US meets UK

This morning I opened my gmail to find an email from Amazon, well probably more like five emails from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, but there was one that stood out in particular.  For awhile now I’ve been using Amazon’s universal wishlist to add items to my wishlist.  As of this morning however, we can now add universal items to our wedding registry!

So this cute apron and kitchen set from Uncommon goods, as well as these heart mugs, are now getting switched from my wishlist to our registry. Not to mention a certain copper compost pail I’ve been coveting, a juicer from anthro, bits and bobs from crate and barrel or sur la table, the possibility are endless! All you have to do is add this button to your toolbar. Hooray!

While I still think Bed, Bath, and Beyond is the “daddy” of wedding registries for their ability to be a brick and mortar store, send out 20% off coupons and have a fantastic return policy – this new feature certainly makes me enjoy Amazon a bit more.  I know there are sites out there like Wishpot that allow you to create a universal wishlist, but we wanted to provide our UK guests with a familiar name like Amazon.

Where do you think is the best place to register and why?

Sometimes with wedding planning I become uneasy due to the cross Atlantic divide.  There are certain cultural traditions that are different, and some are even flip flopped.  One of the expat bloggers I read frequently has been dealing with the processional.  In the UK, the bride goes first, whereas in the US the bride goes last.  This poor blogger has been dealing with reactions from the church such as “Flower girls? what and why would you want one?” “But the bride goes first!”, “This is the music we use”.  So naturally I’m left wondering – will all the UK guests be confused by our backwards, possibly hat-less,  US wedding freak show?

After Miss Perfume’s petal post I was pretty much cemented to the idea of using petals. When I showed the post to Mr.D I was a bit worried he might find it strange.  I mean really, what is the purpose of throwing things at the bride and groom?  So I was a bit surprised when Mr.D said “oh, that’s normal, people always forget to bring their own confetti”.

BYOC? Bring your own confetti? Apparently, it’s not out of the norm for guests to come prepared to shower the newlyweds. Luckily for our guests, we’ll be providing rose petals as confetti isn’t as welcome at our venue. Since we aren’t planning on having a grand exit at the end of the evening, and there is no church to exit from, we are considering having the petal toss as we receed down the aisle.

Has your fiance surprised you with his reactions to ideas?

After taking our invites in and out of the envelopes a few times I realized the purpose of a belly band – to keep everything together!  Without a band to hold everything together a few of the slips could go unnoticed in the envelopes. We headed to our “local” craft store (about an hour away) to check out the supplies available to create a belly band.

The vellum options didn’t wow us, and finding chocolate or the right kind of purple ribbon was proving difficult.  We stumbled upon a few wraps of satin ivory ribbon near the check out which  we quickly grabbed and headed out of the store.  I think Mr.D and I had both reached the limit where we’d like to stop thinking about the invitations so we were happy to find a resolution and get out of there.

Thanks to Miss (soon to be Mrs!) Taffy and Mrs.Emerald’s bow tutorials the D’orsay’s have a plan for the English invites. But, which orientation to choose?

Option A, Vertical Left Aligned:

Option B, Horizontal Center Aligned:

Option C, Vertical, Left Aligned with Center bow:

Mr.D is also pondering using a paperclip underneath the ribbon to preserve the brown border from being covered by the RSVP/reception cards. Would a paperclip be odd?

How did you keep your invitations all together?

Hello Hive…Mr.D and I spent two and a half hours attempting to print out addresses for 16 envelopes. TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

It was absurd.  We played with page sizes, line spacing, font size, number size, alignment – the whole shebang. We also learned that Mr.D’s computer and printer prefer the metric system while mine is all about the inches. Which really means that to get the page size correct we sent several documents back and forth before finally figuring out the problem.  Also, my American envelopes are just too wide for Mr.D’s printer, so we had to orient all the addresses to landscape and re-mess around with the addresses. It was pure bliss I tell you.

Okay, maybe not after Mr.D printed not one, but two addresses upside down. Did I mention we don’t have any extra envelopes? Because we don’t.  They came in a pack of 50 and I just couldn’t justify spend the same amount of money to get “extra” envelopes.  Though, I’m sure if I had justified that we would have an entire extra pack of 50 laying around and we’d have had all the envelopes correct on the first try.  Such is life.

The addresses aren’t 100% centered and then slightly lowered like I’d prefer – but after the second upside down envelope I just started caring that they were on the right side, and right side up.  In fact, I think I’m 98% to the point where I’ve stopped caring about our invitations.

They don’t match our color scheme anymore? Don’t care.  We’re giving two (thankfully, easy going friends who won’t care) upside down addressed envelopes. Don’t Care. We overspent on them? I don’t even care about that anymore.

BAHAH! But you know what?! They’re nearly done, and I’m so happy to get them out. Here is an envelope so you can see how they turned out in the Savoye font.

The only sad thing? I have 45 more of these waiting for me in two weeks – I’ll consider this a trial run.  BUT a trial run that is almost done!

The invites have easily been my least favorite DIY project, bring on the fire or powertools anyday!

What has been your least favorite DIY project?

On the Fontalicious post many of you brought up VERY important points so I decided to put the fonts into practice.  I printed out the fonts on our test cardstock – which is actually several shades lighter than the actual envelopes (oops) and traced over each of the fonts.

As you probably know, writing with a manuscript/calligraphy pen is different than a normal pen.  Which means that it took me a spot of time to get used to writing with it.  But once I came into the swing of it, I started to have fun! Creating the thicker/thinner lines, the flourish of the scroll – all those things were fun.  What wasn’t so much fun? Figuring just how much ink I should have on my pen at any given time. This is why a few of the lowercase “e’s” just look like blobs. LESS IS MORE! LESS IS MORE!

I kept having flashbacks to bottle cutting where my haste (seriously) made waste.  I however, do not have an endless supply of envelopes like I do wine bottles so I need to learn patience with this project.  Or I could hire a nun to rap me on the knuckles when I get ahead of myself. Either one.

On to the Font Tracing Superlatives:

Adine Kirnberg  – Most likely to encourage me to stab the nearest object with a calligraphy pen

As someone who has large, flourishy, style of handwriting Adine Kirnbirg was killing me.  Tracing that font is like having to fit my 10 letter first name in a standardized form box made for 7 letter first names, I hated every second of it. Most of the fonts I went over twice to make the writing bolder but this one I just didn’t bother with.

Chopin – most illegible – from my hand.  Jen’s look nice…mine? not.so.much.

This is where the LESS IS MORE lesson comes in handy.

Ecolier -The sleeper – seemed so simple yet was so irritating to trace

Ecolier was also on the cramped side, though I wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at it.  The f’s and g’s were fun, but I was mostly bored by the time I hit the street address.

Snell Roundhand and Edwardian Script – a tie for most fun to trace once or twice.

They both had lovely flourishes and while I was a fan of the Edwardian Script Mr.D was decidedly not.  Not to mention he hated the line spacing for Snell Roundhand. Although I enjoyed tracing these fonts, I doubt I would enjoy them by the 20th envelope.

As for the most popular fonts – English and Savoey? They’re both winners!

I’m awful at making decisions (in case you hadn’t noticed) which is why instead of forcing myself to choose one font I just went with both.  UK invites will receive invites addressed in Savoye with clear postcodes and gold (smudgeproof/waterprooft) ink.

While US invites will be addressed using the English font with white ink and non-abbreviated States.

Have no worries hive, these are only trial runs! I’ll be doing quite a bit more practice (while mentally screaming LESS IS MORE!) before I take my pen to the real envelopes.

Have you tried “trial runs” for your DIY projects or did you just jump in?

It’s my favorite kind of mail these days! After we received the letter saying the Embassy had our application we filled out the neccessary forms, went to London for a doctor and have been anxiously waiting for the all important interview date.

Coincidentally, Mr.D’s interview in London is 2 days after I leave the country.  Since I’m flying out of London on June 1st Mr.D will stay behind instead of heading home up north. Here’s hoping we can change his flight on the cheap!

If the interview is successfull he’ll receive his passport back with the visa inside a few days after his interview. The only slightly sour note on this otherwise sweet date? We have to pay $131 for the visa application.  This wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t already irritated with the government for dumping over $2,000 on top of our wedding budget. I guess the $131 is just a drop in the proverbial $2,000 immigration bucket.

Enough boohooing, it’s time to celebrate (and make copies of lots of forms)!!!

Once I figured out how to download a font it became time for Mr.D and I to choose a font to address the invites with. Here are the fontalicious contenders, I made the last names the names of the fonts in case you’re wondering which ones they are.

We could really use your help on this decision, but there are 2 key points to consider.

1. Is it readable? Post codes are very important (esp in the UK) and we need to make sure they can be delivered.  For example, in the Snell Roundhand font the post code is LA5 9QQ…those don’t look like Q’s to me…
2. Will I be able to trace it? I’m not the kind of girl who loooooves paper goods.  I see them, and appreciate their aesthetic – but really I just don’t want to use labels and I can’t just print on the envelopes (they’re a dark chocolate brown).

Essentially, will I be able to trace the font without developing the desire to strangle anything?

First up – Adine Kirnberg and English (please ignore the cursor by the zip code *doh!*)

Next is Chopin and Ecolier

We also tried Snell Roundhand and Edwardian Script

Last but not least -Savoey LET

Here are the font choices for you to vote on:

Adine Kleinberg

English

Chopin

Ecolier

Snell Roundhand

Edwardian Script

Savoey

Other font – please say in the comments

Thanks for your help hive!

I’m so silly.  I do this type of thing all the time, you see.  I pick one thing, then change my mind.  I think of one extreme then switch to the other.  I do it all the time, and the personality aspect comes out in all areas of my life – so of course my extremist nature would rear it’s head whilst wedding planning.

At first – I envisioned an ultra modern wedding, sleek lines, at a loft in the city, with a sheath dress (no lace), structured flowers, bold colors and a birdcage veil.

As planning has progressed I’ve seen myself gravitate towards traditional and classic and away from that ultra hip too cool for school wedding. That no lace sheath dress? Became the all lace dress.  The structured flowers? Became the soft, feathery flowers.  That hip city space? Became a country manor.

I’m sure you can see where this is going (if only I had!).  While in those very first stages of wedding planning I was determine to have everything planned before I left for England.  So I rushed and forged ahead,without fully thinking things through.  I circled, dog eared and tabbed bridal magazines out of their little papered minds.  The first thing I knew I wanted? A birdcage veil.

So I rushed again, I did a quick google search, found a woman whose veils looked nice and prices seemed reasonable compared to what I had seen in bridal stores (mistake).  I hurried to purchase one, I explained to her exactly what I wanted and she made – exactly what I described.  The only problem with what I described, what I wanted? I’m just not sure if it’s what I want now.

I’ve see so many pictures of gorgeous mantilla veils and think about just how lovely and bridal they are – blowing in the wind…the faint lace edging.  It’s okay, I know you’re probably thinking by now, “Miss D’orsay – you’re crazy.” Mantilla vs. Birdcage veil…verrrrrrry different.

Not to mention that my dress is all lace, and matching the lace to veil could be complicated and honestly, it could be a lace overload.  Most of the mantilla veils I see are photographed with non lace dresses.

(source)

I found this veil diagram via Mrs. Ladybug and woweezowee has it been helpful! After seeing so many “veil blowing in the wind” photos I see that I should be looking for a veil that is between 45″ to 54″ according to this diagram.

I’m not coveting a blusher or a drop veil, mostly because I don’t like the idea of things completely covering my face. I’m not considering ankle or chapel veils because walking is already dangerous enough.  I really just want a windswept “swooshy” veil.  Even the David’s Bridal model is rocking the swooshy veil in my dress!

(source)

I assume the best course of action is to wait until I’m back in the US and try on different veils with my actual dress on. So hive, do you suggest I hang onto the birdcage veil for the reception and acquire a longer veil? Should I ditch the birdcage veil and look for a whole new longer veil?

What are your favorite resources for veil shopping? Were you able to try on your veil and dress together before you purchased the veil?

While I’m sure we will too we’re not at that time yet, so instead we went all the way down to London for an equally important doctor’s appointment.  Prior to receiving an interview date with the US Embassy Mr.D had to go to a specific doctor in London to make sure he is fit enough to enter the US.

After a 3 hour wait we were free! We had a RECEIPT! Records have been sent to the embassy! Huzzah! We took advantage of our government mandated London trip to do a few touristy things, such as check out Harrods, swing by Tiffanys/clean my ring, as well as eat Laduree macarons and have a picnic in St. James park.  It was heavenly.

Have you had any unexpected joys in wedding planning?

ps. Those macarons ARE as good as everyone says.

This post could also be titled “How I bought a book thinking the author would be flippant about the Bible but was pleasantly surprised and a bit ashamed of my previous assumption”.  The title could also be “One of the first times I’ve ever read a book, then purchased a book it cited and decided to read the entire Bible”.

Any of those would work I suppose.  I couldn’t tell you why, or how this book stuck to me with such vigor, I first saw it in a Borders in New York while waiting for the MegaBus to take me back to Baltimore.  Did I mention this was back in December? When have I ever remembered something for 5 months? I had added it to both my Amazon.com and .co.uk wish lists as a reminder, but the truth is, I often thought of the book at other times throughout the past 5 months.

I finally purchased the book from Amazon.co.uk with a certificate from Christmas (fittingly enough) and read it on the train down to London.  Silly me, I purchased the large print edition, something which Nick hasn’t stopped taking the mick out of me for.  For all the seriousness of the topic I found myself constantly laughing out loud, loudly, usually in public.  The section on passover and “ONLY HOLY TOPICS!” had me laughing uncontrollably on the tube and I was continually forcing Nick to read paragraphs and pages while I sat in embarrassing fits of laughter.

Despite my original assumptions the author was anything but flip with the Bible and his resulting journey.  The book has even encouraged me to have my own personal journey with the Bible.  As a child I was anything but interested in church, religion, or the Bible.  To encourage me to sit still in church my mother allowed me to read a huge book of Bible stories – so I thought I knew a fair amount.  After reading Mr. Jacob’s book – I realized I am painfully ignorant. Take the story of the twins Perez and Zerah – I had no idea the story of their birth (or they themselves) existed. This could be because the story of a daughter-in-law who disguises herself as a prostitute and sleeps with her father-in-law thus producing the twins most likely wasn’t covered in my children’s Bible stories book, but it’s clear I’ve been missing out.

To assist with his quest to live the Bible as literally as possible he enlists a team of spiritual advisers from several different walks of life. I found it interesting that even the most devout find it nearly impossible to live the Bible to the letter and the accompanying insight from his spiritual advisers encouraged me to dig deeper to interpret as well. Anytime he found a law that might seem “silly”, he didn’t just laugh it off – he worked hard to figure out the reason and the meaning behind it.

After finishing I was left with a deeper sense of respect for organized religion, and for those who are able to eloquently deliberate on the Bible; I’ve also been left with a hunger to learn, read and interpret more.  On the train back up from London I purchased Reading the Bible Again for the First Time by Marcus J. Borg, which was cited quite a few times throughout Mr. Jacob’s book.  I also plan on reading the Bible the whole way through, cover to cover, once I return to the US.

I highly encourage everyone to read this book, whether you haven’t cracked a Bible in years or if you visit with your Bible every night – I think there is so much for everyone to experience in The Year of Living Biblically.

ps. Coincidentally the intern/slave mentioned in The Year of Living Biblically wrote a book called The Unlikely Disciple (aka ANOTHER book in my wish list).  Small world