wah this place is so happening today! *overwhelmed*
girl - yes, the tea favors were very nice and unique (not to mention cheap & yummy!), most of my guests took more than 1 home! they were fun conversation pieces by themselves, coz of the "pyramid" shaped packaging and they come in silk sachets with a little "leaf" at the end of the string. if you don't want the hassle of ordering from overseas, can still consider making your own - just buy lots of fancy teabags and wrap up, or even make your own bags of tea from loose leaves.
e - sympathize with your dilemna... the only way you can tactfully have a special lunch thingy is to avoid any reception altogether after church (but not advisable, i think...) so you're probably right to either 1) only do a big dinner thingy or 2) have a general reception after the church itself, not play any favorites, and then have the dinner thingy. most people expect church receptions to be simple, so depends on budget, but i do think that a reception after church may not be overly expensive. stick to only a "light tea reception" or limit the variety of foods you serve. i'm sure there are plenty of good places that cater (ard $10 pp or less), and if use no frills caterers, you can just decorate with DIY ideas. as for saving on decorations, try to do things you can reuse in the day and at night (flowers, or ribbons, balloons, etc can all be reused if done right....) how many people are you thinking of having for the church thing?
elizabeth - no problem! hope you find a more suitable veil...
snippy - hmm, the ivory gown story is pretty much my own buyer's remorse... heheh. think i mentioned in my earlier posts that i went WG shopping and was totally blown away by the great deals at bridal warehouses/outlets... well, so i must have tried on like 30 or 40 WGs over the course of the few months it took to come to my decision. and every dress i tried looked way better in ivory than white, coz the softer glow just makes my skin tone look better. white is rather harsh (in most instances).... BUT silly me didn't take my own advice (i shoulda known better!) and i ended up buying a white dress... and then spent the next few months mourning my decision when it was too late to change the order. my WG comes in ivory, but the store didn't have one in stock for me to try on. and because of all the silver crystals and pearl beading on it, i honestly didn't know if it would look as nice on an ivory dress, and didn't wanna take the risk. so i went the safe route and ordered the dress i could see and touch as opposed to one that didn't even have a picture in a catalog. (yeah, duh, for some reason the manufacturer didn't have a sample photo of the dress in the other color - which made me suspect how nice the ivory was)
anyways, long ramble short - my white WG was okay but i don't think i "glowed" in it... hee hee, i kinda regret my white decision and i'll always be thinking of how nice it would have looked in ivory, and now i have a secret penchant for ivory WGs.
phew! okay motormouth me will shut up now...