Invitations (Part II)

I left you hanging with my invitation dilemma: the invitation we selected and loved could not be worded the way we needed it to through mint.com.  It’s funny how time really does heal wounds and fades bad memories.  Still riding on the compliments we received for our saved the dates, I decided I could duplicate our beloved invitation in photoshop, where we could adjust the wording to be anything we wanted and have it printed professionally (for much cheaper).

Remember our adorable paper bag envelops?

So I got to work, surprised at how little I remembered from my save the date endeavor.  Having a ‘template’ to work off of meant less thought was needed (I was mostly trying to copy) but it also meant that I had a physical copy of the ‘perfect’ version which set my standards….high.  I ended up downloading a few free fonts from here to try to match the style and look on the invitation from mint.com.  We worked on several rounds and versions of the back ground of the invitation (part of the reason we picked these) to try to capture the same ‘paper bag’ feel of our Save the Date envelops.  With several pieces to our invite suite and a perfectionist behind the wheel, completion of the photoshop invites took forever days a while.  But when I was finally finished (and several folks had reviewed for typos) we confidently sent them off to the same printer that did our Save the Dates!

You’d think the rest of the story would be pretty short and sweet, but it seems our stories always have a few twists and turns before we reach the ‘sweet.’  We got our first proof back….and I wasn’t super happy.  The color seemed off and they had flipped the back of one of our pages.  We made some changes (particularly to the color) and resent files for a new proof.  New proof came (keep in mind several days are passing between the whole send files, get proof, redo).  It was better (although they left out one page of our suite) so we went ahead with the print!  Yay, 150 of these beauties headed our way.  They were due to arrive on Friday and we had a stuffing invite party planned in Richmond for the weekend with MOH Kels and GM Scottee.  The big box arrived!  And the invites were….awful.

There had clearly been an issue with the printer because our beautiful invites were splatter with ink.  L But a good thing also happened: I didn’t panic.  In fact, I never even thought about panicking (maybe I do have a shred of reason?).  Everyone thought I would freak out and I didn’t – which I am happily taking as a sign that I might have a chance at remaining cool, calm and collected should disaster strike on Oct 13^th.  (we’ll see…)  We called the printing company, explained the issue, sent some pictures for proof and were told they would reprint and send to us ASAP.  It meant our stuffing party was canceled and that the invites definitely weren’t being sent on Monday (the 13^th), but we still had time.  (‘They,’ whoever they are?, say you should send out invites 6-8 weeks out and the 13^th would have been just over 8 weeks).

And Monday morning, wouldn’t you know, but an identical box arrived at my office and this time, it contained beautiful invitations.  The brown looked brown and the white, white!  Nothing was flipped – they were perfect J 

PS – We’re at 50 days!  (I know I’m freaking out too)  A quick list of other accomplishments since our last count down check in…

- Weddings attended = 1 (It was gorgeous!  Some stuff I really liked: A) The bride was so happy.  Like, all night.  B) They labeled each item on their candy buffet as someone’s favorite, the bride’s the MOB’s, the groom’s, etc.  Was really fun (and creative)!  C)  They had two beer options and had a decent number of each already poured when we all walked up to the bar at cocktail hour.  That was smart.  D) They served BBQ.  It was delicious.

-Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist contracted! (My trial for both is September 2^nd so I’ll let you know how that goes!)

-Transportation - Javs and I booked a black sedan to come pick us up from Ash Lawn at the end of the night.  The ‘exit’ was never a big deal for me; there will be no sparklers and no professional photographers to capture that moment (which I’m okay with).  Maybe I’ll decide to have something sitting around for you guys to throw at us (cause who wouldn’t want to do that?).  Either way, now we know we got a ride home!  (Don’t worry, you guys do too, remember?)

-Suit – Javs bought one for the big day J

-Rehearsal – I bought a new dress J

-Readers – confirmed! (but still not readings)

-My wedding dress – confirmed its the right one J  I’ve scheduled my two fittings (since all my running means it needs to come in a bit – woop woop!)

-Javs survived his bachelor’s weekend

-I enjoyed my bridal shower J

-ORDERED WEDDING RINGS J

-Invitations – (duh) we’ve sent them!

Hopefully coming soon will be a slew of posts on all the DIY projects I’ve tackled and completed….hopefully.