Weddings fuel a multimillion dollar industry of florists, photographers, caterers and every type of vendor you can imagine. While researching how much the average wedding cost, I read most couples spend $300 - $700 just on invitations. Just. On. Invitations.
HA! No ma'am. Not this bride. This month I discovered the pros and cons of sending wedding e-vites.
An Un-perfectly Timed Glitch
After seeing the WILD price tag on invitations, we re-strategized to find a more cost effective option. We were already saving money by not sending save the dates. It didn't seem necessary since we needed to send invitations six months early anyway so our international guests had plenty of time to plan. Sending e-vites sounded like the most cost effective and eco-friendly option. I'm not the one to waste food or paper.
We used Paperless Post and spent about $40 to send roughly 100 invitations. It was easy to pick a cute design and even customize a little. Actually sending the invites was. A. Nightmare. When I clicked send, the whole damn site crashed.
I thought our sketchy wifi had cut out again but, no, the Paperless Post site decided it was the right time to just leave me in my time of wedding planning need. This wasn't just a few minutes of a halfway loaded status bar. I was at work trying to send these invitations for TWO HOURS.
I truly thought it was some kind of bad omen to tell me the wedding is cursed but it's fine. The invitations eventually went out and I'm overdramatic.
This Part is a Little Sad
Even though I'm beyond excited to marry Andrew, I've always dreaded my wedding day a little. My dad died in 2009 and every wedding I've attended since was a reminder of all the father/daughter moments I won't have.
Thankfully, my older brothers Andres and Nicolas agreed to walk me down the aisle and make sure I don't trip. We've helped each other a lot since our dad died so it felt right that they give me away. I mean they'll probably be making fun of me the whole way but whatever.
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Make Me Pretty, Plz
Picking a glam squad was the easiest thing on my to-do list. My boss is married to the insanely talented Paulina Perez of Makeup by Paulina Perez and we became friends years ago. She's done makeup for normal people like Carrie Underwood, Tim Tebow and ESPN anchors. AHAHA HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY. Paulina is gonna make me glow and I can't wait for our makeup trial to play with looks.
Not just anyone is allowed to touch my hair. Years of bad haircuts and bad styling tips gave me trust issues because not everyone knows what to do with "ethnic" hair. Then I found Chudni at Daniel James Salon. BLESS. Chudni is a black woman with her own hair journey and immediately knew my struggle. She's the only one who cuts my how now. And she already does weddings with Paulina! I told you this was the easiest thing to check off the list.
It's important to let my natural hair shine as much it can for the wedding. I want to look and feel like me, just with a wedding glow up.