Signed, sealed, delivered... they're yours!!!

A HUGE weight is lifted off my shoulders! The invitations are officially IN THE MAIL. But not without complications, unfortunately!!

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First, I wanted to have them mailed out during the week of June 20th... I took vacation that week and was planning on working on Wedding "stuff" and invitations the whole time. Then, TCU's baseball team made it to the College World Series, so naturally I HAD to go to Omaha, Nebraska and watch them dominate! It was SUCH a good time and I am so thankful to have the opportunity and availability to go... but it definitely put stress on my Wedding "stuff" Timeline.

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So, when I got back from vacation I immediately started practicing stamping with my super awesome wax seal stamper! I had one made probably around 8 months ago, and I was so excited that the time had finally come for me to put it to use! It was a Monday evening (June 28), and I mastered my wax seal stamping abilities, just in time for me to pick up the envelopes that Wednesday (June 30) and have them all mailed out by Thursday (July 1) .

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Then... my house cleaners came Tuesday morning.

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This is where things get interesting.

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I left my wax seal stamper out after practicing on scrap paper that Monday evening, and when the house cleaners came on Tuesday morning, they did their job and got everything picked up and put away. On Wednesday morning, my day off from work that week, I picked up the envelopes from the calligrapher bright and early with the intention of stamping and sealing the envelopes all day. So I set up my stamping station with newspaper, snacks and a good movie (knowing this would take HOURS upon HOURS), and then I went to get my wax seal stamper...

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The only problem:

I had NO idea where the cleaning ladies put it.

And neither did they.

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I came to the conclusion that it may have gotten thrown away on accident, because I literally tore apart the house for 3 hours, calling the poor house cleaning ladies intermittently, and I was never able to find the stamp.

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So, after ordering a NEW custom engraved wax seal stamper (that takes 10-14 days to arrive), I spent the remainder of that Wednesday stuffing the envelopes and getting everything BUT the wax seal completed and ready to be mailed.

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Then, the next fiasco happens...

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As I'm nearing the end of my envelope stuffing, I notice that I still have several envelopes, response cards, and reception cards left... but not very many invitations. I counted everything and realized that I only had 180 invitations and 200 of everything else!!! I had been shorted 20 invitations!!

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I was SO frustrated and in a total panic because I figured since the invitations are letter-pressed, it was going to take a couple weeks to get them back to me. PLUS, it was 4th of July weekend by this point! I called Byrd+Bleeker (where I ordered my invitations) in a tizzy on Saturday morning and explained the shortage on their voicemail... then sent an email to the owner and my friend who works there... AND sent a facebook message to my friend who works there... (can you tell I was a little freaked out?)

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Thankfully, Libby (the owner at Byrd+Bleeker) was FANTASTIC. She got in touch with Smock Press (the makers of my invitations) and had my missing 20 invitations pressed and delivered immediately. Only 4 days later, (July 7), I received my box of invitations via FedEx Overnight from the "Royal Dutch Printing Factories in Holland" (that's what the box said). I was so impressed and so thankful that this wouldn't cause further delay in getting the invitations mailed.

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Needless to say, when I received my wax stamper this Monday (July 12), I was OVERJOYED about getting my invitations COMPLETE!!

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So without further adieu,

(and with a sneak peak at the wax seal stamping process that took me 6 hours to complete),

they are in fact,

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Signed, sealed, AND delivered...

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Thank

{God}

!!