Invite Reveal

It's been almost a week since we sent out our invitations, and since I'm already getting responses, I'll go ahead and give you a peek at them! Now if you remember anything about Mr. S and I, you will know that we work together for a company that designs and prints greeting cards. Needless to say, we had no problem designing and printing our invites.

Invitation - personal image

Response Card - personal image

Outer Envelope - personal image

I chose not to have Mr. S print them on the formal wedding stock they have in the print shop. I also chose not to have them printed in thermography, a printing process that raises the ink on the paper. I don't really have an explanation as to why I did not want to use these options, when they are so readily and easily available to me. The only thing I can think of, is that those types of printing make me think of traditional, formal weddings. And our style is nothing like that. So instead, I chose to print the invitation and response card on Stardream Crystal paper, by Gruppo Cordenons. Their Stardream line is one of my all-time favorites to use for so many things. The Crystal paper is an iridescent white stock, that can look anything from white to silver depending on the angle you view it from. Luckily for me, I have many contacts in the paper-buying world, and was able to get a pack from my favorite paper rep for free! Just one of the many many perks to being in this business :)

A close-up of the paper stock, with added contrast so you can see the iridescent effect - personal image

The envelope is just plain white. No liner, nothing fancy. I used the data-merge function in InDesign to lay out the names and addresses, which pulled the guests' information from my guest list spreadsheet. I also printed our return address on the back flap.

Finally, I chose the USPS's Vintage Seed Packet Forever Stamps. The USPS has some really nice "weddingy" options when it comes to stamps, but my love for gardening and flowers won over the traditional roses and hearts.

Vintage Seed Packet Forever Stamps - image courtesy USPS.com

Grand total spent on our wedding invitations: $46.00 for the stamps. Yes, that's it. I could have gone all out and done some really neat designs, pockets, layers, etc. But even with my connections we would have spent at least $200 or more on something like that. In my mind, it just wasn't necessary.

You may have noticed that our response card doesn't have an envelope. That is because I chose to do an online RSVP for our guests. After reading mixed reviews from other brides who have used this process, I decided to also give guests the option to call me directly to respond. Many of them already have our contact info anyway, so sending a quick text or making a call doesn't seem too out of the ordinary for most of them. I've already received back 24 "yes" and 6 "no" responses. So at this moment, we are at a 75% acceptance rate. I'll keep you posted on those numbers through the next few weeks.

Until next time, happy planning, and keep it frugal!

Miss Spaghetti

Alive and Kicking Some Wedding To-Do Butt

Hey there, just popping in to give you all an update on where I've been, and how we're doing now that we're only a mere 46 DAYS out from our wedding! Sorry I've been MIA. But I've actually accomplished a TON in my time away from blogging...

• Made some bout's - don't have any good pics, but basically took out some of the cute small flowers from my bouquets and made boutonnieres out of them
• Sent out some invites - that's right, it's official now, the invites are out! Stay tuned for a reveal of our simple yet pretty invitations
• Lost a bridesmaid, and in turn, a groomsman - yep, my Friendster H had to back out of her role as my bridesmaid. After moving to Texas a while back, she and her hubby are having a hard time getting the time off work, finding plane tickets they can afford, etc etc. I would never want to put a friend in a position have to go broke in order to be at my wedding. So we decided together that she wouldn't be in our bridal party. *Tear*. And as a result, Mr. S gave one of his groomsmen a choice to either walk by himself, or just to come as a guest. Since said groomsman is one of the most laid back dudes I've met, he was totally fine just coming as a guest to enjoy the festivities. Phew!
• Picked a hotel - after getting group rate quotes from multiple hotels near our venue, I decided on the closest one, which also happens to be the least costly. And in addition, their online booking rates are CHEAPER than their discounted group rates! WHA? So I've encouraged our guests via our wedding website to book online for the best pricing.

My bachelorette party, planned by MOH/Sister K, is this weekend! I still don't know what we are doing, but I've been told we have to leave at 8 am Saturday morning, and won't be back until Sunday. People, I have no idea what to expect. Mr. S keeps messing with me saying that MOH K told him where we're going and that he will never tell. Then he says he has no idea. I guess I'll find out when we get there!

My bridal shower is planned for Sunday May 5th. My lovely Cousin's J and L are hosting it for me, and I couldn't be more appreciative and excited! I'm trying not to be a registry stalker, but as soon as I saw things being taken off our list, I couldn't control myself! Please tell me I'm not the only one :)

Well that was a lot. I hope you aren't overwhelmed with all my accomplishments ;) I have a lot more to share in the coming days so stay tuned!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

I'm No Florist...But These Things Look Pretty Good!

MOH K and I took the day Saturday to do some much needed wedding planning. Here's what I had on my list:

• Flowers for bouquets/bouts/corsages/mason jar centerpieces
• Shoes for me
• Order sash for my dress
• Fabric for mason jar centerpieces
• Discuss timeline

While we didn't accomlish everything on that list, we did have quite a productive day, because...

We figured out the bouquets!

One of my finished, handcrafted bridesmaids bouquets! Personal image

We made a stop at Michael's to look at a few things, and found these cute little Ashland Spring Stem Bundles on sale for 50% off, regularly $9.99. They contained an assortment of about 7 different stems, in a variety of purple colors.

Ashland Spring Stems from Michael's - Personal image

We found 3 at that store, and had an employee call around to the other 2 stores in our area. Altogether, we were able to get our hands on 7 bunches. Unfortunately, this was a Spring item, which meant they couldn't order any more (of course). And we figured that we would need at least 11 to make all four bridesmaid bouquets plus my bridal bouquet.

Yesterday, I stopped in at a different location to pick up two that they had on hold for me. Mr. S and I went back to look at the floral section to see what other options we had to fill the bouquets. As I looked, he reached down and pulled out a small stem bundle, with many of the same purple flowers in it, plus some light green hydrangea stems, for only $7.99! Plus, the 50% off sale continues through this week. We grabbed 5 of them, thinking that should be enough to fill up all of the bouquets with. I also had a coupon good for 15% off your entire order, even sale items. Altogether, I spend only $50 on all 5 bouquets, plus ribbon to tie around the stems, and pins with little pearls on the end!

 I spent the afternoon on the couch separating these bad boys out, and experimenting with the arrangements. Here is what I started with:

All of the bunches together, plus the ribbon and pins I plan to wrap the stems with. Personal image

And here is how the four bridesmaid bouquets ended up looking:

Bouquets for my ladies! Personal image

 Side note: they look much better in person. I kept trying to send MOH K images on my phone, and it just doesn't do them justice.

I didn't think I was going to use any of the green hydrangea stems because I wasn't feeling the color. But I was able to use them as a filler for all of the bouquets. It turned out perfect!

Here are some other angles and closer up images (all images personal):

 The Little Noodle's comment when I pulled them out of the bag, was "Those look real!". As honest as 6-year old's are, I took that to mean they looked good :) Did you DIY your flowers? How did they turn out?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Passports

When I talked about me and Mr. S's sweetie-moon a while back, I was also researching the steps we needed to take to get our Passports. In order to travel out of the country, we kinda need 'em. So I'm happy to say that we have both successfully applied, and received, our U.S. Passports! In case anyone else out there is passport-less and needs to get theirs going, here's how we did it...

Step 1: Call your local Post Office and see if you need an appointment. My Post Office required one, but my sister MOH K's didn't. If you need an appointment, they are usually during business hours, which meant I needed to leave work an hour early to make their latest appointment (4:00 pm). Keep in mind late appointments fill up faster too, so you may need to make it for a week or two out.

Step 2: Take your picture. Many stores offer Passport photos for anywhere from $10-$15. I took Mr. S's photo in our living room using the guidelines from the Department of State's website, and they accepted it, no problems. If you are not camera-savvy, I wouldn't recommend going this route. But if you are like me, I would give it a try to save the money. I had the Post Office take mine, simply because we forgot to take it at home before my appointment. It was $14.95 there. Trust me, it was NOT pretty. The guy even said I look angry and tough, so no one will mess with me in customs! HA

Step 3: Download the application form and fill out COMPLETELY. Again, the Department of State's website has tons of helpful info, including a fill-able PDF application. Just fill it out on your computer, and print it. DO NOT sign it until you are asked to at your appointment!

Step 4: Make a photo copy of the front and back of your ID. They will ask for your ID, but they also require a photo copy.

Step 5: Find your birth certificate. No copies of this needed. They will actually take your birth certificate and send it out with the application. This is normal. They will tell you that you should get your birth certificate mailed back to you a few days before you receive your passport. In Mr. S's case, they arrived in the same day. In my case, I received my passport already, but not my birth certificate. I need to check into that because it seems odd...

Step 6: Fork it up. The fee for a first time applicant for a passport book is $110 plus a $25 execution fee at the Post Office. Expedited service is an extra $60 (see Step 7).

Step 7: Figure out when you need it. The average service time is 6-8 weeks. Expedited service runs 2-3 weeks. Mr. S and I both used the normal service, and got ours back in under 3 weeks. Mine actually came back in 2 weeks (still waiting for birth certificate, however). MOH K and her hubby L had about 5 weeks in between when they scheduled their honeymoon, and the actual day they leave. She went back and forth about whether to go with the normal service, or to pay the extra for the expedited, knowing how quickly ours came back. It's up to you if you want to chance it!

Step 8: Check out the website for info if you have questions. Seriously, there is a ton of it on there, and it was really easy for me to figure all of this stuff out when I utilized the site.

Phew! I know that's a lot of details, but if you do it right you can avoid costly fees and wasted time compared to applying improperly. I hope this info helps someone else out! Anyone else planning on applying for their Passport soon?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Double D's & Dreams

Don't be dirty, I'm talking about the double digits! They crept right up on me. I was on my Weddingwire page today and the numbers "99" were blaring at me from the countdown box. How did that happen?!

Fittingly, I had my first wedding related dream last night. It wasn't necessarily a nightmare, thankfully. But it was quite odd. After researching mason jar ideas yesterday, it would only make sense that they would make an appearance in my dream...

So it started with all of us girls in a dress shop looking for dresses for both myself and them. It was packed. There was another group in there that we started talking to. Somehow, the other bride and I decided to move or weddings up to the next day, and get married together. So the next day came, and we both got married quickly and quietly, and somehow had hotels booked for the night (separate of course). Only we had the Little Noodle with us. He kept telling me that he was disappointed that the ceremony didn't go like he had planned. And I told him we could still have a reception because we have the venue booked for June 8th.

We got to the hotel, and I went in the bathroom and started thinking about the "wedding" we had just had. I started thinking about all the things we didn't do, because it wasn't planned, like Mr. S didn't even have his wedding band. I didn't use my mason jar decor idea. Things like that. And it made me really sad. Somehow I was excited that I was finally married to my sweetheart, but things just didn't go as I had planned. And it was, as Little Noodle had put it, disappointing.

The end.

I'm usually pretty good at figuring out the underlying meaning behind my dreams (and I have some STRANGE ones). I guess this one could mean that even though I'm not too particular about things on our wedding day, I still want it to be special and about us. The ceremony in my dream was impersonal and not at all meaningful. The exact opposite of what I want for our actual wedding. Perhaps this dream is just reminding me to always look at the big picture and what is really most important.

Anyone else having wedding dreams, good or bad?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

I Don't Know Who "Mason" Is, But I Like His Jars

I'm really diggin' the "rustic" look that so many weddings have nowadays. Luckily for me, BM M got married a year and a half ago, and still has tons of leftover mason jars. All of us bridesmaids spent the entire morning of her wedding in a field picking wild flowers, then we brought them back and filled them with water, and arranged all of flowers in them for centerpieces. Tons of work, yes, but the end result was beautiful and the decor really suited her outdoor, backyard wedding. While BM M's wedding and mine have a lot in common (both rustic, outdoors-y locations), they are still quite different. So the big question in my mind has been "I have all these mason jars, now what do I do with them?".

Enter: Pinterest. I'm not going to dote on it and talk about how awesome it is because I honestly think it's played out (please don't hate me). That being said, I have utilized it a couple times, this time being one of them. I found these:

Stones with a candle (no shells for me) - Easy Wedding Centerpieces

Water with a floating candle and twine - Emmaline Bride

Jars with fabric wrap - 100 Layer Cake

I really liked the look of the candles and water, but the thought of having to fill all those jars (I'm thinking 2 per table of 8, at 20 tables) just exhausts me. Same with the stones. So my mind is almost completely set on doing the fabric wrap. MOH K told me she saw a pack of fabric squares, which I'm guessing would be considered quilting squares, at JoAnn Fabrics. It had different patterns, but all with the same purple color scheme. I like the idea of having a variety of patterns! I would also like to try wrapping it with twine instead of a ribbon.

Now, what to put in them? Depending on what flowers I choose for the bouquets and bout's, maybe I will put a few stems in each one. And how cute is this?!?

Lemon slices in water! Makes me want yellow as a secondary color! - Pinterest

Obviously there are a lot of cute and easy things you can do with mason jars. I think the hardest thing is trying to find and collect enough of them. I've got that part covered! Anyone else use mason jars in their decor?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Gettin' Healthy

Remember when I talked about my "bride workout" and making healthier eating choices after the New Year? I do, and I am sad to admit that I haven't exactly been following either one. Well let me rephrase that in order to not sound like a total giver-upper. I changed the routine a bit. Instead of doing my fave exercise video Tae-Bo, I switched to weight-lifting. I found an Android app that takes me through a few different exercises, and it's been working pretty well. Let me tell you that I have always lacked upper arm strength and definition. And when you think about yourself in your wedding dress, what is the one thing that everyone sees? Your upper arm flab. I just want to tighten enough to look good in pics, K?

What I wouldn't give for these upper arms. Here's another workout option I think I'll try! Image courtesy Shape.com

Now about my eating habits...I was doing really good. Then the Little Noodle came home selling candy bars for little league. Then work got stressful. Then (insert excuse here). So here I am, at my desk, with a little smear of chocolate on my keyboard as I type. I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that I'm running out of time before the wedding to really get into a healthier routine. I'm even thinking about trying one of those raw food diets. You know, eating just foods that are natural and unprocessed? Wonder if I could stick to that one...

I also started taking a multi-vitamin every morning. I've always had a hard time with those, because I can't swallow pills. If you don't know, vitamins are HUGE. Then I found Nature Made Multi-Mini's. They aren't what I would call "small", but they are definitely smaller than other vitamins I've tried. So if anyone out there is looking for a multi-vitamin that doesn't choke you on the way down, I'd highly recommend them! I compared the ingredients to regular sized vitamins and all the goodies are still there.

My new vitamins! Image courtesy Naturemade.com

In conclusion, it's really hard to exercise when there's a foot of snow on the sidewalks, and it's hard to eat healthy when there is no supply of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables and the ones in the store are too wilty from sitting for days in a truck. But I'm finding ways to do it all little by little. Anyone have a routine or diet that has really worked for them?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti