We finally sent out our wedding invitations a few weeks ago… and phew… what a weight off our shoulders! Even though we sent some Save-the-Date cards that I covered in a previous post, the wedding somehow feels more real with the formal invitations sent out.

I am really proud of the work that we put into these invitations. Can you believe that more than 100 hours of our own time and hard work went into these? Although they were printed elsewhere, I am really happy to say we did these 100% by ourselves: designing it, handwriting it all, illustrating it all, mailing it, and putting it all together.

I designed our wedding logo and ordered an embosser and plates to do our gold seals for the envelopes. We’ll also be using the embosser for other parts of the wedding such as programs and napkins. Good job to Allan for getting these perfectly centered while doing the pressing

As before, we continued to use our custom return address stamp from Paperfinger on Etsy…

And I spent hours upon hours doing all the hand calligraphy with a dip calligraphy pen, and also did all the heat embossing myself for the gold tree on the envelope as we did with our save-the-dates before.

We really wanted to do a unique invitation, so we continued with the theme of the wooden wedding invites and thanks to my awesome bridesmaid Charmainne who gave us the idea of doing a #10 size card. It was hard to find envelopes that size that matched our save-the-date envelopes… but I managed to find some at Paper Source.

It turned out really cool and I love the length of it. I designed the text and the logo and we sent it all off to Night Owl Paper Goods to be printed on wooden birch cards… Kudos again to Night Owl… they turned out beautiful!

I also designed our insert cards in Illustrator — 2 double-sided cards with lots of information about the wedding and the area.

One of my favourite hidden parts is the pattern at the top and bottom of the cards… they are actually surfing waves if you look really closely. Thanks to VanPrint for doing an awesome job on the printing.

(click for larger)

Probably my favourite part of the wedding work we’ve done so far is actually the custom wedding map that Allan and I made together. Both of us laboured over Adobe Illustrator for probably 60 hours alone just on this map. Allan did all of the illustrations himself… what you see here on the image is actually all done by vector work from scratch. I also did the text work, the actual road map, and the colouring. I had a pretty clear vision of how I wanted this map to look, so it definitely took some time and some heated discussions and tons of compromise between us to get it to look just right and represent both of us. It sounds funny, but it was a good test of our relationship.

Check out some of the little personal details… that’s an actual representation of Allan’s little green VW golf with surfboards on top.

And of course our interpretation of the Black Rock and the Ucluelet Community Centre … and us on the little patio getting married Hee hee!

I can’t believe the wedding is only 2.5 months away… scary and exciting! Yay!

Just when you think your new snowboarding gear is still shiny and new, the snowboard companies come out with their next year gear previews. Yup, 2010 snowboard gear previews are already here. And heck yeah… Burton’s new stuff looks siiiiiick. Ah, darn this consumerist lifestyle we lead!

As much as I wanted to, I didn’t end up buying any new snowboarding gear from Burton this year. My old stuff was still good and I couldn’t really justify spending money on new stuff. Next year though… I’ll need to replace my poor busted board (“Miss Feelgood”, as my friend at the Board Room repair shop calls my board since he’s fixed her up so many times).

So what’s coming up from Burton next year? Gorgeous, bright, poppy colours that’ll show up great in photos and really stand out (if you can call bright-coloured gear amongst bright-coloured gear standing out…). I’m also really liking the solid colours on the new 2010 Burton boots and bindings. And fairly minimal board deck and base design with lots of colours and shapes. Overall, a pretty interesting lineup!

The guys over at Snowbroader have snapped some shots from the Snow Avant Premiere in France. Check them out! Note: All photos are fully credited to Snowbroader. Check out there site if you’d like to see more 2010 previews, like Rome and DC, and more pics of the Burton gear.

New 2010 Burton Custom Boards and the Burton Fix on the right. I’m loving the colourful Custom boards! Great design idea.

Solid coloured boots and bindings. I especially like the red on purple. (Seems like that’s the fave colour combo for next year)

New Burton 2010 ConDOM board. Check out the little drawing at the bottom

Base for the new 2010 Burton Hero. Not too sure what I think about the beach ball in the “O”… not really liking this design much. The 2009 Hero was way cooler looking.

New for this year, the Burton Method snowboard. The Bros say it is super light, and a blunt twin freestyle board. Interesting.

And for the ladies, the new 2010 Burton Lipstick board. I LOVE IT! Especially the black lipstick and vampire teeth marker on the top of the board. Yeaaah! I would definitely pick up this board if I was a park girl (but I’m not). Damn, why do the park boards always have the coolest decks?

Speaking of which… every time I think about getting a Burton Fish, I can’t help but feel disappointed with the graphic design on it. I know I shouldn’t be so concerned with appearances (especially when riding powder).. but geez… a little more than a splash on green on a white base with a COMPLETELY white top would be nice! Burton! Give us something that’ll stick out a little more on photos for a board as sick as the Fish!

The Burton Grail and Zone snowboard boots. Purple and yellow! Yes!

I really like the solid red bindings. Not sure what model this is but it sure looks neat. I’m pretty sure Allan would LOVE to have these to go with his brown and red colour scheme.

So that’s it so far. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more upcoming Burton gear.

I have only one wish so far.. please Burton. Make the 2010 Malolo NOT with a fruity design on it. Something cool. Colourful. Simple, but bold. Otherwise you’ll force me over to Series 13!

So that’s it folks. It’s the snowboarder that makes the gear, not the gear that makes the snowboarder. Right? RIGHT?!