These are not my invitations.

But the horizontal pocket fold layout is very similar to mine.

I love, love, love my invitations. Last night I finally saw an assembled proof. A mix of creamy linen, reds, purples and cascading leaves. And with only three weeks till mail date, they are being priced at the printers today.

Last night, I finally fell right to sleep. No mind racing, no tossing and turning, no looking at the clock every hour on the hour as the minutes crept closer to daylight.

I admitted to my friend who is also our invitation designer that I was starting to stress out. The reason I am so set on the end of August mailing date is because a) I will be traveling for work the entire first week of September and b) I need to have enough of a cushion between the RSVP date and the wedding for last minute stragglers (you know there will be some) and vendor headcount deadlines.

The problem with doing business with friends is that you can only push so far. If she were a hired vendor, I would have a signed contract, dates set in stone and far less worry. But because she is a friend — and a good friend at that — I was hesitant to dump my crazy on her when I started to freak that omigod this will never be done in time.

Luckily, when I admitted my stress (initially through a perky, haha I’m getting bride stress email and last night in person) to her, she apologized for not keeping us on a stricter deadline and promised me we were all set. As it is, I already am amazed that she designed these whole things while chasing after two kids under three all day.

So, that’s where we are. Invitations that are so pretty I want to pet them, almost done. Hopefully tonight I will continue with the easy sleeping, because another night of tossing and turning over wedding party gifts, rehearsal dinner invitations and on and on an on really doesn’t sound appealing.

On a random note, my contribution to our tapas dinner last night was The Pioneer Woman’s Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes. They were a big hit and so, SO good. I was eating the filling with a spoon before we left they were that tasty. And easy! Try them out for your next gathering.

Think I was kidding? They look good, don’t they? Yeah, you can’t go wrong with herbs, cheese and breadcrumbs, people.