Organizing Guest Lists

Everybody has their favourite way of keeping a guest list organized. Mine is probably a little different from the standard website or spreadsheet, and I really love it. Obviously the key is to find what works for you, and so I decided to go with my old stand-by, index cards. This is my dad's preferred method of gathering information, and I inherited it from him.  And look what I found! 

The real gem in this set are the printed cards of course. The front of the card has a standard address section, an RSVP section (check yes or no), and check boxes for the wedding-related things you might need to send, right from Invitation to Thank You Notes, Thank Yous for showers and more. The bottom has a line on which to record any gifts that have been received.

The back of the card is just as cool! You can record up to 4 names and birthdays for the family, and there's space for a nine year record of holiday cards sent & received. It really leaves no excuse not to be immaculate about correspondence in the future. 

This is by far my most impressive wedding-organization piece so far. Do you like it? Do you have another novel way to organize your guest list?

Correspondence Cards

On a forum I participate in, a December gift exchange was created. I deliberated for a while about whether or not to join, but I'm so glad I did!

We had to send the organizer a little bit about ourselves. She wanted to know what sort of colours we like, what things we like, what our hobbies are etc. I said I loved stationary and chocolate, soft colours & neutrals, read a lot, like to cook and am planning my wedding.

I got spoiled.

I got yummy chocolate, and a whole book on cooking with the stuff. I plan to pack it away for after the wedding (please reference previous post for why).

And I got two boxes of gorgeous, creamy, hand-engraved correspondence cards with lined envelopes. And, they match my wedding colours. How did my buddy DO that? I really think they're absolutely beautiful, and I love them.

One item marked off my to do list... acquire personal stationary for pre-wedding thank you notes: Check!

Bride Wars

***spoiler alert!***

Tonight my mom, Michelle (my MOH) and I went to see a late showing of Bride Wars. Now I know that it hasn't been getting stellar reviews, but I thought it was very good. Only...

it stressed me out a little.

I loved it. I laughed a lot. But I was simultaneously horrified. I am sure that as my own wedding is pulled smoothly together, I will find this more & more funny. 

I think it was interesting to note that the things in the movie that I found most cringe-worry are probably the ones I worry about in my own life & wedding planning. Can anybody guess what that is? Though it was startling, I wasn't that stressed about the orange tan (because I don't plan to tan for my wedding), or the getting tackled on my walk down the aisle (because my best friend isn't a complete whacko). What I found most stress-worthy was watching the adorable Liv stuff her face with cookies & candy, and *gasp* not fit into her wedding dress the week before the wedding!

Oh, for the love of all that is white & tulle... can you IMAGINE? All I could do was put my popcorn down and go over my fitness plan in my head. My trainer Juan will be getting a call from me tomorrow.

Girls with Flowers

I am so, so excited to have 2 flower girls in our wedding.  Flower girl H has known since she was a tiny baby that she'd be our flower girl. Admittedly, we thought she'd be a lot younger, but how fun is it now that she's 3? H was a flower girl last summer as well, so she knows ALL about it. We don't see her often, since her family has moved out of town, but I was glad to have some time with her on New Year's Eve. Allow me to recount our wedding conversation:

Kate: So, tell me what you know about weddings.

H: I will be at YOUR wedding.

Kate: Yes, you will be!

H: And there will be a beach ball there! (As you can probably tell, last year's wedding was on a local beach)

Kate: Well, there is no beach at our wedding.

H: No sand?

Kate: No.

H: Any grass?

Kate: Some outside, but the wedding will be inside.

H: Oh. Well, I will have flowers, and I will Put. Them. Down. And then I will take off my shoes.

She's the expert, what can I say? H loves to dance, and so I assume this is where the "taking off the shoes" might come in handy. I'm a bit nervous at the idea of having everybody watch me while we dance, so I may take advantage of her eagerness... this is what flower girls are for, right? I'd be more than willing to let H steal the show!

Technology & Weddings

Did you or do you have a wedding website? I know these have been kicking around for a while, but I still find them really fascinating. Basically, it's website creation for the non-techy. Similar format to a blog, you just type in the fields you want to fill in, drop in your pictures, and save. It really is that simple, and I find myself wondering why it's not this easy to make any website.

A lot of these services are done through wedding planning sites. I chose EWeddings for my site. For a nominal fee of $10 per month I have a custom url too (among other perks).

As you know we recently just sent out the Save the Dates, and we included our wedding website address on the cards. Which was great, but meant I really had to get my butt in gear and work on the site!

I buckled down and updated it last night. I now have added local accommodation information (because most of the people who are receiving Save the Dates would come from out of town), Registry information, and some more photos. I don't have to use all the sections that are available, of course, but I'm still puzzling over this one... what is supposed to go on a wedding website in a section called "Wishlist?"

Save the Date!

Well, there's no turning back now (kidding! I really wouldn't anyway!). The Save the Dates have been mailed.I'm really pretty proud of this project. I put them together myself scrapbook-style. They're not very uniform, but they look handmade, right? I don't have an adequate printer, so I had the insert printed on a heavy weight paper at Kinko's. I think they turned out pretty well, but if I had to do it again I would have them print one per sheet instead of four, to make cutting them to the right size easier.

And since the pictures are going to tell it better than I can... voila! My first true DIY wedding project.