Getting to the End...

It’s the final two work-weeks before the wedding, and we’re coming down to the wire on our DIY projects. Can I get a BIG and LOUD “Thank Goodness!” from anyone?

Because that’s what I’m yelling on the inside. I’ve worked and worked and worked all along to get things organized and done ahead of time to avoid fighting the “big finish” at the end, and I owe a BIG THANK YOU to my sweetie for “cutting me off” from new projects back in August...because here we are working our butts off, and coming to a close. (Even though when he did it, I was sort of cursing him! Love you!)

My last kinda big project to work on is the seating chart. And I can’t be called a slacker for not working on it ahead of time...you have to get those pesky RSVPs in the mail before you start thing one! So, a few weeks back in anticipation of not wanting to work right up to the deadline, I had made all the name tage/escort cards. I know that some (read a LOT) of them were wasted effort as those guests declined our invite...but it was time well-wasted if you ask me since the project was already done.

What wasn’t done was making the second part of that project – the piece that assigned a guest to a certain table. Now, the actual seating chart hasn’t even been started yet...that’s on this week’s To Do List...but the tags that would assign a table number have been started.

Remember my post about the table names? Well thanks for all the suggestions, because we were finally able to settle on table names...and I could move forward with this semi-last DIY project! Here’s the final list:

1. Live
2. Love
3. Laughter
4. Honor
5. Respect
6. Loyalty
7. Cherish
8. Kindness
9. Forever
10. Friends
11. Caring
12. Hope
13. Faith
14. Joy
15. Dream
16. Wish

With that settled on, it was off to make the table name tags. I decided to make them just like the escort tags...except showing a table name (and number). Same process, so I’ll just link that post here, so you can see how I made them...I'm SUCH a dork! I never really did a how-to on these cuties...just showed them off here! It wasn't hard - trust me - stamp, emboss, cut, mount, trim, punch...and thread with twine.

Now all that we have to do is attach all the name tags to individual Mason jars...and once we’ve settled on our seating chart, then we can find the appropriate table name tag and match it to the right person's jar. Easy, right? I hope so! I’m at my wits end, and the nice bride went out the window sometime over the course of this past weekend!

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Poor B! He must love me lots!

Mentioning the seating chart, I though that I’d share with you our final acceptance percentages. So here’ the breakdown:

Guests invited: 196 (50 of which were CHILDREN!)
Actual Guests Attending: 129 (29 of which are children)

Which gives us a percentage of 66% acceptance rate. That’s a little below the “average” of 75%, but I figure with the amount of guests that are having to travel (which lowers the normal percentage) and the economy situation that we’re all faced with now, that our number is fairly reasonable. Also a factor could be the fact that Brent did lose his job, and a pretty large chunk of guests were affected by that – either by not being invited in the end or by feeling awkward with our situation. I don’t know why that would be a factor really, but B thinks that it is so it’s being listed.

The good news? After having to track down so many guests to get an answer out of them about the wedding RSVP, the Rehearsal Dinner RSVPs have been rolling in! Several guests who lagged on the first RSVP have returned their second RSVP with great speed! Thanks, guys!

What did you final number end up being? Something close to what you were expecting, or not?