Save Our Date!

We had a tough time deciding how we wanted to Save the Date.  We had our pictures from our actual engagement, which were nice, and I definitely wanted to use them in some way, but  I didn't want a magnet with our pictures on it, or a postcard with our picture on it, or really anything else that was majorly just a picture of us as our Save the Date.  Not that I don't think our pictures are wonderful, I just wanted something different.

Luckily the internet is full of inspiration. 

Here were some ideas I fell in love with: 

DIY Save the Dates by WeddingChicks

I loved the ampersands, and the design is simple and classic.

A Fall Bride

No, not me.  I'm definitely a winter bride.  But, my family is planning a second wedding this year, as my little brother proposed to his girlfriend of 10 years (!!) the Saturday before Valentine's Day. 3 months after  Mr. Ly and I got engaged, and they are planning a wedding for 3 months before our wedding!

I think everyone expected me to have a less-than-cool response to finding out my little brother was getting engaged.  Not the case. To be perfectly honest, I had always thought he would get engaged before I did.  He has been with his fiancee for 10 years, and they have watched countless numbers of their friends and family get engaged and married, long before they did.  They are serial wedding attendees, and I can not imagine how torturous that must have been for my brother's fiancee.  I've read some of the waiting posts, and trust me, I feel for you girls, it is not easy.   My brother had planned on proposing before the end of 2011, however, within 1 day of each other,  his future brother in law proposed to his girlfriend, then I got engaged the very next day.  Let's just say it wasn't part of his plan, but being the good brother that he is, he didn't want to steal our thunder, and decided to postpone his proposal for a few months.

Will you be my bridesmaid?

I struggled with how I would ask my bridal party to be my bridal party.  Most of them knew it was coming, and when we would talk about the wedding plans - I would feel like I was losing ground on time to ask them without making it seem lame.

With nine bridesmaids, it's hard to do anything without breaking the bank. I decided I would design my own cards for them, and put together a cute little bag of goodies for them to properly ask them to stand beside R and I as we get married.  

At first I had the grand idea of designing mini navy blue satin dresses myself, and attaching them to the cards, this was a giant fail. I have minimal skills with fashion design, and didn't have the slightest clue where to begin.  

This image was my inspiration: 

ClipArt via Clker.com, image by chika87

Sight Unseen.

Maybe I'm an anti-bride. But with the amount of time/energy/creativity I've spent over the past months just thinking about the wedding, I doubt it.  However, the one area of being a bride I was truly and whole-heartily dreading was dress shopping.  I.HATE.DRESS.SHOPPING.  This probably has everything to do with being a plus sized bride, and not loving the shape I am in currently.  I haven't been losing the weight that I want to lose, and if I'm being truly honest with myself, I haven't even really been trying.  But there is very little about dress shopping that appeals to me.  I hate the sizing difference, I hate the parade of dresses, styles, etc.  Ech.  Just give me a dress that looks good on me, preferably one that doesn't cost a fortune, and I'll be happy.

Bijou by Amsale

Groomsmen need love too!

So everyone talks about how they asked their bridesmaids to be in their wedding, and with good reason - it's an important question! But, the Groomsmen often get overlooked in the process. And I admit that when I presented my idea to Mr. Ly, he scoffed at the idea.  He basically said he just wanted to ask them, nothing more.  I at LEAST wanted a card to go with it.  So, knowing  Mr. Ly, his friends and their fondness for Star Wars, I went straight for the jugular.  I went on a search for something that would appeal to his taste.  I found a card on Wedding Paper Divas

Wedding Paper Divas

One More Spin Around the Sun...

and we'll be married!!  Today is our -1 year anniversary!  It's strange how this date has never had any significance at all before, now will be the most important day of our lives (to date - I'm sure there will more important days to come).

2012 : Resolved.

So, I have so many resolutions for 2012, and many of them I have resolved to do in the past.  This year is the year to make it happen.

Resolution: Be Crafty 
I have already gotten started on this...  I have DIYed our personalized stationary.  This was an easy transition into being crafty in the new year.  I bought flat cards & envelopes from paper-papers.com and ordered personalized name & return address stamps from Etsy.  BM Linda and I had a crafting day before the new year, and got some envelopes done, and a few days later I did some cards so we could finally send out some thank you notes from when we got engaged!

Hate to blur our beautiful stamps, but need to keep some things private!

 Next crafty project - Calligraphy classes!  A small adult school, night class offers an introductory calligraphy class.  I'm coughing up the $65, the $1 non-resident fee, and the $10 materials fee.  All to master the art of penmanship.  Hopefully this will work IN my favor and not against it, as it takes away from my next resolution.