September 18, 2006

Back from another weekend in Kansas City!  Now that the semester has started up we can't be gone for more than two days at at a time, but luckily that was JUST enough time to accomplish everything we needed to (and I do mean JUST!).

For those who don't know, last Thursday was my 21st birthday, so as soon as we got into town on Friday we went to Cascone's for dinner.  After that it was too late to really get a good start on the invitations, so we decided to start work bright and early on Saturday morning...and we did.

After a quick outing to Office Max for magnets and to Michael's for various save-the-date making tools, we got to work.  Jeff did the layout for the magnets, Dad manned the printer, and Mom and I were on cutting and gluing detail (as well as being the creative directors, of course!).  After just eight short hours of work (including a break for a trip to Michael's for more forgotten stuff), we called it a night, the new (read: empty) basement armoire full of cardstock with wet ink.

Sunday morning I was back at it again, only this time I was trying to do laundry as well (Jeff and I can't go home without bringing at least 8 loads of dirty clothes).  After a couple hours we took a "break" to go to Michael's (I ate my lunch in the car on the way) for still MORE supplies.  At about 6:30pm, we realized that we should probably put vellum inserts in the save-the-date cards to prevent the magnet from rubbing off on the text or vice-versa.  Michael's closes at 7.  So we went back a second time that day (are you counting?  I made 4 trips to Michael's this weekend!) for vellum.  At 8:30pm we finished them; all I have left to do is address them and stick 'em in the mail!  And we were out of Kansas City and on the road back to Kirksville by 8:45.  Can you say "whirlwind"?

But the save-the-dates look FANTASTIC, if I do say so myself!  Just wait 'till yours comes in the mail; I hope you agree with me :-)

--Katie

September 4, 2006

Well, I haven't said much on here in a while, as Katie is on top of just about everything wedding-related.  I am quite certain she could pursue a career as a wedding planner if she put her mind to it -- she seems to be made for it.  I'm not certain I'd be able to handle wedding talk for the rest of my life though :-p.

One thing that I am nominally in charge of is our honeymoon.  We discovered that there was only about a week between our wedding date and the first day of summer classes here at Truman, which is not much time for the kind of honeymoon we had in mind.  So, right now we're tentatively planning a 5 day or so trip to someplace like Minnesota or Mackinac Island in Michigan immediately following our wedding.  Then, the following Christmas break (January 2008), we're going to have our *real* honeymoon.  We haven't decided anything for certain yet, but right now we're looking at a Caribbean cruise.  Neither of us have been on a cruise before, and it sounds like a ton of fun.  We'll keep an eye out for hostile sting rays.

In other news, I'm going to be putting some more photos up on the site here in the next week or so, and I'm working on an update concerning the music at our wedding -- we've got some fun, if perhaps unorthodox, ideas for what we're going to play :).

--Jeff

Less than nine months until the wedding!  How exciting!

My biggest accomplishment as of late isn't really even an accomplishment in the strictest sense of the term, as I haven't done anything, per se.  But I figured out what I'm GOING to do, which as I'm sure you know, is half the battle.

We're going to do our own stationery to hopefully get a high-end, contemporary, funky look without a high-end pricetag.  I'm ordering my papers from www.paper-source.com at the suggestion of another bride I talk to on Xanga, since that whole thing with Thompson paper didn't exactly work out.  So last night I sat down and made lists of what we'll need to buy, what colors, how many, etc. etc. etc.  Jeff and I pored over pages of similar-colored blue paper to choose the perfect shade for our needs (OK, OK, *I* did all the poring.  But Jeff offered his input on my decision!).  I think I've got it figured out now; the only thing I'm debating on is if we want to make the invitations two layers thick--something to discuss with my mom.

It's a shame Mom and I couldn't decide all this in person but we just didn't get around to it when I was home last.  We need to get everything ordered tonight, so I have to make a decision pretty soon here.  Thanks to the constructive criticism and input from my new friends on Xanga, I really think I've got a handle on this stationery thing!

If you want to see what papers we'll be buying, check out my wedding Xanga.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I try my hand at actually printing and embossing 90 invitations, rehearsal cards, response cards, thank you notes and save-the-dates!!!

***UPDATE***

I wrote the below entry a couple days ago and it just now made it onto the site.  And it's already a bit out-of-date.  On Saturday I got a phone call from a very helpful woman from Paper Source named Jane.  I'd left them a voicemail the night before (at midnight, as I am often wont to do) and she got back with me very promptly.  I was confused about inner/outer envelopes (specifically, I didn't see outer envelopes as being available on the Paper Source site; she told me how to find them) and an envelope template kit the site sold.  She was also very knowledgeable about all the papers and was able to help me fine-tune the ideas I already had.  After we got off the phone I made a big ol' Excel spreadsheet to figure out just how many of each size and color of paper I needed (including some pretty complicated calculations on my dad's part regarding the flat paper for envelope liners) and then called back a couple hours later once I had it all sorted out.  I talked with Jane again and she helped me get the order placed, double-checking my quantities as we went along.  I then gave her my parents' number so she could call them and take care of the actual purchase (using their credit card info.).

After running the purchase through, we realized that though our quantities matched, the price I calculated was about $200 OVER what Paper Source charged.  I called them back, and after one more talk with Jane we got it figured out (the numbers hadn't been added right on their end, though they had all our items listed).  We even got free shipping out of the whole thing (not a bad deal considering how heavy $500 worth of cardstock and envelopes must be).

We haven't received the papers yet--they should be in by the end of the week--but so far I'm EXTREMELY happy with my experience so far.

But, like I said above, I can't forget that we've still got to print and emboss and mail all these things :).

--Katie