Invitations--Check!

Lance and I spent weeks going back and forth on invitations.  We ordered a few samples, and ultimately decided on an invitation from Minted:

I really love pretty paper, and Lance couldn't care less, so Minted was a good compromise for us.  Minted's business model is to create stationer-quality paper for much less than a custom suite.  I was able to edit it enough to create what I wanted, so I was happy.  The designer we worked with did a fantastic job with the glyphs, which are the part of a calligraphy font package that create the swirlies at the ends of letters--the original output was really weird because the letters in my name default to swirlies and Lance's didn't.  Here's our proof, all cleaned up:

I spent an embarrassingly long time deciding on "as they celebrate the Sacrament of marriage" over "as they are united in marriage," but Lance liked the Catholic wording.  Usually the default Catholic wording is "as they celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony," but Lance thought that was too stuffy.  I also added the address to the invite to save us another insert.  It's not the most formal option, but I thought it made more sense to have all the information in fewer pages.  

Our RSVP card caused some confusion, because some of my friends didn't understand the meaning of letter M before the names line (it's French for madam or monsieur).  We considered writing out "Names" before the line or changing the wording below to something like "Number attending," but ultimately decided that we liked the balance and clean look of the card as was (and Lance pinky-swore that he'd help me call people to get the correct guest count if we got confusing RSVP cards).  

We were able to save some money on the invites by having the reception card and RSVP card digitally printed (the actual invites are beautiful letterpress) and by choosing an RSVP postcard (over a folded card with an envelope).  I was pretty happy that the paper colors and weight turned out to be a close match, too!  The RSVP postcard originally had a heart on it, but I tend to think hearts are tacky, so I had them replace it with a tiny quatrefoil.  I love it!

Finally, I tried to work in our website (where there is a LOT more information than is on the invites), but it didn't really fit on the reception card.  Vistaprint was running a sale, so we made tiny business-card versions with the website and parking information (in case our local friends and family don't visit the site).  I was even able to match the invitation font!

Finally, we picked up some blue envelopes at Paper Source, and I'm planning on starting to calligraphy the addresses on soon.  They're going to be so pretty!

Bridesmaids Dresses (for the last time!)

I haven't posted in a while (and if we've talked lately, you know that I've had more than enough to keep me busy), but we did get a few new things done before our move in July.  Thank goodness one of those things was the bridesmaids dresses!  After pitching 18 dresses to my ladies, and not having a single one meet approval, I was forced to drag my sister and cousin out to find one.  That proved to be much more successful, and after a couple of panic moments in which I confused/irritated the hell out of the sales consultants with, "THAT'S NOT THE RIGHT BLUE!!" as my sister and cousin stared on in horror, we managed to come up with a few good options!

Option 1, Jim Hjelm indigo chiffon:

I liked the color, and I liked that people could choose their own dress cut and still coordinate.  However, none of the dresses really jumped out at me as really special.

Option 2, Morilee lace:

This was another option where people could choose their own cut in the same color and fabric.  Ultimately I decided that having 6 people in top to bottom lace would be overwhelming.

Option 3, Jasmine Belsoie silk chiffon:

After one of the sales consultants brought me a really pretty dress in a really flat chiffon, I asked her if she had anything brighter.  She brought me this really beautiful dress with a lot of depth and beaded straps.  I think it will go great with my dress, too!  I wanted to give people options, because I know not everybody likes thin straps, and the dress doesn't have much support up top.  I went to other shops to check out these sister dresses, but they were actually pretty terrible in person (Lance called one of them flat-out ugly):

So, we had a decision!  I love it!!  We ordered it just in time to avoid the rush charges, and Lance is happy because they all ended up matching.  Crisis averted.

Thanks to my sister and cousin for your amazing modeling skills!