It's done!

I have officially printed my last invitation for the wedding. As responses begin coming in from the first batch, we are now sending out (or handing out) invitations for our local celebration after the wedding.

We ran out of response cards, and after some lamenting realized we could print business cards with the same info just as easily.

Amazingly my printer cartridges have lasted through all of this.

One month until the wedding!!!!!!

Wedding Invitations and The Absurdity of Technology

If you are following this post, I apologize for the jumps back and forth in time. Some posts are of things that have already happened - some are happening now. Think of it as a "Lost" wedding episode and it may help.

We are currently mailing out wedding invitations. It is almost six weeks before the wedding and time is quickly passing. The question "why didn't we start this sooner?" keeps coming to mind. Some things we've learned:

• The templates referenced with the "make-your-own-invitations" are helpful, but sometimes need to be tweaked. Cut out appropriate sizes of paper to practice!
• Labels need to have their own mail merge created (once again when I figure out how to provide a link I will give you mine)
• Labels provided are NOT a standard label - so you have to custom make a label size for them


• Labels JAM! I spent 2 1/2 hours printing labels and unjamming them from the printer


• Double check your labels printed to your master list to make sure none are missing due to printers and labels being stupid (we were missing 20!)


• Have back up labels (of course I had to create another format for this) to print missing labels in case your printer decides to eat and/or print the remaining labels incorrectly (yes it's been a fun day!)
• Invite friends to help you assemble invitations. We could not have done it without our friends helping us - it was fun too!
• The stickers provided to seal the envelopes don't hold. We used double sided tape that you use with scrapbooking to make sure they sealed.
• Go to the post office and ask for one of their trays to place your invitations. This makes it easier to bring to them to have them "hand cancelled"

Getting Started

At a time like this I wish I had begun my Mother of the Bride blog sooner. Now I must rely on my ever fading memory. The good news is this means the redundant things have been forgotten and will not waste your time - or my memory space.

Being out of state from most family and friends meant techonology was relied on to spread the news and show the ring. Engagement photos were uploaded on blogs, websites and Facebook. His parents and family heard the good news first hand using a webcam and Skype. It was a great way to actually see their reactions.

After the engagement announcement and initial excitement, it was now time to get a plan of action:

• Guest lists were assembled and placed into an excel format (I'll provide a link when I figure out how to do it)
• We found wedding invitations we could print ourselves on sale at Michael's! Our mantra of "we can always take it back" began
• We found wooden letters (once again at Michael's on sale) that might look cute on reception tables - we could always bring them back
• Calendars were compared and the date was picked
• We began searching the Internet for "wedding budget templates"
• We learned the Internet would become our friend.....but that's another post

They're Getting Married

The announcement of the engagement was not a surprise, but a joyous occasion nonetheless.

It all started a few years ago. We moved from Southern California to Houston, leaving our oldest daughter to finish college. After making a few plane trips to visit us, she wanted to move closer to watch her siblings grow up. Only one problem.......a boyfriend. Sigh, I thought we were now destined to live across the country from each other. The good news is this was no ordinary boyfriend, he encouraged her to move and said he would follow. We knew then it must be love - and serious! No one moves to Houston to just remain friends!

So after months of Skyping and phoning each other, she moved into a place of her own and he found a job here and moved in with us. Just before Christmas he asked my husband permission to ask her to marry him, he happily gave his blessing. I told our other children a new prerequisite is that their future spouse is they must now live with us so we know the kind of person they are.

The wedding was scheduled for June - in Southern California where all the family lives and many friends. A cross country wedding plan - were we crazy? This blog will share how we did it and tips along the way.