(This video in no way relates to the post, other than the fact that it says “boy.” And, well, is amazing).
Bridal party gifts haven’t ever been a big question for us– we’ve known what we wanted to give our party members since the very beginning. Something that was important to us was that the gifts be fun, functional, and personalized.
I am under no impression that any of JP’s groomsmen read this stuff, but just for safety’s sake…
Everyone else may follow me after the jump.
In the beginning, there was no want for a videographer. I hate my voice recorded, refuse to ever watch a video of myself, and JP is the same way. It tends to really highlight my inner (hell, who are we kidding… OUTER) spaz.
But then, then, then. Then. Then the universe shoves things in my face that I cannot avoid. I see things like this by StillMotion, and my heart aches.
I choke back tears, get a giant lump in my throat, and just am blown away by the power and beauty of this. Power and beauty and wedding film? Same sentence? Oh yeah, I went there. I’m pretty lame and sappy right now.
There’re also tears and giggles, all rolled into one…
Unfortunately, we did not allot any big bucks for wedding videos. Again, remember, I thought it was pish-posh-hogwash.
The universe has also shown me weddings shot in Super 8 by awesome people like Craig Johnson of Bus 33, and I go wild.
Those are three good examples of things that I love. I’ve been tirelessly looking for more wallet-friendly options that still are in line with our aesthetic and personalities, but, I hate to say it, it’s been a big bust. In comes the failboat, toot toot. I’ve seen things that have sent chills down my spine, but not in the good way– instead in the “nails on a chalkboard” way. I’ll just let you imagine things that I, well, let’s not say hate, but… don’t really mesh well with… other things that I like…
Things that bug me
At present, it has boiled down to this: The things that we love are out of our price-range. I’m still trying to find fledgling indie/hipster videographers that would be more in our range, but it’s not looking good. I may just stick my uncle in the corner (Sorry Joe!) with an HD cam and say, “GO!” Or even just a tripod. Basic and unedited videos rank higher than the super-cheese-or-stuff-that-bugs-me. Dumb opinion? Maybe, but that’s how I roll.
It does not look good for our heroes, kids. The universe might just win this one.
How did you handle videography? Did you know you wanted it from the start and PLAN FOR IT, or did you start freaking out at the end of the planning-road over it? Any advice as to what we should do?
Yesterday morning I was climbing the walls. Our invitations were in LaGrange, on the truck for delivery, but weren’t scheduled to be delivered until 4:30 pm. After refreshing the FedEx tracking page about 400 times, I began to consider chasing down the truck. How could I possibly wait all day when I knew they were in this tiny town? Right as I was contemplating how best not to sound like a crazy loon, the doorbell rang. By the time I realized what was going on, I was standing downstairs next to my father and JP, while my father was threatening to stab-open the box with a Swiss Army Knife. (Both he and JP enjoy pushing my buttons).
My father and his Swiss Army Knife of (possible) doom.
Okay, okay, I’ll get on with it! I will save you the gory opening details, but everything is here, accounted for, and completely and 100% fabulous. These beauties are all on yummy Lettra, and printed in Rhodium Red, Process Blue, and, well Black. As with other posts of this nature, you’re probably only here for the pixxx, so go on, give our delightful invites a once-over.
I am totally in love with the results– the feel of the paper, the deep indentations, the weight of it all, the perfect floods… I really cannot blabber on enough about these. It’s just magic in cotton and ink form.
A big thanks goes out to Colleen of Cleanwash Letterpress, and Brooke (Mrs. Cupcake!) for referring me to her. They both really rescued me during my printing conundrum, and Colleen did such a beautiful job printing these guys in a jiffy.
Now comes the yellow-lining, the website-sneaking-in, and the writing. Oh boy. This will either spell disaster or awesome-aster. I’m hoping for the latter.
How many backflips did you do when your invitations came in? Did you design them yourself then have them printed, had someone else design and print them, or go the totally DIY route? Oh yeah, and what do you guys think?!
Picked up my new glasses today, and they are baller.
Denim, tortoise, and Chanel? Yes, please. Sunglasses haxxed into regular glasses? Another yes.
I need some suspenders as well.
Also, our invites came in the mailz today. Be prepared for some serious paper in the coming days.
I’m about to start messing with blog stuff. Things will look different/wonky for a bit.
Being an art kid who has done her fair share of sculpture and installations means that I have a whole lot of random stuff laying around. Until a few weeks ago, I never thought to tap into these things to use for the wedding. I already knew that we would have my fairly ginormous paintings and drawings of the two of us all around the place, but I forgot about the other things I’ve accrued over the years.
The main thing as of now that I’m excited about using is an antique double-sided gumball machine. (Ok, I’m not sure how “antique” it is, given that it has some plastic parts. Let’s call it vintage instead. Work with me here). For an installation, I bought it from a salvage place [read: a place straight out of Deliverance] and repainted/restored it. Then jammed it full of cranes.
This machine, dusted, old cranes removed, painted in our colors, would be such a fun piece to use as our card-box. There’s only one problem– how do said cards get into the machine?
Option 1: Leave the tops off.
Yeaaaahh… that might look a little ghetto. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Option 2: Have a sign that tells people to take the tops off.
Too much work? Pain in the butt? Breakage? Bah.
Option 3: Cut slots into the metal tops.
This would be cool, and I think fairly doable. But still, there’s that think part. Not exactly 100% sure.
Option 4: Cut slots into the clear part.
Actually this would be disaster. Or probably a disaster. It has tears written all over it.
What should I do? Ghetto-haxx these into card-boxes? Use them for other fun decor? Fill them with something else, i.e. non-crushed-internal-hanging cranes? Check myself into a facility for crazy brides?
When deciding on colors for our invitation suite, I initially had a bit of a problem. You see, I wanted a few things…
Of course, I obsessed over this while designing everything. I obsess, a lot, if you haven’t noticed. I thought I’d never be able to make a decision.
THEN! Then. Then. THEN, on the way home from the gym, I had a brilliant idea.
I bolted into the house, quickly sketched it all out like a maniac, and cell-phone-picture sent it to my idea-bouncing peeps. (I am crazy ADHD, so ideas fall out of my head in about 2 seconds).
Here it is in Ai-action. Pretend that the script is my handwriting, and also pretend that there’s a yellow band in there.
So there you have it, the colors of our invites. It’s almost time to be able to play with these guys IRL. Color me excited.
How did you decide on the colors of your invitations? Did you have an easy time choosing, or a hard time narrowing down which colors you would use?
Yes.
