Wedding update (sorry so long)

Well let's see....Chicken is coming into town tomorrow evening. It's a 9 hour drive (yes DRIVE) from where she is near St. Louis so I'msure she's gonna be exhausted. I'm getting things organized today as much as possible. Friday we may not do much, but Saturday morning we're waking up around 9am, my cousin Angie and (hopefully) my mom are coming by around 10am and we're gonna get the next day party invitations done and put tags on the maracas and get the jordan almonds in their pretty tulle circles with burgundy ribbon. I will be taking pics of it all. Then saturday afternoon we go to my dress fitting with all my crap (veil, shoes, tulle for wrap, jewelry, etc...) then I'm thinking we go to the wedding site in Elizabeth Park so I can show her and the hall in wyandotte (hopefully) maybe meeting up with her brother Gordon so they can have a small visit. Then it's the Violent Femmes concert in Royal Oak that night. And Sunday she's leaving.

We were gonna be doing invitations and stuff, but here's the scoop on that. Hopefully we still will, but not with the invitations we originally wanted. I had put in an order with a website for such gorgeous cardstock to print our own invitations. When I called (cuz the online ordering wasn't working...that should have been my first clue) she told me it would be 2 weeks. Fine. That would have put the invites here last week and given us the weekend to address and get them together and out in the mail. Well 2 weeks went by and no invites...as a matter of fact she hadn't even put the charge on our CC yet. So Kevin starts calling her on Friday to find out what's going on. She says she'll find out and call him right back. Well...no call back. So Kevin tries calling her back from 4pm on...at first he gets her voice mailbox. He doesn't leave a message cuz he wants to talk to her directly (and he has a really bad habit of not leaving messages...his whole family does...me..I'd rather have leave one) when he calls her back over the weekend, he's not even given the option of leaving a message...her mailbox is now full. Monday rolls around and lo and behold the charge for the invites is now posted on our CC. This has the potential to be good...i mean she hasn't charged us the whole 2 weeks it hasn't been in stock, so this much mean it's in and on it's way right? WRONG!

So Monday he finally gets her onthe phone again. She puts him on hold to check the order status and, I don't know, she much not know how to work her phnes cuz she hangs up on him. So he calls her back immediately ... only to get her STILL FULL voice mailbox. So Tuesday I email her:

We have been trying to get in touch with you since Friday. We ordered invitation cardstock and you said it would take 2 weeks to get it if it was out of stock (and you thought it was) I understood. It had now been closer to 3 weeks and still no cardstock. And worse, when my fiance called you friday you said you would call right back with an update on the order. You never did. And we can't leave a message because since Friday your message box has been full. We called yesterday, again to inquire about the order, and were put on hold and eventually hung up on. When we called back immediately afterwards, no answer and STILL a full mailbox. And today I get a message telling me "the subscriber you are trying to reach is out of the service area"

I understand having a life and all, but we were counting on the invitaion cardstock being here by last weekend. That was what I was told. I am sure you deal with unreasnable brides all the time. I have tried to be understanding, but when I can't even get a simple answer to my wuestions about our order on when it will be here, I am unsatisfied.

DO NOT DO ANYTHING REGARDING OUR ORDER UNTIL YOU SPEAK DIRECTLY TO ME> Jazmyn

and I gave her my phone number. She called me IMMEDIATELY! Giving me the excuse that her daughter was sick yesterday and that's why she didn't get back with us. Okay...I'm sorry your daughter was sick, but you are running a BUSINESS!!! And this is WEDDING SEASON!!! Our wedding is right before wedding season (mid May - mid August) so I know she's gotta be busy dealing with people...plus she's been in business for at least 5 years...this isn't something new...juggling your home issues with your work issues. And I don't think I'm unreasonable as to want a simple answer to what is going on with my order.

I didn't say this to her ... I said I'm sorry about your daughter but as I stated in the email we've been trying to find out what's going on since Friday. WELL...turns out the item still isn't in stock, and it won't be until MAYBE friday (tomorrow) at which point she can overnight them if i want. HELL NO I DON"T WANT!! I wanted them a week ago when you originally promised. Now my invitations are going to be going out later than I wanted and we're going to be rushing around like mad to get them done (did i mention Kevin's hand addressing each envelope cuz he can calligraphy) So i tell her that's unacceptable and I want my order cancelled and the amount credited back to us. She agrees and we get off the phone. That was Tuesday. It's now Thursday and the credit hasn't appeared. I AM PISSED!

So In the meantime luckily Michael's craft store is having a sale on wedding stuff so we're getting invitation kits thru them. They aren't as dramatically striking as the ones I originally wanted, but they'll do. They have a handmade paper quality to them. They don't really match anything about the wedding lol, but that's okay.

So, the moral of this story is...if you ever plan to get married and you ever plan to DIY invitations...don't order from http://www.cjpaper.com

ANYWAY... so Sunday we cleaned the house in anticipation of chicken's arrival and Monday we did wedding stuff...went to Michael's and bought some stuff for the wedding...tulle ribbon for decorations, cardstock and ribbons to make invites for the day after party, tulle circles for jordan almonds and soap favors, wedding program paper (so I'm not doing the pretty wedding programs...but these are nice), and I think that's it. OH! and cardstock and decorative paper for the tags for the maracas. It was about $50 for everything. We may have more than we need, but that's okay, it can be used for crafty projects down the road. Plus I'm on a group where I can sell stuff or even offer it free (cheapcycle or freecycle)

Kevin's getting the jordan almonds tomorrow so I have them for sat morning for us to package up. i have 160 tulle circles lol. I figured i'd package more than we actually need cuz i know people like jordan almonds. Me? not so much. We're just going with the plain white ones. in ivory tulle circles. with burgundy ribbon tied around.

I'm getting all the paper ready as best I can for assembling things saturday as well. Or Friday night depending on when chicken gets in and how she feels. I have the cardstock cut, printed and cut out the invitation wording and printed and cut out the tags for the maracas. and I have rubber bands for the tulle circles. And *maybe* the invitations all worded and printed out so we can at least assemble them.

CRAP! I was supposed to call photographers today! oh well. Guess I got stuff to do tomorrow before chicken shows (besides cleaning the house one more final time before she gets here)

Just found out that my friend Ricky is planning on moving the last week of April/first week of May. That's just wonderful. Not only am i sad cuz he won't be here, but frankly I'm a little disappointed and depressed right now. When all that crap happened with Larry, Ricky offered to help me with my dress since Larry was no longer helping. That went out the window. Which is worked out cuz my mom is helping us with the dress now. But he had originally offered to pay for the wedding cake as well. He kept trying to get me to go to a baker out here to choose the cake (instead of having Hazel make it) and I consistently refused cuz I wanted Hazel to do it. For one I knew it would be cheaper and for 2 she's my friend...so I see him online (before I find out he's moving right during my wedding) and ask him about the cake and he says "oh..well I can give you $50 or $75 towards it...is that okay?" what am I supposed to say "no"? So I say "fine...whatever you can help with is great" but right now I'm ready to cry. WHY DO PEOPLE OFFER AT ALL? They never mean it.