Last fling Before the Ring

Last Friday, I spent the night with the Newport Girls on a treasure hunt! The Newport Girls planned an amazing weekend and it kicked off with a very appropriate nautical theme. They thought of a million fun details for everything from the room decorations to our outfits to every event througout our two day weekend. I was greeted with the shirt above, some accessories and a book which included clues that brought me all over downtown Boston in search of some bachelorette fun. Bridesmaid E hand painted glasses for each girl, which included images of anchors, sail boats, sand dollars and the date of the bachelorette weekend.
Bridesmaid E got super crafty again and made me a "Bride to Be" t-shirt and each of the bridesmaids t-shirts titled "Miss Newport's Anchors". She printed off the images on transfer sheets and put them on the shirts. I've never been on any type of scavenger hunt, so I had so much fun following clues all night. If you've been following along, you may know I really don't like surprises, but my bridesmaids proved me wrong because I had so much fun and didn't know anything until right before it was supposed to happen.

Clue one is pretty easy to figure out.

It was successful.

The clues brought me all over the city. Here is clue #2: We ended up at Sweet Bakery! A few of us tried their delicious cupcakes. Bridesmaid L1 and me went for the carrot cake, the cream cheese frosting is awesome! And since most of the girls worked that day and wanted to stay up for the night, they made a red bull stop, too.

I could not figure out clue #3, but it ended up being a chocolate shop on Newbury Street with exotic chocolates. Unfortunately they had literally shut their doors as we walked up, and I dont think they wanted to make an exception for a bachelorette party.

Clue 4 was super cute, as it reminded me of the amusement park Mr. Newport and I worked at during our summers in college. We ended up heading to Boston Common for a ride on the carousel.

After the carousel ride, I had to find a man in uniform to take a photo with. It wasn't too hard, since there was an office and park ranger about two feet away.

After the quick photo op, it was on to clue 6. A Boston staple, or tourist attraction, Cheers! My friends and I loved this place in highschool and went for everyone's celebrations, so it was fun to have it included as a stop on our hunt. We ended up getting lots of fried food, which was amazing, but not so amazing for the wedding diet. Actually nothing about this weekend was diet friendly, but so worth it!

Another clue led us to pedi cabs, which I love! Our drivers borrowed a couple of our stunna shades and drove from Cheers to fanueil in them. Pretty impressive as I couldn't walk two feet with them on. My absolute favorite bar in Boston, Jake Ivories which was a dueling piano bar closed last year. But, the Newport Girls found Jacob Wirths which has a piano sing along on Friday nights. We had so much fun singing along to Journey's Don't stop Believin and other songs. My favorite was getting the pianist to play "Goin to the Chapel". We belted that one!Jacob's was intended to be the last stop, but after so much fun we weren't ready to sleep. The night progressively got more fun as we went. We stopped at one more bar on the way back to our hotel and danced until closing. And this was just night one!Did you have multiple stops during your bachelorette?

The Newport DIY Invites

After a few invite posts with no photos, I'm ready to reveal the Newport invites!

Since we went with a super simple design on the invitation suite, I wanted to add a fun embellishment. I've seen twine used on a few other Bees invites and knew it would be the perfect finishing touch.

I wish I didn't have to blur anything out, because the invite looks pretty blah here, but we used a calligraphy font for our names to make them stand out a bit.

Sometimes DIY projects end up costing more than if you had just purchased the product elsewhere, such as our save the dates. I didn't know if our invites would end up being a savings or if they would end up costing us a ton, but I figured I had no time to figure it out and went head on into the project.

Invitation Budget

• PaperSource
  12 packs A7 Night Envelopes (sets of 10)- $3.825 ea @ 10% off, $45.90 total
  5 packs A7 Night Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $4.25 ea, $21.25 total
  5 packs A6 Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $4.00 ea, $20.00 total
  5 packs A2 Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $3.75 ea, $18.75 total 5 packs 4 Bar Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $3.50 ea, $17.50 total
  12 packs 4 Bar Night Envelopes (sets of 10)- $2.70 ea @ 10% off, $32.40 total
• Fort and Field on Etsy
  Baker's Twine - a ridiculous amount (inc. shipping & taxes)- $28.00
• Michaels
  Double Sided Tape (with dispenser)- $4.79 @ 20% off
  Double Sided Tape re-fill- $3.99 @ 20% off
• Best Buy
  Computer Ink- $30.00

Calligraphy Budget

I didn't want our calligraphy too formal, as we are going for a more casual vibe, so I love the font she used. We also had to get the light house stamps to follow along with our nautical vibe. A friend helped address about 35 invites, so I plan to get her a thank you gift, which isn't included in the budget. If we weren't in such a time crunch, I would have loved to have had her do all of them.

• Michaels 12- White Gel Pens- $1 ea @ 20% off, $12 total
• Barbara Kua - Calligraphy Address Stamp (inc. shipping)- $46.00

Postage Budget

• USPS.com- 240- .44 cent stamps (120 invitation stamps and 120 rsvp stamps) $107.60, includes 2 $1 service charges for ordering online

Materials I already owned
Embossing Heat Tool
Starfish Stamp
Embossing Powder in clear
Navy ink pad
White ink pad
Printer
Computer
Scissors
Microsoft Word

Total Cost for invitation materials: $222.58, not including tax for items from Michaels and Paper-Source
Total Cost for Calligraphy: $58.00
Total Cost for Postage:$107.60
Total cost for 120 invites: $388.18, or $3.23 per invitation

DIY invites actually helped us go under budget! Based on research I had done, I was expecting to pay a minimum of $450.00 for 120 invitations that include the outer envelope, invitation, reception card, response card, and response envelope. I also have a lot of left over supplies, like lots of Baker's Twine I plan to use for other projects. The largest expense was the personal calligraphy address stamp, which will also be used for many years to come! I was pleasantly surprised by the final cost of the invitations. Which not only includes the invites, but the calligraphy and postage, as well. It did help that we had many materials already left over from our save the dates, which ended up costing more per card than our invites.

We had originally budgeted $500 for invites, $126.00 for postage and $150.00 for calligraphy. I had thought we'd need .61 cent stamps for the outer envelopes, but we only needed .44 cent stamps, which was a savings. We went under budget by $387.82! We spent about 50% of our expected budget. Which is super helpful, because I'm really nervous we'll be over budget with our guest list.

Did your invites cost more or less than you were expecting?

Find your Seat!

When we started planning our starfish nuptials, I knew for sure I wanted to use starfish for the escort cards. I've seen quite a few photos of these and love the idea!

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I know it may seem predictable, since we've used starfish on our save the dates and invitations, but I think it will be fun and new to our guests. I've seen these images all over the internet, but I've never actually seen it at a wedding. So while it may seem unoriginal to me, I think it may be fun and new to some of our guests.

I think sometimes as a bride, you search the internet and wedding magazines for ideas and become immune to details. It takes much more to "wow" another bride with a unique idea than it does to "wow" your average wedding guest.

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Like candy buffets. I absolutely love them, but I figured everyone knows these are super trendy at weddings. When Sister Newport had one at her wedding last October, you would have thought she came up with the idea herself! Guests loved it! They actually still talk about it almost a year later! It was a huge hit and seemed totally unique.

So when it comes to details at your wedding, go with what you love, even if you think it may be too trendy or unique. Chances are if you love it, your guests will too!

Are you including any trends at your wedding? Do you think the trend will seem new and exciting to your guests or more of a been there, done that, seen it?

College Love

Having met in college, we knew we wanted to include some alma mater love. We don't want to have a college wedding theme, so we've been trying to think of subtle ways to include our favorite place. I've been amazed at all the fun and unique ideas I've found to show some college love. You can put a college spin on pretty much every element of the wedding.

Venue- Say "I do" at your alma mater. See if they have a house of worship, or a location on campus that they allow alumni to use for ceremonies and or receptions. Many colleges and universities have gorgeous chapels. I love the photos from the recently featured "Real Wedding" of Hilary and John at The Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. The photos at the Harvard church are stunning. Videography- Ask your videographer to do seperate interviews. One with the bride and one with the groom, each re-telling the story of how you met or a favorite college memory.

Photography- Take photos on campus. You can do it at a place with meeting, like the place you met, or a field if you were both big sport fans, or use a significant building or landmark on campus as a back drop.

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At the reception, make sure to get a photo with you and all of your college friends who attended the wedding to send to your alumni publication.

Food- Get a groom's cake representative of your college. Mrs. Penguin had an old school UCLA Bruin mascot made for her husband.

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Cake Topper- Mrs. Dolphin had a cake topper that reflected both her and Mr. Dolphin's alma maters. Her alma mater's mascot is a gator and his is a knight. She found a great way to include both their schools.
Attire and Accessories- Dress the bridal party in your school's colors. Another option is visiting the school's gift shop to see if they have any school inspired accessories such as cufflinks or a tie with the schools insignia.

Table Numbers- have engagement photos taken on campus and use them as part of the table number or use names from college buildings.Mrs. Cheeseburger created table names with on and off campus places.

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Favors- Make a donation to a scholarship fund at your school and create a notice announcing the donation placed on the guest book or gift card table like this example from the Knot.

Another idea is to have edible favors in the shape of your school mascot like Mrs. Lamb. In honor of her and Mr. Lamb's meeting place and alma mater, Bucknell, they ordered Chocolate Bison for their favors. Music- Use you college's fight song for your grand entrance, or try to include it in another way like Miss Ribbon's pep rally idea. You could also hire some current students in the band or chorus to provide the music at the ceremony.

Stationery- add your college colors or a meaningful symbol, like Mrs. Cheeseburger. On her invitations. she had her stationer add a hand-painted illustration of the sundial at Old Main, Penn State, complete with the same quote from the ensemble folder cover.

Groom's Gift- If your groom is a huge fan of your alma mater's teams and you live nearby, look into season tickets. For somethng more budget friendly check out the chool's gift shop and get something more sentimental to remind him of your time on campus.

Bridal Accessories- You can include your school colors in your accessories, like Mrs. Peach did. She created a diy garter in Michigan's colors and planned to get a Michigan pin to attach in the center.

Entertainment- hire your school mascot to come to the reception for an hour.

Decor- At a friend's wedding, she purchased an old map of Newport, the location of her alma mater that was matted and framed. Guests signed the matt of the photo. This would also be great with a photo of an iconic building on campus or a photo from a campus engagement session. At a cousin's wedding, they got a school banner and used it as decor and also in photos with former classmates.

Now that I've gathered all these great ideas, I just have to figure out what we plan to do!

Are you incorporating your alma mater in your wedding day? Have you seen any unique ways to do it?

Another Shoe Post

Good news! I found gorgeous shoes that are much cheaper than my dream pair! Bad news? They are still way over my budget.

Newport Mom recommended Zappos because they have a large selection and free shipping both ways. So if I find a few I like, I can order them, try them on and ship them back if they don't work out at no extra cost.

I did find a couple pairs I love, the Kate Spade Lora (below) and the Kate Spade Lover (2 down). They both go absolutely perfect with my dress. As much as I loved the Giuseppe Zannotti shoes, they wouldn't really mesh well with my dress. These on the other hand look like they were made for it.

These would more than blow the budget, but my birthday is coming up this month, so hint hint Mr. Newport! :) He actually never reads the blog, but Sister Newport does. So hint hint...maybe you want to tell Mr. Newport?

Did you have trouble finding the perfect shoe?

Update: 100 Day Challenge

The 100 day challenge is well under way. At the 25 day mark, I had exercised 23 hours, with only one day of no exercise. As time is crunching down, I've been amping it up more and more.

How am I staying motivating? Well besides walking with Sky, I decided to take my routine to the next level. Awhile back, I started looking into personal trainers in my area. I found many will give you a free trial session to test it out. I had a few in mind I wanted to try, but after my first consulatation, I knew I found the right fit. It's like hiring a photographer, it's important that you have a connection.

I started working with the trainer before the 100 day challenge, I knew the challenge would be going into effect and I needed to find a way to motivate myself. I've never liked to exercise. I get bored too easily. I used to keep fit with group sports like a few years of softball, a couple years of basketball, a couple years of soccer, a year of cheerleading, a year of hockey, a couple years of dancing, a year of volleyball...do you believe me now when I say I get bored easily?

Since graduating, I haven't had much time for group sports, even my company's softball team's schedule hasn't been working out. So I thought I'd give a trainer a shot.

I like working with the trainer because every session we do something new. At first, I didn't like kick boxing, but now it's my favorite part of our session. I even like the sprawls thrown in there during my minutes on the bag. It's been about a month with the trainer, but I'm already starting to see results. I haven't lost much weight, but I am getting toned.

I originally started doing one on one sessions with the trainer, but realized it's cheaper and more fun to do group personal training classes. There are up to 5 people per class with one trainer and we do pretty much the same things I did in a one on one class. The only difference is you can tailor your one on one classes if your working on something specific. I plan to do a few more one on ones before the wedding to work on my arms and upper back. Then, I'll be able to work on the targeted areas at home. I just need to learn what to do and how to do it. I find the group classes are more motivating because I don't want to be the slacker in the class.

Now that I know how to exercise, I've started doing it on my own as well. I walk Sky every day, do group classes twice a week, and every other night I add in toning. My next goal is to start doing cardio. I know it's the key to get in the best shape, so I'll need to find some fun ways to include this in my regimen.

I've gone from couch potato to super motivated with a little help from my friends, my new trainer and of course sky.

Would you consider hiring a personal trainer? Do you know of any good cardio workouts I can try?

You've got Mail!

Our invites went out! Can you tell Mr. Newport is excited? This means it's really real! Pretty soon our guests will be responding and before we know it the wedding will be here! After two years of planning, I'm beyond excited for the wedding day to finally arrive and become Mrs. Newport!

We spent the other night dropping our invites in a drive by mail box. I'd never seen this before, but it was pretty convenient. Then we went out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's, a really cool small chain in Massachusetts, to celebrate having some free time. After addressing more than half our invites, it's nice to have a little down time. but I know it won't last.

Now we have the next two months to gather responses and come up with seating assignments, write out escort cards, and multiple other diy projects....too bad we can't hit fast forward to the wedding date.

Were you super excited to get your invitations in the mail?