Progress

I know, I gotta' be happy for small steps. And I think we're on the right track! Save the Dates are halfway done, and I've got half of my addresses. And I might have mentioned this already, but the ones I'm waiting on are all on his side, so the pressure is off me :-)

Favors are coming along nicely, very nicely. The booze is getting darker and darker and it's starting to smell less boozy and more vanilla-y!

(I'll have my own picture soon, show you how far it's come)

I received foreal foreal confirmation from my florist that she is indeedy my florist; I had sent my deposit but now she has it, has deposited it, and has reserved herself for my wedding date!

From Lancasteronline

It isn't all cake though... Literally, I didn't even mean to lead in like that... But seriously, the cake artist I wanted is no longer taking any more orders for the rest of 2011!! Please no 'I told you so' from Tara up there, I wasn't too surprised because she was only one cake designer, not a big company with a whole bunch of bakers/decorators. Her name was to be Faye from Sugar Petals. Her designs were simplistic and had those fun, unexpected tricks that made the cake not-so-traditional. Here's a taste... but not literally unfortunately:

Clean, sharp, modern, simplistic, and fun!

I found another one on some blog somewhere (I really need to cut back on my blog-reading, I get them all so confused!):

I found the reference!

I don't think I can say enough about how awesome I think this abnormal tier size is! I mean, it's one trend that I am totally on board for. Here's one more Maggie Austin cake for all of us to drool over and be really really sad for that she's so expensive:

Not because I like bees, but this one has disproportionate tiers AND is off-center. *Le sigh*

Anyway, all my other options in the Lancaster, PA area are pretty awful, so if I have to settle with cake that's ugly, it better not cost a lot... That's all I have to say about that. There are at least a few with clean work, that seem like they'd be able to appreciate and execute our vision. But I'm no longer psyched about cake. It just has to taste good and be there as a symbol. As soon as anonymous 'cake baker' gets picked, I can't think of any major decisions that need to be made. There are some smaller (NOT small, but small-er) things to think about, and I need to start thinking about them:

• Bridesmaids dresses, as soon as sister Jordan gets back stateside from Germany
• Music - do I get ceremony musicians? or just use speakers and our existing DJ? I honestly don't know if I want to go through the hassle of finding ceremony musicians... and then how do you tell them I HATE PACHELBEL'S CANON!!! They'd disown me and quit.
• Hair!! I want everyone to know that their comments had nothing to do with this (certain family members looked at me like I was a demon when I said I was going to go straight-haired). In the end, I finally got Kyle to admit that he would prefer my hair curly, so Kyle gets what Kyle wants, especially after I saw this:

 

More and more... well twice now, I'm seeing girls with some colour letting their hair out (is everyone aware that I'm half black? I wouldn't say "girls with some colour" if I wasn't). I mentioned to Kyle just yesterday that while going through a Victoria's Secret catalogue, I saw NOT ONE girl with curly hair. This isn't about being an individualist either, this is about recognizing that I'd be doing the same thing all those other curly-haired women out there are doing already: trying to change myself. Also, I'd be an individualist ;) That was a comment for my Mama who will call it affirmation that I am an individualist wannabe because I've only changed my mind now that I've seen a few other gorgeous women do the same thing. Well, whatever, confused? I am too. I'm still not 100% on this, but I was thinking too that if I had crazy hair on top, it would balance out the skirt on my gown... which I picked up from David's Bridal a few days ago!

Continuing with the checklist:

• Invitations, which should be a breeze now that I've developed a system with the Save the Dates. However, I need to order the supplies for them, SOON!
• Make-up/hair; I haven't decided whether I will get a hair/make-up artist or two to come to the venue on the day of the wedding to do my party's hair and make-up. Mostly because I don't know if there are salons in the area that have traveling make-up/hair people. I know they exist in Philadelphia, but the travel fees are ridiculous. Put it this way, it costs as much to get your hair done as it does to get the person to come to the venue! And what kills me about the whole thing (not trying to be cheap, it just baffles me!) is this: why does it cost me about $50 to get my hair done in a salon and three to four times that to get it done for an "event"??? I'm just too baffled to contemplate it right now.
• Registry! This is becoming a little overwhelming because I decided to switch our registry over to Bed, Bath and Beyond because I didn't realize how much stuff they had, and of course, most of it's half the price of Crate and Barrel's stuff. I still love some of the cute Crate and Barrel stuff, but I figure we're more likely and humble enough to get a $30 awesome butcher block than a $800 dining room table. Well, the stressful part is that BB&B has a crapton of stuff! It's taken me hours already to go through not even half of their registry items online. Blegh, and what it's done is made me put things on the registry in the moment that I realize a day later I don't need. I spent so much time on my soap box saying I didn't want toasters and blenders; well, there's no toaster or blender on the registry, but salad spinners and cutting boards are right up there. I also swore I didn't want fine china but I've got a china set on there too. I can't decided whether to just give in or stay strong...
• Groom and groomsmen attire. They went to Men's Wearhouse and I didn't like the suits there, and there were virtually no options. So I would like to go with Kyle to Macy's, JcPenney, and/or Sears and look at their suits. They're well-priced, and in my opinion, much better quality and selection because they make suits that they want men to wear more than once. Our one experience at Men's Wearhouse was not pleasant. Kyle told his best man and the salesman that as soon as I saw it, I would shoot it down, and sure enough I did; the suit was poop brown. There were no chocolate tones in there! I suppose, if it wasn't for everyone else being there- trying to help, mind you- it would have been fine, because Kyle and I understood each other immediately... Just one more positive test of our compatibility.
• Decorations/DIY: The guest bench (hello there Daddy!), the garter (that's you Mama!) and the fabric backdrop alter (here's looking at me, kid!) are my big DIY things that have to get done, because I'm super excited about them, and they must be there!! No pressure.

Sorry, I know that's a lot of stuff. I think we can stop there for now. Some of these things just need time, I wouldn't expect them to be completely finished right now, because we still have a good amount of time. Right now work must be focused on! I must get out of here before November 25th!! I must start looking for jobs!!! I must get out of my crappy townhouse in Philly!!!!

The only way to move towards all those goals is to sign off and get back to work. So, without further ado...

Ultimate Wedding Contest

I would like to take a tiny tiny moment to talk about registries, especially because I was very against them in the beginning (I actually still am, but, I'm getting to that). I believe that having a registry is like saying "Only come to my wedding if you're going to buy me something, and even if you don't come to my wedding, you should still buy me something, because I was nice enough to invite you." You always have to end your bridal shower invites with "The bride/couple is registered here, here, and here" or include it in your website reminding everyone that 'hello, you need to buy them something!'

Maybe the problem is that I see it as being spoiled, but I do recognize also that it's customary and a really kind gesture from friends and family to want to shower you with gifts to express their love. I, however, get really stressed when it comes to registry stuff because I'm like "how the hell does this work??" I hate it when people just say "Oh she's registered at Bath and Body Works."

Wha--??? What's that got to do with me?! What do I do now?? It's stressful to me and I also don't like having to pick from a list of things what to get someone.

HOWEVER! I firmly recognize that if there weren't registries, all your loving family members that don't want to give you impersonal cash will end up getting you a whole bunch of toasters, blenders, and table cloths if they don't have a list of stuff to choose from. So I went ahead and made a stereotypical registry at Crate and Barrel just because there's also a $100,000 contest that goes along with it:

Hey! Lookie who's the third entry on the list! If anyone is interested (and I can promise that if I win, I'll get everyone some ridiculously overpriced Crate and Barrel items) head on over to Crate and Barrel's contest page and vote for us!

$200 dining room chairs! That's all I have to say about that! We're also considering other registry options because what we really need to start our life together is big money for house payments, new furniture, and future babies! What's the point of getting a mess of blenders and toasters if you're stuck in the same small crappy townhouse that's overflowing with stuff as it is?!

Enter Deposit-a-gift!

It's a registry you set up by just entering in what you want: A house, new furniture, a honeymoon, a new car, and entering the value. Your family and friends then deposit money into your deposit-a-gift account and they can pick what they want the money to go towards. But the great thing is, in the end, it's still cash, cold hard cash, but your family and friends can feel like they're contributing to something that you really want; something that actually has meaning; something that you actually have real use for. And to make it even better, every time we walk into our new home, we'll remember all the loved ones who helped us get there as opposed to how we'll feel about the third toaster we received collecting dust in the basement or worse; given away/sold. (Bonus! You can use it for baby showers, bridal showers, graduations, ANYTHING!)

In the end, I'm still opposed to registries, but I do accept that it's an honor and not being spoiled or rude to accept gifts from family and loved ones... but please, no toasters or blenders!