And they're off!

Okay! We're going to skip ahead to real time for a minute because I finished my first big DIY project - our Save the Dates! J and I had the idea to commission an image of us drawn by a mega talented illustrator who's known for her video game renderings. At the end of February, she provided us with an awesome picture, and I tweaked the colors a bit to match our needs. I already had a design in mind, so I put it all together in Illustrator and was so excited with the outcome!

Ahh!! so cute! That's us, by the way; our e-pics will get a proper post at some point. As I was comparing printer prices, I ended up landing a groupon to a local printer, which brought my costs down. I chose some delicious heavy cardstock and picked them up a few days later, just as perfect as can be!

I ordered some razzleberry envelopes from envelopemall after reading all the good reviews on the 'Bee. They came in super quick but were waaaay more pink than I expected! Oh well, no biggie, I am planning on having a good amount of pink at the wedding.

So with everything else ready, I decided what these bright pink envelopes is a bitchin' wraparound label! So I went back to Illustrator and created a template that incorporated our logo, and double happiness fake seal, stripes (!!!), and some of my favourite fonts. I then converted it to a pdf and printed them en mas onto some surprisingly cheap & perfect giant shipping labels (see below! much cheaper than the other ones!)

I watched about 90 minutes of a movie while cutting them out with the shown... giant slide cutter thingy... not too shabby! Then I simply took the backing off and adhered them to the envelopes... ANDTHEYLOOKEDAWESOME!!!

Stuffed some envelopes... stuffed some envelopes... and then I used a wet paper towel to seal 'em all! I went to my local crappy USPS (YEAH I SAID IT) and those lame-o's didn't have +70 of any one kind of stamp! Seriously?? So after hemming and hawing (and Bee-polling!) over which stamp to get, I ended up ordering from the USPS website. I got the slightly phallic Lunar New Year ones to go with the Chinese theme, and stuck 'em all on. I returned to said crappy USPS determined to hand cancel my babies:

shoebox of stamped awesomeness + paperclip someone dropped

After waiting for 20 minutes with only 2 people in front of me (not including the pregnant lady who cut then awkwardly asked if she did) it was finally my turn. I got my international stamps (which incidentally totally matched the envelopes!) and asked if I could hand cancel them myself. Well, the crotchety guy didn't want to let me, saying they'd get put through the sorter anyway, but I was not going to take no for an answer! He begrudgingly handed me the canceler and pushed me to the side. MUAHAHA! In less than 10 minutes I was done (though Mr. Crotchety did tell me to hurry up once - whatever dude!). Done with all of my tasks on this project, I couldn't put it off any longer *gulp* and handed my stack off to Mr. Crotchety.
So I come home from work today and what do I have? The STD (hurhurhur) I sent to myself WITHOUT a barcode!

BAM! Take that, Mr. Crotchety!

So Uhh... Do You Have a Date?

With the venue finally chosen, our next step was picking a date and settling it with the church. All we knew was that we wanted it to be October, a month right before the first freeze... J's a big dude, so he's a big fan of cooler weather and I can remember shivering every single Halloween while growing up, wondering why the warmth just wouldn't last a few days longer! My first thought was October 8th since I'm one of those weirdos that love even numbers. It was the only number in my head... until I checked our alma mater's football schedule and saw that the biggest game of the season is that day. grumble grumble... I definitely don't want to be "that bride" who made everyone miss the game, so I looked at good ol' 22... which happens to be FSIL's birthday. Well, I don't want to take away from that either! So now we're right in the middle with the 15th.

It's not a day with any particular meaning to me, and I didn't especially like that it was an icky odd number, flanked by our odd year, 2011. With a bit of research I found out that it happens to be an auspicious day (along with like every other Saturday in October, actually) and it's something called Sweetest Day - a candy company manufactured holiday, apparently. Whatever - I could have done worse, I guess! Even though I had no prior emotional connection to our chosen wedding day, being over half a year into planning it's a day that I think of fondly and with excitement. Exactly a month after my parents' wedding anniversary, I'll be marrying the best guy I know, someone who I'm head over heels in love with, and that's plenty enough to make it a special day to me.

I met with the priest and he was able to put us down for that date, so with it solidified we went back and signed with our awesome venue!

Let Me Google That for You

Consumed with wedding thoughts on a daily basis, I think it's a good idea if I start with a recap of what's been done thusfar... mostly because I get so scattered with thoughts like "ooh! look at those adorable paper lotus candle holders! DIY mode!" that I forget that my venue doesn't allow candles. Taking stock of what you have definitely helps you move forward. So let's start with the venue!

This was the first thing we settled on, as everything else is basically dependent on it. It was certainly a challenge. I spent about 4 months nonstop researching any possible venue in the state, and nothing was right. With the prevelance of outdoor weddings on sites like SMP and Green Wedding Shoes, finding a barn or other outdoor space was my first thought. Then, I walked outside and my allergies told me otherwise. Venue shopping a year prior was fantastic in that respect, because I would have told myself "no big deal, I'll just pop a xyrtec!" when really I'd be puffy-eyed and sneezing the whole time - not exactly the bridal look I'm going for, just sayin'.

So with my focus set on indoor spaces, I found that there was always something wrong with the venues - and I'm not an especially picky person! There'd either be no air conditioning, no alcohol, no outsider caterers, or there was either too big, too small, too much money, too far away, too hard to get to, too plain, too ornate... I mean c'mon! Give me a break! After months of research I found a museum that had the modern touch I was looking for. So, I bring J into the mix and send him the link with baited breath. His response?

iiiiiiiiiiit... left something to be desired.

He didn't think it was as great as I did, which goes back to this whole long distance problem. If we were co-located, he'd be ecstatic that I'd finally picked a place because I would have been bothering him everyday with the constant "whaddaya think of this place??". All that he saw was that it was expensive and didn't accept outside catering. We're not really a fan of a lot of rules... watch out Homeowners Associations!

Defeated, I begrudgingly moved on. But to what? Everything else was somehow wrong and I'd looked at every other place. I had hit my first planning wall. This was supposed to be fun! Why is this one thing taking FOUR MONTHS?

So one Saturday night, I'm huddled around the glow of the computer screen - yes, a Saturday night. Yes, FH lives out of state so I have no life. Anyway, I'm on page 16 of a google search for "banquet facilities" because I'm searching every possible thing that a reception hall could be listed under. My eyeballs are fried and it's approaching the musical guest segment on SNL when I spy a little place that I've never seen before. I click the link, expecting it to be some swanky advertising agency or something but no, this is an actual venue. o_o... O_O!!!

Look at you, venue! How modern... but rustic!

So I immediately start spazzing out and instead of playing it cool, send an equally spazzy email to the listed contact, and wait until Monday. I get a sweet email back from a lovely lady who answers all of my questions (with all of my desired answers!). They were awesome - in budget, driving distance, and super relaxed. See that fan? It has a label on it that reads "big ass fan". Yes, yes it does. After a walkthrough with by dad, we could totally imagine having the reception there and were set on it. J came up a few weekends later and came along with FMIL, my parents and I to see it and they agreed - we found it!

Carlton-esque joy ensued, of course

And thus, I had my first checkmark on the wedding board!

Eventually

After J proposed in July, I really got into weddings. I was never desperately waiting. ... ... ... ...okaymaybealittle. But rightfully so! J had moved 9 hours away and our only option was to of course convert to a long distance relationship. There was never any question, but we also never talked the "W" word; we knew it would happen eventually. Eventually. Now there's a fun word. So thus began our monthly commutes to see each other for maybe 48 hours at a time. I hitched a ride with his parents one time and to visit him for Thanksgiving and they assured me that in his own time, he would get in that marriage state of mind. Eventually. I get it, I mean we're not even in the same state so I didn't expect we'd get engaged until we were co-located - what are we going to do, get married and live apart? HA! haha... ha... ....ha?

Eight months later, when I cracked open the best fortune cookie ever and J dropped to one knee in front of both of our families, I was definitely shocked. Eventually was now! When did.. how come I didn't... huh?? So here we are, affianced and living apart. Way apart. It definitely presents a planning challenge. 


I threw myself into this whole wedding planning thing, but I'd love to get his input. Just to be able to whip my laptop around and get an immediate reaction on vendors and inspiration pictures, instead of being resigned to facebooking him links and using my best judgement on his preferences. Eventually he'll see it all when it comes together on our wedding day and eventually we'll be able to make decisions as a couple. Here's hoping that 'eventually' unexpectedly plops into my lap as it did once before.

New Beginnings

Okay. Okay okay. OKAY OKAY OKAY! 


This is blog number three (just on blogspot!) for Ellie... so... hello!


I began blogging maybe a decade ago, and have progressed from LiveJournal, to Xanga to Wordpress to Blogspot. It seems that whenever I'm going through a change in life I start a new blog, and boy have I gone through life changes since my last blog.


Two whole blogs back I was living in Shanghai and then Kunming, where J and I fell in love (swoon!). The great thing about blogging is that our early moments were captured. The little day trips we took, the silly jokes we shared, I can go back and read about them and regain the same stupid smile I had during those days. ...not the I don't smile now. Actually, I smile a lot. Just as stupidly too!

A little bit about me, I'm a planner by nature and by trade - a gov't bee working in a plans & programs directorate whose tagline in life is "I like tasks". Literally. Check out my Xbox Avatar:

Serious business, obviously.

Being a planner comes in handy when you're working on a big celebration like a wedding. I live on spreadsheets and powerpoints, so I'm definitely game for taking on the wedding industry! J and I have been engaged since last July and in that time I feel like I've made considerable progress towards taming the beast! I can't wait to share some of my ideas with you and years from now look back at this blog and again... smile a stupid smile as I remember all the effort and excitement at another new beginning.