Allow me to present...

...our save the dates!!  You guys, they look AWESOME.  I no longer regret not DIYing them, because there's no way I'd have had the time or skill to make anything that would have looked this great.

Check em out:

Every Bride's Worst Nightmare

Yesterday I got a text message from my FMIL:

"You and your bridesmaids didn't order anything from Interlude did you?  Just saw on the news that the store appears to have closed its doors.  Doesn't look good."

Luckily we are ordering through another store, but I was curious, so immediately I checked online.  The store's website said nothing about being closed, but there was an article on the website of one of our local tv stations stating that the store had closed its doors without notice, and that many local brides were scrambling to find a dress in time for their big day.  It said that several brides had reported being unable to reach anyone at the store for several weeks, so they decided to visit the shop directly only to find the store completely empty.  Yikes.

Why Customer Service Will Always be King

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Before I start introducing you to our vendors and explain why we chose them, I'm going to cut right to the chase: for me, nothing beats top-notch service.

I mean let's face it, planning a wedding is stressful enough.  Mix in a vendor that won't return your calls or who tries to push you into upgrading beyond your budget and you've got a recipe for disaster.  Not only is it an unnecessary headache, but frankly, it's something I refuse to tolerate.

Vendors vendors everywhere, and not a-one to book

I think I've mentioned a few hundred times how the distance and our long engagement complicated our planning process.  Well just in case you're not sick of my whining yet, here's another example.

As you can imagine, going eight months without a wedding date was beyond frustrating.  I bore it pretty well for the first few months, what with the excitement of the holidays and the new blang-blang on my finger and all, but after the novelty of the engagement wore off I started getting antsy.  I wanted to start PLANNING!  Unfortunately, literally every major decision hinged on that wedding date.

In January (of 2010, mind you), I thought I had found a way to scratch that wedding planning itch and registered to attend a local bridal show, certain that the event would cheer me up.  Boy was I wrong.  If you've never been to a bridal show before, let me set the scene for you: