I'd say Yeses to those Dresses

So I'm sure many bride to bes are with me, but I am obsessed with TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. I love when the people get angry and when the consultants get frustrated. Oh, and most of all I love how nasty and manipulative the moms get. It's like some twisted guilty pleasure. I can't help it, I swear.

Either way, you think I would've know that the [in]famous Kleinfled's has their own website. No kidding, right? You can view their collections of dresses and drool. Too bad if you're wondering how much more has to be in your piggy bank to buy these beauties. You get to see a symbol of 1 $, 2 $s, or 3 $s. It's surprisingly vague. The website lists the price guide here. It doesn't list any dresses under $1,500. I'm pretty sure I haven't tried on any dresses worth that much.

Regardless, back to drooling! It's obvious that Kleinfled's has some real beauties. Here are some of my favorites :). (All images come from K's website. It's seriously worth some perusing. Make sure you watch out for love at first sight. Ooooh boy!)

Kate Spade Bag Giveaway? Count me IN!

What can you win, you ask? How about a gorgeous bag! Wishpot and Avelle have set up a giveaway so we all have a chance to win that awesome bag.
How? Well go here! They have quite a few different ways to enter the contest and it's super easy too.

Go. Now. and Win. . .then give me the bag. . . I mean, enjoy your new bag!

Talking Photography

So after attending FBIL IB's wedding this weekend, the fantastic TB and I started talking photos/photographers. IB & his Bride MB* had a friend (who looked very talented & had a very expensive looking camera) take photos for them. She did a good job dealing with a large group of people and getting all those people where they need to be. And, not that it matters, but she was super cute and super sweet too. She also had a little accent. . . Russian, I think?

Anyway, there were photos of the B boys and the Moms with boy IB and MB. They were very cute photos, actually. It reminded me that, (don't cringe) I love posed family portraits. Posed portraits just make me smile. I think they're a good idea, especially since TB has such a large family. It's often had to get us all together at one time, so if a token (possibly cheesy) portrait will get us all together, then I say so be it!

The B Brothers and 1 of the B girls (we're missing the oldest B sister here). You don't need to tell me - I am aware I am marrying into one handsome family :)! Mr TB is second from the left - I love that he is all smiles! What a cutie! It looks blurry, but click on to see those good looking Bs in all their glory!

Mr.TB agrees! He's all about the posed photos too. Naturally, we want all the artsy photos and candids too, but portraits are on the must haves. Portraits of the C family, of the B family, of me and the Bs, of TB and the C's, me and the B girls, TB and my sister, etc.

Where is this going, you ask? Well TB and I made our photographer must have list . . . Well, more like I told him what I had to have and he agreed? Yeah, let's go with that. We made the decision together, I swear.

Okay sooo MC + TB = Photography! Here goes nothing!

Want 1) $1500 - We're tryin tryin trying to save money for this wedding and are planning to budget $1500 for photography. It may be too much to ask to get all we want for $1500, but I hoping to make it happen!

Want 2) Portraits! - Like I all ready said, we want a photographer willing to do posed portraits. Quite a few of them at that, because I'm sure TB will want one with each of the B bros and so will I (and so on). . . With his 5 sibs and my 1, it could make for a lot of photos!

Want 3) Candids - I love candids, simple as that. We want a photog that do more than one style, including photo journalistic so that we can get some candid photos.

Want 4) Unlimited Photos - this is very very very important to us me. I don't want someone that will hit 800, 1000, 1500 images and stop simply because they hit a certain number. I want them to shoot all night and stop when the night ends!

Want 5) DVD or CD - I want a dvd (or cd) of all our images with the rights for us to print them out at will. This seems pretty standard, although I've seen a few places that don't offer this.

Want 6) Second Shooter - I need a second shooter, I swear! I want different angles and additional shots. Simple enough.

Want 7) Online Gallery & Ordering - This is actually Dad C's want. I agree too. Since a lot of our family lives far and will be traveling to see us for our big day, it would be great to offer them a place to order their own photos. We won't be able to show our photos to them, but this way they'd be able to see them themselves!

Want 8) Talent - Nuff said? For reallllls.

Want 9) Proofs - I would like a bound spiral of all our proofs to see. This is a maybe. I don't want it as much as everything else, but it would be a cherry on top for sure.

Want 10) All day photos - I want the pre ceremony, the ceremony, and the reception :).

Too much too ask for? We'll see.

*IB married MC, so she is now MB. I'm MC and when I get married, I'll be MB. I know, right? Totally weird!

What Should my Wedding Cost?

Have you ever been to CostofWedding.com? It's worth a look. You just put in you zip code and it calculates how much your wedding "should" cost based on you area. Also nice, it breaks down the budget into what should cost what if you choose to look at it. All costs are on the left hand side, if you click on the different items.

The website sets itself up like this:
On average, US couples spend $20,398 for their wedding. However, the majority of couples spend between $15,299 and $25,498 while their wedding budget is typically 50% less than the amount spent. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring. Understanding average wedding cost now can help you with your wedding budget later.
I agree with the last line, for serious :).

It also has another line, similar to a disclaimer, that actually seems a little helpful:
The numbers provided on this site are simply a guide to help you better prepare for the cost of a wedding and is based on spending by other couples, not vendor prices. Spending and prices vary widely. You should expect to pay 25% to 50% more for a well-experienced professional. Investigate all options and choose products and services that best meet your needs.

Anyway! On with the numbers! (You're curious, I can tell.)

On average, couples that live in Miss Giraffe's town spend between $25,090 and $41,816 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.

or On average, couples that live in Mr. Giraffe's town spend between $22,489 and $37,481 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.

I find this especially curious because Mr. Giraffe's town is full of a lot of wealthy people with taxes way higher than my town. It's also closer to Chicago, which increases prices of things regardless. Either way, $41 grand for a wedding? Yeah, I don't think so. Take that, wedding industry! haha! My wedding, even with my ring and honeymoon, will be no where near that price. For serious. I mean, really, who are the couples with that much money? Let me know, and I promise to befriend them!

To go further, on the same side you can do a 'wedding budget estimator'. You still put in you zip, but you also choose you number of guests, and then you have a whole bunch of check boxes (broken down by category, of course) of things you need to get for you wedding. My numbers for that? A little shocking, actually.

Based on the zip code you entered for Miss Giraffe's town , the number of guests (150-200), and the items selected, the estimated wedding cost is between $31,623 and $52,706.

I know, right? That's an awful lot of money. Way more than we're spending. Word. Once again, if you guys know the couple with this kind of money, let me know. Also, keep them in mind and make sure to give them a copy of my future registry about a year from now. Thanks.

Has any one else calculated their wedding cost? Anybody else pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised?

Fall Cleaning!

You may have all noticed, but Wedding Web Notes, is not the same anymore! Yep, that's right, WWN has gotten a makeover.


If you were nostalgic for the old WWN, remember, love it, and move on! haha. I'm much happier with the new layout. It might not look as cute to some, but instead of using an online template, I made my own! It still looks a little similar to the old one, because I wanted to keep the blue and the polaroid. Either way, it took me much much longer than expected. Lame. Sometimes I think I have a handle on html, but then it just wants to come back and bite me in the butt. Anyway, embrace the change! It is the first day of fall you know - changing seasons, changing weather, changing leaves! Love it!

The only thing I don't like is that the text column is a little skinnier. This means I have to make my pictures a little bit smaller, but oh well.

I also made the mistake of loosing my blogroll. Luckily, this is no problem because there's no shortage of wedding blogs and I all ready know which ones I read regularly.

Soooo overall, I love my new blog layout, but I'm worried about my followers. We'll see what happens.

Everyone Loves a Wedding!

just got back from a long weekend of driving, driving, and driving some more! But I did get to spend an amazing time with my future family in laws and the future Mr!

FBIL IB had a lovely wedding. In the last four years I have never seen him so happy! He was grinning the whole day, ear to ear. His bride, MB, was also super happy.

It was a great weekend.

But for now, it's late, and I work early tomorrow.

More info about the weekend wedding later. But, I promise you, it was a success.

A Big Weekend on the horizon... And a new outfit!

Hello Blog!
It's been a little bit - it's all ready the middle of September! In the last 2 weeks, we celebrated a birthday for Mr.TB! It was pretty exciting. My parents got him Wii Fit. He was pretty excited, but, naturally, I 'helped' (aka told) my mom what to get him. Either way - fun all around! Also, I got a job recently. It's not a full time job and it doesn't use my new shiny degree at all. But! It's about 20 hours a week and its more money than I've been making in the last few months. I even make $.25 more than minimum wage. Sweet, right? Not really. . . I need to get a real job and make real money so I can save for my real wedding :)!

Anyway! Back to business! Mr.TB and I went up and stayed at his house for his birthday weekend/dinner. Sitting down for dinner was exciting. It's sooo funny though. I am one of two children and my big sis doesn't even live at home anymore so at dinner it's me, my mom, and my dad.

Who all sits down for TB's meal? Myself, TB, his little sister, his older sister, his little brother, his older sister, his mom, his dad, his older brother, older brother's girlfriend, his oldest brother, and oldest brother's fiance. Talk about a circus! It's so weird for me to adjust to being around so many people (especially for something as regular as dinner, it wasn't like Christmas or anything). It's finally getting easier! I always had some reservations about his family (dad in particular), but in the last few months, his dad is really opening up to me and showing an interest in what I have to say. This has never happened before. I finally feel like I fit in with my family to be. I always got along great with his mom, but now I'm coming around to the rest (or vise versa).

Anyway! Where is this going you ask? Well, TB's oldest brother (we'll call him IB or FBIL IB) is getting married this weekend! It's crazy and sometimes I can't believe it. IB and M got engaged after TB and I but are getting married before us. I don't really mind though, especially because the are older and I hope to learn from their wedding. Regardless, the talk at dinner was all about the wedding. I'm actually super super excited about the wedding, and to attend my first B Family event where everyone will be there. It'll be great. I couldn't help feeling a little jealous, though. Everyone was gushing about their wedding and getting excited about it. Part of me would just love to be talking about my wedding and have people talk about me (oops - I mean us).

Selfish? You bet it is! But I can't help it. I'm so excited about getting married, but it's hard to get other people excited because we're not getting married for forever (or 605 days, exactly. I have a countdown on my dashboard).

Either way, I know I should just look forward to a year from now when people are talking about my day, and helping to decorate 150 cupcakes for my day (okay so I don't want cupcakes, but I will be decorating this weekend!).

So the wedding is super casual and is taking place in an outdoor park. Naturally, I decided I had nothing to wear. Well, long story short, I got a new [adorable] dress and purse from Kohls. They were both on clearence. And then, we got one of those peel of coupons in the mail, so I got another 30% off of both! The dress was $17 and the purse came to $6.90. (And the purse is hot). I then went to Payless and got a $7 pair of shoes. Not bad, eh? I think it might be fate! Another upside to my dress? It's black and white so Mr.TB can easily match with black pants and a white shirt. This is super good for him, because his 'dress clothes' wardrobe is definitely limited. He does have a nice black and white paisley tie, but he 1) hates ties and 2) I think that would be a little 'over dressing.' Either way, it's all working out.

Definitely, all working out. And as it gets closer to the weekend, I getting less and less jealous and just more and more excited.

Either way, hopefully there are pictures to come! It'll be great!

And, as if you could stand a post without pictures, here's a lovely shot from polka dot bride that will make you drool.

Some SUPER E Pics!

Yesterday on the Rock 'n Roll Bride Blog, I saw the cutest E Pics I may have ever seen in my entire life. Never having seen this blog before (and its definitely worth a good look!), I had to scroll though a few older posts to find these amazing photos.

As if the couple wasn't cute enough, here they are parodying some art work (which you all know I love).


But, believe it or not, those aren't the photos that made me so excited! First, I have to admit that I may be a graphic designer, but I do moonlight as a bit of a comic book geek. I can't help it, I guess I was just born that way :). I'm not a big fan of DC comics (I'm a Marel girl, myself), but I still appreciate them and Mr.TB likes them a lot. My inner geekiness has just made me fall in love with this E shoot. If TB and I end up getting E photos done, we're totally going to copy this idea, I think. (Now I just need dark hair like Lois).


Check out the whole set here, which I totally recommend because it's awesome. Those two are too cute!

Love for Your Dress Hanger!

I saw on a slightly older post on Weddingbee about Mrs. Gloss making 'deserving' dress hangers for her gown and her bridesmaids' gowns. Following a few simple directions (which can be seen on the blog post) she was able to put initials on the hangers. They're too cute for realsies. I had bookmarked this a little bit ago and planned to do it for my gown.

I hadn't decided if I'd get fancy hangers for my bridesmaids yet, because I'm not sure if it's a big deal? I'm sure my girls would appreciate it (they're an appreciative group, I promise), but would there a use for them? I've never seen photos of bridesmaid dresses at weddings. You know, you always seen the token photo of the wedding gown (which I love, by the way) but do the maids line up their dresses for picture? I mean, I'm sure that they have to get dressed sometime. Right? The BMs go get makeup and hair done, and I'm sure they do it in their sweats before they get ready.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about the bridesmaids, I'm here to talk about ME! . . . Oh wait, I mean I'm here to talk about the "bride" per se. The point of those lovely hangers above would be (I think) to help make your dress look pretty in photos. Not that dress photos aren't lovely without fancy hangers; they are. It's just . . . Well, I guess brides do crazy thing to add extra 'oomph' to anything vaguely weding related; so why not hangers. Right?

The dress on the left found here on the WeddingBee Gallery. The dress on the right found here on the WeddingBee Gallery.

So you could see why I would want a fancy hanger for my photo, right? It's not like both of those dresses aren't totally gorgeous. They are, I promise.I'm actually partial to the one on the right, but that's my love for ruffely things. I can't help it.

Either way, the hangers both have a small part in the photos. That's why I had bookmarked the first post about making monogramed hangers. But that's all changed! Why, you ask? Because I found the most amazing find on etsy that I promise you, I will order in the future. Word!

Ready to be impressed? I'm sure you are!

Super! I know, right! The Mister and I both have kind of long names (apparently unlike Eve and Dan, those lucky ducks) so I don't think having both names would be good option for us. But the Mrs hanger? Genius! I would love to have one that says Mrs. B for all my lovely dress photos (although, I'll miss being Miss C, I assmue). I think it's adorable. No joke. Just make sure the hanger's not flipped over and your name's backwards hahaha. Okay, that was the joke.

Either way, that hanger will be mine. For sure. I do have some wire sculpting experience (I miss college!), but I don't think I'd have the ability to pull of something that nice. The letters are generally uniform and I like the rounded geometric look of them as well. But, don't worry folks, I don't have to be upset about not being able to make my own fancy hanger, because the awesome lilafrances shop on etsy is selling them for $13. That's right, you heard me, $13! Soooo go buy one now. Do it, your dress will thank you when she sees her photos.