After several requests – here are pictures of the tree/weed.
Tree/Weed with a second (and different type) of tree in front of it. See… it’s huge.
If you look close you will see three things: (1) 7 billion heart shaped leaves (this is the weed) (2) a buttload of poison ivy and (3) the ugly picky bush underneath all of it. The picky bush is supposed to be there however, I think the poison ivy growing overtop of it is actually an aesthetic improvement. Meh.
As you can see, it’s not a bad looking plant (the heart shaped one) but we just don’t need 700 of them all over our yard. Plus I’m really liking how much more tidy that area of yard looks without that tree. The other tree/weed is huge and I think we’ll just let that one stay. Ripping out one of the trees and all the little ones is probably plenty of progress for this year.
Weedman update: We called on Tuesday to figure out if/when they were going to spray. Turns out that they had not been out yet. Maybe there was some sort of miscommunication – I think they were waiting for us to give them the “okay” and officially order service from them. Lo and behold – when I got home on Wednesday, there was an invoice on the door and a little sign on the lawn saying that they’d sprayed. The official plan is $42/application and 5 applications. We’ve also been offered a 15% discount if we pre-pay by May 31st. Sounds like a plan! That brings it down to $35/application. So… we’ll see how this summer goes.
Continuing with the landscaping theme, this weekend’s plans include: (1) cover all skin head-to-toe (2) trim back the ivy, trees, and poison ivy that are growing over the walkways and dock in the back, (3) rip poison ivy out of front yard, and (4) trim ivy away from house so that it stops pulling up the freakin’ vinyl siding, and (5) NOT GET POISON IVY! Cross your fingers for me please 🙂
Now to wedding things!
Ellen and I are making great progress on the pinwheels. I’d say were about 1/3 done. We’ve also started into the pinwheel boutonnieres and mini-pinwheel table accents (i.e. guestbook table, cake table, etc). Check out the handiwork below.
I have to say, I’m in love with how they look. (Who knew boutonnieres looked awesome on ladies? Heh heh. I’m sure they’ll look great on the guys too!) And the best part? They could not be easier! (Seriously friends, it’s a 4″ x 4″ piece of paper, cut and folded, secured with a mini-brad, and hot glued to a bar pin. Yes – that’s really it!) They are also super cost-efficient. This is a clearance scrapbook paper I found at Little Yellow Bicycle’s clearance site (littleyellowbargains.com). At a measly 24 cents per sheet – you can get 9 boutonnieres out of each sheet of paper (2.66 cents each). The mini-brads were $1.99 for 100 ct (2 cents each). The 1″ bar pins were $5.95 for 50 ct (11.9 cents each). The only other material used was hot glue. Exact cost of amount used per pin is impossible to measure but glue stick are pretty inexpensive and I didn’t use much at all per pin (so I’d guess maybe 2 cents). So, you’re looking at about less than $.20 per boutonniere. And I already had the paper (leftovers from the centerpiece pinwheels). You’ll also need a glue gun and scissors but who doesn’t already have these? (They’re cheap if you don’t. You’ll spend maybe $5-7.) I opted for a tiny hole punch too – it made life easier when we were working on the big pinwheels (I think that was like $7-8). Flower boutonnieres are usually $10 or less (unless you get fancy or out-of-season flowers… then expect more). So, as you can see, we’re saving a lot here.
On the subject of flowers…
Every bride is on a budget. I have always been told that flowers are ridiculously expensive so when I stumbled onto the pinwheel idea in a wedding magazine last summer – I knew this was the route I wanted to take. I LOVE how it looks – it’s fresh, fun, and different from the traditional wedding. As a bonus, I was sure it’d save us money in the long run.
Guys, I couldn’t be more happy that I made that decision. The plan all along was to do pinwheel things for the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and ushers. Flowers for my bouquet, the moms, the dads, and the grandparents. No flowers as decorations for the ceremony, reception, or cake. Basically, we’re going super light on the flowers. I finally started pricing places out a week or so ago and was still shocked going into it knowing they are going to be expensive.
I started with the ONE flower shop in South Haven. Once I saw that their boutonnieres were $35 each (no matter what flower used – carnation, rose, etc), I about soiled myself. That is a ridiculous price. Want to take a stab at how much a bouquet is? Apparently they range from $73 (for carnations) and $723 (for gardenias). Yes, you read that correctly. $723 for a bouquet. I called to see if that really truly was their asking price and never quite made it to the “pricing out” part of the phone call. They are apparently already booked for two other MASSIVE weddings in South Haven for that same day. (Guess that’s why the hotels booked up so fast, huh?)
I tried Ambati Flowers in Kalamazoo since they were willing to deliver to South Haven (for a $50 fee – which I think is a pretty reasonable rate for a 1 hour drive each way). They quoted me $310 for 1 medium bouquet, 3 boutonnieres, 4 corsages, and delivery. That’s not terrible but can you image what it would be if we added in 4 bridesmaid bouquets, 7 more boutonnieres, and flowers for the ceremony and reception? I have to image that it’s really easy to rack up a $1000 on flower alone.
One nice thing about the South Haven flower shop is that they referred me on to 4 other florists in the area. Turns out there is a shop in Douglas (10-15 minutes north) that still has space for another small wedding on our date. Prices seem pretty reasonable and they are close enough where no delivery fee would apply. She said we’d be looking at about $200 absolute max. I plan to take a half day off of work next week to drive up there and meet with them. Fingers crossed that that works out.
And the last update for right now is that we bought my wedding band!
I love it! My engagement ring is a princess cut stone in a tiffany-style ring. Adding the baguette and round stones in just makes it super sparkly from any angle. The biggest reason why I selected this ring (aside from the above facts that it is pretty and sparkly) is because it is perfectly contoured. The one problem with a tiffany-style band is that the mounting/prongs get in the way of the wedding band (see example below – this is not me it just some random pic from a message board about getting rings to sit properly).
I didn’t care for how that looked or felt. Problem solved – perfect ring found. It sits perfectly flush to the engagement ring. 🙂 AND I think we got a pretty good deal on it. The jewelry store was having a Mother’s day sale. 10% off sale jewelry or 20% off regular price items. Boo yah! Now we just need to find Jeremy’s in the next month or so. Did you know that guys’ rings take 6 weeks to come in? We walked out of the store with my band but apparently you have to order guy’s rings since they’re made to order and not kept in stock. Weird.
And… the engagement pics have been posted. Go check ’em out! Luna Dulce Photography
Okay – off to work on invitation wording a little more! Have a great weekend!
A Blue French Horn... 
Your boutonnieres are awesome! We just figured out our flowers too – the best tip I got was thus: most wedding orders require flowers to be bought in bulk – if it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg for the arrangements anyway (we actually got a pretty good deal, wedding and reception flowered out for 800), make sure there’s a provision in the contract that you get any of the left over flowers delivered as well – gives you the opportunity to put some of those flowers to use as extra touches here and there as you see fit, or if you have a brunch the next day, you have your table centerpieces for that done and out of the way.