invitation update

Justin and I found some wonderful notecards made out of recycled paper - exactly the kind of paper I had been looking for to print the invitations on. We were going to go with square invites, but to have to pay more for square just didn't seem like the best idea.

We bought the invites, and a couple of stamps and ink, and voila, a couple of hours later, our invites are now nearly finished.

What you see here is the envelope along with the outside of the notecard. We're going to take the actual invite (not yet printed), and place it inside of this. We're going to print off a map and directions to get to Round Lake right on the back of the insert, and we'd like to do RSVPs entirely online/by phone.

There is also a picture here of the guest book - a much better picture than previously posted.

Guestbook

There are some things I just can't justify spending a lot of money on. While it's certainly been fun having something to spend all of my money on, I still like trying to save money by getting good deals on things.

One thing I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on was a guestbook. I knew I wanted one, and I knew I wanted to personalize it myself, so it didn't make sense to get an actual guestbook.

Justin and I were at Target and found the perfect book to use!! It definitely goes along with the wood theme, but is still fancyish...

I'm going to keep the "personalized" part a secret for now...ask if you're curious :)

food

We had originally intended on having a big bbq for the wedding...lots of grills, lots of brats, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. We realized this would be a bit of a pain, considering a) we would need a lot of grills up at Round Lake and b) we would need a lot of people to watch over all of those grills...

So instead, we have decided on a different idea, which I think is much more fun than the bbq idea--TACOS!

Map

I've started putting together a map of Round Lake, along with different hotels and other attractions in the area. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier for everyone!





View Larger Map

Cake Topper

This is our cake topper! It's one of the first things we bought.

Bouquet

Keeping up with the simple theme - I was thinking baby's breath for the bouquets...

Something like this, but without the green ribbon. I figured I'd put ribbon on it, but just wrapped, with no bow.

Clothing

*This has been updated to show Justin's new suitcoat to go along with the rest of his clothing*


Ok. I'll admit it now...we are going to be pretty untraditional about this wedding. But it's ok! Our goal is to be casual, laid back, relaxed...etc.

That being said, I don't mind everyone seeing my dress prior to the wedding, although the pictures I'll share are only on the model, not on myself.

So...the point of this all? Justin and I are now outfitted for the wedding, as Justin bought his outfit this evening. This being said - I tried to find pictures of everything online, but I'm not 100% certain that the pictures of Justin's clothing are correct. They are sort of close, but the pants are definitely much more khaki, and the shirt is much more linen.

Anyway, they are similar enough...so you sort of get the idea. Even though my dress is pretty darn dressy, we're really trying for a very casual, relaxed feel, and hopefully we can somehow tie everything in together.

Invites...

These are our potential wedding invites. Let me know what you think!

They have the wrong date, and don't have the exact wording yet, but it's a general layout and vague idea of how they would look.

I was thinking of doing a square, 6" x 6", and printing them on recycled paper that has flowery things in it...

Anyway, here is the general idea. I want to add a few more things (the correct date, for instance!) but this is generally how I'd like them to look.

Our Rings

About 6 months ago, we ran into Nicola & David Finch's website: http://www.touchwoodrings.com

We quickly fell in love, and decided it was worth spending a bit more money to get rings that we truly loved.

That being said, we went ahead and designed our own rings out of black walnut, kauri and juniper heartwood.

This is what we, Nicola and David came up with:

Just yesterday, they arrived in the mail!! We love the rings, and can't wait until we can wear them.

When (revised) (July 18th)

So.

I wrote a nice little entry about when we'd be getting married...and I have now deleted it, because, well, we just found out that the previous date we had chosen will not work, due to educational reasons...long story.

So, we had to pick a new date, which now leaves us less than a year of planning (I think we'll still be fine!)

The new date: July 18th, 2009.

Where

Every summer, my family and I spent as much time as we possibly could on a lake in the upper peninsula of Michigan called Round Lake. My grandma & grandpa bought the property after a fire had taken the cabin that was previously on it. The previous owners didn't want to rebuild, so they sold the property and my grandparents had the place cleared and fixed up in a matter of no time.

In the past few years, I haven't been able to make it to Round Lake very often, but I was able to bring Justin back in 2005. We spent a few days up there with my family, and Justin understood why Round Lake meant so much to us as a family, and we both couldn't think of a better place to get married than there.

Round Lake is in the Hiawatha National Forest. I'll post a detailed map and directions at some point. You can't really look it up online, but if you find Alger and Delta Counties, it's right where the two meet.

A couple of pictures:






As a point of reference, Round Lake is about an hour from Escanaba, and about 3 or so from the bridge.

Why

How to begin...

I realized that while we have a year to plan our wedding, a lot of the plans have been hidden from friends and family...not because I've wanted them to be, but because I just don't seem to have the time to let everyone know what we've been planning!

That being said, this will be a way for me to let everyone see the wedding plans as they progress, and a way to get some feedback from you!