Our Invitations:: REVEALED!!!

*** SPOILER ALERT! If you are family/member of the bridal party and haven't gotten your invite yet... DON'T RUIN THE SURPRISE! STOP READING HERE! ***


Last weekend my mom, grandmother, 2/3 of my bridesmaids and 2/3 of my brother's girlfriends, helped me put together our invites, programs and favors! As I mentioned in the earlier post, you'll all have to wait to see the favors and programs, but it is been almost a week since I mailed out the invites, and, as we have already gotten some RSVPs, I figure they have pretty much been received by this point and it's safe to share. =)

(Yes, I sent an invite to the President... I want whatever little commemorative note they send back! Believe me though, had this wedding happened a couple years earlier, I probably would NOT have send this invite! lol)

(Our envelopes were "Sand Speck"... we thought that was fitting!)

Without further ado...

Our Invites!
(My apologizes ahead of time for the poor picture quality... doesn't do the colors justice!)

I really wanted pocketfolds... but I could neither afford them, nor rationalize the extra time (and stress) I knew I would put upon myself to make them. So, instead, I opted for a single sheet of blue paper and a paper band.

I really loved the label idea that Aubrey at High-Heeled Love used for her invites... so we stole the idea. =)

Upon slipping off the paper band and opening the blue wrap, our guests found:

I designed the invites/inserts and I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out! I love this wording... we found it somewhere out there in cyberland (though, I've seen a bunch recently, so it must be making the rounds! lol)

Our insert is two sided... the first side gives the guests RSVP and other helpful information, the back side has a map and directions to and between the ceremony and reception sites (I designed the map, too! lol.. totally utilizing my limited Photoshop knowledge!):



Finally, my cousin is acting as our DOC... so lightly taped to the inside of each blue wrap, is one of her business cards... so hopefully people will bug her on the day of the wedding instead of me!

I am not a typical DIY bride. I love the visual/creative aspect of it all... but the actual hands on stuff... well, it scares me a bit. lol Thanks to my family and friends these invites turned out FANTASTIC. I am so thankful. And, they definitely came in within our budget! Here's the run down:

Blue paper wraps, yellow paper for band, and envelopes ordered from Paper and More: $34.30
White paper for band and labels: $0 (lying around the house!)
Invitations and inserts: $0 (BIG thanks to Uprinting's Blogger Sponsorship Program!)

Total cost for up to 100 invites (though we only needed about 65)?

$34.30

With postage, the final cost, per invite, was a whopping 87 cents!

LOVE THIS! And love the way they turned out!

Rah Roh!

I was at work the other day scanning through the "jobs" ads on Craigslist (this is part of my JOB, I swear! lol) and I came across this post:

General Manager of Hotel

Date: 2010-05-25, 8:34AM

Seeking a self motivated individual or couple for a manager position for a beautiful 80 unit hotel overlooking Alsea Bay in Waldport, Oregon. The view is breath-taking and the hotel has its own private beach, pool and exercise facility.

Candidate may live off-site or in a free one bedroom apartment at the hotel. Must be in good physical shape as managers also need to do some of the housekeeping and maintenance duties. Ideal candidate will have previous hotel management experience and skills in bookkeeping, computers (Microsoft Office and comfort with online systems), repair, grounds keeping, supervision, and dealing with the public. Sales and Marketing is an important part of this position – candidate must be willing to do cold calling, telemarketing and email marketing campaigns.
Substance abusers and those with a criminal record need not apply. Reference, credit and criminal checks will be done. Starting date is ASAP.

The job is year round with two weeks paid vacation – candidate must have a very flexible schedule (ability to work mornings, evenings and weekends on rotation is a must). Pay depends upon skills and hours worked. The hotel is open from 8:30am to 8pm except during the slow season when we close at 6pm.

Please reply to this posting with cover letter, resume and reference list attached.

No, I am not looking for a new career path... what struck me about this ad was that it is a manager for OUR RECEPTION VENUE! I e-mailed our coordinator (i.e. GENERAL MANAGER) to check in about this, and, sure enough, the woman that we have been working with for the last 7 months is leaving--her last day in June 1st! Apparently she "was going to e-mail" me yesterday, but I beat her to it. =P

Now, I'm not particularly concerned about it at this point. She has an assistant that she gave me contact info for, and I have our most recent proposal signed and in writing. However, I am slightly concerned about what COULD happen (I'm a worrier like that). We've already had some issues with the reception site (they are "remodeling" the hotel and I'm not quite sure what it's going to look like when they are done, and no one at the hotel even seems to know, and the last woman kept changing prices on us... thus my STRONG desire to get EVERYTHING in writing), and I just worry that now throwing a whole new person into the mix may cause (me) more stress.

But, at this point, it's just a wait and see. Who knows, maybe the new (temporary?) contact I have will be more Type A (like me) and it will actually be a smoother process. Hmm... only time will tell... and there's not much time left!! (79 days!)



**P.S. The title of this post is the exact response that Jacob had when I forwarded him the CL post! lol

First RSVP!

Well I know the invites made it because we got our FIRST RSVP! =)

(Not counting my dad who RSVP'd yes and left a comment that he thought he had the day off (he's retired) so he could probably make it... lol).

I'll share the invites later this weekend when I know more people have them in their hands!

Woo hoo!

Wedding Dress Diet?

So... I've lost about 30 lbs since I bought my dress (not JUST because I wanted to look good in my dress, I also needed to drop the lbs.) Now I'm at a stand still... granted, I have allowed desserts back into my diet in greater quantities. But, come on now, I NEED chocolate to survive! lol

Anyway, the point of this rant was because of this post on Sleep Talkin' Man this morning... lol... I love this blog, and this post expressed my deepest emotions. lol

They're Gone!

Our wedding invitations have been let free into the world! =) But not after FIVE HOURS of folding, gluing, taping, and addressing. Thankfully, I was able to get some crafty people in my family involved to help out! And we also managed to finished the programs and about half of the favors! Woo hoo!

Bridesmaids Jessica and Holly, my grandmother, my brother's girlfriend Brittany (two of my three brothers are dating a "Brittney".... it gets confusing) my mother and me.

Third brother's girlfriend, Jennifer (or, as we should probably call her in our family, "Not a Brittney". lol) and my mom working on the favors.

Woo hoo!! Almost done!

Now, off to mail them. Unfortunately, the weather looks like this today (if you can't tell, icky, gross, and raining**), and I walk/take public transit to work... and the post office.

Thus, this is how the invites traveled to the post office! lol I was not going to let them get all spotted! So, 56 invites out there, 120+ guests invited... let's get these RSVPs rollin' (so I can stop stressing out about having too many people show up! lol).

My first DIY wedding project was not so bad. Granted, had I not had help I would have been in tears and tearing my hair out by the end... but, thankfully it didn't come to that. =) Everything turned out a lot better than I was anticipating and the project went by a lot smoother. I will do an invite reveal in a couple days when guests have had a chance to receive them, but you're all going to have to wait to see the programs and favors until the wedding recaps... I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone coming who may read this!

**I'm hoping that all the rain we're having now means that August 14th will be absolutely beautiful! =)

Dress Up!

85 Days


Can we just DO this already? lol

P.S. This is what I do after a watching a wedding TV show...

P.P.S. This weekend headed "home" for a wedding day with my mom, grandma and two bridesmaids.... invitations, programs, favors, we're gonna get 'er done! (Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share on Monday!)

Product Review?

I'm wondering if any of you out there in blogland have used "easel backs" before? Something like this:


I've been trying to come up with some way to display table numbers, signs, etc. Originally I was thinking I'd just buy a bunch of cheap picture frames, but, as I was searching the web for those last night, I ran across these. You just peel and stick these onto the back of whatever you want displayed. They SEEM like a good deal, but I've never seen them "live" before so I have no idea how sturdy they are or how well they work. Any thoughts?

Holy Sh*t!

Tomorrow is THREE MONTHS! lol... this last month went soo fast! Here's what I have left to do... it doesn't seem like that much to me, but I'm worried that I'm under estimating my time and energy. lol

Assemble Invites
Mail out invites
Send DJ room/hotel info and directions
Pick out flower girl dresses
Find ring bear attire
Send finished ceremony script to officiant
Make Alteration Appointments
Create Shoe Sign
Make final appointment with photographer
Assemble Programs
Assemble Favors
Finalize honeymoon reservations
Finalize honeymoon flight info
Get Ribbon/color scheme to bakery
Get guestbook notecards
Purchase wine
Make table assignments
Create table assignment sign
Create wedding day timeline
Create menu signs
Order candy
Put together slide shows
Meet with DOC- Discuss decorations/timeline
Buy sand ceremony stuff
Print Program Inserts
Make napkin decision (paper or linen... and order/buy)
Rehearsal Dinner Details
Figure out guest book/gift attendants
Marriage License
Ceremony seating chart for special guests
Finalize reception hall layout


What am I not thinking about???

Moving

We moved office buildings at work this week... it's be HECTIC... but I have to say, I'm lovin' it a little bit! =)


We went from a windowless basement to the second story of a VERY window-ed building! And somehow I lucked out and got the window front desk! I am loving the sunshine/natural light!

Babies and Biology

Had a doctor appointment today... amongst the usual questions (do you smoke? do you drink? how often do you exercise?) she asked me if I planned to have children. I responded in the affirmative, and she told me that I was still in the prime fertility age range but that if I planned to have children I should put it on my "agenda". Apparently, at 27, I am only two years shy of the age when fertility starts to decrease, and 8 years shy of the age when health risks for myself and my child start to increase.

I was thinking about this as I left her office, and started to do some math. She told me that the average fertile couple takes 6 months to get pregnant, with an additional 3 months to come off of the effects of oral contraceptives. She also stated that a woman who plans to conceive after coming off the pill should start taking prenatal vitamins 3 months before even starting to try. Ladies, this adds up to one full year from decision to get pregnant to actual conception... means that I have to make that decision within the next 12 months in order to fall outside of the 29-my-eggs-are-no-longer-spring-chickens deadline. I know that these are just averages, and I may be totally different, but I do not have the best luck with medical/health things, and I wouldn't doubt that I would be at least average, if not a little worse than average.

This whole situation is a great example of how a woman's biology once again conflicts with societal norms. I was 13 when I "became a woman", which, biologically speaking, gives my eggs 16 years of 100% fertility... plenty of time, right? Wrong. In today's society I would go so far as to venture that 25 is about the age when people stop questioning your decision to have a child (correct me if I'm wrong... but before then I feel like you'd get a few people thinking you were "too young"). Which means you only get 4 years of society-approved prime baby-making years! Talk about stressful!!

I don't really know what my point is to this... I just wanted to vent. I do want to have children, it just didn't occur to me that biological deadlines were approaching so quickly... Jacob's response to all this? First, laughter (alright, I admit, I did kinda spring "so, when do you want to have babies?" on him directly after saying "hello, how was your day?") and then "I know plenty of people older than us who have had healthy babies". From these responses I gathered that he (a) doesn't get the importance of this stuff to a woman who REALLY wants kids (b) isn't quite on the same time-line concerning expanding our family.

Am I alone here? Any of you "older" bride to be's thinking about this (by older I, unfortunately, mean over the age of 25)? If you are "baby ready", do your FHs have the same level of desire?

And the Stickers Go To....

Bee over at BP Wedding!

Congrats on winning my May giveaway for 250 custom stickers!*

Bee said:

I have been waiting for a giveaway like this! I want to design a "Welcome" sticker to put on our Out of Town gable boxes. I think that these would be perfect. Oh I hope I win! :)

You should be hearing from Digital Room soon with instructions on how to claim your prize.

*winner was chosen with the help of random.org

100

When I was in elementary school we used to have a celebration on the 100th day of school. We'd all bring in 100 of something (pennies, macaroni noodles, whatever we could get our hands on) and do some sort of an art project to commemorate the day.

Nope... not me (sure is a cute kid though). I stole it from here

These memories are coming back to me today not because I'm celebrating the 100th of day of anything... but rather the 100th day UNTIL something! That's right, 100 days from today I'll officially be a "wife" (that word is going to take some getting used to).

We started at 400 and some odd days back in July, and now, as of tomorrow, we'll officially be in the double digit countdown.

Wow




P.S. It's not to late to enter my giveaway for 250 custom stickers!!

They're HERE!!!

Sorry... this is all you get until they are mailed out next month! **evil laugh**

I don't want to ruin the surprise for any of my to-be guests who read this blog! =)

P.S. That's my kitty in the background welcoming me home from a hard day at work by begging me to rub his belly. lol

Sometime Today....

...my invitations should be here!! I'm soooo excited and can't wait to see how they turned out. I was so hoping they'd show up before I left for work this morning, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards for me today... but I'm hoping they will be waiting for me when I get home! =)

I have scheduled a "paper party" with my girls, mom and grandma in a couple of weeks to help me assemble, put together and stuff invitations, programs and guest favors. I can't wait to actually get some of the hands on stuff done!

May Day Giveaway!*

Happy May Day everyone! I have a giveaway from Digital Room for you to add to today's celebration!




250 Stickers!

You have three sizes of stickers/labels to choose from, 3X3, 2X4, or 2X3.5. These are custom made, by you, in FULL COLOR! Printed on 70lb label matte coating with a mere 6 DAY turnaround! And, of course, free shipping to US residents!

I'm sure my super creative readers out there will have all kinds of fun ways they'd like to use these. I designed some myself a few months back that I'm using for the front of our programs and on our favor bags.

So... cutting to the chase. You have until 11:59pm on May 9th to submit your entry. Winner's will be announced the next morning. All you have to do to enter is... tell me you want them and what you'll do with them!

One quick, simple way to enter! Good luck everyone!

* I'm a poet, and I didn't even know it! =)