July 2010 Brides!!

Went to Gordman's the other night and happened upon the perfect linen shirt and pants for FI. They were $17 for shirt and $25 for pants...no joke! We found them right before heading to FI's suprise birthday party where his two best men were attending. After the party we all three drove right back over and found them in everyone's sizes. WHAT A FIND! Now we don't have to order custom shirts and everyone is happy...especially my budget! Yippee!!!!

That's awesome! I don't think we have that store in NJ, but if we did I'd be there right now!

ladies I have a question- are you doing a welcome letter/ booklet? I put together a little booklet with welcome letter, itinerary, resort info, things to do, restaurants. I've been looking for someone to design it for me and the price ranges from 2.15-4.50. I'm wondering if it's all really worth it. I know that more than half the guests will throw it away and probably won't even use the info. I know they won't even read it either.

Should I waste all that time and energy? I have all of this stuff on our website and don't think people have even looked at it. FI thinks it's a waste and believes guests can go to the concierge to get all of the info I'm paying to give to them. Once I told him I can diy he said maybe we can just get it professionally done.

I found these large postcards and was just thinking of putting the welcome letter on one side and maybe itinerary/wedding day instructions on the other. Then just print up things to do/ restaurants on color paper and put in welcome bag... I don't want it to look cheesy. Any thoughts? What are you doing?

I've been trying to decide the same thing about our welcome letter/itinerary. I guess it really depends on how many guests you have coming and how much money you're willing to spend. I really like the idea of a postcard for your itinerary (I just might steal it). I was thinking about buying a box of blank cards and hand writing welcome letters/thank yous to our guests. I noticed you have about 55 people coming so that doesn't sound reasonable. I don't know about including all of the other info. Your FI is right, the hotel should provide that and I think most have that info in the rooms now.

I was going to look into Staples for professionally printing our itineraries, not sure if anyone else has done this either. I can't believe we're down to 2 months and have to make these decisions!!

We decided that we would do welcome books.... we are using a template from here, search for Beck's Welcome Book template or something... hers is great! It has some little info tidbits that are useful, some spanish phrases and games like sudoku! We are going to print and cut them ourselves, and have them bound by Staples for $2.00 or something...

Vistaprint is a good idea too!! Very inexpensive

Well I took a trip to Kinkos and spoke to a nice salesperson who answered all of my questions about creating a welcome booklet. I was even able to take home two samples of options to show FI. They're not as expensive as I thought especially since I'm going to keep it simple.

You all should check out vista print. I placed two orders and will get a few free items. I purchased business cards for work, 4 personalized totes(FREE- additional to remove vistaprint logo) , 2 personalized tee(free), personalized sticky pad(FREE), personalized hat(FREE) all for about $23( includes shipping!) Then as you are about to place the order it will ask if you want more items at a cheaper price- that's how I got two free bags per order.

The trick is to add a few items to your cart but you can't have too much free stuff or the prices change on you. But I tried a few combinations and was able to get a few free items. If you do a search for vista print coupons and click on links you can get some cool stuff. The only is that you will have to pay shipping but it works out cheaper than all the stuff you can get.

I'm still up in the air about if I will give out personalized oot bags so I may use these few items as "door prizes" at our welcome reception.

Had a super productive DIY day with my bridesmaids yesterday! I completed alot of projects from my TO DO list! It feels great to have these things checked off:

- Wrapped and attached programs to Raffia Fans

- Wrapped ribbon around bubbles for ceremony

- Packed up Survival Kits - hand sanitizer, chapstick, toothpaste, lens cleaning cloths, advil, imodium, lotion, and tissues

- Packed up Stationary Kits - notepad, pen, keychain, sticky notes, bookmarks, postcards, picture sharing card, magnet

- Packed up all OOT bags and attached Thank You Letter

- Wrapped pashminas with ribbon - still need to attach a label

Up next - lose another 5-10 lbs, finalize our Meet the Guest Sheet, buy tea lights, finish sanddollar placecards, write thank you speech for the reception!