Wednesday, January 28, 2009

We have an STD

The Save the Date (STD) is out. After about a month of trying to learn how to send an HTML email and remembering how to use Photoshop and Illustrator to put together the "postcard", not to mention the collecting of the email addresses, it's final done.

A sigh of relief.

Now, about that engagement party.....

Sunday, January 11, 2009

To Send an STD or Not

That's the question. I really wanted to send an elegant save the date (STD) to get people excited about the wedding. I wanted to send a custom bandanna with a hand drawn map of Oregon that points out all of the places of interest for our guests to see, well the ones from out of Oregon. But, I decided that I really need to get the STD out ASAP because, once again, I feel like all I am doing and thinking when I am not at work is WEDDING. And that's not as much fun as I thought it would be. I need to pass a proverbial wedding stone and buy myself some time. If I can get the save the dates out this month then I will have at least a month to just chill out and enjoy the DC winter and the upcoming transition. Oh, and we just moved, so I really don't feel like I have much of a life right now. I am either looking for a dress or unpacking boxes.

So, I have decided to send an email save the date to everyone who has an email and include the link to our wedding website. This is pretty much everyone except my grandparents. For them and a few others, I will print out what I designed myself in Adobe Illustrator. I basically taught myself that program and learned how to send an HTML email this weekend. I estimate that we will be saving approximately $200 by not sending a save the date to everyone (including postage). And how many trees will I save? Hmm. .1 maybe. I will have to research that.

For the wedding website, I decided to go with www.mywedding.com because they do have a simple two color template with no frilly anything, which is what I wanted. We, I mean, I, was able to post all sorts of info for out of towners there. And that's the real reason I feel pressure to get the STD out--because I want people to start booking their rooms and to start reserving the date on their calendar--because it's going to be SO FUN.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Titanic Wedding Dress

I love the layers of ruffles in this dress. It's called a "Titanic era dress". Where is Leonardo?

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Overposting - Music

The band we have hired, the only band that we could actually fit into our budget, but probably the best local band, is called The Cheap Local Band. The mayor of Maupin is in it. The local fly fishing guide. The school bus driver. They are six piece too. They specialize in oldies from the 60s, 70s and 80s. I hope this means they can play When a Man Loves a Woman and White Shade of Pale. I am thinking these will be our wedding march songs. I love the organ and the symphonic quality. Apparently, Procol Harum stole the meldoy, beat, or rhythm from Bach himself and the lyrics have some references to Chaucer and Shakespeare. Although, I thought the idea was TOTALLY original, I was dismayed to learn from the Procol Harum website that it's a common alternative to Handel at weddings. Wah, wah, wah.

Hair, Big Hair


I love this hair. Simple, sultry, and dare I say, seductive.

A veil without a dress?


It was a great deal--a much better deal than the dresses I tried on today at Hitched in DC. Actually their sample sale was probably a great deal but the only dress I really liked was still $1900 so I decided to go out for a drink instead thinking that alcohol would either calm my nerve s and then I would not go buy it or it would make me loose with the old VISA and I would go buy it. Before leaving the shop, I couldn't resist a sweet little veil from Modern Vintage. From what they told me "it was a steal". I read somewhere recently from an offbeat bride that she knew she couldn't afford to buy a couture dress unless she was going to sell it, but she wanted to make sure she had a part of her wedding outfit as a keepsake and a family heirloom. She said she was going to make her hairpiece that item. I think it's a nice idea.

I may not even wear the veil. I am not really veil material in my mind, but....you never know.

Here is the newest dream[on] dress from Suzanne Ermann. Urr. Well, I like the hoop skirt and modern take on Victorian. So fun compared to those boring dresses I see everywhere.

A dress project or a project dress?

I thought I had already posted this amazingly cool DIY dress. The talented woman from The $10,000 Wedding had the bright idea to order one of the Isaac Mizrahi for Target wedding dresses at a steal (less than $100) and then she cut out all of these cool images that were meaningful to her and her FH including a saying that they had inscribed in their rings. The dress is just amazing. I wondered what other colors you could do it in?

Hers is so elegant. Mine would have to have raft paddles, salmon, fly rods, the american flag, a beaver and "catch and keep" on it. Not sure how good that would look, but I love hers.

Bridesmaid Dress for $12.99?


How would this look on a summer day with cowboy boots? Or maybe this in dark blue? Or maybe this two or three different ways. I can buy these dresses right now at the Gap for 12.99 and I can buy an extra one and each of my BMs can take one and have it altered to the way they like it. They could add straps, or a strap, or cut off the top of the blue one and put it on the bottom of the black one. Or add a side rose to it.

For the money, it's a pretty nice dress. It's silk and cotton blend. Naturally the bust is not made that well. It would need some good foundation to ensure that it stays up and in place for severa hours but I think it's a fun alternative and very cool if I can actually buy them for my BMs. This was not something that I put into my budget but perhaps my BMs would appreciate the dress as a gift instead of a monogrammed hanky. BMs?