Bridesmaid cards, save the dates, and invitations

After countless hours on Pinterest (actually more pre-engagement than post, but I think that's largely because I already have a good idea of what I want, thanks to Pinterest!) I got some ideas for some of the details for the wedding. 

Actually, the whole venue picking- date setting business is exhausting and overwhelming and I'm way more excited to get into the little details and crafting, because that's what takes me to my "happy place"..making "pretties" as M calls them. (Actually we call them "pwetties" because we are apparently 12 years old and speak in LOLcat language.)

One of the first things I knew I wanted to do was get a card or find a creative way to ask my girls to be bridesmaids. This also would help with the fact that I am super awkward with these type of heartfelt conversations. This way, I got to write all the mushies out, hand them the card, and then be there for an in-person reaction (for most of them, that is had to mail one to Duluth, one to VA and one to MI). SO I popped on Etsy for all things crafty and got 6 specialized cards for $12 plus shipping! That's cheaper than Walgreens, folks! Here they are: 

(Gratuitous ring shot. ;-) )

I got to customize the colors and the little series of photos down the right side. There were actually 2 more up top that said "wear whatever dress I choose and say you love it?" and "keep me out of jail at the bachelorette?".. these finish the question on the left side, which says "Will you?" (and then obviously it says "be my bridesmaid"). I was also able to get one that said "Maid of Honor." Overall, a great investment! I don't plan on going TOO over the top with little details, since nobody else will notice them and if I Etsy'd everything I'd break the bank, BUT these were a bargain! 

Last Thursday I got bored and remembered we had a Scrabble game at the house. Let me back up: Scrabbe is kind of "significant" to M and I. We went to the Chatterbox Cafe on our 3rd date and played scrabble- it's a cool bar that has board games and Super Nintendo/Nintendo games for you to play. Then, for my birthday (which is also Valentines Day) the first year we were dating, Scrabble was how he told me what my gift was. He hid the letters in his coat pocket and pulled them out when I wasn't looking, and as the game went on (we were playing before dinner reservations later) he spelled out "Eric Church" and right as I was about to get all up in arms that Eric is NOT a proper Scrabble play, he tossed an envelope in my lap- it was 2 tickets to the Eric Church concert! The irony there was that I had gotten him the exact same gift. Bahaha. SO, we had 4 tickets to the concert. I sold mine on Craigslist since his were better seats. 

Anyway, I knew I wanted to incorporate Scrabble somehow, and I saw photos like this on Pinterest: 

SO Thursday night I got bored and started spelling things out with Scrabble pieces and my ring. The above is an Instagram shot.

As one of my ideas for Save The Dates, I wanted to spell it out with scrabble letters and my ring, and then include the details in text at the bottom. So I layed out the letters and my ring on our black coffee table, and ta da! :

I actually have a complete mock up I did using the Google+ photo editor that had our names in white, a random date, and the city/state, as well as "formal invitation to follow"... and I had it on here until I realized it had both our full names, and M being in the interactive marketing field, is wary of our "stuff" out there on the interwebz. (Ya'll understand ;-)) Anyway I'm thinking of doing the above, OR during engagement photos writing "Save our date" and the date, on the bottom of my shoes. I've seen it on Pinterest too. Then we'd sit on the ground and the focus would be on the shoes with us blurry in the background. You get the idea. The last idea I had was to hold up a sign during engagement photos. 

As far as invitations go, I'd like to try to make them myself. I went to JoAnn Fabrics for the pillow project, and scouted out their cardstock. They have normal paper sized packages of a cream colored cardstock for pretty cheap ($3.00 or so for 25 or so sheets). I just want a simple invite, so I'm thinking of printing them ourselves- 4 to a page- on the cardstock, and then to glam it up a bit, wrap a different color piece of lace around it and secure it with a dab of glue, like this: 

                                                                            Source: 1stwebdesigner.com via Kelly on Pinterest

We'll see how ambitious that idea is, and I may do a test run long before we'd have to actually do our invites to see how feasible it is. 

That's about it for wedding stuff today! Update on St. Anthony Main: we loved it, but when we got the quote back we nearly had a heart attack. The sad reality is, with our numbers, it's going to be in that ballpark no matter where we go. Alas, it us US who want to have the big party with all our family and friends, otherwise I'd be close to saying "F it" and going to city hall or eloping. Hopefully things are a bit easier once we get the venue squared away. 


We're going to see the Minneapolis City Hall Rotunda next week (she finally emailed back) as well as the St. Paul College Club (right next door to the governor's mansion, and my school.. holla!). I'm hoping after having seen those 2 (that'd make it 5 total) and getting some estimates, we'll be able to make a final decision. 

-Kelly