My name is Melissa and I am a wedding-oh-holic. You know you are obsessed with weddings when you literally visit home decor stores at least once every 2 weeks and when you’re out you can’t help but notice anything that’s part of your “color palette”. I swear, Jason is going to take my credit card from me one day and condemn me to a day without weddings. I spent an entire afternoon last weekend at my favorite store Home Sense and literally wanted to take the entire store home. Immediately as I walked through the store doors, there it was…a table full of green & black stationary objects which were marketed as “office” items. But to me, I could care less what they’re meant for…but instead I fall immediately in love with the color and end up figuring out how I can make it work in the wedding. So…now I’m stuck with the item at home with a couple ideas of my own on how to use it. But I’d love to hear what you suggestions you have!

Options I can think of:
1. Seating Chart. The first box would be labeled “A-L” and the second “M to Z”. The escort cards would be lined up inside and the box would be similar to a library catalogue filing cabinet…
2. One that I think is more realistic….a gift card box. I initially thought about using a suitcase but scrapped the idea when I realized I wanted something worn and vintage (still on the lookout…). But would people understand that they can put their cards inside without stating the obvious tacky signage “thank you for your gift!”. yuck.
3. Just decor…fill the drawers with flowers….or use the box as a stand for something else.
4. Keep it for the home office and be done with it! But oh how I love how the color’s so purrrrrfect for the wedding.

Yes, I am slowly going crazy.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated about my own wedding…I guess you could say so much has happened since then. After visiting three cupcake shops in Edmonton, we can FINALLY cross this off our list! We are so thrilled to have booked Cake Couture, a relatively new (less than one year) shop who have already made a name for themselves in the city. Annie was someone who completely understood our vision (modern, clean, simple) and she took what jason and I wanted even further than we ever thought possible. Up till the meeting we had decided on cupcakes (half green, half white), each with dark chocolate ’squares’ on top to resemble the invitations. Marble always seemed middle ground for the differences of our guests and ultimately they just had to be ..YUMMY.

Annie actually suggested we go with gray…..yes, gray cupcakes! Well, gray icing to be exact. The gray cupcakes will have the green squares like the ones on my invitations and the green iced cupcakes will have the gray squares.

The cupcakes will be tiered on her lovely square stand (shown below in the photos)…and best of all, the mini cake at the top will be a cube covered in the little squares found again on my invitation. We thought it was pretty ‘meant to be’ because we mentioned we were going to Spain for our honeymoon and it just so happened she and her husband lived in Spain for 5 years.

The clincher was that the cupcakes tasted THE best out of all the ones we’ve tasted. Light and fluffy. I’m not a fan of icing that has a strong vanilla flavour and felt Cake Couture’s cupcakes were ‘just right’.

Here’s a look at some of their work for all you Edmonton brides looking for cakes!

{images: Cake Couture}

FINALLY the time has come. I got off my butt and got those invites done, with the help of my mother (thanks mom!), crafty soon-to-be mother-in-law, and my MOH. They were definitely a labour of love because countless hours were put into designing them and our hands/brains were tired after putting about 80 together. There were points where I questioned why I didn’t get them made for me, but I knew how important it was to put my stamp on them. I wanted them to scream “Jason & Melissa” and have it be something I could personalize and detail.

I definitely wanted something that was similar to my save-the-dates - modern, simple, yet chic. It took me a while but for some reason I started having an affinity for squares which I lined along the main invitation card and used throughout the other pieces (RSVP, website/details). The two green squares represent Jason and I, although I doubt anyone will notice it. I also created wrap-around labels with the same square motif.

Jason pretty private when it comes to showing things online, so I had to blur out some of the details in the images. But you get the idea!

The map took the longest to design, but all in all, entirely worth it because it turned out well. In line with my green/white/black/grey wedding theme, the borders of the individual pieces within the invitation set varied from black, charcoal grey, to a light grey. The belly bands (piece that holds everything together with our initials) were so helpful because they held all the cards together so guests could easily remove them from the envelope.

So if I had to go back and do it all over again, I would. Despite all the cost of supplies, it was entirely worth it, and it was a fabulous learning experience.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Lots happened on my end, which included meeting a florist, putting 84 invitations together, tasting yummy cupcakes and starting a registry. Phewf! So despite my lack of time, I’m trying to put together this quick note on the blog, leaving you with images of the outside of my reception venue (Art Gallery of Alberta). Sorry for the poor quality of my camera phone! Also, I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the inside, so this will do!

PS: For those who sent me emails. I will try try try my best to get back to you tonight.

I’m currently finishing up the designs of my invitations and boy, has it been a wild ride. Who knew how much etiquette there was to consider when inviting people to a wedding! Mind you, majority of my guests probably won’t even know there’s a ‘proper’ way to do things, so in the end, I decided to do things OUR WAY.

Regardless, here are some of the things that got me thinking:

- Outer & Inner envelopes

This was definitely something I had no idea about. Apparently, the outer envelope is traditionally unlined and addressed with the complete mailing address of the individual/couple you are inviting. The inner envelope is typically lined and is only addressed to the person’s name. It was thought that the outer envelope protected the inner envelope or letter that was inside.

Our decision: Forgo the inner envelope. I ended up going with a lined outer envelope (which admitedly cost me too much. I ended up paying 65 cents each for them). But, had I gotten outer envelopes, I would have almost twice that amount.

- Separate reception cards

Totally torn over this one. Once again, I wasn’t aware that it was proper to have a separate reception card, especially if there is a gap between the ceremony & reception (yep) and if they are held at different locations (yep!).

Our decision: I decided to include the reception information on the same invitation card that had the details about the ceremony. I made sure all times & locations were noted and in my opinion, the more ’separate cards’ there are, the more confused your guests will be.

- Parents names

{image: hello!lucky}

According to the etiquette gods, the bride’s parents hosted the wedding and thus, they were mentioned at the beginning of the invitation asking the person they are inviting to join them “in the marriage of (bride) + (groom), son of (groom’s parents)”. But nowadays, if a couple are paying for the wedding themselves they can omit their parents names from the invitations, or choose to use the wording ” (bride) + (groom), together with their families”.

Our decision: I ended up placing both sets of parents names on the invitations, before ours. As a sign of respect and gratitude for our parents, we decided to ensure their names were listed. Despite who was paying for the wedding, we felt it was something we wanted to do, regardless of etiquette.

- Placing registry information on the invitations

It has been looked down upon for couples to place their registry information on their invites, primarily because they should not assume that a guest will be giving them a gift. Instead, registry information should be reserved for “word of mouth” or placed on the couples’ wedding website.

Our decision: Jason & I decided it would be best if we reserved the registry information for our website. To be honest, we loathe the ideas of registries because we always feel like we have everything and if we really wanted it, we’d buy it now and not wait till the wedding day.

- Response (RSVP) cards

{image: minted}

Traditional invitation sets have separate response cards and envelopes which guests would fill out and send back to the bride & groom. It served as a formality, but was also important for guests who aren’t savy with the computer.

Our decision: We decided to opt out of creating response cards and picking up envelopes. This was definitely a cost-saver. Response card envelopes are typically more expensive due to their small size, and the cost of placing postage on each one was immense. Likewise, it wasn’t environmentally friendly and all our guests were capable of either using email, visiting our website or picking up the phone to call us. Almost all weddings we attended these past two years, the couples all chose not to have RSVP cards, so we felt comfortable with this decision.

These invitations will definitely be a labour of love once they are done. It has been such a learning experience. I hope this helps any of you who are currently deciding on your invitations!

Oh mondays. Dreaded mondays. If it weren’t for my full-time job, mondays would be fun just blogging, but that’s not entirely realistic! I’ve got lots of real weddings lined up for this week so stay tuned.

In the meantime, for those interested in my wedding planning process, I just wanted to share with you the bridesmaid dresses that I picked up a couple months ago. I guess you could say that being a contemporary bride, I was looking for cocktail dresses that were simple, yet unique in the color black. I am a big fan of choosing dresses that bridesmaids can wear again and found that longer gowns should normally be reserved for the bride. So while most dresses are about 250+ (Yup, experienced it!), I headed over to RW & Co, a Canadian retail store that has the cutest little dresses. I think they’re really taking their dress turned bridesmaid dresses popularity seriously because they keep coming out with fresh new designs. After countless stress over finding the right sizes and even driving to calgary to pick one up, I can say this part is off the wedding task list!

The image isn’t the best quality, but here’s a sneakpeek:

They’re black & knee-length with a single black shoulder strap on the left. Just beneath the bust on the same side are a cluster of 3 black rosettes. The girls can then pair it with the jewelry of their choice and black pumps/sandles. Similar to the ones below:

So if you’re on a budget, I highly suggest checking out the nearest retail stores often because once they come out, you’ll have to snatch the sizes that you need!

{images: dresses + green: style me pretty; dresses + pink: theknot.com}

I guess you could say xmas stayed a bit longer and two things made my day. I got this beautiful thank-you gift from Hello!Lucky in the mail today and I can’t say THANK YOU enough to the ladies over there for gifting me some awesome specialty cards which I will be using for a while! There were plenty of gorgeous vintage-styled letterpress cards & matching envelopes that made my heart flutter. Everytime there’s a contest, I get a little jealous because I can’t enter myself, so this was definitely a nice treat and out of the ordinary. Thanks Hello!Lucky !

And I have been DYING to try a French macaron, so I was thrilled that I could get my hands on some at the new Duchess Bake Shop in Edmonton. They are the cutest little things that are about the size of a toonie. I was able to try the lemon, chocolate & strawberry. My favorite by far was the chocolate. Here’s to hoping there’s a green pistachio one that I can try in the future (rumor is, they’ve had it before). Although they’re a pretty penny considering their small size, I still think it’s a nice treat because they pack quite in flavour.

Who knew IKEA had a fabric section? I spotted these FABULOUS black & white striped pieces which literally screamed out my name. Not quite sure how I can use it but somehow I know I’ll find a way.

How was everyone’s holidays? I realize tomorrow is near years eve, but I figured I should post since it’s been a while. I spent the holidays over at plenty of holiday parties and took a day trip to Calgary with Jason’s family to see some extended relatives, and really it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to just sit and…vegetate! The mailbox is full and it’s time to get a crackin!

And while I normally don’t do new years resolutions, I’ve decided this year might be a bit different. I’m going to make a list of things I think I should be doing and see how things go.

• Limit myself to 2 coffees a day. This is going to be hard! It’s funny but I started drinking coffee on my trip to Australia in high school and I feel like I can’t function without it.

• Start a filing cabinet. I am sadly one that piles receipts and bills literally everywhere and when it’s time to clean up, I stick them in bags and try to forget about them. I guess it’s time to be more organized! I am horrible..I just found a cheque that I should have deposited close to 3 months ago and this wasn’t the first time…

• Delegate. With wedding invitations due soon and honeymoon plans to organize, it’s time I ask for help. Time to organize a girl party to help put things together and time to crack the whip on Jason to start helping out!

I can think of a million other things I should be doing, but at least this is a start. And I am REALLY dreading the “starting a filing cabinet” one. Can’t we all just have a personal assistant? :]

I totally forgot to mention I picked up my wedding gown 2 weekends ago and promise I will share it soon on the blog. It’s about an inch too big all over so it will take a good tailor to make it fit right. As with most dresses, I was between two sizes (i blame the hips!) and had to go up one. I guess they say it’s easier to take in the dress than take it out, right? Anyways, it ended up being a girls weekend out with Ashley and we had a blast in our snazzy Hotel Arts in Calgary followed by some bar food at a Calgary flames shrine which was a converted theatre.

Gosh I talk to much. But here’s a hair piece I’ve been eyeing over from myrakim on etsy. Love it!

I’ve also been thinking about shrugs lately, since it might be chilly in May, so here are some of the ones I’ve come across and liked!

Happy planning & have a safe new years. I’ve got a new real wedding coming up very VERY soon and don’t forget to enter to win a custom thank you card design courtesy Dolcetto Designs.

{images: hairpiece: myrakim; shrug 1: holly stalder; shrug 2: glamour junkie; shrug 3: holly stalder}

It’s about time I put together an inspiration board of my favorite palette of black, white & green. It’s fresh, modern and so so soo chic. I knew immediately it would be my inspiration. And maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to the contrast of black and white, as seen in the room decor at Europark Hotel in Barcelona and why I’m a big fan of Chanel…

So I dug around my “Melissa & Jason Wedding” folder to compile a simple inspiration board to share. I’ve tried my best to remember where I pulled the images from, so please be patient with the sources! The inspiration was urban city chic. It’s pretty fitting that I was listening to “Empire State of Mind” while making it!

{suit: j.crew + wedding gown: brides.com + stationery: myself! + decor w/ pillows: cfrentals.com + limes, cake table: la partie events}