Dear USPS,
You may or may not know that our wedding is coming up in approximately one month. You should know due to the increased amount of mail going to and from our house, but I understand you're pretty busy and may have overlooked this news.
I understand that we are living in a new house on a new street that even 911 doesn't know exists, but you've been delivering our mail since February. Granted, the first few weeks were a bit rough, but I didn't fret too much because this relationship was new for everyone. We had a few rough patches since then (like the time you lost Keegan's present) but overall, I'm satisfied with our relationship.
It has now been 5 month since we started seeing each other and I figured you got the routine down. We give you mail (such as our invitations) to deliver to our family and friends and you bring us their replies and gifts. Not too hard.
It has come to my attention, however, that you have been severely lacking on your job. After getting anxious/annoyed/mad/disappointed at our guests for not sending back their RSVPs on a timely manner, I decided to email a few of them to see what's up. Turns most of them responded a month ago. However, we haven't received any of their replies. We don't have any neighbors that steal our mail. We're the only house on the road (that anyone's living in,) so it's not like you're accidentally delivering our mail to someone else. I'm going to ask you point blank, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY RSVPs????!!!
How is it that you can deliver every single bill and piece of spam mail on time? Those RSVPs were already addressed and stamped for Pete's sake. All our guests had to do was mark if they were/weren't coming, throw them in the mail and you delivered them. How hard is that?!
You have pissed off an already stressed out bride. If my RSVPs are not delivered by July 1, I'm going to be coming down to your house and giving you a stern talking to. A piece of advice? Don't piss off brides. They can get vicious and you don't want to see that. You and Forever21 are on my naughty list.
No love,
Aislinn
(So as you can tell, USPS has lost a fair number of our RSVPs. I was wondering if our invitations had even been delivered since we've only gotten about 1/3 of the responses back, so I emailed a few friends to double check they received their invite. All of them had and most of them said that they had mailed back their RSVP a month ago. Now, I wouldn't be to worried or upset if this had happened to one or two people. Things get lost in the mail and I understand. However, I talked to at least 7 people who said they sent back their RSVP and we still haven't gotten them. Now I'm wondering how many more have been sent and not received from friends we haven't spoken to yet. I really don't want to hunt down the rest of our guest list to figure out if people are coming or not. Anyone have any suggestions? Is this something I can/should go down to the post office about? There are three different locations in our small town, so I'm not even sure which one handles our mail. I don't want to come off as a crazy bride, but I really don't feel like badgering our guests if they've already sent back their RSVP. Should I be worried about gifts our gusts have sent as well? Any ideas, suggestions or similar stories will be much appreciated.)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Emily Post and I Are Finally Friends
*Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend; Keegan and I were in KC, MO for his cousin's wedding. This was supposed to post on Friday, but obviously, it didn't, so here it is now. *
I finally gave in and Miss Emily and I became fast friends on Tuesday night. I decided to push my wishes of everyone getting the same thank you note aside and banged out 5 simple but effective thank yous in the span of about an hour.
I made a file in Photoshop so that the thank yous would be the right size to fit into the envelopes we used for our RSVPs since we had a butt-ton of them left (and yes, a butt-ton is a unit of measurement....at least in my world.) Our thank yous came in a about 5 x 3.5 inches. Just big enough to write a quick note, but small enough that I wasn't trying to fill it up with random garble.
I decorated them with leave and clover punch outs and stuck them in envelopes with the Love postage that was originally used for our invitations.
You say you want examples? Well here they are!
I finally gave in and Miss Emily and I became fast friends on Tuesday night. I decided to push my wishes of everyone getting the same thank you note aside and banged out 5 simple but effective thank yous in the span of about an hour.
I made a file in Photoshop so that the thank yous would be the right size to fit into the envelopes we used for our RSVPs since we had a butt-ton of them left (and yes, a butt-ton is a unit of measurement....at least in my world.) Our thank yous came in a about 5 x 3.5 inches. Just big enough to write a quick note, but small enough that I wasn't trying to fill it up with random garble.
I decorated them with leave and clover punch outs and stuck them in envelopes with the Love postage that was originally used for our invitations.
You say you want examples? Well here they are!
I love the itty-bitty leaves! They're like 1/3 inch big.
Please ignore that strange green tint in the upper left hand corner. My scanner does strange things.
The thank yous I made were mostly for guests who couldn't come to the wedding except for the one guest who is coming but sent their present early. I figure for this guest and for any more who send their presents early but still come to the wedding, they will get this thank you for their gift and a wedding picture thank you for coming to the wedding. Best of both worlds!
What did you do for early thank you notes? Did you make them right away and send them off or did you make Emily cringe and wait until after the wedding so that everyone had the same thank you? Am I the only one who gets annoyed by not everyone having the same one?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I Love Our RSVPs
I'm actually insanely proud of our RSVPs. I know, it's a strange thing to be proud of, but I am.
I know that many bees have had the problem of people not writing their names in the M_____________ spot. Miss Mink solved this by writing a small number on the flap of the envelope. Ms. Gazelle, Mrs. Lox, as well as other bees have bought invisible ink pens that you see with a black light.
I decided to side step the entire problem by printing our guests' names directly on the RSVP. Now, there was no way for them to forget to write their names, and I didn't have to go searching for a tiny number to figure out who sent back their RVSP.
I also added three lines for our guests to give us music suggestions. This was partly a selfish decision because I didn't want to have to make up a play list for our DJ. Keegan and I have such drastically ranging music choices from hard rock to Celtic music so we figured we'd ask our guests what they wanted to listen to.
Some of our guests have given us some good choices,
Yes, my family didn't indicate how many are coming. I feel like its a safe bet to assume they all are.
Some have laughed in our faces...
And some haven't put anything down at all (which honestly annoys me a bit, but whatever.)
These lines also worked out for our guests who are not able to come. Many of them have written us small notes with their regrets.
"I'm so sorry I cannot attend your special day"
"Hope you will visit if you come out East!"
"Very best love to you both - may you have years of great joy!"
(I think, this one was kind of hard to decipher.)
So yes, my RSVPs are a strange thing to be so proud of, but I am. Some of them have done their original intention and helped us come up with playlist for our DJ, and others have give us some laughs and well wishes from loved ones.
What have you been most proud of in your wedding planning? Anyone else proud of their RSVPs?
Monday, June 18, 2012
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair!
I was cursed blessed with absurdly curly hair. I had ringlets all over my head, similar to Shirley Temple. My mom actually had someone ask her if she permed my hair when I was two.
As time went on, I found out that with about 2.5 hours of work, I could tame my curly hair into a slightly straight mane.
Obviously, my hair resembles Rapunzel's in no way, shape or form. Like so many other girls, I'm trying to grow my hair out for the wedding. My hair has always been super thick, however, due to the medications I took for the last 2.5 years, it was getting thinner and thinner. When I showered, I would pull fist fulls of hair out and even more would fall out when I brushed my hair. In January, I decided to go off of all of my medications cold turkey. Since then, I've been hoping that my hair will regain some of its fullness by the wedding. I don't care about length as much because when my hair is straight, it's down to the middle of my back.
So what does all of this talk about my ridiculously curly hair have to do with weddings? Why wedding hairstyles of course!
When I first got engaged last October, I found this hairstyle and fell head over heels in love:
personal photo / age 3ish with my Poppa
Personal photo / College graduation 2011
Obviously, my hair resembles Rapunzel's in no way, shape or form. Like so many other girls, I'm trying to grow my hair out for the wedding. My hair has always been super thick, however, due to the medications I took for the last 2.5 years, it was getting thinner and thinner. When I showered, I would pull fist fulls of hair out and even more would fall out when I brushed my hair. In January, I decided to go off of all of my medications cold turkey. Since then, I've been hoping that my hair will regain some of its fullness by the wedding. I don't care about length as much because when my hair is straight, it's down to the middle of my back.
So what does all of this talk about my ridiculously curly hair have to do with weddings? Why wedding hairstyles of course!
When I first got engaged last October, I found this hairstyle and fell head over heels in love:
I promptly saved it to my wedding folder and pinned it on Pintrest. Months later, I am still in love. I am a little worried that my hair will turn into Shirley Temple ringlets however, instead of these loose flowing curls.
I kept saving and pinning similar hairstyles
Don't have the source, sorry!
I thought a bit more and realized that I'm getting married in Missouri in August. That automatically means that it's going to be muggy and sticky outside. I figured I could deal with my hair down for the ceremony, but after that, I would want it up so I could dance and party with our friends without worrying about my hair.
Audra, Keegan's cousin and one of my bridesmaids, has graciously offered to do my hair and makeup as well as the hair and makeup of the rest of my girls. She showed me this up do for the ceremony and I thought it was perfect.
I wanted something quick and easy to do so that I could be away from the reception as little as possible. I also love how fun and quirky it is.
This weekend, Keegan and I are going to KC for his cousin's wedding. Audra will be there, so we're going to do a hair and makeup trial. I'm so excited to finally meet Audra, as well as do my hair trial. I really want to see how much time the up-do will take so we can make sure I won't be away from the reception too long. I'll make sure to get pictures!
Anyone else have their hair down for a hot summer wedding? Should I just put it up for the ceremony as well? You think I'll come out with long, flowing curls or look like Shirley Temple?
This weekend, Keegan and I are going to KC for his cousin's wedding. Audra will be there, so we're going to do a hair and makeup trial. I'm so excited to finally meet Audra, as well as do my hair trial. I really want to see how much time the up-do will take so we can make sure I won't be away from the reception too long. I'll make sure to get pictures!
Anyone else have their hair down for a hot summer wedding? Should I just put it up for the ceremony as well? You think I'll come out with long, flowing curls or look like Shirley Temple?
Friday, June 15, 2012
The Mason Jar Manifesto
The Mason Jar Manifesto has been circulating the wedding world as of late. I found out about it through a bee on Weddingbee. If you don't feel like reading the entire thing (even though you should,) basically, the post is about the fact that lately, the wedding industry has convinced brides that they need everything. The key word being things. If you're take a stroll down wedding lane, you get bombarded with images of buntings, cute straws, vintage this and that and DIY everything. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that today, brides are able to make their weddings about them and the relationship they have with their future spouse, but so many brides (including myself) get caught up on the things and not the marriage.
Jonas put it best when he wrote:
"We’re getting lost in details. The whole wedding industry is drifting away from what weddings are about and we’re all part of the problem – bloggers, photographers, planners and vendors – all hypocrites feeding the detail beast.
Strip it back.
Peel the layers off.
And start again.
At the center of every wedding we have a girl. Who fell in love with a boy. Or a girl who fell in love with a girl. Or a boy who fell in l… you get my point.
The rest is fluff.
If you read magazines and wedding blogs today, you’d think it’s all about the dress, the decorations, invitations or a million other things.
THINGS.
It’s not.
It’s about celebrating love, a manifestation of commitment, a gathering of friends and family.
Because you’re in love."
When I first read the manifesto, I thought to myself about how proud I am that I haven't gotten caught up in the WIC (wedding industry complex) that focuses so much on the wedding and not the marriage. But honestly, I'm just as guilty about worrying about things and not so much about what a wedding means and symbolizes.
Lately, I've been stressing about our lack of centerpieces (yes, I'm a 1.5 months away from my wedding and don't have centerpieces.) After reading the manifesto, I sat for a moment and thought, "What if we just don't have centerpieces? What's the point of a centerpiece anyways? To look pretty? We're not having flowers, and I have no need for vintage typewriters or mason jars. What if people, ate, talked, and interacted with each other instead of looking at the random centerpiece placed on a table? Will anyone really miss it?"
I felt this amazing weight lifted off my shoulders when I thought about not dealing with them. In all honesty, how many people notice the centerpieces? If you think about it, they're going to be sitting at the tables to eat and then hopefully they'll be up mingling and dancing. Stressing out less about a thing was such an amazing feeling.
I've gone back and read over our ceremony a few times lately and I have to say, I'm in love. I love this text that Keegan and I have put together that means so much to us. This text, during our wedding, will show everyone how much our love and marriage means. Reading our ceremony brings back the idea that this whole wedding is really about a marriage. Two people, in love, joined for eternity. Suddenly, all the things don't matter anymore. All that matters is the fact that at the end of the wedding, we'll be married. No one will notice if we have bunting or not (I'm sure not many of our guests even know what that is.) No one is going to miss the centerpieces, the signature drinks, the flowers, or the cake. Suddenly, I'm not going to miss them either.
I know that in the next 1.5 months, I will still worry about things. It's hard not to. This wedding will be 10 months in the making by the time August rolls around and it will be the biggest party/get together/celebration that either one of us has planned. We want it to be a wonderful experience for us and our guests, so worrying about certain things like food, drinks, and entertainment is a must. However, we can lessen the stress on ourselves by remembering that this celebration is about marriage, not about mason jars.
How do you feel about the WIC? Do you agree with the idea that weddings seem to be focused more on things than the marriage? Anyone else say "screw it" to what is considered "traditional" for weddings (i.e. centerpieces?)
Jonas put it best when he wrote:
"We’re getting lost in details. The whole wedding industry is drifting away from what weddings are about and we’re all part of the problem – bloggers, photographers, planners and vendors – all hypocrites feeding the detail beast.
Strip it back.
Peel the layers off.
And start again.
At the center of every wedding we have a girl. Who fell in love with a boy. Or a girl who fell in love with a girl. Or a boy who fell in l… you get my point.
The rest is fluff.
If you read magazines and wedding blogs today, you’d think it’s all about the dress, the decorations, invitations or a million other things.
THINGS.
It’s not.
It’s about celebrating love, a manifestation of commitment, a gathering of friends and family.
Because you’re in love."
When I first read the manifesto, I thought to myself about how proud I am that I haven't gotten caught up in the WIC (wedding industry complex) that focuses so much on the wedding and not the marriage. But honestly, I'm just as guilty about worrying about things and not so much about what a wedding means and symbolizes.
Lately, I've been stressing about our lack of centerpieces (yes, I'm a 1.5 months away from my wedding and don't have centerpieces.) After reading the manifesto, I sat for a moment and thought, "What if we just don't have centerpieces? What's the point of a centerpiece anyways? To look pretty? We're not having flowers, and I have no need for vintage typewriters or mason jars. What if people, ate, talked, and interacted with each other instead of looking at the random centerpiece placed on a table? Will anyone really miss it?"
I felt this amazing weight lifted off my shoulders when I thought about not dealing with them. In all honesty, how many people notice the centerpieces? If you think about it, they're going to be sitting at the tables to eat and then hopefully they'll be up mingling and dancing. Stressing out less about a thing was such an amazing feeling.
I've gone back and read over our ceremony a few times lately and I have to say, I'm in love. I love this text that Keegan and I have put together that means so much to us. This text, during our wedding, will show everyone how much our love and marriage means. Reading our ceremony brings back the idea that this whole wedding is really about a marriage. Two people, in love, joined for eternity. Suddenly, all the things don't matter anymore. All that matters is the fact that at the end of the wedding, we'll be married. No one will notice if we have bunting or not (I'm sure not many of our guests even know what that is.) No one is going to miss the centerpieces, the signature drinks, the flowers, or the cake. Suddenly, I'm not going to miss them either.
I know that in the next 1.5 months, I will still worry about things. It's hard not to. This wedding will be 10 months in the making by the time August rolls around and it will be the biggest party/get together/celebration that either one of us has planned. We want it to be a wonderful experience for us and our guests, so worrying about certain things like food, drinks, and entertainment is a must. However, we can lessen the stress on ourselves by remembering that this celebration is about marriage, not about mason jars.
How do you feel about the WIC? Do you agree with the idea that weddings seem to be focused more on things than the marriage? Anyone else say "screw it" to what is considered "traditional" for weddings (i.e. centerpieces?)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Why I'm Not Having A Bachelorette Party
When I first started wedding planning, I thought there were certain things that "made" you a bride: showers, veils, long white dresses and bachelorette parties among other things. Now, after a little over 8 months of planning our wedding, I've realized that this is far from the truth. After reading countless blogs and spending too many hours on wedding websites, I realized that what makes someone a bride is the fact that they will be marrying the love of their life. No matter if she does it at the courthouse with jeans on, she is a bride.
Now back to why I'm not having a bachelorette party. My bridal party consists of my two sisters, both of which are under the age of 21, Keegan's cousin, Audra, and our friend, Sarah. Since both of my sisters are under 21, we can't go bar hopping or clubbing, neither of which I am actually a fan of anyways. For the older girls to be able to partake in some adult beverages, we'd have to go to a restaurant. Bachelorette party at Applebee's? Not quite what I was thinking.
Second reason is, Sarah and Audra are not from Columbia where the wedding will be held. I can't and don't expect them to try and plan an itinerary for a place they don't know or have never been to.
Third, and probably the biggest reason that I'm not planning a bachelorette party is the fact that instead of having a traditional rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we are having more of a family and friends get together. I want to be able to spend as much time with our friends and family that are coming from out of city/state/country so it would feel rude to me to leave in the middle of this get together to hit the town with my girls. Doing a rehearsal, dinner, and then trying to squeeze in a bachelorette party just seems like too much for one night, anyways.
Originally, I thought of having a joint bachelor/bachelorette party with Keegan and his boys, but that was nixed pretty quickly. I'm sure his boys already have something planned for him and that doesn't include his bride and her younger sisters. I would never think to ask Keegan to cancel his bachelor party just because I won't be having a bachelorette party. The only thing I asked is that everyone comes back in one piece and some pictures are taken. I want to see what those crazy boys are up to!
Don't get me wrong, if the cards fell the right way, I would love to have a bachelorette party. Unfortunately, I can't make my sisters 21 before August (not that I'd want to, they're growing up so quickly as it is,) and I can't ask my girls to come all the way to Missouri on any other day. The reason the bachelor/bachelorette parties have to happen the night before the wedding is because so many of our wedding party are from out of city/state. They're already doing so much for us by standing by our sides during the wedding, I couldn't ask them to come out a different weekend and spend more money.
So those are some of the reasons that I'm not actively planning a bachelorette party. Now if my girls want to take me out to drinks after the family gathering, I wouldn't be opposed. We just have to wait for the younger girls to go to bed :-D
Monday, June 11, 2012
Emily Post, I Am Not
As you may (or may not) know, Emily Post is the latest guru on wedding etiquette. She has a website that explains the do's and don'ts for a wedding which can be found here.
Now, I haven't read through her entire website, but I'm sure that I've broken a few of her wedding rules already, and honestly, I don't care. One that I am worried about however? Thank you notes.
Already, we have been getting wedding presents (and money) from various guests. Some are gifts from people who are not able to make it, others are from guests who know we don't want to lug a bunch of wedding presents from Missouri to Mississippi, so they just had the gift sent to our Mississippi home. Either way, the gifts are rolling in and I'm starting to think about thank you notes.
Now, Miss Post says that wedding thank you notes should be sent within three months of receiving the gift. That is of course, perfectly do-able after the wedding (watch me eat my words...) but what about the gifts we've received before the wedding? Most people, would buy (even though Emily disagrees with this practice) or craft a thank you note a few days after receiving the gift and send it off. I, on the other hand, am neurotic and want all of my thank yous to be the same. This wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't hell-bent on making a thank you note with a wedding picture on it like:
Now, I haven't read through her entire website, but I'm sure that I've broken a few of her wedding rules already, and honestly, I don't care. One that I am worried about however? Thank you notes.
Already, we have been getting wedding presents (and money) from various guests. Some are gifts from people who are not able to make it, others are from guests who know we don't want to lug a bunch of wedding presents from Missouri to Mississippi, so they just had the gift sent to our Mississippi home. Either way, the gifts are rolling in and I'm starting to think about thank you notes.
Now, Miss Post says that wedding thank you notes should be sent within three months of receiving the gift. That is of course, perfectly do-able after the wedding (watch me eat my words...) but what about the gifts we've received before the wedding? Most people, would buy (even though Emily disagrees with this practice) or craft a thank you note a few days after receiving the gift and send it off. I, on the other hand, am neurotic and want all of my thank yous to be the same. This wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't hell-bent on making a thank you note with a wedding picture on it like:
I love love love these thank yous. The way I see it, if I'm spending a butt-load of money on wedding pictures, I might as well get some use out of them and send them to as many people as I can, right?
So this poses a problem. I have these gifts that need thank yous, but I am crazy and want all my guests to get the same one. Will they compare thank yous? I highly doubt it. Its more about my sanity. Now, if I wait until after the wedding, it will still be in the "correct" three month time line that Miss Post says is acceptable. However, since these guests have sent their gifts so early, will it be strange to them to receive a thank you three months after they sent it? Will they realize that I'm crazy and wanted to use a wedding picture for my thank yous? Will that make me look lazy? Will they honestly even care?
So, I need some input on this. Is it ok for me to wait until after the wedding and use a wedding picture for the thank you notes for gifts we received before the wedding, or should I suck it up and just send them a different one?
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