I'd be tempted to ...

The first florist, Pam's Flowers, says that they won't be able to get local peonies on our wedding date. I find that confusing, because they will be coming in by that time. Regardless, it's about what their supplier can supply, so there's no sense worrying about it. The shipped peonies, wherever they come from, are smaller than our local peonies. He didn't say why, but I suspect it's because the flowers have to be picked a little earlier in preparation for shipping.

Pam's can also get David Austin roses (also called English roses). I have no idea what variety of Austin roses they would get, but that is an option.

The second florist, Paradiso, can get peonies, but I did not think to ask if they would be as big as the local peonies. They can't get the Austin roses, but for a back-up idea (just in case peonies don't come through), she offered to do clusters of ranunculus (click here or here for images).

While this decision is hard (for me), at least I know that I'll be in good hands regardless of which florist I choose.

Flowers

My mom & I met with the second florist today (called Paradiso). Last week, we went to Pam's Flowers. These are probably the only two florists I'll consider. Paradiso is only a few years old, and the designer there creates some really fun and fresh designs. Pam's Flowers is a very established florist with a solid reputation, but while they are tried & true, they are more traditional in their designs.

I have received a quote from Pam's, and am waiting for the quote from Paradiso. Once I get that, I will mull over my decision. I think I'll have lovely flowers no matter which florist I choose.

I would love to get flowers like this:
but it may not be possible (for a variety of reasons, which I'll discuss later this week).

It's sale time!

Just in case you need half-off something, whether it's silk flowers, Christmas decorations or scrapbook supplies. If you need more than one thing, print more than coupon, and use it every day the rest of the week. Or drag your fiancé every day with two coupons, and you can get two things every day.
You can click on the coupon to make it bigger.

Planning concerns

I want a lovely and elegant wedding. I want family & friends to have a good time and feel as if they participated in something special. I hope that Wade & I can soak in every possible minute of the day.

But I do wonder what some people's budgets are. I know it's incredibly rude to ask, so I don't. But I would like to ask what someone else spent. I know of a friend whose fiancé spent over $6000 on her ring. And they're still in undergrad at universtiy. My tuition for a year in undergrad was about $5000. I can't imagine spending more than a year's tuition on a ring when I was in school. I wonder what they spent on their wedding, with a $6000 ring. Of course, I know better than to ask.

(Editorial note: the cost of a ring is relative to what the groom can afford. I don't subscribe to the "2 months" ideology, but obviously someone making 6 figures would spend more than a student.)

As for our budget, we could probably afford to increase our budget. But we won't. We set our budget based on what we could easily afford and what we were willing to spend. (Of course, we're prepared for a small overrun, but that's smart with any budget.) Why are we only spending what we could easliy afford? We want a good day, a lovely and elegant wedding, and we want family & friends to have a good time. That's it. And I think I can do that with our budget. I also don't want to look back at pictures and think something looked tacky, so I'm willing to splurge on a few things. Sure, something might look outdated, but that's what happens with the passage of time. I don't want the chairs to look tacky, for example, so I'm prepared to rent chair covers. But will I spend thousands of dollars to ensure I have "event quality lighting"? No, of course not.

Trends don't bother me. I don't want to be "trendy", but there are trends I like. For example, cathedral length veils are a current trent. And I happen to love the look of cathedral length veils. That length was not "in" 30 years ago when my parents married, so it is a current trend. That being said, some women wore cathedral length veils when it was not "in". And that's okay, too! Another trend I like: the long white dress. I like this trend, first set by Queen Victoria. Just a few generations ago, the bride wore her best dress. In fact, my Nanny wore a coloured dress when she was married near the start of World War II. Nothing wrong with that! But I want to wear the long white dress.

But here's why I am not worried about trends:

Look at this "dated" wedding. Definitely not "in" now. And look how happy the bride & groom are!
(Source)

One day, our our family will look back at a dated photo like this one, and smile because of how dated it looks:
(Source)

Unfortunately, I do now know either of these lovely couples. I just found them on the internet. Perhaps at some point I'll scan some family wedding photos. But aren't they lovely pictures? And don't these pictures tell a story about those two couple's weddings, despite being "dated" and possibly "trendy" weddings at their time?