AH! I had this blog almost done, was seriously moving over to the 'post' button, and Firefox crashed. I've never had firefox crash, ever. matt also walked in the door 10 sec earlier. i'm not saying the two are related,,,,, but....

**EDIT: oh damn! i just found where the autosaved drafts are! after i finished this one. oh well, for next time.**

So, take 2.

I used to follow Amanda Palmer (half of the Dresden Dolls, singer/songwriter/artist) on Twitter and read her blog. She has a very informal, personal, insightful style. She kind of fell off of my radar about a year and a half ago or so. I knew she got engaged to Neil Gaiman (author, of some sci-fi and comic books) last NYE, and last night I looked at her wikipedia page to see if they ever got married. According to wikipedia, they did, in Nov, in New Orleans, in a non-legally-binding ceremony. I thought that was sorta weird, mentioned it to Matt, then moved on.

Then, i was checking Offbeat Bride , and they did a post about their wedding -- weird, right? It actually sounds like it was really really sweet, and perfect for the type of people they are.

Here is her side ... i love the statement of "i decided to marry him because i honestly don’t think i’ll ever find a better man for an amanda palmer. i really don't". that's all it boils down to, to the one simple idea that your partner is best for you. thats it. this is getting gushy , but the beautiful simplicity of that idea, and how much it resonates in how i feel about matt makes me teary.

Here is his side ... i like the contrast ; hers being all "i did this and that and this, and had others do this", and his being "i showed up and had a great time and was amazed and happy". haha.

And, here is the OB post.

Oh, it's on!

BOOKED!!!!!

It is , for sure, Jan 14 2012, in Carol Stream, at the Holiday Inn.

We are having our ceremony (another post to come on that.... if you have creative ideas, let me know!) in the ballroom, and the reception in the tent.

Here is a Flickr photostream, of all of the important things, including the "garden room", which is the post-party room in the bar. woooo.

i feel that a major weight has been lifted. Seriously. I have venue, catering, bevvys, and cake all lined up. Although, as I was with the planner, I took a little peek at the cake book, and Holy mother. Maybe it was just the page I turned to, but there were lots of flowers, columns holding the tiers apart, mid-90s vomit all over the page. I hope there is something better in there..... the first meeting we had with the catering manager I asked about the cake, and she said "oh yeah, you pick out of a book, but you can customize colors... a lot of people now are taking out the middle columns, and making it simpler. " Shyeah, you think? Here is an example:

I like this. Doesn't work with either of my potential themes, but I like it.

This is what I saw.

OK, not quite that bad. Close enough to make me think about getting a cake on the outside, maybe from somewhere awesome like Alliance or Bleeding Heart? BUT, it is already included (in our package, it is even served in a dark chocolate cup with vanilla ice cream, fanncy schmancy... we could have went up one more level, then you start getting crazy with choco-covered strawberries. Too bad I don't like those.), so it would be almost literally throwing money away. And, to be completely honest, I don't really care too much about the cake, as long as it's not offensively bad. Bad-looking or bad-tasting.

OK -- list for myself for future posts: Flowers, ceremony, decor.

So, after looking through pics of "fiesta weddings", I saw TAMALES. Wrapped in cute colored string. Could I get the tamale guy to show up at the wedding?!?! holy cow, that would be awesome.

Theeen, I remembered that HI does not allow outside food, for obvious reasons. Maybe we could bring some awesome tamales in, but, we'd be charged a ton, so yeah, no, not gonna happen.

Thheeen, I saw a cute pic where they wrapped the napkins in corn husk. Not quite as great as tamales, but still cute and a good idea.

Dress?

Holy moly,,, apparently, i do not know how to gracefully add pictures to blogs. Sorry about that! I also did a big no-no, and added pics with no credit. oops.

So, we have contracts in hand, and 99% sure we will be signing.

Next thing, other than general color scheme is the dress. I have been casually looking, have not stepped foot into any bridal stores yet. I think I want to go with lace, or lots of texture without frills or ruffles. Minimal beading. Very simple, classic, nicely shaped...I would argue that bigger ladies, as myself, with the right cut and fit, do not need a poofy, A-Line dress. Maybe after I start trying things on, I will change my mind on that. Probably more of an off-white (out of anybody, i should not be wearing white on my wedding day, hahaha), my skin tone is pale/reddish, and white white will not look good on that.

NO ASSBOWS. #1 characteristic. NO ASSBOWS. I hate them. I also don't dig sleeveless dresses so much, but, that seems to be 90% of current dresses. For a winter wedding, it would be cool to have a long-sleeved dress I think. I could get a bolero, which is probably what I will end up doing. Budget is $1K, roughly. If I can get under that, that would be fantastic. This might mean I will end up at David's, but, who really cares. It would be cool to get something hand-made and tailored to you, but I really do not want to spend that much money on one article of clothing, worn for one day. Here are some dresses I like:

Check out the laser-cut!

This one sorta looks like curtains, but I like the simplicity

A dress at David's that I love -- won't argue, the price has a lot to do with that! The boning on the top looks weird, maybe a tailor could fix it, or its just that model

This company is highly advertised in bridal mags, and they always make me simultaneously gag and laugh. Holy geez, whatta train on that thing!

So,,,, not much wedding stuff happening, hence, no blog posts for a while.

We did officially get contracts, but had to push the wedding coordinator lady to get them to us... this has left matt with a really, really bad taste in his mouth, and he thinks we should scrap this plan and look elsewhere. i'm not so certain -- i've done a bit of online research, and this has pretty much everything i want, and i think that the excess amount of time we have will make the poor communication bearable. on the other hand, i do see his point, and would be lying if i said i wasnt worried at all. eh... we have some time before we need to make a decision, so we will talk it over.

Fun stuff : its really really hard to make a decision on color/theme!!! i have 2 (i almost typed 32, ha, i would have some major deciding to do in that case)

general ideas: 1 -- fiesta/mexican folk art/frieda kahlo/dia de los muertos theme -- cobalt blue, bright saturated pink, sunset orange, fun fun colors. can do large tissue paper flowers and cut paper flags for decs, maracas for favors, maybe sm bottles of tequila in welcome baskets, mariachi?? ha. my hatred for the mariachi is well-documented, so def no on that. i have really, really been into this type of thing lately, and the bright colors would put a little spark into the dead of winter. pics of inspirational things for this :


OR, current option #2, warm, classic colors. either dark dark dark purple, copper, and ivory (could throw some peacock feather accents into this ), or light antiquey pink and charcoal grey. Thinking big poofy flowers like pink peonys or ranunculus, lots of lace, vintage, etc. warm, muted colors.

these two are sorta opposites, which is kind of interesting. right now, leaning towards the mexican option. we'll see -- maybe something else will spontaneously pop into my mind, and the wedding will veer into an entirely different direction.

I officially have bridesmaids !! Ms Keri Harvey and Ms Stephanie Jones! I could fill up an entire post with mushy lovey stuff about each of them, but that is for another time. We have groomsmen picked out too, but, i will leave it to Matt to ask them. We both agreed on having a small wedding party, and i think 4 will be perfect.

Gawd, listen to me being all happy bride gushy and using exclamation points and using words like "perfect". I really am looking forward to both getting help from, and giving special recognition to, those 2 awesome women in my life.

On another note -- still do not have official contracts from HI -- planner lady said she would be sending them over, and i have seen nada. its been a week-ish, i will check in at the end of this week. meh. this is one reason im glad i have so much extra time to take care of these things. still -- this person seems determined to not want the money i am basically throwing at her. ergh.

Woo!

So, we are officially locked in our date! That means, we have the ceremony and reception venue, caterer, cake, tables/linens etc, and hotel rooms taken care of. Nice. I think going with an inclusive place is a good idea, it would have taken many, many more hours to figure out all of this stuff individually, and co-ordinate everything.

Next up -- bridal party (ahem, now is the time to start sucking up to me if you want in, or, become a jerko if not, haha), dj, photographer, florist (might go diy for this one, at least for some of it), colors/theme.

Last weekend Matt and I were discussing the different reception packages available at the venue over brunch... we were looking at the various add-ons, one of which is a chocolate fountain. When we came across it, I said "nnnoooooo, no way". Matt's response was "oh, i think it would be neat to have a chocolate fountain... that would be really cool"

Surprising. Cute though -- whatever I can get his positive input about I will take. So, there will indeed be a chocolate fountain.

First Post!!

Matt and I got engaged in May 2009. Now, about 1.5 years later, we are days away from putting down a deposit, and having an official date , in January 2012. So, we are taking things verrry slowly, but we both had it planned that way from the start. With any luck, it should make things easier, I have had a lot of time to get inspiration, and sort get an idea for what I want.

Details so far -- We are going to have it at the Holiday Inn in Carol Stream, both a ceremony and reception, ceremony in ballroom, and reception in the tent. Looking at about 100 - 125 people, and a pretty typical wedding.

The wedding planner at the HI is very no-nonsense and unsentimental, which I appreciate a lot; in the same way that I admire Patti Stanger from 'The Millionaire Matchmaker'.

Example: Matt was concerned about the temperature control in the tent, so he asked about it in the framework of "my grandmother is always cold, is she going to be ok?" and the planner's response was "we set it at 70 to start; we will have you walk in and see how it is, and adjust based on what you want. If anybody complains about the temperature, I will come and see them, and say "I am sorry ma'am, but the bride and groom are comfortable at the current temperature, and we are not going to change where it is set" ".

Damn, this lady is awesome at telling people no, and I will have power! !