Shoesday Chronicales - Part 5

As I was writing Part 3 about my online shopping I went back to visit some pages and grab pictures off the websites to post. It just so happened as I was looking for a picture of Kate Spade's Lovely shoes (pictured below) on zappos, I came across a new pair of shoes I had not seen before!

Kate Spade, Lovely

Badgley Mischka, Xango

At 3 inches, a peep toe, and pink - I was crazy excited but still reluctant to commit. I took a few days to mull it over, and wound up ordering them!

Wondering if this could possibly be the pair of shoes I would wear on my wedding day I waited and waited the 5 long days it took for the shoes to ship to my work address. When they finally arrived I tore open the box and carefully worked my way through the pristine wrapping holding my new shoes.

Upon opening, I thought they were just "ok". When I tried the shoe on my foot - I new these would not be my wedding day shoes.

First of all, the shoes were to big. I wear an 8, but had tried on some Badgley Mischka shoes before that seemed small, so I ordered and 8.5. The shoe probably had 1/2 an inch extra space in the back. I could always exchange them but the size was not the only issue.

A 3 inch heel was what I was looking for, but this shoe was terribly uncomfortable. Maybe the way it was built, but it felt a lot higher than 3 inches and I knew I wouldn't be able to cope with these all day.

So I packed up the Xango's and put the return label back on the box.

Labor of Love #2

The invitations are in the mail - hallelujah!

In an amazing effort by KJ and myself - our invitations made it to the post office early Tuesday morning and we've had a good response that people have seen our pretty pink envelopes filling up their mailboxes already.

Warning to any soon-to-be brides out there, DIY Invitations are SUPER stressful.

They are also worth it - take a look at our completely one-of-a-kind custom

invitations:

It all started with a bag:

and inside that bag was a lot of paper courtesy of Paper Source:

I had never been to Paper Source, but its one of my new favorite places. Its so colorful inside!!

Very important in DIY Invitations: A Mom with pretty handwriting and a heart of gold, willing to hand address envelopes for hours and a time.

Exhibit A - Mom's pretty hand writing:

And I've talked a lot about BM (Best Man - NOT Bridesmaid Kris) Kris' design talents - here they are in real life:

He worked from the inspiration invitations that I ordered (but never actually came in the mail) from minted.com

BM Kris also designed a Directions Card and our RSVP Cards:

KJ took over postage and stuffing while I manned the hot glue gun to assemble the ribbons and wax seals.

Before stuffing, each invitation was topped off with a Moo Card - the idea came from the super crafty ladies of weddingbee:

And a must have for any DIY Invitation project: a fiance willing to personally lick 111 pink envelopes:

I think I've said it over 20 times in the last four days, but I LOVE our invitations. I feel bad for loving them so much, because "paper" was one of the things I was willing to let take a back seat in wedding planning. I feel they get thrown out so quickly, or lost, or like a lot of my invitations - coffee-stained. But when you put hours and hours of work into these invitations, well they kind of find this very special little place in your heart.

I sent them out Tuesday and got the first RSVP back in the mail today! I'm SO excited, so keep 'em comin' folks!

Shoesday Chronicals - Part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

When I last posted, online shopping wasn't getting too far, so I hit the stores. From DSW, to Macy's & Nordstom, even adventures to Sears and Lord & Taylor, I visited every department store in a 45 mile radius of Chicago.

The department stores definitely had some possibilities, but it got to be a game of Goldilocks & The Three Bears... this shoe was too hot, this shoe was too cold... and none were just right.

Poesy from Nordstrom

3 1/2 inches - check

Peep-toe - check

But the shoe was a little more purple than pink :(

Nina Shoes - Galvey

On sale at Macys? Yes please!

It just so happened that KJ was on this shopping adventure with me, and he voted this pair out immediately. Plus, at 4 inches, the heel was a little out of my comfort zone.

Nina Shoes - Crita.

I adore this shoe to pieces. I thought about asking the BM to all get this shoe in Navy. The pink they offered though was too soft and I feel it wouldn't pop enough. Part of the fun of wearing colored shoes is making a statement and these just didn't seem to cut it.

It didn't seem like I could find the right color pink, so the next most logical choice would be to get a pair that I could dye to my favorite color. I have to say that I am 99.9% against dyeable shoes. I've gotten a few pairs for prom before and it always seems like the material on the shoe starts to fray after dying. Trying to keep an open mind I investigated into dyeable shoes. I remembered from my Prom days that David's Bridal could match almost any color, so off I went.

I had looked online and saw Martina:

However when I went to the store, the shoe was completely sold out.

And that took care of the dyeable situation. I wasn't going to get a shoe that I couldn't try on before buying and after browsing their selection of dyeable shoes it only seemed to reaffirm my distaste for the frayed edges of dyeables.

By this time, my first dress fitting was on the horizon. I went to the appointment sans shoes and had to use a pair of heels at the bridal salon for my fitting. They were 2 1/2 inches, and I was told at that time I could go up a little in heel height without drastically changing the alterations. So now, I was locked into a heel right around 3 inches.

I began to feel helpless...

The Butcher, the baker, and the... Bridezila!

This past weekend my mom had come out to our apartment to watch our dog. KJ and I were heading to Michigan for his cousin, HJ & his new wife, Michelle's, wedding reception. Before we took off for MI, my mom and I went to order the cake for one of the showers.

Now, WHY are you, the bride, ordering a cake for one of your showers?

Before you send the etiquette police after me for ordering my own cake, let me explain.

There is this awesome thing called Geneva Bride. Basically, a bunch of Geneva shops got together and said "hey, we have what every bride needs and wants, all within 4 blocks from each other". So they formed a little business group. Twice a year, Geneva Bride has a Wedding Walk where you can get a ton on vendor information all in one stop. It's pretty sweet. Plus, you can enter in a bunch of raffles (including a 7-day honeymoon in Aruba) given by a local travel company. During one of the two Geneva Bride Wedding Walks I've been too I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate to a local bakery for a smaller cake good for a party or shower.

I was pretty excited. The Cocoa Bean has desserts and pastries to die for! When one of my co-workers got married last year, we ordered her shower cake from Cocoa Bean because you really can't beat them.

Now, back to this weekend. My mom happened to be in town and we had a little bit of time, so I grabbed the gift certificate and we headed out to order the cake.

The gift certificate suggested you order at least a week in advance, and we were three weeks out, so no problems there. My mom and I had talked briefly about what we would like the cake to look like, something simple and elegant. One layer, round, and hopefully, maybe a really pretty peony or fake e-ring on top.

When we got to the bakery, we told them we wanted to order a cake and the cashier said he would grab the chef. The chef came out, and we explained we had this gift certificate, and would like to order the cake. He kind of just looked at me, and said "ok".

Awkwardly, I grabbed my phone and flipped to 2 pictures my mom and I had found earlier. When I told him what I was looking for (round cake, flower on the top) he said "no. we don't do that". It just so happened I was standing next to a cake with a flower on top of it and asked about the flower (which btw, check out their website, every cake pictured has flowers on them). He said "no, we don't do that", crossed his arms, and stood there.

Now, I'm not expecting everything to be simple. And I'm a fairly easy person and understand "compromise" and "meet in the middle"... but when you just stand there and tell me "no" - well, what am I supposed to do?

Obviously, not making any suggestion on what they can do for me was his way of telling me to bugger off. So I did. I left said, "Well obviously we'll have to think of something else" and vowed to never go back there again. Personal vendetta, slightly, but definitely not over rated.

Now, as I mentioned, I was part of ordering a cake from there before, and they were totally willing to work with the theme that we had in mind for the work-shower that was thrown. So, why were they so obtrusive this time?

Well, honestly, I think it was because I had a gift certificate. Because there was no money in it for them. I wear a lot of hats at work, and one that I wear frequently is my smiley, Rose-colored glasses, customer service hat. If a patron has even the slightest issue we try to resolve it for them because where I work, patron loyalty is probably one of the biggest things that keep us going.

I really didn't appreciate being treated like that. Having bad experiences can suck the "joy" out of a wedding within seconds.

For all you brides out there, besides getting "viral" about your experiences (blogs, fb, vendor reviews) what else can you do to punish poor vendors? It may be trivial, but I really don't like people being a flat out jerk to me either.

Shoesday Chronicles - Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

I knew what I was looking for, but one of the first pair of pink shoes I came across in my shopping where these:

Kate Spade lovely, courtesy of Zappos

What do these shoes and my dream Manolos have in common? Well, besides the fact they are hot pink, not much. However, they were super summary and, gasp, ON SALE!

Getting back to the style I was looking for, I came across some other possibilities online, but they just weren't right.

Martinez Valero - but at a whopping 4 inch heel, I wouldn't last more then an hour

Nina shoes - cute, but maybe not fancy enough. Plus, I don't really think Nina's are comfy at all!

Stuart Weitzman - not digging the ruffle

Barbie by Town Shoes - again with the ruffle?

These town shoes had potential.. until they weren't sold anywhere in the country, and I couldn't find anyplace to ship them here either.

So online shoe shopping was turning to be useless. It was time for me to hit the stores and get serious...

Shoesday Chronicles - Part 2

Part 1

I decided pink shoes were going to be my wedding day feets destiny. So, channelling my inner Carrie Bradshaw, I set out to find some pink shoe inspiration and fell in love with these:

Manalo Blahnik Raspberry D'orsay

My perfect shoes came with an imperfect price for my budget: $715. Ouch.

But I definitely had something to start looking for: I really like the d'orsay or a peep toe pump. Having a back to the shoe I feel is ideal for an all-day pair of heels. It provides an extra security for my feet so not to twist my ankle while walking. And the peep toe or d'orsay, I'm not a strappy evening shoe type of person, so the peep is the perfect alternate for a summer wedding shoe.

And the final necessity for my wedding day shoes: a medium heel. Ideally speaking 2 1/2 - 3 inches. That way, I'd be around 5'9" - not too tall but still feeling foxy in a pretty heel.

So with those boundaries, I started my search, all while trying to keep my credit card far enough away from my computer so that I accidentally didn't purchase the Manolos in a fit of wedding passion.

miniMoon bracket gets serious... final four announced!

That's right folks, from 32 to 4! We are getting closer and closer to picking where we will be vacationing after the I Do's!

It's taken us a few weeks to mull over the 8 and get it narrowed down to 4 - and it just happens to be a quirky coincidence that all the remaining destinations have double consonants in them! With no further ado, I give you the two remaining brackets:



KJ made the pretty picture, but I prefer to tie this into our wedding, so I'll call my brackets the PINK and BLUE bracket!


Bracket Pink:

Charlotte, North Carolina
vs
Niagara Falls, New York/Canada


Bracket Blue:

Savannah, Georgia
vs
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

If you've been playing along - you'll notice that something doesn't seem right in these brackets - and that's true! KJ and I made a decision about Nashville/Michigan bracket that was in the Elite 8. When we started our bracket, we had always knew Nashville would wind up in the final four, if not the winner of the entire trip. It's close enough, there are a lot of options, and it's Music City for heaven's sake... perfect for us. But due to the recent flooding and deviation in Nashville, we kind of changed our minds. I want to see Nashville, but I don't want to be disappointed, and it seems like it may be better to let Nashville recover before visiting on a high expectation vacation. (Say that 10 times fast) That being said, Michigan just didn't appeal to us, so we open that bracket up for discussion.

I'm pretty excited about the final four! I have to say, I actually don't know where we are going to wind up going. They are all very different areas and have a lot to offer. Now that Nashville is out, it really is anybody's game!

Where do you think we should go? What was the best mini vacation you've gone on?

Quickly squashed victory...

Before I disappeared for 2 weeks I was telling you about our plate pattern picking pickle, and how it was difficult for us to find plates that met his traditional and practical expectations with my modern and quirky preferances.

We spent much time in the past few weeks visiting every department store known to Chicagoland in search of something that we could compromise on. Kohls, Target, Macys, and others were no help at all. We spent close to two hours discussing plate options at Bed, Bath and Beyond and had narrowed it down to two potential winners:

Lenox Vibe (from the first post) which quotes its self as being a "bold and modern porcelain dinnerware will be a striking addition to your table, with its crisp white foundation and whimsical swirling lines. A perfect accompaniment to any casual or formal gathering"

...and Misto Linen, described as "Cool and casual, the subtle neutral tones of this ceramic dinnerware is just the thing your table needs for everyday dining needs."

KJ prefered the Misto Linen and I liked Lenox Vibe. I actually like Misto Linen too, I felt like it was a nice place to start and could be paired with lots of different kitchen items, but I had never heard of the brand. After a little google research, I found it chipped easily and broke even easier... not a good thing for this self-proclaimed butter fingers.

This was Saturday. Sunday, I had proposed going to another BBB to see if they had any other options on display, but KJ convinced me to go someplace we hadn't been yet. So off to Kohls and Carsons we went.

At Carson's we spent another hour discussing what we absolutly had to have in plates. One thing I can't go without... a decently sized coffee cup. We had narrowed our Carson's finds from a field of many, to four contenders, and then down to two.

#1 - Noritake Colorwave

#2 - Dansk Tronada Creama

It wasn't too hard for us to make the decision that Dansks Tronada was our perfect pattern! I mean, it means "tornado" in Spanish for heavens sake. How could I, who LOVES storms, storm chasers, and everything doing with tornados, not fall in love?? Plus, it blends what KJ and I both want perfectly.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy. There was a jinky SALE sign next to the pattern (you'd think the Sale sign would be good news, right?), and nothing that actually identified the plates as part of a set. I flipped the dish over and found out the name and brand and left compleatly satisfied. Surely, we could just add it to our existing Macy's registry and not have to create another registry just for plates. Upon going home and logging into Macys I found that the only "Tronada" items Macys website offered was a three piece serving set and some glasses.

I remembered our Registry Assistant, Judith (who buy the way is AWESOME if you need to register at the Aurora Macys), said that often the online offerings varied from what the store carried. So I called Judith and asked her to look up the name to find if we could added it to our list....

But we couldn't. Macys, although carrying the brand, does not have the pattern available.

And everyplace that does offer it, says its out of stock.

So, I'm guessing our perfect pattern, is everyone elses perfect pattern too.

I feel its of no use to register for something that would be increadibly difficult for people to find, so we are back to square one, with no possible plates in site.

Who would have thought that the most time consuming task and most difficult compromise KJ and I would have to make was on what dishes we would register for? I guess I should be thankful that everything else has been rather easy. For those of you married or getting married, what has been your hardest planning task?

Faulty Equations

What do you get when you add a UPC Scanner and an indecisive couple?

Not much.

Today was our second registry date And while KJ will tell you all about the novelty of the first time... it was not in the cards today.

The goal was bedding and dishes. Two BIG ticket items on any registry. And where do you go for items that will last through the decades? Well, the classic MACY's, of course.

We got through the bedding slowly, but I wouldn't be surprised if we change our initial pick before completing the registry, but where we really struggled was the dishes! SO many options, yet none spoke to us.

We want something that we can use everyday, but that has an elegance that can transcend different occasions. KJ is a little more traditional, while I'm a little more modern. We needed to find a pattern that blend both of us... and of course, is dishwasher safe. I don't think there is too much worse than having to hand wash dishes.

Lennox Venetian Lace

Love the romantic pattern here - but its on the too formal side for every day use. It's definitely fine china, plus the platinum rim means no dishwasher to preserve this prettiness.

Lennox Chocolate Dinnerware

The swirls are pretty but this pattern just seems too busy. I don't know if all types of food would look appealing with all the plates have going on.

Noritake Mocha Java

I'm a HUGE fan of these super sweet polka dots, but KJ isn't... there was no compromising on this one.

Mikasa Daylight

I thought the leaves were cute and modern, but KJ wasn't sure it would work in winter and throughout the year... definitely something I didn't think about!

Lennox Opal Innocence - Carved

Lennox actually has a fine china pattern in Opal Innocence which I'm a fan of, so I thought these might be a possibility, but in real life the plates look a little heavy.

So back to the drawing board we go. I'm in need of some plate inspiration... anybody have good suggestions?

Eat Your Heart Out, Jane Krakowski!

So back in January at the Golden Globes, everyone was all eyes on Jane Krakowski (in the pretty amethyst dress) because she was rockin her new engagement ring!

I however was oogling her for another reason, her HAIR! I thought the wavy and tousled tresses would be pretty great sitting on top of my head accenting my fabulous dress. Today I went for my first hair trial and used Jane as my inspiration photo.

My mom took pictures, but seeing that she doesn't know how to get the pictures off her camera... they are currently stuck in technology purgatory. Sorry I'm not able to show you quiet yet how the hair tuned out - but I'll tell you this much - Jane's Hair and My Dress were meant for each other like PB&J!

Pictures will be posted soon, I hope! But for now, I leave you with more Jane,

more pretty purple dress, and more inspiration hair shots!

side shot

...and, of course, the real curl queen, Taylor Swift!

Round 1 - miniMoon Madness Tournament

If you are playing along at home, now is the time to pull out those red pens and get ready to scratch out the sorry hotels who fell out of the minimoon tournament last night. 4 of the 8 brackets played: Nashville, the Mid-West, Michigan, and South Carolina! Without further ado - check who fell off the bandwagon this week!

Nashville
1 Hutton Hotel
2 Union Station
this was a tough one, after much back and forth Hutton Hotel got the "w" because the rooms at Union Station looked a little like Harry Potter's chamber under the stairs.
3 Renaissance
4 Opryland
Renaissance dominated this game.

Mid-West
1 Branson, Missouri – Chateau on the Lake
2 Niagara Falls – Hilton Niagara Falls
3 Branson, Missouri - Hilton Branson
4 Black Hills (Mt. Rushmore), South Dakota - Powder House Lodge
This bracket got a little busted - we knew Niagara Falls had an automatic bid to the second round, but it came up against Chateau on the Lake which was the favorite of the two Branson Hotels. So, we killed both teams 3-4, and gave 1-2 each spots in the the next round of the tournament.

Michigan
1 Mackinac Island – the Inn at Stonecliff
2 Bay Harbor – the Inn at Bay Harbor
After finding out the Inn at Stonecliff only had rooms for over $300/night left the week of our vacation, Bay Harbor trampled the competition and moved on.
3 Holland - City Flats Hotel
4 Mackinac Island - Chippewa Hotel
Although both City Flats Hotel and Chippewa Hotel looked like ugly step sisters in the field of 16, Chippewa gained the advantage in overtime because of its location in Mackinaw Island.

South Carolina
1 Hilton Head Island – Hilton Oceanfront
2 Charleston – Francis Marion Hotel
In Hilton Head vs. Francis Marion, Hilton Heads dynamic location and more modern playbook earned it a spot in the second round.
3 Charleston/Isle of Palms – Wild Dunes Inn
4 Charleston – Vendue Inn
In what KJ called the "upset" of the night, Wild Dunes Inn put Vendue Inn to rest. Wild Dunes location a block from the beach was just too much for Vendue.

miniMoon Madness

If you've read KJ's blog you'll already know what this post is all about.

In honor of the final four games this weekend and the national championship game tonight, I thought it was very appropriate to post this today.

I've told you all about our decision to take our official honeymoon after recovering from the wedding. So we've turned our efforts to finding out miniMoon destinations. By miniMoon I mean a small, less expensive trip you take right away after the wedding when you are planning a more elaborate "honeymoon" at a later date. We decided our miniMoon would be someplace within a days drive, and living in the midwest, we are semi-limited to where we could go.

There were a few places that came to mind right away, the top "seeds", if you will, but then there were a few places that if we looked into a little deeper, they could be winners to, underdogs.

So, in true college-sport lovers fashion, we made a miniMoon madness bracket!

March was pretty much dedicated to filling out the bracket, and April will be time for the hotels and regions to go head-to-head.

So, with no further ado, our bracket:



I know it's a little hard to see, we have a large version of it sitting at home for us to actually cross off, but here is a listing of all the players:

Nashville
1 Hutton Hotel
2 Union Station
3 Renaissance
4 Opryland

Mid-West
1 Branson, Missouri – Chateau on the Lake
2 Niagara Falls – Hilton Niagara Falls
3 Branson, Missouri - Hilton Branson
4 Black Hills (Mt. Rushmore), South Dakota - Powder House Lodge

Wisconsin
1 Lake Geneva – Grand Geneva
2 Door County – Stone Harbor
3 Milwaukee – the Pfister
4 Wisconsin Dells – Rhapsody on Lake Delton

Michigan
1 Mackinac Island – the Inn at Stonecliff
2 Bay Harbor – the Inn at Bay Harbor
3 Holland - City Flats Hotel
4 Mackinac Island - Chippewa Hotel

Florida
1 Amelia Island – Amelia Island Plantation
2 Santa Rosa Beach – Watercolor Inn
3 Point Vedra Beach – Point Vedra Beach Resorts
4 Destin - Hampton Inn Destin

South
1 Savannah – Westin Savannah Harbor Gold Resort & Spa
2 New Orleans - Windsor Court Hotel
3 Savannah – Bohemian Hotel Riverfront
4 New Orleans – Ritz Carlton

South Carolina
1 Hilton Head Island – Hilton Oceanfront
2 Charleston – Francis Marion Hotel
3 Charleston/Isle of Palms – Wild Dunes Inn
4 Charleston – Vendue Inn

North Carolina
1 Ashville – Grove Park Inn
2 Outer Banks - The Sanderling
3 Outer Banks/Kitty Hawk - Hilton Garden Inn
4 Charlotte – Ballantyne Resort

WHAT DO YOU THINK? I'm taking bets on who the winner will be, where is your favorite?

Styling my Celebration: color palette

It occurred to me the other day that I have never really explained the basics of my reception. My vision, what mood I'm trying to portray, etc. Basically, what am I trying to accomplish with all this fussing and finding?

The short answer: a "Formal yet Fun" occasion that showcases our conventional, yet lighthearted and silly, selves.

"Formal but fun" is how I would describe my dress, and that's where it all started. I wanted a dress that was traditional and beautiful, yet something that had character. Then came the wedding colors. There are actually two version's of the wedding color story. The first is 100% true and the second, while still true, is a little less embarrassing. You see, I saw a picture of this tie when I was harmlessly browsing the knot.com many years back (come on ladies, we all have visited the knot plenty of times, sans engagement rings) It was love at first sight and started my obsession with Navy and Pink

top row, third image from the left

When I actually was in the position to think about my wedding colors (and have it not be part of a daydream) I knew pink would play some part and it's obvious partner in crime would be black. However, I was leery that pink and black could take on a rocker chic look rather quickly and that's when Navy came into the picture. A darker formal color like black, but something that was just a little bit "more" than your normal black. The pink and navy combo seemed to fit the formal but fun theme, all while embracing a preppy, clean, and lighthearted wit about itself!

Since the original "tie" picture, I've found many more Navy and Pink images that have made their way into my heart - check out some of these inspiration photos

pretty programs

fantasy table scape

hot pink/medium pink with navy combo

and so concludes the story of how my navy and pink "formal yet fun" wedding came to be.

InBites!

Excitedly I ordered a handful of sample invitation from a common online invite vendor last week! Trying to be good and get lots of stuff done this month (hence the lack of blogging, I'm actually getting off my computer and crossing things off the list). I was very happy when the big envelope came to my office today. I tore open the package and...

well...

and disappointment followed.

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but what was stuffed in the envelopes just wasn't it. The invitations themselves look very similar to what was promised on the website, and surprisingly, the invitations are a nice paper weight - not to flimsy and light. Here are my new acquisitions:

#1 - cute & fun
There are about 4 inside layers beyond just the blue frame. When you get down to the actual paper where the invite is printed its pretty small. It seems like a lot of paper is wasted just to get the effect!

#2 - fancy font
I love the fancy aspect of this - it's so formal and it SCREAMS wedding wedding wedding! The initial pretty much sells the whole thing. While the font is pretty, the invitation its self is very lack luster. It's just another piece of paper. I'm sure we could spice it up if we decide to do something like this (mmm, creativity already flowing) but it's rather unimpressive for the most part!

#3 - simple and Shiny

This was one KJ liked online, and out of the three, it made the best sample. The shiny boarder gives the paper more dimension than #2 without being as excessive as #1. Still, I think we can do better.

When I started thinking wedding (almost a year ago now) there were some areas I was willing to compromise in, invites being one of them. I've gotten quite a few beautiful invites that wind up coffee stained from sitting on the counter a week to long, or as Sadie's treat from falling off the fridge. I tried to put them in a scrapbook from weddings KJ and I have been to, but I haven't updated that scrapbook in awhile and it's just become this overflowing pile of paper. Needless to say, invites usually end up in the trash (sorry friends), and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I don't treat well.

I've definitely had expensive invite dreams....

...a la these beauties by Vera Wang

But at somewhere around $6/invite, I can't say anything even resembling a "Yes".

So, these three are just not what I had thought. I don't want anything extravagant, but I do want something that addresses our event in a fun yet formal matter, and puts off a good first impression for our guests. I'm back to the drawing board for invites... anyone have any recommendations?