Yesterday's excitement

It was rainy and kinda junky out, but we had planned on a trip to the Bank of America Championship golf tournament yesterday and the rain had let up by when we wanted to go, so we took a chance on the weather and headed to Concord. And aren't we glad we did! Lunch was great (Thanks, Spire!), the weather even cleared up, and we got a golf lesson from Tom Kite.

Now, I know what you're thinking (if you know me)... "Dana, you don't play golf." And you'd be right. I went for the cultural experience and because it was different and I had no idea what I was getting into -- all good things in my book.

Now, after Tom gave his talk and lesson, there was a raffle of some pretty nifty prizes. A consultation and flower arrangements by some fancy florist (when they were reading that one, I said to Paul, "Watch, we'll win that one and we won't be able to use it!" because we already have Joan doing our flowers), a sommelier for an evening, and a few others. They came to the 2nd to last prize, 4 admission tickets to the DeutscheBank Championship over Labor Day weekend. You guessed it. I won. So we're going to go hit the links on Labor Day then head to the Sox game that night. Monday, the day we're going to attend, is the last day of the tournament, so the finalists will all be playing... We think Tiger's even going to be there.

Pens and envelopes arrived

The blue pens for the word finds and the envelopes for the invitations arrived this week. So once I figure out how to print on the handmade envelopes, I can mail the invitations. I love how you can plant these envelopes and watch wildflowers grow! I'll be including the instructions that came with the envelopes.

Maybe after I send the invites, I'll post pix of them on this site. So you can see what Paul was raving about.

And once I have Paul and Maggie and Liz and my mom check the word find I made, I can roll them up and we'll be all set.

Then for decorating the flower girl basket and making all the frames. We're ahead of schedule in many ways, so getting away this weekend to attend Brett and Sara's wedding will be just what the doctor ordered for THIS engaged couple! It'll be nice to focus on Sara and Brett for a few days and get my head out of my own preparations.

Mailing approaches

I'm hoping to get the invitations out on July 1. But, still, there's the problem with the stamps. Maybe, however, it's not a problem. If 2 oz. now cost $.58 (why did they DECREASE this amount by $.5 when the increased all the other mailing rates?), I can use my wedding $.63 for the invitations (overpaying by $.04 per invite) and then save the $.39 wedding stamps for the RSVP postcards (and overpay postage by $.13 per card). All in all, it's a waste of only a few dollars and my aesthetics will still be intact. PHEW!

Guest books, part deux

I figured I'd throw a little French in there (that's about all I know!), seeing as how our honeymoon is two weeks in France.

If you wanted to know how I made the guest books, since Paul's detailed how I made the invitations (thanks, P!), check out the post about them on my fledgling (and back-burnered) FramesByDana blog.

Magical invitations

Dana has done an incredible job with the wedding invitations. She printed the words on opaque vellum and attached each sheet to a lovely piece of seed paper, hand-deckled the edges and tied each sheet of vellum with twin blue ribbons. Then she punched patterns of dragonflies and butterflies into the seed paper to tie into the wedding theme. She's also printed reply cards and hotel directions and custom-ordered enveloped to hold everything together.

She's spent hours and hours on this project. The effort saved money, yes, but more importantly, it made the invitations distinctive and very personal. I hope the people who get them appreciate all the love and dedication that went into them!

I heart social media

Thanks to this blog and the guest book associated with it (go sign it if you haven't already!), I've reconnected from a dear friend of mine who I haven't spoken to in a few years now.

Thanks, K.O., for signing the guest book! I've written you a snail mail card, which should go out tomorrow in the mail.

I do so heart social media... :-)

Word find

I'm often torn between revealing too much in this blog so as not to have any surprises on 9/1 for the guests and wanting to share everything I'm doing.

I'll give it up this time.

I have created a word find with 75 words pertaining to our life together. Trips, hobbies, interests, you name it. Of course, there are also a fair share of wedding words that can really be used by anyone getting married. The leftover letters spell a message to our guests.

I've printed out the word finds on regular paper, which I'll roll up, tie with a ribbon and stand up in a tall glass or vase I have yet to buy. One bunch per table.

When providing things to write on, you must provide something to write with, so we've ordered 100 pens inscribed with our names and wedding date. These will, I think, be hung inside each word find. We'll have extras, as the guest list is right around 100, including kids.