Happy New Year everyone!
I know I have been rubbish at posting recently, but I thought it was appropriate to post today, just to remind everyone that....
We're getting married this year!!!
That's crazy! Where has the time gone? Anyway, congratualtions to any other couples who are getting married in 2011 - how exciting is it to finally be able to say "this year" instead of "next year" when your asked about the wedding date?!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too - I certainly did, as my lovely sister bought me my veil as my Christmas present! I will upload photos soon, I promise.
I'm so excited for 2011 - I feel like it's ok to start doing things for the wedding now, since it is officially "this year". I think we will start making the invitations soon, and probably buy my wedding dress. Exciting times coming up!
Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Giveaway for brides!
I love pre-wedding photos of dresses artfully hung up - and something that would add an extra special touch to photos like that is one of these personalised hangers!
If you want to win a hanger like this, from the Etsy seller, Lila Frances, then you can, just by following the amazing Bridal Gown Blog!
Make sure you stay long enough to check out the fantastic wedding porn on the blog too!
Make sure you stay long enough to check out the fantastic wedding porn on the blog too!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
DIY: Flowchart and Favours
I posted about the "should I invite them?" flowchart a while back, and today I found another one! Hurray!
I do love flowcharts! They remind me of those quizzes that I used to do in magazines when I was little. The always had topics like "Which Spice Girl are you?" or "Which flavour lip gloss are you?". (Baby Spice and Cherry, if you're interested!)
Anyway, I love a good flowchart, so this one, which helps you decide whether you should take on a wedding DIY project or not, is right up my street.
DIY Reality Check Flowchart
Very helpful, especially when I start thinking things like "I could make the bridesmaid dresses, how hard could that be?". The answer is "very hard".
On a slightly related note - I appear to be dragging my dad into the wedding DIYness alot recently. It's my mums fault really - everytime I mention something, she says that my dad would be able to make it.
"You need 10 wooden boxes for the centrepieces? Your dad could make those!"
"You want some speech bubble shaped black boards for the photobooth? Your dad could make those!"
"Table number holders? You're dad could make those!"
"A limo to take you to the ceremony? Your dad could make that!"
(Ok, so maybe that last one is a slight exageration, but you get the idea!)
Anyway, my dad has been volunteered to make pretty much anything that I probably wouldn't be able to make myself. The good thing is that he probably would be able to make the centrepiece boxes and the black board shapes, and he would have a go at table number holders. It's very helpful and generous, and I think it adds a nice, personal touch to the wedding when you know that things have been made my family members or friends.
I think it's really lovely to get people involved in your big day, and it's a great way to save money. Every article or blog post you will ever read about having a budget wedding will say that the best way to save money is to call in favours from friends and family.
This used to really annoy me, as not everyone has an auntie that is a cake baker, or a cousin that is a make-up artist, or a friend that is a graphic designer and can make your invitations for free!
I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a hairdresser and has offered to do my hair on the day, but I don't have any other friends or family that can get me a discount on wedding things.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box when calling in favours - your cousin might not be a make-up artist, but she might have a really good collection of beauty products that you could raid for the day. Your auntie might not be a baker, but she might make a pretty sugar flower anyway. You might not have a friend that is a graphic designer, but they might have a fairly decent printer and a discount at Hobbycraft!
In my case, I don't have anyone with convenient jobs in a wedding related industry, but I do have a dad who is pretty nifty with a power saw, and also a sister-in-law who is a bloody good artist. I plan to take full advantage of their superior skills to save myself money and stress!
I do love flowcharts! They remind me of those quizzes that I used to do in magazines when I was little. The always had topics like "Which Spice Girl are you?" or "Which flavour lip gloss are you?". (Baby Spice and Cherry, if you're interested!)
Anyway, I love a good flowchart, so this one, which helps you decide whether you should take on a wedding DIY project or not, is right up my street.
DIY Reality Check Flowchart
Very helpful, especially when I start thinking things like "I could make the bridesmaid dresses, how hard could that be?". The answer is "very hard".
On a slightly related note - I appear to be dragging my dad into the wedding DIYness alot recently. It's my mums fault really - everytime I mention something, she says that my dad would be able to make it.
"You need 10 wooden boxes for the centrepieces? Your dad could make those!"
"You want some speech bubble shaped black boards for the photobooth? Your dad could make those!"
"Table number holders? You're dad could make those!"
"A limo to take you to the ceremony? Your dad could make that!"
(Ok, so maybe that last one is a slight exageration, but you get the idea!)
Anyway, my dad has been volunteered to make pretty much anything that I probably wouldn't be able to make myself. The good thing is that he probably would be able to make the centrepiece boxes and the black board shapes, and he would have a go at table number holders. It's very helpful and generous, and I think it adds a nice, personal touch to the wedding when you know that things have been made my family members or friends.
I think it's really lovely to get people involved in your big day, and it's a great way to save money. Every article or blog post you will ever read about having a budget wedding will say that the best way to save money is to call in favours from friends and family.
This used to really annoy me, as not everyone has an auntie that is a cake baker, or a cousin that is a make-up artist, or a friend that is a graphic designer and can make your invitations for free!
I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a hairdresser and has offered to do my hair on the day, but I don't have any other friends or family that can get me a discount on wedding things.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box when calling in favours - your cousin might not be a make-up artist, but she might have a really good collection of beauty products that you could raid for the day. Your auntie might not be a baker, but she might make a pretty sugar flower anyway. You might not have a friend that is a graphic designer, but they might have a fairly decent printer and a discount at Hobbycraft!
In my case, I don't have anyone with convenient jobs in a wedding related industry, but I do have a dad who is pretty nifty with a power saw, and also a sister-in-law who is a bloody good artist. I plan to take full advantage of their superior skills to save myself money and stress!
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
The best things in life are free
The plan for our weding is to find everything for as little money as possible.
It takes a long time, because it involves researching every supplier or company and comparing them with every other supplier or company in the area, then comparing the cost of them with the cost of making something ourselves.
But every now and again, something wonderful happens and we find things really easily - and sometimes it's even more wonderful because they are free!
For example, we were given a huge wooden photo frame by a friend of my mums. It was actually handmade by her father and she didn't have room for it when she moved house, but wanted it to be used as opposed to being thrown away.
It will be perfect for our signature frame, which we are having instead of a guestbook, like these:
We will just get a large piece of card and stick a picture of us in the middle and display it in the frame. We will put out a pot of pens (we are thinking lot's of colours instead of just black) and ask people to sign the card. After the wedding we will put a piece of glass over it and hang it on our wall.
The frame is a made of dark wood and I'm considering sanding it down and painting it white, but I've not quite decided yet.
Another free thing we got this weekend, was the fabric to make the backdrop for our photo booth. My mum had a bag lying around with 2 sheer, white curtains. They have pink flowers on the bottom, but you wont be able to see them anyway so we don't mind.
Since they are sheet, we might use both of them, one on top of the other, to make it more opaque. But if we have it hung on a plain white wall, it won't matter and we can just use the one. My plan at the moment is to paint some sort of design on the top half of the curtain so that it will be visible in the background.
While we are on the subject of our photo booth - the third thing we got for free this weekend was some sombreros to put in our photo booth prop box. We got them from our local Freecycle group.
Here's my friend and hairdresser, Mark, modelling a sombrero. Doesn't he look lovely?
If you're trying to save money on your wedding, I would definitely reccommend joining your local Freecycle group. It is amazing how many things you can recycle after others have finsihed with them - and it is an easy way to pass all the things you collected for your own wedding on to someone else after you're done!
Click here to find out more about Freecycle.
Not wedding related, but we also got this picnic basket from Freecycle - how cute is this?
It's a shame it is raining so I can't go out and use it yet!
It takes a long time, because it involves researching every supplier or company and comparing them with every other supplier or company in the area, then comparing the cost of them with the cost of making something ourselves.
But every now and again, something wonderful happens and we find things really easily - and sometimes it's even more wonderful because they are free!
For example, we were given a huge wooden photo frame by a friend of my mums. It was actually handmade by her father and she didn't have room for it when she moved house, but wanted it to be used as opposed to being thrown away.
It will be perfect for our signature frame, which we are having instead of a guestbook, like these:
We will just get a large piece of card and stick a picture of us in the middle and display it in the frame. We will put out a pot of pens (we are thinking lot's of colours instead of just black) and ask people to sign the card. After the wedding we will put a piece of glass over it and hang it on our wall.
The frame is a made of dark wood and I'm considering sanding it down and painting it white, but I've not quite decided yet.
Another free thing we got this weekend, was the fabric to make the backdrop for our photo booth. My mum had a bag lying around with 2 sheer, white curtains. They have pink flowers on the bottom, but you wont be able to see them anyway so we don't mind.
Since they are sheet, we might use both of them, one on top of the other, to make it more opaque. But if we have it hung on a plain white wall, it won't matter and we can just use the one. My plan at the moment is to paint some sort of design on the top half of the curtain so that it will be visible in the background.
While we are on the subject of our photo booth - the third thing we got for free this weekend was some sombreros to put in our photo booth prop box. We got them from our local Freecycle group.
 |
If you're trying to save money on your wedding, I would definitely reccommend joining your local Freecycle group. It is amazing how many things you can recycle after others have finsihed with them - and it is an easy way to pass all the things you collected for your own wedding on to someone else after you're done!
Click here to find out more about Freecycle.
Not wedding related, but we also got this picnic basket from Freecycle - how cute is this?
It's a shame it is raining so I can't go out and use it yet!
Organised to the max!
If you're anything like me, then you like to be organised. I have a million lists of things I need to do, things I need to buy, things I need to make, people I need to contact.
I even have a list of lists I need to make.
I think it's wedding planning that brings out a need to make lists and write absolutely everything down. I was certainly never this organised before!
Anyway, my control freak-bridezilla side did a little happy dance when I discovered this link:
Click Me!
russellandhazel.com has over 50 wedding checklist and worksheets available. They cover literally everything from budgets to day-of time lines, from wedding party details to suppliers information.
I could happily spend hours filling in these worksheets - although I think it would be very difficult for me not to take my Wedding Day Time Line, Photo Shot List, Emergency Kit List, Supplier Contact Info and DJ Play List with me on the day. I'm going to have to appoint a bridesmaid in charge of each area, I think. I'm also incredibly lucky to have a couple of friends who know exactly how I want everything, and are not afraid to shout at people to get it done! I'm planning on making them my wedding coordinators on the day ( think Monica from Friends with the head set!). I know that they will keep everything running smoothly if I need them to.
Anywho, if you are looking for someway to get more organised - these worksheets and checklists will do it!
I even have a list of lists I need to make.
I think it's wedding planning that brings out a need to make lists and write absolutely everything down. I was certainly never this organised before!
Anyway, my control freak-bridezilla side did a little happy dance when I discovered this link:
Click Me!
russellandhazel.com has over 50 wedding checklist and worksheets available. They cover literally everything from budgets to day-of time lines, from wedding party details to suppliers information.
I could happily spend hours filling in these worksheets - although I think it would be very difficult for me not to take my Wedding Day Time Line, Photo Shot List, Emergency Kit List, Supplier Contact Info and DJ Play List with me on the day. I'm going to have to appoint a bridesmaid in charge of each area, I think. I'm also incredibly lucky to have a couple of friends who know exactly how I want everything, and are not afraid to shout at people to get it done! I'm planning on making them my wedding coordinators on the day ( think Monica from Friends with the head set!). I know that they will keep everything running smoothly if I need them to.
Anywho, if you are looking for someway to get more organised - these worksheets and checklists will do it!
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Cake Toppers and Wedding Insurance
Just a couple of things to update on:
Our cake toppers arrived yesterday!
I mentioned in the other >post< that we wanted little wooden cake toppers which we would then paint. I ordered 2 men and 2 girls, but when they arrived there was a problem:
The bride is significantly smaller than the groom! I don't mind so much about the height, but its the size of the heads! The groom looks like a giant in comparison!
But never mind. Since we had bought 2 of each, we decided to just use the 2 men instead. I did want the bride topper to have the flared, dress shape, but I can live without it. I think once they are painted they will look fine anyway.
Anyway, I gave the 2 smaller ones to my sister, who is getting married in October 2011, to use as her cake toppers if she wants. She is teeny anyway, lol.
Another thing that happened this weekend, is that I went onto our photographers website, and there was a big message on the home page saying "I am no longer doing wedding photography". Cue me nearly having a heart attack! I emailed him and he replied straight away to say that of course he would still do our weddings, he is just not taking on any more wedding bookings because his wife is ill. Phew!
Very happy that we don't have to look for another photographer as it took us long enough to find this one - I doubt we would find another one that is such a good deal as well as being really nice.
But anyway, thinking that something might have gone wrong reminded me that I needed to get some Wedding Insurance.
I did consider whether it was worth getting insurance or not, but I thought that it's not very expensive and it covers pretty much everything. I like having the peace of mind I suppose.
I researched a lot of wedding insurance companies and compared their policies and in the end we went for Wedding Plan which can cover weddings in the UK or abroad. We got their silver cover, which has up to £5000 worth of cancellation cover and was only £19.99.
I definitely think that it's worth getting insurance - a wedding costs a hell of a lot of money and it makes sense to have some protection. At the very least it will mean that you don't have to panic if you're dress gets ruined or the rings get lost!
Our cake toppers arrived yesterday!
I mentioned in the other >post< that we wanted little wooden cake toppers which we would then paint. I ordered 2 men and 2 girls, but when they arrived there was a problem:
The bride is significantly smaller than the groom! I don't mind so much about the height, but its the size of the heads! The groom looks like a giant in comparison!
But never mind. Since we had bought 2 of each, we decided to just use the 2 men instead. I did want the bride topper to have the flared, dress shape, but I can live without it. I think once they are painted they will look fine anyway.
Anyway, I gave the 2 smaller ones to my sister, who is getting married in October 2011, to use as her cake toppers if she wants. She is teeny anyway, lol.
Another thing that happened this weekend, is that I went onto our photographers website, and there was a big message on the home page saying "I am no longer doing wedding photography". Cue me nearly having a heart attack! I emailed him and he replied straight away to say that of course he would still do our weddings, he is just not taking on any more wedding bookings because his wife is ill. Phew!
Very happy that we don't have to look for another photographer as it took us long enough to find this one - I doubt we would find another one that is such a good deal as well as being really nice.
But anyway, thinking that something might have gone wrong reminded me that I needed to get some Wedding Insurance.
I did consider whether it was worth getting insurance or not, but I thought that it's not very expensive and it covers pretty much everything. I like having the peace of mind I suppose.
I researched a lot of wedding insurance companies and compared their policies and in the end we went for Wedding Plan which can cover weddings in the UK or abroad. We got their silver cover, which has up to £5000 worth of cancellation cover and was only £19.99.
I definitely think that it's worth getting insurance - a wedding costs a hell of a lot of money and it makes sense to have some protection. At the very least it will mean that you don't have to panic if you're dress gets ruined or the rings get lost!
Guestlist Dilemma?
Making a guestlist is quite easy - you just wirte down the names of all the people you want at the wedding. Cutting a guestlist down to a number that you can fit in the venue and/or afford is the difficult part!
There will always be some people that you want to invite - but you can't have everyone!
Well, I found this nifty little flow chart that helps you decide whether you should invite someone or not.
Click >here< to see the big version.
Very handy if you're finding it difficult to cut your guestlist down!
There will always be some people that you want to invite - but you can't have everyone!
Well, I found this nifty little flow chart that helps you decide whether you should invite someone or not.
Click >here< to see the big version.
Very handy if you're finding it difficult to cut your guestlist down!
Thursday, 9 September 2010
I heart ebay!
Seriously, what did we do before ebay was around? And how did anyone plan a wedding on a budget??
Today I have ebayed to my hearts content. The theme of my purchases? Inviations!
I have previously mentioned that my invitation inspiration was these lovelies:
but we are having flowers instead of hearts, and our ribbon will be purple.
So, from ebay, I've just bought 100 A6 linen textured, gatefold card blanks, in white, plus envelopes, for £11.50.
I was going to get 50, as we probably wont need more than that, but it was £10.99 for 50 so I figured I should get another 50 for 51p! It's good to have spares, and I can always pass the leftover ones to someone else.
So I have 100 of these from the seller Tubularowl1 and I also bought the flower shaped punch that will make the cut out shapes across the middle of the invitations:
It took me a while to find the craft punch, because I needed one with a long handle so that it would reach to the far edge of the invitation. I picked up a Carl Long Reach Craft Punch for £3.99.
My final ebay purchase of the day was a corner rounder. Ok, so this is not technically for the invitations - but it is for wedding related crafts, and I thought I might aswell buy everything at the same time.
I debated for a while about buying some gorgeous lime green, shimmery place cards, which were 50 for £4.99. But then I realised that I'd have to buy 2 lots, making it almost £10, when I could just as easily buy a couple of sheets of green card and cut them out myself.
I also thought that cutting them out myself would mean I could print the names off the computer, as opposed the hand writing them.I might have to buy a guillotine or something though, just to make all the cutting out easier.
So at the moment, my invitation spending is as follows:
card blanks: £11.50
craft punch: £3.99
ribbon: £7
card for inserts: £1.50
total: £23.99
cost per invitation = 24p
I really do heart ebay!
Today I have ebayed to my hearts content. The theme of my purchases? Inviations!
I have previously mentioned that my invitation inspiration was these lovelies:
but we are having flowers instead of hearts, and our ribbon will be purple.
So, from ebay, I've just bought 100 A6 linen textured, gatefold card blanks, in white, plus envelopes, for £11.50.
I was going to get 50, as we probably wont need more than that, but it was £10.99 for 50 so I figured I should get another 50 for 51p! It's good to have spares, and I can always pass the leftover ones to someone else.
 | |
| Card blanks |
It took me a while to find the craft punch, because I needed one with a long handle so that it would reach to the far edge of the invitation. I picked up a Carl Long Reach Craft Punch for £3.99.
My final ebay purchase of the day was a corner rounder. Ok, so this is not technically for the invitations - but it is for wedding related crafts, and I thought I might aswell buy everything at the same time.
I debated for a while about buying some gorgeous lime green, shimmery place cards, which were 50 for £4.99. But then I realised that I'd have to buy 2 lots, making it almost £10, when I could just as easily buy a couple of sheets of green card and cut them out myself.
I also thought that cutting them out myself would mean I could print the names off the computer, as opposed the hand writing them.I might have to buy a guillotine or something though, just to make all the cutting out easier.
So at the moment, my invitation spending is as follows:
card blanks: £11.50
craft punch: £3.99
ribbon: £7
card for inserts: £1.50
total: £23.99
cost per invitation = 24p
I really do heart ebay!
Flower Update
I posted the other day that I'd ordered my flowers from Excelsior Wholesale - but I actually had a few problems so they didn't get ordered straight away.
Basically, I tried to order them and got an email saying that I should contact the company, which I did, and they said they had no record of an order from me. So I tried again, 2 more times and still no ordere going through.
At this point, Rich from Excelsior rang me to ask if I would mind emailing him my order as it obviously wasn't working the other way. So I did that yesterday, and today Rich rang me back to get payment as my flowers were ready (quick or what?).
So apparently they should be here tomorrow. How excting is that? All together, with delivery charges it came to £92.95, so that fits in well with my budget of £100 for the flowers (especially considering that price also includes all the tape, ribbon, pins etc, plus all the ribbon for the invitations).
But I must say it has been a pleasure dealing with Excelsior Wholesale - even though I had a few problems, they were extremely quick to email me back every time and incredibly friendly.
10 out of 10 for customer service!
Now lets hope that the products are just as good!
Basically, I tried to order them and got an email saying that I should contact the company, which I did, and they said they had no record of an order from me. So I tried again, 2 more times and still no ordere going through.
At this point, Rich from Excelsior rang me to ask if I would mind emailing him my order as it obviously wasn't working the other way. So I did that yesterday, and today Rich rang me back to get payment as my flowers were ready (quick or what?).
So apparently they should be here tomorrow. How excting is that? All together, with delivery charges it came to £92.95, so that fits in well with my budget of £100 for the flowers (especially considering that price also includes all the tape, ribbon, pins etc, plus all the ribbon for the invitations).
But I must say it has been a pleasure dealing with Excelsior Wholesale - even though I had a few problems, they were extremely quick to email me back every time and incredibly friendly.
10 out of 10 for customer service!
Now lets hope that the products are just as good!
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Say Cheese!
I really, really want a photo booth at our wedding. Like, more than I want the dress or the the flowers, or the cake. I really want one.
But I can't have one. :-(
Have you seen the prices of photo booth rental?? It's extortionate! Up to £1000 for only 4 hours rental. And there is a limit on how many photo's you can have taken! Ridiculous.
I still want one though. Unfortunately it does not fit in our "get everything for as cheap as possible" plan. Or does it....? *insert evil genius laugh here*
Because when I realised that a photo booth was way out of our budget, I started looking for alternatives. From what I could tell, lots of people had gone down the route of asking their photographer to set up a corner of the room and take pictures of people. Easy! But I don't want to have to pay my photographer any more than I already am. Besides, it's not the same when a person is taking the photo as opposed to a faceless, non-judging machine.
Then I heard about people setting up the corner of the room themselves, sticking a camera on a tri-pod and asking a bridesmaid or a friend to man it for a few hours. Well, that solves the money problem - but I don't want some of my friends and family to be stuck manning the photo booth all night. I want them to be having fun inside it!
So, back to the drawing board. Or, more realistically, back to Google! I was still sure I wanted a photo booth, I just don't want to pay a lot for it! Here's some pictures of DIY photo booths - how much fun do they look?
Looking at thousands of pictures like these just made me more determined that we should have a photo booth. And then, a miracle happened...
During one of many, many Googling sessions, I clicked on a website that had a link, and that link lead to an article, and the article sited a source and the source provided another link ( I could go on for a while - basically, I'm trying to explain that I don't remember where I found the original suggestion!) and the final link took me to...
Spark Booth!
The most amazing program ever made, as far as I am concerned. Some technical genius has actually made some software that turns your computer and webcam into a photo booth.
I have never been so excited in my life as I was when I realised that not only would we now be able to have a photo booth - but it would be really cheap!
Basically, we could install the software on my laptop (which has a built in webcam) and then set it up in the corner of the room, with a ncie backdrop of some kind. The guests just stand (or sit) in front and press space bar to begin. you can see yourself on the screen before you press the space bar, so it's easy to make sure your in the right spot. It then takes 4 pictures a few seconds apart and displays them in your chosen photo strip.
You can customise almost everything -the backgroung, the message on screen, the timings, the photo strip design. Loads of things to play about with - I definitely recomend downlaoding the 10 day trial to play with. Hours of fun!
As you can see, I had a play around with it. Please excuse my facial expression in the first shot - I wasn't expecting it to start! Also - how huge does my hand look in the last shot??
Anyway, Spark Booth will automatically save all the photo strips to your computer (and all individual photos if you want) and you can also set it to print out the strips or upload them in a site, such as Facebook.
How cool is that? I really want the photos to be put straight on facebook - that will save us having to buy a load of paper to print them out. Unfortunately, the long strip style I tested above doesn't upload to Facebook very well, so I will have to have 4 shots in a square instead, but that's ok.
I will also have to check if the venue has wi-fi -otherwise the photo's will have to be uploaded the morning after.
So to have this DIY photo booth I will need some sort of back drop - I like this painted sheet type one:
I think that would be quite cute in purple and green!
I'll also need the laptop (check) with webcam (check) and some sort of lamp/spotlight since my webcam doesn't have a flash. That's easy enough to do though.
I will also need a whole load of props
I think I've mentioned before how partial I am to fake moustaches. I plan to make some out of felt and have them on sticks. I'll also grab some hats, glasses, empty frames etc from local charity shops. And I really want some whiteboards or chalkboards shaped like speech bubbles! How easy would these be to make, do you think? Also, which is better, whiteboard and pen of blackboard and chalk? Personally I like the old school feel of chalk, but whiteboards might be easier and cleaner...
And my very last dilemma is whether to have the photos in colour or black and white...? I'm leaning towards black and white as everyone looks better in a black and white photo!
Oh, I almost forgot! Spark Booth is $59 to buy, and you can download a free 10 day trial - from what I can tell, the only thing different about the trial is that the watermark won't be on your final pictures.
I will keep looking to see if I can find any similar software that is a bit cheaper (or better yet, free!) before I decide to use this one. But now that I know it's an option, I can get excited about having a photo booth! Hurray!
But I can't have one. :-(
Have you seen the prices of photo booth rental?? It's extortionate! Up to £1000 for only 4 hours rental. And there is a limit on how many photo's you can have taken! Ridiculous.
I still want one though. Unfortunately it does not fit in our "get everything for as cheap as possible" plan. Or does it....? *insert evil genius laugh here*
Because when I realised that a photo booth was way out of our budget, I started looking for alternatives. From what I could tell, lots of people had gone down the route of asking their photographer to set up a corner of the room and take pictures of people. Easy! But I don't want to have to pay my photographer any more than I already am. Besides, it's not the same when a person is taking the photo as opposed to a faceless, non-judging machine.
Then I heard about people setting up the corner of the room themselves, sticking a camera on a tri-pod and asking a bridesmaid or a friend to man it for a few hours. Well, that solves the money problem - but I don't want some of my friends and family to be stuck manning the photo booth all night. I want them to be having fun inside it!
So, back to the drawing board. Or, more realistically, back to Google! I was still sure I wanted a photo booth, I just don't want to pay a lot for it! Here's some pictures of DIY photo booths - how much fun do they look?
Looking at thousands of pictures like these just made me more determined that we should have a photo booth. And then, a miracle happened...
During one of many, many Googling sessions, I clicked on a website that had a link, and that link lead to an article, and the article sited a source and the source provided another link ( I could go on for a while - basically, I'm trying to explain that I don't remember where I found the original suggestion!) and the final link took me to...
Spark Booth!
The most amazing program ever made, as far as I am concerned. Some technical genius has actually made some software that turns your computer and webcam into a photo booth.
I have never been so excited in my life as I was when I realised that not only would we now be able to have a photo booth - but it would be really cheap!
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You can customise almost everything -the backgroung, the message on screen, the timings, the photo strip design. Loads of things to play about with - I definitely recomend downlaoding the 10 day trial to play with. Hours of fun!
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Anyway, Spark Booth will automatically save all the photo strips to your computer (and all individual photos if you want) and you can also set it to print out the strips or upload them in a site, such as Facebook.
How cool is that? I really want the photos to be put straight on facebook - that will save us having to buy a load of paper to print them out. Unfortunately, the long strip style I tested above doesn't upload to Facebook very well, so I will have to have 4 shots in a square instead, but that's ok.
I will also have to check if the venue has wi-fi -otherwise the photo's will have to be uploaded the morning after.
So to have this DIY photo booth I will need some sort of back drop - I like this painted sheet type one:
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I'll also need the laptop (check) with webcam (check) and some sort of lamp/spotlight since my webcam doesn't have a flash. That's easy enough to do though.
I will also need a whole load of props
I think I've mentioned before how partial I am to fake moustaches. I plan to make some out of felt and have them on sticks. I'll also grab some hats, glasses, empty frames etc from local charity shops. And I really want some whiteboards or chalkboards shaped like speech bubbles! How easy would these be to make, do you think? Also, which is better, whiteboard and pen of blackboard and chalk? Personally I like the old school feel of chalk, but whiteboards might be easier and cleaner...
And my very last dilemma is whether to have the photos in colour or black and white...? I'm leaning towards black and white as everyone looks better in a black and white photo!
Oh, I almost forgot! Spark Booth is $59 to buy, and you can download a free 10 day trial - from what I can tell, the only thing different about the trial is that the watermark won't be on your final pictures.
I will keep looking to see if I can find any similar software that is a bit cheaper (or better yet, free!) before I decide to use this one. But now that I know it's an option, I can get excited about having a photo booth! Hurray!
Free Invitation Download
Because I love anything involving the word "free"!
www.weddingchicks.com is a brilliant website for wedding porn and inspiration, but it also has loads of amazing freebies available to download.
My personal favourite is this bunting themed invitation suite -
How cute? You can personalise the colours and text to really make them your own style.
Click >here< to download.
You might also want to check out the Custom Goodies page of the website, which has a few other invitation suites, monograms and signs available to customise and download.
www.weddingchicks.com is a brilliant website for wedding porn and inspiration, but it also has loads of amazing freebies available to download.
My personal favourite is this bunting themed invitation suite -
How cute? You can personalise the colours and text to really make them your own style.
Click >here< to download.
You might also want to check out the Custom Goodies page of the website, which has a few other invitation suites, monograms and signs available to customise and download.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Useful Planning Tools
I like to be organised and have every little detaield planned out as early as possible. My fiancé is basically the opposite. So I found Google Documents really useful for wedding planning.
Click the title of this post to see the "Wedding Template Collection" (or click >here< ) which includes a guest list tracker, address book, to-do list, budget planner, seating chart and day of schedule.
Just a couple of handy documents to keep everything organised. I particularly like the fact that you can publish them to the web and send the link to the people involved (e.g. groom, MOB, bridesmaids?). Very useful!
Click the title of this post to see the "Wedding Template Collection" (or click >here< ) which includes a guest list tracker, address book, to-do list, budget planner, seating chart and day of schedule.
Just a couple of handy documents to keep everything organised. I particularly like the fact that you can publish them to the web and send the link to the people involved (e.g. groom, MOB, bridesmaids?). Very useful!
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