I Love Superpowers

I caught a really great break yesterday. I received a phone call from a photography business representative - he was calling to tell me that I had won their monthly drawing, that I had won the third prize. I figured it was a scam, so I asked what company I registered with for the drawing, and he said the Davids Bridal in Frisco. Well, you can't get very much more specific than that, so I asked him what I had won. He replied that I had won $500 worth of services towards three separate companies ($500 each); towards a DJ, towards a videographer, and towards his photography business. He was genuinely surprised that I hadn't been notified by any of the other companies yet, and asked if I received the letter in the mail with the details about the prize. Would you guys mind checking if I received anything from Davids Bridal or Epic Photography?

I talked with someone from the DJ company, and they told me that the package that best suits ~50 people is $700 for the event (they don't do hourly rates). He also mentioned that the Hilton is on their preferred vendors list, which means $125 comes off of the original price, bringing our total to $575. H. suggested that I not mention the winnings until he had quoted me a price, just so they wouldn't give me the most expensive package. The man will hold the date until Tuesday, and then I'll receive a phone call from either him or their event planner to answer any other questions I have, as well as book the date if I would like to use their company. Essentially, we're getting a DJ for $75. And, their services that he listed sound extremely useful.

• We can create a Playlist for the DJ. Any song we want that they don't already have, they will purchase for us. Or, if we're less controlling, we can just let the DJ roam free with the music (using pre-approved themes like the 90s or 2000's or whatevs).
• We can create a Do Not Play List. Whichever songs we absolutely do not want being played at the reception (he used the chicken dance as an example), the DJ will politely decline to play if any guest requests it. "Sorry, ma'am, I must have left that at the office. Would you like to request something else?"
• No travel expenses, no setup fees, no tear-down fees, no tips. 
• They provide lighting, if we would like a certain mood or setting on the dance floor.

I'm seriously considering booking this company for the event. Their website is ridiculous to try and work through, but the email that the guy sent me has a list of all the awards/honors they received over the past couple years. They sound really reputable, and I can even tell the DJ to be all low-key and in the background, and not be one of those obnoxious loud DJ's that are in the movies.

Now for some pictures! I found a really cute idea that I'd like to try for the reception - these guys could hang from the ceiling in groups of two's or just by themselves, with different colors and sizes.

All it takes is some fabric, hot glue, and a paper Chinese lantern. The Paper Lantern Store has super good prices on the lanterns, has different sizes available, and the shipping is just $8. I'd have to see the space to know how many we'd use, but if we do one every couple of feet or whatever, then we shouldn't need more than ten per row. Alternatively, we could just have a few behind the wedding couple table, or we could put them at the entrance to where all the people will come in, or we can put them around the guest book area, or around the food area. Lots of ideas!

Instead of attaching the large pom poms to the ceiling, we could make a mini pom pom garland, and string that along the ceiling.

The only beef I have is that the last step uses thread to string them all together. I don't know how expensive thread is, but I've read a number of other DIY tutorials for various hanging things, and they use fishing line. It's clear, works like string, but best of all, it's strong - something I don't think thread would be when all these flowers are attached. But that's just me.

I'm considering having a dessert bar at the reception. Something that the guests can munch on before we present the cake. I haven't decided yet if we should ask the caterer to do it (I can't find a list of the desserts they offer), or if we should just go ahead and do this ourselves. If we baked things ourselves, we would need to freeze the desserts until the day of, and then just let them thaw out the night before or morning of. H.'s dad makes a mean chocolate covered peanut butter ball, and his brother makes a delicious Oreo ball. Those can easily be frozen and kept for over a week.

This recipe for Kahlua Truffle Triangles looks particularly appetizing. And the recipe claims that you can make these guys up to a month in advance.

So here's the deal - when I come back in April, I'd like to try out this Kahlua recipe and this Cheesecake Factory recipe, see how much it costs to make them, see how they taste, and decide whether or not to let the caterer do this aspect of the wedding as well. Alternatively to the cheesecake recipe, we could just buy those little cheesecake squares from Costco and set them out nicely.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Hope the snow finally goes away for you guys!