Xapa to the World

Tag: wedding

  • Getting Married: 12 Weeks – Missing Week

    Excerpt from an email to my sister:

    Is this the year I get married? Does the sun still shine? Is the war over? Who is the President?

    To which she replied, “You should take a picture of the sun.” and “Reagan. I still can’t believe he went from acting to politics. But I have a good feeling about this one.”

    Haha. We’re all a bit crazy.

    This week, I’ve been trapped in the basement of our corporate office, working on a super, huge project. It’s a big deal. I was asked because I pay attention to the small details and I love filing/sorting/etc. All the paper-pusher type activities just give me a thrill. I’ve been working on a big filing project at my own bank branch, so it’s right up my alley.

    My hands have more cuts and marks on them than I can ever remember. And they seem to multiply. But, hey, the paycheck will be really pretty after this week and we get other incentives like free snacks and lunch every day.

    Yesterday was the first day in nearly a week that I got to see Matt and give him a hug. We missed each other. Since this is such a big project for me and I’m putting in so much time at the office, he’s getting some overtime with his job too. Might as well. We’ve got a wedding to pay for. But the time away is pretty tough. Thankfully, I’m so tired when I get home that I don’t have much time to think about it before I collapse into bed.

    Didn’t stop him from making me an amazing bedside lamp. I got to use it last night and it was glorious! I actually read a chapter of my book, in bed, without having to get back up to turn off my big light, and before I fainted from exhaustion. And I charged my phone from it overnight. Fantastic!

    This is the one Matt made for himself. Mine doesn't have a shade yet, but it's nearly identical!
    This is the one Matt made for himself. Mine doesn’t have a shade yet, but it’s nearly identical!

    Today the plan is to get to church and then my bridesmaids are coming over to help address envelopes and put the invitations all together. I got a text midweek that my matron of honor caught a bug from the kids she nannies and it’s still having its way with her. She will not be joining us today. That leaves me and Amy, who just found out that she is pregnant and that baby is already making her life difficult with morning sickness. Poor things. It might just be me and Mom over here writing away and having a big ole time.

    But there is plenty to do and there will be plenty more to do after the invites are in the mail. I will share more with you about them once they get sent out and people have time to see them. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. 🙂

    Hope you all have a fantastic week and enjoy any sunshine you get, once for yourself and once for me, the Rumpelstiltskin of the bank basement.

    P.S. Um, Once Upon a Time is supposed to be amazing tonight!!! I am dying to know who dies! (pun intended)

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    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

    Related articles

  • Getting Married: 13 Weeks – T Minus 90 Days

    That’s right, we’re under 100 days folks! Wow!

    I’ve said this to a few people when they ask how much time we have left: “It feels like it’s going so slow sometimes and so fast others!” I think that’s pretty standard. I’ve never planned a wedding before, but I think I’m relatively on track.

    However, some moments have got me to the point where I want to freak out. Like, when we ourselves were unable to print out the invitations. When I heard that Fairfield’s graduation ceremony is the same day, just a few hours earlier. When I found out that we didn’t indeed have our DJ booked.

    There might have been others, but of such lower intensity that I’ve forgotten about it. The point is that things will happen, either beyond our control or well within the bounds of what we can handle.

    And I have a choice.

    I have a choice to freak out and let the emotions or situations dictate how I act and feel. Or I can give it up to God and move on with what things I can handle.

    I haven’t liked the idea of a bridezilla since the term first became so popular. I don’t see myself as one. If I come across as one (first please tell me honestly), it might just be that I have an idea and I know how I want it to turn out. But I try to be respectful of people around me and their ideas/input as well – even if they’re entirely opposite to what I know or am aiming for.

    I think people get into the mindset that they are entitled to what they want and anyone who gets in the way of that is completely against them and should be cut down. I can’t stand that, and I hope to never be one of those people. In the freak out examples mentioned above, I had a flood of emotions and thoughts come through me. They all felt right to feel. But something inside said, “Don’t give in.”

    Satan loves to attack us in any way that he can. He wants to ruin our relationships, not just with God but with others. He loves to create discord and animosity between believers and what better time to do it than during the high intensity time of a wedding planning? I had to sift through the thoughts that were coming through and decide that most of them were designed perfectly to drive a wedge between me and someone else. Of course it feels right to be the afflicted one. But it’s not right. It’s not right to lash out at someone just because things aren’t going your way. It’s not right to even keep those thoughts circulating through your mind.

    I am learning a lot about myself through this planning. I’m learning a lot about Matt, and about the others around us. This is so good because in our marriage, we will go through numerous high-stress situations. Do we have what it takes to get through them? I believe so. If only just because we have God to depend upon.

    We have been talking in church about the armor of God and this morning’s message was on the “Sandals of Peace.” The Gospel is peace and the Gospel preaches self-sacrifice and love for others. We want, most of all, for our wedding to point to God and be a testimony of the work He has done in our lives and in our relationship. We want to be ministers of peace as we celebrate our wedding day and throughout our marriage. Please help us through pray as we plan out the rest of the wedding and for the day of. Your prayers are most appreciated.

    —————————–

    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

    Related articles

  • Getting Married: 15 Weeks – Review: The Darkroom – Fairfield, OH

    For a quick summary review, you can skip to the bottom of this post. Everything else is all flowery and verbose and not for Cut-To-The-Chasers.

    We tried to do completely DIY Invitations and aside from making the paper ourselves, we were on track to doing just that.

    So here’s what happened. I’ve been saving up invitations of my friends for years to be sure I had a wide variety of wording and designs. They’re also just great memories of the lives I’ve been able to have as friends, many of whom are now out-of-state and have homes bustling with kids. I heard there would be a huge stationery sale at Michael’s one day and I had another 20% off coupon, so Matt and I went through and found packs of 50 invites/envelope sets. We picked up 4 and some other sheets of paper and went on our way.

    I started brainstorming the design and we discussed the wording. I typed it up, made the adjustments for the dimensions of the invitations and emailed it over to Matt for him to print out. Only, the font didn’t keep, and when I saved the file as a pdf, it wouldn’t hold the dimensions. So, Matt had to play around with it for a while and when he finally got it to print the right way, he was running out of ink and some of the lines bled.

    I was getting a little stressed about it before all this and that was worrying Matt. He’s so sweet to me. He said that this was a problem he would solve and I wasn’t to worry about it any more. He took the invitations over to Staples to see if they would be able to print them but they refused saying that they don’t work with paper of those dimensions. (Rule of thumb: When getting paper on discount, be sure that the dimensions are something that can be readily put through a printer!) Staples said that a smaller print shop might be able to do it and Matt remembered the developer shop down the street that printed our engagement photos and Christmas gifts (we gave out some framed copies to family members).

    This developer shop is called The Darkroom and I’ve mentioned it before in this blog series. They are, honestly, my new favorite place. Before planning this wedding, I’ve only used them less than a handful of times, opting for the quick develop shops, or online developing. The quality of the prints I’ve got from The Darkroom makes the adage ring true, “Good things come to those who wait.” And the wait is not that long at all. They will work with you on a deadline (within reason, of course), but they seem very flexible and determined to help you out.

    Week15 Darkroom Logo

    The Darkroom

    1195 Hicks Blvd
    Fairfield, OH 45014
    513.829.3154
    Website

    Matt dropped off the paper and the file and presented our case. The man readily accepted the challenge and was to call me when he had a proof completed so I could see the result. The difference was amazing! He and I discussed the price (since we had brought our own paper, they didn’t have a set price for just printing invitations) and came up with an agreeable settlement for the both of us. Those weeks learning how to bargain in China and Egypt really paid off! In the States, we don’t bargain much, so I didn’t haggle the price as much as I did in those countries, but it was fun to do on my home soil.

    The Darkroom has so many products and services, it really is amazing. Here I thought they just developed pictures! According to the website, they provide the following:

    • Hardbound Lay Flat Photo Books
    • Canvas Prints and Gallery Wraps
    • Fine Art Metals
    • Candids, Portrait Units (which include – Magazine covers, key chains, luggage tags, trading cards, photo buttons, fridge magnets, t-shirts, coasters, keepsake box, coffee mugs, aluminum water bottle, and mouse pads.
    • Shoot for special events and Prom
    • more information on the website.

    Within a week’s time, I received a call that the invitations were ready and Matt swung by to pick them up. They turned out beautifully! Now I’ve had the task of handstamping the details, but the text is lovely, precise, and just what I wanted it to be. I would put up a picture, but I want the final result to be a surprise to my guests, so that will just have to wait for an update until after the invites have been sent out. I’m sure you’ll understand.

    So here’s the breakdown:

    The services:  I didn’t even know that The Darkroom did invitation printing, but Matt happened to notice it on one visit there. We saw another sample set out and it was exquisite, with beautiful embellishments and colors. So, they provide this particular service and just about any other service one would imagine along with photo services. You can find them here.
    The help: Richard Braun and the ladies who help out there (I’ve never caught their names, but they are lovely) are very helpful and attentive to their customers’ desires and needs. Richard has been doing this for years, and worked with his father who started the business 34 years ago.
    The parking: They have their own parking lot. It’s kind of across from Skyline and near an intersection on Route 4, so sometimes traffic is a bit tricky if you park in the spots along the road.
    The facilities: The shop itself is small and unassuming, but I’ve only seen a small part of it inside. I will tell you, though, that someone on staff smokes, so you can smell it when you first walk in. However, the smell didn’t transfer on my invitations or photographs at all.
    The results: The results are highly professional and just what you order. If they can’t do something, I’m sure they will tell you, so you have realistic expectations of what you are going to get. The color in the picture prints was lovely and my invitation text was crisp and exactly what I had wanted.
    The price: Price is very reasonable for a professional shop. If you’re looking for a cheap shop, then this isn’t for you and maybe an hour developer is what you’re looking for. But you get what you pay for. The quality just is not going to be the same.
    Returnability: I plan to use this shop much more in the future, even though I won’t be living in the same zip code. I anticipate bringing our wedding photos to be developed here as well.

    Thanks for the read!

    —————————–

    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

    Related articles