The Gift of Thoughtful Cards

So, we never realized just how many fabulous wedding cards there are out there! Specifically, how many unique, simply lovely, gender-neutral cards. What a wonderful surprise! That is not to discount the many cards with nature photographs or art on the front and a heart-felt personal note on the inside. We're keeping those for ourselves for now. The following are the best the greeting card industry has to offer. Our friends have great taste in congratulations.

We absolutely love that some of our friends shared one card between two households to conserve paper and combine resources. We even received a couple of wonderfully thoughtful combined gifts - our favorite of these was a three-household cooperative purchase of a gift certificate to Green The World!

Here are our favorites from the generous mini-mountain of well wishes we received. The text before the : represents the front, the text after is the inside.

"Where there is love, there is beauty that cannot be described, strength that cannot be broken, and joy that cannot be surpassed.: Listen to your hearts. Imagine a beautiful future. Embrace the love you share. Wishing you a wonderful life together."

"Where love is...Hope is heard. Forgiveness is found. Laughter is shared.
Where love is...Work is worthwhile. Sadness is softened. Faith is deepened.
Where love is...Trust is cherished. Peace is present. Hearts are at home.
Where love is God will be.: God's love is entwined with yours, strengthening your faith and preparing your hearts for a beautiful lifetime together.
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)"

"'Happily ever after' is more than just a dream...it's a lasting promise between two hearts: Wishing you joy after joy as togehter you make dream after dream come true."

"A wedding toast with our best wishes: May your lives be happy, your love be strong, your troubles, short, and your laughter, long."

"On your wedding day: A wish for you on your wedding day, given with so much love and happiness. You've made your dreams come true and this wish is a symbol of more good things to come."

"On your wedding day: It's nice to know that the two of you, who are such wonderful individuals, have chosen to spend the years ahead developing a new and beautiful part of yoru lives - your marriage."

"For a wonderful couple. One of the greatest gifts life can offer is someone to live with, to care about, and to love.: On this memorable day, you are both receiving a wonderful gift- the promise of a lifetime of love. May your wedding be beautiful and may you enjoy a long and happy life together."

"In your lives, may you always know joy...In your hearts, may you always know love.: With a simple wish that you'll always find your dearest friend, your deepest love, and your greatest joy in each other. Congratulations on your marriage."

"Two Become One: It's that simple...It's that beautiful. Wishing you every happiness"

"It's your story. Make it beautiful. Fill it up with what you love. Remember what matters. Forget what doesn't.: Happy a happy life together."

"May your love for each other deepen and grow through all the years to come."

"Two hearts...one love. Two souls...one destiny. Two lives...one beautiful future."

"A wedding gift: Wishing you love and laughter today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter."

"All the best wishes for a lifetime of love."

And, the most unusual greeting we received: a card in the form of a bumper sticker that reads, "I don't mind if you are straight as long as you act gay in public."

Dove Lovin'

The day after our wedding we went up to Wolf Creek for a couple of days. It was glorious to leave the hectic clutter of our lives-surrounding-a-major-event behind in exchange for a fireplace, an incredible (snowy!) view, and a soak in the hot tub.

While on our "mini-moon" as we affectionately refer to it, we took along some Dove brand dark chocolates. The pearls of (sometimes cheesey, sometimes inaccurate) wisdom encased in red and silver foil wrappers were fun and we wanted to share them. This wisdom was made truer and sweeter because it held chocolate treasure. We love when tea companies have pearls of wisdom on the tea bag tag. It's the same sort of thing. These pearls had names and cities under them, which made us think that people must have submitted them in some sort of contest to have their favorite saying wrapped around Dove chocolate.

"Celebrate the small victories in your life."

"Dare to dream, and go for it!"

"Keep moving forward, don't look back."

"Don't stress - think, and this too shall pass."

"Here's to something more powerful than chocolate: hope."

"If you fall down 7 times, get up 8." (Really? How can you get up one more time than you've fallen? Wouldn't you already be up?)

"Always follow your heart - it's never wrong."

"Sing out loud! Who cares what you sound like?"

"Treating yourself is never wrong." (We would add, treating yourself well...)

"Happiness is one bite away."

"Accentuate the positive."

"Try something new today."

Though now it seems silly to have spent the time typing these, they were a lot of fun on our mini-moon. Some led to conversations, others to taking a bite out of happiness. As our friend and flower pixie said to Lisa a few years ago, "Enjoy!"