If things get slow (which they haven't...I think only Americans run around Paris like crazy people trying to fit a zillion activities into their scheduled stay) or when I get home, I will blog the following:
-hair and makeup trials and DIY
-the completion of the boutonnieres
-the card box (which was a "DIMP" or "Do It Mom, Please?" project)
-table numbers and what befell our centerpieces
-final programs (none of that crazy die-cut business)
-the day-of schedule
-the shot list, sanity-saving shot list helper, and other things photographic
-wedding top 5s: Dos, Don'ts, and Favorite Moments (of which it will be difficult to choose 5)
-Paris top 5s (see above)
-many many many pictures
And, by the way, I take consolation in the fact that I seem only to suffer from the dreaded double-boob in photos in which I am sitting. Which will be hardly any of the professional shots and can't be too many of our friends' either, since I know I hardly sat down. Whew.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 17th, ~6:20pm
While it's probably not entirely true that the atoms in the human body turn over into new ones every seven years, if it were, there would not be an atom in my body that hasn't known you it's entire life. We've been through so much and learned so much about ourselves that it's almost like being an entirely new person.
Our love is not a storybook story. It is richer, dynamic, and thoroughly three-dimensional...occasionally driving each other crazy is just an added bonus. Whatever might happen, and whatever other people may think of us, we know that this is how it's meant to be. So, Peter, in honor of that love:
I promise not to hold against you the fact that you thought I was bitchy, when you first got to know me. You were right.
I promise to hold your hand, and not to give you raspberries
-to listen - to new songs, old songs, and your monthly billability report, among other things
I promise to dance, especially when it would be less weird to be taking pictures
-to find new and exciting ways to include goat cheese in our cooking.
I promise to try to explain art when you ask because, with a little prompting, you usually understand it better than I do
-and to rise to the challenge when we hear a song I've never heard before and you ask me to name not just the band, but the singer as well.
I promise to be honest, even though you won't always like what I have to say
I promise to learn when not to give my opinion and, when you do the same for me, to try not to ask, "what is that look supposed to mean?"
I promise to learn from your strengths and lend you mine.
I promise to follow you in your passionate drive and lead when you are weary of blazing our trail
-and to leave room to explore separate paths but to work together to be sure we don't get too lost
I promise to always look to the future with optimism, knowing that you will bring, not pessimism, but realism to temper it.
-to smile, because when we think we have nothing to smile about, we must be forgetting something.
I promise to keep on doing what we've been doing, but to get better at it all the time...or at least make measurable progress on a quarterly basis.
I promise to improve our lives not only by the achievement of our dreams but also by helping to change how we view our triumphs and defeats.
We've already started on this path, and watching you become a happier person has made me a happier person.
I love you.
Our love is not a storybook story. It is richer, dynamic, and thoroughly three-dimensional...occasionally driving each other crazy is just an added bonus. Whatever might happen, and whatever other people may think of us, we know that this is how it's meant to be. So, Peter, in honor of that love:
I promise not to hold against you the fact that you thought I was bitchy, when you first got to know me. You were right.
I promise to hold your hand, and not to give you raspberries
-to listen - to new songs, old songs, and your monthly billability report, among other things
I promise to dance, especially when it would be less weird to be taking pictures
-to find new and exciting ways to include goat cheese in our cooking.
I promise to try to explain art when you ask because, with a little prompting, you usually understand it better than I do
-and to rise to the challenge when we hear a song I've never heard before and you ask me to name not just the band, but the singer as well.
I promise to be honest, even though you won't always like what I have to say
I promise to learn when not to give my opinion and, when you do the same for me, to try not to ask, "what is that look supposed to mean?"
I promise to learn from your strengths and lend you mine.
I promise to follow you in your passionate drive and lead when you are weary of blazing our trail
-and to leave room to explore separate paths but to work together to be sure we don't get too lost
I promise to always look to the future with optimism, knowing that you will bring, not pessimism, but realism to temper it.
-to smile, because when we think we have nothing to smile about, we must be forgetting something.
I promise to keep on doing what we've been doing, but to get better at it all the time...or at least make measurable progress on a quarterly basis.
I promise to improve our lives not only by the achievement of our dreams but also by helping to change how we view our triumphs and defeats.
We've already started on this path, and watching you become a happier person has made me a happier person.
I love you.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Where to even begin
Obviously, we're married. And aside from the wicked double-boob I've got going on in this photo (which appears to be absent from the other photos we've seen, but this one is otherwise the cutest) this photo gives a pretty good idea of what the day was like, for us.
The venue and staff were fantastic, my minimal decor and gung-ho helper team worked beautifully in the space, the cake looked just as I imagined, everyone loved their food, and the ceremony had our guests (and us!) laughing and crying. Everyone was fascinated by my non-floral bouquet and boutonnieres. Plus, did I mention that we're married!! I even put our filled-out marriage license in the mailbox at the airport Monday night.
I cannot say enough about how wonderful our first dance was. Local singer-songwriter Alexandra Day arranged the song of our choice (Open Window by Sarah Harmer) and learned the harmony to accompany our very good friend Karen who sang the lead. We were just wowed.
And everyone at the reception danced their asses off...even my mom, who looked beautiful.
We *LOVED* our photographer, Tiffany Atlas, and we're very very excited to see what she comes back to us with. We've actually let her know that if there are more good images than our package permits, we'll be happy to pay a bit extra to get some more.
Today is our first day in Paris, and we're a bit jet lagged, but we're off to get some groceries and explore!
Friday, January 09, 2009
How is it?
I guess it's about how you'd expect, with 8 days to go. People who accepted are canceling, bridesmaids are attempting to get themselves kicked out of the wedding, but overall we're very excited. I have just one significantly outstanding project, which is...pretty much anything that would sit on a table, other than consumables. Centerpieces, table numbers, card box. In theory, those were to have been resolved tomorrow, but now that fiance is sick, I'm not entirely sure what their fate will be.
In other news, I've finished up the bare minimum of boutonnières required:
though I'll see if I can get some more in for any of our gazillion parents & helpers.
I also eliminated a major stressor for no additional monetary investment. I had been planning to get frosted candle holders for my 144 LED tealights. I may or may not have raved about these things previously, but they're little battery-operated plastic tealights that flicker a rather flame-like yellow. I got them because the venue doesn't permit real candles to be lit anywhere but the dinner tables, and it seemed like it would be fun to have candlelight elsewhere. They're great because there's no smoke, no heat, no melted wax, they require no oxygen, and they last longer than your average tealight. (While careful testing has shown that they do last the 120 hours suggested on the package, they start to get noticeably dim after 10 hours or so.) But, they still last a good long while, and that means you can turn them on in advance of the event and have one less thing to do.
The problem is that while they are candle-shaped and they give off realistic candle light, they don't actually look like candles, head on. So the trick is to put them in frosted candle holders, obscuring their appearance, but emitting their light. Well, I don't have a good party supply outlet nearby, and shipping on crates of glass is rather expensive, so this was looking to be a rather pricy decor choice. And after months of stalling only to decide that I really did want to use them as decor for the mansion, it finally struck me yesterday morning, well before I was properly awake. Paper. I had a whole bunch of extra vellum (platinum, from the invite fronts) with no particular destiny. Since these are not actual candles, there's no problem with surrounding them with paper.
So, using a runner full of permanent adhesive tape that was not invisible enough for the vellum fronts of the invites, I made 144 vellum candle shades. Some careful math and less-careful trimming yielded 144 slips of paper from 24 sheets producing an assortment of 2", 2.5", and 3" tall shades. Using one LED candle as a template, I ran the tape down one short edge and wrapped the paper around the candle into a cylinder, sticking it back down to itself, then slid the candle out. At the end of the night, all of the cylinders were packed in layers in a cardboard box, ready to be easily slid onto the LED candles by my conscripted helpers on the day of the wedding.
Supplies I already had lying around and a few hours of labor yielded the solution to a bothersome and potentially expensive problem. I spent at least an entire day patting myself on the back for this one.
What's been your most brilliant DIY solution?
Up next: hair and makeup trials.
In other news, I've finished up the bare minimum of boutonnières required:
though I'll see if I can get some more in for any of our gazillion parents & helpers.
I also eliminated a major stressor for no additional monetary investment. I had been planning to get frosted candle holders for my 144 LED tealights. I may or may not have raved about these things previously, but they're little battery-operated plastic tealights that flicker a rather flame-like yellow. I got them because the venue doesn't permit real candles to be lit anywhere but the dinner tables, and it seemed like it would be fun to have candlelight elsewhere. They're great because there's no smoke, no heat, no melted wax, they require no oxygen, and they last longer than your average tealight. (While careful testing has shown that they do last the 120 hours suggested on the package, they start to get noticeably dim after 10 hours or so.) But, they still last a good long while, and that means you can turn them on in advance of the event and have one less thing to do.The problem is that while they are candle-shaped and they give off realistic candle light, they don't actually look like candles, head on. So the trick is to put them in frosted candle holders, obscuring their appearance, but emitting their light. Well, I don't have a good party supply outlet nearby, and shipping on crates of glass is rather expensive, so this was looking to be a rather pricy decor choice. And after months of stalling only to decide that I really did want to use them as decor for the mansion, it finally struck me yesterday morning, well before I was properly awake. Paper. I had a whole bunch of extra vellum (platinum, from the invite fronts) with no particular destiny. Since these are not actual candles, there's no problem with surrounding them with paper.
So, using a runner full of permanent adhesive tape that was not invisible enough for the vellum fronts of the invites, I made 144 vellum candle shades. Some careful math and less-careful trimming yielded 144 slips of paper from 24 sheets producing an assortment of 2", 2.5", and 3" tall shades. Using one LED candle as a template, I ran the tape down one short edge and wrapped the paper around the candle into a cylinder, sticking it back down to itself, then slid the candle out. At the end of the night, all of the cylinders were packed in layers in a cardboard box, ready to be easily slid onto the LED candles by my conscripted helpers on the day of the wedding. 
Supplies I already had lying around and a few hours of labor yielded the solution to a bothersome and potentially expensive problem. I spent at least an entire day patting myself on the back for this one.
What's been your most brilliant DIY solution?
Up next: hair and makeup trials.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Pseudo Florals
Oh-kay. I still, sadly, am not finished with the boutonnieres, but here are the latest in the series:
I'm hoping I take to compulsively making boutonnieres as a form of stress therapy, over the next two weeks.
I did finish up the bouquet. I mention in my original post about the bouquet that I was having trouble bundling it without it getting sort of crushed-together and indistinguishable. I was finally able to resolve this by adding filler to just the "stem" area. So, I took some of the spare pieces of curly willow, cut them to the length of stem that would be wrapped up, and distributed them amongst the stems of the actual elements. So the handle is tightly wrapped, but the bouquet remains un-crunched.
I did decide to get fancy when wrapping the handle.
Yes, that's my very chipped but very color-coordinated nail-polish. I think it's what I'll be wearing for the wedding.
As mentioned in my original cake post, I wanted to go with some wiry branches. My cake will be four layers of vanilla pound cake with raspberry preserve filling. The bottom layer will be 14", the second 11", then 8" and 5". I've asked the caterers not to add any detailing to the cake, but the following will go on the 11" tier, hugging the base of the 8" tier:
...and this little fella atop the top 5" tier:
That one still needs to have the extra wire trimmed, and all pieces are going to need to be wrapped up to be made food-safe. I have some white ribbon, but I think I might like the way the black looks. Any suggestions?
I'm hoping I take to compulsively making boutonnieres as a form of stress therapy, over the next two weeks.
I did finish up the bouquet. I mention in my original post about the bouquet that I was having trouble bundling it without it getting sort of crushed-together and indistinguishable. I was finally able to resolve this by adding filler to just the "stem" area. So, I took some of the spare pieces of curly willow, cut them to the length of stem that would be wrapped up, and distributed them amongst the stems of the actual elements. So the handle is tightly wrapped, but the bouquet remains un-crunched.
I did decide to get fancy when wrapping the handle.
Yes, that's my very chipped but very color-coordinated nail-polish. I think it's what I'll be wearing for the wedding.
As mentioned in my original cake post, I wanted to go with some wiry branches. My cake will be four layers of vanilla pound cake with raspberry preserve filling. The bottom layer will be 14", the second 11", then 8" and 5". I've asked the caterers not to add any detailing to the cake, but the following will go on the 11" tier, hugging the base of the 8" tier:
...and this little fella atop the top 5" tier:
That one still needs to have the extra wire trimmed, and all pieces are going to need to be wrapped up to be made food-safe. I have some white ribbon, but I think I might like the way the black looks. Any suggestions?
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The Surreal Life
There are, unbelievably, just over two weeks to go. There's a great lot going on, but let's take a deep breath and catch up on a few things I've been sitting on.
Final seating chart:
Also, first program prototype. Two pieces of vellum printed on one side each:
Then die-cut and nested like so:
Resulting in this two-sided wonder of translucency:
I thought it would be amusing to provide our guests with a family tree to help them navigate the many "steps" of my and fiance's families. However, I think the die-cut programs might be a little more effort than the result is worth, though I'd probably only make about 75 total. A big part of why I'm using the vellum (which can't be properly printed two-sided) is that it's what I have extra of, and I don't want to buy/waste more paper. Any thoughts?
Next up: pseudo-florals. The continuation of the cake ornaments and boutonnières and the completion of the bouquet.
Final seating chart:
Also, first program prototype. Two pieces of vellum printed on one side each:
Then die-cut and nested like so:
Resulting in this two-sided wonder of translucency:
I thought it would be amusing to provide our guests with a family tree to help them navigate the many "steps" of my and fiance's families. However, I think the die-cut programs might be a little more effort than the result is worth, though I'd probably only make about 75 total. A big part of why I'm using the vellum (which can't be properly printed two-sided) is that it's what I have extra of, and I don't want to buy/waste more paper. Any thoughts?
Next up: pseudo-florals. The continuation of the cake ornaments and boutonnières and the completion of the bouquet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)