or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb... errr, I mean Wedding
Just in case anyone still reads this blog… we are officially married now, thus bringing my wedding mis-adventures to a close. Overall, it was a great day, but I have to admit that I’m really glad it’s over and I can move on with my life!
Here are some pre-ceremony and ceremony highlights from our professional wedding pictures by our AMAZING photographer Tim Forbes. Enjoy! Someday I’ll probably get around to posting the rest of them.
After we switched to having a daytime reception, I kept feeling like I was going to be disappointed with the day being over so soon. One of the things about this wedding we are really looking forward to is that we are going to be able to spend some time with a lot of our friends/family who we don’t get to see very often. It would be a big bummer if everyone left at 5:00. Plus, I have always been a night owl and I don’t want to just go back to the hotel that early. I wanna party!
At first, we thought maybe we would just invite some of our close friends and family back to our hotel suite for a little party or find some kind of bar or restaurant to go to. That seemed like an okay idea, but I still felt like it would be a little anti-climactic. I know it’s kind of dumb, but I couldn’t help it. I just really wanted to have the wedding go into the night.
Then I had an idea — why don’t we just have a big backyard bash at our best man’s house after the formal reception? He already offered the use of his house and property for our reception, so he probably wouldn’t mind if we took him up on it for this party instead. We talked it over with him and he said it was totally fine to do it there. Yay!!! So then we got down to planning this shindig.
First off, we decided that we would have to feed people again and, of course, provide drinks. There just so happened to be a grocery store that was going out-of-business and we were able to buy up a bunch of box wine for a good price, and we got a case of this really good fruit-beer from the New Glarus Brewing Co. in Wisconsin. For the food, we are going to do it cook-out/bbq style. Veggie dogs and burger, regular hotdogs and burgers, corn on the cob, potato salad, etc. We rented a 30×30 foot tent with about 10 tables so that there is somewhere for people to sit and eat, and there are also places to sit inside the house and some picnic tables and lawn furniture, too.
For the entertainment, we are going to work in some live music hopefully. There are going to be a lot of musicians around so we’ll probably ask some of our friends/family to play. We also rented a karaoke machine, which we will break out after and between any live music, and we have a P.A. system to play regular music for dancing. I will probably designate someone to be the “master of ceremonies” so it can all run smoothly.
Then, while my darling little fiance was renting the tent he came across this and decided to rent them for the party —
That’s right… inflatable sumo wrestling suits! I think it’s the thing that he is looking forward to the most about this whole wedding now. While he was at it, he also rented this thing called “Inflatable Twister.” It looks pretty fun and I think you can use it as a little trampoline, too.
So it looks like this After Party is gonna get pretty crazy after all. I think I’m actually really excited about it! Woo-hoo!
(Sorry for the total corniness of the title of this entry… I’m a sucker for lame literary references)
Initially, I made a hair appointment at a very fancy/trendy (meaning expensive) Syracuse salon for my wedding-day coiffure. The earliest appointment that I could get was at 9am. I took it, but it made me a little nervous because the salon is a good 15 minute drive from my hotel, not accounting for any traffic and/or parking delays, and our ceremony is at 11:30 am. I would still need to get dressed and get my make up on after the hair appointment so it was kind of cutting it close. Then I talked to my grandmother and she mentioned that her hairdresser, Jennifer, offered to come out to Syracuse the morning of the wedding to do my grandma’s hair. My grandma is totally one of those old ladies that goes to the beauty parlor every week to get her hair “set,” whatever that means, and she has been going to this particular hairdresser for the last 13 years.
I thought to myself “hmm… Jennifer did my hair for my high school prom and it was cute, maybe she could just do my hair at the hotel, too!” I had my gramms talk to her about and she said that would be no problem since she was already coming out to the hotel to do my grandma’s hair. Yay! So she agreed to come to my room around 8 – 8:30am. This makes everything so much easier for me now. Not to mention, she is also much cheaper than the original salon I booked… by a long-shot!
Here is a picture of me from my prom for your viewing pleasure. Don’t laugh! We all had our “weird” stages, right? Anyway, I like my hair though and I think Jen did a good job on it back then. She is really good at doing exactly what you tell her to do, so as long as I have a good idea of what I want she will be able to nail it. In these pictures, it’s quite a bit bigger on top than I would wear it now (and it’s dyed black) but the overall idea is still kind of the same; part-up, part-down with some ringlet curls. Sorry that the quality of these pics is so bad. My scanner is crappy.
While we were in Syracuse doing a bunch of wedding-related things last week, we scheduled an engagement photo session with our fabulous photographer, Tim Forbes. He is based in Ontario but he was shooting a wedding in Rochester, NY that Saturday and he was able to squeeze us in the night before.
So now I will share with you some of the fruits of our photo session. Overall, I’m very happy with the results and now I’m even more excited about the wedding pictures! I must point out that I’m a terrible subject to photograph. I always clam up in front of the camera and make a stupid face or have my eyes half closed. I’ve never exactly won any modeling contents, if ya know what I mean? The only things about these pics that I’m less than thrilled about are my own fault. Like my hair is total freaking mess. You would think that I could’ve invested in some hairspray… ugh! And I couldn’t remember which side of my grill was my “good side,” and my bad side is AWFUL – especially in high resolution 
I also had some major bags under my eyes (which I took the liberty of photoshopping out) and my big Irish ears are sticking out all over the place. My lovely fiance, on the other hand, is looking pretty dapper in most of these shots. If we ever have kids, let’s hope they inherit his photogenes.
If you are my soon-to-be husband — DON’T READ ANY FURTHER AND DO NOT CLICK ON THE “READ MORE” LINK OR ELSE YOU WILL SEE PICTURES OF ME IN MY WEDDING DRESS & VEIL AND YOU WILL BRING BAD LUCK UPON OUR MARRIAGE…
But if you are not my dear groom-to-be then please, by all means, click on the “read more” to see some pictures of my veil.
Our invitations are done! They were designed by the wonderful Lee of Pearl & Marmalade, and I couldn’t be happier with them. I think they are perfect. This pictures kinda sucks but they are beautiful in real life. We printed them at Kinkos on 100% post-consumer content recycled cardstock. It was pretty cost-effective to have them printed that way, especially since they are 3-color. As much as letterpressing would’ve looked nice… sometimes you just have to say “NO” to spending extra money on stuff that most people won’t even notice.
Lee made us 2 kinds of RSVP cards and an extra little notecard since there was room left on the paper. The RSVP card on the top has room for 2 names, and for their reply says “accepts with pleasure” or “declines with regret.” Then the RSVP card on the bottom has room for only 1 name and says “I wouldn’t miss it!” or “Sorry, can’t make it.” Lee came up with this wording for us because we were trying to think of a subtle way to let some people know we really don’t want them to bring a date. I have a lot of friends/family members who are single, but feel compelled to bring a date just for the hell of it, so my Mom suggested we find some way of dropping the hint. Hopefully it won’t seem too rude. I have no problem with someone bringing a date if they are acutally dating, but I don’t want them to bring someone they barely know just so they can say they have a date. Know what I mean?
I’m also in the process of making a DIY map using the instructions from MapBio on the Knot. I will hopefully get it finished today, then I will add some directions, out-of-town guest info, and invites for those coming to the Rehearsal dinner. We need to get these suckers mailed out by the middle of next week at the LATEST.
Wow, it’s all getting so real now. Once we send out the invitations there is no going back!
We registered at AfterHours Formal Wear for the tuxedo rentals. My little groomzilla chose the most expensive suit ($119!) they had because he wanted something with a higher threadcount so it won’t be too hot. I guess that’s fair enough, since it will probably be hotter than the blazes of hell on our wedding day. Hopefully none of our dudes will be too annoyed by the cost.
The vests he picked out are really nice and they have kind of vintagey feel. They are a blue paisley jaquard, and the back of the vest is a nice satin, so they can take their coats off after the ceremony and will still look good. I think they will look nice with the bridesmaid dresses without being too “matchy-matchy.” Anyway, here they are:
For the blushing groom’s attire, he chose an ivory vest and a bowtie. For some reason, he insisted on wearing a bowtie. Sorry, no pic of his vest.
I have no plans to take my fiance’s name. You may be thinking that I have some great philosphical reasons for doing this, or that I am some feminist hell-bent on destroying patriarchy… but, really, I just like my name and I intend to keep it. It’s as simple as that. Oh, I suppose I could hypehnate it or change my middle name to my last name, but come on now. That sucks. Anyway, here is a short list of why my name is better than his.
But most importantly – it’s not fair that women are expected to take their husband’s name when nothing like this is expected of their husbands. It’s 2007 people, it’s not that weird to keep your own name anymore. Like many things about marriage, changing your name is antequated tradition that was intended to brand a woman as her husband’s property. Of course, things have changed dramatically for women in modern times, so if someone wants to take their husbands name I say fine, go ahead. But if you don’t want to, there is absolutely no reason why you have to.
I found this idea today from knottie Pixelvixen and I think I’m gonna do it. The banners are about $40 from HereComesYourBride.com. I think it’s so adorable! More importantly, however, I have 2 flowergirls and 2 ringbearers who are all neices and nephews of my husband-to-be. But I also want to include my baby brother and my nephhew (who are both 10 years old) in the ceremony, so I will have them walk the banner down the aisle right before I make my grand entrance.
I’m actually really excited about this because I’ve been feeling bad about not having my boys in the ceremony and I’ve been trying to think of some way to include them. They both really want to wear tuxedos, but neither of them wanted to be readers. Initially, I was thinking I would just have them hand out programs but I think this is a much better idea and will make them feel really special. I’m glad I’ve found something good for them to do – and it is super cute. YAY!!
I got this dress from Anthropologie for the rehearsal dinner. It probably wasn’t really necessary to buy a new dress for the rehearsal dinner (shhhhh… don’t tell my darling fiance that!) but I couldn’t help myself. Also, I’m wearing my Kenzie shoes that I got awhile ago in this picture. I think they look cute together, no?
Anyway, what do you think?? Is it showing to much cleavage (not that I really have any)? There will be a lot of old, Catholic peeps in the house that night so I don’t want to look like some kind of harlot. But, then again, maybe they would want to see a little proof that I will be able to feed some babies… you know how Catholics love babies.
One of my BMs got her dress already and it looks great. I was worried that they were going to be too dark or look cheap, but the color is fine and the dress actually looks pretty good. I don’t like the green ribbon that it comes with, though, so I am going to be getting different sashes for them. I’m thinking something ivory with an antique/vintage looking pattern on it. I had my BM try it on with a scarf that she had just to get an idea of what it would look like. Here it is:
Also – I am going to have everyone hem the dress just past the kneecap (like she is holding it up in the second pic) because they are really long. It will more casual and will be more flattering if it is a little shorter.
Overall, I am very pleased with this dress and I think there is a good chance that my BMs will actually wear them again someday. YAY!
Time is running out miss procrastination. Though at least we wait for quality stuff around here. So far what you do have done is fabulous!
Here are a couple of pics I took with my camera phone in the store. Yes people look at me funny, and No, I don’t care.
This one is of some cool paperlike flowers I found cheap – like 5 bucks for that big bunch! Read the rest of this entry »
I found these hand fans for about $4.99/dozen (that’s about 40 cents per fan) from the Oriental Trading Company. I think I’m going to buy about 8 dozen to hand out with the programs at the ceremony since it’s probably going to be so hot. There will be a lot of geriatrics around so I don’t want any fainting incidents or heat related fatalities. That could really put a damper on the festivities.
Anyway, they also have them in plain white for the same price. Should I get some of the plain fans for any of the gentlemen who have too much testosterone to fan themselves with birds and flowers? Dudes get hot too.
Is this a good idea? Or am I just going overboard? It would only cost about $50. Someone please tell me if I am being excessive.
of wedding planning!
Dude… it’s like 2 months away.
I’m so screwed.
