Things in Wedding Planning Land are getting pretty real, which means that when I was in Virginia for Christmas I got my hair done, put on my dress, and did a bridal shoot with our awesome photographer. We've booked and planned our bachelor and bachelorette weekends, we have a date set to get our marriage licence, and I totally cried in my car this morning while listening to Regina Spektor's Us. All of these details have been super fun and exciting, but coming home to a big box from Minted with our wedding invitations last week was a whole new level of awesomeness (and passion eyes).

  

 We went with this design and opted to do custom colors, because although we were both pretty smitten with that charcoal, it didn't really fit the whole wedding aesthetic we're going for. So I just selected our colors from a grid, and a designer decided which would go where before sending us a proof! I also customized a "Reception" card to be a "Details" enclosure, which gives our guests hotel information and a link to our wedding website. It was easy and fun and they are just exactly what I had in mind.

I laid them all out and admired them for an embarrassingly long amount of time before realizing that I had no idea how to actually assemble them. A quick Google search gave me a general idea, but there were specific questions I had that I couldn't really figure out. I decided to use the chat feature on Minted's website, and a very friendly gentleman explained everything to me! That was pretty awesome and sort of just above and beyond the already awesome service I always receive with Minted. One less thing to do before May! Cheers to that.

     

Chalkboard Wedding Invitations c/o Minted.

As always, all opinions are my own.

My wonderful and talented friend Lauren designed these save the dates for me and Rob, and I just love them! They're going to be a little bigger than a post card, and the address will go on the back, along with a link to our wedding website. 

I wanted something simple that reflected our "wedding colors," if you will, which really are just a lot of soft peaches, pinks, greens, and some neutrals. She did a fantastic job! I can't wait to print these bad boys and send them out in a few months!

PS Lauren recently started a blog, which you can read here. She and I became good friends when we worked together in Roanoke for about a year, but she moved back to South Africa a few months ago. It's been so nice to be able to keep up with her a little better through blogging. Having far-flung friends and family is often really tough, but the Internet makes it a little easier every day.

Instead of doing a traditional full bar at our wedding, and instead of opting to do just beer and wine, Rob and I decided that we'd have beer, wine, champagne, two signature cocktails, and a frozen lemonade station with empty shot glasses along the side, waiting to be filled with booze if hard lemonade is your thing. 

Rob chose the Old Fashioned as his signature drink, a bourbon-heavy cocktail; so I was tasked with finding the perfect vodka drink. Because if you're going to spike your frozen lemonade at our wedding, it's going to be with either bourbon or vodka, right? Right. So the real question is this: Rosemary Pear, Lavender, or Cucumber Mint? Last weekend, I made a shopping list, waited for

Melissa

to arrive, and invited a few other friends over for a cocktail testing/tasting party.

Note: the recipes you are about to encounter are not even a little bit Paleo. I'm not even a little bit sorry.

The Rosemary Pear Martini

I thought this one was going to be my favorite, and it ended up being my least favorite. It felt more autumnal than springy to me, which is fine, but probably not for our May wedding. Melissa made some pear puree from scratch and it was delicious, but then I tried the cocktail again the next day with store-bought pear puree and I liked it a bit better. It was a little lighter and sweeter, which made it less Christmas-y. Either way was good, it just depends on the event and the time of year, I think. Regardless, it made a damn beautiful drink, and I do love rosemary.

For the Rosemary Pear Martini:

(

Recipe Inspiration

)

Two ounces of vodka

Two stems of fresh rosemary

1/4 ounce simple syrup

(We made our own--just mix equal parts sugar and hot water)

1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

3/4 ounce pear puree

The Cucumber Mint Martini

Now

this

is a springy drink. It was light and fresh and I drank it in about three gulps. Probably a little dangerous to be serving all night, but it just felt right! There's a lot of

stuff

in it once you drink all the liquid, but since I'm someone who prefers her cocktails to come with more of a snack than a simple garnish, it worked for me. And everyone loved it. We had some more.

For the Cucumber Mint Martini

:

(

Recipe Inspiration

)

Two ounces of vodka

One ounce simple syrup

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

Three slices of fresh cucumber, muddled

A couple of leaves of fresh mint

The Lavender Collins

This was a favorite--it was delicious and just beautiful, but I don't think it's going to work for the wedding because it's just really expensive to make. First of all, you have to make lavender simple syrup, which totally delighted me on a small scale, but I don't think it's feasible in any way to make for 150+ people. Melissa and I decided that it would be perfect for a bridal shower, so we won't have to totally abandon the recipe.

For the Lavender Collins

:

(

Recipe Inspiration

)

One and a half ounces vodka

3/4 ounce lavender simple syrup

(Just add a few sprigs of fresh lavender or two tablespoons of dried to your simple syrup on the stove)

1/4 ounce Chambord

3/4 ounce lemon juice

Soda water to top it off 

I mentioned that I invited some friends over. There were a lot of cocktails to be drunk.

Tony is one of the most handsome men I know, and I had the pleasure of becoming friends with him after meeting him through his boyfriend Matt, my former coworker. He's hilarious and genuine and I felt honored to become more than just an acquaintance of his over the last year. It's good to have a friend like Tony.

Matt is smart and handy and literally knows something about everything without being a know-it-all. When I said, "Where the hell am I supposed to find lavender in Roanoke?" he said, "I have some." Because he grew it. Because gardening and building fences and driving trucks and motorcycles are things that he does when he's not fixing things and cooking delicious food or making me laugh until I cry. I definitely miss seeing him every day at work. It's good to have a friend like Matt.

So, what do you think? I'm going to make them all for Rob soon and find out his favorites.

If you were at my wedding next spring, which one of these cocktails would you want to drink?

Check out Melissa's post on our cocktail adventures 

here

.