Anyway today I want to chat about what I see as the two paper sides to weddings. I break it down between everything that could possibly come before the wedding and day of wedding stuff. So in the former we have save the dates, invitations, RSVPs, accommodation cards, direction cards, etc. Then on the other side for day of the wedding stuff we have programs, table numbers, menus, labels for favors, and on and on. If you look back in TFMD classic designs like Jim + Pam or Holly + Paul I was trying to make the entire arc at once.

The problem is when you are ordering invitations you obviously can’t know where you’re seating everyone yet so you can’t order both at once. The second problems to that (I have found) is that by the time day of wedding paper enters your realm of thinking you are short on budget and time so things just get thrown together or skipped entirely. Can we PUH-LEASE make a resolution from here on out to never ever ever ever EVAH have clip art on table numbers? Because we don’t have to. My solution to this is to come at this semiDIY. The way I keep the price down is simple- I can sell you the file (ready to go in your hot little hands on the same day) and you print it and trim them down yourself. We meet in the middle of the DIY road. Whether you’ve bought your wedding invites from here or not we can get you hooked up with some great day of wedding pieces. If you bought TFMD invitations for Melanie + Jake and need a program no worries- there actually already is one! And if there wasn’t I can make one! Table numbers, programs, menus, labels for favors, and other various signs you might need (to lead guests a certain way or to tell them how to fill out your guest book) are $25 for the file*. Place cards start at $50 for the file* because it takes long to add each of your 100 or so guests names in!

So let’s not forget about the day of wedding stuff. There’s no reason it can’t coordinate with the rest of your wedding look. I can’t find where the free faux bois table numbers are in the archives so why don’t we post it again since we’re talking about table number, huh? (Colors available [from left to right, top to bottom]: gray, marigold, cherry, moss, skyblue, stained, and raw)

Also remember remember remember:

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH
I will be suspending production of orders from March 15-March 29! You can email me to place an order during this time but I won’t be able to get back to you or print your order until after March 29th.

Buuut since I do love to bribe you all AND since I’ve had a request I’m making another free Alice in Wonderland party invitation so stay tuned.

*I’m not trying to be tricky but these are the starting costs. If you say “I love the Jim + Pam menu”, (I know- it’s so cute- I love that it’s “eat drink and be married” in a more modern way, but I digress), it’s $25. If you say “I love the Holly + Paul table numbers but I want to add photos and short stories to each location mentioned in the table number and by the way we have 40 tables” (which is a good idea, it’s kind of what I made for Jen E.’s wedding, everyone had fun looking at all the photos) then that will be $50.

Which brings us to the “savin’”. Another question I’ve been hearing is, “Can you make the RSVP a postcard?” and the answer is “you bet your sweet ass we can!” Now the lovely part of that is once it’s a postcard you get to buy postcard stamps which are $0.28 as opposed to the $0.44 you’d be shilling out for envelopes. Oooh. Aaaah.

And lastly:

Photos by The Future Mrs. Darcy in Ireland 2006
I’ll be in Ireland from March 19 to March 27th which will hopefully be great despite the fact that last night I found out the thing I wanted to see the very most in Ireland this time around (the Giant’s Causeway) may be prohibitively far from where we’re staying (around a 5 hour drive). ;(  But what this means for you is that I won’t be here to take orders or print or whatever you need me to do SO- plan accordingly.

Anyway, you’ve got me now and today (brace yourselves) we’ll be having some advice/scheming. Just what every good party planner needs!

Photo by Paired Image from their engagement session.

It starts off like this: Renée and Kevin from Harry Potter inspired wedding fame (yup, there they are) came to visit to go see (what else?) the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Boston Museum of Science and while Renée was here she got a very excitable message from her friend saying she had “big news” and would “talk to her later”. I’m only explaining this part of the story to maybe come up with a standard for the women of this world. If you leave a message saying you have “big news” it better be engagement, baby in the works, new fabulous job, or a spotting of an ex-boyfriend as a cult leader on Dateline or something like that because that is what the person you left the message is thinking.

After Renée gets home she talks to her friend and find out the big news is drama which she shared with me because it’s something a lot of brides probably go through. Here’s the deal (I’ve changed all the names in honor of Renée to Harry Potter names and also to not get her friend in more trouble) Renée’s friend, Hermione, got married this past Fall but she didn’t invite Padma and Parvati Patil and now Padma and Parvati are super pissed at Hermione and have just unloaded it all on her. I’m guessing it was a case of their friendship falls in the vast nebulous between being facebook friends and knowing when their birthday is without a facebook reminder. See Figure 1 for details. They’re probably right in the middle but everyone has to make their “these people come/these people don’t” demarcation themselves.

In this case there are some crazy circumstances like Hermione had a dying relative while she was planning her wedding which was adding stress but the Patil girls were all “like you weren’t planning before your relative got sick” which- dang- is too much for me to get into except to say anything relating to a dying relative should never be your ace in the hole. Also at this point I should let you know I H-A-T-E icky feelings. I don’t like fighting, confrontations, “big talks”, and the like so this is where advice turns into schemes (i.e. dealing with it without ACTUALLY saying the words).

I’ve thinking this over a bit and I think you should try to avoid uttering the words “I’m not inviting you to my ” unless you want a crap-ton of repercussions, have a DAMN good reason, or just CAN NOT get around it (see below). The reason I say this is I can’t imagine an instance where someone could say that to me where I wouldn’t feel hurt. Of course I’m talking about big things like weddings and other big events. Brandy wouldn’t have to invite me to Karaoke Extravaganza 2K10 because I live several states away (although she did because she is nice like that and Karaoke Extravaganza 2K10 doesn’t cost $75 a head for her to invite people so, hell, if you want to, I can get you invited).

A way you can get around that is, perhaps, if it’s an entire large group of people like co-workers. Saying to a co-worker, “I feel bad I can’t invite anyone from work” is better than singling out someone that THEY THEMSELVES aren’t invited. Now I think a good groundwork to all of this is people are going to ask you about your wedding/event and wedding/event planning. If you know or have an inkling you are not going to invite them make sure you start bringing up what will be reasons why you will not be inviting them. Here’s a good example of some: small venue, just inviting family and a few friends, those darn budget concerns, the wedding will be far away, etc. Honestly, I know this is probably contrary to other info on the web on this subject but if you tell people how you’re really limiting the guest list and it’s really hard to do and you feel really bad about it they won’t be surprised if they don’t get an invitation. Especially if you make a puppy dog face when you talk about it. Aww see how sad I am (this is a pretend situation- there isn’t a photo).

Okay back to the Hermoine/Patils issue because I think it brings up one of the most difficult situations. A lot of times it’s not so cut and dry. You want to invite Luna Lovegood because you’re closer to her but you, Luna and the Patils are all friends from school. Invariably if these are the types of people that if you invite hoping they won’t come– they totally will. This is a coin flip to whether the roundabout hints will work or if you may be forced to say something. Ugh. Sucks, I know. If they’re not getting the hint or come out and ask if they’re invited be SIMPLE about it. People (read: me) may have a tendency to start talking more when nervous. Saying something like “I’m really sorry, I hope this doesn’t hurt our friendship/make things weird” is good. Don’t start trying to explain your thought process of why Luna gets to go but they don’t. The heart of the matter is you like them enough to be having this annoying conversation but (to be blunt) not enough for them to come to your event. The most important thing though is after you have this little talk or after they kind of get they’re not going– don’t be chatting it up with Luna about the wedding/event when the Patils are around. If they bring it up– fine– be polite but know their feelings may still be hurt a bit.

Also that “I’m really sorry. I hope this hasn’t hurt our friendship– I should have mentioned it before” might work for Hermione now. If she wants.

If anyone has any good ideas or has done this successfully let us know. My first two thoughts when I heard about it were “hm they should delegate- that’s what bridesmaids are for” and “maybe I could make a Mad Lib that people could fill out” so OBVIOUSLY I’m not the best at this stuff.

We’ll be back to pretty pictures next time.

A big “I hate you and I wish you were a physical entity so I could show you how much I hate you” to my stupid order form which stopped working. And the real kicker is that it pretended to work and said “Thanks for your order and I’ll get back to you shortly to finalize” (or something like that) and then NEVER SENT ME THE EMAIL! Please please please if you sent me something about invitations or anything else and haven’t heard back from me PUH-LEAAAAASE email me at kristenhcox (at) gmail (dot) com.

A GINORMOUS thanks to Monica who contacted letting me know it might not be working in the first place.

So now onto the goods. I’ve had a lot of visitors come to the site to check out the Alice in Wonderland 30th Birthday Party Extravaganza we threw for Jenn back in October. The Lady Ga Ga Valentine’s Day card were loosely based off some of the designs we did for the party so why not complete the circle and actually make some printable invites for an Alice in Wonderland party!

They are print your own, come 3 to a page, and will fit in a standard envelope. You add hands to the clock to note the time and write the other pertinent information below (i.e. date, location, if it’s a surprise party, who’s birthday it might be for, if there’s an RSVP, etc…)

Download your FREE Alice in Wonderland Invitations here!

I’ve also created updated (matching) “eat me”/”drink me” flag which can be downloaded here!

The other day I was trolling the web for who can remember what and I came across this very fun solution for wedding seating:

After some tracking it back through various blogs who’ve posted it I found it on Parcel Post who credited to Unscene (which seems like a West Coast event planner but their full site isn’t up so I can only guess).

There are so many bridal blogs out there (which can get kind of incestuous– one idea posted several times) so I set out to find some MORE new blogs with MORE cool things I hadn’t seen before. Now, some of these (like Parcel Post) I’m sure get more readership than I and several I’ve found seem to have Bridal Blog awards that I’ve never heard of so SOMEONE (lots of someones) are reading them– I’ve just never heard of them so maybe you haven’t either.

After some clicking about I came across this friggin’ awesome DIY post from Bridal Buzz about making new mason jars look vingage.
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This would go so well with the look of Meredith and Patrick’s wedding (and therefore the Melanie + Jake [Sweet Home Alabama], Bonnie + Clyde [famous law breakers] and Lady and the Tramp ( invites)

Next we have what I think of as “fondant + simplicity = get in my belly now!” from Eat Cake Be Merry.

I think this would work perfectly with a Sloane + Ferris invitation (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Very fun and modern yet not overly so.

The one on the left is a good understated option for Allie + Noah (The Notebook) and with that big ole bow and bling I’m all for the right cake for Holly + Paul (Breakfast at Tiffany’s).

And lastly a teepee wedding (?!!?- I know) from the crazy amazing Rosie Parsons in the UK. If I haven’t said it before great photographers get the best clients who have the most creative weddings that you can get A MILLION IDEAS FROM so go check her out!

So there you have it- hopefully some things you haven’t seen before. If you’re still looking for more here are some things to get you started:

Blogs.com- 10 Stylish Wedding Blogs

Brenda’s Wedding Blog

Junebug Weddings

Rock N Roll Bride (check out the vintage-inspired 1920’s Galmour Puss shots here)

Sugarcomb Event Design

Diary of a Las Vegas Wedding Concierge

Matthew Robbins (or possibly once was called “Artfool“)

Amber Events

To download them I’m going to lure you to The Future Mrs. Darcy facebook fan page where you can find the links to get the pdfs. And if you want to become a fan once you’re there WONDERFUL! If not, you still have awesome Valentine’s Day cards. If by some chance you have a moral or religious aversion to facebook or an anal retentive IT teams that’s blocked it at work just fill out the contact form on the home page and I’ll let you know where to find them.

I think it was Confucius who said

Let he who watches renovation shows on TV not forget the power of time elapsed photography and secret crews who have actual renovation knowledge. For if you do, you will spend 3 days of insanity paintin’ trim on uneven walls, dawg.

Oh how Confucius loves to do his Randy Jackson impression! And, yes, I have gone completely insane. HAHAHAHA! HA! I have indeed been painting my living room for the past 3 days and this morning had to bring Michael to the airport at 5 am so there is a whole new lack of sleep angle and over-caffeination angle that is now playing itself out.

Here are some NEVER BEFORE SEEN painting progress photos (they’re not even on facebook- that is how fresh these are)

(This is the before and by “before” I mean WAY before- this is a shot from the series I took when we did our first walk through of the house)

And here is a current progress shot

The lighting isn’t great at the moment but it does look a lot better than it did before. The walls were a slight off white and the trim was a blah cream and I think the gray is pretty slick. The furniture is all pushed towards the center of the room (away from the walls) which is why it looks cramped. That and the fact our furniture is too large in general but we’re taking baby steps.

A friend sent me this article from Apartment Therapy about the “Finding the Perfect Gray” but then I read this article from humblehappenings after googling Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl and now, looking back, apparently just skimmed it because we went with Stonington Gray. We had also tried Silver Fox for those who have come to this page after googling the color names and it was very brownish. Once it dried it was a little more appealing but just not for us.

We also have 6 fugly sconces littered about the living room (as can be see on the left hand side of the before pic) which is just too expensive to replace all of them (and makes it living room look kind of hotel-y) but these did make me think about keeping them for a couple minutes: LightsUp!

I love it every time I see it but we have too many sconces. We are opting for floor lamps which they make too so YAY!

I’m also looking into Customizing Some Roman Shades to get rid of the vertical blinds.

Ok so none of this is wedding-y or paper-y BUT the insanity has brought some good-for-you just not good-for-you-that-is-already-done-by-Tuesday. I am in the process of making some awesome FREE musically inspired Valentine’s Day cards! They will be print and cut yourself UNLESS you can get me Season 2 of True Blood on DVD then I will make them for you, spritz them with perfume, forge your signature and mail them to your loved ones. So… yeah. Keep that in mind.

Isn’t it gorgeous?! Our girl, Shannon, knew what she wanted. Before we got started she sent me a pdf with example of birch trees she likes (simple and slightly abstract), what kind of birds she wanted (graphic and not too cartoon-y) and this lovely palette:

And she Canadian so she has a “u” in colour. Swoon. I wish I could write it like that and not look desperate. So, anyway, the above ideas were stirred (not shaken) and we ended up with a darling little invitation.

The RSVP is a little hard to read in the photo but it says

Will be there with bells on!
Will be there free of bells
Will be there, undecided on bells
Will not be there, heard there will be people wearing bells
Will not be there regardless of the bell controversy

Did I mention Shannon was in advertising? Indeed, folks. Very clever.

So what shall we call the newest of the new invitations? Let me know in the comments and have a great week!

You know how much trouble I have sometimes assigning couples after the fact (like for custom brides but never fear I already have Shannon and Jason on the case for the design they picked which I already know you will totally love so stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for that) but this one I stared at for a minute and was like “Uh-doi. Charlie Brown”. I was pretty sure good ol’ Charlie had a thing for the Little Redheaded Girl but I wanted to double check and I found out this from wikipedia:

A former coworker, Donna Johnson, was Schulz’s inspiration for the character.^[1] A 1947 high school graduate, Johnson was working in the accounting department of the Art Instruction, Inc., a correspondence school where Schulz worked. Johnson and Schulz eventually became romantically involved and dated for three years, but in 1950 when Schulz proposed to her, she refused him, ended the relationship and abruptly married fireman Allan Wold on October 21, 1950. Schulz was devastated, but he and Johnson-Wold remained friends for the rest of his life.

Said Schulz of the relationship, “I can think of no more emotionally damaging loss than to be turned down by someone whom you love very much. A person who not only turns you down, but almost immediately will marry the victor. What a bitter blow that is.”^[2] This experience became arguably the most poignant of all story lines for the entire Peanuts strip.

So for this upcoming Valentine’s Day I thought it’s only right that Charlie FINALLY gets his girl. I think we’d all agree that “The Little Redheaded Girl” is probably a little longer than more names on an invitation but, thankfully, in the 1977 animated TV special It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown Linus lets us know that her name is, in fact, Heather.

A happy little winter invitation.

Also if you’d like this more for a wedding shower or save the date, just let me know. When it came time for Stefanie’s (whose invitation became Ariel + Prince Eric) bridal shower she told me how much she liked the Holly + Paul invitation so we changed the info and voila! bridal shower invitation.

“I’d like to see Charlie Brown kick that football, and if he gets the little red-haired girl, that’s fine with me”

-Donna Johnson

And if you like the details these are pretty easy to figure out. I chose “Schulz” as Heather’s last name after the Peanut creator Charles Schulz. The wedding takes place on Valentine’s Day since so many of Charlie Brown Valentine’s Day efforts were for the Little Redheaded Girl, and the reception is in Woodstock after Snoopy’s little bird friend, Woodstock.

To purchase this design, please visit the Charlie Brown + Heather page under “Love Stories”.

Well on my walk to yoga this morning this image of flowers popped into my head. Why? Who knows. It’s not like there are any flowers spouting up in the mid-20s weather we’re having out here. Anyway it was this image:

Though (at the time) I couldn’t remember what the name of the flowers was so I figured “Hey! If Jeri’s there I’ll ask her!” (Jeri being Jeri Solomon of Jeri Solomon Floral Design who goes to the same yoga classes I do and makes the pretty arrangements at the front desk that I fawn over as well as arrangements for weddings/other businesses/open houses/and you if you contact her). Well it turns out I was really crossing the above image with this image:

Because I thought the flowers were red and I was calling the whole shbang “narcissus”, which we quickly realized was wrong but in my [limited] defense this image was across from the original poppies image in the magazine and in my old wedding notebook:

So I’ll just pretend I’m Rain Man or something and remembered that. Jeri’s guess (which based on what I was saying was a damn good guess) was “anemones” which I now covet more than any other flower and plan on tracking some down this summer to wear in my hair.

How sexy are these flowers?

Jeri said she has a friend who calls them the “Zha-Zha Garbor” of flowers because their so “LOOK AT ME”.

So, in conclusion the reason I said I though the flowers I was thinking of looked like poppies was because surprise- they were poppies! And the name I was trying to assign to them which reminded me of narcissus was ranunculus:

And I promise not to ask any crazy question like that again.

Image credits: Top 3 images (poppies, tulips and narcissus) are from (I believe) an old Brides Magazine circa 2007. The anemones is a Martha Stewart Weddings images and the ranunculus are from a Better Homes and Garden segment about creating bouquets for Mother Day.