Treasured Memories on a Budget

Treasured Memories on a Budget I believe that any event, large or small can be done on a budget. I provide pics, ideas, DIY's, tips and links to other local vendors and venues

10/30/2022

Discover even more ideas for you

07/24/2014

Bride / Groom's Wedding Checklist

10–12 Months To Go
PICK A DATE!!!
* Work out your budget and what are your top priorities
* Figure out how many guests you want and make a guest list , don’t worry you will change it many times
* That’s why you need to start now
* Choose your wedding party—who do you want by your side at the altar?
* Find a venue for your ceremony and reception, and reserve your date! For destination weddings or weddings around a holiday, consider sending out Save-the-Date cards or emails. Or create your own wedding website, and let your invitees know about it.
* Find a Dress and begin assembling the perfect accessories, If you like vintage think of redoing your mom’s dress my DIL did and it turned out gorgeous and she saved money
* Find a Vendor.(s)
*Food; is it to be a Caterer; sit down, buffet, bbq
* Photographer / Videographer
* Officiant, church etc need to book NOW!
* If you just can’t plan your wedding Consider hiring a Wedding Planner, or ask people you know if they can help
* Start planning your honeymoon
* 6–9 Months To Go
* Continue looking for vendors. And don’t forget, when you hire one make sure to put everything in writing!
* Decide on arrangements , and if you need to; hire a Floral Designer. And sit down with her/him
* Do a tasting and choose your wedding cake with your Cake Designer.
* Hire the DJ/Entertainment for your ceremony or if you need to save money look up on how to do a playlist on your PC.
* Decide on wedding invitations; are you doing it yourself. Or having them made
* Create your gift registry (and don’t forget to update your wedding website!).
* Arrange hotel rooms for out-of-town guests and book your own suite for the wedding night.
* Shop for bridesmaid/flower girl dresses
* Arrange and book any necessary transportation.
*Go over bridal shower/bachelorette details and the guest list with the person hosting your party.

3–5 Months To Go
* Book the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner location(s).
* If you specify no children at your wedding then arrange childcare for your guests
* Reserve all necessary party rentals .and linens
* Order wedding favors for your guests., or make them, remember budget
* Shop for and reserve men’s formalwear.
* Concentrate on finalizing the:
* Guest list. Get everyone’s mailing address.
* Invitation wording. Confirm your invitation text with the Stationer, and consider additional stationery (programs, menu cards, place cards, thank-you cards, etc.). Schedule a pickup date for your invites.
* Ceremony readings and vows.
* Menu, beverage and catering details.
* Do a Makeup & Hair trial and book your stylists. Shop for and purchase your wedding rings.
* Finalize honeymoon plans and obtain all necessary papers
6–8 Weeks To Go
* Mail out those invitations!.
* Touch base with your vendors to confirm date, deposits and details.
* Go for your marriage license and name-change paperwork.
* Begin your dress fittings. Be sure to buy the appropriate undergarments beforehand.
* Write thank-you cards for shower gifts and any early wedding gifts received.

3–5 Weeks To Go
* Go over wedding vows and readings with your Officiant.
* Shot list with your Photographer/Videographer.
* Song list for ceremony, cocktail hour and reception with your DJ and/or Band/Musicians.
* Timeline for the reception and who’s giving the toasts, will you be having an MC
* Wedding night and honeymoon accommodations..
* Arrange seating and create the seating chart and/or place cards
• pick up your wedding rings
• Do you have something old, new, borrowed and blue?
• Purchase your guest book, toasting flutes, cake servers, unity candle, and all that good stuff. Or ask your parents if they still have theirs for something old
• Have your final dress fitting. Bring your shoes and accessories
• Go over your guest list and . contact whoever hasn’t RSVP’d yet.
Confirm arrival times and finalize the wedding timeline with vendors and the wedding party—make sure your MOH has a copy, too
1–2 Weeks To Go
* Give your caterer/venue the final guest count.
* Pick up your gown..
* Put together your own Bridal Emergency Kit.
* Speaking of emergencies: Check the weather report, and if things look iffy contact your venue to make sure a contingency plan is in place.
* Start packing for your honeymoon.
The Day Before…
Make a LIST of everything you need to bring with you
* Make sure all wedding-day items are packed/laid out and ready to go! (Don’t forget the rings and marriage license!)
* Figure out tips and final payments for vendors. Put them in clearly marked envelopes and give them to the Best Man or another person you trust to hand out at the reception.
* Assign someone to pack up your gifts/belongings after the reception (don’t forget the top tier of your cake!).
* Attend the rehearsal and dinner, give out wedding party gifts

07/23/2014

Family means too much, Friends are too valuable, And life is too short, To put-off sharing with people, How much they really mean to you, And pursuing whatever it is that makes you happy. Anonymous

07/23/2014

Party Tips
Hi there, so you want to throw a party. well you have come to the right place, cause I've thrown lots of them. The best advice I can give you is get a notebook. The next thing you want to do is right down your budget; right on the front page, and stick to it, cause I'm telling you with the excitement of planning and throwing a party your budget can fly right out the window. In this section I will be writing about planning; theme parties; type of food; whether it's a potluck or you're going to cook everything yourself; making your own personalized invitations; making your own decorations; and decoration ideas; games; party favours and the list goes on and on....
So to make things easier I have compiled a list for you to check off when planning your party. So like I said earlier "BUDGET"; number one on the list and Unless your planning a wedding you don't need a lot of time to plan a party.

One Month Before:
Budget
Date and Time
Place
Guest List
Menu; is it buffet or potluck
Decide if it is going to be a theme party; if it is pick one
Invitations, are you mailing them out, emailing, or hand delivering Get your invitations ready and send them out. You want to be able to give people time to decide, and don't forget to RSVP them. Also if its a potluck make sure you put that on your invite you don't want to end on with no food on the table.
Pick your type of party, cause if it's going to be a theme party you can plan your menu around the theme; for example "black tie"; your menu can be appetizers and champagne spritzers.
Decide if your serving alcohol; I personally don't serve it because these are my friends and I want them to have fun; and I want to have fun and not worry how people are getting home. I want them home safe and sound.
Make a list of items you have at home you can use; i.e. candlesticks, dishes, glasses anything that will help you keep to your budget and keep it low. this way less money spent on this stuff means more money for decorations. And if your crafty you can be unique and make your own decorations.
Music; again go by theme; i.e. a Luau play Hawaiian music
Three weeks before:
If this is a theme party and you require a costume, decide now if your buying, renting or making your own

Two weeks before
If your planning on cooking for the party decide on what can be frozen and cook it and freeze it; that way you have less to cook at party time.
give the house a good cleaning, and when the time comes you just need to do a light housekeeping.
One week before:

Plan where you want your furniture to go, and decide if you need extra chairs. Make sure you have enough hangers to hang up every ones coat
Night Before:
Decorate for the party, arrange your furniture, set out extra chairs.
Go over your check list to make sure you haven't forgotten anything, tomorrow is the party and you don't want to have an anxiety attack because you forgot something.

Day of the party:
Get up early; you want to give yourself time to get ready, People will be excited to come to your party and some will arrive early.
Finish any cooking that needs to be done.
go through the house make sure everything is party ready. Oh and double check the bathroom; extra towels; toilet paper; no prescription medicine in the cabinet just that if you have young kids at the party you don't want them getting into things.
tools for quick clean ups, paper towels, stain remover etc.
Yes!! party Time!!

Take one final look in the mirror, greet your guests and have fun!!!

Masquerade How-tos & DIYsMASQUERADE WREATH HOW-TODIY partiesChandelier Wreath Items needed To MakeWreath- 1plain Christ...
07/23/2014

Masquerade How-tos & DIYs

MASQUERADE WREATH HOW-TO

DIY parties
Chandelier Wreath

Items needed
To Make
Wreath
- 1plain Christmas wreath
-- 1 feather boa
-- 3 strings of mardigras beads
5 mardigras masks
wire cutters
fishing line or any type of string
scissors

This my first how-to so I hope I've been clear in the instructions.

The best place I found to buy everything was my local dollar store. It's affordable and I was able to find what I needed. This is a very easy project. First thing you want to decide is choice of colors. My friends and I decided the color scheme would be royal colors; purple, gold and blue with shots of green and pink. So for my wreath I chose a purple feather boa; purple and gold mardigra beads, purple, green and gold glittered masks.
Next thing would be to take your wire cutters and cut through the wire wreath; only on one side; that way it will be able to open up and fit around the chandelier...

Mardigra beads cut at
different lengths
glittered mask

then take your feather boa; I used purple and wrap evenly around wreath. Grab your beads and cut them at different lengths and use your fishing wire to tie them around the branches of your wreath. I used five different glittered masks to decorate the wreath; you can use whatever pleases you but its best to work in odd numbers.

this is the end project
I hope you enjoyed it
and have fun making it

Next DIY is a Mardigras centerpiece so stay tuned

Venetian Masquerade Table DisplayThis the tute for the Venetian Masqueradetable display; I've included a pic of a smalle...
07/23/2014

Venetian Masquerade Table Display
This the tute for the Venetian Masquerade
table display; I've included a pic of a smaller one I
made, it's basically done the same way.

masquerade decorations
this is a smaller
version of the tabletop display
items Needed
1 - broom stick
Decorative Flower Pot
1 - feather boa
3 - Masquerade masks
1 - brick of Styrofoam to fit inside pot
hot glue gun/+ glue sticks
wire ribbon
small rocks; anything heavy to put inside to keep it from tipping
any other decorative items
you wish to place on the display

masquerade decorations
Sorry pic not so good
but its really
gorgeous

I bought my decorative pot at a value village for .99cents, my broomstick was from an old broom lying around, everything else was from our local buck store.

Place rocks inside pot; then Styrofoam you may need to trim to fit; shove broom stick into centre of Styrofoam; Hot glue feather boa around one end of stick; wrap rest of boa around stick and glue other end to top. randomly place and glue your masks; bows; beads (choice of decorations) to front of display. No need to decorate around the back if placing against the wall; like I did. I hope you enjoy. Stay tuned my two amigos and I are planning an old fashioned Xmas party for our friends. there will be a lot of fun ideas that you will be want to use for your own party.

This was a Luua we had when my friend's last child moved out, again it was a potluck we also dressed up i hawaiian style
07/23/2014

This was a Luua we had when my friend's last child moved out, again it was a potluck we also dressed up i hawaiian style

these pics are from a Mardigras Party it was a hoot, we did it as a potluck games and prizes, again using dollar store p...
07/23/2014

these pics are from a Mardigras Party it was a hoot, we did it as a potluck games and prizes, again using dollar store products

This is the most recent event, my son Cory McCoy and his new wife Shannen. I made all the decor, and flowers using dol...
07/23/2014

This is the most recent event, my son Cory McCoy and his new wife Shannen. I made all the decor, and flowers using dollar store flowers, candle holders, glasses etc. I could not condone the prices of silk flowers at local flower shops when I could find them so much cheaper. I used teacups that my mother had given to me as centerpieces and place pics of Cory and Shannen growing up..if have any questions or need any help give a shout...

07/23/2014

I've had a lot of people tell me I should be out there planning weddings etc. I do love doing it, but on a budget. Your day can be beautiful and special without the stress if you just follow me. The next little while I'll be posting pics of some of the events I've put together hope you enjoy.

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North Bay, ON

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