I'll use my time at the front desk wisely: I'll work on making my wedding invites and write my TweetMyWedding blog

The wedding invite debate has been raging.  Mainly just in my head, but Simon has had some say at least.  I kept waffling back and forth between these Etsy invites:

…and these Vistaprint invites:

 

Yes, those are Maple leaves, NOT pot leaves, but apparently they look far too similar to risk putting on my invites.  Way too many people made that comment, so I gave up.  They were so PRETTY though, and in my exact wedding colors!

 

The Etsy ones are beautiful, but somewhat expensive.  I’ve been making a wedding budget on WeddingWire.com and while we have plenty to spend, I’m trying to keep it under a certain amount because, after all, it IS only one day.  I’m going to cut back on my wedding ring cost (I seriously don’t need something as elaborate as my engagement ring) and invitations is another way I can save.  Simon suggested early on making them ourselves, and it’s starting to look like a good idea.  I can customize them exactly how I’d like, make exactly as many as I need (and print more if necessary), and of course, save money.

 

I’m no artist, so I’ve been looking for some pictures online to use on them.  There are many nice ones for only $25 or $30, which I think is reasonable.  This one’s free:

http://www.genctel.com/wallpaper/autumn-season_w2298.html

Some nice, paid ones I found are:

http://www.fotosearch.com/UNC245/u29662869/

http://www.fotosearch.com/UNC243/u25277140/

http://www.featurepics.com/online/Vector-Autumn-Tree-Design-Illustrations397337.aspx

http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/1386-0809-1911-3918.html

http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0100-0608-2315-0803.html

 

So there are lots of options out there.  I’m only going to need about 60 invitations and response cards, so I can handle this myself, right?  Right???

Cooking for the future in-laws again, wish me luck

Once again, I am playing hostess. Thanksgiving went great, and I’m up for the task of Christmas dinner now. Simon’s mother had hip replacement surgery lately, so she can’t stand in the kitchen for very long. I volunteered, and I think she’s enjoying the new arrangement. ;)

I’ve definitely been surprised at how well I get along with Simon’s family, and especially his mother. She has no daughters, and my mother passed away, so she’s taken me under her wing as her own and we’ve grown very close. We’re both into the metaphysical, gems, and Reiki. We both love animals, especially cats. We both have a sister that’s a lesbian, lol. And we both love Simon, which is most important of all.

I love knowing she truly approves of me. You hear horror stories about future MILs being awful to the bride, deeming her unworthy of her son. Or the overbearing, controlling ones, who criticize how the bride cooks or keeps house. I’ve never heard a complaint from Barbara, and she even called after Thanksgiving to tell us how much she enjoyed it. She doesn’t bug us with daily phone calls; in fact, we’ve had to assure her it’s okay if she wants to call us more often!

When I was with my ex-boyfriend and we were loosely planning on getting married (thank goodness we didn’t!), I had a very different relationship with his mother. It started out okay, but she was very needy with his time (his parents are divorced) and would constantly harp on him to come over and do things for her. When my mother died, she left us alone for maybe two days before she was harping on him to push me to send out thank-you cards! Right after the funeral! He put his foot down, she started a fight, I emailed her to explain I needed him to myself for a little while after my loss, and everything just exploded. She stopped speaking to us, then sued him for the money she had loaned him to finish college. It was a nightmare. She called me a b!tch to my face in the courtroom lobby. She was a horrid, horrid woman.

So after that experience, you can imagine how nervous I was to meet Simon’s mother! But in the two years I’ve known her now, things have only gotten better. I look forward to being a part of her family. If you ask her, I’m part of their family already!

Super weird wedding dream last night

Apparently stressing about my wedding when awake isn’t enough, I have to stress about it in my dreams too. I woke up very confused and upset after this one:

I was getting ready for my wedding and my mom was there (she had not died in my dream). She was eating something and managed to get mustard all down her front, then brushed against me and got it on the white outfit I was wearing for the wedding. For some reason I was not wearing a gown for the wedding in my dream. I was really upset and decided to walk home to change. Simon (my fiancé) went with me, and in my dream I lived in the house I used to live in with my mother and sister.

I noticed he was wearing jeans and sneakers and got mad at him for wearing them for the wedding. He said I had told him it was casual and that he could wear anything he wanted. I responded that I thought he'd at least dress up a little. We got to my (old) house and I began looking for a dress in my closet. Simon tried offering opinions but I couldn't decide on anything. The hours flew by and eventually I was 5 hours late for my wedding. Nothing seemed to be going right.

Now I've had lots of dreams like this, which I suppose is normal. I'm worried about things going wrong with the wedding since I'm mainly planning it all myself, and my dreams make the worst possible scenarios come to life. I don't have any flowers, I'm late, I have no outfit, etc. This all despite the fact that I have finished most of these things already. This is the first one with my mother in it. I miss her terribly and it makes me so sad that she's not alive to see me get married. In this dream, I was super frustrated with her clumsiness, which often happened while she was alive. She was always too slow, too stupid, too clumsy for me, and I was very hard on her for it. Luckily I started treating her much better towards the end of her life, but I still of course feel a lot of guilt.

Dreams like this, no matter how unlikely, stress me out even more. I can just imagine running late that day, the limo not showing up, some item missing in action. It will happen, I’m sure. What I’m not sure about is whether I’ll be able to keep my cool when it does. I know the advice; you can’t control everything, just go with the flow, what seems like a big deal at the time will mean nothing later. I mean, when I was a bridesmaid and we were getting the bride ready, we were all 45 min. late! And the world didn’t end!

I don’t trust myself not to freak out. I need someone to be my anti-freak-out captain. Probably either of my two bridesmaids. My sister, Maid of Honor, gets stressed as easily as I do, so the bridesmaids, both moms of young children and QUEENS of “going with the flow,” are my best choices.

Deep breaths…

We looked at wedding rings tonight.

The jewelry store we got my engagement ring at, Barmakian’s, had a huge party and sale the other night. I got an email about it and it sounded like a great time, so I RSVP’d. There was free food, raffles, silent auctions, and 10% off all diamonds. And of course, it was CROWDED.

I sort of had an idea of what I wanted for a wedding ring. Something like this bottom one:

..to complement my engagement ring:

Of course, when I actually tried it on, it totally didn’t fit with my ring. The middle diamond on my ring is too big for that wedding ring to rest against it. I tried on a bunch of similar styles, and none of them worked.

Well, boo. L Simon asked about custom rings, and yes, they do them, so that’s an option. Maybe something thinner and curved in the middle to accommodate the center diamond on my ring, which can be tacked together after the wedding.

This is definitely something I haven’t looked into a lot yet, which is surprising. I’m usually pretty good at picking out jewelry. I picked out my engagement ring, which I will potentially wear for the rest of my life, in less than an hour, yet the dress I will wear for one single day has me baffled.

Simon’s ring will be a little easier. Since I bought him this tungsten engagement ring:

…he just plans on getting a simple tungsten wedding band, because the material is so great and never scratches. He’ll most likely be picking one out from Tungsten World as they have great rings, reasonable prices, and free engraving (it’s really hard to find someone that will engrave tungsten rings). As nice as Barmakian’s is, they don’t even carry tungsten.

So that’s another thing to tackle. What is it, 10 months left now? =/

Inspiration board

I did something very bridey today and created a wedding inspiration board.  I've seen lots of people post them online and I've been meaning to put one together.  I realized in afterthought that I didn't include flowers and things like that, but it still gives a general idea.  It includes my new love for lace dresses, and some 50s-inspired makeup and hair.  Thoughts?

Yep, still wedding dress shopping, even tho I own 2 gowns already

Have I mentioned I can't decide on a wedding dress? Have I blogged too much about dresses yet? =P

Before last week's blog was even posted, I decided against that gorgeous gown, if only because it's just too darn fancy for my simple afternoon wedding. It was back to the drawing board, because I'm just not happy with the David's Bridal dress.

I was browsing LilyWedding.com and came across this for only $288:

I realized I hadn't really considered a lace dress, which suddenly struck me as a grave oversight because I love lace. Duh! I wasn't totally psyched with the style, as I prefer a sweetheart neckline and the bow is a bit much. I bugged their customer service with yet another email, and they confirmed it could be made with a sweetheart neckline and no sash for no extra charge. That would make it look a little more like this dress:

But for far less money (that one is $650 on eBay). I can get it in all white with no train (which I like the idea of, much easier to move in), and add my own sash to match my bridesmaids if I'd like. It's not poofy, there's no petticoat underneath, and it just looks more comfortable in general.

More importantly, it's a classic, romantic style. I'm much less likely to look at that in 20 years and have an “Oh gods what was I THINKING???” moment. It's simple and not too fancy. The heavier weight lace is appropriate for fall. I am totally in love with the idea of that dress.

Right now.

I do realize with my fickle past that I may change my mind. I'm holding off on ordering any more dresses at the moment. In a few months, if I still want it, I'll place my order. I still have plenty of time. But right now, THAT is the dress I want. =) Wish me luck on not changing my mind again!