dear so-and-so

Amy Jean over at The Relentless Bride provided one of the most helpful posts (I think) here and I'm reposting, because (1) I'm a lazy blogger today... [which translates to a busy attorney]; and (2) this way I selfishly can store this information for myself for later use... Hope other brides find it as helpful as I do! Thanks TRB!

it's official(!)

The date is now printed in ink, stamped and distributed to friends and family... which is the modern day equivalent to etched in stone.

Upon this realization, I exclaimed to The Fiancé last night: "It's official! We're getting married!"

To which he responded, deadpan, "Wasn't it official when I put that ring on your hand?!"

...Anyway.

Without further ado, here they are!

The front:

Detail of the stamp:

[I was indifferent to the stamp initially (the USPS standard 62 cent stamp with the dragonfly was fine by me...), but now that I see it, I *love* it - A stamp with our wedding date on it! It's the little details I totally dig.]

Speaking of details, here's a close-up of the crest:

Ahhh, the crest. This is The Fiancé's family crest, and we decided to make it a central part of our wedding motif - a symbol of the two of us as a family, so to speak.

And, it just looks cool.

The color Green in this coat of arms symbolizes Hope, Joy and Loyalty in Love. [Basically, everything one would want in a marriage.]

There are two lions on the crest, and between them, a bloody hand [yep, there is a bleeding hand on our save the date] The reason? According to one legend, once upon a time, the King had a very beautiful daughter of marriageable age who had many eligible suitors [don't we all?]. The King wanted the strongest and boldest for his daughter so he established a contest. It was to be a race in full armor with weapons culminating in a swim across the moat to the castle. The one who touched the castle wall first, would win the daughter's hand in marriage and inherit the King's lands and riches. One of the eligible suitors was O'Reilly. He was a very fast runner, but could not swim. When he reached the edge of the moat, only shortly in the lead, he realized that he couldn't cross the moat in time to touch the castle wall. He desperately wanted to win the daughter's hand in marriage, so he took his sword and cut off his hand and threw it across the moat and touched the castle wall. The King declared him the winner and heir to the kingdom.

Long story short, The Fiancé is particularly happy he managed to get a bloody hand onto our save the dates. Seriously. He said so. I just hope he doesn't toss his hand up the aisle on our wedding day.

Last but not least, the back:

Thanks to the lovely and talented Kate Berglund of KB design llc for designing these little declarations! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next...

r.i.p. damask

I'm not sure when, but at some point in this design adventure we're calling My Wedding, I stumbled across a print known as "damask". Now, if you've never heard of damask, you're not alone (neither had I two months ago...). If you have heard of it, you're probably (1) engaged; (2) married; (3) a wedding planner; or (4) been sucked into the abyss of a "Whose Wedding is it Anyway?" marathon. Anyway, that black-and-white swirly print in the photo above is what the billion dollar wedding industry calls damask.

Fairly soon after stumbling across this product of Damascus (seriously, it is - I looked it up), I decided that it totally worked with my black-white-and-green color scheme, and therefore, I had to have it. My Wedding Planner furiously began finding all-things-damask (frames, linens, small children wrapped in fabric, etc.) Merrily we went on our way, creating the vision of My Wedding with what-I-envisioned-to-be classy little damask accents to and fro.

Till last night anyway. When The Fiancé came home to a dining room table littered with Save the Date ideas - only one of which was damask. Guess which one he said, "Absolutely no" to? Mmm hmm. The damask one (oh, and the damask fabric swatch and the damask picture frame My Wedding Planner had sent along as inspiration...). And the funny thing? I actually felt relieved. After all the photos and ideas of beautiful damask things, I realized that I had been trying really hard to love damask. I had. But, well, it's damask. And if you know me... I. am. not. damask.

When I called my mother this morning to discuss Save the Dates (seriously, some mornings I wonder what happened to my formerly illustrious life), she seemed quite pleased with the summary elimination of all-things-damask. Apparently she was not a fan either. Here I had been, floating on my little damask-covered-island, with no one to tell me I didn't quite fit in. Thank heavens The Fiancé has no self-censor. His "absolutely no" burst from his mouth before the thought "maybe she really likes it" even crossed his mind. Thanks, Honey.

So, today, we bow our heads and take a moment to remember My Wedding that never was: the damask one. R.I.P. Damask.