WW: Favors

The to do list is slowly but surely getting done. There's still a LOT to accomplish, but I've been checking things off in the midst of packing.

Bouquets still need a lot of work. I've been making beaded flower petals like a mad woman and I'm going to start constructing the flowers and looking to see how I can make the arrangements.

I DID however get a heck of a lot done on our favor front. We decided to get tote bags. More like plastic bags are the bane of my existence and I wanted to give a useful favor. I originally planned on ordering tote bags and screen printing them myself with my handy dandy Yudu, but 4-Imprint was running a promotion and they screen printed them for free!

Hooray!
They arrived last week and I've been folding, tying, and tagging them for the past few nights.


So every guest at the wedding will walk away with a cute little magazine tote. Perfect size for carrying a book, a bottle of water and some sunscreen to the beach!

WW: A Week in Review

So Jason came to stay with me Presidents' Week. It was nice. It gave us a little sneak peek as to what it would be like living together. Sort of at least.

Last Friday night Laura swung down and we hung out with Casey and strategized our plan of attack for everything we needed to get done that weekend. Saturday morning Julianne and Chris showed up and while we got our hair cut Chris dropped the 'rents off at the airport for their annual trip down to Florida.

We had a very productive day. Julianne ordered her bridesmaid dress and wound up finding a very cute dress at David's for her wedding that is currently in contention. We searched and searched for silver shoes for Laura for the wedding but could not find any.

Then when Jason got into town we tried a new restaurant for dinner. Julianne and Chris are still looking for a local place to have their rehearsal dinner. The Chophouse was pretty delicious, not gonna lie. We think it's a place that Chris' parents would like and as long as the dinner is timed correctly they won't have to rent out the entire place.

When we got home we popped open a few bottles of wine and got to work. Laura, tape maven, wielded the new tape gun I bought like a champ and got all of the pockets tacked down on the pocketfolds. If anyone is interested, the tape gun is Laura's new best friend. When we did her pocketfolds we literally had to hand cut and tape each one individually. Tedious is a good word for that one.

Julianne folded all of the belly bands and I spent some time gluing down the layers to the monogram piece for the belly bands. Then we got incredibly distracted and wound up watching multiple episodes of Jersey Shore. I'm not proud.

Sunday we all woke up and munched on some delicious banana bread compliments of Queen Bang herself, Julibean. Laura had to leave us because her slave-driver of a company doesn't give her off for President's Day and she has appointments with Jim back at home to look at houses. (Scary that friends are popping out babies and doing things like house hunting!) We glued down all of the belly bands and glued on all of the seals as we watched episodes of Sherlock. BTW if you for some reason get the BBC watch it! It is utterly fabulous on so many different levels. We all LOVE this show now.

Anyway...Then the real fun began.

We took a trip to Mens Wearhouse to register for tuxedos for the groomsmen and Jason. We're flipping through the book together while they're fitting a group ahead of us and Jason drops a bombshell.

He points to the following photo and says,

I was thinking something like this!

For a moment I think he's joking. I look at my sister standing next to me, then back at Jason pointing to the man in the white tuxedo, then back at my sister standing next to me, then back at Jason pointing to the man in the white tuxedo.

It's then that I realize he isn't joking and did in fact truly want to wear a white tuxedo to our wedding.

Now let me add that Jason had mentioned wanted to wear white before. It was always after me explaining that the groomsmen would all be in silver vests but would be wearing different blue ties that match their respective bridesmaid. So I guess since his comment always came after talking about vests and ties that I assumed he meant he wanted to wear a white vest and tie, which was my intent all along.

Jason is a man of few words. I know this. I love him even though he doesn't always communicate the way I'd prefer him to. I'm over it though. Obviously I'm the vociferous one of the pair. We're both pretty comfortable with this most the time. However, when he doesn't communicate properly something like wanting to wear a white tuxedo to our wedding I get a little flabbergasted.

We sat down with the guy, I really can't remember his name but he was fantastic. Really funny and personable, kind of sarcastic in our dry way. Thought us nonchalantly going back and forth about the white tux was really funny. We wound up registering Jason for the same tuxedo as the groomsmen but with the white vest and tie instead of the silver but we have up until two weeks before the wedding to change it if we want.

I am definitely against the white tuxedo. So is my sister, so is my mother, so is my grandma-like friend Marlene over at Priscilla of Boston who we called to find out what color (white or ivory) I ordered my dress in because I'm a very forgetful bride and can't remember.

The only concession I'm willing to make here is a white dinner jacket a la Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom. I'd be all over that. It's sexy, it's eye catching, and it's a compromise that I don't think would look horrible in wedding photos.

My only rule is that whatever color the white dinner jacket is, we have to make sure it matches (close enough) to my dress. I won't be able to get a swatch of my wedding dress until it comes in in April, but we'll see what happens or if Jason winds up in a plain tux.

After tuxedos we went to CozyMel's for lunch (delicious!) which is my new favorite Mexican Restaurant close to home. And then said goodbye to Chris and Julianne so they could head home.

During the week Jason and I printed, punched and stuck all the monograms onto the belly bands. They are now completely done. I'm still conversing with my mother over invitation layouts but I'm hoping to have them printed and cut down by the end of next week. Invitations are almost done! Huzzah!


(Photos borrowed from Mens Wearhouse & The Gentleman.)

STDs, the fun colorful kind

When it came to Jason and my Save the Dates (STDs) for our wedding I knew I wanted to do something so over the top quirky and us that people would open them up and be like, well damn, that is SO them!

I can't remember where I first saw it but I came across a couple's wedding invitation that were printed on long skinny posters and basically it was the story of their seven year relationship and how much of a whirlwind it was over the years. Not only was it funny and a little silly, but it was also a brilliant piece of typography. When I saw them I knew THAT was what I wanted to do, so I set out to make a fun little story of us.

This is what I came up with:

Originally I was going to get some shiny mid-weight paper to print them on but after the great paper search of July I wound up with 400 11x17 sheets of the Astrobright Glisten and figured I might as well use what I had on hand instead of buying more.

Here they are, in all their majesty!

They were mailed in 5.5"x5.5" Astrobright envelopes.
I designed and printed mailing labels on adhesive paper.
Our return address is on the back.

An STD cost analysis:

• Paper - As I mentioned before, it was difficult to track this paper down. I really really wanted the Astrobright Glisten paper that matched the blue dotted washi paper I had my heart set on using for details. Because the paper was discontinued I had to buy a whole case of it which was 400 sheets. Each sheet came out to about $0.50 and I made two STDs on each sheet. I believe I made 84 STDs, so I used 42 sheets. Grand Total = $21.
• Envelopes - I purchased these envelopes from envelopemall.com. I have always found envelopemall to be easy to work with and I go to them to purchase samples often. These envelopes specifically came to about $0.11 a piece (when you add in shipping and taxes). I used 82. Grand Total = $9.02.
• Labels - I purchased Astrobrights Print & Stick Adhesive paper. It came in a pack of 30 for $10.85 from amazon.com which comes to about $0.36 per sheet. I used 14 sheets for the labels. Grand Total = $5.06.
• Postage - Since they were square and slightly heavy, postage was $0.64. I guess what I saved on not buying any additional paper I paid for in postage. Grand Total = $52.48.
• Printing & Cutting - Was free. I was able to print the STDs at work and a family friend who works at Kinkos cut them down to size for me because he's awesome. Grand Total = $0.

STD Grand Total
Including postage: $87.56
Individual price: $1.07 ...Not bad!

Not including postage: $35.08 ...man, if only I could have hand delivered all of them! They would have only cost $0.43 a piece!

I've already gotten a few phone calls from family members and txt messages from friends saying how much they loved our STDs. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to hear that when I worked so hard on making them special.

Now we get down and dirty and start making invitations!

WW: Coming Together

I had a near panic attack last week. At first, everything was looking up. I had found the discontinued paper I needed from Paperworks. I had ordered all the envelopes I needed from Envelope Mall. And they looked fabulous when they came in the mail.
I went to see some venues with Laura and had met a great photography duo whose prices were great and work fabulous. I felt like we were finally ready to make decisions and put down deposits.

I felt good. It seemed like everything was finally falling into place.

But then when I emailed Pat & Jess of Casey Connell Photography to tell them we wanted to book them. Their reply was really sad. They had just been booked for the day before ours for a wedding in Cape Cod and were worried that because of the holiday weekend, they wouldn't be able to get back to Troy in time. I was so sad. They were not only the least expensive out of all the photographers we were looking at, they were a two photographer team AND their work was right up there among some of my favorite.

Suddenly I was in a mad dash to find more photographers. I stumbled upon a few other sites and contacted another two photographer team in the area whose prices were right on par. Meanwhile, I double checked with the other two photographers I had previously met (Heather of HBT Photography and Keira Lemonis) to make sure my date was still available and they hadn't been booked out from under me too! Heather was still free but Keira had another bride sniffing around my date.

I liked both Keira's and Heather's work. They both have a great style to their photography. Keira was slightly less expensive than Heather but they both offered everything I wanted out of my photographer.

I panicked a little. The new photographers I had contacted weren't available to meet me until mid-August and I like to meet vendors to get a feel for their personality and how professional they are. The only other time they had available to meet me was Saturday afternoon. I didn't really want to take a drive up JUST to meet a photographer especially since I had Job#2 Sunday morning and had to be back, but I figured I could if it was necessary.

I got home and told my parents the whole story. We three sat down and looked at all three portfolios online and I told them how I felt about each of the photographers (or at least the two I had met thus far), and asked them if it was worth it to go up to meet the third photographer Saturday and not wait till mid-August, in case in the meantime someone booked Keira and I didn't have her as an option any more.

I realize I'm ridiculous and looking back I really did just run around like a chicken with my head chopped off but this was seriously destroying my calm. I had finally figured out the drama over our invitation paper, had nearly decided on a reception venue, and now the damn photographer I wanted was unavailable.
Finally my Dad basically told me to shut-up, go with my gut, and go with the photographer I thought would do the best job. So Friday afternoon I emailed Heather and told her to please pencil us in and send us the information for the deposit and her contract. She has us down for July 3rd but I won't feel completely finished with things until I get her that deposit which should be sometime next week. I'll have Laura hand it off to her possibly.
Once the whole photography thing was settled, we turned to the reception venues. We had narrowed it down to a country club and a new hotel.

Country Club Pros

• Was cheaper per head
• Beautiful golf course greens and grounds to take photos on
• Included tax and gratuity in the package price
• Didn't include centerpiece or cake (but that seemed fine to me)
  

Hotel Pros

• Everything was under one roof
• Courtesy shuttle to and from the airport and train station
  
• There's a sports bar in the hotel
• "Children" are considered to be ages 11-20 so they are half price, which is awesome because most of Jason's cousins and a few of mine will only be 20 or younger!
  
• Blocked room discounted rates
• Everything is included (cake, chair covers, linens, bar, centerpieces, etc.)
  
• They were extremely flexible (I could remove things willy nilly from the packages)
• Actually located IN Troy, which was nice, since that was the whole point of this
• Beautiful garden outside for photos
  
  

Country Club Cons

• Private Club, so no one could golf, and no one could wander outside the ballroom
• Seemed a little snooty for my taste
• No chair covers and the chairs were kind of ugly
• Banquet Manager was a bit doofy
• Didn't seem as flexible and basically told me I didn't want to do anything DIY at all (the nerve!)
• No hotels anywhere nearby

Hotel Cons

• Slightly pricery per head
• It's a hotel so there's a possibility of strangers wandering around
• The ballroom is a little bland (no natural light)
  

But with some decor, it can look nice! (Anthology Designs)

Basically what it came down to was if we were going to have our "destination wedding" and make everyone travel (and if I can't have my Key West wedding or my Barn Country Chic wedding) then we would make it as easy for guests as possible. The Hotel could offer us a lot more convenience than the Country Club, so that is what we're going with.

Saturday morning we sat down and speakerphone attacked the Banquet Manager at the Hotel. She answered a few more of our questions and verified/clarified some other details and she's sending us the contract!
Also that morning I got an email from the Pastor at the Church I really wanted to get married in. We were having major issues finding one that would let us as visiting parishioners get married, but he said yes! And Fr Ed can still marry us too!

And check out how GORGEOUS this church is!!!!!

Is it not TREMENDOUS?! (Photo by Joe Elario Photography)


So...to sum up...
Church: Check
Priest: Check
Venue: Check
Photographer: Check
Bride & Groom: Check

Yessssss

Oh Happy Day!

I know I usually only talk about Wedding related stuff on Wednesdays but honestly, I CANNOT contain myself!

Not only did we have a fabulous morning of decision making (more on that Wednesday) but seriously, it was such a shpadoinkle day!

Casey called and told me that her and Momz were going to a crazy one day only liquidation sale they had found at a warehouse a few towns over. Most of the fabrics were table cloths and catering stuff, so she figured I'd be interested in wedding related crap at deep discounts...boy was I ever?!

Off we went and entered into this balls hot warehouse with ceiling high shelves FILLED to the brim with table cloths, table runners, table skirts, chair covers, chair ties, napkins, everything you'd ever want and need, in all different colors and fabrics.

Now the venue we decided to go with includes chair covers but chair ties or sashes I've come to research to be $0.60-$1.00 to rent/buy EACH. I flat out told Casey that if we found chair ties in my color scheme that were $0.50 or less I'd buy them for the wedding.

Boy did we ever find what I was looking for. They had chair ties on sale but not enough in any color I was looking for. The most they had in a royal blue linen was 70. But, what they did have were table cloths of satin.

We measured the chair ties that they had pre-made in the warehouse and they were about 96" long and approximately 5" wide. The table cloths I found in a beautiful blue satin that matches the invitation paper perfectly were 90"x132" and the going rate for them was $12/table cloth (I know from my chair tie searches that these satin table cloths can go for up to $35 a piece, so already a good price). With the trimmings we approximated that 22 chair ties could be made from each table cloth. To be safe, we'd need 180 chair ties (I doubt we'll wind up making more than 150, but better safe than sorry.)

I grabbed 10 table cloths (hey, I can make a few table runners for the sweetheart table and the escort/gift tables too!) and asked her if she'd be willing to take $60 for them all. She said no less than $75. I said throw in two industrial sized spools of matching thread and you've got yourself a deal.

DONE!

Umm...hello? Let's figure out how much money I just saved, shall we?

Let's say the two spools of thread were $5, just so we have an even number to work with. $70 for 10 table cloths is $7 each. We can make 22 chair ties out of each table cloth, so basically $0.32 a chair tie, with at least two table cloths left over to trim into 4 table runners at $3.50 a piece.

I like those numbers. I WIN!

DPF: Oy

I'm so exhausted this week. The weather is blah. My allergies are crazy.

I've been slacking, but I promise to post a few things next week. This weekend is Laura's Shower. It's a surprise where we're taking her so I didn't post anything about her invitations or Thank Yous that I made because every so often she happens upon my blog and I didn't want to ruin it. But I will post a few photos of the things I've made and of the shower next week.

I also have photos to post of her actual invitations that we mailed out a while ago. I'm such a slacker.

I'm really really excited because we're seeing three different wedding venues this Sunday. So I'll have a post about those at some point too.

Please excuse this interruption:

Crazy Go Nuts

This weekend was extremely productive. Laura and I got a whole lot done.

Typically when we get together we make a whole lot of plans to do certain things and then we only get maybe two out of the seven things done. This weekend we got everything done except one thing...and that was to eat corndogs. Alas, regrettably we just couldn't fit it in to our busy schedule.

However the following things on our list got done:

• Candle Party - This was the reason I left work a little early on Friday, so I could get up to Albany and be there for Laura/Chrissy's Candle Party. It's like a Tupperware Party except with fire.
• Folded all 125 pocketfolds for the invitations.
  
  
  Our hand crafted pocketfolds.
  
  
• Stamped the return address on the back of all invitation envelopes.
• Stamped their address on all the RSVP envelopes.
  
  
• Went to GoodWill and found glass containers of various shapes and sizes for Laura's candy buffet.
• Went to a few antique stores and found a bracelet for Laura to wear to her wedding. Her grandmother had given her a necklace and earrings ages ago and we managed to find a bracelet (decently priced) that matches the set exactly!
  
  
• Hit up a good sale at Michael's and got the last bit of adhesive tape, stamp pads, and various other things we needed for wedding crafting and the like. I love when absolutely everything on my receipt is 20% off.

I'm going back up to Albany this weekend because we are in fact still a weekend's worth of work behind because of the funeral and the fact that I haven't been able to get up there since.

So for this week I am racing to get the invitations designed, printed and cut. As well as two of the four inserts designed, printed and cut. Then this weekend we'll assemble what we have so far and emboss their monogram on the invitations and the belly bands and put those together as well.

No rest for the bridesmaids. As if I could complain about doing stuff that's so creative and fun!

Vintage and Awesome

Well you all know me. I like to randomly look at things online.

Yesterday I came across these and I just had to share. First off they are completely and utterly gorgeous. I love the idea of using vintage enamel broaches as flowers in a bouquet.

These beauties are from Fantasy Floral Design and I am in love.

Not only are these really cool, but I feel like this is something that I could make myself. I'll have to look into it and see if I can find any tutorials online about it, but how incredible a bouquet would that be?

I can't stop staring at them!

I'm just in such a wedding mood. This weekend I'm off to Albany to visit with Laura and start making her pocketfolds for her invitations. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm more than willing to put the work in to produce a fabulous product for my best friend.

I can't wait to get started. I caught a killer sale at Michael's the other day and got 100 sheets of multi-colored cardstock for less than $6. I'll be able to use some of it for Laura's shower invites and thank yous that I have to start making soon too. Hopefully all I have to buy for those are envelopes and maybe a cute stamp. I have an idea in mind of what I want to do but I need to talk to the MOH first and see if she approves.

Tonight I have a dinner/movie date with Ashley. We're going to see Remember Me. It was either that or Dear John. What can I say, we both love the sappy crappy movies...

Ashley read the spoilers for it and apparently it has a ridiculously off the charts, I didn't see that coming, ending. She was going to tell me but I decided it'd be more fun for her to watch my reaction and talk about it afterward than it would be to just talk about it now.

Seriously. Can't stop staring.

Showers Showers Everywhere

Been a little elusive lately, but here I am, back again.

The shower was wonderful. Everyone adored the food Julibean made and they practically scraped the Key Lime Pie plate clean and every other guest was asking for the broccoli salad recipe.

Jade and Jessy did a wonderful job of finishing decorating outside while Julibean and I finished preparing some food and sangria in the house. And Stacey made pretty much the sweetest hat of bows I have EVER seen!

Our family and friends literally showered Jaclyn with love and affection and a mondo amount of gifts. They basically cleared out her B3 registry and there are only a few things left on her Macys registry.

Jaclyn was most excited that there were so few things left on those registries not because she wanted to add more things, but because her and Andy have also registered for their honeymoon to...where else? Disney! They're hoping that everyone who has yet to bestow gifts on them will put money towards their honeymoon.

I personally had never heard about registering for a honeymoon before but apparently it's all the rage. I'm pretty sure my Mom decided to pay for a couples massage or something utterly romantic like that for their honeymoon but she was originally tentative because it's just not something her generation was familiar with. I think it's really cool!

Jaclyn's co-workers, they were flipp'n fantastic ladies.

So family, friends, lots of good food, lots of generous gifts, and cute little princess tiaras to boot! Jaclyn's shower was fantastic and she was so happy with how the day went and that's all that is important.

Three generations.

Jaclyn & her maids: Jessy, Jade, Jaclyn, Stacey, me & Julianne

Shower Thank Yous: Check!

So after an unsuccessful Saturday of not getting as much as I wanted to get done off my to do list, on Sunday I woke up and cranked out the rest of Jaclyn's bridal shower Thank Yous.

Huzzah!

We invited about 45 people so I made an even 50 Thank Yous just in case she messes up writing one, or needs an extra envelope...you know how it goes.

Showed J&A some calligraphy samples and I might have the job! :P There's a chance my aunt might have them sent out to be done by someone else, but we'll see what the final verdict is. I personally wouldn't mind writing all the envelopes out by hand but I can understand wanting a "professional" doing it. I guess it's all about the Benjamins. I'm cool with the decision either way.

As for me, not too much is happening. Jason got a job offer down in Virginia so within the next few weeks he'll be moving down there. I'm not so excited about the distance, but we've already proven we can stand it. It's a 6 month contract job and it's actually in his field! I especially don't mind that he'll be leaving his job at Subway making sandwiches to go do something he actually went to school for. This might just be the break he needed to get his foot in the door in his industry.

But ahhh, Virginia till January! Not looking forward to a 7 hour drive to visit him...

DIY Shower Invitations & Decor

As I've mentioned before my sousin Jaclyn is getting married in October and my sister and I are co-maids of honor. The other wonderful bridesmaids and the two of us decided to throw Jaclyn her shower in July and I've been crafting ever since.

It started with the invitations. I had an idea in my head and managed to get it into paper form pretty easily. (Some personal information is blurred out.) I bought the purple cover and matching envelopes from envelopemall.com. From what I've seen they have the best prices on envelopes out of any online store out there and have an excellent selection of colors and brands. I've ordered samples from them before and their customer service personnel are all very friendly and accommodating.

The ivory paper is actually some resume paper I've had forever and the ribbon came from Michael's. Each of these invitations fit into a long policy 10 envelope. I liked the different shape of the invitation and knew that this was a chance for me to do something creative since J&A decided to get store bought wedding invitations.

Two weekends ago Julibean and I started working on some decor elements. We're hosting the shower in our backyard, so we wanted to add some simple pieces to the canopies and to the trees in the yard to bring some of Jaclyn's favorite color (purple) into the space. We searched around for ways to create pretty and simple centerpieces and decided to make luminaries.

We bought small glass filled candles at the dollar store and wrapped vellum around them. Then we decorated them with the same cut outs that I used on the invitations. I don't have a photo of one while the candle is lit, but trust me, they look very pretty and were really simple to make.

I also came across these fabulous easy to make paper poms from Martha Stewart. You can actually buy kits to make these at Michael's since they carry her craft line there, but we were able to make them ourselves at home without the kit.

We wound up making about six or seven of these poms in different sizes and shades of purple. They look a lot better hanging up than sitting on a table. I hung one from my chandelier to give you a feel for them. When a breeze hits them and they spin a little they look soooooo pretty. And they were really simple to make and despite the fact I have tiny shreds of tissue paper on my floor we definitely had some fun putting them together.

So we have paper poms, little luminaries and we've gone ahead and purchased Jaclyn a fantastic tiara she can wear because obviously the shower is all about her. :)

I also decided I wanted to make Thank You notes for Jaclyn as part of my shower gift to her. I know she'll use them and I had plenty of purple cover paper left over so I got to making them this weekend. We've invited about 45 people to the shower, so I still have quite a few to make, but I'm getting there.

I designed them to match the invitations and go along with the whole fun little flower theme we have going on. I found a set of cute little stamps that said things like "Thanks a bunch!" and "I really loved it!" and those little messages are the kinds of sentiments that Jaclyn would definitely like to impart on her friends and family.

So once I finish the Thank You cards, which I made to fit into A2 sized envelopes, then I just have a few more poms to create and we are set for decor!

Then all I have to do is practice my calligraphy a little more. I'm going to hand address all of the wedding invitations for Jaclyn & Andy. So I've been working on exactly how things should look and how certain letters should connect into others. Calligraphy is definitely a dying art and it has long been something I have had a passion for. I haven't pulled out the stops yet, since my different pen nibs are in need of a cleaning, but it's interesting how your medium can change your end work. Same name with same style of writing in a regular marker, a ball point pen and a special calligraphy marker...all have a different kind of attitude to them.

We'll see which style and which pen the bride and groom like the best, I can adapt to a certain degree with my handwriting. I'm excited to get going with more wedding craftiness, but my hand is definitely tired from just the practicing. When you've spent the past four years typing everything instead of writing it by hand, writing a lot suddenly is really a pain :P