Why Post-It Notes Will Never Be Obsolete

Friend R. recently pointed me to this idea for planning seating at your wedding, which I think is an excellent tip, especially for all you visual people out there.  R. had 250 guests at her weddding, and so determining seating for her group was quite a task.  Overwhelmed, R. turned to a friend in fundraising, who recommended using pink and blue post-it notes to plan the seating.  Apparently this technique is quite popular for planning benefits and fundraisers, and it makes total sense.  With so many guests, I think it was the perfect approach- and it's the kind of thing that literally anyone can do.  Here's how it worked:

Here's what she did:

Step 1:  R. blew up an image of the room layout which had been provided by her venue, and had it printed on large paper.

Step 2:  R. cut out smaller pieces of paper in the shape and size of the tables in her layout. 

Step 3:  Using post-it notes in pink (with ladies' names on them) and blue (with the men's names), R. started by affixing post-it notes to the "tables."  She played with varying combinations until she had her guests all "seated" into the right groups.

Step 4:  R. Then put the tables onto the big sheet of paper in different configuations, until the locations of various tables worked perfectly.  R. made sure to take into account things like the location of the bar and band, the location of her family members, and so forth.  In her case, she tried to keep generations together, and family members together.   Of course, there are many ways to seat people, but this worked for her group!

Step 5:  When all was said and done, R. assigned the table numbers based on the room layout. 

R. says the biggest challenge in her planning was dealing with all of the different stakeholders in the process- mothers, in-laws, friends, fiances- they all had opinions and she knew she could never make everyone 100% happy.  So at the end of the day, she did what all smart brides do- she did her best and then cut herself some slack!

What other tips do you love for figuring out tables and seating?

image source

Kristin and Chris's Dreamy Engagement Pics

I love engagement shoots.  They are such a great way for couples to show off their sense of style, their personality, and their love for one another.  Kristin and Chris's engagements- shot by Dreamscape Studio- are no exception.  These two have been together through thick and thin for many years (I know because Kristin and I go way back to law school times!) and I can honestly say you won't find a cuter, more loving couple anywhere.  And I love how they chose both country and city chic locations for their photos.  It just goes to show you that kind of balance works in relationships AND photography!



I can't wait to show you their WEDDING!  Coming soon!!!

Carry the Torch: Apply to Blog for The One!

On August 24, The One! will be a year old- I know it's still a little while till the big day, and yet, it's just around the corner!  It's been such a wonderful experience for me to have blogged about wonderful wedding fun for almost a full year now!  But as I've moved into my life as a married woman and further away from wedding planning, I've found a whole new world of competing demands on my time.  As Robert Collier once said, “One might as well try to ride two horses moving in different directions, as to try to maintain in equal force two opposing or contradictory sets of desires.”  The truth is that I want to do it ALL and the reality is that I simply cannot.

But I'm not giving up on The One!  Instead, I'm looking for a NEW BLOGGER BRIDE (or two?) to whom I can pass the torch!  Don't worry I will still post too, but I think we need to breathe some new life into this place!   The ideal candidate will:

- Share my desire to keep The One! as snark free as possible, while still maintaining enough space to allow for a few opinions!

- Have an appreciation for budget friendly, DIY, and otherwise personal and unique wedding details!

- Share my philosophy that weddings are first and foremost about commitment, family and love!

- Be an excellent writer!

- Be willing to post 2-3 times weekly!

If you think you're up for the challenge, please email me, sarah.theoneNY [at] gmail [dot] com, with your name and a brief paragraph about why you'd like to blog with The One!   If you have a personal blog, please let me know the link, and if you do not, please provide 2-3 samples of your written work product- any relevant format will do!

I know there are so many of you out there who have good ideas and I'd LOVE to bring you into the fold!!

Tacky Tacky Tacky

I generally try not to focus on the negative here at The One! but once in a while, I hear about something so appallingly tacky that it would be a crime not to share!

Ok so here's what happened.  A friend recently received a wedding invitation where, directly on the invitation was the following poem...

To help us on our way

as husband and wife

gifts of cash are welcome

to start off our new life!

Um, excuse me, I know weddings often involve cash gifts, but seriously?  Just because the poem is cute does not mean that the concept is cute.  Every single etiquette guide I have ever read has said that under no circumstances may you mention gifts or registries on an invitation, unless you are specifically asking people NOT to bring presents.  Because nothing is worse than making people feel like they are being invited to a fundraiser.  To make things worse, most people are well aware of the rule and will judge you (severely) for doing it.  Sorry guys but as a public service, I simply have to call this out.

But of course, I'm not only about being snarky.  Here's a helpful tip- if you want to provide this information in a socially acceptable manner, put your registry information (with absolutely no requests for cash, there are alternative registries that can help you with that) on your wedding website, and the website information can be part of an invitation enclosure.  That way your guests can find out gift information if they want to.  And don't discount the value of word-of-mouth when it comes to gift giving.  You don't need to put it on the invitation, and if you do, you'll just offend pretty much everyone who gets it.

A good cautionary tale though right?  Have you ever seen any invitation faux pas?  And how about www.tackyweddings.com?  That should make every bride-to-be feel pretty good about her wedding choices!

images source

Vedrana and Josh's Gorgeous May Day

Remember when Josh bought his bride Vedrana last week?  Well this week I'm back with the rest of their stunning May wedding!  The ceremony was held at  St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Joliet, Illinois, where the couple participated in a crowning ceremony (as opposed to traditional wedding vows).  After the gorgeous, gorgeous ceremony, the celebration continued at The Abbington in Glen Ellyn where the crowd was romanced by accordion AND a DJ.  And best of all, these incredible photos were taken by Mark Meravy, who spent the entire day photographing the love birds.

The bride's lace gown is from Maggie Sottero, and the bridesmaids had two chocolate-confections to choose from at Davids Bridal.  The darling pink flower girls' frocks were scored at Nordstrom, and the little girl in brown wore an etsy find!  Even with so much romance and eye candy, however, the bride's favorite moments of the day were seeing her husband's face when she walked down the aisle, the moment when the crown was put onto his head (he was raised Catholic, so this was new territory for this good-humored groom), and of course, their first dance (to The Prayer)!  At the end of the day, the guests had an incredible time, and the couple had a personal, perfect day!

Congratulations and best wishes to Vedrana and Josh!

Those Handy Little Freebies (Part I)

I've blogged before about my love for the Wedding Chicks.  In fact, they are the reason I found my photographer, Jessica Morrisy, and they are responsible for so much of my own wedding inspiration.  And they also featured my wedding, which in and of itself was pretty rock star.  *love them*



Well, one of the many things I love about the Chicks is their section of freebies.  They have so many customizeable, free loveliness, its hard not to drool.  So it's no shock that I turned to them when I needed to design a shower invitation for my stepsister!



And while we're on the topic, yes, my stepsister's name really is Sarah.  And her future husband?  He has the same name as my husband.  Ah, the modern blended family!



My stepsister Sarah is planning a summery yellow and orange wedding, and so when planning the shower, we bridesmaids thought we'd stick with the same color family.  And once that had been decided, I immediately wanted to use the Wedding Chicks dahlia  invitation design I had seen a few months ago!

While the Chicks' design was intended for a wedding, it worked just as perfectly for a bridal shower.  And it was easy to do- I just downloaded the template and then added the text- it involved a bit of photoshopping the PDF, but in the end, the result turned out great!

I had the invitations printed on matte cardstock at (where else?) Vista Print, and they came back perfect.  I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.  I used the same image to make coordinating insert cards and mailing labels.  And for the crowing touch:

Have you customized any good downloadable freebies lately?

Happy Half-iversary!

Today marks our 6 month wedding anniversary.  It has been a tumultuous first 6 months with my condo for sale, a move on the horizon, job changes, budget-making, not to mention working on just being married!  But I wouldn't change a second of it.  I'm having so much fun figuring it all out, and it's nice to have so much goodness to look forward to.  If the first 6 months can be interpreted as a sign of things to come, I'll be in for something good!



xoxo,



Sarah

The moment when my new last name was mispronounced for the very first time! (image by Jessica Morrisy)

Love Bites

As newlyweds, we do a fair amount of cooking, and for me, that old adage "the way to man's heart is through his stomach" has always rung 100% true.  J. is a chocolate lover, it's pretty easy to guess what he likes to eat.  So when I saw that my high school friend stated a new blog, From the Kitchen of: Mrs. Bettie Rocker, I was totally hooked!  With recipes like Whoopie Pies and Little White Devils, even an adorable and budget-friendly DIY cookbook tutorial, I have J's birthday and sweetest day covered already!  I think that so many of these recipes would make for great shower fare too- and definitely worth learning!  Congratulations to Mrs. Bettie on her rockin' new recipe blog!

Buy the Bride! (or why I wish I was Serbian)

Coming up soon (as in, as soon as I can get it together) I am going to feature the adorable and absolutely romantic wedding of Vedrana and Josh, but before I do I wanted to first tell you about this awesome tradition they incorporated into their wedding.  Vedrana's family is Serbian and so before the wedding, they participated in an event known as the buying of the bride.  Ok, so maybe I've taken enough feminist legal theory to know that one might argue this is unfeminist- you know, the whole "women are not chattel" thing.  But with those days long gone, the way I see it, embracing a tradition like this is exactly what weddings are all about.   Personal, meaningful, and fun.  And when you see these pictures, I think you will agree.

On the big day, while Vedrana and her girls got their hair done, her parents pitched big white tents in their front yard, decorated, got out loads of tasty food, and invited over a slew of family and friends.  The groomsmen then brought Josh to "buy" Vedrana from her cousin Danilo.  Before she was "sold", two fake brides were paraded out of the house (guys dressed as girls) and "heated negotiations" ensued (all in hilariously good fun).  Eventually Josh left (clearly fed up with the faux-bride antics), and the best man finally negotiated a "price" and bought Vedrana for the groom- which in actuality, was the best man's wedding gift to the couple.  Afterwards, everyone celebrated until it was time to head to the church!

I mean, isn't this the best way you can think of to get rid of those pre-wedding jitters?  I love it!

Do you love finding budget and DIY tips on The One!?

If you like reading about DIY projects and money-saving wedding tips at The One! then please consider nominating us for Wedding Channel's Best Budget Wedding Blog list OR the Best DIY Wedding Blog list!  We LOVE finding new blogs on these lists and would LOVE to be among them in the next round!







xoxo,



Sarah

The Keepsake Box: Heirlooms or Clutter?

I admit that I am biased and think that keepsake boxes are such a great wedding idea.  My cousin got me a keepsake box as a wedding gift, and when I realized what I could do with it I was thrilled- and touched!  And I hadn't even thought about wanting one.  You have to get up pretty early in the morning to think of a wedding topic I haven't thought of, but my cuzzie definitely did!

You can even get cute ones from Walmart!

Mine looks somewhat like this one above (but it isn't wall mounted, and mine is cuter, hehe).  It is black (like our other picture frames) and has a hinged lid with a collage picture frame in it, and the inside is solid wood.  I love it so much and used sepia colored wedding photos to fill the collage on the box top.  Inside, I saved a copy of every paper element from our wedding (our save the date, invitation, rehearsal invitation, menus, favors, OOT bag welcome letters, escort cards, wedding program) along with J.'s boutonniere, my garter, the cards we gave each other on the wedding day, and a few special cards from family.  It's the perfect way to store memories- a kind of time capsule that now sits on an end-table shelf in our living room.  Close by but clean.  I adore it!

Pottery Barn's Keepsake Box can be personalized!

Another photo box done well on Etsy![/caption]

From The Memory Keepers on Etsy!

Etched wood, also on Etsy!

How would (or how do) you preserve wedding keepsakes?

Cupcakes Wrappers You Can Actually Afford

I like to think that cupcakes have magical powers to make someone's day a little better.  Whenever J. brings me home a french toast cupcake from our local cupcakery, it makes me a happy, happy wifey.



So when I saw these adorable laser cut wrappers from NY Cake, I was utterly smitten.  Just look!  Does this make you want to eat cupcakes, make cupcakes, and serve cupcakes at every wedding from now until forever?!  (Click on images for their tasty sources!)

Picket Fence Cupcake Wrapper

Ivy Vine Ivory Cupcake Wrapper

Black & White Polka Dots

Shades of Strawberry Pink Cupcake Wraps

Just one problem (or, as I prefer to say, challenge)... this are kind of pricey for a non-essential wedding item.  What's a girl-on-a-budget to do?  Hit up some DIY cupcake wrapper tutorials, of course!

Click this image for Offbeat Bride's super-easy tutorial

Or for lace versions, check out the Weddingbee tutorial from jen and jakes wedding!

I'm definitely whipping these out for my next cupcake recipe!  Don't you just love them?!