my dress is...

ALMOST THERE!!

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!

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!

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!?

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..)

Building the guest list

I am still awaiting the proof of my Save the Date? and am starting to doubt, somewhat, the virtues of Etsy's Alchemy? but since I've already shelled out the cash, I'll just have to be a bit patient for a bit longer.

Of course, to be able to send out the Save the Date, I need a full and complete guest list WITH addresses. WHAT A TASK! I compiled the information that I have from various sources and not only am I missing about half the addresses, but I also need tons of last names! And I need to sit down with Mr. Schnitzel and discuss the list, making sure that we aren't leaving anyone out/including anyone we don't want.

The plan is, because of budget, to hand deliver as many STDs as possible, but it would still be good to have the addresses, for the invitation list.

Basically, I have set up a spreadsheet and am writing or calling those with missing addresses, one by one, and marking them in blue if I have already emailed and am awaiting an answer. At the moment I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with everything so these nit picky details seem daunting. I guess since that "beginner's" energy has fizzled away somewhat (we just had our 3 month engagement anniversary on Halloween!) I just am not as fervent to tackle the more mundane tasks. We do, however, have an appointment with our venue in two weeks, and we are also planning on visiting a potential bakery and meeting with the town flower lady. The good thing about doing this in a small town is the lack of too much choice ? it leaves us to concentrate on other aspects.

How did you handle your Save the Dates? Your guest list? The insanity?

a crisis of vision

I had my first sort-of "oh god i'm not a professional and I don't know how to do something like 'maintain a vision' or decide on a specific look or feel and be consistent" moment.T he thing is, I like so many things! I can't decide on just ONE! I guess I understand why people have wedding planners and designers and stuff. That's what they're there for! But then again, the process is exciting (right?!)

This "crisis" arose when I got the first draft of our save the date. I liked it, but it didn't wow me. I was picturing something different. Actually, I was picturing a thousand things. How was I to tell someone that I just wanted them to design exactly what I wanted, without me telling them what that is!?

So I sat down with Mr. Schnitzel. And wow, was he helpful! He seems to have a much better sense of design and vision than me, and had some amazing ideas. I wrote them all to poor Ms. Wenda over at tucci paper- and I sure hope I didn't overwhelm her! I'm SO excited to see what she comes up with.

So, the moral of the story: just ask the boy for help!

the story of the save the dates continues soon...

Movin' along...

So! I'm back in the swing of things.

We are in full gear for our save the dates, which will be designed by tucci paper company (i love etsy...don't you?!) More on that to follow

AND we are having a custom cake topper designed by Ashley Daugherty (etsy's custom section is my lifesaver) Here's a sneak peak at what we're aiming for:

Yes, we're Wall-E fanatics :) What do you think?!

Photographer meeting

I am meeting with another option for a photographer tomorrow: Andrea Basile, who is actually Italian (neat!) and whose photos we really like. I seem to be attracted to vendors who maybe don't have the most polished web presence but seem to be really talented at what they do. Maybe it's that "help the underdog" syndrome in me. We also picked Oliver partially because his website wasn't as "froo froo" as the others.

Andrea seems to have a very good quality camera and a nice photographic eye. I am excited to see a larger selection of his wedding photography tomorrow when we get together.

On another note, Wednesday is my birthday! (hooray, last non-married birthday!) and then Oktoberfest begins on Saturday! so I may be a little less bloggy in the upcoming weeks. Our plan is to have our friends who are visiting for Oktoberfest take some Engagement shots of Mr. Schnitzel and I at Oktoberfest in our Bavarian outfits ? if we like these enough, they will become Save the Date material, which we hope to print and send by the end of Oktober. For our Edelweiß-Bavarian wedding, it should be perfect!