Sweet Lorraine

Sweet Lorraine Goes by Another Name

2010-01-05T04:22:00.003-06:00

I still intend to finish posting about our wedding here (reception and other fun things to come!) as well as "real life" beyond the nuptials, but at the moment, I'm a little busy getting my dedicated photography blog off the ground.

See, besides being a newlywed, a student and a (sort of) mild-mannered barista, I also moonlight as a portrait and event photographer 'round about the Dallas area. You can follow my adventures in starting my business over at Mary Cyrus Photography.

Sláinte*

2009-12-22T01:31:00.003-06:00

We debated for a little while as to whether we ought to have champagne for the toast or not. We wound up just toasting with whatever we had in hand at the time, and I think it was perfectly appropriate for the occasion.

When I was my sister's Maid of Honor at age 15, I had no idea that I was supposed to give a speech. So.. I just didn't. Whoops. Opie kind of forgot to plan one for his best man Justin's wedding, so apparently his speech was pretty weak. Weeeell, we love them both, but Justin's and Jessie's speeches weren't particularly planned or eloquent, so we both feel a lot better now. Just sayin'.

All photos by Jenna Cole. I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

*Slainte, for those who may not know, is a gaelic drinking toast to health.

In Memory of my Grandfather

2009-12-11T16:26:00.004-06:00

I feel the need to pause in my recollections of our wedding day to pay a small tribute to my grandfather, who passed away on Wednesday.

I find it hard to put into words exactly what my grandfather was to me.

When I was very young, I stayed with my grandparents every afternoon after pre-school. My grandfather, known to me as Papa Daddy, built me this sweet little play table predominately from plywood, with a pull-out drawer to stow my drawings, and the top neatly covered in wallpaper in a farm animal theme. It still sits at one end of their kitchen, exactly where he placed it when I was 3.

Together, we'd dig small red potatoes from a raised bed bordered by railroad ties, in their plentiful backyard garden. I wanted to take home all the potatoes I dug up (after all, I found them!) but that was a no go. I definitely took home my fair share then, and later, of the harvests of their garden.

When I was older, and my visits were no longer daily, my grandparents bought a pool table and plopped it down in the middle of their upstairs living area. The TV where we used to watch Wheel of Fortune (which I was mighty good at as a 3 and 4 year old) got moved downstairs. I played many a game of pool with my grandfather, with Bob Wills, Hank Williams, and a little creole and Dixie Chicks thrown in for good measure. My pool game is always off if there's not old-timey country blasting in the background.

I also had the pleasure of going on many a fishing trip with my grandparents. We'd load up in one of the many extended bed, extended cab F-150s that he owned in his lifetime, with me either sitting in the tiny seat between them, or more often in one of the little red hard plastic pull down seats behind them. My grandmother would make sandwiches so we wouldn't have to stop (they never stopped on road trips, no matter how long) and we'd truck out to Canton. We'd fish all day and then stay in their friends' mansion on the same property. We were roughin' it.

I have so many wonderful memories of my grandfather. It's been difficult watching him decline these last few months since his stroke this summer. It's been hard seeing him in that state, when he's always been this monumental, strong, proud man in my life. We all will miss him so, but no one could accuse him of having not lived life to its fullest. In an attempt to demonstrate just how well my grandfather seized the day, I've included the obituary my Aunt Laura wrote for him.

I love you and I miss you, Papa Daddy.

Charles Allen Richardson
July 12, 1923 – December 9, 2009

Dr. Charles A. Richardson died at home with his wife of 65 years at his side on Wednesday, Dec. 9, from complications of longstanding heart disease and a recent stroke.

A resident of Richardson for 54 years, Richardson was a community and business leader whose legacy includes service to the city’s schools, library, hospital, parks and recreation facilities. In the early 1950s, Richardson worked for the Dallas County Health Department and taught at Baylor Dental School, then began 25 years of private orthodontic practice in Richardson. In middle age he returned to school and took a degree in finance, then in 1974 organized Richardson National Bank, and later established one of the earliest of Texas’ bank holding companies.

Richardson was elected to the board of the Richardson Independent School District in 1968 and served throughout the 1970s. In the early 1960s he also served on the city’s parks and recreation board and on the local hospital board. In later years he was a member of the board of directors of H&R Block. A 32nd degree Mason and a Hella Temple Shriner who worked with DeMolay, he was also active in other civic and professional service organizations.

In his private life he was a man of boundless curiosity and fierce intelligence. He had played football in high school and boxed in college, and always maintained an imposing physical presence and a high degree of athleticism. He took up downhill skiing after his 70th birthday, when he became eligible for free lift tickets: he was thrifty all his life. He was a passionate outdoorsman, a hunter and fisherman who passed on his enthusiasm and skill to his children, grandchildren, and many friends. A master gardener, he shared the harvests of his fruit trees and vegetable gardens with friends, family, and the local food bank. He loved to barbecue, choosing his smoking woods with care and creating delicious, spicy feasts to serve his many guests.

He had a tender heart for animals and was unfailingly kind to the numerous, occasionally bizarre, creatures that his four children brought home. He especially loved the Labrador dogs, Count and Kate, that shared his old age.

Richardson was born July 12, 1923 in Saratoga, Texas, the youngest of the five children—two girls and three boys-- of Lemuel Archibald and Sally Lee (Wright) Richardson. His boyhood in Cleveland was marked by poverty and hard work, as well as by dangerous, unsupervised adventures in the Big Thicket of East Texas, which became the stories with which he regaled his children and grandchildren. He went to work at the age of five, washing dishes in his mother’s café, and by age eight was an employee of wide experience. He was, variously, a bootlegger's runner (hiding the prepaid "orders" at designated spots around town and hidey-holes near railroad tracks), a carpenter's helper, short-order cook, and postal worker. In late adolescence he ran a few slot machines and rode the rails around the state.

A regular student at the University of Texas at Austin, he met Gene Marie Davis in 1942 on the first day of summer school physics class at Sam Houston State in Huntsville. Drafted into the Army and sent to dental school under the accelerated program to meet war demand for medical personnel, Richardson married Davis in August 1944 before he was shipped overseas.

Stationed in Saipan, he formed warm friendships with his Chinese Army colleague Dr. Zhang (also part of the occupying force) and with Chamorro fishermen, who took him and his young wife along on numerous expeditions. Here begin his intense, lifelong interest in Asia, which led him in his 70s to begin learning Mandarin and to travel to Shanghai to study. When China reopened to the west with the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1976, he reconnected with his friend Zhang. Eventually he sponsored the immigration to the US of Zhang’s god-daughter, Qiu Ping, who became an integral member of the Richardson family.

He and his wife traveled extensively in the US and in Latin America, and made extended visits to friends and family in South and East Asia, Europe, Turkey, Egypt, and New Zealand. They rode hard sleepers across China, and drove from New Delhi across Pakistan to the Chinese border. Everywhere they went, Richardson met the unexpected with interest and aplomb. At one point, visiting friends working in a leprosy hospital in Nepal, he was asked to perform emergency oral surgery without anesthetic or even a proper drill, which he did. Successfully.

He is survived by his wife, Gene; four children-- Linda (James Gillespie), Laura (Rone Tempest), Will (Teresa Kanan) and Dee (Rob McManamy); his god-daughter Qiu Ping (Ning Ling); five grandsons, six granddaughters, two great-grandchildren; two nieces, three nephews, and many grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.

Om nom nom

2009-12-08T00:59:00.002-06:00

Time to focus on one of the real stars of the wedding: the food. Oh yes, we took a simple route. We had no (fancy or otherwise) appetizers, no soup or salad courses, no champagne, and no signature cocktails (or any cocktails at all).

Nope, we had a plain ol' hamburger buffet with baked beans, chips and potato salad, 2 kegs, some wine, and enough pie and cake to go around. We're simple folk, and there was no need to pretend otherwise on our wedding day. Plus, for our money, that's some darn good eatin'. I mean, vegetarians aside, who doesn't like hamburgers?! Communists. That's who.

That is one excited bride. Now if only her photographers would leave her in peace to eat her hamburger. ;)

Although family made the special pie that we cut, the rest of our tasty, tasty beautiful wedding pie came from Central Market. We had 2 peach pies, 2 apple pies, 2 blueberry pies, 2 cherry pies, and 2 pecan pies. I'm salivating a little just thinking about it. My mom went to pick them up from the store, and opening her car trunk full of pies was nothing short of magical. I just stood there for a few minutes and breathed in the amazing smells of pie. Mmmmm. I hope another occasion arises someday to have that many pies at once.

Mmmm, blueberry pie. I never got a taste of that one, but I've heard it was particularly good.

In case you didn't know, pie is serious business.

See? Serious business.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Pie Time!

2009-12-06T01:29:00.003-06:00

Opie and I make time for "pie time" on many special days (and many days made special by pie time), so it's only fitting that we had pie on our wedding day! It was a delicious pecan pie made by my sister-in-law Melissa.

Yuuuum. Sadly, we only got the one piece of the pie that we cut ourselves. I never thought to ask anyone to set aside the rest of this special pie for us, and while it didn't get served to the guests, it went back to my parents' house and got devoured by everyone staying there. I've never made a public complaint about this before, but hey! That's like eating the top tier of our wedding cake! Sadness.

There's Opie's groom's cake. A very moist and deeelicious carrot cake from Paradise Bakery.

While we're looking at the carrot cake, let's take a closer look. Do those carrots look sort of.. suspect.. to anyone else? No? Just me? I think they go well with these stamps. :P
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Let's cut into that tasty pie!

You can tell I am seriously stoked about this pie. Look at that grin.

The anticipation. It's killing me.

Aaaaand we fed each other pie and cake and stuff and then kissed. But the one photo we have of feeding each other looks weird. So let's skip to the kissing. But to make up for skipping that one awkward photo, I provide a far funnier awkward photo:

What is even going on here? I do not know. I think Opie miiight be assuring people that there are about 12 pies and 2 more cakes in the other room awaiting them. Or maybe he's leaning with it and rocking with it. And lord knows what I'm up to. We're so photogenic!

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's, or unless marked as a guest photo.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

A Simple Man

2009-12-04T02:40:00.005-06:00

I'm really not the one to write this, given that I was just an observer of the event, so I'll mostly allow the photos to speak for themselves. Opie and his mom danced to "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd after my dad and I finished our dance. It was very sweet watching them share this moment. Opie is an only child and his mother stayed at home with him when he was young, so they were very close as he was growing up. The song choice seemed quite apropos.

Mama told me when I was young
Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say.
And if you do this
It will help you some sunny day.
Take your time... Don't live too fast,
Troubles will come and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you'll find love,
And don't forget son,
There is someone up above.

And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Be a simple kind of man.
Won't you do this for me son,
If you can?

Forget your lust for the rich man's gold
All that you need is in your soul,
And you can do this if you try.
All that I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.

Boy, don't you worry... you'll find yourself.
Follow you heart and nothing else.
And you can do this if you try.
All I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.

Baby be a simple, be a simple man
Be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Mairi's Wedding

2009-12-01T01:21:00.003-06:00

My dad and I tentatively selected the song "Marie's Wedding" (though I personally think Mairi would be the more accurate spelling, Van Morrison and the Chieftains are welcome to spell their country's traditional songs as they please) a week or two before the big day. It wasn't until the night of the rehearsal dinner that we ever determined if we could even dance to it. It's a pretty speedy little tune, but our 10 second rehearsal reassured us that we could probably wing something for it.

It's not a song I would attempt dancing with just anyone, but my dad is quite the dancer. He's got excellent rhythm and leads really well, so I just followed him and everything worked out quite dandy.

It was quite a tumultuous time for my family leading up to the wedding, so it was really indescribably special to dance with my dad at my wedding. I was never a child that daydreamed about my future wedding, but I was addicted to the Chieftains album from which this hails (to the extent that you can probably credit it for me ever picking up the fiddle), and I did always imagine it would be featured in some way in my own wedding. Dancing to this tune with my dad, the only person I know who loves celtic music as much as I do, was a perfect moment in a wonderful day.

I think you can see from these photos that I'm still his little girl despite my new marital status.

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Step we gaily on we go,
Heel and heel
And toe for toe
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Arm and arm
And row and row,
All for Marie's wedding
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Over hillways, up and down,
Myrtle green and bracken brown,
Past the sheilings through the town
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All for the sake of Marie

Red her cheeks as Rowan's are,
Bright her eyes as any star

Fairest of them all by far,
Is our darlin' Marie

Plenty herring, plenty meal,
Plenty peat to fill her kreel

Plenty bonnie bairns as well,
That's the toast for Marie

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's, or unless marked as a guest photo.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream on

2009-11-22T02:55:00.002-06:00

After we finished our group portraits, we went straight into our First Dance, "Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On" as performed by Louis Armstrong. We never took dance lessons. Neither of us are particularly good dancers. Our practicing consisted of swaying and twirling in our office and foyer at home a few times during the weeks leading up to the wedding. I have absolutely zero regrets about this. Sure, maybe it'd be fun to learn to dance together sometime, but on our wedding day, swaying and looking at my shiny new husband was all I was keen to do. I certainly didn't want to be stressing about remembering any coordinated dance moves. It was a lovely three minutes.

Give me a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination
Will thrive upon that kiss

Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A Kiss to build a dream on

Give me a kiss before you leave me
and my imagination
will feed my hungry heart

Leave me one thing before we part
A kiss to build a dream on

When I'm alone with my fancies
I'll be with you

Weaving romances
Making believe they're true

Oh, give me your lips for just a moment
and my imagination
will make that moment live

Give me what you alone can give
A kiss to build a dream on

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Details, Details!

2009-11-10T11:21:00.002-06:00

We interrupt this wandering narrative to show you some stuff of a purely aesthetic nature.

It's scary how many of these projects were tackled at the 11th hour. It's amazing how many of these projects would've fallen completely by the wayside if I hadn't had awesome wedding elves jump in at the last minute to save me from death by crafting.

Let's start with something silly and fun. Our "photobooth".

Ingredients: Fabric bought for about $0.90 a yard at Ikea about 6 months before the wedding. 1 Captain Kirk standup that typically lives in our kitchen because we're classy like that. 1 Yoda backpack that I bought several years ago because I'm awesome. 1 awesome Uncle who threw all the ingredients together and made it work even though I forgot the part of the tripod that holds the camera on, and also yaaaay duct tape.

Moving onto a few very last minute projects.

Photo by Chrishawn Mitchell

We decided about a week before the wedding to use a photo matt for the guestbook. Yay, Kohl's perpetual sales on frames. Yay, quick print-out asking people to sign, in lieu of a photo since we never had engagement portraits shot. Also featured in this photo is a really pretty bit of decor that my mom threw together within the week before the wedding before she even mentioned it to me. Ha. Love my momma. Naturally, I loved 'em and knew they'd find a good home somewhere at the wedding. They looked right at home on our otherwise bare guestbook/present table, and they now look right at home on our fireplace mantle!

I love how the "guestbook" turned out. I can't wait to print one of our portraits and hang it above our mantle!

Photo by Chrishawn Mitchell

The card basket was also so very last minute. My mom and I bought the basket sometime within the last 2 weeks before the wedding. I made the li'l trifold sign the night before the wedding. Ha. Procrastinate? Me?! Never!

Photo by Chrishawn Mitchell

Oh, lavender toss. My brother and sister-in-law bought about 2 pounds of lavender when they visited my sister in Washington roughly a month before the wedding. 2 pounds of lavender. A LOT of lavender. A LOT of amazing smelling beautiful lavender. A LOT of lavender that we discovered my nephew is deathly allergic to while we (we? I wasn't involved at all, actually. Thanks wedding elves!) were packaging the lavender about 2 days before the wedding. Whoops.

Those are tea filter bags by the way. Tea filter bags that wound up looking nothing like they did in the picture. Whatever. It did the job.

Oh, my beloved beautiful bunting!

[drools] Probably my personal favorite bit of decor. This is one that I fought a number of people on. "Why?", they asked. "Like the flags at used car lots?", they said. "Yes, exactly", I said. "You so don't have time to make those", they said. "Yeah huuuuuh", I whined. Ultimately, it totally wouldn't have happened if my mom (one of the original protestors, particularly about how much time I had on my hands) hadn't tracked down the fabric and cut out all the flags. Thanks mom! I glued all of 'em onto the string one afternoon and they wound up looking aaaaawesome.

Photo by Chrishawn Mitchell

Another late-in-the-game project was the streamers on the railing around the trees. We wanted something to soften their appearance, since our ceremony was set to occur between these trees. Beige metal railing didn't have the right.. ambience. Our first good idea was ribbons disguising them like so, but.. I'm a cheapskate. A cheapskate with a tight budget. And ribbon's expensive!

So uh.. because we're crazy, we decided to buy really cheap fabric in our wedding colors and cut it into strips. Except on top of being crazy, we're also really busy, so had no time to actually accomplish this project. Luckily wedding elf Carla, one of my mom's close friends, volunteered to help out. She cut all of these strips of fabric in perfect straight-as-a-board lines of uniform thickness, and then stored them beautifully folded and organized by color. So, essentially, the opposite of what my haphazard disorganized make-it-work self would've done. Carla, you rock.

I find it really cute that Opie and his groomsmen are the ones that ultimately wound up tying the fabric onto the railing. I wasn't able to attend the set-up, but I can totally picture them doing it. Awww.

As previously discussed, I could hardly care less about cake. Yeah, sure, for a brief while I oohed and ahhed over the pretty ways you can decorate wedding cakes. And then I remembered, Oh yeah. I don't like cake. And wedding cakes are ridonkulously expensive. So, I present our beautiful wedding pie.

Originally, my grandmother was supposed to make our wedding pie. Unfortunately, unforeseen complications made that rather inconvenient for her, but my lovely sister-in-law Melissa stepped in instead. Our wedding pie was pecan pie, made with the recipe that Opie uses. In other words, deeeelicious. Opie and I have "pie time" on a regular basis, with pies that he/we make at home. It's a pretty pivotal part of our relationship.

Photo by Chrishawn Mitchell

Om nom nom nom pie. Oh, right. Carrot cake too, yeah, yeah. Admittedly I like carrot cake pretty well. It's Opie's favorite cake and thus made a perfect groom's cake. :] It wound up being one detail I would change a little bit if given the chance, but ultimately, it so incredibly doesn't matter. I just don't like the little technicolor orange and green carrots on top. Yup. That's it. The cake was admittedly delicious, for the one bite of it that I got.

That's my bouquet chillin' with the coffee beans up there. Also, the cloth spread on the table is a wrap that my sister gave me for my birthday (and also for prom) back in high school. The cake and pie servers both belong to my mother. Hooray for using preowned items!

Jenna wound up using our cake/pie table as a backdrop for some cute ring shots. I'm not sure if it was Jenna & Lynn or some wedding guest that wrote LOVE with the coffee beans, but it was an adorable unplanned touch.

Looking at this photo is always such a struggle in my mind between "Oooo, pretty jewelry!" and "Mmmm.. delicious piiiie." [drools]

I'll close the entry with some photos of our tablescapes. This is one of the few projects that actually came to fruition via lots of long-term planning and work.

The green polyester shantung fabric was stalked and purchased on sale with coupons months in advance. My mom cut and hemmed all of them a good while before the wedding. The little lunch sack favor bags were purchased from Target everytime they restocked 'em for about a month. My sister and I decorated them over the summer when she came to visit. It was also at that time that we taste-tested the favors themselves. We decided on deeeelicious cranberry and coffee chocolate truffles that my sister handmade.

I saved up coffee beans for a full year before the wedding. I get a free pound every week at work, and while I forgot a few weeks here and there, I had a TON stockpiled by the time the wedding rolled around. I bargain hunted for ages to find cool inexpensive vases. I bought the white tablecloths on ebay as soon as I knew how many we needed, after going on a similarly epic quest for the cheapest best-looking ones. I bought the votive holders off of Craigslist somewhere midway through planning the wedding. The cups doubling as candleholders were all my maternal grandparents', and I've saved them ever since the estate sale after my grandfather passed away when I was 13.

Everything looked so pretty in the candlelight, just like I imagined.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's, or if credited to my day of coordinator, Chrishawn Mitchell.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Obligatory Group Photos for the Moms in the House

2009-11-09T01:58:00.004-06:00

And now we move onto photos that family members can pretend to be excited about, and friends/acquaintances/strangers could care less about. Ah, the classic wedding family photos. You know the ones. I'm very happy to have them nonetheless. :P

While we waited for all of our immediate relatives to be wrangled (no small task) we snagged a photo with our officiant, Virgil Walker.

A few others took the opportunity to have some photos taken as well.

There are all three of my attendants, Sister of Honor Jessie, Bridesman Michael, and Brideslady Kelsey.

That's my dad, my nephew Connor, and my Uncle Tom all looking quite sporting in their caps. Connor's super-adorable vest makes up for his lack of a bowtie.

There's my cousin TJ who played guitar for our ceremony, and his daughter, Flowergirl Elise. :)

With the relative-gathering taking approximately forever, we snagged a few more portraits of just the two of us.

We're glowing!

These 2 shots are so gosh. darn. cool.

MAGIC. Magic, I tell you.

Anyhow, we finally gathered everyone and snagged a few photos of the whole group with someone making a funny face in each one, and then Elise showed up and made the photos of the whole group approximately 999x more awesome. Just sayin'.

I love this kid. So much.

I just giggle everytime I see these photos. I think I might frame one of them.

Anyhow, moving on. With smaller groups, we were much more successful with the whole everyone-not-looking-weird thing. This is my side of the family! From the left, my grandmother, my dad, my mom, me!, Opie, my brother Tom, my sister-in-law Melissa, my sister Jessie, and my nephew Connor.

My grandfather and my brother-in-law were unable to attend, but otherwise that's my immediate clan. We opted not to include my bazillion aunts/uncles/cousins in our group photos because um.. Jenna would need a new lens to accomodate them all in the photo.

Here are Opie's people. :] From the left, Aunt Katherine, Uncle Dub, his dad John, his stepmother Jesica, me!, Opie, his mom Andrea, his stepfather Terry, and Grandma.

I really lucked out with my in-laws!

Including aunts and uncles and cousins isn't such an issue on Opie's side, given that he has no first cousins, and precisely 1 aunt and 1 uncle.

Here we are with our parents. I think it's interesting picking out what features we got from which parents in photos like these.

My momma, me, and my daddio. :)

Both of us with my parents. Have I ever mentioned on here that we live about 4 blocks from my parents? It's really nice.

Here we are with Opie's dad and mom. His mom and stepdad are actually buying a house about 3 minutes away from us. It's good that we both get along well with our in-laws, eh? :P

Here's Opie with his parents.

My siblings 'n' me.

And here we are recreating a photo from my brother's wedding in February!

Seeeee?

Phew. Done with the obligatory group photos. Onto more of the good stuff, next.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's. Also, the very last photo from my brother's wedding belongs to Melissa Bradbury.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

A Moment of Calm

2009-11-07T14:53:00.004-06:00

After the ceremony, we sneaked off for a few minutes to ourselves. Well, to ourselves with the exception of a few people wandering in to grab lighters for the centerpiece candles, a few people who got confused on their way out of the bathroom, and Jenna who grabbed a few photos of our zen moment. We hardly noticed their presence with the flood of emotions and a fair few tears as we celebrated our brand new marriage. The alone-time became an impromptu practice of our First Dance. So really, I guess these are photos of our real first dance as husband and wife.

Photos by Jenna Cole.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

The Ceremony

2009-11-05T00:01:00.001-06:00

I would like to share our ceremony with you, so shall do so interspersed with photos from the occasion.

Welcome! Good evening, family and friends
We have come here today to celebrate the wedding
of Mary Lorraine [..] and Nathan Daniel [..]

On behalf of Mary and Nathan, or Opie as many of you may know him,
Thank you for joining us.
They are delighted that you have come to share in their joy
During this special day.
By your presence, you celebrate with them
The love they have discovered in each other
And you support their decision to commit themselves to a lifelong relationship

Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection.
Today, Mary and Opie demonstrate their devotion to each other
By dedicating themselves to a life together
And they show their respect for each other
By setting forth to honor the vows they have created
Today, their lives, which began on separate paths, will be joined as one

My hope for you is this;
that you have many long years to delight in each others company,
to feel gratitude for your great good fortune
in having found and loved each other,
to make a home together that is at once sheltering and welcoming,
to each do meaningful, productive work at home and in the world
and to love and be loved by the friends and family
who have come here today to support you…

Now, I ask that these friends and family stand,
And that you turn and acknowledge them, as they acknowledge you

As family and friends,
You form a community of support
That surrounds Mary and Opie
Each of you, by your presence here today
Is being called upon
To uphold them in loving each other

Always stand beside them, never between them
Offer them your love and your support
Not your judgment
Encourage them when encouragement is needed
And listen to them when they ask for advice

In these ways, you can honor this marriage
Into which they will be joined today

Do you offer your love and support
To strengthen their marriage
And bless this family created by their union?

Please answer by saying : We do

[Guests: We do]

Thank you, you may be seated.

Opie's Aunt Katherine will now share a reading chosen by Mary and Opie. I invite you to think of these mighty oak trees under which we stand and of the two people before you as Katherine reads.

"Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two."

Cue tears!

Mary and Opie, the symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed-
well, I meant it all, every word.”
Look at one another and remember this moment in time.
Before this moment you have been many things to one another-
acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, accomplice, and even teacher,
for you have learned much from one another in these last few years.
Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life,
and things will never quite be the same between you.
For after these vows, you shall say to the world,
this - is my husband,
this - is my wife.

Opie, do you take Mary to be your lawful wedded wife?
(Opie responds, "I do.")
Do you promise to love and cherish her,
in sickness and in health,
for richer for poorer,
for better for worse,
and forsaking all others,
keep yourself only unto her,
for so long as you both shall live?
(Opie responds, "I do.")

Mary, do you take Opie to be your lawful wedded husband?
(Mary responds, "I do.")
Do you promise to love and cherish him,
in sickness and in health,
for richer for poorer,
for better for worse,
and forsaking all others,
keep yourself only unto him,
for so long as you both shall live?
(Mary responds, "I do.")

Now, please turn and declare your wedding vows to each other.

(Opie:)
Mary, I promise to be your faithful and loving husband,
to cherish your intellect and uniqueness,
to delight in your happiness and comfort you in sorrow,
to communicate openly and honestly and to listen carefully,
to support and encourage you,
and to be your eager partner in exploring the things we have yet to learn and places we have yet to go.
My love is yours now, and for all the days before us.

(Mary:)
Opie, I promise to be your faithful and loving wife,
to cherish your intellect and uniqueness,
to delight in your happiness and comfort you in sorrow,
to communicate openly and honestly and to listen carefully,
to support and encourage you,
and to be your eager partner in exploring the things we have yet to learn and places we have yet to go.
My love is yours now, and for all the days before us.

May I have the rings please? Opie and Mary, may your wedding rings be forever a reminder of the vows you have made to each other here today. May they be for you always your most treasured adornment, and may the love they symbolize be your most treasured possession.

Opie, please place this ring on Mary's finger and repeat after me:
“Mary, I give you this ring as a symbol and reminder of my love for you and my commitment to our marriage. I am honored to call you my wife.”

Mary, please place this ring on Opie’s finger and repeat after me:
“Opie, I give you this ring as a symbol and reminder of my love for you and my commitment to our marriage. I am honored to call you my husband.”

Mary's brother Tom will now offer one last bit of advice as you go forward, as written by Ogden Nash.

"To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong admit it;
Whenever you're right shut up."

And on that note,
Opie and Mary, we have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage.
We recognize and respect the vows you have made here this day
Before each one of us as a witness.

In the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today,
And by the authority vested in me by the state of Texas,
I now pronounce you husband and wife!
Opie, you may now kiss your bride!

I am honored and privileged to present
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan [..]!

I love that you can see my dad and Opie's mom reaching out to touch us, as TJ rocks out on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Such a perfect recessional.

Kelsey, straight pimpin'.

Virgil the biker officiant did a great job bringing our ceremony to life.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.
The ceremony was pulled together predominately from these 3 sources: Peonies & Polaroids, Mrs. Cherry Pie, and IndieBride.

Processional

2009-11-04T02:28:00.002-06:00

And now we come to the wedding itself. The ceremony, or at least the grand lead-up to it. For a long time, the ceremony was just this vague idea less important and less pressing than the million other plans that we had to make for the day of our wedding. But then I remembered that the ceremony is really what it's all about. The joining as one, witnessed by our nearest and dearest. And so I plunged into the planning of the ceremony itself with fervor. I anticipated the ceremony with more optimism and hope than most anything else as I approached our wedding day. With that insight into how I was feeling as I proceeded up the aisle, allow me to show you photos of the processional.

My cousin TJ played guitar for the ceremony. He's a very talented musician and very honestly a good friend as well as a member of my family. While I briefly considered hiring a bagpiper to play the processional, I'm so glad I asked TJ to fill that role instead. It was absolutely perfect hearing "Sea of Love" played by someone I love as I walked down the aisle toward my soon-to-be Husband. I invite you to listen to Cat Power's version, as linked to above, while you browse through the rest of this entry.

There are both of our paternal grandmothers being escorted by my father-in-law and my brother.

There's Opie's mom and stepdad. I also love that my artistic jack-of-all-trades-including-photography Uncle Jim is making eye contact with Jenna's camera.

Opie's dad and stepmom making their way up the aisle. I have no photos of my mom going up the aisle for some reason, but my brother escorted her since I stole my dad's arm for the occasion.

Here's the only shot of the boys coming up the aisle. Opie, are you crying? Or maybe your nose itches. Yeah. That.

Bridesman Michael claimed throughout the whole planning of the wedding that he was more excited about the wedding than Opie and me. So not true, but he does definitely look really happy, doesn't he?

:) Bridesmaid Kelsey lookin' all pretty.

Sister of Honor Jessie processes. Proceeds? Process... whatever. Walks.

Or moves at warpspeed!

Elise was next up, and she did such a marvelous job. No stage fright here.

I love this shot, with the leaves caught mid-toss.

With everyone else in place, it was time.

Time for my dad to escort me to my husband.

I suspect this is about the point where Opie came into view. Note the big ol' grin on my face. :]

Oh happy day.

So much love surrounding us, exactly as I hoped. More than I hoped.

Almost there.

"Who supports this marriage?", asks Virgil. "Her mother and I do", my father answers quietly.

My father shakes Opie's hand and then presses my hand and Opie's together.

I pass my bouquet off to my sister.

This getting married thing requires a firm grip on the man I love. The man I'm marrying.

Hands clasped, the real business can proceed.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Preceremony Photos

2009-10-31T00:49:00.003-05:00

This post is ridiculously picture-heavy and I apologize. There are just too many cute, beautiful and/or funny pictures to narrow it down much more than this.

Since the park down the road from our venue was closed, we took our bridal party portraits down on the golf course next to the venue instead. And since it had been raining for days and days, and we still wanted to look nice for y'know.. the actual wedding, we all got to prance around giant mud patches.

I guess it's pretty obvious that we skipped on that whole not-seeing-each-other tradition. Maybe it would've been nice if we hadn't had the opportunity to snap at each other the morning of as stresses piled up - like the fact that I hadn't heard from our venue's event coordinator for nearly a week, and various things hadn't been finalized. Awesome. Overall though, I have no regrets about seeing Opie before the ceremony. It was nice to have a little while to just laugh and relax with him and our best friends before the ceremony.

Also, my dress was far from a surprise. He helped me get ready for my bridal portraits back in April.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that we're ridiculous?

I'm pretty sure you can hear someone going "Awwww" when you look at ^that^ photo. Or maybe I'm just hearing things in my head. It happens.

One of my favorites of the whole group. From left to right, Bridesman Michael, Flowergirl Elise, Sister of Honor Jessie, Me!, Opie, Best Man Justin, Bridemaid Kelsey, Groomsman Marshall.

Boooooys.

Flowergirl Elise had been boasting for quite some time about her role in the wedding. Being a flowergirl comes with major status in preschool, I hear. She told me that she was going to dance at our wedding like she had never danced before.

I believe her! :) She danced all night long.

With Elise dismissed to go warm up before the ceremony (have I mentioned yet that it was probably about 50 degrees and dropping while we were taking these photos?), it was time for smaller group photos.

Skeptical Mary is skeptical.

Furthermore, silly boys are silly.

..Yeah.

Yup. Very silly.

See, my side of the bridal party, we're all composed 'n' stuff.

Orrrr not.

Yeah. Not so much. Oh well. We try.

Poor Opie.

I'm only including ^this^ particular photo as proof, as the rest are too completely unflattering (not that this one isn't, really, but at least most everyone else looks weird too. Ha. You're welcome, guys.) but it's terrifying how many photos feature my sister and I with the exact. same. facial expression. Gah. See, we laugh in unison. We both have this obnoxious "EEEAaaaahhhhh" noise that we make at the end of a good, long laugh. And we always make that noise in unison. And then freak out and vow never to do it again, to no avail. [sigh]

Oh, my friends. I love them.

And my sister. I love her too. :]

A nongoofy shot for posterity.

Group shots finished, it was time for some "duets" as Jenna refers to them. Since we never found the time to get engagement portraits, I was very excited to have some nice photos of us.

Mission Accomplished.

Mission so accomplished that I'm having a very hard time picking photos to print and frame. I'll just let these myriad favorites speak for themselves.

Oh red pumps, how awesome thou art. I've already worn them so many times since the wedding.

And here's Opie's boutonniere that my sister, mom and I made the day before the wedding. Those are acorns from the live oak in our front yard, and leftover wheat from my bouquet. :]

I snagged a very handsome fellow, I must say.

Although I already had a slew of bridal portraits, I'm glad to also have a few shots like this from the wedding day.

But the best ones are the ones that show how happy we are as we approach our wedding.

"Bridal glow"? Not a myth.

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Getting Ready

2009-10-29T23:37:00.002-05:00

I'll start my wedding day recaps where our photos start. Getting ready. Just photos of me getting ready, really, since the boys got ready about 25 minutes away from me, my attendants all got ready in other rooms, and everyone else was off setting up the venue in the limited time we had after the morning event ended and before ours began.

Kirsten and another girl from Osgood O'Neil whose name I have sadly forgotten arrived at my parents' house right on time to make the magic happen with my hair.

Magic. Magic, I tell you.

My sister was there with me the whole time, replenishing my snacks (since I kind of forgot to eat breakfast and lunch. Whoops), taking bets on how stressed our mom was out at the venue set-up, and being generally silly. After several high-stress days leading up to the wedding, a little silly sister time is precisely what the doctor ordered.

Us, sisters? Never.

Our lovely photographer Jenna Cole and our second shooter Lynn Nguyen absconded with my dress and other bits of my ensemble.

My dress wandered into my neighbor's tree.

My blackbeard wheat bouquet popped up in several places, along with its buddy little toss bouquet, both of which I made.

My gussied-up dollar store garter traveled outside.

My bridesmaids' baby's breath bouquets hung out in their water where they belonged.

And my shoes caught some rare rays on our day of dreary skies.

I went ahead and did my makeup while I waited for my mom to get home from the venue.

My awesome polka dotted 70s-collar-action shirt was my grandmother's, thankyouverymuch.

Momma finally got home and helped me into my dress, despite the fact that I have crazy double-jointed gumby arms (as Opie calls them) and can zip up my own clothes.

There's just something sweet about having your mom help you into your wedding dress.

Then it was time to step up into my killer pumps.

Ohhhhhh yeah.

And time to wrestle my veil into place.

More wrestling needed.

And still a little more. This veil that my mom and I made is not exactly an exact science.

Veil finally in place, hugs are needed.

Eeee. I love my mom. :)

With everyone ready to go, it's time to coordinate with the boys to meet up for pre-ceremony photos. It's now that I learn the park where we had planned to take said photos is closed. Oh well. I'm in such a good mood that I could care less. We'll figure something else out.

And we're off!

All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.

Wedding Day Come and Gone

2009-10-11T11:42:00.003-05:00

by Jenna Cole

And a long and lovely marriage ahead.

The day was beautiful and lovely and nevermind the cold air and overcast skies. The love that surrounded us and witnessed our union kept us warm. Our ceremony was ours in every way, and then we danced and laughed into the night. I'll tell you all about it when we get back from our honeymoon with the burns our Scottish/Irish bodies know so well.

The Time Has Almost Come

2009-10-10T00:14:00.002-05:00

By this time tomorrow, I'll sport a few fancy new titles. Wife. A new surname. Mrs.

It's been a busy and lovely last few days leading up to the wedding. Making bouquets and boutonnieres, rehearsing, writing up instructions for all the wedding-decorating elves, finishing up a million other little craft projects, running a million errands, and doing my best to delegate. Spending time with close and extended family, relishing the amazing smell of homemade chocolate truffles and beautiful store-bought pies, laughing and kissing on Opie as we practice our high school sway, deciding on our so-very-perfect recessional song in a split second by just asking my cousin what he thinks it should be, seeing my nephew for the first time in too long, chillin' with my flower girl (who is an extra-adorable clone of me, for the record), and giddily telling my fiance, "Goodnight, soon-to-be Husband!" as I wander back into the office to finish up some more tasks.

Yup. This wedding thing. It's good. It's right. And it's almost here.

2 Days!

2009-10-08T03:14:00.004-05:00

We're getting married in 2 days. Well, a little over 2.5 days from now, to be fair. At the moment it feels bizarre, incredible, amazing, unbelievable, weird, lovely, and dazzling all at once. I feel as though we've been married for several years already, and yet, I also feel like something exciting and unknown will occur on Saturday.

I'm finally finished with my string of work days leading up to the wedding. I have the next 2 days cleared to finish up crafts, run around and pick things up, go to our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and hopefully have a little time to relax. We'll see about that last one. My sister-of-honor and nephew came into town today which makes me very happy. More family will be arriving in the coming days.

I'm so excited to see so many friends and relatives on Saturday. I'm so excited to marry my greatest love, my fiance, my Opie, my Nathaniel Daniel, my one and only, my pookie-bear (Okay, not that. Not that ever.) on Saturday. Saturday! Incredible.

Coy Li'l Devil

2009-09-30T15:40:00.004-05:00

Oh weather report, you coy thing, you. The latest prediction is for "Plenty of Sun" and "Clear" with a high of 70 and a low of 50. Let's keep things going in that direction, yes?

In other news, I sometimes regret that we didn't get any engagement portraits. But y'know what? We can get some nice portraits taken of us sometime after the wedding. Maybe 1st Anniversary portraits or something.

I say this largely because I'm in love with the engagement portraits I second shot last weekend for a lovely couple, Sandra and Andrew.

Eaaaghhh!

2009-09-29T19:24:00.002-05:00

I really ought to stop reading the forecast for our wedding day. A) I can't do anything about it B) It's not nearly close enough yet to actually be accurate and C) It's freakin' me out.

Well, actually, I'm totally chill about most everything right now, even the weather planning to be all poopy 'n' stuff. But still. Eaaaaghhh!

Today's October 10th prediction saaaays:
High of 66. Feels like 62.
Rain.

Evening low: 47!!! Feels like 43!!
Occasional evening rain; otherwise, considerable cloudiness

Uh, what, early October in Texas? What are you doing, weather? This is nonsense.

So um. Folks coming in from out of town.. consider packing a jacket. Unless you're from the great white north where 43 is ideal for walking to school uphill both ways or something.

Update of a Random Sort

2009-09-28T20:40:00.005-05:00

Weather update: Still predicting rain, though now it says "Colder with rain", whatever that means, despite the fact that the high is still 68 and the low has moved up to 53. Boohisssss rain. Get off my forecast!

source

At this point, we only have about 12 unreported RSVPs. We're currently sitting at about our ideal number even if everyone who hasn't responded ends up coming. We have, however, had about 50 "no" responses. We absolutely understand in the vast majority of these cases, but it is a little bit sad nonetheless. There's a part of me that would love to extend invitations to more of my coworkers (I'm close now with so many people that weren't even employed there yet when we made our guest list!) or more of our childhood friends. I know our parents have lists of friends they wish could've been invited. C'est la guerre. I think sending out more invitations (particularly uh.. 12 days before the wedding) would only cause way more problems than it would solve.

Like I said, we're sitting right around our ideal number, from a budgetary and logistical standpoint. From a purely cold and rational sense, I'm very happy with our expected turnout.

But sooo many of the "no" responses come from my family, which, considering the percentage of the guest list they make up (not to mention how many of them live out-of-state), that makes sense. Also, my family has been hammered with hardships left and right lately, as previously mentioned. I'm overjoyed that so many family members are still able to join us for the wedding, but I'd be lying if I said it's not a little disheartening to look down my spreadsheet and see so many "no" ticks next to my family members' names. I guess I've always pictured the wedding doubling as a kind of family reunion. Ah well. About a quarter of the guest list will still be my family!

In other unrelated news, here's a mockup of our centerpieces:

Yay, simplicity. Amazingly wonderful-smelling simplicity. My momma hemmed the green table square you see there, along with the rest of 'em for all the other tables. Thanks mom!

The Weather Stalking Commences

2009-09-27T22:56:00.004-05:00

We're 13 days out from the wedding now! 13 is my favorite number, so that strikes me as significant somehow. Woooooooooo! Today, Opie and I were gushing over the fact that we get to call each other "wife" and "husband" soon. I started listing off potential points of conversation where I could drop in the phrase, "my husband." Ee hee hee. Makes me giddy like no other. Calling him "my fiance" is already super-fancy and awesome, particularly when guys are hitting on me at work. "My husband" is approximately 550% even cooler. Fyi.

source

In other news, we're now within the timeframe that "Accuweather" predicts the weather. Of course, I don't put any stock in the accuracy of a 15 day weather prediction, but I can't help but stalk it anyway. Today, they're predicting rain, a high of 68 and a low of 51 on our wedding day. Nevermind that yesterday, it said "afternoon showers" with a high in the 70s and a similar low. But yes.. I'm definitely hoping for more sun than predicted, and little less chill in the air would be nice. [crosses fingers]

source

Hair Tribulations Jubilation!

2009-09-26T00:11:00.003-05:00

Woohoo! Hair success!

Eeeeeee! Love it love it love it. Aaaaand it looks totally smashing with my veil and fascinator. Yesssssss. As someone who has basically had stick-straight hair my whole life, curly wavy hair is like.. the coolest thang evarrrrr. Maybe I should get a perm sometime?

Kind of like my buddio Allison:

Her hair aaaactually looks like this (as seen in her bridal portrait I shot last year).

But sometimes she rocks ridiculously adorable innocent-looking curls.

Hmmmmmm.

I don't know if I can do innocent. :P

Hair Trials and Tribulations

2009-09-15T02:59:00.004-05:00

I had my first hair trial shortly after my bridal shower on Saturday. I met my absolute sweetheart of a hair stylist, Kirsten, at the salon where Opie's aunt works. As you might recall, she's very generously "taking care" of me having my hair done at her salon.

This is one of the inspirational photos I brought for my hairstyle. Finger waves, yessss. She was excited to do 'em, and various other folks popped in to see what we were doing, I suppose particularly because our appointment was starting right as the salon was closing for the day. One woman in particular got very excited about my hairstyle of choice, and waxed poetic about a book she has of old movie starlets, many of whom sported this look. It was cute. ;)

Kirsten was quick to point out that this trial was largely a test - a test to see how large to do the alternating pin curls, a test to see how long I need to go under the heat, etc. I should've taken a photo of my hair midway through. It was very.. fancy looking with little curls pinned to my head all over the place!

Weeeeell, the test didn't go so well, after all. When she first took it down, my hair was looking fairly fingerwavy, but by the time it was brushed out at all, it went quite limp. Next time, we need loooooooots more mousse, and I need a good length of time under the heat. She's going to practice on a mannequin a few times, and then call me back in sometime next week to give it another go at no charge.

Post-hair trial...

Sadly limp and non-wavy.

This was a cute little mini-bun when I left the salon, but 5 minutes of sitting in the car undid it.

I'm thinking I might want to cut off that excess length that needed to be tied back in some manner. It's not really meshing with my vision of fingerwaves (and sugar plum fairies).

While we were pretty well totally unsuccessful this go-around, I have faith that we shall prevail. I guess if worse comes to worst, and my fine hair just won't hold a wave, we could go for the wet set fingerwave look:

When done well, it can still look sweet and romantic. I just don't want to end up with my head looking.. goopy. Or like a helmet.

Best Ladies

2009-09-14T02:12:00.005-05:00

My maid of honor and bridesmaid both got their dresses within the last couple days! Woohoo. Allow me to cross another thing off of my list of things that've been nagging at the back of my mind.

Bridesmaid Kelsey got this hot li'l number from JC Penney:

Jones Wear Satin Inset Waist Dress

Sister of Honor Jessie also got hers at JC Penney a few days ago. I haven't seen a photo of the specific dress she got, but there are several nice options for brown dresses at Penney's.

Jones Wear Charmeuse Tie-Dress - Hazelnut

Bisou Bisou Pleated Surplice Dress with Beaded Trim

Puff Sleeve Pintuck Dress

Tea Length Cummerbund Dress Brown/Champagne

I know Kelsey and I saw some more cute brown dresses in store that I don't see online.

Jessie was asking me what sort of shoes to get to go with the dress and I realized that was something I hadn't considered at all. So uhh.. brown shoes, I guess? Allow me to do a little pre-shopping for my girls for inexpensive cute brown shoes. I'm a pump-aholic when it comes to shoes for dress-up events, but strappy heels or whatever else is fine, truly.

Payless - Judy Round Toe Pump $19.99

Payless - Kimberley Mary Jane Pump $19.99

Target - Paulina Gladiator Sandal $26.99

Target - Mossimo Verity Platform Pump $14.98

Target - Mossimo Vanya Pump $24.99

Target - Xhilaration Susan Pumps $22.99

Target - Xhilaration Saida T-Strap Pumps $19.99

Hmm. Those are really the only stores where I've found brown heels for less than $30. DSW has a few in the $30-$50 range, as does Zappos, if there's time for them to ship.

Bridal Showers & Rain Showers

2009-09-13T00:42:00.008-05:00

I had my Bridal Shower today! It was a lot of fun getting together with all the local ladies in my family (both my life-long family, and the family I've gained through Opie) and my friends. Opie's Aunt Katherine and his grandmother Kathy hosted the event at Katherine's house, and it was beautiful, delicious and 100% lacking those awkward embarrassing shower games I really dislike. Score! They're truly gracious hostesses and I'm so fortunate to have been welcomed into their family with such open arms.

Driving to the Shower. In the shower.

The weather today was um.. a little less than pleasant? I mean, I enjoy a good Texas thunderstorm, but prefer them when I'm cozied up in my house with a good book to days like today when I'm running around all day and trying to look cute while doing so. Let's just hope the weather gets this whole raining thing out of its system this month. We've had rain, rain, rain for several days running, with the same forecast for the foreseeable future.

Mmm.. Petit Fours.

I showed up a little early to the shower to try to offer a hand with setup and such, but I should've known better. Katherine & Grandma basically had everything already ready to go, and they wouldn't let me help anyway.

They decorated for the shower with our wedding colors, which I thought was sweet. Even the petit fours featured green and brown!

Sweet picture of my mommy and me. :) I'm about to dig into a petit four, and she's enjoying a mimosa.

My sister-in-law Melissa, and my cousin Kathy.

Me, my momma, and my friends Flo & Mandii.

Future Mother-in-Law Andrea, and Opie's Aunt Katherine.

If my mental count is correct, we had about 12 or 13 folks at the shower, which was just perfect. It seemed like everyone found folks to chat with, and like most everyone talked to everyone else. Without the forced awkward games created with the sole purpose of embarrassing the bride-to-be, we were all free to chat 'n' mingle until it was time to get down to business with presents.

And presents are serious business.

To provide a proper sense of scale for this pile o' swag, here's a photo of my cousin Mary with that white bag on the right side of the pile:

Uh. Yeah.

Opening gifts next to FMIL Andrea and Bridesmaid Kelsey.

And so present opening commenced. Let's just say I made out like a bandit. Every gift was wonderful and thoughtful and perfect, whether from our registry or not. My friends and family know me. :)

In going through the photos of me opening gifts, I saw a funny trend emerge. See, I handed my point 'n' shoot camera off to Cousin Mary for bridal shower documentation. She did a wonderful job documenting everything, including completely ridiculous candid shots while I was opening presents. I was pleased by all of my gifts, so I honestly can't explain why I'm making 90% of the following faces:

...Yikes.
Also, when did I develop a triple chin?

And that, kids, is why the lovely Jenna Cole is shooting my wedding, however much I may love Cousin Mary. :P

Jenna makes me look slightly more.. composed, yes?

That being said, Jenna hasn't had the joy of shooting candid photos of me yet. With these gems in mind, good luck Jenna!

The Infamous Registry Stalker

2009-09-10T21:25:00.004-05:00

Y'know what's one of my favorite things about online registries? I can constantly, obsessively stalk what our guests have bought for us! Bwahahaha. I haven't figured out a way to tell who has purchased items, so we still have that fun element of surprise.

We (eventually, finally) registered at 4 stores: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, Macy's, and R.E.I.

At Bed, Bath & Beyond, we registered for new dishes, flatware, everyday glasses, and miscellaneous home/kitchen goods.

Colorwave Graphite Rim 4-Piece Place Setting

We already love our matte black dishes that Opie owned before we got together, but we only have 8 place settings. These dishes are sort of a natural progression of our aesthetic. They still have the matte black finish to the rim/outside, but a glossy white center. Bold, graphic, and they go with just about anything.

Meridian/Glacier 20-Piece Set

Our new flatware. 3/4 of it has already been purchased! [dances] Much like our dishes, we already have 8 place settings of flatware that we like. We stayed with something in a similar vein, but these are far nicer than our preexisting stuff. They have the satin finish we love (water spots begone!) but a much greater heft and prettier, more unique design. These were a nice compromise between weird quirks we both have about silverware. I don't like 3 pronged forks. I don't know why. I just don't. Opie likes fairly modern (though still simple) flatware designs, and the spoons and knives have an unusual shape that we both dig.

Breville Cafe-Roma Espresso/ Cappuccino Machine

By no means the fanciest espresso machine on the market, but it gets very good reviews considering the pricepoint, and it's purty and and and oh-em-gee, an espresso machine at hooooooooooooome! This was actually the first thing bought off our registry! Exciiiiting. Nevermind that I can't consume caffeine anymore.. I can stock up on some decaf, and also make some kickass hot chocolate and steamers and such. And maybe, maaaybe, I can cut down some on Opie's Starbucks addiction.

At Target, we registered for some appliances we're still missing in the kitchen like a mixer, toaster, electric griddle, and then more random home/kitchen goods.

Sunbeam Stand Mixer - Red

[gasp] Not a Kitchenaid Mixer! Blasphemy, I know. I mean, sure, I can covet the aesthetics and craftsmanship of a Kitchenaid Mixer along with every other bride, but honestly, I don't do much baking. Certainly not enough to warrant keeping a mixer out on the counter all the time, no matter how beautiful. And not enough to warrant buying a $300 appliance. But I mean, this mixer is still totally cute, yes? It's a much more manageable size and weight (while still heavy enough to not walk across the counter), and gets pretty darn good reviews. Also, the company's customer service gets stellar reviews, so if I ever have any problems with this mixer, I have good faith that they'd resolve it.

Bordeaux 3-Bottle Wine Rack

Yay. Cute li'l wine rack I can put on the counter where a monstrous mixer would've gone instead! This one has also already been purchased.

At Macy's, we just registered for crystal.

Marquis by Waterford "Summer Breeze"

Puuurty. We chose not to register for any silver or china. Growing up, the only time we ever pulled out the silver was basically when we had too many people for the number of place settings we had of flatware. China? It basically just made an appearance for Christmas brunch. Crystal, though, was (and is) used multiple times a week by parents for wine and the like. I swear wine and other spirits just taste better out of crystal.

At R.E.I, we're registered for a camping stuff, mostly.

Kelty Yellowstone 6 Tent

Like a tent! Very exciting stuff. So far, no one has bought us any of our camping stuff, but maybe (hopefully) that'll change as time goes on. I know it's not your usual wedding gift shtuff, but we'd love to camp, and currently have zero supplies with which to do so.

Obviously, we have a bazillion other items on our registries than the ones we highlighted here, but this gives a nice idea of the things found there.

Oh, also, I'd like to celebrate the fact that our wedding is in exactly 1 month, and we are now within the 30 day period during which we can get our marriage license! Woohoo!

I do

2009-09-06T13:17:00.002-05:00

Considering I have the Cold of Doom right now, I stayed up way too late last night working on our ceremony. Oh well. I slept in, at least until Gus-Puppy starting bawling because he needed to go outside noooooooooooooow, now now now nooow!

The ceremony I wrote (/stole from various sources) is probably at least 6 times longer than the one initially provided by our officiant, but I don't think it's excessively long by any means. I'm not good at judging length, but I'd be surprised if it's any longer than 20 minutes.

I mainly pulled things together from 3 sources:

Peonies & Polaroids
Mrs. Cherry Pie
IndieBride Sample Ceremony Repository

I rewrote things and added my own shtuff as well, coming up with something that I think is perfect for our ceremony, and that would still make any college professor scream, "PLAGIARISM!!!" while frantically running about in circles. Most folks just use the standard canned (and still lovely) religious ceremonies, so I don't think there's anything wrong with nabbing our vows from other less traditional couples who have gone before us.

I've actually also included the traditional questions to which we answer, "I do." That's just something I've always pictured as part of my wedding ceremony, and I'm not sure I'd feel like it was official and real without us actually saying "I do." The being said, we're loving and cherishing, because I sure as hell am not promising to love, honor, and obey, thankyouverymuch.

Tuxedo Junction

2009-09-05T21:12:00.003-05:00

Opie and I picked out the tuxedos tonight. The boys'll be in brown tuxes with a few different shades of vests & ties. If you recall, my bridesmaids will also be in brown dresses, so while it's a lot of brown, I think it will still look nice. It'll be something along these lines:

source

Just imagine it without junior bridesmaids, with only 1 flower girl, with 1 less guy, and with some sage green accents.

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This is actually the exact outfit Opie will be wearing, except with a standard 2 button jacket, and minus the hat. Also, Opie is Very White.

source

The groomsmen will wear "latte" vests and solid "latte" ties (not bow ties, mind you).

source source

My attendant, Michael, will have a "truffle" vest and a solid "sage" tie. I have some gifts for my bridesmaids that are a similar shade of green, so between that and Michael's boutonneire being similar to their bouquets, I think it'll tie him in well with the bridesmaids. Or he could still just get a dress. ; )

Celebrating the Good

2009-09-02T21:49:00.003-05:00

Right now is a very trying time for me and my family. Far too many relatives are holed up in hospitals scattered across the country, and it's very very difficult not to dwell on this. Thus, I'll say no more about it here, at least not in this particular blog entry.

Instead, I'll celebrate the things which are good.

My bridal shower is in 10 days!
I've been stalking our registries like mad, and the first gift bought was an espresso machine! This makes the li'l barista that I am very, very happy.

I've scheduled my hair trial! I'm looking forward to it like crazy. I might actually have a party to go to after my hair trial. Excellent.
I received our table cloths today. I got a good deal on them off of ebay, and I think I'll be able to recoup the whole cost on craigslist afterward.
Our rings arrived shortly before we left for vacation! We looove them. I want to wear mine noooooooow.
The wedding is in just 37 days! I'm getting married in 37 days! I'm marrying the man I love more than anyone ever anywhere at anytime ever ever ever in 37 days! Holy crap, 37 days!!!
Our honeymoon starts in 39 days! Woohoo, Cabo here we come!
I got a raise at work this week!

I'm pretty positive we're all set for candles and candle holders for the reception. I bought a bunch of tea-lights at Ikea last week for hella-cheap.

My puppies are being ridiiiculously sweet and adorable lately. Oh yeah. I guess I never mentioned on here that we got another dog several months back! He's a fawn great dane and he's such a li'l lover. His name is Gus (short for Augustus). He's very nearly 5 months old now, and maybeeee 50 lbs? Trajan (our blue great dane) turned 1 at the end of July! He's probably about 150 lbs.
Our kitty, Calypso, has also been super affectionate since we got back in town. I guess she missed us!
My momma and I have made a lot of progress on wedding crafts the last few days. I finished the bunting a few nights ago. My mom's completed about half of the table squares, and plans to do the rest this week. My mom's friend (who is a sweetheart) is going to prepare the decor we'll use to disguise the ugly guardrails around the trees at our venue.
The top shelf of my pantry makes me smile everytime I open the door. It's basically a wall of my marked out coffee beans (we get a free pound of beans every week at Starbucks), which will be used for decor at the wedding.

We can go get our marriage license in precisely one week! Whoa. It is getting so incredibly real.

That's my Pollyanna "Glad Game" routine for the day.

Rested Up and Stressed Out

2009-08-25T12:23:00.003-05:00

I got back from my vacation on Sunday. Ahhh.. exactly what the doctor ordered. We spent a great portion of the trip just hanging out in the house doing precisely nothing. Reading, playing gameboy, listening to audio books, watching Columbo, and just chillaxing. We also did some lovely sight-seeing, picked wild blueberries and went to a few concerts of sorts, so I deem it an all-around successful vacation.

We have 42 days left until the wedding now, and my stress level is unfortunately fairly astronomical, but as they say, this too shall pass.

It's becoming more manageable with each day, really. I talked to my manager and my work schedule will get cut down some from about a week from now up until the wedding. That will help significantly, even if the decreased hours/pay hurts my pocketbook a little bit. I also finished several craft projects with my mom today, and that's a load off my mind.

If I was just dealing with wedding projects, plans, and errands, I think I'd be alright. However, there's been an inordinate number of crises in my family lately. My grandfather suffered a stroke, and while he's made great improvements, he' still has a long way to come toward recovery. My brother-in-law was injured while serving in Afghanistan. My great uncle's Alzheimer's has taken a turn for the worse. My mother had surgery. Opie's stepmother's father passed away this week. Various other family members are facing health issues I won't splash about on the internet, but their troubles weigh on my mind too. I'm training for the promotion I received at work. Opie's workload is pretty ridiculous. Outwardly, I handle stress pretty darn well, but all of my health conditions that are stress-aggravated (um.. I guess that's basically all of them) act up, which in a vicious cycle, stresses me out even more. Having my acne, psoriasis, reflux and IBS start misbehaving a month before my wedding doesn't exactly excite me.

With all of this going on, executing a perfect, absolutely beautiful wedding isn't exactly the highest on my priority list. Sure, getting married in 42 days is right up there at the top of the list, but if I run out of time to finish every last craft project, I'll live. We'll live. There are many things that take precedence over programs, place settings and tablescapes right now. I'm certainly trying to get everything done, but I refuse to stress myself out further about accomplishing every last thing, unless it's of dire importance.

Invitations, Ahoy

2009-08-05T23:04:00.002-05:00

They're all designed, printed, addressed, stamped, and sealed, waiting for me to drop them off at the post office on my way to work in the morning.

That's really all I have time to update with at the moment, since I'm doing approximately a million other things right now, but.. hooray! Invitations are finished!

Another Anniversary

2009-08-01T03:09:00.005-05:00

Today was the 1st anniversary of the closing on our first house.

House hunting. This wound up being *the one*.

I know a lot of folks disapprove of living together before marriage, but I have absolutely no regrets about our living arrangement. [Mom, skip this next sentence, or pretend like you did, por favor.] I started staying with Opie at his (our) apartment during the week quite a bit my second semester of my freshman year, and commuting to school, although I was *supposed* to be living in my dorm room. Then when school ended that April, I moved into our apartment full time. We closed on our house on July 31st. It's been a fun and hectic ride full of home improvement project after home improvement project ever since.

In the year and a half or so that we've lived together, we've learned so much about each other. We've learned how to happily coexist (and this occurred quite smoothly, I might add), and we know there won't be any sort of nasty surprises we never learned about prior to tying the knot. He knows I leave socks and shoes scattered all over the house. I know he can easily spend 2 full minutes making sure the towels line up perfectly evenly on the towel rack. He knows I procrastinate and have terrible anxiety about placing phone calls. I know he could happily exist on just field peas, edamame, frozen cauliflower, canned chicken and nectarines if I let him. I also know he's an excellent cook. He knows it drives me bonkers when he tries to help me improve my mediocre cooking. We also know we both have very particular (conflicting) ways we like to organize the dishwasher. And yes, we both know we're the one that's right about this matter.

I also know that he's an incredibly devoted, talented hard worker who's very good at what he does for a living, and I know the (predominate) ups and (minimal) downs of his working from home. I know that he's responsible and determined to preserve and increase our financial well-being. I know that our decorating styles mesh together very well (though I do still really want to girlify our guest bedroom a little more. Please?). I know that I can belch with the best of the frat boys, and he'll applaud my efforts while saying, "Damn, baby. Good job!", rather than being grossed out. I know he's completely supportive of my entrepreneurial ideas, as I am of his.

We know we're different in many ways, but in ways that help us keep each other sane. We balance each other. He encourages me to be more organized (err.. just don't open my desk drawers or look in my "craft closet", mkay?) and to put my myriad belongings away. I razz him when he's carefully arranging the items on the coffee table so that they line up just so, and help him lay off the OCD a bit. :) He's the problem solver. The engineer. I'm the artist. The go-to gal for questions of aesthetics, design, spelling, and wording. He rocks at Chess. I kick butt at Scrabble (hush, sister. I beat you sometimes). I happily browse the internet or putter around on The Sims, laughing maniacally at one thing or another. He's over there killing the undead, or submarines, or guerrilla fighers, or wolves or something. I don't know. He pushes me to pursue my goals despite my fears of failure, and I push him to take a break and get some well-earned sleep.

Our latest project, though we paid someone else to do this 'un.

I suppose this largely seems irrelevant to the anniversary of our closing. Suffice it to say that we've come a long way in this last year. We've made ourselves a home, and brought ourselves together even closer in so doing.

Love and Happiness

2009-07-28T21:00:00.004-05:00

I spent a few hours last night working on the playlist for our reception. Although I previously mentioned on here (a long time ago) that finding a DJ was a priority for us, we're going the iTunes reception route instead. My brother will man the laptop & speakers as much as is necessary, but otherwise, it'll do its thing.

So far, I've picked out about 4 hours worth of music that seems appropriate for the occasion. I don't know if enough of it is danceable - my music collection is mostly pretty mellow singer-songwriter sort of stuff. I do have a ridiculous(ly awesome) number of silly 90s hits included in the playlist. I should divide it out between music to be played while we eat vs. while we dance and such, and see how that works out time-wise. If there's not enough songs to dance to, maybe I can supplement that with music from my brother, my friends, or our family friend who has the largest music collection I've ever heard of. And he pays for all of his, unlike my buddio who torrents his shtuff like a mad-man.

Allow me to list a few songs on the list, because I'm sure you care. ;)

Love and Happiness - Al Green
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Funny Little Frog - Belle & Sebastian
Gonna Make You Sweat - C+C Music Factory
I Love My Jean - Camera Obscura
Dreams - The Cranberries
Made Up Love Song #43 - Guillemots
What Is Love? - Haddaway
U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer
Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf) - Sly & The Family Stone
String of Pearls - Glenn Miller
Closing Time - Semisonic
I Second That Emotion - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Aaaand so on and so forth.

My brother's a little bit of a music elitist, so he maaay try to nix a few of my more ridonkulous choices. There are only a few songs I'd fight him too much over since I want them *because* they are so ridiculous. Otherwise, he can largely run with it. I'll probably want to look over the final playlist before the day of, but this is one of those things I'm glad to hand off. I'll give him all the music I can, tell him what songs are for the first dance, father/daughter & mother/son dances, and then trust him to pick the order of the rest. If he just hits shuffle, I'd be cool with that too, honestly.

The Rings Are on their Way!

2009-07-26T20:33:00.002-05:00

Yay! I finally got this happy little message in my inbox today!

"Thanks for your recent order. We would like to inform you that your order, which was shipped from Dublin, has cleared US customs."

It's about time, US customs. You've had our rings for about the last week and I wants them nooooow. Pretty pretty please? I promise our rings are not made of drugs or other illicit materials.

Nightmares

2009-07-24T03:36:00.002-05:00

I've been having recurring nightmares lately.

In these dreams, I've left way too many things until the last minute. I haven't organized playlists for the reception. I haven't sent out invitations. I haven't put together any of the decor. I'm doing it all the night before, and worse yet, the day of the wedding. I'm late to the wedding by an hour and a half because I'm trying to pull everything together, yet still everything is in shambles. Gahhhhhhhh!

source

I wish I could say that these nightmares are completely unfounded and that it's ridiculous for my mind to be playing out these scenarios as I sleep. Unfortunately, I have a well-established reputation as a Grade-A Procrastinator. I have a looot of things left to do for the wedding and about two and a half months left to complete them. Hee hoo, hee hoo, hee hoo, breathe.

I think I might ground myself from browsing the internet, and most certainly from reading wedding blogs, until I get a significant chunk of my To Do List crossed off. I am working a fair amount (I'm getting promoted, yay), but I have plenty of time to be getting this stuff knocked out. For this next week, I'll try to focus on creating our invitations, starting our registry, and gathering some more much-needed items for our centerpieces.

How We Met

2009-07-23T14:13:00.001-05:00

or why we owe Starbucks

This is "our story" as I wrote and posted it on the wedsite I'm working on. Enjoy.

In May of 2007, Mary got a job at Starbucks. On her first day of work, Opie came in for his double tall no whip mocha. And then he came in again. And again. And again and again and again. Well, maybe not that many times the first day, but there were plenty of shifts with multiple visits from Opie.

Apparently, Mary had caught Opie's fancy; a fact of which Mary was gloriously unaware. Opie was the first customer whose name she memorized - it's a rather memorable moniker, after all. She certainly sat with him on the patio (and a slew of others) on her breaks. However, she had no idea that he was now a muuuch more regular customer since she had started, due to his attempts to figure out her haphazard work schedule.

For some reason or another, a rumor was spread about between coworkers and regulars that Mary was leaving for school at the end of summer. This was true, but a rather key detail was incorrect. See, Mary's new school was all of about 45 minutes (or 30 if you speed) north of her home and workplace. The rumor claimed that she was headed about 15 hours away to Colorado when September rolled around. Slight disjoint there.

It wasn't until sometime in July that Mary set the record straight for Opie. The very next day, Opie nervously asked her on a date (but only after pacing the lobby for a while, working up courage) over the drink handout bar while Mary worked. The answer was at first, "What?" since there were blenders whirring and espresso shots pulling, but he eventually got the "yes" he was looking for.

About a year and a half later, he got the even bigger "yes" he was looking for when he proposed on bended knee (but not at Starbucks).

2 Years and Counting

2009-07-19T02:44:00.005-05:00

On Tuesday, July 14th, Opie and I celebrated the 2nd anniversary of our first date. This is our last dating anniversary before we tie the knot on October 10th. We enjoyed a fairly quiet evening after Opie put in his hours for the work day. We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Kirin Court, and then went home to enjoy some homemade pie and a bottle of port.

Pie and port have become an anniversary tradition, despite the fact that we've had all of 2 anniversaries. 2 occasions is enough to form a tradition, right? Last year, I'm pretty sure we killed the bottle between us that evening. This year we only had a modest glass each and called that good. Opie had pulled an all-nighter the night before, and my tummy just can't handle alcohol very well right now due to various gastrointestinal disorders, so it was definitely nice to sip a glass of port, but we weren't exactly in drinking shape, as it were.

We made a lemon meringue pie sans meringue the night before. An electric beater is one of the many things we (still) need to register for and my last attempt at hand-whipping meringue was such a miserable failure, we figured it'd be best to just skip that part of the recipe. Mmmm.. our lemon pie was delicious. Didn't even miss the meringue. Okay, maybe I missed it an eensy teensy bit, but it was still diviiine.

In a few weeks, we'll be going to Cape Breton as previously mentioned, in part also in celebration of our anniversary. I will be getting my software engineer honey away from internet access, television reception, and cell phone service for a good two weeks. [sighs] Sounds lovely, yes? At least until he goes bonkers due to reverse culture shock. Bwahaha. I mean.. I'm sure it's exactly the relaxing vacation we both need! Yeah! That!

Happy Anniversary, m'love. It's been an absolutely incredible two years. I can hardly recall how my life was before you, only that it was so terribly empty by comparison to life with you. Here's to many many many more years together. I look forward to growing up and growing old together.

Anxiety

2009-07-14T00:56:00.007-05:00

I'm starting to feel the first tinges of anxiety about the wedding. Certainly not about marrying Opie, but about pulling everything together for this event we're hosting. As we passed that 100 day mark, we've also just passed the 3 month mark. Our wedding is in 3 months! It's going to be here soon! Good grief! When did this happen?!

Allow me to enumerate the things we still have to accomplish.

Set up our registry
Design/put together/mail invitations
Finalize ceremony
Buy tablecloths
Buy candles
Sew table squares
Assemble bunting
Create website
Finish favor packaging
Make table numbers
Figure out guest book
Figure out boutonnieres & corsages
Find presents for the male attendants
Create reception playlist
Choose father-daughter dance song
Choose ceremony music
Hair trial
Order pies
Order carrot cake
Rent tuxes
Book rehearsal dinner location
Ask people to do readings
Get marriage license
Book hotel for wedding night
And other things that will arise as we get closer

Gahhhhh!

Gaaahhhhhhhhh!

Okay. I can do this. I don't have school again until January, so that's a big chunk of time and energy I don't have to worry about for the next 3 months. I could certainly stand the extra money, but I'll keep my work hours right around what I'm already doing, and get busy on knocking this stuff off my list. As much of a procrastinator as I naturally am, I really want to get as much as possible if not everything finished before the week of the wedding.

I'm a little concerned about the 2 week vacation we're taking in August since that's a big chunk o' time out of the next 12.5 weeks. That being said, we're going to one of my very favorite places, it's our first real vacation together, and it should (hopefully) prove to be exactly the stress-free sort of trip we'll need at that point.

Here I am on my beloved island at age 16.

This, my friends, is Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Cape Breton, here we come.

I love Cape Breton for its beauty, for its people, and for its music. Cape Breton is where I honed my skills on the fiddle, and where I learned to dance into the morning. I seriously considered having a destination wedding in Cape Breton. It would've been logistically far more difficult and would've meant most of our friends and family would not have been present with us, so overall I'm glad we're getting married near home, but there's still a little part of me that yearns to declare our love in a place I love so well.

I can think of a few candidates for venues in Cape Breton. What comes to mind first for the ceremony is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in North River. It's a delightfully simple small white church, painted robin's egg blue inside. It probably has about 10 rows of pews with a single aisle, and glorious natural light comes in through unadorned windows all around. I'm not religious by any means, so it's interesting that a church comes first to mind in a land of such natural beauty, but I've always felt so welcome in this tiny congregation. I feel downright spiritual in this simple structure, which I'm not sure I've ever felt anywhere else indoors.

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This is in my mind what churches ought to be about. They should be about simple worship and welcoming fellowship. Bake sales and parking lot lingering and down to earth sermons. If I found a church like this at home, I'd consider attending despite my lack of faith.

The next "venue" that comes to mind is White Point. This location is a tough competitor against castles and pastures of Ireland for my favorite place I've ever been. I get wistful every time my mind wanders to White Point.

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It seems like the wind is always blowing like the dickens out here. A rain contingency plan would be nonexistent. I'm not aware of any viable reception locations anywhere near here. But still, my heart leaps in my throat to think of marrying my fiance here, on this strip of land that juts into the sea.

Maybe we can renew our vows in Cape Breton a little ways down the road.

100 Days & Counting

2009-07-02T02:22:00.005-05:00

My google countdown claims our wedding is in 100 days! This seems significant somehow. I think it's because we're about to enter a countdown in double digits, when it has previously always been represented by three numerals. Another big day is approaching - our last dating anniversary before the wedding. We'll have been together for 2 years in precisely 2 weeks. It's been an exceptional two years, I must say. Here's to many more!

We ordered our wedding bands a few nights ago!

I love them in the photos, so we'll just have to see how well we fancy them in person. I really hope they work out. We don't exactly have back-up rings picked out. Mine will be 14ct white gold in the 3.1 mm width. I hope it's not too wide to look good next to my almost 2 mm engagement ring. I thiiiink it will work.

My engagement ring. Simple white gold 1/3 carat solitaire with a partial kite setting.

Here it is on my hot li'l hand. Click to enlarge.

Opie's is 14ct white gold at 6.2 mm wide, so exactly double the width of my ring. I love the delicate knotwork on my ring. I hope Opie is pleased with the chunkier equivalent on his larger ring.

Here are a few more angles of my ring:

We'll have to wait a few weeks to meet our rings in person. Le sigh. I want them nooooow.

Our rings are something for which I'm not going to fully divulge the amount spent, but I am proud of my internet haggling. I found a 15% off coupon on the site that already offered the lowest price for Opie's ring. Then I noticed that they also offer a "Best Price Guarantee." This means that since I found my ring for a lower price on another site, they'll sell it to me at 10% below the competitor's price with free shipping and a *gift from Ireland*. Oh boy! The percentage off and free shipping is grand, but I suspect I'll be amused by whatever cheesy something gets sent our way. I'll let you know if there's a leprechaun in the box whenever it arrives!

Readings

2009-06-26T01:08:00.002-05:00

I began my hunt for readings for the wedding a few days ago. I found quite a boon of reading ideas over on indiebride. I thought I'd share the poems and quotes which have thus far given me lovely chills, or just seem to describe our relationship so beautifully. Here goes.

My sister initially introduced me to this poem when she was playing around with invitation mock-ups. I feel a lovely shiver up my spine every time I read it. I don't know how well it would work as a reading read aloud by a friend or family member, but I want to incorporate it somewhere, somehow.

Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks.
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

This next quote so perfectly describes how I view our upcoming marriage. I'm somewhat tempted to have our officiant incorporate this in his speech.

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks - all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”- those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”- and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “ You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed- well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another- acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this- is my husband, this- is my wife.

-from Union by Robert Fulghum

Here's another Rainer Maria Rilke poem. Apparently I seriously dig his style, except maybe I should say that in a more intelligent-sounding manner. Whatever. I'm not at my liberal arts school anymore. It's okay. I like the violin reference, seeing as I'm a violinist/fiddler.

How can I keep my soul in me, so that
it doesn't touch your soul? How can I raise
it high enough, past you, to other things?
I would like to shelter it, among remote
lost objects, in some dark and silent place
that doesn't resonate when your depths resound.
Yet everything that touches us, me and you,
takes us together like a violin's bow,
which draws one voice out of two separate strings.
Upon what instrument are we two spanned?
And what musician holds us in his hand?
Oh sweetest song.

- Love Song, Rainer Maria Rilke

Oh, ee cummings. I love your bizarre formatting.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

- i carry your heart with me, ee cummings

Mmmm, I love this one. I think its message is true, and the imagery of the trees with intertwining roots is so perfect, since we shall marry between two great bur oaks.

Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

-Louis de Bernieres

Also, I love Ogden Nash. The first time I encountered this poem was when Garrison Keillor read it aloud one night on NPR as I drove back to campus on a Sunday night, after spending the weekend at home with Opie. I don't think I'll actually be using this one, but it makes me smile every time I think of it. I can't help but share. Read it twice or thrice through. It deserves it.

This is my dream,
It is my own dream,
I dreamt it.
I dreamt that my hair was kempt.
Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.

- My Dream, Ogden Nash

Here, enjoy a few more lovely Ogden Nash ditties.

Geniuses of countless nations
Have told their love for generations
Till all their memorable phrases
Are common as goldenrod or daisies.
Their girls have glimmered like the moon,
Or shimmered like a summer moon,
Stood like a lily, fled like a fawn,
Now the sunset, now the dawn,
Here the princess in the tower
There the sweet forbidden flower.
Darling, when I look at you
Every aged phrase is new,
And there are moments when it seems
I've married one of Shakespeare's dreams.

- Reprise, Ogden Nash

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong admit it;
Whenever you're right shut up.

- Ogden Nash

Simple but beautiful:

I am yours. You are mine.
Of this we are certain.
You are lodged in my heart, the small key is lost.
You must stay there forever.

- Frau Ava

It's all I have to bring to-day,
This, and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget, --
Someone the sum could tell, --
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell.
- Emily Dickinson

I declare
that I shall love you always.
No matter what party is in power;
No matter what temporarily expedient combination of allied interests wins the war;
I shall love you always.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay

I think I'm most favoring the first Rainer Maria Rilke poem, the Robert Fulghum quote, and the Louis de Bernieres quote. What are your thoughts?

An Appropriately Awesome Officiant

2009-06-26T00:46:00.002-05:00

We decided on our wedding officiant today!

I'm very excited to check this off our list. Other significant items left to attend to? Order rings. Buy table linens. Set up playlists. Finish a list of various time-consuming crafts.Other stuffity stuff.

But instead of dwelling on what's left on my laundry list, allow me to elaborate on our wedding officiant.

See, I browse my local craig's list ads on a regular basis, usually using the search term "wedding." I've found some good deals on there, like my votive holders and my hair fascinator, not to mention a ton of furniture items and appliances. About 2 weeks ago, I was sitting in my biology summer school class, failing to pay attention, and browsing the good ol' list of craig. I found a particularly amusing advertisement for a wedding minister. I promptly sent it to my bridesmaid Kelsey via IM as she sat behind me in class. She stifled a giggle, and we both admitted it was slightly tempting to contact this guy. I e-mailed it to my beloved fiance with a title something along the lines of "For your viewing pleasure", intending to share the joke with him.

Here. I'll let you in on the "joke" too:

Click to Enlarge

And then Opie called my bluff. Finding our officiant is a task I assigned to the boy a number of months ago, so what did he do? He called Virgil the tatted-up biker officiant before I even got home from school. He reported that he seemed like a very down-to-earth guy and had offered an extremely reasonable price when compared to the officiants we've found based in Dallas. D'oh.

Guess what we did today? We drove up to Sherman and met with Virgil the tatted-up biker officiant and his police dispatcher/wedding officiant wife, at my favorite coffee shop in the Dallas area. And y'know what else we did today? We decided we want Virgil the biker officiant to perform our wedding ceremony. His wife has already made significant progress in helping us write the ceremony and they're totally willing to create any sort of ceremony we want. Bahahaha. I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh a little bit maniacally at how awesome (and moderately ridiculous) our wedding is becoming.

And So the Wedding Dreams Begin

2009-06-17T10:34:00.004-05:00

While I don't always remember my dreams so I may be wrong, I believe I had my first wedding dream last night, or at least my first dream wherein marrying Opie plays a central role. While so many of the things which occurred in the dream should have made it a nightmare for a bride in the throes of wedding planning, I instead awoke feeling overjoyed.

In the dream, our ceremony was supposed to begin at 6:45 pm (very close to our actual planned time, by the by). My mom looked at her watch and said it was time, so my dad and I quickly proceeded down the aisle, despite the fact that my dad wasn't dressed in any sort of formal attire, our photographer (who was indeed Jenna in the dream) had not yet arrived, and only about 5% of our guests had arrived. As we walked far too quickly down the aisle, I just couldn't stop grinning. I practically skipped down the aisle to marry my beloved. When the ceremony ended, I really did start skipping about in a field outside our venue (which was one of the few details not true to reality, but still with a very similar vibe) just so giddy to have tied the knot.

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As Jenna pulled up, I told her that she'd missed the ceremony, but that was alright. We could just pretend to do it again so she could snap some photos. She was very surprised she had missed the ceremony - she wasn't actually running late. My mother had misread her watch. We accidentally had our ceremony at 5:45 instead of 6:45, hence the lack of guests and proper attire. Instead of being upset, I thought it was rather uproariously funny, and skipped on back to Opie to tell him what had happened, still as happy as a lark.

While I doubt I would handle these snafus that gracefully on our real wedding day, I think the overall message remains the same. So long as I marry my best friend, the rest is just gravy. Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff. And all that jazz.

Cut Back Courses

2009-06-12T23:36:00.003-05:00

To give a bit too much information, I have some chronic digestive ailments which cause me to seek out bathroom reading material to pass the time I spend holed up in there. On a recent trip to the commode, I grabbed an issue of The Knot Texas magazine that I bought probably within the first week of our engagement. Flipping through the pages, I came across an article titled "Bride on a Budget." Hey, that's me!

Spring/Summer 2009

The article has some sound advice like "shop sample sales", "think DIY for bridal party gifts" and "ask a friend to officiate." However, point 14 on the list definitely made me giggle.

"Cut Back Courses
Since most guests tend to overeat during the cocktail hour, ask your caterer about serving five hors d'oeuvres instead of six or cutting out one of the early dinner courses, such as the soup."

I mean, sure, a lot of couples out there host multi-course dinner receptions. And a lot of folks have cocktail hours. Many offer hors d'oeuvres to their guests. But what "Bride on a Budget" does all of the above? What sort of "Budget" are we talking about here? I guess it just cracked me up so since the rest of the article contains sound advice for someone in my shoes, or for someone spending maybe about twice or thrice my budget, which is still far below the national average wedding budget. This bit of advice just snuck in there and seemed to say, "Whatever you do, you had better not consider having anything other than a plated meal with all the trimmings!"

Cutting back on food is one of the main reasons we've been able to stay within our budget, so I know for a fact that there are more realistic pieces of advice regarding food for "Brides on a Budget."

Have a buffet instead of a plated meal.
Have a cake & punch (& hors d'oeuvres) reception
Self-cater, or host a pot-luck
Forget about "courses." I always feel ill after delicious food is served to me in great quantity. I guess that may have something to do with my aforementioned digestive problems, but surely I'm not alone. Unless it's the Queen, your guests will forgive your more simple fare. If they don't, tell 'em to shove it.
Disregard the rule that no one has ever heard of regarding six hors d'oeuvres being standard. Throw out that whole cocktail hour hullabaloo while you're at it.
Above all, stop freaking out about what Cousin Sue or Auntie Gertrude might have to say about your chosen form of guest-nourishment. If they're so picky (and rude) that they'll have problems with your latest ingenious budget solution, they're going to find something tacky about your wedding, no matter what you do. Don't sweat it.

I'm following all of my own advice except points 2 and 3. Our venue rental is not available until 4 pm so that pretty well entails a dinner reception, thus foiling idea numero dos. Numero tres is not feasible for two reasons: 1) Our beloved venue requires we use their caterer and 2) Many of our guests will be coming in from out of town and will not have access to kitchens in order to bring something to a potluck.

So, what will be on the menu for our single course buffet (sans hors d'oeuvres and cocktails)?

Hamburgers.

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Ohhh yeah. Take that Ms. Manners.

Plain jane hamburgers served buffet style with all the toppings, and while the side dishes haven't specifically been picked out, it'll be something which traditionally accompanies hamburgers like potato salad, baked beans, chips, etc.

I guess we have a few vegetarians on our guest list for whom we'll have to set aside some veggie burgers but other than them.. Who doesn't like hamburgers?
I mean, really. Hamburgers, when done right, are basically a perfect form of sustenance. I'm kind of drooling right now just thinking about it. Our caterer makes a pretty darn good burger, too. Mmmm.

I also think hamburgers are right in line with the easy-going vibe of our wedding. While it may be unusual to see a man in a tuxedo (The Opester insists on wearing a tux. Since I got to choose my dress without his input, that's his prerogative. No powder-blue tuxes allowed though. Maybe avocado green...) or a woman in a wedding gown chomping down on a burger, that's just how we roll. We want folks to let their hair down, relax, and have a good time. In the end, we're coming together as a married couple, and then hosting a party immediately afterwards. Hamburgers immediately come to mind as party food, so why not wedding reception food as well?

I know I'm supposed to be the gracious hostess & bride and stop and chat at all the tables during dinner, but I really hope I get to enjoy my hamburger and pie on my wedding day!

New Vendors Join the Team

2009-05-28T18:46:00.005-05:00

I have very few vendors taking part in my wedding in comparison to most weddings, I suspect. That's not to say I'm forgoing the services provided by these vendors, but I've delegated to friends and family or taken on these projects myself. My brother's the DJ, my cousin's the ceremony musician, I'm the florist, my grandmother is one of the bakers, my sister's making the edible favors, etc.

Well, within the last week, I've added 2 vendors to the uber-exclusive little group of vendors we are hiring.

I had previously arranged for a friend (AKA "ex-boyfriend") and his fiance to shoot our wedding with my equipment with the understanding that I'd feed them, give 'em some cash, and edit the photos myself. And then I fell head over heels for the work of the photographer who shot my bridal portraits for free when she was just starting her business. We're talking madly in love here. And not only is her work great, but she's an absolute sweetheart to boot. The only problem? Her ridiculously incredibly absolutely reasonable or rather, cheap prices (Only $600 for high-quality professional wedding coverage? Unheard of!!) were about double what I had budgeted for photography, being the cheapskate, err.. budget-conscious bride that I am. Nevertheless, I managed to finagle (by which I don't mean "trick, swindle, or cheat", Mr. Webster) my way into affording to hire this lovely lady for the big day itself.

By the by, she just posted a blog entry about my bridal session.

Thus, Jenna Cole is our wedding photographer!

And for my next magic trick, I started browsing through some of the classified ads on Weddingbee, looking for reasonably priced (or more honestly, next-to-nothing or free, given my budget) day-of-coordinators in the Dallas area. While I absolutely want my mother involved in the day of my wedding, and the planning thereof, I don't want her to end up worrying herself sick over every little detail that I can't personally attend to while I'm busy being the bride. My wedding planning is very much a labor of love, but it would be quite a relief to hand the reins off to someone in the few days leading up to the wedding itself.

Enter Chrishawn Sontia. She's just launching her wedding planning business and is advertising free planning services to build her portfolio. [raises hand] Yes please!

We met up at Starbucks (my life revolves around Starbucks, I swear) just to make sure our personalities mesh before I entrust her with the details of our day, and she passed inspection with flying colors. She's super organized, gregarious, outgoing, and I have to say, I admire the woman's clothing ensemble color coordination. Just sayin'. She was rockin' the purple like I rock the brown and/or green 90% of the time (hence my wedding color palette).

Chrishawn will be helping me pull together a day-of timeline, run the show at our rehearsal, help decorate on our very time-constricted wedding day, organize vendor payments, and all that other coordinator-y jazz. She's also super willing to help me with my million & one craft projects, if I'm ever organized enough to decide in advance that I'll work on something at a particular time and place.

I'm very pleased I've found these ladies. I know our wedding will be even better thanks to them!

Somethin' Old Bracelet

2009-05-25T02:20:00.003-05:00

I've been pondering whether or not to buy a bracelet for the wedding since I'm planning to forgo wearing a necklace. I spent quite a while window shopping for delicate little pearl bracelets on etsy. Then I decided to go shop in my own jewelry box instead.

I found two bracelets with potential, but they both needed some cleaning up. The top one had a bunch of gunk on the mother of pearl, and the bottom one had a nasty green patina. Either of them could serve as my "something old" for the wedding.

I like the art deco nature of this one a lot. I think it goes well with my finger wave hairstyle and vintage-inspired gown. If memory serves, my mom bought this at an antique store for me. I wore it to prom. It appears to have been well-loved by a prior owner. A chain link that I need to remove anyhow to make it fit better is almost worn through.

This bracelet was some of my maternal grandmother's "junk" jewelry. The clear glass beads were actually painted to look like pearls. When I started cleaning off the patina, the paint started chipping off with it, so I just went ahead and removed all of the paint. It has a really pretty clasp and I love its delicate nature. I also think it hangs better on my wrist than the alternative. The only downside I see to this one is the color of the metal. All of my other jewelry for the wedding is white gold or silver toned. I'm tempted to ignore that little detail so that I can wear something of my grandmother's for the wedding, even if it is just some of her "junk" jewelry. I guess it's been a little over 4 years now since she passed away. I'd like to include her and my grandfather in the day in some way. I miss them.

The Immortal Bouquet

2009-05-22T22:21:00.003-05:00

Y'know how I said I was curious how long the Baby's Breath bouquet would last? Well, we made it on Monday, and here it is Friday. I took it out of the beer fridge (oh yes, we're all classy people here) in the garage today, and it looks just as fresh as it did the night we made it! I took photos galore as proof.

Seeeeeee?!

Click on any o' the above to enlarge.

This is very exciting news. That's not to say I plan on making the bouquets 5 days in advance, but I could make 'em maybe 2 or 3 days in advance, stick 'em in the fridge and not fret about it. Yay for fewer last minute projects!

The Budget

2009-05-21T22:45:00.004-05:00

I was a little wary of sitting down and really assessing where we stand with our wedding budget. However, I needed to figure out if we could expand one section of our budget, so I couldn't put it off any longer.

I know a number of little purchases here and there for crafting projects and such aren't completely accounted for in my assessment, but I'm still really pleasantly surprised to see we're still well within our budget!

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I know money is often a bit of a taboo subject, but I figure I'll go ahead and come out and say what the budget is that we're working with. It puts the need for do-it-yourself projects and family involvement into perspective.

We're planning a wedding in the Dallas, Texas area with roughly 130 invited guests for $5000.

I don't so much feel constricted by our budget as I feel liberated. I'm free to edit out details I don't really care about, with the very valid excuse that our budget won't accommodate these items. Also, I'm totally addicted to bargain hunting, so planning a pretty large wedding on a budget which our society defines as very small (though it strikes me as a very significant chunk of change, thank you very much!) is providing ample opportunity to flex my deal-finding muscles.

Technically speaking, we have money in savings that we could also allot for the wedding, but we could not really do so in good conscience. I want to have a lovely, enjoyable, memorable wedding, but not at the expense of our financial well-being. I think $5000 is ample funds with which to throw a nice party, despite what the wedding industry may have to say to the contrary.

I know that some guests may find elements of our "budget" wedding tacky or distasteful but I suspect none of the people whose opinions I really value will fall in that category. I'm not willing to shell out the extra dough to impress everyone, which wouldn't be possible anyway.

There are some song lyrics I took to heart long ago. They go a-like this:

"But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself"
-Garden Party, Ricky Nelson

And that's exactly what I aim to do! This wedding-in-the-works pleases me so much. It makes me giddy every time I think about it, not stressed about the reception it may or may not receive from my guests. I wish every bride could feel this way.

Bridesmaid Bouquet Trial Run

2009-05-19T01:11:00.004-05:00

Ta dah!

My buddio and bridesmaid Kelsey is finally back in town for the summer, and we've been making up for lost time by hanging out into the wee hours most every night. Today, she accompanied me on a very exciting Sam's Club run. At check out, my grocery cart contained: pudding, a whole baked chicken, string cheese, Member's Mark Ensure equivalent, blackberries, and Baby's Breath. That's just how I roll. The cashier told me that he thought only weight lifters drink Member's Mark Nutritional Drink, and then asked me how much I bench. Silly me.. I thought Old People predominately drink Ensure.

Then we went back to my house, I guzzled down an oh-so-nutritionally-balanced meal of chicken and "nutritional drink" (I feel *stronger* already), and we set to work on a trial run of the Baby's Breath bridesmaid's bouquets.

Kelsey models the bridesmaid's bouquet. Imagine she's wearing a chocolate brown dress. Note the approving smile. Yay, bridesmaid bouquet gets bridesmaid's approval. Maid of Honor, what say you?

With 2 bouquets under our belts now, we make a pretty good bouquet-making team. I'm curious to see how long this bouquet lasts, to see if it'd be possible to make it 1 or 2 days in advance, rather than the morning of the wedding, but either way, we can knock out the 2 fresh flower bouquets in no time.

I may also use fresh flowers for the mothers' corsages, but I have time to figure that out.

Marginally successful boutonniere

I also tried to throw together a Baby's Breath boutonniere, since my male attendant won't be carrying a bouquet, but I'd like to distinguish him from the groomsmen while also linking his boutonniere to the bridesmaids' bouquets. I obviously need to refine my stem wrapping technique, and I think it needs some long leaves or something as an accent behind it, but at least I know it can be done. It seems like a pretty hardy little boutonniere, too.

All in all, I deem the bouquet trial a success. It's currently hanging out in the kitchen, looking pretty in 1 of the 16 vases I bought 2 days ago at Ikea for about $2 each. These vases will ultimately be used as part of our centerpieces.

Look for tablescape test runs hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm supposed to meet with someone about buying table linens tomorrow, and I've found the fabric I want to make table squares out of.. I'm just waiting for it to go on sale, and hoping it isn't discontinued first.

Lack of Officiantiness

2009-05-15T13:20:00.002-05:00

Well, we met with the officiant on Tuesday, as planned. It wasn't until the day of our meeting that I bothered to ask Opie what denomination this preacher is. As soon as he said, "Baptist", I instantly became apprehensive. I try to be as open-minded about religion and religious sects as possible, but a large percentage of my negative experiences in regards to religion have come via Baptists. That's not by any means to say that Baptists are bad people! I've just encountered fewer open-minded Baptists than open-minded "insert-other-Denomination-here"s, and am therefore sometimes wary of interactions with Baptists where religion will dominate the conversation.

As we pulled up to the church, my apprehension developed into a heavy stone in my stomach. I've seen a lot of huge churches, but this one is pretty uber-huge, without becoming the stereotypical concrete super-church you run into on the highways of Texas. Beautiful traditional brick architecture, but seemingly the size of an airport, and with an underground parking garage to boot. Eep. As an agnostic with somewhat atheistic leanings, I felt rather like I was entering a trap, while driving into the underbelly of this enormous church, with the express purpose of explaining my religious beliefs to a minister.

I think Opie was (understandably) a little amused by my palpable fear, but in the moment, I was far from amused by his amusement. I hadn't had a one-on-one meeting with a minister since I went through confirmation in 6th grade, and I was even nervous then! Despite the fact that I've attended copious amounts of churches since going down a "wayward" path, out of respect for the other attendees of the church, I always keep mum about any issues I may find with the religious proceedings. It's certainly not my place to come into their place of worship and question their beliefs. Which is exactly what I felt like I was preparing to do. Whee!

We wound up having to employ the help of a security guard and some sort of church employee to guide us to the minister's office, which happened to be as far from where we parked as humanly possible, with a never-ending labyrinth of stairs and hallways in between.

And you know what? All my fears were for naught. The minister was one heck of a nice guy, and completely respectful of our beliefs, as we were of his. I think all 3 of us enjoyed the open-minded religious philosophical discussion that ensued. If anyone wants a religious officiant in the Dallas area, I would gladly pass you his information.

Unfortunately, just as we would feel insincere having a religious ceremony when we are nonreligious, the minister would feel insincere in performing a nonreligious ceremony when he believes that God is an important part of marriage. We completely understand, though it is a little disappointing, since he's a really great guy and the only officiant we have any personal recommendation for thus far... but we'll figure something else out.

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Since I assigned finding an officiant to Opie, I'm doing my best to stay out of researching it too much, but I'll be somewhat surprised if we don't end up using a Justice of the Peace. I don't know what rates they charge, but I'm sure it can't be worse than the cheesy wedding officiants we've found offering their services online.

Officiantiness

2009-05-08T13:28:00.003-05:00

One of the things I've delegated to Opie is to find the officiant for our ceremony. I initially started researching it myself, but the prices and cheesiness of everything I was finding was just.. toooo much. The average rate for a ceremony in Dallas appears to be around $200, $250. That's ridiculous in my opinion. What all do they do? They show up in somewhat nice attire, read a few lines aloud from a binder, sign some papers, and skedaddle. That's a pretty sweet hourly rate for them, eh?

We thought we had a good solution to this problem. Opie's uncle would make a great officiant! Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons that I can understand, his uncle declined our request. Back to square one. I have a few family members of my own that would probably play the role well, but we think the wedding is probably already a little too focused on my family, so we're exploring other options first.

Opie's mom suggested a pastor from her church, with the recommendation that he's really good with young people. That kind of scared me off a bit. Despite my lack of religious affiliation, I've attended a lot of churches of numerous denominations over the years, and I normally can't stand youth ministers. Nevertheless, since we have no other recommendations, Opie called the guy up today. Apparently he's actually the minister for 30 & 40-year-olds. I didn't even know they had specializations like that, to be entirely honest. I haven't talked to him yet, but Opie laid out our requirements (no premarital counseling, at most only minimal mention of God in the ceremony, respect for our personal beliefs, no church ceremony) and he was pretty pleased with the guy's openness to our wishes, so we have a meeting with him on Tuesday. We don't know yet what he charges, but at least we've found a possible contender.

AM I THE COOLEST BRIDE EVARR?

2009-05-07T04:15:00.002-05:00

or am I the coolest bride evarr?

It's official. I AM the coolest bride evarrrrrr.

In other news, Weddingbee rejected my application today. WHATEVA'. They don't know the awesomeness that they're missing.

Prayer-Flags for the Pavilion

2009-05-06T18:01:00.005-05:00

"Bunting" might be the more appropriate name for what I have in mind, but I've always loved Tibetan prayer flags, despite my lack of any particular religious affiliation.

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I've been looking for some way to add something festive to our reception space. I drew inspiration from today's Offbeat Bride post, wherein the bride decorated her reception space with hand-made bunting, or affectionately dubbed "midwestern prayer flags".

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I've actually done a similar DIY project in the past. I made something along the lines of narcissistic prayer flags when I was in Higher Level IB Art in high school. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the final result - I strung up a whole bunch of them at my gallery show at the end of the course. I do have a photo of a single flag from early in the series though:

Obviously I won't stamp a bunch of pictures of myself on flags to hang around at our wedding, but I could happily pour some time into creating a linoleum block stamp to print onto our flags! I don't know what the stamp would say/look like, but once the stamp was created, it'd be a pretty easy and fun (if a bit time-consuming) mass production project.

I don't know if I want to make the flags triangular like traditional bunting, or more rectangular along the lines of prayer flags. I like the look of both a lot. What do you think?

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Although we won't have a tent, that's the cutest tent decor ever.

This, however, IS our venue, and I still think we could use them. It seems to me we could hang them from the cross beams between the pillars at the edge of the covered area. There are also lights in those cross beams, so we could still see them after dark! We could theoretically also hang them from the trees, but I think I'd rather stick with lights in the trees. Oh, we could hang some more bunting on the railing around the patio, though! That'd be a lot a lot a lot a loooot of bunting though. Where do you think I should draw the line?

Save that Date! (Part 2)

2009-05-06T00:49:00.007-05:00

I'm about halfway finished with my finals and projects, with a nice little lull in between, so I'll finish filling you in on our Save the Dates. Also, I've heard from a number of folks across the country who already received theirs, so it's a good deal more likely my guests will encounter the final result in their mailbox before they find it here.

I played around with various nature-themed stamps to ornament our STDs. I ultimately decided on a leaf stamp, playing off the fact that we chose our wedding date almost exclusively based on the Autumn season we love so much.

I employed something of an assembly line method, despite the fact that I was running the show alone. I basically stamped one with brown pigment ink, covered the ink in clear embossing powder, and then set it aside to stamp & powder another card. Rinse, repeat, until I had just about the whole kitchen table filled with cards, and then I busted out the heat gun and melted the embossing powder on all of them at once.

The color of the leaves appears muted here because they're all covered in embossing powder, but have not yet met the heat gun.

I felt quite a sense of accomplishment as the stack of completed homemade cards grew and grew.

Here's the final result!

The embossed leaf is difficult to photograph properly since it's somewhat shiny, but this gives you a good idea. I really like the outcome! It's pretty simple, but it serves its purpose and doesn't look too shabby in the process. I initially wanted to order magnet STDs, but I figure most people will still stick this postcard on a clip or under a magnet on their fridge.

The stamps we used.

I've always poked fun at these stamps when we've received postcards (pretty well exclusively junk mail) that sport them. I then came to find out that they're the only 27 cent stamp that the post office sells. I could pay more for a different stamp, but then that would defeat the whole purpose of sending postcards - affordability. The postal rates go up on the 11th of this month, I believe it is. I wonder what the 28 cent stamps will look like, but I'm glad to have spent one less cent per card nonetheless.

Why, you might ask, do I find these stamps so amusing? Because I have a juvenile sense of humor, that's why.

....Yikes.

I mean, REALLY! Did Georgia O'Keefe design this line of stamps or something? It's just ridiculous. But I used them anyway! I just chuckled to myself everytime I stuck the guava or papaya stamp on anyone's card. The kiwi stamp is also questionable when viewed alongside these suggestive stamps. The word "dentata" comes to mind.

This is one of those times in the planning process where I've decided it's perfectly fine for things to not be perfect. Stamps that resemble lady-parts on our "STDs" are pretty far from perfect, and that's perfectly okay.

Are there any details of your wedding that have become something of an inside joke?

Save that Date! (Part 1)

2009-05-02T01:45:00.006-05:00

Opie and I dropped off all but 2 of the Save-the-Dates at the post office today! It's a pretty neat feeling, I must say. The wedding has felt very real for a very long time now, but sending out postcards telling all of our friends and family the official date makes it all that much more.. official!

I suspect some of our local guests might get the postcard STDs (this acronym is always fun for the immature like myself) by tomorrow. Before I went to the trouble of stamping and embossing all 60 or so of the STDs, I mailed myself a copy to make sure it survived the hands of the postal service. It returned to me the very next day slightly worse for wear, but perfectly acceptable in my mind. It just has a few small smudges and a neon orange tracking bar across the bottom of the front design. I think that's to be expected with something that's travelling without an envelope.

There are already a number of handy dandy heat embossing tutorials out there on the net (like this one by Miss Fondue on Weddingbee) so I probably won't go into great detail about that portion of its creation, but I will give you a general idea of the DIY process for our STDs.

First, I created the text portion of the STD in Photoshop. It took quite a few hours of fiddling around with fonts and layouts until I achieved something I was happy with. Then I showed it to Opie and he didn't care for the way his name was written. Seeing as the STD is an informal notice of our date, I felt like it'd be a great time to let my relatives know that he goes by Opie, since his real name (from which Opie is not even remotely derived) is all that will appear on our invitations. He was concerned that there'd be a disjoint in communication, and ample confusion if the STD just calls him Opie, and the invitation only calls him by his given name. I knew he was probably right, but I cried about it and fought it nonetheless. I know, I know, total overreaction, but I had just spent a metric $#!%-ton of time adjusting font spacing and alignment that 8 more characters would completely, entirely throw off, and I don't think my hormones were behaving well that day. Egh. Poor Opie.

Here's the first creation that caused the tears. Like the obvious pseudonyms to protect our identity on the interwebz?
The fonts are Poor Richard and Scriptina. I love Scriptina.

Unfortunately, Scriptina became far too much for the design when 8 characters were added to Opie's otherwise very abbreviated name. I had to start exploring new fonts. Explore, explore, explore. I'm not sure how many fonts I downloaded from fontspace.com in the pursuit of the perfect combination of fonts!

I was initially set on a serif font for the information and a script font for our names, as in the first iteration of the design. I eventually found that it needed to be simplified more than that. I wound up using two fonts from fontspace that seem to me to belong to a bygone era - Aspire (the Script-ish font) and Parisian (the san serif font). I actually found both by searching the 1920s tag on fontspace.

See? I put Opie's real name (not actually Opediah, though that's what I often tell people his given name is when they're being nosy) followed by his nickname in quotation marks. This satisfied both of us, finally.

The colors got corrupted in the file conversion of those images, but the vital information is in an espresso/chocolate brown, while the names are in green. I laid out the file with 4 STDs per 8.5"x11" page. I then printed them on ivory cardstock from Staples with my Canon printer. This went really quickly, and while I was concerned about paper jams with my top loading printer, there were no snags at all.

I then snuck into my old high school (I always go in holding a note like I'm on my way to the office or back to class, since I can still blend in as a student, which is much easier than dealing with the visitation rules. Don't tell on me!) with the ruse of visiting an old art teacher, and used the art department's paper cutter to neatly cut them all in about 5 minutes. Since I was being all sneaky-like, I don't have any pictures of this step, but it's a very standard guillotine-like paper cutter that threatens to chop off offending fingers.

^Like so^

While this project would surely have been expedited with the help of various willing friends or family, I ran solo on about 99% of it and still made pretty good time on it. I got a great portion of it finished during Opie's last business trip. It was good to have something to keep me busy in his absence.

Alas, it's past my bedtime but if my packed study schedule tomorrow allows, I'll finish filling you in on our Save the Dates!

Slow Going, Frantic Finishing, Table Turning

2009-04-29T18:00:00.004-05:00

Wedding-related posting might be a little slow-going for the next few weeks.

The end of my school semester is quickly approaching, which means projects, essays and exams galore! Being the chronic procrastinator that I am, coupled with the fact that most of my productivity has been directed toward wedding-planning lately, I'm frantically finishing all of my supposedly "semester-long" projects at the last minute. I'm very frazzled and sleep-deprived, and also anxious about a few family members currently experiencing serious health problems. I'm not in the best of emotional and mental states right about now. As each weight is lifted (like the project and essay I turned in today), my focus is then turned to the next large item on my plate. Ugh. Brain asplode.

I will however blog today, largely because I find it therapeutic and currently require a break from academics.

One of my stress points for the wedding has been the dance portion of the reception. It's an important part of my vision for the event. I miss dancing with my friends and family and I'm really looking forward to doing so at our wedding. The only problem? I have (largely by choice) a very limited budget and was concerned about how much of that budget would have to be directed toward hiring a DJ. I know that setting up a playlist and having someone man it for portions of the evening is a pretty popular solution to this problem, but I didn't really want to ask anyone to spend that much of the reception sitting with a laptop.

Not quite how I imagine it.

I also really don't want the "cheese" factor for which wedding DJs are infamous. I'm very stingy with money and only want to pay someone a lot of money for their services if I'm sure it's completely worth it. Unless you've seen them at another event, it's kind of hard to know with the services provided by DJs, officiants, etc. if you'll be satisfied with their work until after it's already been provided and payment is due. This just stresses me out.

However, brother o' mine to the rescue! He volunteered, sans prodding by yours truly, to take charge of the laptop and speakers as needed for the evening. He has great musical taste, and I'm sure we can work together to put together playlists that will satisfy all parties (or at least the parties we particularly care about pleasing). I'm hopeful that for other than a few key events like the first dance, father-daughter/mother-son dances, and pie cutting, that Tom will be able to hit play on a premade playlist and go enjoy the food and festivities himself.

My siblings and I at my brother's wedding a few months ago. Aww. Aren't we sweet?

I was the ceremony musician at his wedding (and at my sister's too, actually, in addition to Maid of Honor. I think I did much better in my duties as musician than MOH, despite the fact that I forgot to tighten my bow for the recessional). As special as that was for me, and I hope for my brother and his wife, it was a significantly lesser time commitment than what my brother has offered to do for us. I'm very touched by his offer to operate the turn-tables, so to speak.

I love how family-infused our wedding is becoming. Although we'll order most of our bride's pie from local stores, my grandmother is going to make the pie that we cut at our reception. I really love this detail so much, and I'm excited that she seems excited to make our personal pie. Pecan is probably tops in the running right now (it ranks high among my favorite pie flavors and my grandmother makes a meeean pecan pie) but we shall see. She wants to practice with whatever recipe we choose, but we still have a little over 4 months. Whoa. 4 months?! Time flies.

Finding the Dress

2009-04-26T01:09:00.008-05:00

I forgot that I hadn't yet properly posted about my dress when I gave you much more than a peek at it in my last post! I know most every bride loves her dress, and I'm definitely no exception. I love love love love LOVE my dress. Really.

I went to 4, sort of 5 stores in my hunt for "the Dress". First, my mom and I went to David's Bridal. It seemed like as good a place as any to start. At the time, I was looking for a very lacy non-satin ivory mermaid gown without a train, and with straps. Something like this:

These were my inspirational photos at the start of my hunt (and before I began blogging about all this shtuff, so I apologize for the lack of source links). The catch? My ideal budget of less than $300.

We made the mistake of visiting David's Bridal on a Saturday and without an appointment. Holy sweet bejeezus, was it crazy in there. Even though I'm very comfortable in my skin, it bothered me that there was no mirror in the dressing room. I had to come out and wait around for the other shoppers to vacate the mirror stand before I could see if it looked even moderately presentable. Also, the girl who was getting us dresses was very sweet, but also very distracted as I think she was simultaneously helping about 4 girls. Just about every dress that came our way was many sizes too large and we had no clips to help *visualize* what it might look like in my size. They were also all strapless, satin, a-line gowns with trains. I realize many of these things could be tailored to my specifications, but it wasn't exactly helping me figure out if a lacy mermaid gown was what I really wanted!

We left there fairly quickly and stopped in at the Dallas Vintage Shop. I've been there in the past while thrifting with friends and knew I had seen some vintage wedding dresses. Unfortunately, they really only had dresses in inventory at the time from about the 1980s and other fashion-impaired time periods, so we left there empty-handed as well.

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We then tried a local store that shall remain unnamed that mostly specializes in prom and other formal gowns. They were advertising that they were closing out their bridal section, so their gowns were supposed to be listed at greatly reduced prices, up to something like 80% off. The catch was that the reduced prices were not listed on the price tags. You had to ask a sales clerk to go find a manager to see what the reduced price was. Odds are, if they were willing to go ask, you had already showed enough interest in the gown where they felt like they could only slightly reduce the price and get you to bite. I almost did. There were 2 gowns there I would have been okay with, maybe. I probably would've bought one of them if they were in fact greatly reduced in price. Instead, they only came down something like 10% and both were going to require a lot of alterations. The beading on one required a lot of repair. Also, they were nothing at all like what I was initially looking for. They just made me feel like a bride.. but not like me. Poofy and satiny and beaded and.. so not me. I'm very glad I didn't bite. The only good that really came of this shopping experience was that I discovered that mermaid gowns are exceedingly difficult to walk in. No thanks. I still wanted something that accentuated my slender figure, so A-lines were still out, but I was open to new ideas.

My mom and I then swung by my paternal grandparents' house. My grandmother had stored away several family members' gowns, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try them on. Free and heirloom is right up my alley. I did some scheming with my aunt's dress that my grandmother made by hand a little over twenty years ago (I was hangin' out in my mom's belly during that aunt's wedding). It's very flapper-esque and absolutely beautiful. French lace overlaid on tiered chinese silk. It's an unfitted sheath silhouette and has no train. I liked it a lot, and kept it in mind as a possibility, but it really wasn't particularly flattering to my figure.

My cousin's wife's gown that my grandmother completely reassembled is gooorgeous. It fit me like a dream. Lace, lace, lace, with gorgeous long sleeves that I hadn't really considered but loved. A-line and with a train, but I considered throwing out those requirements for this dress. Unfortunately, my grandmother informed me that my very sentimental cousin doesn't want anyone to wear his wife's gown. I'm not sure why it's stored in my grandmother's closet in that case, but oh well.

We ultimately had the best shopping experience and found my dress at Anonymously Yours, a consignment shop that specializes in wedding gowns. That's right, my dress is preowned and I have absolutely no problems with that. In fact, being the thrifty shopper that I am, I absolutely love the fact that I bought my dress from a consignment shop. Everything in the store is clearly organized by size and categorically: formal vs casual, with train vs without train, strapless vs with straps, ivory vs white. The dresses are all cleaned and pressed, ready to be worn. In fact, they were in substantially better condition than the gowns I'd tried on earlier that day at the unnamed prom dress store, and for amazingly reasonable prices! Nicole Millers for $400, Vera for $600, and most every non-designer gown falling right around the $100 mark. The owner personally helped us. She's down-to-earth and very helpful - she even gave us great recommendations for other budget-friendly wedding services in the area. I swear I'm not being paid for this advertisement. I was just genuinely impressed with this store and can't say enough about it. If you're in Dallas and looking for a wedding dress, there's no excuse to not stop by here.

I tried on a few gowns that looked promising but none of them were quite right. We were about to leave (with every intention of coming back soon to check their ever-changing inventory) when we discovered that we had entirely missed the informal section. This section felt like home, and I just knew the One was hiding on its singular rack. When I put on The Dress, we all knew it. My face lit up, and my mom and the store owner beamed. The price tag read $150. Um, yes please?! It came to $161 after tax, and fell well within my budget that I'd almost given up for mediocrity earlier in the day.

Until I receive the rest of my bridal portraits, these photos my bridesmaid Kelsey took for me before the dress was hemmed will have to do. I present...

The Dress!

Other than the hemming, this gown fit me as though it was made for me. This begs the question.. did a 6 ft, size 4 girl own this before me? If so, was she a model? Because that's just ridiculous.

I apologize for the undie lines. I have some now that don't show. They are far from sexy undies, but sometimes you just have to do what works. I'll wear non-sexy undies for my slinky dress.

Boobs. Also, a detail shot of the minimal decoration. Kind of does double duty as something I think I've heard called a "modesty panel".

I loooove the draping in the back of my gown!

Doesn't the back frame my tattoo so nicely?! Also, I think on the day of the wedding, my mother will sew me in so that the zipper doesn't gap like that.

Are you completely satisfied with your dress? Are you also completely satisfied with the amount of money you spent for it?

Bridal Portraits

2009-04-23T22:23:00.002-05:00

Jenna Cole already posted two of the photos from today's shoot on facebook! We found an abandoned farmhouse and used it and all of the fields and such around it for our pictures. The wind today was nothing short of ridiculous. This worked well for some shots, like the one above, but also made a lot of them more challenging. Nevertheless, I'm really reeeally excited to see the rest of the pictures. I think we found a really great location and the lighting was just perfect. Also, Jenna's a total sweetheart and an absolute professional. If you have any need for photography in the Dallas area (or elsewhere, if you can pay for her travel) you should definitely consider booking her.

Bridal Portraits!

2009-04-22T18:02:00.005-05:00

Guess what I'm super-duper excited and nervous about? Guess what's happening tomooorrow?

BRIDAL PORTRAITS!

Egads!

The lovely Jenna Cole and I will be meeting up and heading off into the middle of nowhere to take photos of this 6th Generation Texan Bride. We'll hopefully capture crops, wildflowers and other rustic Texas-y things while also keeping my dress as clean as possible, seeing as I'd also like to get married in it in less than 5 months!

I'll let you know how our shoot goes, but I'm very optimistic. You should check out her work. She's only just starting her professional photography business, but she clearly already has a great eye for composition and a good handle on the technical side of operating her camera. Her prices are also ridiculously reasonable for the 2009 season. You may also know her as Mrs. Avocado of Weddingbee.

I'm actually getting her services for free this time around because I replied to an ad of hers on Weddingbee offering free shoots so she could expand her portfolio. Woohoo! I'm not sure that I would have ever scheduled a bridal shoot otherwise. The word "free" was just far too enticing! I hope that I can work up a non-goofy smile for her so this isn't a waste where her portfolio is concerned. I'm very used to looking through the lens, but I really don't know what to do with myself in front of it.

I picked up my dress with its alterations today. The length is absolutely perfect. I feel like the draping in the back might be a tiny bit wonky with the hemming, but I don't have a full length mirror so I'm not 100% sure. Either way, I'm not sweating it.

My mom and I also finished my veil tonight! It turned out pretty fun and theatrical without going too far over the top. We added some feathers to my flower fascinator, and pulled the extra french netting into a nice poof that sits under the fascinator. It's difficult to properly describe, but hey, I'll have photos of it for you soon, since I'm bringing it on the photo shoot tomorrow!

Credit to JennaCole for all Photos

Return to Normal Programming

2009-04-20T16:24:00.007-05:00

Our internet and television service is finally back in working order. On Friday morning we startled awake to an enormous KABLOOIE! and a blinding flash of light (we both swear something momentarily glowed bright orange from the bedroom ceiling). A typical spring Texas thunder storm was rolling through and decided to strike down our sinful cable service. Apparently lightning struck either our house or very close to it. We were grateful to find our attic lacking fire and our chimney apparently still sporting all of its bricks per usual.

We were, however, simultaneously horrified to find ourselves unable to access the internet. My software engineer fiance did every bit of magic computer mumbo jumbo in his arsenal to get it up and running, but alas, it soon became clear that some portion of the hardware was *fried*. In fact, just about every portion of the hardware relating to the cable & internet service was fried. Our cable provider finally made it out yesterday afternoon to replace the portions that were their responsibility. We had to replace the router ourselves - I guess they don't cover acts of God. I think they should. It was clearly their evil services that God was seeking to smite.
Harumph, I say. Harumph.

Despite the fact that we have internet service at home again, I'm actually writing this update while paying copious amounts of attention to my oh-so-enthralling 10 hours of Monday classes. I'm actually a ridonkulously good (and modest) student roughly 95% of the time. This semester is quickly fulfilling my 5% quota of bad study habits. I'd rant about the drudgery of my current classes, but I guess I should actually fulfill this entry's titled subject; our return to normal programming. Wedding stuff it is!

I've finished my homemade Save the Dates but I'm waiting on a few straggling addresses to be gathered. Until I've sent them all out, I'll refrain from giving you a proper look at them. I will give you a little taste though!

Shallow Depth of Field Teaser.

Since I introduced our "children" in the last proper entry, now seems as apt a time as any to introduce our wedding party. I'll start with my attendants, since y'know.. they're mine. And I'm just selfish like that.

First up, my Matron of Honor. I tend to still call her my maid of honor since I think "matron" sounds rather matronly (go figure) but Miss Manners tells me I'm wrong. Shove it, Miss Manners. How about Sister of Honor? Yeah, we can go with that.

Sister of Honor, Jessie.

We go way back. I've known her for a little over twenty years, since I came screaming into the world and stole her bedroom. I also ripped the flowers out of her dollhouse window boxes and various other unforgivable offences, but she set my lego man on fire and sometimes tried to mother me too much. Shall we call it even, sis? These days, she's one of my best friends although she lives way the heck across the country and we only get to see each other in person once, twice, or thrice a year. I was her Maid of Honor when I was about 15, although I was pretty terrible at it. I had no idea I was supposed to give a speech at the reception, and I sure as heck wasn't really involved in the planning of her shower and bachelorette party. Therefore she only has to write an embarassing or touching speech for us if she really really wants to, and she's already doing an awesome job in her other Honor-Person's duties.

A decidedly not-recent picture of the two of us. I'm a pretty pretty princess. She's.. my sister. =D

Next up, my bridesmaid Kelsey. We went to Middle School and High School together. We were apparently in the same Algebra class when I was in 7th grade and she was a big bad 8th grader.. but neither of us have any recollection of the other. Oh well. That was unfortunately the only class we ever had together but we're planning to take a community college summer class together this year. We met through a mutual friend when I was in 10th grade and she was in 11th. We were both in Badminton Club - we'd basically just whack a birdie back and forth without a net (or any rules) in the middle of the main hallway of the school, exactly where the color guard wanted to practice at the same time. Rebels, I know.

Aww. I'n't she puurty?

At first we just shared a close friend rather than really being close friends ourselves. Over time though, as our tight knit group split several ways, I've come to count her as one of my very closest friends, and I like to think it's mutual. Right, Kelsey? Right? [nudge nudge]

I believe this was my junior and her senior year. Party hardy. We were good little straight edge kids in high school.

I also have a male attendant. Or maybe a bridesman! Actually, Michael has no qualms about being called one of my bridesmaids. I think he takes great pride in bearing that title. Michael and I met in high school through the same mutual friend who introduced me to Kelsey. We've also grown much closer in the last year or two.

Michael solely represents the not-pasty-white contingent of our wedding party.

He's really adorable about the whole wedding planning process. When I put my veil on for him a week or two ago, he totally started tearing up. He also super adorably freaked out when I told him Opie and I had gone ring shopping, and also definitely when Opie actually popped the question. While he's certainly not more excited about our wedding than we are, he very well may be more vocal about it. Cutie pie. Just for the record, he digs girls. And Hugh Jackman. But mostly girls.

He is very insistent that I weigh absolutely nothing. A good ego booster to have around! =D

That wraps up for my attendants. I'll briefly introduce Opie's boys, but I'm not particularly qualified to do so. Opie's Best Man, for whom he was also Best Man, is his long-time friend Justin.

Probably not the most flattering picture ever of the boy, but his internet presence is basically nonexistant.

Justin and Opie are all kinds of trouble when they get together. They consider Justin's wife Christie and myself "keepers" because we'll put up with (or ignore) their often inappropriate behavior. They've been friends since High School and perhaps revert to that level of maturity when they're together, but that's perfectly okay. They have an ongoing contest to find the most disturbing/obnoxious/hilarious songs and videos in existence. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to enjoying the results of their search. Alas, I have no pictures of the two of them misbehaving together to include here. Opie, you must remedy this in the most safe-for-work way possible, please.

Opie's other groomsman is his friend Marshall. They've known each other even longer than he and Justin, I think. I could be completely wrong. Whatever. Opie's free to rewrite this portion. They lived together for a lot of years, both in Texas and California. Opie was the lone witness at Marshall's courthouse wedding a number of years ago.

Marshie-Bear, as Opie affectionately calls him. Marshie-Bear loves this monicker, I'm sure.

Marshall is also a software engineer (I think... something like that, anyway) and I guess they kind of honed their professional skills together growing up. They supported each other through layoffs and breakups and many life changing experiences. They're more like family than friends by now.

Marshall and Opie enjoying a little Saint Patty's very-underage drinking. They were not the straightedge children that my friends and I were.

For good measure, I'll conclude with a picture of Opie and me from Christmas of '08.

Aww.

Lo Siento

2009-04-18T09:38:00.003-05:00

Alas, our internet & television went kaput at our house yesterday morning. The earliest we're able to have someone out to replace the hardware iiiis tomorrow. Poo. And now I have to go clock on at work. I'll catch y'all on the flip side.

A still sick Mary is a still whiney Mary, so waaah. I want my interwebz.

A Sick Mary is a Whiney Mary

2009-04-15T15:16:00.004-05:00

Waahhhh. I'm currently waging war with the cold of doom and am thoroughly not enjoying myself. Wedding progress has been put on hold while I cough, sniffle and complain, so I don't have much of anything new to report. Naturally my illness coincides with a school week full of tests and other fun things, a work week where I was mistakenly scheduled for about twice my usual hours, aaaand my twentieth birthday. Yay! Don't feel too bad for me though. All sympathy should be directed toward Saint Opie who is currently on Ramen, Nyquil and "Go back to bed, stubborn girl!" duty.

I'll use this break in our scheduled programming to properly introduce the other 2 members of our little family. I'll introduce them in order of age rather than size, methinks.

First, the adorable, the ridiculous, the rather idiotic...

The Calypso!

Oh ho ho. This picture cracks me up everytime.

See? I toooold you she's adorable. Can I hear an "AWWWW"?

I did also mention ridiculous and idiotic, right? Yes, that is Calypso inside the leg of my jeans. Ohh, kitty. You are a silly one.

Calypso joined the family in Fall of '07, about 3 or 4 months into our relationship. We already knew we were in it for the long haul, bringing a baybeh kitteh into our life together. She came to us from a stray litter that my sister found abandoned in her carport in Washington state. Calypso and her brother Allister (who now resides with my parents) flew to Texas together, mewing pitifully the whole way.

After Calypso had settled in for about a year and had thoroughly decided that she ruled the roost, we decided to turn her world upside-down and adopt a puppy. Ohhh boy, was she less than pleased. But how could she resist Trajan's cute puppy face?

Trajan at 6 weeks. He came to us at 10 weeks & roughly 37 lbs.

Well, I guess maybe the fact that he weighed about 4 times her weight might have had something to do with it. Also, his puppy curiosity married to his gargantuan size put her in some rather uncomfortable positions. Sorry kitty!

Trajan is a blue Great Dane. He's currently 8 months old. He hasn't been weighed since he was 6.5 months old, when he weighed about 105 lbs of pure love and affection. He definitely outweighs me now.

Trajan at 6 months. This is the only piece of furniture he's allowed to sit on. He doesn't much like to share it.

7 months.

8 months. He says, "Gee mom. I'm not doin' anything mischievious at all! I swear!" It looks like they're getting along here. By their standards, they are, but Calypso is in fact growling and Trajan is sloooooowly sneaking closer so that he can very excitedly investigate her with his huge schnozz.

So, do you think the description in my profile of "an itty bitty kitty and a horse disguised as a puppy" is accurate? Just to give you a reference of just-how-big Trajan will get, his father weighs 185 lbs. His mother's back is 33 inches off the ground. He'll get most of his growth in the first year, but he'll gradually grow more for another year+. I love our larger-than-life pup!

Ceremonial Songs

2009-04-13T16:46:00.004-05:00

I have 2 possibilities in mind for our ceremony music. The first would be to have a musically talented family member or friend play something for our processional and recessional. This would pretty much limit us to guitar or viola. No offense to my violist friend but I'm a violinist and really can't stand the sound of the viola even when played well. My cousin and my uncle both play guitar very well, as do a few mutual friends of ours so that's a viable option.

I didn't think my other idea was feasible on our budget. In fact, it's really not unless I manage to push some funds around and DIY more stuff. Therefore, I'd really written it off as an option, but mentioned in passing to my parents that, "Gee, it sure would be nice if we could afford a bagpiper for our ceremony." A few months passed from when I mentioned it, and then my mom suggested that she and my dad might be willing to cover the cost of hiring a piper. oooOOOOooo!

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I can tell that I'm about 150% more excited about this possibility than my fiance. He hasn't gone so far as to say that he doesn't like the bagpipes (maybe that's just because he fears I might hit him) but he's said something along the lines that he thinks the music played on them is inappropriate in the setting of a wedding. I disagree! I think the pipes are wonderful for all sorts of occasions of great pomp & circumstance, whether it be weddings, funerals, parades, or what have you. I haven't given up on the idea yet despite his lack of enthusiasm, but I fear it might fall by the wayside yet since this is after all *our* wedding, not just mine.

I have requests for quotes out to a dozen or so local pipers. I've received price quotes back from about 4 of them, with $250 being the best rate so far. Even if it's not technically my own money being spent for the piper's services, I do admit that $250 seems pretty steep when I essentially only want them to play 2 songs.

Maybe I should look into local fiddlers while I'm at it. I think Opie would be much more gung ho about that idea and it'd still be a very nice nod to my own heritage and interests, seeing as I'm a fiddler and generally obsessed with Celtic music and crafts. I don't even want to think about the amount of time I'll spend obsesssing over the music to be played if we hire a fiddler. Egads. Does anyone around here play Cape Breton style? No? Maybe I should just play my own music to wed by.

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DIY Wheat Bouquet

2009-04-11T22:55:00.006-05:00

Since very early in the wedding planning process, I've planned to make myself a wheat bouquet. I believe I was originally inspired by this photo:

Today, one of my bridesmaids and I went to Garden Ridge (and Hobby Lobby due to Garden Ridge's veeery poor ribbon selection) to gather supplies for my bouquet! I had been putting it off until I cleaned out some room in my "wedding closet" (the guest bedroom closet in which I hide all of my wedding shtuff from our pets) for it. However, folks from my wedding party were in town to help me with wedding tasks this weekend and I have a bridal portrait shoot in less than 2 weeks. If I remain satisfied with today's product, I can use it in my wedding in October too!

I bought 3 bundles of blackbeard wheat at Garden Ridge for $2.99 each. I only wound up using 2 of the bundles, but I wasn't sure exactly how much I'd need and I can always use the rest for other projects later. Also, note the price tag. I can afford the extra bundle to play with, methinks.

Here are the two bundles prior to being combined. In some ways I prefer the type of wheat used in the inspiration photo, but they were out of it today at Garden Ridge and I actually think the contrast the blackbeard wheat will have against my dress will be nice.

We cut the rubber bands off the bundles and began sorting them, removing any that were broken, too short, an inconsistent color, or otherwise unusable. We also cut the tips shorter on some of the wheat to make them a little less full when put all together.

There were 3 or 4 of the out-of-stock wheat hiding in among my blackbeard wheat.

Once we had chosen all of the stems of a consistent length and quality, I held them tightly and bridesmaid Kelsey began wrapping floral tape around the stems to hold them together.

We started the tape slightly lower on the stems than I wanted the ribbon to start and really just kept wrapping until it felt sturdy.

I then tightly wrapped the chocolate brown ribbon I picked up at Hobby Lobby over the floral tape and held it in place with regularly spaced pearl-tipped corsage pins pushed in at an angle.

Ta dah! Apparently I need to figure out how to hold my bouquet less awkwardly, but I like it! Judging by this photo, I think I might cut a few inches off of the bottom but that should be easy enough.

I'd like to thank my helpers for today's project:

The lovely Bridesmaid Kelsey!

William Shatner!

Current Inspiration/Progress Board

2009-04-10T23:50:00.004-05:00

[click to enlarge]

From top left to bottom right:
1. Baby's Breath bouquets for the bridesmaids. The bride's male attendant will probably have a baby's breath boutonniere.
2. The bridesmaids will be wearing solid chocolate brown tea/knee-length dresses of their own choosing.
3. The groomsmen will either be wearing boutonnieres of non-floral natural elements or the glass flowers that I blogged about for my fascinator.
4. The reception will be all about the candlelit ambiance.
5. Centerpieces will include candles sunk into coffee beans in homage to our meeting through Starbucks.
6. The Groom's Cake will probably be Carrot or Rum cake aaand delicious.
7. These are the earrings that the bride and bridesmaids will be wearing in 3 different finishes.
8. The bride (hey, that's me!) will be sporting finger waves.
9. This is me, in my dress, with my tattoo!
10. The groom and groomsmen will be wearing tuxedos, most likely in espresso brown or slate gray.
11. The Bride's "Cake" will be a pie buffet.
12. A contender for our wedding bands.
13. I'm considering getting a red parasol to match my shoes, although I'll be carrying a wheat bouquet in the ceremony.
14. I think a little handpainted sign like this would be a lovely way to guide folks from the parking lot down the path to our venue.
15. I'd love to include either family wedding pictures or pictures of us over the years somewhere, likely at the guestbook table.
16. These are my shoes! And I love them!
17. Our ceremony & reception venue.

Most of this is old news to anyone who has been reading my blog for a while, but I figure a little pictorial summary can't hurt.

Alterations

2009-04-08T00:04:00.004-05:00

Well, I took my dress in to get altered today. All it really requires is hemming of the dress, lining, and front panel. Judging by the tailor's marks, it looks like about 4 inches are coming off. I must say, that begs the question, "How tall was the girl who previously owned this dress?!" I mean, really. It fits my 5'6", 110 lb self like a dream except for the length. Was she 5'10" with my same body type? Dang.

When she asked what the dress was for, I said it was for a college dance, which could definitely be the truth (I actually suspect that it was originally marketed as a prom or similar dress). I don't know that she'd bump up the price over the word "wedding", but I certainly wouldn't be the first to encounter inflation over that one little word. I figured a little lie certainly wouldn't hurt anything. As it is, she quoted me $40, pointing out the slippery fabric, draped back, and several layers. I have no idea how that compares to other local prices, but either way, it seems reasonable enough to me, and she did a beautiful job on a jacket that my dad brought to her so I thiiink I'm in good hands.

Since I have bridal portraits scheduled for the 23rd of this month, my dress should be back in my hands by the 22nd. The tailor said that'd be fine. Nevertheless, I have this irrational fear that they'll go out of business (despite the great abundance of orders hung on racks in the store) and I'll never get my dress back! Gah! I don't know how you brides do it when you special-order your dress. I couldn't imagine having it out of your possession for 8 months. 2 weeks is more than enough for me, thanks.

One of my currently in-progress DIY wedding projects is my fascinator.

fas⋅ci⋅na⋅tor

[fas-uh-ney-ter] –noun

1.	a person or thing that fascinates.

2.	a scarf of crochet work, lace, or the like, narrowing toward the ends, worn as a head covering by women.

For the record, mine is not a scarf of crochet work, lace or the like, but I love the word fascinator, so that's what it shall be called. I think it's a thing that fascinates, so it still works, eh?

When I visited my matron of honor/sister last month, we happened across some gorgeous glass flowers dying to be turned into fascinators. We couldn't decide between 3 of them, so all 3 came home with me. That's a rare splurge in my planning process - I blame my sister, but really, I thank her, since she insisted on buying 2 of them for me (I practically had to force her to let me pay for 1 of them). After I bought my red shoes, I decided to use the red ones to bring in the same pop of color somewhere else in my "ensemble".

Seeeee?

My only concern is their weight. Being glass, they're not heavy per se, but they're also not exactly light. I need to find a clip or comb to wire it to that will stay in my hair really well to support their weight.

Since my mother has her doubts (and I begrudgingly admit I do too), I went ahead and arranged a back-up plan. While browsing on Craig's List, I saw someone listing their wedding dress and accessories. I spied a pretty hair flower a la Twigs & Honey in her listing, so I asked if she'd take $10 for it. In person, it's maybe slightly larger than I'd find ideal but a) it was $10, b) I can maybe remove some of the outer petals to make it smaller and c) it's really very pretty as is and complements my dress color perfectly.

My camera battery currently needs to be recharged, so I don't have any photos of it yet, but it looks a lot like this one, but with some center petals more toward a yellow hue, and minus the feathers.

source
It also has some pearls and crystals in the center. Pretty, pretty. Also, this was apparently the bride's backup fascinator that she bought new, so it's never been worn.

I do really hope I can get the glass flowers to work, but I'd be happy with this option too. What do you think?

The Only Hairstyle I've Really Considered

2009-04-05T23:13:00.005-05:00

That's right. As soon as I found my dress, I knew pretty well exactly how I wanted to wear my hair. I remember standing there in front of the mirror in the consignment shop (a story for another time) grinning like a loon, falling in love with my dress as I decided it was mine, looking at it from every angle and saying to my mom and the shopkeeper, "Is it just me, or would fingerwaves look amazing with this dress?" They unequivocally agreed. Or at least they were nice enough to claim to agree with me. One of those.

Fingerwaves. Hairstyle of a bygone era, occasionally reclaimed by a hollywood starlet for a red carpet here or there. Also, the hairstyle sported by my grandmother at her wedding, and in other portraits hanging in my parents' dining room.

Here's a low-quality shot of a lovely picture of my grandparents. I'm named for her, Mary Lorraine.

In looking for photos of finger wave hairstyles, it seems that most stylists use gobs and gobs of gel that hardens in a rather sloppy fashion. Ideally, I'd like something more like this:

source
Hopefully I won't squish it too much with my birdcage veil. Maybe I need the gobs of gel after all.

These pictures make me happy in part because I'm already sick of growing my hair out. I've already gotten my hair about as long as the cuts in these pictures, so I can probably start getting it trimmed again but keep growing my bangs out. I can't recall when I last grew my bangs out. 4th grade? 6th grade? Ugh. Always a pain.

source
This photo is so strikingly beautiful, yes? The hairstyle, the beautiful girl, the era it evokes, the soft focus.. *sigh* ..everything, really.

I had dinner with Opie's family tonight for his grandmother's birthday. I sat next to his aunt (who happens to be a complete and total sweetheart) who works at a very high end hair salon in the area. She's specialized in color for quite some time now, but I figured there was no harm in asking if she happens to know how to do fingerwaves. She responded that she hadn't done them in 10 years but that her salon also specializes in bridal hairstyling, and she could "hook me up". In other words, she uber-generously insists on paying someone from her (did I mention "very high end"?) salon to do my hair trial and on-site day-of styling!!! Oh my goodness! My mom and I were going to try to figure out how to DIY this, but I'm so ecstatic to be unexpectedly placed in the hands of a professional!

First Dance

2009-04-04T21:28:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling particularly lovey-dovey tonight. Therefore, I'm pondering what song should be played for our first dance. Allow me to introduce my current contenders [pending Opie's approval]. Click on the links to be led to youtube videos of these songs:

Sweet Lorraine - Nat King Cole
This is probably the first one to come to mind for both of us, as Lorraine is my middle name and I've always felt connected to this song. It's certainly one of "our songs". That being said, the lines about "each night I pray no one will steal her heart away" bother me a bit for the song to kick off our marriage.

What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
It really is a wonderful world with my love beside me, y'know? Also, I looove Armstrong's vocals. It's a shame he never did a version of Sweet Lorraine that I'm aware of.

Sea of Love - Cat Power
I definitely cried the first time I heard Cat Power's cover of this song. I think I fall in love with Opie all over again every time I hear this song.

Green Eyes - Coldplay
This was probably the first or second song to join the ever growing list of "our songs", probably within the very first few weeks of dating. I used to leave little quotes from songs and poems and such in my away message when I'd sign off AIM for the night. Opie would then investigate where they came from (more often than not being disappointed by how depressing the majority of my music choices are. ha!) and this was one of the first to be truly romantic. It got added to his playlist for driving around ASAP.

A Kiss to Build a Dream On - Louis Armstrong
This is one of Opie's top contenders, methinks. Again, I love Armstrong's voice. However, this song tends to make me think more of a crush than life-long love.

Something in the Way She Moves - James Taylor
James Taylor would definitely play a central role in a soundtrack of my life. His music was my lullaby in the crib, his were the arrangements for portions of every family sing-along, and the backdrop to every road trip. This song is so beautifully romantic. I wish I could think of a JT song to use for the Father-Daughter dance. That would be so incredibly appropriate.

You and Me - The Cranberries
Either this one or 'Dreams' are possibilities, though they're not quite the sound I envision for a first dance, I suppose. They'll definitely get played at some point in the evening though. We blasted the Cranberries as we drove around on our first date. I pointed out that he must be pretty secure in his masculinity to blast the Cranberries at a stoplight with all of the windows open. <3

All I Want is You - Barry Louis Polisar
This, along with Cat Power's 'Sea of Love' are found on the Juno soundtrack. This song is so ridiculously adorable. Can you just imagine us both singing along to this at the top of our lungs as we drive around town together? Oh yes. It happens probably at least once a week.

Mmmmmmm, music. I'm in a lovely mood after listening to all of these on repeat for a while tonight.

Veil Sneak Peek

2009-04-04T17:55:00.005-05:00

Here's a little preview of the veil my mom & I are making:

[click to enlarge]

The currently ever-popular super-glamorous birdcage veil! I guess the style we're making would be called a blusher. I haven't yet decided if I want to wear it just below my eyes or just below my nose. I just never saw myself wearing a veil until I discovered the birdcage. Love it.

Photoboothishness

2009-04-02T18:35:00.003-05:00

I think it'd be super fun to set up a photo booth of sorts at our reception. I know it's a really common idea across wedding blogs for the last while, but I've yet to personally attend a wedding that has one so I don't know how mainstream it really is. Also, I think I probably just frequent the blogs of super-awesome weddings.

As neat as the little strips of photos from real photo booths are, they are a) not what I can afford, and b) not quite what I'm envisioning. I'm thinking more something like theeeese (I apologize for losing the info on where I found these images):

I looove the idea of using a fun fabric backdrop, draped from the wall down to the floor.

More fabric awesomeness. We could also provide props for extra hilarity, like my yoda backpack, our Shatner standup, paper hats, mustaches, etc. I figure we'll just set up a digital camera on self-timer on a tripod with instructions written up next to it. I'm sure we could rig up some sort of lighting, but nothing too complicated. Maybe check out some lights from my school's photo department... We could then send folks their photos with their thank you notes since I don't much feel like printing them at the reception.

I also think I want to get a flickr pro account and give out the password to our guests on the day of, so they can upload the photos they take at our wedding. I have full faith in our friends who are shooting the wedding, but it'd be fun to have extra candid shots and such.

Honeymoon

2009-04-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

We booked our honeymoon yesterday! It's sure to be splendiferously wonderful.

We'll be honeymooning at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach oceanfront resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

This is a Junior Suite, so it should be pretty similar to our room. Note the ocean view - with the layout of the hotel, all of the rooms overlook the ocean.

Beautiful.

This resort is one of 4 sister resorts in Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos. We can take a free shuttle to the other resorts to make free use of their facilities too.

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

The Sunset Beach is on the Pacific Side with enormous waves, so swimming in the ocean is not allowed, but we can hop on over to the resorts in Los Cabos easily enough to do so. The pool facilities certainly seem ample enough, eh?

I've never really had a "tropical" vacation before. My vacations in Colorado, Washington, Ireland, England, and Canada definitely don't qualify. I've been to Mexico before, but only just across the border for an hour or two when I was 7 or 8 years old. Obviously we won't be experiencing the "real" Mexico in staying at a resort, but that's not really what we're seeking with our honeymoon either.

Whee! Our wedding (and our honeymoon!) is a little over 6 months away right now. It gets more and more real all of the time!

Make Up

2009-03-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

Oh, Makeup. I think I've worn it maybe twice in the last year. I think my complexion has definitely improved for it, and Opie's not particularly fond of the stuff. Even when I did wear it on a regular basis, it was generally just a little bit of concealer, eyeshadow, mascara, and occasionally lipstick and/or lipgloss.

That being said, although my acne wasn't and isn't as bad as many suffer from, I do have some mild insecurities about my acne and acne scars. That was actually a very small reason I considered waiting to get married (but obviously it wasn't enough impetus to actually do so). I figured my complexion would clear even more a few years out than at the 20.5 I'll be when I get married.

So am I going to spend a gazillion dollars on the services of a makeup artist? Heck naw. I'm spending a smallish amount (or, hey "figurehead".. wedding present? eh? eh? I'm a subtle one, I know.) for the services of my dear buddio who happens to be going to school for costume design, wherein she takes makeup classes. Woot. While I don't feel the need to be turned into a character from Xmen or Pirates of the Caribbean for my wedding, I know this little foxy lady is sure to make me look a little more polished on my big day.

The Foxy Lady herself, in one of her bridal portraits I shot last year

So, wonderful makeup lady of wonderfulness. I've been browsing shots of folks all glammed up. What I want is pretty simple, methinks. I want something really clean and simple. Nothing with much color particularly.. just enough to play up my features and conceal some of my blemishes, but otherwise, remain moderately unnoticeable. Like so:

I'd say lip color is one of the things I'm most unsure about. This is maybe a little too far toward brown or something, but I find that many of these are too far toward pink. It's something I need to play with.

Lip gloss seems to be a reappearing theme in these photos. Also, I don't have crazy beautiful big blue eyes, but I really like my green eyes and would like to play them up some.

Maybe a little heavy on the eyeshadow here but otherwise nice.

Again, I don't have bright blue eyes, but the idea here is still in sync with mine.

With this look, I probably wouldn't want the eyeliner to extend past my lid, but I otherwise really like it. Also, Natalie Portman, why are you so flawlessly beautiful?

The eyeshadow's maybe a little dark for me here, but on the other hand, the contrast it lends her eyes behind a veil similar to my own is nice.

Can't see a lot of detail here, but I love it.

Too heavy on the blush, but otherwise perfect.

This is pretty much perfect in a lot of ways. My only complaint would maybe be that the shade of pink on the lips is a bit too.. pink. Otherwise, I love that her freckles are still visible and the otherwise subtle makeup.

source for all of the makeup shots

I know a large percentage of brides go for a -lot- more makeup than I'm hoping to wear, but then I'm sure they'd be appalled by my going out in public without any makeup 99% of the time.

Also, on a pretty well completely unrelated note, I was watching that "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" show on MyStyle, and felt a distinct urge to track down and kill one of the wedding planners. Her clients were this really cool, moderately quirky couple with a quick witty (and sarcastic) sense of humor who were looking to buck a few of the traditions in lieu of things that better represented themselves and their relationship. The wedding planner, hired by the mother of the bride, could not even begin to comprehend why someone would want to do anything remotely different from every established tradition. She was downright rude, scoffed at all of their ideas and suggestions, ignored and disregarded every request of the bride and groom, and then got incredibly indignant and stormed off like a child when they finally expressed their frustrations with her manner of doing business. The show even tried to paint the planner as the one in the right. Ugh. I'm normally amused by the ridiculous nature of the wedding shows on TV, but this time I was just disgusted.

Whee. Here I am today, after a few medically difficult days. Here's about as blank a slate as you'll see. Hopefully I'll be far less tired, stressed, and under the weather on our wedding day. I'm not used to posting pictures without retouching my complexion. Oh well. I love you guys, you 4 or so readers out there.

The Cake Situation

2009-03-28T01:45:00.000-05:00

The Bride's "Cake" is one of the things I'm most excited about for our reception. See, I really don't like cake. I mean, sure, I'll occasionally stumble across a cake that tastes good and has redeeming qualities, but I far and away prefer other desserts, particularly pies and cobblers. Growing up, I probably had peach cobbler on my birthday for a minimum of five years in a row. I don't recall having a true "birthday cake" after the age of maybe 5 or 6. If I did, it was probably Angel Food Cake or Pineapple Upside Down Cake or something similarly non-cakey. Soooo after a little convincing of the groom-to-be, ("Hey, it's not fair that you're kind of choosing both the Groom's and Bride's Cake! Wah wah wah!") we've decided to have pie instead of cake! Yaaaaaay Pie!

source

I don't know what percentage of my guests are as fanatical about pie as I am, but I mean, really.. who doesn't like pie? And in many ways more importantly, I love how pie is so key to our relationship. That sounds silly if heard without explanation, but it's true. Opie likes to say he won me over with pecan pie. While I'm pretty sure he'd already snagged me for good by the time he started trying his hand at baking, his amazing pecan pies sure didn't hurt. While we've cut down our pie consumption now, there was a time when we always had a pie in the fridge (and sometimes two!), all homemade by Opie (and at times made together). A lot of bonding happened over those pies, and though it may be super-cheesy, it seems right to celebrate our newly declared lifelong-bond over pie too!

As for the Groom's Cake, Opie gets to pick whatever kind of cake he wants. He's not crazy about chocolate (crazy man.. mmmmm chocolate) but loves a good Carrot Cake or Rum Cake, not to mention the family recipe Hummingbird Cake my mom made us recently. I trust him to choose something tasty.

source

One of the other nice things about the pastry route we're taking is definitely the price. The very bare minimum I've been quoted for a relatively undecorated tiered wedding cake is $3 per serving. So, say we can get 8 servings from a pie in the price range of somewhere from $5 to $15, that's a per serving price of $.63 - $1.88. Yes please. I don't know what sort of price we'll be looking at for the Groom's Cake, but presuming we don't order it with the title "Groom's Cake" I'm sure we'll avoid a lot of the wedding inflationary pricing that drives me nuts.

source

I feel the need to reiterate YAAAAY PIIIIIIIIIE!

Progress or Something Like It

2009-03-26T02:18:00.000-05:00

I've got my Save the Dates all designed. Now I need to buy some ivory cardstock, print, cut, stamp, emboss, address & mail them. Wheeeeeeeee!

I just realized I've never posted anything on here about our actual ceremony & reception location: The Firewheel Golf Park Pavilion. I have more photos that still need to be downloaded from Opie's camera, but here's a photo or two from the venue's website to tide you over for now:

The view walking up to the building isn't stellar, but I think it makes what you find "inside" all that much better.

This photo doesn't even begin to do justice to the space. It's an open-air "pavilion" with about 2/3 of the very ample space covered, and then a big semi-circular patio with two huge bur oaks coming up through the patio. Weather permitting, we'll say our vows under the limbs of the two trees. If that's not possible, we'll just bring the ceremony back in under the cover but still overlook the scenic view. This overlooks a more secluded section of the golf course, with trees galore that will be wearing pretty colors at the time of our wedding. No houses, no telephone poles, no roads in sight, and very few golfers going by in the times I've been there.

The reception will be held under the covered portion, with a buffet set up in one of the long side rooms that comes with our rental. I'm so excited to have a venue I'm.. well, excited about! It's the perfect compromise between our desires for proper amenities, nature, beauty, simplicity and cost. Opie was actually best man at his best man's wedding at this same location. He just forgot about that until we visited, silly boy that he is.

-EDIT-
More photos, hooray!
Note that these were taken in the middle of the Texas "winter" so the trees are bare, whereas our wedding will be in October.

Here's the covered portion of the venue. I imagine trash cans can take a slightly less prominent role in our decorating.

Here are the super fancy chairs and tables we'll be using. Chiavari or whatever the heck those chairs are called would be nice, but I'm perfectly fine with our white plastic lawn chairs.

One of the two big trees shooting out of the patio. If we can figure out how, I'd love to put christmas lights or lanterns and/or ribbons or something in these trees. Nothing too fancy, but just something to make the trees still be part of the decor after dark. Also, the railing around the trees isn't super attractive, so we may want to put something in front of them. My mom's thinking big ferns, but I'm not sure about that.

The other tree.

This gives you an idea of how big the patio is. It's a pretty big venue really. It supposedly seats something like 500 - far more than we're hosting, but at least we'll have plenty of room to move about and dance and such.

Here's my Dad dancing or showing the scale of the building or something. Hey there Dad!

I should've gotten a better shot of both the trees together, but this gives you an idea of where the 2 possible ceremony spots are - between those two trees at the edge of the patio, or brought inside, probably between the two center-most columns (I believe that's right behind where my dad's standing), facing outward. If we are able to (ideally!) do the ceremony between the trees, we'll set up the chairs for the guests out on the patio, and then move them in to the tables under cover after the ceremony. If we have it under cover, we may just have our guests sit at the tables and arrange some sort of aisle.

In each of those doorways lies entrances to a side-room we'll be using for the buffet. It's a very long and narrow room that I think will be perfect for this purpose.

It's very much a blank slate to decorate, with a lot of natural beauty going on. I love it.

Dad poses some more. I spot my shadow, silhouetted by the light coming in through a big opening in the wall behind me.

See the hole? If we end up having a DJ (I hope!), (s)he'll probably be set up on that stage under the opening. The stage is where the site coordinator suggested we have our poor-weather ceremony, but I much prefer to look out toward the view of the golf course.

This pond is right below the patio. I imagine we'll take some of our group shots and such down on the golf course.

Again, the photos don't truly do justice our venue, but hopefully it'll come out better in photos on the day of.

2009-03-10T23:36:00.000-05:00

I found my shoes!
O Gee was nice, but these are even dandier, presuming "dandier" is a word.

Meet the Madden Girl "Beckey".

source

She's super cute peeking out from under my floor-length gown. It's the non-traditional very "me" shoe I was looking for, and while I had to talk myself into it in the store a little bit since red is definitely not in my so-called "color palette", I don't think it matters. The pop of color will be fun. I wasn't 100% sold on them for the wedding until I tried them on with the dress, but I really think they're perfect.

Awww...

2009-02-24T22:42:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally tried on my lovely "O Gee" pumps with my dress, and despite my attempts to convince myself otherwise, they don't really work with the dress. They're a kind of pink off-white, and the dress is more of a yellow off-white, and it just kind of clashes. Wah! Oh well. They'll serve me well as super-nice shoes anyhow.

I'm now hunting around for something else. It'd be plenty easy if I was just looking for your typical bridal shoe. But I'm not. Little strappy shoes with rhinestones and such are nice for some folks, but they're not for meee. Cousin Mary suggested peep-toes, but my long toes just squish out the end in a very unflattering manner.

I'm now wandering about Target and Payless and Kohl's and such, looking for something that will work. Le sigh. I though "O Gee" were the ones.

In other news, I have a free bridal shoot scheduled for late April. Obviously, I need to get some semblance of my outfit put together by then. Hooray for impetus to get moving on making progress. I have some of the materials to make my birdcage veil & fascinator, so I should start on that as well.

My number 1 priority really ought to be to make my Save-the-Dates. I should get those out ASAP.

Oh, my sister's coming into town tomorrow! Also, the rest of my bridal party's coming into town, seeing as my sister/maid of honor may not be able to come down again until shortly before the wedding. It ought to be a fun and busy weekend, between my brother's wedding (which I'm playing my violin in and still haven't really decided what to play! gah!), chillaxin' with my sister & bridal party, maybe doing some favor taste-testing, and so on and so forth. Yay!

Budgetary Restrictions

2009-02-21T11:29:00.000-06:00

One of the toughest things we face in planning our wedding is finalizing our guest list. If I had my way, we'd either invite 250 or 10, but neither will work for us. Our budget most definitely won't allow the larger figure, and I couldn't stomach excluding so many to have a truly intimate ceremony. We're trying to find a happy medium somewhere not too far off of the 100 mark, but it's really difficult.

If I recall correctly, I counted 57 family members on my side that I'm inviting. That doesn't extend at all past my first cousins' children. 57/100 is a pretty hefty figure. Then you count Opie's 15 or so relatives, a few family friends here or there, and that leaves very few friends with invitations. It's difficult to pick. Sure, we have our nearest and dearest as our attendants, but who do we include and exclude beyond that? I can't help but feel like we're picking those who will feel obligated to give us presents and those who will likely hate us forever. Fun.

I may be speaking out of turn a little bit to write about this, but I do in some ways envy my brother and his fiance for having the luxury to plan the intimate wedding they'll be celebrating next week. They can have the nice venue and the nice food. It's not at all like they don't like or love the people that weren't invited, nor is that at all the message they're trying to send with their rather exclusive guest list. They just chose to have a different sort of evening to celebrate their union and I can respect that. And I can also pine for the niceties they're able to afford for essentially the same budget I have to throw a party for 5 or more times the guests. Whee.

I have I think always compared weddings I've attended to the great bash that was my cousin TJ's wedding. I saw family there that I hadn't seen in eons (and haven't seen since). Everyone enjoyed great food, an open bar, great company, dancing, music, and all while celebrating and congratulating the newly wed couple. I'm doing my best to emulate the memory of that evening in a lot of ways, though it will be far from the same. We're planning to have a burger buffet - maybe not the "classiest" meal ever, but it's good eatin' and of the options we can afford, pretty much the best thing going. We'll have beer in plenty, and champagne for toasting.. maybe wine. We'll see. Our venue's pretty much exactly what we were looking for, so that's nice. We'll have plastic-ware instead of china, but I suspect our guests will survive. I'm doing my best to cut the budget everywhere I can so that we can afford a DJ, tasty cake, real linens, and so on and so forth.

I can't help but stress about those being excluded, even as inclusive as I'm trying to make our event. There are so many childhood friends, coworkers, high school (and later) pals that we want so badly to include.. but probably cannot. Also, we're so excited about our approaching nuptials, that it's easy to divulge intimate planning details to those we hadn't planned to invite. Are we then obligated to invite them? *sighs* I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make our wedding simultaneously free, fancy, and full o' friends.

At Something of a Stand-Still

2009-02-15T23:47:00.000-06:00

I'd like to say I've made wedding planning progress recently, but I really have not done so since purchasing my shoes. That's not to say we haven't made good progress considering the 8 months we have remaining, but there are a number of things I need to get moving on.

Things We've Accomplished
Selected/Put Deposit down on Ceremony/Reception Venue (more on this later)
Set the Date!
Bought Dress & Shoes
Bought/Arranged borrowing of Jewelry
Begun interviewing bakers
Selected photographer "friendors" (Oh yes, that is a clever combination of friend and vendor)
Selected makeup artist "friendor"
Begun shopping for wedding bands
Pretty well decided on menu
Begun collecting things for centerpieces
Planned Bridesmaid attire
Have a general idea of what the favors will be (Thank you Jessie!)

Things We Still Need to Do
Design, Print & Mail Save-the-Dates & Invitations
Dress Alterations (really just hemming)
Finalize cake plans
Figure out mens' attire
Figure out & practice Do-it-Yourself floral arrangements
Pick wedding bands
Taste-test favors
Write ceremony
Pick officiant
Determine if DJ is in the budget, and if so, pick DJ
AND A BAZILLION OTHER THINGS

I'm not sure if I want to do the garter/bouquet toss. I know it's *tradition* and it probably is a good ice-breaker, but we really may not have that many unmarried girls at the reception and I feel kind of weird about singling them out and making them compete to symbolically earn the next marriage. Eh. Also, from a more practical standpoint, I'm not sure how I'll inconspicuously wear a garter under my slinky dress. We shall seeeeee. If we do, at least I found garters for $1 at the aptly named dollar store.

My latest idea for Bridesmaids' (or mine, if I don't use wheat) bouquets is to use tightly bundled Baby's Breath. I know it's typically used as a "filler flower" but I really like how these bouquets look:

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Aren't they sweet?

Also, since I mentioned wedding bands in the lists up there, allow me to share my favorites among the rings we've looked at so far that meet both of our requirements:

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This is the thinner of 2 versions of this ring. I'll admit, I prefer how the thinner (my) version looks, and I get the impression Opie's not suuuper crazy about the thicker one either, so I doubt this will end up being "the one".

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If we did this band, it would be in white gold, with this being the thicker man's version.

I don't necessarily require that we have Celtic-themed bands. To be entirely honest, a simple half-round white gold band maybe about 2 mm wide would look best with my engagement ring.

Howeeeever, we both really want matching bands and Opie wants something a bit more unique than that, which I can understand. I suggested milgrain bands with engraving (thinking of my parents' bands that I've always admired) but he feels he's seen that too many times (I suggested it since that's what I always picture when I think of wedding rings), so that's a fair assertion.

Sooo if we're going to do something with a more intricate design of some manner, I figure it ought to least signify something about us. Since very early in our relationship, we've worn matching sterling silver celtic knot rings on our right hands. To me, the knot signifies unity and eternity and seems fitting for the wedding band as a symbol of our marriage. All that being said, try a google search for "Celtic wedding ring" and you will find a metric f***-ton of fuuuugly stuff. I require that our rings be simple, available in a thin width and "look good" with my simple engagement ring, so there's a lot of ugliness and expensive mediocrity to sift through to find our rings.

O Gee!

2009-02-05T22:25:00.000-06:00

I did indeed venture to Nordstrom Rack today. Good grief, I love that store. They had a lot of designer shoes on the sales rack today, but I steered clear for a few reasons: 1) The still ridiculous prices 2) The only shoes in colors I liked proclaimed their brand with monograms all over them and 3) They only had maybe 20 different pairs in my size.

I was instead more than content to browse through the 6 or so rows of 8 1/2s & 9s of still-super-nice shoes. I pretty much keep a running commentary in my head when I shop in that store, "Oh hello there beautiful, how much do you cost? Alas, it was never meant to be, sweetheart." "You're looking mighty fancy today. Oh my, you make me look pretty fancy too. You really shouldn't sell yourself at these prices. You don't know what people might think, darling." Clearly, I am ridiculous. Also, I love nice clothes at nice prices. I have a closet full of my grandmother's old Neiman's clothes that fit me perfectly and cost me nothing. I love that.

And so, I met my probable wedding shoes today. I say probable only because I've yet to try them on with my dress, but they are at the very least my shoes now whether or not they serve as my wedding shoes.

Without further ado, I present:

Her name is the Gentle Souls 'O Gee' Pump.
She's maybe not the sexiest shoe I've ever encountered, but oh sweet mercy, is she ever comfortable. You know how people justify wearing crocs or uggs because they're comfortable? Downright sinful when something simultaneously so beautiful and sooooooo comfortable exists on the market. Flats, I do not need you to appear at my wedding when I can simultaneously have my good posture, added height and comfy feetsies.

She has a tiiiiny beauty (er, skid) mark on one side, so instead of her usual $234.95, I get to call her my own for $71.43. I'll admit that I don't usually spend $70 on shoes, but I also don't normally buy genuinely nice shoes, being the cheap-skate that I am. I wouldn't shell that out for just anything. 'O Gee', you wear like a dream and you are miiiine.

Dress Sneak Preview + Shoes!

2009-02-05T03:55:00.001-06:00

First of all, here's a sneak preview of my dress, for all but the 4 folks who've seen it in person or in greater detail. This is the back, prior to any hemming. I love the draping of the fabric in the back - such a beautiful detail! Also, note one of my favorite qualities - the lack of a train! I'm having a semi-outdoor wedding and reception. A train is impractical. Truly, I can't think of a situation outside of a cathedral where I'd want a train. I like being able to walk, personally.

So, before I can get my dress properly hemmed, I need to choose some shoes! Shoes and I, we have this relationship. I want shoes that are -me-, and that go with my dress that is also very -me-. I was originally planning to wear flats, but honestly, pumps and me, we have a special bond. But if I find the perfect flats, I wouldn't turn them down. Also, I would love some uber-bright-colored non-white shoes, but alas, I don't think that really goes with my dress. All that being said, I now present you with a sampling of the shoes I've been drooling over tonight.

These were so ridiculously out of my price range, but so delightfully flat and green. Yum. As previously mentioned, alas, they wouldn't complement my dress very well anyhow.

Pump-like but nearly flat with that itty-bitty heel. Unless the back is too narrow, these look wonderfully comfy.

I could see these working for the occasion, being comfortable, satisfying my desire for something -different-, and also becoming a staple in my wardrobe post-wedding. Have I mentioned that I love shoes? Yes?

How completely adorable are these?! Maybe a little too bright white for my dress, and I don't know what the purpose of the slit in the front is, but tooootally cute. If I had a lacy dress, these would definitely be on my wish-list.

Super-cute flats. Look at that detailing. Yummy. Again, possibly too bright-white, but I don't know how much my shoes will show either way...

I already have 1 pair of similar shoes to these in all-black. I'm a sucker for these. Wouldn't it be totally adorable if Opie wore shoes that matched (sans heel, of course)? Eh? Eh? I dunno if they really go with my dress but.. WANT.

Cute. Pumpiness.

I think the simplicity & texture of these would go beautifully with my dress. Gorgeous.

Told you I was a sucker for these! [drools]

I don't normally go for wedges, but these are lovely. Unfortunately, if memory serves, they were described as rather uncomfortable and poorly sized. Boo.

The even cuter sister to the previous shoe, methinks.

This is another pair that I could see being a wardrobe staple. I don't know if they really satisfy my need for something different though.

Cute, cute, cute. Mary-jane with an adorable little heel.

Soooo yay! Shoe porn galore. Hope you enjoyed. I think I'll hit up Nordstrom Rack tomorrow and see what I can find in person. Coupled with my love for shoes are my wonky feet, so I really need to try shoes on before buying them.

Our Woodsy Nature-y Theme

2009-01-28T11:16:00.000-06:00

As I go along with my planning, our wedding theme (at least in my mind) becomes more and more "woodsy". I know a lot of fall weddings play on the season to a large degree, bringing in the reds, oranges, yellows, etc. of the foliage. However, this is Texas. In early October. We'll be lucky to see any brown in the leaves. Besides, green & brown happen to be my favorite colors, and I love me some leaves, pinecones, grapevine, rosemary, and so on and so forth.

I'm terrible at referencing where I steal images from, so pardon my lack of credit given here. Here are some inspiration boards I nabbed from somewhere, with the "feel" and palette I'm going for.

Yum. Nature.
I'm a li'l bit sad I don't have some adorable little boy-cousin to escort that also-adorable li'l mossy nest ring-bearer "pillow" down the aisle. Connor's wheel-chair should be motorized and switch-operated. Then he could zoom my little nest to me. Eh? Eh? No? Poop.

Also, note the following adorable woodsy bouteneires. Err. bouttenieres. Err... That word I can never spell.

Ignore ^that^ attrocious tie. Yikes. Yay, acorns. Moving on.

Cute. And lacking flowers. Yay, no-flowers. I had a lot more pictures of these kinds o' bout.s saved before I had to reformat. Oh well. You get the picture of what I'm going for, eh?

Also, talk me out of using this cake stand: