As I research handmade wedding invitations, wedding ettiquette, flowers, ties and socks, and decorations I have realized I need one whole wall in my study just for the wedding. I've also realized I need a "wo-man Cave" instead of a study. I need a big room just for crafts, books, my computer desk, reading chair, inspiration board, sewing machine, etc...The study just isn't cutting it and is going to have to be converted soon into our guest bedroom... So I guess we're going to have to save (after the wedding) for a "jam cave" for David and a "wo-man cave" for me (though I'm thinking it's going to end up being a craft/photography/library/study for me).
The wedding is a work-in-progress. My eyes are crossed right now from all the research and reading, but I wanted to sort of update a few things.
I've decided to create handmade invitations. I won't be making my own paper, though I did find quite a few websites that show you how to do that, but I will be creating the design and handwriting them. I'm actually excited about it. My daughter is an artist, and I'm actually decent when it comes to drawing, but she's AMAZING. I've found an ampersand that I am going to use, and I think I've found a piece of clipart that I really like....see above picture.
Since we're sort of going with the music theme for our wedding, and David is amazing on the guitar (and his voice is truly amazing), I think that will fit perfectly with what I want. Our wedding colors are black, silver, and red. So I think these will be perfect, if I can just get the wedding invitation to look the way I want it to. I'm going to put those two items on pretty much everything that we're using for the wedding (from invitations, program, decor, RSVPs, cake topper (maybe)...
Back to some research and trying to figure out exactly what type of invitations I want to use (fold, box, etc)...
What it all acme down to was this: I found the niche between the two of us, that thing that helped bring us together (friends and music), and am using it as our theme. Our wedding/reception isn't going to be some formal shindig with a cocktail hour, nor will it be in a church or in a "venue," we're having it at my parents home. The wedding will be in their front yard and the reception in the backyard. We're having barbeque and the fixin's, beer, lots of family and friends, and some flowers and mason jars with tea light candles in them, and probably a couple of bottles of Jack (my dad will haven hidden in the "mancave" for himself and a few of his close friends/relatives), and we're probably going to have a homemade red velvet cake withe wedding topper on it....and as I sit here thinking about everything (like my DIY wedding invitations that I'm working on, or my gunmetal grey dress that I need to have altered to tea length and my silver Cinderella shoes to match, or how I don't really give a rat's ass about whether or not everyone we invite shows up so long as the important people do, and most of them are either related to us, in the wedding, or both) I realize this just might be my dream wedding come true.