The wedding is just over a week away and though I don’t want to reveal too many details until after the wedding, I figure I give in just a little!!  I incorporated U2, one of my favorite bands, and Disney’s “Up”, one of our favorite Disney movies, into my wedding in a few ways.

U2

For the Out-of-Town/Welcome bags, I asked our intern Norman to come up with a type-based design to “ad-lib” lyrics Bono would sing toward the end of live performances of my all-time favorite song “With or Without You” and this is what he came up with:

Photo by intern Norms

Bono is the co-founder of the ONE organization.  They sell these cool white bands on their website and I wanted to use them as favors for guests, as well as aid in a good cause.  Here’s my inspo (using a Livestrong band):

Photo by Katina Photography

And this is what I came up with:

Here’s a close-up of the white one band:

Here’s the framed description for our guests to read:

Disney’s “Up”

I’m not sure where I got the idea to have my ceremony musician play Giacchino’s “Married Life” from the movie, but it makes my heart melt every time I hear it!

I also wanted to use a mailbox like the one from the movie as our card box:

Photo by Disney Top Ten List Blog

But I didn’t want it to be too literal as it didn’t really go with the decor.  Instead, I bought a mailbox from Home Depot, spray-painted it using the same paint as the table number frames, and covered the flag with the floral pattern paper used throughout the stationery:

I also found these coloring books at the local 99-cent store:

Photo by Toy Store Inc

With a box of crayons also purchased at the 99-cent store, these are sure to keep the kiddos entertained!

Kinda random huh?  What random ideas have you come up with to personalize your wedding using your favorite band(s), movie(s), etc.??

I wanted to use picture frames to hold the table number cards.  I’ve seen the Ikea Tolsby frame in plenty of wedding pictures and is pretty cheap at $0.99.  I didn’t really want to keep it white because my linens are going to be ivory so I decided to spray paint them.  I also wanted to incorporate pictures of Otis, my and Justin’s pug.  I did what I do best in looking for inspiration and came up with these images as my inspo:

Source A & Source B

So we went to Ikea for the frames, Home Depot for the spray paint, and we started!

Easy peasy right??  Well, not so much.  Being the experts we were, we put so much spray-paint that most of the frames got stuck to the paper underneath.  A few days later, we had to sand down the heavy drippings and stuck pieces of paper as best as we could and re-spray all the frames.  BUT that wasn’t the only issue!  I designed the table number cards so they are double-mounted – a photo of Otis (printed at Costco for $0.13/each!) is mounted on the patterned paper, which is mounted on the teal blue “dragonfly” cardstock.  The total card being 4×6.  However, the visible size of the “picture” isn’t as indicated on the Ikea website, which gives frame and picture dimensions.  All you can see is the photo (which is the most important part) and a smidget of the patterned paper:

BUT WAIT!!  THERE’S MORE!!!  Did you notice something else in the image above.  Well, look below:

The spray paint made is really hard for a lot of the frames to properly attach to their base, hence not screwing all the way down!  Grrr…  We should have screwed them together before spray painting.  Justin and I decided that we put too much time and effort to purchase more frames and spray paint.  The perfectionist in me cringes, but then I look at the adorable photos of Otis and realize, it’s not going to ruin the overall look of the wedding (I hope).

So there you have it folks!  Planners like me go through trial and error and we still don’t quite get it perfect, but it’s okay!  We just have to realize what’s important.  In this case, the important things are that our guests see the actual table number and that we incorporate Otis into our wedding since he can’t be there.  The not too important are the bad spray paint job, the visible not-screwed-all-the-way-down bases, and not visible dragonfly card.  [Sigh]  Please someone agree with me.

So remember these from this post?

Yeeaahh… those didn’t quite work out!  I suppose it’s sort of a bad thing to blog about something that’s not set in stone.  At the time I blogged about it, the ladies were in the process of placing their orders.  Well, turns out that the online store didn’t have the sizes of many of the ladies and BM April ended up with a hot pink instead of teal pair!  Needless to say, we were off to Plan B.  Ok, I didn’t have a Plan B at the time.  I looked for teal shoes for a year and had yet to find a decent pair, so my sister and I decided to explore other color options.  Well, we decided on these:

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Still in color scheme?  Check!  BM bouquets will consist of light pink and cream flowers.

Fairly priced?  Check!  Not as cheap as the original teal pair, but it is true that you get what you pay for!

Comfortable?  Check!  MUCH MORE comfy than the original teal pair (again, you get what you pay for).

Reliable seller?  Double Check!  Gotta love Nordie’s!

I think most of the bridesmaids are happy about the change since the other pair wasn’t very comfortable.  Anyone else try looking for certain color shoes?  What was the end result – better or same luck as me?

Does anyone else believe that spending over $100 on a piece of tulle is sort of (as in totally) not worth it?!  Ok well, obviously it’s just not a piece of tulle – it’s a veil, but geez louise!  I refused to pay $200 that the bridal salon was offering.  I decided to try making my own veil.  I figure I’m just going to wear it for the ceremony and toss it aside anyway.  So with a few reads and YouTube tutorials in mind, I bought a pattern and comb at the local Joanne’s.  I didn’t do a great job at following directions to it’s entirety so I did some wingin’.  Although this is a fail for me (explanation later), I feel it’s still useful advice for those planning to DIY their veil.

I wanted a double-layer veil so I folded the tulle in half and cut it according to the pattern:

I covered the edge of the comb with leftover scrap tulle:

Then, I threaded and scrunched the folded part of the tulle to make the top part of the veil:

 I made the top part of the veil the same width as the comb and sewed the comb and tulle together (make sure you sew the comb on the direction you plan to put it on your hair):

And voila!

So why is this a fail?!  When my dress finally arrived, I tried it on at the salon and my sister thought it would look really good with a cathedral veil.  I gave the cathedral veil a shot and damn it, I loved the way it looked!  I then tried on my DIY veil with my dress and thought the length of it made me feel short(er), plus I now had the cathedral one in my mind.  I ended up purchasing a custom cathedral veil with a detachable blusher from A Busy Mother’s Etsy shop.  The price of both veils still came out to a fraction of what was selling at the salon so I was quite happy!  I’m also excited for photo ops like this (I plan to just toss aside the blusher and leave the veil on for photos):

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Anyone try or plan on trying to DIY a wedding veil?  Anyone have DIY fails?  I’m dedicating this week’s blog posts to my fails so stay tuned!

Overall, the invitation-making process was pretty simple.  Concept and design weren’t too difficult, assembly during the work party was quick (eating lunch took longer), and mailing them out – cake!  I wanted to blog about a few miscellaneous points summarizing the process – reasons other than budget constraints for my decision-making and all the %*$@ that went down.

I.  Because I didn’t want our invitations to feel too formal, I opted for what I consider semi-formal wording.  I also wanted to use first person plural to make it personal (we are inviting you).

Together with our families, we
Justin Mendoza Casido
and
Marie Eugenie Margate
request the pleasure of your company as
we commit our love and life to each other

II.  I didn’t do a couple of things we suggest to our clients to include on their invitations:

a) Put your ceremony time on the invitation earlier than the actual time – I put our actual ceremony time on the invitations (read that guests? ACTUAL CEREMONY TIME).  Our church usually holds ceremonies at 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm and the only one left on our date was 11:00am.  Since we’re incorporating Filipino traditions, our officiating priest suggested we make the ceremony at 10:30am to ensure proper time for picture-taking afterward.  I felt bad that it’s already so early so I couldn’t bring myself to lie about the time!  And what about the guests that are early birds (there’s a few of them out there I’m sure!) who show up 30 minutes before the time they think it’ll start – that means they’re going to wait an hour before the ceremony starts – I just couldn’t do it!

b)  Attire (Formal, Semi-Formal, Casual, Black Tie, etc.) – In all honesty, I didn’t really think of including it at the time, but I’m hoping our guests can get a feel through the style of our invitation.  I think our invitations say “We don’t need ya’ll to be wearing tuxes with bow ties and formal gowns, but we don’t want anyone showing up in jeans and a t-shirt either.”  What do you think our invitation design says about attire?

III.  Spending way more money than I really should have – Remember my post on bridal stupidities?  Well, I have a couple MORE instances for you!

a)  I initially ordered paper instead of cardstock for the details booklet to save on costs.  I then gave April a PDF file of the design with crop marks to print out.  When I got them back, I realized they were a bit smaller than the size I intended them to be!  I tried to make it work, but couldn’t with the stupid crop marks showing.  Why couldn’t I just have sent her the frekin AI file like I usually would and tell her the dimensions I intended?!  Don’t worry friends, lesson learned (right Apes?).  Anyway, I decided that if I’m going to order more paper, might as well go with the thicker stock as I originally wanted.  F*** it!  In the end, I’m glad I messed up because I was able to use the thicker stock but getting it in the first place and giving April the correct file format would have saved us some money.

b)  Earlier this year, I was kinda getting over wedding planning.  I felt like we accomplished so much and I just wanted to take a break from it all!  (Did you gasp?!  I know, I know.. well read on.)  So here’s me totally nonchalant, thinking I can take a break – easy peasy, then on a Tuesday, I got an email from the calligrapher asking if we’re still on schedule and to make sure she gets the envelopes by Saturday.  I emailed her back saying yes and you should get the envelopes by Saturday, then panic ensues!  In other words going through my mind, “Fudge nut!!!”  I hadn’t even ordered the envelopes yet!  So I emailed my order and opt for Next Day Delivery ($).  Our supplier usually emails back confirming they got the order, so on Wednesday morning, I emailed them asking if they got it – no, they didn’t!  So I placed the order and Thursday, no package.  $#^%!!!  On Friday, it came and I head to the local UPS to get it delivered on Saturday.  Well, it costs $$ for next day and an added $$$ for delivery on Saturday because they usually don’t do it that day.  So instead of telling the calligrapher that I forgot to order envelopes and they won’t get to her on time, I ended up spending $$$$$$ on top of the $ to get calligraphy that I originally wasn’t going to get done.  I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a big deal to the calligrapher since I got the finished envelopes done in less than a week.  I just wanted to perceive myself as totally on top of things!  In the end, was it all worth it?!  I’m still trying to decide but out of the whole invitation, I got the most compliments on the calligraphy.  Suprisingly, the men were especially impressed asking, “Wait.  Someone wrote this by hand?!?”.

IV.  RSVP Deadline (Sorta) Issue – I intended to mail out the invitations three weeks prior to the RSVP deadline.  Because of the details booklet issue, I didn’t get them out until two weeks prior to the deadline.  I was going to change the date before the booklets were re-printed but it totally slipped my mind at the time.  It didn’t matter too much to me because Save-The-Dates were sent out three months before the invitations were so I figured our guests are already deciding if they can go or not (some lovely guests already RSVPed when they got STDates).  Plus, Justin and I knew there would be plenty of laggers so I intentionally made the deadline earlier than when we really needed it.  But I had my mom call some of the laggers and she got kind of upset at me that I only gave two weeks for our guests to RSVP.  I explained to her I needed to get a head start on all the DIY details, how many centerpieces we would actually need, and that I didn’t intend on doing any wedding stuff a week (hopefully two) before we leave for San Francisco.  People we invite are going to go or not going to go and we just want to know ASAP.

Ok, I think those are all the items I wanted to point out!  As a thank you for sticking around a text-happy post, here are some last photos as the invitations were finally getting sent out:

BTW, invitation stamps are now $0.64.

So we got the invitation concept, design, and budget down.  Now for the big reveal!

The letterpress-printed invitations cards:

The separate invitation backing card and invitation card:

Invitation card mounted onto the backing card:

I held an invitation work party at my parents’ house back in early March.  Here are BMs L and Jona:

The patterned envelope liner:

BM Ro placed the liners in the envelopes.

Inside of details booklet:

Patterned cover of details booklet:

The invitation card and booklet inside the pocket card:

I opted out of including a belly band or seal due to simplicity and budget (the former is what I tell myself, the latter is the real reason):

Invitation suite inside envelope:

Return address on envelope flap:

Calligraphy addresses on envelopes by Michele Clark:

What do you think of the whole invitation suite?  What’s your favorite part – the letterpress printing, cotton cardstock (you just have to feel it to fall in love!), the calligraphy, envelope liner, or return address stamp?  It’s hard for me to decide but I think I LOVE all of it!!

I probably should have blogged sooner about my invitations, but it took a while to gather photos since some were on my sister’s camera.  First, I’ll show my inspo:

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First and foremost, I loved how it was letterpress-printed!  I also liked how it was in simple all-caps font for a clean and modern look, with a touch of script for elegance and tradition.  The whole invitation card actually looks like this (with a blind impression), but my inspo just came from the print and type style:

I probably went through 20 or more invitation design revisions.  I actually started designing them before the STDates that were sent out first.  I felt like something was missing until a week before I was going to get the invitation card printed.  I added a dotted background and frame to complete the invitation card design:

For the rest of the invitation, I looked to the Envelopments Featured Recipes.  I wanted to incorporate the touch of teal/turquoise so I added an invitation card backing.  I also used floral patterned paper (hence adding those floral images to the invitation card) for the details booklet and lovely envelope liners:

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I didn’t want to just have our guests open the envelope and Bam!  There’s the invitation card!  I had to figure out if I wanted a belly band or something else to hold the invitation card and details booklet together.  I didn’t want a pocketfold (hence the details booklet instead of separate info cards), but I liked the look of portable pockets:

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Letterpress isn’t the cheapest form of printing so I stuck to only the invitation card getting letterpress-printed in one color.  To help offset letterpress, calligraphy-addressed envelopes, return address stamp, and higher-grade stationery costs, I didn’t have an RSVP card.  Our guests were able to RSVP online through our website.

I described the whole invitation design concept to my fiance as if it were a suit:

The envelope is like a suit jacket, with the envelope liner as a jacket lining.  The portable pocket serves as a suit vest, and the invitation card and details booklet as the goods underneath.

Clever eh?!?  (Ok, not really.)  Did your invitation inspiration come from one source or a few?

Photo books are popular guestbook ideas, but I never would have thought of putting together a photo book of all the pictures from a bachelorette party!  I lucked out with such creative bridesmaids!  Bridesmaid Jas gathered photos from party members and put together the photo book.  MOH Marj also gathered photos and videos BM Jas took with her FlipCam and put together a DVD to hand out to me and the party members.  They surprised me with the photo book and DVD at my bridal shower:

They used the same Gossip Girl-themed logo April designed for the giveaway bags:

MOH Marj has turned into quite the techy ever since she put together Justin and my YouTube proposal video!  I don’t have time to make clips of the DVD, but I’ll tell you that it starts off with us singing “Empire State of Mind” at the club then cuts to the slideshow with the actual song playing in the background.  It’s been an incredible journey - the work party, the bachelorette party, the bridal shower, and almost a month away, the wedding!  There are not enough thank you’s I can give to my MOH and bridesmaids for all their love, support, and hard work!!

Anyone else totally luck out in selecting your maids??

Thank you thank you thank you to Daniel Galang Photography!  We headed to downtown San Diego for our engagement session in March.  You might recall my posts on my outfits and fiance Justin’s outfits, so here they and we are in action:

I think these last two “faux-to-booth” sets capture our true essence:

It was a lot of fun and rather exhausting.  I have a new-found respect for models!  Also, big shout out to my MOH/fashion advisor/sister for doing my hair and make-up!

Anytime I think about our trip to New York, I miss it!!!  I had such a great time with the ladies.  So we’re now on Day 2, where we woke up, got ready, and headed over across the street from our hotel to Shake Shack.  I don’t want to overhype it, but they hands-down have THE BEST BURGERS I’ve ever tasted.  My siblings, fiance Justin, and I had it the first time we went to NYC so we pretty much made it tradition to go to Shake Shack at least once every trip we make out there.  This is trip #2 for me so it was a must in our itinerary!  Lines can get SUPER long, but we got there right before it opened so it wasn’t too bad (yes, there were people in front of us).

BM Celeste made it to NYC for a day! Love her! (Don’t mind the sign above in the background…)

Good friends Linh, who lives in NYC, and Molica, who flew to NYC and stayed with Linh, met up with us at Shake Shack.  Take a look?  How can you not start drooling?!

After lunch, BMs Jona and Sheryl went to the New York Public Library, where they felt honored to study (especially because the Sexy and the City Movie was filmed there):

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The rest of us headed to SOHO for some shopping!  We started at Dean and Deluca, where my sister and I had to get green tea for my mom.  I saw they were selling peony bouquets so I pointed them out to the ladies:

Cousin Vanessa knew I love peonies so she surprised me with a peony-scented bar soap!  It smells quite nice.  My favorite shops in the area are Zara, Mango, Top Shop, Madewell, and Uniqlo (where I bought like 50 pairs of jeans).  After shopping and studying for the two, we went back to the hotel.  Celeste had a flight back to Virginia to catch (wasn’t that so sweet of her to fly just for a night to see us??), while the rest of us got ready for dinner and a fun night of partying.  My sister dolled me up:

We had dinner at Supper, an Italian restaurant in the East Village.  Coincidentally, there was another bachelorette party right next to us!  After dinner, we took pictures outside, everyone was handed out “tasks” to fulfill throughout the night, and we headed to 49 Grove where cousin Lourdes hooked us up with free entry and bottle service.

We were right by the bathroom, which was kinda weird but it worked out because it made it easy for the girls to grab guys to fulfill their tasks!  What tasks you ask?  Well, some included:

1) Get a guy’s underwear and have him autograph it – Fulfilled.

2) Have a guy propose to you – Fulfilled.

3) Kiss the cheek of the ugliest guy in the room – Fulfilled.

Another funny thing – cousins Vanessa & Lourdes’s brothers John and Chris kept hitting them up trying to hang out with us.  John probably would have went with us to the Gossip Girl tour except he couldn’t find parking when dropping off Vanessa.  Finally, we let them hang out at 49 Grove, so here’s a pic with my honorary bachelorette party members:

I was dancing til three in the morning.  I’m usually the grandma but I was telling them that I got prep from going to Vegas twice before the trip!  We ended the night… or morning… eating Halal food from a food truck then playing “Pin the Macho on Channing Tatum”.  And yes, since I’m the bride, I made our honorary members play as well!

With about three hours of sleep, we got up and ready, packed, and some of them headed their way.  The rest of us didn’t make it to the originally planned brunch spot, so we went to John’s Pizzeria nearby.  Our last stop before the airport was Macaron Cafe, where our Gossip Girl tour guide got us macarons.

Our departure was bittersweet.  I definitely missed Justin and Otis (our pug), but I knew I would miss hanging out with all the ladies in New York!  I’m still amazed how many ladies actually showed up!!  I’m sooo thankful to my MOH/sister Marj and my BMs for their planning and all the ladies (and gents) that came!!  Like I said at 49 Grove – if this is any indication to how fun the wedding will be, then it will be AWESOME!!!  The decor and details make the pictures, but the people make the experience and memories.  Less than two months away and I’m super excited!