Adding it Up

What do you get when you add this

Plus this

Plus this?

Our table numbers.

all images except fabric

I've been thinking about how to label tables. Our venue offered us pre-made table numbers in little silver frames. I wasn't sold on them but thought they'd be OK if my brain couldn't come up with something better. Then a few days ago I was surfing Martha's website and found the last image. So perfect.

The plan is to cover some buttons (thanks for the instuctions Martha) and use them in place of the cufflinks. I like the idea for different fonts for the numbers. I think I'm going to use different fonts for each number and have that correspond to the font I use on escort cards. I also want to match the fabric on the bottons to the fabric used on for the cufflinks. Each table has a different fabric print.

I'm so excited. The idea just came to me and it seemed perfect. I can decide whether to put a bottle of wine on each table or fill each bottle with water. What do you think?

A Ridiculously Productive Joey

I have to say, Thursday was a ridiculously productive day. I got a mani/pedi (I NEEDED it), got in a walk, went to Spin class, finished 30 luggage tag favors, came up with two possible itineraries for the honeymoon, came up with table numbers plan, got a wedding thank you postcard out, calculated our wedding beverage needs, did some new house stuff and went to work where I was also ridiculously productive (seriously).

I haven't been this focused for no particular reason in a long time. I don't know what happened or why I've got some motivation.

This weekend I going to attempt to MacGuyver (thanks for the term Quiche!) my escort card display. We're also going to pick a honeymoon itinerary so I can book hotels, and buy the wine for the reception and rehearsal dinner. I'm also thinking I might finish the rest of the favors while watching TV.

Have you had moments of complete wedding planning Zen? How did you keep it going?

May I Escort You to Your Table?

I bet you can guess what's been on my mind lately -- escort cards and how to display them. I have no idea why and it isn't my highest priority right now, but I can't stop thinking about them. Of course I went straight to Martha to gather ideas.

all images

I'm thinking a combination of image 1 and 4 and maybe even a little 3. I have an idea in my head that involves Goodwill, some left over fabric from table runners, a package of yardsale price tags I found at my parents house and some spray paint. I might even throw in a white platter and few flowers. This may be my weekend wedding project. I can't wait to play with it and share.

Are you doing escort cards? How are you displaying them?

The Bouquet Buzz

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do the flower centerpieces myself. I love flowers and in another life I would have loved to be a florist. My plan is to head down to Pike Place Market or store with amazing flower selection (Trader Joe's or Metropolitan Market) the day before the wedding and pick up flowers for my bouquet and for that of my MOH. I wasn't sure what I wanted except that I wanted it to be simple (easy to make and clean lines) and modern.

Then I saw this and fell in love.

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It's perfect. Black and White, simple, elegant and modern looking. I hunted around to find out what kind of flower it was and if it would be in season. Luck! Martha said it was available all year long. And then disappointment. Every other website said December through April. Poop!

So now I'm looking for new inspiration. So far here's what I came up with:

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I really like the last one. I have no idea what the flowers are. Anyone?

So now I'm trying to come up with some bouquet inspirations. My criteria? Simple (easy to make and clean lines), white or yellow (doesn't matter which) and flowers in season. Links? Ideas?

I'm also hitting up my special imaginary man, Craig, and his list to see if I can find a florist on the cheap.

Sometimes it's not better to receive

I was chatting with my friend Jeremy (of the panel) about registries and whether he and his lovely bride Dani got many gifts from it. I'm a little worried about it, I admit it. I've been stalking our registries, I admit that too. Anyway, as we were chatting, I realized he must think I really superficial about presents. I've blogged way too much about our registries already and I'm sure this was the 3rd or 4th conversation we've had about them. So I decided to come clean about why I'm paranoid about gifts.

I've gotten some pretty weird gifts over the years. Yes, everyone get weird gifts, but this has been pretty consistent throughout my life. I once got a can of peaches for Christmas. My Dad had just seen this S & W commercial where people are really happy about getting canned fruit, so he decided to copy it. He was joking of course and later gave me a card with some money. That's kind of cute and funny, but that's where those types of gifts end.

Here's a run down of the gifts I've been given:
10 lbs of jasmine rice
A new toilet seat cover (better than used).
SOOO many statues of animals, religious figures, flowers
Perfume from the Dollars Store (really, they left the sticker on)
Winnie the Pooh PJs -- I was 25 years old.
Hideous sweaters that people make fun of and highlight in holiday movies
My own gift. Yes, this really happened.
Signs for my home that say, "I love this home" with bunnies.
Dishware with bunnies jumping out of watering cans and strange flowers on it.

You get the picture. In most cases, I didn't need a gift. A simple card would have meant more. So of course wedding gifts scare me. None of my relatives would ever show up at a wedding without a gift. Even if I didn't want gifts, they'd bring them. Is it wrong to not want the sign that says, "Jesus will bless this home and this marriage?" I saw my aunt eyeing it last time we were out.

So, I'm paranoid about gifts. Do you blame me? Two questions. 1. Did you find that a majority of your guests bought off the registry? 2. What was the best or worse gift you got?

P.S. Now I may actually welcome a new toilet seat :)

Thank You, Thank You

Ah the Thank You Cards. I knew from the beginning that I (I say I because "we" didn't care) wanted to do postcards. I love getting postcards more than I like getting letters. Maybe it's because I've sent so many as a traveler or because I love seeing images of all the places my friends and family have visited.

Originally I was going to go with something like this:




And then I wanted to do something more personal like take a cheesy picture of Mr. Joey and I holding the present and giving the camera a wink and a thumbs up.

The first option was doable but I wasn't feeling it so much. I loved the second option, but it was so labor intensive. I thought about buying postcards of Seattle (5 for a $1.00) but it would be that much fun for those who lives here (most of the guest list).

These aren't 5 for $1.00 but they're pretty!

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Instead, I decided to try and incorporate our colors and some of our luggage tags design onto some postcards I bought. I found some 140lb blank watercolor postcards on MisterArt for $3.10 a pack. There are 15 cards in a pack. I printed selected some images and printed them directly onto the postcards. All in all, I got about 65 postcards done at about $0.24 a piece.

I was still attached to the Banana Republic rehearsal dinner invite design, so I printed some of those up on leftover 80lb paper and trimmed the edges. The inside of the card is blank. I have 38 envelopes leftover from the rehearsal dinner invites I can use. We may still buy a few Seattle postcards for guest who couldn't make it to the wedding.

I tried not to make all the postcards look wedding-y just incase we had leftovers. We can use them as regular thank you notes in the future.

Are your thank you notes specific to your wedding or can leftovers be used post-wedding?

I know! I know! Only 2 months left!

Yes, we've only got about 2 months left until the big day. Sometimes I feel like our wedding day can't come soon enough and other days I have no idea where the last 11 months of my life has gone. In general, I'm not too stressed about the planning. I feel like we're making good progress on our long detailed to do list. There's still a lot on that list, but nothing too crazy (so far). Mr. Joey is done with school in 2 weeks, so that will help a lot. FMIL Joey will be in town a week before the wedding, so if any sewing needs to be done, she'll be around to help. By sewing, I mean the ring boy's tie. I finished all 25 of the table runners a few weeks back but as a sewing newBEE, the tie scares me.

Anyway, I was checking with Martha around what tasks she suggests I have done by what date when I noticed, "61 days until your wedding," plastered on my screen. What? 61 days? I haven't consulted Martha in awhile, so seeing the actual number of days left freaked me out. It left me in a panic. I started assigning Mr. Joey tasks to do out of nowhere. I consulted our To Do List and immediately set about crossing items off the list like finalizing who gets which luggage tag favor and securing our tourist visas to Australia. Eventually, I settled down and went back to my not too stressed self.

I decided I just needed to look at our To Do List and start taking it section by section and also assigning myself due dates. Not only am I a list nerd, but I'm a due date kind of girl. I work best under pressure or at least knowing when something is due.

Are you assigning your to do list items due dates? Also, those of you within the 2 month mark, are you feeling stressed or like you've got it under control?