Know what's cool?

...and I kind of wish I had done, but kept forgetting, and then ran out of time?

Inviting the President to your wedding. I know some people that have done this, and no, obviously Obama's not going to come to your wedding, but you get a response from the White House! I'm not alone in thinking this is a pretty cool keepsake!

via Google Images

How to invite the President:

The Honorable Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama
The White House
Greetings Office Rm. 39
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

ALSO, you can invite the Queen! But I think Buckingham Palace only responds to requests within the UK.

How to invite the Queen:

The Secretary to Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II of England
Buckingham Palace
London, England
SW1A 1AA

Note: Both ask for at least 6 weeks to respond (but the earlier, the better!).

Do it!

-C
xxx

Party Time! Excellent!

via Martha Stewart

I can't wait to start cooking things for our party. Former Bridesmaid/Now Wife Amanda and I are throwing a joint birthday party for our hubbies this Friday. It's BYOCC themed - which means Bring Your Own Christmas Cookies! It's going to be at their house, since ours isn't really conducive to having lots of people in one area (we have lots of tiny rooms on three floors, versus big, open spaces on less floors), unless we wanted to have it in the backyard... in December. Anyway, we kind of procrastinated on the planning, but this past weekend it kind of hit me, oh crap! We're having a party on Friday! So I went out and bought a bunch of crap... I mean, delicious food (that's probably not in the health food aisle). I decided to make spin dip (which I'm also bringing to my work's floor holiday party that day), decided to throw some Velveeta cheese and salsa in a crock pot for a quick and easy cheesy dip, decided on a cookie recipe for myself... I guess I was in panic mode that I wouldn't have time to do anything. But now? Oh now I'm finding more recipes I want to make and I'm going to drive myself (and possibly my husband...) crazy this week with all the cooking I'm going to do. But I don't care! I want to do it! It's Christmas, and you know what I think my problem is? I don't think I've ever... wait for it... wait for it... thrown a Christmas party. Yeah, so I guess I'm kind of on overload with wanting to do all sorts of things in addition to what I already listed above. Like making eggnog from scratch (yes, it's delicious if you don't buy it at the store), and making two kinds of cookies... and making deviled eggs with green and red food coloring! EEK!! That's my excited sound.

How am I ever going to be able to wait the two days before I can start making things??

I'm blaming Martha Stewart for providing me with a plethora of recipes.

-C
xxx

Tip O' The Week - Tipping!

No, not cows. Vendors. No, not physically. Monetarily. (I know, I'm hilarious.)

Via Google Images

I did a lot of research on a lot of things during my wedding planning, one thing I'll bring up for you today is vendor tipping. Some say tipping isn't necessary. I think it is. But that may be because I worked in the service industry in college (read: waitress), and I know how it feels to not get tipped. I also know how good it feels to get tipped! Needless to say, I always tip bartenders, waitresses, etc. But when it came to figuring out what to do for wedding vendors, I definitely needed to do some research. I read some forums, googled and saw what other people did, and I think I came up with a pretty good solution. You tip those that don't own their own business. Those that simply work for the business typically get paid less than those that do own that business. Those that own the business set the prices and do so by figuring out how much profit will be made versus how much they spend to provide the service. For example, our videographer. He owns the business, so obviously he gets all that money. Yes, I know that he uses it to produce the final product and pay for his equipment and all, but if it were anyone other than him doing the videoing, they would get less of that profit. Therefore, the owner gets the price they laid out, but the worker (non owner) should receive a tip (unless they sucked at whatever service they provided). Same goes for delivery people (if you have to rent things like a tent, port-a-potties, tables, etc., like I did). I gave delivery people $5-$10 per person depending on what they had to set up (I had 3 rental companies).

Hope this helps someone out there! And I also hope it doesn't offend any vendors. I think it's pretty fair, no? I mean, if you want to tip everyone, go ahead, but that's your call!

-C
xxx