Okay. The day's not quite here yet for me, but I figured some of this I could do early.
I'll just post on the same thread here as more stuff comes due.
My wedding theme is aiming for something both elegant and at the same time rustic/country.
INVITATIONS: A+
Paisley Dog Press http://paisleydogpress.com/Photos: (excuse the crappy iPhone quality)
|| Invitation:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/SarielleAccount/invite1.jpg ||
|| Envelope:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/SarielleAccount/invite2.jpg ||
Included: Coloured and printed envelopes (includes extra 10% for mistakes), custom craft paper envelope liner, 2-colour invitation, 2-colour RSVP card
Price: around $1,000
Comments: Most of my vendors I tried to keep local, but in this case I wanted letterpress invitations and I couldn't find anyone local who did it. For those who are unfamiliar, letterpress uses old presses and everything is done by hand -- and because of that it's pretty expensive. Paisley Dog Press custom designed these for me based on a notecard set of theirs I really liked. These guys get such high marks because they hunted down envelopes to match Tiffany blue exactly, they were extremely pleasant regardless of my OCD tendencies when it comes to text due to my job, the print quality was very good, and their prices were very reasonable considering (I got a custom design, plus liners and envelope printing for less than I would have at other sites selling pre-made designs). They initially gave me a couple of options to get a feel for where my tastes lay for the invitation itself, then based the RSVP card/envelope design off that.
WEDDING DRESS:
A
Splendid Bridal http://
www.splendidbridal.com/
Photos: (courtesy their website, uploaded to my host so I don't leech bandwidth)
|| Front:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/SarielleAccount/dress1.jpg ||
|| Back:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/SarielleAccount/dress2.jpg ||
Price: $600
Comments: Owned by a husband and wife team, the store had a nice range of cheaper to couture dresses on the rack. Even dresses that weren't quite my thing were still stylish and cut well. The dressing rooms were huge (a nice change if you've been in David's Bridal in Lexington), they built a stage in the back room with mirrors all along it so you can actually see how the dress looks when you move, they kept a good supply of veils in different styles to try on, and they didn't make you feel like you had to rush. Another plus for me was the fact they do carry some dresses in smaller sizes; a lot of places I'd gone to only order bigger sizes and then just clip them up; it was nice to see what the dresses looked on when you werent all cinched up like that. Cathedral veils, which were running at least $200+ other places, were around $110. The thing that kept them from an A+ is that they did order a veil for me in cream when my dress was white; but they immediately corrected the issue at no extra charge to me. They also offered to let me pick another veil out at the same price if for some reason the one I ordered through them wasn't quite the style I wanted when I tried it on (they didn't have an example on hand of the one I ordered). All in all, great experience.