Honeymoon, Foiled Again!

The place we both liked doesn't take reservations for next year until early November. So sad! We decided to write it off the list and keep looking. Matt started talking about going to Vermont but we would have to fly and then drive a long distance and UGH. I said we should go out to the Eastern Shore for a couple of days and then take a rail trip throgh Italy next summer. Matt liked this idea and so do I.

It totally sucks that deciding on a honeymoon is the,well, suckiest part of the planning. Part of me doesn't even want a honeymoon; it just seems expensive and uncessary but Matt really wants to do it so I'm trying to be cool about it.

In good news, I had a nice day with my mom.

1. We decided on flowers for the ceremony, peace lilies. Simple, pretty, big but not extravagant, and we can bring them home to keep in our house for ages.
   
2. I mentioned that idon't want a guest book and asked her, "Am I going to care about it in forty years?" She laughed and said, "I remember it's the one thing I forgot to bring that day. We had to turn around to go back and get it and it made me feel stressed and you know what? Forty years later I don't even know where the damn thing is and you're right, I don't care. "
3. I requested that she start gathering wedding pictures of her and my father, both sets of grandparents, great grandparents, etc. In addition, any newspaper announcements they could find would be great because I want to do a family history table. (Note: I must make sure to let Matt's mom and grandparents know to start hunting these up as well.)
   
4. I tried on my great grandmother's mink stole and it is so-ho-HO awesome and will look even more awesome with my dress. What handsome winter wedding pictures we will have!

When all was said and done, I took her for a manicure/pedicure, which is something I rarely do but she loves to do. I was grateful that when I expressed my disdain for nail polish, the girl buffed and shined me instead. Score!

So Matt and I will figure out the honeymoon eventually. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy planning the actual event.

Tidbits

1) The first dance. Not doing it. We went back to that Modest Mouse song we liked so much and decided we didn't like it after all. I said to Matt, "I really don't want to do this. Can't we just eat and drink and not do all of the stupid traditional bullshit? I would like to cut the cake and have a toast but that's it, really." He thought that was a most excellent idea.

2) Tuxedo? Matt is going to wear one. I'm excited about this because Matt looks smoking hot in a tuxedo. He puts the ass in classy.

3) I decided to carry a small bouquet of ivory roses. My grandfather recently passed away and he loved roses so much. He had the most wonderful gardens. I miss him so much and feel like this would be the perfect way to honor him.

4) I decided to wear the shoes I wore to my matron of honor's wedding. I was her maid of honor. Simple, gold ballet flats. They look cute with my dress and can be my something old.

5) I took my dress out of the closet today and ran my hands over it. It's so simple and pretty and in every way perfectly me. I'm really looking forward to wearing it. Me, wearing a dress! It happens so rarely.

I'm enjoying planning this wedding. It's fun to plan a non-traditional, traditional wedding (if that makes sense). I feel lucky to live in an age when society has loosened it reigns enough that I can plan a really nice wedding that suits mine and Matt's personalities. I'm all for tradition, heck that's why I'm getting married, but like most everything in my life I'd like to do it my way.

The $1000 Honeymoon

Can I do it? Yes I can!

So all that excitement about Iceland? Well, I decided I am just NOT up for all of that traveling to stay there for only a week. A trip like that deserves at least two weeks and some puddle jumping to the mainland. Matt's business is in a serious growth spurt and it's not easy for him to walk away for that long even in January. We'll see the world once he hires an employee or two. After all, we are young. We've got nothing but time.

So, on the bookshelf at work, I saw a couple of B&B guides for the Mid-Atlantic region so I brought them home for perusal. I found a few nice areas to consider that are within a five-hour drive so I started digging deeper. Several days and many internet searches later, I found the perfect little B&B in the Hudson Valley. It's priced right and I am totally in love with one of the rooms. In addition, there are tons of wineries, breweries, and great restaurants in the area. Cross country skiing, historic sites to visit, etc.

The price for four nights is $600 plus tax. That leaves us $400 in travel expenses, entertainment, and dining. Since breakfast is included and they serve cookies and beverages all day long, I think we can make that work and we can have a few nice days enjoying each other's company. The sweetest part for me is knowing we can afford to return to celebrate anniversaries if we so desire. While I'm not a huge sentimentalist, stuff like that makes me happy! Happy!

So if Matt is down with it, I think we'll get this booked and check one more item off the list. Hooray!

Green It Up

Ladies and gentlemen, please purchase a wedding TerraPass to help offset your wedding's carbon footprint. http://www.terrapass.com

Pictures

I like this photographer and think I am going to hire him.

In other news, Matt asked his friend Mike to be the best man today. Mike was totally floored and honored to do so. Good times, folks. Good times.

Invitations

The invites were an awesome find and are totally not what I ever would have thought I wanted. Funny how everything in this wedding is turning out to be full of things I never thought I would want but every detail is perfect.

My matron-of-honor and I went to Target to browse their stationary and, low and behold, we discovered a clearance sale. Ladies, I repeat CLEARANCE SALE. I purchased my invites for $4.98/box. Each box came with 25 invitations, envelopes, and response cards with envelopes, so I purchased four boxes. That's a whopping total of $21.12 including tax. When I ran the numbers, the total cost (including postage, mailing envelopes, and direction cards) was well under $100. Unreal.

The invites are:

1. Off-white card stock with a deep ivory toile floral pattern.
2. A vellum overlay tied to the card stock with an ivory ribbon.
3. Sophisticated without being overly formal.
   

Reasons why these qualities are awesome:

1. The reception is in a historic manor home that has a very vintage, very French feel to it.
2. My dress is ivory with an organza overlay and ivory ribbons.
3. Our wedding is semi-formal.
   

Seriously, perfect. We budgeted about $400 for invitations but since I have a design background, I can do all of the layout, text, and printing myself. Another added bonus is that I can spend the saved money on a car service!

Matron of Honor and Natty Boh

My matron of honor, Tess, is going to be in town on Tuesday. Yippie! We are going to drink coffee and stay up all night talking about invitations and parties and other sappy wedding things. I can't wait to try on my dress while she is here. I'm been itching to put it on since I brought it home!

I designed our save-the-date magnet, which is a cleaned up version of this with the appropriate text. If you are from Baltimore, or have ever lived in Baltimore, you are laughing right now and saying "awesome." If you aren't here's a little history:

The one-eyed, moustached man is the Natty Boh icon. Natty Boh is Baltimore's beloved beer. We plan to serve it as one of our four beers. The girl is the UTZ potato chip icon. Matt and I grew up on UTZ potato chips and they are only distributed locally. What can I say, Matt and I are Baltimorons through and through.

In addition, I am planning to use (as close to as I can) the Natty Boh fonts for all of our printed materials. I love the look of modern and vintage, which is pretty much what our wedding style is. Tess and I will go shopping for materials and ideas while she's in town. Yippie!

It's nice having a year to plan this thing. I'm really enjoying the process and am hoping this will be an event where even the old people totally rock out and everyone leaves holding a good happy feeling and crying out, "We don't want it to end!"