Disaster!

Guys, I made a HUGE MISTAKE...

...On our rehearsal dinner invites!

A few weeks ago, we were hashing out final details about the rehearsal dinner the evening before our wedding and that night (around midnight or so) after the consultation with my future-in-laws, I decided it was completely necessary to create and order our rehearsal dinner invitations immediately. Like. Right then. What? We had the guest list, we had the details, why not get it done NOW? So I did. And lo, and behold, a disasterous typo sits glaring at me from otherwise quite elegant little invites. But THIS...

"Your are invited" ...really?!?

I didn't proof read very well, and ended up adding the "r" to what should have said "You." I was so embarassed. So what did I do, first I made the backs of the invites nice and pretty --- to distract them!

See? It's...personalized!

Then, I tried to hide the glaring error with my trusty blue caligraphy pen. I cam up with a few things to embellish them with, but I think that the error will be known no matter what. It's not so bad...right?

At this point, it doesn't bother me much. Our invitations were (IMHO) amazing! As were the Save-the-dates. And this doesn't go to every guest so I am able to laugh about it. But, lesson learned! Always proof read everything! Don't be over-zealous about ordering so that you don't check yourself. Even if it becomes a sort-of last minute thing. :)

Best,

Micah

Invitation Suite...Revealed!

Ok. I simply cannot withold our invitations any longer! I am so excited about the way they turned out and quite proud of Patrick and myself for creating them ourselves. We are so close to the RSVP deadline that I figure our guests have at least seen them before, therefore no shame in revealing them:

There's our invite, RSVP card and info card.
That little tag I created to tie
everything together with twine!

I think they tie in very well with Patrick's Save-the-Date design! I've got to find a way to display them in our home...

The whole suite!

The back of the invite, all tied up and ready to be put in our envelopes.

This is how the bundle looks. I like that it came out simple,
and vintage-y in the black and white, with the pop of blue!

Ooh! I used a rose stamp for the back of the RSVP envelopes to give a small sweet flourish to the RSVPs for the guests (and, I'll admit --- to spruce up the plain white envelopes).

Using the address stamp! Best postage purchase ever!

We printed them through the same website as our Save-the-Dates and I think, saved a bundle! Plus --- there is always an quick and easy way to order extras should I mess up the envelopes...not that I did...

All done! Ready to be sent out!

I may have briefly mentioned that this was a labor of love. That being said, we've had loads of lovely compliments on the invites, and they are 100% us. I'm glad/lucky to be in a relationship with someone who's completely creative and willing to let me DIY my little heart out on our wedding. 

Patrick and I proof-read them like it was our job before we printed, and as soon as we received the prints in the mail, we got to work on stamping, tying, postage-stamping, and sealing. Until over 80 invites were ready to head out!

Receiving the RSVPs in the mail these past couple of weeks have been so much fun! It's like a little prezzie in the mail almost every day! {It's one of my favorite parts of wedding planning}

Did anyone else DIY or semi-DIY their invites? What's your story like?

-Micah

Oh, My Paper Heart!

Confession: When we were sending out our Save-the-Dates, I may or may not have gotten a little overzealous on the ordering front. I ordered 200 prints of our design thinking that I needed one for each guest, and since we'd be having around 150 on the guest list, I though 200 was playing it safe. Welp, we sent out 75 Save-the-Dates. No, not because we had a dramatic decrease in our guest list, we just didn't need to send one to EACH guest individually. There were couples, and large and small families, so 75 was the number that needed to go out to get one to each household. Looking back, this seems pretty obvious to me, but I was nervous! I never had to send out any invites of any sort with paper, let alone anything to a guest list of this size. I just wanted to be cautious. But having over 100 surplus prints, I needed to find a way of recycling them into our wedding day decor!

I thought, you know...we have a serious lack (i.e. only have one) of garlands in our decor. And they are fun, easy to make, and pretty! So, I thought of making a paper chain with the extra STD cards, but not just any paper chain, a paper heart chain! I googled it, and found a bunch of tutorials, but I really liked this one the best. So simple, with great results!

Here's the How To:

First cut about 1 and 1/2 strips from whichever paper material you choose, then fold over the ends to make little lips, like so...

Then, fold the strips in half so that the mini lips at the ends you created face each other.

Next, your going to glue each side to the center to create the heart shape. I used Elmer's glue --- even though it didn't dry the quickest, it seems to hold the strongest (since I need to save all my hot glue for another project - which I'm almost done with! Yes! (Later)).

You glue the little lip things down
to the center fold. Like so.

One side done.

And when you've glued both down, it should look a little like this...

Yay! Save-the-Date, recycled into a cute little heart!

To connect the hearts, I used the extra scraps from the Save-the-dates that had already been cut into strips to make a little link and then glued them to a set of paper hearts. When you are finished, it will look something like this!

So there you have it! I made a chain that's probably five and a half feet long, and still have so many prints left (::embarrassed::), so looks like I'll be making another chain/finding new ways of recycling them. Do you have any over-orders that you've had to recycle somehow? How are you doing them? Any other paper-craft-obsessed brides out there?

Best,

Micah



And...they're off!

So, like I had said before, we mailed off our wedding invitations on Friday! Wee! Of course, there are silly, unnecessary gleeful pictures...

Yup.

We are so excited (as you see) and can't wait to see the guests' response cards. There was a little over a count of 80 invites sent out, they were made by hand and I can't wait to show you them in their crafty, lovey-dovey glory. But I will wait, so that they might remain a surprise to our guests ;-)

Bye-Bye!

I'll show you the full suite of our invitations as soon as we start getting some back! Yay!

Best,

Micah

Another Sneak Peak

Look what we finally finished!!!

Got to wait a wee bit before the big reveal! We are sending them off tomorrow. To be honest, this labor-of-love has to have been one of the hardest DIYs we've taken on. I've been a little over zealous with the checking and re-checking of each address, each stamp placement, etc. to the point where, I'm kind of excited to see them shipped off. I'm so thrilled with the way they came out. Patrick did such a beautiful job with the design and I think it really goes well with our Save-the-Dates. They're personal, us, and match our wedding aesthetic.

I can't wait to show you the final design! Until then...this will have to do :-)

Best,

Micah

100th post---Fewer than 100 Days left!

93 Days to be exact...
Guys, it doesn't really seem real.

I was talking stressing out to Patrick about some task I felt had to be done already and he said "Relax, we're fine. Everything's done." While this is only semi-true, it did lead me to the revelation that really, we are very prepared and have been mostly on top of the ball. There are a few things that I am slightly nervy about, but on the whole, we are looking good!

But I do find that my wedding-fever is waxing as the days until our wedding are waning. (See what I did there). At this point, although it is getting quite close, it still feels as if it is a dream day that will never come. My flippant Bride Brain keeps going from project to project (unfortunately not fully completing them. Ex: Completed 1 of 2 pomanders for the flower girls, Ex: Completed 4 of 14 table numbers (we're not sure how many tables yet). But all that craziness is currently being funneled into one thing...

The Wedding Invitations!

(insert thunder clash here)

Well, they aren't all that bad! Actually, I really LOVE the design that Patrick did. It's perfect. It marries his love of modern with my love of classic (which can be tricky sometimes). Of course, I must withhold revealing them until a little after I send them. I know some guests may read this blog, and I'd like it to be a surprise. So, that design coupled with a few crafty flourishes provided by myself completes our invite. This makes it even more special to us, but at the same time, a little more lengthy in the time it takes to prepare them to send off. Ah well, it's worth it!

I am appreciative that I have this giant wedding project to subdue the craziness of my Bride's Brain. It is helping me focus, keeping me calm and feeling productive. And have I mentioned I LOVE how they came out. I love how they came out. Wee!

So, what's left to do for you Below-100-Days-to-go-Brides? Are you freaking out or is it smooth sailing for you? What's stressing you out? What's keeping you calm?

Best,

Micah

Save the Dates, Part Three! ...The Epic Conclusion.

After months of working on the design, ordering samples, testing out stamps and ink pads, and gathering addresses, tonight was the night. Our Save-the-Dates have finally been sent out into the world to find our guests! From Patrick's design, to the print out, to some stamp tests and swirly designs, to assembling all the cards together, it's been such a fun process!!!

Return address=Stamped!

Testing out stamp pressure for maximum clarity in design.
Yup. I'm a nerd.

Almost ready!

Swirly design on back.

The reason for the swirls on the back is none other than this; I felt it looked plain just having the blank white envelope. Being too impatient to wait for custom stickers to arrive by mail like I mentioned before, I decided to get artsy and draw pretty things. And that happened.

Here are the pretty stamps we got. 

Assembling Micah and Patrick's Save-the-Dates!

Sealed with love!

Our custom return address stamp!

After hand addressing each envelope, double, triple and quadruple checking each address and name spelling (it was actually necessary since I found a mistake on the quadruple check on one!!!), they were finally completed.

Glorious Save-the-Date tower.

"Wedding Rose" postage stamp.

Looking good.
(Pay no attention to the pink cupcake notebook.
Um. That's not mine...?)

Patrick and I walked to the nearest post box and let them fly. It occurred to me as we were walking home: this is the first real insight to our wedding that our guests will receive. The first little glimpse. And it's that much more real!

Happily sending them off!

Yay!

Project Save-the-Date may now be done, but here we go --- it's becoming more real! Did you do Save-the-Dates? Did it turn out to be a giant project, and how relieved were you when it was done?

Best,

Micah

P.S. Guests of the M & P wedding -- get ready!