Save the dates ready for print

Our save the dates have been edited, scrutinized, uploaded, and ordered!  It feels so good that it is (temporarily, at least) out of our hands and onto the printing press.
This has been a big hurdle and it is a big giant check on the to-do list.  There was a fair amount of stress, disappointment, and frustration involved.  More on that later, perhaps.

But, for now, I am pleased, relieved, and excited to see the finished product and get this real wedding stuff going!

And until I have more time on my hands, just a peak.

Goodnight, island!  Goodnight, world wide web!

Slow, sweet walk

Walk With You
Edwin McCain & Maia Sharp

I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say “I do”
He will discover just how blessed a life can be
I know ‘cause all those years ago someone handed you to me
Every step that we take brings back the memories
Winter snows and horse shows and dancing on the beach
I can’t help thinking that I’m the lucky one
You’re still my baby daughter and now I’ve gained a son
I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say “I do”
He will discover just how blessed a life can be
I know ‘cause all those years ago your mom handed you to me
Don’t miss a chance to put each other first
Now that you’ve vowed for better or for worse
Don’t let the beauty of this life pass you by
In the times of trouble you’ll stand side by side
I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say ” I do”
I picture a slow sweet walk yet to be
When you’ll take my hand and say “Daddy come see”
Then you’ll know what it felt like
You won’t believe what it feels like
Then you’ll know what it felt like when she handed you to me.
She handed you to me

I heard this song on the radio the other night while driving home from a late soccer game.  I'm sure the rest of the world has heard it already (we don't always have the most up-to-date music on the airwaves here) but maybe there's someone else out there who hasn't.  Or someone who would like to add it to your music collection for free.

I googled the song when I got home and found out that Edwin McCain offers it as a free download on his website.  I love free stuff, and it really is a sweet song, even if there is a bit of country twang.  Check it out here!

Priorities

Mike is finally home!  Now that we're together again, we can make some progress on the wedding front.  Except that all I want to work on right now are non-time-sensitive projects, like ceremony fan designs and reception factoids, not pressing to-dos like save the dates (now quite late) and invitations and such.

<sigh>

The world wide wedding web

*Warning*

This post is 100% wedding-planning-induced rant.

Dear wedding vendors,

I’m a little frustrated with planning right now, so please bear with me.  I just have a little request that I’d like to put out there.

Please, for my sake and yours, get a decent website!!!

Actually, for some of you we may need to start with get a website, period.  You don’t even exist on the internet!  But I’m prettymuch ignoring all of you anyway, because you make life too difficult.  Good luck having someone else find and hire you for their wedding.

So back to those of you with crappy sites.  Maybe this is just me, trying to plan a wedding from the other side of the globe through a 15 hour difference and a job that does not allow me to even go to the bathroom, none-the-less make a call during working hours, but I like/have to do a lot of my research, planning, decision making, and purchasing online.  I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.  Sure, looking through actual invitation examples in person might be nice.  But that’s not going to happen.  And there are a lot of other people who are home bodies, out of towners, or just lazy.  Or just busy.  Who do not want to come in to talk to a sales representative.

About that website.  Just because you have flash doesn’t mean your website is helpful.  Modern websites with sleek designs are nice, but I have been to many that still fail to meet my basic needs.  Show me what you have.  Not just one very pretty angle.  Tell me what it costs, or at least an idea.  If you bait me in and don’t tell me until later that it costs a million dollars, guess what?  I’m not going to give in and take out a loan.  I’m going to not buy it and I’m going to be pissed and harbor negative feelings toward your brand forever.  Yes, I’m that stubborn.  Provide clear descriptions.  If there are options, make those clear.  If there are not, make that clear.  If you can choose from colors and fonts and paper and frostings and fillings and ribbons and such—tell me and let me see my choices!

This website is so wonderful that I want to hug it!  It’s an invitation site that lets you customize designs and purchase the PDF or have it printed.  Handy.  Cute designs.  You can actually change the text and colors and see what your invitation would look like with different designs/colors/fonts.  And the pricing is clearly outlined.  I am this close from throwing my other invitation plans to the wind and going this route, I just love them that much for their great website!

Okay, that’s all.  A website with organized, useful information.  Is this really an outlandish request in 2010?

I’m going to go make some tea.

Images from ::here & here::

Smile

From ::here::

So this is love

Mike has been stateside for the past week to attend a conference, leaving me to fend for myself way over here on our island.  We'd both been trading germs and rotating sickness for the couple of weeks leading up to his trip and it was evident in the state of our apartment.

It was really important to him not to leave me with such a mess to deal with (because I was going to be a mess myself anyway) so we spent his last night cleaning.  He's always been proud of his dish stacking abilities.

So, he left me with this reminder of his love.  Not quite as romantic as a love letter or as delicious as the muffins he had planned would have been, but totally him.  He takes care of me.

Two and a half days until he is back!