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.

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!

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!)

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.

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!

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...

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!