The Uber Album

The final wedding super album is done. I have sorted through the 1500+ images I received from our photographically talented friends and family, and compiled the best 368 into a single album. They are arranged in roughly chronological order, from getting ready to the ceremony to the receiving line, dinner, toasting and dancing. I've captioned most of them, let me know if you spot any errors (you can turn the captions off by clicking the little green box in the lower left of the slideshow if you find them distracting). The posed shots of the wedding party and families are collected at the end.


I haven't gotten any prints made to share yet (I will soon- I promise!) but if you click through the slideshow to the photo sharing website, you can download any particular images that strike your fancy.

Video!

Ann took some short video clips of the ceremony and the wedding, now posted here for your enjoyment! Here's the start of the ceremony, right up to the part where dad tripped and almost fell over my train...


Here's the first dance, "Love you Madly" by Cake, rocked by Howlinwood:


And here's more dancin' and general revelry. It's fun to see everyone having such a good time!


Update: Arrrggghhh! After being completely unable to upload the video at all, today blogger seemed to be working correctly. I can see the videos in my preview window, but when I publish the post to the site I just get the blank boxes with and x in the corner... So frustrating! I'm going to just leave it for now, and hope that maybe it just takes time to populate the links, or something like that.

Later Update: OK, now I'm trying it with YouTube. So far so good on the uploading and embedding... I hope you guys can actually watch them this time!

More Pictures!

Tombi's pictures are now online, and there are some real gems. You can check them out here.

I picked up the Official Pictures from my Uncle Fred today, and they are awesome. It'll take me some time to upload and organize them, but I will get on it soon. I also got 3 discs from Dave and Anita with pictures they and a couple of their friends took. I'll get all of those up on the web soon too, and eventually have a single, combined album with all the best shots for your viewing pleasure. :)

Spectacular Gifts

We received so many thoughtful, wonderfully generous gifts from our friends and family! We are truly blessed. We have gift certificates galore to Hardware Sales, REI, Bakerview Nursery, the Garden Spot, and Cloud Mountain Farms that we can't wait to use. We got so many beautiful, fun and useful things... thank you, everyone.

Two gifts in particular stand out above the rest for sheer spectacular coolness however, so I want to show them off here. First, is the Chevy Luv (yes, that's really what it's called) which Bo, Charlotte, Abe & Ross repaired & painted and gave to us, complete with a big bow on top:We really needed a truck! It'll save so much wear and tear on the back seat of my Honda Civic, which is where we used to haul firewood and rocks and large bags of potting soil. :) This truck has a long history of belonging to various of our friends. The last time a title was registered it belonged to Greg, so I guess one of these weeks we'll need to meet him down at the licencing place and fill out some Lost Title and Title Transfer paperwork, at least if we want to get it legal to drive out on the roads. But for now it's great to have something to, say, fill with dirt, fruit trees and tools to haul around to where we're going to plant our orchard.

The second truly spectacular gift I want to highlight is an absolutely gorgeous quilt handmade by Mary Hone, an old friend of the Mapes who has known Cary since he was a tiny baby. Not only is the craftsmanship of this quilt top-notch, the colors and patterns make it a true work of art: I've hung it on the wall in the front bedroom, which is the only wall really large enough to accomodate it. I know Mary probably intended for us to put it on our bed, but I just can't bear to think of muddy little kitty feet tracking across it. At least not yet! It really is stunning, the picture above doesn't do it justice.

A Good Time was had by all...

Photos courtesy of Aimee & Henrietta. Thanks! I'll post more up as I get them, and as I have the energy. Getting married is exhausting. I hadn't realized how tired I would be after a week of working on getting ready and then the emotional high of the wedding itself, so I'm really enjoying taking it easy right now. Sunny day, new graphic novel, lots of leftover lemonade.... Ahhhh.

Dahlias & Cupcake Prototypes

I spent two lovely hours this morning picking dahlia's from a local gentleman's garden. He has over 400 plants, and they are all staked and beautifully cared for. I could have picked for hours, but instead I filled my 8 buckets as full as they could go and brought them home. I'll go back on friday for more, most likely...
This afternoon Aimee came over and we decorated some muffins with various possible designs using frosting, berries, and carrot & cucumber cut-outs (we'll use peaches or melons for the wedding day) until we found two designs we really liked. Don't they just look darling?
A lot of other stuff got done today too: Cary picked up the tuxes, he also went to Costco for the final shopping trip, and Dave finished the railing on the observation tower just for starters. I'm too exhausted now to remember everything, but I feel good about what we have done and what is still left to do... and I'm really looking forward to a facial & a massage tomorrow!

Liquor & Ground Beef

Today we went to the liquor store and bought all the alcohol for the bar. We got some wine as well, and most of the mixers we'll need. Tomorrow Cary is planning to go to Costco again with his brother and they'll pick up the rest of what we need, and then we'll be all set to par-tay. We did pretty well, budget wise, too - which means I can buy more flowers tomorrow. Yay!

In the evening my Grandma Joy, Dale, Shani and Janet came out and made all the hamburger patties out of the ground beef I'd thawed. It was great; they did all the work. Seriously, I didn't touch a single patty exept to put on the grill for dinner tonight! These ladies just busted out and in no time flat the job was done, and all that was left for me to do was to put the tupperwares containing the finished pattied back into the freezer. Now that's a sucessful work party - thanks guys! :)

Cupcake Tower Decorated

I just finished decorating the cupcake tower this morning. I've been just working on it a little at a time, in my spare moments, for several weeks now. It feels good to have it done, and I think it turned out really nice.

It started a few weeks ago when Charlotte helped me put a coat of Gesso on it, because white cardboard just looks a bit too much like white cardboard.
(Wow - check out all those wedding dishes in the china cabinet!) After the paint dried, I applied clear vynil contact paper on the top side of all the circles, so they will be resistant to moisture - I'd hate to have a toppled cupcake lead to structural collapse! It also made the surface look much smoother and more uniform.

I started hot-glue-gunning the daisy trim to the edges of the circles after that. It was going pretty well until about a week ago when a bad case of operator error burnt quite a bit of skin off of my index finger. I took a break from the hot glue for a few days after that, which gave me time to glue the green & white striped paper to the supports.
This morning I decided I was sufficiently healed to finish the daisy trim, and now as you can see the whole thing is decorated & assembled. All that's left is to stack it with books to help the circles flatten out and the tabs settle in before the big day.

Here's a close up so you can see the striped paper and the daisies better:
It looks a little home-tech if you look at it closely - it's just cardboard covered with paper & glued on daisies, after all - but once it's covered with fabulously tasty organic cupcakes I think it'll be quite the stunning center peice!

10 day weather forcast

Saturday, 8 Sep 2007

Partly Cloudy. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.

Sunrise: 6:36 am Sunset: 7:38 pm UV Index: 5 (Moderate)
Moonrise: 3:12 am Moonset: 6:43 pm Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

Fingers crossed! It is raining right now, even though yesterday it was 80F without a cloud in the sky. This summer's weather has been so variable...

Faster & Faster

Things are starting to really come together, and there is so much going on that it's been a while since I've had a chance to post about what I've gotten done. So anyway, here's a little catch-up posting...

1. The trails through the woods from the parking pasture are looking sharp, after this past weekend's work with the Dingo.

2. My cousin Heather brought her daughters, my flower girls, into the office on Friday to show me the dresses they got for the ceremony, and they are going to be absolutely adorable. I may actually have 2 additional flower girls, since Emily and Gene are going to be bringing their two little daughters to the wedding and they'd like to be involved as well. The more the merrier! I've picked up a bunch of little baskets from second-hand stores so we'll be ready to decorate up some extras.

3. My Mom's Dentist's Receptionist (her name is Sue) used to be a caterer and is going to loan us a couple of chafing dishes as well as some large serving platters and baskets. Mom is going to pick them up from her tomorrow afternoon. People's generosity just continually astounds me. :)

4. Dave has arranged to get most, if not all, of the salmon we'll need from Cary's brother Brian's girlfriend Abby's father Fred. He caught it himself up in BC. It's not yet a done deal, but the plan is to pick it up tomorrow night. If we need more we should be able to easily get the rest from the farmer's market or one of the local stores.

5. Marty drafted a script for the ceremony, and although we've got a few details left to iron out I feel like we've really got a good grasp of how it's all going to work.

6. I've reserved two 55-cup coffee maker/servers for after dinner. One will be for coffee and one will be for hot water/tea.

7. Cary and I took a pen & paper and a couple of glasses of wine out to the observation tower last night and wrote our vows. I'm not going to tell you what they are though, we're going to keep it a surprise. It was surprisingly easy to agree on what we wanted to say, and it sure feels good to have that done.

Well, that's all I can think of right now... I'm sure there's a bunch of other stuff but there'll be time for whatever I've forgotten in a later post.

Rings!

I picked them up yesterday from MJB Jewlers in Bellingham. Shiny...

My Neurosis

You know what my biggest concern is right now about the wedding? That I am not stressed enough. Everything seems to be under control, coming together easily and without any real problems... and this makes me very nervous. Yesterday I called the rental place to make sure they hadn't lost our canopy reservation - and, of course, everything's fine. Everyone keeps asking me how I'm holding up, and I know usually the bride (or wedding planner) is expected to be a total nut case when there's a mere 15 days left to go... but I'm not really feeling the stress. I've double checked all my mental lists, and everything seems to be on track. Maybe it's just because I'm used to organizing the logistics to get half a milion boxes of organic fruit halfway around the world and through a maze of government bureaucracies that makes throwing a big old party (with ZERO government oversight - woo!) seem like such a peice of cake.

BUT - maybe I am forgetting something. Maybe there IS some impending disaster I am not conciously aware of that is triggering this anxiety... Can any of you think of anything I'm forgetting?

Wedding-Related Parties

Getting married requires so much celebrating that it just won't all fit into one day, apparently. :)

Today I was surprised by my co-workers with a bridal shower at work, complete with shower games, refreshments, decorations, cake and of course gifts. I'm sorry to report that I only managed to match 4 of Cary's responses to 12 question about us, althoug apparently we both started most of our answers with "hell, I dunno..." so I guess we're on the same wavelength after all. Thanks guys!

This coming saturday at 7 pm there will be a bachelorette/bridal-shower/dinner party for me at the Mi Mexico restaurant in Bellingham. Any of you ladies who needs more information should contact Tombi or Charlotte. Although as far as I know, all you really have to do is show up, no special theme or preparations are required. I could very well be in the dark about some things, though!

Also on the same Saturday, Gabe & Nick are throwing a bachelor party for Cary. I have absolutely no information about this - the planned activities, exact date & time, and even the location are super secret. All I know is that Nick told Cary to take a shot every 4 hours this week, and Gabe told him to watch and re-watch Conan the Barbarian to prepare himself. Any of you guys who want to attend should contact Gabe or Nick for info.

And finally, on Friday the 7th of September (that's the day before the wedding, for those of you keeping track), there will be a rehersal dinner held at our house. I'm not certain of the exact time yet, probably about 7 pm. All you bridesmaids & groomsdudes, Marty, James, Abe, Fred, the parents, and anyone else directly involved in the ceremony should plan to attend. Anita has arranged for hot Thai food to be delivered so we'll eat a buffet-style dinner and then we'll walk through the ceremony once or twice. It'll be fun...

Stocking the Bar

Ok, so here is the BIG question: How much booze will we need? I've done some research on various wedding & event planning websites, but they all seem to have different ideas of what constitutes "enough". Its important to me as a host to make sure that our guests are amply provided for and well satisfied; I want our bar to be generous and well-stocked without going overboard. Our wedding theme is Abundance, after all!

I know that a lot of people won't drink very much, and some folks will leave shortly after dinner - but a lot of folks ARE planning to camp overnight and could still be drinking around the bonfire well into the early morning. A lot of the wedding & event planning sites assume that you are going to have a time limit for the reception (out of the ballroom by 11pm, etc.) but that just doesn't apply to us.

According to evite.com's drink calculator, for a 6 hour party with 150 average-drinking guests (we'll assume that the heavy drinkers and the light/non-drinkers balance out), we need:

18 1-liter bottles of liquor (that's about 325 shots)
70 750ml (normal sized) bottles of wine (about 350 glasses)
350 bottles of beer (1 standard keg = aprox 165 bottles)
about 400 8 oz servings of mixers, juice, water and soda
plus hot coffee, tea & cocoa for the evening

Does this seem reasonable to you guys? Is it enough, or not enough?

I'm particularly wondering about the liquor and the wine. We are planning to have 2 standard kegs of beer from Boundary Bay, plus Gabe, Nick & Tombi are bringing a couple of batches of homebrew. Assuming 350 bottles is a good estimate of how much we'll need, then we're covered on beer.

There are a couple of important points to consider on the liqour:

1. We can return un-opened liquor bottles for a refund, so it is preferable to overbuy than not to have enough.

2. I figure we should have Tequila, Rum, Gin, Wiskey and Vodka, but how much of each kind? Equal proportions, or what? What about subtypes, like silver/gold tequila, or scotch/rye/bourbon?

3. What about things like Khalua, Peppermint Schnaps, Grand Marnier, etc.? Should we stock a few bottles of that sort of thing for mixing up fancier cocktails? Or just stick to standard mixers like Coke, 7-up, tonic water, ginger ale, orange juice, cranberry juice and lemonade?

As for wine, well, there are worse things than having a bunch of left-over wine in the pantry, so again, it's better to overbuy than to run out. Also, we can give away unopened bottles as "Thank You" gifts to all the folks who are volunteering to help out. The big question is how much of each color. I have read sites that say to have 2:1 white over red, sites that say just the opposite, and some that simply say to have equal amounts of each. Personally, I prefer red wine about 80% of the time, but that's just me... and I'm certainly not going to be the only one drinking all this wine!

For toasting purposes I'm thinking Mead instead of Champagne. Sure, champagne bottles are fun to open, but I don't know anybody who actually enjoys drinking it. We'd need 30 bottles (x 5 glasses per bottle) to make sure that everyone can raise a glass to us. I'm going to contact HoneyMoon in Bellingham to see if we can get any kind of a deal from them for that. But in the meantime, one more question: should I subtract the 30 bottles for the toast from the 70-bottle wine allotment, or consider it a separate thing entirely?

Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Costco & More

1. Anita & Brian met me out at Costco this evening after work ('cuz I don't have a membership of my own), and we started buying food! Those of you who know about my food-hoarding tendencies will underderstand why I am excited to have a big stack of juices, mixers, condiments and the like sitting in my shop right now. We also got 18 1.5 liter bottles of wine (yellowtail, mostly), which feels like a good start. I haven't worked out yet exactly how much we'll need, but I'm sure it's more than that. :)

Cary just came in and pointed out what a nerd I am for blogging about going to Costco. And he's right, too... but it takes one to know one! Nyah.

2. Janet has graciously agreed to make us one of her marvelous books to use for a guestbook. I asked her to surprise me with the patterns and colors, I know it will be beautiful.

3. Mannix (our next-door neighbor) is mowing the parking pasture for us as a wedding present!! He's out there right now, finishing it up. This is wonderful, it will really make a difference in how the pasture will look & feel - instead of all brown and stubbly it will be green and fresh for the wedding. It's such a great thing to have great neighbors. :)

Dresses & Licencing

1. Tombi's bridesmaid dress has arrived, so now we've got 100% of the dresses. We still have to take off the flowers and ribbons, but that won't take too long.

2. I picked up my dress from David's, the alterations are complete! The dress is no longer too long for short little me, the bustle ties & buttons have been added, and it's been cleaned & steamed so it's all ready to go.

3. Cary went down to the courthouse yesterday and turned in our marriage licence application, so we can now get legally married any time between August 12th and October 10th. I think it's hilarious that Washington State has a 3-day "cooling-off" period between the date they issue the licence and the first date it's valid for.

Barkeeping, Grilling & Photography

1. Emily Escadero has taken the job of bartender for us! I'm so thrilled, I know Emily will do a great job. Not only will she be the evening's goddess of libations, but she's also going to help me figure out what we need to get to stock the bar, including looking into getting some items wholesale, and she's going to come out the day of the wedding and set everything up and make sure we have everything we need to keep the party rolling. I'm so stoked.

2. Iris & Solly have generously agreed to let us borrow their huge wedding grill, which will make cooking all that salmon a whole lot quicker. Solly built the grill with his welding skilz for their wedding last summer. I actually thought that the grill came with the picnic shelter, like it was a permanent part of the park, it's that big. I just happened to find out that I was wrong from Tricia, because she & Pat are getting married next weekend and they are also borrowing the grill from Solly & Iris. (Their wedding is going to be such a great party, I'm really looking forward to it!)

3. My uncle Fred has agreed to be our photographer, which is an overwhelmingly great gift. Fred's a real rennaisance guy, he's been a carpenter, a massage therapist, and a professional photographer, and he's planning to leave it all behind and move to Mexico to run a guest house in about a year. He has a great eye and takes wonderful pictures. I'm really pleased and excited to have him shoot my wedding.

Everything just keeps coming together! Like it was meant to be. Awwwww...

One Month To Go

Yep, the wedding is one month from today. Yeeek!

Actually, I feel like we are doing pretty well. We have a lot of stuff taken care of, and the things that are still left to do seem manageable in the time we have left. The main things we still need to do are:

~ get the rings
~ get the salmon
~ get the booze, wine, & beer
~ get a bartender
~ get silverware and more napkins
~ write our vows
~ get the wedding license
~ mow the parking pasture
~ finish the trail, including signs and wood chips
~ enlarge the fire pit
~ cut & stack fire wood

And of course in the final days before the wedding there will be lots of bustling around to get & arrange the flowers, set everything up, and decorate. I'm looking forward to that part a lot, it will be fun.

This coming Saturday and Sunday we will be putting in a big push to get the major outdoor things done, like cutting firewood for the bonfire and finishing the path that will lead people from the parking pasture to the house. Anyone interested in helping out with that, either drop us a line (comment here, e-mail me, or call the house) or just show up... we won't turn away any helpers. :)

Cupcake Tree

The cupcake tree was just delivered! Assembly & decoration is required, of course. The manufacturer has some cute decoration ideas on their website - I think flowers and leaves are probably the way to go for us. The cupcake tree is made entirely of cardboard but it seems good & thick, I think it will work well for at least one use. It sure beats the price of the plastic & metal versions that are designed to be re-used over and over, for instance by a caterer. The the metal or plastic ones available for general home use only hold 4 dozen or so cupcakes - great for most parties, but not big enough for a wedding.

Update: OMFG. I swear I did not know about this when I decided on cupcakes and a cupcake tree. Really. I haven't bought/read ANY of those wedding magazines that seem to be all over the grocery store checkouts... I'll have to put a disclamer in the program: "This wedding is an original hodgepodge of elements borrowed from other people's real-life weddings, liberally sprinkled with crazy ideas of my own. Any similarities between it and any wedding magazine, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Sanitation & Silverware

I've reserved 2 port-o-potties from SSC for the wedding. I didn't want to leave something so important to the last minute, if you know what I mean. :) Our septic system would be way over-taxed by all those guests. I also ordered 2 big bottle & can recycling totes and 2 of those food waste recycling totes (like they have at the farmer's market) so we should be well situated on the sanitation & recycling front.

I'm thinking I'll get biodegradable utensils so it can just be tossed in with the food waste. I was going to have real metal silverware but I haven't had as much luck finding it at yard sales as I have with plates & cups. Besides, I can get 50 forks, knives or spoons for about $3, so they are much cheaper than renting silverware. I dunno though, maybe I should just rent real metal utensils, because plastic-ish untensils generally suck. Anybody got any opinions?

Work Party!

This Sunday, August 5th, we are planning a wedding work party. Anybody who is available to help, we would appreciate your labor! We're planning to work on at least some of the following projects (depending on how many folks show up and what y'all are motivated to do):

~build the observation tower
~spread wood chips on the trail to the parking pasture
~make & install directional signs on the trail
~build the rest of the cedar rail fence
~cut up and stack firewood for the fire pit

We've got a good selection of gloves & shovels & wheelbarrows and the like, but feel free to bring your own tools & equipment if you think it would help.

And of course we'll be firing up the grill and drinking some beer in the evening!

Marty gets Religion

1. Marty has gotten ordained by the Universal Life Church. Over 20 million ministers ordained since 1959 can't be wrong! And it's free. :)

2. I just officially requested the Marriage License Application Packet from the Whatcom County Auditor. They are going to mail it to me, I should get it Wednesday. Then we have to fill it out, sign it in front of a notary, and send it back with a check for $63. Somehow, this feels like a Really Big Deal.

3. The fabulous James Guzman has agreed to perform the musical accompaniment for the processional and recessional parts of the ceremony. Something classical, maybe a little flamenco-ish, on guitar. Abe Davis may also be a part of this. Our wedding just got about 29% cooler.

4. We've decided what to do about cupcakes - I'm going to get them made by the co-op so they'll be mostly organic (and super yummy), and then Aimee and Keeley and possibly some of the other ladies will decorate them on site. That way we get organic AND fancy frosting both, without committing any of our friends to days of slavery in the cupcake mines. Instead, they get just a few hours of hard labor in the frosting factory, which everyone says builds character.

5. My mom has bought her dress. It is beautiful, of course. VERY Mother-of-the-Bride. :)

Wedding Favors

On Friday my Mom, Auntie Dale, Auntie Pam, and Uncle Harvey came over for dinner, and afterwards we made up a bunch of wedding favors. It was a lot of fun! Here's a picture of the group, during a key-lime-pie break. :)
The wedding favors consist of a small glassine envelope which we stamped a design on, and then filled with a mixture of organic vegetable & flower seeds that I ordered from Seeds of Change. Each one was closed with a little sticky label which I had printed with the varieties of seeds, our names and the wedding date. They really turned out nice! I hope people will like them, and beyond that, actually plant & grow the seeds. :)

Update: We will still be encouraging/allowing people to take home the plates & mugs as souveniers of our wedding as well. But we decided to do these favors as well since a) it's a really cool idea, and b) a lot of people aren't going to want to wash their own plates after the wedding.

Bridesmaid Shawls

They're here, and they are super soft. They are nice and large, 28" x 80", but very lightweight, finely woven of 30% silk and 70% cashmere. Pretty colors... not exactly as they appeared on amazon.com but they still look really nice. I'm very pleased and I think the rest of the ladies will be too.

Pergola, Invites, Tuxedos & Flower Girls

1. The pergola is finished. Yippeee!!!

2. I mailed the very last batch of invitations yesterday. Yes, that's two days after the date that I asked for people to return the RSVP cards by. What's your point?

3. This coming Satuday at 11:00 am Cary, Gabe, Nick, Eric and Brian are going in to get fitted for Tuxedos.

4. I have signed up my cousin's two little girls, Hazel & Hannah, to be flower girls. They are 7 & 8 years old and old pros at flower petal sprinkling. :)

Cupcakes

Anybody got any suggestions for where we should get our wedding cupcakes from? I think it's time to start comparing prices & availability. We don't have the confirmed number of guests yet, but we are starting to get an idea... 74 people have RSVP'd so far.

We need two kinds, carrot-cake and chocolate. Yum.

Ceremony Outlined

Marty came over this weekend, and the three of us sat down and outlined how we want the ceremony to go. It's pretty basic; short, simple, and secular:

1. Marty & Cary go and stand in the Pergola, in front of the audience at about 2:00. Marty says something to let everyone know it's time to sit down 'cuz we're going to start.

2. Bridesmaids & Groomsdudes procession up the aisle and join Marty & Cary at the pergola.

3. Flower girls go up the aisle, doing their thing.

4. I walk up the aisle with my Dad. (He then sits down in the front row, with the other parents.)

5. Marty talks a little bit. (Wuv... Twoo wuv...)

6. We say our vows. We haven't decided yet if Marty phrases them as a question, so we can just answer "I do", or if he says them and we repeat them back, or if we memorize them and say them without prompting.

7. Rings.

8. Smooching.

9. Marty says something nice to close the ceremony.

10. Recessional into receiving line - we take up position between the audience and the food, so the reception line doubles as the buffet line. This should help motivate everyone to keep the line moving.

Obviously, we'll need to refine some of the details, but this is a good start, I think. One question that I'm interested in hearing from you guys on is what music should we have for the processional and recessional? I think we should save the rockin' blues band for the reception. So, we can either have another musician play(maybe Cary's cousin Ashley would play his Viola?) or we can have a recording. Probably something classical, instrumental. Suggestions for songs, other ideas?

Bridesmaid Dresses Done!

This is IT!
Charlotte & I went to David's bridal tonight as planned, and found this dress recently consigned to the clearance rack for over 50% off - sweet! The style isn't being retired, just the color (black), so we sure lucked out. They had 4 of the 5 sizes we needed at the Burlington store, so we went ahead and bought them. Tombi should be able to get hers at the Alderwood store, according to their inventory computer. If they don't have it there, they can ship it up from another store.

Hopefully they will all fit, because their policy is no return on clearance dresses. But the clerk said if any of the sizes are crazy wrong (more than we can fix by taking in a seam or two) we can come back in and they might be able to do an exchange - assuming they still have the correct size in stock.

The little ribbon and flower thing at the waist will be coming off. It's not too ugly, but I don't think it will work with the individual color wraps.

I am SOOOO glad to have this taken care of. Another thing off the list!

Bridesmaid Dresses, part IX

A few days ago I went into David's bridal to get my dress hemmed & bustled. After I was done with that, I thought I'd take a quick look at the dress that we'd selected. I found one in my size and went and tried it on... and found it to be an absolute horror. The fabric was a lot clingier and sheerer than I expected, so every tummy bulge was instantly highlighted. The top was waaayyy too roomy for my average-sized bossom while the skirt sucked tight against my hips and thighs. Don't worry though, dear bridesmaids, I won't subject you to such a monstrous dress - I'm not that cruel.

So this coming Monday at 3:30 Charlotte, me, and hopefully Janet are going to meet at David's Bridal in Burlington and actually try on some of their selection and hopefully we will discover another, better, more flattering style. (If not, we'll go over to the mall and see what we can find there, since my coupon already expired at Davids.) I think looking at pictures is just inherently too limited to really make a descision, so it's time for the hands-on approach. Wish us luck!

Pergola Begun

Check it out on Domiciliate, we started building the Pergola!

Invitations in the mail...

Exactly 20 days after we finished making them. I don't really know why it took me so long to get the address labels on them, but somehow it just did. Anyway, they went in the mail today! Not all of them yet, but all the ones I have addresses for: 58 of them, in fact. I've also hand-delivered another dozen or so. I can't wait to start getting RSVP post-cards back in the mail...

Dresses from David's Bridal

Since I bought my dress there, they gave me coupons so all of my bridesmaids get 20% if the bridesmaid dresses are also purchased at David's. Somthing to keep in mind, anyhow...

So here's what they have in long, black dresses at ~$100 or less:

For $80, the Gorgette Spaghetti Strap dress:

For $100, the Spaghetti Strap Satin Ball Gown (Nordstrom has a dress almost exactly like this for the same price, too):

And for $110, the Satin Tea Length dress:


Any of these really grab you? Let me know!

Compare to the Long Silk Chiffon Faux-Wrap Dress from Target at $60. Better, worse??

Bridesmaids' dresses revisited

So, this morning on my way to work there was a story on the radio about how Target had just come out with a line of bridal and bridesmaids' dresses that were getting rave reviews from fashion types and were also very affordable, yada yada. Anyway, I checked it out on their website, and there are some really cute dresses in the line, that I could really see working for us. I've been really sort of stumped on how to dress you guys for a while now, since the dress I got is sooooo much more formal and foofy than I had anticipated. Separates are still in the running, the skirt part is easy but I've found it really hard to find good dressy tops. One option I considered was to decide on a skirt and have you all get the same one, and then let you each get your own top in whatever color or style you want, but my fear is that we'd end up looking TOO miss-matched. What do you think, could that work? I'm also concerned about affordability - I don't want to pick something that takes too big a bite out of your budgets, because that would be mean.

So, anyway, here's what they have at Target. THese first three are from the aforementioned new bridal collection, and each cost $160. This is my favorite, it's called the Trapunto Bell Dress.
This one is a little fluffier, it's the Tulle Princess Dress.
This one is pretty snazzy, I like the top/neckline a lot, although I'm not sure how it would work for those of you with larger bossoms. The belt thing is detachable. It's the Classic Princess Dress.

These next two are not officially part of the bridal collection, but they look like they could be dressed up easily with the right accessories. They have the advantage of being REALLY cheap and also somewhat easier to wear after the wedding. This one is the Long Silk Chiffon Faux-Wrap Dress and it only costs $60.
This one is called the Long Linen Maxi Dress and it's only $23! It clearly needs a stout slip, as noted by several of the commenters. It only comes in size 2-14 though.
Initially I put all these pictures up in black (there are a few other colors available in most of these designs) so they would be easier to compare. But then I got to thinking, why not have you all wear black? Black is a good color on pretty much everyone, the guys are wearing black tuxes, and black always looks elegant. On the other hand, it might look kind of somber & serious... Ack! too many choices!

Questions, Comments, Rants, Raves, Alternative ideas? Let me hear it!

Postage, continued

So... I still haven't mailed out the invitations. The post office came out with a new .41 stamp that Cary really REALLY liked (Star Wars) which, after a little hesitation, I decided would be OK (I wasn't super excited about having the emperor's ugly mug on our invitations, but I figured I'd save those for bills). BUT, when I went to get the stamps I found out that the invitations weigh slightly over 1 ounce (1.3 actually) so I have to put .58 on them. And there still aren't any .58 stamps available, they are supposed to be released the end of the month. So, I can either wait for those, take the whole lot of them down to the PO and have the postage printed with the machine (blah), or using two stamps, put .64 postage on each one. Sigh.

Invitations Made!

Saturday night, I had an invitation-making party - and we not only got all the invitations made, but we had a total blast doing it. I'm very lucky to have such crafty pals, you rock! :) The invitations turned out absolutely beautifully. I'm not going to put up a picture though, so it'll still be a little bit of a surprise when the rest of you get them in the mail.

Unfortunately, postage just went up a couple of days ago. Which not only sucks for the budget, but also for artistic reasons: there are currently only 4 designs of stamps available in the new .41 denomination. Flags, Liberty Bell, Some Old Dude, and Jamestown. (D'oh!) I'm hoping that by the time I get all my addresses in order, say next week sometime, there'll be something a little more fun available. But if not, I guess it'll probably be Jamestown. Oh well, it's what's inside the envelope that REALLY counts. :)

Invitation-Making Party

Looks like I've finally gotten all the ingredients together, so now I just need some of you crafty ladies to come over and help me make these things up! Tombi's going to be up in Bham on Saturday (June 2nd) we're going to get down to glueing, stamping, folding and embossing in the evening. Say 6-7 ish? Wine & Snacks on the house! So.... If'n yer gonna be in th' nayburhood, way-ell, bring yer ol' crafty self on over an' join us!

Platters, Plates & Mugs

I've been yard-saling for plates, mugs, napkins and other useful wedding items the last couple of weekends. I just stop whenever have time and see one. I've collected quite a few so far: 72 plates, 42 mugs, and 44 pieces of silverware.
The only rule is that they have to have fruit, flowers, herbs or an abstract floral design on them. Its so much fun looking at my collection so far, they really are SO different! From old-fashioned to moderen, demure to bold, china to stoneware - as long as it's a plant-based design and under a buck, I'll take it. :)

Yesterday I scored these two beautiful silver-plated serving platters from an old lady on Yew Street for a total of $13. Not bad, eh?
I'm washing them as I get them, and storing them in Grandma Mary's china cabinet to wait for the big day. It's neat to see it filling up with dishes again - although Grandma Mary would probably be a little appalled that they are all mixed patterns. :)

Invitation Text

Soooo... it's the friday before memorial day, a gorgeous sunny day outside, and I'm finding it quite difficult to motivate myself to do more than the minimum at work. So, I started thinking about invitation wording. I still don't have the design exactly worked out, but I think I'll just go to the paper store this weekend and hope that inspiration hits.

Anyway, what do you think of doing the invitation in haiku? See below:

Addie and Cary
Invite you to attend their
September wedding

Nine-eight-oh-seven
Saturday ceremony
Starts at two o’clock.

Celebrate with us
Abundance, friendship and love
Life is so very good.

Dinner will be served
Meat and fish from us for you
Please bring a side dish.

Musicians perform.
You are talented too! Please
bring your instruments.

Campfire and friendship,
Wine, beer and liquor, all here.
There is room to camp.

Music and dancing
Will continue all night long
Under starry skies.

Yeah, it's a little clunky, I might need to refine my verses a bit... this is just a first draft that I put together pretty quickly. I like it a lot better than the standard "We are pleased to cordially invite you to join us to celebrate our commitment on such-and-such date" wedding invitation BS though.

Some further explanitory text would have to be included on the back or somewhere, probably just in regular prose tho! Things like where we are registered (currently nowhere - I better get on that), how to get in touch with us, the assignment of a potluck dish to bring, and a map of how to get to the house, etc.


Here's what I'm thinking of having made into a stamp to put on the RSVP Postcards:

Just like you, our guests, these RSVP postcards are each unique and special to us. We can’t wait to see all of you together again at our wedding! Please fill in the blanks below and drop this card in the mail before July 15th. Thanks!

□Yes! _________members of the ______________________ household will join you on September 8th, 2007.

We prefer to eat (please indicate one per person):
________ wild-caught BBQ’d Pacific salmon
________ sustainably raised Pobst beef hamburgers

Will you be camping overnight for at least one night, if not more? ___yes ___no

□ No, sadly, no-one from the ______________________ household will be attending the wedding.

Update: Invitation Prototype! I stopped at Paper Zone on my way home on Friday and got card blanks, envelopes, floral accent paper, and a cool stamp. This is what I made:

You can't really tell from the picture, but the cardstock is iridescent. The envelopes are lavender and also a bit sparkley. The floral strip will be cut straighter and glued down more evenly in the finished ones, but this is more or less what I think they'll look like.

Your comments??

Mission Accomplished: Dress

For any of you who haven't already heard (which would be odd, since I've pretty much been screaming the news from the rooftops) I got a dress! Its not at all what I expected to go home with, but that's life for you. I talked so much trash about embroidery, ruffles, beading, trains, veils and all the rest that I guess it was karmic justice that I fell for a dress with ALL of those things on it. I'm not going to put up pictures here, since Cary want's to be all traditional (awww, so cute!) and not see the dress until the big day. But if somehow you haven't already seen the pictures, let me know and I'll e-mail them to you.

Besides the dress, I also got the whole package: flouncy slip, corset/bra thing, two veils (one for the back and one for over the face), tiara, shawl, shoes... It's like a bride-in-a-bag hanging in my closet: Just add girl.

All in all, I had a very positive experience despite my misgivings about going to a corporate wedding-industrial outlet to find a dress. It really was fun, and the helper was really nice and made me feel very comfortable even though I was totally out of my element. Here's a picture of my Mom posing in a veil - note that the dress you see me in in the mirror is NOT the dress I chose. (It is the third dress on the list of possiblities that I posted below, if you are wondering why it looks familiar.)


Now that I have the dress thing all sewn up (har har) I feel like I'm ready to really move on and tackle all the other things I really need to get on, such as the invitations...

Bridesmaids' Attire

So, what do you bridesmaids want to wear? I am open to suggestions. I'm looking for something fancy enough to stand up against the boys' tuxes, but still practical enough that you can wear it again at least a few times. I want you guys to be comfortable, and of course to look fabulous. Sustainable/organic/natural fibers are a plus. Affordability is also important. For all of these reasons, I am thinking separates make the most sense.

I think it would be good to have the same silhouette but I'd like to vary the colors, at least for the tops. It would probably help make it obvious that you are all part of the bridal party if your skirts were the same color. So, for instance, we could do something like this:
With something like this:


The shirt is sheer organic cotton and the skirt is hemp/silk satin, both are from a wholesaler I have connections to through work, so we could get a very good price: $22 for the shirt and $32 for the skirt.

The shirt is available in Cloud (white), Foliage (grass green), River (bright blue), Orchid (pink/purple - pictured), Lemon (yellow), Robin's Egg (light blue/green) & Berry (red).

The skirt is available in Foliage (grass green), River (bright blue), Orchid (pink/purple), Coal (dark grey), Lemon (yellow), Berry (red), Herbal (olive green) & Acorn (medium brown).

I can picture you all in with the color of shirt that would suit you best - Charlotte in light blue/green, Janet in red, Miriam in green, Tombi in blue and Melissa in purple, with matching dark grey skirts...

But maybe this is too informal? Maybe we need to show those Tuxedoed Boyz just how nice we actually clean up? David's Bridal actually has some decent semi-formal separates, such as these:

Of course, they cost a bit more because they are retail (although perhaps a better deal could be found than David's), and they don't have the whole natural fibers thing going for them, but they do up the formality quite a bit. If you all had the same skirt we could mix up the top style as well as color, Which I think would be pretty cool.

Anyhow, what do you all think?

Dress-trying-on rescheduled

New appointment is for 6pm on Thursday the 17th. Yes, that is 3 days from now. Egads.

Also - my moms family's heirloom wedding dress which had been lost for the last 30 years (literally!) has been found. It was in my Auntie Pam's closet the whole time - and for some reason no-one ever asked her about it OR even mentioned the fact that it was missing in her pressence for all this time. My Grandma and her sister even had a fight about it years ago (because neither of them would take the blame for losing it). My mom mentioned it being lost to Pam last night and the whole thing came to light. So, that is now a possibility.

I don't know the exact history of the dress, but my mom wore it and my aunt wore it and a bunch of other maternal relatives also wore it. It was made by one of them (it's not clear in my mind who, exactly, although I know I've been told before) way back in the day for her sister who then eloped and did NOT wear it, but then after that pretty much all of them DID wear it. Mom or Pam, one of you guys should put the full account in the comments so I won't forget the story.

And on yet another topic, I had a facial from my Auntie Dale at the Aveda Salon (Sandalwood) on Saturday and, let me tell you, a facial is about the nicest, most relaxing and wonderful thing EVER. My skin (face, hands & feet) feels sooooooo soft and wonderful. Which would be enough, but I also look really nice so that makes it even better. :) All you bridesmaids, I think I might have to treat you guys. Trust me, it doesn't last as long as a pair of earings or a bracelet, but I think once you've had one you'll agree that it's about the best possible bridesmaid pressent.

Dresses I Like

David's Bridal resisted my best efforts to steal the full-sized images of these dresses, so you'll have to click through the links to see the full dress.

This one has the prettiest embroidery that I have seen. I like the way it spirals down the side of the skirt. The train I don't need though.

This one below is nice and simple, unstructured & basic but still elegant. Make sure and look at the back - I really like the cris-cross straps. I'm afraid I would either look totally flat or else super wide in the hips. Or both.

Next we have this one with a split front skirt. It has a little bit of sparkly beading at the waist, but otherwise is nice and simple. Aparently they can stick sleeves on most of the strapless dresses. You can view the sleeve types by clicking the link on the dress page. I like the 3/4 sleeves.
This next one has what I've been calling the "rumpled bedspread" type skirt. It seems to be very very popular this wedding season. I must have been looking at dresses too long, because it is starting to really appeal to me. Usually they also feature some over-the-top beading & embroidery & general foofiness, but this one is nice and simple on top. I'd probably add sleeves.
Up next, this one has a nice informal feel to it, the halter top makes for a refreshing change. It has a really nice ribbon detail at the hem. Again though, I'm afraid I would look flat and hip-y in a dress of this shape.
And for last, this one is the one I like the best* right this minute. It has a nice simplicity, and a cool ribbon trim similar to the last one. The shape of the dress seems like it would be figure-friendly, especially if I added sleeves.
Ok, so... whatcha think?

*opinions expressed on this matter carry no warranty and are extremely perishable.

It's all about the dress, isn't it?

I (gasp) made an appointment today to go to David's Bridal in Burlington (Aaaaaggghh!) and try on wedding dresses. The appointment is for Monday, May 21st at 5 pm. My mom is going to go with me, and if any of you bridesmaids are available let me know. It's only for an hour, but from what I've read/heard about the process, they truss you up in some bridal undies and then just sort of roll you from dress to dress to dress until you are either screaming for it to stop or have made a choice. I think I can take about an hour of that, if I really work on mentally preparing myself for the next two weeks. If we need more time, we can make another appointment for a few days later, so there's a little recovery time in between.

I know, I really talked some talk about having a dress custom made by a bellingham seamstress out of hemp silk or something, but the truth of the matter is I don't have the time, nor probably the money, to really pull off that sort of decision-intensive process. So I am hearby admiting that I can't walk my talk, and going for the quick & dirty wedding industry consumer option. I'll make up for it somehow...

Anyhow, I'll come back a little later with some pictures of dresses that aren't awful, and you can tell me what you think. Be sure to critic the models too, 'cuz that is the most fun part of looking at these. Specifically, why do they all look constipated, arrogant, undead and/or extremely dramatic? Or sometimes they look like they are trying to escape a horrible doom. Also, what is with using naked men as props? Seriously. How sexist is that?

OMFG - The Guest List

You may have noticed that I haven't put anything new on the blog for the last couple weeks. Work ate my free time. But things are calming down, and I'm getting back to the wedding stuff - specifically the guest list. What a monster! I think I have basically figured out whom to invite, so now I just have to collect all their addresses. I already have most of you guys' - those are the easy ones. I may be calling/e-mailing you guys for info on our more far flung friends, so be prepared.

In the meantime, I guess I need to get started on the invitaions. I'm not sure how they are going to look yet... but I did have an idea for the RSVP cards I'd like your opinions on: I'm thinking of using random postcards. It seems like every vacation/trip I've ever gone on, I bought way more postcards than I actually sent to people. When I get home, I put them in my postcard box. It is pretty full, as you can imagine, and they are all really cool. I might still have to buy some more, I didn't count them, but I have lots - going back to my trip to england when I was about 14. I was thinking I could get a rubber stamp made up and hit the back of each one with a fill-in-the-blank RSVP message, address them to myself, apply postage, and enclose one post card with each invitaion. What do you think? Too wierd? Or would people get a kick out of it? I know I sure would get a kick out of seeing all those postcards coming back in the mail!

Pergola? Whuzza Pergola?

This is a basic pergola:

Here's an especially beautiful pergola:

Ours will probably fall somewhere in between these two on the fanciness scale. We're thinking 14' x 14' is about the right dimensions. We're also planning on a floor of some kind, probably with pavers or bricks. For the actual wedding, it will be decorated with some ribbons and flowers and that sort of stuff. If we get it built early enough, I'll probably plant some fast growing vines on it, maybe scarlet runner beans or tall sweet peas. If necessary, we can tack some plastic or something to the rafters for rain protection.

After the ceremony, we'll set the band up under the same space and party on.

And after that, the long term plan is to grow hardy kiwis on it. Yum.

No more passwords

Yeah, so that whole logging in each time thing? Super annoying. So as of today, there's no more restrictions on who can read the blog. There are enough restrictions on life already, without me adding one more. I'm a little concerned that TOTAL STRANGERS might read some big private wedding secret on the blog, so I won't be linking up to any big wedding planning blog rings or anything. I figure there's few enough people who are gonna be interested in reading my wedding planning blog as it is. Plus, unless I e-mailed you the URL, you'd probably never have found the site in the first place. Ah, the privacy of being just another semi-anonymous blogger...

Time of Day

Anyone have any input on what time of day we should set for the ceremony? Originally, I was thinking ceremony at 3:00, Dinner at 5:00. However, my Dad pointed out that many of our relatives may want to come for the ceremony & dinner, but head home before the all-night party wraps up (or perhaps even gets raging). According to TimeAndDate.com, Sunset on 9-8-07 will occur at 7:36 PM (and sadly, there will not be much of a moon). If we had the ceremony at 2:00 and dinner at 4:00 there'd be a little more daylight left for the non-partiers to enjoy with us before heading home, even if they wanted to leave before dark. On the other hand, 4:00 seems kind of early to eat dinner... although a lot of special occasion type feasting tends to happen earlier than regular meal times, so maybe thats OK. Whatcha think? Earlier, later?

Welcome to Wedding Madness!

Hi Folks! If you are reading this, it means you are a very special person. So special, in fact, that I am going to ask (and if that doesn't work, I'll beg!) you to help me plan my wedding!

So, here's what we have so far...

Location: Our house (more specifically, the soon-to-be-created back yard)
Date: 9-8-07. It's a saturday, the weekend after labor day.
Time: afternoon ceremony, evening dinner, then party all night. We'll get more specific later.

Guiding priciples: Abundance, Sustainability, Fun!
Colors: all of them
Decorations: fruits, veggies & flowers. We've gotten some big ceramic planters to plant, and then we'll have bowls & baskets of fruits & veggies strewn about. Plus cut flowers informally arranged in mason jars. Also lots of white christmas lights in the trees, probably some tiki torches & candles around too.

Master of Ceremony: Marty Ripp
Ceremony: Short & Secular
Brideguard:
Tombi Ericson
Charlotte Sather
Janet Marino
Melissa Whitman
Miriam Kahn
Groomsdudes:
Gabe Taylor
Nick Ericson
Bo Davis
Eric Mapes
Brian Mapes

Guests: about 180 on the list right now (!)
Invitations: Henrietta is going to help design a crafty invite, then I'll need some volunteers to help me make them and send them out.

Parking: in the pasture
Accomodations: camping in the pasture, plus a couple spare beds

Food: We'll do beef & salmon, probably a green salad. Guests will bring a potluck dish to add to the buffet.
Cake: I'm thinking cupcakes, actually. Carrot.
Cups & Plates: I'm thinking secondhand, thrift store mis-match. People can pick their favorite & take them home afterwards as a wedding favor.
silverware: probably rental
tableclothes: flowery secondhand sheets
bar(s): open & generous. We'll probably need to hire a bartender.
toast: Mead

entertainment: Howlinwood (Kris Rothenbuler's band) plus all our musical friends will hopefully sit in and jam. We'll probably also have a laptop or an ipod and some speakers on hand, so those with the inclination can DJ if the live music stops. See also: ceremony, food, bar(s)

Infrastructure rented:
1 - 30' x 60' tent canopy
1 - 4' round table for the cupcakes
17 - 8' rectangular tables
112 folding chairs

Infrastructure Planned:
Pergola (to be built by Dave & Cary) for ceremony, band.
Lawn (to be leveled & seeded by Me, Cary & My dad)
Bridge & path (for crossing the creek between the parking pasture & the wedding site)
Hay Bales for ceremony seating
Fire Pit for hanging around late at night
Porto-Potties for, well, you know

So, thats all I can think of right now. Actually, i'm pretty impressed, I didn't really think I had anywhere NEAR this much figured out until I started writing it down.

I know you are all shy and reluctant to give your opinions on stuff (ha!) but I'm ready to hear what you think of all this... AND your suggestions for making it better... AND the things I might be overlooking... AND the things you've seen at other weddings that you liked or didn't like... AND DEFINITELY any ideas for how to keep myself sane through the next 6 months!