Coordinating postage stamps? Brilliant!

If you'll make your own invitations, it's such a lovely touch to have your postage stamps match your stationery design! Check out what you can create here at MountainCow.com

Warning! Postage Stamp Rates Going Up!

I just heard on the news that postage stamp rates are going to be increasing in May, so be VERY careful about buying the right Love or personally-designed stamps for your wedding invitations that will be valid at the time of your wedding. You don't want to buy 42-cent Love stamps now and then have to supplement with a random 2-cent stamp later nor have all of your invitations bounce back to you for insufficient postage. Then you'd have to order new envelopes, address them all, buy new stamps, etc. Huge nightmare!

Think about your wedding date and invitation mailing date (6-8 weeks before a hometown wedding, 12 weeks at least for a destination wedding) -- and the same for your Save the Dates if that's where you're at in your planning -- and make sure your purchase and sending timing is spot-on!

For more info, visit www.usps.gov.

Check out the new invitation Pochettes by Mountaincow!

I think these are absolutely adorable! Pretty, fold-outs perfect for invitations, Save the Dates, thank you notes for your bridal party, even love letters between the bride and groom (hide one in a suitcase, place one on the pillowcase, and so on for the kind of sweet romance that keeps you close during wedding planning.

Check them out here:

And look at these colors!


white

cinnamon

black

pink lemonade

magenta

deep red

mandarin orange

dark yellow

margarita

green

aqua

sky

twilight

violet
ecru

chocolate

slate

deep pink

scarlet

coral

bright orange

yellow

avocado

clover

teal

dusty blue

lavender

purple
ivory

dark chocolate

pewter

blush

candy apple

deep orange

saffron

celery

bright green

sage

midnight

powder blue

fuchsia

Catch me on Get Married with David Tutera tomorrow morning!

My 5 Questions segment airs tomorrow morning on Lifetime Television, and also as Episode 40 on www.getmarried.com! So be sure to tune in!

Our invitations are out now, and everyone loves the beautiful job Linda at www.invitations4sale.com has done with our Carlson Craft design. Joe picked out the Willa Cather quote that we feature on our invitations, and the feedback we're getting is that they're elegant and classic. Just what we were going for! I'm working on the morning-after breakfast invitations right now, in between writing my newest book. Tonight, Joe and I go for his tux try-on, and then we're parked in front of American Idol for the evening. Bliss!

My Wedding Shoes!

Last night, Joe and I went shoe shopping to find THE shoes for our wedding day, and I found 'em! They're gorgeous, in the Trellis line of Nina Shoes -- check out http://www.ninashoes.com/AsSeenIn-1.html to see Nina bridal shoes featured in In Style Weddings, Elle, and more.

It had been *very* frustrating to find plain bridal shoes out there, but I guess that just means I wasn't supposed to wear *plain* bridal shoes on Our Day. These are quite spectacular, and Joe got them for me as a wedding gift. Sigh....isn't he wonderful?

We were supposed to go to the tux store for his try-ons last night, which kept me from attending a Ladies Who Launch event, but the tuxes hadn't come in yet. Which is just as well, because I'm not sure I could handle how hot he would look in a tux right now! Let me prep for a bridal show tonight and a taping of Better.tv tomorrow, and then I'll have the stamina to see my man in the tux!

Invitation addressing has begun...we're doing inner and outer envelopes by hand, so the boxes of Carlson Craft inserts are all lined up and ready to go! It's starting to become Wedding Central around here, and Joe has been fantastic about after-work mini ambushes on the bridal breakfast and such...this is such a short time of massive To-Do's, and as his mother has said often, "Joe and Sharon are a great team." Absolutely.

Planning a destination wedding?

If you're planning a destination wedding, you *have* to check out http://www.destinationbride.com/ for my colleague Lisa Light's terrific details on the ins and outs of the best destinations worldwide...and her book on Destination Weddings is amazing! Don't go anywhere without first getting to know Lisa's expertise!

In my own wedding world, it's less than 3 months until the wedding, and I just purchased the Love Stamps for our invitations. Joe and I thought about getting personalized stamps such as those at http://www.mountaincow.com/ (which are really terrific), but I just really needed to get this detail off of our swelling To-Do list. We'll do the personalized stamps for our Thank You notes. I've finally made our wedding day hair appointments, and this weekend is tux shopping. Get as much done as early as possible, because there *will* be extra issues that pop up (like guest questions and delays of various types), and you don't want to be swamped the last two months before your wedding.