Rehearsal Invites - READY TO GO!

Thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, Laura, we have solved our rehearsal invitation dilemma!  She told me about a great website called Paperless Post and I'm officially in love with it!  It's much fancier than an Evite, which is nice for a special occasion, and as far as I can tell, you could keep it free (or very close to it) if you are willing to take some time and not be too picky about what you are using.

SO, I searched through the templates, shapes, colors and designs and we picked on that looks cute and fits all of our invitation comfortably... the fit was the hardest part.

Here's what we've created...

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Now, we email this to the bridal party and when they open the email, it shows an envelope... then they click on the envelope and it opens and out comes the invitation!  It's really cute and the e-envelope even has a stamp on it that looks like it's been cancelled.  I'm so excited.

THANK YOU TO LAURA FOR THE SUGGESTION!!!

Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

I'm really torn on this... all of the "to do" lists tell me that I'm supposed to be sending rehearsal dinner invitations in the next couple of months.  The only people being invited to our rehearsal dinner are parents, grandparents and bridesmaids/groomsmen and their families.  All of these people will be at the rehearsal (wherever that ends up being... still TBD) and the plan is to go right from the rehearsal to the dinner, so everyone will be there already.

SO, the thing that I'm torn in is...

Do I spend separate invitations for the rehearsal dinner or just make phone calls and make sure people know their spouses/kids are invited?

Your thoughts???

Rehearsal Dinner - CHECK

My mom and dad have been super helpful with the stuff that we still have left on our "to do" list.  My mom's been keeping up with the new line of vests and ties that our tux shops (more to come on tuxes later).  My dad has been really helpful with the rehearsal dinner.

He went over to a restaurant for us last week and got us information on their large party options.  He scanned all of the info and emailed it to us and it looked great!  Jason called about a week later and booked the room and we OFFICIALLY have our rehearsal dinner booked!

We are doing it at a local chain, at a restaurant called The Factory.  No... it's not a clever name... it actually is an old factory that they turned into a restaurant a LONG time ago.  It's nothing too fancy on the outside, but my mom says the food is good and it seems like they do a great job with large parties.

They are making us a custom menu for the dinner, with our names and wedding colors, and we can put whatever we want to on there.  They suggest the following options on a menu...

• 2-3 appetizers
• 1-2 salads
• 3-4 entrées
• 1-2 desserts

Another great thing about this restaurant is that they are only making us pay for what people order.  There are lots of places where you pay $30 a head no matter what anyone eats, which is fine if you have people who eat a lot, but we are getting married in July... really... no one eats a lot in the middle of summer.

SO, if we put appetizers on our menu and no one orders one, we don't buy any.  If the only thing someone orders is a salad and a dessert (which sounds like a good idea to me), we aren't required to pay for an entire entrée for them. SWEET!

So, we can cross another thing off our list, and this was one thing that I was actually pretty worried about, especially with us being so far away.  A big thanks goes to my mom and dad for their help with the stuff like this that we can't do alone.

Hope your week starts out great!!!

Notes from an Expert - 1st Edition

One of my friends at work just got married, and by "just", I mean that she has not even been married for a month yet!

She and I have both been so busy at work since she got back from her honeymoon that we haven't even gotten to hear about her trip.  We finally had a few minutes to talk today and she gave me a few of what I'm calling "words of wisdom".  She would absolutely die if she knew I was calling them her words of wisdom... but she just went through all the craziness of a wedding week... I have to take notes!!!

So here are the two things she talked about today...
- Ceremony Music
- Rehearsal Dinner/Guest Issues

She and her (now) husband used non-traditional music for the ceremony.  They used songs that meant things to them and that fit their Mexico destination.  She said that SOOOO many people made comments about how great the music was and how they loved how personal it was!

I talked a LONG time ago about ceremony music and we have finally put all of our Vitamin String Quartet music in order for the ceremony.  The songs are recognizable (either great classics that everyone knows or songs that are slightly more contemporary), but still a little bit more "formal" for lack of a better word.  I'm still really excited about these songs so that's a good sign.

She was also telling me about the only "tragedy" of the weekend.  They had their rehearsal dinner on Friday and had a few guests who were expecting to be invited, who were not a part of the bridal party.  She said that it was kind of an awkward situation... not that it ruined anything for her, but she said that she may have people who are still mad at her about not being invited.  I told her they'd get over it  :-D

That's definitely a good thing to think about...

I have a blog buddy who is getting married on the same day as J and I and she and I have been emailing about wedding stuff.  I know that she has also had some "guest list" issues that she's had to deal with.  I'm so glad that I haven't had to deal with this.  Although, our way of avoiding guest list issues is just to invite everyone, so I don't know if that really counts.

I've taken note of the things that she was telling me today and I can't wait to have more time to sit down and hear all about everything that she did all weekend... weddings are so fun, no matter whose they are!!!

Happy Monday everyone...

Vacation-ish

Less than a week until I get to go on vacation, and I can't wait!  I hesitate to call it this because I will be immersed in wedding planning as I was the last time I was on vacation.  The things on the "to do" list for this trip are:

1. Look for a DJ
2. Look for a place to have a rehearsal dinner
3. Find a hotel or two
4. Look for a Mother of the Bride dress
5. Get the approval for invitation wording, program wording, etc. from the parents
6. Look for fabric to go under the centerpieces
7. Take engagement pictures

We are also going to J's cousin's wedding, which I'm really excited about for multiple reasons... I have not really gotten to spend much time with his extended family, and I'm always excited to get new ideas from other weddings.  It should be a lot of fun!!!