Invitations and More

So Ruby has been working on my invitations with some of her students.  I have to say, they look pretty friggin amazing.  The best part is that they're unique.  They were made specifically for me and Casey.  I love them and I have to thank Ruby so much for putting so much time into them!

My next thing is to figure out centerpieces.  I would like to do something movie-themed (like each table is a different movie) but I also need them to be cheap and easy.  Like a little memoribilia from each movie and maybe some simple flowers?  I don't know.  I was going to try to do something beach-themed but Casey hated the idea so I guess that's out.  Flowers can work but I don't want to spend a lot of money on vases and flowers.  I would love to do something with a Hollywood theme but I don't know exactly what we would be able to pull off.  Suggestions are certainly welcome!!

My Save the Dates Have Arrived!

I'm so excited.  I ordered these from vistaprint.com and they were super cheap.  I love the way they came out!  Now all I have to do is buy some A2 envelopes and they're good to go.

Also, I FINALLY figured out what to do for invitations.  My good friend Ruby is an art teacher at a California high school.  She said she would have a contest for her advanced art students where they can design wedding invitations for us and we can pick the ones we like the best.  All I have to pay for is the paper!  This is saving me so much money and it will be unique and special because they are custom made.  I'm so excited to see what they create!

Save the Dates

I ordered my Save The Date magnets from vistaprint.com so hopefully they will come in within the next week or two.  I'll post pictures when they do.  They were super cheap...I spent about $85 on 200 of them.  I'm thinking of having them print out invitations to match the magnet and then I will just buy pocket folds and decorate them on my own.  It would only cost me about $100 for 200 invites and 200 RSVP card.  Not too shabby.  I know the quality is not going to be amazing but it's a piece of paper so I really don't care.  I figure I can jass them up with ribbons or something.

Stationary

So I found a girl named Jessica who is willing to do my invitations and accommodate my very tight budget.  She is trying to get into the stationary business and is looking to expand her portfolio.  So basically she is willing to do the entire thing for free and all I have to do is pay for the materials!  This is going to save me a lot of time and aggravation.

We're going for a movie-themed wedding.  Movies are one of the first things we bonded over and it's something that continues to unite us so I think it would be a great thing to emphasize during our reception.  It's hard to find things that are movie-themed and not completely cheesy so a lot of it is going to have to be custom made.

This is what I am going for with the stationary.  I found this on etsy and loved it so I am hoping Jessica can come up with something similar.  I think it looks whimsical yet expensive.

This is what I would like the response cards to look like.  Our colors are purple and yellow so obviously we would use some of those colors in the stationary but this is the basic design I would like to base my response postcards on.

So that's the basic plan for stationary.  These designs I've showed you were made by http://www.etsy.com/people/akimbodesign?ref=ls_profile and I am hoping to do something similar.

Card Making

So I finally decided to try out my new Cuttlebug machine.  My brother's birthday is next week so I bought a 50 pack of A2 cards and envelopes at JoAnn's for $5.99.  I also purchased a birthday embossing folder.  I figured I can use it in the future for other people's birthday cards.

The card came out really well.  I wound up tying a ribbon around it as well (I found a pack of 6 Martha Stewart ribbons at Big Lots for $3.00) that said "Happy birthday" on it.

Here is a picture of what the card and envelope look like without the ribbon:



Not too shabby!!  Now I have to decide if I want to make my own save-the-date cards and invitations.  We have a little less than 2 years so even if I make one card a day I will have them done in under a year.  It might be a bit time consuming but it's a LOT cheaper and I am all about saving money on this wedding.

I bought some embossing folders and new plates for my Cuttlebug on Amazon with a credit that I had so I will be doing a lot more experimenting when those come in.  I also got a stamp pad because I found a really pretty "Thank You" stamp at JoAnn's that I am going to use to make my own Thank You Notes after the wedding is over.  Being crafty is so much fun!!

Cuttlebug!!

I got my Cuttlebug embosser and dye cut machine in the mail today!!! 

I was so excited that I went out to Walmart and got some cheap paper so I can start experimenting with it.  I got white paper, a combination of pastel papers, and some scrapbooking paper.  It cost about $10 total.  I also bought a paper slicer for $15 so I can cut straight edges.  I'm hoping to be able to do my save-the-dates using this machine and the printer (which I just ordered some ink for).  If all I spend is money on paper and a few embossing folders, it will save a lot of money.  The machine actually came with a couple of embossing folders and die cuts too so hopefully I can incorporate those into my cards.

Venue: CHECK!

So Casey and I went up north to book our venue this weekend.  The only place he could imagine getting married at is the Candlewood Inn so we went there to check it out.  His father, who is a well-respected DJ in the area, got us a good deal on the place and because we chose to have it on a Sunday, it was even cheaper than normal.

We went in and I automatically loved it.  They had a wedding going on outside right by the water so I got to see that in progress.  I also got to see what the hall looks like when it's all done up.  It's really classy and beautiful.  Obviously, this is going to be our biggest expense, but I was still able to book the hall of my dreams UNDER our budget. 

So we set the date for August 12, 2012.  I have a little under two years to get all of the planning done.