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...