Showing posts with label wedding plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding plans. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Have a Ball!

So.... we've decided we're going to try to book Southern Strings (yay!) for our wedding. They really have some lovely music (we were actually going to use some on the CD). They have added a member, and hopefully that doesn't mean their price has gone up -- that's one of my main concerns. We'll definitely have them play guest gathering and wedding (it will just add that otherwordly feel) and hopefully we'll be able to have them play at the reception until it's time for dancing to begin. That we're still probably going to keep as CDs -- simply because of the type of music we want.

And I've come up with another cheesy label for our cheese ball spread: Hope you have a ball! (Meatballs/cheese balls) So, now the reception 'food' has a theme.

I do feel for poor John (that's my fiance's name) though. I do keep changing my mind about things, or coming up with other ideas. I'm awful. Of course, once we put money down, it's stone.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Wedding Bits

My fiance and I have an appointment with our minister on March 4 at 6 to discuss the ceremony and what we have planned. And boy do we have plans!

We have written out our handfasting ceremony, picked our vows, decided to do a Rose Ceremony and to scratch the obligatory Unity Candle (mom will be so pleased...not). In addition, we're doing a chalice lighting at the beginning.

We are hoping that we'll be able to have a Flame Bearer (I don't see why not) carry a lantern, bringing the flame into the space -- sort of lighting the way. I would like our sanctuary to be dark and just lit up at the front. Since this is an evening service, it will be more dramatic, I think, if the light is 'on the stage' so to speak. My concern: I do know how our sanctuary lights work. I'm not sure that they can be dimmed at the appropriate time. May have to have the minister do it before he comes out. (Not sure when he should). Basically, the lights are in the little room between the minister's office and the sanctuary. FH is processing in too, rather than coming in from the side -- he and his party will march in to something like "Scotland the Brave" (that's not settled; he's in charge of the music). They would follow the Flame Bearer.

My mother is driving me nuts. I swear, she's Momzilla. She doesn't like this and she doesn't like that. Never mind that this is reflective of US and our guests will appreciate it. She complained about the cake -- then she got to taste it and decided it was actually good. She fussed about what color dress I could buy. She fussed about our wedding colors. She fussed about the Rehearsal Dinner menu. She fussed about the hotel. She fussed about the Reception Menu. There's not a thing that we're doing that she has said "Oh I love that!" EXCEPT that I asked the florist for wrist corsages instead of pin on ones. She thinks we're paying too much for the cake (except for the fact that a> we have to have a diabetic cake and that limits our options and b> yesterday, I heard a quote from Publix....which was freakishly HIGHER than what we're paying!). Quite frankly, she's pissing me off.

And we have not even told them the bulk of the plans. She doesn't know we're doing a handfasting and not doing the Unity Candle. She doesn't know that Dad is only walking me half-way down the aisle. (Yes--we need to have that conversation with them.) And to be honest, half of the reason she doesn't know this stuff is because she's been completely unsupportive of the entire thing. Okay, so it isn't a standard wedding. Get over it. The point is, the wedding has actually been co-planned by both of us--and that's really the way it should be (ideally. granted, getting most guys to participate is not easy. My fiance is actively planning, and not being roped in. Yay him!). It's about us. It's not about the Baptist Church (and we're not having it in a Baptist Church). It's not about my parents -- they had their wedding. This wedding is going to be unlike anything that most of the guests will have seen -- and that is good. We have an officiant to sign the license, and that's really all we need. The rest is just stagecraft. It's telling a story of who we are.

But truthfully, if we were not blood -- my parents and I would have no contact. We are far too different. I do love them -- but they do not understand me...or rather, they do not choose to accept the person that I am rather than the person they wish I was. (A good little Christian woman.)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Belk, Cats, and Wow




Belk had a bridal event today. I didn't really need anything they had to offer; however, it was free and there was cake. Of course, I had to go. One of my favorite wedding vendors in the area was there -- Southern Strings. Basically, if we can work them into the budget, it would be great. They just added a floutist to the group, and they sound amazing.


But we must be ruled by the Almighty Budget (blasted thing... who came up with this idea )


Other than that, my goal in going there was to speak to dress vendors about who they might recommend for alterations. However, no dress vendors were there. They're supposed to be giving out several door prizes, so with any luck, I will win one.


Regarding cats: Sam is sitting next to me right now, looking at my hands on the keyboard with an expression on his face that very much says 'Get off my bed!' (Pardon me, Sam... it's not a cat bed. I bought you an amazing kitty tree at Christmas. Lay On That!)

And wow. I have been very faithful to this blog. It's a record! Of course, we'll check back in a week to see how faithful I've been.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

This is it!

Today is the day I go pick up my wedding dress. I thought that on January 31 too....I know. But hopefully, this really is it. I'll give David's this much credit, they underpromise and overdeliver. They told me my re-order dress would be in March 3. It arrived February 13. When I initially purchased the dress, they told me it would be in on February 13, but it arrived on January 28.



I do have a lot of time between now and the wedding still, but I do like marking things off of the to do list.



Now -- to find a seamstress. I'm not 100% sure I'd like David's to do it. I may go back to them eventually, but before defaulting to David's, I'd like to hunt around. There will be at least three alterations needed. And I can't even mention the required alterations -- in case John comes by the blog. He'd hate to discover the dress style by mention of the alterations.



My dress is nothing like this. I just thought that a blog about wedding dresses should have a picture of a wedding dress.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Footloose and Fancy Free - A Celtic Swing Reception

My fiance and I celebrate our nuptuals on September 26, 2009. That's a really fancy way of saying we're getting hitched in a little over 7 months. Time seems to fly and drag simultaneously, which is truly confusing!




This is our reception!

We've got a lot settled, and a lot that I seem to revisit all the time. I guess I'm doing that because we're doing this shindig on a budget--no shame in that! But in many ways it means that we're doing things as inexpensively as possible, and I'm not really happy with the lesser cost item. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to overspend just to give my inner princess a carriage ride or something insane -- but I keep tweaking the reception menu. My poor fiance thinks it's settled and I go "I have an idea...."

So, right now (and I do say that with a bit of a sigh), our reception menu is interesting, and I'm actually happy with it. It's also a tad different (which makes me even happier with it).

We're going to be doing a cheese ball theme for the reception. I'll start making the cheese balls about three months prior and freezing them, and then unfreeze them a week before, form them and roll them in their nuts (or whatever... yeah, balls and nuts. Of COURSE there will be jokes over that!). We'll also have some chicken nuggets and meatballs. The cheese balls / dips will have breads or crackers served with them, depending on what they are. Some cheese balls will be meaty (there is an awesome chicken cheese ball I'll be making). Some will be just cheesy. And some will be cheesy/fruity. And since we're doing cheese -- might as well go completely with it with some 'cheesey' names for our cheese balls. My current favorite is the "Erin Go Ball" (for Erin Go Braugh). The meatballs will be labeled as "The Best of Haggis (because no one really wants to eat the rest of it)". Chicken nuggets are "Because the Scots love fried food" Our wedding has a Celtic theme, so our cheese balls will be named after Celtic stuff (hence haggis and erin go ball).






<------- This is our cake topper. Our cake is going to be amazing. I can't wait to see what we envisioned come to life. I'd show y'all a picture, except that it really was something that my fiance and I designed ourselves. We presented it to the baker, who made a couple of suggestions, and told us how he intended to do certain elements.





The cake is sour cream pound cake with raspberry/amaretto filling. (Trust me, it's quite yummy!) It will be a three-layer cake. The sides of the cake will be a bisque white color to match the cake topper; however, the top of each later will be in one of our three wedding colors. The middle tier will have celtic knotwork matching our cake topper. And because it is an autumn wedding, instead of sugar flowers, we'll have pastillage leaves painted in autumn colors placed about the cake. I wish I could show a picture of this cake; but it was designed by us. We're all just going to have to wait until September (well... you will have to wait until October. Sorry.)



As far as decorations go, this was the inspiration for ours. The ceiling will be decorated in white Christmas lights (got on sale...yay!) with leaves tied to it via twine. I have about 100 or more leaves already ready to be tied to the lights. The effect I am going for is a forest canopy at night with the stars twinkling above. It's abstract of course, but that is what it is supposed to represent.

I am also making candles in our wedding colors. They are not made yet -- I figure I will start them next weekend. These will be placed on mirrors on each of the tables (probably about 2 or 3 candles per table) .


As far as entertainment? We're the iPod generation. My fiance is responsible for the music for both the ceremony and reception. We'll be having a Swing Dance, with 80s music too. He's going to do a quick lesson in Swing right after our first dance so that everyone will have an idea of how to do it. (I picked it up without lessons, so I figure anyone can.)

I ordered my garter! I have to make a toss bouquet. We'll be doing an anniversary dance, and the couple married the longest will receive the bouquet and garter. I am pretty certain it will be my Aunt Sissy and Uncle Marvin. I don't know how long they've been married. I'm sure it is over 50 years though. They were married when my Dad's brother got married. And my Dad's brother was married when HE got married. It's going to one of my Dad's siblings--unless someone at my church surprises us.