Honey and I decided to compliment our wedding ring stamps, by giving our invitations an even more romantic touch (yah, we're hopeless) by mailing them from Loveland. We wanted that silly, lovely cancellation mark on the envelopes. You know, like the ones the Post Office does for Valentine's Day?
So, we took a 3 hour trip, drove approximately 100 miles, and stopped a Loveland mailman to ask which post office to go to. He was very nice and helpful and directed us to the 29th Street Station. We parked, walked in, mailed our invitations, all the while grinning at each other like a coupla goofy teenagers. We were both thinking the same thing: nevermind the Valentine hearts, flowers or romantic verses stuff. The simple word "Loveland" says it all.
We mailed ourselves a wedding invitation as a keepsake. When it arrived, we were completely surprised. The postmark read "Denver". Denver? We looked at each other. Denver??? What's up with that? Don't the residents of Loveland get their own town's postmark on their their mail? Why would a town (and not such a small town at that) get a cancellation stamp from another town 50 flippin' miles away?
Crud. Crap! We drove all that way for nothin'. :-(
For those of you who got a mailed invitation, take a thin Sharpie and write the word "Loveland" over the postmark, would ya? That's what we meant for you to see ....
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Unschooling A Wedding: The Invitations
Having unschooled our sons, and being natural-born unschoolers anyway, we have this we-can-do-it-ourselves spirit about everything. Especially our wedding. Besides, who in their right mind wants to pay those ridiculous, hair-raising exorbitant prices everyone always charges?
The invitations, believe it or not, were easy. I used to work in a print shop back in my youngster days, so I know paper: weight, texture, finish, et al. At first I thought, let's just go get some paper (vellum or parchment probably) and we'll design the invitations and print 'em at home. But, in my search for paper, I found it was even easier than that! There are lots of places now that not only have pretty paper, but also online templates that walk you through designing the layout, wording, etc. They also print them for you -- in color! We looked at several places, and finally decided on Wedding Paper Divas. Prices are quite reasonable, matching Ecru envelopes are included, and if you sign up for their newsletter before placing your order, you get $15 off. Their designing tools were so easy, it took us exactly two short nights to create the invitations. In case you're curious, here's what we chose: Artistic Maple, a simple, colorful autumn design. Beautiful, huh?
But, we also needed enclosure cards for directions and a few other things we wanted to say (like, skip the tuxes and high heels, this is not that fancy). We could print those ourselves. I found a perfect! (if I may say so myself) matching postcard at Paper Direct.
The invitations arrived the other day, and WOW, are they gorgeous. We've got one tacked to the living room wall just so we can admire it as we walk past. Silly huh? LOL. I'm here to tell ya, The Second Time Around is sure a lot funner than the first!
The invitations, believe it or not, were easy. I used to work in a print shop back in my youngster days, so I know paper: weight, texture, finish, et al. At first I thought, let's just go get some paper (vellum or parchment probably) and we'll design the invitations and print 'em at home. But, in my search for paper, I found it was even easier than that! There are lots of places now that not only have pretty paper, but also online templates that walk you through designing the layout, wording, etc. They also print them for you -- in color! We looked at several places, and finally decided on Wedding Paper Divas. Prices are quite reasonable, matching Ecru envelopes are included, and if you sign up for their newsletter before placing your order, you get $15 off. Their designing tools were so easy, it took us exactly two short nights to create the invitations. In case you're curious, here's what we chose: Artistic Maple, a simple, colorful autumn design. Beautiful, huh?
But, we also needed enclosure cards for directions and a few other things we wanted to say (like, skip the tuxes and high heels, this is not that fancy). We could print those ourselves. I found a perfect! (if I may say so myself) matching postcard at Paper Direct.
The invitations arrived the other day, and WOW, are they gorgeous. We've got one tacked to the living room wall just so we can admire it as we walk past. Silly huh? LOL. I'm here to tell ya, The Second Time Around is sure a lot funner than the first!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
I Said Yes
Well, the date is set: October 10th, 2010. I'm getting married. For the second time. It's a funny thought sometimes. I mean, hell, I never thought I'd get married in the first place, let alone twice. Of course, I never thought I'd be divorced either. Especially after 27 years. But, crap happens. He had a death wish, I had a life wish. Simple as that. I got out to save myself, my sanity, my kids.
Anyway, there's something to be said for maturity. This time 'round, I'm old enough to understand what "marriage' really means. And with that in mind, I've said yes to The Most Wonderful Man I've Ever Known. We've been best friends for 12 years. We think alike. We spoil each other silly. We're both hopeless romantics. We have a great time doing absolutely nothing together. What more could a gal want?
Okay. There is one other thing. We want a simple wedding. A low cost, no-muss no-fuss, DIY wedding. 'Simple' being a relative term, you understand, considering we're flying both ourselves, and the minister, from 2 states away into southern Minnesota. We're getting married on Honey's parents' farm, preferably outdoors, with his ten (yes 10!) brothers and sisters, their spouses, kids, assorted aunts, uncles, and a few friends in attendance. About 50-60 people all told. Geez Louise, I don't think I've even seen that many people in one house in my life.
Now, what is it about the word 'wedding' that doubles, triples, sometimes quadruples the price of everything you look at? I found that if I don't put the word wedding in my searches (wedding dress, wedding flowers), the results are more reasonably priced. I've also come across several sites that say couples are spending about $21,000 on average for a wedding these days. That doesn't even include the honeymoon or the rings! My God. 21k is a downpayment on a house! One site I found, CostofWedding.com has an estimator that will give you the supposed average nuptial costs by zip code. I say 'supposed' because as overpriced as weddings are, this still seems to be on the ridiculously high side.
We're looking at spending about $2,000 total, and that includes the plane tickets, ceremony, dress, suit, decorations, reception and honeymoon. So, I'm on the hunt for great budget wedding ideas. I'll post what I find here. If you have any, please share them. Maybe we can both get thru this without a coronary and a 2nd mortgage!
Anyway, there's something to be said for maturity. This time 'round, I'm old enough to understand what "marriage' really means. And with that in mind, I've said yes to The Most Wonderful Man I've Ever Known. We've been best friends for 12 years. We think alike. We spoil each other silly. We're both hopeless romantics. We have a great time doing absolutely nothing together. What more could a gal want?
Okay. There is one other thing. We want a simple wedding. A low cost, no-muss no-fuss, DIY wedding. 'Simple' being a relative term, you understand, considering we're flying both ourselves, and the minister, from 2 states away into southern Minnesota. We're getting married on Honey's parents' farm, preferably outdoors, with his ten (yes 10!) brothers and sisters, their spouses, kids, assorted aunts, uncles, and a few friends in attendance. About 50-60 people all told. Geez Louise, I don't think I've even seen that many people in one house in my life.
Now, what is it about the word 'wedding' that doubles, triples, sometimes quadruples the price of everything you look at? I found that if I don't put the word wedding in my searches (wedding dress, wedding flowers), the results are more reasonably priced. I've also come across several sites that say couples are spending about $21,000 on average for a wedding these days. That doesn't even include the honeymoon or the rings! My God. 21k is a downpayment on a house! One site I found, CostofWedding.com has an estimator that will give you the supposed average nuptial costs by zip code. I say 'supposed' because as overpriced as weddings are, this still seems to be on the ridiculously high side.
We're looking at spending about $2,000 total, and that includes the plane tickets, ceremony, dress, suit, decorations, reception and honeymoon. So, I'm on the hunt for great budget wedding ideas. I'll post what I find here. If you have any, please share them. Maybe we can both get thru this without a coronary and a 2nd mortgage!
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