This past two weeks have been rough. I have been working desperately to get back on the DIS and update my PJ, because I have so many updates, but every time it seemed like I'd get a chance it disappeared and another day had passed. Finally, finally today has got to be the day that I make my update because today...
We are exactly ONE YEAR OUT!
It has also been exactly one year since my DF and I were engaged in Disney World. I think I'll be in a happy mood today.
I'd probably be happier if I knew I'd be finding out if I'd be getting my date and locations, but I suppose I can wait another day or so, if I must....
So, now for some updates.
First, we have been making a lot of headway on our invitation construction. As I mentioned way back we are doing hard-bound books for our invitations which will be combining the typical invitation information as well as a lot of information that would typically go into a newsletter - like accommodations, transportation, etc. DF and I finalized all the illustrations, text and layout around the beginning of July and then had a test copy printed for editing. In the meantime we were complying our tools and supplies to actually build our books.
Our huge pile of supplies, including some of our cover boards already but down to size.
A sampling of the paper we are using for the actual covers. The black and gold is for the invitation we're making as a keepsake for ourselves, the green is for our parents and DF's grandmother, and the white is what were using for all of the other books. The green and white are the same design, except for the colour.
DF cutting paper for the covers. This was the paper we were originally going to use, but after a lot of discussion we decided to use the nicer white pearlized design paper. Eventually I ended up cutting up most of the paper that we used for the actual covers.
We made around three or four test covers before we finally came up with the perfect configuration of cover paper size to cover board and spine placement. We had a book that we were using to sort of teach us this whole process, but even with the instructions we had to do a lot of trial and error to figure out what was going to work perfectly for us.
A stack of finished covers wrapped in wax paper to protect them from any stray glue. DF made this whole stack!
Here is what the book covers will look like once they're all unwrapped and ready for binding. The actual design on the paper is hard to see because it really only shows up when the light hits is just so. Once they're done I'll try and get a better photo of the effect.
As soon as we had our proof of our invitation printed, we brought it home, cut the sheets to size and did a test run on one of our trial-and-error test covers. It looks fantastic and I am so excited that everything is working out! But there was still a bit of room for improvement...
And that's it for our invitation covers. Everything is ready to go, so as soon as we get our date and set up our room block we will be set to start printing and binding!
Second wedding update!
I got a couple of exciting items in the mail in the past couple weeks.
First, I don't know how many of you are on Disney Movie Rewards and saw this reward while it available... But anyway I have been saving up quite a long time so that I could order the Cinderella cake topper and cake cutting set! Finally that day came and I was able to get my cake set, and lucky too because I think it may have been the very last one left. It was removed as a reward from the site very soon after I ordered it.
Cake knife and server with the castle and coach engraved in the handles.
Cinderella and Prince Charming cake topper. We aren't actually going to use this as our cake topper, but it's absolutely gorgeous as a keepsake on its own!
That leads me to the second part of this update, the cake topper we ordered of Etsy finally arrived!
It arrived in this cute little box.
It is so adorable, I am so happy with how they turned out. Now I just need to pull out the Casablanca champagne glass and start experimenting with how I want them to be arranged. I can't remember how heavy the glass is either, so I'm going to have to make sure that will work out too. I don't suppose anyone knows what the maximum cake topper weight can be?
They also sent along these little "love rocks", which I'm not sure what we'll use for if anything, but they're cute too!
Last update. While all the Disney wedding stuff has been progressing along DF and I have also been looking for a location for our at-home reception. Originally I was planning on having a cocktail style reception in a nice location (maybe a historic house or something) with dancing and that's all. DF's parents however really wanted for us to have a sit-down dinner, especially because DF's grandmother will almost definitely not be attending the wedding in Disney. That was fine, but it changed the criteria for our location hunt a little bit.
Anyway, fast forward, DF called around 20 places and we narrowed it down to three, two of which we made appointments to visit last week. And of those two we narrowed it down to one. It's a beautiful hall, that comes with tables and chivari chairs, and we are basically allowed to do anything we want without much in the way of restrictions or extra fees. We'll be bringing our own caterer, bartender, DJ, linens, alcohol and probably our own cheap DIY centerpieces (but I've got plenty of time to worry about that).
Now the downside is that the contact at this hall is kind of... horrible. She said she would put our date on hold and then somehow managed to mess that up booked it to someone else. Now we have a different date on hold and she said she would send over the contract "ASAP". Well four days later and we've not gotten a contract back yet. But she said she can only hold the place for two weeks and on Monday we are going out of town for two weeks!! So... I have this huge fear that she is going to mess this all up and then somehow let someone else book the space before we have time to get back home and pay/sign the contract. And all this has be done by email, because we learned quickly while trying to book a site visit she is never in the office to answer the phone. (Also I cannot believe how fast this place is booking up our hold is on the last available Saturday of September 2013!)
It's so frustrating!
I really want this space though. It's a reasonable price, especially considering it comes with the tables and chairs (so many places we talked to cost more to rent and have less than that) and it's so beautiful we won't need much decoration at all.
Ugh, just a first in what will probably be a long list of wedding frustrations.