Talk to Andy, re: STDs

Last summer, I fell in love with these Save the Dates from the Summer 2007 Martha Stewart Weddings:

Image from Martha Stewart Weddings, 2007

Yes, unfortunately I cannot deny having read Martha Stewart Weddings before I was engaged. One of my many secret shames is that I have read every issue since 1997. I can't deny my Martha Love.

Anyway, I spent an entire Saturday morning laying out my Martha-wannabes and loved them. But then I ran the numbers a few days later and they'd cost $350-400+ to print, assemble, and mail. (My wedding gift to myself is not printing or cutting anything myself.) So, I did some brainstorming on the 'L ride home one night and decided that the Save the Dates must meet the following criteria:

• Fit one or two per sheet of paper to save on supplies.
• Based on the above, not look like something that the office admin or church secretary printed up for an ice cream social using The Microsoft Word.
• Not be something that would require me doing any printing on small cards or cutting.
• Cost 41 cents or less to mail.

All of my ideas were either too cutesy or too girly, which doesn't seem fair since this is half Andy's wedding. So, I went for witty. I think that this is the final product:

They will be size A2 cards. I can't decide if I want to use brown or black ink. Black ink works best on the cover, but brown ink looks good on the inside. I'm not pleased about having to go with boring ivory cardstock, but I don't want to give up the colored graphics.

BTW, re: the title of this post, I had changed my mind on the design while Andy was out-of-town for work. I had put a post-it note on my monitor that said, "Talk to Andy, re: STDs." My coworker was in my cube and kept looking my past my head at something as we talked. When I turned around, I realized that she was looking right at the post-it.

Fool me once...

It was my friend The Mitch who called pretending to be the Bridezilla producer. When someone at work asked me if it could be someone playing a joke, the "Schaumburg Hyatt" was the only thing I said sounded dubious! And I was right! He got me. I am getting weak. The 773 area code seemed off too. I wish that I would've posted his phone number up here before I found out! :)

Dig This!

So I get a call at work about a casting call for the show Bridezillas. The man thought that I'd be a "great candidate" for the show based on what he's seen "written on my blog." He even said that he'd be flexible if I couldn't make it to the casting dates because I'd be so "great." Oh. My. God. I spent all day racking my brain, trying to think what I could have written that seemed b*tchy or negative and couldn't think of anything. As my friend asked, does having taste make one sound snobby? Andy thinks that the title, which is supposed to be a joke, is what caught their eye. (Incidentally, Andy laughed and said that we should do it because "they always side with the men." As if he needs any help becoming the darling of the Over 50 set.)

I am hoping that they're just calling everyone with a blog, but the repeated use of "you'd be great" and references to my writing bothered me. Does my cartoonish, animated persona come through? Did anyone else get this call?

If anyone (other than producers) actually reads this and is interested, the casting call is Feb. 17-18 in Schaumburg. Leave your e-mail address in a comment and I'll put you in touch with the producer. You can ask him how he got my work number!

Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget...

...seriously, it's like a Natty Light with Preferred Card budget. Not even a Heineken-from-7-11 budget.

Browsing the web looking at invitations has been an unfortunate hobby of mine for a few years now. I have stayed up late one too many a school night clicking around, analyzing fonts, wondering about how people made the graphics, and longing not only for the creativity to do the same, but also for my very own laser printer and letterpress and a studio in which to house them.

Having some idea of what invitations cost, I decided immediately upon engagement to make all of our invitations and paper-related products for the wedding. So, given that decision, I think that I need to stop stationery-browsing until after the wedding because I am driving myself mad seeing all of the things that:

• I don't have the mad skillz or creativity to make myself.
• I can't afford to order.

Like some of these:

• How incredibly bold and beautiful are these invitations from Atelier Isabey?

Photo: Atelier Isabey, Saya and Avisha

• This invite makes me wish that Andy and I shared a love of art, tattoos, comic books, album art, or something equally over-the-top so that we could have a fabulous, graphic stationery suite like these:
  

Photo: Atelier Isabey, Kate and Jerry

• This one is just weird and fun. I bet that I'd get quite a few "It's, um, definitely you." responses to it.

Photo from: Hammerpress

• I love the lightness of this design from FUSS. No matter what font I use, everything looks so heavy.

Photo from: FUSS

• I'd take anything by Snow & Graham! They're just beautiful. Check out a these highlights from the Snow & Graham catalog via Bella Figura:

I can go on and on, but I am getting tired. My bookmarks include dozens of links to stationers with colorful, elegant designs and I have a whole a portfolio of images saved from Martha through the years. Hopefully, my wedding projects will have a modicum of the charm as those that I admire from afar.

They're killin' old girl.

A slighty un-wedding-related post to end the week.

Why does this torture exist? Temptation + Wedding Budget = Hell on Earth. They even match the wedding stationery!

From Etsy seller, sproutonline, Poet Pendant Necklace - Sterling Silver Darkened with a Patina Finish...only $26.00!

Photo from sproutonline on etsy

And I can't even stand to talk about these! Did J. Crew tap into my hard drive during one of my 4,000 visits to their site and steal my logo? How insanely adorable are these pieces? They are almost stick-to-your-commitment-to-pack-a-lunch-to-save-money adorable.

Both photos from jcrew.com

The entire J. Crew spring accessories line is so fab. Maybe I need to add shower and party outfits to the budget!

Cake Update

Bad news. The cake’s too expensive. Way out of our buttercream ballpark. Like $11.95/slice out of our ballpark. So, back to the drawing board. But there’s hope. I received a tip on much less laborious cake, shown below, that could be considered to be “inspired” by our original cake. But Andy said that some of the tips look like, um, teets, so we’d have to make them rounder so as to not tease any single male guests.

Cake photo credits pending.

I’m playing with a few ideas. Like maybe alternating tiers of balls. Or having one tier of balls. I know that I should stop referring to them as “balls.” But “beads” doesn’t cut it for me. I absolutely love this cake that the client of my virtual wedding planner, Mimi Palmer, had at her wedding (which, incidentally, is the most FABULOUS wedding that I have ever seen outside of MS Weddings!):

Photo from Leigh Miller Photography via enjoy

I could probably affordably to do something similar with an explosion of balls. It could look like our monogram is exploding into confetti to celebrate our union! Only prettier. And more delicious.

One thing that hinders design options a bit is that we are pro-buttercream. Although fondant’s pretty, we’re chubby. We like substance and sweet, sugary, buttery goodness.

Dots Amore.

The morning after I designed the original yellow dot monogram, Andy and I walked down to Treasure Island to pick up some snacks for the Bears game. I picked up a copy of In Style Weddings and was flipping through it while he ran into 7-Eleven to look for the "good" dip. I stumbled upon the photo of this cake and was jumping up and down when he came out of the store. It looks just like the monogram!

Photo: In Style Weddings Magazine, Fall 2007

I really, really, really, really hope that we can afford this cake. I have a feeling that it's going to be $$$ given how labor intensive it is. To save money, we're considering having a cake made for half count and then having about 150 cupcakes made using our moms' carrot cake and white cake recipes. Then I can prance around the reception in triumph when everyone chooses my mom's carrot cake over Andy's mom's white cake!

If we can afford the cake, what do you think we should do?

• All white?
• Majority white with some colored balls?
• All colored balls in the various colors of the invite?

When I was doing yellow, I was going to have the cake be made in many shades of yellow; but I think that that may be a bit contrived in my fall colors. (Or "technicolor" as Andy's aunt called it).

Speaking of cake, check out the pretty Vera Wang Wedgewood cake knife and server set that showed up at my office the other day:

Photo from the Wedgewood web site

I ran down to the front desk expecting Andy's birthday present to be there (four days late) and the package was for me! (Well, it was addressed to both of us, but realistically...) Our friends from Buffalo, Balz and Crash, sent it as a belated engagement present. Ironically, I had nixed the cake knife from the budget a few weeks ago. If it weren't for Balz, I would've been using a plastic freebee from Dinkel's in all of the wedding photos.