Preparation for Invitation

Over the years I have had the pleasure of being invited to friends and family's weddings. So far, most of the invitations looked the same. Very simple and sweet. Usually one page with a ribbon bow at the top. Even though this is very nice, I knew I wanted something different. Maybe a bit more complicated, so I started searching for inspiration.

Miss Sloth

A increasingly popular invitation is the kind that is similar to a concert poster. Mixing and matching colors and fonts easily make these invitations appealing. We have seen these from a few brides on the weddingbe; such as Miss Sloth and Mrs. Sand Dollar.

Then there are some invites that are more simple but still styled differently from those I have received before:

Mrs. Argyle

Mrs. Beagle

An then there is the wonderful letter press:

Mrs. Scissors

Last, but not least, the pocketfold:

Mrs. Apple Cider

Once I saw the pocketfold invitations, I new exactly what I HAD to have. I could keep the design of the invitation simple while making the invitation as a whole more exciting.

Next, a cost breakdown.

Where did you seek invitation inspiration?

She's Bringing Out the Crazy

I had a crazy moment yesterday. I want to have paper lanterns at the wedding, but they are pretty expensive. I could afford them, but do I want to pay >$1 - $3 per lantern? NO!

My next thought: make the lanterns myself. Hmmm...

A little research turned up a little info:

paper lanterns

These are neat, but not what I pictured hanging at the wedding.

paper lantern

This one is very cool, but I couldn't find the instructions on how to make this. It is supposedly made on a Martha Stewart Blog.

String Lantern

This is very cool and I've done something like this before to make a Halloween decoration. But it won't have the same effect as the paper lanterns.

This is when the CRAZY popped up. I thought, why not combine the idea behind the string lantern and the paper. I could paper mache lanterns made from tissue paper. My next step is to try this out...

Have you had some crazy moments during your planning?

Drinky Drinks

Last post I told you about the straws I purchased for our guests to use, but I haven't yet told you what liquids we will be providing our guests.

First and foremost, we are having a backyard (frontyard) BBQ wedding, so we MUST have H2O, lemonade, and iced tea.

Tea and Lemonade

Secondly, we will be having some alcoholic beverages for our peeps to enjoy. Many of you may not be aware of the fabulousness of Virginia wineries. Virginia has sooo many wineries and actually, a good number of them surround Charlottesville. I have tasted many of the wines from local vineyards at different festivals as well as at the vineyards. I don't want to go crazy with the wine, but I do want to feature the local Virginia wines.

Barboursville Vineyards

Veritas Vineyards

Hilltop Berry Farm (Meade Wines)

Also, there are 4 breweries near our farm (2 of them are ~5 minutes away). So, I'd also like to feature a few beers from them. The most popular of these breweries is Starr Hill. I believe I can get a keg from them, and my friends have already informed me of the beer I should will be choosing. I still need to go to the other 3 and do some taste testing.

Blue Mountain Brewery

Devil's Backbone

Not all of our guests drink alcohol, and they may feel left out without anything bubbly, so I also am looking to get some sparkling cider. Alpenglow cider is made in the Shenandoah Valley which is where we grew up. So I have been scouring Charlottesville looking for it but have only found it in one location (a very expensive general store). This is the best sparkling cider I have EVER tasted!

Alpenglow Cider

Are you looking to feature local wines and beers at your reception?

Sips

I have just made a wedding purchase!

Straws

I have jumped on the striped straw bandwagon. These red and white striped paper straws go along with our color and paper theme so I thought, why not?

It looks like I got a great deal on these! I purchased from www.candochefs.com and I will be receiving 500 straws for $24 after shipping. A steal, right?

One thing I am worried about is the color of the straws. They say red and white, but the company had a disclaimer saying they may not be exactly a pictured and would at least be in the red color family. But they consider orange to be in the red family. They may need to be shipped back, but I'll have to wait a few days to find out.

Until then, let me leave you with some straw eye-candy:

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Are there and bandwagons you will or have been jumping on?

Honeymoon Mania

The second step in our honeymoon planning was to choose an island on which to stay. Our choices:

Kauai

Oahu, Hawaii

Molokai, Hawaii

Lanai, Hawaii

Maui, Hawaii

Black Sands Beach, Hawaii's Big Island

All of the islands are beautiful and would be amazing to visit, BUT some of these islands are some of the most popular vacation spots. Meaning, there would be a bazillion people and it would be geared towards tourists. This is not our idea of perfect vacations. So we thought about what we'd like to see the most.

From our research and speaking with people who have visited many of the islands, we decided we wanted to see the volcano the most, but we'd settle for the hundreds of waterfalls on Kauai. I looked up the different timeshares available and their proximity to the volcano. There was only one. Vacation Internationale Sea Montain - 5 minutes from the black sand beach, Farmer's Market ~20 minutes, close to the volcano, great reviews. Why wouldn't we want to stay there?

Vacation Internationale Sea Mountain

It turns out we are not the only people wanting to stay there. The resort was booked up for 2 years. Sad face :(. So we got on the waiting list. We also put ourselves on the wait list for resorts in Kauai. It seemed like every few days my mom was getting calls and emails for available condos in Kauai. They were all for Princeville. This was not the most ideal location so we kept turning them down. It got to a point where we were afraid of not getting a place to stay at all. So we took an offer with good dates. It had a full kitchen and the reviews for the resort were great. The pictures on the resort were beautiful.

Wyndam Bali Hai Villas

So my peeps, do you know why this area of Kauai is famous? 10 points to the one who can tell me what musical/movie is played here.

South Pacific

The musical movie was filmed on the beach just down the road from the resort. Remember the song Bali Hai? Yeah, that's right!

I am super stoked about this trip. The mister says it has yet to hit him, but he will be giddy for it as time approaches.

 

The ULTIMATE Wedding Gift

Immediately after becoming engaged, my parents told me what our big wedding gift would be. I knew for years they would do this, because they did it for my sister. They would give us one of their timeshares for our honeymoon.

Timeshares are awesome! You don't have to eat out every meal. You get awesome amenities! It takes the cost of going to awesome, cool places affordable. So the only question left was, "Where do we want to go?"

B didn't really understand how affordable timeshares make a vacation and so he wanted to do something low key, such as, Yellowstone and seeing the Redwood Forest. Let me tell you peeps, that is not my idea of a honeymoon. I'd love to go there myself, but I see it more as a family vacation to do with our children once we are married. Right?

My mind quickly went to more romantic and exotic spots in the world. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. I really want to see the volcano actively spewing out lava. How many places can you see that and how often does life give you at least one week off to do whatever and go where ever you want? This is where we needed to go.

Mount Kilauea

Hawaii

I stressed Hawaii. B fought against it saying it was too expensive. You see, B doesn't have a regular job. He makes enough to pay his part of the bills, but if we didn't live together, he'd be struggling big time! So, he was worried. I, however, was not worried. I am a firm believer in "where there is a will, there is a way." My mom drilled that into my head growing up. I asked him if he didn't want to go to Hawaii and that wasn't the case. He'd love to, but the money was holding him back.

First, I looked up airfare. This was where our biggest chunk of money was going to go. I found them starting over $900. Not too bad for Hawaii. My mom told me she had enough frequent flier miles for one round trip ticket that would be expiring before she could use them so we could have them. Yay!! Since mom had to buy the ticket with her card and B and I wanted to be on the same flight next to each other, the tickets had to be purchased together. I asked her if B and I could pay her back over some time for the second ticket. She offered a deal, B goes to the farm when he doesn't have work and works off his $1000. Sweet!

At this point we know a location and we know how we are going to pay to get there, so the next step, which island?

Were you worried about affording the honeymoon of your dreams?

Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos is a Filipino politician. Her husband was President of the Philippines and when he was kicked out of office, they fled the country. She left behind in the palace, 2,700 pairs of shoes!

Imelda Marcos in the museum of her shoes.

Growing up, my mom always called me Imelda Marcos, because of my love for shoes. There was one year (yes I mean a whole year) where I went shopping almost every weekend and when I went, it wasn't a successful trip unless I purchased something for my feet. I had soooo many shoes (but not as many as Imelda). I have since realized the comfort over fashion, but I still long for beautiful shoes.

Naturally, when planning the wedding, my shoes were near the top of my list. When in high school, the style of heels ladies were wearing were my all time favorite. Unfortunately, the heel styles now basically disgust me. I get a terrible feeling in my stomach just thinking about wearing shoes with heels such as these:

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I know you fashionistas out there are shaking your head at me, but I can't bring myself to do it. Also, I have a big problem with wearing pointy toe shoes. I wear size 10 people. I don't need any extra length added to my feet!

Going along with the color scheme of our wedding, I knew I wanted to wear red shoes. Lets face it, I own 4 pairs of red pumps, but a girl needs options! But, I couldn't wear just ANY color red. It had to be THE red. So I searched the internet for my options:

My neices would LOVE these!

Uh, No!

Lovely, but a little plain for me.

I jest with the first two, but the shoe above still leaves me desiring some fancy. If you'd like a laugh, i suggest googling red high heel shoe images. Hilarious!

I LOVE the ruffle!

This one is beautiful, but I don't care for platform shoes, so I have to say no.

Uh, Yes!

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! This shoe has the elegance and the fancy I want. I can wear this shoe over and over again. The heel isn't too high so my feet won't be screaming. AND the red, is perfect! A bonus: $50 from DSW. Can we say BARGAIN?

Check! One down ... a million more to go!

Are you going to sport colored shoes?