Holy Crap

In 19 days, I get to marry this man...

While I have wedding projects coming out the wazoo, Chris is making sure our humble abode is guest ready. He's painting, and turning doors around (I didn't know you could do this!) and reshelving and recabineting. The place looks awesome. I have no idea what I would do without him. I definitely wouldn't have any shelving. My toilet paper would sit on the floor. The painting I can handle... but not at the top where the ceiling meets the wall, even with a step ladder. Thank God for him and his handiwork :-)

Rehearsal Dinner Invite

I kind of love our Rehearsal Dinner Invitations. I wanted something simple and easy. So, we did them up in Photoshop and got them printed at ColorImages in Burbank. They are post card size, so they'll be super cheap to mail. Perhaps since I'm saving so much money on postage, I should upgrade to Zazzle stamps... they are having a sale ::muhaha::

Yummy Letterpress

I didn't really allow myself to look at a lot of invitation suites because I knew I (a) wanted to do them myself and (b) didn't want to spend a ton of cash on them. I had a feeling that I would fall in love with letterpress, so I stayed far far away. Just in case I fell head over heels and decided that I needed to have it in my life.

But now that invitations are done, what's the harm in buying a few t-tiny little itty bitty things?

I started with the calendar from Etsy shop ilee. Because it's STUNNING and adorable and cute.

Then, I happened upon some Thank You Notes and realized that I would have to have something to write a little note on for the bridesmaids. Opps.

Let the love affair begin :-)

Merry Christmas!

I just realized that it's 1:45 am which means it's Christmas! WOOOO CHRISTMAS.

As it was 70+ degrees today, and we only just put up the tree 2 days ago, and we've spent all of our waking moments with wedding shiza, I kind of forgot that it was Christmas. Our tiny little tree (that I adore) looks so sad with just a few little presents underneath. Me, not being so good with surprises, and Chris, working like a madman, we just bought/exchanged on the spot a few weeks ago.

Perhaps I will never again plan an enormous event three weeks after Christmas. Perhaps a bad choice on wedding date :-)

I'm already looking forward to next year when I have time to try new cookies, and pies, and candies and I'll be able to eat it all without fear of forcing the seamstress to let out what she just took in.

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy your families, your holiday and your food and your sweets (jealous!).

Enjoy!

Camera Camera Camera

Chris and I love to take pictures. We were point and shoot folks until about 18 months ago, when we accidently dropped too much cash on the Nikon D50 and it was the best decision on the entire planet.

The pictures are crisp, clean and stunningly beautiful. It makes us look good!

But a few months ago our 55-200 lens just stopped working. Then we were told it was going to blow up the camera. BOO! So last night we bought ourselves and early Christmas present and sprung for the new Nikon 55-200 with the Visual Stabalizer. Woo!

Then we decided there was going to have to be a new bag to carry all the gear for Thailand.

We bought the Quantaray QR Echo Messenger Backpack. Based only on the grounds that I would NEVER have to carry it. It's only redeeming "cool" feature is that it is a messenger bag and not a super cool backpack. So, here's my question... why doesn't anyone design a nice, stylish, stunning, fun, sexy little bag that is functional and cute?

Hummmmm... business opportunity?!

P.S. For anyone interested, Ritz Camera has a crazy sale on the Nikon D40 ... Body & 2 lenses for $600ish. Awesome deal! Go get it.

Postcards

I love that the Roosevelt is an old vintage hotel. It has so much history! One of my favorite things to do while I should be working, or doing something wedding related, is troll eBay for old Roosevelt things. There's so much!

Sometimes there are old room keys, matchbooks, dinner programs, advertisments, all kinds of stuff that was once part of the hotel. There are ALWAYS old postcards. I thought about buying a bunch for our Out Of Towner baskets, but at $4.00 a pop, that seemed dumb.

So I made one!

We'll write a little note on the back of the card and put it on top of the OOT box.

Welcome to Hollywood in t-minus 25 days.

Le Bling

Bling Bling :-)

I adore the set that Chris bought with absolutely no help from me! Well, maybe a little bit of help from me.

The stone was my grandmothers'. It was part of a seriously large 1980's God awful cocktail ring. My aunt gave it to Chris in August and he kept it in his sock drawer for three months! He bought the set at The Diamond and Jewelry Gallery on Ventura in Studio City.

We bought Chris ring at Icing on the Ring in downtown LA after many many recommendations on the Knot. It's a 9mm white gold ring.

The Shoes

I adore shoes. It's a slight obsession that I have. A problem. I love the way I feel in a stunning pair of sky high heels. There's nothing like it.

Now I need something fabulous to complement my new rehearsal dinner dress.

At the BCBG store where I bought the dress, I asked what they would recommend. I didn't want to go boring with a silver or gold strappy sandal. I do that at work... I want ridiculous shoes.


So, the salesman brought out these...

Again, WAY more than I wanted to spend. But I can't stop thinking about them. And that's the true sign of something you should splurge on.... right?!

We weren't going to do Christmas at all. We were boycotting. We're too busy. Wedding expenses are, well, large. Our itty bitty condo has been totally consumed by wedding stuff. Then I found the most perfect dress for our Rehearsal Dinner. But I knew I didn't want to spend that much money. Then it started to disappear... and Chris bought it for me for Christmas!

Well know I have to get him something! He really wanted a new watch. But he just bought a watch last year and he realized that he bought his watch because it was the best one out there and all the other watches were just not as great as the one he already had.

One mention of the iPhone and he got all giggly and silly... so, to the Apple store we went and he walked out with his Christmas present

Then his mom called and told us about the dinnerware she bought for us because she knew that I loved it. It's the Rococo line from Mikasa.

And, never one to turn down a present, and never one to not reciprocate... I got stuck. And thus, we are no longer boycotting. And I think I'm going to add a tree to the disaster area that I call my living room!

I Don't Want To Be That Couple!

Chris has been SUPER busy with work. I didn't even see him Sunday-Tuesday of this week because there was a casting weekend and he just stayed at the hotel. I guess when you're working until 1:00 am and then have a 6:00 am call time, it doesn't make sense to drive 30 minutes home and 60 minutes back. Damn you LA traffic.





Soooo, in light of his super busy schedule and the 20 million appointments that I'm scheduling, he told me to "Just write it into my google calendar". WHAT?! I feel like we're one step away from "Just let my secretary know".

I don't want to be that couple that communicates through a shared calendar or an employee. But then again, is this just the new form of communication? Technology has made so many other things so simple, this is just another step. Yesterday I faxed some sheet music to my pianist for the ceremony. Then he called me on my cell while I was standing in line at the post office and played the music for me. It was perfect, easy, simple and now it's done.

Communication is such a huge part of marriage, obvioulsy. I don't want to lose what we have because we're so busy that we don't talk to each other anymore. What's next... making an appointment with each other to have dinner?

ONE MONTH

Holy crap we're at the one month mark. In exactly one month I'm going to be bouncing off the walls in my white Juicy terry cloth outfit (thanks Katrine for reminding me that I had to wear some clothes and that they should be bride-y)! Hair will have just arrived and there's going to be a buzz in the air :-) I'm getting married!

Then I think of the long list of things that I need to do between now and then. Then I remember that I like lists and that I'm super excited about crossing the things off the list one by one. Ohhh it's going to be a month packed with excitement! Woop :-)

Testing the Waters

Well, testing the florals. We had a final appointment and mock trial with Michele Brue at Floral by Fauna. It was everything that I imagined it would be. Fabulous work. Adore her.

She found all the crystals and garland downtown. I'm excited to see the way the candlelight will bounce off of them :-)

Honeymoon?! Wha!?

I never thought it would be possible to completely and utterly lose my mind to the wedding. I just remembered a few days ago that we are going on a honeymoon! How could that slip my mind?! I spent months researching and booking... where'd it go?

I think I'm so focused on the rehearsal dinner, wedding and morning after that I didn't even stop to think about what happens after January 20 at 1:00 pm when everyone leaves :-)

We're spending 10 days in Thailand! That's what we're doing! A few days in scouring the city of Bangkok, an overnight train trip (I see it a la SATC... super excited about it and then it being a bitch), a few days trekking the jungles of Chiang Mai and closing with a few days lounging on the beach in Koh Samui.

Crap... I have to buy new clothes...

Everything You Own Should Be Beautiful

I once read somewhere that everything you own should be beautiful. From your brushes to your brooms. As long as you're going to have it in your life, why shouldn't it be beautiful?!





I found these umbrellas on Etsy via Etsy Wedding and bought three of them! They're handmade in England, so shipping is a bit pricey (hence the reason for purchasing three!). They're enormous and some lucky ladies in my life are getting them for Christmas. Well, maybe only two, I might manage to hold on to one of them. I mean, it might rain on the wedding day... I'll need something to cover up with :-)

The Morning After

Apparently three days of festivities is not enough. I'm pushing myself to do a fourth! Sunday we will be hosting a brunch at our condo. (30 people should fit in the 667 square feet, right?). Yeah, it will be tight and toasty, but that's what makes it so nice. Close and intimate. Plus, most people haven't been out to visit since we bought the place, and we're not going to be making it up there for any other wedding related shenanigans. So, it seems like a good plan. Seems being the operative word.

Plan A was to pick up a bunch o'crap from Portos. yummy.

Plan B was to place orders and put my mom in charge of doing the stuff.

Plan C is to hire someone to cook stuff.

Plan C sounds nice. I put the word out on Craigs List and have gotten lots of replies. Some of them are students and some of them are professional caterers. Students dont' worry me, because seriously, how can you mess up eggs & pancakes. Even I can make those and I suck at kitchen stuff.

It's not all that expensive and the services range from full menu planning, shopping, cooking & cleaning to just the cooking.

We'll see which plan we land on.

Completely and Totally Unnecessary, and Yet, Fabulous

Fabulous things tend to be unnecessary... which is why they are so fabulous. They are not needed. Not really all that useful. A splurge if you will. That's what makes it so much better. Going all out on something that you just don't need. It makes you feel shishi.

Enter vinyl stick chandelier to hang behind the head table at our reception. Extra Large.

It's 36' x 22.5' and from Vinyl Wall Art. I think I saw it on a fabulous blog somewhere a few months ago and now, can't remember. I get giggly just thinking about how fabulous it is :-)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Last night I came home to this.

Our first ever wedding present! And totally unexpected! I realized that I had to wait for Chris to come home to open it because it was his gift too and that would be totally rude of me to open it without him. So I called him and told him to come home now. It was 4:30. He laughed at me.

So I stared at it for a few hours. Contemplated what it might be in such a large box from BB&B. It HAD to be the mixer! HAD TO BE THE MIXER. But it's not heavy enough to be the mixer. Definitely not heavy enough. poop.

But it was the mixer! Deceptively light in the big big box. Chris' aunt and uncle are my newest favorite people on the planet. When we were in Boston last I mentioned that I loved her mixer and was thinking of registering for one. She remembered!

It's the cinnamon one and matches the kitchen perfectly. I will be baking heavily for the rest of the weekend, but refraining from eating due to the itty bitty wedding dress. Want some sweets?

Make Up Trial

It went fabulously! I adore Alexia and hired her on the spot. She did a great job, was fun to be with and super professional.

One eye is darker than the other. I wanted to see which would be better... and I think I'm going to go even darker on the eyes than either of them. Also, I totally forgot to take pictures until after I had eaten dinner and a few hours had passed. So, there's no lip color and I'm exhausted and it looks like my left eye already went to sleep. Slacker.

She's going to do all of the bridesmaids and me so we all look super stunning :-)

The Nitty Gritty

With 44 days until the BIG day, we're getting down to the nitty gritty. This is the part that I love! Pouring over the little details and making sure that everything comes together in a stunning manner.

I have a final appointment with the florist next week and I've really been thinking about what I want to do. Just a few touches to what we'd already layed out. Then I ran across this photo on Perfect Bound.

I love the branches and the bits of light and well, all of it for the legs of our chuppah. Candlelight at it's best :-)

Now I'm wondering if the chandelier look is going to complement or fight with the branch look. Will it be too much? I love the touch of the chandelier in this still photo from an episode of Sex & the City.

Screw it, go for opulence.

Mixing Business & Pleasure

Mixing business & pleasure can be a tricky predicament, especially when it's really really important. Or is it? I think it can go both ways. Someone who is really close to you will push through some major crap to get the job done because it's not only their work relationship on the line, but it's their personal relationship. They will go out of their way because you're more than just a client, you're a friend. It can swing the other way too. They could rationalize that they will get the client finished first and that you can wait because you're a friend. So, hiring a friend... good idea or bad idea?

I'm doing a make-up trial with a friend of a friend tonight. All I know is that she's from the Midwest, did lots of weddings there, has a beautiful website with some stunning photos and is working in the movie/TV industry as a make-up artist now. But, she comes highly recommend from a friend of mine who worked on a movie with her. Although, in that movie he played a guy lost in a desert who has to swim through a septic tank. I kind of want to look the opposite of just-swam-through-a-septic-tank on my wedding day.





This is my inspiration...

... Mostly the bottom right image of that girl from the Soprano's... Jamie something.

Perhaps the key to working with someone you know on a personal level is seperation...one level of friendship removed. Not my best friend, but my best friends' friend. Still a client, still a friend.

Itty Bitty Details

I didn't want to hand write our address on the RSVP, I couldn't print on the chocolate brown envelope and I didn't really want a colored label. So, I bought plain white mailing labels and pasted the damask print from our Save the Date and the belly band. In a text box I printed our return address in chocolate brown. Simple and easy!




Perhaps somewhat cheesey, but I don't care. Our guests will be attending either "in Body" or "in Spirit".




I went back and forth on the zazzle stamps. Why spend more money on something that I COULD spend less money on and it would be fine. But I couldn't bring myself to use the pink heart stamp. It was only a bit more, and the turnaround was quick. I've gotten more compliments on the stamps than anything else.

I ADORE the embosser. It is probably my most favorite part of the invitation. I used it on the outer envelope and the RSVP envelope. I bought it from Wilshire Graphic Press. The image is perfect, they used our custom artwork and the turnaround time was only about 3 days.

The Creative Spread

Creativity is contagious. I love that when you start thinking outside the box in one area of your life, it tends to spread. Spreads through you and your life and spreads to others.

This wedding is forcing Chris and I to spurt creativity everywhere we go these days :-)

We've been all about the kitchen recently. I NEVER cook. When Chris travels I survive on a diet of pb&j and cereal. If I didn't have him in my life I bet I'd be super skinny! But I can't seem to stay out of the kitchen. I cooked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week! There was chicken pot pie, meat loaf, pork and apple stew and brick chicken. Thank God for Martha. There was also Thanksgiving dinner with my very own Turkey and my new most favorite dessert... Whiskey Pumpkin Cheesecake. Holy Crap.

With Chris' break from cooking duty, he's find his outlet elsewhere. We'd been talking about doing something with the kitchen since we bought the place almost 2 years ago. The previous owner painted EVERYTHING in the place an icky grey.

As I played wedding projected DIYer, Chris painted every cabinet BLACK.

I was slightly concerned with this, as... well, black?! But I think it looks stunningly rich and beautiful and am super happy! Super happy that (a) it looks beautiful and (b) I didn't have to lift a finger!

Are You Or Aren't You?!

I currently believe that the guest list is the most difficult part of the wedding. That and budgets. Damn these logistic barriers to the happiest day of your life!

Some days I think that we are totally and completely screwed. I think that every single person that we invited is going to show up at our front door and want in to our tiny little room. There are 150 people invited, and our space can only hold 74. More on that later.

Then the next day, I think that we are totally and completely screwed. Again. But in a different way. This day I think that NO ONE is going to show up. I think that no one really likes us and who is going to fly across the country for us in January! It's just after Christmas. That was stupid. Who the hell is planning this wedding? opps...

See, there were quite a few courtesy invites. You know, people that we have to invite because those are the rules, but you know that they're not going to come because they never go anywhere, much less travelling across the country to the big scary city of Los Angeles. I'm from North Carolina, he's from Boston. It's a big expense to pick up and spend a few days in a big city. So, I knew that these were invites to make sure that people felt included, but since they weren't going to be able to make it, it would be OK. Everyone is happy!

Well, apparently some of these courtesy invites weren't so much a courtesy and more of just a regular old invite. There are 5 people that I had NO CLUE would even consider coming. And now they're excited about a little vacation in a warmer climate. The more the merrier! Except when the merry folks don't fit in a room and have to eat their stuffed chicken standing up while leaning against the wall because the room is t-tiny.

I crunched some numbers and it looks to be ok. If all tables are packed at 10 guests (and they're 66" rounds {weird}) we should be good. We might even have 5 extra seats. That would be good. 5 extra. I love extra.

Keeping the fingers crossed that the RSVP gods are looking out for us and a few no's roll in. So far, it's 8 yes, 1 no.

Insurance

Insurance. Warranty. It's a ridiculously expensive endeavor, and yet, totally there for you when you need it the most. It seems that I have been relying on things that seemed so meaningless when first purchased.

I bought a new car (well, new to me) last week. WOOOOO. As long as money is flying out of all of my orifices as the wedding approaches I might as well add another t-tiny-itty-bitty-little bill to my arsenal.

That's her! Well, not her, because I found that photo on the internet. It looks just like her, but it's not her. Because my new car is back at the dealer. Because her transmission slipped on Saturday. And she needs a new one. Crap. Spending $4000 on a car that I just spent money on is not my idea of a fun day. No worries. IT'S COVERED!!!

Praise God for dealerships that make you haggle hard but then take care of you when you need them and they need to protect their reputation. So, I was thinking about it. What if we had just picked it up from a private seller? Or from one of those sketch little tiny places? What if it wasn't covered? I'd be in a craptastic place. Then I remembered when we bought the condo and on my first entry as an owner I walked into a water heater that was spurting boiling hot water all over MY NEW FLOOR! No worries. Covered. Warranty. That my realtor just threw into the contract for good measure. Praise God for realtors that cover your ass because you're so bogged down in paperwork that you don't even really remember what your name is, just that your signature looks like a long line with a loop 2/3 of the way through and another big one at the end.

Which made me think about wedding insurance. People talk about it, but does anyone ever actually buy it? Perhaps I should buy it in light of my history of major purchases and bad things happening. Boo on reality.

The Wedding is Taking Over My Life...

... and my condo. The wedding "stuff" consists of boxes and boxes of candles, vases, hurricanes, pretty papers, stamps, ink, tools, styrofoam and more crap that I will fashion into beautiful things! Well, I hope!

It started with a few things and I didn't have a particular "area" for it because there wasn't that much of it. Then, there was more of it. If it was just me in the condo, I don't think there would be a problem.

I know where I keep all the stuff... even if it is all over the place. I like to be able to see things. Unfortunately for me, my fiance is a piler. He doesn't want to see it all, he wants things to be neat and clean. Yet, there is no method to his madness. He grabs and he piles. In no particular order. While things look nice and clean, you can't find ANYTHING because there are important papers under the microwave in a pile (under the microwave... that's a good storage area.)

We needed a system.

First he "gave" me a box. Then I overflowed the box. Then I got the kitchen table. Then I overflowed the kitchen table. So I put the extenders into the table and things are looking good! I now have under the table, on to off the table and am slowly taking over the entry way :-)

1 Potato, 2 Potato, 3 Potato 4

It's all in the details. The itty bitty little things that could just be borrowed from the venue or simply printed and thrown into a stand. It is these little things that make a nice event a stunning event.

I have become obsessed with these details. Why is everything becoming so... invovled?

So, table numbers... couldn't be simple! I bought wooden numbers from Micheals, painted them with some wall paint leftover from the time we painted the living room, screwed in an eye hook and then hot glued millions of tiny beads all over.

I'm going to hang them from one of the branches of our centerpiece. Simple, easy, but not crazy time-consuming or annoying!

On a DIY Roll

I want to incorporate our logo in as many ways as possible without being a crazy person. It's just so cute! I also knew that I didn't want to spend a TON of money having everything personalized with custom artwork. That's silly for a fancy "H". Even if it is a J and a C and an H and perfect.

So I bought some circular styrofoam at Micheals, blew up our logo on the company copier and traced it on to the styrofoam. Then I, very nicely, asked Chris to cut it out with a box cutter. And by "very nicely", I mean Chris took it from me after he was afraid I was going to cut all my fingers off.

Be forewarned if you are going to try this... it will break... many times. But no worries, it is easily fixed with toothpicks and a hot glue gun!

When I got it all back in one piece I wrapped it with ribbon, then with floral wire. It made it real easy to attach it to the wreath without looking crazy.

I'm going to attach either a few orchids or a casablanca lily on the top left, hang them from the reception doors and admire my handiwork :-)

Practice Makes Perfect

One more thing knocked off the list... well, two if you're being sassy! Trial & booking a hairstylist. Done!

What do you think?

Invites are O-U-T!

The invites are out!

And yet, I feel mixed about it. I thought I would be giddy and excited and thrilled and a feeling of reality would wash over me. But instead I picked a fight with the FI and stomped to the mail box on my way to work to shove them in before slamming the door shut. I even pouted a little bit.

I had a vision of how I wanted it to go. Well, there was my first vision and my second vision. And then there was reality.

Vision 1: I take them to the post office and a man with white gloves takes each one individually, lovingly, and caresses them and appreciates all of the detail and the love that went into each one of them. There might even be some classical music playing in the background. Perhaps an angel or two singing "Hallelujah" I spent so much time and energy on each one it felt so good to have someone else appreciate them as much as I do!

Reality Check 1: No one, ESPECIALLY, the post office workers care that much about my invitation.

Vision 2: FI and I walk to the mail box together, giddy and excited about sharing our wedding with those that we love. He video tapes the whole thing for our wedding video and we are silly and laughing and so excited that reality is hitting.

Reality Check 2: See Reality Check 1... this includes your fiance.

Reality: We can't do it after work because it's dark outside. So I have to wake him up and he's groggy and can't find the tape and I'm late for work and frustrated now. So we stomp to the box and I chuck them in and then I cry in frustration and my poor fiance looks at me with those wide deer eyes that scream "What happened?!"

I think I didn't want to let those invitations go. Not because that makes it real. But because I poured myself into each and every one of them to go chuck them in a box. Boo. On the other hand, it feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Another piece of the puzzle that fits right into the grand scheme. Feels good.

Silver Lining: now RSVP's come back and that's going to be exciting!

Gimme a Break... Gimme a Break...

Sometimes you just need a break. A break from work. A break from wedding. A break from those that you love. A break from LIFE!

I needed a break. I've been at a breaking point and before I snapped I needed to just stop. I've been getting frustrated beyond belief. Over stupid tiny itty bitty little things. So Saturday I called up one of my lovely 'maids and we had a fantastic brunch in Hollywood. And it was just what I needed. I feel recharged, re-energized and ready to move forward with work, wedding, love and life.

I think we sometimes forget that if we don't nurture ourselves, we're going to lose it. If we don't spend some time away from it all it's all going to fall away from us. And it's so much harder to pull it together once you've spilled it all over the place. Agree?

After brunch I even spent a little bit of money on something Non-Wedding Related. WHAT!? It's ok, I've been lusting after a beautiful pair of Nine West Mary Janes that are just the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I saw them months ago when they were full price... $90... and I couldn't justify it. I already had wedding shoes, I couldn't match my dress for the rehearsal dinner becaue I don't have one yet. It would just be splurge and I couldn't do it. But on Saturday they were on SALE at only $39!!! How could I not?! And they're just so cute. And comfy. And they make me happy. It's almost like that eBay commercial "Win Victoriously" or something. It does feel so much better when you win it. And I feel like I won ;-)

And now it's back to work, wedding, love & life and I'm smiling and excited and bubbly with my fancy red peep-toe pumps :-)

What do you do to get away from it all?

I Know There Was Something I Was Supposed To Do...

But I don't know what it is. I know that I should have approximately 193,459,395,204 things on my to do list, but I don't really. Only 64 days to go. Why don't I have stuff to do? I like to think it's because I am a well trained, non-procrastinating type that stays on top of things. But, I know that I was supposed to do something, I forgot to write it down, and now I can't thing of that thing that I was supposed to do.

This is why I keep not 1, not 2, but three to do lists. There's the green notebook with blank pages and areas to put random pieces of paper. I jot down long term thoughts in this notebook... things that I don't need now, but know I will need in the future. The music list for our wedding video is in there... as I think of a song I jot it down. It will be there when I need it! (I will look stunningly prepared. woo.) The next list is brand new. It's a white notebook with each page associated with one week. I put things that I know I will have to do at a certain time in this notebook. I know that on December 28 I need to order the dark chocolate covered hazelnuts for our wedding. I drool just thinking about how yummy they are... but its' on the list, so I don't have to think about them until December 28. The third list is my to go list. It's on my Black Jack and it's actually twelve or so lists. Things I think of when I'm on the go. My grocery lists, my Target lists, another To Do List, etc. etc. I should probably transfer these lists to something more hardware inspired.

I'm not sure what I would do without lists. My brain can't keep all the stuff rolling around. It must be on paper. Ohhh, which reminds me, I have a fourth lists, it's next to my bed, a beautiful little pad with a 1950's style woman with a caption "Why yes, I am overqualified." (I actually bought it for a girlfriend of mine but decided I loved it {bad gift giver}. She's a stunningly smart woman. Right after college graduation, spending so much time being smart and colleg-y decided to scrap it all and stay at home to raise her two little girls. She always jokes that her parents must be so proud that she spent so much time being smart and now cleans up poop for a living. ha!) I put the pad to good use though, I jot down my thoughts that occur in that not-quite-sleep-but-not-quite-awake time.

My favorite part about lists is the marking off the list part. There's such a sense of accomplishment when you have that visual moment of pushing the pen through the words to note that you finished something. And when you finish off a whole list... well... that's just magic!

What Kind of Groom Do You Have?

I've noticed that, as with everything wedding realted, there are many different kinds of grooms that your fiancee can choose to be. We get to decide if we're going to be a laid back bride or a bridezilla. Grooms kind of get the same option.





They can be super involved. Really seeing the wedding day as a whole as something that they are truly invovled in. They call vendors and set up meetings and think about details. There are two people planning this wedding and I think that's nice. However, then you get two minds and if those two minds don't think exactly alike (and how weired would that be!) then you can get into some trouble. Arguments about white versus ivory buttercream. Who cares?!





Then there's the other one... The groom from the other end of the spectrum that really doesn't care at all. He will do whatever his bride tells him to and really just wants to know what to wear and where to show up. While there's significantly less head butting with this groom, a bride can feel lonely and overwhelmed. Taking everything on for a massive event by herself.

I have a hybrid. A mix of both grooms. He wants to be the first one. He really truly does. But in actuality, he's the second one. He doesn't really care and doesn't really know how to care and be involved. However, when decisions are made, he feels left out. He doesn't want to do the research and he doesn't want to do the work, but he wants veto power. On everything. Wrong.



How do you create a hybrid that works?

The Bridal Beautifying Ritual

I've noticed that whenever you mentioned that something you are buying is for a wedding, the price suddenly seems to sky rocket? There was a fabulous video on youtube that I can't find right now. A couple walks into a bakery to buy a wedding cake. The groom never says it's for a wedding and she shows them a beautiful white cake and quotes them $50. When the bride mentions her wedding, the baker pulls out the same cake with a ribbon and quotes them $200. Because this is a "wedding cake". The groom wants the regular cake and the bride collapses in a fit of tears that she MUST have the WEDDING cake. They walk out with the quadruple priced "wedding" cake. Why? Because brides are dumb enough to pay it!


That's why I furiously shake my fist in the air whenever I look at Hair and Make Up websites! Why is that a bride's hair and make-up will cost in the ballpark of $400, but a bridesmaid is only $100? Is there a significantly less amount of time and energy spent? Or are they just not as special? But really, who in their right mind would pay $400 for a 'maid to look fancy?! I adore my girls, I will not pay $2400 for their hair and make-up. But I might pay $600. It's my most special, most amazing, day ever and I want to be the most beautiful version of myself that there ever was. But is it worth $400?


Stepping off my soapbox.


It's just very frustrating.


In other news, I leave you with some hair inspiration.

*All Images from The Knot, except as noted.

Mrs.Pootikins Knot Bio

Darcy Miller, MS Weddings, Blog