Invitations

Finally, all the invitations are in the mail and I can brag about them online. I'm really proud of them -- they've been the highlight of planning so far (from designing, to creating, to assembling, to getting feedback) but ever since then, everything has been downhill and nothing else has gone right. So don't expect much after this....

invite inside fully addressed vellum envelope (we chose vellum b/c it was on sale from myGatsby.com)

full invite (in poor light) with stamp (I was dissatisfied with the Post Office's selection of wedding stamps, but this was the best choice among their 63 cent selection)

pocket-fold invite wrapped with sheer Asiana ribbon (in ivory but looks silverish), closed with a seal of an embossed double happiness symbol on ivory cardstock, with vellum backing (again, poor lighting, but it really is ivory cardstock, not yellow!)

inside of invite; Chinese in red text above the English in black (there is a minor typo in Chinese, which we rectified by punchiing out various heart shapes but I'm too embarrassed to show a picture, plus we gave all those out before I had a chance to take a pic)

the various enclosures: map and directions card, RSVP, and card with web info (actually printed on the blank perforated business cards from Staples, which fit perfectly on the side pocket b/c it is 3.5"x2" & the enclosures are supposed to be 3.5" tall; best part is no cutting, just ripping apart)

close-up of the direction card; I really enjoyed creating the map (I used Google Earth to get a 3-D view of everything, traced the important parts, like landmarks, by hand, scanned the image, and traced it all over in Illustrator so as to have perfectly straight lines)

the RSVP card with a maple leaf punched out in the corner (to give just a hint of a fall wedding); all the English wording is screwed up (mix of formal and informal b/c of the huge problems FFIL had with it, even though I barely understand his English sometimes)

I ordered the postage stamps online and they come very neatly packaged in plastic with a cardboard to support it. It's very convenient -- no waiting on line, dealing with incompetent ppl, or tracking down about 300 of the exact same type of stamps. It just costs $1 extra for shipping, which I think is well worth it. And it was delivered fairly quickly.

WHAT IT TAKES:

• Hammermill ivory 60lb. and 80 lb. cardstock from Staples: about $40 (we also bought extra to make other stuff too_
  
• 300 "firecracker red" (love the color!) pocket-fold invites from Paper Presentation: about $355
  
• 400 vellum outer envelopes: about $39 (on clearance, for 75% off)
  
• Heavyweight tracing paper from high school drafting class: basically free
• Glue & other adhesive: about $33 (we originally used the cheapass Avery glue pens from Staples for gluing the cardstock to the invite but they wouldn't really hold, then we went with the Scotch tape roller which is actually permanent; also used Glue Dots to stick ribbon and seal on)
• Ribbon: about $7.50
  
• 250 4-Bar RSVP envelopes from Paper Presentation: $37.50
  
• Custom-made stamps (double happiness and two other ones that we ended up not using) from Simon's Stamps: $21
• Embossing powder: $3
  
• Stamp pads: $8
  
• Maple leaf punch: $3.51
• Ivory blank business cards from Staples: $0.25
  

GRAND TOTAL: $547.76, or $1.83 per invite (really less, if you count all the stuff that can be reused)

I think I made out pretty well, considering nice invites cost upwards of $2 nowadays. I think for a similar style it would have cost at least $5/invite.

And postage stamps cost about $70 (but not part of "making the invitation" so I didn't include it above).

Lastly, there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears when discussing the layout and wording, and hardly anyone has noticed that (insert befuddled, hardly amused, mostly aggravated face here).

Guest list woes

We're feverishly addressing and giving out invites in batches (b/c we're delivering some by hand and some ppl we're not sure when and where we'll run into them), while arguing at about every tenth guest who should and should not be invited. We've mostly accounted for all the ppl we really want there (friends and family) but FFIL is going crazy with his list and driving Dear, and consequently me, mad. At the last check, our anticipated guest list was 390 (from what I recall the restaurant holds 350). If all our overseas relatives were to come, the number would be around 450 so we're probably going to end up giving out close to 250 invites.

Actually I'm not so much mad now as amused. You have to be able to find humor in the guests that FFIL wants to invite. Aside from the nameless ppl from the village who also, apparently, do not have addresses, he wanted to invite:
- their contractor
- their optometrist
- his staff (I find less humor about this than a little bit of tackiness b/c I think it really imposes on your staff if the boss invites you to something b/c you almost have to go)

I won't go into how he feels like he has to invite everyone who's ever invited him to a wedding and how he just has to invite every person in church who holds any sort of position (political, imaginary, or otherwise) regardless of the differences they may have (i.e. they dislike each other). And of course, in a church that goes through pastors like they're disposable, they all need to be invited as well. And of course, from that entire list of ppl I would rather he not invite, he is only cutting the first two. So we've whittled down some; somehow 40 ppl will have to disappear (I'm ignoring the 10-15%[?] discount rule that ppl say you should apply for the declines b/c these ppl a] have no lives, b] will probably bring more guests than those allotted, and c] we've accounted for all the declines from the overseas folk). *sigh*

My mother, on the other hand, if she had made her list of guests months ago like I had asked, would not be giving me agita with her pleas of not having enough invites. And I am still peeved about how we have to give her back all the gifts that her guests give us, despite the fact that she doesn't have to chip in one dime. Her justification is that it's 'payback' for raising me (which I can understand and am OK with) but also b/c "that's what everyone else does." Well, if you talk to Americans what "they all do" is not only pay for the wedding but allow the couple to keep the gifts b/c starting a new life together is not easy w/ the huge expense of a wedding and all that other stuff (getting a place to live, furnishing the place, etc.). hrmph!

On the lighter side, I am thrilled that the ppl who've received our invitation find it "too pretty to mess up," unique, and a whole slew of adjectives that I can't recall at the moment. If you haven't gotten yours yet, be patient -- our hands are falling off from all the addressing!! (It only took me 45 minutes to hand-calligraph four invites so Dear is doing most of it.)

Paper progress

I am babysitting the printer as our 250 RSVP envelopes go through. I have to refill the bypass tray every 25. It is surprisingly unboring (evidenced by the fact that I am blogging while fiance is unable to entertain me!). The hardest part is stuffing the envelopes back into the boxes that they came in (we need to sorta flatten them out b/c running through the printer curls them up a bit). I've already messed up one envelope by stuffing it incorrectly. Oh well, that one will go to someone I don't like. :P

Today has been a somewhat productive day. I finished cutting all the invites, started to glue them to the pocket folds and experimented with gluing the ribbon and creating the pendant for the front, which will (hopefully) be stamped and embossed. This mumble-jumble may not make sense to many ppl, but you'll soon see. I have to tout my achievements somehow. And now, all the RSVP envelopes are printed!

'Professional' facials

I finally got my Spa Week treatment today at Euphoria Spa. My appointment was postponed for weeks b/c they had a flood back in April when there was a lot of rain. On the continuum of facials, this one falls about the middle. The best (and most expensive) facial I've ever had was at Bliss Spa in SoHo. You start off with a full spread of snacks: brownies, cookies, cheese and crackers, lemon and cucumber water, red and white wine, grapes, strawberries, and other fruits. The bathroom and locker room is stocked with all sorts of health and beauty aids (kinda like those bathroom baskets that ppl create for weddings), including their own lotions and soaps. You get a customized facial, complete with a wonderful massage of the neck, shoulders, decollete, and arms, down to the fingers. It was soooo relaxing and blissful. The massage bed was also warmed and so comfortable that I almost fell asleep. Afterwards, my skin was so smooth and clean and I didn't have a pimple for the next few months. But alas, I can't afford Bliss (the tip I left there was equivalent to how much I paid for the facial today). On the other end of the facial spectrum is the facial at a Chinatown shop. Often they will try to sell you packages (if you pay for 10 treatments, each one will turn out to be about $30 for the low-end). On top of that, I've had experiences where the ppl will denigrate you thinking that this is a way for you to add on more expensive treatments. Sometimes the treatments will be OK, sometimes bad, and I often look like a wreck afterwards and I'll still break out. Also, needless to say, there are no freebies (drinks are not usually offered either). However, they don't make you strip (something I never understood the need for when you're just getting a facial) and you can keep all your stuff with you in the room instead of locking it away in a locker.

Today's facial was slightly better than the Ctown ones but way below the Bliss one. There was no first-class service (just water or tea at the end, and served in a plastic goblet) but everyone was very nice and no hard selling. Because this was a Spa Week special, the treatment was just 45 minutes long (it is usually 60 minutes and costs about $300). It started out with an antibacterial cleansing and then a bunch of other stuff she swiped all over my skin. Then came the painful (but necessary) part -- the extractions. She was a lot more gentle than other places I've been to but I think she just uses her fingers and not that tool with the metal loop and needle on either end. She also said that the gunk was coming out pretty easy and she didn't do many extractions. I don't know if that's b/c of the time limit or if I really have fewer clogged pores nowadays. I'm not sure whether there was any microdermabrasion but something was tingly at one point.

Then the best part -- called a microablation. She said this method used to be used (still continues to be used? don't remember) in hospitals to hydrate an area. In fact, she had to hook up a bag connected to a tube, much like what you see in hospitals. What it is a saline solution sprayed on your skin, "conducting a plasma field to the dermis." This supposedly reduces acne, tightens and brightens skin, and does a bunch of other stuff. It was a really weird sensation b/c there's quite a bit of water coming at you through this wand thingy and every once in a while you feel a zap (a bit like static electricity). There was enough water that she had to wrap a thick towel around my head and every so often mop up the water off my face. This was kinda refreshing but it ended all too soon. Then she gave me a quick massage (not a very good one), slapped on some moisturizer and lip balm and that was it. I was not crazy about the lip balm (I hate it when it's applied sloppily b/c it gets all over the place and it feels so greasy) but afterwards she was good enough to show me all the stuff she did for me (extractions here and there, pimples in random places). She also pointed out that I touched my face as I was coming out (I'm not very conscious of that, hence all the pimples) which I really need to stop. Another thing I learned was that all my water drinking pays off -- she could tell from my skin that I am a "water drinker."

Perhaps I would've raved about this place if I got a full treatment (instead of the special, which felt incomplete) but the overall experience was not bad. I like that the owner is just starting out (she opened the place a few years ago) and I think she does all the treatments herself so it is very personal service. That can also be a drawback though, b/c she talked quite a bit. I'm not a fan of talking during facials (how can you even talk as your face is being smushed back and forth?) but I guess it can get really boring for the facialist. Anyway, the spa was recommended by my dermatalogist (the owner is a patient of his, I think) and when she learned that, she was so happy. Consequently I think she treated me a little better than she would have otherwise (or maybe I just imagined it). But I think I have to see how my skin holds up and whether I break out in the coming days to really decide whether I'd go back or not.

All this talk of facials reminds me of my recent visit to Amy's Salon on Pell Street in Ctown. I was in bad need of a trim and my friend thought they did a good job on her. The only downfall is that they really try to sell you a lot of stuff (like highlights or perms when you go in just for a haircut). The owner said that she can be a one-stop shop on my wedding day -- she does hair as well as makeup. I'm not sure about the makeup part but she seemed very confident about doing hair. I really liked my haircut (she pointed out what was wrong w/ it and I could see what she was talking about, not just some fiction she made up) and she explained how she designs hairstyles based on your features and it's like art for her, where she fashions it for you all in her mind w/o having to look at any pictures or anything. And unlike all the other things she kept trying to sell me, she said it wouldn't be necessary to do a hair trial with her b/c she'll do it well the day of and I can save my money. But I digress. The relevance to facials is that she also does facials. And despite my bashing of Ctown facials above, I am a bit tempted to try hers out. She said that there's some serum that would use that would totally change my skin type so that it's less oily and less prone to break out. Back in college, someone told me she used to have terrible acne on her forehead and she went for a few facials somewhere in Ctown and now her skin is perfect -- I wonder if this is the place she went to. But aside from all the wonderful promises of the treatments, I am wont to believe Amy b/c I got the feeling that she was telling the truth (even though she was trying to sell stuff, she didn't try to sell me stuff I didn't need). I also find truth in her statement about cheaper places that don't customize the facial to you -- they just do a simple exfolation or something -- and that's why it's so cheap (which has been my experience). The package (a lot more expensive than other Ctown places) would include hand treatments as well (she may have said eye, it got lost in the translation for me). So ends this rambling facial post (I am exhausted from running around trying to find the spa today -- it's in a location that I'm not very familiar with and Google Maps completely misled me -- so this may not be completely coherent).

Ribbon resources

The other day I went to Artistic Ribbon, a wholesaler of all kinds of ribbon. I've been wanting to go for a while but never got a chance because they're not open on the weekends and they close before 5pm. So on Monday I took off half a day from work to run all sorts of errands, including getting ribbon. I imagined that it would be like a store where you can peruse the aisles or look at neatly displayed samples. Instead, it was on the third floor of an office building and right when I got off the elevator there, I was met with a window where a woman asked what I needed. When I explained that I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted but needed to see what the stuff looks like in person, she rang me through the door and I went inside their cavernous space of tall shelves stacked with boxes. I knew that I wanted something fairly narrow, like 1/4" or 3/8" which was good b/c she didn't have much in those sizes so I didn't have a huge selection to sift through (I hate making decisions!). She showed me a booklet of some satin ribbons, then a box of some sheer. Of course I had issues deciding but she was quite patient with me, fetching roll after roll, checking prices for me, opening the rolls up so that I could compare textures and colors and also match it against my invite. I finally settled on a cream colored sheer ribbon. They only sell rolls (not by the yard) of ribbon so I got one 100 yard roll and it was less than $8, with no tax! Granted, this was a cheaper quality ribbon, but it is still a great price (they had $16 chiffon ribbon from France which was reaaally nice but not for my purposes b/c it was not stiff enough).

All in all, I think Artistic is a great place to go if you need a lot of ribbon and want to see what it looks like in person. It's even better if you know what you're looking for so you can ask for it directly instead of having them pull out box after box (their site has all their stuff online so once you narrow down your choices you can check it out in person; the website doesn't represent the textures very well). They have a huge selection and their prices are decent, however, I noticed that Paper Mart also sells ribbon for a much lower price (but with shipping, I think it turns out to be about the same). I've never ordered from Paper Mart, but it seems pretty popular and they sell all kinds of interesting stuff in bulk too. Of course, there's always M & J Trimming in the Garment District, where you can buy ribbon by the yard and all kinds of neat stuff, including lace, flowers, buttons. Their store is pretty cool too, if you ever need to decorate anything.

Postcard

According to the Postal Service, postcards should be:

Dimension	Minimum	Maximum
Height	3-1/2 inches	4-1/4 inches
Length	5.5 inches	6 inches
Thickness	0.007 inch	0.016 inch

Any item smaller than the minimum dimensions is not mailable.
For postcards, length is the dimension parallel to the address.
Postcards must be rectangular and be made of unfolded and uncreased paper or card stock.

The 3.5x5.5 inch height is perfect for fitting into the pocketfold and four can be cut from 8.5x11 cardstock with little waste. I'm guessing 60 lb. stock should be OK (no idea how heavy .007 - .016 inch equals and I left my micrometer in high school).

The inspiration

So let me just solidify the theme idea: fall. My inspiration is this leaf (can I take any non-fuzzy pics?), one of the many that we gathered last fall up at Bear Mountain and went home and pressed. The red of the leaf is about the shade of the BM dresses, which also, incidentally is a 'lucky' Chinese color, and so, is the main color scheme. I am hoping that the excess fabric from the dresses can be made into bowties for the GMs or at least can help them find something similar in shade. To distinguish fiance from the rest of them, he will also have a vest in that shade? (I can't decide whether or not that would look nice). Maybe boutonnieres can have a leaf in the back as well, kinda like this picture on the right. We happen to have a bunch of acorns too, though a lot of the double ones broke apart.

The 'inspiration leaf' also has patches of yellow and orange, even brown, which I can try to tie in secondarily, through other aspects, like favors, bouquets (I'm leaning towards orange-shaded flowers for the BMs, like orange callas, poppies, dahlias, or maybe even roses), perhaps invites. The leaves, I'm hoping, will make an appearance in mini wreaths at the end of pews (scroll down), and also as the escort cards at the banquet.

And I want to create this flower monogram (yes, I threw that image together in Photoshop using images of the flowers). I think the monogram will be made out of silk gerbera daisies (silk b/c I won't have time to arrange this using real flowers on the day of) and it will hang on the church doors (if they allow us, or somewhere else, if not). I'm thinking this creation will be on a white piece of fabric so that the colors pop out and it can be hung like a banner, with rods inserted into a flap sewn onto the top and bottom to keep it from flapping about. If not a piece of fabric, then maybe put into a big frame?

If I were to have centerpieces (still not sure if that is possible, given the massive amount of table space needed for the food), I'd like to do a pyramid of stacked, upside-down Gala apples, which are yellow with a red blush (or a similar apple with red striations). Apples fit the fall theme too and there's the added benefit of being able to eat them afterwards. Those old Chinese women will love that -- instead of stealing the flower centerpieces, they can eat away!

And I was thinking of using wreaths to mark off the pews instead of flowers and bows. I especially like this one made with the berries as it's not screaming "look, more leaves to get the fall idea across!" like the one below.
But I like the colors of the leaves all together. I'm pretty sure we don't have enough leaves for all this.

There are also a lot of red and orange drinks to use to create a signature drink, if we indeed go that route. Or we could do something with apples or cider.

And lastly, I'm trying to come up with ideas for the design of the cake topper. I think it'd be a nice touch if FMIL made a stained glass one since she makes that stuff all the time. I just need to convince her and come up the design. I guess coming up with a cake and baker would be important too.