Wedding Guide

ColorsChocolate Brown
Pumpkin Orange
Bright Red
Sage Green

Photographer
Eric D. Richards - Izlas Photography

InvitationsDesigned by Jesse, printed by The Wedding Smith

Venue
Wedding: Idaho Falls LDS Temple
Luncheon: White Water Grill
Reception: Ehlers' Residence; 40' x 45' tent rental from Signature Pary Rental

Dress
Gowns by Pamela (rental)

Flowers
Flowers ordered from Flowerbud.com, designed by Grandma Karla, Mindy, Shallie, and Becky

Decorations
Pumpkin pathway with icicle lights on the ground (pumpkins from patch down the road)
Monogramed and carved styrofoam pumpkins from craft store on the porch (idea from Martha Steward, here and here)
White lights on the porch posts and top
Floral, garland, etc. decorations boarrowed from Karen Blake
Tables borrowed from the church and Lori Kotter
Small brown table toppers borrowed from Hannah (7)
Ice sculpture from David Pyra
Icicle lights from Becky and Rod lining the inside perimeter of the tent, secured with plastic clips
Paper Lanterns from Paper Lantern Store (clipped to liner with office clips painted white)
Globe chandeliers rented from Signature Party Rental
Arch from Lanette
Extra white lights borrowed from Patty Hoffman and Karen Blake
Cornstalks from Lanette and Lori Kotter - placed in corners and decorated with garland, floral, etc.
Real fruit centerpieces with Mountain Ash berries and branches from Ehlers' bushes (8 total, 1 pear, 2 apples, 2 nectarines, and 3 small cut apples to elevate pear)
Centerpiece platters, parfait glass and glass plate from WalMart glued together (idea from here)
Picture frames borrowed from Karla
Plastic jewels borrowed from Cece Burtenshaw
Brown pintuck table toppers rented from Signature Party Rental (8)
Cream tablecloths, round (8) and rectangle (4), borrowed from Stake RS
Organza sashes from chairs from CV Imports

Refreshments
Placecards from Martha Stewart Weddings

Lanette's White Bread
Honey Wheat baquettes from Sam's Club
Dakota Bread (aka Multi-grain bread) from Great Harvest
**Bread served in baskets from Karen Blake with linens from Lanette**

Raspberry Jam
Peach Jam
Butter
Honey Butter
**Jams served in candy dishes from Dasily's reception on a bed of river rocks and moss designed by Mindy Knudsen**

Cream Cheese Mints (600 - too many, should have made 400-500)
**Served on tiered serving tray from Lori Kotter**

Double Chocolate Cupcakes, made by Grandma Ehlers, frosting recipe here
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, made by Grandma Ehlers, cupcake recipe here
**Decorative cupcake liners from Hobby Center in Nampa, served on tiered trays from Lori Kotter**

Apple Cider with special mix from Mindy Knudsen
Water
**Cider served in beverage holders from A-1, water from Lanette's punch bowl**

Cake from Broulims with topper from Lanette (idea from Martha Steart Weddings)
**Served on parfait glass and large glass plate from WalMart glued together, knife borrowed from Shallie's friend**

Miscellaneous
Ribbon wands for exit - ribbon taped to ends of food skewers (idea from here)
Guest book printed from Costco, pens from WalMart
Heaters borrowed from Paul Fielding
Harpist - Lanette's friend

place card template

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/click-print-place-cards?backto=true

From Becky...

Hi! I know I'm not a real part of the wedding planning, but I thought I would mention that the lights are on their way to Idaho right now. There are 6 apple/orange boxes full. A lot of them are icicle lights (my favorite - so that's what Rod got the most of), some twinkle, and there are also some net lights (and some of those twinkle) and regular strands of lights. I hope that works. And I think we have more lights if you need them. Just let me know! (just a thought...twinkle icicle lights would make awesome "pathway" lights)

tablecloths

We may be able to buy tablecloths on eBay for as much as it would be to rent them. Take a look:
http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pack-of-90-Round-Seamless-Tablecloths-22-Colors_W0QQitemZ370207759770QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Linens?hash=item56321a1d9a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

cupcakes

So I've been thinking about cupcakes. I'd really like to make a bunch over Labor Day so we can try out the recipes and see what works and what you like.

1. Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. We're doing these for sure. I'm thinking we will want orange cupcake liners for these to show they are pumpkin flavor.

2. Chocolate cupcakes - and I think you said you wanted green colored frosting for these. Did you want vanilla frosting, colored green? Another idea I had was doing mint flavored frosting to match the green color. What do you think? It may be too much, especially if we are doing the mints already, but it was an idea. Maybe brown cupcake liners for these.

3. I do think it would be really pretty to do some cupcakes with chocolate frosting, whether they be chocolate or vanilla cupcakes. I think red liners with the chocolate frosting would look beautiful.

4. We could also do a citrus flavored one, more of a muffin without a glaze or scaled back frosting. I found a recipe for a citrus poppyseed cupcake here: http://foodaholic.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/citrus-poppyseed-cupcakes/ We could add an orange glaze to make it look more festive.

What are your thoughts? Do you want just the pumpkin and chocolate? Or do we want to throw some vanilla or other flavored cupcakes in there?

possible invitation language

Come celebrate with us that evening

from 6:00 to 7:30

at the Ehlers residence

1074 East 1300 North

Shelley, ID

I've also been pondering the option of adding something at the end that said, "Send off at 7:45" if we want to indicate people should stick around for that. Then again, we may have enough family alone to accomodate that.

the grand exit

http://contributors.marthastewartweddings.com/portal/index.html?ctrl:id=window.default.ContestWindow&ctrl:type=render&ctrl:windowstate=maximized&op=vpic&ccomm=36776&offset=2&cPicId=98681

Have you thought about ideas for what you want all the guests to do as you and Jesse leave? I know your mom mentioned bubbles. I just saw this idea with ribbon wands and it looked fun.

Other ideas:
Sparklers
Candles...
???

arch

Yay! Back to wedding blogging! Sorry for the long absence.



So I've been thinking about the arch for the "line." Here are some thoughts:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tidysflowers.com/images/wedding-flowers/wedding-decor2/W32-3378.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tidysflowers.com/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Dwedding-decor2&usg=__0BLiJXvevf-U37coW688piiVLJg=&h=401&w=250&sz=25&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=KcHVpBZPL8XE7M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=77&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwedding%2Barchway%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1

1. Berry garland - depending on how much we can get, I think It could look really pretty to have the whole thing wrapped in berry garland, then intertwine some twigs and branches in the middle part. We could even spray paint the archway chocolate brown so it blends in nicely. This picture isn't exactly what I was thinking, but it has more of a natural look that I like.



2. Fruit - we could carry on the fruit theme here by using a bunch of greenery garland, then accenting with pieces of fruit. I think it would look best if we could get sage colored greenery. Otherwise it might be too hunter green for what we're looking for.



3. Leaves - I've been hesitant to do too much with leaves - I'm worried we would be bringing in too many different "themes" if we are doing fruit, berries, cornstalks, pumpkins, etc. However, this would really bring in the autumn theme and may be the least expensive option.



What do you think? Regardless of what we decide to do with the archway, I think it would be a good idea to get Becky on the lookout for berry garlands soon, since we are thinking about using them in other areas, as well. They can be expensive, but she may be able to find some for us cheap.

I have more ideas for a backdrop, but I need to go workout before it gets dark outside. So stay tuned...

I ordered the Sashes

So I ordered the organza sashes this morning. they are being shipped directly to my parent's house. I figured the less things I have to remember to take up with me, the better. :)

sashes cont...

Great work on finding the sash source! It sounds like buying them is probably the way to go. I also saw this satin sash on there - what do you think? I know they are more expensive, but it makes the color *pop* more since it isn't sheer. They are on sale for 89 cents each. Then again, maybe the subtle color will be better. I do like the way this one is tied better - I wonder if we could to that with the organza.

I think I am becoming obsessed with wedding planning

Here is a website that has some stuff on it that I like:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/berrygarlands.html

The link will take you to a berry garland that would look very pretty on the decorative table.

Six feet for $11.99

Also, what do you think about using this as my bouquet? It is fake, but they look pretty real and are alot cheaper than real calla lilies and I can then use it to decorate my apartment with later. It would cost about $30.00

I also like the idea of leaves. These are 4.19 per bundle.

The Sage Organza Sash

So I have been calculating a bunch of stuff and I think I may have found a website we can buy the sashes pre-made for about the same as it will cost to make and it with less hassle because they are already made. So from this website we can get 64 sage sashes for 40.57 including shipping and tax. Here is the website: http://www.cvimports.com/product_info.php?products_id=304&osCsid=ff927c3ef2445cd98f8c9ababd8d060e

Now as I am trying to estimate what it will cost to make the sashes, most of the sashes I have seen are 4"-8" width and 108" in length. So if we have some sage fabric that is 60" wide. We could make 9 sashes using 3 yards of fabric. Using this pattern, we would need approximately 22 yards of fabric to make 64 sashes. Now if we got the organza for a 1.50 a yard it would come out to costing $30.00. I have not seen organza for that cheap except for the previous mentioned organza website that did not carry sage. But it does have red and orange and a mint color that may work. What do you think?

Lighting

So i have been thinking about lighting alot and I really like those balls that becky has, but she only has four. And we are going to need alot more lighting than that to light a 1800 sq ft tent. Hopefully as we talk to the tent people, they may have some cooler lighting than on the website. If not, I am thinking that maybe we can just string a billion white lights from the peak of the tent to the sides. Ya know like in a fashion something like this:

And then maybe we could hang Japanese paper lanterns because I love them. Maybe in something like this:

http://www.bigskytent.com/products.html

Here are some websites I found that have good japanese laterns bargains:

http://asianideas.com/lanterns2.html

www.LunaBazaar.com

Guest Sign in book?

I have no idea what to do for this. My photographer doesn't do sign in books. What do you think?

I have a photographer

Yes I finally got one of my big worries out of the way. I have chosen to go with Izlas photography that is based out of Providence, UT. They are going to come to Idaho to shoot the wedding and we will take the engagements and bridals up in cache valley. The photographers name is Eric D. Richards and he is super great. He is giving us a discount because we are a referral and he teaches at EFY. Small world isn't it? Anyways, you can check out his stuff at www.izlas.com. It is some really pretty stuff. Anyways, the total cost he gave me right now is $1,481.87. But I may have him cover an extra hour at the reception so we can get all of the end stuff and take some family photos in our formal wear at the beginning. That would add on another $200. But that is still a great deal.

Table clothes and sashes

So I have been pondering what to do about linens. I think we are just going to have to rent them. My friend had champagne organza overlays that were lap length. Champagne is kinda a goldenish cream color. Anyways, so i have been looking around and we can get linens for a decent price as far as linens go at signiture party rental where we are looking at the tent. We have eight round tables that I envision would be in the pintuck brown. Then I would have the display table and refreshment tables in rectangle green sage table clothes and the guest book table in the red. That in my estimation would tally up to about: $128.00

8-108" pintuck brown round table linens=$80.00

1-90" red round table linen=$8.00

4-90"x152" sage green banquet table linens= $40.00

I envisioned that there would be red and orange sashes tied on the eight chairs surrounding each table. That way all the colors are represented, but nothing too over the top. Now if we wanted to purchase sashes to go with it, then it would be another $64.00

8 tables seating 8=64 x$1.00 per sash= $64.00

But I found this wholesale organza website. We could purchase a whole bolt of organze (10 yds of 60" organza) for the low low price of $5.45 and make our own 4"x108" sashes. We could get a bolt of red and orange for $10.90 + $7.50 shipping and handling and some stress of Karla who will end up making these lovely things :) for a grand total of $18.40!

Am I fabulous? I am. :)

Here is the organza website:http://www.giftsintl-us.com/products.php?cat=59

So table linens in the end would cost a grand total of $146.40. I am not sure we will be able to do it much cheaper.

fruit

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2008/11/board-309-pomegranate-and-plum.html

I know these aren't the right colors, but it demonstrates the rich, deep elegance that fruit can create. It's just so beautiful - we've got to find a way to do fruit centerpieces! I have been and will continue to brainstorm on ways we can save pennies and still do them.

tent

So the more I think about it, the more I realize that we are going to need at least the 30 x 60 tent. I drew up this little diagram that is close to scale. This is the approximate dimensions if we did the 30 x 60 tent. It may be tight, but what do you think? It looks like the cost would be about $1500 for the tent, liner, and sides.

The other idea I had would be to take 2 of the 20 x 50 tents and combine them. It would be around $1800 to do that, but it would give us a little more space. And I'm not sure if that's even a possibility, but we can check.

This is something that would be good to nail down ASAP because all the rest of our plans depend on this. Maybe I'll try to make it over to our church this weeked, get out some masking tape, and mark it out to see if it will work. Jeff and I were talking about coming home over Labor Day to do the rest of the planning, but I'm a little worried that might be cutting it too close if we wait until then.

Also, I sent an e-mail to Janean to see about where they got their tent. I was also looking online and found http://www.eastidahoweddings.com/. It isn't the most amazing site, but you may want to take a look.

centerpieces - II

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2009/07/board-401-lemon-and-sugar.html

tablecloths

http://www.pacificpartycanopies.com/rentals/linens_and_dishes/specialty_linens/

I remember you mentioning that your friend who recently got married had champagne colored tablecloths (what color is that exactly?). Since a full floor length tablecloth might be expensive, maybe we could borrow the long ones from your friend and do a shorter brown/colored tablecloth on the top like is pictured here. I may even be able to make them if it isn't a full length tablecloth. What do you think? Plus, I think the brown is really pretty - it could really make the colored fruit *pop* and give it a pretty, formal look. And sage colored sashes for the chair would be really pretty with it!!

Hot beverage

I have been looking at rentals for hot beverage holders. This one can be rented from a place in Idaho falls called A-1 Rentals for about $8.00 dollars a day. It holds about 100 cups. Here is the website http://www.a-1-rentals.com/equipment.asp?action=category&category=52&key=COFFEMAKER.

Sidebar

While I'm overloading the blog with posts, I just wanted to point out that I have added some elements to the left sidebar. I figured this might be a good way for us to keep track of what needs to be planned, what we have decided on, and what we need to discuss. Feel free to go in and edit them as you make final decisions or change your mind. I'll try to keep them updated as we go along.

centerpieces

What do you think about the idea on the top right-hand corner?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.banquetevent.com/wedding/misc/bande/uploaded_images/alternative_centerpieces-790927.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.banquetevent.com/wedding/misc/bande/2009/2008_02_01_archive.html&usg=__iJI8GIO0cefg6P08NlVy4QIQl4I=&h=417&w=500&sz=88&hl=en&start=37&um=1&tbnid=KCSoE05tKljlAM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcitrus%2Bcenterpiece%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1

Here is a more simple idea. We could dress it up with more fruit and make it bigger to look more elegant and grand.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.ivillage.com/Weddings/slideshows/citrus_shower/Citrus-Table325.jpg&imgrefurl=http://slideshow.ivillage.com/weddings/citrus_bridal_shower/citrus_centerpiece.html&usg=__XecEVW85TZOCgM2Pv9INKEqeQgM=&h=445&w=325&sz=20&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=VEeF-zIdKGzKzM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcitrus%2Bcenterpiece%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1



Instructions on how to do the pedestals are here: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/setting-the-scene?lnc=a489cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&page=3&rsc=articlecontent_holiday

cupcake liners

While we're talking cupcakes, here is a link to a website with colored liners: http://www.cupcakeswirl.com/category_5/Cupcake-liners.htm

It costs about $4 for 50 liners.

cupcake stand idea #2

Of course, disregard the color, but what about this idea?

http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-a-cake-stand-for-cupcakes-or-mini-cakes

It looks simple enough to make. It would be something different than just a plain one - we could find some really pretty paper to match your colors and wrap the edges in satin ribbon.

Color Scheme

Here is the general idea of what I want the colors to look like. Disregard the salmon color in the middle. Also, I kinda want the red a little brighter. But it is basically what I am thinking.

Fall Garland

This is some garland that I found that I really liked. It was at Target.

http://www.target.com/Red-Burgundy-Fall-Berry-Garland/dp/B001BR69RO/sr=1-18/qid=1246936505/ref=sr_1_18/191-8289212-8772704?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Agarland&page=1

Cupcake stands

Is this what you are talking about when you said cupcake stands?



Here is the website I found it at: http://www.brpboxshop.com/bakery_boxes/232.html

The Dress

So I went to Gowns by Pamela today and I am pretty stinkin' sure I found "THE DRESS". Here are some pictures.





The things I love about Gowns by Pamela:

• Everything is included: gown, corset, slip, veil, headpiece, steaming, and cleaning
• It is a rental
• It cost $379
• It is two pieces so I got to choose the two pieces I liked best
• It is unique because they had never seen a bride put those two pieces together.

Photography!

So I have been trying to decide on a photographer. Here are two of the ones that I have been looking at:www.robinspencerphotos.com and http://mattchristensenphotography.com/. Let me know what you think. I am not into the traditional wedding pictures, so I am having a hard time deciding on photographers. If you have any ideas I would love them.

general inspiration

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2007/11/board-84-gobble-gobble.html

Snippet and Ink is one of my favorite blogs! She puts together all sorts of inspiration boards for different wedding themes. You can go to her website and type in a search term to see all her references to that particular item. For example, you could type in "tent" and it would pull up her posts about tents. You can do it with colors, too. I love looking at the stuff she puts together for inspiration.

This one has some really pretty autumn themes. I was particularly drawn to the branches on the mantle, the cupcake, the paper lanterns, and the other cool branches in the tent idea. Let me know if there are any of these ideas you really like.

bread

Sorry, no image with this post.

Continuing on the refreshments, I think it is good to have both sweet and savory choices, so those who are trying to be "good" don't have to go home without anything to eat because they don't want sweets.

Something I mentioned to you was possibly having home baked bread as one of the refreshments. It would be really cool to have a variety in different colors to make the presentation really pretty (white, wheat, pumpernickle, etc.). We could bake them in mini loaves so they are smaller slices, too. We could also make them far in advance and freeze them, which is a big plus.

Then I was thinking about having a bunch of different jams and spreads: raspberry jam, peach jam, butter, honey, raspberry honeybutter (I found a recipe for it here), etc. We could arrange the bread in baskets with pretty cloth napkins as liners and have all the spreads in neat little bowls.

What do you think?

cupcakes

http://dulcedoblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/orange-cream-creamsicle-cupcakes.html

I mentioned pumpkin/cream cheese cupcakes a while ago when I was taking to you about refreshments (I have to test the recipe out on cupcakes to make sure they still taste amazing in cupcake form). I was also thinking about yummy chocolate cupcakes (this recipe is really good)with chocolate frosting. Then I was trying to come up with another cupcake idea that would incorporate your colors and I found this recipe for orange cream cupcakes. It looks more summery than autumnesque, but I wonder if that could be remedied with some deeper colored food coloring.

Another thing about cupcakes - you can order cupcake liners in all sorts of colors, which could be fun.

Do you still like the cupcake idea? If so, would you like a cupcake buffet or just having one or two types of cupcakes among a bunch of other kinds of desserts?

Speaking of desserts, what are your and Jesse's favorite desserts? I think it's neat when couples add very personal elements to their refreshments.

leaf candles

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/fall-centerpieces?lnc=6f79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=lpg_entertaining&lpgStart=1&currentslide=6&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

pears

With sage green as one of your colors, we could even incorporate pears into the fruit theme. I am really liking the pears!

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/fall-centerpieces?lnc=6f79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=lpg_entertaining&lpgStart=1&currentslide=7&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

pumpkins

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/filigree-pumpkin?autonomy_kw=pumpkins&rsc=header_20
Pumpkins on the porch. I am really digging the idea of playing up the porch as a little scene all it's own with pretty lights, pumpkins, etc. It will be especially cool if the tent is in the backyard and people pass the porch on their way. Also, I just noticed the leaves in the picture - maybe we could do more cool things in the yard with a ton of leaves - I'll have to think on that one.


http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/maria-and-robert?lnc=&rsc=lpg&lpgStart=1&currentslide=10&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs


We can use pumpkins to direct people to where the tent is.




http://www.marthastewart.com/article/translucent-pumpkins?autonomy_kw=monogram%20pumpkin&rsc=header_1

Monogrammed pumpkins, just like talked about. I so love this idea - we have to do it!


http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=dabf809dc732f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&backto=true

these glitter ones could be really pretty as tabletop decorations
And I'm not crazy about the pumpkin candle idea, but I kind of like the idea of the differnt colored pumpkins with some pretty berries for centerpieces/table decorations.


http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=c846c0b266e35110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&backto=true

check out the lighting at the link below - scroll down

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2008/09/real-wedding-kacie-brandon.html

We'll have to look at the yard, but if we do the tent in the backyard, it would be really cool to do some pretty lighting on the porch like they do. Almost like doing a little scene. We could definitely incorporate the pumpkins, too.

cake

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/best-cake-toppers?lnc=6b9c139b22b1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_cakes&lpgStart=1&currentslide=3&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/perfect-palettes-pink-and-poppy?autonomy_kw=pink%20and%20poppy&rsc=header_1

Two ideas for toppers - fruit and flowers.

citrus

Here is an idea for very simple citrus centerpieces (picture on the right)- fruit with a few flowers interspersed. Of course, we would be using oranges, apples, pomegranate, peaches, etc.

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2009/06/real-wedding-heather-barry.html

More citrus - I don't have permission to copy this picture, but click on the link below:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdH1B-6nhKroc0bLH-LSyKjDxXAkCLBOUke6w7JDiXg7B7RITef8cG3x4c9OKPCBnRfGK3E_0wqG2QifwPHtQx3Vds-wF4EgKNHSx4yCRTDZhAbHppRa6v6VvcJ_3xEXjC0cHbnCah0A/s1600-h/20.jpg

bouquet