Playing in Publisher!

I LOVE monograms. I think they add a little something extra to the wedding details.  Plus, I have fun making them!  I've gone overboard with the amount of monograms that I have made and wanted to share a bit of the tips and tricks to making them yourself!


I use Microsoft Publisher and my skill level on there is pretty basic. I use it for work stuff sometimes and have pretty much taught myself how to use it. 


How I started:
Look for your go to fonts.  You'll notice in my versions that I pretty much use the same fonts in each. I searched for scripts that I liked for major characters: S, &, D.  You can download fonts, but I have a pretty decent stash on my work laptop from one of the other publishing programs I use for work stuff and I am afraid to download any more.  I have an obsession with Monterey for script.  I used a basic block for the print D.


Get Inspiration. I Google Imaged to get styles that I liked.  Some are very font/letter specific--for example, date in the swirls of a big S--but that gave me ideas on what I could do with ours.


Tips:
 - It's all about the layering. If you are doing text boxes, an easy way to bypass the frustration people have with Publisher is they don't get how to layer. If everything is based on the big D in the back, set that as you base and add to it. If something isn't working, right click and go to Order.  You can pay with bring to front, or Send Backward to get the correct set up.


 - Save as picture!  A lot of little boxes and look confusing while you're working on it.  All you have to do to see the final project is collect all the boxes click over and drag until you have all the boxes enclosed, when you let go you should see everything selected.  Carefully right click, without losing all the boxes, and click Save as Picture.  Make sure to save as a .jpeg and you can use your creation anywhere!


 - If you have trouble with the layers, save the base as a picture and work from there. I did that with the big "&" since it was just not working for me!


 - Have a little bit of patience. You will get the hang of it! Worse comes to worst, gather your inspiration monograms and head to etsy! Buying a monogram would be the cheapest expense of your wedding!


I still want to learn:
 - How to weave some of the boxes into eachother. There has to be a way. I love monograms that look interwoven.


 - Embelishments. So far I've only done plain letters and one with lines.  I love the type with scrolls and such, but I have not ventured there yet!


Some of my creations:

(last name taken out for internet security)

Giving it up...

It’s Lent! While I’m not very religious (note the non-church ceremony), I was raised Catholic. I normally do not observe Lent, I usually eat meat on Friday’s without realizing and I never give something up. However, this year I am attempting to. Not for God, but a cause bigger than myself—my wedding!

I will be attempting to go 40 days, 40 nights without using credit cards. Now, I am not a credit card fiend, but I do have the occasional charge here and there—and those babies add up! I have slowly weaned myself off the 4 regular cards that I used constantly and only charge on 2 for emergencies. One, the card with the lowest balance ironically, doesn’t even travel with me. This could also be because I have no idea where it is.

Anyway, wish me luck! I will keep everyone updated with my progress.

p.s. I apologize if this post offends anyone’s religious beliefs. It’s meant in a light hearted nature. Happy Ash Wednesday.

Color Decisions!

I will start this off by saying that I LOVE pink! However, I do not want to have pink as my main color because pink will always be a sloppy second to the color grey.  I must wear grey every other day. It's just about my favorite neutral.  

Picking my accent color was very hard for me!  While I do have a love for pink, I think FI would kill me.  Plus, my MOH has just held an absolutely gorgeous pale pink wedding and as much as I loved it, I need my own color :) I knew right off the bat that I wanted my girls in a charcoal grey dress, but here were my accent color choices:

PURPLE!
This is currently my front runner. 

I would also be able to incorporate some pink in the flowers as well:

TEAL

The problem with Teal is there are a million different versions of teal and I would drive myself crazy trying to coordinate the colors.  The thing I like about teal, is it's a little more gender neutral (compared to purple at least) and since we are getting married on the Hudson, it has that water feel to it.

Sort of like this, with a deeper teal

NAVY

The Navy/Grey combo is very classic and would go very well with our love of the Yankees and FI's profession (cop).  I like it, but I don't want to miss out on the POP of color. Navy is still considered a neutral.  On the plus side, I could possible incorporate the pink! ha

We'll see as we get closer as to which color choice will win out!

Booking Our Big Day!

I was finally able to get back to The View on the Hudson to book our date!! What a scary and exciting feeling! As one of the biggest decisions of the wedding process, finding a venue was actually ridiculously easy.   I wrote notes and thoughts on 19 venues, only visited 2.

I knew before I stepped foot into the View that it was my top venue and visiting it, seeing the menu options was just the icing on the cake.  Here's some pics of the venue:

September 30, 2011!!!!!!

Venues!

Confession: I’ve been looking online at venues ever since Danny and I moved in together. I kept a detailed Wedding Notes document on my computer, lurked on the Knot for some feedback and ideas, and purchased a few wedding magazines long before I had a ring. DD knows all of this, so it’s ok! :)



So once I was officially engaged, I already had a very short list of venues that I wanted to check out. On Saturday, my MOH, my mom and DD’s mom went to visit the Nyack Seaport and the View on the Hudson. While DD and I both grew up in Bergen County, we had a short hotel stay in Tarrytown early in our relationship and we both loved the area. I knew I wanted do something a little different and get married in the Hudson Valley, along the water if at all possible. While Venues in NJ along the water were out of our price range and those in New Rochelle area a little too hard to get to for guests, the View was closer and very reasonable. I’m hoping for an outdoor ceremony, but I love the indoor option.


The Nyack Seaport was lovely and it’s a family operated venue, but with similar pricing, there was absolutely no comparison with the View. The ceilings at the Seaport were low, it was not handicap accessible and it seemed a little tight for our guest list. For a smaller wedding (no more than 120 I feel) the Seaport would be lovely. But the package Ralph offered at the View, I could picture myself and my guests enjoying the ambiance of the facility and the great deal of food they offer! I cannot wait to bring DD back next week to book officially!

Asking my MOH

I knew for a long time that DD's sister would be my MOH. I tried to keep it a secret, but I’m pretty sure everyone knew. It’s rare if LV and I don’t talk at least once every day. DD is very close with his family and I quickly became fast buddies with his sister, who happened to be planning her own wedding when DD & I met. By June of 08, I was asked to be a BM in her wedding and I jumped right into planning with her. She had a ton of the big details covered by the time I was involved, but I loved helping out with all of the little details that made the day “her” day. We went to dress fittings, I was there for invitation ordering, I helped plan the Bachelorette Party and even provided input on some registry choices. With her MOH not as local, I happily stood in wherever needed.



Now it’s my turn and I wanted to ask her in a very special way. We always do a small gift to each other on Christmas in addition to the bigger couple gift we exchange. This year, I got her a silly Wii cheering game (we were both HS cheerleaders) and a photobook with some pictures of us together, all leading up to the big question: Will you be my Matron of Honor? It was great, inexpensive (around $6 bucks for the book), and it was such an emotional moment for us. She’s going to be a huge part of planning, I know I'm probably going to drive her crazy and I know she’ll do an awesome job!  I'm going to be holding off from asking the rest of my bridal party since we have such a long engagement, but I was so glad I was able to ask her this way!

The Proposal

Let’s start this story off right. DD & I met two years ago through a mutual friend. I had decided last minute to go out on a Sunday night in the middle of finals (aka, I looked like hell) and happen to meet a guy that went to the police academy with my best friend’s brother. Pretty quickly we were an item and I moved in with him in August 2008. By June 2009 we had finally landed our own place and he proposed two years to the day we met on December 17th!


Popping the Question:
DD & I are HUGE Yankees fans. He brought me to my first game of the final season in the old Stadium and we were there to watch them win the World Series this year. I was under the impression that we were heading out to celebrate finishing up my first grad school semester but when I saw we were on our way to the Bronx, I knew something was up. DD popped the question and when he opened the box, the ring fell out!! So fitting for him though! I happily said yes and we quickly ran to the car to get warm. We headed to the Chart House in Weehawken for a nice meal on the water.

The Ring:

I knew that the wanted three things when it came to a ring:

1. Cushion Cut Center Stone
2. Super thin band with diamonds
3. A setting that didn't come up too high.

I got all that and more with my e-ring! I couldn't ask for a better ring! I love love love it and it's exceeded all my expectations.