An Enchanting Wedding

Romance, understated elegance, unique, charming... all words I would love to have used to describe my upcoming wedding. And all descriptors I looked for in my venue search. One of the places I found here in the Midwest that would fit the bill was the completely charming Enchanted Barn in Hillsdale, Wisconsin.

This place is stunning. There is so much charm in the site that a minimalist approach to decorating would be sufficient to achieve a dreamy, romantic wedding. Even the name of this place lends itself to be a detail for a theme.

The photos posted above and more beautiful photos can be found on the website for The Enchanted Barn.

To Letterpress or Inkjet

We have made significant progress on our invitations. I think we have completed the design... I am still scouring iStockPhoto to double check that there isn't something I like better... but we are nearly there. There are also a few tweaks that need to be made with the spacing and margins and such.

So now the decision that is keeping me up at night is how we are going to print them. Basically it comes down to letterpress or inkjet. And from there it comes down to cost. We are on a really tight budget and the practical side of me says that given my audience the money would be better spent elsewhere or even left to give us a little cushion or *gasp* come in under budget. The emotional side of me says 'but letterpress is so pretty and it is our wedding!'

Here our our options:

1. DIY Letterpress
I explored this option a few months ago but hadn't found a great way to accomplish this without spending thousands on buying the equipment. But during the past week I came across ReadyMade magazine and this article with pretty good directions on how to build and do the printing yourself in a fairly economical way. I think we could do it but it would be time consuming for sure. {I am definitely subscribing to this magazine though...}

2. Inexpensive Letterpress Shop
Then I stumbled across the Mercurio Brothers printing through the boards on Wedding Bee. It is really inexpensive compared to everything else I have seen. And works quite well for us since we have already designed our invitations. If we did one color printing it would be $200 for the invites. We could then either pay the $147 for the rsvp card or simply print it at home. Not bad!

3. Print 'Em at Home
*Big sigh* Really we could just print them off on our inkjet printer for the cost of a cartridge (which we will buy anyways in the upcoming months). My mom already bought us the paper so that isn't a cost with this option. And our printer has done a surprisingly nice job printing the magnets and our holiday cards so...

The practical part of me knows that I really should just print them off at home. My family and friends would hopefully be equally as thrilled regardless of the print method. But letterpress is so pretty! Ugh. I think I am going to just take a step back from the invitations and start to focus on other projects for a while. We have some time and can revisit this decision in a few weeks.

{Images from ReadyMade, Mercurio Brothers, HP}

Hello 2008, Year of Organization!

Happy New Year! I love new years. Not necessarily the party-filled new years eve aspect, but the part where you can sit back and think 'wow, what a year 2007 was' and then begin to think forward to all the incredible things that are in store with the upcoming year.

This year will be a big one for us. As I started to think of all that is coming up, professionally and personally, I started to freak out a little bit. So instead of doing my usual organization/cleaning during the first day of the year, I spent hours looking at reception tablescapes on the internet. Ah... avoidance is one of my not so prized skills. Then I thought to double check my wedding planning to do lists and realized that I have many more important things to be worrying about than what vases I might want for our centerpieces. {Note to self: call caterer about sending the contract}

Yes, for me the biggest goal for 2008 is to remain organized. If I am going to graduate from my masters program, get married, and kick off a new committee for a non-profit while working full time then I am going to have keep myself organized, maybe even carry some of those project management skills over to my personal life. {of course it goes without saying that losing those 8 pounds gained last year is also a goal}

{Image from Potterybarn.com}

After Christmas Sales = Inexpensive Bridesmaid Dresses

What better way to be a thoughtful bride than to save your bridesmaids by selecting dresses that are not only dresses they really will wear again but that are on sale! There are wonderful markdowns at JCrew right now with an extra 20% off the final sale...

Simple and beautiful in silk chiffon... the Emily dress is going for $55.99 with the extra 20% through the weekend! {hint: there are more sizes in the espresso}

Or maybe the lovely Ella for $79.99 with the extra 20% through the weekend... {again more sizes in espresso}

Maybe Strapless Organza in navy {or chocolate} for $87.90 at Nordstrom...

Or maybe Nicole Miller is more your style for $118 at Nordstorm...

There are lots of cute dresses on sale... many are pretty, inexpensive options for bridesmaids.

After Christmas Sales = Wedding Decor Finds

The after Christmas sales have begun! I always love a good sale and the ones that happen each year after the holidays are some of the best. Usually I would be hunting for a few new sweaters or interesting accessories for our home. This year I find myself searching the sale for vases or candleholders that could be used for our wedding. I would love to find items that we can use for the wedding and then incorporate into our home so that there is a little less waste.

Pottery Barn has these chalkboard cachepots marked down to $3 for 1 or $14.50 for 6 that would be really cute for table numbers (I am sure these could be DIY with clay pots and chalkboard paint)...

And I love these mercury glass jars for $10-$13 at Pottery Barn (too bad the pedestal bowls are sold out)...

Spell it out with 4" letters in silver, silver-sage, or red for $1.99 from Restoration Hardware...

The dynasty vases from West Elm would make interesting vessels...

Ikea, the meca of inexpensive decor finds, is also having their winter sale... too bad their online store is a little harder to search the sale... if only I wasn't sitting in the office today...