Polka Dot Design

My daughter, Cutie Pie, is going to be dedicated this weekend. We were admitted to the dedication services at our church at the last possible moment. Seriously, it was truly an act of God's grace that our sweet baby girl will be dedicated before her first birthday this Sunday in front of our church family, friends and relatives.

Although each of our children's dedications were special, Cutie Pie's is perhaps the most special because unlike the other times, my husband is now a Christian and I do not carry the burden of training our children up in the way they should go----alone.

Words cannot express how happy and excited I am, or how happy my husband is. He has invited practically everyone we know to Cutie Pie's dedication. And so that meant invitations. A little known fact about me is that I'm very picky about invitations. I used to own an invitation store and I used to design wedding invitations, so not only am I picky, but I wholeheartedly believe in sending invitations to everything. If I'm inviting you over for a hot dog I'm going to find some cute hot dog invites first...yep, I'm bad like that.

Since I've personally been out of the loop for about 6 years (meaning I have not traveled far and wide to see the latest and greatest offerings) and I no longer own my own store, I've had to resort to getting my stationery and invitation fix online--- because darling I have yet to find a store as fabulous as the one I owned of course!

Well, I'm proud to share that my new online favorite is Polka Dot Design. For Cutie Pie's invitation I used the pink cross pendant photo card with the photo above taken by my friend, and our family photographer Laura Wootan.

While I am being very careful to keep the focus on God and our commitment to raising our daughter in His ways, it is a very special moment for our family that I want to cherish and commemorate. Each of my children had a special outfit (the boys had pant outfits and the girls traditional christening gowns) with their initials embroidered into it that they will have to use with their own children. It is my hope that each of my grand children's initials will be embroidered into the gown or outfit and this will be passed along. We did not have such things in my family and I would like to have them for my children.

Another way I was considering commemorating the event was by purchasing a special dedication certificate. I found these online:
Printable Dedication certificates
Certificate of presentation to the Lord
Christian baby dedication certificate

Which is your favorite? What is your family tradition regarding Christening or Dedications?