Get 'er done!

Every time I get something wedding-related accomplished, I feel so fantastic! And then realize I have barely scratched the surface. But that's okay, I'll celebrate each little thing anyway!

We had a pretty successful weekend! We found an amazing suit for Ben and vests for the guys (dark brown for Ben and tan for the guys) at Macy's (AND they were on sale!!!). And we even found a tie (well, two, now we have to choose between them!) for him. So that was huge! The suit looks amazing on him and will be so good with all our colors. So yay! Kayla and I still need to go shopping for a dress for her, and then we need to find ties for the boys. And we need to find a fourth groomsman for Ben since Jace can't make it :( BUT! So many good things!

Then today I got an email from Debbie letting me know that one of her coworkers has an Etsy shop where she makes little flower accessories. So I'm talking to her about making me a sash to go with my dress! I was going to make it myself, but there are some things I need to just have someone else take care of for me! Also today I ordered lace for the invitations! It was a good price from Amazon, the cheapest I could find, and seems like it will be perfect. Of course, that's the scary thing about ordering online...I don't really know what it will look like. But I think it should do the job!

 Source: amazon.com via Amy on Pinterest

So next up on the list is getting the rest of the invitation materials and putting those together and sending them out. I am going to send them out a little earlier than traditional since it is a holiday weekend. Maybe like 9 or 10 weeks before the Big Day. Anyway, we're working on all that next!

I also need to figure out the food situation. I would love if I could find someone to cater for us, but I don't think anyone will cater for 200 people for $5 per person.....cuz that's about all we can afford. But if you know anyone willing to do that, please let me know! Otherwise we just need to finalize the menu and figure out who is going to do what!

I also need to figure out hair and makeup. I was planning on also just doing that myself, but might find someone to help out with that since I am pretty hopeless in both of those areas.

Anyway, things are getting done! AND SO IS SCHOOL! I only have FOUR weeks left! I may get my first C in my last term of school because of my stupid Science professor's lack of instructions on ANYTHING, but I don't even care because I will be DONE. And then have to find a job. And a new place to live.

Oh dear...

RSVPs and other things

So many decisions to make! I keep checking things of the "To-do" list but then it seems like it doesn't even make a dent on the things left to actually do. Anyway, right now I'm working with my amazing roommate on invitations. She has some really great ideas and has done some cute mock-ups. But of course there are some decisions to be made. We know we will be including the general invitation and a map of the venue so people know where to go. Although as I just typed that, I'm wondering how necessary that is even...it will be online. Anyway, I still think we should include that. Now for the other things. Do we include registry information? "Amy and Ben are registered at ______________." Or do we just tell them to visit our website to get registry information? And then there are the RSVPs. Oh dear.

I've been thinking online RSVPs are what we want. Just include a little card telling them how many spaces we have reserved for them, when to respond by, and to go to our website to respond. But now I am wondering if maybe we should include an actual RSVP card with the option to respond online. I hate the thought of spending X amount of dollars on RSVP cards and postage and then having no one use the cards. But I also hate the thought of not getting RSVPs because people think it is too much work to go online to respond. And then there are the folks who don't really use the internet. Bah. We could always send RSVP cards to those who we don't think use the internet and then ask everyone else to respond online. Ah too many options!!! Advice? Ideas?

Anyway! These are some of the invitation ideas I like:

Source: etsy.com via Amy on Pinterest

Love the white lacey details on this one! Still looks good with black font though.

Source: weddingchicks.com via Amy on Pinterest

Very simple but elegant at the same time. I like the monogram that is repeated throughout 

and the lace and twine tied around it.

Source: fellowfellow.com via Amy on Pinterest

I like the size and shape of these ones, not the traditional size but more legal-sized envelope shape. 

Source: ilovefarmweddings.com via Amy on Pinterest

Love the lace :)

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

I like the burlap texture and the white printing details. I really love white printing, but that is something you have to have done professionally. So it seems like it would be easy enough to just get like a stamp to stamp on an "&" or something on each one!

Source: flickriver.com via Amy on Pinterest

I really love the flowery lacey design and again the white!

Source: weddings.theknot.com via Amy on Pinterest

Suuuper simple but with lace details. Love! White font again though... :/

So basically, I love the brown paper bag paper, lace details and white printing of some sort. I like kind of simple but elegant at the same time. We'll see what Megs comes up with for us!!!

The boys.

Ok, the tablecloths are ordered. The girls are finding their dresses. I have my dress. I guess we should figure out what Ben and the guys are going to wear? We were originally thinking about a tan or brown suit for Ben and tan/brown vests with khaki pants for the guys. The color goes with the more casual feel of the wedding and will look nice with what the girls are wearing and with all the burlap/natural touches in the decorations. We looked around last weekend with Ben's mom and his youngest brother to see what our options were. We went to Men's Wearhouse, Burlington Coat Factory and Nordstrom Rack but we didn't fall in love with anything. We did make Josh be a model though and try on some vest/pant combinations at Burlington. We were thinking that maybe a brown vest and khaki pants would look really nice, then Ben could wear a suit in either brown or tan. But we are having a hard time finding nice brown vests. And Ben can't quite decide what he likes or wants to wear. This was some initial inspiration:

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: boards.weddingbee.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: boards.weddingbee.com via Amy on Pinterest

Since we need Ben to figure out what he wants to wear, he looked around online a little and found some nice options. The suits he likes best are a light gray, so that might change things up a little. At first I couldn't imagine gray suits/vests with the girl's casual dresses and with all the burlap and tan touches in the decorations. Like this one, I don't like the tan + gray look (although I do like the mismatched vests):

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

But I think if we find the right shade of gray it will be okay. Ben just loves this one:

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

Another nice option:

Source: stylemepretty.com via Amy on Pinterest

Pinterest has saved my life many times in this wedding-planning quest. One of the images I pinned for bridesmaid dress inspiration did exactly this. They decorated with burlap, had the girls wear causal dresses in shades of coral/pink, the groom wore a gray suit and the groomsmen wore gray pants with a white shirt. So looks like it can be done! Now to find the right stuff!

Source: stylemepretty.com via Amy on Pinterest

Super exciting things...

Okay that was a lie. This is not really exciting at all. But if I titled it "Table linens" it would sound incredibly boring.

I did it. I just made up my mind and went for it. I ordered table linens. I have kind of been agonizing over this issue and spending a lot of time doing online research. Did I want to rent or buy? And if I bought, was it really going to be worth it to have to launder them and then try to re-sell them after? Was I going to save enough for it to make sense? Besides that, what size did I want? I have 60 inch round tables. If I get 90" tablecloths, there will be a 15" overlap all around. 108" will give a two foot drop all around. 120" will go to the floor. I was thinking longer would be better at first, would look more formal. Then I realized our wedding is not going to be formal. And its annoying when your feet hit the tablecloth and you can't get your legs under the table. So I decided on 108". Then I considered square tablecloths. But I wasn't in love with that look. Then I realized 90" round would be way cheaper than 108" and about the same as square and they still look really nice.

I looked at a million websites. Special Occasions in Corvallis is the cheapest to rent from. They rent the 90" rounds for $8 each, which is pretty good. Except that I have 25 tables to decorate. That $8 sure adds up. So I put a bid in on some Ebay linens. And lost. And looked at random websites which I didn't completely trust. And then stumbled upon tablecloths at Linens and Things. Not only were the linens there on sale, but there was also a 20% off coupon code on the website for the month of May. So I ordered 25 white 90" round tablecloths for $151, or $6.04 per tablecloth. $6 each!! That is cheaper than renting! And I'm sure I can sell at least some of them after the wedding. Even if I can't though, this was the best deal out there! (Don't tell me if you found a better deal...I want to keep thinking there was nothing better!). I will have to probably iron them before using them. And launder them after. But that will all be fine!

So! One more thing checked off the list! Phew!

UPDATE: The wedding is over! If anyone wants to buy these linens from me, let me know!