YES, I KNOW THEY'RE LATE...

See my big smile? Nope, it's not because the box I'm holding contains a yummy cake (Puhleese, that smile would've been MUCH bigger!). This picture was taken right before I walked into the post office today. Yup, today I mailed out the Latte invitations.

Yes, they are VERY late and I know that this is a total bridal no-no. And yes, I hang my head in shame. But I am just so relieved that they are done and out the door that I couldn't suppress my smile. See YA invites!!! Much like Miss Cheese, I was SO OVER wedding invitations. Let me explain...

I am a paper hoarder. Sitting in my closet is a big Ziploc bag stuffed with invitations, programs and thank you cards from weddings I've been invited to and/or have attended in the past. Why? Well, besides the fact that I am a pack rat, I just love all things paper...especially wedding invitations.

For some, an invitation is just important information on paper. For me, it's so much more. An invitation can tell you so much about the couple and the big event they've been planning for months (or years!). Fonts, colors, graphics and word choice all play a part in creating an invitation that can often set the tone of the wedding. So obviously, invitations were pretty high up on the priority list for the Latte wedding.

Uh, as were the flowers, venue, food, photographer...you get the picture. I quickly realized that we would have to cut our invitation budget in order to actually have flowers, a venue, food and a photographer. Sadly, I said good-bye to my dreams of boxed invitations, pocketfolds full of enclosures and (tear) letterpress. Letterpress was the hardest one...for months (OK, years) I'd been ogling letterpressed invitations. I bookmarked many of these beauties on my computer (aka digital hoarding) and collected samples just so I could feel the texture of the letterpressed paper. Sigh...it's pure bliss.

I tried to keep the dream alive by contacting dozens of letterpress vendors for quotes. But little by little, my dreams were squashed as each quote came in WAY over our allotted invitation budget. This went on for months.

Meanwhile, I scoured the internet daily for invitation inspiration. I loved how fun and whimsical graphics could be. Does the last one look familiar? It's our china pattern!!! Is it weird to have your invitations match your china? I'm not sure, but I love them!

(source (l to r): Hello Lucky Lunaria, Hello Lucky Sweetheart, Kate Spade Belle Boulevard)

But I also loved the clean and modern lines of invitations like these. Does this last one look familiar too? It's Miss Peep Toe's lovely invitation! I love them!!!

(source (l to r): Wedding Paper Divas Elegant Trim, Kate Spade Classic, Miss Peep Toe)

And then suddenly, it was MAY. Yup, 2 months out and NO invitations. At this point, I was stressed out, very unhappy and absolutely detested the word "invitation."

What's a girl to do when she feels shot down and stressed? Go shopping, of course. So I took a trip to the Paper Source, where pretty paper in lots of colors is always a guaranteed (temporary) remedy to a bad situation. While I was there, I decided that if I couldn't have letterpressed invitations (by now, it was too late to even consider ordering them), I was going to do it UP and get myself some pocketfolds, inner and outer envelopes and nice quality paper. I can at least have that, right?

So I purchased some paper, drafted an invitation design, dusted off my gocco and got to work. With newfound enthusiasm, I pressed down on the gocco and peeled back the paper to find...a BLAH invite. The colors, graphics and design I had chosen just looked SO wrong. I was ready to throw in the towel and seriously consider calling each guest when I checked my email and found heaven on my computer.

Irene from Rinka and Ink had responded to my email and saved me from my invitation nightmare. She gave me a quote for letterpressed invitations that was a fraction of what the other vendors were charging. And...it would only be about $100 over our invitation budget! I did a double and triple take before quickly responding to ask if she could print them in 2-3 weeks. She said yes and in 2 and a half weeks, the contract was signed, multiple drafts were created and approved, color swatches were mailed and the beautifully letterpressed invitations were in my hands.

Irene was a dream to work with! She always responded promptly to my emails, gave me a lot of design and color options and didn't bail on me when I asked to make changes late into the design process. I didn't have time to order a sample from her, but I had seen her wedding and invitation featured here so I completely trusted her work (and loved her style!). I LOVE the final product and am so thankful that Irene came to the rescue. Thanks so much Irene!!!

So yes, the invitations are going out late. But today, I'm smiling big time. It'll be a couple of days before the Californians receive them, so you'll have to wait until then (sorry!), but in the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures Irene sent me of the invitations being letterpressed:

And here I am, happier than I've ever been to be spending time in a post office. I happily hand-cancelled each invitation before finally saying good-bye to our invitations. BYE...WOOHOO!

(Special thanks to my co-worker AJ for standing in the rainy weather and hot post office to take take these pictures for me.)

Did any of your vendors save you from a potential wedding nightmare?