Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Seattle Wedding = Rain. Right?

Getting married in Seattle caused me to think thoughts of rain, rain, and more rain. Weather.com informed me that October in Seattle has an average of 13 rainy days per year, which meant my chances of rain might be close to 50%. I saw this picture by Laurence Kim and I knew I wanted to make sure and have umbrellas for guests to hold so we wouldn't be taking photos huddled under buildings if the skies opened up.


I love that the bride and groom provided these as favors!

I searched on ebay looking for "lots" of umbrellas, but I wasn't having much success. Then I decided to give google shopping a try (I think it used to be called froogle). Just go to google.com, and look in the top left corner. Click on shopping and type in the box what you are shopping for. It will bring back results (with prices listed) from all kinds of websites, cutting down on your time searching all of the sites individually. On the bottom of the screen you can refine your search by store, price, etc.

I found a great deal on umbrellas through CandR Elite Wholesale, and after hemming and hawwing for a few days decided to give them a try. The price was great at $2.55 each, but I was nervous that the quality would be subpar. I am pleased to say that the quality was very good, and IF it had rained, my guests would have been well taken care of.

Of course, the weather looked something like this all day long:

Bridesmaids Bree and Kee enjoying themselves in the sun.

That doesn't mean we didn't end up getting some use out of the umbrella investment. MOH Shay had hauled them all the way over from the car for me, so I called her over and told her to jump in some photos with me. Cousin Charlie posed all sweet with us.



The things got crazy and the jumping began. Have you tried jumping in your wedding dress, on soft grass, in heels?



Each time we landed we had to extract our heels from deep inside the grass.


We ended on a Rodney Smith kind of a note.


I definitely need to figure out what to do with the 15 umbrellas we have left over. Did you make conditional wedding purchases that might not get used? What do you plan to do with them after the wedding if they don't?

12 comments:

It's A Jaime Thing said...

Such cute pictures...looks like you girls managed to have a blast with the umbrellas even though it didn't rain, very cool!

I thought of you while writing my latest post, it's an idea that might be able to help you get rid of those umbrellas, to help other brides...

Here's the URL to my post w/the idea:

http://justjaime28.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/what-to-do-with-leftover-wedding-items/

Hope it helps - I've linked to you, of course. :) Cheers, and congratulations once again on your new marriage...and new blog!

Sincerely,
Jaime @ "It's A Jaime Thing"

Jenn said...

I have a great story about Seattle rain...my best friend got married in August one year and it rained all morning. She was so upset because the outdoor location for the ceremony was so much nicer than the 'rain plan' location. Well, 30 minutes before the ceremony the clouds parted and the sun came out. All 10 bridesmaids/groomsman ran out with every dishrag we could steal from the kitchen and wiped down all the guest chairs just in time! It was a beautiful ceremony, and the rain clouds produced the most gorgeous sunset you've ever seen.

She ended up with 20+ umbrellas leftover too! :)

AmyJean {Relentless Bride®} said...

Love the pics ... the ones jumping are awesome!

Linda said...

I sold what I could and gave some of it away. Perhaps give some of those umbrellas away as holiday gifts?

Anonymous said...

Those are lovely pictures! :)

With the umbrellas, you could try to sell them or give them to another seattle bride?

Ellen Mint said...

Maybe you know another Seattle bride that will still have the rain to deal with.

It seems like people get married in groups, one year there's 5 people you know and the next no one.

Mara (Coffee with Mara) said...

awesome pics!

Read and See said...

Definitely pass them on to another Seattle Bride who probably won't be as lucky! I bought parasols for pretty pictures, so we did at least use them, but now I can't find anyone to give them to!

Kaitlyn said...

I'd say either resale or give as Christmas gifts :) Those pictures are too cute!

Rachel said...

I know it sounds silly but I'd give them to a homeless shelter. It probably doesn't rain a lot where you are now but back in Seattle...

Jenna said...

Jaime-What a great writeup, thanks! That website is a great resource.

almostanderson-I love that story! Oh, what a wonderful wedding memory.

Rachel-Love love love love love your idea. What a wonderful thing to do around the holidays.

Anonymous said...

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