Some girls have all the luck

My invites are out so I feel comfortable enough to share my little secret with you.

I was ALWAYS planning on making our invites. After all, I had dreams of making them with a Gocco and even went as far as purchasing a gocco for the invites off ebay. In early December, when I had some extra money and I saw some paper items on sale that I wanted, so I went ahead and I purchased all my paper supplies to make the invites. I bought all my paper from paperandmore and I will purchase from them again because I think they have great product.

I ended up purchasing some pearlescent white cardstock already cut into 5x7 pieces at 11.00/per pack of 100 (it was normally 16.00/pack) and I got some pearlescent turquoise pocketfolds(on sale for $40/pack from $50). I also got the matching pearlescent turquoise envelopes, and the 4bar envelopes for the RSVP card in the pearlescent Azela (so pretty). I was ready to get going on my invites, but I hadn't quite decided on a design.

I knew I would purchase a design from istockphoto to adorn the invites, but I was so overwhelmed with all the choices and I was in my "I can't make a decision" phase. In december I hadn't quite developed our butterfly theme either, that came later, much later. So there I was with paper, but no design. And since I didn't have a design and I had a lot of time, I was putting off making of the invites.

and here is where my little secret comes in.

don't hate.

One day while I was perusing weddingbee while I should have been working, I came across this contest hosted by weddingbee for a bride to win 50 digitally printed invitations and RSVP's from HelloLucky!'s new digitally printed line, all you had to do was go to hellolucky!'s site and droool over their beautiful invites while secretly plotting how to get some invites from them and then leave a comment on weddingbee on which design you liked the best. And since I always enter contests and never win, I went to hellolucky!'s site fell in love with all of their pretty pretty invites (they do letterpress too). The invites were definately out of my budget, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to enter the contest because winning stuff is cool.

A few days later I got an email from "Bee Kim" saying that I had won the contest. I almost s**t my pants. Serisouly, I don't win stuff, ever.

How did I choose 1 design from their fabulous fabulous line? I'm not sure, but after browsing thier designs and then stalking their blog, I saw they were comming out with some new designs and they gave a preview of a few in their blog. I found the "one" on their blog in thier new line that hadn't come out yet. I patiently waited for the new line to arrive. Okay, who am I kidding, I didn't wait patiently at all. I think I emailed them to find out when those would be available. Since I still had a little time and they could print them in 5 days, I wasn't completely worried. However, their new designs took a little longer to arrive on their website than anticipated. But I have to say, what I got was well worth the wait.

I decided since I couldn't afford more invites (since I had already bought a gocco and all my invite paper) I would make the remaining ones. I was supposed to recieve 50 of the digitally printed invites (which are so so pretty and totally worth getting if you are looking at purchasing invites), but they ended up sending me 62 (yay for extras) and 65 of the rsvp's and since I only needed 8 more, I made the rest.

I hate to keep you in suspense but I can't show you just yet. Once I know the guest have recieved, I'll gladly share with you my labor of love (although not as labor intesive as it would have been).

Just breathe

Finally, I got my shizat together and sent my invites out in the mail today. Since I wasn't allowed to hand cancel(I asked yesterday), my mama brought my big box o invites to the Post Office and dropped them off.

Off they go.

Once people start getting them, I'll share them with you.

I also just finished my rehearsal dinner invites and can't wait to share those either, but I will, at least until I send them out.....

now, time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Who's behind this great idea?

When you spend so much time on your invitations and on the addressing of the envelopes it's kind of hard to stop obsessing and to not care what stamp gets put on there. Now, I know that most people wouldn't notice the stamp, but in my mind it is the first thing they are going to notice since it's on the outside of the envelope.

I knew my invites were somewhat heavy but was super excited when I weighed them at work and realized I could get away with the 61 cent stamp. Can I mention how cute the new 61 cent wedding cake stamp is? I've been wanting it since it came out. And, now I think I can get it.


but I was a little worried that there may be a catch to getting what I wanted. So I headed over to the Post Office on my lunch break with 1 invite in tow and had it weighed. She agreed that the 61 cent stamp would do the trick. I'll take the cake please.

easy. easy. easy, right? Wrong. The catch was that my invites were "hard" or non bendy so they won't go through the machine (which I didn't want anyway) so I had to pay the 20 cent surcharge for it to be hand stamped/because it couldn't go through the machine. Fine with me. Well, okay, more like annoying but I'll do it because I have to.

I kindly asked her if they had any cool wedding-y 20 cent stamps only to get the answer that they don't exactly "have" 20 cent stamps.

My options were as follows: I could get a 17 cent Billy Goat and 3 (1) cent Necklaces(which I personally HATE) and add those to my pretty pretty cake stamps. Ugh-okay, not my first choice to have 3 ugly stamps and 1 cool one on the envelope I so obsessed over forever. So I asked if there was any other options and she told me there was one......

The 26 cent cat. U-g-l-y, yes. More than I needed to pay, yes.

So my question is, who's idea was the 20 cent surcharge if you don't make a 20 cent stamp? And most likely the 20 cent surcharge is mostly for wedding invites so why isn't there a more wedding friendly stamp in the 20 cent range? Why the ugly animals?
seriously.

So which one did I chose? I chose the lesser of two evils.... the 26 cent cat. Yes, it was more than I needed to pay, yes, it's not quite what I thought would be adorning my envelopes, but it sure beats having 4 stamps on the outside and most likely no one will even notice the stamp.

Who am I kidding, it sticks out like a sore thumb-but what can you do?

No Pictures Allowed

This past weekend we headed up to the Man's hometown to take care of some wedding planning. But wait, isn't my wedding here where we live? Yes.it.is.

A friend of the Man's family, C, has graciously offered to do my hair on the wedding day for me as our wedding gift, and I have happily accepted. We've been putting it off for long enough and decided it was time for my hair trial.

AS you may recall, I was somewhat torn on how to wear my hair. I had wanted an updo, but then had a change of mind (surprising, no?) and decided a half-updo might be the way to go. I found a bunch of pictures that I liked and I couldn't quite decide on which was right for me(thanks to those who voted).

And then it happened. I stumbled across a completely different look and it was LOVE at first sight. I printed it out and brought it with me. Actually, there are two new looks that I love and I brought with me and asked C if we could marry them. She did a FANTASTIC job. I was super impressed. But, she wouldn't let me take a picture of it.

You see, She wants it to be a surprise for the Man, and she knows him too well, and knows he would have snooped and found it. After all, he Did try to come into the hair appointment with me and he gave me the guilt trip about not letting him. But that.wasn't.going.to. happen. I want my whole look on the day of to be a surprise and I think I've done a good job of keeping it so.

So, I'm sorry, but I don't have any pictures of my look now, but I will tell you it's a half-up/half down,very me and it will go perfectly with my dress. I could't ask for anything more.

Having my hair done really made the wedding seem so real. What was your *aha* realization moment that it is actually happening?

Blessed

Marrying someone is a big step. Not only are you promising to love, cherish, honor and stand by this wonderful man for the rest of your life, but, you are also marrying into their family. Their family becomes part of your new family.

The Man's parents are the type of people who would gladly give you the shirt off their back if you looked like you were cold and it was -50 degrees outside and they didn't have another shirt for themselves. The Man's family is made up of two sisters along with his mother and father. All of them are exceptional people.

The Man's family doesn't have a ton of extra money laying around. They work hard for what they have. When we told them we were getting married and paying for the wedding ourselves, they of course, wanted to pitch in. We told them they could pay for the rehearsal dinner(something that the grooms family typically pays for) and they gladly accepted the task.

The Man's family picked a great spot for the rehearsal (I'll be blogging about soon) and have since continued to offer to pay for things. MIL already paid for our photographer and we thought combined with the rehearsal that that was more than enough. Last week MIL called the Man to find out the name of our DJ so she could pay for that too. The Man wouldn't tell her and neither will I. While I appreciate them wanting to pay for our vendors, I know it is slightly beyond their means to pay for all these things and I don't want to put a financial burden on them.

MIL was not pleased that the Man would not tell her what she wanted to know. It's hard for her because she IS so far away and she wants to be involved. I spoke with her last night and found out she sent money to the reception site because she knew I was planning on renting chair covers and she wanted to pay for them. She had offered to give me money for them before and I refused to accept it so she called them up and found out who to write the check to.

Don't get me wrong, I love that they are helping us pay for things- it's really sweet that they want to do these things for us, but I just feel guilty about it because I know they don't have a lot of extra hanging around. On the other hand MIL was so excited about it last night when she told me, I was glad she felt like she was a part of the planning.

So Thank you MIL and FIL we appreciate everything you are doing. Now, sit back and relax a little, you've paid for more than enough.

I feel so lucky and so blessed to be marrying into such a wonderfully sweet, giving and caring family especially because I know that doesn't happen to everyone. I couldn't have picked a better bunch myself. I already feel like they are part of my family but I can't wait until we make that legal. I am really looking forward to having them all be a part of my family after the wedding.

Do you get along with your future in laws like you are two peas in a pod?

I.Don't.Care.

Invitaions = hell. Anyone else feeling me on this?

Okay, I'm lying. The invitation part wasn't the horrible part. The horrible part is the part where you decide you can write out the envelopes for all your guests (and I don't even have that many) and try various different methods in hopes of having the perfectly prettied up envelope that looks something like this*

*these are not my beautiful envelopes


only to get the same crappy result that is soooo not usable and add another wasted envelope to the pile. *sigh*

I'm not going to say I didn't try. Because. I. Did. a lot. I tried various methods. All ended the same way with me grimacing as I looked over the poor envelope that I had just banished to the envelope graveyard. All were failures. I was having some serious issues. And then I got scarred that if I kept having issues the envelopes would never get addressed and at the rate I was going I would not even have enough envelopes to address (and there was no way I was about to buy more)!

Hand writing was not working for me. And I couldn't handle the pressure. I got annoyed wasting so many of my pretty envelopes that I spent money on and I decided the best thing ever.

Let it go. just let it go. So I did. And all of a suddden I just keep thinking I. Don't. Care.

Really, I don't. okay, well, I cared that I got the addressing done and completed, but I didn't care how it happened at this point.

I threw my etiquette guide out the window and took the less traveled road(although not as unheard of nowdays).

I went online and downloaded Freebooter Script font, got out my handy new printer, made an envelope template on microsoft word and got to work typing and printing the addresses on the envelopes.

Yes, you heard right. I PRINTED right on my envelopes with my printer.



and I. Don't.Care.

I actually really think they came out great. I turned the font size up to 48 and used bold and I think it actually kind of looks like someone wrote them out. I decided that no one besides the bride stresses about such dumb things as an envelope and neither am I.

So if you get one in the mail and notice I didn't hand write the address, don't take offense. I tried, I did, but this is way better.

Have any of you printed your envelopes instead of hand writing?

You've got mail

or rather I've got mail....

MOH Cooper sent out the bridal shower invites and mine came in the mail too. It's so exciting to get mail that pertains to your wedding. After all the months of planning and dreaming and hoping for the day to come, when this little baby showed up in the mail it made the day feel that much more real.

My shower isn't until the end of the month, which gives me plenty of time to go dress shopping for the occasion. My mother and Bridesmaid Mini-me already got their shower dresses and I have to say, I'm super jealous of how cute they are. I can't believe they are prepared for the shower and i'm not!

anyone else feel unprepared for some upcomming wedding events?