Shopping!

This weekend, I'm getting together with almost all of my girls to go shopping for their Bridesmaid dresses. I'm so excited!

We've got a full day planned on Saturday, starting with mimosas at my mom's house to give a good kick-start to the day of fun! Then we are going to a couple different bridal shops, including the one where I bought my dress. After shopping, we'll cap the day off with dinner and bowling - one of our favorite activities from way back in the day!

These girls are pretty much my most favorite people in the world, and I cannot wait to get together and catch up with all of them.

Ceremony Music

Traditionally, at Holy Trinity, you're supposed to use the "house" organist. After our first meeting with Pastor Cindy, she gave us his phone number and told us to get in touch with him soon because his calendar fills up really quickly. We did as we were told and called him that week. In the weeks that followed, I left 4 messages, and my mom emailed his wife; all with no reply. My mom finally got to talk to him one night at a church committee meeting, and he told her that he and his wife were in the process of trying to plan a fall vacation, and he wasn't sure yet whether he'd be available on the date of our wedding. This was about 3 weeks after I first tried to contact him.

Last Sunday, Matt and I decided that we were going to talk to Pastor Cindy about it in our next meeting (which is this weekend), and tell her that we're really disappointed and frustrated with the way he handled the situation, and that we would like her permission to go in another direction and not wait for his response. I started thinking about our options, and playing with some ideas.

I came across the Vitamin String Quartet, which is (just as it sounds) a string quartet that plays popular music - folk, classic rock, indie, punk, metal - you name it, they probably play it. They rearrange the songs so that they sound good in a string quartet. I found tons of songs that I thought would be great for our ceremony - the prelude, the processionals, and the recessional and postlude! I was really excited about it!

And then on Monday, I got a call from the organist saying that he would be available for our wedding, and that I should call him asap to set up a time when we can meet with him to discuss options. Of course! So now I'm angry. In 2 1/2 months he couldn't have called to say, "Hey, I haven't forgotten about you!" What if it turned out that he wasn't available? I'd then be at the 6-month mark with no one to play for our wedding! It would be pretty tough to find someone else at that point.

So now I'm torn. Do I just go with our original plan (which I was really only doing because it's what you're "supposed" to do at Holy Trinity) and use the organist? Or do I say, "Screw it, he was a jerk" and use the Vitamin String Quartet. My mom says that since he's available we should use him. I say I'm mad and he was unprofessional and I should go with my backup plan. Mom says it's not his job and I shouldn't cut off my nose to spite my face. I say that since we would be paying him, although it's not his full-time job, he should still be held to some professional standards. And the Vitamin String Quartet thing is so cool! Matt doesn't really care either way. He's angry with the organist, but also feels like we should just go with the original plan - it's probably easier that way, anyway. Oh, and the other reason we're not sure what to do is that we think that if we don't go with the organist when he's available, we have to pay an extra fee. I still need to look into that.

Urgh...what's a girl to do?

Here's a sample of the VSQ's stuff.

[I tried to get the video to embed, but it won't work. Sorry!]

The Girls

My poor bridesmaids. They all keep asking me what I'm thinking of for their dresses, and all I keep giving them is, "Long, navy or peacock blue...I have some ideas." I'm so vague, so indecisive, ha ha. So I thought I'd throw them a bone and give them a look at what some of my ideas are.

I defiitely want them in long. It's a church wedding, it's in the fall...it just seems appropriate for them to be in long dresses. And while I like the idea of letting each girl choose a style of dress that suits her, I also like the look in pictures when everyone is wearing the same. So, all the girls will be in the same dress. Ideally, I would love to find a great dress that is available in the peacock blue color, but I'm finding that not a lot of designers make that color, so it may have to be navy.

I'm torn between two different schools of thought (again): having the girls in dresses similar to mine so that it looks cohesive, or having them in dresses different from mine so that I stand out. I equally like both ideas, so I really don't know what direction to go in. It will probably just come down to whatever the girls find that they (or the majority of them) like, that's what we'll go with. But, that doesn't mean I'm not having fun in the meantime looking at different dresses and getting ideas!!

So here are some of the ones I like if I go with dresses similar in style to mine:

And, if I go with something different:

I know, the last one is drastically different, but I totally love it.

Ok, girls, the floor is open...

Favors

Matt and I have been making our wine for about 3 years now. We decided that we wanted to do that for our wedding favors. So we're making a couple batches of Cabernet Sauvignon and bottling them in miniature bottles (187ml). We made and bottled one batch so far, and it's pretty decent wine! We got a little fancy this time and added oak chips during the fermenting process, and it actually did add a nice flavor to it. Anyway, we usually make our own labels for the wine, so why should our wedding favors be any different? We decided to use some of our engagement pictures on them. We promised Ben we'd tell him which one we chose, but I think we're going to use a few of them. That way there's a variety on the table. Here's an example of one that I came up with today.

We ended up having to cap the bottles (like beer bottles) because the corks were either too big and didn't fit all the way into the bottle, or they were too small and you could push them all the way through. So we decided to cap them instead. This way we know they're sealed! But because the caps don't look as "nice" as the corks would, we bought some ribbon to tie around the bottles. They have some cute sayings on them and I think that'll make the bottles that much more special.

I'm so excited about the favors!

Hair Accessories

My hair is about shoulder length. It's got some natural wave/curl to it, and I used to use curl cream to enhance that and kept it curly. About a year ago, though, it seemed that the curl fell out of my hair, and now it's just sort of this weird, wavy mess. If I try using curl cream now, it just ends up doing really strange things. So I have been straightening it. They say your hair changes every 7 years or so, so I guess I was about due. I'm sad, though, because I loved my curls. Anyway. Because of the natural wave in it, it holds "manufactured" curls really well. So I intend to wear my hair mostly down and have my stylist gently curl it - almost finger-curl style, if you will. Very laid-back but pretty. Kind of like this:

I just can't decide what to do as far as accessories go. I'm not really a veil kind of girl, but I find myself being drawn to the birdcage veils that seem to have come back into fashion. I am considering something like this:

But my hair would be down, with just the side (probably the right side, which would be "facing" the congregation during our ceremony). I'm just not sure if the birdcage fits with the style of my dress. My dress is kind of "hippie-ish" and ethereal; the birdcage veils evoke more of a vintage-y vibe to me. So another option is to just do the feather fascinator and skip the veil altogether.

My other thought is to skip the feathers entirely and try something like a headband. I like this one:

It's the one on the bottom right. The pattern matches the beadwork on my dress.

I'm torn.

The Boys

I am trying to decide what to dress the boys in. David, from JDK (our caterer/coordinator) had mentioned that brown pinstripe tuxes are really hot right now. When he first mentioned it, I admit that all I could think about was a pimp suit. The more I thought about it, though, I became intrigued. I wanted to see what he was talking about. I kind of feel like a black tux wouldn't really fit in with our wedding - there will be no black, anywhere, in our decor or anything. Plus, it's done at every wedding. And, well, I'm not exactly mainstream when it comes to stuff like that. So I looked into it, and I really like what I see. Hee hee - he's headless. But anyway, you get the drift. It's a monochromatic pinstripe, so it's not so "pimpy." I am thinking that maybe I would put the boys in these brown tuxes. Have Matt in an ivory shirt with an ivory vest, and the boys in either a brown vest or a blue vest to match the girls (whatever blue we end up getting for them - peacock or navy).

I also decided that I want to make Matt stand out a bit (not just with a different colored vest). Usually the groom has a slightly different boutonniere. And I came across this one (in the middle) and thought it would be perfect:

I'm having button mums in my bouquet, the girls' bouquets, and the centerpieces. They're nice and small and don't overwhelm the feather. Yay!

DIY - One Down!

So I printed and did a practice run of our table numbers. I'm totally in love with them, and can't wait to get more of them done! I think they're gonna look so good at our reception!

I printed them at home, on ivory cardstock that I ordered online from Paper and More (who, by the way, are amazing). Then I wrapped a brown grosgrain around it, attaching it with a fabric glue stick. Then I attached the peacock feather with the same glue stick. Super easy!

Marriage Inventory

So as part of our getting married at my church, we have to do some premarital meeting with the Pastor. We were both a little worried about how it would go - we've been living together now for 3+ years, we don't regularly attend church, and the Pastor presiding over our wedding barely knows me, and doesn't know Matt at all. But we went to our first meeting with her a couple of weeks ago and it went really well. We want to keep the ceremony as short as possible, and try to keep it from being overly religious. As I've mentioned before, Matt hasn't been to church in years (except for weddings and the last 2 Easters with my family). And I basically only go on holidays. Neither one of us felt like having a lot of religious readings and components to our ceremony would be right (hypocritical, maybe?). So we said as much to Pastor Cindy (not about the non-religious thing, in so many words, but definitely about keeping it short), and she was on board with that. There are certain things that, because we're getting married in the church, have to be a part of the ceremony, but there are other things that can be omitted. One thing I really wanted to make sure of was that we could use a secular reading. I had come across a reading that I really wanted to use, and when I showed it to Pastor Cindy, she thought it was great. So that made us really happy. Anyway, we felt very comfortable with her after our first meeting, and it seems like things are going to work out really well.

Part of the premarital counseling is completing the Marriage Inventory. We just got it in the mail last week, and set aside Wednesday night to complete them, and then Thursday night to discuss them (so we didn't have any big surprises when discussing them with Pastor Cindy!). We both struggled with some of the questions - how to interpret them, how to answer them...that sort of thing. For example, one of the questions was, "My future spouse does not know what I'm like when I am: a) sick, b) angry, c) with children, d) with coworkers..." something along those lines. Well, like I said, Matt and I have been living together for 3+ years. He knows EVERYTHING about me. He's seen me at my best and at my absolute worst (ER-level migraine). So I ended up leaving that one blank. There were other questions like that that just didn't really fit where we are as a couple.

So then Thursday night we sat down and discussed our answers to the questions. For most of them, we were pretty much dead-on. And then ones that we differed on, we mostly agreed about the other person's answer. There were some that will definitely need to be addressed, and I look forward to doing that both between me and Matt, and also with Pastor Cindy. It was nice to see that Matt and I are on the same page with so much of the stuff that the inventory covers. This inventory helped to create an opening for us to talk about everything, including things we hadn't even thought of. As much as we were both kind of dreading it, I think it turned out to be a really helpful tool.

Transportation

We knew we wanted to have some way of getting the wedding party from the church to the reception, and wanted to come up with something that worked with the Antique Auto Museum. My dad owns a 1972 Porsche 911, and though it would fit with the "theme," it's essentially a 2-seater. There are seats in the back, but they're not easily accessible, nor are they terribly comfortable. While I considered the idea of having my dad chauffeur Matt and I to the reception, I really wanted to be able to celebrate and be with our wedding party. So...I nixed the Porshe 911. Although I do hope my dad decides to drive it that day, because I think it would be really special to get some pictures of us with his car. It would be even better if I could surprise my dad with said picture. Hmmm...something to think about!

Anyway, we decided to look into the Hershey Trolley.

The trolley's been around since 1904, when the first car was used to transport milk from the farms in the area to the factory for Milton Hershey to make chocolate. A few years later, they added passenger cars to allow the workers to use it to get to and from the factory. It ran steadily until 1946, when more people were using cars and the trolley was no longer needed in town. A few decades later, the trolleys were brought back as a way to show tourists (and locals!) the history of the town. It runs several tours a day from Chocolate World, taking riders all around the town of Hershey. I've taken it; it's a great little ride!

Anyway, the trolley is available for charter service, and we thought it would be a perfect addition to our wedding. The room where the reception is being held is where the museum keeps all the old busses and trolleys, so it totally fits in with the evening! Plus, once we looked into it, we discovered that it's actually more economically sound (read: cheaper) to take the trolley than to book a limo or other type of charter service! I'm so excited to take this special trip with all of our favorite people!