Floating on the River De-Nile

Now you didn't think I'd really go and leave the Bee without a proper goodbye, did you?  Of course not!  I just had to delay my sign-off for a for a while, because we had a little something coming up that I just had to share with you...

That's right!  Mrs. Pyramid visited the Great Pyramids!  

And Sphinx was there too!

Monumental Love: Budget Breakdown

I'm sure you can imagine posting something like this isn't very easy.  Money already is awkward to discuss, but now I'm sharing how much we spent on the most expensive day of our lives.  I'm not ashamed of our final number, but I also understand that this is something that people have a lot of opinions about - and those opinions and priorities can be very different from my own - so it's definitely scary to put out there.  But I also really appreciated knowing upfront how much things cost going into wedding planning (and I love compiling numbers), so we're going through with this post.  Please be gentle?

I'd like to start off with a few comments and clarifications to make myself feel better before we get into the nitty gritty numbers.

• The final total is high.  I realize that, and I'm not trying to pass this off as necessary or a smart use of this much money.  You might think I'm dumb or frivolous or wasteful, and believe me, I could definitely see your side of it.  But the fact of the matter is that these are the true numbers, we were able to fund it without going into debt, we had the wedding of our dreams, and I would defend (nearly) every single purchase that we made.  However, I don't want this to be a defensive post.  I want it to be helpful.  If you are having a similar wedding, this might help you plan a budget.  If your wedding is different than ours, I hope it's a testament to how quickly all of these costs add up, even when you feel like you're doing all the right research and making smart decisions.  
• We didn't start with a set budget in mind.  Would we have spent less if there had been a "do not pass" number at the beginning? Most likely.  Actually, the projected total cost was a bit lower (~10%, if I'm remembering correctly) a few months out from the wedding.  But in that home stretch, the cost did start ballooning.  Guest list creep meant the catering bill went up, finalizing the day-of timeline meant a few extra hours of photo and video, we decided to not do favors so we added on some more passed apps, and so on.  So that all sounds really bad.  That's the kind of stuff you're not supposed to do.  So what happened?  Well, by that point I had a clear picture of the funds available to spend on the wedding (contributions/gifts from family and personal savings included), so I was able to work the wedding budget to fit that at the time.  I mention this now so I can just touch shortly on it for each category below, but those "add on" expenses were very conscious and deliberate.  I went back and forth with my vendors on how much it would cost to have this versus that, and tried to make the smartest choices for our situation.  So our number went up, but it didn't just snowball at the end for no good reason.  I felt like I was in control of every decision, made trade-offs where necessary, and I understood every cost that we were billed for, so that made it all easier to swallow.  
• We had 220 guests.  Not like that's an excuse or anything, but I just wanted to make sure that was clear.  The number in attendance was on the high side, and it obviously increased our costs.  But I also wanted to mention that the road to 220 was paved with lots of give and take.  Meaning I gave in to my parents' request for additional guests on the list, and thus took contributions to the food and beverage budget because of that.  I felt like it was a fair compromise and it worked out well for our situation.  At the end of the day, I was happy to be able to include the people that my parents wanted there, without it putting an additional strain on my own wallet. 

And without further ado, let's get into this.

Date: Saturday, May 31, 2014
Location: New Orleans, LA
Number of Guests: 220
Type: Catholic ceremony with a semi-formal, evening, downtown cocktail reception

A Bee's Life: Pyramid Edition

The "Bee's Life" series has always been my favorite - these posts were so helpful to me when I was in the application process, and I just like hearing everyone's stories.  If you're thinking of applying, I highly recommend reading all of the posts in this series to see what advice other advice the blogger bees have for you!  

How did I find Weddingbee?

My account before I became a blogger goes back three years, and I think I was lurking a bit before then as well.  I know that I found the Ring Board first, while trying to learn more about specs and costs and styles of engagement rings when Sphinx and I first started discussing those.  I made my way over to blog and started following there, around the time the Fairy Tale Gen was starting up. And I've been hooked ever since!  

It meant so much to be able to carry these little guys!/Photo by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Everywhere Else Reviews

Today's post is significantly less involved than my local reviews, but including my "other" vendors seemed like it might be helpful to brides as well.  Really there's only one "out of town" vendor and the rest are just online stores, but I would still recommend any of these to you if you're on the hunt for a good store to purchase from.

Engagement Photos - Concept Photography

Photo by Concept Photography

Traveling to Florida to take our engagement pictures at Disney World is still hands down one of my favorite wedding decisions.  Working with Sara and Jason was just a ton of fun, and I absolutely love the photos we received.  I still follow Concept Photography on Facebook, and I'm consistently blown away by every single picture they post.  They're located in Florida but travel all over, so if you like their style, I would highly recommend getting in touch!

Monumental Love: New Orleans Reviews

Woah, sorry for the radio silence there, y'all.  I put "vendor reviews" as the next thing to knock out on my list, and it's definitely a topic that's more tedious and not as fun to write, so here we are a few weeks later.  And wrapping up my journey here on the Bee isn't that fun either, so I guess I'm subconsciously delaying that a bit too.  But now we're back on track and I figured it would be more manageable if I split the reviews up.  Today's post will focus on the New Orleans-based wedding vendors we used, and next time I'll share "everything else."  Sorry for the length, and the fact that it only applies to a small percentage of readers, but I wanted to make sure I was thorough

I decided to use the same rubric as Mrs. Turkey to rank my vendors (highly recommend, recommend, recommend with reservations, and do not recommend), but honestly you're going to see that most of these are raves.  All of my vendors were fantastic to work with, I have no regrets with who I chose, so I had to get really critical in my assessment here.  Hopefully my explanations of each are helpful in deciding if a certain vendor is the right choice for you.  As always, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message if you've got any specific questions.

Makeup by Amanda - Highly Recommend

Amanda is a part time makeup artist, but she definitely has all the skills and equipment to be the real deal.  She worked all day long doing makeup on myself, my bridesmaids, our moms, and a few extra family members.  We had airbrush foundation and false eyelashes for a reasonable price.  I remember she had to redo my eyelashes because some powder got on the falsies, and even though it took a little bit longer, I appreciated the extra attention to detail.  In my humble opinion, I think everyone looked amazing and if you'd like to contact her, just shoot me a message and I'll send you her email.

Photo by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Ending with a Sparkle

After the second line, the band was all done playing and guests made their way outside to line up for the sparkler exit.  It's really adorable that some couples do a private "last dance," but we didn't have anything like that.  I think we might have been posing for a couple more pictures with guests and just chit-chatting until we were told that everyone was outside waiting on us.  Very special indeed.

The sparkler setup, which served as a way to let guests know when we'd be wrapping everything up. | All photos by Eau Claire Photographics unless otherwise stated.

I purchased the 36" long, smokeless sparklers (these, specifically) so that the pictures would come out clear and we'd have a good amount of time to make this epic exit (four minutes, says the website and our test run).  I totally recommend this brand, the only thing I would have changed was my quantity.  I bought approximately one million more than we ended up needing, so we used the rest of them for New Year's Eve.  

Monumental Love: Pyramids Parade

Before we knew it, Groovy 7 was kicking off the final song: the traditional New Orleans second line!  I explained the second line a long time ago (and I also considered hiring a separate brass band to take this parade to the streets, but eventually decided it wasn't worth the money/hassle), but it's basically a big conga line with umbrellas and napkins to wrap up the reception. 

If you want to listen along to get into the spirit, here's the standard Mardi Gras song we second lined to.  This song was the one we wanted, but once again (last time!), Past Pyramid didn't send the right document to the band, so they didn't know to play it.  But you can listen to either one.  It's like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.  Except...the entire picture and story is the same.  Oh well, do what you wanna. 

All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Reception Round Up

So far we've covered everything at the reception (except the act of exiting, of course), but there were just a few photos that fell into an "other" category that I couldn't go without sharing.  So to round out our reception, and to give you a bit more of a feel for how our night progressed, here's a bit of "everything else."

Gorgeous high school friends./All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Pharoah-cious Photo Booth

(Yes, Pharoah-cious comes from my recap title graveyard when I was attempting to be witty.  It was just so ridiculous I had to use it somewhere)

For some reason, while we were planning I would always forget that we had a photo booth.  Like when I saw someone else post about them, I'd take a second to remember, "Oh, yea, we have one of those too!"  Probably because it was just such an easy choice and simple coordination.  I hired Mobile Memories to do our photo booth; I booked directly through them but they honored the Groupon deal because I wanted to do some add-ons, like an extra hour so the booth was open for the entire reception and the scrapbook. I gave them the names, date, and colors for the bottom of the photo strips, checked in to confirm the week of, and that was that. 

All photos by Mobile Memories.

Monumental Love: A Closer Look at the Reception

So we bloggers all do things a bit differently around here, but I for one enjoy seeing some of the reception details while we're still "on location" in the story.  So before we close out the rest of the night, let's take a look at some of the lovely details that made up our reception.  There's lots to see and talk about today, but if you haven't eaten lunch yet today, don't worry - you won't find any pictures of food here!  We didn't request any shots of food, so just trust me that there was food and drink present as well.

I'd like to start off with some of the gorgeous features that caused us to fall in love with the Board of Trade in the first place.  

These Corinthian columns and archways were in the process of being renovated when we booked the venue./Unless otherwise noted, photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Throw Me Something, Mister

After Mike the Tiger crashed our party, the dancing game stayed strong.  Sometime later on, the band called for the bouquet and garter tosses.  This was definitely one of those things we left on the list just "because you do it."  I'm know everyone's not the biggest fan of doing the tosses, but no Pyramid guests were harmed in (or forced into) the participation of this tradition.

I didn't give the band any specific songs to play, but looks like they might have had a song going, based on some dance-ish moves in the background./All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: The One with the Tiger

Back when I was first scouring local photographers' websites, I noticed some weddings had LSU's mascot, Mike the Tiger, in attendance.  I mentioned it to Sphinx and we both thought, "Well that's a cool idea!" but we assumed it was stupid amount of money and went on with our lives.  Some months later, I figured it wouldn't hurt just to check into the cost.  My makeup artist actually works for the LSU athletic department, and she was able to put me in touch with the right person over there.  Turns out the price was not too ridiculous, but they did not book him until one month out from the event.  At about ten months beforehand, that seemed like a lifetime away!  So I decided to not mention it to Sphinx and just marked down the date in my wedding calendar.  I figured if we couldn't get Mike, he'd never be any the wiser, and if we could it'd be a great surprise.  

And there's nothing I love more than a good surprise.  

Obviously we're talking about the costumed mascot, not the live tiger./All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Secret Life of Bees: Pyramid Style

We're going to take a tiny detour on the wedding recaps here, folks, I hope you don't mind.  I've always liked the idea of these series posts, so the readers can get to know the bloggers a little better.  I mean, I'm reading about a very personal, important day of your life - I should probably know what a couple of your interests are, right?  And sure, we're getting down to some of my last recaps (*sniff*), but I think I'll still be referencing some of these points in upcoming posts.

So without further ado, The Secret Life of Bees, and some things you might not know about me!

THE GIRAFFE GIRL
Giraffes.  They're kind of my thing.  Or they're "up my alley" as my mom would say.

Are you familiar with the episode of Gilmore Girls where Sookie explains how she became "The Frog Girl" and now all of Jackson's family gets her frog figurines for gifts?  That's me, but with giraffes.  And it wasn't a random, nervous comment that decided my fate - it was a for-real obsession with these pretty animals.

Did you know there's a wildlife preserve in south Louisiana that's home to over 4,000 exotic, endangered, and threatened animals from around the world?  I'm ashamed we don't make a trip over to Global Wildlife more often, but it's a really cool place!

Monumental Love: Pyramids Rock Your Blocks Off

After the cake cutting, the band was still on break, so we stepped outside with Sandra to get a couple of pictures in the candlelit courtyard.  I'm glad we didn't wait til this time for the bulk of the couples photos - we're looking a bit frazzled and sweaty by this point!  But these were definitely on the "must take" photo list, so we had to go get them.

There were a few guests who enjoyed the night in the courtyard, so I'm glad we took the time to make it beautiful!/All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Let's Hear it for the Cake

At this point, I'd like to go a bit out of order, just for the purpose of not dragging out all the parts of the reception too much.   In reality, after we finished the parent dances, Groovy 7 kept playing music and our dance floor was open - it was a little light in the beginning, since people were still getting food, but it picked up later on.  During this time, Sphinx and I both took some time to work the room, trying to say hello and pose for pictures with as many people as we could.  After about an hour, the band took a break and it was time for my favorite part - cake!  

First, let's marvel at the beautiful work done by Cocoa Bean Bakery.

Candle decor and sequin table cloth provided by moi./Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Monumental Love: Parent Dances and a Few Tears

We followed up the first dance with the parent dances, beginning with Sphinx and his mom.  Sphinx Mom chose Alison Krauss's version of the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo.  I was thankful that she texted me with that choice on a Friday when my office was relatively empty.  I had never heard this version, so I ended up sitting at my desk bawling as I listened to the beautiful song.  

I'm not sure Sphinx had quite the same reaction to the song, but he seemed to like the moment with his mom./Photos by Eau Claire Photographics unless otherwise noted. 

Monumental Love: You, You, You

While we were taking photos at the church, the guests were making their way over to the reception at the Board of Trade.  They entered in through the candlelit courtyard, put their mark on our guestbook print, grabbed a drink at either the outdoor or indoor bar, and started to dig in to our passed appetizers and food stations.

Chandeliers. Candles. Fountain. Once I saw everything come together, I was able to breath a bit easier./Unless noted, all photos by Eau Claire Photographics

Sphinx and I entered through the side of the venue, so that we could have a few minutes of down time before heading out and getting the party started.  Technically, we told all the bridal party and family that they could come in the suite if they wanted to, but we just ended up with MOH Curls and BM Perk.  So they bustled my dress and helped to remove my long veil, and in return they were rewarded with some private drink service and access to our trays of reception food.

Monumental Love: A Few Familiar Activities

Don't get de ja vu - it's more Pyramid formal pictures and transportation today!  But of course these are from after the ceremony and heading back to the reception.  A good bit different, really.

Of course we got a full bridal party one.|All photos by Eau Claire Photographics

As cute as some of these pictures are, I won't make this anything too lengthy.  But while we're at it, I'll just repeat again that I'm glad we were able to knock out most of our pictures before the ceremony because it was a lot less stress.  I had provided my photographer a list of every family grouping that we could have wanted - which was a lot .  I just started scratching groupings out "No, don't worry about that one, we basically got it earlier," as Sandra referenced her sheet and called names out.

Monumental Love: Liturgy of the Eucharist and Recessional

After the vows, the ceremony proceeded more or less as normal for a typical mass.  For that reason, I won't be typing out every prayer that went on for the rest of our ceremony, but I'll share some of the details that I think make it a bit more special to me - and of course some of my favorite pictures.  If you're a Catholic bride who wants to know the breakdown of a nuptial mass, I believe the inside of our programs (from this post) gives a through guideline.

I will say, this mass absolutely flew by.  I know that probably wasn't the case for all of our guests, but from where I was kneeling, it was over in no time!  Did any other brides with a long ceremony feel that way? 

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

I asked my brother, GM Lil Bro, to read the prayers of the faithful, because he has a very great speaking voice. 

For our world and its leaders. May all people be treated with the dignity they deserve as God’s children. We pray to the Lord.

For Lauren and Evan, May they live long, blessed lives together, may their love grow stronger each and every day, and may they build a family rooted in faith and unconditional love. We pray to the Lord.

In the prayers for the deceased, of course we included our grandparents, but we also included Sphinx's boss, who passed away a few months earlier.  She was a wonderful person, and when she offered Sphinx a job, he felt comfortable with his new arrangement to plan our trip to Disney World where he would propose.  I feel so grateful to her that she chose my (now) husband for a rewarding job that allows him to be happy every day, which was the catalyst toward making these big changes in our lives. Including her in our prayers and our program was the very least we could do, although she was very missed that evening, along with all of our family members.

Proud big sisters looking on. 

PRESENTATION & PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS

I saw this idea from a friend's wedding photos and knew that I'd love to use the idea: the godparents of the bride and groom bring up the communion gifts.  Just a little extra way to honor those who have held a special place in our lives.

I remember Nanny had a tear streaming down her cheek, and I wiped it away before giving her a kiss and taking the dish from her.  

But a big ole grin from Uncle G, of course.

I remember Sphinx's Aunt V and Uncle M had big, beaming smiles on. 

EUCHARISTIC BLESSING & COMMUNION RITE

What are Curls and I smirking at? The world may never know...

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father, Who art in heaven

Hallowed be Thy Name;

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

This photo not in the right category because everyone is seated, but just ignore that, I'm trying to make the post visually appealing!

NUPTIAL BLESSING

At this time, Father Philip gave a special blessing over the newly married couple.

Let us pray to the Lord for this bride and groom, 
who come to the altar as they begin their married life, 
that partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ
they may always be bound together by love for one another. 

Graciously crown with your blessings your daughter Lauren,
so that, by being a good wife and mother,
she may bring warmth to her home with a love that is pure
and adorn it with welcoming graciousness.

Bestow a heavenly blessing also, O Lord,
on Evan, your servant,
that he may be a worthy, good and
faithful husband and a provident father.

Grant, holy Father, that, desiring to approach your table 
as a couple joined in Marriage in your presence, 
they may one day have the joy of taking part in your great banquet in heaven. 
Through Christ our Lord. 

SIGN OF PEACE

At the sign of peace, we brought flowers to both of our mothers (you can see them sitting on the banister with my bouquet in most of these pictures), which I thought was a nice touch. We opted out of corsages for the moms, so the roses subbed in as a little something special to carry. Although Momma P said she lost hers by the end of the night! Ah well, it was pretty while it lasted.

COMMUNION

We had asked Cousin Who, who is an accomplished singer, to perform a song at our mass.  We figured that one during the distribution of the communion would be best, because she wouldn't have to worry about cues or timing that went along with the service.  I showed her a list of some of the recommended songs from the organist, and she chose "Panis Angelicus."

It was just absolutely breathtaking, so I had to to include a clip here.  I was just so honored to have her do that for us, and so excited for her to share her talent with so many people.

Panis Angelicus - Communion Hymn - Nuptial Mass /Video by Brock Gomez Productions

Okay, so do you want to know the funny side of this, where I kind of made a fool of myself (thankfully edited out by our videographers)?  Of course you do!  We originally thought Cousin Who would be singing at the front of the church, so obviously the photographers would capture it - but she decided at the rehearsal it would be better for her to be closer to the organist.  After we received communion, I started worrying that they didn't know she was up there and that we'd want a picture.  At that point, Sam was at the corner of the altar getting close-ups of us and I tried to signal to him that someone special was up on the balcony.

He got a really worried face and thought that he had made a Catholic no-no being in that area, so he rushed away.  I realized my mistake and started gesturing more fiercely (thus looking more foolish), but I was doing a terrible job because he was still confused.  Finally, GM Lil Bro stepped over and explained that I wasn't asking Sam to steal third, and he was able to get us a photo.

All's well that end's well, but I can't even describe how silly I felt for accidentally shooing our photographer away from where he was working!  Note to future brides: tell your photographers every little thing you might want captured.  And maybe plan some hand signals.

I spent most of this time looking behind me: at Cousin Who singing and the guests lining up to receive communion. So I saw Sandra was behind the bridesmaids and figured this was as good a time as any to flash my new bling.

I mean, I was focusing on the mass and everything, but those were some bright lights and my rings were shining like crazy!

PRESENTATION OF FLOWERS TO THE BLESSED MOTHER

Right after the last guest was offered the host, Father Philip brought us one more rose and the cantor switched to "Ave Maria" while Sphinx and I walked over to the statue of the Virgin Mary.

We did as our coordinator suggested - Sphinx stepped up to place the rose on the altar, and I stood still making sure my feet were planted firmly (since I was warned about falling on my butt here at the rehearsal).  We stayed there for a moment and prayed for our new marriage and the blessings of family to come.

From Mary, we walked over to the altar table to sign the marriage certificates and licenses.  Our priest had everyone else sign at the rehearsal so we just had to fill in a couple of important signatures during the actual ceremony to make everything official.

FINAL BLESSING & PRESENTATION OF THE COUPLE

After a final prayer, the priest finally announced us as Mr. and Mrs. Sphinx! 

And we got to kiss again.  More clapping, cheering, and general revelry.  

RECESSIONAL

So with that, the trumpeter blasted some more music through the rafters (this time the Wedding March), and we were headed back up the aisle!

Maybe a teensy bit excited.  Just maybe.

Of course our bridal party fell in line behind us.

Followed by our parents - including their roses.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Pyramids had left the building!  

I mean, technically we left, but we just walked around to the side door of the church so we could enter in after all the guests had left so we could a couple more formal shots.  The feeling of being newly married, sneakily hiding out of sight from the guests, and seeing that it wasn't raining had us a bit giddy.   Add on top all of our bridal party filtering around to tell us congrats - and we were just over the moon standing on the side of our church.    

Previously on the Pyramid Wedding:

• Kickoff and teaser trailer
• Thursday night Rehearsal
• Rehearsal Dinner
• Bridesmaid Fun Day complete with bridal meltdown
• Welcome Party at Rock N Bowl
• Starting off the wedding day
• Hair and Makeup Time
• Groomsmen Gather
• Swapping Love Letters
• Putting on the Dress
• All of the Details
• Our Heartfelt First Look
• We get formal with the friends and family
• We take couples photos
• Traveling to the church
• Family and bridal party walk in
• A dramatic bridal entrance
• Ceremony Part 1: The Readings
• Ceremony Part 2: The Vows