Oh Craig, how I love you and your list!

Oh Craig, what can I say about you but that I love your list. It started out bumpy between us (a bad roommate experience) but in the last 2.5 years, it's been nothing but wonderful. My first encounter with Craigslist started out great but ended badly. I found some nice girls to live with in DC who found an amazing house. Long story short, they were crazy and I had to move.

Things turned around a few years ago when I was moving back to Seattle from DC (my second stint in the city) and I was looking for apartments to view while I was in Seattle for 4 days for a few interviews. Everything was too expensive and I was about to give up when I read a posting titled, "3 bedroom apartment, North Beacon Hill $1000." If that wasn't enough, the only picture on the listing was of a dragon made from tile. It said that the dragon was part of the custom designed bathroom. I called immediately and made an appointment for Saturday morning at 7am. I was getting in at 11:30pm on the Friday. The apartment was better than I imagined. We not only have 3 large bedrooms, but also 2 bathrooms, lots of closets, tile in both bathrooms and bamboo floors though the whole place. We moved in 2 weeks later and have been there ever since.

Over the years, Craiglist has provided me with amazing deals. $1000 leather coach from Ikea for $200? Check. Brand new brother sewing machine for $50? check! So when I needed help staying within my itty bitty budget, I went to Craigslist.

My first find? The Photographer. I posted an ad online looking for a photographer in the $300 range. I targeted people in or just finishing photography school and second shooters hoping to branch out on their own. I didn't think I would get much of a response but I was wrong. I got 250 bids the first day! I had to pull the ad after 8 hours. Some work wasn't very good, some people weren't very nice, but there were 4 people with great work at the right price. I gathered all the great photographer interview questions everyone sent in to Weddingbee and condensed them down to 8 key points.

We met with 4 people last weekend and finally decided on Jess Carmichael. His pictures were lovely, his enthusiasm infectious and the package was perfect. He's doing 9 hours of work for $300! That doesn't include the time he'll need to touch up and edit pictures. He's amazing. He's just starting out but hopes to never charge more than $500 for his services in the future. He's hoping to provide affordable photography for those on a budget. I couldn't share all his pictures in this posting as they are protected, but I managed to put up one. More can be seen on his website.

We mailed out deposit today and couldn't be happier! We're the 11th wedding he's booked for this year. Craig came through again. Actually, there were so many talented people who contacted us. It was really hard to pick from the 4 that we interviewed.

Our next craigslist find? My hair and make-up artist. Stay tuned to find out more!

Decision making in the Sun

I'm sorry I've been M.I.A for over a week. Mr. Papaya Dog and I we're in Orlando spending some quality time with the Papaya Dog in-laws. I hoped to blog from there but I never got more than 5 minutes to myself. Our schedule was packed! Up at 6:30 am, out of the condo by 7:45 and back at the condo at 8pm. We had dinner at 8:30, a quick swim at 9:30 and in bed by 11pm. It's was non-stop, but it was fun.

One of the good things about spending hours driving around central Florida is all the time it gave Mr. Papaya Dog to make some critical decision. We picked out or favor gift; we went with the luggage tags. We decided on ties - the best man and two ushers are going to wear the same grey tie and Mr.Papaya Dog is going to wear a yellow tie. It much easier to match grey ties than it is to match yellow ties.

Lastly, we bought Mr. Papaya Dog a black suit for the wedding. We wanted to buy him a grey one but he sort of already has one but it has a few blues stripes on it. Two grey suits are one too many. On the way back from Tampa, we stopped at the Brooks Brothers Outlet and scored an amazing new suit for $170 total! The suit was suppose to be $700 but after all the discounts, we got it for almost nothing! We even scored 3 grey ties at Nieman Marcus for $18.00 each. Amazing!!!

Have you had one of those days or a week where a few big wedding details fell into place unexpectedly?

What's your FAVORite?

We've been going back and forth about favors for awhile. Even though we've started making Limoncello, we're not sure that we have enough time to make enough for everyone. We've come up with a list of ideas but we need help deciding.

1. Limoncello - Our original choice but getting bottles can be pricey and we'd need to come up with an alternative for non-drinkers and those underage.

2. Sri-Lankan trail mix and Mr.Papaya dog's family's special Chex mix - We'd need to order this yummy trail mix from Sri-Lanka and we'd need to package it right before the wedding to insure freshness.

3. Recipe cards - We thought about designing recipe cards with instructions on how to make special dishes from our reception.

4. A greatest hits mixed CD - we could make a few versions so a couple won't go home with the two of the same CD.

5. Custom made luggage tags - we could come up with a few templates and personalize it for each guest.

6. Mini puzzle - We thought of taking
pictures of us and turning them into mini puzzles, but we're not sure anyone would really want a mini puzzle of us. This option could also be a little too expensive for us.

We're not sure which to pick but we're leaning toward the luggage tags or the limoncello. What do you
think? Which option would you choose? Are you deciding between a few favor
options?