Life this week

Busy but good. Monday was met with work, starting after the long drive from where B's at. Mailed 20 invites. Monday evening: CLEANED. Oh Lordy, it felt GOOD. I also got the memory foam mattress thing for B so he can sleep better.

Tuesday: laundry! The joy of clean clothes. I also picked up 7 lbs of rhubarb and 40 pussy willow branches. They are great; like 1/2- 3/4" diameter at the bottom. The most excellent thing was because they had been closed a few times when I was told they would be open (thus a few fruitless trips and some frustration), they gave me the rhubarb at $1/lb and the branches at $0.50 each. WOO!

So, $27 later, my car was packed with a box of rhubarb, 40 willow branches (and they're big... like 5' tall each), and a memory foam mattress. I should add that my car windows and trunk can all close!! I'm very proud of my packing. AND, this is great because now I only have to take them out down at B's place tonight, rather than load/unload/load again, losing the fuzzy buds in the process. If my windows/trunk were not able to close then I'd have been forced to figure another thing out since I'm not leaving those open in the parking garage downtown.

Poor B... tonight he gets greeted with 40 willow branches. We've already discussed how to store.

Tonight we hope to finish the final 24 invitations. Total there were 92. NINETY-TWO! Crazy. We're not expecting all of those folks to show, obviously. Luckily, we're flexible up to 168 on tables and 135 on chairs. but, more chairs can easily be acquired. Again, poor B-- I asked that dinner be ready to go that way when I get there we can get to work.

As far as chair covers, I've solved the dilemma: we're going to wrap material around the BACKS of the chairs and have a sash on them, but we're not going to do 100% chair covers. It will look fine, and we wont' have to spend $100s on chair covers that we have to go to the hassle of reselling. B and I talked about it and we like this solution.

Chair Cover Dilemma, Continued...

POSSIBLE SOLUTION!!

I checked craigslist today and found a couple, getting married, in the same dilemma B and I are in with chair covers. I emailed...

... and they responded! They are interested in B and I purchasing the covers, and then they would rent the covers from us for their August wedding. We're still sorting out details, but this seems a win-win situation... We'd both save money AND have nice covers.

Fingers crossed.

Chair cover dilemma II

So, a wise friend of mine (thanks eireann!) suggested I look into renting chair covers. As much as I thought "no! I have the material!", I realized it was a possibly good solution to the problem of time management to make versus the cost of buying.

Uh huh. Not so.

Would you believe that to RENT chair covers it's $4-$5 a piece? No joke! So really BUYING them online is cheaper. OMG. What a ripoff! I thought for sure that the rental woudl be cheaper.

Now, granted, I'm limiting my search to this area; I don't want to have my friends go to TONS of hassle to return various things to various places that we've rented from. But still, I don't live on a desert island. There were a few places! And no success.

So, we're back to buying versus making. I think I'll wait a couple of weeks for somethign to get sorted out at work, and THEN make the decision. :) We could always use the material to instead make the walls in the ugly knotty pine section look better... or/and put swaths over the windows... hmmm...

Chair cover dilemma

I have the material. It's a relatively simplistic pattern (no complicated features). But I am dreading making chair covers. Why? There are (at least) 100 of them to make.

I like these chair covers the best. They have these adorable pleats in the back that I think will make the cover fit better, especially since the chair legs go out a bit in back. Then, I wouldn't have to account for that. But still... there are 100 of them, and that just ugh...

I suppose I could set things up assembly-line style... cut out 100 chair backs. Cut out 100 chair pads, etc etc etc. But that would just take a LONG TIME.

There are these chair covers online. I suspect they are basically a white sheet, gathered appropriately. They are very tempting, but I think they just look bad. I tell myself that they'd look better with a tie and a sash, but I really don't think so. They look baggy, and they look like they'd catch on chair legs when someone moves the chair or when someone sits down.

So I think I'm going to be stuck making these. Suggestions? I (and B agrees) really want chair covers. The chairs right now are this hideous green pleather round top banquet chairs with gold metal legs. EW. But the work.... Maybe I should just bite the bullet and start.

Things are really getting busy...

There are a lot of projects on the table right now... Thought I'd list the immediate ones, partially for my organization, and partially, well, to post.
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Invitations: B's finishing step 1 of the actual invitations down south; they should be ready to come up by next weekend. We'll work on step 2 and 3 the weekend of 4/3. I'm working on envelopes at home right now, and I'll get the outer envelopes from B this weekend so I can start labeling next week.
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Placemats: 56 have fabric on them, which means another 44 need fabric. We're planning 100 for now, and additional ones can be made if we get more than 100 rsvps. Then, all 100 need ribbon and backing. Goal to get this done: 3 weeks from now.
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Giftboxes: We've done nothing! Well, we have all the supplies. I need to cut and glue paper on to all of them, as well as make the contents. I think the making will occur the weekend of 4/3 because baking can happen while other stuff is happening.
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Registries: Will be finished up the weekend of 4/3. BBB's will take a while though... there's a lot to go through.
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Website: Needs: photos for a few things, hotel information, and registry links and info. I think that's it though!
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Centerpieces: My big project this week and next week during the week. I sit at home and cut and make paper roses. No joke. I made probably about 40 last night and cut probably about 70. Not very productive, especially considering each centerpiece needs about 200 roses. UGH.
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Lanterns: Our friend, Tiana, it cutting circles and folding, B is doing the same. Our friend, Jenn, is stapling and making lanterns. So, while I NEED to staple the petals I have, I have to work on centerpieces the next couple of weeks. Those take greater importance right now.
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Food: I need to do a test-run of the rouladin to double make sure the freezing/thawing process doesn't ruin the integrity of the item. This is more to please my parents than me... I've done this before! Ugh. But I suppose it will make me happy too. Food preparation should begin the first week in May. I figure 1.5 months frozen is an ok time. I plan on freezing the rouladin in gravy so as to keep it moist in the freezer. Spaetzle will be made probably the first week in June.
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Tablecloths: Need to be made. I have the material... but I think I will use the material I have on chair covers first, and then possibly use the remainder or buy thicker material for the tablecloths.
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Chair Covers: Need to be made. ASAP. We will be measuring the hall this weekend, as well as taking detailed measurements of the chairs. Then it will be a matter of cut and sew for me. I need to get these finished soon. Hopefully by mid-April.
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Yellow Lanterns: Haven't even begun to be made. Eek. I figure we'll probably need about 200 of these.... They will be easier than the regular lanterns because these only need to be hung on a vertical strand... but still.
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Hiring Workers: One has been hired, the other 2-3 need to be. This will occur in late April/early May.
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Flowers: Need to be ordered. Probably this weekend. I need to also order other items for the flowers, and that will probably happen online or I will call local florists.... that will probably occur next week.
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Menu Cards: Will occur late-April, once I do a test-run of the rouladin.
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Name Cards: Will occur mid-June, after we've hunted down all the RSVP folks.
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Church Decorations: I think we're going to do all-white. There had been the hope of doing color, but B and I discussed it, and we like the idea of lanterns in the church done in all white. Thign is though, white will show staples more, so we may glue these lanterns. 28 rows, each side, so 56 pews to hang on, times 3 lanterns each = 168 lanterns. I have beautiful white satin ribbon to hang them on. B & I think it will be a nice way to tie the church decorations with the reception decorations
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Dress Rehearsal: I need to fill out the card reserving things. UGH. I keep forgetting. B and I need to decide who will provide the meat... probably a local BBQ place.
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Cake Decorations: I have to get started on these. Maybe a day in the next week or two can be devoted to these....I will probably start after 4/3 weekend because I want to do a few more practice ones and get B's input.
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Rose Droplets: It depends on whether we get the centerpieces done with enough time. I'd like to have 3 rose droplets on the back of each chair at the reception, but if we dont' have time, these will become lanterns instead.
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Table runners: Need to be sewn. This shouldn't be too complicated.
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Wine Glasses: Need to be cleaned (they have logos on them right now... extras from an event) and have charms put on.

There's more, but you get the idea....

Chair Covers

So here is my aspiration to achieve re: the chair covers. We think white covers would look great, as well as the yellow sash (though our sash would be out of material, not flimy ribbon). Instead of a live flower though, we thought we'd put one of the rose droplets there.  I think it will look really pretty, especially if the rose droplets are either red or orange. Hm. The pattern for the chairs should be really simple, and I have nice cotton material (easy to work with). It should just be a matter of cut and sew. I can get B to help out with the cutting part. :) Sewing, not so much, though he's pretty darn handy and wants to learn.

I think my back panel on the chair will be all one piece though. That way there will be 4 pieces total: Back panel, front of the backpanel/seat/front of chair and the two square side panels. It's not a garment for a person, so it should be error-hiding and relatively forgiving.