Exciting News

Two quick announcements!

1) The website is up!  http://www.emilyandartur.com/
2) My "good question" got posted on the Kitchn! check it out!! What to Cook at a Mountain Cabin Getaway

Frohe Weihnachten!

Und einen guten Rutch (translation: Merry Christmas and a good "slide" into the new year (that's what they say!)

As a christmas greeting to all my readers out there, here is a series of photos of my favorite christmas site in Munich (after all those fancy christmasey markets, of course...): the christmas tree market on Odeonsplatz in the historic center of Munich! It reminds me of how the "olden" days must have been, and of scenes from some of my favorite christmas movies.

Take a look!

there's the market from afar, with beautiful backdrop of the Theatinerkirche

close-up of the pretty trees

tree, all ready for transport! (i've seen quite a few riding the subway)

and my all-time favorite - the mini trees! so cute!!!

Hope you enjoyed! Have a wonderful, happy, healthy holiday season. I'll be posting from snowy Buchenberg soon!

Save the Dates, round two!

Sorry in advance for the blurry pictures... these were quick last minute cell phone snaps...

this is what the "Europe" stamped version looks like (I chose the Dahlias)

this is the "Germany" stamp

look at the cute heart!!!

And here they are, slipping away into the maily world of the post office!

With Germany's incredibly efficient postal system promise, the Germany residents should definitely get their cards by Christmas! (Tomorrow evening, to be exact). The process was LONG but also fun, and we're really happy with how they turned out. And boy am I glad I had a "dry run" of sorts before attempting the invitations. Now I know a few important things:

1) Order lots of extras, especially envelopes, for potential (and probable) mistakes, especially if you are stamping anything! (takes some practice)

2) I recommend ordering German postage online through http://www.post.de/ . Unlike US post offices, here they don't stock most pretty stamps, so I had a much bigger selection online. And shipping was super quick (1 day).

3) Sit down and do one step in one sitting. Don't try to do 50 things at once like I did, especially when you are dealing with three different languages in five different countries, where everyone gets different labels, etc.

4) Use post-its to mark envelopes that are still "blank" because you are waiting for an address, etc or sort everything neatly into piles that mark which "stage" they are at

5) a damp sponge placed in a shallow bowl is a great way to wet your stamps and seal your envelopes! (Germans haven't picked up on the peel n' stick trend..)

So, that's about all for now! Once I get the last of the stragglers in the mail, I'll post a thorough account of my trials and tribulations. Until then, ta ta!

Invitation Inspiration

So I just wanted to say that I so excited, because while stumbling around my wedding blogs the other evening, I came across this entry from Miss Lamb of Wedding Bee about the etsy shop:

thispapership.etsy.com

So I bumbled on over and what did I find? This package:

NOT SO PLAIN JANE

$4.50 EACH

Our most basic invitations package, a great way to save money and still come away with something memorable for you and your guests!

This package includes:
- Custom design motif
- Detail card
- Matching A7 envelope
- R.S.V.P. postcard (or traditional card with matching envelope)

What?! Custom designs and all kinds of fun stuff, for such a price? I was intrigued. Very intrigued. Plus, who could resist their adorable designs, like this card:

They got back to us right away (always a plus for an etsy seller) and were even EXCITED at the prospect of producing an invitation suite in our three languages, English German and Polish. In fact, Ashley told me that Joel actually speaks German fluently!
Etsy, my love affair deepens!!

We can't wait to see how our invitation process develops. So excited.

Alpine blues and greens...

Ok, so I was having much too much fun with Dessy Pantone Wedding!! You have to visit the site!!
My inspiration board, with Pantone Sapphire, Appletini, Clover and Spa

sources: dessy group (dress and suit and flipflops), sound of music, edelweiss, gnomes, cocktails, green glass, pattern

Programs - an Inspiration Board

I have been rifling through my huge collection of sorted and saved looks for different wedding aspects lately. I'm really glad I did, because I forgot about all the wonderful inspiration! My system had to be simple, or I wouldn't keep it up. I simply created tags for different categories in my google reader, and went crazy! To create this one, I flipped through my "programs" and "stationary" files for inspiration. BTW, I create all these boards in Mac Pages and simply save the links to the photos as I go as comments, that way sourcing is no problem! So here are some ideas for our program (which will also have to be multi-language, ayay!) Even though I collected these so long ago, they all basically fit our color scheme, and the bottom right program even has our initials! Coincidence? MAYBE...

Sources (from top left, clockwise):

holy matrimony, love, cara & andrew, a + e, sewn on, folded, fan

So much fun stuff. Which look do you like? Any ideas on the language front?

oh the wonderful blues and greens

I just want to say that THIS is the reason we chose our color scheme:

source

Oh, yes...

In the mail! And a trip to the christmas market

On Saturday, we sent our first round of Save the Dates out! All the US ones have gone!! Here they are, packed up, front and back – take a look!

Here they are, slipping into the mailbox!

After mailing the save the dates, we went into town to fight the shopping crowds and soak up a bit of Christmas spirit! Of course, being in a wedding sort of mindset, I saw these and thought – wouldn’t a personalized one be beautiful for hanging up my dress (and the ubiquitous dress-hanger photo?)

And look at this delicious stuff – this is Kaiserschmarrn, which will be part of our dessert buffet!

Mr. Schnitzel gobbling it up…

Holiday cheer for all!

Signage - an Inspiration Board

It's time for an Inspiration Board! I made this one of all my favorite signs that I've collected along the way. signage is going to be a real adventure for us - we'll have to write everything in three languages!!  But I think that makes it all the more fun. Take a look at some of our favorites:

Sources clockwise from top left:

blackboard, wooden sign, many arrows, blue painted, poster, framed

What do you think? Any ideas for the three languages?!

Going postal (ha ha ha)

I really want to show you my Save the Dates… I really do! But they aren’t sent, which means that they aren’t received – and I want you receivers to be surprised! So you’ll have to wait again.

But I feel I can show you my stamp choices!
For US Save the Dates:

and

Bleeding heart and carnation, both pink. Alas, those were really the only pretty ones available! but I think they’re nice and even if they don’t include our colors, they are certainly wedding-ey. (PS: while searching the websites for photos, I did find more that I liked - but i'll just have to remember that for our invites..)

For the Poland/other Europe Save the Dates:

Either two of these:

Or

and

and

Or I could use the 70 cent carnation from above. Thoughts?  Maybe there are other options.. must investigate...

For the Germany Save the Dates:

or

Cute, right? I really like those little hikers, and the nice lady reading her mail.

I am happy with them. I do hope that the post office comes up with some new designs by the time we send our invites! We will be shipping those babies in the spring, so hopefully there will by something floral and cute, at least.



What do you think of my stamps!?

little guys...

I want to collect these guys and set them up all around the venue. Thoughts?

Save the Dates, Part 1

OOPS, a week with out posting!

This is the first post relating to our Save the Dates.

These turned into quite a saga, for some reason, even though they were supposed to be simple and easy. I actually now realize that Save the Dates are HARD because they are the very first piece of stationary that you have to produce and it's so early in the process that so many things are up in the air! I changed my colors halfway through the design! And I had a million competing visions.

We had following "extra" challenges:

- We couldn't write "Save the Date?" because we will be sending the same card to multiple nationalities with different languages.
- We didn't know how to write the date! European-style with the day first, American-style with the month first, all written out???

At any rate, as soon as Wenda at Tucci Paper Co. sent me her first design, I knew something was missing. After a consultation with Mr. Schnitzel, we made a list of desired changes and sent this sketch:

She responded with a proof that we thought was so-so. Then, we picked our new color scheme and asked her to redo it in our blues and greens, plus we changed a few aspects. GREAT! After a few minor tweaks, everything was ready for printing.

What arrived in the mail yesterday was a package of postcard size cards printed on linen paper with magnets on the back, and matching envelopes. At the price of $1/card (not including envelope), you can't beat it for a custom design! We are really happy with them!

Next up: corner punching, printing and addressing the envelopes (and a few other language related challenges..)

Venue Webcam

I just discovered something kind of neat: our venue has a webcam on their site!

Check it out here

As you can see, it's white and wintery up in the mountains right now! Mr. Schnitzel and I are headed down there this weekend to enjoy the Kempten Christmas Market - can't wait to share when I get back! Another mission I have is to gather tourist material for Kempten for our guests.

In the meantime, here's what the Christmas market looked like last year:

pretty!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

The Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) have opened in Munich! The perfect place to get into the Christmas spirit, even if it is raining (and not snowing.)

I decided to walk over to the Market at the Chinese Tower in the English Garten (the Munich equivalent of central park) during my lunch break today.

the "Chinese Tower" looms in the background

Because of the persistant drizzel, there was hardly a soul there, but it was wonderful - soft music playing in the background, I bought myself a steaming bowl of Sauerkraut and walked from stand to stand, searching for Christmas gifts and just taking it all in. As a treat, I bought myself a Lebkuchen with Marzipan and Cherry Liquor for dessert. mmmm.

What, pray tell, does this all have to do with wedding planning? Well, it doesn't strictly, but I'm always on the lookout for inspiration. Looky what I bought!

see the pretty floating berries? (sorry for the cellphone pic..)

Cassis Liquor, homemade from fresh Bavarian garden berries. My mind is racing over the possibilities of serving a Bavarian version of a Kir Royale at the Wedding?.

Looks delicious, huh?

I'll keep you posted on my finds as I plan to visit each of Munich's ten Christmas Markets on my lunch breaks over the next weeks.

Happy December 1st everyone!

Nesting

I took my own little thanksgiving hiatus here on Wedding Diplomat, but I'm back! I was in Berlin with my MOH and her crew, hosting the most amazing thanksgiving party ever. You can tell our in depth study of wedding and deco blogs has paid off. Dinner for 21!

the table, all set for 21

the hostesses!

eating, in action

On the drive back to Munich, Mr. Schnitzel and I discussed various options for changing up our apartment. I have been reading (and loving!) the book Apartment Therapy , which basically details how the home is such a central part of health and well being. Since there is so much going on in our lives right now (wedding planning, preparing for operations, masters thesis writing..) it is very important that our home become a sanctuary.

We have some great ideas, and we're starting on the Eight Week cure detailed in the book today. I thought I would give you some updates and photos of our progress, since (in my book) nesting and making a home for ourselves has so much to do with starting our married life together.

And, there should be some wedding planning related tips coming out of the whole thing. For example, we are planning on turning a section of our large bedroom into a work area, which includes thesis writing, (wedding) website programming and all other wedding related planning tasks!

Wish me luck! What did you do to get your "pad" ready for your married life?

Fighting the crowds

This morning, I did something very German. I waited outside Aldi for it to open and then stormed in and bought things before they sold out. Like a little substitute for lack of Black Friday madness here...

You see, Aldi, which you may be familiar with from the US as being a big discount grocer, originated in Germany. The Albrecht brothers founded it (Aldi is short for Albrecht Discounter), had a big fight and split up their chain, and now there is an Aldi Süd (south) and an Aldi Nord (north) in Germany. Anyways, NOW Aldi sells groceries at cheap prices and random inexpensive products. Twice a week they receive new product shipments, which are published in a little newspaper handout, and the more attractive items sell out almost immediately.

This week they were offering two items that I was interested in: ice skates for Mr. Schnitzel (so that we can skate on even more frozen alpine lakes) AND printable photo paper for our homemade wedding photobooth!

When I arrived, there was a modest crowd.

look at the blobby lack of a line (typical German...)

After about five minutes of waiting, the crowd had swelled to gigantic proportions, and when the doors opened, I was practically carried inside by the masses. I made a beeline for the skates and frantically searched for the correct size - it was really hard, with all the arms and legs snaking over my shoulders, grasping. I finally found it and wiggled out of the chaos. Then I grabbed three packs of photopaper (€4.50 for 150 sheets!) and headed for the cash register. Here are my treasures on the conveyer belt:

reflecting the fluorescent Aldi lighting...

We will be setting up a photo booth using David Cline's photobooth software and my engagement laptop, so we knew we would be needing this paper! I'm happy to have one thing crossed off the list, and to have gotten it so inexpensively.

Did you get up at ungodly hours to buy anything wedding related?

I've got Mail

Today was a long day. But there is nothing better than a long day and then coming home to MAIL. Today I was extra lucky. I got TWO pieces of mail. The first was very exciting for me, which perhaps only other wedding planners will understand:

this blurry picture is due to the fact that it is late and that paper is reflective - i had to turn off the flash!

A............... CORNER ROUNDER PUNCH!

I know, collective sigh of relief. Because these babies are HARD to find in Germany. I ordered mine over amazon. Thank goodness. Behold the amazing rounded corner junk mail.

I rounded almost everything in the house. Mr. Schnitzel had to keep me away from the books...

The SECOND thing that I got in the mail was this:

Our flower mädl answered our letter! And look how amazing her card is! Look at the picture she drew of us getting married and her as a flower girl!   It looks exactly like ours!!!  So, one big YES from her... I can't wait to dress her up in her Dirndl...

How did YOU ask your Flower Girl?

Shabbying it up

I really like the shabby chic look - mixed up vintage pieces, pretty wildflowers, antiquey-looking signs... Since my venue will be providing all linens and plates, silverware, etc, I am looking for easy and inexpensive ways to "shabby" the place up. Last weekend at the Kempten Flea Market, I had inspiration!

the Kempten Flea Market in full swing

I decided to collect blue and green glass bottles and bowls of different sizes and shapes. Later they can be filled with flowers and placed on the bar or the dessert table. We'll see how many I can collect!

So far, this is what I found (in one day of searching)

I vowed not to spend more than 2 Euro apiece: MAYBE 3 if I really like it.

Pretty, right?

We were thinking about other ways to incorporate vintage items into the wedding and I came up with these:

Vintage Edelweiss postcards! A symbol of our wedding. (and possibly a song to be played at the ceremony). Not sure how we will use these yet - any ideas?

How did you add your own personal touch to your reception venue?

Flower "Mädl"

Our flower "Mädl" (girl) will be my cousin's daughter. She is going to be five for our wedding, and she earns, like any good flower girl, an extra special dress!

But not just any dress for this Bavarian the hills-are-alive wedding. A Dirndl! Here are some possibilities that I stumbled upon in my internet browsing. None really fit the color scheme yet - we are looking for sapphire blue and bright green - but just to get an idea...

look at this cutie. I like the blues...

doesn't she remind you of little Gretel?

this is the closest we came to our color scheme... pretty prints

 I like the contrasting prints

so cute! this is my favorite (the one on the little girl)

So, what do you think? Did you incorporate any traditional ethnic costumes into your wedding?