As more of my friends get married, and I ponder whether being an old maid will really be that bad, at least I can enjoy the various crafty and fun save-the-date cards, announcements, and invitations I receive. Yesterday’s mail brought a homemade date card and magnet set, created by friends of mine set to marry in November. The date card, magnet, and the return address labels featured a personal logo they created themselves. I love magnets, so I got pretty excited and started bugging my friends to find out how they’d put it all together.

Using Adobe Illustrator or possibly Photoshop, they created a red and green heart-shaped logo that is a product of the first letters of their names, a C and a J. I love the idea of a personal logo!

They then printed that logo first onto notecards and then onto special magnet sheets that can go through a printer.

Finally, they printed the logo and their return address on Avery Clear Inkjet Return Address stickers and packaged their little bundles of happiness.

This could be an easy project for an enterprising bride- and groom-to-be who either don’t have a lot of cash to drop on mail or want to give their nuptial correspondence a more personal touch.

And, without further delay, here is the logo my friends created:

Last week I received a postcard in the mail from my friends Will and Leah. It was a save-the-date card announcing the details of their upcoming nuptials. While it is not unusual to receive such a card, it was slightly less than usual in this case because:

1. The postcard (which featured a lovely picture of the couple) was not a follow up to a traditional paper invitation but in lieu of one, and

2. The postcard served as a mechanism to point its recipients (The Beard and I) toward Will and Leah’s wedding web site.

Now I imagine that Will and Leah did send traditional invitations to their families and less tech-savvy friends. But for a soon-to-be wed couple that has a lot of friends scattered about the country and wants to give their prospective guests as much information as possible, attractive postcards that point to a web site can be a fabulous and fiscally sensible idea.

I like a good web site (especially when it’s about weddings) and Will and Leah’s site has a nice layout and is rich in detail. Of course, it helps that Leah is no stranger to creating web sites. If, however, you are like me and most comfortable typing into prefabricated textboxes, there are a number of services (both free and not so free) that will aid you in the creation of a wedding web site.

Wed Quarters: This service offers a variety of colorful templates and costs $25 for a year of hosting. Users can craft an unlimited number of custom pages but I’m not sure how much space they provide for images.

My Event: Users pay roughly $10 per month for a web site with images, music, video, and flash. Visitors can RSVP for the wedding right on the site.

The Knot: The Knot has 40 very simple templates, and allows users to send electronic save-the-date cards and guest updates. It is free for site members.

Wedding Window: This service is $79 for 12 months and seems to provide elegant results. See Star Jones’ wedding site.

Brides and grooms that are less interested in using their site as a vehicle for information and simply want to document the process can always use a free blogging service like Blogger to satisfy their craving for high-tech hitchin’.

The computer cake topper above is by Joshua’s Clay Creations.

I come from a rather mixed family. I have a step-mother, half-siblings and step-siblings. My mom has a girlfriend. There is apparently bad blood involving grandparents that I know nothing about. But, if they choose not to suck it up and play nice when I get engaged and later married, they’ll all be disowned. Step-families and what-have-you can be a challenge where weddings are involved. There are a lot of areas where tensions can rear. And there is a lot to think about.

The prep: Who pays? Bio-dad or bio-mom? What about step-dad? Do they split the wedding costs 50/50 or 25/25/25/25? If future bride and her step-mom are close, does bio-mom still want to be 100% involved? Or can they split that, too? If, due to geographic location or other factors, it is easiest for step-mom to be primary planner, does bio-mom get resentful?

The shower, etc.: Which mom takes control if there is no maid-of-honor to step up to the plate? Is having separate showers okay? Can bio-dad and step-dad get along well enough to make nice at the bachelor party?

The invitations: How can one word them without someone finding something to take offense at? If one says “Mrs. Bio-mom and Mr. Step-dad and Mr. Bio-dad and Mrs. Step-Mom invite you to” will Mr. Bio-dad feel he’s gotten second listing?

The big day: Who gets the honor of walking the bride down the aisle? Bio-dad or step-dad? Or maybe both? Will they agree to that? Who takes control of the proceedings and who stands tall in the receiving line? Does the various assortment of moms and dads take turns dancing with their sons and daughters?

Oy! I’m sure brides and grooms have enough to think about without having to corral their folks. For some, these are easy questions to answer. Some split families just get along. Many people feel closer to their step-parents than their bio-parents. Others aren’t particularly close to their parents’ spouses and so there’s no conundrum. It’s easy enough to streamline invitations by simple stating, “Bride and groom request…etc.” And if you’re creating your own ceremony and reception that reflects your individuality, you may be able to get away with leaving out the aisle walks and dances that can be problematic.

Some questions are more difficult to answer:

How does one start and what should be considered?

Whose names grace the invitations?

How does one keep the peace?

Can one exclude step-parents from the wedding?

As a step-parent, how should I dress?

Can two fulfill the role of one?

How does one avoid disaster?

To all the future brides and grooms from blended families out there, I have just this to add: Don’t let ‘em push you around! Do what makes you happy and don’t give in to guilt!