Ugh.

I feel like pulling each individual piece of my hair out, one by one and then scouring my head with a brillo pad would be more fun then trying to figure out the order of the reception.

Who is supposed to give a speech? Dads, Bridesmaids, Best Man? How many speeches is too many? Do I want people talking the whole time through dinner? When will we show the slide show? When are we cutting the cake? Will I even have time to eat?

These items you think would be things that the reception hall would tell you the general lay out of - but no, they are all mysteries left for one to figure out on their own.

It's up to us, we can do it however we want.

A simply phrase at the beginning of the planning process I thought was great - but now, with nearly 5 months left to go I just want people to tell me what to do, and when to do it.

ugh.

Dressing the Junior Bridesmaid

After several weeks of planning, I got my 6 year old sister into the bridal shop to try on some dresses.

I called ahead and discuess with them the fact my little sister, wasn't as little as most and that I didn't want this to be an issue or discussed in front of her. (This turned out to be no problem at all as the girl assigned to help us wasn't around at all, and we had to track her down just to check out, which was very much not like the other experiences I'd had here in the past)

I went in with a dress in mind: (see right)

It matched the bridesmaids perfectly and was really cute. Not to mention that my sister actually liked it, which is a plus!

Now my sister, who is 6 by the way is about a 10/12 in kids sizes. So I figured that a 14 would suffice for her in the dress. I grab it myself (as I mentioned before....the girl supposed to be helping M.I.A!) and brought it to her room. The sample was in a hideous BRIGHT orange that looked like something Rainbow Brigt might dress a bridesmaid in, and the look on my sisters face was "I am not wearing that thing!"

I quickly explained that it would be black and to just put ion for size.

It didn't fit.

I grabbed the 16 and the 18, in both that dress and another tea length with elastic on the back! They didn't fit either.

I had now exhausted all my Jr Bridesmaids options and was not forced to go into a Bridesmaids dress. Helper girl, who is still M.I.A is finally tracked down, doing nothing outside a dressing room for a bride who clearly didn't need her help. I explain the situation and she runs off, coming back what seemed like hours later with another dress choice in a size 2 adults.

Figuring this HAS to fit I ask my sister to put it on. Annnnnddddd - Won't zip.

We're off to the 4, the 6 and then to the 8. I'm frustrated for my sister at this point and trying not to show it. Though my step dad keeps commenting on how the zippers are junk, which they kinda are.

The 8 zipped, and fit but we had an issue: No straps and she was obviously not going to fit into this dress 3 months from now if she grew an inch. So I talk to the seamstress and we decide on a 10, and they will add straps in from the left over hem.

The neat thing is, though the dress (see left) is a tea length on an adult - it's a perfect floor length for my sister. And it doesn't look frumpy or anything because she had to go up to adult sizes. She felt good in the dress, and that's all I care about.

I let her choose weather she wanted a pink or black dress, and she wanted pink - so thats what she got. I think it will compliment my bridesmaids black dresses nicely and plan to incorporate that pink into my daughter flower girl dress as well.

Now I just have to find a fluffy huge beautiful dress for my daughter with a pink accent in it - which I haven't been able to track down as of yet... One down, one last one to go!

Programs - Take One!

I spent the majority of last night working on the programs. My eye balls hurt and I pretty much hate Photo Shop now. But after some cutting, printing, adjusting and ribbon cutting I came up with this:

(Never mind the wrinkled monogram on top, I used the wrong glue but it worked to get the general idea.)


The program is really simple to make and was really quiet inexpensive, when all is said and done each one will cost roughly .70 or less!

SUPPLIES

• I bought black linen card stock in 8.5x11 size, and folded it in half. That made the outer portion of the program.
• Next, though the sample is on regular printer paper, I ordered metallic text paper for the inside. I cut those pieces after they were printed, to 8x10.5 - just a half an inch smaller on the inside so that the edges didn't hang out when assembled.
  
• The ribbon in the sample is Light Pink 5/8 doubles sided satin from Michaels Craft Store, I paid $3.99 for 5 yards, and it's a huge rip off so I searched the net and found Favor Frenzy had some, but not in my color - so I popped over to Ribbon Retreat for Pink in 100 yard spool for about $10 or so. I suggest 3/8 ribbon - I used 5/8 and find that it's much too big and the program likes to stay open because of it. (Check Favor Frenzy first as their prices are cheaper)
  
• I picked up a 2 inch reach hole punch by Punchline (McGill Inc.) at Michaels, and found that the hole size was a bit big so I will be going back to get a 3/16 hole instead of the 1/4 I'm used for the sample.
• The pink backing to the monogram on the top is from scrap from my invites. The monogram will be printed on the same white metallic paper as the inside.
  

TIPS AND TRICKS

Cut the ribbon in 1 yard pieces, this will give you enough to comfortably tie the bow, and trim off edges to make the ends nice and crisp.

I punched the hole on the black outer part first. I simply put the 2 inch reach punch as far as it would go and punched once on the top and once from the bottom. Directly on the crease of the fold!

The after I printed and cut and folded the inner part, I laid it inside the black outer piece where it should sit, flipped it over and used a pen to mark through the holes where to punch on it. It's a putsy process but it worked like a charm every time.

* Let me know if you have any questions about how I made them or anything! They are still in the "mock up" stage but as soon as my product arrives I'm going full force on them!!!

Who Invited You?

It's funny, ever since I announced Mr S and I were getting married, people have been coming out of the wood work to drop hints about coming to the wedding. And I have to say it's been my friends more then his, mainly since most of his friends are actually invited to the wedding, and I - well I have 40 different groups of friends from all over and even if I wanted too couldn't invite them all.

So far I've dodged the need to actually have to speak to any of these "self inviter's" hoping that with the non arrival of an invite they will get the point. But with a few of them it gets sticky....for instance, I have a few friends in the group that are invited because I still talk to them, but some that are not.

Most of these issues are from the guys I know, and most of my friends being guys, you'd think I'd know how to handle them by now...nope. I'm still just a big dumb girl.

Guys, unlike woman, seem to not grasp the concept that the wedding costs money, that no matter how long it's been since that last time you've talked they have always been invited because how could you not want "Smitty" at the wedding to show off his beer chugging abilities?! My guy friends seem to think that every occasion with alcohol present requires them to drink it all as fast as possible so that no one else can get any. I should admit that some are not invited solely based on the fact they can't act like a human in public.

For those who don't make "the cut" I think that what I will do, is draft up an rejection letter, like those you get from colleges , for the non invited:

Dear Self Inviter,
The acceptance committee gave full consideration but we regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a position at the Mr S & Mrs G wedding, class of 2008.

We have had many applications and only have a limited number of spaces. We suggest spending less time with "extra curricular activities" and drop your Cussing 101 class, and apply to you second choice wedding.

Please try not to take the rejection too hard, we're sure you'll get into your next choice wedding.

Sincerely, Dean of Admissions

I think that ought to help things along - don't you?

Get With The Program!

I'm embarking on a new creative journey! The Programs for the wedding. I've actually gone back and forth about weather or not to do them, save the time and the money and skip it all together - I mean who woulnd't know what was going on or who would be getting married...really.

But in the end, the desire to have all things "tradtional" so to speak won, and I'm not starting to lay out my designs.

My program will come from inspiration from 2 other programs I have seen. One, I found on line, a Knotti Bio that I am in love with - props to Jenimac for the next photo:


The Program is an 8.5x11 sheet of cover weight card stock folded in half, the long way. Inside on regular white paper was the information and the whole look is completed with big, elegant ribbon and a monogram on the front.

I plan to use this idea for the outer cover of ours, but instead of a plain inside I'm going to keep going with the Stardream Metallic.

We will have the monogram on the front as well: It will look like this (see right), which is a theme that is carrying through out the whole wedding. I may add in the date at the bottom however, and possibly "All You Need Is Love" which is kinda our mantra in life.

As for the inside, I got the idea from a program I came across while at my PREPARE class at church. They passed around a basket full of programs and told us to take what we wanted for inspiration. The one we really liked was actually printed on Metallic Stardream paper and really suited us as a couple.

It has a photo printed on the it's cover (What will be Page 1, in our program) that is faded out and has a sweet saying along the top.

The Back, which is directly next to to it, has a sweet Thank You to our guests and another photo.


The inside, simple and straight to the point. And east to read - which was a big thing for us. We didn't want an over crowded inside that was hard to make out. Simple, clean lines.
(excuse the image, my scanner either is zooming in on one little corner of the program or cuts off the bottom, I've tried it 40 different ways.)


I'm starting creation today of the inner part - with Photo Shop CS2. When I have something - you'll know!

Shoes, shoes SHOES!

I just wanted to share some great sites to look for Bridal and Bridesmaids shoes. I've been searching for my perfect pair for months now, but it's not for lack of options! I'm just being majorly picky!

6pm

Haute Bride (sales!) Think Vera Wang, for $50 - $75! Oh yeah!

Zappos

and if that doesn't work for you - maybe you have a bridesmaid as cool as I do who will get you some of these to wear:

Oh yeah! Personalized Converse Chuck Taylor's that say "Bride 2008" on the side AND are customized in my wedding colors all thanks to Jacque!

From the second the ceremony is over - it's out with the heels and in with the totally awesomeness of Chucks!

Finally, Final and Finalized.

Argh! No more! I have been pouring over these pocket fold inserts for days and I am done. The longer I look the more I can find and say "Oh I should move that a bit to the right..." but it's never an easy move, nooooooo it's a "hafta move the whole freakin' set up and realign everything" task.

So after mush deliberation, rearranging and renaming 2 of the cards, and adding some loving touches to all of them - I have the final finalized versions of the pocket fold inserts for my invites.

Tah Dah!

The smallest of the cascading inserts - RSVP. I added in some little animals, because nothing says "fancy dinner" like circling the image of what you intended to eat! I also added in the final food options. (PS - I have changed this up now...moved the "menu selection" tot he left a bit...it was really driving me nuts!)



The middle sized insert is now called Reception & Accommodations. It was simply "Reception" but really, it had like NO info on that was of much use so I moved the hotel info onto this one. Info has been blurred out to keep those crazy people from showing up uninvited....lol


The final insert, is also the biggest: Directions & Information.

I'm limiting the directions I give and instead of over crowding the card, which was my first choice...lol - I have listed my wedding web site for further info.

When all is said and done, they will look a little something like this (minus the black borders I added so you could actually see them on here) in the envelope:


Now if I can just get them printed, we'll be good to go.

When NOT to hyphenate your name:

Sometimes, truth is way funnier then fiction:

Intermission

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I will be back shortly - promise!

They're Here!

The Thank you cards arrived in the mail yesterday! I love Vista Print, I always get my items so much faster then expected!!

They turned out great! Now if I'd only start getting gifts....I could use them....*wink* *wink*

Time To Eat!

We recently had our tasting at the venue, and all in all it went pretty well. For havening 4 people there we all agreed on things pretty well.

Here's a run down of what we ate and what we chose.

Here's all 4 plates set up for us on the table. They randomly put a starch and a veggie on each plate so we could sample them all. I was really disappointed in the fact that both plates had to have the same starch and veggie on them. I'm not happy with this and will be contacting them but anyway - for now here's what everything looked like.

All 4 meals before we sampled them.

New York Strip Steak, Pork Chop, Lemon Chicken and Halibut

Our two favorties were the Lemon Chicken which was my choice for the menu:
It will be served with Rice and a veggie medly (like you will see with the next entree)


The second choice, the one Mr S picked. and it shows in the photo exactly as it will be served, with the rice and veggie medley. It's the Halibut I love the presentation of this!

We feel these are 2 great plates for our guests and hopefully I can chat with the Country Club and possibly get them to change up the starch on the plates at least - I can handle the same veggie on each plate but I don't "feel" the rice with chicken for some reason.

So all in all we're doing well - I feel like all the planning up to the 6 month mark was like going up the incline of a roller coaster, kinda slow. Now that we're passed the 6 month mark, it's like we've started screaming down hill at top speed!

Making My Pocketfold Invites -Part 1-

I finally got to start the invitation process *Scream with joy!* The instruction process is going to be done in installments, so if you have question between them - feel free to ask.

I started last night doing the one thing I knew I could with out needing to print anything, cut the pink paper to size. I bought 2 packs of Rose Quarts Stardream text weight paper from www.envelopemall.com. When pricing out the paper, we did find a place that sold 12x12 sheets but it was cheaper still to buy it 8.5x11 from Envelope Mall, especially since the scrap will not go to waste.

I needed 2 different sized pieces, a 6x6 square for the main backing to the invite, and a 2.25x2.25 square for the backing to the monogram on the band that wraps around the closed invitation.


I started with the larger of the two pieces. Setting the two separate sized pieces of scrap off to the side in individual piles, for use later. No scrap here!

I used a stack cutter because in my years of scrabooking I have leaned the Fiskars trimmers do not produce straight lines consistently, and I was not taking any chances with my beautiful wedding invitations.
The one used here is an Exacto brand and is even equiped with a laser light to show you where you're cutting. I borrowed it from my step-dad, but I would think you could pick it up for about $50 at an office supply store.


I placed each finished 6x6 sheet into piles of ten so I could keep track of how many I had cut. Since I ordered more pink paper then needed just for the invites, I didn't want to cut too much and not have any left for other stuff later.


Next I moved onto the smallest of the scrap pieces, which was about 2.25 x 5.

From it I got (2) 2.25x2.25 pieces for use in the band wrap

I set those off tot he side as well and then decided to use up the last of the scrap before bed as well. So I grabbed the larger of the two pieces of scrap and cut 22 pieces down to a 4x6 size and decided to give my table names a shot. As my printer isn't a big fan of any paper smaller then a 8.5x11 it was a real risk, but - better I tired it with scrap then with a full sheet.

It worked out really well, and I got out about 15 before the ink started to run low.

When all is said and done these table names will be placed on a black cover card stock backing and decorated with a clear jewel on the main loop(s) of the first and last letter. BLING!

More to come.....next I hope to print and assemble the actual invite, and finish the table name cards. We may even start on the construction of the wedding program itself!

Until next time!

It's A Small World After All

Not long ago on my Wedding Bee board I got a PM (private message) from a gal named Loves-A-Limey exited to find out that I was marrying into and British family as she was as well. She was happy she now had someone to chat with using some British Lingo, who would actually know what she was saying. *Hehe*

We sent notes back and forth until finally I asked where her fiance was from. I noted that Mr S was from a town called Finchampstead and his first name was Alex.

A few moments later I received an e-mail back with so many explanation mark in it, I about had a seizure just looking at it!

Loves-A-Limey was floored to hear what I said because her fiance's first name was Alex as well, and as if that wasn't weird enough he was also from the same town in England - Finchampstead!

I sat a moment looking at my computer screen half jokenly wanting to call Mr S and ask if he was having an affair, and partially just numb from pure shock.

First we cleared up the obvious right away....that we weren't in fact trying to marry the same man. *Phew!* We were good!

Then we started making phone calls to our fiance's, and their families, trying to figure out if they new each other. My side knew the name and street he lived on lived in but couldn't place his face.
He was the same age as my soon to be sister - in - law, so we figure they ought to have known each other. Both of them are pretty sure they could have had a rather nice snogging session (there's that British lingo you may not understand: snog = make out) but he couldn't be sure of it, I mean it's been over a decade for sure since then! My soon to be sister in law of course retorted with "Well if he snoged me, he'd damn well remember it!" *haha*

Our two guys happened to live with in miles of each other most of their lives, before moving to America. They now live about 4 states apart, in the same country again. Not only do they share the same first name, but also an extraordinary taste in American woman. *wink wink* Who both ended up on the same message board because they are getting married about the same time!

Everybody SING! "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all....."

And to just clear this up now....my English boy does not have his accent anymore but Loves A Limeys does ;-)