I'm a poet, and don't I know it.

Here's what I've come up with for the Save the Date wording. Conjugate is a chemistry term meaning 'bring together', so I think it works.

In a research lab many summers ago,
The love between two chemists started to grow.
On October 30th the two will conjugate.
They'd love to have you with them, so please mark the date.

Save the Date.

Now to create some sort of unique, fun, whimsical and relatively cheap (or FH will start sweating) save the date cards. I've read in several places that your save the date cards are supposed to be less formal and speak of your (the couple's) personalities. As such, I've decided to make mine a craft project.

I want to use rubber stamps, as I think they're easy enough to use and are much more personal than anything you can create on a computer. I also want to include a date sticker that can be placed on the receipient's calendar (I think I originally saw this on Martha Stewart's wedding site). As for the text, I'm planning on writing some sort of poem. Cheesy, I know, but that's me.
I think I'll make them a bit more 'halloween-ie' than the rest of the paper products.

Here are the stamps I plan on using:

I've purchased the Save the Date stamp ($9 CDN) from Michael's and have ordered the Pumpkin Trail stamp from 1-2-3 stitch for only $7.64 US plus shipping. DEAL!

If I can find some suitable card stock for cheap, I should be able to knock these out of the park for less than $50 total.

Costumes strongly discouraged.

My wedding is set to happen on October 30, 2010. Some people have assumed that this means my wedding is halloween-themed. This is certainly not the case. A wedding is a wedding, and a halloween party, a halloween party. However, that's not to say that my wedding will not take inspiration from the time of year.

Here's my inspiration board:

Step 1: Avoid replicating every other wedding blog out there.

Like many brides, I feel so worked up over every detail of my wedding, that I can't accomplish a thing. My wedding is less than a year away, 275 days to be exact and there is much to be done. Save the dates and invitations still need to be designed/ purchased/ created; I still have to get up enough courage to try on my wedding dress (more on that later); an officiant must be found; all of the wedding party must get 'suited up'; a cake has to be designed (and made, by us, I know); music has to be decided upon, a DJ has to be booked, and the list goes on...

I have done one thing right. I have succeeded in booking the greatest decorator/florist in our area. She's young, so she doesn't feel the need to cover everything in tulle and twinkle lights (see her work below). Plus, she's reasonably priced and is willing to put up with me and my FH. BONUS.

Image via The Creative Bride

So, I have a ton to do and no motivation. Did I mention I have no time? I'm pursuing my PhD, work a part time job on weekends, and train weeknights for a marathon I plan to run 2 weeks before the wedding. Looks like my FH might have more work than he bargained for.