<p>LOL! You can also eat fish at the Aquarium restaurant. </p>
<p>Why don’t you get a small Party Favors cake to celebrate your engagement - that way, you can see if it’s something you’ll want for your wedding? Of course, there will be plenty of other cake-worthy occaisons between now and your wedding, so you can move your way through all of Boston’s food. </p>
<p>When you’re in Harvard Square, try out Burdick’s. Of course, there is no cost-effective way to have that at your wedding, but it’s worth considering. (No, I swear that you will not gain 10 lbs as I send you through Boston on a food scavenger hunt.) Likewise, Finale is excellent (although I think Party Favors still wins in the cake department). </p>
<p>Transportation: how are your guests getting from MIT to the reception? If they don’t want to drive, rent out a duck boat. Alternatively, consider trolleys. </p>
<p>Ring is beautiful. </p>
<p>As for the dresses… I like Demetrios & Rebecca the best. Alfred, if I’m not mistaken, is from David’s Bridal. In the white/beige form, it’s very nice. The red one, however, screams “I’m NOT a virgin - not even pretending!”</p>
<p>Hey, Mollie: Congrats and best wishes and how fun and wonderful of you to share all your planning thoughts w/us…is this “our” first CC wedding? (I know we’ve lived thru others (at least one) w/the mom…but is this “our” first bride? Hopefully you’re starting a tradition, Mollie! I know you’ll be innundated w/cyber best wishes as you get closer to “your” day…we’re all thrilled for you and are cheering on the sidelines…</p>
<p>ANd I love love LOVE seeing all the dresses you’re considering, and flowers and sites and cakes etc. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>There’s also a wonderful bakery in Inman Square that made us a cake for our son’s birthday—it was great. Can’t remember the name, but I bet someone can tell you.</p>
<p>I think you’re referring to Rosie’s. Our wedding cake, eons ago, was from La Contessa in Davis Square. Strawberry rumcake, very light and not too sweet (the icing was not frosted sugar).</p>
<p>I believe in splurging for things that are meaningful but sometimes even the most meaningful, sentimental things can be cheap. Our groomsmen were coming to our small Texas town by the coast from all over the country. We were so happy to see them and wanted them to stay for a while, so my parents rented a couple bayhouses to accommodate them. Even though the houses were very rustic, it was ‘a splurge’. But, we had our reception in my mother’s garden at my parents’ home out in the country…this was sentimental and meaningful to me, and ‘cheap’. The reception was at sunset and all the pastures had horses (instead of cows) that year, so cheap was absolutely beautiful. Of course, we had to have a crop duster spray the previous day for mosquitos so our guests wouldn’t be miserable…so we were kinda back to splurge… </p>
<p>As far as etiquette goes, we followed the general rules. My parents paid for the wedding festivities, my in-laws hosted a rehearsal dinner. I bought my husband’s ring and he bought mine…and we paid for gifts for our attendants. Together, we financed our own honeymoon. Our parents offered more, but we were eager to stand on our own feet a little.</p>
<p>Marite, yes, Rosie’s it was for the great birthday cake. Buttercream frosting on vanilla cake. </p>
<p>Years ago, we got champagne and only champagne for our reception. 33 bottles for 100 people, at $9/bottle. It was far cheaper than a mixed bar and people loved it. </p>
<p>Mollie, I think a reception at the Science Museum sounds like a lovely idea. If I remember correctly, the room overlooks the Charles–very pretty. </p>
<p>The advice I got before the wedding was to get my nails done, because everyone wants to see your rings. Turned out to be true.</p>
<p>I heard a tip for shopping at bridal sales. Wear a leotard so that you can just try dresses on in the aisles rather than needing a dressing room. </p>
<p>I’m glad everything seems to be coming together for you! :)</p>
<p>We went to a barbecue with my fiance’s family yesterday, and I asked 3-year-old his second cousin (and her mother, of course!) if she would like to wear a pretty dress and be the flower girl. She’s very verbal and precocious, and she told me in her little girl voice, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”</p>
<p>So my fiance’s mom took her to the backyard, where they picked some leaves and practiced tossing them, and she came back to me and said “Is this what you want me to do?” and carefully tossed some leaves on the ground.</p>
<p>my favorite memories of almost every weding are the flower girls. I recently attended a very formal sat. evening wedding where the flower girl ran out of pedals half way down the aisle, then turned around and began to pick up petals she had already thrown so she could make it all the way to the end of the aisle. when her grandmother tried to stop her she got very embarrassed and ran out of the church crying. the bride was really sweet, and they delayed the wedding until the little girl could be comforted, and then they gave her more petals and sent her back down the aisle</p>
<p>Mollie: Be sure to check places like JCPenney (silk on sale now for $34) and Talbot’s Outlet for flower girl dresses/communion dresses. Most are under $50 and you can customize by changing to YOUR color of ribbons and adding pearls or rosettes. (I’ve bought and resold communion dresses from Talbot’s --paid $5 resold for $75.</p>
<p>Flower girl dresses from the bridal shop will cost you (or the mom) $$$. </p>
<p>Crystal tiaras/headbands for you and the little ones are easy to find for $15 instead of the $$$ at bridal stores. </p>
<p>Ballet slippers from Payless are $. </p>
<p>(Flower girls are sooo cute, but I’d time the wedding for after nap and a snack, for sure) And if you really want to make the Mom of these girls happy, provide some sort of care for them while Mommy and Daddy get to party, too!</p>
<p>PS. I like your dress choices-- very modern, yet classic. It is all going to be terrific.</p>
<p>Wait til you ask the parents for their list of invitees!!</p>
<p>Depending on budgets, and circles of friends, and those regarded as mandatory invites because of work, etc., you can get into a real conundrum. Sometimes it is easier to go very small because you (they) can use it as an excuse/explanation regarding why someone wasn’t invited.</p>
<p>In any case, the total budget is likely to expand as you focus on exactly whom is to receive an invitation. I have no good way to tell you how to do this…only that until you get into specifics and decide whom to invite, with some reasonable probability ranking of which ones will attend, your budget and payment issues won’t be settled.</p>
<p>Friends’ D is getting married and groom’s parents are paying 1/2. Of course,they are inviting 350, and bride only 150. The problem has arisen that since they are paying they want to make some of the decisions, so there are meetings with both sets of parents and the kids are having a hard time expressing their wants because they don’t want to alienate the in-laws. Oh, well…</p>
<p>That’s too bad, I think. It seems to me that the best way for parents to help is to offer a set amount of money, and let the young couple choose how they want their wedding to be. If the youngsters ask for advice, that’s fine. But I don’t think it’s helpful for future in-laws to be difficult about these things.</p>
<p>I’m at home in Ohio, and my mom, my grandma, and I went to Cincinnati to [Bridal</a> and Formal](<a href=“http://www.bridalandformalinc.com/]Bridal”>http://www.bridalandformalinc.com/), which bills itself as the nation’s largest bridal store. They didn’t lie! I somehow managed to pick out six gorgeous dresses, and tried them all on, but didn’t have “the feeling” about any of them. So the associate who was helping me said, “I’m going to go out on the floor and pick a few dresses that I think you’ll like” – and she came back with THE DRESS. She was amazing at her job!</p>
</p>
She was amazing at her job!</p>
![http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/mydress.JPG]My](http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/mydress.JPG%5DMy){kind=link}
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![http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/dressback.jpg]Dress](http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/dressback.jpg%5DDress){kind=link}
![http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/headpiece.jpg]Headpiece](http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/www/wedding/headpiece.jpg%5DHeadpiece){kind=link}
