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!

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Dollars

Way back in January when we attended the Bridal Expo I checked out some of the photography vendors who were tabling there, and came to the realization that wedding photography is effing expensive! Wedding anything is expensive, but photography seemed to be particularly so. Well, photographs are important, aren't they? In a way they will be the most concrete evidence that the wedding actually happened. And by the time the actual day rolls around the happy couple are far too exhausted and overwhelmed to really absorb or remember much, so they must relive the day through the photos. I can see why people spring for a photographer to immortalize the experience of a lifetime, lived in one day.

I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by talented photographers, especially as my photography skills amount to the equivalent of a 4 year old trying to write his own name. Both of my best friends are hobby photogs, which makes me so happy when we go on vacation together, as I get to stand back and drink in the gorgeous scenery while they run around getting all the money shots. However, as both of them are actually in my wedding, being the photographer would pose a slight problem. Luckily I know even more superheroes! One of my mother's best friends, Holly Hargraves, is a photographer and web designer and she offered not only to take the photos but to let us use her house, which is steps away from the ceremony, so that we could get dressed there. She's known me since I was a kid, so it will be great having her there to document this important day.

I will also have a second photographer, my cousin Jessie. She's currently studying photography and has an amazing vintage camera collection:

I asked her if any of her cameras still worked, and she said most of them did. I asked if it's still possible to get film for them, and if so could we take some real vintage photos, it being a vintage wedding and all. She said she could! So we will be getting some old timey photos of our old timey wedding. So cool!

We'll be taking pictures in the garden, of course, and then going across the street to the Smith College boathouse, where my father worked for many years, to take some photos there. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed for nice weather - the extended forecast is still a little too far out to be reliable.

Finished!

The dress is done! I picked it up this morning and brought it directly to the cleaners to have it pressed. It came out beautifully. Cassandra put on the finishing touches, and I took both dress and veil with me. Now I am on diet LOCKDOWN for the next week so I'll be sure to fit into it! No photos yet, but there will be very, very soon!

It's official! Well, almost.

Today Eric and I took a very big, very important step.

(drumroll......)

We went to city hall to apply for a marriage license!

It was far more straightforward than I thought it would be. I had always imagined the process of acquiring a marriage license to be a sort of labyrinth, dotted with nasty blood tests, letters of reference, and the digging up of birth certificates or possibly long-dead relatives if necessary to prove one wasn't related to one's betrothed. However, this was surprisingly painless, and not just because of the lack of blood or exhumed relatives. We didn't need to provide physical proof of anything besides our two selves. Everything else was written onto a form and sworn by oath to be true. Though the forms were a tad tricky. There was a bit of a scuffle over who got to be Party A and who got to be Party B.

A very nice clerk named Wendy talked us through the whole set of instructions. While we plodded our way through the forms, a woman came in to license her dogs, something one does think of as a straightforward procedure. How many dogs, this much per dog, here's your tags, thank you and see you in a year. Not this lady. As the story unfolded, we gathered that she hadn't been too responsible about keeping up with the whole dog licensing thing. Wendy's colleague informed her that her dogs hadn't been licensed since March of 2012. Furthermore, it sounded like the only reason she'd come clean about it was because her dogs had caused trouble, one of the neighbors complained and the police got involved and told her she'd better get those dogs licensed. The total, including licenses, backpayments and penalties, came to $180. Needless to say, the woman was none to happy about it, but reluctantly paid as she really didn't have a choice.

By this time we had completed the forms after a few embarrassing missteps (I couldn't remember Eric's birthday, he couldn't remember mine or his mom's middle name. Sometimes your mind just goes blank). We brought the forms over to Wendy, who double checked them, made us swear (but not in anger), then presented us with the equivalent of a dry cleaning ticket. We get to pick up the license on Friday! She was even nice enough to take a photo of us with the claim ticket to commemorate the event. One small step for man, one giant leap for marriage!

Moral of the story: A human license is easy; It's the dog's license you've got to worry about.

Delectable Mountain

The dress hit a few snags on its journey to being complete. There were some aspects to the bodice that I wasn't quite happy with, but didn't quite know how to fix. Thanks to some advice from my friend Megan, I experimented with the idea of a sash. Cassandra sent me up to Delectable Mountain Cloth in Brattleboro, VT to hunt for some appropriate fabric. MOH Maili offered to go with me. It was intended to be a combination fabric hunt for me and new car hunt for her (hers is on its last wheel), but sadly the car shopping part never materialized. Get it? MATERIALized? Haha! Heh. Ok, nevermind.

This place is like a candy store for dressmaking. They have every kind of luscious silk, chiffon, brocade and lace, no synthetics. And the buttons! So many colors and shapes and sizes. The owner and employees are extremely knowledgeable about cloth as well as how garments are put together and which fabrics complement each other. After much exploring and quite a bit of drooling we ended up leaving empty handed. Despite there being such a fantastic selection, they didn't have much in the way of bridal trim, as the sad fact is that nearly all of it is synthetic nowadays. In having to drive over an hour to get to a fabric store that didn't cater mostly to quilters, I realized how few people make their own clothes anymore.

The place also had a great selection of vintage jewelry. I almost bought a pair of earrings, but changed my mind at the last minute, as I probably will wear small, simple earrings if anything. The birdcage veil will be enough decor for this tiny head of mine!

Taking the Cake

Friday I had a lovely meeting with Eric's cousin Jenni and his aunt. His cousin recently got married, and we attended the wedding. Everything about it was perfect, including the weather. Jenni is a very creative person, and I think she did most of the preparations, from invites to decorations to choreographing the best bridal party intro I've ever seen (it involved football passes). She is also a very talented baker. Every time we go to a family event at their house there have been the most elaborate and adorable cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and other delicacies. For Christmas she made cupcakes that looked like Christmas trees, with candy coated sunflower seeds as the ornaments. Once there were cupcakes in the shape of butterflies. We decided early on that we wanted her to do our wedding cake if she was willing. She was! So I met to talk about colors, flavors, and all that good stuff.

As our colors are navy and coral, we decided to go with white cupcakes. Navy frosting is just gross, and everyone would be walking around looking like they'd just sucked on a ballpoint pen. I saw a cool idea online for a cupcake bouquet.

We decided to do that as a topper, with freestanding cupcakes for the guests to eat. Each cupcake will have a fondant garnish, and I'm thinking of using the deco fan motif - the one I never ended up using for the invites - for the garnish! As for cupcake flavors, for now it's vanilla and chocolate, but if anyone knows of some more interesting options, I'd be interested to hear.

Made in China

I've spent a large amount of time over the past ten months collecting dishes. You might remember the wedding room post, where a small, respectable stash was displayed. It has since taken on a life of its own and morphed into a tabletop, piles on the floor, and boxes in the basement. My mother has been an unwavering help and resource in this pursuit. Her volunteer position at a thrift shop in North Carolina has provided us with many choice items for the wedding, and dishes are no exception. Between the two of us we have located some rare vintage finds as well as regular old cups n' saucers. The plan is this: each of our eight tables will have a unique set of tableware, with the unifying theme of orange and white. I've collected vintage china from the thirties through the sixties, including a pile of rare and quite expensive Salem Tricorn china that I scavenged off of a flatbed truck destined for the landfill. This will be mixed with contemporary pieces that have a vintage design. In short, it's a lot of dishes!

Such a display required some heavily coordinated shuffling around. Most brides are pulling their hair out over seating charts, trying to ensure that those cousins who feuded back in '75 and haven't spoken to each other since don't end up sitting together. I declared open seating early on, avoiding that whole potential kerfuffle. But to make up for it, I've been pulling my hair out over the place settings. Like, the actual dishes. Is there an equal distribution of orange at each table? Does that cup and saucer go with that plate? What on earth matches orange Salem Tricorn China? After much wrangling and rearranging, I think I've figured out the magic combination. So in order to ensure that it actually materializes on the big day, I have a plastic tub for each table, with the appropriate set of dishes as well as a card indicating which cups, saucers and plates go where. I call it "The method to my madness".

It makes perfect sense to me, but as I might not be the person setting up the tables, I can only hope that my crazy system can be translated into tabletop triumph. We'll find out. Now, on to the music!

T Minus Two Weeks!

I can't believe it's two weeks until the big day! These months have gone by so quickly, and there is still much to be done. This afternoon Eric departs for his bachelor party, a trip to Cabellas (like Disneyworld for sporting goods) and then to the Mohegan Sun casino, where he will hopefully have great fun throwing money into a slot-machine-shaped pit. My bachelorette party is next weekend, then my parents arrive the following Monday, and then it's going to be a frantic blur of preparations until BOOM, married. I only hope I can hold onto this even just a little and enjoy the moments as they pass by far too fleetingly.

Bridezillas

We've all seen or heard about those brides who approach their weddings as if it were a competitive sport. I heard they might be considering it for the next summer olympics. It will be similar to track and field, with multiple events: wrestling over the same dress, the bridesmaid intimidation, high pitched shrieking, and the daunting impossible demands. I read enough Dear Prudence and watch enough reality TV trailers to know that there are some women who just go completely off the rails when it comes to getting hitched. Reading some of the letters from battered maids of honor, former friends, even exasperated fiances, it makes me wonder what kind of a society we've become where anyone thinks it's acceptable to act like a self-centered, spoiled rotten two-year-old just because you've decided to spend the rest of your life with someone who hopefully still wants to spend his with you, after the way you've been behaving.

There are enough of these ridiculous bride banshees to warrant an entire section on the Huffington Post, with articles entitled "How to Keep Bridezilla in a Cage" and "The Worst Bride Meltdowns Ever." One of the articles featured a bride who was apparently dissatisfied with the sum she received as a gift from a wedding guest. Read it here:

Ungrateful Bride Sends Heinous Message to Wedding Guest

I hope that I have been a low(er) key bride for the most part. While I can understand that planning a wedding can be a complex and stressful affair and that the occasional high pitched shriek might be in order, one must resist the urge to go postal. Save that for the marriage!

The Shoe Must Go On

I do believe the shoe situation has been resolved. The funny thing is, I've had them all along. Last year (or was it two years ago? I can't remember anymore) I had the ambitious idea of making an ostentatious outfit for New Year's Eve. It was going to involve spandex, and gold lame', and some leopard print, and was all going to be perfectly fabulous. Of course, the outfit never got made. The leopard fabric is still sitting on a shelf in my sewing room, another great idea chucked into the abyss of I'll Get Around To It.

During the development of this project, I happened across a fabulous pair of shoes at Savers, my most favorite secondhand retail establishment. They were vintage, they were loud, they were glittery, they were silver and gold, they were everything you want a New Year's Eve experience to be, a shoe-in, so to speak. Sadly, they were a half-size too large. I figured I could suffer through one night for fabulosity. Tragically, they had no outfit to complete. So they likewise sat on a shelf in my closet, awaiting their big break.

After days, weeks, months of scouring department and specialty stores across the state, I was still empty-footed. Then the seed of an idea planted itself. What if...? Could they really...? No harm in trying.

They were still a half size too large. Not that I had expected my feet to grow in a year's time, but stranger things have happened. So I fiddled and figured, and decided to try a creative approach. My mother found some inserts for both sole and heel, and with that combination and a pinch of desperation, the shoes became THE SHOES. Silver and gold to give a touch of Jazz Age, a solid heel to stand up to garden paths, and finally the New Year's That Wasn't turns into the Wedding That Will Be. Ladies and gentlemen, I have found my sole mates.

The Family Jewels

I stopped by my aunt's on Sunday for a triple birthday party. Three different birthdays in one month, so they throw one communal shebang for all. While I was there my aunt offered to loan me some of my grandmother's jewelry to use on my wedding day. I don't remember that much about my grandmother. She died when I was six, and my most vivid memories of her are of playing cards, Cinnamon Life cereal and the beautiful dollhouse furniture that she made herself and gave to me. More than my own memories of her, I have heard many stories from my parents and other relatives about her, and have gathered that she was a practical yet adventurous, testy but generous, creative and caring woman who successfully raised my father and his four siblings through wonderful and devastating times. Here's a photo of her with my grandfather:

While some of these stories involved motorcycles, roller skating and historical reenactments, none mention jewelry. As we looked through the assembled necklaces, bracelets and earrings, I wondered where she had worn them, and if they had played a role in any of the stories that had been told to me.

My grandmother died at Christmastime. She had already gotten gifts for the family, and it must have been bittersweet for all that year, opening those gifts and knowing that they were the last ones we’d ever receive from her. As a six year old I didn’t fully understand what was happening, and as my parents gave me my Christmas present from Grandma, they told me that it was a gift from heaven. I unwrapped the china doll with awe, never having received such an offering. Heaven seemed farther away than even the North Pole.

This year would have been my grandmother’s 100th birthday. My aunt arranged an honorary Mass to be said, with a family gathering afterward. It was great to see everyone together, and a touching remembrance of a life. I haven’t decided which pieces I’m going to wear for my wedding, but it’s heartwarming to know that gifts from heaven still appear from time to time, usually just when you need them.

Hairdos and Don'ts

Today Maid of Honor Maili and I went for a test run of our hairstyles. I am lucky to have an aunt who is a professional hairstylist, and who offered to style hair for both of us for the wedding! Especially as I am quite the challenge when it comes to hairdressing. I have fine, thin, do-nothing hair. It's awful. I usually keep it in a short bob, because that's about the only thing you can do with it. But I decided, as this was a special occasion, that I would grow it out a bit to give myself some options. For the past three months I’ve been gritting my teeth against fine, limp, scraggly growing out layers of awful hair. So while I have visions of this kind of thing:

It is very unlikely that anything close to that can be achieved, considering the raw materials.

My aunt has worked miracles with my hair in the past. Several years ago I was invited to a 1940s themed wedding, and she did my hair for that, with results that I didn’t even think were possible:

We arrived at the salon, prepared for experimentation. Round 1:

I had brought my veil, a 20s appropriate birdcage, so that we could see how that would attach. My previous attempts had ended with the veil falling out of my hair and onto the floor. I was pretty sure we could do better than that.

With a lot of love and product, we managed to coax my hair into a somewhat stationary position. I think it might just work.

Maili, on the other hand, had much more hair to work with. My aunt filled her head with rollers, then arranged the curls into a beautiful chignon.

I’ve talked to my seamstress about augmenting the veil a bit, maybe adding some feathers and rosettes, so hopefully I can make up in plumage what I lack in tresses!

One Man Marryin' Band

I've told you the story of how Eric and I met. But I haven't told you about Greg's role in the whole thing. Greg is our beloved karaoke DJ, and Eric's second job boss (as opposed to his day job boss and best man, Brad). Way back in the mists of time, when my best friend Heather and I started living together, we would stop in at a little VFW down the street for some karaoke. The DJ was excellent and an all-around nice guy. We struck up a friendship. Then we also befriended his wife. Then, one crazy night after one too many cranberry seltzers, we found out that she and I are second cousins! And that they had lived next door to my parents! Small world.

Greg is also responsible for introducing us to Maili, the Third Musketeer. She had been going to sing karaoke with Greg a few towns over, and loved his DJing so much that she followed him to our local establishment. It took us about five seconds to become friends, and we get to tell everyone who asks how we met that she picked us up in a bar.

Finally, Greg is really the one responsible for this whole getting married thing. I would never have agreed to date Eric if Greg hadn't vouched for him as a great, honest, stand-up guy. Eric had an entire volume of rules stacked against him: Never date a guy you meet in a bar, DEFINITELY never date a guy you meet in a VFW, Never date a guy who's too young for you, Never date a guy who looks like Harry Potter, Never date a guy who looks like Harry Potter AND dresses like him for Halloween... and many others. However, Greg sat me down one night and told me that I might be missing out on a great thing this time by following my rules. So I listened. And here we are getting married! But if this marriage doesn't work out, then Greg, I'm putting the blame squarely on you for getting me into this mess.

Seeing as Greg was the guy who introduced - nay, orchestrated this entire scenario, we thought it only fitting that he be the one to officially seal the deal. So we asked him to marry us. No, not THAT way. Even Northampton has its limits when it comes to marriage. We asked him to officiate our wedding ceremony. Luckily for us, he accepted our proposal. Unfortunately, in this country the laws have not yet caught up with tradition, and karaoke DJs are not yet given the same privileges as ship captains or clergy when it comes to officiating a marriage ceremony. BUT the tax-loving State of Massachusetts does offer a special one-day dispensation for ordinary folks (and not-so-ordinary karaoke DJs) to become temporary superheroes and marry people. We gave Greg the paperwork, he filled it out, and today in the mail, guess what?

Superhero status attained! Greg will be marrying us on August 17th. And of course, he will also be our DJ. We couldn't possibly have anyone else.

Surrealism and the Modern Wedding

I noticed about five minutes after we got engaged and I visited my first bridal website that wedding themed ads, links and notifications had started creeping into my browser feed. Now they've pretty much taken over. Most of the time it's annoying, sometimes it's a useful link to shoes or stationery, and once in a while it's a link to a hilarious buzzfeed video on the insanity of modern day weddings. Hopefully we've only fallen into a few of these traps.

A Proper Topper

At long last the quest for the perfect tam has come to an end. Eric has found a hat to go with his suit. We stopped into Jackson and Connor in downtown Northampton to see what they had. Eric had found a hat that he liked there before, but it was too small. Although he preferred the larger brimmed hats, the only one they had that fit him, sadly, made him look like a rabbi. (Who knew??) So he opted for a smaller - and, more importantly, cooler - straw number. It is the perfect color, looks great with the suit, and will be much more tolerable if the heat in August is anything near what it is right now. I'm hoping that summer is getting its heat waves out of its system right at the beginning, but we do live in New England, so anything goes.

Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past...

The Great Gatsby re-remake/adaptation came out in May, and I've been meaning to go see it with the BFFs. I am still stunned that Warner Brothers a) found out the date of our wedding; and b) decided to do a remake of The Great Gatsby in our honor. But they did! I guess we waited a bit too long to go see it, though, because by the time we got our respective acts and schedules together, the only place it was playing was at the Agawam Family Cinema. So off we went! After some misleading directions (my fault) we made it to the theater. Which was very... interesting. We soon realized why the ticket price was only $3.50. The theater looked and/or smelled like a combination of a high school lecture hall and the New York City bus station. There were alarming stains on the ceiling tiles, and more alarming stains on the floors. The seats had desk surfaces in front of them. Heather used the bathroom and noticed a sign on the trash saying, "Please no needles or diapers." We were definitely not in Showcase Cinemas anymore, Toto.

The movie itself was okay. I mainly went for the costumes and sets, and was not at all disappointed. FABULOUS clothes, shoes, cars, houses, dishes, furniture and light fixtures. The acting was quite good, but the filming and directing was not really my style. The director, Baz Luhrmann, did Moulin Rouge, and the tone was very similar. However, I think it worked better in Moulin Rouge than it did here.

After the movie we stopped at an Irish pub for a pint. I could only finish half of mine, but The Karate Kid was on, so we stayed for the second show. Roaring Twenties, meet Classic Eighties! After a discussion and wikipedia investigation into Ralph Macchio's real age, we called it a night. Thank god for BFFs!

Keep Calm and Shower On

My second bridal shower was a twofer: My cousin Emily is also getting married (in September), so my aunt and my mother decided to combine forces and throw the most bombastic, shower-to-end-all-shower affairs. We were asked to arrive at 11am so that we could greet our guests. We had arranged for the fiances to go golfing during the shower, so they left to get teed off.

A giant tent was up in my aunt's backyard, with lanterns and tables and food and drink. And favors! And prizes!! My cousin Melissa had made up beautiful gift baskets for a raffle. These things were amazing. Spa baskets with bath products, beach baskets, BBQ baskets, jugs of local maple syrup... really good stuff.

Unbeknownst to us, the shower had a theme of "hat and gloves". Guests were asked to arrive wearing said items, and there were some pretty creative interpretations, including hard hats, gardening gloves, straw paddy hats, and even one hat handmade from paper towels. Once again there were people I hadn't seen in many years, and it was wonderful to catch up. We really shouldn't wait for bridal showers to get together with old friends! But it's definitely a great excuse.

After a delicious buffet lunch, Emily and I were directed to our patio chairs of honor and presented with our own princess hats and loofah gloves! We both received some gorgeous gifts and cards. My favorite, from two of my coworkers, said "Holy shit! You're getting married!" I might have to get it framed.

After the gifts was a trivia quiz, with facts about our respective pasts. Guests had to guess whether the fact applied to a)Emily, b)Me, or c)Both. I even got a few of them wrong! Shows you how well I know my family.

By the afternoon it had gotten quite hot, so Heather, Maili and I improvised some refreshment by sticking our feet in the now-melted but still freezing ice tub. Relief is not spelled R-O-L-A-I-D-S, my friends.

A huge thanks to my Aunt Rindy, my mom, my cousin Melissa and my two best friends for all the hard work they put into this event! It was another roaring success.

Dahlia It Up

We went to my cousin's house for dinner and a movie, and the dahlias are up! No blooms yet, just shoots. But looking good!

The Art of the Invite

The invitations are done! I am so relieved. They came out very well, and I spent an afternoon gluing them together. We're only inviting about 60 people, so it's been very manageable. I can't imagine having a wedding of 100 or 150 people, how much time and effort that would require.

The invitation design process was fun, sometimes frustrating, and very rewarding. With RJ's help I managed to successfully use Adobe Illustrator to design the invites and RSVP cards, and set them up for the printer. After looking at many, many paper samples I settled on a textured ivory for both cards, with a navy blue cardstock as the backing. Eric suffered through one paper-shopping visit in which I went back and forth for about 20 minutes on 3 different subtle shades of navy. Luckily, despite this, the wedding is still on.

I had the invites printed at a local copy center. They were very friendly and efficient, and had the printing done in a few hours, just enough time to do some more shopping downtown! The print was perfect - and cheap to boot!

Once I got them home I cut the cardstock to size and sprayed the invitations with spray adhesive, then mounted them on the cardstock. I had to adjust the first few because the cardstock was a hair too small, but the final product was great.

I found some gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbon from Of the Earth, a vendor on Etsy. They were wonderful and I got the ribbon within 3 days.

Once the invitations were dry, I put Mom to work on the assembly line. We tied the invite and RSVP with a ribbon and put them in envelopes. I printed out the mailing labels, and they were ready to go!

For your viewing pleasure, Mom did a simulation of getting an invite.

Dinner for Four

Tonight was our second tasting at Hamel's Catering. My parents came with us so they could donate their opinions on the food. After all, it is mostly their families who will be attending. We had requested to try mini egg rolls, walnut pesto linguini, ham with pineapple, lemon dill chicken, and cream pesto penne. Here's the happy gang:

We thought the egg rolls were more like "eh" rolls, and the ham was nothing special. But the chicken was great, as was the pasta. We finalized the menu and discussed the non-edible arrangements like silverware, linens, and servers. This place has been really great so far. Good service, reasonable prices, and good food! Paula, who runs the catering, went over everything with us and told us she'd email me an estimate. And after Heather's catertastrophe of the caterer getting the date wrong, we triple-checked that puppy.

At the very least we know our wedding will be in good taste.