Save the Dates!

Yes, these went out a while ago. But, I did take a bunch of pictures, and I finally got them all uploaded. I ordered all of our invitation stuff from smallprinter. He was so easy to work with, and his prices are unbeatable (especially for letterpress!). In spite of all the time I spent working on the design with him, the final design is incredibly simple. I love every bit of it!

The invitations and save-the-dates all came the same day (I'm just waiting for printing of the directions and RSVP cards). They are beautiful!

While I was at the post office, picking them up, I went ahead and opened them up and had the nice postal employees weigh them for me, so I could go ahead and buy stamps. As it turns out, I won't need extra postage for any of it! YAY! So, I went ahead and got Frank Sinatra and Bette Davis stamps for the save the dates, and forever stamps for the invitations and RSVPs (they'll be after the postage rates increase, and I am that stingy). Don't the Frank stamps match nicely?!

My mom was awesome enough to turn my scattered pieces of paper with addresses into an easy-to-use mail merge document, already formatted to the perfect size envelopes. And yes, I printed out the addresses. Straight to the envelopes, with no regrets. Because of that, I was able to get them all addressed, stamped and stuffed in one night! That's my kind of project.

Cupcake presentation

Generally, I've been pretty laid-back about wedding stuff lately. I feel like the pressure is off.

I've finalized or near-finalized:

catering,

locations (ceremony and reception),

flowers,

hotel,

invitations (and sent out the StDs),

flowers,

bought my dress, and

decided on rings! (more to come on many of these things soon)

I feel good. I feel like I've got the major stuff taken care of. What's left seems manageable, and doesn't seem too urgent. And the stuff that I know I was procrastinating on because I didn't want to deal with it, I've delegated to my mom. Perfect.

So now, I feel like I should be tackling the stuff that isn't urgent, but can be done ahead of time. Since I'll be baking cookies (more on this to comme, too) and cupcakes for the wedding, I would like to only have to worry about those two things (and the unexpected things that I'm sure will come up) for the last couple of weeks before the wedding. So I've been trying to figure out what I can go ahead and take care of.

And so began the cupcake tower project. I found a great tutorial online for making a tower out of foamcore. Sounded prefectly budget-friendly, and like something that my limited craft skills could handle. Right? Well, it actually is. However, after building two of the levels, I'm not sure that it's really the scale that I had in mind. I mean, it's GIANT. I guess that's OK. It just isn't what I was expecting. I read the directions and didn't think anything of 6" high sides on each level - but in person... that's really high! So, I guess I could just cut the sides shorter. I can figure that out, right?

And the way it's designed, so that the sides of each level are the supports, doesn't actually leave a lot of area for the cupcakes. But I'm sure I could modify that too, right? Maybe do an x-shaped support that leaves the whole bottom open for cupcakes, like a friend of mine did. Or just move the sides in, so that there is a partial overhang above each level. Or use regular wedding cake pillars for support at each corner. There are definitely options.

Maybe some pillars like these guys?

But then I started thinking about other options, and came across an old copy of Martha Stewart Weddings.

How cute would the cupcakes be in their own little boxes, just stacked into a tower shape? And even though it would mean that I'd have to individually box them, it would also mean that I wouldn't have to build a tower. Not a bad trade-off. But then the questions becomes whether to use clear boxes and show off the cupcakes, or cute boxes like Martha's favor boxes, that are their own display, and have the pretty cupcakes as a nice surprise when people open them? Or round boxes? And will boxes discourage people from digging in? Or make it too hard to tell what kind of cupcake is in each (I plan to have 3 different flavors)?

So many choices.

First Wedding Present!

I got my save-the-dates and part of my invitation suite in the mail this week! But even more excitingly, I checked with the post office, and neither will require extra postage!!!!!! That is a present that I can get excited about! So, I went ahead and bought all the stamps (invitations and RSVPs will be forever stamps), and it all came out to only $100.80!

...I remember a time when I would have had trouble spending $100. The wedding perspective has fully kicked in now though, and it feels incredibly cheap.

The hotel details

I reserved a block of rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn downtown. It's a brand new hotel in the building that used to be Miller and Rhodes - it's where Mr. L always went to see THE Santa as a kid.

The "Legendary Santa" who was at Miller and Rhodes for years.

It's also a straight shot down the street from the reception venue, and within walking distance of several great restaurants and bars. So, it should be easy for people to get back, whether they are coming from the reception of or the after party. Perfect.

The rooms are only $99/night. Go here to reserve a room. The discount rate is good as long as you make the reservation by August 5.