Whoops

I just wanted to comment that I've done absolutely nothing to address the to do list I gave myself in my last post...

I'm almost done the Save the Dates!

I almost have all our addresses!!

I got address labels from Shutterfly:

I just want to comment that I love Shutterfly... I really really really love them!

Let me tell you a short story... I once mentioned Shutterfly a few months ago because they sent me an offer for free address labels. Out of the Blue! I was very appreciative, I got my free address labels, I was very excited. Reason #1: Shutterfly likes to give out free stuff every now and then!

A representative from Shutterfly reached out to me because I didn't properly link up my Shutterfly reference when I made it. I am usually pretty good at this, so I felt really bad, and offered to do whatever I had to do to fix the situation. Turns out all I had to do was link it up proper! I said yeah, no problem. And what did they do? After I messed up and didn't give them due credit at first? Gave me a $25 credit on Shutterfly.com... Reason #2: Pretty self-explanatory.

Then, I decided that I liked our address labels so much that I would use them at least for Save the Date return labels, and maybe even for RSVP envelopes. The only thing that sort of ate at me a little bit was that the color of our names is a tad pinkish for me. It's not so pink in person, on the labels, but on the screen it looks pink. I decided I would experiment with a deeper maroon/burgundy color for the script on the top line. I was able to customize the label and make the script darker:

That was more like it! Almost wine-colored. I was very satisfied, ordered enough for Save the Dates and RSVP envelopes (just in case) and applied my code; got the labels free. Thanks Shutterfly! Alas, they arrived and I couldn't even read the script, the color was too dark and blended into the brown background. I was very ticked at myself because they were good enough the way they came first. I swallowed my pride and crossed my fingers and e-mailed customer service, saying that I know it was my fault, but on the screen, it didn't seem like the script was going to be too dark and could I pretty please get replacements.

They said sure thing! Reason #3: Awesome awesome customer service. Now, I know it seems like I'm taking advantage of Shutterfly, but I don't think so. And I'm not meaning too. This is the kind of business model I appreciate above all others. I have given them business (lots of prints, and a photobook of our vacation in Rome, and a link in my blog) and as a reward, or a thank you, they gave me a free offer, and even fixed an order that was kind of messed up by me anyway. And you better believe that I will now continue to give them business anytime I need address labels, prints, photobooks, calendars, etc... because of this experience. This in my opinion is precisely how you build loyalty. So Shutterfly, if you're reading, I'll never leave you! and I would never take advantage of you!

         VS.                 

Anyway, all this is to distract all of you from the fact that I'm avoiding this cake decision stuff. I am really just grossed out by the whole thing. Why is cake so expensive?! Why is everyone so bad at it?! Kyle has threatened to call Duff Goldman at Charm City Cakes, to see if we can get fellow UMBC alum props :) but Duff is crazy expensive (probably not as expensive as Maggie Austin, but... who is??) and his cakes are still a tad cartoony for me... sorry Duff. Not that any of it matters anyway, because for whatever reason, they're not taking any orders for our wedding date; probably Thanksgiving has something to do with it ;) Also, I take it back, I looked at his pricing info and his cakes are actually MORE expensive than Maggie Austin cakes. All of this is pointless to talk about anyway because I'm just going to settle for a cake made by someone close to our venue and just shut up already!!

Gooooooooosssssfraaaabaaaa... Anyway, I e-mailed another cake company near our venue and got a form e-mail back telling me I had to call to get any information, and that really ticked me off. No one would even have the decency to write me back to even let me know if they were available on my date. It's a shame I like their cakes, because that was a huge turnoff. So I have one more resource up my sleeve; and I'm e-mailing them as soon as I post this! If this is a no go... I don't know what I'm going to do... Maggie Austin, here I come...

Bridesmaids dresses soon. Final reveal of the StDs. More gorgeous wedding hair... and hopefully we'll have cake at our wedding...

Progress

I know, I gotta' be happy for small steps. And I think we're on the right track! Save the Dates are halfway done, and I've got half of my addresses. And I might have mentioned this already, but the ones I'm waiting on are all on his side, so the pressure is off me :-)

Favors are coming along nicely, very nicely. The booze is getting darker and darker and it's starting to smell less boozy and more vanilla-y!

(I'll have my own picture soon, show you how far it's come)

I received foreal foreal confirmation from my florist that she is indeedy my florist; I had sent my deposit but now she has it, has deposited it, and has reserved herself for my wedding date!

From Lancasteronline

It isn't all cake though... Literally, I didn't even mean to lead in like that... But seriously, the cake artist I wanted is no longer taking any more orders for the rest of 2011!! Please no 'I told you so' from Tara up there, I wasn't too surprised because she was only one cake designer, not a big company with a whole bunch of bakers/decorators. Her name was to be Faye from Sugar Petals. Her designs were simplistic and had those fun, unexpected tricks that made the cake not-so-traditional. Here's a taste... but not literally unfortunately:

Clean, sharp, modern, simplistic, and fun!

I found another one on some blog somewhere (I really need to cut back on my blog-reading, I get them all so confused!):

I found the reference!

I don't think I can say enough about how awesome I think this abnormal tier size is! I mean, it's one trend that I am totally on board for. Here's one more Maggie Austin cake for all of us to drool over and be really really sad for that she's so expensive:

Not because I like bees, but this one has disproportionate tiers AND is off-center. *Le sigh*

Anyway, all my other options in the Lancaster, PA area are pretty awful, so if I have to settle with cake that's ugly, it better not cost a lot... That's all I have to say about that. There are at least a few with clean work, that seem like they'd be able to appreciate and execute our vision. But I'm no longer psyched about cake. It just has to taste good and be there as a symbol. As soon as anonymous 'cake baker' gets picked, I can't think of any major decisions that need to be made. There are some smaller (NOT small, but small-er) things to think about, and I need to start thinking about them:

• Bridesmaids dresses, as soon as sister Jordan gets back stateside from Germany
• Music - do I get ceremony musicians? or just use speakers and our existing DJ? I honestly don't know if I want to go through the hassle of finding ceremony musicians... and then how do you tell them I HATE PACHELBEL'S CANON!!! They'd disown me and quit.
• Hair!! I want everyone to know that their comments had nothing to do with this (certain family members looked at me like I was a demon when I said I was going to go straight-haired). In the end, I finally got Kyle to admit that he would prefer my hair curly, so Kyle gets what Kyle wants, especially after I saw this:

 

More and more... well twice now, I'm seeing girls with some colour letting their hair out (is everyone aware that I'm half black? I wouldn't say "girls with some colour" if I wasn't). I mentioned to Kyle just yesterday that while going through a Victoria's Secret catalogue, I saw NOT ONE girl with curly hair. This isn't about being an individualist either, this is about recognizing that I'd be doing the same thing all those other curly-haired women out there are doing already: trying to change myself. Also, I'd be an individualist ;) That was a comment for my Mama who will call it affirmation that I am an individualist wannabe because I've only changed my mind now that I've seen a few other gorgeous women do the same thing. Well, whatever, confused? I am too. I'm still not 100% on this, but I was thinking too that if I had crazy hair on top, it would balance out the skirt on my gown... which I picked up from David's Bridal a few days ago!

Continuing with the checklist:

• Invitations, which should be a breeze now that I've developed a system with the Save the Dates. However, I need to order the supplies for them, SOON!
• Make-up/hair; I haven't decided whether I will get a hair/make-up artist or two to come to the venue on the day of the wedding to do my party's hair and make-up. Mostly because I don't know if there are salons in the area that have traveling make-up/hair people. I know they exist in Philadelphia, but the travel fees are ridiculous. Put it this way, it costs as much to get your hair done as it does to get the person to come to the venue! And what kills me about the whole thing (not trying to be cheap, it just baffles me!) is this: why does it cost me about $50 to get my hair done in a salon and three to four times that to get it done for an "event"??? I'm just too baffled to contemplate it right now.
• Registry! This is becoming a little overwhelming because I decided to switch our registry over to Bed, Bath and Beyond because I didn't realize how much stuff they had, and of course, most of it's half the price of Crate and Barrel's stuff. I still love some of the cute Crate and Barrel stuff, but I figure we're more likely and humble enough to get a $30 awesome butcher block than a $800 dining room table. Well, the stressful part is that BB&B has a crapton of stuff! It's taken me hours already to go through not even half of their registry items online. Blegh, and what it's done is made me put things on the registry in the moment that I realize a day later I don't need. I spent so much time on my soap box saying I didn't want toasters and blenders; well, there's no toaster or blender on the registry, but salad spinners and cutting boards are right up there. I also swore I didn't want fine china but I've got a china set on there too. I can't decided whether to just give in or stay strong...
• Groom and groomsmen attire. They went to Men's Wearhouse and I didn't like the suits there, and there were virtually no options. So I would like to go with Kyle to Macy's, JcPenney, and/or Sears and look at their suits. They're well-priced, and in my opinion, much better quality and selection because they make suits that they want men to wear more than once. Our one experience at Men's Wearhouse was not pleasant. Kyle told his best man and the salesman that as soon as I saw it, I would shoot it down, and sure enough I did; the suit was poop brown. There were no chocolate tones in there! I suppose, if it wasn't for everyone else being there- trying to help, mind you- it would have been fine, because Kyle and I understood each other immediately... Just one more positive test of our compatibility.
• Decorations/DIY: The guest bench (hello there Daddy!), the garter (that's you Mama!) and the fabric backdrop alter (here's looking at me, kid!) are my big DIY things that have to get done, because I'm super excited about them, and they must be there!! No pressure.

Sorry, I know that's a lot of stuff. I think we can stop there for now. Some of these things just need time, I wouldn't expect them to be completely finished right now, because we still have a good amount of time. Right now work must be focused on! I must get out of here before November 25th!! I must start looking for jobs!!! I must get out of my crappy townhouse in Philly!!!!

The only way to move towards all those goals is to sign off and get back to work. So, without further ado...

Let them eat the Date

Yeah... because that makes me smile more than Save the Cake. In other words, this is a post about Save the Dates and CAKE!

Why?? Well, StDs need to go out, like, last month. I mean, technically, I've heard everything: 9-12 months ahead, 6 months ahead, as soon as the engagement happens and the venue is booked. Well, I wanted to do 8 months, but then... yeah, 8 months kinda' snuck up on me.

Yup, I went there. So now I'm hoping for seven, even though that's a weird number. I don't want to wait until 6 months. My side of the guest list has addresses next to their names, thanks mostly to my Mama. I had to text/e-mail/facebook a few people, but mostly I don't have any friends, so it wasn't too difficult.

Anyway, I already showed you the part the printer was responsible for. I am responsible for the rest! I have to artistically elaborate 50 StDs (and let's not forget, I get to do it all over again for invitations... yippee!!!).

Again, here's the inspiration from weddingpaperdivas:

Except I like my deeper burgundy much better. Not only is this fuschia nonsense extremely girly, it doesn't even go with the rest of the colors on this thing. Blegh. Anyway, sorry, not relevant. Here's where my progress is:

They were all stamped in one evening. It actually took a lot less time than I thought it would... like, an hour.



Like my styled shot???

Anyway, then I used a blending pencil (a little spongy pencil thingy) and the same ink pad to dab some mud-looking stuff on the corners:

Bangerang!!! Now, I still feel like I'm being heavy-handed, I just can't let up, I'm trying so hard to be more minimal, but at least they're better than my first attempts. Lastly, I just splashed some color in there:

Whoo hoo!!! I'm super psyched at how they're turning out. Last but not least, I used my awesome glue dot applicator to glue the StD to chocolate cardstock:

The end! I worried at first that the corners would blend in with the cardstock, BUT as I had hoped, the spongy, dirt look of the brown in the corners adds a texture and it almost makes the whole thing look like there's a real clump of dirt on the corners. The only issue I'm having right now is that the blendy pencil thingy is doing a fantastic job giving the brown a spongy look, and with the burgundy, all I have is a watercolor pencil. If I had the burgundy in an ink pad, I would also sponge it on... and now I want to... but I don't have a burgundy ink pad...

Also, the only real pain (in the fingers) is coloring in all those flower buds, I have to push pretty hard and it's giving me funny finger cramps. The good thing though is that I figured that would happen, the bad thing is that doesn't make it any less unpleasant! So, in an hour last night, I go through 10. That's one fifth done, ya'll! Another hour each evening for a week and I'm done! And my fingers can handle an hour a night. Hopefully that's as long as it'll take to get addresses from Kyle's side and then, whew, StDs get mailed out!!

In the meantime, there are, of course, other things to think about... like CAKE!!! Now, who knows when you're supposed to start thinking about cake. I can't stress enough that I do have a pretty unusual wedding date and so far, availability has been no problem, but I was told by my florist (heehee, my florist) that cake decorators book fast in the area. And since she lives in the area and is around weddings all the time, I believe her.

So, let's talk cake! I bet by now, if you guys pay attention to the blogosphere, the wedding one, then you've seen these images pop up before:

 

Yup, the great Maggie Austin! Now, I'm not a huge fan of the frill, I just wanted to show these two pictures because I'm sure people have seen them, especially the ombre one... fan-frickin'-tastic! However, not my style. What is my style is her non-conventionality and her awesome clean lines:

 

I have NO idea how she gave that left hand cake that handmade paper look, but I love it, and the petals going down the side are so whimsical but still not girly or sloppy or purposeless. I want this to be a cake that Kyle won't mind either! The right hand cake I love love love for it's new take on non-traditional, lopsided cakes. It's not topsy-turvy (which I don't want at the wedding) but still not so boring and traditional. And may I point out, her fondant work is phenomenal, mine looks like total chumpsville compared to hers. But here is my all time favorite Maggie Austin cake:

I love how it looks like the cake is brushed with cocoa powder; soft and rich, they look like large square truffles! I mean, wouldn't you just want to bury your face in that??? I sure would.

So as soon as I saw someone reference her cakes, I immediately assumed she was somewhere way out of the way in California or some other place. Turns out, she's based in D.C. which isn't horribly far away from us! I went to her website and looked at her gallery. Unfortunately, she's twice the price of most cake decorators I've researched so far.

Now, I'm sorry, that cake is awesome, but I just don't care about cake enough to pay $1,000 for it. Besides her obvious, fantastic skill, what I'm attracted to is the minimalism and clean lines, without a lot of fuss, and I can get that anywhere.

So I started my search closer to home, err, I mean, my venue, and found plenty of cake decorators in the Lancaster, PA area. I'm not going to list them all out because that would be useless to most of you :)

I'm finding so much over-the-top or old fashioned or been-done-before stuff... it's frustrating! This is what I don't want:

 

Gaudy flowers, lots of swirls, shiny, shiny! Icky, it just doesn't fit our wedding, style, venue, personalities, etc... And swag... *shudder* now, I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate it, because I have seen it artfully done, but when it's shiny, multicolored, badly done, and covers up most of the cake, I want to reach through the computer, grab that cake, and drop it off the Comcast Tower... No offense to anyone who has/had/is having cakes that look like this... really, to each his own, I don't mean to offend anyone. If I'm not adamant about what I don't like, I won't be able to properly grasp what I am looking for. For instance, I only recently realized that I hate shiny and love the matte look. Every picture I was salivating over had a soft, matte cake in it.

Anyway, I found one cake artist who has similar taste level to Maggie Austin in Lancaster and plan on contacting them after talking to the man. See, there's four bakeries that I've already narrowed my choice down to in the area (which is huge for me! Instead of making a giant list, I just went with my gut and didn't even consider any who didn't have a website or whose work looked at all shoddy... aren't you proud of me?! FOUR!!!) and one is already standing out as least kitschy. I will introduce her if and when she becomes our baker!

Point is, more things are happening!! I'm excited!!! Bachelorette Spa Day this weekend, probably won't be on the blog. BUT, please keep in mind, blog URL is changing tomorrow!!

BLOG URL IS CHANGING TOMORROW!!! And there's no going back because the new name is on the StDs, so that's what it is!!

New blog url:::: ashandkylewedding.blogspot.com


See you all after the jump!

It's for real now

So, everything in this post will reflect today's title...

OUR HONEYMOON IS BOOKED!!!!!!!!!!!

Every time I look at the pictures now, I get all excited that we're actually going to be staying here!! For a week!!!! I am literally going to crawl out of bed every morning into my infinity pool and then fall back to sleep in the pool, then crawl up into the hammock and sleep there for a while longer, then probably crawl onto one of the porch chairs and sleep some more and eat and drink and maybe swing through the jungle at some point. You can call me Ashley the sloth, Lord of the Lazy and Luxurious!!

Also, Save the Dates are printed!!! (no rainbow text there, it's not as exciting) But here are some pictures anyway:

Kyle helped with the printing, that is, he let me print them on the office printer... Or as I like to refer to it: the Mega Awesome Fast Machine Good Job.

Only issue is that the burgundy (fancy script) came out really dark, Kyle swears he sees burgundy, I see brown :-(

Like the rough edges??? That was no accident, and no, they didn't come like that...

I spent all day tearing them all apart, and painstakingly giving them rustic-looking, bumpy edges.

When these go out, people will actually know an actual wedding is going to actually happen! I was laughing to myself about how much money (catering deposit, photography retainer, dress) is already spent, it's not like we haven't been preparing... But it was like it was a secret before, once these go out, the secret goes out with it.

People will Save the Date!

Anywho, I'm going to quit spazzing, here's what it'll all look like:

I cut out chocolate-colored cardstock to reinforce the Save the Date, and I think they look great against each other.

Don't get too excited though, they still need a few stamps and artsy additions. I have decided, upon more careful inspection of my initial inspiration, that I was a little heavy-handed in my first attempts at adding artistic touches.

Here's the inspiration from www.weddingpaperdivas.com:

Just picture it with my fonts and burgundy where the green is. And here's my first attempts:

Yeah, a little... crappy. But that's okay, because that's why I practiced... duh! Winning!! (sorry, I just had to throw in a Charlie Sheen reference... that man has made it instinct for me to say "Winning!" every time I say Duh! like, for the rest of my life!)

Riiight, anyway, so it won't be hard for me to start a lot less heavy-handed, and then go from there. There will be plenty more pictures to show as I go through and stamp and shade 50... yeah, 50 StDs while Kyle gets together the rest of the addresses on his side of the family. I don't envy him, because he has a lot more than I did, and some of them are a lot more extended... Best of luck, Baby, and hurry it up!

One more for real thing that's not as exciting as a honeymoon but still worth mentioning: Tara's deposit is on its way! I am a few days away from having a florist!!! It will soon be time to start talking cake. But not yet.

I would like to leave you all with my restaurant review of the month:

FOND! A very charming BYOB in South Philly. Contemporary American, with a hint of French in there. It was very rich and delicious food.

The atmosphere was a lot closer and noisier than Sonata, but still romantic and cool:
Because it's in South Philly (heavy Italian area), there were a few old, loud, rude people in there, but it didn't ruin the meal. The only reason I even mention it is because the menu and the feel of the place seems geared towards young professionals but there were very few of us there. Anyway, our waiter was one of the co-owners and was incredibly sweet. The chef came out to greet us at the end of our meal... which was delicious!

We had an amuse bouche of mushroom soup first, seared foie gras and octopus salad as apps, then



Pork belly for him...

Seared skate wing for her...



And two bottles of wine later... we had a very fun night. Thank you Fond, we'll be back, despite the loud, old people :D





Anyway, I think that's it for now. It was a great weekend, a lot of stuff is underway, and I'll keep you updated on Save the Dates!

For real? Ahh!! Taxes are due in less than a month!!

I just read a blog post about someone reviewing their budget and noting that they would have enough when all was said and done to pay off their vendors when the final bills finally came in. See for anyone who does not know, you put these tiny deposits down (sometimes they're 50%, but usually they're like $100) and then a month before the wedding, you're, like, seriously broke. I picture it like the bill collector:

Except the bill collector will actually look like Maureen from Riverdale, our photog Ben, and our florist Tara, and eventually our baker. Also our DJ, the resort where we're honeymooning... am I forgetting anyone??

(I wish they all looked like Pearl :D)

Now, I'm not complaining because everyone's really been great and we're on target for budget, I think we're doing as well as we can and still have the wedding we deserve/want. HOWEVER, the problem is that as time goes on, the final numbers on these bills change!

Here's a breakdown (because I bet you don't believe me!):
Our catering bill will change as far ahead as a week before the wedding depending on the final head count.
Our photography bill will change depending on who our second photographer is.
Our florist bill will change if our number of centerpieces changes and if there are any misunderstandings and she didn't include something I wanted in the initial quote (which I think has actually already happened... maybe).
Oh yeah, and then there's an alterations bill.

Now, I know what you're going to say: "At least you can have an estimate." Do you know who you're talking to?? It's not the numbers that are making me nervous, it's the changes, it's the not-knowing part that's driving me crazy. I need goals in life to know what to aim for. You could tell me a million gagillion dollars and I mean, that would be safe, but I'd know that wasn't real. I don't like surprises, that's all. No one can tell me how much things are going to cost, but it's not their fault.

Boooo. Anyway, every now and then, I just like to whine about those things that are out of my control. I don't like not being in control.

On to things that are in my control. Save the Dates need to go out!! Like a month ago!!! AHHHHHH!!! Once I get working, I think they'll only take me a weekend solid to finish. AS SOON as they're finished I'll post pictures, I'll post some progress pictures of me going crazy colored pencilling the fiftieth one!

This actually brings up another important point, because before the StDs can go out, I need everyone's address... yeah, that's going to take longer than hand-making every invitation!! Mama... get to work!! Haha, just kidding, but only kinda'...

With trying to finish my PhD and trying to do all this wedding stuff, which, believe me, I love more than my real job, my task list isn't any bigger, it's just more pressing! Kyle's been incredibly supportive though, and has already offered to do all the printing, or at least allow me to print on his laserjet at work :) But the funny thing is that every time I think about invites and RSVPs and StDs I go 'Oh crap... I still don't have anyone's address...' I make mental notes but my mental hard drive consistently moves mental notes to my mental trashcan and then mentally deletes them forever.

I also really wanted to hold on this next post until I could say "OUR HONEYMOON IS FOR REAL BOOKED!!" but we haven't yet heard the for real confirmation that the hotel customer service person has received our secure PDF of the credit card authorization form and was able to open it and then that everything actually went through. So I don't want to get ahead of myself! But I so want to tell everyone that it's booked!! Can you tell I don't like being in this limbo?! Maybe I should take a break from letting it all out on all of you until real things are happening. You have my word I will not blog again until our honeymoon is completely booked, flight, hotel and two smoking barrels.

Anyone else having limbo issues? Are you driving yourself and those around you crazy??

"You need to relax!"

DIY invitation contest

I FORGOT!!

I meant to say something about this in my first post of the morning and forgot, but I recently saw a blog post about a DIY invitation contest... I know! How perfect, right? It just so happens that the one thing I've been feeling most confident about DIY-ing I then hear about a contest for!

Well, I submitted my design and it's been posted on the DIY invitations website.

I gave my invitations the name Rustic Chocolate... kinda' like Mystic Pizza or Steel Magnolias. I am such a dork and apparently a huge Julia Roberts fan! (I'm really not... at all!)

Anyway, I just wanted to put that out there. Not sure who of my lovely readers/subscribers/followers is also getting hitched, but if you are also DIY-ing and creative and would like to submit your design, you have until April 30th and the link to submit is here.

The prizes are actually really only so so, but still good, I was just really excited that someone had a contest for DIY invitations and that the point was sharing your creativity with other... not so creatively gifted brides-to-be (Not that I'm getting on my high horse; that's what they say the contest is for! You can say my stuff's not creative, I'm not judging!)

Also, I have no idea how they're picking a winner, I think they have judges, but my lovely friends and family can also rate and comment on my entry, so if you feel like it, check it out. But you don't have to, because you've actually already seen all the pictures...

kbye!

Mmmm, lotkas

Eeeeeee, my package from Of the Earth came today!! It only shipped (from Oregon or some crazy place) two days ago, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to let Bailey out and the package fell over on her... I also laughed.

I received a sample sheet of chcoloate lotka paper, skeleton leaves ('cause I like them), pressed flower stickers, natural seeded envelopes, and vellum for INVITATION MAKIN'!!!!

I had no more excuses, I had to drag myself to Joann's... (time between getting the package and getting in the car? Let's just say Kyle had to let Bailey back inside). I had to get burlap and twine to finally see if my vision of these invitations was a good one. Creative people who also have ADHD can tend to go overboard.

So, I started out with this:

Paper with words on it. Our RSVP, the Save the Date, and the Invitation (not sure why I capitalized that, but I'm not changing it).

Sorry it's so dark. I think it might be time to get a new camera. This picture is just so you can see my blank slate. Notice my pretty, rough edges!

I then set to stampin'!

Thanks to Mia for the stamp, it ended up being a real asset. I think it's just right!

My next touch was watercolor pencils in the corners, and then a blending pen to blend the browns and purples and reds

I think that this picture probably doesn't do it justice, but I put some close-ups in too so you can see the details in the corners.

SAVE THE DATES!!!!!!

INVITATIONS!!!!!!!

I accidentally stamped the middle of my parents' name.

Sorry guys!

I found some fantastic burgundy-lined envelopes. Fantastic because as much as I'm loving this whole DIY thing, I don't have the patience to line all those envelopes when these lined envelopes cost NO more than regular envelopes!

Here's the Save the Date in it's very own lined envelope!

I put the rest together next.

 Here it is! The trifolds from LCI paper, the trifolds that are too light-colored. And seeing them together reaffirmed that I do not like the invitations up against that color. I need a darker brown.

Mia also told me I don't want to try and fold all my trifolds myself because it doesn't look nice enough, but I think this one looks too nice!

Oh, and how did I get the invitation adhered to that trifold?




TA DA!!! The Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller. Possibly my new favorite toy. It's like those old white out rollers, but with little glue dots. And they're tiny glue dots, so you don't have bulky spots where you put a dab of glue.

OK, and it makes little clicky noises when I roll it :)



Anywho! Next I put the folded invitation in the lined envelope. Again, burgundy, and you can see the slightly larger regular envelope on the outside.

I would like this whole suite more if that trifold was a nice chocolate brown.

 

Lastly, here's the inner and the outer envelope side by side, addressed! Of course, with some sweet little leaves stamped onto the inner envelope!

Now, this is all well and good, but as I said, I don't like the light brown trifold, and I did get my package from Of the Earth AND I got burlap and twine from Joann's!

TA DA again!!! I know it's hard to see because in order to get a good picture with my camera, I had to use the flash. But the lotka paper is much darker, and I think it goes much better with the invite. And of course, on top is my vellum, just a nice touch I think.

I haven't yet figured out where I am going to put the RSVP and other inserts, but I might construct a little pocket on the right side of the trifold.

So I tore the lotka paper and folded it myself, glued the invitation in with my handy dandy glue dot applicator, put a skeleton leaf on the outside, wrapped a strip of burlap around the whole thing, and tied the whole pretty package up with some twine. Aaaaannndd:

TA DA A THIRD TIME!!! I was so excited!! I had an idea and then I made it happen and then it ended up looking really great!

Rustic? oh yes, look at those rough edges! Look at that burlap!! No frilly satin ribbons here (not that I'm knocking anyone else's invitations, to each his own!)

What would make this suite even better?

Seeded envelopes and sweet little pressed flower stickers!

This picture does not do the envelopes justice, they're a gorgeous ivory/ecru, they smell like earth, and they have seeds in them! Our guests can plant their envelopes (!) and grow wildflowers! Even if they can't come to the wedding, they get a gift from us!

Also, I personally love the pressed flower sticker, BUT, while Kyle was there every step of the way and truthfully really liked the rest of the package, he didn't like the pressed flower sticker. What was his alternative?? Sealing wax!! We'll see about that, but apparently, pressed flower stickers are out :-( While I think sealing wax is pretentious, I also think it's cool, so I'm at least going to look into it :-)

Last but not least, I debated the envelopes: while I love the texture and look of the natural, seeded envelope, I like the burgundy lined envelopes. What was I to do?? Oh hey, the seeded envelope fits inside the lined envelope!

Best of both worlds! Everything is falling into place beautifully. So scratch all the top images, the lotka paper will make up the trifolds, the seeded envelopes are now the inner envelopes, and the "inner" lined envelope, is now the outer lined envelope!








So is all this work and time worth it? Well, let's see:

• Invitation paper: $0.30 a sheet
• Lotka paper trifold: $0.44 a trifold
• Vellum: $0.16 a sheet
• Skeleton leaf: $0.26 a leaf
• Burlap: $0.02 a strip
• Twine: $0.01 a length
• Seeded inner envelope: $0.75 an envelope
• Lined outer envelope: $0.26 an envelope
• Response envelope: $0.16 an envelope

Grand total: $2.36 per invitation!! So, our invitations will cost $118.00 as opposed to $500 from a real company, and as I said over and over again in the beginning, these are our invitations, no one else's. We picked the fonts and the colors and the paper and all the accoutrements ourselves.

And at the end of the day, even though my fingers, my back, and my eyes are going to be burning after doing them all, it makes me feel really good on the inside!

I hope everyone likes! Let me know what you think!