It’s been a year

It’s been almost a year since our wedding, and we’re still talking about and looking through pictures. What a great day we had. I’m looking forward to a special First Anniversary, though I have no idea what we’re going to do yet. Anyway, it’s probably time to officially put some closure on this blog. I enjoyed sharing my ideas with whoever needed them, and it makes me happy to know there are still people hitting the blog and looking for ideas on how to make their own day special without breaking the bank. Good luck to all you savvy brides! The season for weddings is in high gear and I am sure you are in high gear too with excitement! May your weddings be beautiful, but may it pale in comparison to every day of your beautiful marriage!

Create a map of suggested places to visit for your guests

giftbaginsert.pdf

Using GoogleMaps custom maps and simple word processing tools, we created this document for our guests to give them a timeline of the weekend and suggestions on places to check out.

Our wedding venue – the Lenox Hotel

The Lenox Hotel is simply elegant. We fell in love with their ballroom the first time we entered it, and we never forgot it.

From what we could tell, neither will our guests. On top of the gorgeous dome room setting, which is perfect for wedding sizes around 100 guests, the food is terrific and the staff goes out of their way to please.  They made it easy to have a wedding there, including EVERYTHING you can think of in their rate (including the pianist at cocktail hour, menu cards, gold chivari chairs!) so I had no work to do.  They gave us a fabulous suite that night and our guests had reasonable room rates even though it was a busy holiday weekend.  I would recommend this hotel to anyone who is looking for a city venue that is gorgeous, friendly, tasty and flexible.

Ok, but you are here because you are a budget Boston bride, and you can’t imagine this being a budget friendly place. Well, it’s not, but it is not as much as other hotels in its class.  As a point of comparsion, since the wedding was on a holiday, having a caterer & service staff for the same number of people would have been 50% more expensive, not including venue (and I would still need to do all the work of figuring out how many champagne glasses, spoons, etc – yech).  Hubs and I decided that this was the one area we would not compromise, and thus, we stretched quite a bit for this venue, but it was truly memorable for everyone.  My family still calls to tell me about how wonderfully they were treated there.

Our cake – Icing on the Cake in Newton MA

Our cake tasted amazing. I wish I had more than the bite we fed each other. The ladies at the Icing on the Cake in Newton were fabulous to work with. Hubs and I went for our tasting and had so much fun designing and testing out our future cake. Here’s what we came up with, and they did a fantastic job making it! We chose TIOTC because they were included in our reception package at the Lenox Hotel, and wow, they were great!

Our Lady of Victories Church & Our Ceremony

If you want a Catholic ceremony in Boston’s Back Bay, you don’t have a ton of choices. St. Cecilia is a big church but it can be very pricey.  The Cathedral is also huge but is well into the South End and may farther than you wish. Let me introduce you to a little church that is beautiful, warm, inviting, and French!  Our Lady of Victories is a little gem of a church with beautiful pink / grey details and gorgeous stained glass. I never knew this was here as it is tucked away near the Park Plaza close to the highway.  Apparently, it began as a church to service the needs of the French speaking people in the area.  The people here were wonderful to work with and the musicians were fantastic.

Here is the Program of our ceremony in case you were looking for a format to borrow from – https://bostonwedding.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/church-program-tea-size.pdf.

A perfect photography equation = Craigslist + MyPublisher

I feel very lucky to have found the amazing photographer I worked with for my wedding.  As you may know from reading this blog, budget was top of mind in every decision we made, and budgets on photography was highly variable. We started looking at the standard pros in the area but their packages were in the $1000’s of dollars.  Our next thought was to ask a friend who was photography savvy, but she smartly declined as a main photographer given the need for specialized equipment in darker settings. I am glad she did, even though at first I was not sure where else to turn. That’s where Craigslist came in.

I posted an ad on CL for a photographer and explained what we were looking for. I also found a few people who were posting ads for their services and I thought I would reach out to some of them as well.  Within a matter of days I had several leads and viewed several portfolios.

Cliff Francoeur was one of the photographers who replied to my ad. He was very upfront with us about his skill areas and experience, and while he didn’t have a ton of wedding experience, his portraits and scene shots were truly stunning. He was a talented photographer looking to break into the wedding area.  He also seemed super willing to work with us on what we wanted.

Cliff made us feel like he cared about how our photos would turn out, and we did an engagement session and a tour of the venues with him to allow us to get familiar with each other and the day.  I appreciated how much time he spent with us – he really stood out among the others we looked at.

Cliff brought along Nathan Tia and Hanh Tran, also amazingly talented photographers, for the big day. The trio did a spectacular job and stayed with us from morning until late in the evening. We wanted to capture the getting ready photos, which had us starting in the late morning.  At the end we wanted to top the night off with photos on the roof overlooking the spectacular Boston fireworks, which started after 10pm, so you can imagine how long and hard these guys worked.  They brought specialized tools and equipment as well, ensuring I had the best possible photos. The portait above is my favorite of the portraits, and this shot of new hubby and I is a favorite couple shot.  This shot was taken on the roof with the Boston 4th of July fireworks in the background.

After the wedding we had over 1500 photos, and we narrowed down to about 700 or so that we liked.  With that volume of photos, we knew a traditional album wasn’t going to work for us. Plus, given all the effort we put into making the invitations, the placecards, the programs, the giftbags, *everything* – we had a story to tell and we wanted that to come through in our album. So, since I no longer had a wedding to plan, why not put those PhotoShop skills to good use and make my own album? I had ordered from MyPublisher before and liked the quality of their books a lot (I was stunned the first time I ordered from them).  Their canned layouts are ok, but I needed more and thus decided to make each page myself and import them into the MyPublisher tool.  Several weeks and ninety-four pages later, we had an album we were happy with.  We ordered a large one for us and 2 smaller ones for our parents.  Luckily, we finished while they were still having a 40% off sale!

If you are interested in seeing the finished album, which chronicles the wedding day, click the image below.

If that link doesn’t work for you, you can go to http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/friendbook.php and type Order Number 1233145 & Password 2764416.

If you enjoy the pictures and wish to use Cliff, please let him know the Boston Bride sent you!

Help us create the perfect Boston Guest Welcome Bag

I’m still looking for ideas for my Boston wedding hotel guest welcome bags. Fiance and I were talking and we thing going with edibles is the way to do it. You know the BostonBride is budget conscious, so here are some ideas she’s exploring:

• Plain old bottled water. Nothing beats a few bottles of free water when the hotel tries to charge you $5 for some!
• A couple bottles of Sam Adams!
• Boston Baked Beans. The candy! For $5, you can get a box of 24 small boxes.
• We’re thinking about Necco Wafers too, though not sure people will get that they are originally a locally made product. They are quite more expensive at $32 for 36. I’ve seen the mini rolls on eBay for $5 for 30ish.
• Boston Tea Party Tea

Any other ideas? What would you appreciate most if you were an out of town guest?

Wedding Venue Find! Back Bay for only $1300?

I’ll start with the verdict:

Verdict: If you are looking for a reception site that is elegant but not over the top, have a wedding that is about 90 people, and are willing to provide your own caterer and rentals, the Goethe-Institut in Boston is a real steal at only $1300 to rent.

I have not found an elegant venue in Back Bay to rent for anything close to this price. I was floored when I called up the events coordinator and found out that for a Saturday evening affair we could rent the entire main hall (including kitchen) for $1300. Where is this lovely find? 170 Beacon Street, close to Clarendon Street.

The Goethe Institut of Boston is a German cultural organization with a lovely venue. On the outside it’s an old Back Bay townhouse with pretty steps for your wedding party shots. In fact, that’s how I found it. I was driving by and saw a wedding taking photos on the steps. Inside, there is a room that seats about 90 people comfortably (though I believe they claim to seat up to 100), and it has wonderful tall ceilings and details that are typical of the townhouses nearby – antique lights, beautiful staircase, detailed wall adornments. There are some marks of time – cracks in paint, etc – but I have found such marks in many places, even the luxury hotels.

I was planning to use this venue for my wedding, as it fit the right size crowd for us. Iris, the coordinator, was very helpful. She showed me the full size kitchen that the caterer could use to set up and the side room that can easily be used for buffets or other setups like a bar. They have about 10 tables of 4 which you can use and chairs to go with them, so if you plan to have more than 40 people you will need to rent tables – and everything you use during your reception.

The only reason why I didn’t go with this site was not because of the venue.  It was the cost of additional rentals and catering. I haven’t researched as many caterers as I have hotels, and when I spoke with a caterer on the phone about expenses, the budget went out of control (renting tables, chairs, glasses, plates, silverware, and then staff costs – we didn’t even talk about the food / drinks when I decided this was too much!). I’ll be doing a separate write-up on that experience.

For further information about this venue, please contact Iris Alcorn at:
Tel. +1 (617) 262-6050 ext. 10
info@boston.goethe.org

Save big money by DJing yourself

After hearing someone tell me $2,000 was a reasonable amount to pay for a good DJ, I decided we were going to DJ this wedding ourselves. First of all, we’re music junkies and have tons of digital music. Second, I used to occasionally DJ in a bar. Third, I’ve been to tons of weddings where I don’t remember the DJ saying much more than the wedding party intros and some general events through the night. So our plan of attack is to use the piped in stereo system our reception center has to offer. It sounds easy at first, but there are many considerations to this approach:

• Developing a dinner playlist and a dancing playlist. This is the fun part – getting to choose all your songs! We really can’t predict the exact moment our dancing will begin, so the playlists we are creating are large enough to cover the time. I suppose we could also loop a playlist as well.
• MCing reception activities. We’re recruiting an outgoing friend to announce our entrance to the reception. We’re hoping he won’t mind performing other MC duties, like “And now ladies and gentlemen, the cutting of the cake…” kinds of stuff.
• Switching music. We do plan to have an entrance song, a first dance, and then mother/son, father/daughter dances. In order to do this, we’re creating a 3rd special songs playlist which our MC will switch to when we’re ready.
• Test run. We will listen to our playlists in full before the wedding to ensure the music is issue-free. We will also get into our reception site beforehand to test our iPod docking and playing skills.
• Backup. What to do if the iPod croaks night of? Luckily the reception site also has a 5 disc changer which means we’ll be prepping those in advance as well!

So, it is a lot of work, but in the end it saves us $2000 and that is fabulous. Plus, we plan to use the music to make CD favors for our guests with personalized messages! Well worth it I think!

Running of the Brides Boston 2009

The BostonBride (BB) loves a happy ending, and there were plenty of those yesterday at the Running of the Brides Boston. Since you, dear reader, know that the BB can’t resist a good deal, she went to this famed event in search of her own gown with a rockstar crew of her Maid of Honor and her MoH’s mom and aunt.

The Running of the Brides is an annual sale put on by Filene’s Basement, home of designer shopping at massively reduced prices. It’s a sale so big, they don’t use their local stores (their flagship store is being reconstructed, but there are other FB’s around). It’s actually held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Women start lining up the night before, sleeping in tents, to be first in line.

At 4:30 am, the BB took a stroll past the Hynes Convension Center where the Brides-to-be were forming. The line was stretched from the front door of the Hynes all the way down Boylston Street to Dalton Street. And there were 3.5 hours to go til opening time! The BB met a fabulously dressed crew sporting white tophats, Dunkin Donuts coffee, and “MOVE…bitch on a mission” t-shirts.  Many clans dress alike to identify themselves among the ridiculous frenzy inside.

Not one for cold windy mornings, the BB took her crew to a local diner and returned at 7:45 🙂  We returned to find the line had moved inside and was now wrapping around the long hallways in the Convention Center.

The BB was so far from the front door she never thought she’d get a dress. But alas, that is what you get for showing up 15 minutes before opening time, right?

The BB and her crew ran through the doors at a few seconds past 8, after the long line poured in. One of us scored a dress thankfully, which began the bartering and exchanging that occured for the next 30 minutes or so. It all begins with a bartering dress.

Once you have a dress you can trade. The BB and her MoH both scored dresses from passers-by who were looking to exchange. Rock on!!! After the jumping up and down and screaming with delight, another ritual frequently occuring that morning, we were out and walking home by 9am!

So what became of the women who camped out? Well our Bitches on a Move were featured in Boston.com’s gallery (worth checking out to see the chaos):

Yay BitchyBride!! We love your saas. Some brides though were real bitches, and to them we say poo on you. Like the bride who turned her mirror away from the BB when she tried to catch a glimpse of “THE-Dress”. Another mirror owner lent hers and we say thanks to you for it!

There were some nice people there – like this nice lady who was near us, lent us her mirror and joined in the good naturedness of dress finding! You rock! This photo is also from Boston.com’s gallery.

In sum, here’s the Boston Bride’s tips for a less stressful day at RotB:

1. You don’t really need to get there super early. The BB went back to the sale at 4pm and the place was neatly PACKED with dresses and smart buyers who waited until the chaos was over. She found 10 more dresses she would be happy with, although she loved her first dress.

2. Be nice to others and you will find your dress. Ok, I can’t guarantee that, but it makes for a more pleasant experience for everyone.

3. Bring people you love with you and when you find that dress it will feel even more special! Plus its fun to jump up and down with delight when you do find it!

4. Screw waiting in the cold. Go to breakfast.

5. Don’t have over the top expectations. We saw more than one unhappy bride walking out of there, several who were camped out in matching garb. There are so many great dresses; be open minded for a discount dress (every dress I tried on was $250).