It's Contest(s) Time!!

[Meme]

Yes I would like to have a Kitchenaid to but I'm with you they cost way to much, I just going to wait until I can take it for hubby's daddy LOL As for grilled cheese Ive done that a few times but it still don't taste to bad LOL

[Kristen]

Ozma, I just use regular whisks. I can't wait to get my KitchenAid (hopefully I'll get it as a wedding present this October). I don't mind the electric beater, but it hurts my arm. I only have one mixing bowl right now, so I'm hoping to get some more later on. I'm making do with the one right now.

[Kristen]

Meme, I think he super burned it.. burned beyond recognition. He said he couldn't even eat it... *shakes head*

[Meme]

aww now that is sad I do burn the food but I usually can still eat it LOL

[Kristen]

I guess it was blacker than black... Even when I burned my cookies a few months ago, they were still edible.

[Meme]

LOL I guess if I'm honest id have to say I've done that a few time too

[Kristen]

I don't think I ever have.. well maybe when I was a kid...

[Meme]

you are a very lucky lady or maybe just a whole lot better in the kitchen lol

[Kristen]

I guess I'm just a natural.

[Meme]

so how is the Criollo coming along, still haven't went to get the stuff for mine, I have a feeling that it will not be done before this contest is over but one of these days I will try it lol

[Kristen]

It's delicious. I just ate a piece an hour or two ago. Have another piece for my lunch in a bit.

[Meme]

you can pace yourself like that, do you care to explain how Ive never been able to do it, and where do you live again I may have to come by and sample it for you LOL

[Kristen]

Near Chicago. I don't know... being on Weight Watchers help me think about what I'm eating and not just shoveling it all in my mouth all the time.

[Meme]

hmmm Chicago is a little far away I don't think hubby would go for a road trip just to taste Chocolate LOL

[Jacalyn]

Kristen - Maybe you will get one for a wedding gift!! :) I'll bet you get some mixing bowls as a shower gift if nothing else. I got all sorts of kitchen stuff at my shower. :) Nothing as pricey as a kitchen-aide but this was the early 90's in a military town. People making less than a grand a month cannot afford to spend half or more of their paycheck on a wedding gift. LOL But I did get all kinds of kitchen utensils, knives, plates, mixing bowls, casserole dishes, etc. I got one thing that I've since lost and I wish I knew where it was. It was a little cookbook called "Cooking for two" and it had a great funnel cake rec. LOL I've moved too many times, it vanished.

Good luck with WW! I'm assuming you are trying to fit into your dress so you look great for your photos? Good luck with the Criollo taunting you! :)

Meme, your hubby should totally let you road trip to taste chocolate!!! LOL COme on, it's CHOCOLATE! :)

I also have not gotten my stuff to try criollo. I'm going to the grocery next week and will probably get it then. :)

[Meme]

that is what I thought but he doesn't think it is that important :( I also got a lot of kitchen stuff when I got married, when is the big day?

[Jacalyn]

Tell your husband he's nice and all but he SUCKS! You are going on a chocolate road trip by golly!!!!

OMG, that could be so fun. We should make a road trip and sample chocolate from around the country. Just kind of drive around, picking everyone up, and eating chocolate.

I bet Maria V. Snyder would TOTALLY approve! *GRINS* We can blame it on her when we bring it up to the menfolk!

[Meme]

LOL yes that would be a lot of fun but how much do you think we would eat and how much of it do you think my kids would actually eat? I think they would eat more LOL

[Jacalyn]

Hmmm, who said we were taking the kids? Throw some cans of spaghettios their way and leave them at home! ;)

[Meme]

LOL if only I could

[Jacalyn]

I know... you don't know what I had to do to get to Arizona last year to shoot that wedding... and that was work! ROFL

But it was fantastic. I got to go to Arizona when it was beautiful weather. (It was Mid May.) I got to shoot some gorgeous wedding photos. I was fed well and best of all I left two days after my house flooded. I left my menfolk with all these giant fans and dehumidifiers all over the house and a complete mess. I came home and at least the noisy stuff was gone. :) Even if there was a mess. LOL

[Jacalyn]

(Did I mention I homeschool my kids? It was nice to get away for a bit. I love my kids but sometimes having some extended "adult time" is pretty dang nice. HAHA)

[Kristen]

We're looking at Halloween now. We thought about the week before, but how cool would it be to have a Halloween wedding. I'm excited to get all the kitchen stuff I want. I've been itching to start the registry.

[Jacalyn]

OMG Totally do halloween!!!! Are you going to make it dress up? I think you should!!! I mean that would be all kinds of cool!! Or you could get married in a graveyard, also awesome!

OK, if you get married in a graveyard, fire your photographer. I'll come and do it. I would LOVE to shoot wedding pictures in a graveyard. Chicago isn't that far from me.

[Meme]

Lady Ozma wrote: "(Did I mention I homeschool my kids? It was nice to get away for a bit. I love my kids but sometimes having some extended "adult time" is pretty dang nice. HAHA)"

I understand about needing adult time, my kids go to school but I keep everyone else's kids here at the house and there are time where I think I will go crazy, I go to Bingo once a week so I can get out of the house.

A Halloween wedding would be really cool. I would love to see some pic afterwards

[Jacalyn]

Yeah, you get it. I love my kids, really. But they are making me crazy! LOL

I have a few little things I do from time to time. Anything to get away and just not have constant noise and whatnot. LOL Boys!

OMG, the pix would be so awesome! Could you imagine trash the dress photos from a halloween wedding? AWESOME!

[Meme]

Lady Ozma wrote: "OMG Totally do halloween!!!! Are you going to make it dress up? I think you should!!! I mean that would be all kinds of cool!! Or you could get married in a graveyard, also awesome!

OK, if you g..."


WOW Kristen I think she wants the grave yard wedding, as I said it would be really cool and if so I would definitely want to see pics on that

[Kristen]

I don't think we'd go that far with the graveyard. We were going to do a normal ceremony I think. I'm not sure about the reception then. I've toyed with this idea on and off. We started dating on Halloween and I'd like to keep our wedding date the same. We're not like crazy so I wouldn't want a crazy halloween thing. I might talk to my uncle about it, he's way into that type of thing.

[Jacalyn]

Are you kidding, I have a friend here planning a fall wedding adn I'm the photog and I've been trying to convince her for like two years a graveyard wedding would be awesome. Here in VA we have some real old and creepy graveyards. Not like these new ones that look like fields. Screw that. I'm talking like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Big stone crosses and angels and stuff.

She wont' go for it. :( Booohiisssssss!

So instead I'm trying to talk her into letting do photos on The National Mall. I think that would be really cool! Except have you seen it lately? It's sad. It's like a giant mudpit. :( But it would still be cool. Of course I'm twisted and thinking a bride and groom with a giant phallic symbol in the background is just awesome. *LOL*

You gotta make your pictures different somehow. I mean EVERYONE wears a white dress and looks lovingly into their groom's eyes. Baaaah! You need to be daring!

It's all about the graveyard. That would be so coooooooooool!

[Kristen]

We're not the most daring couple, as great as all that sounds. My grandfather is a photographer and will do our pics and my uncle is great with a video camera. Plus, we don't exactly have money to be extravagant with. I'm lucky my fiance let me have a small wedding at all. He was all for eloping. I want a semi-normal wedding, I know that sounds weird, but I'm just not really a crazy enough person to pull off a fantastic wedding like that.. and I have no money and no one is helping me much with that expense.

[Jacalyn]

Oh that's so cute! You should totally do a halloween wedding!!!!

Though I still vote for the graveyard. OK, how about portraits in a graveyard? Trash the dress in a graveyard? Come on, it's Halloween!!!

You know, I have an artist contact and for her wedding she made everyone animal masks to wear. That was pretty cool. Maybe you should think about something like that? Or just tell people the reception is halloween themed? Call it a costume ball. :)

Then of course you could get handfasted, which can be done legally and Christ centered should you want that. It would be very Renn-Faire-ish which would go nicely with halloween. :)

[Kristen]

I would go for Renn-faireish. I really want more of a renn-faire wedding dress, no train, no thing over my face.. Again, the money thing makes it hard to do. I'm thinking reception I can make a classy halloween theme. No like stripper costumes, etc...

[Meme]

OMG I just got tickets to Toby Keith!!! so I wont be on tonight :( OK sorry I now that is off topic lol

My hubby and I got married around the date that we started dating to it was actually 2 day after the date that we first started dating and no I don't mean me got married that fast, we got married 1 year and 2 days after we started dating lol

[Kristen]

Awesome Meme! Enjoy the concert dear. I just can't remember names or dates to save my life, so I thought that that would make it easier to remember.

[Meme]

Kristen wrote: "I would go for Renn-faireish. I really want more of a renn-faire wedding dress, no train, no thing over my face.. Again, the money thing makes it hard to do. I'm thinking reception I can make a cla..."

My wedding was pretty simple I had it at a church but all the decorations, photos, and filming was done by family, even my wedding dress was actually my aunts that she wore on her wedding so I understand small and simple, my receptions was everyone in the family brought a covered dish LOL it was great!!!

[Kristen]

I've heard of weddings like that. I had one of those types of parties for my engagement party. Everyone brought a dish with food and when the party was over I could keep the dishes. So now I have some cute-sy stuff.

[Jacalyn]

Kristen,

I am very renn-fairish. You could do this very inexpensively if you wanted. OMG you should see the dress I made for halloween. It would go great. It was CHEAP. I'll dig up photos to link you if you like. (I think I posted a crappy cam phone photo...) I made mine way fancier than what was on the pattern.

I like the classy halloween thing. :) You will have to find a good photographer who can work with you. Do you have a local park? Some parks will let you get married there for next to nothing. You just gotta pay the officiator. Of course you could always find someone with a big yard. Then you know it is free. :)

Now photographers, that's another thing all together. I'm cheap but most wedding photogs are mamajamma bucks. I just read an article in a trade mag that said a guy gets paid 7500 bucks for a wedding! Holy smokes!

We met in January. We got married in September. LOL So we were a quick deal. I was sick of being engaged. LOL

Meme have fun at the concert!!! That's great for you!

[Jacalyn]

Kristen, that's a great idea! The covered dish, bride keeps the dish! That's really fantsatic!!!

My reception was cheap. It would have been cheaper but motherzilla put her foot down and got me this cake from "the best bakery in town" OMG it tasted like ick. Yeah. GROSS!And then she had some deli cater it. But it was the only thing we paid for. Everything else was free.

The first wedding I shot was for my SIL. She rang me up and asked. The second wedding I shot was for a friend. Both of those were still on film so they paid for the film and developing and I did the shooting and gave no gift. Worked well for me and them!

[Meme]

Lady Ozma wrote: "Kristen,

I am very renn-fairish. You could do this very inexpensively if you wanted. OMG you should see the dress I made for halloween. It would go great. It was CHEAP. I'll dig up photos to l..."


Thank you all I am very excited, I will try to take some pics so y'all can see them :) My mom had her wedding in my Dads back yard LOL OK that sounded kinda weird it was my memmaws back yard lol, I really like the simple wedding if you need help with ideas let me know and I will look around for you.

so I have to ask what was this thread about before we started talking LOL

[Meme]

Lady Ozma wrote: "Kristen, that's a great idea! The covered dish, bride keeps the dish! That's really fantsatic!!!

My reception was cheap. It would have been cheaper but motherzilla put her foot down and got me ..."

I got really lucky on that point my aunt makes cakes so she made mine for me the only thing that tasted bad was the white grape juice, I was 18 so I couldn't have anything more LOL

[Jacalyn]

One of my friends got married in her parents backyard. I think it can be done really well. You hear about it more now. I think anything to save a dime... weddings are mega costly.

I have a friend who plans parties for everyone and their brother for nothing. She's a wealth of good ideas. I keep telling her she needs to become a party planner. Because she does this for military people, she's always finding ways to do it for cheap. I already sent a shout out to her for cool ideas for a halloween wedding (which she says is fun). She's planning her own now. It's a Cinderella theme. And she's finding ways to keep the cost way down. She's also planning my housewarming party. :)

I keep telling her we need to go into business. She can plan, I'll photograph. I have a friend here who can make cakes. I also design gowns and my mother sews. I have another friend that is a DJ. I mean talk about your full service package! LOL.

Oh man, my cake was nasty. That place is foul. I tell everyone to stay the heck away. I had people offering to take care of the food but my mother wouldn't allow it. Oy. Can you start to guess why I was sick of being engaged???????

[Kristen]

We're doing it in my parents backyard.. it's large. My grandma said she would rent an arch. My friend is going to grow pumpkins and squashes for decoration. My grandfather is a professional photographer, so that's covered. My little sis will play keyboards for the song. My uncle will video record and my aunt makes cakes (Go Meme's aunt too!) - my fiance wants a pumpkin pie wedding cake. I'll have to see how we can accomplish that. No one can design dresses that well, so I'll have to buy that. I have something specific in mind that I found on a bridal website.

I think we're catering some appetizing hors deurves and then the clubhouse we're doing it at is only $200. My other grandparents belong to a retired community and they have a sweet clubhouse. We'll get $100 back if we leave the place in great shape.

My older sis pulled her wedding off for under 5 thousand, I can do about the same hopefully.

[Meme]

oh hun you can definitely do it for that if not a lot less, mine ended up being under 1,000 But I didn't have to buy the dress so that saved a lot of money and I had a maid of honor and best man and flower girl and that was it. we didn't do fancy with there dresses either we just found white dresses that looked close to each other, my memmaw made the bouquet, (with fake flowers because I wanted to be able to keep it afterwards) for all of us so it was really good.

[Kristen]

My sister is the maid of honor and she's just wearing a brown dress she had, the best man will have to rent a tux and then my niece and cousin are flower girls (both 3). I don't know what they'll wear. My grandfather said he'd pay for the dress. I'm not sure about the catering costs or chair costs...

[Jacalyn]

Kristen, I designed my wedding gown. :) You can do it if you want to. Here's the dress I made last fall:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyozma...

You can totally pull yours off for under 5k. Sounds like you are well on your way.

My bouquet was artificial, too. No one did that back then. I highly recommend it. My bouquet hands on my wall and looks just the same as it did 14 years ago. :) It's a lot cheaper. You use the scraps to make a throw away bouquet to toss for singletons to catch. :)

But I'm telling you, if you go graveyard, fire your grandpa. Tell him you want him to enjoy the events. I'll shoot the wedding. *GRINS* (Yes, I'm still gunning for a graveyard wedding. I'll totally drive to Chicago!!!)

[Kristen]

Very cool! I'll talk to my fiance.. but I might scare my family by having a graveyard wedding hahaha. Well maybe not my mom's side, but definitely my dad's side.

[Meme]

LOL you sound all fired up for this I wonder if you wont go up there anyway

[Meme]

LOL When we were taking pictures after the wedding we didn't pay attention to where we where standing and in almost all of them you see headstones it really funny, they are not big but if we would have turned the other way we would have got trees and a really pretty view of the mountains but noooo LOL we have to do things wrong

[Kristen]

That's too funny. I don't mind imperfections, I just think I really want a little bit of a normal wedding.. nothing too crazy! :) Still thinking about the graveyard...

[Jacalyn]

Rent them the corpse bride and say "See isn't it cool"!!!! I dunno. HAHA

OMG there's a whole thread on brides.com about graveyard weddings! And you can have one in Vegas? Dang. (I googled)

check this out: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/323...

(Though I'd have to do something cooler than that... but my last wedding I had the groom bench pressing his bride)

Wow, how cool is this? It's actually in a graveyard! The power of google!
http://www.cameroningalls.com/blog/up...

I totally want to do a graveyard wedding. I think it would be so cool. But I am weird.

I took this of my Moroccan daughter at Arlington Nat'l Cemetary: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyozma...
I took this on another trip to Arlington: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyozma...

Rats, I don't have the benchpressing picture on my flickr (wonder if it is on my facebook) but I did do this (not in a graveyard dangit but wouldn't it be great in one?):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyozma...

Meme, if they get married in a graveyard and don't invite me I'll crash it. I'm pretty daring. HAHA