Project Wedding Progress Report

How about a picture less progress report?  I can't find my camera cord and I'm too lazy to figure out an alternative.

Let's get to it!

• I finally finished my wedding dress muslin.  I'm still futzing with details and decorations but I am probably 90 percent there.  This is only my second muslin but I want to be confident before I slice into the expensive stuff.  I have probably 20-30 hours in this muslin version at this point.  In addition to fitting and style details I've also been experimenting with ways to make the actual sewing easier.  To hell with rules!  I'm going Rogue!
• Wes found an excellent 100% wool grey suit for . . . get this . . . $5.00.  This is completely awesome but I swear it also kind of singes my grits.  First, I always assumed that 5.00 wedding suits was some kind of wedding blog trickery.  Second, where is the thrift store magic for big girls?!  The injustice.
• RSVP postcards slowly trickled in then stopped altogether.  So far we have eleven confirmed guests . . . but there could be more as both our mothers keep adding people to invite!  When we asked them there was no response but now that the first wave of invitations has gone out they suddenly have opinions. . . so we have to make more invitations.  Hopefully I can get them in the mail tomorrow.
• The time has come to think about . . .  decorating this here shindig and all the other projects that still exist on my list.  I left it pretty late but I think this might be a good thing.  I don't have forever to waffle over things like color choice and design details.  I just have to get it done.

Progress Report

Yesterday was my 100th post!  Go me!

Hopefully I can finish unpacking and sorting this weekend so I can get back to getting these posts out on time.  Wes and I have been really busy around here with projects.  I'll post on these in more detail in the coming week, but for now--want a progress report?

I sorted and organized our book collection.

All images personal photos.

We built a table.

We printed invitations.

We assembled invitations.

And I experimented with making coffee filter flowers.

Who knows what next week will bring!

Consulting the Book

This is our wedding on Excel.

 I created an excel document to keep track of wedding related minutiae.  I did this with list wizard because I generally don’t eff with Excel.  I can make some banging lists though.

Anyway-ours consists of three workbook pages.  They were originally separate documents but I consolidated because I am lazy and jeez . . . all that clicking.

The first page is our wedding budget.  There are tons of free downloadable templates for this online.  I picked one and customized it to make it blend with the theme of the book.  (I was having a purple moment.)

The second page is where I keep a list of itemized expenditures from the wedding account.

Items in red are outstanding reimbursements to the account for tangentially related wedding items.  We’ll keep them in our tally but they are not specifically for the wedding.

The third page is our guest list.  I won’t show you particulars because photoshop is another program I don’t have carnal relations with.  But check this out . . .

Click on that to get the full effect. 

WTF with the guest list!?

Crazy right?   

Wes and I fully intend to have a small wedding so we limited the family invitations to aunts, uncles, and select cousins.  Apparently we both have families that are all about the procreating.  Despite the ridiculous numbers, we fully expect less than a quarter of our guests to actually attend.  All but three live out of state and many probably won’t be up for the trip. 

Our dilemma, and the reason our list is so expansive, is that we wouldn’t be comfortable not inviting everyone and our efforts to limit a guest list might be futile anyway.  For most of our relatives an open invitation is just assumed.  “Someone’s getting married?  Of course the whole fam is invited!” 

(Don’t let the bourgeois posturing fool you—we really are not fancy people.  Country come to town anyone?)

At the same time, we don’t want an invitation to our wedding to make anyone feel pressured or compelled to go to the expense or discomfort of traveling.  Of course we want them here-we love them.  But we don’t want to bankrupt them or cause undue stress.

It’s a weird position to be in.

Our stance so far has been to stall on the invitations—which we have really elevated to an art.   

Now that we are officially established in our new residence we can’t use that excuse anymore.  Alas!

That does mean, however, that I will be sharing my handmade beauties with you soon!

Making it Fancy: Invitation Printing

I, like a lot of brides to be, had dreams of letterpress.  Creamy, heavy paper.  Romantic designs.  All the fancy expensiveness.

And then I eyeballed the prices.  As I don't have any firstborn children to sell I was forced to get real with a quickness.

DIY/DIT was clearly the way to go . . . but that way lay danger too.  Check out the real budget breakdowns for these semi-DIY invitations here on Weddingbee.  Printing at home can be pretty pricey too.

There is another option though.  It's less luxuriant but it can still elevate your plain text out of the everyday.  What are your thoughts on thermography?

Source

Raised printing.  It can be used on designs too.

Source

It is more expensive than flat printing but considerably less expensive than letterpress.  If you find an independent printer it could be a real bargain. 

Budget Planning: When It's Cheaper to Pay Shipping

I got busy spending some moolah, some scrilla, some samolians today, 

I had two glorious weekend days off in a row and rather than spend them cooped up in a car, I let my fingers do the walking and ordered this.

Source

The Paper-Source Swatchbook. 

Now, I am not what you would call a big internet shopper and there is a Paper Source in Atlanta which is only about an hour or so away from our digs.  With our two glorious days of freedom we could have easily made the drive.  Shipping costs nearly as much as the product itself.   So why order it online?

In this case, my dears, I find seven bucks worth of shipping a small price to pay.  Seven dollars is less than the gas money such a trip would use up.  Espcecially since it's unlikely I would make up my mind about invitation colors and whatnot after just one trip.  Seven dollars is also a reasonable price to pay for a satisfyingly lazy weekend.  No road trip.  No traffic.  And I love myself a nice swatchbook.  I find it a cost-effective solution to an internet shopping problem

What's not to like?

Now of course, I'll be counting the days until my pretty gets here.  And yes. . . this means we are finally getting around to starting invitation production!