December 30, 2010

across the pond

p.s. I just had to post this. The all inclusive posting of miss anna's wedding. it is so awesomely badass. England, snow, AMAZING shoes/dress/cape, happiness, joy, CASTLE. what more could you want?? I'm in love

December 29, 2010

honey do list

I'm back from our whirlwind trip home for Christmas, it was a nice mental break. and now back to the 12 hour days at work! But to backtrack, the same night I wrote that last post, Fiance came home from work close to 10 pm and surprised me along with his friends all dressed up in santa hats and antler headbands with presents. Totally put me in the christmas spirit, it was adorable. Reason #20934897 why I'm marrying that man.

We got a few things accomplished while home. Bought Fiance's suit for the wedding. And since Men's Warehouse was having their Buy One Get One Free Sale (anything in the store, seriously ANYTHING), he got 2 of everything. We also set up suit rentals for the groomsman. I agree rented suits usually fit horribly and they're pretty cookie cutter (which is why we decided to buy one for Fiance, plus every man needs a nice suit or 2). However, the majority of our boys don't own a suit and aren't really in a position to spend the money on one. Each of them is so completely different from the next, they'll stand out on their own accord.

We worked out some details for Bridal Shower #2 which my mom will be hosting in Northern California.

My mom showed me her stash of wedding decor that is slowly taking over my old bedroom. milk glass vases, candles galore (really amazing flameless pillar candles actually, gorgeous!) silver platters, beverage dispensers, a couple really awesome twinkly light branches, and cheese board slates. Soon to be added to the pile: table cloths and napkins.

We taste tested some amazing pastries we found online, if you scroll down almost to the bottom you'll find the miniature desserts and pastries. They're totally pre-made and are shipped to you frozen in a well-insulated package. They're pretty and DELICIOUS. We're going to order a few different kinds to add to the dessert buffet. YUM.

My mom worked out a contract with the florist. My new choice of bouquet (anemones) is about 10% of what it originally was for the lily-of-the-valley. score.

I wasn't really sure what I would be doing the night before the wedding. I had sort of planned on staying at my parents and getting ready there, but there's not enough room for the rest of the girls to stay overnight and it's totally the opposite direction from the ceremony/reception sites. Plus it's going to be super hectic because my grandparents will be staying there and my grandma will be working on the cake. So my dear mother came up with an excellent plan. There's an adorable tiny little bed & breakfast across the street from the church. My parents offered to pay for my girls and I to stay there the night before the wedding. So Friday we'll have the rehearsal at the church, walk around the corner to this awesome Chicago style pizza place for the rehearsal dinner and then just walk back to the B&B, spend the night and get ready all together Saturday. I love this plan. One last night with all my girls, and it's super convenient.

We're less than 2 months away! So excited!

December 23, 2010

blue christmas

Today was a half day at work but I still got there early and worked through lunch and ended up putting in 8 hours anyway. Work is totally kicking my butt, I love what I'm doing but there's so much to do, I've been working some really long hours and it sounds like it won't stop for the next couple months...perfect, all my time leading up to the wedding. I'm very glad I delegated the heck out of all this stuff. I'm totally over planning anything else. My mom is on the ball with most of the logistical stuff at this point: ordering table cloths, blocking rooms at the hotel. I just answer her questions and I'm good with going along with whatever we've got going at the moment. I'm ready to just show up at this point. I really am not concerned with any more details. (edit: i totally almost forgot the ONE item on my to-do list: print the dang invites! we bought the paper last weekend. now to hook up the printer...)

Fiance and I actually get to go home, albeit for a 3-day (hopefully 4 if he can get monday off) weekend which includes drive time to Northern California (400ish miles) both ways. I'm looking forward to seeing our families. One year we'll actually plan and sort out Christmas Day a little better. The past 4 years we keep ending up driving back and forth a million times between my parents, his mom and stepdad and his dad and stepmom. At least they all live in a 10 minute radius. But different relatives like my grandparents or his niece and nephews would be there at different times (or usually show up to the respective houses at the same time so we're splitting an hour or so between 2 houses). This whole visiting with family/holiday planning was part of our marriage preparation classes. I think we might need to discuss in more detail after we're married.

I'm getting by alright and going to bed at grandma o'clock so I'm getting enough sleep. The worst thing is it just doesn't feel like christmastime to me. christmas is my favorite time of year. yet this year I've hardly listened to christmas music, or done much baking or christmas shopping or even decorating. Tomorrow is christmas eve and at the moment it just feels like another day.

December 18, 2010

yessssssssss

Ok. It's official. We know where we're doing for our honeymoon:
NEW YORK CITY!
I'm a little bit more than excited. Fiance's been and loved it but I have not yet and I've been dying to go. it's going to be amazing.

Yes I understand it will be cold (first week of March). but we both love cold weather. it'll be romantic to be all bundled up and wander. The hotel is in Manhattan, 2 blocks from Central Park. All the rooms have city views.

I've been trying not to go overboard with the plans for that week. Siteseeing is not the goal of a honeymoon, am I right? ;) The nice thing is, NYC is a place we will definitely visit again, so there's no need to cram a bunch of things in. So we spent some time the other night prioritizing what is important to us and what we love experiencing together:
Food, obviously. I've got a running list of restaurant and cafe recommendations from friends.
A Knicks game at Madison Square Garden for my sports obssessed Fiance.
The Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building for the Engineering nerd in me.
Phantom of the Opera. Because we love getting dressed up and it's the only musical that Fiance accepts.
Coney Island. Because we have to get a Nathan's Hot Dog (among other reasons).
Rockefeller Plaza, because we love 30 Rock.
Times Square because its awesome.

I'm so excited to get to spend this time with Fiance in an amazing city! We're typically homebodies and not the go-go-go type, so we're always in somewhat of a relaxed state. A low-key honeymoon getaway was never really something we considered, we've always been looking at something more urban since that is out-of-the-box for us.

December 11, 2010

breathe...

ok, time to unload. With the move and work being so crazy I feel like I barely have time to eat, much less do anything else. I'm one of those people who absolutely needs to get 8 hours of sleep per night or I will turn into a crazy person. Which when I started thinking about it, means I have THREE hours every day where I'm not working/sleeping/commuting/getting ready for work/bed. THREE hours to make/eat dinner, catch up on bills/emails, and spend time with fiance. I know its one of those "welcome to the real world" things, but it's killing me. I feel like the world is moving so fast and I'm missing everything. My to-do list keeps growing because I just keep adding to it but don't actually have time to accomplish anything on it. My wedding boxes are somewhere in our room of death and it's driving me nuts. And moving from a studio by myself to a 2 bedroom with a messy boy means a whole lot of cleaning and picking up (we're working on splitting up the chores...my definition of cleanliness is just a bit different from his).

We REALLY need to order our wedding bands, but I'm still paying off the outrageous amount of money from getting my car fixed before I can put something else on my credit card. Because we definitely can't pay out of pocket right now. All the utilities were included at my last place, but now I'm dealing with all these bills coming in. And they each seem to have around $100 of deposit/one time/installation type charges. Yes, Fiance is helping pay, but they've been cutting back his hours at work, to about 29, which is pretty sucky so I'm carrying a lot of this myself. My christmas bonus from work is going toward bills. I can't even celebrate that first bonus by going out to dinner, buying myself something, or even buying christmas presents for people.

I know things won't be like this forever. it's just a lot all at once. and  77 days before the wedding.

By the end of this weekend I will have managed to spend time with 2 of my bridesmaids and see some family. Hopefully that will rejuvenate me enough to face another week.

December 7, 2010

let there be internet!

finalllllyyyy got the internet installed.  I've missed this. and you guys. I can't believe miss anna's all marriaged now!

it's been a busy past few weeks. moving, thanksgiving, craziness at work, both of our birthdays! too busy, I told fiance I can't wait for life to be boring again just so I can get some more sleep, and catch up on my shows (and not have 892 unread blog posts in google reader)...but at this point that won't be happening until after the wedding. I wouldn't recommend moving the weekend before thanksgiving, at least we weren't hosting! The living areas of our little place are actually looking quite presentable, but perhaps that is because of the spare bedroom/office/storage/i-don't-know-where-to-put-this-so-it-goes-in-here room of death. there isn't even a walking path right now. and me, the messy chaotic one is dying over it even with the door closed. we'll get there right?

Definitely need to FIND the printer so I can get those invitations printed up...before christmas. yikes deadlines are looming. Cousin has been coming up with some super awesome ideas for the bridal shower and bachelorette. can't wait! We're locking in a contract with our photographer friend. and with the florist. My mom's friend Suzy is DIY-ing to her heart's content. We mapped out a floor plan for the reception and my mother has begun ordering different items online. We're trying to finalize honeymoon plans. I feel like a broken record, just continually reciting my to-do list (which keeps growing), maybe in hopes that I won't forget anything.

We're under 90 days away...um what??? Hearing that really threw fiance into gear, kind of a reality check. so this whole wedding thing is actually real?

November 27, 2010

apologies for the radio silence. apparently thanksgiving is peak season for internet installation because we have to wait 2 weeks for the earliest install date. and starbucks hates my computer because i could not get onto their wifi network at multiple locations. also moving and thanksgiving time means zero downtime. but, we're all moved in! and we miraculously ended up with a ridiculous amount of furniture via my aunt and uncle who decided they want to buy an entire living room set and dining room set and gave us their old ones. free stuff FTW. living with fiance is pretty awesome. except he somehow manages to leave clothing laying around in every room and wet towels never make it onto the towel rack...oh well. we have this huge amount of space now and I'm trying to resist the urge to fill every nook and cranny with stuff. stuff we don't need. stuff we'll never use.

which brings me to the registry. first, I need to stop editing it. because people like my grandma, who don't have a computer (crazytalk I know), go into the store and have it printed out ...a month ago, and it has completely changed since then. oops. but I've been trying to keep it to things we actually want. Yeah yeah we can easily take stuff back but why put a bunch of stuff we'll probably take back on there instead of limiting the options so people will buy the things we actually want.

We're now less than 3 months away from the wedding, which is starting to get a little too close. All of the sudden my to-do list is a million miles long and time is going by really fast. Trying to not get overwhelmed...

November 10, 2010

pack it up

Hmmm, my to-do list is suddenly growing a mile a minute. At the same time that my bank account is quickly shrinking. It'll bounce back, just too many bills and payments all at once. Because...we got an apartment! Found it Saturday, turned in applications Sunday, got approved Monday and paid the deposit today. Since it's vacant now we're going to get the keys TOMORROW. This is happening fast! SO exciting, but fast. Since I just put in my 30 days on Monday we can take our time stretching out the moving process, but still, Fiance and I will be living together by Thanksgiving! It's exactly where we've been wanting to live: a great little, quiet neighborhood but still only a mile from downtown Burbank which is super adorable. Hardwood floors, 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a REAL kitchen (stove AND dishwasher), fireplace(!), central air...and all within our budget. And also 2.3 miles from where my job will be moving to in December. SCORE.

Now it's time to decide on a photography package from the awesome miss shannon
determine how many and what size tables we'll be renting, not to place the rental order but to buy tablecloths
get the printer set up (in our NEW place) to start spitting out invites
and actually assemble a shower guest list with addresses for lady cousin friend

Even though we're entering that phase that everyone dubs "boring wedding action time" now I have apartment decorating to occupy my creative endeavors. Because moving from a studio to a 2 bedroom means emptiness. Time to start hitting the flea markets!

(not so excited to have to pack and unpack again after moving only 4 months ago...)

November 4, 2010

life love and stuff

it's been a weird couple weeks. I have about 10 unfinished posts...I've been battling sporadic insomnia, complete loss of appetite, a rather difficult co-worker, and I had to fork over ridiculous amounts of money because my car broke the one time I've driven it in the past month. With less than 4 months to go, I can feel the wedding items starting to become more urgent.

Finalizing things with the florist, I decided to nix the lily-of-the-valley and go for another favorite of mine: anemones. they are both beautiful, very french feeling and about a 1/5 of the cost. Inspiration:
(top photo taken by Jessica Claire, bottom via ruffled)

Next on my to-do list:
prepare guest list for bridal shower (which my awesome cousin/maid of honor is planning, can't wait!)
print/address/send invites - Fiance and I will be visiting a Paper Source storefront this weekend as I have boycotted online shopping due to UPS failures. At least this way I can see the options in person before purchasing.

Also on the life to-do list: Fiance and I are apartment hunting this weekend! This is about the 3rd weekend, but the first time we're really seriously and intently looking. I'm a pretty independent person and love my alone time, I don't regret living on my own these past few months but I'm so LONELY. I definitely did not expect it. I thought it would be really difficult for me to transition into living with another person (someone I love, but nonetheless a boy ::cue Monica Gellar whine "I have to live with a boy!"::). But I find myself counting down the days until moving in together. Every time he leaves after we hang out gets harder and harder.

So basically, I'm kind of just ready to be married already. 

Also not to be terribly shallow, but after going through this switch to salary and filling out benefit enrollment forms (and freaking out after seeing how much of my paycheck was gone due to taxes ::Rachel Green "Who's this FICA guy? and why's he taking all my money??"::) I realized that being married really does help out financially. When calculating witheld taxes I was like "ohhhh maybe this is why so many people get married..." Friends I'm KIDDING. they get married for love. right? right.

p.s. yes that was 2 Friends references in one day. I'm kind of missing having a television for the re-runs...

October 25, 2010

Woohoo!

soooo....I'm officially a full-time employee! Salary, benefits, etc. at basically my dream company to work for, doing something I totally love. Ahhhh! It's such a weight off my shoulders. All the craziness and stress and anxiety and long-distance from Fiance...it feels all worth it. It's so comforting to have this security to enter into our marriage with (4 months from tomorrow!!). And for me to be in a position to support us to allow Fiance to pursue his creative endeavors in the future.

So in other news, Fiance updated our wedding website thingy. He's adorable. Here's a quote from the "about us":
"The relationship has survived four years of prolonged distance, two regrettable break-ups, and one's sophomoric obsession with the inevitable and tragically unplanned for zombie apocalypse.
James and Jessie are undoubtedly committed to one another through hell or high water, thick or thin, global zombie takeover, or the less likely Mad Maxian, road warrior, Australian outback type of post apocalyptic landscape."

I should probably have him do a guest post, as he is much much more eloquent than myself (even with the tally of how many times he can use the word 'zombie' while still sounding romantic)

October 20, 2010

golden

so my mom met with the florist. Who we knew would be all kinds of amazing, just from their email correspondence. She's all over the lavender/herbs/italy-inspired thing. Apparently she's really sweet and totally accommodating. She loves the very organic, natural looking flowers, non-perfect arrangements. We are going to have lavender, herbs, olive branches and non-traditional white flowers galore. Also, the lily-of-the-valley bouquet that I had my heart set on? Totally in season. It's happening, yay! She's be arranging bouquets, corsages, a couple boutonnieres for the dads and grandpas (fiance is not a fan...) and she's making a flower headband for my soon-to-be niece. adorable! The rest of the flowers she'll be supplying to us in bulk for ms. suzy to arrange. They will be well hydrated and carefully delivered.

edit:
(this post has been sitting open for about 2 days...) So we got an estimate back! Everything is incredibly reasonable except...holy crapola the bouquet I want costs as much as my dress. I kid you not. There's no way I'm paying that much. I really just like the aesthetic look of the flowers. but I have learned that apparently Jackie O, Princess Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn (and Barbra Streisand?) all had lily of the valley bouquets, so I suppose they are popular for those reasons. So plan B=pick. different. flower. plan C=get silk flowers? I've seen many rounds of the great artificial flower debate. I must do some soul searching, if I really have my heart set on the look of lily of the valley, then silk it will be. because they are only about 2% of the cost of real ones. even for high quality artificial. Plus apparently these flowers are not very sturdy and they die super easily. so outrageous sum of money for mayyyyybe 4 hours? uh, no. as dear cousin/maid of honor asked? are they dipped in gold?!?! sigh, wedding sticker shock.


so life is busy, and I am still awaiting details on a certain subject. patience is not a strength of mine friends.

October 13, 2010

la dee dah

So my mom and her bff Suzy played hooky from work today - so that they could go do wedding errands. They're the cutest! They hit the thrift stores. And put together tablescapes, when I finally talked them after work they were on about idea number 23. Suzy has become the wedding planner. she has a billion ideas and they're all fantastic and she doesn't mind taking on a million DIY duties. She lives for this stuff. My mom has been trying on dresses. She found some awesome glass beverage dispensers at TJ Maxx for under $20 each. You guys, delegation is a godsend. I solidified and explained my ideas early on and now I have let go of the reins. I trust my mom and Suzy and I know from experience that beautiful things will happen. and I'm getting so excited just to be marrying fiance that I'm not even worried about the rest.

In other news, I finally sent the save-the-dates!! They're only about a month and a half late but...shhh no one else knows that. Lessons learned: a) I'm printing address labels for the invites. fo sho. also (as my mother pointed out) then we can reprint the labels for thank you cards! genius! b) I need to get one of those sponge-y things for sealing envelopes. Because licking them was getting gross. Why has no one at least made that adhesive stuff mint flavored or something??? c) Undecided on postage. I mailed them on my lunch break and there was a huge line so I just went to the little kiosk and got 3 packs of the ugly liberty bell stamps. I know myself well enough at this point to know that I won't be scouring ebay for vintage stamps. But I know the post office at least offers some with slightly more visual interest than brown bells? I also know just about no one looks at stamps and those darn 44 cent things get thrown away. we'll see how pressed for time I am when it comes to the invites.

Also, I have some exciting news, just waiting for all the details to come next week before I spread the word... :)))))

October 10, 2010

love actually is...

so I am watching love actually, it's been awhile and I totally forgot about this part at the beginning:
 Keira Knightley has just gotten married and is walking back down the aisle when a gospel choir pops out and begins singing "all you need is love" and practically a full orchestra comes out of the pews. All arranged by the best man.

Can I please have a gospel choir (hint hint friends)? Fiance and I love gospel music and I've been in love with this photo below from a wedding photographed by Millie Holloman. So so much joy and happiness.
We can't afford it to hire a group and I don't personally know any gospel singers...but it's nice to dream.

October 5, 2010

so...I added another bridesmaid*. It was really oversight on my part that she wasn't there in the first place. But I swear it ends here. And now we have 6 and 6. Which means our bridal party is approximately 10% of the guest list...but hey, we've got a lot of really close friends, people who have really influenced our lives in major ways. Also fiance wanted equal numbers...

I also kind of have some "honorary" bridesmaids, 7 to be exact. Girls that I became close with when I studied abroad, and we still keep in touch and are great friends, even over 2 years later. But I had to draw the line somewhere, so they're still invited to all the shower/bachelorette stuff and I'm inviting them to come get ready with me morning of. They're talking about getting matching outfits, different from what my girls are wearing, but they just love me :)

*I know "bridesmaid" is so not the progressive term to use these days. But I haven't seen a term that I can really get on board with and no one would know what I mean if I said "my bridal brigade"...The less I have to explain myself these days, the better.

October 2, 2010

JKLM....blah blah blah

So...I've finished all the "L's" for addressing save the dates. I'm kind of ready to give up now. Which is bad because my last name starts with M, as well as the majority of my family and a large number of friends end up later in the alphabet. So I'm not even remotely half way through. It's getting a bit boring and tedious. I see why printed labels are gaining acceptance. I don't even want to think about how I'd have to do all this AGAIN for the actual invites. Unfortunately I also don't have a printer at the moment...it is stored away in a box at fiance's. Nor can I afford the ink.

I tend to do this a lot with big projects. Plan and imagine to my heart's content. Make lists, spreadsheets and cover every possible surface with post-its containing well thought out and logical ways to accomplish ideas. When it comes time to actually DO it, I lose patience quickly and immediately find the easiest way out... not a very good character trait.

September 29, 2010

updates updates

well I managed to get (most of) the addresses I needed! maybe my procrastination is being cured!

next step: actually write the addresses on the envelopes and take them to the post office...crap.

Um here's the deal. I'm realllllllly good at planning and talking things out. I'm AWFUL at executing and following through (not on big stuff, just little things). Procrastination is hereditary (ok maybe not, but I definitely learned it from my mama), but that's no excuse. I think I've been trying so hard to not procrastinate that instead I've just been delegating everything to everyone else. that works right?


My relationship with Fiance is excellent, getting better every day actually. We've been realizing just how much we missed out on during the long distance portion of the past four years. All the daily struggles and day-to-day growth that we never got to see in each other. It really did set us back. We feel like we're finally on the same page again and moving forward. We can't wait to start living together. Yeah, we're kind of old school and won't be moving in together until a month or 2 before the wedding. That will be a whole new experience! I won't get into all our reasons behind that other than that I'm grateful to have these few months to truly live on my own and be independent and that when we get married there will be so many new things. It's a beginning, a fresh start and it'll be tangible in so many different ways.

I've barely even thought about the wedding these past couple weeks. Is that weird? We're five months out and I swear I've gone whole days without thinking about it.
a) Aside from getting these darn save the dates out the door, I have zero responsibilities right now. And I trust everyone else involved so I know I have nothing to worry about (for the first time in my life! i'm a class a worrywart).
b) Life is crazy. I'm still working long days. I'm one of those people who needs 9+ hours of sleep to function properly. And my body can't really deal with too much caffeine or sugar so I'm trying to avoid coffee and candy (the poisons of choice of my coworker). I love my job I just wish I knew how to stop being so darn exhausted all.the.time. I mean, I know this is the "real world" now, but I feel zombified most days. Also my skin doesn't like this lifestyle change. Need to save my pennies for a facial...

Fun story? I got invited to a charity dinner for MS on Monday night in Beverly Hills by my work. We're talking $500 a plate dinner.And there was  a cancellation so Fiance got to come too!  My celeb sighting skills are terrible. But Donny Osmond performed...haha. He's quite a character... Apparently Nia Vardalos, Selma Blair, and Joey McIntyre (from new kids on the block!) were also there. Ryan Reynolds was the "honorary" chair, which apparently means "not coming" chair. darn. Adam Sandler was a major contributer but I didn't see anything in the press release about him going. It was a beautiful cause though, with some majorly inspiring stories. Fiance is not a fan of social events, but he's trying to break into the film industry which means he will be attending a lot more of these in the future. (I don't mind!)

edit: dear Macys wedding registry. thank you for telling me there's only 150 days left till the wedding. that feels like way less than 5 months. for some reason that freaks me out. even though there's nothing to do. what the heck?!

September 25, 2010

so jealous

Headline "Bruce Springsteen hijacks a NJ couple's photo shoot"
We love Bruce. Can you imagine if the Boss walked up during your engagement shoot and took your guitar to serenade you? UH-mazing.


Captured by photographer Kella McPhee.

September 24, 2010

$#*!

Please tell me you have seen and laughed at this.
Next please tell me you watched this last night. 

I don't own a TV so I had to wait until today.
and just to make this wedding related, I will quote the twitter feed:
"Invite them. A wedding is a loaded gun. Don't be the a--hole staring down the barrel asking which button makes the boom noise."
"Engagement rings are pointless. Indians gave cows...Oh sorry, congrats on proposing. We good now? Can I finish my indian story?"
So much genius.

September 23, 2010

double u double u double u dot

so we made a wedding website. Because about 85% of our guests are from out of town. So it made sense to put all the information in one convenient place. With ceremony/reception addresses, hotels and local restaurants and things to do. Also linkage to the registries. Not that I'm usually one to abide by the etiquette rule makers but linking to a registry on a website that is only listed on the save-the-date is apparently the only acceptable way to tell people that you're registered? I remember the first time I read that you're not supposed to write anywhere where you are registered. It made no sense. So you spend all this time picking specific items but you're not allowed to tell people about it? Right...

Plus our registries are set up through a certain website so if anyone clicks our registry links through our wedding website, it'll automatically donate to a charity of our choice which I think is awesome.

We went with a free, basic, template type of deal. Because frankly I'm not interested in spending money on a website (let's keep that money in the food budget. am i right?). I don't care how graphically revolutionary it is. Just tell people information. There are also a lot of adults/older people so they don't need the distracting bells & whistles (we're just lucky they even have a computer, none of my grandparents do!)

Fiance is the writer in this unit, so he's in charge of writing up the little "about us" etc. sections. So...there may be something about outer space or zombie apocalypses. But that's why I love the guy.

apologies for the apparent apathy or incoherence...my brain is mush from too many consecutive extra-long work days.

September 22, 2010

life

busy busy busy. the meetings are almost over at work. But then project start up will begin and it will be hectic some more. I'm still working 9-10+ hour days. Still loving it but I'm so drained. It took me three days to work up the energy (and notice I was out of towels) to do laundry...

There's been discovery of an illness in the (close) family. unsettling but we're incredibly optimistic. still. it makes all those wedding details pretty insignificant. this family member definitely still wants us to continue on as planned, it gives something to look forward to. at this point I could care less whether we have tablecloths as long at they are at the table you know?

I find that these life events, good, bad, and otherwise help me focus on what's important instead of adding stress to THE WEDDING. makes me care less and less about the wedding and more and more about the marriage that will be happening.

also. I think i'm hitting pro-status in the delegation department. It's almost like I have nothing to do (except goals below). which is a GOOD thing friends.

Goal: send out save-the-dates before october starts... (let's forget I wanted to get these out a month ago)
pre-goal: get everyone's addresses...

September 16, 2010

la di dah

So in our whirlwind weekend home we made all kinds of decisions. It was nice.

We met with the pastor and he is AWESOME. all caps necessary. Super nice, totally laid back. Emphasized it was all about us, whatever we want to do. Move around the pews/furniture at the altar? Go for it. Use the sunday school rooms for the boys to change in? yep. have the flower girl dump flowers down the aisle? totally (as long as we designate a clean up person). photographers? the more the merrier! they can do whatever they want! Oh hey and there's also this awesome balcony to take photos from. He told us he understands the value of a good photo. There's nothing like catching a tear rolling down someone's cheek. He's going to email us some scripts of wedding ceremonies and we'll tailor it from there. Though we'll be sticking with pretty traditional simple stuff. Also? Turns out he has known Fiance's grandma for years. He used to help lead a ladies retreat she went on every year. sweet.

Discussed budget. family is pleased. Learned that the caterers are awesome & delicious. And they're all about using what's local and in season. And we'll be getting a bartender. a) to remove liability from us b) cuz they'll cut off the drunkies c)we don't have to worry about it.

Figured out a rough layout plan for the reception. Until you see his parent's garage, you might not understand the appeal of a party in a garage. But really it's a fully finished room with a concrete floor. There's drywall and paint, 3 huge windows, it holds about 4 cars. When you add the big white tent, it turns into roughly 1000 square feet. that's pretty darn spacious. If we get lucky and get the one day of winter sun, we'll nix the tent and open the garage doors so people can mingle outside too. The house is on a hill and the views are gorgeous.

Sat down with my mom's friend suzy and talked decor. She knows what's up. she's all over this "french market" aesthetic. she's got it all planned out and ready to go. She and my mom have been collecting vintage galvanized tin buckets and milk glass vases. There's a huge rubbermaid tub of just the milk glass plus about 10 buckets in my old bedroom. I think they've spent about $50 total? They're pro at finding bargains. I have full faith that they will pull it all together nicely.

Tried on my dress again! Fits perfectly. I mean PERFECTLY. except for the length. which will be an easy alteration. Tried it on with the shoes and jewelry. love love love. so excited.

chatted with grandma about the cake. she's making a 3 tiered cake. I think we'll just go super simple with the flavors. i.e. vanilla w/lemon filling, chocolate, carrot cake. Partially cuz grandma's old-fashioned. She brought over her cake decorating books and no joke they were all from the 60s and early 70s. All the pillars and gaudy swirls and patterns and designs. so funny. she can do whatever she wants with that. Like my mom said, she makes beautiful cakes that taste fantastic, but it'll be nothing like what you asked for. (stubbornness runs in the family, on both sides. can ya tell?) I have no qualms about the cake. Also, cheesecake will happen. yummmm.

also lots and lots of family bonding time. hanging with my little (well he's 16 but about a foot taller than me!) brother's lady friend (because i'm not allowed to call her his girlfriend. hehe.) and poor fiance getting the flu the night before we left. he was a little nervous about getting on the plane feeling that naseous but he made it home and slept it off. must have been a 24 hour bug.

now I'm busy busy busy at work! we've got a super duper big deadline tomorrow for our client and then I'll be in meetings most of next week while they nitpick and audit our work. I can't believe it's been 2.5 months already! I've learned so so much. and I still have an "i love my job!" moment at least once a day. so that's a good sign.

September 14, 2010

moving along

Fiance and I have returned from a short whirlwind trip home to see family and cross wedding tasks off the list.
I returned to work today and did not leave my desk all day it was so busy! We have a deadline this friday which means I'm looking at 10+ hour days this week (but I still LOVE my job!)
We got so much done this weekend (delegation and decision making is awesome!) and I feel absolutely zero stress right now. I'll fill in the details when I can later this week!

September 11, 2010

ring ring ring

I love my little ring. And after the glorious outcome of the ring incident, of course we'll be getting our wedding bands through Sarah Perlis as well.

I don't need them to be matchy-matchy or fitted. I like the idea of being able to just wear my band if I don't want to wear the diamond (like camping or traveling or something?). I want something fairly simply. Just gold. But where I lack in the flashy department I make up for in texture. My personal style is mostly boring neutrals but with lots and lots of texture. So here's a few rings I'm looking at:
The thin beaded band. Still dainty and small but not boring.
The moon textured stack rings. Look at that hammered gold glory. This also kind of makes me want three wedding bands.  It'd look so awesome all stacked with my rough diamond. Three is a prominent number in weddings, especially biblically speaking. Three rings also means triple the price...which we probably can't afford.
And then the classic 18K rose gold bands. I'd get it in yellow gold. But Sarah Perlis totally welcomes custom orders and as we've seen, she is more than helpful. Maybe I can even get it thinner, super tiny like this one.

Fiance wants something very plain and simple:
Like the half round band. Timeless.

I kind of like this one:
The finish on this smooth matte band is amazing.
Same goes for this woodgrain band. If he ever scratched or dented it (as most boys seem to do with anything...love you!), you wouldn't be able to tell!

(no freebies, no sponsorships, I just really admire her work!)

September 8, 2010

ventilation

you've got to be kidding me UPS. package number 2 should have been here the 2nd. Instead here's what I find:
Hmmm. That's funny. I have not spoken to this elusive UPS delivery person. I definitely don't have any emails or missed calls from you. who is this "customer" you've been consulting? where is this UPS facility? and why is there no customer service phone number on your website?!?!?! ahhhhhhhhhhh! just give my darn envelopes!

later...
so I learned the trick. call the hotline and keep pressing 0 until the recorded lady goes away and you can speak to an actual live human! basically my understanding is UPS fails at delivering to apartments. If you are not standing at the door when they arrive then they will just chuck your package into the "goes to UPS facility" pile. I guess apartment managers are not worthy of signing the UPS log in your place. then it sits at some semi-local UPS store for only 5 days unbeknownst to you (unless you are OCD about checking tracking numbers...which thanks now I will be). At least the customer service rep apologized.

well...what to do. I was planning on having lots of wedding stuff shipped to me. But it's kind of a pain to have to go pick up all my shipments 5 miles away (and friends in the heart of LA, 5 miles could take anywhere between 10 minutes and half an hour or more. especially since we'll be going right after I get off work, yay rush hour! at least the place doesn't close until 7). Plus picking up your stuff kind of defeats the purpose of online shopping.

Oh the battles I never imagined fighting during wedding planning. It seems to be the stuff that you would never expect to be so difficult. And I understand this is not remotely close to the end of the world, I'm really over the UPS part of this whole thing. This is my little corner to vent and share experiences right? but something as simple as shipping a package? we've only been doing that in the world for how long?? kind of reminds me of this bit from Mitch Hedberg:
"This product that was on TV was available for four easy payments of $19.95. I would like to have a product that was available for three easy payments and one complicated payment. We can't tell you which payment it is, but one of these payments is going to be hard. The mailman will get shot, the envelope will not seal, the stamp will be in the wrong denomination. Good luck. That last payment must be made in wampum."
Yep. Wedding planning will be mostly a smooth ride. But without warning, one tiny little thing will go in a complete opposite direction, defying all logic. And this is how brides end up spending 2 hours on a wedneday night ranting and raving over something like paper. no we're not monsters or unreasonable. we just got hit with the complicated payment and must rescue the mailman, invent new adhesive and resort to securing dollar bills to the envelope. and find a way to re-institute wampum as a form of currency.

even later...(after I have completely regained my wits though my night has been rendered useless).
Because Fiance is one smart cookie, we have a new plan of attack. turns out this paper supply company has storefronts in the area. so we will just physically waltz in and deal with them first hand. Cut out the UPS middleman. and if the store doesn't have everything we need? well then i'm having it shipped to the store and THEY can deal with the people in brown socks.

September 7, 2010

introducing


Brian aka Fiance's roommate/best man/photographer/film editor/ninja has just launched his photography website. And it's super awesome. For more reasons than the fact that fiance and I are on it.
Go read his about me page to learn more about him and his perspective. Or let his pricing page (all clearly laid out up front!) blow your mind. For a break from the wedding stuff check out his band photos (and then go check out the bands, they're amazing!). He lives in LA but his family's in northern california and I know he loves a road trip. Pass the word along!

September 6, 2010

yes please

so in addition to the wedding cake (it's looking like it'll be red velvet, fiance's vote...and I'm not complaining) and cheesecake; both made by my grandmother, and chocolate dipped strawberries made by a friend's sister...we felt we needed more. Well look what my internet scouring mama found: Old Style Desserts
Fabulous little pastries and baked goods. They ship fully prepared and frozen and all you do is defrost and go! Easy peasy. The prices are less than $2 a piece. Here's a few of my favorites:
Art deco minis (vanilla cake filled with hazelnut, chocolate, or caramel)
Mini Canolis (Crispy Cannoli shells filled with vanilla pastry cream and cannoli cream. garnished with chocolate chips)
 Lemon Meringue Minis
yummmmm...

September 2, 2010

red umbrellas

Work has been crazy busy. I'm barely used to this whole 8-5 thing still (sleep continues to elude me) and this week I've been putting in 10 hour days and taking short lunches. I'm not complaining, I love what I'm doing and I take this over going back to school any day. (I think I'm the only one who doesn't miss "back to school" time). But I am exhausted and braindead.

So for now I leave you with this:
"Los Angeles Love" by artsharkdesigns, from where else but Etsy.
Isn't it just the sweetest thing? And the setting at Griffith Observatory is so perfect, that's where Fiance proposed! Also it is only $15...I might have to buy it right now.
P.S. They feature a lot of different cities!

August 31, 2010

one step closer

We have less than six months to go now and time is NOT slowing down!

Our save the date magnets came! And we are quite pleased.
I went with Vistaprint. They had excellent bulk pricing specials and simple, easy to edit templates (Though I feel like their website isn't the most user-friendly ever). Other magnet sites I found were triple the price per magnet and had really crazy/complicated designs and backgrounds, none of which really went with our style. I was a bit surprised by their shipping costs though. $20 for 7 day shipping? That was the cheapest/slowest option. Seemed expensive to me for 100 lightweight 4"x5" magnets but maybe that's just me.

UPS gets a D- on delivery though. I did a bit of whining on that portion (Fiance can attest). According to my tracking number the package was supposed to arrive last Wednesday. Instead I got it yesterday, Monday. There were 2 "attempts" by the delivery person and it stated "customer not available. Will try again".
a) I live in an apartment building
b) my buzzer doesn't work
c) There is a prominent sign next to the buzzer that says "UPS, deliveries, etc. please bring all packages to the management office around the corner" with a LARGE ARROW.
d) Both attempts were made between the hours of 8 and 5. I work 8-5, so even if my buzzer did work I wouldn't have been there to get it.
Apartment buildings aren't new to the world, especially mine. And there's no way I was the first person to ever receive a package via UPS in my building. So really, what's the problem here??
Also, the box was FALLING APART. Like totally destroyed. There was supposed to be one of those plastic air-filled bags as padding but by the time it got to me it was completely deflated. Luckily I had magnets where the info is printed on vinyl, so they are heavy duty and all stuck together. If that was paper in that package? Half of it would have definitely fallen out and/or been bent/ripped and someone would be receiving an angry phone call.

Fiance stated that these made everything seem more real. Like this whole wedding thing is actually happening. Cute. :)

August 25, 2010

sweet things

Have you met Paulette?
Only the most glorious french macarons outside of France. To. die. for. In the most exotic flavors. Like passionfruit, sweet wedding almond, earl grey tea, and violet cassis. One of my ladies and I hit up their Beverly Hills store a while back and consumed half a dozen each. Quickly, yet still attempting to savor the light, yet chewy consistency unique to a macaron (not to be confused with the coconut macaroon, they are completely different!)

You should know I have been desperately seeking room in the budget to include these in our dessert table. A box of 24 puts you back $36. And that pretty little tiered display is $106 for 60. They do have a San Francisco shop and ship overnight for freshness... Maybe we'll save them for getting ready with the girls, or a bridal shower or something...

Do you have time for a story? I tried to make macarons last summer. Using a recipe by Martha, who else? I'm pretty handy in the kitchen and pretty good at following recipes. But these pretty little things are very complicated to make. I also wasn't quite prepared and had to make some substitutions (don't EVER try to make your own almond flour using only a rolling pin...dumb dumb dumb) which probably didn't help the situation. There's a part about having to leave the oven door ajar while these bake. um my oven door only stayed in the all-the-way-closed position or all-the-way-open. So I stood there and held the darn thing, and it was summer and hot outside. Long story, they were ugly, I neglected to flavor or color the cookie portion and they collapsed and cracked instead of staying round and fluffy. BUT they tasted exactly how they were supposed to, perfect texture. Which is really all that matters in my book. And I made peppermint, lemon and vanilla cinnamon fillings. YUM. Maybe I'll use this recipe next time (aka when I live in a place that has an oven. studio apartment fail.)

August 24, 2010

always the invites

For some reason, it's the paper goods that tempt me the most. Look at how pretty these menus are from Sunday Suppers! The gray cardstock with white calligraphed letters...How is it possible that in this day and age computer printers have yet to utilize white ink. My printer and wallet cannot handle printing gray ink with white ink over hundreds of sheets of cardstock. And I don't have the patience for calligraphy (or budget to allocate to it). After briefly attempting to come up with a plan involving getting the whole invite turned into a custom rubber stamp and finding white ink/embossing powder (bahhhh wedding brain is truly a disease)...I have decided to go the less-stressful route. Gray envelopes that I will be hand-addressing in white while the invites themselves will be on white/ivory with words printed in gray. Unless I get really time-crunched (aka lazy) and go with printed labels. It's 2010, I can only follow so much etiquette before throwing in the towel.

At the moment, my preliminary budget estimate puts us at $150 for approximately 100 invites and that includes: invite, outer envelope, insert for map, reply card and reply card envelope and printer ink. Savings FTW? It pleases the analytical logical part of me that can't reconcile the fact that other than myself, mom and grandma, these will all be thrown away (or optimistically, recycled).

August 20, 2010

scan free

Along with the excessive over-planning and analyzing that is in my nature, I'm love lists (and post-its, they take over my life). Specifically, wishlists. I have a wishlist established at just about every website imaginable, even though I know I'll never buy 95% of it (or 100% at this point, I haven't made any unnecessary purchases since I moved! And food/eating out does not count in that category). So the whole online registry thing has been way too fun for me. We still have a lot of editing down to do to our registries, considering there's only 100 people coming to our wedding and we have 400 things on the lists. And we still need to add bedding, towels and luggage...oops.

P.S. we registered at Crate & Barrel too, did I tell you that? Less personalized attention than Macys, but their system was easy to use. Once again the scanner gun was a blast. And we got the cutest little heart shaped glass candy dish thing as a free gift. We're all about the free stuff over here. Crate & Barrel has really great stuff, simple yet stylish and unique and I was surprised at the affordability. We scanned everyday items like plates, glasses and kitchen utensils. Fiance went a little overboard with all the specialized and fun, but unnecessary items. Like the silver dollar pancake pan, and the mini burger pan, that are basically the same thing. And a sauce bucket with attached brush. And anything "game night" and BBQ related, even though we don't have a BBQ and the possibility of our future place having even a patio is highly unlikely. But, you know how boys are =)

August 19, 2010

Picture Time!

Alright no more being cryptic.
Fiance and I are pleased to meet you:




















































































































































(All photos by Brian Nelson, aka Best Man and photographer #2 and Fiance's roomie)

The top batch are from Griffith Observatory, where we went the night he proposed. Brian was kind of obsessed with all the arches and doorways, good thing though, they turned out awesome. The last two are down below the Observatory in Griffith Park. They're my favorites =)

August 18, 2010

progress

Ok this whole job thing is catching up with me. Seems like there's never enough hours in the day.

Save the dates ordered! We decided to go magnet-style. And I threw in the towel and ordered them as opposed to printing them myself, because I want to mail them out by the end of the month and this time of my life is not conducive to DIY manic. Once they arrive I'll review the company I used. A little peek?
And that is another peek of the elusive engagement photos. Perhaps tomorrow I'll show you the rest! This one is particular is everyone's favorite for some reason.

We also received a sample menu from the caterers...The pricing seems decent, it'll work with the budget. We'll definitely have to work out the menu items...it was all over the place. Fancy, yummy sounding food, but nothing at all what I envisioned.

I have a slight obsession with Excel spreadsheets. I use them for EVERYTHING. I'm the overanalyzing type in case you hadn't guessed. So the wedding budget has been open on my desktop pretty much constantly as I tweak and alter categories and numbers. I've been honing it in as I get a better idea of how much different things will cost. I'm pretty excited because right now it's $100 under our target price right now, including my dress, his suit and our rings. Obviously we're 6 months away and there's a zillion little things that will come up, but it's a good place to start right?

August 16, 2010

pure joy

Hi.
My wedding photographer rocks.

That's all.

August 15, 2010

So.....wedding?

Do you ever get tired of talking about your wedding? Maybe tired is the wrong word. I feel like my words don't do justice to the ideas in my head and people (especially those with no experience in weddingblogland) are like "oh cool, i'm sure it'll be beautiful". I just saw and spoke with a bunch of friends this past week, ones that I haven't seen in a while. (Including a group of girls that I studied abroad with at Cambridge University 2 summers ago). They know about the engagement but nothing about the wedding. And as we're all chatty girls who love each other they want to know all about it. So I find myself walking the fine line about being that annoying girl who talks about weddings all the time and goes way too in depth, about things only wedding bloggers would get. So i think I accidently downplay things instead. "Um, we're getting married, church, his mom's house, appetizers, mid day...?" Although my Cambridge girls were quite amazed about my extensive network of friendors. And were super excited to hear about my dress.

My thoughts are a bit jumbled right now. I just got back from a night in palm springs with my maid of honor cousin and after 110 degree heat, laying by the pool and the ACE's vodka sno cones, my brain is still mush. But on with the story, I have a hard time talking about myself and my plans in great detail. I am the listener. Yet when it's my turn to dish, I always find myself giving a super abridged version, minimizing excitement. It's ridiculous because these are my friends. I don't know if I feel like I'm coming off as self-absorbed? Or trying to explain how awesome I think it will be to have little potted herbs as decor and I'm met with blank stares. So the next time I leave that part out. When co-workers ask how my weekend was I reply with "Oh we registered. It was super fun....blah blah blah." As we approach the 6 month mark (and have already surpassed 200 days-from the quiet reminding of our registries, NOT martha) I fear that elusive moment when suddenly all conversations and activities are wedding-related, in a bad way. Because I'm totally looking forward to the planning we have yet to do and the bridal showers and such to come. But there's so much more to me than that! Especially right now in my life! I already told Fiance we need to make an effort to do fun things and pursue topics that are interesting to us, because I refuse to let the wedding turn us into one-note people.

Hopefully when I see friends they will continue to ask "how are you doing? what's going on with you?" instead of or as well as "how's the wedding planning going?".

August 11, 2010

on a scale of 1 to 10...

this actually happens? this? really world?

photographers so shallow they refuse to put their non-pretty (as defined by society) clients on their blogs. and even being jerks about it WHILE shooting a wedding of said excluded couples?

it makes me sick.

I guess we're lucky that we can't afford a big name photographer. I guess we're lucky we have photographer friends who are true artists and love us and will give us beautiful photos whether they are "magazine worthy" or not.

wedding industry we were just starting to get along so well, I had so much hope in you. You have so much potential. Now it's back to fighting it out on our (as in sane wedding throwers) own.

August 9, 2010

coming of age

So...I gave up and am currently posting from the comfort of my own apartment. I'm almost embarassed that I couldn't survive without internet, but I got over that pretty quickly. I still have about 500 unread posts in my google reader. Also still working on trying to NOT GET OVERWHELMED. and I'm not just talking about reading blogs. I tend to let things accumulate in my head, good or bad. I breeze through for a few weeks and then BAM it all hits me at once. This time it was: moving to LA, into my very own first apartment, starting a grownup job, receiving some exciting opportunities at this job, still unpacking boxes, learning how to budget and grocery shop...all within a month. All very good things but my brain tends to have a slight delay in registering things that are going on. And so it all hits me at once, resulting in meltdown, triggered by something fairly small. After some grounding conversations with Fiance and the parents, I came to the simple conclusion that I was overwhelmed. Not ungrateful or doing things wrong. I need to prioritize and learn it's okay that all my clothes are still in boxes because I can't afford a dresser yet.

I'm really hoping I can get some of these big life lessons out of the way and under my belt before the wedding. I know too many expectations are bad, but really I'm just hoping for peace and calmness day of. Planning ahead, prioritizing, and letting go are some of the bigger issues I've been tackling on the road to not only wedding planning but becoming the person I want to be. Sometimes I forget that I'm only 21. In no way am I expected to have things all figured out.

August 5, 2010

rolling along

I love my little apartment, my kitchenette and my cooking items in all their mismatched glory. But I think I really understand the joy of a wedding registry now. brand new, shiny, high-quality things that all work properly and are in colors and patterns of our choosing... things that will be OURS and not just hand-me-downs or cheapie items that don't quite work. Also that we don't have to necessarily pay for. And I've decided that I WILL use all the fancy stuff we registered for. Like that china? Dude it's Tuesday night, bust it out. And the super nice wine glasses, um, it's saturday afternoon? I don't believe in shoving stuff away in storage for someday. I'm using it now! Also why sometimes I put on a nice fancy dress to sit around and watch movies in...silly i suppose.

We're really rolling on wedding to-dos. My mom will be contacting the florist. Fiance's mom is waiting on quotes from the caterers and rental company and confirmation for the honeymoon. I've contacted the darling pastor of the church we'll be married in so we can meet up and start planning the ceremony when Fiance and i visit home next month.

Fiance and I still get giddy about being engaged. it's been over 8 months, with less than 7 to go now!

And work is going marvelously, I love my job. I could work there for the rest of my life and be totally happy.

August 1, 2010

he's got a gun

updates updates!
my mom and her friend suzy hit the thrift stores last weekend. and scored big. milk glass vases, cake stands, galvanized tin buckets and silver platters (all $2 or less) galore.

Yesterday Fiance and I were hanging out and he says "hey let's go register today!" so we drove on over to Macy's. Everyone should have the in-store registry experience. It lives up to every bit of the hype. We have our own personal registry consultant, who was the sweetest woman on the planet. you can tell she absolutely loves her job. Macy's has these bonus rewards, where if you register for, say $500 worth of kitchenaid, then you get a free gift (worth about $30-$50). It doesn't matter if no one buys that stuff for you, as long as it's in your registry. how awesome is that? so Fiance went a little crazy with the scanner gun. I was trying to be logical and pick only things we needed and Fiance was like, "is calphalon on the list? yes?" scan scan scan scan scan. "babe we don't need $1500 worth of all-clad cookware" "but we get a free engraved skillet!" "do we really need a skillet with our names and wedding date on it?" "hell yeah if it's free!" oh dear! it was so so fun though. I also signed up for a macy's credit card. because anytime someone buys off our registry, MY card gets like 5% rewards. we're supposed to wait on bedding, towels and luggage since the styles are seasonal and what's out now won't be available once the wedding date rolls around. we definitely need to do some editing down as well...those scanner guns are too addicting.

the playlist is coming along nicely. and we looked at some suits and shoes for Fiance.

I'm kind of having internet withdrawals. trekking to the coffee shop for an hour a couple times a week is not nearly enough time to get everything done. we'll see how much longer i last.

July 26, 2010

dreamy

i love my dress, don't get me wrong. it's exactly what i wanted. but sometimes you see a dress that is so perfect for someone else. um, miss alix, from the cherry blossom girl got married last weekend. and she posted a preview of her dress. if you don't know her, you should, she is a fashion designer in paris and lives in a total dream world, but still seems so genuine and sweet. sometimes a little bit of fantasy is needed.
gorgeous!

July 19, 2010

cleaning

miss you guys. I still don't have internet at my apartment so I have to go to a coffee shop down the street. I might not get it at all, because I can't commit to a 12 month contract and I'd like to save $40 a month...but I almost had a heart attack when I saw 500 unread posts in my google reader. So I've been weeding out the blogs. I've also been doing a lot of letting go of material items too. Moving made me realize how much of a packrat I am. And how much I attach sentimental value to completely unnecessary items. I realized every photo I've ever saved of houses that I love are super minimal, which is totally not my life right now. So I'm getting down to the essentials. Which I'll need to do even more of when fiance and I move in together in a few months. People, not things. I'd rather have plenty of seating and money for groceries so I can enjoy having friends and family over instead of just cool knick knacks. Which, really, is our (attempted) philosophy for our wedding.

Um almost 7 months till the wedding! it's going to start going fastttt. SOON on the list? save-the-dates. 

July 17, 2010

clue 1

I"m gone all day today for work so I will leave you with a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing photo taken by miss shanny lee.

July 15, 2010

new beginning

posting from my local neighborhood coffee shop because there's still no internet at my little studio apartment. Fiance and I are loving the fact that we only live 15 minutes away from each other! I can even just hop on the metro (which I take to work everyday!) straight to his area. I've seen him every day since friday, it's so exciting.

we had more wedding discussions and he is furiously putting together the playlist. Fiance's parents have had multiple big (as in 130 people) parties at their house before, which is why we feel comfortable and confident hosting the reception there. I was trying to get an estimate for rentals, turns out, my future inlaws already have 100 dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls and sets of silverware. WHAT!? awesomeness. they bought them a while back knowing that they'll at least use them for their christmas parties each year. hello moneysaver. also they know a rental company that can get us: big quality tent, tables, chairs, space heaters (feb. in norcal can be chilly...) and glasses/cups for dirt cheap. helpful I tell you.

hopefully I can get internet going so I can post some more! time to go unpack MORE boxes (I never want to move again!)

July 5, 2010

couture

so ban.do is the coolest. we all know that. If I didn't have my own vintage headpiece to wear, I'd get a ban.do in a snap. My wise cousin has reminded me that there are plenty of other events to warrant prettifulness on my head. Bridal Showers, Bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners, honeymoons, birthdays, saturday afternoons...I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a fan of dress up. Always have been. I'm not the type of girl who can't wait to change into her sweats...nope I like to change into fancy dresses and heels for...a weeknight perusing the internet. So I totally can't wait to plan my outfits for all these wedding events. And a ban.do is most certainly in order. But instead of purchasing online, I want to make a girls day and go visit jen and jamie's studio. Yep, if you make an appointment, you can go frolic among the sequins and ribbons and jewels and possibly sip champagne and eat cupcakes and macarons. Doesn't it sound like a dream?!

p.s. that is EXACTLY how I want my hair done.

July 3, 2010

L-O-V-E

so if you've ever seen my other blog, you'll know I'm a sucker for videos full of love and joy and people bursting into song. I am a fan of musicals, was even in a few in my elementary and middle schools (despite my utter inability to carry a tune...I was usually part of the dancing ensemble in the background).

As I was trying to take a break from (aka avoid) packing and perusing the archives of the delightful and darling life according to celia I stumbled across this gem.

I was a sobbing mess at the end, watch the bride's face, it is priceless. Talk about celebrating love in a community. One of fiance's groomsman offered to write and sing a song for us at the reception (!) YES PLEASE! He is a musician in a Sacramento local band and his older brother is a successful musician as well. Though it will be more of a slow rock ballad than musical theatre style.

I'm so excited to have a celebration that molds all of our nearest and dearest's talents together into one big love fest. I will DEFINITELY have a hanky on hand on my wedding day. You guys, I cry during the HGTV room makeover reveals. I suppose I should start researching industrial strength waterproof makeup because the regular stuff won't stand a chance against my tear ducts.

July 2, 2010

love

so I guess fiance read my entire blog like...yesterday. hehe he loves it. I guess I don't talk to him enough about wedding stuff because he didn't realize how much thought I had put into everything. My bad. But now that we'll be living 15 minutes away from each other (yay!!!) planning things together will be a whole lot easier. I almost got stuck in traffic on my way home from having lunch with him (and dropping off apt paperwork) because I left later than expected. We got caught up talking about wedding stuff. He is just as excited as I am and wants to be involved every step of the way.

Fiance's getting started on the official music playlist. And there will definitely be more than just mushy love songs. Including a Johnny Cash cover of a Beatles song and The Replacements. I swear I love him for reasons other than eclectic musical taste. He might even be making a guest appearance here! He's trying to be a writer for a living so he will be far more witty and eloquent than myself. Also he said I'm allowed to use his actual name but, hey we're only going to be engaged for 15 months of our lives, I want to call him Fiance as much as possible. :)

July 1, 2010

Sorry...

I may be out more often than in over the next 2 weeks or so. I'll be moving into my own first apartment and starting my first grown up lady job! It is super exciting but will be very time consuming until I get settled.

p.s. I tried on my wedding dress again before I left my parents house. I love it every bit as much as I did when I bought it six months ago. Yay!

Eight more months to go!

June 30, 2010

Check Check Check

Alright friends. Now that I'm officially done with school it's time to start crossing things off my list. I'm spending time with my mom this week and we've been trading wedding ideas back and forth.

I finally visited our little ceremony church. It's even better than the photos my parents took. So perfect for us.

I've been working on the design of our save the dates. We're going super simple and basic and convenient. I plan on ordering some magnets with an engagement photo and all the basic info. I was too afraid people would throw out a piece of paper. So if they can just stick it on their refrigerator for the next 8 months and be reminded of our date and website. And our cute smiling faces. Vistaprint has excellent prices.

We've been working on invitation templates and wording too. Thinking about going with a more general and casual "together with our parents" to avoid trying to figure out the proper way to write out Fiance's remarried parents' names. Still haven't found a design that I love, though I've got the wording and fonts down. (Using an old typewriter font as a nod to Fiance's screenwriting profession.) I may eat my words later, but my goal is to get invites printed and done well in advance. Timing on things is going to get really tricky, our wedding is the last weekend in February. Mailing the invites 8 weeks in advance puts us right at January 1. I definitely want to make sure all holidays are over and people are done with christmas cards before trying to send wedding invites. I also don't want to spend my holidays printing/addressing invites. November also happens to contain 6 birthdays in our family plus thanksgiving. So invites need to be done, and even addressed by the beginning of November at the latest. Also my goal for most DIY type projects. Then I can minimize stress during the holidays and save final to-dos for after the craziness.

And with paper items comes guest list. We need to figure that one out still, start collecting addresses.

June 29, 2010

Everything to Me

(warning...potentially mushy gushy post)
Music plays a pretty big role in our relationship (and as I've seen going around blog world, obviously does in just about everyone else's relationships!). Fiance helped grow and mold my taste in music and expand my horizons. One of his top 3 childhood dreams was to become a musician. He knows his way around a guitar. There are a few different bands within his circle of friends. We tend to be old souls, seeking a sound with a blues edge. It is very effective for a guy like fiance who has a difficult time expressing his emotions with regular words. Music has continually defined our relationship.
-He had me make a mix cd before we even started dating with bands like The Who, Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Elton John
-Fiance serenaded me with Bob Dylan's "Wallflower" when he asked me to prom (yes we went to senior prom together =D)
-We danced to the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" on a hilltop overlooking sacramento the night he told me he loved me
-He made up this whole mime with ridiculous facial expressions and hand gestures to the Stones' "Beast of Burden". That song still makes me laugh, and reminds me of driving to the bank with him the summer after high school graduation
-i got us tickets to see bruce springsteen in concert for a graduation present
-He typed up the words to Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine" for me when we broke up early in our relationship
-Jackie Greene's "Falling Back" defined us after getting back together
-Lyle Lovett's "Nobody Knows Me" always reminds me of sweet moments
-We saw bob dylan in concert (and kings of leon opened!)
-On road trips up to Northern California we sing Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher" at the top of our lungs
-we saw BB king in concert
-fiance says I'm his favorite person, Ray Lamontagne's "You are the best thing" was a perfect fit
-When I went to Europe, Coldplay's viva la vida had just come out, and "strawberry swing" made me miss fiance terribly
-when fiance picked me up from LAX when i got back from europe, he sang Joe Cocker's "you are so beautiful" while we sat in traffic on the 405
-Van Morrison's "sweet thing" has always been one of fiance's favorite songs. He had it playing when he proposed to me.
-Fiance tries to fit Tom Waits songs into any situation. His song "Picture in a Frame" will most likely be our first dance.