If it weren't for regularly scheduled emails from reminding me which items I'm supposed to be taking care of, I would wake up one morning in October in sheer panic.
Wedding Web sites have a clear list of "to do" items and allow you to add your own customized tasks, which is great. I'm trained to operate based on deadlines, so no deadline, no task completion. And yes, I often wait until the night before.
This weekend my wedding will be 5 months away (or 157 days to go, thank you).
Taking stock I have completed 50 to dos and have 184 remaining. (flashbacks to writing a thesis anyone??)
- Engagement Ring Insured - check
- Pick a gown - check (this BTW, is worth its own blog entry)
- Create Wedding Guest List - check
- Choose bridal party - check
- Book church and reception sites - check
- Begin pre-marital counseling - check
- Hire photographer and DJ - check (the DJ, is through DZ Entertainment and while I have not met with them in person, they were very professional via phone and email, which is all i have time for)
- Book honeymoon - check
- Register - (this requires another blog)
More than two months ago I made an appointment with a florist, we'll call them Florist A, to get a proposal. When we arrived, the door was locked and we were made to wait more than half an hour while an earlier appointment ran late (I was warned this might happen). The woman was super nice and very personable. She seemed open to sticking within my budget since I wasn't super picky about what type of flowers and arrangements I wanted. Easter came and went and I still had not received a proposal, though they did call and say they were delayed and she was sick, etc, and were very nice about it. Knowing I was going to need another proposal to do a cost comparison, I made an appointment with Florist B.
Florist B was very nice as well. They saw me right away and seemed to be on the same page as far as the "look" I was thinking about. I also appreciated how candid they were about pricing -- letting me know what I could do myself for the centerpieces and save myself some dough. By this time, I had done some research on flowers and found a "unique" bouquet of white orchids. I loved it and had never seen anything like it. Florist B liked it as well and suggest a way to tie it back in with my dress. They wrote up a proposal on the spot that beat out the proposal I received around this same time from Florist A.
Now, in all fairness, I thought I should go back to Florist A with the same bridal bouquet picture to get a fairer estimate for comparison. A side by side look at the two proposals are within $100 of each other. Should I:
A. Pick a florist based on gut feeling
B. Avoid Florist A because of how long it takes them to respond and how many excuses they
seem to have?
C. Pick Florist A because they keep in constant communication and are a little more personable?
D. There's not enough info here to get help with my decision
In the meantime, "Order Your Invitations." Well, if I were not designing them myself, with the help of a talented friend, yes, I would order them. But why take the simple route when you can make things way more complicated than they really should be?
Forgive me, I've gotten ahead of myself. Backing up to sources of inspiration for the theme/look of the wedding...Gary and I love to picnic in Rock Creek Park, especially in fall/spring, which are completely new experiences for me. (I honestly don't ever remember seeing tulips like the ones I've seen around here --they almost look like something edible from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Rock Creek is great because in a few short moments, you can bury yourself in non-city landscaping -- a healthy exercise for the imagination. All the laws of time, task and toil seem to dissolve with each crunch of a leaf underfoot.
And that's when it hit me. I would like my reception to feel like a Robert Frost poem, except without the miles to go before I sleep. My wedding colors are chocolate brown and slate blue, although electric blue looks better it just reminds me of Debbie Gibson. I found an inspiring web site (www.nettletonhollow.com) that has the branches I'll need for my tall centerpieces. And I found some LED lights at Save-on-Crafts.com (the ones with the imitation looking flame are less cheesy than the submergable white ones). My bridesmaids were told to pick out a chocolate brown, floor length gown of their own choosing. Each of the 5 girls has a beautiful figure, but totally different style. I felt better knowing that they were going to feel great in whatever they wore more so than shoehorning them into what I wanted.
Now things are starting to get exciting. I scoured the Internet for invitation ideas. Having worked with Marc Freidland, who designed John Travolta's birthday invites and Oprah's Black and White party, (www.creativeintelligence.com) in L.A., my standards are pretty high, but my budget is low. Gucci taste on a Gap budget and all. I found an envelope that I thought Marc might have approved of and got to work. I ordered samples of invitations because not all web sites disclose the weight of the paper stock they show in the pictures. There is a huge difference between 70 lbs and 110 lbs when it comes to paper. Less is sometimes better; it just depends on what you're trying to do.
What I'm trying to do is buy these brown envelopes as is, then have my friend design the 6 x 6 invite that will lay inside, then have someone print that and match the RSVP card, Directions card, Reception card that go inside the little pocketflap. I went to all the web sites advertising in all the bridal magazines and not one of them was able to print our invite and match it with the other cards. I didn't need the other cards designed, I would buy whatever they had in stock that matched, but this was not to be. (Footnote here about printing these invites at Kinko's -- that's how we did our 5 x7 Save the Date cards, which was fine because it didn't matter how crookedly the sides were cut.)
A saving grace: I came across this company in Chicago that spoke my language (www.styleonabudget.com). They are going to give me a quote on printing our design and finding pocket cards to match. Yay! If there is a company in D.C. that would do the same thing, I would like to know. Now, all I have to decide is between using a sepia toned image of Gary and me or going with something simple that incorporates the blue, brown and white wedding colors. Thoughts? Hint: Gary and I are using a sepia photo of us on the cover of the music CD we put together for our guests. Hmm. To match or not to match....
Regardless, I need to order the envelopes soon. My mom has offered to address the envelopes in her beautiful calligraphy work. Since she's traveling a ton over the next month she needed to start on them like yesterday. Yes, mom, I know, one hot pink exclamation point coming your way!
No comments:
Post a Comment