Happy Friday, friends! Fridays make me happy, and so does getting things in the mail, so what better day to post about our save the dates than today?

As you all know, we were choosing between a few different Minted designs. You overwhelmingly preferred the “Midnight Vineyard” style, and it turns out we did, too! We loved how the strings of light evoke an elegant evening garden party feel, which is exactly what we’re going for. However, as some of you also noted, the green ink was not the best choice for us. Here’s the original design again:

Thankfully, Minted is awesome about customizations, so we easily switched out the font (for something more classic), swapped the ink color (for a pale powder blue), and made a few text layout changes. We also opted for a solid-colored backer. It’s the same pale powder blue, though it’s kind of hard to tell in photos (and, truthfully, in person… should have made it a little darker!). Here’s the final design we ended up with!

Pretty! We also wanted a patterned envelope liner. Midnight Vineyard has a standard liner design, which looks like this:

However, that was a little too matchy-matchy for me, so we opted to swap the standard liner for the liner that comes with the Kraft Ribbon Christmas card:

Voila!

Now, to get these babies ready for their big adventure! I addressed each with my best handwriting, popped on my favorite stamps, and subbed in a custom rubber stamp from Rubberstamps.net for handwriting our return address on every envelope. For those who are interested, we ordered the 3 inches by 1.5 inches size, and I uploaded a custom design I made in Illustrator. I purposefully opted to leave our last names off, because this way, we can use this stamp even after we’re married! A very good $16 investment if I do say so myself.

Thank you very much to my friend Nancy Ray for taking these photos!

With everything addressed and stamped, all that was left was to box the pretties up and take them to the post office.

Which we did, on a very busy Saturday morning.

Yes, I am the ding dong that made my fiance take a photo of me in front of the post office.

Despite the line, I bravely asked the postmistress if I could hand cancel the stamps once we got to the front. She really didn’t want to let me, but eventually caved to my winning smile :) (Don’t worry, we stepped to the side while we worked so as not to hold up the line!) Why did I care about hand canceling? It avoids your mail being run through the machine, which imparts not-so-lovely neon markings and often mashes them up a bit, too. When you hand cancel, you just get a charming, old school stamp on the front. Tip for others who would like to hand cancel: make sure you stamp OVER your postage stamp (that’s what you’re canceling, get it?). Otherwise, your envelopes will be run through the machine anyway, and you’ll incur the wrath of the USPS to boot.

I’m so happy with how everything turned out! I did feel a good bit of anxiety as I worked on these, though, and I couldn’t understand why. Finally I concluded that it’s because sending out save the dates makes your guest list very real. These people are invited, and these people are not. We ended up cutting down our initial guest list a few months back once budget realities started to sink in, and of course, we had to leave people off the list that we would have loved to invite. There’s understandably a degree of sadness that comes with that. However, I’m so excited to celebrate with those we are able to invite, and hope they’ll all be able to make the trip to Connecticut in September!!

Hi friends! I wanted to update you on my wedding shoe situation, since I think an update is only fair when I ask for your opinion! As you may recall, I presented you with eight options a few weeks back. Interestingly, opinion was quite split, and there wasn’t a clear favorite. Here’s a little graph for illustration:

Yes, I am a dork.

Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 6 were the favorites, with no. 2 coming out just a tiny bit ahead. In my mind, though, no. 1, the Nina “Paladin” in white luster satin, was the clear winner. I loved the ladylike bow, the heel was the perfect height, and, though some advocated for more colorful options (which I completely understand!), the white was the right choice for me in the end.

So, my mind made up, I happily headed to the Nina site to make my purchase. But oh no! They were out of my size in every color! Great sadness ensued as I searched for them on every site I could think of (Endless, Zappos, eBay, etc.) to no avail.

I left the matter for a few more days, and when I returned to check the Nina site, the “Paladin” listing was gone completely! Desperate, I decided to tweet my predicament. Lo and behold, a very helpful gal responded, directing me toward 6pm.com as well as the Nina “Brynn,” available at Nordstrom.

I had never heard of 6pm.com before, but it turns out they’re an online retailer offering discount and clearance shoes. And, my goodness, there they were: the Nina “Paladin” in my size, in white luster satin. AND, they were not $89 (the original price), they were not $58 (the clearance price on the Nina site), they were $37!! You can bet those babies were in my cart before I could say boo. I also ordered the “Brynn” just to be sure.

A few days later both pairs arrived (both with free shipping to boot!), and they were even lovelier in person. Here’s the “Brynn”:

And here’s the “Paladin”:

Though the “Brynn” was lovely, the “Paladin” was the clear winner. The heel height (2.5 inches) is just right, and the cushioned soles are oh-so-comfortable. I was also able to compare them to a swatch of my dress, and they’re a perfect match. Love!

Chalk one up to a wedding success story!

Yep, still thinking about it (first post here, in case you missed it). It was so gratifying to read all of your sweet comments about how you, too, think it’s important to plan out the morning of your wedding and not just let it slip haphazardly away. In fact, just typing out that sentence gives me hives — the LAST thing I want happening on that day is to not realize how late it’s getting, and be forced to rush around getting ready at the last minute. Not that that would be likely to happen, but still.

Anyway, I’m happy to say that we’ve decided where we’re going to be getting ready that morning: the Steamboat Inn! Here’s a little pic of the front:

Photo by wheelmaker via flickr

You actually approach from the back, but as my grandmother says, no one has waterback property :)

Anyway, first, though, let me say that it might seem strange that I’m getting ready anywhere other than my childhood home, which is just as close to our ceremony venue as the Steamboat. Getting ready at home would certainly save us money. However, as we’ve already discussed, a calm wedding morning environment is very important to me. It sets the tone for the day, and I want the tone to be calm, loving, and joyful. I do not want anyone racing around picking up a house that, quite honestly, will probably be cluttered from a week of wedding preparations — not me, not my Mom, not my sisters, not my bridesmaids. I want a neutral environment in which we can all relax. I also want to give Tanja a lovely, simple background in which to shoot. Here’s a shot of the suite we’ve booked — isn’t it pretty?

All that being said, I think my parents were a little sad when I talked about booking the room, since they had assumed my last night as a single lady would be spent in my childhood home. Of course, this instantly made me all sentimental. I also didn’t like the idea of splitting up the family that night, either — we’re all incredibly close, and it would feel kind of wrong to spend the night by myself, or with just my sisters, or with just my Mom and sisters. So, as silly as it sounds, we might leave the room empty on Friday night (it’s a two-night minimum stay), sleep at home, and arrive to get ready around 9am or so. Silly it might sound, but it just might be the right decision for this gal and her family.

Anyway, the Steamboat is lovely, with just eleven beautifully furnished rooms. I chose our room specifically because it’s the largest, has furnishings that coordinate well with our wedding colors (what?? Please don’t tell me I’m the only one that’s thought about something like that…), and has a little sitting room for extra lounging comfort. I do wish it had a tad more natural light, but there’s still a good amount.

And oh yes, one more benefit of the Steamboat is that it is very close to the spot I’m hoping to take pre-ceremony photos… but THAT is a post unto itself! In the meantime, what do you think about all this?

Today is the 25th, which means it’s time for an official wedding planning update! (If you’re curious why I post planning updates on the 25th, it’s because we got engaged on June 25, and I published the first planning update with one month under my belt (on July 25th). I suppose it’s become a habit!) I skipped a few months over the holidays, so I have much to report with 7+ months to go!

Photo by Leah McCormick via Snippet & Ink

Since my last update…
— I purchased a wedding gown!
— I went bridesmaid dress shopping (and we are close to deciding!).
— I bought my dream wedding shoes! (Thank you again for your help – I’ll be posting an update on Monday!)
— We confirmed all seven members of our bridal party (yep, we’ll be uneven!).
— We asked two dear friends to do readings at our ceremony.
— I booked a hair and makeup artist and I’ve thought about the wedding morning (still working on my playlist!).
— We booked an invitation designer.
— I started my first DIY project! (Hint: it involves ribbon)
— We finished our wedding website.
— I’m pretty sure we’ve collected all the silver we need for our floral arrangements.
— We assembled, addressed, and mailed our save the dates.
— We booked a suite for the wedding weekend.
— We reserved our tent and placed a preliminary linen order.
— We booked a videographer (!!!).

Next up on the list?
— I hope to confirm our preliminary rental and lounge furniture order and put down a deposit.
— We are this close to booking a band! Seriously, I know I’ve been saying that for months, but this time, we really are.
— We’re also hoping to confirm our ceremony musicians in the next month or so.
— I’d like to buy John’s tux, and hopefully outfit the groomsmen at the same time.

Much more about all this goodness soon! Anything you’re particularly curious to hear about? I’d be happy to start with your suggestions (unless, of course, you say my dress – that one’s off limits!).