Rehearsing? Sort of. Eating? Hopefully!

After the lovely day spent with the wonderful women in my life, it was time to rehearse our exchange of nuptials and then, of course, eat!

Arthur had been freaking out a bit prior to the rehearsal dinner because he, his brother and his mom had gotten a bit lost making the trek out from New York City. I think the idea that he was really getting married started to hit home. He is usually not prone to nerves, but I could hear it in his voice as he called, saying, "I have no idea where we are or if we'll make it." Now, for all you Long Islanders out there, you must be thinking, "you can't get lost on Long Island." I thought the same thing. In any event, they managed to piece the puzzle together and arrive at the Three Village Inn with time to check in and change.

When I arrived wearing my Jessica McClintock (hello, 1992 prom) dress, the whole of the wedding party was awaiting my arrival. It felt a bit odd to be one of the guests of honor and I found myself shaking a bit. I was immediately handed a glass of wine by someone (I don't remember who you are now, but THANK YOU). Little did we know that a wedding was going on that evening and in order to rehearse, we going to have interlope slightly on the other's festivities. This made for slightly awkward moments and bumping into wait staff. My grandfather's temper flaired slightly conjuring up my fear that words would be said that would embarass me, but things calmed down as soon as we were able to move and walk into the room that would be where we got married if it rained (it was NOT going to rain despite the forecast saying that there was a 90% chance).

The rehearsal itself was fun and our offiant and my high school friend, Dan, did a fabulous job of moving things along and working out our kinks.

Next stop: Food Where? Why the Rib City Ale House, of course! It was a great prix fixe deal with decorations and a cake included. However, it turned out that because we had slightly less people than we had originally indicated to Frank, the owner, we were no longer able to sit in the semi-private room. Instead, we were put in the room next to where the band would be playing. This was just fine until the band started playing. Our relatives - old and young alike - had a hard time hearing with the loudness of the whole thing. Arthur's mom began feeling unwell half-way through the meal, which some might say could be attributed to seeing her...no strike that sitting across from and staying in the room next to...her ex-husband for the first time in years. One of my lovely best women offered to take her back to the hotel though and the next day she was fine.

The wine and beer poured, our food ordered, we anxiously awaited our food. And we waited. And we waited. We asked for bread. It was still baking. And we waited. Apparently, they were not prepared for all the people they had that night. Unfortunately, there was barely even an apology. The actual servers did there best, but the management was no where to be seen.




But then we had a great surprise! Arthur's best friend, Tom, after missing his first flight, managed to make it to the dinner mid-way through. Arthur and I were both thrilled by his presence after not seeing him for such a long time.

We then said a few words and handed out the gifts to the Friends of the Wedding and to my parents. Our offiant received the biggest bottle of Jack Daniels we could find. I shopped at Satya Jewelry for the best women, women of the wedding and the flower girl. The best women received lotus earrings. The flower girl was given a butterfly necklace and the women of the wedding received stretch bracelets in different stones. The men of the wedding received a flask, a pocket watch and a lighter with their respective initials engraved into them. The Ultimate Experts received engraved beer mugs. My parents received a gift certificate to their favorite local restaurant.

We ended up having a nice time and it was really great having all of our closest in one room together.

Review of Rib City Ale House: The food was ok, the service was eh and overall we were disappointed by the experience.

Review of our rehearsal evening: It was a great pre-cursor to what turned out to be a perfect event.

The Elusive Dress

Yesterday, my two best women and I traveled to Roosevelt Field Mall to explore its nooks and crannies and find dresses for them. Arthur and I want our colors for the wedding to be peridot and garnet (the colors of our birthstones). At first, as you may have read before, we were more or less going to let the best women and best men wear whatever they felt comfortable in. This is still very important to us, but we may try to have the women in one color and the men wear ties in the other color. First, though, we need to find the dresses.

After planning this day months ago, we were all anxious to get out there and start shopping. So we made the logical first stop. The food court, of course! Hey. There were free samples. And, well, one needs sustenance in order to walk around the mall for hours. Don't judge!

Anyway, after a quick lunch and discussion over day before wedding activities (J found a great reflexology place in LI and we no plan to make appointments), we were off.

We went to Bloomingdales, Macy's, Nordstrom's, JC Penny, Ann Taylor, J. Crew and Jessica McClintock. This list is neither in order nor complete.

When we walked into our first store, we noticed that pea soup green is quite in and we all mocked it, as women do when they shop. We moved on to to try to find clover greens, grass greens, seafoam greens or apple greens. Need more green references? Click here. Nothing was wowing us. There were sun dresses and "maxi" dresses and formal gowns, but there seemed to be a dearth of cute green cocktail dresses in most of the stores.

Then J found a dress that looked very good on her. Guess what color it was? Pea soup green! She bought it! The next challenge was to find a dress that complimented it for S. Do you know how hard it is to find a dress that does not clash with pea soup green? You don't know. It's pretty freakin' hard.


Meanwhile, we stepped into Jessica McClintock for kicks and trips down prom memory lane. It turned out that they had a dress with both green and garnet! It was really funky and when J handed it to me, I laughed at first and joked that I should be in Moulin Rouge. I tried it on, it fit and looked good. It was also 25% off. I bought it for the rehearsal dinner. Note: that is not at all settled and I was a bit worried about wearing such an ensemble to Rib City. I mean is it weird to wear a fancy cocktail dress to a place that has a carton character display of the animal you about to eat? My best women convinced me that my concerns were unwarranted, that it was just about the only time I could wear something like that and I got over it. It is now safely ensconced at J's place so that Arthur cannot see it. Did you know the tradition is that it is bad luck for the groom to see the rehearsal dinner dress before the rehearsal?

Anyway, we left the mall feeling slightly unsatisfied in regards to our original quest. We had to make this past shopping date about two months ago because of everyone's schedule, so I fear it will take just as long to do it again. In the mean time, there will be lots of on-line shopping.

Four Months and Counting...

According to my mother's monthly text message, we're just four months away from tying the knot. That's right, folks. Four months from today, we'll be bustin' a move on the dance floor of the Three Village Inn. What song will it be? The electric slide? The chicken dance? YMCA? The Grease montage? Oh, please let it be the Grease montage. Please. Please. Please.

In actual fact, we don't have the music situation squared away yet so it might just be rounds of row row row your boat. Maybe I can dig up some old mixed tapes.

So where are we at within the wedding count down list?

Side note, there are approximately thirty bridal related magazines at the bodega at the 34th Street Path station. There were even several on getting engaged. I don't really understand what is in that magazine. I don't think I want to know. Anyway, according to various wedding expert sources, we should:

1) Book the rehearsal dinner and day after brunch venues. We're working on that one. We know where the post-wedding brunch will be. My childhood abode. Thanks mom and dad. The rehearsal dinner is another story. We have one place in mind because of its proximity to the wedding venue and affordability. However, at the end of the day, since we are paying for most of this ourselves, it is still just another expense. Then there is the question of the guest list. Do we invite all out of town guests? How can we possibly afford that? Do we just invite those actually in the wedding and close family and let all of those who traveled far to be with us fend for themselves?

2) Check on the wedding invitations. "Umm....hi, costco....umm...are they ready?"

3) Select and order the cake. Attend several tastings. Cake. Yummy. Well, it is included at the Inn. Too bad. We like to taste.

4) Purchase shoes and start dress fittings. Well, my first fitting is not until August. I'm thinking gold. I like the Manolos below, but I'm not Carrie Bradshaw so if anyone sees some knock offs, let me know!

5) Schedule hair and makeup artists. Luckily, one of my best women volunteered.

6) Choose songs. Grease montage!

7) Plan welcome baskets for guests, if desired. What says Long Island? How does one get a thick accent into a welcome basket? Seriously, they are desired. We have some ideas.

In any event, it is nice to see that without having looked at the "lists" in a while, that we are looking pretty good.

Grease is the word!