80: In the mail they go

80 days to go!

Today we are heading down south to the Santa Barbara area to spend New Years Eve with my cousin and her boyfriend BUT before we head out of town we will be stopping off at the post office to mail our invites!

Here's another sneek peek :)

That's our "outer" envelope!
Family & friends: keep your eyes out for these in the mail in the next few days!!!

81: Almost a New Year

81 days to go!

The holidays are almost over and it's almost time to celebrate the beginning of a new year - the year we will be getting married! I can't believe how fast March is approaching! The holidays were a blur - even if I was on vacation. We didn't get too much accomplished (except finishing up the invites) because the holiday season is a crazy time for us with our families all split up and all over the place. We had our 4 Christmases and tomorrow we are heading down south to spend New Years Eve with my cousin and her boyfriend. After the 1st of the new year we will really be focusing on getting some of the DIY projects completed - which means I will finally have some photos to post about all the projects I'm working on because they will finally becoming to life. And then before we know it March 21st will be here and then the fun really begins :)

82: Another DIY project

82 days to go!

Another DIY project I just decided to do (since we have some left over invitations mats) are reserved signs to hang on the chairs at the ceremony for our immediate family members. It's definitely not a necessity to have - but just another way to make our day personalized. They will be simple signs that mimic our invitation mats and will say Reserved Mother of the Bride (or another family member) that I will attach to ribbon and then have my day-of person (my cousin's best friend is standing in for this role) attach them to the chairs for the ceremony.

Just like the memory candle - this project is still not complete, but as it also comes to life I will post pictures.

83: In memory

83 days to go!

One of the many wedding DIY projects I am working on includes an "In Memory" candle that we will have set up at our reception. The candle will be in a hurricane vase that was purchased at Michael's Craft Store and will be wrapped in ribbon in our wedding colors (black and white). We will use a white pillar candle and fill the bottom of the vase with black sand (to mimic our centerpieces). Next to the candle will be a poem and a list of names of people celebrating with us in spirit.

Here's the poem we are using:
Those we love don't go away
They walk beside us every day
Unseen, unheard, but always near
Still loved, still missed
And always held dear

*I found the poem on someone's planning bio from theknot.com - but I can't remember who (I actually know that I saw it on several people's bio's when I first started planning)

As soon as I saw that poem, I knew this was something that I wanted to incorporate into our wedding. Unfortunately, our list of loved ones is quite long - but I know they are all in our hearts and will be watching down on us as we become husband and wife.

This project is still in the early stages and no where near complete yet - but I will add photos as the idea comes to life.

84: Sneek Peek

84 days to go!

I don't want to spoil the surprise because they haven't been mailed yet - but here's a sneek peek at our invites :)


That's the RSVP return envelopes and behind it is a very sneek peek at the RSVP cards. Everything turned out pretty great - not perfect, but for DIY I'd say they are pretty darn good! I can't wait for our friends and family to get them in the mail and see them!!! Once they been mailed, I'll post some more pictures of how they turned out :)

85: Ready to be mailed

85 days to go!

Like I blogged about earlier - we finished up assembling the invites last night (stages 3 thru 6).

This was our "assembly" line on our kitchen table

Stage 1 was printing
Stage 2 was attaching the invitation mat
Stage 3 thru 6 we're affixing stamps to the RSVP envelopes, stuffing the RSVP cards and envelopes into the pocket fold, closing the pocket fold and affixing a sticker to keep it shut, and stuffing the envelopes and affixing the back flaps with return address labels.
It really didn't take that long once we got started and we only had to re-print two envelopes (I forgot an apartment number on one and I misspelled someone's name on another) so we sped right through the process and now they are all bundled up in ziploc bags (so they don't get dirty) and awaiting their deliver to the post office on the 31st!

Now we can move on to more projects :)

86: Merry Christmas

86 days to go!

Merry Christmas!

This evening we finished up the invites ... but it's Christmas and I want to go snuggle up in front of the fire and watch movies SO I'll post about it tomorrow!

87: All but one

87 days to go!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Tomorrow we will be spending our Christmas evening assembling the invitations ... we got all but one complete - we are still waiting for one address. There were several last minute changes that needed to be made and a small handful of envelopes and RSVP cards that had to be reprinted BUT we are finally ready to finish up stages 3 thru 6 tomorrow and then sending them off to their destinations on the 31st!

88: Centerpiece decisions complete

88 days to go!

We actually purchases the vases that we are using for the centerpieces a few months ago ... but we recently just decided that we want to use black sand in the vases under the white candles (to not only "catch" the wax but also to incorporate more of our colors (black and white) into our centerpieces). The actual vases are round 5" bubble vases and we will be using black sand and a 3" white pillar candle. The vases will be placed on 12" square mirror tiles (that our venue supplies) and then we will scatter red rose petals around the vase on the mirrored tile. Once we purchase the sand and candles I'll be able to post a centerpiece trial ... until then I need to remove all the stickers from the bottom of the vases and wash them all ... and I'm on the hunt for cheap white pillar candles!

89: Tux selections complete

89 days to go!

Today we ventured to Men's Warehouse and made the tux selections - and let me just say, it was a pretty quick and painless experience. We went with plain black jackets and pants with black vests and ties ... except Jon will be wearing an APPLE red tie and vest (to match my dress)!

90: Three month mark!

90 days to go!

Today is the three month mark to the wedding!

I spent the morning shopping with my matron of honor for supplies for the upcoming bridal shower! Tomorrow we will be making the tux selections and Jon will get fitted ... and hopefully the stamps I ordered will arrive and we can finish up the invites!

91: We're gonna be movie stars!

91 days to go!

So, we are gonna be movie stars in our very own wedding video! We met with and booked an amazing videographer today - and we are so very excited to work with her! Her video's are amazing and we are very excited to see what she captures on our wedding day. We booked Jami of J. Concepts Productions! Please check out her work - like I said, her videos are amazing and there are some samples on her website!

Originally Jon and I had decided not to book a videographer but after my cousin Judy was ordained to perform our ceremony and then Jon and I sat down and wrote our ceremony and vows we just knew that it was nothing something we could pass up! We wanted someone to capture all the memories and special moments of the most important day of our lives. We are so excited that Jami will be the one to capture our day and make those memories into an amazing video that we can share with our family and friends!

92: Stage two complete

92 days to go!

Last night we completed what I call Stage 2 of the invitations. I guess I figured that Stage 1 was the actual printing and Stage 2 was the attaching of the invitation panel to the pocketfold. Stage 3, 4, 5 & 6 (applying postage to RSVP cards, stuffing and closing pocketfolds, and stuffing envelopes) will take place as soon as the postage arrives in the mail ... until then, I'll be waiting ... and knowing myself so well, I'm sure I'll be impatient about it.

Edited to include:
The assembling process of Stage 2

93: And the assembling begins

93 days to go!

Now that we've "finalized" the guest list and finished printing the last few RSVP cards and envelopes we can begin the task of assembling the invitations and that is tonight's #1 goal. When I get home from work I will get our "assembly" table ready so that when Jon gets home we can get busy and get the invitation mats securely attached. We've got to wait for the stamps that I ordered for the RSVP envelopes to arrive before we can stuff the envelopes but after tonight we hope to be one step closer to having these completed! I'll try to rememer to take some photos of our assembly line tonight and update later ...

94: Tea party!

94 days to go!

My maid of honor/cousin Farina and my matron of honor/best friend Kylie are throwing me a Bridal Shower Tea Party in early February! I'm very excited and I've spent the majority of this week focusing on the details and decision making of this special event with both my cousin and best friend.

The days are ticking away and every day is one day closer to the BIG day!

95: Three sizes too big!

95 days to go!

We're closing in on the 3 month mark so I've spent the last few days searching for a bridal shop to do the alterations on my now 3 sizes too big wedding dress. Thanks to some recommendations from fellow Knotties, I called a local store and have secured a date for my first dress fitting. Now, I've just got to get all those unmentionables together to take to the fitting with me. At least I already have the shoes :)

96: So close

96 days to go!

With three envelopes and two RSVP cards to go we are this close to being finished with the printing of the invites. It actually didn't take quite as long as I thought it was going to take to finish up tonight. As soon as we get these last three addresses (and a few names/guests figured out) then we can officially finish up the printing and start assembling the invites so that they'll be ready to drop in the mail on the 31st! I think I am going to feel a big relief once these are done. We've worked hard and long on them and I can't wait for our friends and family to see how they turned out :)

97: And the printing continues

97 days to go!

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jon and I started printing the invitations. We need a total of 80 invites and we plan to mail them on the 31st (as we head out of town to spend New Years Eve in Santa Barbara with my cousin Farina and her boyfriend Ryan - my college roommate). We started with printing the invitation mats. That was pretty easy. Then we decided to print the return address on the RSVP envelopes - but the printer decided the envelopes were too small and likes to smear the ink so we opted to do labels for those envelopes. Next we moved onto printing the addresses on the outer envelopes (I don't know why I say "outer" envelope - its not like we have an inner envelope also - but whatever, you know what I mean) and at the same time we started printing the RSVP cards. It was our plan to print 5 or so RSVP cards then the corresponding outer envelopes that go with the RSVP cards (the RSVP cards are custom to the guest) and then stuff the RSVP card into the envelope so that when we start stuffing the invitations the corresponding RSVP card will already be in the envelope so they don't get mixed up. So far, that process is working out very nicely. We've got about 30 printed so far. We plan to finish up today (along with the million other things I want to get done today around our house).

Upcoming items on the to-do list:
We are meeting with a possible videographer next weekend
We will be making the tux selections while we are on vacation (the week of Christmas)
We will be spray painting our card-cage black and apply the ribbon details
We will be removing the stickers from the bottom of our center piece vases and washing those
We will be mailing the invites on the 31st ... and sometime after that I'll post some examples of how they turned out!
And, I'm on the search for a place to take my now four sizes too big wedding dress for alterations (the bridal shop I had planned on going to said they are not doing alterations anymore) :(

98: We're going to Hawaii

98 days to go!

We booked our honeymoon today! We'll be spending 5 glorious nights at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa during Spring Break next year (just 3 weeks after our wedding). We knew from the beginning that we really wanted to go to Hawaii (I have never been) and we are very excited that we got such a deal (under our set limit to spend on the honeymoon)!!!

Now, we can start planning our honeymoon activities :)

99

... days to go!

Double digits!

This weekend we are working on finishing up printing the invitations then we can start assembling them. Those will go into the mail on the 31st as we head out of town that day to celebrate New Years in Santa Barbara with Farina and Ryan!

100

... days to go! Almost double digits!!!

101

days to go ... I can't believe how close its starting to seem!