This is the reason why my posts have been scattered and DIY and 365 rather than anything of meat. But don’t worry. I’m coming out of my proverbial closet, and I’m going to be honest about all of the wedding stuff —  the great, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Hope you’re ready.

Dear Wedding Gods,

It’s tomorrow. Oh geez. I have tons of things to ask you, but I’m going to narrow it down to one.  Please just stop the rain for tomorrow. K?Thanks. See, we’ve talked about this once, but I just wanted to reiterate my opinions.

I know, I know. It will be beautiful no matter what and blah blah blah, but I really really want it to not rain at all. Especially while we’re trying to set up. I know, it’s autumn in east Texas and it’s a lot to ask for, but it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

When is it okay to become a bridezilla? Is it ever?

via: The Durtty Bride

I feel like I have stayed incredibly up beat during the planning process. I’ve had two maids of honors step down, familial issues on both sides, a dress that disappeared then re-appeared only to not fit me at all, mailing issues, money issues and on top of all that I moved to Lincoln Nebraska and began a Doctoral program.

I have maintained a great attitude through it all. I really have, don’t judge me.

But now, now I feel like perhaps I should be a bridezilla.

Why? Because our pastor has recently called us to let us know that he can’t do our wedding.

Honestly, I feel bad for the guy. He’s taken over as a head pastor, and as such has stepped into a messy problem. And the church is telling him he can’t leave for a Saturday to do our wedding.

Have I mentioned that we are 12 days out? I didn’t? We are.

So, my question comes in because I feel like a doormat. I don’t know what else can go wrong. Well, I do, and it probably will go wrong. I suppose what I really don’t know is how to handle it anymore.

A friend of mine was just in a wedding the past weekend and she recounted to me the horror that this bride was. Ignoring birthdays, not providing enough food, being a jerk for the most part.

But her dress showed up. She didn’t have anyone step down. Her pastor was there.

I get that this is an incredibly irrational train of thought, but I would be lying to say it’s not there and present in my head.

So, would it be okay for me to fly off the handle yet?

Just as a side note, another friend of ours, in response to this newest conundrum said: “Why can’t you believe it? It is exactly the sort of thing that would happen to you guys.”

Touché my dear friend, touché.

Okay, that’s a little bit intense. But now people like Vera Wang and NYT Fashion critic Cathy Horyn are criticizing strapless dress wearing brides. New York Magazine has an opinion too.

Blogs are weighing in. And the comments are screaming I WANT A DRESS WITH SLEEVES!!!

This bothers me. As if brides don’t have enough pressure to look absolutelyperfectfortheirbigday, we are now telling them that they HAVE TO HAVE sleeves. And how dare you consider wearing a sleeveless dress.

I thought Ms. Trump looked sensational in her lace dress. It was the sleeves. We’re so used to seeing brides in strapless dresses that Ms. Trump’s gown made a fresh statement. Maybe she’ll have an influence on brides.

I’m glad she looked stunning. I’m so glad that look worked for her. I don’t think it works for everyone. Just like strapless doesn’t work for everyone. I don’t think you need to be worrying about what other brides wear becuase they are comfortable. I don’t need your influence.

Ugh.

For the record, her dress was quite pretty.

See?

As a side note: it’s being passed around that the sleeves were added becuase the happy couple was married in an Jewish Orthodox tradition. In which you have to have sleeves. There is no choice.

Here’s to hoping we get the 64 high. I’d be okay with it being cold that night.

Just please, Wedding Gods. Let it be a lovely day with no rain.

It’s lovely. It needs no alterations. It fits like a glove with no need to purchase special undergarments.

It’s $507.18.

God, I want it.

Here’s to hoping I can get the money together or find another, better dress.

Oh no. ohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohno

My aunt very kindly made it for me and shipped it out to me two weeks ago. TWO WEEKS AGO!

It’s not here, and we aren’t totally sure where it is.

This is not good.

I’m actually not freaking out that much currently. On Saturday I am going to hope over to David’s Bridal and see what I can find and figure out if I can pay for it.

And hopefully my handmade, lovely dress will show up.

*erm, Huntsville would be more fitting

Just how are you doing up there? Was it a crazy wedding season? I still think you should be quite happy that my wedding is in the off season. Just sort of a blip on the radar screen, so to speak, as far as weddings go.

I need your help again. I love autumn, and that’s why we chose it for our wedding. The downside to that is that I am in school. I’m actually in a Ph.D. program (thanks graduate school gods!). That means I am crazy busy and have lots to do with that. But I am also needing to be crazy busy with this whole planning a wedding business.

See, I have a to do list a mile long. And it’s not big things, but it’s stuff like send emails, print stuff, purchase last minute things — you know pretty small stuff that I doubt people will know if they’re missing it. However, it’s all become quite big to me and as such I avoid it. That’s my unhealthy coping skill. I gave up the chocolate, most of booze, and the cigarettes, so now I just avoid. I think it’s  a healthy trade…

…unless your wedding is 6 weeks away.

So anyway, if you could please help me to remember my to do list, that would be great. Preferably when others are awake so they can respond to me. Oh, and make sure there’s ink in my printer when I do remember. That was a bit obnoxious.

Thanks!
Nicole

We used Budget Savvy Bride’s idea and turned it into our own, much like we’ve done with everything else.  While I don’t always agree with her ideology, she is super creative.

Anyhow, here is our finished product:

I am super proud of them. See those birds? Those are hand-stamped, by moi! As are those vines, but that was a bit easier. They were also cut and glued by hand by myself and my maid of honor, as well as Chet. Chet did the labels, see that thing in the back?

Man, that was hard work. But I think they ended up being worth it.

We started out on Thursday night rolling the RSVP’s. See those vines? That actually took about an hour to do for the 80 or so we did.

Then, on Friday, we started stamping birds.

This is the Darth Vader trick. It’s patented, taught to me by Charlotte.  See, when you color the birds red, you have to wipe off the feet and the beak and color them yellow. By that point, the red ink has dried a bit, so you must blow on it. That’s right. Blow on it. The heat from the air re-wets the ink and thus, you get to stamp them. By doing that, you get these adorable invites…

Tell me those aren’t adorable! If you don’t like them, well, don’t talk to me.

Now, onto the envelope wrappers. I wish I could remember where I found them, but I can’t currently. Shoulda bookmarked it. Anyhow, we ended up doing these becuase my wonderful friend Charlotte, who had volunteered to do calligraphy had something come up and she couldn’t do it. Well, I can’t do calligraphy, and neither can Chet. So, we opted to use our great stamp as well as my handwriting. It was a pain in the butt, however, it turned out lovely.

Charlotte also paid for the paper as well as the bird and vine stamps plus ink. That obviously was a huge cost reduction for us. In total, we paid for the stamps to mail out (and purchased them when they were only .42!).  We also bought the sticky paper for the envelopes and I paid to have them printed in the design center by my office.

Let me pause here: stamps. Sara, over at 2000DollarWedding at one point in time said that she was upset because they couldn’t afford photo stamps for their invitations. When I read that, I thought to myself “Are you crazy? That’s what you’re worried about?!” I was definitely quick to judge. Then, I had to send out our invitations. I had these beautiful things, gorgeous, really, and I had to put those ugly forever stamps on them. While they weren’t panther stamps, I still was not please, at all. It was kind of like the brown lace. However, this time, I couldn’t change it. It’s still driving me crazy.

Moving on….

Personally, while I think it was cheaper to do them myself it was a pain in the butt. Honestly, if I had to do it over again, I would set aside more money for sending the invites out to be printed. It would just be better. I am not a crafty lady, so this was just too much for me. Yes, they are adorable. No, I would never, ever, ever, do it again.

But then again, should something happen to me and Chet… I wouldn’t plan another wedding. Nope. Sure wouldn’t. But that’s for another post.

Sources:
Envelope Mall for the RSVP envelopes and the mailing envelopes. We had originally intended on doing postcards, but the font was too small. Oh well.
Stampin’ Up! for the stamps and the paper.
For printing, cutting, and gluing, we used stuff around my parents house. My mom is a super crafty lady so she has lots of neat things.

Phew. That post is done.

So, I’m not really even totally sure where I left off. I suppose it was about &’s, yes?

Yes.

Okay, so where are we now? Well, everything has basically become a crap shoot. Funny, as I am no longer in Texas, but I suppose that is how it goes.

Alright, alright. I’m being dramatic again. But we’ve had a couple of things go wrong. First, our band which was going to play the ceremony and then during the mingling time is no longer able to play. WHAAAA!? Well, apparently they have to march, at the only away game that they go to, which, is of course, that weekend.

So we went for plan B, asking our friend who plays in a string quartet to play for the wedding. He agreed, and then promptly remembered another commitment to which he could not back out of. To his credit, he diligently tried to get out of it, but it just wasn’t happening. He gave us the number to some friends of his, but couldn’t guarantee any prices for us — which is just terrifying.

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. That is about the mode my brain has been on for the last few days. Okay, so see, our DJ also has a wedding package in which they’ll help us choose songs, set up, play and all of that glorious stuff. Only problem was that it adds an extra $395. And then add an extra $150 for the hour to play. When e-mailing out DJ, he very kindly bumped the price down to $475, since this is a completely unexpected expense. It really was kind of him.

We just don’t know where we’re getting the money from.

Also, we can’t locate our pastor who is to marry us. Sam, if you’re out there… please, for the love of God, contact me? k, thanks.

Oh, and invitations need to go out like, tomorrow if we want people to come. Apparently it’s good to have people show up when you’re putting on a wedding.

Ohno. ohnoohnohnohnohnohnohnohno.