A Texas Menu

A majority of the weddings Mr. Beagle & I have attended throughout our lives have included a few primary elements, one of them being this: BBQ.

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Actually a wedding is not the only excuse to serve bbq, we love "fixin' it" for pretty much any occasion that involves a large group of people (graduation? birthday? tailgate? yes, yes, and yes). We love this food staple. (Salt Lick anyone?) So, chosing to serve this option at our wedding was easy-peasy. Sure, we would love to eat prime rib or pecan crusted salmon on our wedding day, but 1) the majority of our guests will not be expecting that to be served and 2) honestly, they would probably enjoy it just as much as bbq (despite the steep differece in price). So far, we've organized a tentative buffet dinner menu with our caterer (Laura w/ Classic Catering & Events):

Fresh BLT salad, pinto beans, red potatoes, brisquet, sausage, and an assortmant of breads.

This menu varies slightly from most bbq meals I've seen (we've nixed the cole slaw and potato salad mainly because we're am not a big fan of either and not everyone likes them :)). Since it's buffet, we are also going with clear plastic dinnerware (gasp!). Yes, I know, but renting dishes would have been an extra ~4.00/person (~$800+) and frankly, for that amount of money, I'm not that concerned about how it will look while people are eating. On a positive note, we will be using "real" silverware because bbq + plasic knife & fork = breakage.

Does your dinner menu reflect your culture in any way? Anyone else using plastic china?

Napkin Quilt

I love fabric, thread, sewing... of course you already know that from this post. And because of this, I follow quite a few sewing & fabric blogs. Several months ago, I came across this beauty:

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Yum. The quilt is from a pattern in Joelle Hoverson's book: Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. It was created from cloth napkins Jen sewed for her beautiful outdoor wedding. If it looks familiar, her wedding was featured Winter '09 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings (and it is blogged about here).

As soon as I saw this, I knew I wanted to use this in our wedding. As crazy as I may be for sewing 200+ napkins... I love this idea. If our guests don't end up taking them home, I know they will be put to good use in our home as napkins (it's eco-friendly :) ) or re-purposed into a wedding quilt like Jen. I am still debating on what pattern I want to use for the napkins (there are lots of tutorials out there which I will be sure to post), so I haven't started sewing them yet. I have already bought the fabric though... so you can be rest assured that part II of this post is soon to come!
Are you renting, buying, or making your napkins? Will they be eco-friendly?

I DO Love a Good Deal

Especially if it's concerning the wedding. About a month ago, I was visiting my local Hobby Lobby when I stumbled upon these:

Of course, I took them home with me. Why? Did I have a purpose for them at the time? Well, no, but it was an offer I couldn't refuse. At ~$3 each, these were a steal, and I know I will use them after the wedding. I bought the remainder of the store's supply which was 5 each of the small and medium and 3 of the large.


Now that they are living with me, I have been thinking about what will become of them. I finally decided to either use them on some of the outside cocktail tables or I will use them to spruce up the buffet line tables. And of course after the wedding, they will look fabulous in our home!

What great deals have you come across while preparing for your wedding?

In the Favor of Your Presence...

This post concerns wedding favors (obviously...). Many people, including myself, seem to think that favors are a waste of money. I didn't want to invest in a gift for my guests that would be forgotten or thrown away soon after our reception ended. For this reason, as cheesy as it may sound, I wanted our favors to mean something. Initially, I considered donating to a charitable organization, a la Mrs. Lovebug, in lieu of favors. I wanted to make donations to cancer societies, namely these two (leukemia and breast cancer ), as they have personally affected our mothers. However, I wasn't sure how our moms would feel about this... I mean I'm sure they would be honored, but I'm not sure they would want that sort of attention drawn to them. So... I continued to brainstorm ideas for meaningful favors. And then, it came to me: Mexican Wedding Cookies. For those of you not familiar with these, they are shortbread-like cookies popular in the Hispanic culture that are made with nuts and covered in powdered sugar. (They are also apparently very similar to cakes/cookies familiar to other cultures).

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They make appearances during holidays, for birthdays, and, you guessed it, at weddings. When I discussed this idea with my FMIL, she loved it and said this was exactly what she had thought of doing for our wedding :) Instead of baking the cookies, we are going to cheat and order some from a local Mexican bakery (because FMIL heard that they are just not as good if they are baked and then frozen, which is the most logical approach if we were to DIY them). I am very excited that we will be incorporating this very delicious aspect of X's culture into our wedding. Now I just need to come up with a creative way of presenting them and I can cross this item off my to-do list!
What are you providing as favors for your guests?

*The* Centerpieces (A DIY Project)

As you remember, I decided on using dried flowers for our centerpieces- with the focal piece being dried wheat. In order to get more inspiration, I visited the dried floral sections of Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Garden Ridge. I bought a few supplies and took them home for some experimentation. Finally a few trials and errors... I finalized two different designs for our centerpieces.

I used dried wheat, on the left and dried setaria(deep purple), on the right- I'm not exactly sure what that is, but it matches our color scheme perfectly. :)

Centerpiece #1:

Centerpiece #2:

I originally came up with this (shown below) for the second centerpiece, but dried lavender is a little more expensive than the other supplies and it breaks really easily, which makes it hard to work with.


Then I came up with this:



A while ago I created a mock table set up using some eggplant-colored fabric to simulate the table sashes (chair sashes used as table runners) that we are renting and a white duvet cover (excuse the wrinkles) to act as the table linens provided by our venue. I found the votive holders on sale at IKEA. All other supplies were bought on sale at either Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I used votive candles that I already had because I want to wait until we get closer to October to purchase the candles we will actually use to avoid getting candle discoloration.

Here's a breakdown of the cost for Centerpiece 1:
2/3 bunch of wheat
Regular Price: $5.99/bunch = ~$4.00/ 2/3 bunch
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$2.00/ 2/3 bunch

1/2 bunch setaria
Regular Price: $4.99/bunch= ~$2.50/half bunch
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$1.25/half bunch

Vase
Regular Price: $7.99
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$4.00

Lavender potpourri*
Regular Price: $4.99
Sale (40% off at Michaels): ~$3.00

Votive holders
Regular Price: ?
Sale (IKEA): $1.50/4 votive holders

Votive candles
I haven't bought these yet, but I'm not planning on spending more than $1.00/ 4 votive candles.

Eggplant table sashes:
Renting them for $2.00/ sash

Grand Total: $14.74**
Woohoo! Within my budget!

Centerpiece #2:
Twig/Branch Wreath
Regular Price: $6.99
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$3.50

1/2 bunch of wheat
Regular Price: $5.99/bunch = ~$3.00/half bunch
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$1.50/half bunch

1/2 bunch setaria
Regular Price: $4.99/bunch= ~$2.50/half bunch
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$1.25/half bunch

Misc. from silk flower section:
Regular: $1.40
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): $0.70

Vase
Regular Price: $7.99
Sale (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$4.00

Vanilla scented candle (smells soooo good)
Again, I haven't purchased all of these yet, but they go on sale regularly at Hobby Lobby.
Regular Price: $5.99
Sale(1/2 off at Hobby Lobby): ~$3.00

Eggplant table sashes:
Renting them for $2.00/ sash

Grand Total: $15.95
Almost under budget....close enough :)

I would strongly suggest that those of you still in the process of planning should "Shop Sales." Since I figured out what I wanted to do for the centerpieces way ahead of time (a year out), I am able to shop for the items I need only when they go on sale. If they run out, I wait until they restock. I don't have to buy everything at once, which is much easier on my checkbook. Hobby Lobby runs their sales pretty regularly- the items I need are on sale at least once a month, if not more. Michael's usually offers a weekly coupon. My day-of-coordinator suggested that we use table sashes to add some more color to the tables.

Centerpiece #1 shown with a table sash:


I can't believe what a good idea this is! It's a much cheaper alternative to renting an entire table linen(which can be anywhere from $10-$25/table- eek!) It's also cheaper than renting a table runner and, although it is a little less wide, it provides the same effect and really brings out the purple setaria in the centerpiece. I think it makes the potpourri appear more purple too. I love my DOC! :) (More on that decision a bit later.)

Are you planning your wedding around sales? Anyone else using dried flowers?


*I had originally found some potpourri at Garden Ridge. For $1.50/bag. I was so excited to find something this inexpensive! So I bought a bag and experimented . I liked it. Alot. Then I went back to get some more. They were out :( And they didn't restock it because they it was clearanced out. If you find something you need for your wedding projects... make sure 1)they are not on clearance 2) if they are on clearance, buy it. now.

Finding *the* Venue- Part II

If you remember from part I of the venue search, we had looked at an old house and a gem hidden in the hill country. Then, I stumbled upon this:

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Mercury Hall. You may recognize it from this fabulous wedding:

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which was featured here and made possible by this wonderful photog.

Mercury Hall was an old church that was moved to its current location and restored to its original state. Wood floors, stained glass window and antique chandelier light fixtures accent the interior of the hall; while large oak trees and a spacious lawn decorate the outside of the hall. This was the perfect combination of indoor/outdoor atmosphere to satisfy my hearts desires! (For a while, I dreamed of white Christmas lights twinkling in the trees while guests mingled with cocktails on the lawn.) In addition, the hall provides chairs and tables that can be rented at a reasonable price. But this is not our venue. Why? Well, it would have be necessary to use the outdoor and indoor spaces for our guests. That would involve backup plans in case of rain or cold weather- which would have meant tent and possibly heater rentals = expenses we did not have in our budget :( (and planning for this is a must in Texas where weather is completely unpredictable.

So what is our venue you ask? Well, it's the next best thing of course :) A new hall had just opened around the time we started our venue search. (In fact I think I came across it on page 10 of a google search one day). Enter *the* venue: Waterford House:

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The instant I walked in, I knew. It's South Austin! It has a reception area with enough room to seat all our guests and leave room for a dance floor! The floors are stained concrete (and not ugly carpet)! Banquet chairs, tables, and white linens are included in the rental! There is a walkway around the outside of the hall that overlooks a green belt! I'm in love and I can't wait to attend our wedding reception. Was there love at first site with your venue?

Finding *the* Venue- Part I

One of the first items on our wedding checklist was finding a venue. Even though we had about 15 months until the wedding, I was concerned about limited availability the longer we waited. My search began on the web (actually this is how most of my planning began) where looked for venues in Austin and its surrounding areas. We really wanted to find a place that had indoor & outdoor gathering areas. One of the first venues I fell in love with was the Allen House:

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Yes, I'm a sucker for old houses. The Allen House is nestled in heart downtown Austin and, although I loved the atmosphere, it would not have been large enough to accommodate our guests. So, alas, we continued our search.

After much thought and consideration, we decided to look further south Austin (our usual stomping grounds). I came across Tuscan Hall, located in the hill country about 20 mins. southwest of Austin:

photo by me

photo by me

Added bonus: the Chapel Dulcinea, a free wedding chapel located within walking distance from Tuscan Hall that overlooks the hill country *swoon* (Although I should note that since it is free, it is usually booked a year+ in advance- they were booked for our wedding date in October '09 when we visited in August '08)

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The hall accommodates about 200 people, if the indoor and outdoor space is used. However, we were a little uncomfortable about the location. This would have been perfect for a morning or afternoon wedding, but we didn't want our guests traveling late at night down winding, unlit country roads to get home. And so, the search continued.... How many reception/wedding sites did you look at until you found *the* one?