sister shower and some socks.

My future sister-in-laws informed me this week that they'd like to throw a shower for us. We figured out a date that would work best and now it's official. They've asked me to put a list together of girls I want to invite, so that's on my to-do list in the next few days. Is it bad that I don't have a guest list yet but I do have a dress to wear? I picked this up at Banana Republic, it was on sale! It was originally $150, on sale for $69.99. Add 10% off for using my BR card plus another 15% off with my "pick your own sale" card, and I paid under $50 for it. Not too bad! I wish I would've been able to get there last week when they had their friends and family sale, but that just didn't happen. Now I just have to find a cute pair of shoes and some jewelry to match and I'll be all set!

The boy also picked up some socks for himself and his groomsmen in a super sweet shade of green.

The socks will be part of the gifts for the groomsmen. We've been searching for socks to match our color scheme for a few months now, so I'm glad we finally found some that will work!

saving the date part 2

As promised, here are some pictures of the save-the-date cards that were sent to our guests this week. The fiance and I worked so so so hard on these, and I hope our guests appreciate them as much as I do!

Here's a closeup of the front page.

It opens by rotating the pages to the side.
All 150 assembled!
With the envelope.

Ready to be mailed!
If you can see in the pictures, we embossed every flourish pattern and used linen textured cardstock to add some texture. I designed the cards in Adobe Illustrator and we had them printed at a local printshop in the UP for less than half the price of getting them done at Fedex Kinko's or OfficeMax (we checked). I'll do a full cost & materials breakdown when I get back from Boston!

2 carat cup.

Looking for a little congratulatory gift for a friend or relative who's recently engaged? How cute is this 2 carat cup from Paper-Source? At $16.95, you could add a bridal magazine and some ring cleaner and have a super sweet gift for under $25!

more tissue paper.

While we're on the subject of tissue paper, check out these dahlia napkin rings. I'm probably going to use white linen napkins rather than trying to find a color that goes with our scheme. White is just easier and cheaper. I was thinking of placing a real dahlia on each place setting to dress it up a bit, but these could work too. Maybe I can recruit some helpers for this one... my list of projects keeps growing and growing. There's a how-to from Martha for this one as well.

Do I...
a. Take the cheap route and use tissue paper
b. Be lazy and pay for real flowers
c. None of the above

another option.

I'm still looking for something to decorate the pews of the church. Here is another contender.
These wreaths are so cool and I love that they are monochromatic. It makes them so much less Christmas-y, so much more elegant. And there are even instructions on how to make them. Thanks Martha.

how our photographer picked us.

The story of how we found our photographer is slightly atypical, so I thought I would share.

When I first discovered that wedding blogs existed, I came across a destination wedding blog in which two generous photographers were giving away their skills for free to one lucky couple that was having a destination wedding. They were looking for some more entries so I figured I'd give it a shot. Nothing to lose, right? So I sent them an application telling them the details of our wedding and the story of how the fiance and I came to be. Then I waited, thinking that I'd never hear about it.

To my surprise, I received an email back a few days later, asking for more information about the wedding and if we could chat on the phone for a bit. Of course I gave her the info, and we had a nice chat about what I was looking for in a photographer. A few days later, I went back to the blog site (I'd post the site but it has since been taken down) and she had posted the winner. Guess who she chose! I think you can figure it out!

Here are some pictures taken by our photographer, Shari Bare. She's based out of Southwest Florida for all of you Florida brides out there!

Gorgeous! I cannot wait to have Shari photograph our wedding! I am beyond grateful to her for donating her services to us!

Did you find any of your vendors in a unique way?

saving the date part 1

Our wedding guests will be receiving a little note from us this week reminding them to save the date! I'm going to keep them a surprise until most people have received them but here is a sneak peek of what they'll find in their mailboxes...

Let's just say I am pretty much elated to be finished with this project! Stay tuned for more pictures in a few days!