Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Success!

I have acquired a camera and have taken pictures of one of my centerpieces. I got the inspiration from the OffBeat Bride Tribe photo stream. It's like this particular bride was in my head. She even wore her glasses to the wedding! I wish I could find those pictures again so I can comment and thank her but it's pure madness digging through those archives.

For the wedding, we'll toss a smattering of chocolates around but I think you can get the effect without them. Behold!

Centerpiece Side



Centerpiece Top

Chocolately Delicous

I made five centerpieces last night. They look awesome and make me squee with delight! Emily even helped me by prowling around, pouncing on ribbons and pulling silk flower heads off their stems for me. We had such a good time together. For once I wasn't frustrated by her need to be with me like she needs to be beed with. I actually enjoyed her company.

I showed one of the final pieces to Matt (minus the chocolates) and he said, "That looks nice. I like the simplicity of it and that you made it. None of that wasteful, expensive bullshit. Homemade, just like your bangers and mash."

Hooray! Matt's compliment made me beam and I gave him a big squeeze and sloppy kiss. Now for pictures, but where is my camera? Nowhere to be found. I frantically searched the house and about a half hour later, Matt said to me, "What the heck are you looking for?"

"My camera."

"Oh, I have that. It's at work. I was taking pictures of truss and moving lights and such for the website."

Dumbfounded, I opened my mouth to do my usual whining and thought, "How could I be mad at him for that?" I couldn't so I resigned myself to waiting for the camera to come home, which could be today or next year. Sorry, dear readers. I know you are on the edge of your seats but, like me, you'll just have to wait.

In other wedding blither, I read this today. Please to make my own wedding cake? I know, I know. I have to let some things go to the professionals but the idea is certainly hilarious. Besides, a professional wedding cake means dark chocolate cake with layers of ganache and a ganache glaze.

Man, there's going to be a lot of chocolate at this wedding.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Moving Along

Matt and I took his mother out to dinner last night. In fact, we took her to our rehearsal dinner location and when we sat down for dinner I thought to myself "Why the hell aren't we having the WEDDING here?" Hmm, the giant staircase leading upstairs and the fact we have a hefty list of old folks might have something to do with it. Anyway ...

We all enjoyed our meals and I enjoyed my seasonal brew, which knocked me on my ass about halfway through the glass. Excellent. His mom liked the place and we got her sign off on it so I sent the confirmation off this morning. It's a casual, laid back brew pub that sells four beers year round and makes and additional four seasonal beers. Hooray for seasonal beers! Even more hoorays for seasonal WINTER beers!

The more I plan this, the more I love the idea of a January wedding. Books and firelight and chocolate, snuggling, fuzzy beer, my great-grandmother's fur, acceptable alternatives to floral centerpieces, a snowy honeymoon. We have less than six months to go. Eep!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Lasting Forever

I went to Michael's today in search of floral ideas because I've been struggling to communicate with the florist what it is I want when everything I like is so stupidly and unnecessarily expensive or I am allergic to it. I felt hindered and needed inspiration. I needed to hold something in my hand to get a feel for size, color, and texture.

I started rooting through the vintage-style silk flowers and, to my own surprise, created a really lovely bridal bouquet. I started rooting deeper and created several more bouquets. I thought to myself, "My god, these are gorgeous but they would cost a friggin' fortune if I had them fresh."

I began to feel downtrodden about it when my mind started whirring, "Actually, what's wrong with silk? These look totally bad ass and I like the idea of making my own arrangements and decorations. Besides, the wedding is in January. Fresh flowers are out of place anyway."

Convinced, I gathered up all the arrangements, grabbed some ribbon from the bargin bin, and headed to the cash register. I mean, who cares if they are silk, right? I MADE them and that's way more awesome than handing the creative control over to someone else.

I think when my mom sees how gorgeous the arrangements are and how excited I am about making my own centerpieces, she'll cave. Besides, when we were discussing the flower budget, she sighed and said, "You know, I don't even remember what any of my flowers or centerpieces looked like."

Again, it's funny how the things I thought I wanted keep turning into these incredibly different, amazingly inspired, beautiful things that I get to do myself. It's nice when price doesn't impede the imagination and lord knows I have enough of that to go around.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Jump Around

Scanning through my minuscule archives, I realize I made a lot of decisions about the wedding and then those decisions turned into complete different decisions. I'm curious to see how this wedding ends up.