I realized today that it doesn’t matter what age you are when your dreams come true. As long as you don’t give up on yourself, it doesn’t matter if you’re 25 or 65. Dreams may change or be replaced with new ones but as long as you have one to pursue, you’re in good shape. Can you imagine living life without a dream to fulfill? Without a goal to reach for?
Maybe now I’ll be a little bit more forgiving of the octogenarians driving their Audi TT’s, mustangs, and corvettes with the top down. 
Today was the day we were scheduled to do our tasting for the wedding reception. Today at 6 p.m. to be exact. [Actually the tasting was scheduled for 5/16 but I didn't want to post in haste so I waited awhile to publish this.]
I had meant to e-mail the wedding planner one more time to confirm but never bothered. Why would I need to do such a thing? It was obviously just my control-freak, type-A personality. I already had two e-mails confirming not only the appointment but also the menu. Just in case, I double checked my e-mails before we left. Ears and I had invited my parents to come and I couldn’t imagine wasting their time if I somehow mixed up the dates.
Ears and I left the house at 5:15 p.m. Thanks to a random hail storm and rush hour traffic, we arrived at 6:15 for our 6:00 appointment. No biggie. People arrive for dinner reservations late all the time. Why should this be any different? The wedding planner and other patrons had assured me that the tasting was served at their restaurant just as if you were dinner customers. This was not a large group tasting, nor was it a few of us in a room in a high pressure atmosphere. It would be us sitting in the restaurant, eating a relaxed dinner that just happened to be food off our wedding reception menu.
When we pulled in, the parking lot was packed! What is going on, we wondered. Turns out, a lot.
My parents were waiting for us at the bar when we entered. Right away, they told me they didn’t have our reservation on the calendar for today but for June 4th. What?! My Dad also told me that our original wedding planner (who had since decided to retire from doing weddings after 30 years) happened to be on site running some of the parties. She bought us a round of drinks while we tried to figure things out. Of course I hadn’t bothered to print any of my e-mails. I frantically tried to search my phone e-mail apps but since I rarely use them and the e-mails were a couple of weeks old already, my efforts were fruitless. Eventually, we decided to have dinner anyway.
I couldn’t let this go that easily though. It would bug me all night if I couldn’t find that dang e-mail. I excused myself from dinner to regain my composure and do some more searching. Still, I couldn’t find it. At least I had tried everything I could. Now I had no choice but to enjoy a nice dinner and then go home to print/e-mail/call the new wedding planner.
Fate had other plans. Shortly after we had ordered a random person approached our table and introduced herself as someone who works closely with the wedding planner. She explained that she had actually talked to the wedding planner and indeed our appointment had somehow been forgotten. I was right! Ha! She apologized and said I should hear from the wedding planning to pick another tasting date.
Shortly after that another person approached our table. This time it was one of the managers. Apologizing once again and explaining that the drinks would be on the house tonight. A very nice gesture.
The food was amazing and we had some good conversation. When the bill came, we ended up only paying a third of what the actual charge was. Ears was a little surprised and miffed that they took so much off.
Personally, I think that was the right thing for them to do. We are planning a wedding for 250 people at this place. I am super organized and plan well in advance because of our busy schedules. We are respectful and understanding. They were the ones who made the mistake and yet we still decided to stay and spend our money there. The least they could do was comp some of our meal. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t pay for the whole thing but I think Ears was happy to be able to treat my parents.
The cool part is that not only did we get one awesome meal at this place practically for free, but now we still get a second great meal at no charge when we do the REAL tasting! All’s well that ends well!
Here are some pics of the shoes I just bought with the idea of possibly wearing them at the wedding.
I really would like to find some “reasonably priced” Christian Louboutins but I’m beginning to think that won’t happen. Plus I’m also thinking that my money could be spent in better places.
These are by Badgley Mischka and I got them super cheap from DSW. They are probably a couple seasons old but who cares!
I am also trying out the WordPress app with this entry.
Today’s blog is brought to you by the letter ‘E’…as in e-mail.
As a bride (and person) I prefer to use e-mail to communicate. It is convenient, usually quick, and most importantly, effective.
I have enjoyed contacting possible vendors view e-mail from their websites. This usually results in an obviously canned e-mail but it also usually has all the information I’m looking for before moving forward. I’ve also enjoyed contacting other brides via e-mail to get tidbits of information and to do business with them.
But e-mail is only effective if the recipient of the e-mail understands some e-mail etiquette.
I recently have been in contact with a vender who doesn’t seem to know or care about e-mail etiquette. This is the first I’ve encountered this problem while planning the wedding. Most people are pretty up front if e-mail isn’t their thing. In fact, they simply don’t use it if they don’t want to bothered with it. Those businesses who do use e-mail understand that it is an effective way to promote their business and provide customer service.
This vendor simply doesn’t have a clue. Maybe they feel it would be rude to tell me not to use their e-mail. However, not replying to your e-mail doesn’t make me want to do business with you. I am seriously considering dropping them and beginning the hunt again for this service just because they have been so unresponsive. They also haven’t followed up on things they said they were going to do or contacted me if there were any problems. Thank goodness I haven’t signed a contract yet.
Besides not checking your e-mail and responding to them in a timely fashion (which is by far the most annoying thing about e-mail), here is what also aggravates me about how people choose to use their e-mail:
I am not a saint. I will admit I have been guilty of several of these over the course of time. Sometimes things happen like your e-mail getting hacked or not being able to check it because of a computer problem. But some people just don’t seem to get that there really is a way to communicate respectfully via e-mail.
Likewise, these ideas are not one-size fits all and there are many exceptions depending on the circumstances of the e-mail. In general if people would…
and…
…I would be much happier when checking me own e-mail! 
(P.S. While writing this I was secretly hoping to get an e-mail from this vendor so I could take back all the things I just wrote. No such luck today.)
Well, making invitations has sure been an epic journey. After finally deciding on a design (see Operation Wedding Invitations: Phase One) it was time to order the supplies! Thankfully, my darling mother reminded me to order all the materials from Cards & Pockets just in time for them to arrive for out invitation making party.
Yes, you heard it right. We had an “invitation making party”. Only someone as obsessed with stationary as I am could think making invitations would be party-like! But that is a story for another blog entry….
Anyway, the materials arrived the Monday before our party (The party was on a Saturday). As I was making dinner that night, I began counting EVERYTHING. We had ordered 140 of everything we needed but came up short 25 pocketfolds – probably the most important aspect of the invitations other than the actual information. I called the company only to realize that most of their staff leaves at 4 and it was already 4:45. However, the man that answered the phone was quite helpful and gave me the e-mail address of the lady to contact. Everyone was very helpful, and thankfully the additional pocketfolds arrived on Friday.
During the rest of that week, I did some final adjustments to the inserts, RSVP card, and the invitation itself. I sent each one to be printed at the local Staples. They had a nice coupon deal going on that week so I saved some nice $$$.
Finally, Saturday arrived (cue the drama!). I still had to:
Here is where things started going a little haywire…
I sent Ears to the post office as soon as we got up. While he was there I began printing labels. Of course, the ink cartridge ran out of ink half-way through. One call to Ears, and all was well again. Ears would also be making a stop at Staples that morning.
Next came the dip making. This is my favorite party dip – by far. It is easy AND yummy…but I digress…
After Ears’ triumphant return, all labels were printed and accounted for…at least I thought.
Fast forward to my parents house at the invitation making party. Once we began making the invitations we discovered that some of the labels were off-centered. Some how half of the address had been printed off the actual label. No biggie, I’ll just print them again. I had brought my computer and the extra labels for that exact reason.
Only one problem: I have a Mac. My parents have PC’s. Ok, no problem. We’ll just download the driver. Can’t find the driver? Ok…we’ll e-mail the new and improved word file to be opened on the PC. PC doesn’t have word? Ok…we’ll re-save it as a PDF and resend it via e-mail. Good thing my Dad was there to help navigate e-mail (well, that and he poured me a glass of wine), otherwise I would have been frantic. My Mom is pretty much computer-illiterate. Although, in her defense, she is getting much better! (You’re welcome Mom. I know you are reading this.)
Next problem we ran into: not enough glue! Some of my bridesmaids got creative using q-tips in bottles of glue when the glue sticks ran out. Thankfully, one more call to Ears solved that problem shortly thereafter.
After everything was assembled that day, I let the invites sit for a while in their box.
I wrote some thank you cards to my family that had come out that day. It really was a great showing of love and support. Who willingly spends a whole day making invitations for someone else? (Then again, these are the same people who helped paint our house when we moved in.) I am REALLY fortunate to have such a loving, and selfless bunch to call my family and friends!
When I finally got my wedding mojo back, I only had a few steps left to go before these invitations were ready to be dropped in the mail. I needed to seal envelopes and buy lots of postage. Ears once again came to the rescue with the postage. He also placed the postage on all of the envelopes. I got the honor of sealing all of them. But even this task wasn’t without it’s trials.
Ears discovered he had actually left one of his groomsmen off the master list! I have no idea how that happened considering I asked him (or rather TOLD him) to check the list about 5 BILLION times. This isn’t counting the number of times I checked the list as well! (Note: If you get a hand addressed envelope you were the lucky one!) He also realized that one of his guests address was missing the house number. (Again, HOW does that happen?!?)
Another thing I realized when going through the sea of red envelopes? A wedding really is a family affair. We not only have our immediate and extended relatives invited, but we have friends who have become family. And friends’ families who have also become part of our “family”. It is truly an awesome feeling to realize how lucky we are to be blessed with such great people. I can’t wait to share this day with everyone!
Today I made a mock-up of my DIY pocket-fold wedding invitations.
I fell in love with this DIY idea once I figured out the astronomical cost of wedding stationary – especially stationary that looks elegant and organized. Up to this point, I’ve been all about hiring people to do things for me. However, in the category of stationary I feel like I have some know-how to get the job done right. I like to scrapbook and I am obsessed with office supplies. Stationary is something I can do!
The pocket-fold was an easy choice even though it costs more. I am certainly a Type-A personality and prefer things to be organized/presented well. I couldn’t imagine just shoving an envelope full of different sized inserts for my guests to find upon opening the envelope. It just didn’t seem right. Also,with a Hollywood glamour theme, the invite had to radiate elegance and sophistication.
I relied heavily on a blog from Project Wedding. From there, I got some pointers and found the website for a company called Cards & Pockets. I ordered sample card stock and pocket-folds from Cards & Pockets. I opted for the signature style. The colors of the wedding are red, white, and black and I’ve tried to use the damask pattern throughout for a touch of elegance.
Cards & Pockets turned out to be a God-send. It gave me exactly what I needed and even had templates I could download for free. After downloading the templates, adding my own information, picking fonts, etc. I was ready to print. Since this was a trial run, I had picked up a small stack of plain white card-stock at Target. I think for the actual invitations, the paper will be more of an ivory color and a little bit heavier.
After printing at home, I cut everything by hand. I don’t own a paper cutter although I might purchase one in the future. I hoping to have the printing done at a local staples or print-shop for the real invites.
Here is the finished product:
All by myself!
I’m happy with it overall. However, I think it’s missing some bling. I also think I will be much happier with the ivory paper since the white just seems to be a bit too jarring against the black envelope. Here is the invite all wrapped up:
All wrapped up!
Cards & Pockets carries “bands” that wrap around the pocket invite. I didn’t actually order a band but made a fake one out of a sample piece they had sent with the sample invitation. I like the look of them but I think it needs something in the center. On other websites I’ve seen people put their monogram sticker here. I’m thinking a feather or rhinestone of some sort would help pull in the “glamour” side. I could also choose to use ribbon instead of the band. It will most likely depend on what I can find and what is the most affordable.
Phase one is now complete. Phase two will be getting feedback from family/friends and quotes for materials. Finally, after sending the cardstock to print, phase three will be assembly. You can bet I’ll be looking for volunteers to drink wine and make invitations with me sometime in March/April.
What do you think?
Yay for my hair stylist/make-up artist who just called to tell me she’s expecting!
Boo for me – now I have no stylist/make-up artist. Grrr….
This is what I’m looking for:
That is pretty much it. I’m not asking them to do anything crazy with make-up or hair. The theme is vintage hollywood glamour, after all.
Any recommendations?
