Postcard Info

location: Dunn’s Brothers Coffee in Addison (Marsh and Beltline)

food craving: banana coffee cake with yummy icing on top from dunn’s brothers & a burger…i just feel like a burger right now.

song suggestion: “brick” by ben folds five

hey guys,

i’ve got a trillion and one updates but i’m currently digging through the USPS website to try to find the information and prices on standard sizes of mail so i can determine what size i want our invite to be! at this point i’ve only been able to find information on postcard prices which is great b/c my RSVP cards will be postcards so to hopefully help out any of you are engaged and read this i’ll give you the site and some of the info:

http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?session={6f316b20-fc5d-11dc-e2fe-000000000000}&event=1&view()=c%7B289f34a0-57e2-11dc-51b6-000000000000%7D&objectId=&eksObjectId=&objectType=Case&isJumpEnabled=false&isContentJumpEnabled=false&vendorKey=&objTitle=&versionId=361

Postcards – Qualifications & Costs

To qualify for mailing at First-Class Mail rates, a postcard must be:

• Rectangular and have angular (90 degree) corners
• At least 3- inches high x 5 inches long x .007 inch thick
• No more than 4- inches high x 6 inches long x .016 inches thick

also postcards are .26 cents versus a standard piece of mail at .41 cents.

200 postcards = $52.00

200 pieces of mail with standard postage = $82.00

that’s a 30 dollar difference! every penny is worth it at this point. i mean…i’m my invites won’t be postcards, only the RSVPs, but it’s just something to keep in mind.

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Wedding Websites for Me and You

whereabouts: mi casa es not your casa so why did you even assume that?

food craving: delicious brisket tacos from downtown restaurant called Mia’s(naturally i desire this craving for lunch and not now!)

song suggestion: “The Heart of Life” by John Mayer

okay guys and gals(mostly gals…i’m not oblivious…although hopeful), i know that some of you might come here(to our blog) for certain reasons such as:

the funny: hoping to read something amusing and potentially goofy considering our two personalities

the love: to get the scoop on our relationship as the engagement progresses and the wedding nears

the “i want to show my support to jon&viv but vivien’s blog entries are entirely too long and her sentences are too awkwardly worded similar to this category she’s writing out so i’ll simply skim and catch up where i can”: to which i would say…i COMPLETELY understand because if i were in your position i don’t think i’d finish reading 80% of my own entries…seriously! haha

but i know what you really want! don’t worry babies, mama viv is here to provide for you , not to burden you(you’re thinking…”who has ever called vivien ‘mama viv’?”) so here is a list of some websites i’ve been checking out that i want you to….CHECK OUT, if you’d like to that is.

Our Photographer: jason & andrew are launching their site in a couple of weeks, but for now go to their blog which you can find a link to at the bottom of the page. i highly recommend viewing their previous blog posts and finding the series entitled “Jen and James’s Engagement.” it was this engagement shoot that pushed me over the edge to book them. i’ll be sure to tell y’all more about them in a later entry.

table4photography.com

 

here’s a list of some other great photography websites:

kellymoorephotography.com laurenclarkphotography.com fredegan.com

thestoryteller.com http://www.jcsphoto.com/newsite/index.html

 

Wedding Blogs:

stylemepretty.com

http://kenziekate.blogspot.com/

 

Wedding Overload:

theknot.com

brides.com

 

Well….I know there’s a lot more than that to offer to y’all but those’re some websites that have been helping me out. There are actually a lot more but I was so excited at the idea of this entry that I didn’t really organize my thoughts and instead just began writing! i hope this provides some sort of visual candy for you all to enjoy

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i’m SUCH a slacker!

whereabouts: my comfy bed

food craving: SWEETS…but i gave them up for lent

song choice: can i suggest “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane again? i just REALLY love that song

i am FINALLY at the point where i am asking my bridesmaids to be in my wedding! i’ve asked five out of the seven and it’s SO-OOO much fun! i thought of this cute idea that i wanted to do for each of them that i can’t share quite yet because there’re still two “unknowing” girls i have to ask but so far they all love it! i’m going to have two maids of honor, Emily Hoffman and Julie Pham, and i finally asked them this weekend. thankfully they were ecstatic! ^_^ i just wanted to give a quick update of where we’re at thus far. jon has asked two out of his seven and i kind of spoiled the good news for one eager lad but of course jon has forgiven me and hugged and kissed me with his unconditional love. he’s going to be SUCH a great husband! i can’t wait! we’re on a roll now and we ain’t stoppin’ fo’ nuttin’. yahmean? haha, that was purely for david jones.

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eventful week

whereabouts: my wonderful apartment

food craving: orange juice, vitamin c (my nose has been running for over a week now…yes, it is in better shape than i am)

song suggest: the soundtrack from the movie…”Dan In Real Life” which i highly recommend

this past week has been great overall. jon have actually had a good share of arguments this week but it’s been so neat because we’re growing more in our ability to empathize with one another, and we’re learning how to resolve our disagreements in more loving manner. at this point in time, i’m looking back at last week and i’m so thankful for how God is shaping our relationship. another reason this week has been so good is fully attributed to the fact that we’ve also been making more intentional strides as a couple to truly focus our relationship together on God. we had our first pre-marital counseling dinner with laura and kyle and as fun as it was to hang out with two of our favorite people, the meeting also opened a lot of doors for me and jon to discuss some major things that aren’t exactly simple to bring up with one another. so, with all that said, jon and i have decided to pray together every evening (admittedly, we’ve forgotten a couple already) but soon enough we will definitely get into routine and we’re already enjoying that time together and looking forward to praying as couple more regularly in general. Praise Jesus! it’s wonderful to have someone to pray with, moreover, with the most adorable man i know! 2nd Paragraph: WEDDING RELATED UPDATES: jon and i recetly booked dallas bible church to have our church ceremony. it was a decision that i….sort of fought….perhaps in a kicking and screaming manner, but ultimately i felt God tugging my leg and pushing me towards the place that 1)is far and away the most affordable sanctuary 2)is the most meaningful church to me and jon because it’s our home church of course! 3)is more attractive with some subtle touches and decoration than i originally gave it credit for! anyhow, a couple of weeks ago i had spoken with a woman at church who had had her wedding at DBC a couple years back and i asked her for pictures of wedding because at the time i was still juggling between DBC and some other churches. well, this woman, Whitney, was nice enough to mail me photographs of her wedding,** but since Whitney didn’t have the most current church directory she accidentally mailed the pictures to my old address which was my last UTDallas apartment . WELL, thankfully one of my friends from UTD lives in the same apartment i used to reside in and although i haven’t been on campus to see her specifically in the past…um…4 months maybe, it just so happened that a group of friends and i were going to meet at her apartment for dinner on thursday night! so low and behold i had the pictures and letter in my hand the evening after i had booked officially DBC and the photos of the sanctuary were AWESOME. laura pointed out how perfect the Lord’s timing was in all of this was and it’s so evident! on top of that i spoke with Whitney today at church and she said she hadn’t really began looking for her wedding photographs and then, BAM, there they were right before her. God is so awesome! For the second wedding magic trick(story), i called a fashion designer in dallas who had made a wedding dress for a co-teacher of jon’s and had recommended i have him make my wedding dress as well. in the back of my mind i’ve seriously, seriously considered designing my own dress but i didn’t know, financially, how plausible it was, but i figured i’d at least attempt the offer! anyhow, i made an appointment for friday early evening at 5:30pm to meet at his house and i brought along my good friend, Christine, who has a an art background as well. she also happens to be unemployed at the moment so her schedule is more flexible than some of my other friends! anyhow, the evening before i decided i needed to try to actually draw what i envision for my wedding dress and of course within no time at all i found a dress in my roommate’s Lucky magazine that had some detailing that i really liked! so i cut it out, pasted it on my wedding sketch book and drew a quick front and back sketch of what i hoped my dress might look like. of course i didn’t really know at that point of what an experienced designer would think of my lil’ol sketch but…i thought it best to draw a sketch anyhow! it’s what i usually do when i get haircuts, i draw out what i’m envisioning and i leave the rest to the professional. so, getting back on track, christine and i arrived at Ramon’s house at 5:30…quick sidetrack, when i first received his name i kind of felt like “oh yeah! your name WOULD be ramon!” i love it! okay, i wasn’t really sure what to think of him at first because he lived in a pretty average neighborhood and at the time i had no idea what his background experience or how extensive his portfolio was. when we pulled up to his house i noticed he had a fairly ordinary house, but a nice new black door. sure enough when we entered his house was amazing! artistic, clean, and modern, i wouldn’t expect anything less from a fashion designer ^_^. so after christine and i “ooohhhhed” and “ahhhhed” over his fabulous house we sat down and began to talk to him about the dress. i showed him my sketch and he said he loved my idea! he proceeded to get paper out and make his own super neat of my drawing and christine and i both feel like it kind of came to life a bit! we disagreed on which fabric to choose but i loved that he could be so honest with me not to mention it felt cool that a fashion designer even had a remote appreciation for my humble drawing! after being easily impressed by his home decor and ability to draw i knew i had to ask for a portfolio to see his true credentials. sure enough…he had a lot to show. he was originally from mexico and studied some in paris! he had been in Mexico’s Bazaar and Vogue magazine with full interviews and pictures of his work. he’s had fashion shows and things of that sort and when i asked him how long he’d been making dresses he simply replied “oh… about 26 years now.” i was blown away at how he responded to my question with a sense of quiet humility. he has been doing this for so long that he told us he simply wants to continue what he’s doing, make money and renovate his house. he doesn’t desire to do fashion shows or to be featured in magazines at this point in his career. most of his portfolio, he told us, was from 5 years ago. he realized he needed to update it. after showing us his impressive portfolio he showed us a wedding dress that he had recently finished for a client. the client wanted an exquisite Vera Wang gown remade for less and Ramon had replicated it perfectly for half the cost! christine was especially funny at this point in the night because the dress is basically what she wants one day for her gown and the detail was truly exquisite. at this point in the evening, i had a small knot in my stomach because i realized that Ramon would most likely be out of my price range. when i initially called Ramon to set up an appointment it was because jon’s co-teacher mentioned the affordable price she had paid for her custom tailored dress, but i wondered if, similar to inflation, his rates had increased since he had created jon’s co-teacher’s dress several years ago. we finally began to discuss the financial aspect of my dress and ramon asked me what my budget was. i told him an answer a little more than what i was really able or willing to pay but i figured that was his MINIMUM. he thought for a second, then looked at me and offered a very reasonable price! the price i had been hoping for but didn’t think i could manage finding in dallas! christine and i could NOT believe our ears at first. we both quickly shot back at him saying “EXCUSE ME? what did you say?” almost to the point of rudeness simply because we were both in disbelief! after he escorted us out his house i couldn’t help but SCREAM in utter excitement. it was just another blessing God has poured on our wedding and of course, i could not be happier! i mean…obviously, i don’t deserve a lick of any of this, but He still keeps giving and loving and blessing us! Praise God for all the small things in life that make people excited like a wedding dress ^_^.

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