Envelope Template

Absolutely love this! The price is a little ridiculous, but I still want to get it. I know I could probably find a template online somewhere for free, but I am terrible at cutting and measuring, so I think this would totally help and I could make my own envelopes as well for the wedding.

What do you think?

Wedding Registry

Today I received an email from The Knot saying there is 8 months till my wedding and that I should start putting together my wedding registry. There was a link to a site called Gift Registry 360, so the list has begun.

Here is the link http://www.giftregistry360.com/registry?refresh=true.

I had recently started making a registry on Amazon, but since I have started making the list on Gift Registry 360 I decided to place all the items I had on Amazon onto Gift Registry.

The best part about Gift Registry 360 is that they have an add-on button for your toolbar, so you can add items from anywhere. A lot of what I was adding is kind of goofy items, but they are things that Tim and I would not only use, but would suit us.

Of course I had to pick out some Nightmare Before Christmas items as well, here is picture of one item I added to my registry.

Coupon Madness

I got my coupon inserts in the mail on Friday and couldn't stop myself from putting coupons in them. Here is what the inserts look like

So I had this whole setup of my Dell laptop and my printer then I clipped coupons from the previous week that I hadn't done yet.

I had planned on spending maybe an hour or two on this, but somehow it turned into close to four hours. I eventually had to stop because I was starving.

Here is the inserts with the binder I will be putting them in for now

After making some food I finished up with the coupons I had out and put as many of them away as I could.

Lastly I have a photo of the stack of coupons I have for my dad because him and I are always exchanging coupons.

Customizables

For the wedding I am making plaster candle holder skulls that will be the place cards for seating and will also be a favor for the guests to take home. To go along with these I figured doing customized matchboxes would only make sense. Here is a look at the matchboxes I am currently looking at as possibilities:

I am debating if I want to have both or do just one kind. I like the idea of having variety, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Tim thinks that it should be his name first then mine, but I am doing it so I am coming first. haha

While I was deciding on matchboxes I also am thinking of doing some simple coasters with are name and date on it.

Here is what they look like:

This is another instance where I am thinking of doing two different colors.

What do you think?

Alice.com

Have you ever heard of Alice.com? I just found out about it through couponcabin.com. It appears to be much like Peapod, where you order groceries online & then they are delivered to you. The only difference I am seeing is that Alice incorporates coupons through the manufacturers.

I am curious as to whether it is a better to buy some things on here instead of at the store with coupons?

Here is another look at the site after I created an account:

I feel terrible...

I feel terrible that I haven't been couponing like I usually do. I haven't bought anything to go into the stockpile this week. How awful is that?

I am really hoping to make it to Pick'n'Save and Walgreens this week, so hopefully I will have something to report & photograph soon. Thank goodness today is Sunday, so I will have coupon inserts to look at tonight!

Well too depressed to keep writing, maybe I'll look online for coupons.

Stockpile Photos

I am having a hard time getting the photo slideshow to work using either Flickr or Photobucket, so I am just going to post the images in a regular blog post.

This is an image of my stockpile before the Pick'n'Save and CVS trip on 2/4. The stockpile started well before getting engaged and planning this wedding. There are always good deals on pasta and there are tons of coupons out there for it as well, so I just started a collection you could say.

Here are images of each of the different categories to my stockpile:

*9 boxes of assorted pasta noodles*

 *4 jars & 2 cans of assorted pasta sauce 5 cans of plain tomato sauce*

*3 bottles of Olive Oil*

We Got It!

I meant to post this yesterday, but was busy doing other homework and eventually just ran out of time.

Anyways the meeting with Joe was a success on Saturday night! We booked the banquet hall for $650, which includes the hall, setup, cleanup, two bartenders, all the serving trays & plates, diningware, a PA system for music and lastly being able to provide our own food. There is no way we could find a better deal.

Below is the contract, I blurred out the name and contact info, but soooo excited to have gotten this sorted out.

Other good news is that my dad just paid it all straight up. Tim and I had planned on putting a $200 deposit down on Saturday and then paying the rest off in installments, but my dad refused to let us pay. It was unexpected, but greatly appreciated.

So, that's one thing off the list only five million more things to do.

Wedding Location

So, we are going to sign a contract and put a deposit on the wedding venue tonight! YAY!

At this undiclosed location we will be able to bring in our own food, use a PA system for music instead of hiring a DJ and it also includes setup, cleanup, bartenders and servers. The price is going to be somewhere between $600 and $700. We had planned on doing a cash bar since there are some family members who will take advantage of a free bar and we just cant afford that, but my dad thinks we should have Miller Lite or something free all night. We may end up buying a keg or 2, but that wouldn't be too bad. As of right now I want to know how much that could potentially cost us before I say yes because I really don't want to pay for people's drinking habits all night long.

If we get the place for say $700, that leaves us $1300 to play with. I want this wedding to cost under 2 grand. My mom and dad have both offered to help, but I just feel bad taking any money from them, especially my dad because he really doesn't have the extra cash to be doing something like that.

Well, I should get back to work so I'll write more tomorrow about our plans & maybe if you're lucky I'll have pictures to upload. : )

Tim's Proposal

Since this is my wedding blog, I realized that I need to tell the story of how Tim proposed.

It was my last day of fall semester and all day I had a feeling Tim was going to propose because he told me he was making a spaghetti dinner (which is my favorite) and that he had a surprise for me. So, I tried to not get too excited while I was at school because I didn't want to get excited and then be let down because he didn't propose.

When I got to the apartment door there was a note waiting for me. Then when I got inside I was welcomed by a million tealight candles and Tim with another note in his hand. (Below are all the notes in the order I got them, he made it into a scavenger hunt of sorts). *Ignore the inappropriae part to one of the notes*

It was such a cute proposal. When I saw him on his knee in the living room all I could say was, "Are you serious?". I was sooooooo excited. Pretty sure I had my hand out for the ring before I even actually said yes.

After he proposed I made several phone calls, updated my facebook relationship status and then we had a fantastic candlelight spaghetti dinner.

Invitations

Before Tim even proposed I had the wedding invitations picked out.

Here is a look at the design:

I found this at a paper store called Papier Mache in New York when I was there about 2 years ago. I bought one because I just knew this would be my wedding inviation if I ever got married.

Since I am trying to save as much money as possible on this wedding as I can, I will be making these invitations myself. They won't look exactly like this one does, but I am going to try and get as close as possible.

I plan on using a letterpress to make them, so hopefully I can recruit some people to help otherwise it will be uber tiring cranking the wheel. I figure we are going to have a guest list of about 150 people, so that's a lot to make.

2/4 Pick'n'Save Trip

This trip was successful and yet a disaster. I had two transactions planned out, but the store was out of a lot of the things I had planned on getting and then there were deals that did not include certain varieties I thought they did. Thankfully I brought back up coupons with me, but I only ended up doing one transaction.

Here is what my grocery list started out as. ( I did not get all of the items on this list).

Since my dad was waiting outside to give Tim and I a ride with our groceries I was trying to rush. My other problem was just having someone else with me. Last time I did a big transaction I worked my way through the store pretty quickly and I didn't forget anything on my list. This time however I completely skipped one section on my list that included Axe shampoo, Caress body wash and Degree deodorant. Just thinking about what products I forgot it's not a big deal because I already have a stockpile of these things at home, but those items were essential to me getting $7 back to use on a future shopping trip. At the register I already had the cashier go through the transaction once because I hadn't gotten my $10 off for purchasing 6 Keebler products, but it was because she had skipped scanning one, so that was easily remedied. Then I had to ask about why I didn't get the $7 back, she directed me to someone else and then that person directed me to another person. This is when I discovered it was my mistake because I forgot some items. (I was so embarassed, then I was upset).

I hate forgetting things and was even more mad that I didn't get all the deals I had planned on. Anyways here is my list from yesterday, highlighted are the items that will be added to the wedding stockpile. the Ragu sauce is all that I know will not leave the stockpile, but if I happen to run out of dressing in the fridge or decide to make some chicken on the stove I may use the homestyle stock, but that pasta sauce is not going anywhere.

Pictured below (in order) is the loot I got from this shopping trip and what I added to my stockpile from this trip.

 

2/4 CVS Trip

So, my trip to CVS ended up not being incredibly fruitful, but I came out with a pretty good deal. I had brought several coupons with me to look at possibly purchasing the product if it wasn't too expensive. Unfortunately most ended up not giving me all that much savings, so I only took advantage of the Ragu pasta sauce deal and the 10/$5.50 Fancy Feast canned cat food deal.

I got 6 jars of Ragu and 10 cans of cat food. I had $4 extrabucks to use, so my total was $11.10 then I also got $3 extrabucks back.

It was a short and sweet transaction, but it helped to add to my wedding stockpile.

Coupons

Since this blog is about me couponing for my wedding I am sure everyone who sees this understands that I am a couponer. So, I'm sure it comes to no surprise that I am really excited for Saturday because #1 it is Double Daze at Pick'n'Save and #2 I am going to stop at CVS and take advantage of their Barilla/Ragu Sauce deal.

*Just as a reminder I am couponing for all the food at my wedding and plan on making all myself. We are doing a pasta buffet, so I have started a stockpile of tomato sauce, noodles and olive oil. There are other things I will be buying via coupons once it gets closer to the wedding, such as salad fixings.*

For Double Daze I will have to have Tim go, so hopefully when I give him a list and an envelope of coupons he will be able to get it right, unlike his trup to Walgreens. Thankfully he has done Double Daze for me before and has never had a problem.

I am making the list tomorrow so I will be sure to post a copy.

Have a great night!

Flowers

Last night I couldn't help but think about what flowers I am going to have at the wedding. Tim and I have talked about what the flower girl will be dropping down the aisle and we are stuck between black rose petals or dead flower petals (since we are going with the whole halloween theme).

Orchids are my favorite flowers, they are also really expensive.  The picture is obviously not of an orchid of I would use for the wedding, but it's just so pretty.