Rats.

Well we blew our chances with 41 cent stamps on the invites. My fella took a dummy invite to the PO and it turns out the wax seal makes it too lumpy & they won't fit through "the slot" whatever that is.

So now we're stuck with those pastel heart wedding stamps. They're ok and they'll get the invitations where they need to be... but we were both really looking forward to using the Marvel Comics ones. But I'll live, they're still going on the RSVP's. ;)

Tonight we're putting our invitations together. It's an all out invitation blitz. I have my station: right in front of the computer addressing envelopes. And my unbelievably helpful Tanner will be at our far-too-small kitchen table folding our belly bands. As soon as I get a few put together I'll take a photo and show you all a finished product. (Please forgive my lack of photography! My time is being devoured by the guest list monster.)

Edit: Here is a hastily taken teaser photo of poor quality... It's our first invite (so excuse any goofiness please!) I got excited and wanted to share. :)

Man, that flash really shows off that unwanted glossiness. :/
Oh well, better pictures later. Back to work!

12 Dancing Princesses

I have found my shoes (I think).
The thing about me is I can't ever make up my mind.
I know what I want *in* my wedding shoes.

1. No heel (Tanner is only 2 inches taller than me. The veil & hair have already called those 2 inches.)
2. Cuteness
3. They must be red!

Now I know that the idea of wearing red shoes with your white (ivory in my case) wedding dress may not be for everybody. But honestly, white shoes are not for me. I muss them up and they make my feet look bigger (big white feet, it's true). But I adore red shoes, I really do. So for me this is a no brainer. And I had no idea this was something women did. When I saw a bride with red shoes on The Knot I was both happy (yay! it's acceptable!) and upset (aw! I thought this would be original!) But I quickly got over myself when I saw these sexy babies:

These shoes light my fire.

I sent this photo to my mother (expecting to hear "Ew, dear those are all torn up.") who said 'They remind me of the 12 Dancing Princesses'. Which was one of my favorite stories as a child. She made the connection because the frayed seams on the shoes are like the worn shoes of the 12 princesses who dance the night away in a magical castle and then leave their frayed shoes at the foot of their bed to be found by confused castlefolk in the morning. No one knows why their shoes are tattered until a handsome farmer comes along... he eats a magical invisibility flower... there is some sneaking... cut to the chase they all live happily ever after. Anyhow once she said that I really wanted to buy these shoes. I'm not a princessy girl, really, but what a cool idea, right? So romantic.

And I really want to dance my magical wedding night away in red shoes...

The Kilt Issue

We went over to Tanner's friends house yesterday and I asked one of the guys (who had just come back from England where he had bought himself a kilt)
"Would you think it would be weird to be married by a guy in a kilt?"
To which Tanner adds "And he's got bagpipes."
And his friend's answer was "I think it would be weirder if he didn't have the bagpipes."

Brilliant answer!

Ok to you this may mean nothing. But to me this was a big win for my side. I've got this Preacher man friend that I would *love* to have officiate our wedding, if he can make it. (Long story, but he may be in Europe in November. He doesn't know yet.) He's retired so he's old (I know it's kinda strange, but I want to be married by an old man.) He *plays the bagpipes* and *has a kilt*!! This is beauty. I tried to set this up as a surprise for Hubs but my crazy mother spilled the beans at the Florist. So now he knows and he's not sure about it! So I guess it's a good thing he knows now, if I'd surprised him and he was uncomfortable I don't know what would have happened. But it shocks me so much that he didn't jump at the chance. He *loves* bagpipes and kilts and all that jazz. He even mentioned having a bagpiper at the wedding! ...So to me, having a bagpiping Preacher do our ceremony seemed perfect, but to him I think it seems like it may be too much.

Mind you, this is coming from a guy that has a cartoon character tattooed on his chest.

But now, thanks to his friend's nice spin on things I may be winning him over. Because really, its just the bagpipes that he's unsure about. I adore the idea. So now I just need to get him to come around. ;) Which I do believe will happen... more on this later.

*The* Cake

Behold... divine inspiration:

My wonderful aunt has offered to make our cake, (free!! bless her soul) and we have given her these photos as inspiration. I love the earthy feel of the one on the right. (I want to stick my finger in that icing.) But Hubs said that looks homemade, which broke my heart because that's part of why I love it! He, on the other hand, loves the clean lines of the one on the left... So we're hoping for a blend of the two. She'll take the icing and leaves from the cake on the left and the mix of autumn goodies from the one on the right to create our perfect cake. Sounds delicious to me. And she's a brilliant cake maker, the woman is an artist (I believe she's going to use fondant and an airbrush to create those leaves. So cool!) So I know our cake is going to be beautiful. I can't wait to see it!

We can dance if we learn to

Ok so we haven't picked out our wedding dance song yet. And we can't agree on one that we both want (this causes me much anguish) so I decided to put the cart before the horse and ordered this DVD:

"The Wedding Dance" was one of the highest rated DVD for learning how to dance that Amazon had, and it's *for your first dance*! It cost about $30 after regular shipping. Way less than lessons, and I got Hubby to agree to this. Lessons didn't seem to light his fire.
We both watched it yesterday and I gotta tell you, I'm excited. It's very easy to follow and takes things nice and slow. You can check it out on its website: NowYoureDancing.com I think what I like most about the DVD is its lack of hoakeyness. How-To DVDs can sometimes be a little corny & awkward. This was neither. In fact, Hubs has no problem with it. (He even seems a little excited about learning now. Woo hoo!)

Invites!

Yay!!
We picked up the invitations today! They're (as much as I hate to say it) not exactly what I had in mind. The invite is way too glossy but that's ok because I'm my own worst critic and Hubs loves them.

First let me show you our inspiration:

This is an invitation by Oblation Papers that we saw in the latest issue of Weddings InStyle. The one in the magazine was actually in shades of green, and Hubs liked it so much he took a photo of it with his camera phone so I could work from it at home.

So using that layout and then adding what I wanted our invitations to have we came up with this...

I designed them using Photoshop and we had them printed at a Kinkos in Mobile, AL (such a drive!) by the sweetest guy ever. If you're ever in there and Antwon helps you out, tell him we said Hi. :)
I gotta say, the color of the RSVP's paper doesn't really knock my socks off. The flecks are far too blue for me. But it was either that or stark white, and I wanted some texture so I went with it. And I'm learning to roll with the punches so there they ya go. Also there is a tree that you can barely see behind the words on the invite, it blends in with the background a bit now. But, if you know its there you can see it! Oh well.
Printing our own invites and RSVPs came to about $200 for 125 sets. Which ain't bad. Now all I have to do is make the belly bands out of some delicious card stock, find a coordinating ribbon and order the wax seal stuff. I'm thinking of getting this glue gun-able wax from NostalgicImpressions.com because ordinary sealing wax breaks when it goes through the mail, and this should be much more durable. Also its offered in an array of beautiful colors. The 'granite pearl' does things to me.
Then when all that is said and done Hubs and I will assemble our brains out. Hopefully my total (including the invites and without stamps) will be less than $250. Hopefully. I may nix the ribbon if it starts to get pricey.
Stamps is going to hurt, those things are expensive when you have to buy potentially 250 of them. So to ease our pain we're going to get the Marvel Superhero & possibly Star Wars editions.

The fanciest dress I've ever owned.

This is possibly my favorite part.
My wedding gown is gorgeous. Right now it's with the alterations lady and I miss it dearly. It took me one afternoon to find it, and I only went to one shop. That is, of course, ridiculous because it took me months to find my prom dress. But as soon as I put this one on I thought what all brides hope to think when they see "the" dress:
"Man, I look good in this."
So when my mother and aunt (who came out here to shop with me, bless 'em) all agreed we bought the thing and went out for pizza.
It would have been enough that the dress was gorgeous and perfect but it was also half price. Oh yes, this was the only way I could have afforded it. After taxes and buying the big garment bag to hang it in my total came to around $400. For me, that price was as perfect as the dress. And I got it for half because the shop, Deedy's Bridal, was redoing its inventory and getting rid of a lot of sample gowns. Man, how lucky can you be?? So ladies, pay attention and ask around, you may strike gold.
I'd be more descriptive of the gown but Hubs reads this :) And thankfully all he knows about it is that 'it looks huge in the bag' Hah.