Piquing my Pinterest - Veils

The wedding's getting close and there are still a few things I have not got. A veil being one of them. I refuse to pay $100 or more for it and have been exploring different types.
I'm drawn to the birdcage or French veil - I think it would suit my dress. What do you think of them versus a traditional veil?

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Hairspray and dressmaker pins

On Saturday, I had two wedding things booked; hair and dress fitting. The only hairdresser appointment I could get was 8am. Ugh, too early for a weekend.

But in hindsight, it was a good thing I did book it that early – I thought the time would be enough to have hair done, drive to town, have a coffee then go to my dress fitting around midday. As it was, I spent a good few hours in there. I must be the world’s worst hairdresser client, I hate sitting there having someone fuss over me! Come to think of it, my wedding day is going to be torture.

I went in still not really knowing what I wanted for my hair. I have been growing it ever since the engagement last January and it has gotten really long. Beyond that, I have looked at thousands (ok, maybe dozens) of bridal magazines and websites searching for a hairstyle I liked. Turns out I spotted something in the hairdresser’s book and the lovely girl just created it from there. I’m not revealing too much except to say that the keywords will be sleek and glam. My dress is kind of 1930s/40s so I wanted my hair to fit the style. I can reveal it will be a half-half affair – half up and half down.

The hairdresser didn’t realize my hair would take to rollers so well and we ended up with really tight curls everywhere! She promised me next time she will produce WAVES, not alarming curls. I hope she knows what she’s doing!

In the middle of my hot rollers she went and cut two other people’s hair and did a wax job! I was horrified and annoyed, but mum just put her hand on my arm and told me to be patient. She always calms me down. I guess it is a small-town hairdresser and they had other appointments that morning, but sheesh! Customer service people!

Freshly coiffed, we drove to town to go to my first dress fitting. Arriving on time, we found our harried dressmaker running 20mins behind so my mother and I took a half hour lunch break at a nearby café. She still wasn’t done when we returned to the boutique so we plopped ourselves down on some chairs and admired the beautiful dresses. The other shop lady produced a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings (which in all my bridal magazine obsession phase I had never seen before) and we read that while waiting.

When she was finally finished with her customer the poor dressmaker apologized but honestly, I didn’t mind. Mum asked her if she’d eaten all day and she said no, on Saturdays they have back-to-back appointments so they never even break for lunch! The life of a small business owner I guess. Well, I was happy to wait because their work is exquisite and I really feel like a princess when I go there. I am so happy that I didn’t choose to import a cheap Chinese dress and that the one that I have bought is within my budget PLUS I get personalized service!

So into the gown I went, a little squeeze and it was on. I couldn’t even wear the strapless bra I’d bought especially for it! Dressmaker insisted I didn’t need it anyway. Dammit, there’s $80 down the drain (but hopefully we can return it!). It’s true the dress really does hold everything in, even though it doesn’t have a corset. For the first time since adolescence I will not be wearing a bra with my DDs in public! Scary.

I got pinned up (straps, darts and hemlines) and then we measured where the thing will bustle. Oh my, I had forgotten just how much material was in the train. Heh.

I was happy to note that my shoes matched the dress! I had used a fabric swatch, but still, there’s always that nagging doubt. Was also pleased that this time we were allowed to take photos – so mum snapped away, no doubt thinking of adding the photos to her scrapbook album later! Oh man, it is going to be so much fun scrapbooking this wedding!

After making another appointment for a final fitting, we headed home and collapsed. Turns out all that waiting around is really exhausting!

Invitation Hell

I never actually got around to sending out Save The Date cards. I planned it, I even designed one, but I never got around to actually DOING it.

And if it wasn't for my mother, I probably would never have completed our wedding invitations either. We got past Christmas and New Year and all of a sudden went into full-on panic mode. She pushed me to make choices, and get it done. Nicely, of course.

Being the completely stationery fiend that I am, I was really looking forward to this part of the process. But oh, the pain... too much choice! I was paralysed by fear, unable to make a decision.

Should we have them printed completely?

Should we have them printed in pieces and assemble ourselves?

Should we do it completely DIY?

What paper?

What cardstock?

Vellum?

Font???

And that's just the stationery part. I spend hours online, looking at sites that will do it all for you, bespoke stationers and even goddam Vistaprint. I compared prettiness with prices and agonized.

Then there was the guest list. I had C's mum make one and my mum make one. Then I mushed them together with the one we had made and out came a list. I downloaded a spreadsheet (god, I don't even remember where, it could have been theknot.com.au) and filled out names. Then came the laborious process of finding out addresses and spelling.

In the meantime, I went to Spotlight and purchased a crapload of stuff (paper, card, envelopes, brads, stickers) from the Mix It range. I did this for two reasons.

1. It was cost-effective

2. At least I knew everything would coordinate

Here is the pretty paper I chose.

Hmm. I think I know why I use Creative Memories for my scrapbooking now! I am hopeless at matching things! Also we bought vellum. Because apparently that's what you have on invites that you make yourself.

So once this was sorted then I had to figure out the goddamn wording. Oh my gods. And I thought choosing the bloody paper was hard. Mr & Mrs? Husband's name first? Mr & Mrs David Smith or Mr David Smith & Mrs Lily Smith? Or just David & Lily Smith? Or Lily & David? What if they're not married? Do I include people's surnames on the invite or just their first name? What about "+1" for singles? What about people with children? And what exactly do you write for the rest?

In the end I decided to put Mr D Smith on the envelopes, and first names only on the invites. I added "& friend" for singles; and "& family" for folks with kids. I printed out cards with our wedding registry info on them onto leftover card (which was great, saved us having to go around there and pick up the cards ourselves). We're using Wedding List Co. as they have a large variety of items from many different brands and everything can be done online. I'll let you know how that goes! I then googled "wedding invitation wording" and picked one that I liked to use as a template.

So then I got Microsoft Word-ing and printing, then mum got slicing with her guillotine. I'd decided on DL size envelopes, so to keep it simple we made a one-page DL invite with four layers: Cream card, pink pretty paper, actual invite on plain cream paper, vellum. Secured with a tiny brad shaped like a heart, they looked cracking, if I do say so myself.

I chose two fonts: one called Jane Austen for a handwritten cursive (used for the names), and Remington for a typewriter plain font (for the rest of the words). They looked amazing together.

And then just when I thought I'd finished everything, I remembered I had to print envelopes too. Bugger. But hey, they did look bloody fantastic all printed with Remington font.

The big problem is I can't really show you any because they all had my guest's names on them! And my wedding details, of course.

Here are a couple of pics I took though, that give you an idea.

In conclusion: it was hard work, but not that hard. We spent maybe $60 all up on about 40 invites, not including postage. I think we got out of it pretty well, actually!

Tell me about your invites - easy, hard, hellish? Expensive, cheap, DIY?