whoaa, one whole year later

Austin and I were married one year ago today. Wow.

For my anniversary post, I want to write about things I've learned about marriage in this past year. So, in Tempa-bullet-points-form, here are some of those things:

- Talk it out. But while talking it out, be sure to apologize. Both of you. To each other. And then wait. It will all settle down

- Create your own reality. You're creating your own norm as a couple and reinventing yourself as an individual. Embrace it.

- A different relationship brings changes. Life has changes. Learn to adapt and be okay with changes that may happen. Friends come and go, relationships with family even wax and wane; ensure that your family unit is the most solid of them all. Make it a priority.

- Everything is the same, but it isn't. Life somehow got deeper. This isn't actually a lesson, but just a really cool fact, that I want to know in 10 years I thought about a lot at this time. When people ask me, "What's married life like?" at first, I would just respond, "It's the same." and now my response, one year out, is "It's the same... only deeper. It's really fun."

- Make big decisions together. Always. Include each other in everything.

And, just for fun, top 10 favorite things about our wedding:

1. Walking down the aisle arm-in-arm with my groom
2. Seeing all of our friends and family who had traveled so far, just to spend the weekend with us, and be part of such a special weekend
3. The spur-of-the-moment decision to hug and kiss our family members as we walked back down the aisle
4. The friends who helped out with crazy last-minute stuff
5. Hand-making the invitations, ordering the flowers
6. The timeline actually working out!
7. The cupcakes!
8. Realizing my personal passion for beauty and artistic sense, that I did not know was there beforehand
9. The wedding band singer lying on the floor during the middle part of SHOUT! (my fav wedding song ever)
10. The entire weekend

And, just for my personal "closure" that I need, 5 things that were not ideal about our wedding:

1. Wedding photos getting lost, especially those really important family ones
2. Losing Jane's family heirloom handkerchief
3. Losing friends :(
4. Not giving my bridesmaids their gifts/letters
5. My parents being mid-divorce

Pretty, Pretty Paper!

I recently discovered that Paper Source has a Blog. I LOVE the Paper Source website! I've never been to the store before, but I have had plenty of fun perusing their website, especially during wedding season. Their paper was featured in MUCH of our wedding design. For example...

... so I was ecstatic to see an example from the Paper Source blog showing how their paper is made!!!

That is the same paper that we used in our decorations. (See the pink pinwheel above.) How Cool!!

This post makes me want to find more uses for my leftover batik papers!

Do you have any ideas?

more wedding reflection via a HUGE THANK YOU!

The final step in our wedding process - the photography re-do's - has finally come to an end, and I feel like I am finally ready to reflect on the entire experience. This post is all about the people who worked behind the scenes to make this wedding possible. With our wedding being so incredibly DIY-heavy, there is no way that we could have achieved the look, feel, atmosphere, etc that we did without the help of family and friends. No. Way. Without. Them (You).

So I'd like to try and name everyone by name - even though all of 7 people are subscribed to this blog - to try and acknowledge publicly the work that was done. I'll just keep it to first names, to honor privacy.

Having the last step completed (photos part 2 completed) allows us to look back and see the big picture of how everything came together. Maybe once I get the professional photos back, I'll do one more post about this with names and photos of what they helped do/make. For now, it'll just be words.

Austin and I would like to thank everyone who made our wedding possible! More specifically, we mean...

[In chronological order]
Heather (co-worker) for telling me I had to pick a color scheme, and for helping me talk through the initial parts of the wedding imagery. "Mood boards" was a regular term used in our discussions!

Mom (Connie) for helping me glue and sew the Save the Date's; for sporadically sending us the pretty Wedding postage stamps; for supporting me with all of the stress about anything that came up; for paying for a boatload of the weekend's festivities; for managing family stuff so I didn't have to; for passing out the women's flowers for our wedding; for paying for the amazing cupcakes at my bachelorette party; for all of the secret behind-the-scenes stuff that I don't even know about; and for everything else I forgot! You (and Austin) were my rock throughout this and I am forever grateful.

Kasha for tediously cutting out those envelope liners for the Save the Date's; for spending multiple evenings designing and cutting out the pinwheels; for coming to every event I asked you to be a part of and not complaining once; for throwing me a fabulous weekend party; for truly being the best sister I could ever ask for; and of course, for admitting publicly during your speech that you really did copy me with your AOL screen name in middle school.

Lara C. for also dropping everything to help! You put up well with my non-formalities, like forgetting to give you your bridesmaid gift (I still haven't done that, have I? Darnit!) and my semi-direction for what needed to happen. Thank you for prioritizing events for our wedding, like driving all the way to Lynchburg for a party where you didn't know very many people, and always being available. Austin and I are both honored to have you as a part of our wedding. (And thank you for yesterday when you dropped everything to help out with photos, which I'm sure was very tedious and I know it got into your previous plans!) Thank you also to Lara and Liam for throwing us an awesome Stock the Bar party! It was SO MUCH fun, and I can't wait to make all the margaritas from the mixes we got at the party. We are lucky to have good friends like you two.

Pam (Mom's friend) for throwing me an awesome bridal shower! That was so cool, and really nice, and made me feel like a queen. My momma is very fortunate to have you as a friend, and I appreciate all that you did for me (and us)!

Reid for helping me with all of the digital design-related needs. Your assistance with the placement of both the Save the Dates and the Invitations, your behind-the-scenes know-how of how to get cool fonts, and how to make sure I have both "cool" and "hot" colors in a poster were invaluable. And we couldn't have pulled off the "Leaf your Thumprint" tree without you!!! I am honored to call you my younger brother.

Dad (David) for helping paint the cupcake tree, for breaking those crayons, for navigating a varied and confusing payment schedule, for being in charge of the men's flowers for the wedding; for abiding by all of my random requests, and for being the sweetest man I've ever met.

Laura P for being my running partner/therapist throughout this process. Your listening skills, your encouragement to exercise, your crafting abilities, your insight on building the website, and your assistance in designing the big picture of the wedding's DIY's details are much appreciated. Beforehand, you helped with Friday evening craft activities, as well as taking charge of getting the Cupcake tree together. Day-of, you and Rob got the party started by dancing, and kept track of all of our gifts, and returned them all to our house, and that was very important! So thank you! And to Rob as well!

Katie & Jasmine for being rockstars, and plowing through the frustrations of realizing how big of a task you had taken on, and getting it all done anyway. There was some confusion in the beginning and throughout the process as to what exactly would be happening, and you came out of it determined to complete the tasks. It was no easy feat. You began by spending an ENTIRE weekend with me, talking about annoyingly small wedding details, which I bet was an overwhelming couple of days, but was crucial in moving the wedding planning forward. After that weekend, you put up with multiple e-mails from me, sometimes I imagine 3-10 in a day, which was probably really confusing and time-consuming, but you emerged on the other end with beautiful decorations. I think the fact that people took the flowers and put them in their hair is a testament to both the skill and the work that you put in to helping the wedding. I am indebted to you two, and please know I will pound out wedding-related things you need help with in the future when you ask me! (And I put that on the internet, which we all know never really goes away, so you can hold me to it.) I also want to make sure that I mention that Katie and Jasmine helped w/ the rehearsal dinner decorations take-down, so from both me and the Peters family, we want to say thank you for that as well!

Misha for providing unmeasurable support throughout this process. Your sister was also getting married, and you were at an extremely busy and stressful time in your life, but you still were able to call me and calm me down when I needed a friend's ear. You were aware of exactly what goes into planning a DIY wedding, because you were going through it in your own family at the same time. Your assistance with helping Katie and Jasmine with the decorations, as well as your shuttle services throughout Northern Virginia and Richmond beforehand and the day-of were awesome! Thank you to Paul as well for helping out with everything beforehand. He was the silent DYSC girl of the weekend!

Rebecca for helping with the decorations and for listening throughout this process. I think your nails turned turquoise, blue, and silver from all that crayon-peeling, but Austin LOVED the crayons at the bottom of the glasses as he was putting them together! And also a shout-out to Gretchen for providing similar help, as well as to you both for coming to the bachelorette party. I'm glad we chose to have each other as friends.

Speaking of the cake, I'd like to give a shout out to Elizabeth, Sarah, Stephen, and Lara D for rocking at getting all of that together. [Lara, you get your own paragraph further down.] The four of you stored our cupcake stuff, picked up 150 cupcakes from the store, set them up at the station, and made it back to the ceremony in time. You took all of the alcohol back and brought it in our house. You busted your butts for us.

Julie & Pat for renting a huge van, for allowing us to call it the Party Bus and treat it as such, and for shuttling us and family members around this town for the whole weekend. We asked you if you would be willing to drive us around because we wanted a space with family where we could relax in between intense events, and you did not hesitate to help. I believe you had to shuffle some things around behind the scenes, and you kept us out of that, and we are thankful. I also haven't thanked you yet for purchasing the alcohol, picking up our stuff out of the dressing room, and for making sure to keep track of all of those little details that we would inevitably not be able to do ourselves. Best Aunt and Uncle team ever!

Suzanne & Dennis for understanding what a wedding is like, and for lending your support when possible. Austin and I were excited to ask you two to drive us to the airport to leave for our honeymoon. We were happy to work with you for the rehearsal dinner, and I am glad that all of our plans fused together well. Suzanne, if you ever want to go buy Jelly Belly's in bulk again, I'm there! We will just make sure to use their bags this time... hah! I am so happy to officially be a part of the family.

Christine for helping with the guestbook directions and for making sure envelopes were taped to gifts. It was so great to see you at the guestbook, helping people to figure out how to do the funny fingerprint thing, as we arrived! I'm glad that you were able to help.

Michelle (co-worker) for doing our hair! I was nervous about anyone touching my hair, or my bridesmaids' for that matter, and you did the job stunningly! You met with me on a regular basis to talk about it, we even practiced one day before the wedding. I really, really appreciate you and your two girls' help in getting all of our hair done.

Meghan & all of my Lynchburg girls for passing out directions to the Reception after the ceremony! Thank you also for contributing to throwing me a bombass bachelorette! Molly and Kelly especially drove from far, far distacnes! Laura (and Kelly, right?) had a nice little brush with the police on the way down, and Brittney took time out of a very hectic studying weekend to honor me and our friendship. There are many details that each woman was involved in planning and scheduling, but please forgive me because I do not know all of those. But I really appreciate them all!

Lara D gets her own paragraph, because she was F-ing stellar for making this wedding work. I don't even know how I could list everything that she did. It would double the size of this entry. All I can say is that Lara, on the wedding day 5/21/11 and on the fake wedding day 7/10/11, was instrumental in everything coming together. She took care of everything I asked her to, everything others dropped the ball on, and anything she thought I might need help on that I hadn't thought of, or that I had forgotten about. I have no idea how I can ever make it up to you Lara, but please know that Austin and I talk about everything you did on a regular basis, and you are a rocktar. You are the secret grease that made our wedding go as well as it did, and for that, I am truly forever grateful. I have never seen someone so willing to identify what's needed and make it happen, regardless of how fun the task is. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And of course to Austin for being totally fabulous, for understanding all of the wedding-ness that needed to happen to make our (my) vision possible, for referring to me regularly since the wedding as "my smokin' hot wife," and for being the greatest person I've ever met. You truly make it all worth it.

Wedding: lessons learned

I have a feeling the post-wedding blog posts will be coming slowly over the next month or two. After a walk with a soon-to-be-engaged friend last night, and lots and lots of wedding talk, I realized there are a couple of lessons I learned from our wedding that could be helpful to others. Here are the ones one the front of my mind right now...

LESSONS LEARNED FROM PLANNING OUR WEDDING:
1. Make it about you two as a couple.
2. Don't let other people's drama stress you out.
3. Be clear about expectations from the beginning with those whom they may affect.
4. Weddings bring out unexpected aspects of people's personalities. This is normal. It does not mean your friendships will end.
5. There will be a disaster (or two). Know it will happen.
6. After you have delegated responsibilities, let it go. It will get done.
7. Everyone loves the bride... even people who don't know you.
8. EVERYTHING costs more than you originally plan for. Everything.


Now, because I am a detail-oriented person, I will explain more about these lessons and why I said them.

Make it about you two as a couple.
We made all of our decisions together. It was trying on us as a couple, but it made the entire day everything we wanted. Everything was special because everything encapsulated us as individuals and as a couple. A second rule to this one should be: Don't entertain traditions you don't feel necessary. For example, we did not throw the bouquet, get announced at the reception, or do the garter thing. They just weren't things that were important to us.

Don't let other people's drama stress you out.
This is a tough one. There are sooo many decisions to be made, sooo many things going on at once, so many plates to juggle, so many appointments, so many people you are relying on. Whether the drama is a parent obsessing about their outfit when they should be helping with your dress, someone insisting on inviting people that neither you nor your fiance feel need to be at the wedding, mid-divorce parents who can't seem to act normally in front of each other, or friends who complain about every step of the role they had agreed many times to participate in, you can't let it get to you. You have to be coordinate the catering meetings, the photographer's needs, the people who are going to not do their role b/c they feel sick the day before, the bridesmaid who is nervous about her outfit, getting a replacement for the guestbook that arrived in the mail a week before the wedding damaged, the grandmother who is flying across the country and wants to make sure she packs the correct clothing, etc etc.

Be clear about expectations from the beginning with those they affect.
A HUGE lesson! Because our wedding was non-traditional in a variety of ways, there was a lot of "communicating expectations" that we had to do. I had to explain to my father (and mother) that we wanted to walk down the aisle together. For a little while, we thought both of us would change our names, so we had to warm Austin's family to the idea that his name could change (it didn't in the end). For my friends that are more traditional and could have been hoping for some extravagant bachelorette party or all of the wedding details being just like they want for themselves, I gave a heads up that we would have no fresh flowers at our wedding, and that I wanted my special party to be low-key. The biggest of this was regarding family members and attendees. We had many, many talks with parents about how many and which guests they were able to invite. It was difficult to stick to the expectations we set in the beginning, and there were a handful of tears, but in the end it worked out.

People will behave in unexpected ways, just because it involves a wedding.
This makes sense on many levels. We're talking about a day of celebration that our culture covets as the epitome of a little girl's dream day. (Can you tell I wasn't raised that way?) I was told by a few friends who had recently been married that they were surprised to have friends whose actions did not seem favorable toward the wedding, and that it was people they considered really good friends. In all of these cases, these people apologized later, citing jealousy as the reason for their behavior. Knowing this was potentially coming was helpful, but it was still shocking when I encountered this myself. Hopefully those concerns will get resolved eventually.

There will be a disaster. Expect it.
The saddest reality of them all. For weeks afterward, I told people that our day was perfect, and that all of the drama/disasters were beforehand. I felt so accomplished that somehow, we avoided the dreaded, inevitable disaster day-of. And then I got a phone call from the photographer, saying that the digital card had a malfunction and we lost all of our getting ready, family, and before ceremony photos. They are wonderful people, and I know it's not something they could have prevented, but it's SO SAD. I attribute not freaking out or getting really anxious about this news to a) I had just been to a Mexican Happy Hour and b) we were overdue for a real disaster.

After you have delegated responsibilities, Let it go. It will get done.
This lesson was the biggest life-saver of them all. I spent a lot of time making sure everyone had the information they needed to do what they needed to do, and then I didn't worry about it anymore. For example, who cares if the decorations weren't completed until 2 days before the wedding? My ladies had promised to get them done, and they would be done. No point in me freaking out. And they were beautiful!

Everyone loves the bride, even people you don't expect.
People smiled at me in the halls at work who I don't even talk to. Every doctor, dentist, etc appointment I had wanted to talk about the wedding. Ex-co-workers asked me if they would be invited. (Another lesson: people who ask if they are invited... don't feel bad about not inviting them.) On the day of, little girls walked by and said, "Look! A bride! She's so pretty, Mommy!" It was fun to be the center of attention, but I'm also glad it's over.

Everything will go over budget.
Literally everything. Weddings are such a ridiculous industry. It's out of control. For example, they charged us more for the cupcakes than they charge anyone making a special order. They said it was because it was a wedding, and because our order would be their top priority, and we would be guaranteed the top service. However, I got a phone call on the wedding day telling me the cupcakes wouldn't be ready by the time we had established with the shop (15-30 minutes delay). However, since I had delegated this responsibility already, I did not worry about it. In hindsight, I could have told him I wanted that extra money back that he made me pay, b/c our cupcakes were not the first ready of the day, like he had insisted to me. But our friends were in charge of that, and I didn't need to worry about it anymore. They would get those cupcakes to the reception and set up.

And that's it for now!

Photos (and hopefully the FINAL disaster)

Our photos are in! Our photos are in!

You can find them here... but there is one catch: for the first time ever in our photographer's history, some of the photos were damaged. Damaged beyond repair. It was the entire card used to shoot before pictures. That means all of the family shots taken beforehand and all of the "getting ready" photos of me putting on my dress, etc (and I think there are a couple ceremony pictures missing too). It's devastating. We don't yet know how we're going to work it out with them.

Austin was too upset last night to look at the pictures. Our photographer says she has many suggestions, and I'm looking forward to hearing her out on them, but how do we get more photos of LilaMae at 2 months old? Or get Grammy in from North Dakota, Julie & Pat from Montana, and the Gores/Fanchi clan in from Minnesota/North Dakota ever again? When will they all be in Virginia again to re-take the photos? We can re-do bridal portraits (although does my dress still fit?), but there is no way to re-do close-ups of mine and Austin's faces as we say our vows.

It's funny how the day went off so well... I couldn't believe we didn't have any wild day-of disasters. Turns out I had drawn that conclusion too soon. :(

wedding secret

Shh! I may have tried on my wedding ring while I put away folded clothes tonight. It felt strong and beautiful. A nice reminder of what we're really doing here, instead of engaging in the drama that others are bringing to the weekend.

I also ordered my new nameplate for work today. It's really happening.

another wedding disaster (overexaggeration) diverted

Austin and I registered for what we considered the most awesome place settings ever!
We were really excited about them... we had found dishes that were casual, could go in the dishwasher, and that enabled us not to have to worry about "wedding china," b/c registering for wedding china is not something we would do.



For Christmas, I bought Austin two place settings of our new favorite designs.

A few months out from the wedding, we went to Macy's to double-check on the registry. Macy's still had Chelsea plates, but now they were all green, black, or blue. No more red. All of the dishes we had registered for were now discontinued. I was really sad, especially since we had both fallen in love with these dishes.

We decided to keep our two place settings for just the two of us, as a fun wedding present to each other, but we had to register for all new plates. We chose Macy's in the beginning because we wanted to keep the registry aspect simple for people (and for us). The only red plates we liked at Macy's were the Fiestaware.


We had some people over to our house to watch VCU in the Final Four, and I decided to break out the two large dinner plates from our coveted Chelsea collection. I left it sitting in the sink, waiting to be washed. Next to the sink was a large collection of beer bottles, drying in preparation of being recycled. And then it happened.... all of the bottles fell into the sink, breaking one of the plates to pieces!

We were both really sad. We no longer had two place settings. So this week, I decided to take on this task and figure out how to complete our set again. After two hours at Macy's trying to figure out sku numbers, then trying to locate the plates, I went home defeated, but the employee helping me vowed to spend her free time the next day calling around for me. She did in fact find the plates, which were on clearance for $5.99 (what a deal!), and hooked me up to call the Macy's store in Georgia to get them to ship it to me. The plates (I ordered two, just in case this happens again) arrived yesterday!!!!! Here is Austin, sweaty from his run, annoyed with my desire to photograph this moment for the blog, telling me, "Just take the picture already!"


YAY!!!

The invitations are mailed!

(What a hunk, eh? This was a mostly candid shot - he was not happy with me taking his picture in the USPS parking lot.)

Here is Austin with his parents' invitation:



And Austin putting in the final stack:


....now I just have to make sure the RSVP website is finished before anyone gets their invitation. Ah!

my flowers! my flowers! my flowers!

They are in! Here are sneak peak shots...




A special bonus gift...



Corsages!


Boutonnieres! (Everytime I try to type that word, spell check comes up.)


...But to see the big guns photos, you'll just have to see them at the wedding!
(Unless you're a creepy stalker reading my blog. And in that case, please don't show up.)

alternative Guestbook ideas

On to the next decision: Whatever to do about the "guest book?" Both Austin and I don't know how we would use a book full of people's signatures, so we are talking about doing something different instead of a plain old book with blank pages and ivory satin cover.

Surprised?
(Everything else about our wedding is slightly off-traditional, so why wouldn't this be also!?)

Here are some ideas that I found through a few Google searches:

What about a poster?


Or a nice customized book?


Or how about notes put into a cool jar, that we figure out what to do with later?


Or my current favorite...a fingerprint tree!!

The BEST and the WORST of Wedding Planning

Today has been a day stock-piled with wedding to-do's.

Our first stop was a cake-tasting at Jean Jacques in Carytown. A co-worker told me this was the best deal in town, so of course Austin and I were going to check it out. While I am certain their cakes are awesome when they are done up, the samples were singer layer, dense, and dry, with frosting that was mediocre. It made it difficult to see what the cakes would really taste like. Either way, who doesn't love free dessert?

Our second stop was to pick up my wedding band. A potentially super exciting moment, and one that I was relieved to have over, after the drama of the prices changing and them taking my engagement ring for a month. Unfortunately, it's not over yet, b/c although they ordered the correct ring, Tacori sent back a different wedding band. Other than the blue fabric fiasco at the dress shop for my first fitting, I think this was the worst moment of wedding planning so far. A huge disappointment. BUT I'm hoping this means that all of the "go wrong" stuff will happen before the wedding and not the day of. Here's to hoping.

What I ordered:------------------------------------------------------------What I was given:


Third in line: Finding Austin's wedding band. We went to two stores and it took just minutes at each store. We will have quotes on Monday and I bet we will have ordered one by Tuesday. It's funny how SO MUCH work and energy goes into this day and the ring is so easy for him. Good for AP!

Finally: Cake tasting at Frostings! Holy moley, this place has AMAZING cupcakes. A-ma-zing. I can't wait to take mi padre here when he comes into town, b/c their Vanilla Bean cupcake is the best. Everything is the best. I really hope their price quote comes in as we need it.



















Now: sugar food coma. Naptime necessary. So much sugar and so much running around. Super movie time b/c we don't have the energy for anything else!!
Gotta rest up for our minister taking us to a bar tomorrow to determine the best Signature Drink for the big day. Did you read that right? Yes, you did. If you are doubting me, here is a bio that was done about her, Alane Cameron Miles, a few years ago, for this program in Richmond called "Top 40 Under Forty." If that shocks you, here is more evidence of her awesomeness, other than the fact that she's taking us to a bar tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

And just for fun, I think this cupcake looks super cool, and is worth re-posting, even though it will not be featured at our wedding:

Sneak Peak!

For your viewing pleasure, two photo highlights from today...

A sneak peak at the invitations!


And a candid of life sporting a doggy cone.


Have a great weekend!!!

The best laid plans...

Okay. So with another day home sick from work, I decided to make low-key progress on the decorations. I heated another round of crayons.



And now that I have seemingly enough crayon things to pile into a table decoration, I decided to make examples. There are three different kind of containers they could go in.

or

...... Does anyone see the problem here? They look weird.
So what now? I have ordered all of these crayons



And want to make sure I use them for the wedding. Any other ideas?
Maybe use the crayons in a different way, on the tables off to the sides, so they are kid-friendly? Here are some samples, using the same three vases...



or



I feel silly posting this b/c it isn't in my usual nature to worry about things like this. But I fear my best laid plan is going to fail.

Ideas? Anyone?

ALSO, It is probably important to note that there are three sets of table decorations. We've already decided on what's going to be
1) on the tables where people will eat,
2) there are a different kind of decorations for the food (buffet station) tables/for the side tables in the side rooms, and
3) these crayons were for the bathrooms, gift table, bar, etc.. basically other random places needed.

Making Progress with THE INVITATIONS!

I have finished the sewing portion of twenty-five invitations (plus the samples). I am loving, loving working on this wedding stuff. I was not a bride-y person up until the recent months, when I became truly inspired and in love with the flowers by Princess Lasertron.

Even though this blog is about invitations, I couldn't write it without including some of the Lasertron designs, since they truly informed the direction of the wedding decorations.
Here are two examples of flowers of hers that I find a-ma-zing:



















and
























While I was always planning to do invitations in the style featured below, now that I understand the bigger picture of how everything will fit in, it feels more like my artistic expression.

Here is a teensy glimpse of some of the progress from today:














See those two piles? Those are 23 sewn units in the "perfect" pile, and 2 in the "almost perfect" one!
A successful endeavor indeed. (And a glimpse of the doggie helping as well.)


One of a handful of thread mishaps:


Reese helping out

FONTS!

Wedding items already checked off for today:
- Figured out how to add fiance's request for dress code info to rehearsal dinner invites. Check.
- Ordered rehearsal dinner invites. Thanks to all who provided input! There was a clear winner. Check.
- Gave feedback on layout of bridal shower invitations. Check.
- Printed new version of invitation design. Check.
- And for the item that is theme of this post... Figured out how to add new Fonts to my computer, and use them in the invitation design or for signs describing food/directions for the big day!

Praise be to www.dafont.com, which is a super awesome site for finding, downloading, and using new fonts. More specifically, here is the document I created to bring back to my fiance to get feedback on fonts to use for our weekend.




















And two special shout-outs:
* to Reid for teaching me of this awesome website, and for all of his feedback on graphic design
* to Jasmine for helping me to convert this file to JPG so I can post it!