Postage Hell

A little note about STD's.

If you are planning on going the ever-popular postcard route the way we did, opt for a 4x6 card size or less and avoid the 5x7. We failed to think that through before ordering from OverNightPrints.com and ran into a little problem...

4x6 in. (or less) = $.28 per card.
5x7 in. = $.44 per card.

Might not seem like that big of a deal at first, but then multiple that number times 200+ and you've got yourself a big fat extra expense for no good reason.


In an effort to see the silver lining, I think this was meant to be a little lesson before the big invite mail out. Our original idea was pretty kick-ass: Since October, we've been collecting old paper towel tubes from family and friends. The plan was, we would make our own mini silkscreen 10x16 in. poster prints and use the paper towel tubes as mailers. To reinforce the tubes, we were working with our designer friends on making a tag board overlay that would look like birchtree bark, complete with the return and mailing addresses having a "carved out" effect. To seal 'em, we were going to buy some tube ends from Uline at bulk, and then create a sticker to look like the inside rings of a tree when you saw it, and have that sticker cover each end. Once completed, it would look like a little branch and fit really nicely with the whole outdoorsy-whimsical feel we were trying to go for.

Apparently no creative effort comes with some sort of aftershock. After some estimated calculations on the USPS web site, it appears our idea would really run us up on shipping costs. We could try UPS, but it's still gonna be up there. Not sure this is going to pan out how we hoped and it looks like we're going to have to figure something else out.

To all our friends and family, regulars at work and perfect strangers who have been helping us collect paper towels tubes: Thank you so much for thinking of us and sorry we won't be able to use them. I promise we will do our best to find a creative use for some of them and recycle the rest.

Back to the drawing board.

Australia, some day I will see you, I promise.

Le sigh.


Where to go on our honeymoon had such a simple answer back when we just got engaged (doesn't every part of wedding planning). Whilst daydreaming, we forgot to factor in those tiny details...

a.) Australia will cost a crapload and b.) it will take a lot of time up just with travel.

Reality really does bite sometimes.

Anyways, in our quest for alternatives, we've been considering the following locations:

Hawaii
Spain/Portugal
The Greek Isles
Costa Rica

Obviously, this is not as cheap as staying local, but we haven't had a proper vacation in two years and we both really, really need one. I did some research and to par it down for travel junkies like ourselves, the suggestion is to consider what kind of honeymooners you'll be and match it with location. Simple enough, although we would be down for tons of different kinds of adventures, I suppose we'll be pretty beat and ready for some fun and relaxation. We talked it out and basically, here's what we're looking for:

• Very warm to hot weather
• Beaches and those drinks with the little straw umbrellas
• A swim-up room (that was my idea, I also thought that was so cool and to me it equals total big-shot status)
• Lots of options for surfing, boating, fishing, hang-gliding, hiking, swimming, etc.
• Maybe a tour or two of the area
• A hotel with a nice spa so we can get massages and stuff
  
• Not crazy expensive
• Not somewhere during hurricane season

We contemplated cashing in the idea of big, luxurious honeymoon suites for extra time somewhere and backpacking, but I think after all this figuring out logistics will be kind of annoying. Besides, I don't know when we'll take a trip like this again.

Suggestions and links to hotel and vacation web sites are very, very welcomed! Let me know what you got, people!