Paul, Alice, Ryan and I went down to Pennsylvania this weekend because Paul's and my shower was on Saturday at Scott and Liz's house. Liz, Maggie, Jannine and my mom did such a great job of making the party special -- from little pina colada-flavored wedding bell candies to printing out pictures of us and hanging them from windows with ribbon to making such a wonderful spread of food (it really was the talk of the party!). Maggie picked up her mom on the way down, and so Maria came from CT for the shower. It was just a really wonderful gathering of family, both actual and adopted.
The party had special significance to Paul and me, as it turned out, because on Thursday evening we found a new respect for life (specifically mine). Let's just say getting a new car is a more immediate concern than it was last Wednesday. I'm was in the car alone and I'm fine -- a few scratches and bruises -- but I was extremely lucky on many fronts.
At any rate, it was a wonderful party and a great time with family. Thanks to everyone who came and made us feel so special and loved. It really touched our hearts.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Extra invitations
If your invitations to your spa day with the girls, rehearsal dinner, bridal brunch, gift opening party, whatever, don't match your invitation stationery, you're supposed to send them separately. I wish I could tell you I thought that much ahead. The real story is that I couldn't be bothered with the extra invitations in June when I was making the invitations.
That, of course, means that at this point I'm pretty much in the "get them made and delivered and move on to other stuff" mode. They're cute, but not cut-out. They don't match the invites to the wedding and it seems that every person got another set of invites. For instance, only the bridal party and immediate family and the wedding helpers are going to be included in the rehearsal dinner (otherwise it would just turn into the pre-wedding reception), only the moms and bridal party are in for the spa day (before the rehearsal -- kind of like my ideal version of a bachlorette party, since I've never really been one to go clubbing and get wasted), and all out-of-towners are invited to the bridal brunch the morning after the wedding. The gift-opening party is just immediate family, basically, because who else would even want to watch us open gifts, if even they do?!
So I made my lists (it helps to be a hyper-organized type of personality when planning a wedding!) and printed them all out yesterday afternoon and stuffed each envelope last night. Why did I do that when I really have enough to worry about this weekend, what with the wedding shower in PA this coming Saturday? Well, that's why. I'd like to hand-deliver each of the invite envelopes at the shower. For those who won't be there on Saturday, they'll get the mailed version, which will go out sometime next week.
Let's call it not so much "not planning ahead," but rather "a touch of personal attention" -- delivering the extra invites a few weeks late. I guess that's kind of the normal timeline, I just wanted to do it asap so people could plan their hotel requests appropriately.
That, of course, means that at this point I'm pretty much in the "get them made and delivered and move on to other stuff" mode. They're cute, but not cut-out. They don't match the invites to the wedding and it seems that every person got another set of invites. For instance, only the bridal party and immediate family and the wedding helpers are going to be included in the rehearsal dinner (otherwise it would just turn into the pre-wedding reception), only the moms and bridal party are in for the spa day (before the rehearsal -- kind of like my ideal version of a bachlorette party, since I've never really been one to go clubbing and get wasted), and all out-of-towners are invited to the bridal brunch the morning after the wedding. The gift-opening party is just immediate family, basically, because who else would even want to watch us open gifts, if even they do?!
So I made my lists (it helps to be a hyper-organized type of personality when planning a wedding!) and printed them all out yesterday afternoon and stuffed each envelope last night. Why did I do that when I really have enough to worry about this weekend, what with the wedding shower in PA this coming Saturday? Well, that's why. I'd like to hand-deliver each of the invite envelopes at the shower. For those who won't be there on Saturday, they'll get the mailed version, which will go out sometime next week.
Let's call it not so much "not planning ahead," but rather "a touch of personal attention" -- delivering the extra invites a few weeks late. I guess that's kind of the normal timeline, I just wanted to do it asap so people could plan their hotel requests appropriately.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Frames in progress
For favors, I'm making a frame for each person (the place cards will be in them). Well, I put a first coat on 34 of them today. It feels good to make progress. 2nd coats of paint coming, well, whenever I can. They take a day to dry and some of them will probably need 3 coats of paint. Then the fun part -- decorating them! I've been stocking up on decorations for them for months.
I'll post pix when some are done. I hope they'll all be different -- it'll keep it interesting both for me and for the people getting them!
I'll post pix when some are done. I hope they'll all be different -- it'll keep it interesting both for me and for the people getting them!
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Big step
On Saturday morning, I stood in line with about 39 of my closest friends at the Framingham P.O. so that I could get the invitations' stamps hand-cancelled so that they wouldn't have to go through the machine that does it and thereby be flattened. The guy at the counter let me do it myself, which was a win-win and now they're off. Actually, most of them are already delivered, which is nice. I've already gotten compliments from my mom and from my brother Brett (thanks, B!) on them.
Now to wait for the RSVP cards to come back!
Now to wait for the RSVP cards to come back!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Flower girl basket -- check; stuffing invitation envelopes -- check
It seems I'm ticking things off our To Do list these days pretty efficiently. Last night, I decorated the flower girl basket (pic to come) and finished the word find rolls and stuffed the invitation envelopes.
Printing the addresses on the envelopes proved kinda tricky, seeing as how they're handmade (not by me personally) and thick. I did that yesterday, too.
Tonight I'll affix the little note about planting the envelopes (yes, they're made out of seed paper) inside the envelope and the stamps and maybe start on the wax seals if I have time.
The invites will definitely be in the mail on July 1. Or, rather, since that's a Sunday, probably by June 30, which is this Saturday. I'm pleased that I met this goal, considering all the work the invitations took. It was a tremendous amount of time, but it was very fun! I'm glad we went the homemade route and that I had enough time to do this.
Printing the addresses on the envelopes proved kinda tricky, seeing as how they're handmade (not by me personally) and thick. I did that yesterday, too.
Tonight I'll affix the little note about planting the envelopes (yes, they're made out of seed paper) inside the envelope and the stamps and maybe start on the wax seals if I have time.
The invites will definitely be in the mail on July 1. Or, rather, since that's a Sunday, probably by June 30, which is this Saturday. I'm pleased that I met this goal, considering all the work the invitations took. It was a tremendous amount of time, but it was very fun! I'm glad we went the homemade route and that I had enough time to do this.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sara and Brett's wedding
Two days ago, my brother Brett got married to his perfect woman, Sara. It was a beautiful day, both in weather and arrangements. Everything went off without a hitch, which is a testimony to Sara's and Brett's choice of vendors, location and their planning.
Congratulations, you two. It was a wonderful day.
The wedding set the bar pretty high for Paul and me to follow! Brett kept teasing me all weekend, "Don't steal too many ideas!" But I had to admit that I did steal one -- the programs were printed on cardstock and attached to paint mixers, thereby making a fan for each person. Which is a brilliant idea on a hot summer day. We're totally taking that one, B!
We got pretty excited for our wedding after being at Sara and Brett's. I feel our family getting bigger and bigger and I love it. The Maleys are truly wonderful people and I'm very proud to know them.
Thanks, Sara and Brett, for sharing your day with so many of your friends and family. It was very memorable in the best of ways.
Congratulations, you two. It was a wonderful day.
The wedding set the bar pretty high for Paul and me to follow! Brett kept teasing me all weekend, "Don't steal too many ideas!" But I had to admit that I did steal one -- the programs were printed on cardstock and attached to paint mixers, thereby making a fan for each person. Which is a brilliant idea on a hot summer day. We're totally taking that one, B!
We got pretty excited for our wedding after being at Sara and Brett's. I feel our family getting bigger and bigger and I love it. The Maleys are truly wonderful people and I'm very proud to know them.
Thanks, Sara and Brett, for sharing your day with so many of your friends and family. It was very memorable in the best of ways.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
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.
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.
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