My Fair Wedding and Dallas Brides

 

I have a sweet friend who works for the show My Fair Wedding on We TV. My Fair Wedding is a show where celebrity wedding planner David Tutera helps brides create the weddings of their dreams. My friend recently contacted me to let me know the show is having a casting call in Dallas, TX at the end of April. I thought this was something Veil Tales readers would definitely be interested in! Here are the details:

When: April 24, 2010 and April 30, 2010

Who: They’re looking for brides who have a theme that is different, creative, fun, interesting, maybe even a bit over the top.  If you have a vision/ theme and you need David Tutera’s help, be sure to apply!

Application: Email the following information to mfw3casting@pilgrimfilms.tv

Name-

Address-

Phone Number-

Wedding Date-

Wedding City/State and Location-

Current photo of Bride/Groom-

Your Theme-

How are you incorporating your theme into your wedding-

Brief Bi0-

Brief description and photos of existing wedding plans (i.e., Dress, Venue, Decor, Etc.)-

Good luck on your applications! Be sure to let me know if you have any questions!

Newfound Respect for the RSVP

I will admit my favorite part to the day now has to be when I call my mom directly after work to see who has sent their response card. I have my list in hand, ready to mark people down as yes or no. I love hearing from people and reading their sweet notes! The invitations have been out for about two weeks, and the response cards have trickled in everyday. Being the ever impatient bride, I find myself wanting them all back at once, but the rational portion of me knows people need some time before making a final decision.

One thing I have learned from the waiting game is that I will always mail response cards back as soon as possible, especially for weddings where I do not talk to the bride and groom very often. I know they are eagerly anticipating RSVP cards so I will surely send mine off right away.

Do any other brides out there check the mailbox religiously everyday in hopes of more response cards?

The Invitation Suite

After much research, deliberation, and fact checking, I was finally ready to place my wedding invitation order. I chose to use 1st Class Wedding Invitations because they had the styles I wanted at a great price! I signed up for their emails on their homepage and was able to use a promo code on my order to keep the cost down.

Now that the wedding invitations are all out, I feel comfortable sharing the entire suite with you (Please excuse the blocked out details).

The Invitation:

I went with style W5014 (Simple Black Border Wedding Invitation) because I loved the clean and simple look. I was able to use the same font as the Save the Date, creating consistency for the guests.

The Enclosure Cards:

 

On the invitation we chose black ink for the thermography, but on the enclosure cards, we opted for Fuchsia. The two ink colors added a bit of dimension to the invitation set and allowed us to incorporate just a touch of our accent color. We printed the link to our wedding website on the reception cards as well.

The Extras:

Our wedding colors are white, black, pink, and gray, but I was struggling to find a way to join gray into the overall suite. I finally decided to add a slate gray inner envelope liner to my order. I am very happy I decided to make this upgrade because the liners helped tie my vision together.

I also created my own labels on an ink jet printer so we could seal the invitations using our butterfly image:

 

I was so happy with the way it turned out and have checked my mail daily to see who has replied!

How did you incorporate all the elements of you wedding into your invitation suite?

Addressing the Invitations: Etiquette

{Emily Post}

When I started addressing my wedding invitations (or rather, watched as my mom addressed my wedding invitations) last week, I discovered not every person invited fits into the parameters set by traditional etiquette. While I do want my invitations to be polite, I decided the best approach would be to look at each person individually to determine how to write his or her name. Here were some of the basic formulas I used:

• Grandparents and Great Aunts/Uncles: I used the traditional wording of “Mr. and Mrs. Husband’s Name.” I wanted to keep the wording as formal as possible in order to not offend any of our relatives. 
• Married Couples: I opted away from the traditional Mr. and Mrs. titles and used only first and last names instead.  Both my fiancé and I prefer to address each individual invited on a personal level so we did not add formal titles.
• Unmarried Couples and Roommates: For unmarried couples (where each person was a personal friend or family member), either living together or not, we listed the names on separate lines or included the significant other’s name on the inner envelope. For most sets of roommates, we sent separate invitations so they would each have one to keep.
• Inner Envelopes: We put the first name of the individuals invited on each inner envelope. We did not add an “and guest” to single individuals due to space limitations at our venue, but we will most likely evaluate exceptions on a case by case basis.

While there were several types of situations, these were the general guidelines we followed. We are using a more modern method of addressing most of our friends and family members because it better represents both us a couple and the casual cool wedding we are attempting to throw.

What are some of your invitation wording guidelines?

There Will Be Cake

A week before the holidays, my mom and I went to visit with an old friend who also happens to be a baker extraordinaire. She had made wedding cakes for couples who attended my church growing up so I made sure to reach out to her before investigating local bakeries.

Lucky for me she was available and willing to make our cake in March. Our friend has created some beautiful cake art, but for our wedding, I knew exactly what I wanted. I asked for plain white cake with plain white buttercream frosting. And with that decision, I am one step closer to making this a reality:

{Source: Martha Stewart Wedding}

I am so excited about the cake design…now off to find a 16″ cake pedestal!

Busy Time of Year

There is something about the holiday season that makes time fly! I can’t believe only one more week until Christmas! What have I been up to lately? I have done many things for the wedding: I ordered my wedding band, booked the cake, and ordered the invitations, but I have also been busy buying and wrapping gifts. I can’t wait to update you on everything that is happening, but first I want to share with you the biggest distraction from wedding planning I could ever ask for…

Meet Sampson, the other love of my life. We got him about 2 weeks ago from a local rescue- he is a German Shepherd and Miniature Australian Shepherd mix. He currently enjoys sleeping, chewing his stuffed giraffe and running around the house like a crazy pup.

I will be back soon to fill you in on more wedding details!

Creating a Timeline

My fiance keeps a giant white board in the office that usually contains school notes, but this weekend we’re repurposing it for the wedding. We are going to use the white board to create the schedule for the wedding to make sure we account for all the tasks that need to be accomplished.

We will have to delegate who needs to pick up the food, who needs to set up the linens and centerpieces, and who will be getting ready at the different locations. There is much to do, but my fiance assures me that everything will make more sense once we have it all written out.

Have you ever taken a “big picture” approach when planning a big event?

Our First Gift!

On Friday, my fiance and I received our first wedding gift from a sweet friend who is certainly planning ahead. With a little over three months to go before the big day arrives, I am so thankful to know we have people thinking of us as we make wedding plans. Our friend sent us the blender my fiance and I absolutely love! It will be used to make many smoothies in our new apartment!

Our first gift was such a wonderfully unexpected surprise, and I immediately thought about the thank you note. I wanted to created handmade thank you notes for my bridal shower in a few months so I decided to go ahead and create all the cards now.

I kept the design simple by using bright white cardstock as the background, and I pulled out a butterfly hole punch to create the front design. I punched butterflies into different hot pink papers in order to match the wedding colors:

 

I lined the butterflies across the front of the card for a clean look that ties in with the rest of our wedding stationery.

I finished them all last night while watching the AMA’s, and I now have one more item off the to-do list!

When did you receive your first wedding gift? What did you do for thank you notes?

Splitting Holidays

With Thanksgiving coming up in the next week, I began to think about the dreaded splitting of the holidays that occurs when new families are formed. It becomes especially complicated when parents are continuing to split holidays with grandparents. My fiance and I stay casual about the topic, but it will eventually need addressing down the line.

If we spend Christmas with my family in 2010, I will be with my mother’s side of the family. If we spend Christmas with his family in 2011, I will not get to see the relatives on my father’s side of the family. It will be a tough adjustment, but we will work out a plan in the end. I wish all our relatives lived in one place! Maybe one day…

How do you and your significant other split the holidays?

Wedding Invitation Samples

I considered for the longest time hand making each of my wedding invitations. With the upcoming holidays, I knew this would not be an easy task so I made a new plan. I am going to purchase invitations with personalized thermography printing, but I will add a bit of custom details once they reach me. I will make other paper products along the way so that will satisfy my love for Do-It-Yourself projects!

Because I want to add a few of my own personal touches, I need the invitations to be simple and elegant. I have narrowed down my wedding invitation samples to the following choices:

 

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I like the extra dotted line around the border of this invitation. Also, the pearl cardstock gives the invitation a little bit of extra shine.

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This is a beautiful wedding invitation that gets back to basics of formal wedding invitations. I see these as a blank palette to be dress up!

 

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This pocket set is completely different from my other selections, but I still love it. Pockets are such a practical way to send wedding invitations because they keep all the enclosure cards organized. The hot pink is quite bold on this invitation and would make a great impression on wedding guests.

I have placed my order for 3 free samples from 1st Class Wedding Invitations and am awaiting their arrival! Pictures to come once I have them!