See, I Am Getting Stuff Done Over Christmas! :)

Bridesmaid dresses are ordered!!! :)

***

Invitations will hopefully be ordered on Monday. I set myself a deadline, so now I have to make up my mind (or the people in the store will think I'm crazy.) There's just so many rules and so many things to worry about. I read somewhere about a couple whose family got upset by the wording on the invites and they had to order them again! I am not financially capable of something like that, lol.

***

Ryan and I visited his family for Christmas, so I got to talk a bit with his sister-in-law, Sandy. She's a wedding photographer and a wealth of knowledge about these things. I'm sure I drove her crazy:

"Have you thought about this?"
"No."
"Did you consider doing it this way?"
"No."

Etc, etc, etc, lol

But I do appreciate all her information :) She suggested that we pair up the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, because otherwise everyone always looks "terrified." Good point, lol.

She also assured me that there will be ambient light in my photos, which is apparently a good thing :)

And yet, she also mentioned that even though she knows now that the photos taken at her wedding (by another, un-named photographer) aren't perfect, she was happy as can be with the results at the time. I think that will likely apply to any of the wedding scenarios... We're trying for perfection, but even if everything isn't just so, we'll probably still have a good time :)

***

We started talking about situations where the bride or groom's parents don't approve of their offspring's choice as a partner. Ryan's mother said, "We've always known Kristen was too good for Ryan, so..." :) I like her! lol

Of course, this only lasts until bright and early the next morning, when Ryan gets her coffee and makes a big breakfast for the family. I can't compete with all that!!! :)

***

Ryan assures me that he will not collapse from the heat at the wedding, even though tuxedos don't have a short sleeve variety.

"I don't think your family will approve if I show up in a tshirt with a tie painted on it," he said.

I told him, "That depends on how well you paint."

It's rather unfair that women get to wear short sleeves and men don't!

***

But did I mention that the dresses have been ordered??? :)

A Few Little Mistakes

After all that secrecy, Ryan's mother blurted out the exact style of my wedding dress in front of Ryan! lol. Thank goodness I can trust him not to peek - I want him to be surprised!

I think we're even, though, because I've just discovered something terrible: I never sent a save the date to Ryan's parents!!! How did that happen? Easily. Ryan's mother composed a list of all Ryan's relatives and their addresses for me, but she didn't list herself. I used that list to put Ryan's family members into my Excel spreadsheet. I was sooo careful to include everyone from the list and to make sure I didn't forget anybody. See what happens when you try to be super organized??? But she has a save the date now, so it's all good :)

Ryan's sister in law remembers seeing a man get married wearing a bright white suit, white shoes, and a camoflauge tie. I've been leaving the tux-getting up to Ryan, but I did have to make it clear that that won't be allowed :)

Now we just have to decide on the invitation wording. That's my goal for this weekend - we have several days off for Christmas, so we can actually sit down to talk about it :)

In other news, a friend is planning to propose soon. I don't want to post too much just yet, even though I can't imagine any scenario where he or his friends would ever read this blog. But I liked his plan for the proposal :)

What's Happened Since November

Michelle keeps reminding me that I haven't updated since November, so here's another post to make her happy, lol.

Save the Date cards are out! (With about 2 to 3 exceptions - I still need a few more addresses.) I'm so excited to finally have those in the mail. Christmas cards, though, are another story... Apparently I'm a little slower at writing/labeling addresses than I had hoped! :)

In other news, all members of the wedding party have (finally) been invited. Ryan told my brother "I have to ask you 7 months in advance or else the terrorists win." lol. Whatever it takes!

My dress has already been ordered and the rest of the bridal party will follow suit soon, I hope. I think we've narrowed down exactly which dresses we are getting. Although, here's what happens when Michelle tries to talk to me about dresses while my thoughts are elsewhere...

Michelle: What do you think of XXX?
Me: CRAZY.
Michelle: What's wrong with the dress?
Me: Wait, what are we talking about?
(I thought she was referring to the area code of a phone number, not a dress style number!)

Has anything else been happening? Should anything else be happening?

Oh - I am working on the wording of the invitations. Apparently there are many, many rules. Also, I need to figure out a new way to address the envelopes. I don't think are labeling system worked out too well with the save the dates, lol. Does anybody know any calligraphy????

On Matters of Productivity...

Back to church today after missing a few services and our pastor still greeted me by name. I went home and told Ryan that she still remembers who I am. "Good," he said, "that will come in handy during the wedding ceremony!" lol

Today I planned to finish all the save the dates, but that didn't happen due to various other errands. We're having some technical difficulties with the labels. I should have paid attention in elementary school and learned how to write neatly :)

I did, however, get the website under control. It won't let me post a photo (annoying,) but at least it is presentable. And since it is listed on the save the date cards, that's important! :)

Just need to finish up the registry, mail out the save the dates, figure out invitations... and everything else... :)

Registry! :)

This is the device they gave us at Macy's to set up our registry.

I'd already gone online and started registries at both Macy's and Amazon.com, but my mother wanted us to actually go to the store. So we descended upon Macy's as a family, my parents, Ryan, and me. Laurel helped us get signed up for all the special deals and convinced me to open a Macy's credit card. We'll see whether I still like that later :)

Did you know that Cephalon gives a free gift to everyone who puts $500 worth of Cephalon products on their wedding registry? And then they get another free gift if they actually get the $500 worth of Cephalon products. Can you even think of $500 worth of Cephalon products? We couldn't... but we did put the free gift item on our registry, lol. Seemed simpler that way.

I had some trouble deciding on china...



Overall, it was a fun afternoon :)

Back home, Ryan poured over the registry, trying to bring it to perfection. I must say, I found it entertaining watching him carefully consider table clothes and sheets and various linens. He now knows what a 'sham' is (and he thinks it's a sham indeed, lol.)

And now, days later, my mother wanted to know how we ended up with 4 pages of bed sheets and comforters on our registry, lol. Ryan might have gone a liiiiiiittle crazy :) But we'll have it all fixed by the time anybody sees it (I hope!)

Lost and Found! :)

I would also like to just note here that Ryan found something I really wanted to have for the wedding and thought was lost forever - thank you Ryan! :)

Pretty Flowers

I am falling behind in my posting! Everything is happening so fast, lol.

Let's see... what's happened since we last spoke... I booked a florist!

This was a pretty easy decision for me. I'm a little hopeless in the floral department. Despite looking at lots of pictures of flowers and trying to do some research before our first meeting, the best I could do to explain what I liked was, "I thought my friend's bouquet was really pretty." (That would be the friend who posts here as quara :) ) So I don't really have certain requirements... I just wanted someone who seemed nice and patient and who was likely to make the place look pretty.

Something I learned at our first meeting: 'tussy mussy' is a word. Not according to spellcheck, but according to my florist. I still don't know what it is, but apparently I need it (and it is probably expensive.)

Otherwise, the deposit has been paid, the contract has been signed, and we're good to go :)

The Perils of Organization

I made a spreadsheet with everyone's names and addresses, for organizational purposes. Being organized makes me happy. Many thanks to my cousin Lindsay, who sent me the addresses for most relatives on that side of the family, and to Ryan's mother, who sent me the addresses on that side of the family (several times!) :)

After the names and addresses, I have a section for keeping track of what's been sent to each person - Christmas cards, save the dates, invitations, etc. Except I didn't really think about how this might look when I wrote it up. Later, when I looked the spreadsheet over, I realized I had a section titled "STD's" where I hope to mark YES for each guest... :)

Let Them Eat Cake! :)

Maybe the Dress?

What do you do when you can't decide on your wedding dress?

I sent a pleading message to Anielka, of course :) If she agrees with Kelly and my mom, then it's definitely the dress. If not, then I have no idea :)

Ryan gets things done :)

Some background: In May, Ryan bought me this cute little digital camera. I love it, so I was crushed when, 5 months later, it simply stopped turning on. We'd recharged it right before the camping trip and then couldn't take a single picture. Much jiggling and shaking and grumbling was done, with no results. I even took it to a local camera shop, where they said the battery was fine and perhaps the camera was broken. Since I hate making phone calls like that, I was most displeased.

Fast forward to now. Or, at least, to recently (a few days ago.)

I was a little stressed about all the phone calls I had to make - camera, 2 bakeries, flower people... Ryan offered to call the bakeries to help me out. Then he agreed he'd also try to call the camera people, too.

"Sometimes I manage to get the battery in correctly," I said. "That's about all I can handle with the camera."

Which gave Ryan an idea...

He took the battery out of the camera and then tried re-inserting it in different directions. He met with much resistance, but eventually he was able to shove the battery into the camera another way. Immediately, the camera turned back on, no problem. Yay!

Ryan playfully bragged about his obvious talents: "I'm so good that tomorrow, the bakeries will just call me!"

Well, they didn't do that. But now I have a fixed camera, appointments for taste testing at two bakeries, and an appointment with a flower consultant, so things are looking pretty good!

Save the Dates!

Photos - check
Addresses - check
Losing the link to the design I wanted and somehow managing to find it again - check

Our save the date notices have been ordered! :)

I am so jealous, though, of Ryan's cousin, Shelley's, save the date notices, which we received just the other day. Their dj has a website, where guests can go to request songs they want to hear at the actual event. How cool!

I don't even have a dj, lol.

Stories and Invitations

I heard a funny story at a party last night... A friend of a friend is engaged to be married and the guy's mother was visiting. They engaged in some cuddling while they thought future mother-in-law was in the shower, only to look up and see her standing there. She said, "Oh good, that's how I'll get grandbabies!" :)

In wedding news, we still don't have any invitations, lol.

Ryan isn't super thrilled with the invites I picked out (although he says he doesn't exactly dislike them either,) so he wants a chance at making some of his own. We agreed that I'll see what examples he comes up with by the end of the week and, if those don't work out, we'll go with the store ones. I'm holding him to this arrangement! :)

Some Comments from Pittsburgh :)

My 5 year-old almost-niece, who will be (unless her parents decide otherwise,) the flower girl in our wedding, said to us yesterday* "I want to go to Kristen and Ryan's wedding today!" (paraphrased, but you get the idea)

*This is when we were unexpectedly in Pittsburgh.

Also, we had some time to chat with Ryan's cousin, who is getting married a few weeks before us. She told us a story about when she was checking out locations for the reception. She'd scheduled an appointment with a wedding coordinator at one location, after specifically telling the coordinator she could only be there 1 hour, due to another obligation. She got there... waited 45 minutes... the coordinator never showed up! When they called her later, the coordinator claimed she couldn't be there because Mass ran late. (45 minutes late? Mass is generally only an hour long...)

But the best part... the coordinator then called Ryan's cousin's future mother-in-law and claimed Ryan's cousin was the one who hadn't shown up!

Needless to say, Ryan's cousin decided against booking a wedding at a location where the coordinator is a complete liar! :)

If I could just see the dress...

How to shop for a wedding gown:

Step one - go to a store
Step two - find a dress you like
Step three - start thinking this might be the dress
Step four - wait a week
Step five - go to another store
Step six - find one you like better

So how am I ever to make up my mind???

We found a dress last weekend, when I shopped with the women of mine and Ryan's families. It was a nice dress, so nice that we decided it was better than the 3 we'd previously selected from David's Bridal. We thought it might be the dress. (And I thought it would be nice to have found the dress while shopping with so many other important people.)

Yesterday, Saturday, I went shopping with my mother and Kelly. We decided to go to another small shop in the area and I also made an appointment at the first shop, just to see that other dress again.

Of course we found another dress.

It's a very nice dress. It might be the dress. We liked it so much that we decided it was better than the last dress we'd loved. We also like that it is cheaper than the dress we thought we'd loved. And we like the shop selling it (except for the part where they kept barging into the room while I was trying to get changed... just fyi, that does not encourage me to continue shopping somewhere...)

I can't make up my miiiiiiiiind...

Kelly, by the way, was a perfect companion for dress shopping. She knows a lot about weddings and she could make some really good points about the dresses I was trying on. She also pleased my mother by trying on several bridesmaid dresses. We might all agree on a color and maybe even a designer!

Now I've been told I need to find shoes. Where does one search for shoes? Just a regular shoe store?

Also, my mother doesn't want me to wear my glasses for the wedding. But... since I hate contact lenses and I find not being able to see rather unsettling... I don't really see what choice I have? :)

The One Where I Picked Out Invitations

Thursday: invitations.

It was a rainy day - the kind of day where I'd have preferred to head straight home to veg after work. Alas, I'd scheduled a 4 pm meeting at the local print shop. So I went, but it didn't bode well.

End result, though, was good. I had a meeting with Alex, who was very nice and very knowledgeable. He gave me several large books to browse through and I found several possibilities. I also discovered I know nothing about invitations... and they're a heck of a lot more expensive than I'd thought! Everything costs extra money: ink colors, layers of paper, lined envelopes... it's a little crazy.

Speaking of crazy, we took a moment to look up an invitation I'd particularly liked, from the Martha Stewart book. I already knew from searching online that these were outside of my price range, but I was curious. Exact price: $700+. Yikes.

"No wonder hardly anybody ever orders from this book," said Alex.

I think I might have found some I like, though. My mom seemed to approve of them too, when I showed them to her. Now if I could just get the last of the names/addresses from people, I might be closer to sending them :)

(PS - I guess maybe I should show them to Ryan too, huh? :) )

Dresses and hair

My sister and I might - MIGHT - have agreed on a color for the bridesmaid dresses.

Might, lol.

But we're close than before, so that's a plus. She sent me a link to a very pretty dress, which she found at a shop up near where she lives. I will check out the color at a local store this weekend. From what I can see, though, it looks nice. We may have a winner :)

Speaking of dresses, my friend told me yesterday that she ordered her dress online from House of Brides, http://www.houseofbrides.com/. The dress she received was completely not what she'd ordered and the company refused to take it back. She ended up having to buy two wedding dresses, because she couldn't use the dress and she couldn't get her money back. Terrible :(

And finally: I had my hair cut at a local salon yesterday. I need to know what the salon is like if I want them to do my hair for the wedding, you know. The sacrifices I am making... :) lol

We all survived shopping together :)

Sunday was the big day: dress shopping with everyone!

Our first appointment was at noon, in a little shop near my office. I like small stores; they have a more intimate feel. The downside is that all the dresses come in a "sample size." At least this time those dresses actually kind of fit me! (The last time I was in a small store, all the dresses were too small - how can you tell if you like a dress if you can't even put it on???)

"Do you have a particular style in mind?" I was asked.

I still don't know what all the styles even are! I just look through the dresses and pick out whatever happens to catch my eye. Otherwise ... well ... I like ivory, except when I don't, I don't like much beading, except when I do, I prefer a flowing skirt, except when I don't... you get the idea :)

We also went to David's Bridal, where I vexed the saleswoman because I'd picked out so many dresses. She was actually trying to put them back! "You don't want to be overwhelmed," she said... I wanted to say, "I'm dress shopping with my mother, my sister, my fiance's mother, and my fiance's sister-in-law... I'm already overwhelmed!"

End result: we might have found the dress! That's all I'm prepared to say - it's supposed to be a surprise after all! :)

Must figure out veils, though. I have looked at myself in the mirror while wearing a veil. I have looked at pictures of women wearing veils. And I still can't say whether a veil is good or what makes one veil prettier than another. I might need to wear a tiara, just to say I wore a tiara.

And bridesmaid dresses... oy, lol.

In other news, Ryan's sister-in-law took some photos of us Sunday evening. Not as many as I would have liked, but we might at least get one or two. As soon as I get the photos back, there will be proof that we actually do things together sometimes! :)

Marriage and French Onion Soup

"Does your fiance like french onion soup?" my coworker messaged me.

"I don't know," I wrote back.

Then her head popped up over the cubicle wall. "That's really the kind of thing you should know."

Rest assured - I went home and asked Ryan what he thought about french onion soup! (He said he doesn't seek it out, but he doesn't hate it either.)

***

I have invitations on the brain these days. Internet searching has turned up some lovely cards, but none of them are quuuuuuite right. It is also not as easy as I had hoped to find inexpensive invitations.

"We're going to have to shorten the guest list," I emailed Ryan. "I can only afford 25 of these invitations."

I also pitched the idea of sending 25 invitations and using evites for everyone else. Seems like a great idea, right???

Okay, okay... actual invitations it is. :)

So I emailed my cousin Lindsay and my other cousin's wife, Nikki, because they both had weddings recently. Could they please share advice about invitations? I got responses from each of them within the same day, full of great advice. I am very grateful :) In fact, I've already taken some of their advice. Lindsay suggested going to an actual store instead of purchasing online, so I stopped at a local print shop on my way home from work. Now I have a business card from them and I intend to make an appointment. I'm looking forward to it :)

***

On Sunday, I am dress shopping with Ryan's mother, Ryan's sister-in-law, my mother, and my sister.

We'd hoped to get to a Jessica McClintock boutique, but they don't open until 11 am and I have a 12 pm appointment at another store. Boo.

Ryan's mother said there's 3 ways this can go:

A) We just sit quietly and don't say anything.
B) We offer honest critiques.
C) We make you cry.

I told her if it's C, I'll just drive off and leave them :)

Dresses and Candles

Bridesmaid dresses, bridesmaid dresses, bridesmaid dresses...

Considering my typical clothing choice is jeans/tshirt or black pants/shirt, I was feeling in a bit over my head in this area. I'd tentatively chosen green and white as my colors and I was considering letting the bridesmaids and maid of honor choose their own dresses, in accordance with a color and style I'd chosen... My mother has her doubts about all of the above... Me, I'm not sure either way...

So I consulted the fashionista of the family, aka the maid of honor, aka my sister, Katie...

She said:

"Green and white are great colors. Nice choice :)"

"I like the second idea [letting everyone choose their dresses] better too."

This is good :)

Also, I'm thinking of decorations on the boat - which has nothing to do with bridesmaid dresses. I like floating candles. Ryan worries the candles might not be allowed, due to concerns about fire. I've seen floating candles in photos of decorations on the boat, but they've never been lit.

This time, I consulted our contact at Crazy Venue II:

"Floating candles are no problem! :)"

Everyone is being so helpful today! :)

Busy Weekend

Crazy Venue II has now been completely experienced, thanks to 4 complimentary tickets from our contact :)

My take:

1) It was very loud. Must work on that with the dj, lol.

2) Buffet style dinner as a free for all is stressful. Must leave more space around the food and have people go up by table.

3) Must figure out stairs issue.

Other than that, it was a good time :) I really liked being outside on the decks, in the fresh air (and the quiet.) Although I was constantly worried my ring was going to fall off into the Potomac. That would be bad! :)

We also walked around the area and checked out the hotel we expect to use. It looked nice, hotel-like. Another family was having a wedding in their big room and let us take a peek. They seemed really happy with the whole thing, so that's a good sign.

Finally, I brought the whole family to church and they met the pastor. She was really sweet about the slight ambush and reassured my mother that there are no problems. I like her even more now than before, lol.

Photo to come if I can figure out how to get it posted! :)

One... two... three...

And today Kelly agreed to be a bridesmaid too! :) Yay! :)

I had to track her down first though, lol. I was all set to ask her at work... then it was 9 a.m. ... 10 a.m. ... 11 a.m. ... and no sign of her. Eventually I figured out she must be on night shift, which means our shifts only overlapped for about an hour. But I was determined to ask today, so somehow I managed to slip it in during our quick conversation :)

Phew, I was nervous about asking people. I don't know why. I'm so excited that everybody said yes :)

Another bridesmaid

Today Michelle agreed to be a bridesmaid in my wedding :) Yay :)

Dress Shopping Appointments

October is dress shopping month! My mother is coming down to shop with me twice; on one of those times, Ryan's mother, my sister, and hopefully Ryan's sister-in-law will be coming with us. I'm excited :)

I went to Google Maps, put in my address, and did a search for anything bridal related in the area. Then, I spent this afternoon making appointments.

According to the folks at the JMC Boutique at the mall I usually avoid like the plague, no appointment is necessary. If I want to try on dresses, I can just show up. This seems weird to me, but what do I know? lol

Another place told me that I could come any time to just look at the dresses, but I would need an appointment to try any on. Which is kind of the idea.

I skipped the place with completely terrible reviews. I considered just going to try dresses on - maybe I'd find something I liked, which could then be purchased from somewhere more reputable - but I think there's enough other places to try first.

One place insisted their prices are comparable to all local stores: their dresses start at $1,400. Wow, lol.

End result is that I have 2 appointments for the Sunday (when everyone will be here) and 1 for Saturday (when it will just be my mom.) Efforts continue...

In other news, Ryan and I have started talking registry... Our talk goes like this:

Ryan - As rice cooker?
Me - Yes!
Ryan - We do not need a rice cooker.
Me - Why not?
Ryan - We have a rice cooker. It's called a pot.

Le sigh :)

From the plains to...

My father is not sure whether his real mother will be able to make the wedding, what with riding her pony and fighting the soldiers of the long knives... but I have a feeling she'll make some sort of appearance :)

How Do I Not Have Any Photos?

My cousin has asked me to email her my favorite photo of Ryan and I together.

This should be an easy request.

Except... I don't have any. This is what happens when two camera-phobes live together...

Hopefully Ryan's sister-in-law can take some pictures of the two of us when she comes to visit soon. Then there will actually be proof that we do indeed spend time together, lol.

Ring Troubles

My ring guard is already coming loose... I got the ring in May, got the ring guard put on a few weeks later, now it's September...

If I can't manage to keep a ring guard on for longer than 4 months, the rest of my life is going to be very long :)

Quotes and Families

From Parenthood...

Girl - "Dad, you and Mom, do you have, like, some stupid agreement about not acknowledging each other's flaws?"

Dad - "Yeah, it's called marriage"

...

Speaking of dads, I talked with my dad yesterday and he had an idea for the wedding (obviously.) Will have to see whether it is possible, but so far I like it.

And that's all I can say at this time - it's top secret! :)

...

I heard a woman bad mouthing her daughter-in-law (soon to be ex) the other day. Made me think about how nice it is that Ryan and I both have parents who accept and even seem to like our choices in spouses :) This bodes well, right? :)

Really, really seeing the place

Emailed our point of contact at the wedding location to see if it would be possible for my parents (mother) to view the location. I have already seen it, but I'm the only one.

Received an email back saying they would be happy to set us up with 4 complimentary tickets so we can experience the whole thing.

Um, yes please.

So yay, this should be fun :)

Yay!

Today the pastor emailed me back - and she said yes!

I am pleased. We've talked about other options in case this didn't work out, but I'd much rather be married by a pastor I know, by someone involved in a church I actually attend. It seems so much more meaningful.

So, this is good :)

Websites and Pastors and Dresses, Oh My...

We have a website now: www.theknot.com/ourwedding/kristen___&ryan___. (Insert our last names for the _____.) Please note that I put my name first. I figure if I'm the one changing my last name, I get to be first in the website address :)

Let's see, what else has happened...

I asked my sister to be my maid of honor and she did say yes. Then she told me she's been keeping a tally with her coworkers about how long it would take me to ask, lol. I guess I'm slow :)

I also talked to the new pastor at church about officiating the wedding. I broke the cardinal rule of whatever and said "I have a strange question..." Of course it's not a strange question, but I was nervous, lol. She seems really sweet and she was very nice about it all. She said yes, we could definitely talk about it. Which I think is good. She also said her marriage counseling is longer than most; well, I've never been married before, so I wouldn't know if it was longer or not. So, I guess that is moving in a positive direction. I sent her a detailed email with all my contact information, the location of the wedding, the date, etc. I haven't heard back yet. Ryan says he will believe it when she says a definite yes. Fingers crossed...

(Can I just say, I find the prospect of marriage counseling a little daunting? Ryan is unconcerned, lol. Does anyone know what it actually entails?)

And there is more dress shopping on the horizon! Ryan's family is coming for a visit in October, so we're planning for all the women to go shopping together. This will be my mother, my sister, Ryan's mother, and Ryan's sister-in-law. I make jokes, but I'm actually excited. It's a unique opportunity to drive all of these people crazy with my lack of shopping skills - usually we go one at a time :) I think it'll be fun :)

I want to see more Jessica McClintock dresses. I keep talking about it, but maybe I will actually plan something? We'll see!

What We've Been Up To...

Okay, so I haven't posted during the entire month of August and I can't really say I've accomplished anything either... oops.

Some wedding stuff did happen though!

My friend Anielka and I attempted to go dress shopping together. Except we made plans without thinking to exchange phone numbers and so she couldn't call to say she was running late. It ended up being a bit of a comedy of errors :) End result: I went to my appointment at the little local shop by myself and then we met up and went to David's Bridal together. There, we were told we'd have a 20 minute wait... 1.5 hours later, we gave up and just left :)

I did notice that most of the dresses I liked were by Jessica McClintock. Note to self: look for more Jessica McClintock dresses. (See, that's progress!)

But now, expect more progress, because I've sought Michelle's help with invitations (and flowers, and cake.) She's already put together questionaires and stuff :)

Someone to pronounce us husband and wife

It has been suggested to me that in order to get married, I need someone to actually do the marrying.

I think I've already written here about my problems in that department. The pastor at my church, who I really liked and hoped to ask, suddenly got promoted and was gone. Of course. Now, the church has temporary pastors, a different one each week. I had no idea how long this would go on or who I should even ask.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Today I went up to one of the visiting pastors. "Hi, nice to meet you, can I ask you a question? How does somebody get married around here?"

Okay, I didn't ask quite like that. But it was pretty close :)

He transferred me to the assistant pastor, who took me to the office where I met the elusive Anndra. ("Can you please help this little girl?" ... Sheesh.) I know her name, I know she's in charge, but I was never sure who she was.

It turns out Anndra is very nice and she's close to my age-ish. She took down my contact information and suggested we discuss things further with the interim pastor when she arrives on August 15th. (I think that's the date.) In the meantime, she didn't seem horrified by the idea, so I think that's good news.

I sent her an email with some more detailed info, confirmation of my contact information, and a thank you for speaking with me today.

Let's hope we're on the right track :)

I am impressed :)

A friend of mine got married this weekend - congratulations, Ashley! I got to talk with her a few nights ago and she was listing some of the things she's done to get ready.

"... made my cake..."

She made her own cake. She has a picture of her homemade cake in her refrigerator. It's as beautiful as any professional cake, she says the recipe tastes wonderfully, and she made it herself.

I am so impressed.

Rest assured, there will be no homemade cakes at my wedding. For two reasons:

1) I would have a nervous breakdown worrying about making it
2) A wedding cake would NEVER fit into my fridge.

Okay, okay, there's a 3rd reason...

3) I don't make cakes :)

Thank You Michelle!!! :)

Conversations with the Bakery

"Hi, I'm interested in setting up an appointment for a wedding cake."
"Okay, sure. When is your wedding?"
"June 11, 2011."
"A year away?"
"Yes."
"And when are you hoping to set up the appointment?"
"I don't know... when are you available? Can you do weekends?"
"I can do whenever you want... but can I ask why you want to set up the appointment already?"
"Well, I..."
"Are you one of those people who just likes to be very organized?"
"No, I'm one of those people who has no idea what I'm doing."

I didn't actually say the last part :)

Cakes and Cards (and Pilgrims!)

Just emailed a bakery about potentially ordering a cake - yay! See, I make progress, lol.

Is anyone surprised that my father plans to "act out" at my wedding??? He said there might be pilgrims. Ryan and I were sort of expecting my dad to provide a lot of the entertainment, so there'd better be some pilgrims :)

And last but not least, a friend of mine told me today about an engagement card she once saw. "Congratulations on getting engaged! I hope the wedding is everything your mother wants it to be!" :) lol

So far away, yet so close!

My mother's friend's son is getting married in July 2011 - and they've already finished planning the wedding! Finished!

Oh help... lol

Sprinklers and Cakes! :)

Love is spending an evening together in a park watching fireworks and enjoying ourselves, even though all the sprinklers suddenly turned on and drenched everybody around us :)

We're thinking wedding cakes these days. Cakes are included in the price at Crazy Venue II, but we have to decide between two bakers and that means taste testing! I'm excited :)

What do you think of French vanilla with fresh banana cream pudding? (Ryan says absolutely no fruit in the cake... still up for discussion!)

He's the only one who will understand this, but I suggested including in our vows that this wedding is phenomeneneneneneal... :)

Almost Productive

I apparently don't have the phone numbers to the two bakeries I'm supposed to call... or their names... or any information about them at all.

Perhaps getting that should have been the first thing on my To Do list, instead of "make appointments at the bakeries." lol

And This is The Dress My Mom Liked

Virtual Wedding Dress

http://www.wetv.com/bridal/index.html

My mom sent this to me. You create your "body" online and then pick the dress you think looks the best. Fun! :)

Stay tuned and I'll let you know if my mom and I picked the same dress for me :)

Wedding Talk In Pittsburgh

I am never going to have engagement photos :P The trouble is that I don't actually like photos. I keep meaning to ask Ryan's sister-in-law, who is a great photographer, to take some of us to use... but when we're actually together, I'd rather be doing something else. So there will be no engagement photos :P We'll be lucky if there's any wedding photos at this rate :P

We spent the weekend at his parents' house. I tried to keep track of all the amusing, wedding related comments that were made, but I can't remember any of them. Tres frustrating.

Ryan's brother is already planning the bachelor party, lol.

His mother is threatening to hire a polka band. I told her Crazy Venue II supplies a dj; she said the dj cold play when the polka band takes a break. Ryan told her she can bring the polka band if she can also get the Dalai Lama to come. Stay tuned! :)

To Love, Honor, and Not Steal Dip...

I can't make up my mind about vows. Should we use conventional ones and risk being boring? Write our own and risk sounding cheesy?

If we do write our own, Ryan says he's going to vow never to steal my dip... I suppose I should vow never to wake him up and unfairly accuse him of taking my dip again...

Hmm... maybe it's safer to stick to conventional vows :)

Decisions, decisions...

How is it that two people who love to talk about travel and going places can't think up anywhere to go on a honeymoon? :)

One Year

365 days and counting!

Omens

Remember when I said my pastor resigned on the very day I was going to ask him to marry Ryan and I? I was going to ask him at the end of the service and he announced his resignation (due to a promotion) at the beginning.

I thought that was kind of a bad omen. If I really believed in omens.

Today my friend told me her cousin's church burned to the ground two days before the wedding.

If that's not a bad omen, I don't know what is :P

(She says they are still happily married. At the first dance of their ceremony, held at a nearby hotel, guests lit their lighters, lol.)

Starting to Finalize Plans

The folks at the Crazy Venue never really responded to my inquiries, except for one phone call after my mother spoke sternly to them, so clearly they were not going to work out as a location. You'd think I would then go find a nice, normal location for the wedding, right?

Instead, I searched and found: Crazy Venue II

These people are much more responsive. Yesterday I went out and actually saw the boat - yes the boat - where we would be getting married. The good news is that I did not get hopelessly lost in DC traffic despite driving at rush hour. I also was not late to work that day, even though I had to run back upstairs after forgetting to put on my ring. Oops. I had to go back to get it - I couldn't show up to discuss my wedding with no ring!!! lol.

Anyway. I liked what I saw. And though I still think I'm crazy, all systems are go at this point.

We are getting married at Crazy Venue II on Saturday June 11, 2011.

Yay! :)

Just Stuff :)

Let's document this: today, as we debated a wedding topic, Ryan said sincerely that we could do whatever I wanted :)

Dinner at our favorite restaurant followed by a trip to the ice cream shop and a walk along the waterfront wasn't so bad either :)

A humerous interlude...

I heard a wedding joke on the Internet...

A woman is getting married and she's determined that it will all go perfectly. However, her parents' nasty divorce is threatening to ruin everything.

She and her mother find a beautiful dress for her mother to wear to the wedding, but then her father's girlfriend goes out and buys the exact same dress!

Her father's girlfriend refuses to return the dress, insisting that it looks beautiful on her and she deserves to look beautiful at the wedding. "Don't worry, dear," her mother says, "I'll find a new dress. It's fine."

So, her mother finds a new dress. Later, the woman discovers her mother still has the old dress. "Mom, don't you think you should take this back?" she asks. "It's not like you're going to have another chance to wear it."

"Of course I will," her mother replies. "I'm going to wear it to the rehearsal dinner."

Wedding Dress Shopping

Dresses!

I have tried on wedding dresses and now I know what I'll be doing at my wedding: standing in one spot for the whole 3 hours or so. If you're there, please come over to my spot and say hi...

... because what else can I do? How does anyone move in those things? Much less dance? Much less go to the restroom?

Oh my goodness, lol.

Ryan says I'll have to learn how to dance. I said he could just pick me up and carry me around the dance floor. He said he's not the only one I'm supposed to dance with. "One of the dances is the father/daughter dance... and, you know, I've seen your father dance..."

I'm in trouble, lol :)

Church?

Today, I planned to ask the pastor at the church I've been attending whether he would be willing to marry Ryan and I.

Today, the pastor at the church I've been attending announced he's resigning, effective June 13th, because he's accepted a more senior position.

I just have awesome luck sometimes :P

Making Some Progress

My mother texted: "I spoke sternly to the [Crazy Venue] people."

I emailed them, called them, and went to their office. Ryan emailed them. None of that worked. My mother calls them... and they called back that very day. (And when I didn't answer, because of course I'd forgotten my phone at home that day, I called back hours later and the very person I was supposed to talk to answered the phone!)

So the woman in charge of weddings at Crazy Venue finally gave us the necessary info. We might actually be able to plan this thing after all :P

In other news, I have a ring guard now.

It is looking far more likely that I will actually have a place to get married and I will still have a ring by that time.

Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Dress Shopping, Part 1

I called David's Bridal and scheduled an appointment for this weekend! I have an appointment at David's Bridal. Craziness.

So what does one wear to try on bridal gowns???

Finding a Venue

On today's date, I walked through the rain to the place which will hereafter be known as The Crazy Venue. I emailed them about 2 weeks ago, got a message back saying my message would be passed on to the wedding coordinator (I suppose that would be her title,) and since then nothing. Unimpressed I am.

So I went there. Showed up in their front office. Informed them that no one has contacted me in 2 weeks and I would like some information.

They gave me a packet. I'm pretty sure it won't answer any of my questions, but it's more than I had before... I'm going to consider this to be progress.

In other news, my mother told me David's Bridal is having a big sale on wedding dresses.

And I'm already freaking out a little bit. Just a little bit. A teensy tiny bit. Therefore, I shall sleep now and get back to planning tomorrow, lol.

The Families Meet

Step One of Planning the Wedding: introduce the families.

Today at noon, Ryan's parents met my parents for the first time ever. We all had lunch together at Red Brick Station near Baltimore, MD.

Everybody seemed to like each other, so I guess we're set for moving forward :)

The Beginning

I like blogs. I read blogs, I write blogs, so it only makes sense, I think, that I should have a wedding blog. And now I do. Ta da!

Now let's see if I remember to update it...

Here is the first post and the first post should be about how it all began. Technically, it all began in 2000ish, when Ryan and I met online in various chat rooms, or 'talkers' as they were known then. We moved from talkers to AIM to phone to real life visits. Our status went from not-dating-each-other to not-really-dating-anybody-else until we caved and decided we'd been dating for a while. How crazy to think some online conversations could progress to this!

Our first visit took place in Maryland. My father (and me) picked him up from the train station and we went to a family gathering, lol. He met me and half my extended family, all at the same time! Eventually, we slipped away for dinner at TGIFridays. We talked and talked, not even quite realizing hours had passed. By the time we left the restaurant, my family had organized a search party. Oops. Rather exciting first visit, yes?

Ultimately Ryan would come to my apartment in Virginia, staying for at least a week each time. He slept on an air mattress that took up nearly my entire living room; every night, the cat would pop it with her claws and by morning it would be completely flat. Not to mention the ants and the cockroaches!

Yet somehow, when I told him I'd picked out an apartment and gave him 2 weeks notice to move from Pittsburgh, he came. And he stayed. We lived in that apartment for 3 years before purchasing a townhouse this year. We moved in November of 2009.

On May 1st, 2010, Ryan announced that he thought it was a really good day. I agreed - as good a day as any other, right? We ran errands and planted flowers. After everything was done, he suggested we go upstairs. He commented that things needed to change, then he distracted me, and when I turned back he was holding up a ring.

"Will you marry me?" he asked. I said, "For real? Really?" until he had to say "Well are you going to answer???" lol.

Obviously I said yes, because why else would I be writing this blog?

And that's how our story began. Now we'll see what happens next... We've heard wedding planning horror stories, but you know... if all of our previous adventures didn't scare him off, we should be able to figure this out, right?? :)