This is what my hair stylist came up with in a “trial” of a bridal “up-do.” I like it, but I don’t love it. So I’m hoping to get a bit more of an “up” do on the big day, as well as more curls. And yes, my hair is in the process of going from red to purple!

We chose a design that symbolizes the Tardis from Dr. Who, because of the role the Tardis played in bringing us back together. When Amy saw a photo of Cynthia standing in front of a Tardis at Denver ComicCon, she decided to comment on it, even though she hadn’t spoken to Cynthia for six years. Cynthia responded, and the rest is history!

Here’s the digital “card” that served as our wedding invitation via PaperlessPost.com:

CARD DESIGN FYI

Who are the brown and blue creatures?
They’re from one of Cynthia’s favorite animated films, “My Neighbor Totoro,” by the legendary Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki. The brown one is a woodland spirit called Totoro, and the blue one is his smaller companion.

Who are the dogs behind the blue creature?
Those are cartoon versions of our three Chihuahua mixes, which Amy created in Pixton. The tan dog is Amber, the yellow dog is Dulcie, and the reddish brown dog is Holly.

Who drew the chibis?
Cynthia created her chibi’s head on xiibi.com, and Amy modified it by replacing the eyes and adjusting the hair and skin tone.

Amy used a chibi she created on xiibi.com as inspiration but drew the new chibi head from scratch using a drawing app for Mac.

Who drew the wedding dresses?
Amy traced some clip art images and modified them extensively to suit the design.

What’s the setting in the background?
The background is a composite of several photos of the ceremony area at Lionscrest Manor.

What apps did you use to design the card?
Amy used Pixelmator for image editing and Comic Life 3 for layout.

This is what happens when you mix these ingredients:

• one of Cynthia’s favorite movies (the Japanese animation, My Neighbor Totoro)
• one of Amy’s favorite actual and symbolic life forms (trees)
• the Colorado Rose Cake Company’s ability to decorate frosting so that it looks like the bark of a Colorado aspen tree
• a set of adorable Totoro wedding cake toppers

We look forward to seeing how the cake turns out in person!

Here’s the card we used to send out “Save the Date” notices via Paperless Post:

We recently met with the Lionscrest wedding coordinator to review our choices for decor and schedule, and I took these photos of our dinner table choices to help those who are helping with table decorations.

Here’s our choice for the “bridal party” table (plum table cloth and ivory napkins):

And here’s our choice for the remaining dinner tables (ivory table cloth with napkins alternating in plum and sage):