Just minutes ago, I finished printing, stuffing and stamping our invitation envelopes. They’re going to the post office today! Yay!

(Not the best photo, but what can you do at 2 a.m.?)

I was less than thrilled when my invitations first arrived. Honestly, less than thrilled is a huge understatement. I immediately emailed my matron of honor, despairing over how disappointed I was, and then I promptly mailed a couple to trusted advisors. Everything was done to my specifications — down to the PMS colors — but it didn’t come together the way I envisioned. I felt like the paper (that I raved about back in October when I picked it out) didn’t complement the delicate, intricate design at all. Well, Rebecca encouraged me to run with it, and my Granny said it was “the most beautiful wedding invitation she has ever seen.” (And she’s not biased at all — ha!) I got a couple of bids on doing a reprint and then decided to put the invitations away for a couple of weeks and reassess. When I got them out this week, I had way more perspective. They aren’t what I expected, but now I can see beyond that to recognize that they’re unique and beautiful. Crisis averted.

We used heart stamps on the save-the-date cards, but this time we were able to use the new Oregon statehood stamps. I wish we could’ve used the same stamps for everything, but I was way too excited about these to pass them up.

Now, on to crossed fingers (for the RSVPs that I hope start rolling in!) as I start on ceremony programs, welcome bags, and other last-minute projects…

I wrote about Paul Lowe when I originally saw his work on Style Me Pretty. I thought it hit just the right note — not too fussy, definite vintage vibe. I love antique lace but hesitated to incorporate lace in our decorations because it’s often so traditional, but I knew that something like this would definitely mesh with our dupioni silk and vintage glassware and everything.

I’m also a long-time fan of Glassybaby. At $40 apiece, they obviously aren’t realistic for purchasing in bulk, but I wanted to find something with a similar shape.

I got my heart set on filled votives, which are generally more expensive than regular glass holders with separate votive candles, but I found a great deal on eBay. The shipping was almost as much as the candles themselves, but the candles were so inexpensive, I only spent $5 more on them than I would’ve spent for regular holders/candles on the least expensive source I could find. When they arrived, it was obvious why the shipping cost a fortune — the box was even heavier than I expected.

I didn’t have any vintage lace on hand, and couldn’t find much online that I liked, so I just found some pretty ivory lace from JoAnn Fabrics. With a few errors, I cut the lace down to size while my mom started assembling.

We went the easy route and hot glued the lace on. I can’t imagine stitching them, especially with lace that doesn’t have any solid sections. (My mom probably won’t love this photo, but she looks very serious, doesn’t she?)

(I did glue some of these after I finished mis-measuring the lace, but no photos of me, thankfully.)

And finally, the finished product!

The day before the Super Bowl, my mom and I were working on snacks for Super Bowl Sunday while we cut out some cartouches with her Stampin’ Up curly label die and Cuttlebug. Well, actually, it worked out that my mom did most of the die-cutting:

And I made these (and went just a little overboard on cake batter):

We had two sets of cartouches to cut out. One set, on Eames Furniture Weave 120# cover stock, is for escort cards and table numbers. (I wanted to do it all with the Arturo soft white, but I couldn’t buy any standard-size sheets of that paper [like 8.5"x11"], so I had to choose another paper for some of the details.)

The others, on various scrapbooking papers, are for the bags that will hold the favors.

The process was straightforward, like any other die cutting. It’s all about having the right tools. And, of course, my mom has that covered. I should take photos of her scrapbook/stamping studio sometime… It’s pretty amazing. But anyway, I digress. Despite my great DIY ambitions, my home toolset consists of an X-acto knife, two hole punches, a sewing machine, and a rotary trimmer, so mom came to the rescue.

Then all you need to do is trim down the paper to fit in the Cuttlebug… (I find it necessary to clarify that she did not cut her finger during this bout of craftyness… That was a fajita-related injury from the night before.)

And run it through:

It has been DIY central around here lately — well, really since Christmas, but I’ve made a big push this week, so there will be lots of little things popping up here over the next several days.

The first thing (after the save-the-dates) was the shoes. There’s a pair of shoes in a 2006 MSW that I’ve always loved (forgive the horrible scanned image):

The style, the pleating, the pearls! But I couldn’t find them anywhere, not even on eBay. And, in all honesty, the heel was too high to be practical for me. I’d really rather not be taller than Mr. R at our wedding. So I started looking for a peep toe d’Orsay pump with a low heel, and let me tell you, there isn’t much out there. d’Orsay = 3″+. Finally, I found this pair of dyeables on the always-trusty Zappos:

I ordered shoe dye from Steps to Memories, where they have over 100 different dye colors and will match a sample swatch if you want. I was really intimidated about dyeing my shoes, but my mom said she’d done it many times and would do it for me. We decided to do it together over Christmas, and I couldn’t believe how insanely easy it was. It was, by far, my easiest DIY project. The dye kit comes with this amazing little pom pom with a wire handle, and it makes the application process a breeze. Don’t use RIT dye or pay a cobbler to dye your shoes for you. Get one of these $9 kits and go for it. SO easy. Seriously.

I adjusted and attached the pearl brooches that JMG Jewelry made for me. The finished product:

They’re a bit more blue than I originally planned — they’re definitely brighter than most of the other blues I’m using — and look even more blue in this photo. But overall, I’m really pleased with how they turned out. All told, the price tag was around $120, mainly because of the Swarovski pearls.

A few weeks ago, I went to Costco and priced out items for the OOT welcome bags. Yes, I walked around Costco with a notebook and pen and did research. It felt very official.

I’m way ahead of when I can actually start assembling the bags, but I wanted to get the shopping out of the way because a) I have enough things to keep on the mental to-do list, and b) Costco’s inventory changes constantly and my research would be moot if I didn’t get down to business.

All of the food is dated late 2009 (or later), so I went for it. And when I got home, I immediately did a test run — minus a few things that I’ll have to repackage into individual servings at a later date: dried fruit, peppermint patties and gingerthins.

The bags are from Target (and a lucky find, since the typeface almost matches the one we’re using for everything else). The Salem Visitors’ Center gave me a box of visitor guides (for free!), and they’re like little magazines. That was a nice surprise. In front of the travel guide is a Willamette Valley winery guide, and peeking out in front of the S. Pellegrino (my big splurge) is a Heart in Oregon sticker. On the right is an Ikea jar with a nut assortment (another treat I’ll be repackaging… later). And the rest is standard fare — little chocolate chip cookies, Sunchips, bottled water.

But as soon as I unfolded the little bag, I knew there was a problem. There was no way all that stuff was going to fit.

I’m not sure what I was thinking. When I bought the bags, I can very distinctly remember thinking, how in the world am I going to fill these? Clearly, I found a way. Somehow.

The voice of reason says to keep the bottled water and ditch the Pellegrino. So what if it was on sale? And, ahem, so what if you love Pellegrino? The Kirkland bottled water is 25 cents a bottle. Seriously.

But the voice of aesthetics says, excuse me, that Pellegrino is in a beautiful glass bottle. And — bonus — you wouldn’t have to go through the painstaking process of removing all those Kirkland labels and replacing them with your own. Checking an item off the DIY checklist (with exactly zero effort) sounds pretty good right now, no?

I’ve gone back and forth about 20 times on out-of-town bags. On one hand, OOT bags are essentially another favor for our wedding, since nearly all of our guests are traveling in for the big day. But on the other hand, I love the idea of playing hostess, even in some small way, for all of our wonderful friends and family members. How lovely would it be to arrive at your hotel, tired from a day of travel, and find some nice goodies waiting for you?

So I decided that we would do OOT bags as long as they were simple and economical. If I had my druthers, the “bags” would be Container Store baskets or boxes filled to the brim with delectable treats, Oregon-themed momentos, and a letterpressed card. But I settled on a more realistic (and hopefully still thoughtful) plan: a simple bag with bottled water (with custom labels), a couple of treats (packaged by yours truly), and a Willamette Valley wine tasting guide (note to self: I need to start gathering these). There might be one other thing as well, but I’m still doing some research, so it’ll be a surprise if it turns out.

I was killing some time at Target this evening, and I found these fantastic bags:

They only had one package, and they don’t sell them online, but I’m going to swing by the other local Targets and see if I can find more. I think they’re fabulous. They’re an unexpected choice for me for a couple of reasons; I never use a typeface that’s similar but not exactly the same as the other members of a suite, and I’m often not into pre-printed items. But this typeface is remarkably similar to the one we’re using, it won’t be in company with the other printed goods, and the design is quite tasteful. Finish them off with some ribbon and a custom tag — perfect!