I saw a description on a wedding board of how someone made her own guest book. It looked so easy, I just had to try it myself.

Of course, with over a year to go before the actual wedding and only an inkling of what the style will be, I was not ready to create a guest book. But many sites and magazines recommend you have a three-ring binder with notes and ideas. And what’s wrong with making it look pretty?

James and I headed to Torrington today and visited a few stores. First stop was Staples for some basic supplies. I got the three-ring binder and some divider pages (since I planned to glue stuff to the pages, I wanted something sturdier than notebook paper). I got glue sticks and some pastel sharpies. Pastel sharpies? Wow, I am getting girly.

We also looked at some do-it-yourself wedding invitation kits. We found some that were okay, but nothing we were thrilled with. But there was some nice paper that we decided could work.

Next was JoAnn’s. Did you know that JoAnn’s is no longer in Torrington? Neither did I. So we headed off to Wal-Mart, the store of last resort. I got some white fabric with roses and some batting. We also looked in the wedding craft section and found some invitations we liked even better and are seriously considering. They have little picture frames on them for real customization.

We were barely in the door before I ripped into the craft project. It’s been a while since I’ve tackled anything other than knitting.

I’d say it was about an hour to put the book together, then several hours going through my stack of magazines for pictures to cut out. But here it is:

The outside of the book, covered in fabric with some fun wedding ribbon and doo-dads glued on. The batting underneath makes for a nice puffy feel. I just stapled the batting and the fabric to the binder. Unfortunately, some of the staples went through, but that’s what the doo-dads are for. Glue gun for those.

The first page, which made good use of the pastel sharpies. Our names and wedding date, plus a cute sticker from Wal-Mart.

An example of an inside page. I cut out things that I like and grouped them by subject. You can see the various subjects on the tabs on the side. This is the dress page (obviously).

This was such a fun project. We’re too far out from the date to work on any craft projects for the actual event, so this will tide me over for a bit.

James looked at invitations with me last night! Alleluia!

I’m just kidding. He’s actually really good about giving input and talking about the wedding. Well, most of the time. He sometimes says that I’m planning things without him. But he says that when I ask him about something. I am looking for input; that’s why I’m asking.

I don’t know how to make him feel more involved. He’s so busy with work and his freelance projects that he never has time to look at flowers with me. And he says that we have so long to decide on things, why worry about it now?

But, anyway, we did talk about invitations last night.

He didn’t like most of what I had picked out, but he did get very excited over a very simple monogram with a colored sleeve. We have tons of time, but I think the longer you have an idea in the back of your head, the better the eventual design will be.

I also emailed with my cousin, Sharon, yesterday. She’s thinking about having Edible Arrangements instead of floral centerpieces. As she says, if you can’t see around the centerpiece, you can just eat the chocolate covered strawberry that’s in your way. I think it’s a great idea. I’m so glad I’m going to her wedding!

James really likes the idea of having apples with sticks in them to hold the escort cards, so I’m sure we’ll do that. Maybe I can come up with a way to incorporate apples into the centerpieces, too. Growers Box has 168 gerbera daisy stems for $280. 336 for $500. I have no idea how many I would need, but I think those prices will save me some money. I just have to figure out how to arrange them. My editor volunteered herself and some other women from the office (unbeknownst to them) to help decorate the tables, so once I figure out what I’m doing, I’ll have help.

We met with Shaffin at The Wake Robin Inn. Not only is the place perfect, but they will give us an amazing price break for being local. They offer three packages, standard prices ranging from $99 to $139. For us, the top package will be only $99. That means we can afford our 100 people! And this is before negotiating anything. We didn’t talk details, but they penciled us in for the Saturday after Labor Day, 2008.

We didn’t tell them this, of course, but they’re the only place we’re considering. Mom insisted I check out The Interlaken, but they’re both more expensive. Even before you consider the break the Wake Robin is giving us.

Also, the Wake Robin is just more our type of place. It’s less pretentious, and the owners, Shaffin and Michael, are so community minded. Michael is president of the Chamber of Commerce and they are always hosting community events at the Inn. It’s important to James to keep as much of our money local as possible and there is no one I would rather give it to.

I came across an idea last night, in one of the bridal magazines Sharon gave me, that I really like, so I wanted to be sure to write it down: leaving goodie bags in out-of-towners’ hotel rooms. The magazine, of course, had really expensive goodies in it, but I bet I could come up with something cheap. Maybe cut out write ups the paper does on local restaurants, photocopy some maps, stick in some cookies or candies or something from one of the local shops.

I hope people will stay at the Inn. Provided we do our reception there (I’m pretty sure we will, barring extreme expense, which shouldn’t happen — I hear they have a discount for locals).

I was thinking about cash bars, too. Mom said she liked the $139 per person package the Inn offers, which includes 5 hours of open bar. The people on The Knot think they’re horrible and you should never make your guests pay for drinks. But at $139 per person, we can only have 71 guests (assuming we only spend $10,000 on the reception, and I really don’t want to spend any more than that). As a guest, I’d prefer an open bar, but if I have to pay, hey, that’s better than no alcohol.

Maybe we can go with just beer and wine. I haven’t talked to anyone at the Inn yet, but I bet that would save a bundle.