Due to our having more email addresses than postal addresses for our family and friends we decided to send out the invitations via email as a PDF attachment, and then to print the rest. I was so relieved at this decision when it came to printing and putting the invitations together! Although they look really stunning printed - with the textured card, fine overlay, gold detail, and ribbon - it would’ve taken so much time to get through them all. I hope to incorporate some of the printed invitation elements into the rest of the wedding stationery, so that the rest of the guests can experience them too…

All in all we’ve had a wonderful response to the emailed invitations, which is awesome.

I am so happy that this is done, I was worrying that we were running behind schedule… Now I can breathe a sigh of relief and move onto the next challenge.

Tags: design, graphic design, invitations, stationery, wedding

This is the one item I am the most clueless about. Somehow I thought that I could just hand this task over to my little sister, who is designing them for us, and go with whatever she came up with. Clearly not. We have to come up with a brief first… and I need some education on invitations, fast!

The Internet is a marvelous source of information. I have “aaah”ed, “ooooh”ed and “euw”ed my way through a myriad of digital representations of (mostly) paper manifestations. Am I closer to a decision? No. But I have a better idea of what I like! I hope…

Here are some of the more interesting ensembles:

(more…)

Tags: design, graphic design, invitations, stationery, wedding

I think the most fatal flaw of all is that I’m not very specific in my own mind about what I want. I never have been - I’m certainly not one of those little girls who dreamed days away about her wedding day. I always thought I’d see when I got there. Now I’m here. And to tell the truth, I’m a bit scared.

I have a vague idea - the setting should be beautiful, picturesque. The food should be incredible. Seeing as it’ll be a winter wedding I’d like heat - lots of it - in the form of fires (non-smokey ones) preferably. Most of all I want to be happy with the man of my dreams smiling into my eyes.

Tags: date, dreams, search, venue, wedding, winter

Two weeks into “the engagement” Nico and I took our first official step towards wedding organising. We attended the Bridal Expo at Oakfield Farm. We were quite chuffed at how organised we had become, with our foresight and wedding mag tear-outs. We were prepared for this momentous occasion…My, what a bewildering and overwhelming experience. You just don’t have a clue what the wedding industry is like until you become entangled in the midst of it. Photos, venues, designers, invitations, table settings, wedding transportation mechanisms, dresses, dresses, dresses, makeup artists, lingerie, dresses… it’s said to be a multi-billion rand industry, and it’s not hard to believe!

We left with flyers, business cards, a bridal library magazine and DVD, and a brand new outlook on the oncoming months’ planning.

Whilst on the “Wedding Mile” we took the opportunity of looking at a few venues. Wow… there are some awesome places out in Muldersdrift, priced at varying degrees of expensive. Well ok, people don’t go into business for charity’s sake and there is money to be made in weddings… I just wish the money in my budget wouldn’t add up so fast!

As I mentioned previously, money is not the only hurdle. Another, almost as daunting, is making that decision. Choosing THE VENUE. Somehow I didn’t think that we’d have to make that choice quite so soon, but having chosen a date in June (this year), we really don’t have much time! Will it be a friend or relative’s garden (should there be a kind soul willing to offer), Casalinga, Avianto, Toadbury Hall, The Westcliff, Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, or some other place someone suggests?

Tags: Avianto,, bridal, expo,, budget,, Casalinga,, Oakfield Farm, planning, The Westcliff, Toadbury Hall, venue, Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, wedding