Coordinator, Linens and Flowers

Back in October I had a meeting with my room mom to discuss the different parties and events for the year. Somehow, my wedding came up and we began talking about what I had already decided on. She was so sweet, but definitely increased my sense of urgency about planning as she used to work in the wedding industry, and I was planning as slow as molasses. 

So, by the middle of the month, I decided Russell and I needed to go out to Ma Maison and talk to Karen and Racheal about our wedding. We discussed the big things left in no particular order.

1. Wedding coordinator

2. Cake 

3. Catering

4. Photography 

5. Invitations 

6. Flowers

7. Linens

(This post will cover coordinator, flowers and linens.)

They put my mind at ease, but definitely helped by giving me a timeline. Karen advised that I should have all major decisions decided by October 31st and all details finished by January, so that the month of my wedding I had nothing to worry about!

They told me who they recommended for everything which was extra helpful starting with wedding coordinator. 

They recommended Tracy Collins with Events by Decisions. That next week, Russell and I set up a meeting with Tracy and decided by the end of it that she was the one, and I am so grateful for her already. :) Ma Maison requires a wedding coordinator, which at first I thought was an optional add-on, but boy was I wrong. 

With Tracy's help, we have linens and flowers decided and she's helped us with invitations, cake and catering! What is the most helpful, is that Tracy gives me her honest opinion. I'm content with most things that a pretty--Tracy helped me put all of the pretty thoughts in my head into a design that makes sense! Thank goodness, because who knows what I would've ended up doing! 

Tracy and I let Russell sit the linens meeting out, which I know he was grateful for! We went to Marquee in North Austin. They have a sale every year where linens are half off! They'll take a deposit on the full price, and then you can pay during the half off sale, which usually ends up being about the price of the deposit. 

After lots of mixing and matching, we decided on the above linens! I'm obsessed with them! 

So, it was the end of October and I had decided on a wedding coordinator and linens, but it's okay-our list of "big decisions" has decreased a lot! 

Flowers came a little later (almost a month), Tracy and I went to Flora Fetish in North Austin. I emailed Carrie (the owner) some flowers that I liked and then we pulled up my Pinterest, so they could see what I was thinking! Going into it, I knew that flowers are expensive, so I was bracing myself for that fact. Here's a little sneak peek of what we're thinking! 

It's starting to feel even more real! 

At the end of the day, even with all of the wedding decisions, I'm the most excited about marrying my best friend.

Next few posts will be on photography, catering and cake! Two of the three have been decided on! Miracle I know. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Amanda 

Wedding Invitations

I know it's been a while, but as you all know I'm a teacher, and the rest of my life is on hold until I get real breaks! So, with Thanksgiving break coming to an end, expect to be flooded with new wedding blog posts! :)

I'll start with invitations! As you also all know, I can complicate any decision, so when it came to choosing a wedding invitation, it was no different. 

I started by going to Paper Place back on October 23rd with my wedding coordinator Tracy (I'll do a whole post on her later:)). Paper Place is a really awesome place to get invitations for anything you could possibly want an invitation for. It was a really fun experience and I figured out exactly how I wanted to word my invitations. Naturally, the invitation I fell in love with was quite pricey, so I decided to be reasonable and look online.

Russell and I knew that planning a wedding for 350 guests was going to be expensive, but when you start really paying for things, you definitely try to find ways to save. Invitations set the mood for your wedding, but they also get thrown away (unless the person is a hoarder like me), so this was one way we could save.

I took to Etsy, Wedding Paper Divas, Minted, VistaPrint, and Shutterfly to name a few. I communicated with several different designers which was very helpful. Minted even sent a free sample kit that showed the kinds of invitations and differences in font, envelope, and paper weight. 

I had my mind made up on a few, but when I showed Russell, his response wasn't what I wanted, so I kept looking. ;) 

We finally narrowed it down to two invitations on Minted and one on Wedding Paper Divas. Minted offered free addressing, and Russell really wasn't a fan of the one I liked on WPD, so that helped. 

After many late nights and multiple texts with bridesmaids and Hopi, we finally came to a decision, and I could not be more pleased! The delivery was a week ahead and the design is perfect! 

They are all addressed and ready to be mailed! 

Here are some pictures from this whole experience. 

Paper Place

Etsy

WPD

I'm honestly not sure which site the following one is from. :)

Minted

Like with any other big decision, Sister picstitches my favorites together and sends them back to me. 

After you choose a design, the designer sends you a digital proof and you can make any changes. It was such an easy process once we made it to this point. We decided on this beautiful invitation on Minted. :)   

Maybe I tracked it...

I'm super excited about the RSVP being a post card because the back allows for a sweet message. :)

Now for my advice. 

1. Decide on wording and style. We decided to do "together with our families." It fits our situation the best. As for style, make sure the invitation matches what you're going for with your wedding. 

2. Decide which pieces you want to include. Invitations can have several different inserts. We decided to stick with just the invitation itself and the RSVP. We chose to only do an outer envelope. So, I looked up the way to address it properly and decided to include "__of__ attending" on the RSVP to clear up any confusion. 

 

3. Take an invitation with you to the post office to be weighed when you go to buy postage. Square invitation postage is more expensive, btw. Luckily, my invitations called for regular priced stamps and my RSVPs were post cards which have cheaper postage.

4. Recruit some willing volunteers. My momma, brother and Russell helped me out. :) 

5. Number your rsvps, so you know who has/hasn't sent theirs back. 

6. If you had them addressed, make sure that all of the addresses are correct. I noticed that two people had new addresses, one was missing an apartment number and another was missing the state-all errors on my part. This leads to advice #7...

7. Order extra envelopes.

In my right hand, I'm holding the invitations that will go to our friends/family in 10 other states/Canada. In my left, take a guess? ;) yep, you got it-Texas!

We're beyond excited, and we hope you all can make it! 

Love,

-Amanda (and Russell)