And They're Off!

The invitations have been printed, assembled, stamped, addressed.... and now that they're officially in the mail and being received, I'm happy to share them with you! We are totally in love with our invites and so excited for everyone to see them!

We worked with Etsy (there it is again) seller The Extra Detail. She was fantastic to work with. She let us customize the entire project - the trifold color, the ribbon color, the invitation/rsvp/extra info card colors. She sent us samples of the colors that we requested, and let us choose EXACTLY what we wanted. Once we got that straightened out, she sent us multiple proofs and let us change the font as much as we wanted (which ended up being 4 different times). Once everything was absolutely perfect, we placed the order and a few weeks later, they arrived on our doorstep. Initially she sent us the wrong size outer envelopes, but she quickly corrected it, free of charge. Another great Etsy experience!

Sooo....are you ready to see them? Well, here they are, in all their gorgeousness...

We sent them out on Monday, and we've already gotten lots of feedback from people about them! I hope you like them as much as we do!

Etsy Love

Have you been on Etsy? You should. It's awesome. I'm obsessed. Since starting to plan our wedding, I have now purchased several items from various sellers. Etsy is basically an online marketplace of handmade goods and vintage wears. You can find anything on there. Here are some of the uber-fabulous things I've found...

Remember those wine glasses? The ones that were my inspiration for the color scheme of the wedding? Well, I contacted the seller and told that she was my inspiration, and asked her to set up a "registry" of items for us. And she did. She created (custom-painted) champagne flutes as well as salt and pepper shakers. They were purchased for us by Matt's fabulous aunt and cousins. Wanna see?

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The champagne flutes are actually painted in our wedding colors. The salt and pepper shakers are as-shown, and we put salt in the bronze one and pepper in the white one so that the feathers really stand out. They're GORGE!!!

Ok, next! The feather fascinator for my hair. I don't know how I came up with the idea to check out Etsy for this, but I'm so glad I did. Seriously...how pretty is this:

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This will be my only hair accessory - no veil, no headband. Just this pretty little thing and some curls. So simple and understated. Love it.

I wasn't really looking for jewelry. I don't wear a whole lot of jewelry on a day-to-day basis - my engagement ring, the aquamarine ring my mom had designed for me for my 21st birthday, and my watch. Since we got engaged, I have not been wearing my opal ring, but once it gets resized so I can wear it on my right hand, I will have that. [I used to wear it on the middle finger of my left hand, but Matt wants my left hand to have only my engagement and wedding rings. Too sweet to say no to, right?!] Oh, and my ever-present hair tie, even though my hair is short and I virtually never pull it back. Nonetheless, I found myself perusing Etsy one day, looking at jewelry. And I came across this:

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Technically, that's a necklace. And I don't want to wear a necklace. So I contacted the seller and asked if she'd be able to make it into a bracelet. She did, and made a custom-sized bracelet (small chain for my tiny wrist and smaller feather). I just got it in the mail yesterday, and it's beautiful.

Oh, and we also ordered our wedding invitations from a seller on Etsy! She has worked with us really closely (well, through email), and has kept us up-to-date on her progress. She consulted us on every. single. aspect of the design process - colors, font...everything. She sent us samples of the cardstock she has so we could pick out exactly what we want, and also sent us samples of the 50 different fonts she frequently uses (but was also open to suggestions about other fonts if we had something else in mind.

I've also purchased a few other items (mostly baby gifts for the thousands of my friends and family who are having babies this year). Every single transaction has been pleasant, smooth, and easy.

Seriously...if you haven't checked it out, you should. You'll be hooked. But you'll thank me for it.

DIY - One Down!

So I printed and did a practice run of our table numbers. I'm totally in love with them, and can't wait to get more of them done! I think they're gonna look so good at our reception!

I printed them at home, on ivory cardstock that I ordered online from Paper and More (who, by the way, are amazing). Then I wrapped a brown grosgrain around it, attaching it with a fabric glue stick. Then I attached the peacock feather with the same glue stick. Super easy!

Do-It-Myself

This past weekend my mom and I started shopping for my various DIY project materials. We are going to make our programs, table place cards, and table numbers. I'm really excited, especially about the programs. And the place cards.

The programs are going to be a fan, which I think kind of ties in with the peacock feather theme - it fans out like the peacock's tail. So we went out this weekend to get some different weights of cardstock, some eyelets, and a Crop-A-Dile. Here is what I'm attempting to make:

Cute, right? I got the idea and template from Aylee Bits. I found the right weight of cardstock to use, now I just need to order it (cuz what we were able to find at Michael's and Staples were smooth, and I want something with a bit of texture). I also played around with the eyelets and Crop-A-Dile. That thing is super-awesome, and has become my new favorite toy. Matt is really excited cuz it also does snaps on clothing, and he's been bugging me for 2 years to replace a snap on his leather jacket. I can finally do it!

As for the place cards, I came across this idea on Martha Stewart weddings and instantly fell in love:

Remember cootie catchers?!? I thought this was a really great idea for us, because (confession) I probably played with these and included Matt's name in them at some point in my life! As I said once before, we went to the same high school, and I had a massive crush on him my freshman and sophomore years (sadly, after that, he had graduated and was no longer my personal eye candy). And my friends and I were really silly and played games like this, and M.A.S.H and stuff like that. So...I'm pretty sure Matt was one of my destinies at some point! SO...I thought this was just too cute to pass up, as it totally brings me back to my high school crush days! We are making enough for each guest/couple, and will insert a name card into each one so people know where to sit at the reception. I thought about putting the names and table assignments on the outer corners, until my mom pointed out that that would mean I couldn't print (and therefore assemble) them until right before the wedding...I really don't want to be folding 90 cootie catchers in the days before the wedding! Also, we're putting trivia about us on each section, and then on the very inside will be our menu! I found that extra idea here. I can't wait to play with it and have fun coming up with trivia...and quizzing Matt! Ha ha.

The other DIY we're doing are the table numbers themselves. Since we're having the reception at the Antique Auto Museum, I initially wanted to go to the museum and take pictures of different cars and name the tables after each car. But then I thought that might get too complicated and look too busy on the tables. So instead, I'm doing a simple card with a ribbon and a peacock feather. Should be pretty easy. But classy.

Like I said, Mom and I did some shopping this weekend, and I am gong to order the cardstock this week. I'm really anxious to get started on them (especially the programs) so that we're not rushing to do them last-minute.

Inspiration

A few months before Matt even proposed, I had stumbled across these amazing wine glasses on Etsy.

I totally fell in love with them, and thought, "THAT would be a great color scheme for a wedding!" I even bookmarked the page so that whenever we started planning our wedding, they would be handy for inspiration.

I was a bit nervous about how Matt would feel about it, though. I wasn't sure he'd get my "vision." So once the proposal was done and the ring was on my finger, I approached him with my idea. I showed him the picture of the glasses. I explained about the color scheme I was picturing - brown, navy blue, peacock blue, apple green, and ivory. Guess what? He loved it! So I was safe to go exploring peacock feather ideas - YAY!!