Tuxes: CHECK!

     I realize that tuxes aren't the most exciting detail in a wedding. Nevertheless, it feels pretty good to have gotten this done. Not only did we find the best price at the store in Ankeny (Skeffington's Formal Wear), but the price we got was better than we could've hoped! If you're planning a wedding now, they extended a $40 off tux price promotion into February. We got the most basic of the basic: a black one-button tux. With a $5 upgrade to get non-pleated shirts, each tux will cost under $84: shoes, vest, and tie included. That said, I was pretty sure I didn't want a vest and tie, but they explained it would be cheaper to order them. Here's what we chose:

I still intend to not use this vest and tie, but to have the men go vest-less and wear ties I either make or buy. Still, it's good to have a backup! Here are some examples from a cool etsy store (Projector: Tie the Knot) that are close to what I'm thinking:

      I'm thinking either black with a gold image, gold with a black image, or purple with a gold image. I'm trying to design something that would both be masculine and go with the wedding. I'll let you know when I come up with something good!

Paid a Visit to the Linen Fairy

In our never-ending quest to nail down all of the details for this wedding, Mom and I explored a new topic this week: linens. Exciting, no? We have made some preliminary, not-set-in-stone decisions, and they are as follows:

Order ivory tablecloths from Puttin' on the Ritz in Des Moines.

These are all the crazy colors they have. Ivory not pictured.

Order coordinating chair covers for the head table. The chair covers they have are really cool; they don't cover the seat, just the back, and cost only $1 per chair. Of course, that adds up!

White chair cover. The ivory one's on the table.

I think they look a lot better with the sash on them. We'll probably use ribbon.

Create napkins: buy vintage floral bedsheets and cut them to napkin size using pinking shears (no-sew). Ordering colored ones is our backup plan. Here's what they might look like:

I'm almost scared to say it, but I think THIS is my stationary suite!

Of course each piece will require further tweaking and perfecting, but, design-wise, I think this might be it! All of it will be printed on brown paper (the same as the save-the-dates), so where the background's brown, know that's not the exact shade. I'm still thinking about switching the map to a black background, but the RSVP backside has to be something people can write on. So, without further ado, here they are:

We're still trying to figure out size, and I want to create icons for the church and hotel that are a little more fun than boxes. For right now, though, I'm pretty satisfied!

I know, more invites!

     If you've been paying attention at all, you'll know that I've been pretty indecisive about the design for my wedding invitations. I'm having trouble deciding how formal to get, what colors to use, what fonts work the best. I come up with a design and feel pretty good about it one day, then completely change my mind the next. Mom and I have set me the deadline of March 1st to finish my design and send it for printing. In that vein, here are some more invite designs:

If you're finding my abrupt switch from brown to black odd, it's a result of our choice of bridesmaids' dresses, which have an element of black to them. Let me know what you think!

It's all in the little things.

     Craft-a-thon was a major success! It think the fun of a wedding is all in the little personal details. I promised you a wedding that had both handmade and vintage flavors, but it's nice to know that all of the "handmade" parts don't have to come from me. (Well, me and my mom, anyway). I spent probably six+ hours taking paper punches to the top of those cookie take-home bags, but with help from friends they were printed in maybe 2 hours. We started working at 6, and with a host of 14 friends and family members, this is what we accomplished:

We created 250 picks for each guest's slice of wedding cake:

We printed designs on 300 cookie bags (though we probably lost 10-20 to printer paper jams. That bag printing thing isn't as effortless as pinterest makes it seem):

We created 100 colorful ribbon dancers:

We colored in and painted the scratch-off date on 250 save-the-dates:

We had some really cute pictures of our teenaged helpers, too, but I'm pretty sure it's not cool to post pictures of the under-aged on unprotected websites without their parents' consent. Sorry, girls!

     It's amazing to have so many people willing to show up and do this kind of work. Yeah, we're all crafty people, but we're also all extremely busy. Thanks so much for taking a night out of your holiday vacations to help me out! It means so much!

     We've got awhile before another craft-a-thon will be necessary. On the agenda next time? Invitation stuffing and program making, along with the creation of another 150 ribbon dancers (though my sister may have connections that will get us an extra 100 left over from her friend's wedding, which would be awesome). Until then, my major work lies in finally nailing down the invitation design. I'm liking the one I'm currently working on, but we'll see how long it takes me to fall out of love with it!

Craft-a-thon Tonight!

     It's been a week of wedding progress! On Tuesday we picked up my dress and picked out dresses for the bridesmaids. We had tremendous success at Stacey's; I'm nearly as excited about the bridesmaids' dresses as I am about my own! In order to get a discount (and because I was super-jealous), I ordered the same dress in ivory to wear for the rehearsal dinner. I'm so excited I might not even put a picture up and just let all of you be surprised!

     In other news, we're hosting a wedding craft-a-thon at my parents' house tonight; we will be working on the save-the-dates, picks for the cake, the ribbon dancers, and the cookie bags for the wedding. We will provide our fabulous wedding elves (it's a workshop, right? Ok, dumb analogy) with pizza, beer, and snacks. Should be a good time! Here's some of the art I've created for the cookie bags; I can't quite decide:

I think the rose might be my favorite right now; it's a little more formal than I was imagining, but I like it. Something wonky happened to the typewriters; I swear they're cooler in illustrator.
  
      Finally, I've spent several mornings working on my invites, hoping to come up with a final one. I've created, discarded, and resurrected several ideas and schemes, and here are a few I've been working on:

     The top one is a revamp of the first one Wendi and I worked on; the second is a concept I've been thinking about, but it needs a lot more glitz and some sort of clip art, I think, before I might really like it.

It's HERE.........

     My wedding dress is in! I'm psyched that it's safely finished, and that the long alteration process is about to begin! I'm most excited to see what the corseted back looks like: the one I tried on at Schaffer's was so large that I couldn't really get an idea of what that would look like or how it would feel.

    
     On Tuesday the 27th we'll be going to try it on and also look for the perfect bridesmaids dresses! I feel like finding those will be the last big piece of the puzzle. I had always planned on purple, but the popularity of that choice in a season including 4 weddings before mine is causing me to question my colors. This trip should solidify that dilemma, I hope. So far, only Megan, Breanna, and Mom have signed on for this trip. If you want to come, let me know! Sorry, working people, that it's a Tuesday afternoon. If we find the dress, I'll find a time to go look at them with my two other bridesmaids, Amanda and Arielle.
     In even more exciting news, my sister's coming home from LA this week! Only five more days, Sister! We've got so much planned for the time she's here; I can't wait!