Life

I know just a few posts ago, I was all “I’m so nervous!” and for the past few months I’ve been all “This is stressful and weird!” but married life has changed me, boys and girls.

As soon as we completed our rehearsal the night before, I felt my anxiety dissipate and a sudden peacefulness take its place. This made for such a wonderful, beautiful and special wedding day.

Friends, family and our talented photographer Bobbie of Roberta Ray Photography + Design all helped to create our perfect day. Such a fantastic way to continue our journey together, and we are all so thankful for the love and good vibes we’ve received.

Today’s the day. Soon we’ll be saying our vows, cutting the cake and getting down to “Electric Love.”

I won’t lie to you – I’m nervous as hell – but I also know it’s going to be great.

Keep up with us (and all the other couples using the hashtag) with #blueribbonwedding. I would have loved #theweddingthatmademilwaukeefamous, but that’s just too damn long.

With only five days until the big shebang, you can bet stress levels and tensions are high over in this cabin. It’s been a marathon of meetings, crafts and mini-meltdowns for a while now and you bet there’s still more to come.

But it’s time to take a step back for a few minutes just bask in something I really enjoy and treasure: troves of old family photos.

See, I had this great idea to take old wedding pictures from both our families, pop them into frames and use them as table numbers. It’s a good idea. You can take it after this weekend. So while place cards took a good eight hours, painting signs a good twelve, this project was simple and I got to see some A+ 1940s and 1950s wedding garb.

I live for these old photos, especially the formality of the 1940s (and earlier) shots. They are pure class.

So that’s all for now, folks. I’ve got a ceremony playlist to hammer out and another sign to paint.

Last week, Michael and I took a break and headed to Grant Park for our engagement pictures. Yes, I know the wedding is only ten days away but Michael and I aren’t known for our modeling so we figured we could use all the practice we could get.

And let me tell you, Bobbie from Roberta Rae Photography + Design is AMAZING.

Just look at that. I mean she killed it. If you want to see more, check out her Facebook page. She has a few of us and dozens of other adorable couples and families.

When it comes to wedding invitations, there are a lot of rules. Just search for “how to word an invitation” or “how to address an envelope” for weddings and there are millions of results (maybe). There’s a lot out there, and do you know what I learned after reading up on all of it? Do whatever the heck you want. Don’t want to write out “two-thousand and fifteen?” Don’t! Think writing “Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Stock” seems outdated? It is! So you write those invites however you want. I sure did. And look how pretty they are!

Like the save the dates, I got my invites from Elli. Like last time, they were perfect. Super easy to work with, accommodated customization requests and were super affordable. I’m not a paid spokesperson but, boy, I should be.

When it came time to wrap these all up, I had to take a step back. I saw so many cute ideas for binding all the pieces together and I was in the craft store, I was thinking oh, I could get some fancy lace and sew it around or what if I customized little tags and used velveteen ribbon. And then I had to take a step back. As much as I wanted my invitations to be pretty and memorable and fitting, I also needed to remind myself that in a few months, all of this will be in someone’s recycling bin. With that in mind, I put back the tags and the lace and wax seals. Instead I tied the RSVP and the invite together with twine and sealed the envelope with fabric tape (that stuff is seriously cool).

It took me six hours and two trips to the post office, but I got them all out. Did you know that if the envelope is lumpy (thanks, bakers twine), it’ll cost you an extra 21¢ for every invite. So if you’re thinking of some adorable stamp scheme (which I wasn’t – I mean Johnny Cash stamps, people), keep in mind that your perfect flower stamp will have an Honest Abe slapped next to it. Word to the wise, people. Post office stuff.