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!
Monday, July 21, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Honeymoon Planned
Well folks, we've been around the world and finally decided on St. Lucia. Planning ensued. We were inches away from sending a deposit when Matt said, "How about skiing in Colorado?"
Seriously? Really? Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I am so totally, like really, all about a winter wonderland honeymoon. In fact, I've been dreaming about it since the day we decided to have a winter wedding.
Within 48 hours, I had blown away our travel agent with this 180 and together she and I planned and booked the trip. Snow! Mountains! A fireplace! Outdoor hot tubs! snowmobiling! Snuggling to keep warm! What could be more perfect? I'm totally EXCITED!!!
Seriously? Really? Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I am so totally, like really, all about a winter wonderland honeymoon. In fact, I've been dreaming about it since the day we decided to have a winter wedding.
Within 48 hours, I had blown away our travel agent with this 180 and together she and I planned and booked the trip. Snow! Mountains! A fireplace! Outdoor hot tubs! snowmobiling! Snuggling to keep warm! What could be more perfect? I'm totally EXCITED!!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Links
My family had an estate yard sale at my grandparents' house yesterday. I was sent to the basement, of course, which was fine with me. I'm a good negotiator and I only cried once, when a woman bought Tiny Teddy--a toy that brought so many memories rushing back to me, I had no choice but to release them in a flood of tears. She asked if I was sure I wanted to sell it. I told her, "Yes. Sometimes one just has to let things go." She paid me for it and then gave me a hug.
At the end of the sale, I wandered upstairs and discovered these in a box full of tie tacks, clips, and random cuff links.
Mother of pearl set in silver. They need a serious cleaning but I picked them up for Matt to wear at our wedding. It's been difficult cleaning out my grandparent's house. It's even harder to think that, in just a couple of weeks, the house will be sold and I'll never set foot in it again. In the meantime, I'm glad to find all of these wonderful treasures and to be able to use them on my wedding day. I hope Matt will continue to wear them over the years to come. I'm sure he will.
At the end of the sale, I wandered upstairs and discovered these in a box full of tie tacks, clips, and random cuff links.
Mother of pearl set in silver. They need a serious cleaning but I picked them up for Matt to wear at our wedding. It's been difficult cleaning out my grandparent's house. It's even harder to think that, in just a couple of weeks, the house will be sold and I'll never set foot in it again. In the meantime, I'm glad to find all of these wonderful treasures and to be able to use them on my wedding day. I hope Matt will continue to wear them over the years to come. I'm sure he will.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
I Don't Need a House Full of Things, I Need a House That is PAID FOR
Matt and I are both in our thirties. We own a home and a business. We have a Dyson, a well-established kitchen, sheets, curtains, furnishings, fine china, water pitchers, ice buckets, ad nauseum. How much more stuff do we need? So ...
We decided to register our honeymoon. Once we have our trip booked, we'll go online and set up everything. I think it's a grand idea for those who are willing to be modern about giving a gift and just think of the Thank You card for things like a "Hike on Gros Piton," "a sunset cruise along the coastline," "fresh croissants in a French bakery," "Friday night street party in Castries."
The more traditional guests can purchase items from a registry. Yes, I have one because there are a few things I could use and would like to have like some necessary cookware and kitchen gadgets. I've got a soft spot in my heart for a Le Creuset french oven in, um, Caribbean Blue ...
We decided to register our honeymoon. Once we have our trip booked, we'll go online and set up everything. I think it's a grand idea for those who are willing to be modern about giving a gift and just think of the Thank You card for things like a "Hike on Gros Piton," "a sunset cruise along the coastline," "fresh croissants in a French bakery," "Friday night street party in Castries."
The more traditional guests can purchase items from a registry. Yes, I have one because there are a few things I could use and would like to have like some necessary cookware and kitchen gadgets. I've got a soft spot in my heart for a Le Creuset french oven in, um, Caribbean Blue ...
Monday, June 16, 2008
More Treasures
As we clean out my grandparents' house, I find myself crossing more items of my wedding registry plus finding all sorts of neat things to use at our wedding, like these vintage, Waterford champagne glasses:
It's a terrible picture, I know. Anyway, my brother inherited the set of eight and said we could use a couple for our toast. I have no interest in keeping them but am thrilled to be using them at my wedding. With a big smile on his face, my dad handed me this cute little number:
It sat on my grandmother's knick-knack shelf for thirty years. It's so tiny and we are going to use it as a cake topper. I love the expressions on their faces. Hilarious!
As much as I miss my grandparents, it's been nice to find things that I can use at my wedding. While these little details won't mean anything to our guests, it will mean the world to me to have reminders of loved ones past. My mom is even going to give me the knife she and my father used to cut their wedding cake, which was a gift from her parents. So much vintage! So much love.
It's a terrible picture, I know. Anyway, my brother inherited the set of eight and said we could use a couple for our toast. I have no interest in keeping them but am thrilled to be using them at my wedding. With a big smile on his face, my dad handed me this cute little number:
It sat on my grandmother's knick-knack shelf for thirty years. It's so tiny and we are going to use it as a cake topper. I love the expressions on their faces. Hilarious!
As much as I miss my grandparents, it's been nice to find things that I can use at my wedding. While these little details won't mean anything to our guests, it will mean the world to me to have reminders of loved ones past. My mom is even going to give me the knife she and my father used to cut their wedding cake, which was a gift from her parents. So much vintage! So much love.
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