I’ll start where we left off.

Before we get to the meat, sorry for all the blurriness.  I am simply respecting the bear’s wishes for privacy.  One day, I hope to be able to post them in their full glory.

Pull it out, and you see this.

I wanted one, contained package without anything loose to fall out or be lost (I tend to do this myself =P.  I think my guests are better than me at keeping tabs on loose paper pieces, but to make it easier for all, everything is “bound” together).

Another view [this one to make you sleeeeepeeeee . . . ]

[Components visible:  Paper Source White #10 Backing, a mix of Paper Source's 'red' and 'pool ' eyelets and snaps, Clearprint 1000H drafting vellum cut down to size by Printing Palace, white Gocco ink.]

Open it up, to the invitation page.  Yeah, our alignment was a bit off  on this one during the assembly process.  You see a bit of the directions card’s text peeking through, and the stamp on the RSVP card peeking through, too.

[Components:  Paper Source P.S.Collection flat paper in 'pool,' again cut down by Printing Palace.White and basic red Gocco ink.]

A few detail shots that show the properties of the white Gocco ink.  It wasn’t quite as opaque on my medium toned paper as I hoped it’d be, but it worked.  It’s also thicker than most other colors, giving anything printed an *almost* embossed feel.

Directions card/page:

Closeup of white Gocco ink yumminess and the circle that marks the spot.

RSVP page, perforated so postcard can be torn out and sent back to us.

[You can see the back of the eyelet we used to mark "the spot" on the directions page.]

The back.  Yes, only two of the seven eyelets/snaps are visible through the pre-drilled holes of the #10 backing.  Yes, it was a PITA.

One last bit of grommet-y goodness:  Setting all these gave the bear and me some massive forearms and arthritic-feeling elbows.

Software used for layout:
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Illustrator

Fonts:
Din Schrift
Century Gothic

I “hand drew” all graphic elements (the few that there are) and the map from scratch in Illustrator.

Everything was then printed on my trusty, now dusty Gocco B5 (discontinued model that has been replaced by the PG Arts model) printer.

The End!  For now…some tips and photos of the process to come.  You get to see the mess and madness behind it all!

I guess it’s more just architectural hand lettering done with pen and ink.  As sort of a preface to my invitation post, I’ll show you the invites’ clothing and all that went into it.

First, my workstation.

A few closeups of the tools.

The first batch of ink I mixed was too dark.  I did about a quarter of our envelopes with that ink, so I decided to just send them off rather than redoing all of them in the nicer color I mixed up later.

Then, harebrained potato started writing names before realizing she did not yet have addresses from certain guests.  So the name stayed, and the address was added later, long after the first batch of too-dark ink was already used.

Finally, I got the right proportion of white and blue mixed in a batch large enough to cover more than all of my envelopes.

Various fun stamps.   Yes, I know I overpaid on one of these two.  Do not shop on usps.com late at night while
delirious from lack of sleep.  You, too, may order 4-cent stamps instead of 2-cent stamps. Luckily, I’m a chair whore, so they fit.  I really love the Gee’s Bend quilt stamps, and the superhero stamps are nice graphically, too, for the most part.  We were able to keep the whole weight of the invitation to 1 oz. to save money (a whole whopping $26 or so) on postage.

The return address gocco’ed onto the square back flap of the #10 envelope.   Now you know where this came from.

Fonts – Our logo/monogram is Century Gothic, but I edited the
proportions of the letters a bit.  The address itself is Din Schrift
(always reminds me of Dwight Schrute).

An overall view of a finished envelope.

A sneak peek of what’s to come.  No inner envelope (to save trees and postage), and no liners since the inside of my envelopes have color  and aren’t any different from the quality of the outside; they just don’t have dots.  I actually liked the contrast of the solid red to the patterned outside.

Costs:
Now outdated hand drafting classes at a private university = I don’t even want to divide it out.
(2) bottles of ink at $6 each = $12 [I had plenty of ink left over]
Pen & ink nibs = $0, as I already had them.  You can get them pretty inexpensively at art supply stores.  The pens run a couple to a few bucks each, and the nibs are also about that price each.
Total = Hard to say. 
Unhelpful, lazy bride strikes again.  Well, if you have nice writing, some time to experiment with pen & ink or past experience with pen & ink, and some time, materials can easily be had for under $20.

The envelopes are No. 10 square flap “dotted washi” envelopes in red from envelopemall.com.  More in-depth review of that experience to come in invite post.

Oh, and apologies to the etiquette police as I did not spell out “avenue,” “drive,” their close cousins, nor state names.  We also didn’t use titles, but apparently newer etiquette guidelines say full names sans titles are fine.  You can’t get me on that one, haha!

Unfortunately, I had to blur out so much for this entry.  I will do a few samples “Jane Doe” types next time I sit down to finish addressing the last few stragglers and post those.

I’m so
excited, and not in the least bit scared (sorry, Jessie Spano, I don’t feel
you this time).  I just got an evite (yes, you heard right…that’s just
how we [procrastinators] roll) from my bridesmaids for my bridal shower coming
up in a mere 11 days.  It’s one of the many wedding-related things going
on these days that’s making this whole thing feel more and more real. 

They oh-so-considerately did ask me for some general preferences (absolutely
don’ts, musts, level of formality, guest list) and ideas since I am a lot more
in tune [obsessed] with wedding things than they are.  Since I keep
subconsciously overcompensating for the rapid spread of Bridezilla-itis out
there, I told them that I honestly did not want or care if they threw me a
shower, bachelorette party, et. al. at all.  Despite their student budgets
and one of them being in Japan
for the summer, the two locals insisted and finagled some information out of
me.  Out of all that information, they decided to go with an idea I got
from my friend, Nanette. 
Her shower had a “date night” theme for gifts – so gifts were things
that would make a nice date night for the couple.  It looks like my
bridesmaids put their own spin on it, indicating “entertainment” as
the theme and gifts in the direction of “things that would make for fun
dates for the married couple,” and requests to bring movie clips in. 
I’m usually not a fan of themed parties, but I know they can be awesome when
pulled off properly.  It sounds low-key and perfect for the ladies that
will be there.  I can’t wait!

Although more than half of my guest list is out of town so obviously probably
won’t be able to make it on such short notice, I’m feeling so blessed and loved
[insert warm fuzzies here].

So there is this sad pool/fountain thingy at our site, directly adjacent to the dance floor.  We are not allowed to float anything in it.  My budget and the city say I cannot surround it with candles (even if in proper holders) since they’re kickable.

I was just going to give up on doing anything in its vicinity (we’ve got the luxury of tons of space at our venue), but then a friend who got married last month had a great idea of purchasing some lounge furniture together from Ikea.  It ends up being cheaper than renting it from most companies around here.  We have yet to determine the fate of the furniture after our wedding is over.  In the meantime, it’s living in our living room.

I present to you, The Lime Lounge [of course not as in the color]!

Please note the following:
- Imagine another square, white table next to the one that’s already there.
- Imagine that big red circle (one of our placemats) is actually flowers, candles, or some other sort of centerpiece.
- Ignore the two blonde wood, low side tables with random crap on them.  My friend’s outdoor garden wedding was a little more organic feeling, so she paired them as the coffee table.  We won’t be using them.
- Please, please, please ignore the crap behind the sofa.  We’re still not quite completely unpacked yet, for shame.
- Bonus points to the first who can spot how my crazy subconcious mind placed two, non-wedding-related items of my wedding colors together.

All furniture is from Ikea.  I found these pillows, those pillows, and more pillows at CB2.  One word of warning – CB2′s “poppy” color is a red-orange that tends more toward the orange side.  I don’t care as the patterns and price were right.  Oh, and I plan on keeping these throw pillows to use around the house pre- and post-wedding, so they were worth spending $15-20 a pop on.

Since the seating grouping will be so strategically placed near the dance floor, I’m hoping non-dancers and tired dancers can use it as a pit stop but still feel like part of the action.

We ventured downtown this past weekend to get the guys their suits (more on that later) and get our wedding bands.  All in all, it was a successful trip – suits bought, altered next door within two hours, rings bought and brought home, engagement ring steamed/cleaned/polished, and cheap dim sum inhaled – all in half a day.

This is what happens when the on-call bear has to bust out his internet-anywhere-in-the-world-ready laptop to resolve some emergency at work while sitting in a random parking lot downtown.  I get snap happy.

his [4 mm brushed white gold band]
He’s not used to wearing any jewelry of any kind as he rarely even wears a watch, so he wanted lightest and subtlest possible (platinum was too heavy, titanium light but the styles available not minimal enough for him, tungsten too dark gray in color).

hers [barely 2 mm band with round brilliant diamonds channel set in platinum]

[Don't] mind the gap.  Because of the basket setting that my center stone is in, no bands sit flush to my engagement ring.  I don’t really mind the gap, as I know some others do.  I mind it much less than those “formed to fit” weirdly curved bands, to be sure.  To further play off of this “not a perfect set,” I bought a stock, channel-set band that they had in my size with round stones rather than custom ordering a band to match the band of my engagement ring and saved about half the cost of the “ideal” band I had in my head.  Oh, and interestingly enough, the blingy band was only slightly more (like $50 or less) than the solid platinum band I originally selected, thinking it would be cheapest out of what is compatible with my engagement ring.

If you’re not quite sure where to start in the downtown jewelry district, try our jeweler.  She’s honest, knowledgable, sweet, sells only GIA certified stones, helps you get the most out of your budget, helps you stick to your budget, and there’s never any pressure.  There are a lot of great jewelers downtown.  Just be sure to do your research, go on recommendations if possible, and be alert to scammers as there are plenty of those out there, too.

Michelle Lee
World Watch & Jewelry Center
650 S. Hill St # E8 [inside the St. Vincent Jewelry Center]
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213.627.0547

+  =

Much to the bear’s chagrin, I registered at not three, as we had previously agreed upon, places, but four.  The ‘plus one’ being at Fitzsu Society.  The designerd in me could not resist. 

“Just a few items that will only increase in value over time!  But they’re classics!” I exclaimed.

Alas, one key to a successful relationship is compromise.  Because of our laziness, we agreed to leave it but not widely publicize it.  I’d spread it by word-of-mouth to my special fellow designerd friends with deeper pockets (yes, I know that’s an oxymoron). 

My greedy giftmongering paid off.  Imagine my surprise when about a month ago, I called Boule to track some oh-so-pretty-and-overpriced chocolate I had ordered to be messengered to my bosswoman for her birthday, and they asked me if it was the package being UPS’ed to [insert FIL's address here]. 

“What??? HOW do you have THAT address?!?!”
“But it’s to your attention.  That is the only order we have on record under your name.”
“No way….”

Managers, yesterday afternoon’s shift cashier, and various other employees were gathered to figure out the confusion.  Before the confusion was cleared, their dutiful messenger arrived [hours late] with bosswoman’s gift.  And yes, it was in my name, spelled correctly in its entirety.  In the meantime, I stewed about who could have stalked and tracked me to an address to which I had never previously associated my name. 

The bear doesn’t know about chocolates like these.  He’d die if he knew how much some sugar+cacao bean extract+random ingredient inside cost.  He called me to say his mother called saying a package had arrived for “potato and [insert man's name which is not the bear's.]“  It appears they muddled up the couples’ names from their list.

So the moral of this long story, kids.  If you register at Fitzsu, you may receive a lovely surprise to the address to which you are having your gifts shipped.  Who can resist chocolate and a website whose favicon.ico is an orange circle?  Yes, I am weak.  Very weak.

Honestly, for most wedding purchases and selections, I haven’t had any “THE One” feelings.  I got pretty excited when I finally found our venue, but even that didn’t move me to tears…just utter joy that the long venue search had finally borne us some fruit!  I guess I’m just a picky, practical, unsentimental tater.

But then…I got that feeling, twice, over shoes of all things.  That which no one, except maybe the photographer and my bridesmaids, will see or care about on the day of.  That which really should not have taken me as long as it did to select.  That which when others agonize over it, I get impatient and say, “It doesn’t matter!  Just buy anything that you are comfortable in.”

I first bought these simply because of their height and because they were dressier wedges that weren’t cork or espadrilles (I’m fine with those materials for casual summer wear, but nothing about my wedding says “cork” or “strawlike ropey stuff”).  They were a bit pricey, very high (4″+ heels), and not quite right.  I had plenty of time, so I returned them.

More recently, I found THE One (Or is it THE Ones?  Or is it THE Pair?  Whatevs).

[currently on sale at nordstrom.com, for those interested.]

Then I tried them on with my dress for my mom.  She pointed out the dress looked much better with just an inch and a half more of height because it’s so bottom heavy.  I hate to admit it, but mom, you were right.  Plus the low heel would require some sticky icky alterations to the complicatedly draped skirt of my gown.  Thus started the third go-round.

I now do most of my shoe shopping online since sites like zappos.com, shoebuy.com, and Piperlime usually offer free shipping both ways and have generous time frames for returns.  I found these on Piperlime:

The formula for perfection:  Dot cutouts, the color “pool” [same name as all my papercrafts' paper], 3.5″ heel allowing me to avoid expensive hemming, comfy once I put some new footpetals in, same heel height as my alternate flip flops, re-wearable after the wedding, not too formal/stuffy, and fun!

Oh, but I’m getting married on the grass, in the shade.  If I sink, I sink.  A little soap and water will fix up the patent leather in no time.

Last weekend, I scheduled an appointment to get a quote for alterations to my gown.  Because this tailor is located so far from where I work (over 50 miles) and live (over 20 miles), I just wanted to get a quote while I was in her ‘hood.  However, she was so knowledgeable, sweet, and reasonably priced that this lazy bride ended up leaving her dress there.  I am so over doing thorough research for each vendor and each purchase, especially as the date is creeping up on us way too quickly.  I had planned on getting quotes from two others’, but I’m over driving all over SoCal just to find the best price.

Because it was so unexpected and I was alone, no pictures.  Sorry!  It pretty much still looks like this [attn:  mrs. bee/miss ladybug, that first image is wrong and should be this one, that one, this one, and that one], just with the bodice (especially chest area) pinned to fit.

I promise photos from my second fitting in about a month, as it will most likely be the last fitting before I pick the gown up.  I’ll post a full review of the tailor after the wedding.

Coming soon:
- My invitations.  I’m supposed to get them out this weekend.  If I meet that deadline, I’ll post photos in about a week.  The bear has been so sweet by working on them even while I go out with girlfriends and leave him all by his lonesome at home (by his choice, thanks to NBA playoffs and the Stanley Cup).
- Our trip downtown this coming weekend to pick out suits for the guys and wedding bands for us.
- The random candle+holder stuff I’ve been buying up for the unity candle and reception decor.
- [Wallcovering] table runner mockups.

Pretty please. Preferably with something funny, like so:

Gotta love our [English-is-his-third-language, over 60] uncle’s use of “Rad” and “pix.” 
We’ve received quite a few funny and many touching e-responses to our e-save-the-date and on our wedding website guestbook.  Who says the web is impersonal and void of warm fuzzies? 

Any especially memorable guestbook messages (virtual or “real”) for you?

Hi, my name is Potato, and I am a blog-stalker. Not only am I a blog-stalker, I’m often a yellowbellied cowardly one that anonymously subscribes to RSS feeds, rarely comments these days (mostly due to this madness called wedding planning), and leaves not much more than a footprint on the webcounter/stats tracker, if the blog has one. 

Anyway, my current eye candy is housemartin, the blog of ink & peat, a Portland-area floral & home decor/lifestyle store.  While some of her home ideas are a bit too…country (not sure if that’s the right word, still)…for my taste (albeit still well done and beautifully eclectic), I’m drooling over her florals.  They’re organic yet not overgrown or shabby looking, fresh yet classic and not overly trendy.  I’m also loving yellow right now, and she brings fun flowers and some fresh yellow together in these arrangements.

I love how she pays careful attention not just to the visual appeal, but also to the mixing of fresh scents of the flowers [lemon/ginger scented peonies!] & leafiness [fresh spearmint!] used in this arrangement.  Read about it here.

Yellow balls in a Modern house…sigh.

“Spiked” with yellow.  [har har, I know.]

Not yellow, but so vibrant!  I <3 citrus anything (which reminds me I need to go lemon- and kumquat-picking at the in-laws’ soon).

Peonies + cabbage.  Yum.

OK, I’m veering away from the yellow now, so time to stop before all these eye candy gives me a toothache…er eyeache (?).