The Next Time

For the past month or so I've been thinking to myself, "The next time I do XXXX, I'll be married!" It started out with, "The next time I get my hair cut, I'll be married" and "The next time I buy dog food, I'll be married." Now, with two days to go, it's nearly everything. The next time I wear those jeans, the next time I eat a burger, the next time I vacuum the house... Soon it will be the next time I check the mail and the next time I take a shower! I get more excited every time I think about it.

Keeping It Local

Two of our goals in planning this wedding - besides ending up married and showing our guests a rockin' good time - were to support our local economy wherever possible, and to generate as little waste as possible. We felt very strongly that this occasion was a perfect opportunity for us to practice what we preach so often, and to keep our landbase healthy and our friends and neighbors employed and able to support their own families.

On the first goal, here is a list of local or small businesses supported by some aspect of the wedding:

Hamel's Creative Catering

Cassandra Holden

Guild Art Supply

Paradise Copies

Osgood Textile

Jackson & Connor

Ci Ci Boutique

Savers (supporting Big Brothers/Big Sisters)

Cedar Chest

25 Central

VFW Post 8006

Rebekah Brooks

Delectable Mountain Cloth

Table & Vine

The Hotel Northampton

McLadden's Irish Pub

Tranquility Day Spa

Canine Etiquette

In addition, many of our friends and family members are participating in our wedding, either in the preparations, ceremony or reception. Flowers, photography, music, transportation, hair and makeup, cake and decorating are all being provided by our guests. It means so much to us to have our loved ones be an integral part of this event.

For the second goal, we have made a wholehearted attempt to not generate a lot of waste in the implementation of the wedding. It's surprisingly difficult, especially when the preparations (and costs) really start ramping up and the disposable route is cheaper and easier. I have tried whenever possible to emphasize the need for low waste, and I am hopeful that most of our decorations and other materials can be reused or repurposed. My cousin will be getting married at the end of September, and as our wedding colors are similar, she will use some of my decorations, or we will share them, which is great. There are also a lot of repurposed vintage items, such as curtains, tablecloths, and serving platters, as well as all of the dishes, that I purchased at Savers thrift shop and will be returning to them after the wedding. Maybe they will catch the eye of another bride-to-be!

All the Little Things

A few days left, and most of the big stuff is done. Dress? Picking up today. Food? Done. Venue? All set. Rings? Reception? Cake? All set! Now it's just all the odds and ends. Who's doing what and when? Are the favor bags assembled? How much do we tip the caterer? I do event planning for a living, and it is still astounding to me how many different moving parts there are to a wedding, and how far in advance one has to start planning in order to have everything work out. I am so lucky that my mother has been a capable and willing partner in all this, and that my fiance' is extremely agreeable and willing to do whatever he is asked.

The rehearsal is tomorrow, decorating on Friday, and then we've arrived! Ten months of dreaming, scheming, planning, comparing, budgeting, agonizing, deciding, and finagling all coming to fruition. It's been such a lovely ride, and despite it sometimes seeming like a second full-time job, it's been incredibly fun and rewarding to have such an outlet for my creativity and such game collaborators to work with. Yay for Weddings, indeed!

The Guest Quilt

As many of you know, our wedding has a 1920's theme that is partially inspired by our mutual love of the television series Boardwalk Empire, and we've incorporated many elements of the show into our wedding reception. Instead of a champagne toast we've decided to do a Pimm's Cup, a British drink popular at the time that was also mentioned in one of the early episodes of BE. We're also making the boutonnieres to resemble the ever-present carnation that the main character, Nucky Thompson, wears on the show. We tried to figure out a way to work the theme song into the reception, but that hasn't really happened.

When it came to the guestbook, I was reluctant to make it an actual book. I have many memento books from various events of my life, filled with signatures and well wishes of classmates, friends and colleagues... that I never look at. Rather than a book that sits on a shelf and is forgotten, I wanted to have a more visible and viewable representation of all the people who were there and who we love and who care about us. I had seen an example of a "guest quilt", a table set up with squares of fabric that guests sign, which are then sewn into a quilt. I've even seen elaborate versions of this, where the handwriting is embroidered onto the quilt afterword. I would guess that this is a task that would take many, many, many hours to complete. One very important aspect of getting married is to know thyself first. I know myself very well. I am not that diligent. So I talked to my mom (who is very diligent) about it. I thought it might be possible to add a Boardwalk Empire twist to it. During the opening credits of the show, the main character is shown standing on an Atlantic City beach where there are hundreds of bottles floating in the water. We decided to make the guest quilt look like those floating bottles, with each "bottle" being signable by the guests. My genius of a mother worked up the design, found the right materials, assembled them, and even provided a posterboard with instructions on how to sign the bottle.

The guests will sign a piece of writable fabric, which will become the label on the bottles! I can't wait to see how this turns out. We're going to have such a unique and beautiful memory of everyone who was there, hanging on our wall every time we pass by.

Minstrels

Our Greg-of-all-trades will be DJing the reception, but as he is our officiant, he was clearly out of the running when it came to music for the ceremony. Also, there's no electricity where we're getting married. Live music it is! Once again I am so lucky to have musically talented folks in my circle of friends. Remember my best friend Heather?

She and her husband Steven are accomplished musicians and performers, and volunteered to be my wedding ceremony minstrels. Both of them are regular players in the Valley Light Opera community theater group. Steven is also a violinist, and Heather is a pianist, piano/voice teacher, and a church organist. In short, very musical people.

We got together last night to finalize the musical selections for the ceremony. For the processional my mom had suggested "Side by Side", a classic 1920's number whose lyrics are a perfect fit for us. Heather and Steven recorded a practice video of them singing it as a duet and sent it to me for feedback. It was either hilariously beautiful or beautifully hilarious, I can't decide which. We discussed a few tweaks and the song is good to go! For the recessional I wanted to go with "I Got Rhythm", a Gershwin song that's instantly recognizable to most folks. Technically it wasn't published until 1930, but I'm gonna say it was composed in the 20's. On that number Steven will play the violin and Heather will sing, as it's rather tricky to truck a piano into a garden for a half hour. We are also going to try to get the audience to clap along as we make our way back up the aisle. It will be so wonderful to have my best friend and her new husband serenade me as I walk the wedding plank!

Bouquet OK!

Today is my mom's birthday! I had spent the night at Heather's due to the excessive imbibing of the bachelorette party, and Heather, Steven and I called her first thing this morning and serenaded her with a three part harmony version of "Happy Birthday". This evening we went to my cousin's for dinner and to play with flowers for the centerpieces and bouquets. The dahlias are finally blooming! There are some amazing dinnerplate ones, and some smaller ones, all spectacular. We picked a few and tested out some arrangements, finally settling on simple ones of one or two dahlias with greenery. Guess what worked the best? Asparagus! Its ferny, feathery texture is a perfect echo of the 20s decor, and the leaves hold up well.

We'll need two bouquets, one for me and one for Maili. I fell in love with one of the dinnerplate dahlias. Look at the size of it!

I tried putting it together with some hosta leaves from the garden. The effect was stunning.

We decided to go with orange silk flowers in the same color for Maili's bouquet.

I took the hosta leaves home to test them and see how long they can stay out of water before they start to wilt. About three hours in and so far so good!

The Bachelorette

Last night was my bachelorette party! My amazing Maid of Honor Maili organized the whole thing: Snacks, drinks and games at her place, then a canoe/kayak paddle at sunset, then dinner and more games, and finally a campfire and s'mores. We had a blast. First, I was surprised by Heather's sister, Andrea, who is one of my best friends from childhood and who I didn't know would be there. We drove up to Maili's with a canoe strapped to Heather's Ford Focus. After some alarming buzzing, followed by a screeching, then a quick stop to tighten the canoe so we didn't accidentally get airborne, we were back on our way. Over the course of the evening I: got a signature cocktail thanks to Megan, consisting of Jameson whiskey, Disaronno and birch beer, called "Laurel on the Rocks" (a little Italian, a little Irish, and a lot of woods!); put a condom on a cucumber; saw a blue heron and a pitcher plant; constructed a penis out of play-doh; wrote a song about aging; invented a kahlua toasted marshmallow; and dug a maraschino cherry out of a dish of whipped cream using only my face. Not many people can say they did all that at their bachelorette party. Thanks to Maili, Heather, Andrea and Megan for showing me the best time a girl could ask for!