And They're Off!

Well, just about.

Our save the dates are signed and sealed (and will be delivered on Monday). I spent the last two weeks hand-addressing almost 80 envelopes and tonight I stuffed and stamped each.

I love my Vera Bradley Yellow Bird Placemats

Then, with my self-diagnosed OCD, I organized them by zipcode. I tend to believe that this step makes it easier for the post office to distribute. In case you are wondering (and I doubt you are), they are being sent to 60 different zip codes. Maybe this is just the wine talking ...

drinking a little Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc at our new Dining Room Table!

Oh, and while I did this, B was doing this:

drinking a beer, watching the World Series (and some college football)

In his defense, I told him he couldn't touch anything. This proved justified when I noticed I missed zipcodes on a few cards.

Yay! I feel like this makes is so very official!

Once Upon a Time I Was Falling in Love

... Now I'm only falling apart. Total Eclipse of the Heart. Great song. Also great? This flow chart with the lyrics:

Found here.

And also this flow chart, unraveling Hey Jude.

Found here via here.

I'll be the one in white

There are only a few times in life that a girl can get a way with wearing a white dress. So I fully intend to take advantage of "the bride wore white" thing. Some people think wearing a white dress at the rehearsal dinner takes away from the white dress on the wedding but I don't. Last weekend, while browsing a Final Sale at Gilt, I found this great Cynthia Steffe dress:


I wasn't completely sure if it would be right for me but I hmm'ed and huh'ed about things from sample sites before (I'm still kicking myself for not buying a fantastic pair of Frye boots for less than $200, I learned my lesson) so I took the chance. Luckily I ordered a size up from what I normally wear (fancy designers don't size their clothes for real women) and it fits perfectly! So I have my rehearsal dinner dress, yes before I have my actual wedding dress. And it cost - wait for it - $85 (Down from $370)! If you don't yet belong to Gilt, click here for invitation. I also belong to RueLaLa, which is similar, click here for invitation. You need to be patient if you are looking for something specific, like I was, but they give you previews of what brands they plan to feature in the next week.

I am especially pleased with the dress I found because it is similar to the Vera Wang dress I blogged about before:

dress source

What do you plan to wear for your rehearsal dinner or other pre-wedding events?

Another Fabulous Blogger Award

Today I was honored (three times!) with the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award from Girl with a Ring, The Roddy Bride and Joy is the Best Makeup.


The "to do" with this is to list 10 things about myself then pass it on to ten. But after viewing my Reader today, it looks like just about all of my favorite bloggers already got the award. So I'll just list the 10 things. Thanks girls!

1. I'm the youngest of four girls (with no brothers).
2. I love apple cider, cinnamon donuts and candy apples. I love fall.
   
3. I think it is rude when smokers walk and smoke at the same time, with no regard to where (or at who) they blow smoke.
4. I believe that you should not wear a pair of shoes if you can't run in them. This includes high heels. That said, I can run in high heels.
   
5. I have a master's degree in PR.
6. I was a cheerleader and in a sorority, but I don't think I fit either stereotype.
7. I am super excited for New Moon to come out and not afraid to admit it.
8. I love maps.
9. I was obsessed with Sex and the City before it was cool to be obsessed and I think the new movie is a big mistake.
10. My toenails are not painted right now and usually that bugs me but for some reason I have had no desire to paint them for weeks.
    

Not a Bride of Frankenstein

I'm not a big Halloween person. Perhaps it is because I grew up out in the country so trick or treating consisted of climbing into my dad's truck with tights under my costume and a huge winter coat and being driven from house to house. Perhaps it is because I hate when people wear masks, walk up to you and just don't say anything. Hello, you are wearing a mask, I can't read your facial expression... I need words people. Perhaps its because I hate scary movies. Or candy. Just kidding about the last one, that is a complete lie.

I love the reaction I get from people when they ask about my plans for Halloween and I say, "eh probably staying in, we aren't really Halloween people." The verbal response, "But its Halloween". Duh - I've acknowledged that. The facial expression response is even better. It is the same look when I admit to other things: "what do you mean you hate The Simpsons?", "How can you NOT LOVE Italian food" or "Leggings totally are for everyone, your crazy".

Sorry, people --- I'm just on a different wave length on these things.

So this Halloween, B and I are planning to stay in, watch the Phillies and nibble on the candy that I plan to get for the trick or treaters that don't trick or treat in our apartment complex. Okay, you're right, I'm getting it me.

But if I WERE a Halloween person and a crazy Halloween Bride, I'd definitely include things like these - from Hostess with the Mostess:



Are you a Halloween fanatic?

Putting a Roof Over Your Guests' Heads

photo source

This may be the post equivalent of saying "thank you, Captain Obvious" but its not stopping me. If you are having a wedding where a significant number of guests are coming from out of town, please block rooms at local hotels. For us, this was a no-brainer, because a good majority of guests are trekking in from 3 hours or more away. I called our venue - which has about 40 rooms on site, half designated for our party - and only SEVEN rooms were left. I immediately got on the phone with two other nearby hotels and blocked of 15 rooms at each.

This is not difficult. It took two phone calls to block 30 rooms until August 25 of next year.

When making the decision to block rooms, consider a range in hotel pricing. Our venue is offering rooms at $135/night. Hotel one is holding rooms at $119 and hotel two is holding rooms at $79. We are posting the reservation information on our wedding website.

On a similar note, block rooms if your wedding is taking place on a busy holiday weekend or local event weekend (don't forget local colleges' move-in, homecoming and parent's weekends) or if you live in a town with only a few accommodation options. And for the love of all that is wedding - do not think you are going to be the only bride in town on your weekend. Who knows, you might be, but the wedding we went to earlier this month had two wedding parties at the hotel we stayed at, five weddings accommodated at the swankier hotel (where the bride and groom stayed) and FOUR weddings occurring simultaneously at their reception venue.

Again, this may seem so obvious, but it is one of those details I've seen get neglected. Yes, there is the argument that if your guests are coming from a distance they will find their own way, but a little hand holding never hurt anyone.

The next step for us will be researching shuttles from one of the hotels to the venue for before and after the reception. What special considerations have you made for your out of town guests?

Making a Long Story Short

Chances are, you most likely saw this fun invite on blogs like 100 Layer Cake, WeddingBee, Rifle or a gazillion others. It has over 8,000 diggs too.

photo source

Then, there were a few more "how we met" stories like this invite:

photo source

And this program:

photo source

We are planning to do a really traditional invite (and you've already seen our save the date) but I wanted to find a way to do our own "how we met - long story short" type card. I created one to put on our "About us" section on our wedding website. Since the website is password protected, I figured I'd share it here too.

click on the image to see it better

Are there any wedding ideas that have become a trend on blogs that you might incorporate into your wedding?

A rabbi, a priest and a pilot walk into a reception ...

If you haven't read my post about the interfaith/multicultural wedding we went to last weekend, check it out here. The ceremony had so many elements representing their Jewish/Catholic/Filipino/American traditions and the reception didn't skimp either.

Here are a few more elements they explained in their programs:

Yichud -- Hebrew for "union", it refers to a Jewish custom where the bride and groom spend a few moments alone together following the ceremony. Jewish or not, I think this is an important opportunity for any newlywed couple.

Hora -- My favorite part of the whole night. The Hora is a traditional Jewish dance of celebration. You may be familiar with this as the time that the bride and groom lifted in chairs. So much fun!

photo from Evrim Icoz Photography

Motzi Blessing -- A Jewish blessing over Challah bread recited before meals

The Money Dance -- I know his is a touchy subject in the online wedding world. In this dance, guests make an offering for the opportunity to dance with the bride or groom. This was done at the wedding last week as a Filipino tradition that is a way of wishing good fortune upon the newly married couple. B and I aren't planning on doing this and I may touch on our reasoning in a later post. The one piece of advice - if you choose to do this - is to keep this moment SHORT - one or two songs TOPS, thankfully the newlyweds cut this moment after two songs.

What are some of the traditions that you have seen at receptions?

Owl Always Love You

B and I are not bird people. As much as I love little love bird cake toppers that are sweeping the wedding blogs by storm ... they are just not us.

Bride and Groom Wedding Birds $130 from Etsy Seller Cornflakegirl

We do have a little experience with owls. Yes, owls like "who? who?". Let's flashback to a year ago when we finally moved in together in Arlington, VA. We literally moved in and left for a week vacation to Hawaii three days later. Upon our return there was a note on our counter that our apartment had been treated for owls. Huh? I looked at B and said "Do we have owls?" His response: "Owls? I don't know what you are talking about" Me: "Owls.... like owls... they said we were treated for owls." Him: "Who said that?" Me: "The apartment... look" Him: "I don't know what you are talking about." It ended there. We didn't ask the building office about it, we just let it go.. I mean if we were treated for owls then we probably don't have them anymore.

Then in the Spring we actually heard the hoots of our wise old friends. Ah-ha, I guess there are owls in VA.

It wasn't long after we got used to the owl sounds that we moved to California. We woke up after my first night there (B had been there for a week already) to a "who... who" Who? Yup, the same familiar sound followed us across the country apparently (Or at least, our owl's cousin was waiting to welcome us). We laughed at the craziness of it all. I think it lasted all of a few days - then, the hoots were gone.

Does this story have a point? No, probably not. It just popped into my head as I was looking at my blogs and saw this baby shower idea from Hostess with the Mostess. I also saw this cute pillow in Everyday with Rachael Ray last night:

Hoot Pillow $24.95 from CB2

I suppose we are bird people of sorts. I don't think that we will add any details but I guess we could if we wanted and have it make a little sense (to us, at least).

Do you ever see random things that have no place in your wedding but after thinking about it and stretching your memory back long enough, they become relevant? No? Just me? Whatever...

*PS - the title of this post is taken from this super cute sampler from chez-sucre-chez. love.

A rabbi, a priest and a pilot walk into a wedding...

As promised (this one is for you, GirlWithARing) here is a rundown about how our friends balanced an interfaith/multicultural wedding ceremony - I'll do another post on the reception details later.

This particular ceremony was quite long (over an hour) which covered all the bases. It helped that the programs provided an excellent explanation of each part. I suggest that you are incorporating many traditions that your guests may not all be familiar with - take some time to explain each element in a program. It read like a book and was definitely appreciated by the guests. Our friends set theirs up like this:

SECTION TITLE
explanation of where tradition came from and why they are doing it
Name of Participant (whether this was a reader or sponsor)
Any sort of reading that accompanies section

Here is the order of how they set up their interfaith/multicultural ceremony.
Page 1 - The Wedding Party (Beginning with two officiants - one priest, one rabbi)

Page 2 - List of Sponsors and Readers
The principal sponsors (Filipino Tradition) bless the couple's union, acting as primary witnesses at the wedding & advisers to their marriage. The secondary sponsors were responsible for presenting traditions in the ceremony.

Page 3 - The Wedding Ceremony
There as note listed that - before the ceremony - the couple signed their ketuba (Jewish tradition), a marriage contract between the bride and groom. There was also a note that the ceremony was taking place under a chuppah (Jewish Tradition), which symbolizes the home the couple will build together.

Greetings from the rabbi and priest were followed by the blessing of the couple and their sharing of wine. The couple drank from the Kiddush cup (Jewish Tradition) symbolizing the sharing of one life in all its sweetness.

Page 4 - Liturgy of the Word
(Catholic Tradition) A reading from the Old Testament, a Responsorial Psalm and a reading from the New Testament by the couples' friends. Readings were followed by a Gospel reading and Homily - a reflection on the Gospel, the wedding and life - by the priest.

Page 5 - Rite of Marriage
Exchange of Consent and Vows (led by priest) & Exchange of Rings (led by rabbi)

Offering and Acceptance of Arrhae (Filipino Tradition) - a cluster of 13 coins representing love, trust, commitment, respect, joy, happiness, harmony, wisdom, wholeness, nurturing, caring, cooperation and peace are blessed by the priest as a promise of life of faithfulness and prosperity. Groom presents the coins to the bride.

Lighting of the Candles (Filipino Tradition) - Secondary sponsors light two candles that the bride and groom join together to a larger unity candle symbolizing two becoming one.

Laying of the Veil (Filipino Tradition) - Secondary sponsors bind the couple together with a cord in shape of infinity/figure 8, representing a union that will never be broken or diminished.

Page 6 - Seven Blessings / Sheva B'rachot
(Jewish Tradition) The rabbi - with members of bride and groom's families - recite seven blessings linking the couple to faith in God

Page 7 - Prayer of the Faithful / Lord's Prayer / Nuptial Prayer
(Catholic Tradition) General intercessions led by friend of couple followed by the Lord's Prayer and a Nuptial Prayer led by the priest.

Page 8 - Benediction / Breaking of Glass
Together, the rabbi in Hebrew and priest in English, led three prayers concluding the ceremony.

Breaking of Glass (Jewish Tradition) is the moment where the groom breaks a glass. There are many interpretations of this tradition including a reminder of the Jewish faith's past, a demonstration of how fragile life is and - in jest - that it represents the last time the Jewish husband can put his foot down. At this moment, guests exclaim "Mazel Tov" which means good luck or congratulations.

Proclamation of Marriage aka "I now pronounce you man and wife" by the priest
Siman Tov blessing by the rabbi

The couple's first kiss

The next two pages included explanations of some of the interfaith/multicultural reception traditions (again, this is a later post) and a thank you note from the couple.

The last page was branded with the couples own copyright. It was a cute touch - especially since the bride is in publishing.


What traditions are you incorporating in your wedding? Do you have any similar traditions or now interpretations of the traditions above?

A Sweet Proposal

Bakerella is my go-to blog for dessert recipes and her claim to fame are her cake pops. They are really yummy (I tend to skip the lollipop sticks and just make snowball size cake balls). On Sunday she posted wedding cake pops ... complete with a surprise proposal from one reader's creative guy. Check it out:

(She said yes.)

What is the most creative proposal you've seen?

Love is in the Air

The recaps of the wedding we went to this weekend aren't going to be your typical real wedding eye-candy posts. I'm definitely going to get into detail about the interfaith/multicultural elements of the ceremony later, but there were many other elements that are inspiring or educational for all sorts of brides.

On that note, enter ... airplanes.

The groom - B's good friend - is a pilot so the couple used subtle flying details throughout the wedding. The bridal party entered the reception to "Danger Zone" from Top Gun. The newlyweds' first dance was to "Fly Me To The Moon". Their gifts to the groomsmen (gorgeous poker chip sets) were wrapped in aeronautical charts.

So in spirit of their love of flying (and for any of you couples who have spent hours in the airport during your cross country relationships) here are some other "in the air" details for inspiration:

I LOVE these clever airplane ticket-inspired invitations by Rebekah (aka RecessionistaBride to the Weddingbee world - she just started blogging too, check it out here). She and her husband to be have been flying back and forth from Canada to Kentucky over the last four years. By the time her wedding hits in June 2010, she will have flown over 175,000 miles.


Get Married featured these save the dates in their premiere issue. I think paper airplanes are a cute play on travel.


I've also had these save the dates from Minna Designs bookmarked since June. This could have worked for us, showing where everyone travels from to get to the wedding - by flight route.


The groomsmen could wear ties with airplanes. Or, instead of boutonnieres, they could wear airplane pins or old school wings that airlines used to give out.

Another idea I love - Naming your tables after airport codes. For us, we could have done SFO (San Francisco), OAK (Oakland), PHL (Philadelphia), SYR (Syracuse), IAD (Washington DC - Dulles) and JHM (Maui).

And, if possible, taking a great wedding picture like this:

photo source

I'm personally not a big "theme wedding person" so I think the key is to choose only a few details without going overboard. The wedding we went to nailed it by adding a few things here and there without getting too matchy-matchy. Are you having a theme?

We're Back!

We just got back from the NJ Wedding. The weekend was a whirlwind with airport travel, hotel stays and a little partying. We had a great time (even though the weather was lousy). Every wedding is different and this one was no exception. The bride is Filipino - Catholic and the groom is Jewish. They had a long interfaith ceremony that was chock full of traditions I have never witnessed. The reception continued to mix the cultures. This wasn't the type of wedding that I could take notes from as bride-to-be, since it was pretty unique to the couple. (This didn't stop B though, there was a whole lot of "I want to wear a barong. Can I wear a barong to our wedding?" and "Can we have a Hora dance? You don't want to be lifted in chairs?!")

The best part of the wedding was how GENUINELY happy every one was. This is a great couple with very loving families and friends; it was great to be a part of the day. I once went to a wedding where the bride didn't smile once - and I am not exaggerating. I really feel that when you are at a wedding where the couple shows their love for one another, it doesn't matter what the rest of the details are.

But there were some great details! I'm having a few technical difficulties right now, but I hope to get a few pictures loaded to share with you soon. Stay tuned!

Hello New Jersey!

So B and I are heading out tonight to New Jersey as cross country guests for our friends' wedding! So I will be MIA this weekend but I am excited to see some old friends. I'm not excited for the poor weather report though. It actually reads "cold, dreary and rainy". Is dreary a technical weather term?

I'll be back Sunday to tell about the wedding goodness!

Oh yeah, and if you didn't see yet, Stephanie Davis editor of Get Married Magazine commented on my review post earlier this week. Continue to leave her feedback - like I said, the magazine definitely has some potential and she really is eager to hear about what brides think! I'm planning on bringing the issue on the plane with me to read again (why yes, I do read magazines like books).

Get Married is Here - Magazine Review

Just last week I posted about the future of bridal magazines and I mentioned my curiosity of how the new Get Married Magazine will fare. Well today I got my free issue in the mail!

Get Married Magazine

Here are my thoughts:

Pros: Minimal ads, which is my biggest complaint about most other bridal magazines. Bright colors and some cool finds.

Cons: The layout is a little inconsistent and doesn't create a good flow of readability. The suggestions are a little cliche and don't offer anything new to the table. More often than not the product information directs you to the website shop, making the magazine read more like a catalog.

Best Section: The "Inspiration Board" pages are the most organized section. This is definitely a section that could be a staple as an "In Every Issue" type thing.

Worst Section: The "Translating the Trends" section was weak. Their choice themes aren't anything new or different (Damask, Eco-chic, Cherry blossoms, Florals, Monograms and Birds) and what was even more disappointing was that the suggestions were so obvious. I've seen some great bloggers pull off themes like these and offer some really clever ideas that were totally missed in the magazine.

The verdict? There may be potential for the magazine once it falls into a solid layout. Right now the basic design has nothing on wedding magazine leader Martha Stewart Weddings. But, my concern is that because you can view the magazine online so why would you purchase a subscription? Like I said last week, I don't really think I'm looking to purchase any more bridal magazines but I am interested to see if anyone has any thoughts...

Tying the Knot with Jewelry

I'm not a big jewelry kinda gal. (Gasp, I know) But, I rock my engagement ring and that's about it.

I have a couple great pieces that I wear occasionally when I want to dress up, including a wonderful tennis bracelet from B, a fantastic watch (which I actually wear a few times a week), some beautiful earrings from my parents, a claddaugh ring from my dad and another special ring from my sister.

It is very rare that I find a piece of jewelry that I really love. I know I'll have to have something special for the wedding though. Of course it depends on the dress I get, but I think I found the perfect bracelet for the wedding. It actually would go great with the dress I'm leaning toward. I love this bracelet:

Carolee Crystal Bow on a Pearl Bracelet $50

It is delicate and feminine with a good balance of classic and fun styles. I'm wondering if I should just buy it now. Regardless of what dress I get, I think that I should have this bracelet.

Here are a few other pieces I like, but they just don't give me the same "I want it!" reaction...

kate spade bow & faux pearl bracelet $75

Remember Me Bangle Bracelet from Etsy Seller WhiteFly $200

Rachel Leigh Hinge Bow Bangle $66

What sort of jewelry are you wearing for the wedding? Are you buying special "for the wedding only" pieces or are you looking for something you can add to your jewelry collection?

Heartland

You'd think that because I now live 3,000 miles from where I grew up that I would know my geography. Think again. Just the other day I looked at B and asked where Idaho was. Seriously. I can list the states from Maine down to Florida, no problem. But ask me to put together a puzzle of the USA and I'll get to the jumble of Midwestern and mountain states and scratch my head.

Maybe that's why I love the States United design by Etsy seller beauchamping. This layout is so much more lovely, no?

States United Letterpress Print $35, They also have a t-shirt!

I think I've mentioned before that our guest list represents family and friends from about 10 different states. This could be really cool for a guest book alternative. Add it to the list.

A Few Other Important Dates

photo source

Apparently its been a week for marking the calendar. Now that you've seen our save the dates here are a few others from some of my favorite blogging brides:

• wheresmydessert included some childhood charm
• Gator Bride featured a football ticket card from A Very Gator Wedding
• joy is the best makeup hand-addressed 85 of her save the dates
• Lucky in Love did a few mockups and is deciding on two contenders, let her know your thoughts!
• Weddingbee Miss French Fries talks about her process of deciding on a save the date

How I Saved the Date - Part 2

I told you about the front and here is how I created the back:

I was definitely inspired by Weddingbee's Miss Bunny. Here is the back of her save the dates designed in InDesign:

photo source

So, I started by outlining the Post Card part. I liked Bunny's Correspondence/Address Only split so I kept that. But instead of using a handwriting font I thought it would be nice to actually have it be OUR/MY handwriting. I pulled out a page of resume paper (the cool marble-ized kind) and wrote a quick note with a navy blue Sharpie. Then I scanned it:


I used that as the background layer of the card. On the "Address" side we included our website address & password. The final touches included the caption on the bottom that explains the front photo and I included a forever stamp for fun.


I printed them through Vistaprint and got 100 Free Postcards with a promo code (that they spam like its their job... oh wait, I bet it is someone's job to send those gazillion emails). We are sending them in envelopes because we don't want just anyone to see the web address and password, obviously. It ended up being only $24 when we added plain envelopes and color printing on the back.

So, that's it! Actually pretty quick and simple but still personal.


Any questions on how we created the save the dates?

How I Saved the Date - Part 1

Now that you've seen our completed save the dates, here is a little summary of how those bad boys were created.The entire postcard was created in Adobe Photoshop since I lost my InDesign program when my computer crashed. The idea was inspired by some vintage postcards I've seen throughout the blogs. You can read the inspiration post here.

I'll start with the front.

I was trying to think of what sort of image we should have. Not that I don't think that B and I are a cute couple, but I just didn't want to have our mugs on the front. We didn't get engagement photos - our thoughts, "why should we spend money on a photoshoot? What will we do with 100 pictures of us?" So, I literally was looking around my living room when it hit me: One of our favorite memories was our hot air balloon ride in 2004 (yeah, we go way back).

I started looking at the pictures my dad took of us floating away and chose this one:

personal photo

But to get a "vintage-y" look, we changed it from color to duotone (I created the color at #933434) and also added an "inner glow". You can do the inner glow by clicking on the "Layers" Menu and Select "Layer Style". I saved this as a jpeg.


Then we decided that it would be fun to create a postmark-like stamp by creating a brush. I found a great tutorial here. You can get a detailed - and more clear - description of how to do it there. I made a few adaptations, like rotating the brush so it is at an angle and changing the brush shape.


I then loaded the brush and stamped the jpeg photo. It is important to stamp the jpeg photo instead of duotone photo because then the stamp will be the same color as the photo.

I finished off by adding our names in the favorite font of blogging brides everywhere - Albemarle Swash! I added a bevel and emboss to make them pop.


And voila -


It actually was very easy. I've had this side finished since June but since we needed our website information on the back, it took until now to complete. I'll show what we did there in a few!

Here They Are - The Save the Dates

Here is the completed front and back of our vintage-style save the date postcards. Blurring out the details bums me out but you get the idea. I'll be posting the "how they were done" post a little later. I also just got a shipping confirmation from VistaPrint so the completed cards should be here this week! Yay!

You remember the front...

And here's the back!

Many New Posts Coming to a Computer Near You!

Just a head's up that I hope to get a few quality blog posts out this weekend. I've had a few things lined up for awhile including my save the date final reveal and tutorial as well as a few other details I've been loving lately. This seems to be the weekend to do it as B is out of town for work. And, I need something to distract me from one helluva week! I know a lot of people have lives and aren't avid weekend blog readers but hopefully all these posts don't get lost in a shuffle but alas, this is how I've decided to do it.

So stay tuned!

photo source

Turning down candy?

It used to be so sweet...

It is no secret that I enjoy reading blogs and a few e-newsletters, especially when it comes to the fashion and wedding realms. I've been subscribing to DailyCandy's emails for about three years, changing my subscription from NYC and Philly to DC to San Francisco in conjunction with when I move. Lately though, I am less than impressed. Three years ago, when I started reading, I felt like I was constantly bookmarking emails and visiting the sites they suggested. I can't remember the last time I did this. And their new wedding section? Total fail for me. (That's the first time I've ever use the term "fail" like this, neat). I get random emails from them once a month with things they say are wedding related but are actually a compilation of Everywhere emails I got over the last few weeks.

Am I alone on this or somehow, am I missing something? I deleted DailyCandy from my Reader feed a few months back because it was coming in at random times with 10 posts at once. I just unsubscribed to the Everywhere section today. I kept the SF emails because I like the Weekend Guide emails on Thursdays, but even those are a little lacking lately.

Has anyone else fallen off the DailyCandy train? Do you find email blasts irritating with the ease of Google Reader or RSS feeds?

A Shoe By Any Other Name...

Lately, I've had shoes on my mind. I definitely want to get a great pair of fun heels for the wedding - a current wedding trend I'm willing to jump on the bandwagon for. I am currently lusting after these beauties, all of which are over $800 - HA! - I think I will be stalking Gilt and RueLaLa for the next year or look for some more affordable options. Yeah, that sounds like the sane thing to do.

But wouldn't it be nice...

My Favorite - Christian Louboutin Satin D'Orsay Pumps - isn't the peek of blue fantastic?!

Jimmy Choo Nude Grant Pumps

Hello Lover - Manolo Blahnik Something Blue Satin Pumps

Christian Louboutin Bow Satin d'Orsay

Stamp Collecting

Today is payday and that means my attention is focused on whether or not I should spend my money on a new pair of boots or put it toward paying off my AMEX. Unfortunately (through immense self control) AMEX wins. Payday also means post office day. For the last few months, on payday, I head across the street to the good old post office and buy two sheets of stamps. Exciting purchase, huh?

Anyone who has planned, is planning or has ever been invited to a wedding knows that before the rings, the "I do's" and the celebrating comes the save the dates, the invites and the thank you cards. That's a wholelotta stamps. I'm stocking up. When B found out I was doing this, I think he thought I was a little crazy. But don't you think spending $15 every two weeks eases the blow rather than spending a gazillion dollars on postage at one time? Yes, me too.

The first mailing will be our save the dates (stay tuned). We're using Forever stamps because I'm not too picky about the way the stamp looks ... and well, they are good forever. Then there are Christmas cards. I'm debating on whether or not to get the Thanksgiving Day Parade stamps cause I think they are just so cute. From that point it will be the big stock-up for the invites and thank you cards.

Parade Stamps Are Awesome

Should I be applying this theory to something else like cupcakes or J.Crew clothing? Just kidding ... kind of. Are you purchasing any wedding related items in spurts?

I'm Kreativ... Cool!

Laura over at The Bride Side of Life has awarded me the "Kreativ Blogger" award, and I think that's pretty cool! Thanks Laura!


To continue the tradition of the award, I am to write 7 facts about me and then pass the award on to seven other "Kreativ" bloggers!

So in case you were wondering...

1. I love the winter holidays. I begin thinking of Christmas in September, I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade religiously and I know every word to White Christmas and Elf.
2. I am super competitive. My friends call me the 'Game Nazi'. I'm not really athletic but I will never turn down a game of Apples to Apples, Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble. I have never beat B at Monopoly but I plan to play until either I win or I die. (I'm also a little too dramatic)
   
3. I can relate just about anything to "How I Met Your Mother" or "Friends". I am sure it annoys people but it is a force that can't be stopped.
4. I don't eat anything from a pig. It's not a religious or mental thing, I just happen to dislike the taste of anything that comes from a pig. This is especially ironic since my last name translates into bacon.
5. I definitely was born in the wrong generation. My music taste is more akin to anything before the 80s yet my pop culture preferences yield the age of a teenybopper. Give me Twilight, Harry Potter, Disney Channel Movies and CW TV shows and I am content.
6. When I'm walking, I hate cars. When I'm driving, I hate pedestrians. No matter what, I always dislike bicyclists. This is probably because 1-they think they dominate the road and 2-they are just so smug about it. I don't know how to ride a bike. I forgot how. Yes, it is possible.
7. My family and I all share a strange obsession with The Muppets. Usually once a month my sister texts me asking the names of Waldorf and Statler and I believe Follow That Bird is an underrated movie. B is a brave man but he will not allow any Muppet elements in the wedding.

And here are seven of my current favs:

• A Future Mrs... Someday Hopefully Soon
• Wifetacular
• I Love You Much
• Nine Years in the Making
• Gator Bride
• Life, Love and Mawwaige
• Burning River Bride

Keep it going bloggers! :)

Save the Date Sneak Peek

In conjunction with getting a wedding website started, we also finalized our Save The Dates last weekend. Here's a peek at the front of our vintage-style postcard. I'll talk more about how we got the idea, what the back looks like and how we designed the cards in a later post.

(personal photo) yes, we are in that balloon