Thank You!!

About a week before the Shower, we were out and I was all of a sudden hit by the realization that

WE HAVE TO SEND 2 THANK YOU CARDS!!

I don't know why this struck me as such a big thing. I know we'd discussed some ideas for the Wedding thank you's, but it never seemed to dawn on me that we'd have to send separate ones for the Shower (don't even ask, because I have no freaking idea...). We happened to be in Harvard Square that day and decided to look around. (Yes, Ellie TOTALLY thought I knew, considering this was one week before the shower itself). 

Cards are expensive yo.

And most leave something to be desired.

In the 2 different stores, we found some that were tolerable, and some that were amazing, but none that REALLY stood out. I think one of the problems with not really having a theme is that it's difficult to gather all the pieces and make them coherent--maybe we should have just ordered everything from the same company at the same time!!

But we didn't, so have been learning as we go. And when I really stop to think about it, if we had gone that route, I wouldn't have been able to get the most amazing invitations of all time from my co-worker!! I kind of shut down while we were on our hunting excursion, so Ellie did a little CBT and came up with an amazing idea: we would make the thank you's for the Shower and re-evaluate our ambition and desire to do a little more DIY as we got closer or just after the Wedding itself. She knows me so well--this would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of at least a little of the craft stuff we have, and take a good look at our stock to maybe prompt some re-organization or donation (both of which happened).



 Once Ellie got the design down, and we selected the colors/stamps/paper, it wasn't hard at all. I've only made a couple of cards in my life, but Ellie's the resident expert thanks to her Mom, so I let her lead (yes, it WAS difficult). She cut, I folded; she stamped the front, then I stamped the inside while she cut the other pieces.










Something I had never really thought of was using colored pencils to highlight the stamps (I knew Ellie and her mom enhanced their cards, but the how never really clicked). I think I did a halfway okay job with these little flowers.

We even dressed up the envelopes a little bit!

The responses to the cards was really nice, it almost makes me want to make the thank you's for the Wedding too, but I've found some nice ones online and don't know of the energy and cost to make them will outweigh the benefit of showing off our DIY talents.

Putting a Ring on It

A few months ago, we went back to Jared's to have our wedding bands made. I was inspired by a set I found during an online search for rings with multiple colors of gold--our e-rings are white gold with tiny yellow gold hearts & infinity symbols, so I was really keen on having some pink gold in there as well. Lucky for us, Jared's can do anything, and they were able to re-create the rings with some modifications to make them more "us": the sides have the same leaf patter as on the sides of our e-rings, the chevron shape is contoured exactly to the center stone (I had to give up my ring for about 6 weeks so they could make the mold!), and the leaves are attached directly to the ring rather than held by prongs as in the inspiration. We also had "beads" applied to the top edges--that textured look you see in the pictures below is what I mean by beads, it's not smooth.

Both bands-the outer leaves are pink gold, the inner leaves are yellow gold

Profile of the set

Ring set from the top.

Home, or a UPS Warehouse?

Most of our "wedding supplies"

Go ahead, I dare you to click this image and see it full-size. Those of you who've been to our place know this shot--it's the sideboard in the dining room, which stands at my waist, around 2-1/2 feet high. right there, you can see the following: programs, centerpieces, part of our accessories, the card holder, our toasting glasses, and I'm sure some other odds & ends. And this isn't even everything we've bought! Our cake topper isn't boxed, so that wasn't included, nor did I include the box that's holding some of our supplies--paints, brushes, glues, etc. My dress is also not included because A) it's with the seamstress, & B) Ellie can't see it. OH! I forgot to include a few other details we've already bought, again because they aren't boxed & I don't want to spoil everything.

We have yet to buy favors, escort cards, Best People gifts, gifts for each other (well, I haven't bought Ellie's gift, I don't know if she's bought mine...I doubt it), my jewelry isn't done yet, and I'm sure there are other packages that will be arriving over the next seven months that I haven't even thought of!

When all this started, I don't think I realized just how much STUFF we'd be accumulating. It's not just the money either...it's mostly the stuff, and how it's taking over our home and life. We definitely have to go through it all and pack away what we won't be using until that day, get the DIY's done so we can also pack those away. At the same time though, it's comforting because now, after a year and a half of mostly talking, we're finally DOING something for the wedding. I never saw the point in making a lot of the purchases until we were closer because we have storage space, but not a LOT. I also had a fear of things getting damaged (because obviously we'd have a tornado, or a flood or something simply because the wedding supplies were bought too soon). Yes, my apartment is covered in boxes, which is a huge stress trigger to me. But those boxes represent something very special, something so much bigger than my anxiety and compulsions.

Random odds and ends

Tomorrow will be 7 months until our wedding. This is so exciting and scary at the same time. I am happy to say that in general I have not been procrastinating. We are doing a DIY program which has about 6-8 steps depending how you look at it. I have already started the steps that can be started at this time and we have ordered the remaining materials just yesterday. Tonight I plan to finish with the materials I have so that when the new materials arrive we can continue.

As Jessi mentioned we have ordered the wedding bands this was also completed a few weeks infront of schedule. I am excited about them and I am excited that yet again they are original and very "us" which is what I want from our jewerly.

We have agreed upon our song which I am very excited about now we just need to learn to dance a little bit better to it. ;-) I have decided on my shoes and now I need to go buy them or order them and break them in a little so I don't hate life by the end of the dancing night.

We have looked into an additional site to set up honeymoon activities so people can help us out with that as gifts. It is 3 weeks until we hopefully buy bridesmaids dresses and in early april the boys and I will be getting our little "suits." And then comes cake testing, entree tasting and final touches on our invitations which we have picked out. :-) It's all coming together and I know there is a million things left to do but so many are started and it really feels like it is coming together.

I can't wait until all my friends and family come together to celebrate this beautiful love that Jessi and I have. The wedding might be quirky, cheesy, and everyone might not understand all the little nuances that make it ours but that's okay. I'll know, Jessi will know and people that read this blog will have a little more inside information.

Collecting ALL THE THINGS!!!

Ellie and I created a schedule (will need to post about that) of when things NEED to be bought/made by, and I think we're doing a pretty good job. We've been trying to collect up wedding ceremony and reception items whenever we're out shopping & see something that works, and have specific dates for making the big purchases (like centerpieces). Here's the haul so far: We were at a craft store a few weeks ago (damned if I remember which one) to buy supplies for starting our program prototypes and I saw this beauty that I knew HAD to be our card box--with Peacock as our color theme and Faerietale Forrest as our decor theme, it was perfect:

 

These next two pictures aren't great, but together give a decent visual. My brother passed back in 2007, my mom passed back in July, and Ellie's father will likely not be alive by the time the wedding happens in September (and even if he is, he will neither be there in person or spirit). This is in addition to the grandparents, great aunts & uncles, etc. Having some kind of memorial is important to both of us, especially as honoring the ancestors is very important within Greek Polytheism, my religion. Wandering around Christmas Tree Shops one evening, I spied this gem:

 

Ellie has a small obsession with pictures, I have a small obsession with trees, and this will be easy to display after the fact, without taking up table space or anything like a candle or something might. On the same outing to Christmas Tree Shops, we found the lanterns our girls will carry down the aisle. In ancient Greek marriages, the bride's mother would bring an ember from their hearth & combine it into the groom's family hearth, symbolizing the bride entering her new family. I want to incorporate this tradition, and thought the best way was to have each of our girls (one for each of us, childhood friends) carry a candle & light a single candle or something that we'd keep as the symbol of our Hearth, which was the center of the ancient Greek home/family. The girls can choose to keep the lanterns or not--we like lanterns!



And finally, our centerpieces, which we ordered a week ago. We're still trying to figure out the best way of dressing them up--we definitely want to raise them about 4" and my Lady of Honor thinks they might be a little too small for the tables, so we may look into something that will widen them without overpowering their simplicity.

Of Shoes and Ships

Well, okay, just shoes. The shoes I'm wearing for the wedding that is. After getting a scare a few weeks ago that the shoes I wanted no longer came in Clover, I jumped to get them before it was too late.

It seems a little big for being just a pair of shoes...

I waited and waited. I'm not sure why I was so impatient, but I was. I was watching the UPS tracking site like you wouldn't believe. So of course, I tore right in once it arrived.

My poor bent letter opener

Well, hello there shoes! And what is this
below them?

That black & white thing under the shoes? Dessy included a reusable bag! Very nice, but not quite the prize I was looking for. Even in the plastic bag the shoes looked better than I thought. Once out of the bag, they were exactly what I had been looking for--not shiny like depicted on the website, and a darker shade too!

Free from that suffocating plastic, they are
super cute!

YAY shoes!

BUY US THINGS!!!

Okay, not really, we care more about people showing up than actually getting things. But I know our friends & families--they will want to spend money on us as well as their travel/hotel room/etc.

Image from BB&B

Sunday we started one of our 2 registries, at that bastion of bridal registries, Bed Bath & Beyond. "But wait" you say, "I thought you were registering for your honeymoon??" We are, but haven't found the time or energy to sit down with a travel agent to at least start making tentative plans like hotel and flights in order to better know what we're looking at for a registry. That's not this post though, so you'll have to wait with baited breath to find out more about that.

Personal photo

We've been living together for 3-ish years now (man does time fly!), and have both lived on our own for many more years, which makes the whole concept of registering a little odd to me because we both already have so much of the stuff that a couple would typically register for. As you can see though, Ellie was more than into playing with the little gun! Heck, that picture was taken before we'd moved more than about 10 feet from the registry sign-up area; we'd been at it for less than a minute before we requested that little baby she's scanning.

Yay sharp objects!

Yes, I got in on the action too. If I have learned nothing else from the Food Network, it's that one can never have good enough knives, and everyone should have a carving set! No, I'm not being purposely creep-tastic in this picture, it's just the best one that Ellie took--I'm not all that photogenic.

It's pretty amazing to me that it was so easy! Maybe it's because we tried to be reasonable (other than that $6000 worth of china we selected...) because we kind of want to force people to buy the honeymoon; plus, we're not yet in a permanent living situation, so were hesitant to go crazy when we're not sure what our rooms/storage will look like in a future home. Not to mention we can always have a housewarming registry later on. :P

Some people I've spoken with have asked or mentioned the idea that it's weird to ask people for gifts. In a way it is, but I know that I always (including birthdays & Christmas) feel better buying off of a list or registry than trying to figure out what the person wants/needs. Maybe I'm too practical for my own good though.

Have You Missed Us?

Of course you have!! Then why the HECK aren't you commenting?? I know for a fact that 16 of you have looked at this website today alone, and I haven't even posted yet! If you are reading this, then I assume you know either Ellie or I at least semi-decently and know that we are both attention whores (in different ways, but it's there) and we need you to express your love and adoration and awe for our wedding and planning.

Okay, that's a little much, isn't it?

Not much has actually been happening though. 2 weekends ago we scored our toasting glasses and cake topper, and there was much rejoicing at that. Don't tell Ellie, but I realized too late that the glasses we picked weren't QUITE the ones I'd planned on, but that's okay because they are awesome enough that I didnt' realize they were a little different. And, as we've been looking for the little things like favors/cake topper/etc, we've apparently hit upon a light theme, but I'm having trouble putting it into words. Suffice it to say that it's going to be fun and sweet and totally us without being ridiculous. We DID go visit the Double Tree to see what it looked like when not under 3 feet of snow and in the fall when the wedding will be held. It's very nice, and we're already planning the hows/wheres of the ceremony.

I go on Saturday to have my first dress fitting, and am nervous: is it too soon, will she be able to make the changes I want, just how much is this going to COST?? I'm also trying to decide on a good alternative to flowers for the Ladies of Honor to carry, and we have to work on planning the ceremony itself. I feel bad thinking about it all because it's still so far away, but I know that I like having things done ahead and feel better when I put check marks in the little boxes, so I want to get them done when I can.

Anyway, that't the state of the wedding. I wonder if Ellie is going to post anytime soon?