Our Save the Dates

I envy those brides who are DIY queens. The only DIY project I'm good at is opening a bottle of wine myself and pouring it into a glass myself. (Although I will be doing our wedding cake, but shhh, yet another blog post for yet another time!) When it comes to crafty projects, I am a failure. I am a good gopher. When my friend and Matron of Honor, Mrs. Gallery Place, got married, I helped her with some crafty projects like her CD favors. It was a lot of fun! Left to my own devices, however, I prefer to outsource.

Seriously, my superior MS Paint Skills in no way qualify me to design anything. I'm great at telling people what I want and letting them make my ideas pretty for me, but otherwise I'm a lost cause. So, just like any bride with an internet connection, I know about Etsy. (If you don't, for shame! And you call yourself a bride!)

What I love about Etsy is that... well, what isn't there to love? Independent crafters and designers selling their wares. Each piece is unique. I remember before I learned about the joys of Etsy, I would drag myself through websites like Invitation Consultants and still feeling unhappy. While they had great invitations, it all felt cold, sterile, and completely unoriginal. And I am not cold, sterile, or unoriginal. I'd like to think of myself as warm, interesting and bold! (Most would just call me quirky or eccentric, but I like my descriptors better.)

After searching and searching, Mr. JeffM and I finally found a design that suited us, and that was no easy task. Mr. JeffM and I are both very opinionated people, and I'm one of the lucky gals whose guy is actually interested in what goes on with wedding planning! I mean it that I feel lucky... but it can present a few challenges. For example, there were a few times that I found gorgeous unique designs on Etsy. I would lust after them, and wait impatiently for Mr. JeffMemorial to arrive home. He would give them a glance and quickly say, "Nope, don't like it."

But then one design came along. When I saw it, I might have swooned just a tad. Just like the other times, I braced myself for disappointment, thinking Mr. JeffM wouldn't like it. So he came home, looked at it, but instead of dismissing it, he said,

"Hrm, let me see it on our colors."

I got a proof in our colors. He loved it. And now that we have sent out the Save the Dates and everyone has received them, I can share it with you:

They just looked way too fun. And what's even nicer is how I can see them hanging up in the cubes of some of my coworkers.

Our invitations will be in next week, and it's a shame it'll be awhile before I can share them with you. They're just tops though.

the save the dates...

...are in the mail!












yikes!

i told mr. uva, "there's no backing out now"!

i'll post more soon about the guest list process and about our lovely invitations that arrived last week!

Obsessive UPS Tracking?

So I've never tracked anything from FedEx or UPS before. I always figured my orders would come when they come. Until now. Here is the status of my postcard STDs:

Location	Date	Local Time	Description
GREENSBORO , NC , US	08/17/2009	1:06 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE , KY , US	08/17/2009	3:02 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
LOUISVILLE , KY , US	08/14/2009	11:07 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	08/14/2009	10:56 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	08/14/2009	7:04 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
US	08/13/2009	8:54 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Tracking results provided by UPS: 08/17/2009 4:19 P.M. ET

They were printed and shipped much faster than I had expected, but all weekend they just sat in Louisville!!! Now they are so close (Greensboro is less than an hour from me) but I won't get them until tomorrow according to UPS. Maybe they'll be delivered by mid-morning, in which case I can look at them on my way back to lab from an off-campus meeting. Cross your fingers everyone!

I'm really excited because the STDs are the first concrete "thing" since my e-ring. The prospect of sending them out and officially publicizing the date make it all seem so much more real. Unlike my dress, which I've ordered but won't receive until next year some time, or the flowers which I won't see until wedding day, or the invitations which are a blur of ideas in my head, the STDs are complete (yay, I can finally check something off my to-do list. Almost.) and I will have them in hand by tomorrow. I just hope I didn't make some major typo that none of my proofers caught.

What one event/item made your marriage seem more of a reality, and less of a far-off dream? Was there something that made it hit home?

almost save-the-date time!

Mr. Fairfax and I are getting ready to send save-the-dates and it's very exciting slash terrifying. Well not terrifying, but a little scary just because once we send that out, I feel like the drama will increase. We are still narrowing down the guest list and people are going to be left out no matter what we do. My mother's family is just so darn big! Even excluding my dad's entire side of the family (he's not going to be there and I'm not super close with any of his sisters sooo yeah), I'm still having trouble keeping down the numbers of my mom's family. I'm not sure how many will even show up, but there's a chance they all could so we're going to have to gamble a little (and of course if more are planning to come than not, that provides more incentive for the ones who would otherwise not bother).

Anyway the thing is ready to go as soon as we figure out who it's going to. We're just sending it via email to most people, but we'll turn it into a postcard for those few who don't really Do email.

Here it is - finally got Blogger to upload! Thank you Miss Gallery Place!

The order is in ...

for the STDs. Finally. A seemingly small task, but one that has taken months. And, of course, blogger doesn't seem to want to let me upload the images to show you. Hmm ... has anyone else had problems uploading images? I'm at school where the internet connection is very fast, so I don't think that's the problem. Anyway, I've managed to upload one of the three images - the final back of the postcard (well, the final version didn't have the return address or website blurred out).

As I mentioned, this week I decided to totally redesign the back of the postcard. The front has essentially been finished since I first wrote about it in early July. I think the reason it took me so long to finish is that I never really liked my old design for the back. I showed the design to my friend, whom I've decided to call Oski (I suspect you'll be hearing a lot more of her) and we both loved the little pig I'd found to signify the BBQ rehearsal dinner, but didn't really like the rest of the old design. Then Oski had the brilliant idea of using the Metro Map and putting little icons on it for the different events/locations. I went to the DC Metro website, downloaded a PDF of the map, opened it in Illustrator, deleted most of the text, added my pig, cake, Doubletree icon, and text, and voila!

(click on the image for a readable version; the colors are all weird for some reason; on the actual image, the red line is actually red, not blue as it looks on my computer, and the Potomac is blue, not orange! but you get the idea)

Hopefully the postcards will come next week so I can get them in the mail!

What projects have tripped you up and taken much longer than you'd expected?

Save the Dates!

I ended up doing an etsy Alchemy request for our Save the Dates and really liked it. You post some information about what you want to have done, and then vendors can view your request and place bids. I had over 20 bids and most of them would have been great.


I decided to go with the vendor I chose for two reasons. First, I really liked the look of most of the things in her shop, even though they weren't exactly what I was looking for. I just really liked her taste and style. Second, she was local! I was so excited to find a vendor in the DC area who is also an independent small business.

Using etsy to create a custom save the date was a bit challenging. It's hard to be clear about what you like and don't like in emails, especially with multiple proofs being sent back and forth. At one point she mailed me some samples so I could see the background color, and they ended up being the wrong design. I went back and saw that one of my emails was very unclear, which led to the confusion. Fortunately, she only printed two in the wrong design before we caught the mistake.

My vendor resent the final proof last night and I just confirmed my order. Our save the dates are on the way to us! I'll take photos once I get them, since they'll be printed on a linen cardstock for a more vintage feel, but here is our design!

In two weeks we'll be seven months out and it already seems like the day is coming up quickly!

Tape the Date!

I wish I could get married every single day of the year just so I could do all sorts of adorable and fabulous wedding things.

This was posted on The Offbeat Bride, one of my favorite wedding blogs. It's defnitely a great idea for those of you who are still thinking about ideas for Save the Dates and super budget friendly!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

The word is out! We sent our save the dates!

Much, much earlier than they are supposed to be...

The plan was intricate to say the least. It was a staggered process. We have approximately 80% of our guests coming from out of town. 80% of that 80% are coming from Virginia (all over Virginia) and are my family. The plan was to send out their save the dates in October, since they have less out of town plans to make than Mr. Glen Echo's family, who are all basically coming from Atlanta. The first round was supposed to go out August 1.

But, we have been engaged for 10 months now...

We will be engaged for a total of 18 months...

I wanted to send our save the dates...

So, they went out and I am happy. We have 8 months left and I could not wait any longer (have I ever mentioned I am totally impatient). I now have no idea why we were waiting to send them out (I think it was one of Mr. Glen Echo's ideas).

So, here they are, my cute little save the dates. I made four different versions, using different pictures of us as kids that sort of matched in age.

(Disclaimer...I am NOT a photographer and I have not mastered the craft of taking "blog" friendly pictures of my crafts...I promise the next time I post an image of something that I have made, I will set it up and make it look nice...no coupons in the background next time...)

My mother hates this version...she says my legs look too long. I love this picture of me and Santa...she is crazy!

I totally over thought the idea for the magnets. I felt that the actual card with the wedding info was too big to "force" people to put on their refrigerators, so I did not make them magnets. I really wanted to send magnetic save the dates though... So, I got adhesive magnets and made an insert. I figured people could put them up or not...but at least they had the option.

I used different sheets of scrapbook paper (mainly because I could not pick just one) and cut them in half. I then folded the sheet long ways to create sort of an inner envelope for the save the date card. I stuck the save the date card inside and then closed it with a round adhesive sticker. I then put them in velum envelopes with a colorful address label. We ordered a custom stamp with our names and addresses from Sweet Paperie via etsy.

Mr. Glen Echo was much better at stamping the envelopes than I was. This is his handy work. My man is so crafty!


Mr. Glen Echo showing those magnets who's the boss!


We love Save the Dates!

Save the Dates

The “Save the Dates” were my first DIY project for the wedding and also my first inkling that I was going to be admittedly difficult, picky, and perfectionist-y about wedding details. I knew I wanted a post card; I knew I wanted our pictures on it, and I loved this mini – envelope idea from Martha Stewart :

A friend had done wedding thank you cards with the bride holding a large white foam board that said “Thank” and the groom’s said “You!”, which I thought was adorable – so another idea was born. I made the signs using letters printed in a super large font and cut and glued onto the foam board. And finally, we wanted to introduce the Outer Banks into it - so we had my mom take pictures of us holding the signs at various spots on the grounds of our venue. Transferred the picture into Zazzle (super easy and great to design postcards in), and viola, the front of the Save the Date postcard complete. We were standing in the exact spot where we will get married!


Next up - designing the back of the card. I used this site to make sure that all the postal requirements on size, border, depth, postage area, and postal markings were met. I did all of this design with Zazzle as well, picking a font, making a cute little calendar icon in PowerPoint, putting return address (those nice people in the postal service returned un-deliverable cards to me, which is not typically done for post cards). And after a round of proofs, where I tweaked placement, my post cards arrived and were BEAUTIFUL!!

Now for the little Martha inspired envelope. This is where I have the most regrets, though I LOVED how it turned out, it took SO MUCH TIME and many mistakes. I couldn't find a premade envelope that fit my size (2 x 2.7) specifications. So okay – I’ll make an envelope, no problem. I created a template, and then cut each envelope from sheets of scrapbook paper, assembled and glued each, then glued to the postcard. I was very worried about the envelope getting ripped off the postcard in the mailing process, so I used a super strong adhesive roller thing. Making the inserts for the envelope also (are you surprised) was a process – I had to cut each insert out, glue it to the colored paper backer and tie together. I had good help for that part from my future Maid of Honor (I was auditioning her for the part – she passed with flying colors). Put the inserts into the envelope, glue envelope flap with a special temporary glue (again Martha product), stamp (with a full, not postcard, stamp), and done. Final product looked like this:

Top picture is the back (with the nice post office persons writing "please forward") - you can see the bar code on the bottom, the red hand cancel on the top, and faint grey on the top as well.

Bottom picture is the inserts in the envelope with our venue, date, and website info.

Insanely, I did not create any extras to keep, I was just focused on getting the required number FINISHED and then never looking at them again. The picture above is one that was mailed and got returned as a bad address, so you can see how they look after surviving the postal process. Everyone LOVED them, and they all arrived intact. (Though you can see in the picture that my finger doesn’t have a ring on it!! :))

The Chevy Chases Save the Date

So, now that we are approaching the 10-month mark, it's time that I finally make a decision on our STDs and get them in the mail. I've been looking online and messing around with ideas since February, but now I think I've designed one I really like. I was messing around in Illustrator one day trying to design a monogram, and I happened to glance up at the bulletin board behind my computer where I spotted this (personal photo):

Since we have decided to send STDs only to the out-of-town friends of me and Mr. CC, I thought a fare card might be a fun idea to incorporate DC. Here is what I came up with for the front:

We plan to order 4x6 postcards from overnightprints.com (I've heard great things about them, their prices are good, the samples they sent me were good, and they constantly have sales). I'm still tweaking it a little and have yet to design the back, but I plan to get them out later this month. For the back, should I stick to the farecard theme and modify this (personal photo):

I'm not sure how I'd modify it exactly, but I'm sure I could come up with something ... or I could just have a standard postcard back, where I list the important info and our website list on the left and put the recipient's address on the right. Thoughts?

Tour de Cake Topper

I think the details in one's wedding are such fun. Everything about your personality and your fiance's personality come out in all the little things, from the invitations to the cake toppers.

With that being said...

The Tour de France is starting on Saturday! (Go Garmin and Astana--and Lance!) .

So what does this have to do with my wedding? Nothing, except that Mr. Charleston and I are huge cycling fans (more him than me---he's the one who actually rides with a group every week) and I wanted to incorporate his love for bikes and cycling into our wedding somehow. One of my students did our save the dates:

I loved it so much (as did Mr. Charleston) that I wanted to make the graphic of the girl and boy on the bike our cake topper. Since I have done most of the big things (venues, dj, photog, etc) I am now working on all the details, like cake toppers and centerpieces.

I found this awesome vendor on Etsy, Mountainbrook, who makes these awesome wood silhouette cutouts. I sent him a picture and he made our cake topper for us! Here is what it looks like:

It came a few weeks ago. It looks super great and I cannot wait to see it on top of a cake! Now all I have to do is find a cake!

So what are your details? I have had friends who have done D.C. totes since they were DC natives. Some have organized "DC Food Stops" for a wedding weekend where did they a tour of fun dc eateries like Ben's Chili Bowl, Five Guys, and Art and Soul. One idea that someone had was serving their mom's chocolate chip cookies and milk during the cocktail reception. I think anything that you can do to really make the day special is worth the extra effort. Good luck with all the planning!

Oh, and have a happy 4th of July weekend! Have fun and be safe:-)

Kindly Save the Date!

We sent our Save the Dates out on April 1! Hooray!! After 15 months of being engaged, it was REALLY exciting to really DO something. I mean, yes, we've signed contracts, bought invitations, but this was the first big public announcement and part of our wedding that involved out guests. Hurrah!!

So I'm sure you're dying to see what it looks like, right?

So there it is! I worked with Rori Bean Graphic Design in Old Town, I blogged about them previously, to create the motif you see at the top. We'll use it in a few other places in the wedding too. I then created the full document you see above in Power Point. Then, I converted it into a pdf and uploaded it to Vista Print. I'll blog about using Vista Print in more detail later.

The main reason we sent a save the date is because our wedding is same weekend as the Marine Corps Marathon and I was worried the out-of-towners wouldn't be able to get a hotel room if we didn't give them heads up. We included both our wedding website and the gmail address we set up just for the wedding.

I originally wanted to send out the Save the Dates in Kraft Paper envelopes, but with the brown design and text on the STD being brown, I thought it might be too much brown. I picked out these bright red envelopes from Paper Source.


I made the labels using Word, the graphic is another design from Rori Bean. We opted to use the forever stamps since it was pretty much the same color scheme and hopefully saved a little money in the long run.

Save the Dates

They've landed! I've been waiting to write this post so that no one would get a sneak peak at the Save the Dates until our future guests had received them. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do something like a map or picture that was representative of us but make a picture of us be the focal point of the Save the Date. I'm totally fine if I receive something like that from someone else, but my fiance and I weren't keen on the idea of our faces looking out from a refrigerator at our future guests reminding them about our wedding - just not our style. Also, we wanted something simpler so we didn't have to worry about envelopes and licking and gluing and all that mess.

I, too, love Laura Hooper's work, but alas she was not in the budget. So, I turned to the best alternative, my wonderful sister and Maid of Honor. It was actually really fun to work on them with my sister and now we have a very special keepsake for our wedding with my sister's signature on it, literally. All the way across the ocean in London, she work on different sketches and the font and would send me pictures of what she'd dreamed up. It was always so exciting for me to receive her emails with pictures of her ideas.

Here she is making her drafts and practice sketches over the winter holidays.Also, I wanted them to be hand-addressed, so I undertook the task of addressing them myself. I totally loved it, too, but I love writing stuff out. So found a font that I liked and practiced it several times before trying it out on our postcards. It killed me to cut stuff out, but it was necessary (below is our Photographer's Save the Date).Below, our personalized stamps with a photo from our engagement session, courtesy of our awesome photographer, Robert Holley of Robert Holley Photography. This still keeps with our refusal to look out from the fridge at our future wedding guests, but still allowed us to use a picture because we love them so much.
The Save the Dates en masse:And the front of the Save the Dates:
Oh how I love paper.

Save the Date Handkerchiefs

We're busy finishing our Save the Dates to mail out on Monday. But, since we're on the subject of Save the Dates, I thought I'd post a couple that I'm almost sad we didn't think of (almost because I still love mine and how well they tie in with our wedding).

These finds are thanks to Lucky Luxe Couture Correspondence via Elizabeth Anne Designs and Victoria with Roses.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Now I guess I actually have to make the Save the Dates...

So remember a while back when I shared the two mock-ups I had created for our Save the Dates? Well I really liked the second design, but I was not impressed with my MS Paint skillz in creating the little heart logo. So I went to a pro.

This is one of my few splurges for the wedding, getting a REAL LIVE designer to make a special logo for my Save the Dates. I started my search for a designer in the first place any frugal gal goes when she's on the hunt for something: Good Ol' Craigslist. He rarely fails me.

I quickly found Rori Bean Designs based over in Alexandria. I was blown away from the website and the prices seemed very reasonable. I wrote Ali at Rori Bean a very nice e-mail about what I needed and if the job was too small I understood.

Let me just say that Ali was awesome. Over the last week, I've described my ideas about our wedding and our invitations, shared some photos of my "inspiration" for the look of our reception and looked over designs Ali came up with. Ali was great to work with and I was amazed with what she put together and how quickly too. I only wish I had the budget to have our whole invitation suite designed!

So here is what we ended up with at the end of the process-

and, bonus!

The best part about these, and what I could never have done myself, is that the images have that pro polish AND they can be re-sized (bigger and smaller) without pixelation. The latter aspect alone was worth getting this done. Now I can use these image in multiple and different sized wedding projects, from teeny envelope seals to the front page of our program without compromising the image quality! Yay! Ali also gave the files in different format: a .jpg for "everyday use," as well as a .png file so I can lay the logo over other things without getting the "white box" effect around the image.

So I bet you can guess whats on my Google calendar for this weekend, yup, design those Save the Dates! I can't wait!

Friday Night Surprise!

Our Save the Dates arrived! The pictures in no way do them justice, but they're INCREDIBLE. Oh, the joys of Etsy. :-)





They're so amazing!

Even Mr. JeffMemorial got a bit misty and swoony over them. In fact, he was the one who noticed the design. He and I had been through mountains and mountains of designs, and this one just spoke to him for some reason.

Anyway! If you look in the first shot, you can see a bit of texture on the paper. The pictures don't really show how lovely the paper is. It's a heavy cream ivory linen cardstock.

Now they get put away, out of the reach of our Scottish Terrier, Horatio, until March or April. I think that's when we send them out... right?

I'm so happy. It's our first tangible real wedding expense.

The artist, PasaiiPaperie will also be making us coordinating invitations, menus, and favor tags. Oh! And a little guestbook!

Now if only I could figure out what the heck to do for favors!

The Save the Dates are here...well...almost!

Originally, my goal was to have my save the dates sent out by the time we went to Connecticut for the long weekend. Well, this week...I've slacked. Not gonna lie, I've had plenty of time to get them done but I've spent my nights cooking dinner, and lounging with fiance reading on the couch till all hours of the night (my punishment? Lack of sleep.)

But Sunday night I did get motivated and if it hadn't gotten so late, I would have finished them. I'm half way done. However, I am bringing a couple of them up to CT to give to the people we'll see who are getting save the dates - yay for saving on ridiculously overpriced postage!

Here are the magnet, they were pretty easy to make, I used MS Publisher and had to set the margins specially because there wasn't a template. I sold myself ten short because I ruined a sheet in the printer by accidentally putting them through while still sticking together. Whoops?

The envelopes we got at paper Source, as well as the liner, as well as the template to make the liner. We spent about $60 on paper, envelopes and the liner. Another $60 on printer ink (which we were long over due for) and $30 on the magnets. Total cost (not counting the ink) $90.

The liners were tedious to make, i made 50 because i ran out of the paper I was using to line the envelopes. I certainly could have made more but m'eh.

On the card, which I belive is A7 from Paper Source, because I don't have Publisher on my mac, I used word but it's simple, just text so they were easy to print out (aside from the fact that our printer kept printing them crooked)

The magnet itself is stuck on there with a tad bit of sticky tack. You know, that putty stuff. The ribbon in the corner is held with a wee bit of double stick tape on top.

The ribbon was another thing I didn't check - it was sheer. I realized that when I opened it up (instead of seeing the "sheer" label on the package...whoops). I looped it around the top corner crossed it in the back and then tied a bow in the bottom corner.

The final product?

Yes I know the magnet is crooked. Whoops? All in all? They look great. Now if I could just get off my butt to finish them! They'll still go out by the end of January (which also gives me time to work on our website).

(x-posted at my blog)

Save the Date Proofs, AKA "Oh My Gosh, It's Really Happening!"

Today I finally had my "It's really happening!!" moment, and it was so exciting.

Etsy, as you know, has become a friend to brides everywhere with unique (and a lot of times very affordable) homemade products; from hair accessories to invitations! Sometimes even wedding dresses.

I just received in an Etsy conversation a proof of our Save the Dates:



The date is not our date, obviously. I hadn't sent her our updated date of November 7, 2009, so she used a placeholder that will be changed out.

An update about our wedding; our colors are red, brown, and white, with slight hints of green (when necessary). For months we had been perusing invitations on professional sites, as well as those done by designers on Etsy.

Either he didn't like them or I didn't like them... or we both liked them, but decided they were too generic.

Then we found PasaiiPaperie, and we fell in love with her cardinals. Mr. JeffMemorial and I are not ones who dig "cutesy" stuff, especially when it comes to our printed items for the wedding, but these little guys just spoke to us.

In addition, I have to say she's been wonderful. She's actually going to be making custom items, in addition to the cardinal-themed invitations and save the dates, including programs or perhaps a food menu listing, placecards. our guestbook, and favor tags.

Not only that, the prices are super reasonable for a gorgeous product. Ours will be on flecked heavy linen cardstock.

One of the things I was worried about with such a limited budget was tying the room and our wedding together aesthetically as a whole, and designers like PasiiPaperie really make that easy.

It's worth looking into if you're using an Etsy designer. Would that person be willing to make custom pieces?

Ours, for example also does placecards, menus, wedding programs, etc.

It's worth looking into if you want a seamless theme, or looking for ways to stay within a budget and have a together look.

What's funny is that, as I mentioned, we moved the wedding to Old Town. Quite by coincidence we fell in love with the cardinals... and days later it suddenly dawned on me that the Cardinal is the state bird of Virginia, which we thought was kind of neat.

Anyway, I'm so excited! It is finally real. I saw our names on the digital proof, and got that happy feeling that it's really happening. Life is good.

Trying to figure out the Save the Dates

Since we have a small guest list, we initially thought we wouldn't send out save the dates. We figured most people would hear about the date beforehand anyway, and we'd just send the invitations a little early. Once we found out that the 34th Annual Marine Corp Marathon is scheduled the same weekend as our wedding, we thought we better send out some advance notice (with hotel information) if we wanted anyone to make it to our wedding and have a bed to sleep in!

So for the last couple months I've been thinking of ideas and running them past Mr. Fairfax. We're building our decor around the photo below, so we wanted to tie the tree and/or apple theme in to the save the dates (and eventually into the invitations).

source

So after many hours perusing the internets for ideas, I've got a few to share with you:

1) Simple black and white with a great picture taken by a friend of mine.

I'm not sure how we'd print it out, either on glossy photo paper or on white paper with a black backing.

Here's the other option:

2) For this version we'd print it up on brown ink on off-white paper. I did the little heart graphic myself in Microsoft Paint, but if we decide to go with this design, I'd get a pro to make it a little more polished for me (ps--it's supposed to be like a heart carved into a tree with initials to tie in the whole tree/apple theme).

So tell me what you think!

New Favorite Store

This weekend, Fiancé and I trekked out to Georgetown. Originally we had planned a date night with movies and a nice dinner. Instead, we caught up with one of our Groomsmen/Ushers on Capitol Hill for a late lunch, and then popped over to Georgetown to visit The Paper Source which was on the original agenda.

I love this store. Seriously. Love. They have rows and rows of colored stationary, rows and rows of wrapping paper - solid colors and patterns. We ended up talking to a girl who I told my plan to. She helped us pick out some A9 size white paper, Midnight A9 sized envelopes, and gave us a envelope lining kit for the envelope liners. Their staff was incredibly helpful and the selection of paper supplies? Amazing.

We picked up some Green wrapping paper for the envelope lining. The only things we didn't get there were the magnets, the ribbon (the stuff they had was too thick for what we wanted), and the double stick tape. All in all? We spent about $50 there, another $30 at AC Moore yesterday for the magnets and ribbon, and then $60 on printer ink because we were pretty much out. But that'll be not just for the Save the Dates, but also for the invitations.

I'm pretty excited to get started on this. We decided to make 50 save the dates - we're not sending them to anyone who we're still on the fence about inviting, or to anyone who's local (is that a faux pas?) so I'm hoping to have them done by the end of November, then we can sit on them for a month, and send them out after the holidays.

Fiancé initially didn't understand why I wanted something so elaborate when in the past he'd just gotten just a magnet or just a card. I told him well, most magnets I saw were about $100 for 50 magnets and that may or may not include envelopes. I wanted to do something...a bit more...pretty. Not that magnets, photo magnets or otherwise, aren't pretty by themselves but I don't know, I have a pretty decent attention to detail when it comes to this stuff.

So we spent about $80 on supplies (not including printer ink) which is still significantly less than the $130 say we'd likely end up spending on just the magnet save the dates if we had ordered them off the internets. There was probably a cheaper way to do it, but this for me, was the best option.

Additionally, this weekend my FMIL sent me "The DIY Bride" a book she had received from a friend of hers who had a daughter who recently got hitched. I've only had the opportunity to briefly skim through it but I'm pretty excited as it has a bunch of great ideas and I need to start researching how I want to make my invitations. So I think that'll be a good starting point.

Stay tuned for more pictures as I transform myself into Martha Stewart...queen of DIY!

Save the Dates...the design

In my last post, I talked about my decision to make the save-the-dates myself. I don't think it'll be too hard and with Microsoft Publisher, designing them hasn't been too difficult.

I haven't really started, I still have to design the cardstock, but I figured I'd give you all a hint of what they're going to look like. Last night, after talking to the FMIL, I told Fiancé exactly what my plans are. I figure, we're going on a date on Saturday up to Georgetown so it's a perfect opportunity to scour out some supplies.

The magnet, will look like this:

It will be attached to a piece of white card stock, with a thin green border, wording on it, and a ribbon holding it all together. The envelopes will be navy with green lining, a white label that will be hand written by moi. I don't always have the neatest handwriting, but it's much neater than Fiancé's chicken scratch and I can make it look pretty if I try.

Where'd I get my inspiration you ask? Here's the save the date that I found on the web that I really liked, but figured it was simple enough that I could replicate and add a touch of my own style. Here's the weddingbee post where I got the inspiration for the ribbon and the envelopes.

It's all coming together, hopefully they'll be done by the beginning of December so that after the holidays they'll be ready to be sent out! Fret not nearlyweds, I'll share the steps as I go along. I should also mention that the FMIL recently acquired a Wedding DIY book from a friend, she's sending it on to me. Woo hoo!!

Save the Dates

I'm going to ignore the term "STDs" for Save the Dates, especially given the rather unfortunate connotation and move on.

Mr. JeffMemorial and I have complimentary tastes, but he errs on the side of traditional and I love hovering around that trendy-retro-polished area in my choices.

This difference reared it's only moderately ugly head again when we were choosing our save the dates. We've finally found one we both love:



From SavetheDateMagnet.com.

Has a touch of the traditional romantic, but has a nice polished fun look for me. I'm so excited. We have no need to order them yet, but I cannot wait to have them.

For those of you out there, do you prefer the magnets or paper save the dates? And this can be from the perspective of the guests or those getting married.

Inspired!

I've been on the prowl lately. I've been searching all the websites in the world for adorable magnetic save the dates. Since we got a magnet last winter for my friend's save the date, we were convinced that we wanted magnets as ours when the time came. Well, the time's here and I like some of them, but I don't like them enough. It's more of a lukewarm like. Near ambivalence really.

So I made the decision last night, I don't quite recall if it was before or after I met up with Fiancé and his pal for a drink or two at the local pub, but I decided "screw this, I'll make them myself. It can't be that hard right??"

Right. I think.

Here's my plan. Our colors are blue and green and white. Much like the Hartford Whalers colors (RIP) which pleases fiancé. I want my wedding to have some preppy undertones - ribbons, candles, JCrew dresses (maybe. still undecided about the bridesmaid dresses), hints of argyle (if I have any say in it..) You know, our style. Because we're both kind of prepsters, and like things to look classy. Who doesn't? I make a template, stick it on the magnets, and make it pretty by adding something extra. What that extra is, I haven't quite figured out yet, but I have some ideas.

Okay. I can do this. I have in my head what I want. I can totally do this...Miss I can't really draw a straight line...mmmhmm. I can totally be crafty.

We're going to use one of our awesome engagement photos that a pal of mine took in Boston in June (I'll share those soon). I'll buy sheets of magnets, like the Associated Press How-To article says, and then add a touch of preppy kind of like this but not quite. With ribbons, more like this. And perhaps and green and blue border. Thank you Weddingbee for your endless inspiration. Seriously, last night I read 57 pages back in the DIY tag. Fiancé pretty much had to drag me to bed.

So this weekend, perhaps if time allows, I'm going to find a Michaels or other similar craft store, go to Paper Source in Georgetown, and get this show started - oh yeah, it might also helped if we bought some printer ink. I'm feeling inspired and while we don't have to actually send out our Save the Dates till January (we decided to send them after the holidays) I figure come Thanksgiving/Christmas, I'm hardly going to have the time to do this so I might as well do it now! Right? Right.

What did you do for DIY projects? Where did you find inspiration?