Wedding Planning

Searching for Inspiration | Save the Dates

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Save-the-Date cards are one of those nice but totally unnecessary bits of wedding stationery. They used to be used only during long engagements, or when a wedding was falling on a known-to-be-busy weekend or in a place that would require above-average travel arrangements for guests.

Now it seems like the wedding world (aka the Wedding Industrial Complex) considers them de rigueur for any but the quickest of locals-only weddings. I don’t mind this, of course, since I love anything and everything to do with paper products. Even before I started working at the printing company, when I’d have to go there on afternoons with Mom I’d love looking through the wedding books–all those wonderful designs, all those fairy tale weddings to go with them.

And with an engagement of 2 years+, I figured we’d send ours out at the beginning of this year, even though it was a little early, but before I knew it March was here and I hadn’t finished designing them much less sent them!

I could blame the delay on our long search for a photographer and the necessary delay of our engagement photos–after all, many StD* cards feature a cute picture of the happy couple. You know, just in case the recipient forgets who you are just by your first names…

Rustic Overlay Save the Date design by Fine and Dandy Paperie (via Zazzle)

Rustic Overlay Save the Date design by Fine & Dandy Paperie (via Zazzle)

But I wasn’t really planning on going that route. The silhouette trend is really nice, and I do like drawing profiles (they used to be one of my weaker skills, so I included them in a lot of my comics and finally got the hang of it), but that direction still didn’t feel like us.

Silhouette Save the Date by Hello! Lucky

Silhouette Save the Date by Hello! Lucky

And neither of us are ever very far from our planners (Mr Road Trip is a Franklin-Covey devotee, while I lean more towards The Planner Pad), so a calendar-style Save the Date would certainly make sense.

Calendar Save the Date by Etsy seller Ever After Design Studio

Calendar Save the Date by Etsy seller Ever After Design Studio

But what was really catching my eye were the hand-drawn map cards. Unfortunately, our “map” would have to span half the country and that would take some of the charm out of it. On the other hand we could map our wedding venue, but it’s kind of in the boonies, so landmarks–especially ones pertinent to us–would be non-existent.

Custom Wedding Map by Etsy seller Efinestationery

Custom Wedding Map by Etsy seller Efinestationery

 

Still, the images were charming, and the idea of plotting out places led me to another idea, the one I ultimately settled on.

*Most bloggers shorten Save the Date to STD, which brings up so many unfortunate mental images and is the butt of many a joke. Just by following the title-capitalization rules and making it StD looks a lot less like a social disease, you know?

How did you decide on your Save the Date Design?

Project Wedding Album | December 2012

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

So back on our anniversary I decided to scrapbook this last year before the wedding. I did pretty well with putting November together, but then got totally sidetracked with the holidays and never got around to the December pages until just recently. Unfortunately, sometime in early January, my computer decided to “fix” some files on my memory card.

Apparently “fix” means delete the entire December folder from the SD card, and do it so well that no recovery program I tried could resurrect it. Bye-bye December photos!

Thankfully I had some photos from my cell phone and the few I’d copied from the card for blog posts, though those aren’t usually the ones I’d scrapbook. Still, we make do, right?

Week 5 of 52

Week 5 of 52

Week 6 of 52

Week 6 of 52

Week 7 of 52

Week 7 of 52

Week 8 of 52

Week 8 of 52

Eight weeks into a year of 52 doesn’t seem like all that much, but then I realize I’m up to Week 18 in my notebook and that feels like quite a ways along.

And yes I’m being much more conscientious about backing up my photos to multiple places on a much more regular basis. And I’ve ditched the one SD card that seemed to be the source of all the issues (this was not the first such incident–I have maybe 4 pictures from our Halloween party when originally there were close to 100… sigh). Learn from my mistake, folks.

At least I know we have PLENTY of pictures to choose from in January 😉

The 8-Month To-Do List

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

To-Do List graphic

Another month down and a whole new list of things to work on this month in order to stay on track for our November wedding. Now, last month we’d already completed all the suggested to-dos but had plenty of DIY to get done, still. Let’s see how we’re looking for this month:

  • Hire the photographer and videographer (photographer: check! videographer–would be nice, but we’ll have to see how the final numbers shake out)
  • Book entertainment (it’s not that type of a wedding, folks)
  • Meet caterers (they came with the venue and we won’t sit down for a tasting for a few more months)
  • Purchase wedding dress (done!)
  • Reserve a room block for out-of-town guests (there’s on-site lodging at HLP, but it might not hurt to reserve some rooms in-town, too, huh?)
  • Register for gifts (we’re opting out of this one)
  • Create your wedding website (started, not yet complete)

So, not to shabby on the to-do front, only a couple things left to be dealt with for this month: the room block for folks wishing to stay in town as opposed to in the country, and the wedding website.

The above is based on the Ultimate Wedding Planner on RealSimple.com. It’s fabulous and this month so stream-lined that it’s more of a quote than a paraphrase. Other sites also suggest I start my wedding workout routine now (um, hi, have we met? No) and to book a florist. Since we’re not using one of those, we’re good, thanks. They also suggest finalizing the guest list.

See, now this is one of those sticky bits for me. We have a working list, it’s more or less set, but it’s short on family and tall on friends. Frankly, friends have a way of wandering away over time, and 8 months is still plenty of time for someone to piss me off enough to where they’re no longer welcome in my house, much less at my wedding. (It’s already happened once, sad to say–only not really, life is much sweeter without toxic people around, right?) Also, whose to say we don’t meet a fabulous new friend in 4 months? And we’ve got a strict body count to work with for our reception venue, so I’d hate to make one of those instantaneous, we-must-have-known-each-other-in-a-former-life type of friends and not be able to invite them because we’re friendly with but not platonic crushing on is already taking up a spot. So the guest list will likely not be finalized until 2 months before when we start prepping the invitations.

As for the Save the Dates, we’re sending them (because I love the idea of them and the idea I have for them, more on that soon), but only to the definites: family members, long-time friends, select coworkers.

Gosh that sounds mercenary, but considering the hell I go through with who to invite to the house parties we regularly throw, I’m really not wanting to chance it, ya know?

And, yes, I’ll be putting together one of those template-based wedsites that just about every plugged-in bride and groom use and you know why? Because our guests don’t necessarily need to see all this rambling I’ve got going on up in here. It’s just not relevant. Not to mention it’ll spoil what few surprises we might be planning, ya know?! To that end, though, I’ve had one started via theknot.com since last fall (last fall meaning 2011, way before we had anything to put up there other than the date…I liked to look at the countdown). Now we actually have information to fill in the blanks!

Pretty Book and Flower Icon

 

When did you start your wedding website?
Did you use one of the templates through a big wedding site or make your own from the ground up?

A Practical Valentine

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Not two words that usually go together, right?

Despite the bad reputation Valentine’s Day often gets, I’ve always been fond of it and enjoy doing mostly fun, silly things on the day. Since it’s so close to Christmas and Todd’s birthday is in March and mine in April, we usually concentrate on cards and smaller gifts. This year, though, I had the idea that we could kill two birds with one stone (though a lot more romantically than that phrase suggest).

For our last Valentine’s Day before the wedding, we gifted each other our wedding bands.

It turned out to be a very, very good idea, especially in hindsight.

I’d ordered Todd’s ring and it came in the night before, just in time to wrap it up along with his cards and chocolates. I gave him one set in the morning before work, and planned to give him the ring and the other set of card and chocolate that night.

Todd's gifts

Todd’s gifts

Now, Todd doesn’t often buy me flowers, it’s just not his thing. In the 5+ years we’ve known each other, he’s sent me flowers exactly twice. Once as a thank-you for helping out with a project we were both volunteering on (just before we officially started dating), and once for Valentine’s Day 2011 (or was it 2010? It was during my last cellphone contract, so one of those). So when he gave me a stripey sock monkey and 2 cards that Thursday morning but said I had to wait until I received a signal to open the second, I didn’t immediately think it meant he had sent me flowers.

Pink striped socked monkey purse hanger

We love the Pier One commercial with the singing sock monkey, this little one that now rides around on my purse prompts lots of renditions of that little ditty.

Well, he tried to.

Around 1:30 I got a text apologizing for the flowers not arriving. You see, 1-800-FLOWERS had sent him a confirmation email on Wednesday saying that the order was being prepared for shipment, despite 2 florists telling them on Tuesday that the item he ordered was out of stock (it was a martini-glass vase filled with roses)–that last bit we found out when he went to track the order and found it had been canceled. Not subbed for a similar item, canceled.

This, of course, put Todd in a foul mood and, after trying to be zen about it, eventually made me feel rather guilty in a third-party sort of way. In the way of if I didn’t like to make a big deal out of holidays then he wouldn’t have felt compelled to try and send me flowers sort of way. Irrational, but sometimes my brain runs that way.

The long and the short of it is that we both tweeted about the snafu, but they reached out to me, not him, and when I explained that it was a little late to fix things and I was more concerned about Todd getting his refund processed (because, no, that didn’t happen immediately) they said they would follow-up with him and never did. But on Monday I did receive these:

Make-Up Flowers courtesy of 1-800-FLOWERS that I didn't ask for and didn't really enjoy.

Make-Up Flowers courtesy of 1-800-FLOWERS that I didn’t ask for and didn’t really enjoy.

Not what he’d ordered and way too full of lilies for my sinuses to handle, I was actually reluctant to sign for them. This was 1-800-FLOWER’s way of apologizing (the card even mentioned that the delivering florist was not responsible for the delay, hah!) but neither Todd nor I were very impressed.

The point is, as screwed up as his surprise turned out, it was good we were having a relatively low-key Valentines because knowing that the rings were the real gifts meant that all the rest was just icing and easily ignored. I’m still not quite able to think back on the flower debacle and laugh, but trying on my new bit of sparkle does make things easier.

His and hers unmatched wedding bands.

His and hers unmatched wedding bands.

Todd was still set on the tungsten carbide high-polished band, so I found a vendor with positive reviews via Amazon and crossed my fingers it wouldn’t somehow be subpar since it was only costing $39.95. I needn’t have worried, Todd was thrilled by it and it fit just right. Since my ring was going to be a local purchase, we headed to Marks and Morgan that Saturday evening (when we’d last gone shopping we had the best service there). I thought I knew which ring I wanted, but when we got there they showed me another and, oh, I had to make a decision after all.

In the end I went with a sterling silver openwork band with diamonds and lab-created sapphires (the link is from Kay, their sister-store, because M&M doesn’t really have an online store to link to). It’s reminiscent of my engagement ring but not too matchy-matchy and well-priced at $159.

I can’t say how often Todd tries his band on (though he joked about doing it when I gave it to him), but I fully admit I slip mine on every 2-3 days to admire the sparkle. After all, it fits differently than my current ring, so I have to get used to the wider band, right?

That’s totally my story and I’m sticking to it.

Wouldn't these make great covers for our wedding vows? Tempting...

Wouldn’t these make great covers for our wedding vows? Tempting…

Aren’t those little books absolutely adorable? I found them (Don’ts for Husbands/Wives) via Paper-Source when I was shopping for stocking stuffers. They’re full of all sorts of out-of-date yet charming suggestions for how to have a happy married life.

Pretty Book and Flower Icon

 

How do you decide what to give for Valentine’s Day?

Kiss-Cams Set to Capture!

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Have I built it up enough? Are you ready to see how silly we looked in our engagement photos?

Please note: Neither am I fishing for compliments nor am I holding our wonderful photographer responsible for any of the below. Mr. Road Trip and I are absolute goofballs and ridiculously awkward (at least I am) so I’m more shocked when I think I look good in a photo as opposed to the alternative. Still, we had a lot of fun, so I have no regrets for the day–not even the copious amount of duck faces.

We started out our day Honey Lake Plantation–actually, no, we started our day meeting up in the Publix parking lot because it’s an hour from town to our venue and Kara lives south of town as it is, so we offered to chauffeur her around between locations just to make things easier. The drive time also gave us a chance to break the ice a bit more–never a bad thing.

The photos started in front of the chapel on the property, with me feeling very self-conscious and therefore very giggly.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

But I managed to pull it together for a decent shot after a bit.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Prop #1: the banner comes out to play:

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Then we moved over to a bend with a view of one of the lakes. Admittedly, this looked a lot cooler in my head, but it’s still a good shot. And very reminiscent of how we spend most Friday nights–only it’s a sofa instead of a stone bench and the view behind us is our dining room and bar instead of a gorgeous lake. And in the bottom right corner is one of our monkey cameos.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Time to change our view, we headed off towards to main hall and posed for this artfully tilted shot under an arch. The circular drive behind us is where cocktail hour and the ceremony will be held (the former on this side of the fountain, the latter on the steps). We’ll have to remember to get a shot of us on the day from this vantage point, too. Apparently there’s an art to the toe-kick pose, an art I’ve yet to master (though not for trying). And this is one of the few non-duck-face kissing pictures we managed.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

And then the obligatory walking-down-the-road-towards-our-future shot. Teasing aside, I did pull this as one of our inspiration pictures, and I do like the way it turned out.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Kara had this awesome idea to shoot us with the fountain between us and her and I LOVE this shot. Trust the pros, right?

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We also did the picture frame pose–frame provided by Kara–and of the dozen or so she sent us this one is my favorite. We really look relaxed and natural in this one.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

I’ve decided that pictures of me sitting on the ground without something in front of me are a bad idea. Combine that with kissy-face and I’m generally unimpressed. This one Kara cropped just right and I think the sepia tone makes the duck face less ducky. It might also make a good shot for the back of our Save the Dates. We shall see.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Now, after this we tried for some arty shots among the semi-tall grasses behind us but they must not have looked at all good because none were included in our discs. I’m not super surprised, as we were standing in a hole and I was leaning over at an awkward angle, but we gave it a good go. And then the strap on my shoe broke, so it was good I had several pairs in the trunk as back-up.

It looks like we’re on a bridge, but it’s actually the back stairs up to our reception venue shot while Kara stood on the same landing on the opposite end. Sneaky photographers for the win. What do you think of our monkey climbing the tree?

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Eventually we moved on to Lofty Pursuits–we can only take so much nature, after all. I had a severe slouching problem in a lot of these shots, so our bright red dress amidst neutrals didn’t work out like in my head, but they’re still some cute shots.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Then we got sneaky–smooching behind the soda. One sure-fire way to avoid duck-face!

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Finally, it was off to Secret Headquarters for our last shots of the day. These were, overall, the best shots of the day because I think we were all about the playing and being silly and just letting our hair down.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

It helps that there were toys to play with, too.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Brian, the store owner, suggest we swap my sapphire for a different sort of ring (Blue Lantern, anyone?)…

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

And we wedged ourselves between the stacks in the graphic novel room for our best approximation of another of our inspiration shots.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We pinned a cool collage on our inspiration board and Kara put one together of our detail shots. I really love those shoes. Oh, and Mr. Road Trip, too, of course!

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Okay, 19 pictures has GOT to be enough of us, yes? And, yet, I like nice, round numbers so here’s a 20th just to appease my OCD a bit.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We ended up with 477 shots from our engagement session. Now, a lot of them are different treatments of the same shot, but for someone who wants lots of choices this is an awesome thing. Plus, Kara was all-around awesome in hanging with us for a total of 5 hours, 2 of which were spent in the car, when her engagement shoots only last an hour or two on average. The thing that made the difference is that she was just as excited as we were and pretty much up for anything, but she was also great about telling us what to do where and when that I have no doubt we’ll miss anything important on the wedding day.

That is, perhaps, the best reason to have an engagement shoot with your wedding photographer: the make sure everyone’s simpatico and nip any problems in the bud early on. I’m really glad we found Pink Shutterbug Photography and actually looking forward to seeing pictures of myself again in the not-so-distant future!