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!