How could you forget? I probably write posts about how much I love them at least once a month!
photo by Starks Photography / cake toppers by Bunnywithatoolbelt

Well the artist behind these adorable toppers is Hilary from Bunnywithatoolbelt and she is currently running her annual “How’d ya get Hitched” contest on her blog! Oh, and I did I mention I’m a judge? {hooray!} Be sure to read my special “Meet the Jury” interview. :)

This year she will be giving away two sets of cake toppers. AWESOME! Here’s the details on how you can win you and your fiance some adorable custom cake toppers!

Bunnywithatoolbelt

Tell Hilary your cutest, goofiest, or most swoonfully romantic story of your “I do moment.” Then choose one of the designs on the Bunny with a Toolbelt Etsy site, her online album of cake toppers, or one you spotted hanging out at the Chapel of Bunny Love that she can use to illustrate your saga on her blog. Send a picture of the two of you to sweeten the pot,and she’ll publish your stories between now and 11:59 PM, Pacific Standard Time on May 15, 2011.

Bunnywithatoolbelt

Then, we’ll let the voting begin. One winner will be determined by the one who gets the most unique comments from readers who will declare which story made them go “awwww!” or “ohhhhhh!” or “mmmmmmmmm!” A second winner will be selected by Hilary and an esteemed panel of judges, including Reverend Steve Sharp from A Beautiful Ceremony NW, Kimberly from Gator Bride {that’s me!}, and Rebecca Amblin from Origin Flowers.

Adorbs! Especially for those who have “little ones” and want to include them on their wedding day!
Bunnywithatoolbelt

The two winners will get a custom cake topper set that Hilary will make with whatever critters make their hears go purrrrrrr!! She will also give you the keys to the castle where you can order custom invitations, big gifts for the wedding party, or little ones for the guests–all with the picture of your adorable Bunny with a Toolbelt wedding cake topper on them and whatever personalized text you like!

The “We do” little monsters. So cute! Bunnywithatoolbelt

Please limit your entries to 500 words. This contest is intended for currently engaged couples. She’ll post them as they come in. Email your story to Hilary at bunnywithatoolbelt@gmail.com.

There are currently 2 blogged engaged couples so far. Only 2! So, if you’re engaged (or know someone engaged), submit your story and have your friends and family comment on your entry once it’s been published! You could be the winner of some very adorable cake toppers.

Deadline is May 15th, 2011!

Will you be entering?

I admit. When other bloggers are recapping their weddings and they get to the speeches part, I skip over it. Eek! I can’t believe I typed that out. So embarrassing. But, I’m all about truth up in this bia, so I’ve gotta tell it like it is.

So, I understand if y’all skip over this post, but I promise to include some super cute pictures of Gator Dad (which… most likely only Gator Mom and I will enjoy), and a little video for those who were with us and want to reminisce, and for those who weren’t there and want to see all the love that surrounded our Gator/Knight booty’s on our wedding day. Let’s face it, I would have LOVED to invite all my blog-y buds to our wedding, but Mr. Knight had to cut me off somewhere. ;)

After our first dance, Mr. Knight and I started off by thanking our guests for being apart of this special day in our lives, and that it was ABOUT TIME that Mr. Knight made an honest woman out of me. All these years of cohabitation with no marriage certificate had made my grandmother uncomfortable for long enough.

Fun fact: My grandmother called Mr. Knight my “friend” the 8 years we were dating. As in, “how is your friend?” She didn’t start calling him by his first name till he proposed. Now she calls him my husband. I {heart} old school grandma’s. They are so funny.

Me = honest woman. Thanks hubs!

First up to bat? Sunny MOH! Sunny MOH has known us for years and years. She reminisced about our days in fashion class (high school classes were ridiculous), and how I never stopped talking about Mr. Knight, even though we weren’t dating/talking/seeing each other. I was a crazy stalker, thank goodness Mr. Knight asked me to a movie before I went all psycho on him.

Then we had Little Knight. He gave such a funny and sweet speech. He mentioned how he couldn’t remember his life without me in it (yeah… I was around a lot before Mr. Knight decided to propose), and that since I knew his family’s quirks already, I wouldn’t be scared away. In the end, he made me cry (which I tend to do a lot) by welcoming me officially to the family as the sister he knew he would always have.

Next up was Gator Dad. Gator Dad always knows the right thing to say, and he says it so very well. So, instead of trying to recap his speech, I posted it in video below! Yay for Gator Daddy speech!

Just Mauied :: Father of the Bride Speech from Mrs Gator on Vimeo.

I couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed. Once again, I’m a sap but I love him and can’t hold it in (plus I look super crazy when I’m trying to hold in tears). ♥ I love how he was impressed with everything Mr. Knight and I can do as a team. It really feels good for all our hard work together to be noticed.It’s really weird, but more and more I’m starting to notice that Mr. Knight is so much like my Dad. I guess there is some truth that some little girls grow up to marry men like their Dad.

I know how difficult it is to speak at someone else’s wedding. I was my best-friend, Seminole Bridesmaid’s, MOH and I remember being incredibly nervous. I knew what I wanted to say. I had typed it out, practiced it multiple times in front of Mr. Knight, but when it came down to that evening I could barely keep myself together as I spoke. I was just filled with so much love for her that I couldn’t contain all my happy tears.

Can’t fake the love between our eyes! Bwahaha. We’re the sisters we never had (she has all brothers, I’m an only child).

I’m pretty sure I cried more at her wedding than at my own wedding! I remember crying for pretty much 20 minutes straight during her ceremony. And I couldn’t even watch her walk down the aisle without breaking down (which I also did at Gator Bridesmaid’s wedding when she walked down the aisle… I’m an equal-opportunity crier). You could have also caught be weeping quietly throughout SunnyMOH’s ceremony.

Anyways…So I know how much work, practice, thought and love went into these speeches and I’m forever thankful. Let me take that back. WE’RE forever thankful. ♥♥♥

What do you think makes the best speeches? Ones that are heartfelt or funny? or both? Have you ever given a speech, what are your tips? I’d love to hear them!

And in case you missed it, this is what’s happened so far:

• We fox trotted through our first dance (and showed y’all our practices + bloopers reel)
• My favorite wedding moment happened
• We had a ceremony confession and finally got married!
• I was late getting my booty to the altar
• Mr. Knight and I were attacked by bubbles
• We had our first look on a bridge
• A special moment with Gator Dad
• We got silly with our iPhones
• The girls and I mastered laughing
• I put on that little white dress
• The boys got full of themselves
• I was hungover while getting our hair did
• We rehearsed with yummy BBQ
• The ladies lunched

All photos by Starks Photography

Anyways, back to why I’m here today. Leading up to our wedding, Mr. Knight knew he wanted to honor his Mema and Papa with a dance of their own (as they will be celebrating their 50th Wedding anniversary this year and have done so much for Mr. Knight growing up/and now). So we told the DJ to play “their” song, The Twelfth of Never by Johnny Mathis, during our reception as a surprise for them.

♥ Our Wedding // The Twelfth of Never from Mrs Gator on Vimeo.

I love how Mr. Knight’s Papa is singing the song to Mema in her ear while they dance. ♥

The song, “The Twelfth of Never,” comes from a popular expression which is used as the date of a future occurrence that will never come to pass. In the case of the song, the 12th of Never is given as the date on which the singer will stop loving his beloved, thus indicating that he will always love her/him. Wikipedia

Ahhh, every time I hear this song I fall more and more in love with it. :)

Then everyone joined in…

Groomsmen M and his gal, A. Funny enough, they both caught the bouquet and garter. Watch out, y’all are NEXT!

Sunny MOH and her husband, Groomsmen S, dance within the crowd. Their now living half way around the world in Thailand doing volunteer work for the next few years. Miss them♥.

Seminole Bridesmaid dancing with her hubby, who is currently serving our country overseas. Be safe SB-hubby!

And, here Mema and Papa are, at their Wedding 50 years ago.

Happy (soon-to-be) Anniversary!♥

Do you plan/did you have a special dance for your grandparents (or anyone else in your family)? Was it a surprise for them?

All photos by Starks Photography, except the last!

Poor Happy Bridesmaid had to carry such an offending bouquet. I don’t understand how a florist can get MY bouquet mostly right but completely mess up the bridesmaid bouquets. Yes, those are rogue daisy leaves left by our florist. You can see more pictures of these bouquets in my beautiful bridesmaids post.
photo by Starks Photography

Every time I think back to our wedding, I think about all the beautiful people and details… then I get to those dang bridesmaid bouquets and I just about want to cry.  Here was our plan: Mr. Knight and I would order/put together all the flowers for the reception (with the help from my AMAZING bridesmaids and day-of-coordinator) and the only thing we were going to order was the bouquets, bouts and corsages from a florist. Saving us some much needed $$$ since Mr. Knight and I were footing the bill for many of these wedding ‘accessory’ items.

A few months before the wedding we dropped by a florist in Ormond Beach near our wedding location. We only had time to visit one location since we lived out of town (2 hours away from our wedding location). We met with the owner, checked out all the beautiful pictures of flowers he had done and then showed him our inspiration (below).

Sweet, romantic and whimsical. Those were our 3 words. What did we get? I cringe every time I think about our bouquets. Cringe with embarrassment and cringe at their heinous weed/store bought/5-year-old craft/ugly-ness.
collage made from: Mtux, David’s Bridal, OnceWed, Project Wedding

He said that he loved my daisy look and thought I should make a big statement by having just daisies. I agreed with him and then we moved forward to bridesmaid bouquets and my bouquet. I was overall happy with our consultation and couldn’t wait to see how all the bouquets looked the night before the wedding.

Fast forward to May 14, the Friday before our wedding. I showed up at our Florist, with my bridesmaids in tow, to check out our bouquets.What did I see? Utter heinousness. From the GOLD ribbon he wrapped MY bouquet with, to the lack-luster bridesmaid bouquets that looked like a package of Winn-Dixie $3 daises were just wrapped in ribbon. Just awful. I was immediately let down. I didn’t really know what to do. I critiqued him, told him what to fix and to add tons more white daisies to my bouquet and my bridesmaid’s bouquets. But those bridesmaid bouquets were just awful and I didn’t know what to do.. and what is even worse is that the florist didn’t even recognize how bad they looked. I mean.. I was basically paying $45 a bouquet for him to drive to Winn-Dixie, purchase a $3 bunch of white daisies and wrap a ribbon around them.

Don’t they look like they just picked those daisies out of a random pasture, or rather WEEDS and bunched them up to make a bouquet? Ahh.. this is such a sore point for me.
Picture taken by one of our wedding guests

I was so busy the day before the wedding, so frazzled, so OVER IT, that I just let the bouquets go. I was just like ‘whatever I can’t handle this right now’ and we left the florist. I’m NEVER like this. I’m that person that has to critique something to the Nth degree. I believe I had just reached a breaking point and I decided… F it… I don’t care (please excuse my profanity!). My bridesmaid’s were pretty silent as they looked at the bouquets in horror. Looking back, I wish they had spoken up to help me (sometimes I try to be ‘nice’ and not tell vendors how I REALLY feel). But if I were my bridesmaid’s I probably wouldn’t have said anything either.

Did I mention the florist forgot to leave me a ‘toss’ bouquet, as outlined in our contract? Details. Details. I ended up throwing my ACTUAL bouquet for the toss. One of my bridesmaid’s offered to give me her bouquet to toss, but I felt bad tossing a bouquet of weeds to our wedding guests.

On a happier note, the reception flowers were AMAZING. I couldn’t have asked for them to be any better! I remember walking into the reception, right before our ceremony, and seeing all the flowers, I just wanted to cry they were so beautiful. Exactly what I wanted in EVERY WAY.

Hello GORGEOUS, cheerful, bright and happy. I loved these arrangements our day-of coordinator put together with the flowers we bought. I nearly cried at how perfect they were.
photo by Starks Photography

Our Guestbook table with the cutest IKEA bud vases ever. Loving the fuchsia and white daisy combo.
photo by Starks Photography

Baby arrangement on the bistro tables during the cocktail hour. These are soo cute.
photo by Starks Photography; you can see what our table centerpieces looked like at the beginning of our wedding video.

We ordered white daisies from Fifty Flowers ,fuchsia gerbera daisies from Sam’s Club, and placed cut up lemons in all the vases. They showed up the Thursday before the wedding, and two of my amazing bridesmaids, Sunny MOH and Seminole Bridesmaid, helped me to cut/hydrate and transport them to our reception site.

3 of the 5 buckets of flowers we had. Sooo gorgeous. And those fuchsia gerbera daisies were beautiful!
photo taken on Mrs Gator’s iPhone

Loading the flowers into Mr. Knight’s truck. The truck was a recent purchase on our part and we are so thankful that we took the plunge and got a new vehicle a few weeks before the wedding. We wouldn’t have been able to transport all our wedding goodies/our honeymoon goodies/gifts/and Gator Kitty without this truck (and my little car).
photo taken on Mrs Gator’s iPhone by Gator Momma

Looking back on our wedding I know, without a doubt, that I could have made our bouquets everything I ever wanted, if I had done them myself. My stomach churns just thinking about how much we paid for those terribly sad looking bouquets. I look back at all my friend’s weddings that I was a bridesmaid in and remember how beautiful my bridesmaid bouquet was. I expected something amazing and I was let down by our florist. If you are looking for a florist in the Ormond Beach, FL/Daytona Beach area, contact me first so I can tell you who NOT to go to. Let me save you the embarrassment!

Our total on reception flowers (not even going to talk about wedding flowers because I despise our florist):

• 23 bunches of Vero White Daisies; Fifty Flowers; $171.19
• 100 Stems of Fuchsia Gerber Daisies, Sam’s Club; $136.58
• Lemons from Publix; $25
• Rectangular Vases from Michael’s $45 (40% coupon)
• Misc blue vases from Target and white IKEA vases; $10

Total for Reception Flowers: $387.77
16 centerpieces and 2 large arrangements; $21.54/per arrangement
Amazingly the price per arrangement above doesn’t even include the many bud vases all over our reception. So ‘technically’ the per arrangement cost is even lower then I calculated! It certainly pays to do your own flowers!

Which I believe to be pretty darn amazing! We paid more on our ceremony flowers from the florist ‘who should not be named’ then for our BEAUTIFUL reception flowers. :-)

Phew… feels so good to get this all out. I’ve had all this pint up anger towards our florist, but I feel soooo much better now! But still… $45/per bouquet for what he showed up with was a little ridic.

Did you have any wedding day regrets? Did you wish you had gone with a different vendor or spoken up about something you didn’t like? Do you give anyone at your wedding/vendor/family member the ‘he who should not be named’ treatment after what they did at your wedding? Please SPILL!

]]> http://gatorbride.com/one-wedding-regret-the-florist-who-should-not-be-named/feed/ 13 http://gatorbride.com/just-mauied-our-wedding-video/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/just-mauied-our-wedding-video/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:53:38 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=4581 EPIC

That is the only word I have to describe the amazingness of our wedding video. I love every second of it, every frame, every moment… everything. Watching it takes me right back to our Wedding Day. Since y’all weren’t invited to the wedding (I’m sorry but it just wasn’t in the budget), here’s a taste of what you missed. :-)

Kim + Kyle // Wedding Highlights from Erika Rydell on Vimeo.

Things that I love from our Wedding Video:

• How me and my ‘maids are THE BEST at fake laughing for pictures and video. I love how we totally don’t hide our fake laughing in the video. We were pro, for sure.
• How crooked our altar looks in all video/photos. The wind was INTENSE on our wedding day and our altar just wasn’t havin’ it.
• My ugly cry throughout our whole ceremony. All it took was Mr. Knight choking up and I went into full on ugly cry.
• My Dad’s speech. He had such a sweet speech. ♥
• Mr. Knight’s face after I kissed him during our First Look. Priceless.
• Us showing off our rings and Mr. Knight saying “Now we’re married… just kidding.” What is he trying to say here? Silly Mr. Knight.
• Hello, I have the most beautiful bridesmaids ever, and this video shows it.
• The “Gator Mom” tag on the back of our getaway car. Classic. Y’all can’t see it but, I know it’s there, which is all that matters. :-)
• How sweet, meaningful and very ‘us,’ our wedding video is.

Erika Rydell, our lovely videographer, did an amazing job. She was there (with a 2nd shooter) for something like 12 hours, and made sure to capture every moment of our day. Her packages run from $700-$1600, making her super affordable in the HD wedding videography field. I’ve been dying to tell y’all all about her, since it is incredibly difficult to find fabulous videography on a tight budget (I know, I’ve looked). If you are interested in more information, you can contact her at rydellproductions{at}gmail.com (her website is currently being built, as I type!).

I have easily watched this video 20 times. And you know what is even more exciting? She isn’t done yet. We still have an full on documentary-style wedding video coming our way. Yippee!!

Do you plan on hiring a videographer for your wedding?

I was so happy when I saw this picture uploaded on Facebook by a family member. So glad someone enjoyed our water bottles enough to take a picture of them. We have a TON of water bottles left over. Gator Mom and Gator Dad have been enjoying taking the water bottles with them everywhere, and taking a picture of the water bottle wherever they are (sorta like those cat pictures in Buca di Beppo). And on another note, see those chairs in the background?  Totally not the chairs I ‘thought’ I ordered. Oh well, nothing you can do the day of!

Our snazzy Groomsmen. Best Man- Little Knight, Groomsman M and his brother, Groomsman K. See those folks walking in the background? Those are our photographers! Hooray!! Also, incredibly happy that Groomsman K is holding the programs basket. Good job Groomsman K, gettin’ those babies out there!

Cuteness overload. For serious. Our adorable little Flowergirl, KK, and her brother, B. They are too sweet. ♥them

Gator Dad helping a slightly frazzled Gator Bride get to the altar. A few minutes before this picture I had just got a phone call from my groom saying I better get my butt to the altar pronto (we were running a little late and the future husband might have been a little nervous). Yes, I had my phone on our wedding day. Who do you think I am?

Ahh… finally put together. Love those tall pine trees in the background. I didn’t notice it then (I actually didn’t notice ANYTHING except Mr. Knight’s face) but there were all these golfers and cars that had stopped to watch our wedding. We were the first wedding the Club has ever had on the golf course. I like being the first at something. :-)

Currently my background on my iphone. Love it. Thank you to whoever of our guests took this picture. :-)

Mr. Knight and I GETTIN MARRIED. When I got to the altar, Mr. Knight informed me that he had forgot the rings in his truck and that we would be using my engagement ring, and his promise ring for the ceremony. It was the perfect thing to happen as it helped lighten the mood for me, because I was seriously about to bawl with happy tears right there. Lots of laughing, and a few happy tears occurred at that little altar. Our alter had slightly (okay majorly) shifted before the ceremony from all the intense wind, and our preist almost forget to announce us as man and wife (I had to remind him as I was facing our guests… then he franticly started looking through his book FOR OUR NAMES). But it didn’t change a thing. That ceremony was absolutely perfect in our eyes. 

Hooray! We’re married!

Mr. Knight and I loved this photo because it was just too hilarious. We are flanked by our two videographers and are two photographers as we walk away from our guests as Mr. and Mrs. Loves it.

Mr. Knight and I riding off in our golf cart. At this moment, it was so nice to look back and see all of our guests and wave to them. Most of them I didn’t even see at the wedding. I kept asking Mr. Knight ‘Is So and So there?’

Happy Bridesmaid and Gator Bridesmaid being sneaky little bridesmaids, grabbing a golf cart and following us off to our secret hiding spot. They are too funny. It was so nice to get to our little spot and turn around and see my two architecture besties right there with us, laughing and taking pictures. ♥

Our sweet little cake toppers that started it all! From bunnywithatoolbelt.

Cutting the cake, with some supportive help from Mr. Knight. Our cake was perfect. Exactly what we ordered, and BEAUTIFUL!

One of my favorite events… the Bouquet Toss!! I ended up throwing my actual bouquet. My florist forgot to give me a throw-away bouquet. My bridesmaids offered their bouquets to me, but I said ‘eh, I’ll just throw my actual bouquet, it makes it more fun to catch it!’. I have a whole OTHER post about my florist. Basically the flowers that we did OURSELVES were a million times better then the bouquets the florist put together. I was not impressed by their work at all. But, I wasn’t going to freak out when I saw the bouquets, because it was Mr. Knight and I’s wedding day, and marrying his sweet little face was all I wanted to do. Nothing would get in my way!

My two snazzy men. Love them both sooo much. Seriously going to frame this picture.

Groomsman M, Mr. Knight’s brother, and his daughter, little S, enjoying one of our cute little drink flags. How about I have a GAZILLION drink flags left over from the wedding. Note to other Brides out there: if you have drink flags, tell you bartender to PUT THEM IN THE DRINKS. Ours were left in little glasses for our guests to put in their drinks themselves. No bueno. Oh well, now I have drink flags for the rest of Mr. Knight and I’s lives. Next time any of you come to my house, you will be sure to find one of these babies in your drink. :-)

Love this photo taken by Gator Dad’s friend. I had a fabulous time dancing it out with my ladies, and my sweet cousin, C. I danced so much that I was a hott, sweaty mess by the end of the night. Before the dollar dance I made sure to apply deodorant, perfume, dab the sweat off me, and put a mint in my mouth. Hey, nobody likes a smelly bride!

The bubble getaway! One of my favorite moments! Funny, I don’t remember seeing all these people here.

I have to say that I think I barely saw anyone at our wedding. The whole day/night was a blur. I can only remember little moments. Once Mr. Knight and I got into Gator Momma’s hot ride, we were suddenly relieved. We couldn’t wait for it to be just the two of us. Now that our wedding is over, I’m not really depressed, or sad but more relieved than anything else.

Relieved that all our vendors showed up, that it didn’t rain, that the only item I forgot was the flower girl basket, that we had plenty of time (pre-ceremony) to take pictures together, that I got to see just about everyone (if only for a half second), that I got to dance with my Dad, that there were no major crisises (besides my dress coming unzipped all night.. not really a crisis), that everything was in it’s place exactly as I wanted it for the reception, that our DIY centerpieces turned out AMAZING (so much better then anything the florist did), that everyone showed up that RSVPed and that I got to have a moment alone with my sweet husband.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

Missed some of the Recaps? Catch up!
Just Mauied :: Wedding Photo Peek
Just Mauied :: We’re Married!!!!

Melangerie Inc Wedding Lineage Genealogy Chart; $550

Wedding Constellations Chart; $550

Absolutely gorgeous!!
Chandelier Genealogy Chart; $700

I know it is difficult to see in these images (you should really check out their amazing Etsy shop), but these charts have all the names of the wedding guests and how they are related to the Bride and Groom (plus some fun little tidbits about their relationship to other guests, and the Bride and Groom).

After seeing these (and the price tag) I thought, “hey, I’ve got some skillz and some free time, why couldn’t I tackle my own version of these lovelies?”

And this is where I say… this DIY is not for the faint of heart. I totally understand their price now, because it took me many hours longer then I ever expected, to get this done. Mr. Knight and I’s version doesn’t compare to the beauty of Melangerie Inc‘s work but we love what we put together, and it is totally us. :-)

• Step 1: Open a new document in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrater (whichever your heart so chooses) and make two columns of names. One column of guests from the Bride’s side, the other from the Groom’s side.

photo by Miss Gator

• Step 2: Start to divide these long column into groups of people, i.e. the Bride’s family, Groom’s relatives from Newfoundland, Childhood Friends, etc.
• Step 3: Print it out and start to draw lines connecting different guests. Who went to the same high school together? Who share the same Alma Mater? Who is in the Armed Forces? This was actually a really fun part for the Mister and I, as we tried to draw connections between our two families (we hope our guests will find these connections as fun as we do!).

photo by Miss Gator

• Step 4: Now add little tidbits about certain people, related to their relationship with the Bride and Groom. Special story about how they met the Groom? etc.

photo by Miss Gator

photo by Miss Gator

• Step 5: The hard part… put all that goodness you have just drawn out, into the computer. Add all the connections, tidbits, etc. in the colors/fonts of your wedding (remember to try and make it easily readable).
• Step 6: Add a snazzy border to your document in your wedding colors, along with a title and PRINT! We are lucky enough to have access to large format printers, but any printing store will most print this for you at a cost of about $50, ex Target Copy, etc.

photo by Miss Gator

• Step 7: (man there are ALOT of steps!) Frame your lovely and finished Wedding Relationship Chart. We chose the IKEA Ribba frame size 19.75″ x 27.5″ priced at $22.99. In the beginning you should choose what frame you want to put it in, and size your document to fit that frame.
• Step 8: Sit back and enjoy your hard work because you sure have worked hard for it!

I know you can’t really see all the detail we have put into this chart. It was incredibly difficult to photograph (reminding myself to get non-glare glass next time). But I hope the preview detail shots above will give you an idea of what it looks like up close. And yes, Gator Kitty just HAD to get in the picture… she’s obsessed with the camera. I think it’s nice, Gator Kitty is giving you an idea of the scale of the chart.
click to enlarge :: photo by Miss Gator

And of course… when Gator Kitty got in the picture, she just begged me for a mini-photo shoot:

How could you ever say ‘no’ to this cute face? This is partly why I’ve raised such a little brat, but I still love her! :-)
photo by Miss Gator

Our finished Wedding Relationship Chart! I wish I didn’t have to blur out all the names, because it looks way better not blurred up. {sigh}
photo by Miss Gator

How do you think our Wedding Relationship Chart turned out?

We think it’s pretty cool and we hope our guests get a kick out of it during the cocktail hour. We plan to place it on an iron easel next to the place cards (which will be displayed a gorgeous baby grand piano… LOVES).

If you aren’t so Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator inclined then I highly recommend the work of Melangerie Inc. They do amazing stuff with these Wedding Genealogy charts, which are sure to be a fantastic remembrance of all your friends and family who attended your wedding (plus a super cool thing to look back at 20, 30, 50 years later). I say this is a definite splurge item, but sooo worth it.

What was the most unique and fun thing you ever came across in your Wedding planning process?

]]> http://gatorbride.com/fun-diy-wedding-relationship-chart/feed/ 9 http://gatorbride.com/diy-daisy-wedding-centerpieces/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/diy-daisy-wedding-centerpieces/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:03:36 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=3971 How about some budget friendly DIY wedding centerpieces, eh?

Before Mr. Knight and I ever went to our florist, we knew we wouldn’t be ordering centerpieces for our tables. We wanted to do them ourselves because we knew the added cost the florist would add for him to do them, would put our budget over the edge. Since our wedding is centered around daisies (my fav!) we are planning a simple and modern centerpiece for our tables.

Last summer, I spent several weeks accumulating 40% coupons for Michael’s and proceeded to purchase 15 rectangular vases for our wedding centerpieces. 8 months later, we finally did a test run of our centerpieces (silly me, I didn’t even use our vases! but… you’ll get the idea).

You like? I LOVE!
Please imagine a rectangular vase… yes I’m a bad bride not using our actual vases. Oh well!

We ended up going with white Vero Daises and fuchsia Gerbera Daisies, with cut lemons in the vase. One thing I should note is that the acid in the lemons actually kill the flowers, so if you are planning on putting lemons in your vases, be sure to make the centerpieces the day of your wedding. The flowers should live through 2-3 days with the lemons in the vase, after that they are pretty much dead {sad face}.

How about another glamour shot of these beautiful daisies?

We originally intended to have all white daisies in our vases, but realized that our tables needed a punch of color. We thought, why not fuchsia? After all, fuchsia has managed to sneak into our invitation suite, our menus, our water bottles, and our programs… why not our centerpieces? And let me tell you, aqua, yellow and fuchsia go fabulous together!

And no wedding DIY is complete without approval by Gator Kitty…

Gator Kitty giving her “sniff of approval.” Love her♥.

And a DIY centerpiece post with out a price run-down would be unheard of… so here’s the details:

• Rectangular Vases from Michael’s $45 for 15 (40% coupon)
• 23 bunches of White Vero Daisies from Fifty Flowers $171.19
• 100 stems of Fuchsia Gerbera Daisies from Sam’s Club $138.58
• Lemons TBA

Total  $354.77*
roughly $23.65 for each centerpiece
*this total includes plenty of extra flowers to fill vases I’ve purchased for the place card table, bar, etc. We will be overflowing with beautiful daisies. :-) Also, the rectangular vases hold more daisies then the vase pictured, so the above price is for the 16-20 daisies/gerberas that the rectangular vases holds, not for the amount of daisies you see in the picture above.

Since I didn’t price the lemons (bad little bride), we are going to say, for figuring the total price, that each lemon is 50 cents. With this figure, and using 1.5 lemons per vase, the total of each centerpiece is $24.40. Which is not bad, in our book!

Sure, there is probably some way we could have done them for less, but overall we are happy with the way they are going to look, and we KNOW for sure that we are getting a better deal DIYing them ourselves then having our florist do them.

Are you planning on DIY your centerpieces? What made you make that decision? Was it price, or something else (the fun of doing it yourself, etc)?

]]> http://gatorbride.com/diy-daisy-wedding-centerpieces/feed/ 2 http://gatorbride.com/modern-and-easy-diy-table-numbers/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/modern-and-easy-diy-table-numbers/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:31:37 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=3863 After seeing a post over on Ruffled with these cute little Table Numbers, I was hooked.

source Ruffled

They offer the template they used for these cute table numbers on their blog, but of course Mr. Knight and I had to design our own! On my girls weekend a few weeks ago, I picked up theses Tolsby frames from IKEA for .99 cents a piece (what a deal!).

I picked up 19 of them, 15 for our tables and a few extra to go around the club for $18.81. I sketched up what each of them would look like (thought we would use the same design for each number? Silly Gator Bride-ers!), and Mr. Knight got to work. I think they turned out fantastic, check them out!

Our table numbers in all their glory! They will be sure to add some much needed color to our tables!

I love our ‘love birds’ table number, sooo cute! Love my green cutting mat under them? Being an Architecture student comes in handy with wedding crafts, I have all the right cuttin’ tools for the job!
*All photos by Miss Gator

For those who aren’t our friends and family invited to the wedding, this is probably your first glimpse at our design palette that Mr. Knight and I developed for our wedding. I know it has been WEEKS since we sent out invitations and I have yet to recap them. Life has been going at lightening speed these days. What ever happened to being 2 years out from our wedding? Now we are 5 weeks out!

I’m beyond shocked when I stop to think about it. Grad school has been crazy/intense and it has been a big distraction from wedding plans. Mr. Knight saw me getting overwhelmed the past few weeks so he was sweet and planted some beautiful knock-out roses by our front door, so when I come home from school I can literally ‘stop and smell the roses.’ Love him.♥

As always, so much to say, too little time. I heart and miss you all and can’t wait till I’m all yours (as I search for a job)!

Last night, Mr. Knight and I started assembling our wedding programs, I’m super excited about them since I have been wanting to do them forever! They are a designed with inspiration from Mrs. Cupcake and Mrs. Joey on Weddingbee, love the accordion fold programs. They are turning out beautifully, I can’t wait to share!

Till then, I wish you all a beautiful Sunday!

]]> http://gatorbride.com/modern-and-easy-diy-table-numbers/feed/ 5 http://gatorbride.com/let-them-eat-cake/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/let-them-eat-cake/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:29:47 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=3257 And without further adieu… I present {to my lovely Gator Bride Readers} our Wedding Cake! {courtesy of MUAH for sketching it up… just had to get a little crafty for my wonderful readers!}

*Please click to enlarge :-)
Cake Stats: 3 white square tiers with whipped cream icing; accented with yellow bands, white pearl dots, beautiful white daisies, and our lovely custom cake toppers in our likeness.

A few weekends ago, Mr. Knight and I made a trip home for a cake tasting at Heavenly Cheesecake in Holly Hill, FL. Sunny MOH had her cake made there. It was so incredibly delicious that I had TWO pieces at her wedding (which was immediately followed by a sugar high where I danced around her reception like a crazy mad women… but that is another story!).

When Mr. Knight and I arrived we were quickly seated and greeted with this:

From left to right: White Cream cake with Strawberry filling, Tropical Carrot Cake, and Chocolate Cream cake with Raspberry filling

Now I must say… Mr. Knight is NOT an icing person, so when I saw Mr. Knight not only eat ALL the icing on his samples, but the icing on MINE, I knew we had a winning baker. :-)

In the end we went with the Tropical Carrot Cake (made from scratch and with pineapple! What the baker calls a ‘true’ labor of love… which will come to bite us in the butt on cost), and White Cream Cake with Raspberry filling.

Mr. Knight posing with a square cake about the same size ours will be! Hooray!

I have to say I’m SUPER excited about our cake. Our cake is going to be delicious and makes me feel incredibly fancy… okay, maybe the ‘fancy’ part comes from the chic square silver cake stand we are renting for it.

Here comes my confession…

Mr. Knight and I had no idea how much our beautiful dream cake was going to cost in the end. We were really quite shocked when we were told the price. But, in retrospect we should have expected it. Not only did we pick out a more expensive icing (per Mr. Knight’s taste bud request), but we also picked out a labor intensive flavor (uh… that Tropical Carrot Cake is AMAZING) and the cake is rather large, feeding 165 people (and the layers are really thick and tall… so it could probably feed more). Why such a big cake to feed so many people, when we are only expecting 150… and possibly less?

Well.. Mr. Knight and I already know that this Tropical Carrot Cake is going to be a hit (heck… we wanted them to make us a cake to-go!) and we want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE we get as much Tropical Carrot Cake as we want… hence the top of the cake will be nicely perserved for eating after our honeymoon (as suggested by the baker) or on our 1 year anniversary.

If our cake is as delicious as Sunny MOH’s cake was… I’m sure it will be gone by the end of the night… cause I know I wasn’t the only person to eat two slices at her wedding!

When researching online (mostly to make myself feel better about our cake price), I found our cost per slice of cake is in the mid-range… which certainly eases my little Gator Bride mind. {ahhh}

What was the one item you ended up splurging on for your wedding?

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