I've been doing pretty well getting wedding things accomplished lately. I wrote before about the "wedding funk" I was in. There wasn't really anything that jump-started my desire to finish planning this shindig, but there was definitely a sense of urgency resulting from the "HOLY CRAP FOUR MONTHS" realization I came to. There is so much to do with four months to go until the day, so it was important that I get my butt in gear.

This weekend was supposed to be the florist weekend, but the florist meeting I had got postponed until next weekend. Plus, my sister (who is my maid of honor) was in town. She is the one who designed the save-the-dates, so it was only fitting that we go to the invitation place to pick out our invitations instead!

My ideas about the invitations have been through many iterations. I initially was dead set on pocket invitations. I still love them. I just love how they have the inserts arranged all pretty within the invitation. I looked into them though, and for what I was wanting, they were really just too expensive. I probably still could have had them if I had compromised on some things, like the paper, and instead of having them made to make them myself, but I didn't.

We ended up designing a really pretty invitation that allowed me to use all the pretty iridescent papers that I loved. Instead of a pocket, it's just a long rectangular invite, but instead of having a 5x7 size that I've seen a lot, we made one that was long and skinny, more like 4x11. The best part about this design is we can use the graphic my sister made! I really love that graphic and I am really pleased we worked the whole thing in.

So yeah, we have the order put in! The proofs should be done in a week or so, so once we approve them, they will be printed. I am really excited! The design details will have to wait until the invitations actually hit the mail. Next week...the florist appointment. Hopefully I will have figured out an idea of what I want by then.

The wedding band has been purchased!

First of all, this isn't actually the only wedding band I've purchased. We actually purchased a different one prior to this. When we first started talking about wedding bands, I thought that all I wanted was a plain, white gold band. So that's what we got me. It was pretty, and most of all, it was cheap. However, once I started thinking about it, I realized that I kind of wanted something with a little bling to it. I like the idea of just wearing the wedding band if we travel, so I don't have to worry about my pretty engagement ring, but I didn't want to wear just a plain white gold band. I talked to J about it, and he said that it was probably okay to get something different if I wanted it, as we hadn't spent that much on the first band anyway.

If any of you have seen my engagement ring, you know that it's a cathedral setting with pave-set stones on both sides. When we walked into the store on Sunday, I was first looking for a pave-set band that would closely match the sides of my engagement ring. Since my ring did not come as a set, there is no matching band with the exact same pave-set stones. I tried on a bunch of rings with pave-set, channel set, and even prong set small diamonds all around the band. None of them matched the sides of my ring well enough. I knew that if I just bought one of those, I would end up hating that it didn't match my ring exactly.

I ended up looking for rings that would complement, but not match, my engagement ring. This one ring that caught my eye right off the bat was one that looked like a simple white gold band with some diamonds embedded every couple millimeters. I thought it looked nice, and thought it might go well with my ring.

And it did! I really liked the way it paired with my ring. Funnily enough, this ring was about half the price of the other rings I'd first tried on, so there was definitely some upselling tried on us. It didn't work though, because I think this band is absolutely perfect with my engagement ring. And here it is!

I am really excited about it. The only thing about it is it only comes in a standard size six, and my ring finger is a 5 1/4. We had to special order the ring, and apparently the jewelers are closed during the month of July. The special orders apparently take three months. This is cutting it rather close to our wedding day, but hopefully it will work out! I have my fingers crossed.

Hurray! The save the dates have gone out! Good thing too, because I was reaching the end of the window where it's not weird to receive a save the date. I am very happy to get those out the door.

My sister did the design of the save the date, and she is amazing. They look great. She even designed the custom graphic I have been totally in love with, which has been my one great idea of this whole wedding planning process. It ties together J's Irish heritage and my Chinese heritage.

(image redacted)

The only problem is, I didn't order enough. I also don't really think I should spend the money to order more, so what's been sent out is all I'm sending. Hopefully people will understand that not getting a save the date does not necessarily mean they are not invited to the wedding. We'll see! One more thing done!