Invitation Inspiration

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Have you heard of Minted? If you have, is it awesome? Why wasn’t Minted around when we got married in 2005?

I loved our wedding, but we were one of the first of our friends to get married, and I had absolutely no idea about wedding-related things. I had no one to ask. When my friends got engaged, they all asked me about vendors, etiquette, etc. It was actually after I got married that I got addicted to wedding websites and blogs, like Weddingbee.

I think our wedding was great and we had such an awesome time celebrating with our friends and family, but I really wished I would have looked around a little bit more to find vendors and elements that would more closely reflect us as a couple.

There are so many choices out there now. The wedding industry is huge! I am so amazed by the talent of anyone who is in this industry…so creative! Minted is in this category of amazing creative genius. I wanted to pop onto their site and choose a fabulous invite to show you, but it was so hard choosing. The wedding invitations are fresh, indie-designed invites. I would have loved to do something like this mini-book with the skinny-wrapped address label:

Look at all the different choices:

And here’s something I wouldn’t do for my own wedding, but I love the variety of the invites you can choose from. On this particular invitation, you can choose the Silhouette shape that you want for the card.

They also have cards for other occasions as well – baby shower, kids birthday, graduation, Father’s Day, and basically, any occasion you can think of. Minted also have journals, art prints, calendars, business cards, and party decor.

And another super fun thing on their website are the Inspiration Boards. You can create your own boards, or browse through others’ boards. If you are planning a wedding or another event soon, there are lots of great ideas here.

I Heart San Francisco board by Jody Wody. See more wedding invitations

First Comes Love, Then Comes a Marriage Mission Statement

The Beginning
The other day my six-year-old asked me, “How did you and Daddy meet again?” So I told her about the first time we met. We were in high school at the time. My husband had come to see the youth group musical that I was performing in. “Did you look into each other’s eyes and fall in love?” (I have “Nancy Clancy, Secret Admirer” to thank for this question.) No, not exactly. We were actually friends for two years before we started dating. Her questions brought back a lot of memories of how we have grown in our relationships with each other to where we are now.

Image Source: Arguelles Design

Us as a Couple
I am not a marriage expert by any means, but what I do know in our five years of dating, one year engagement, and almost eight years of marriage, is that marriage takes a lot of work. Once children come into the picture, we have to be even more intentional about setting aside time to be just us as ‘a couple’, instead of us as ‘mom and dad’.

I’m a blog contributor at Next Level Mama. To read the remainder of THIS POST, head over to this awesome new site!

Do you have a marriage mission statement? If not, would you join me in taking action this week to write up a marriage mission statement?

– Joyce

Sites We Love: The Knot

It has been awhile since our wedding (like 4+ years), but I still enjoy the site The Knot. Of all the wedding websites I have tried, I think this is one of the more comprehensive ones to use in planning. It is very detailed and there are tons of articles. I have never been to the message boards, but I heard the community there is great, and you can get ideas, advice, and encouragement for your wedding planning.

Other The Knot websites:

Check out more Sites We Love!

Our Week in Photos (Week 30 of 52)

Congrats to Christy and Dave who wed on Saturday! We actually made it for before the vows and stayed long enough to take pictures. It was super hot in Moraga, but it was nice to see the lovely couple, as well as a few friends from the college days. We took the backroads home. Not the best idea even though it was quite scenic.

Emily had her 2-month doctor’s visit yesterday. She is a growing baby, even though she was spitting up a lot before. She is doing a lot better now. We didn’t even have to do an extra load of laundry last week. For a little body, they sure do create a lot of laundry and take up a lot of space.

We look forward to getting together with the Yuen family tomorrow. They also have a new little one who is 4 months old. Big brother Tyler is turning 3 in September. Wow! Time is just flying by. How’d we end up with 2 kids already? We went out to celebrate Norm’s parents’ 34th wedding anniversary yesterday at Chef Experience China Bistro. The waitress said, “Two already? You look so young.”…and then she added, “And pretty too.” haha That was nice. During high school and college everyone wanted to look older, but not me…you get many years to look older, thank you very much. Anyhoo, what was I talking about. I’m thankful for my youthful look. ha!

Well, here’s a look at our past week: Week 30 of 52. It was quite enjoyable as we spent a lot of time with family. We love our family! However, Len (Norm’s brother) is in LA for a few days for a wedding. Melody misses him a lot. Hope you have a safe trip back, and then a safe trip to the East Coast. Kiddos update

– Joyce

From Week 30 of 52

Our Week in Photos (Week 29 of 52)

This past week was quite eventful. We were able to spend time with lots of family and some friends. And we also have wonderful news to share. My little sister Jenny got engaged on Saturday. Welcome to the family (soon) Aaron! Yippee!! I get to be a matron of honor. I’ve help to plan/coordinate many weddings already, but this is my first time actually being in a wedding, besides my own. You can check out a photo of the lovely and silly couple in this week’s album: Week 29 of 52. See, they’re wacky. I love them! I think Melody loves them more.

Sorry Company Girls, I haven’t been keeping up with the Small Things this month either. I am doing my daily tasks that I have on my housekeeping schedule though. Yay for that! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I will, because I’m going to attend a wedding of a college friend who I met when we were in Campus Crusade! And perhaps head over to a BBQ at a high school friend’s house…don’t know how much activity the kiddos can take.

– Joyce

From Week 29 of 52