A Newlywed Truth
The Mother of all Emotional Breakdowns
I've been waiting for this one...
Next week will mark the end of yet another school year for us so it will undoubtedly be filled with numerous celebrations and plenty of grown up drinks. Also, at this time, I can't help but think where we were last year eager to head into "the summer where Mike and Sarah get married". As I think back to what we were doing at the end of the school year last year... it doesn't take long for it to all come screaming back to me.
*A word of caution: This post will include some advice for any of you out there who are planning a wedding, take it for what you will. I may also use inappropriate language, I apologize. Above all else, I don't mean to scare anyone because the reality is July 18th came and went and it was everything everyone had hoped and more, as will your wedding regardless of silly setbacks.
Mishap #1: I began the wedding invitation process too late.
Ladies and gentlemen, if there is one piece of advice I can give you if you when planning a wedding it is start your invitations EARLY (I'm talking like 2 months before at least)! I thought I'd have enough time by starting the process a month before and I was dead wrong. Our invitations were unique in that they open like a book with the actual invite on the left side and all other information on various sized cards placed in the envelope on the right side. As I explained this to our "printer" we carefully went over the different parts of the invite. There were 4 printed pieces with our wedding info., one piece of blank black card-stock, one envelope/card, and a band to go around the entire package to keep it together. After we agreed on all the parts she asked, "are you going to assemble them yourself, or do you want them pre-assembled?" Thinking about the budget I answered, "we'll do them ourselves." in hind sight, I think we'd still do the same thing but truth be told it was an undertaking
While waiting for our invites to be printed, I became painfully aware that these puppies were going to need to be slapped together rather quickly in order to give people enough time to respond, book hotel rooms, and record the dinner requests. All these things + the end of the school year made for one stressed out bride to be.
Well wouldn't you know the day to pick up our unassembled invites came on the very last day of school last year... AND the mail date for them (according to the various wedding timelines I had and my mother) was the very next day... sh**, sh**, sh**... this painfully meant instead of heading out for a night on the town we would be putting together our invites. Thankfully we took it in stride, developed an effective and efficient assembly line of sorts, and got to work. We stopped once, at 9pm, to grab some dinner and actually made it to bed at a reasonable time. We left with all the invites in their addressed envelopes with the plan that I would take them to the post office in the morning, stamp them, and send them off before heading out of town the next day (I can't remember why we were going out of town, but we were heading up to Minnesota the day they were mailed).
What have we learned: Do 'em early! Seriously, Sarah Pentek's new wedding timeline: get the ring, find a church/reception location, find your dress, do your invitations! In fact, if you send out save the dates, just do it all at the same time. I know you're probably not even thinking about it at that time, but trust me, you'll like having it finished.
Mishap #2: Stamping
So, I woke up around 8am the next day, grabbed one of our stuffed invitations, and headed to the post office. After weighing the invite and sliding it through the pretend mail slot, the proper stamp amount was determined. I got my sheets of stamps with the instructions that each invitation needed one big stamp and two little stamps... easy enough right?! I got home, stamped the envelopes, sent them off, picked up Mike and we headed out of dodge.
About 40 minutes into our trip, I got this incredible sense that something was terribly wrong. My heart started racing as well as my mind as I thought of what could possibly be making me feel this way. Suddenly, my mind took me back to placing the stamps on the invites and I realized... I had placed the stamps on the opposite side of where you're supposed to... 150 times.
Mike could tell something was wrong so he asked me what was up and that's where I lost it. I started crying hysterically, barely able to form words, gasping for breath between sobs... all while driving, yes I was driving. Mike finally had to yell (because I couldn't hear what he was saying over my hysteria) to me to pull over because I blew through a stop sign. He finally calmed me down enough so I could tell him what had happened. Poor guy, I believe after I told him I screamed, "it's going to be okay right, it's not a big deal," and he couldn't tell me because he really didn't know which made it worse! We were a mess, a mess I tell you!
Mike calmed me down enough to continue driving and also helped me realize there wasn't anything we could do about anything for another 3 hours so we went on our way. When we got to my parents house I think we gave a rude and quick, "hi, how are you," before heading straight to the computer to google "stamp placement"! For anyone who is wondering, the stamps are okay as long as they are on the top half of whatever you are sending. All that emotion for something that turned out okay in the end, hmm go figure
Needless to say, everyone got their invites, everyone who was able to attend showed up on the big day, and everything was perfect. No one even mentioned anything to us. Mike and I now look back and laugh, hard, about the craziness our invitations brought us. Who would've thought a couple pieces of paper would cause so much drama!
Happy start to the wedding season everyone!!!
2 days left of school
6 days till Vegas, baby!!!!
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