hand cancelling invitations

i laid in bed for 2 hours last night. not sure why i couldn't sleep, but i had all kinds of thoughts running through my head!
from today's "to do" list to wedding invitations, to bills, to.... well the list is endless!

i remembered reading about having your invitations hand-canceled at the post office. it looks better and also prevents any damage that might occur to the invites while going through the auto-canceler.

then, i had a small epiphany... wouldn't it be fun to have them canceled in a town with a unique name?

whadda ya know? there's a Love, Illinois... 3 hours away! unfortunately, they don't have a post office of their own :(

Romance, Missouri is 7 hours away, but strike out again! no post office. (that would have been a fun trip to the ozarks!)

Love Lake, Missouri is only a 4.5 hour drive.... strike 3!

their post offices are all located in bigger towns nearby. damn.

okay, Loves Park, Illinois is 3 hours away and they DO have a post office. 4th time's a charm :)


Gourmet Invitations shows the difference between hand-canceled invitations and auto-canceled ones here.

font change {of heart}

i like this font with Burgues Script better than Mrs. Eaves.

Bodoni, it is!

food and fonts

for the first time, the dbf has gotten really excited about something. well, a couple of things, actually. not that he wasn't excited before about anything.. But i'm just a little "over the top" when it comes to all of this. i LOVE diy and i LOVE design. and like i said, this wedding is one giant, beautiful art/design project for me. so needless to say, i'm always super-pumped about all the little details and although he enjoys it, is not nearly as enthusiastic as myself :)

so, the first thing he got excited about was the prospect of roasting a hog at the reception. yep, a whole hog! we knew we wanted a laid back BBQ style reception, but we figured on doing chicken and brisket on a smoker. well, a whole hog is just so much cooler :)


there are quite a few details that need to be ironed out, such as (1) where will we get the rotisserie to roast it? (2) we don't know where the reception will be, so hopefully we can even have a fire (3) WHO will roast it, prepare it, etc? is that a "guy" thing my dad and grandpa can do on the day of the wedding?
unfortunately, the only place around here i've found thus far that will roast us a whole hog requires that you also purchase the side items with the package, which is $9.75/head... WAY above our price range!
they are a pretty small franchise (with about 5 restaurants), so maybe I can talk to them to see if they could work with us.

the second thing was (gasp) the FONT i am using! i LOVE fonts.. for him to really love this font meant the world to me. (is that geeky?) it's called Burgues Script. it was love at first sight!

i am using this to address the invitations, and also as a second font (along with Mrs. Eaves font) in the invitations and ceremony programs.

Burgues Script
Mrs. Eaves

i am totally inspired by Cynthia's stunning diy programs found here. WOW.

the guest list

the budget hasn't been determined yet. our engagement isn't "official", so we haven't sat down with our parents to talk about finances quite yet.
i figure anything the parentals aren't willing to cover, we will. we expect ~150, so we'll see if that's possible soon enough.

since most people invited will be couples, families, or a single and a guest, i'd imagine we'll send less than 100 invitations.
my dad has a HUGE family (because it's combined with my step-mom's, 11 brothers and sisters total!), so we'll have to account for that.

i have to keep in mind that it's a 2 to 4 hour drive for everyone, so not all people are going to be able to make it.

wish us luck :) :)

fonts

oh, how i LOVE fonts!

i am trying to find a gorgeous one to use for the envelope addresses.
calligraphy is beautiful... but incredibly expensive.

jane austen (i think this one might be perfect!)

byron (little hard to read?)

ol ho deboi (a little too "dark"?)

the king and queen (a little too "fun")

all found at dafont.com

first invitation design

here is the first mock up of our invitation.
i LOVE designing!!
i really do like this one.. i'm considering not even trying to make another.