Registry

There is one thing that a lot of brides tend to forget about until it is too late, and I’m a little embarrassed to say that I am one of them.  A bridal registry is important.  There are a lot of stores out there that give you the option of starting a registry.  You go through the store write down things that you want, some stores even have these portable scanners so that all you have to do is scan the bar code of the item.  They save it all in their computer and that’s the end of it for you.  It’s really easy to do.  Now it is important to do this before you send out the invitations and here is why.  A lot of stores will give you cards to put in with you invitations that explain where your registry is, and how to purchase something off of it.  It’s easier for guests at your wedding because they now know what to get you.  Otherwise you may end up with a bunch of junk that you don’t need.  If the store doesn’t have cards to put in the invitation, you can always go down to a printing shop and have some made for fairly cheap I’m sure.  They could be something as simple as business cards.  So, make sure to go do your registry; it doesn’t take very much time to do and trust me when I say that it will help.  At least you could end up getting presents that you really need!!!

Invitation Question!!

I had a comment left today on my post about Invitations and if you click here you can read the other post and the comment that was written.  Katie was wondering what she should do about invitations because she doesn’t think she has enough money left to buy them.  My suggestion would be to look at the website I suggested in the article called http://www.invitationconsultants.com and just see what could be done.  Katie, you might find some that you like that are cheap enough to purchase. 

If you don’t find some that you like there is another way to do you invitations.  It’s not easy, but it can be done.  You can make them, and print them yourself!!  The first thing you need to do is pick out the paper.  Any of you local crafts stores will have it.  You can check places like Walmart, or even any local scrapbooking stores.  Once you find the paper you need to take it home and come up with the design to print on it.  That includes any pictures, and writing.  Doing it this way just takes more time, but if you take the time and do it right I’m sure you will love what you come up with.  Printing them is the easiest part!!  The only problem you might run into during the printing is ink.  Depending on how many you have to print, and what type of printer you have, you might go through a lot of ink.  If that is the case then try going to this website.  http://www.compimaging.com.  That is where I buy my printer ink.  They sell it cheaper than the stores in my area.  I’ve been a customer of theirs for quite a while now.

If you want detailed instructions on how to make your own invitations, just let me know.  I will be more than happy to go into more detail!!

Keeping Records

Now, on top of carrying a notebook I also made sure to keep lists of everything on my computer.  I even ordered a new flash drive for my computer to store everything on.  I was afraid, that with my bad luck, I would lose my notebook and my computer would crash at the same time.  That’s how worried I was about losing everything.  I actually did lose track of my notebook once and if you’re anything like me you might do it too.  So I would suggest buying a flash drive.  You just never know when your computer will catch a virus, or just crash for no reason.  That might sound like I’m being paranoid but I’m sure that you know bad things always happen at the worst time.  So I jumped online and ordered one from www.memorysuppliers.com and if you click here you can see the one that I chose.  I didn’t order anything fancy, I chose a typical 2 GB drive.  The nice thing about ordering from memorysuppliers is that they have same day shipping.  I, as a customer, always appreciate that.  I order A LOT OF STUFF online; it’s more convenient for me than driving all the way into town.  I knew that in the end, my flash drive wouldn’t need to hold a whole bunch of stuff, just things like my guest list and so on.  It did come in handy too.  You just have to remember to update your lists on your computer, or it doesn’t do you any good to buy one. So after making sure that you have the ability to keep all the notes that you might need, also keep in mind that you need to keep records as well.  I’m talking about any and all sales receipts.  For the purpose of keeping everything somewhat organized I carried a big envelope around with me and I made sure that ever receipt went in it.  The reason for this is that you might be out shopping with friends and see something that you think would look good at the reception, but when it gets closer to time you realize that what you had bought before really didn’t match the new decorations you bought.  So, if you have the receipt you can return it.  If you don’t have the receipt, you’re out of luck.

The next step that I took was to just do a lot of shopping with friends.  We would just plan a day to go hit all the stores, not exactly to buy anything.  We just went to keep getting ideas.  Starting early is a good idea.  I started buying a bunch of the small stuff right away.  For example:  the vases for the table arrangements, the runner that would be on the isle, and I even ordered some personalized napkins with a very pretty heart symbol on it prior to ordering my wedding invitations (I guess I should have told you about those earlier but, oh well).  That’s how early I started with some of this stuff.  After ordering the napkins, I used that heart symbol as a decorating theme.  I had it put on my invitations and lots of other things.  I will try and remember and tell you about those other things later.  For now let’s just concentrate on the point that I’m trying to get across to you.  IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP RECORDS!!  Is that clear enough??  A lot of people may not think that it’s important; they say “this only costs $20, if I don’t want to use it later it’s not a big deal.”  Well take that $20 and times it by 10.  (Trust me I’m sure that you will come up with a lot of ideas that you won’t end up using.)  That’s $200.00 that could end up going to waste.  So I’ll say it again.  KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS….

Sorry!! I’ve been busy..

I know I haven’t posted anything in a while and i’m sorry about that.  My husband and I have been so busy.  I’m sure you know exactly what i’m talking about.  In life it just seems like if one thing pops up then a million other things pop up at the same time.  It gets kind of confusing when trying to figure out which one to deal with first.  So, I promise I will post the next step as soon as I can.  I don’t know how long it will be, but i’ll try and hurry.  I promise!!!!!

Invitation Time?

Let me elaborate on my last post and explain more about why I started carrying a notebook with me everywhere I went.  Right off the bat I started thinking about everything that had to be done, and as I said before it gets a little overwhelming.  The notebook is great for taking notes.  I wrote everything in that notebook.  I devoted the first 20 pages to my guest list, I started writing down names and leaving a few lines extra so I would have room for addresses and notes.  I devoted 4 pages to a list of our wedding parties, example: brides’ maids, groomsman, ect…  I devoted about 10 pages for notes on the ceremony, and about 30 pages to notes on the reception.  I devoted a couple pages to flower arrangements as well.  I also devoted about 6 pages to a list of favorite songs, and the rest of the notebook I devoted to overall notes.  Anything that didn’t fit into a category went into notes.  I carried the notebook right next to me in the car that way if I heard a good song on the radio I would pull over right away and write it down, or else I would have forgotten. 

After the engagement rings I started writing the guest list, and I got that done as quick as possible.  There’s a reason for working on that next.  Depending on when the wedding is, you might want the invitations out as quickly as possible.  Oh, and on that note if you’re looking for a good place to get invitations try this website.  www.invitationconsultants.com.  They have a wonderful selection of wedding invitations, and i’m sure everyone can find exactly what they’re looking for.  Back on subject.  If you wedding is close then you’ll want to get those invitations sent out as quickly as possible.  However if your plan on having your wedding wait a while, it is still important to get your guest list done and here’s why.  We had already been engaged for a long time so we decided that we weren’t in any big rush but that we wanted to take our time so everything got done right, and so we would have time to do everything.  So, what I did was type out a general letter to everyone on my guest list that told them we were getting married on June 24th.  I explained in the letter that I knew it was quite a while away but I just wanted to let everyone know so that they could put in on their calendars, and I told them that I would be sending out invitations when it got closer to that date.  When it came down to it, I had a lot of people on my guest list call me and thank me for giving this much time to prepare for it, they told me that if I hadn’t sent out the letter that they probably wouldn’t have been able to get the time off of work that they needed to be at the wedding.  So it worked out great.  And I did send out the invitations months later, as I said I would. 

So, keep that notebook close.  Start writing down everything that comes to mind, right as it happens.  Don’t wait because trust me you’ll forget.  I know that there were a few times that I wasn’t able to write a few things down, and I know I forgot them.   Everything still worked out great though.  Talk to you next time!!

 

Engagement

So, like most men, my husband surprised me with the big question. I didn’t know what he was planning so it’s not like I could have a ring ready for him. I don’t know about most of you ladies out there but isn’t it kind of unfair sometimes. I mean it’s nice to be surprised by something like that but on the other hand he presents to you this very expensive ring and asks you to marry him, and you say yes but you have nothing to present to him. So I guess it’s a toss up. Anyways, after saying yes and getting over the initial shock I did the same thing that every women does, I called everyone that I can think of to tell them I’m getting married. It’s such an exciting time. And for the next few days it’s really wonderful, talking to all your friends and family about how excited you are and how much you’re looking forward to it and then it hits you. You then realize that you have a lot to do and it doesn’t seem like you have a lot of time to do it in. So at that point you start feeling maybe just a little overwhelmed. That’s when you have to step back and realize, everything will be fine. Although it may not seem like it at the time, trust me it will.

At this point if you’re wondering where you should start, I’ll give you a hint. He gave you a beautiful engagement____ ?? Now you’ve got it, he needs a ring. At this point you can make up your own mind as to what method you want to use, in terms of driving around to all your local stores or purchasing a ring online. To each their own, so this decision is one you must make on your own. Another important thing to think about is what type of job your husband-to-be does. For example my husband is a mechanic so my choice of rings should revolve around that. A lot of women might not think to take their spouses profession into consideration before choosing a ring but trust me it is important. I did visit a few local jewelers with him to figure out his ring size, and to get their opinion on what type of ring I should purchase for him. I learned that platinum and titanium was the best types of rings to get mechanics due to their resistance against scratching and over all durability. So with that information I went home, sat down at my computer, and began researching. I ended up finding a site called www.eternaltungsten.com. The site explained that many people were aware of gold, platinum, and titanium but that few people were aware of Tungsten Rings which presents superior characteristics. So I decided to give them a try. I knew I wanted a flat, rounded edged style of ring and if you click here you can see which one I decided on. I presented it to my husband, and he loved it. To this day he still has that ring. I was very surprised to see it last as long as it has. I figured with him being a mechanic I would have had to buy him a new one by now. So the point to this story is, do your research and shop around before choosing a ring.

After choosing the ring, different people move in different directions. I know that at this point I started carrying a notebook around with me everywhere I went. That way anytime I had an idea I would write it down so I wouldn’t forget it. Let me tell you that because of writing everything down we ended up having a very nice, and enjoyable wedding. I used a lot of those little ideas that I had throughout the months in the end, and if I hadn’t wrote them down I would never have remembered them.

Don’t worry, this isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

Feel free to tell me your engagement story. Maybe I will write about mine next time. But I would still love to hear about yours!!

A Couple

I supose I can start off by telling you that i’m 24 years old.  I met my husband in ’99.  I know, alot of people think I was a little young but at that point we were just friends.  We became what we would consider boyfriend-girlfriend in Octrober of 2000, and let me tell you both of us were nervous.  Getting together with your best friend always makes you wonder what will happen if it doesn’t work out, we didn’t want to loose each others friendship, but i’m really glad that we decided to try and make it work.  It took a few years but he finally purposed to me on Christmas morning in 2004, and after a long engagement we got married on June 24th 2006.  So yes, we are what some people might still consider newly weds but we’ve been together long enough that I don’t really consider it like that anymore. 

I love my husband very much, but I also remember how frustrating planning the wedding was.  I have family that helped out alot and I thank them for that but at some points I was wishing that there was a neutral third party that I could talk to and get advise from.  That is why I started this blog.  I will write about my expierences before the wedding, my experiences planning the wedding, and of course my experiences after the wedding.

So if anyone has any questions they would like to ask, be my guest.  I will be your neutral third party, and give the best advise I can.