Adventures in Gettin' Married: DIY Save the Date

As soon as we got home from booking the Perry House in Monterey for our wedding venue, we knew it was important to send out our Save the Date Cards. Not only did we choose a three-day weekend, but we also chose a three day holiday weekend only a little more than six months away! Since many friends and family members would need to travel for the event, I immediately began researching Save The Date cards on various websites. 

I saw many beautiful and wonderful Save-the-Date cards. My only gripe was that nearly everything I found that I liked was both (a) slightly (or a lot) more expensive than I was hoping for and (b) would take a great deal of time to get. With that being said, I decided to use another card as inspiration and make our own. 

I found this Save The Date card at Vista Print and decided I could use it as my inspiration. 

Aaron and I worked together, using GIMP, a free image manipulation software, to create our wonderful DIY Save The Date. We even attempted to get the actual colors off of our super-awesome wedding webpage from Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/futuremrsplattner. We decided it would be cute to have a picture of the two of us from the Cafe du Monde, where Aaron proposed. :) And this is what we came up with...

Once we had our design, we uploaded it to Costco.com's webpage and the photo cards were available for pick-up at our local Costco warehouse the very next day! No extensive wait for printing and shipping! And *BONUS* our fabulously personally-designed cards were less than half the price other cards! (A penny saved is a penny earned!) 

Too Many Choices!!!!

If you know me, you know I really don't like making decisions at all when there are too many things to choose from. After saving for months, I decided that I was ready to buy myself a brand new 52" HDTV. This decision alone had a lot of 'choices' in it: it needed to be at least 52" (because I could not have a smaller TV than Aaron;) it needed to be LCD because I read they were better than plasma and, by God, if I was going to buy something it needs to last; it needed to have an awesome picture; it needed to be as cheap as possible. During a snack-run at Costco, my TV was on sale, and after another week of debating, I talked myself into buying it. I borrowed the Meece's truck, and Aaron and I head over to Costco. I get there, and what do I do? I buy a freakin' Philips. That's right, folks. I walk in with the intention and purpose of walking out with my Sony Bravia, and thanks to the store manager and my iphone's internet capability. I now own a 52" Philips HDTV, and a Blu-Ray DVD player, and Harry Potter on Blu-Ray. (All for $200 less than what I would have paid for the comparable Sony.)

** It is a beautiful TV and I love it. Better yet, Costco has a 90 day return policy, so if I have buyer's remorse, back it goes!**

As if there weren't enough decision making opportunities there, I start to go about researching new HDTV service. Because, quite frankly, standard definition kinda sucks on an my new tv. I really would like to spend as little as possible per month, all the while getting the most for my money. As a current subscriber, I called DishNetwork. I got the spiel from them -- 100+ channels&  35 HD channels for $ 10 more a month, a $150 start-up fee and a 24 month contract. Eeeew. I look online at DirecTV, 150+ channels & 35+ HD channels for $5 more a month (for the first twelve months, and $31 more a month thereafter), a 24 month contract, a $198 initial cost, with $350 back in various bonuses. Eeeew. I then decide to give U-verse a try. Lots more a month. Due to high cost,  the choice of U-verse was eliminated. So now I am back to two choices, DirecTV and DishNetwork. I call them to see if I can get a better deal. DirecTV just bashed DishNetwork, so I hung up. DishNetwork said that they would honor their word from a few months back, and waive the $150 set-up fee they originally quoted me. Nice. But I am still confused.

I think I know what I need to do, but quite frankly, I hate making decisions... especially on things I cannot return should I develop buyer's remorse.