Tonight's inspiration is 50 years in the making

As you know a few weeks back we mailed out our save the date cards. It's been so exciting receiving all the messages and emails from people that they received theirs! But one message really made my day. One night my Mom called me to tell me her brother (my wonderful Uncle Den) called to say that he got our save the date. But he had a question..."Joyce,what's a blog?" That totally cracked me up! Well Uncle Den, this is a blog. It's where the writer (me) can share all my ideas, projects, stories and thoughts with everyone who cares to read it. And tonight, you (and Aunt Peg) are my subject of choice!

So last month my Aunt Peg and Uncle Den celebrated their fiftieth, count it again FIFTIETH wedding anniversary! As a gift, all their kids and grandkids made a video showing pictures of them throughout the years. My Mom happened to send me a copy of the video in the mail and within 5 minutes of watching in I was in tears. Ryan came home to find me sobbing on the sofa (let's face it, it's not the first time). So I made him sit down to watch it with me. Those pictures encompass exactly what I imagine of our life together. While I sit here everyday thinking about and planning something for our wedding, I know that it's so much more just that one day.

Aunt Ped and Uncle Den on their wedding day! Look
how young and happy they are? Remind you of anyone? : )

This engagement period has truly been a time a growth for us. We are stretching ourselves in every way, financially, emotionally and even in the amount of time we get to spend together these days. But we have also taken this time to talk a lot about our future. One thing my Aunt Peg taught me when I got my last job was that you can plan your life all you want, but it will never turn out exactly how your planned. And that's a good thing I think. It's nice to be on the same page and working towards common goals. But I am also so anxious to see what really becomes of our life and marriage together.

This photo was a nice surpise for me to see on the video because there
are so few pictures of my grandparents (on the right). It's nice
to see a piece of their history.

As I watched all those pictures cronicle my aunt and uncles life I thought so much about ours. Their first house reminded me of all the small apartments we have lived in already. Flashes of our first little home and someday our dream home came to my mind. Then came photos of their first baby, a boy. And then 3 more boys! Who could of have planned that?! And who knows what our family will one day shape in to? (Although I do know for sure, with out a doubt it will include a dog : )


After all the pictures, their video had footage of their kids and grandkids answering questions about them. What is your favorite memory and Den and Peg (or grandma and and grandpa)? What do you admire most about them? My response would answer both those questions. My favorite memory, of recent, of my Aunt and Uncle is from 4 years ago on our biannual trip to the Holland, MI. I walked in to the main house on the property we stay at and found them in the kitchen tenderly snuggling. This is even before I had met Ryan, or considered that I would one day have what I do with him. But I remember thinking that they have something so very special. Something that has endured the years and still left them so in love. Something that I hope so dearly Ryan and I will have. And so that is what I admire most about my Uncle Den and Aunt Peg. They started out fresh faced, young and in love. Together they have survived MS, near blindness, FOUR boys and so much more. They built an amazing family that grew and grew (and I'm not quite convinced is done growing). A family that is closer and kinder then any I know. Their messaages for Den and Peg prove what wonderful and inspirational people they are.

The beautiful Page family celebrating Den and Peg's 50th
wedding anniversary. The little girl being held by her Dad is
our flower girl, Molly. To her left is my cousin and bridesmaid
Katie!

So thank you both Aunt Peg and Uncle Den for being such a great example of a marriage. I have to admit since we got engaged I have noticed that good examples of marriages are hard to come by (thank you Kim Kardashian). It means more to me then you know to see that with love and work, a marriage can last a lifetime.

I know with out question Ryan is the person I want to build a life with. And I want to spend a life building it with him. I am so very excited for our wedding day, but I am more excited to see what is in store for us. What will our 50th wedding anniversary video show??

Thanks for reading!

Kristen

Up next, crafts, crafts, and more crafts!! Stay tuned...

Save The Date

All day I have been getting the best messages that our save the dates have been arriving in the mail! That's a relief considering it was Ryan's job to mail them out...good to know he isn't getting cold feet on me : )

And incase you are wondering, here is how they got to your mail box...

I have been working on our save the dates for a month of so. Using the photos from our engagement session I put together several options for Ryan and I to choose from. In the process I started brainstorming on some sort of logo/branding to carry through out the papery. I've thought about using an image of an adirondeck chair or perhaps a monogram  letter 'B'. But because save the date cards are more casual I decided not to use any logo on them. However I did find a sweet address stamper that has the adirondeck chair image I was looking for. I bought it on invitationbox.com, its an awesome website for making your own invitations and cards.

 

Once we decided on which save the date design to use I printed some test prints. I ended getting them printed at FedEx Kinkos. $35 later I was not happy with the results. In my eagerness to cross things off my list I approved the printing. Well that was a bust. So I decided to try using a photo paper in my office printer. The results were 300% better! I was so surprised by how much better it looked compared to the ones from Kinkos. You may not be able to tell from the picture. But the color rendition and gradiants just didn't look right. It was very green and grey, not very cheery for a save the date.

left side: home printer, right side: Kinkos

Just printing on the photo paper didnt feel substantial enough. So I took a quick trip to Michaels (ok there is no such thing as a quick trip to Michaels). I found for $.19 a sheet some nice scrapbook paper to mount the picture on. It frames it nicely and added some weight.

A couple of Sundays ago was my official "assemble day".  It took MUCH longer then I thought. Using Microsoft Excel and Word I figured out how to do a mail merge. I put all the invitees in a spreadsheet and formated them to print on to the envelopes. There were several mishaps. My printer kept jamming if I tried more then five at once. And even with five I had to pull them out one at a time to prevent it from jamming up. The process was slower then I hoped but it's cheaper then going to a printer and faster then writing them by hand!

 

Once I had all the pictures printed I cut them out individually using my awsome new "chopper". I bought it at a wedding invitation workshop I went to earlier this winter. It is the best! It trims all the smallest pieces. 

"chopper"

With the pictures cut out I used scrapbook adhesive to mount them to the backing paper. I figured using the hand held tape roller would be easy...unfortunately I bought the cheap 3 pack and regretted it immediately. They jammed up and didn't roll on their own. I had to hand crank it to get the adhesive out for every piece...not fun. No one EVER buy the brand below!

About an hour of thumb-rawwing, tape wheel turning all the pictures were mounted on the brown scrapbook paper. Time for another round of chopping! Using my favorite cutter again I cut out all the complete cards. As a last minute decision I made the little cards with the reminder to check out none other then MY WEDDING BLOG!!

All that was left to do was stuff and seal the envelopes. Luckily my fiance was there to help!

There you have it folks, that is how your lovely save the date from your FAVORITE couple got to your mailbox. 

And now I need a manicure....

My new Petoskey sweatshirt!

P.S. On an exciting note, last week Ryan and I purchased our flights for our honeymoon. Italy here we come!!! Or should I say "L'Italia qui veniamo"!!!