I SPY

If you've ever looked on Pinterest for wedding inspiration, you've probably seen the many variations of the I Spy cards.  Well, I got sucked into the trend.

I wanted to tie our I SPY cards in with our Wedding Party App.  Here's what I came up with.  I just plan to print these on regular 8x11 cardstock with 2 per paper.

Elements of an Invitation

About a month ago I finalized my invitation suite....or so I thought.  While on Pinterest, I stumbled upon the following:

That's when I realized that I needed inner and outer envelopes.  Vistaprint only came with one envelope per invitation (as any normal person, myself included, would expect). 

If you decide to go with Vistaprint for invitations you have two options:

1) Use the Vistaprint envelopes as inner envelopes (since they just fit the invitation) and then buy outer envelopes from somewhere else.

OR

2) Don't use Vistaprint envelopes at all and buy a matching set of inner and outer envelopes.

We have opted for Choice #1.  Since our wedding colors (and therefore our invitations) are dark purple and white, we will be using the white Vistaprint envelopes on the inside and will get dark purple envelopes for outer envelopes.

Macy's Dream Fund Contest

Macy's is currently giving brides and grooms to be a chance to win a $5,000 gift card.  How?

You'll need a Macy's wedding registry and a Pinterest account.

1) Follow Macy's on Pinterest

2) Create a board on Pinterest called Dream Home

3) Add at least 3 Macy's home items to your Dream House board and at least 2 inspirational images for your dream home.  Be sure to tag all of your pins with #macysdreamfund

4) Enter the contest.  You'll see the link on the site.  You need to be signed in to your registry to enter.

The contest ends April 29, so start pinning!

MyRegistry.com

I recently told you where my fiance and I decided to register, but I didn't tell you about myregistry.com.  I am slightly obsessed with this site.  It is the Pinterest of wedding registries.

So here's what you need to know about myregistry.com.  First, it's 100% FREE (unless you're trying to do a cash registry - none of those are free).  Second, it's simple and convenient to use.

Here's how it works:
1)  Sign-up for a free registry.  You can make your registry password protect if you like (a.k.a. guests will need a password to view it).
2) Sync any existing registries that you already have (optional of course).  Just click on the Sync button and find the store(s) you're registered out.  Follow the easy directions and you're done.
3) Add other gifts.  You can do this multiple ways, but I'll tell you about the 2 that I prefer:

How to add gifts:
1) Install the Add to MyRegistry button. This works just like the Pin It button for Pinterest.  You can                 go onto any web-site (I frequently use Amazon) and find something you want.  Once you've found it, click the Add to MyRegistry button and you're done.        
2) Install the MyRegistry app on your smartphone.  Go to a store, find what you want, scan the bar code and you're done.

  

Team Bridesmaids:Keep Out

So I've been going back and forth for some time now trying to decide if I did or didn't want to get robes for my ladies to get ready in on the morning of.  I finally decided that I wanted to go through with it.  I figured that they were nice gift for the day of that could be used after.

And the search began.  I looked all over the internet and wasn't having any luck finding well-made, solid color robes that were available in both purple (for the bridesmaids) and white (for myself).  The only place that I had luck finding anything like that was on Etsy. However, I couldn't get in on the Etsy/Pinterest monogrammed robe bandwagon.

While out at the mall today (while we were out buying our wedding bands), I decided on stopping into Macy's to see what they had.  And I am VERY glad that we did!  I found AWESOME purple and white waffle knit kimono robes at a great price.  They were on "sale" for 50%.  When I went to check out, they didn't ring up half off and so the cashier had me show her the sale sign.  Apparently those robes are brand new and weren't supposed to be on sale, but someone messed up (OOPS).  She still gave me the robes at half off because of the sign (which she immediately took down) AND I had a 10% off coupon.

After all of that, I got 6 robes for a grand total of $100.  What a deal - I still can't even believe it!  I'm super excited about my first bridesmaid gift purchase.

This is the robe - I got my bridesmaids robes in a nice lilac color and mine in white.

Lights, Camera, Action

So way back when my fiance and I first started wedding planning, we both agreed that we didn't need a videographer.  In our opinions, it was just a waste of money.  Fast forward 8 months down the road, I have decided that we NEED video of our big day.  Thanks to all of the articles that I have read on wedding videography and the many sappy videos that I have seen on Pinterest (like the ones here) I want to know that we have the option to go back and relive the excitement of the big day (even if we only do it once).

When browsing the sites of local videographers, I couldn't believe the prices that I was seeing - they were even higher than I had expected.  As a last resort, I turned to Craigslist.  From my search I found  a videographer that was willing to do just the raw footage of the big day.  I checked out his site and watched some of his videos - not bad at all either.

Though we haven't made it official, he will most likely be filming our wedding.  We will get 8 hours of raw footage for only $450!!!

Our plan is to take the raw footage and edit it ourselves.  I have edited a few videos in the past for school, so I have some experience and a program to use for it.  We are actually looking forward to getting to do it ourselves, since you can make it look exactly how you want.  I love the chance to be creative and personalize our video, and my fiance loves any chance to do something different than everyone else.  The worse that can happen is that it turns our completely awful and then, if we thinks its worth the money, we can take it to someone and pay to have it edited.

Dress Shopping

I forgot to mention yesterday that I have plans for dress shopping!  I am going while I am home in Maryland for the engagement party.  Oh, I also forgot to mention that all of my bridesmaids are going to be able to make it to the party - I couldn't be happier!   The best part is, that since I will be at home in Maryland, my mom and grandmother will also be there.  I was so worried about having to go dress shopping alone, but it looks like it all worked out.

Anyways, in order to prepare myself for dress shopping, I have been stocking up on bridal magazines and obsessing over Pinterest.

After looking at literally hundreds of dresses, I noticed that pretty much all of the dresses that I picked out looked very similar.  From what I've read, it seems that I want a strapless ballgown with pick-ups.  I also like some beading, but nothing over the top.   Who knows if any of this is what I'll actually want once I get to the salons and start trying things on.  Anyways, I have to start printing/cutting out pictures to bring to my appointments, so that I have somewhere to start.