Emmy Lu Design Studio

I love finding new (to me) vendors for all my party planning needs. Recently I had the pleasure of "meeting" the Laura of Emmy Lu. What a nice gal! Below are some of their designs:



What I love about them is that they are two women living two different lives. Each brings something amazing to the table. Their work is just awesome! Oh, they also have a blog too!

So if you are in need of invites, you should seriously consider using them. I know if I have it my way, the next big party I throw, I'll definitely be using them!

Another imaginary wedding...

Around 5 or so years ago, I distinctly remember I wanted my BMs to wear a dress that had a print on it. Fast forward to actual wedding planning and just like how I forgot about my dream dress, I totally forgot about this too...until this morning. Yes I know, almost five months since the wedding and I barely just remembered this "big" idea. So I decided to put together a series of imaginary weddings all centered around print some way or another.

While pretend shopping with my imaginary limitless checkbook I found the cutest dress:

Jayson Brunsdon
Satin Bamboo-Print Dress
Price: $575.00

Such inspiration...Here are other ideas that would work will with this design without becoming campy:
Invitations

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Decorations
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Flowers

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Favors

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All in all, a nice clean green and white theme. You could even add touches of pink give it a pop! If you have any dresses you'd like to see a theme centered around, send in the links to the photos and we'll give it a whirl!

Pretty pretty invites...

While scavengering through sites today, I found some really cool and modern invitations out there for all sorts of events! Here's some of my favorites!!!!







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Now I have to start planning a party to use these! Which one is your favorite?

JACKPOT...

We got 6 RSVPs today. Only one of them was a no, but I had a feeling it would be. Kids + school = limited traveling. Then I got a big square envelope...with my AMAZING bridal shower invitation.

I feel soo blessed and happy... excited and thrilled about it all.

What a great trip to our mailbox!

the evolution of the Invitation from hell...

I was going to write this elaborate post about how it was difficult but I will instead just show you the finished products and where I got the good to make my lovely invites. Lots of
Outer envelope... isn't the calligraphy beautiful? Thank you again Monica! You're the best!

There is a inner star dream quartz envelope but I was too lazy to take a photo of that... and here is the actual invitation! Closed... it took a few hours to perfect how to the ribbons to go around without them moving. We finally realized we had to cut slits and weave them through.

Now it's open! :) the little label isn't there to keep it closed... it's just there to look pretty.

Here are our reception and RSVP cards. Most people got a different reception card. The last 5 invites got these. :)

Here are the amazing maps my brother did for us! He sent me the digital copy and then I put it into word and had them printed out at a printers to keep the black. I also did a write up on lodging and directions on the opposite side. Once we got them printed and cut, we realized the white edges from the cut (it's white paper, with black ink!) so my loving FI went over every edge with a permanent marker and made them all black! How sweet!



All the envelopes and that black enclosure came from Envelope Mall. The layouts came from MS Word. Just centered it. Ribbon came from craft store.

So... what do you think? :)

I lied...

Okay, I took the photos of the invites... starting writing the post about it and realized I just don't have time to finish it. After this weekend is over, I'll have more time to post it.

So... when I said I would post it today, I lied... it'll post on sunday... but our pretty little red envelopes with RSVP's have been finding their way to the mailbox! :)

How fast did you get your first invite?

Speedy delivery...

Sent out the invitations Monday morning.

Coworkers and friends in neighboring areas received them the next day!

Talk about FAST!

HOORAY!!!

Hand cramps...

That is what I didn't have! Why, because I didn't address my envelopes! I had the BEST CALLIGRAPHER IN THE WORLD do my invitations. Here name is Monica C. and lives and works in beautiful Hawaii. Even though she lives far away, she went beyond any other vendor I've used thus far! She is my favorite and I love every vendor I have! :) She's sent out examples of her work, kept in contact with you and gave updates from time to time and double checked names with you if she had questions. Amazing! Here is an example of her artistry.


(my apologies for my horrible photo taking skills.)


When it was time to get the envelopes back, she packaged them well and even put the cutest little card in there for me!

She is reasonably priced and has an eye for detailing and the end result is perfection. I can't think of a better way to add that extra touch of class to your invitations.

Her email address is monica.choe [at] gmail [dot] com. ([at] = @ [dot] = .) Again, I can't ooze more praises for her! Now... go inquire!

Going Postal...

99% of the invitations are completed and I trekked over to the Post Office to mail them. On the way there, I said a little prayer to make sure they postage was correct (yes, I was a maverick and didn't get them weighed). Hooray... right on the money. So I dropped them off and said good bye and the count will begin today of how many RSVPs we get back. :)

Now tonight I have to finish up five more invites for misc people we have to hand deliver them too. On Friday when I know the majority of them are finding themselves to the mailboxes, I'll post how we did them.



What a sigh of relief to be done (mostly) with them! How soon did you get your first RSVP back?

I day* draws near...

Oh the pressure of invitations are getting to me. I know I've blogged a ton about them and after Friday, I will post them and what I did. (Most of our guests should have gotten them by then!)

Everything now is sitting nicely on my dining room table in stations. I have all the necessary equipment (double stick tape, scissors, glue, ruler, etc) in the middle and now just waiting for time to roll around so I can cut, glue and stuff them into their pretty little envelopes!

Once these are done, I will be able to sit back and just enjoy the little projects left. I think the main one I'm looking forward to is making a mock candy cake topper of us for our faux wedding cake! :) I know, I'm such a geek!



*I day is Invitation day!

Scrambling...

I-DAY* is only 2 days away and I'm starting to get a little flustered. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I have yet to PRINT OUT THE WORDING OF THE ACTUAL INVITE! During lunch today, I'll be going over to the printers to hand over the goods to have them print and cut. I no longer will cut anything! I HATE cutting. :)

After this, everything is ready to be put together. The only other main task is to assemble the already half made reception cards.

This has been ONE long task that I know I'll be very proud of when it's all said and done but until then... I will allow myself to obsess if I have everything completed!

embellishments

One of my BMs is getting married and we're going to start making her engagements invites:

She had this amazing idea that she wanted to add a little pizazz to it and add a charm! She found this great website: Formal Invitations that had reasonable prices for charms:




...and because I'm obsessed with grapes and stuff....


Soo creative and what a great way to add a personal touch to the invite!

Chaos...

In the midst of our house issues... "will escrow ever close?"... I got an email from our Calligrapher asking about some names. Apparently she is almost through with all of them and will be shipping them back to us in a few days! HOORAY!!!

I think once I'm in the house I'll be able prioritize my task list. Okay, kidding, I have no lists since I'm 90% done with everything... well, except our invitations and our Wedding Newspaper but we'll get into that more later.

YIPPEE!!!!

Unique Invitations...

Going back to my last post about invites... I wanted to explore and find other unique invitations that give it that special touch! I found two very unique touches that was added to a ordinary wedding pocket/folded invitations. Below are two examples, one added a sand dollar and the other added a little silver leaf to the opening of the invite. I think both add that personal touch that gives your guests the feeling that you cared to make a little more special! Whether you add ribbon, your logo, or a personalized sticker/stamp, those are the things that make a ordinary invitation, extraordinary!

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Yippie!!!

I found my invitations for one of my faux weddings! :) If I knew of Indian Wedding Cards I would have gone this route for my real wedding... instead I can dream of using them! They are HUNDREDS of designs for great prices! They even have scrolls!

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I found this one and think it is sooo adorable for a spring wedding or even a shower invitation.
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I love how they are soo detailed and different from the invites of today! Very Unique!

Chaos...

In the midst of all the housing issues I've thrown myself into doing more projects now to keep my mind off of all this nonsense.

On my to-do list for the week has been my rehearsal dinner inviations, my place cards (just their names), and working on secondary programs. Yes, secondary programs. We are doing two programs for the wedding. The first one is just a fan with the wedding party on it. These will be handed out by my nieces. The second ones will have the everything about the actual ceremony, readings, songs, etc etc etc. These will be in the pews for our guest to follow and not feel so lost.

I feel like I'm on wedding overdrive so I don't have to think about everything else...Do you ever get that way? Where you use the wedding projects as a diversion for other issues?

Postage

To Spruce up any envelope, you can create your own personalized Postage. For us, we decided to use Zazzle.com because of their price as well as their easy to use editing tools.




Another site that offers personalized stamps is Stamps.com.

Hey Mister, SAVE THAT DATE!!!

Before I was engaged I knew I wanted to do Save-the-Date's and now it was time to finally get to live my dream! Already, I had a fridge full of magnets and was a little shy about the thought my face on everyone's fridge to see for the next 8 months. I saw a little article on in Martha Stewart Weddings about calendar stickers and like lightning striking my pretty little head, I visualized my Save-the-cards!


My supplies:

1. Custom Stickers from Zazzle to give it more a polished look


2. Notecards and envelopes from EnvelopeMall


3. Vellum paper from Staples Office Supply Stores


4. Photo corners from Michael's Craft Stores


5. Double-stick tape

With a few of my bridesmaid's help, we put all of them together in about two hours.

So, what do you think?