The Little Things

Have I mentioned how lucky I am? I have never thought that I was a particuarly crafty or creative person. Sure, I can put a bouquet together to bring to a friend's party. I can pick out a nice pair of earrings to go with a particular outfit. I can cook pretty well. But I don't necessarily have the patience or the coordination to manufacture the items that people "oooh" and "aaah" over. Hence, my short-lived career in jewelry making.

That's why I am so very fortunate to have crafty, creative and patient family and friends.

On Sunday, several of my lovely wedding ladies, as well as my mother and aunt came over to help me put together favors and guest gifts. One my aunt's had already generously put in a great deal of time in the creation of the favors. My mother and I had been shopping around town for months for the little bits to tie it altogether. I didn't particularly care about the angle of this or the amount of that and that's why I am lucky. My friends took charge and I just gave the nod of approval and before you knew it (after much food - we never do small amounts of food in my family - and a little bit of wine), they were almost all assembled. They also look adorable and they are exactly what I envisioned.



After a week of feeling uber stressed about work, apartment issues and the lack of time to get everything done, an afternoon with some of my closest was exactly what I needed. A few hours of laughing and being surrounded by love and support was just what the wedding planner ordered.

And by wedding planner, I mean me.

Do We Really Need Them?

So despite having heard a myriad of horror stories from various friends and acquaintances regarding the printing and assembling of their wedding programs, we very wisely chose to print and assemble our programs ourselves. On Friday night, Arthur and I penned what I believe to be a very cute, very appropriate, very us wording for the programs. We even found graphics, etc. to go with the theme. I was not a little pleased with our efforts. And then? And then we started the printing process. We began the attempt at roughly 10 PM on Friday. It is now Sunday evening and still the demon cardstock remains as pristine as when first purchased. Damn Martha Stewart and her "living." Damn the craft store that had those blasted things on clearance. And damn my own attempts at being frugal.




And you know you are in trouble when in the FAQ section, we have the following: Q: How do I know if my programs will print correctly? A: You should test it out to see if it will print correctly. End of story.

Sigh.

I won't be broken by these things. Good will triumph over evil. The righteous will conquer the unworthy. I will prevail.


Or we won't have programs. Perhaps, a herald or two instead?

Four Weeks and Counting

Some things that we've accomplished since my last post.

1) Arthur has a lovely suit.
2) Thanks to one of my loverly best women, hair and make-Up trials have been successfully accomplished. In fact, as I type this, I have more make-up on than I own and glitter in my hair. Might be xnaying the itter-glay.
It's been a while since I last wrote about our wedding preparations. Things have been moving along at lightening speed at this point.
3) Flowers for the bouquets and corsages have been purchased.
4) Most people have RSVP'd (but not all...it has a stamp on it, people!)
5) I have had two out of three of my fittings. Let me tell you, when I purchased the dress I thought it was wonderful, but after the seamstress worked her magic....I absolutely am head over heels in LOVE with the dress.
6) MOTB dress and shoes purchased
7) Wedding Jewelry purchased.
8) Presents for the women in the ceremony party have been purchased.
9) Gifts for those who are travelling purchased.
10)Finalized rehearsal dinner venue and put down a deposit on it.

As you can see, we've been busy, busy, busy wedding bees.

I want to it to just be here already. Four weeks seems like so far away and yet I know it will speed on by. I also find myself getting more and more excited about the big day. I worry that I am getting overly wrapped up in a lot of the craziness - both in my psyche and through my expenditures. My mind is more singularly focused on this day than I had anticipated. Luckily, my job does not allow the complete bridal machine take over of my mind. Yet, I find myself continuously handing over the credit card to buy "just one more" thing to make it "perfect." I am not perfect. Arthur is not perfect. In fact, we are pretty perfectly imperfect. I need to stay grounded and hold true to myself and remember what this really all about. Arthur finally getting health insurance. I kid.

Things I Swore I'd Never Do

Despite having trained for a half-marathon in March and continuing to train for another one in August, I found myself feeling like the pounds were creeping on. I am afraid I fell into the old, "I've just run 5 miles, I can eat whatever I want and however much I want of it" trap. I, therefore, decided that I needed some discipline. I re-joined Weight Watchers. As I submitted payment by typing in my American Express account number, I started thinking about how this is something I promised myself that I'd never do before my wedding. I swore up and down that I would not be one of those brides who insists that she lose 10 pounds before she walks down the aisle. "I am what I am," I proclaimed in my most feminist of tones. "This is just one day, an important day, but just one day. I refuse to succumb to those discourses which make women feel that they should look "better" on their wedding days." Anyway, sometimes I just need a little disciplining in my eating habits. This is probably the sixth time in my life that I have joined the big WW. One would say that shows how much it doesn't work, but it helps me get my balance to add my points and make sure I stick to them.


In any event, I've yo-yo'd since I've re-joined. We've given up the internet in our apartment, which hinders my obsessive tallying of points. Therefore, I haven't really done it in two weeks. Maybe it is a good thing and maybe it isn't. I'll guess we'll find out when I put on the dress. Either way, we're just going to have a good time celebrating that day and hopefully, nobody will be counting their points.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

After hours of sweating over yards of ecru, tons of bamboo, reams of recycled symbols, tri-folds and bi-folds, inserts and thermography and after countless arguments, tears and threatened break-ups, we've finally done it. We've chosen the vehicle through which we will endeavor to convince friends, family, co-workers and the once were friends and are now are more acquaintances to our wedding. It was a struggle, and in the end, Arthur's idea won out. If you think you might be one of those who shall receive some such petition from us, I would like to offer one piece of advice, beware the trumpeters.



Nah. I was just trying to make buying invitations sound dramatic. It wasn't. We just looked on-line, ordered a few samples and then made a relatively painless decision. At least, I think it was pretty painless. Most of my big decision making is filled with a certain amount of angst and anything less than that is like winning the lottery. In other words, Arthur might disagree as to whether or not it was easy. We did sift through the verbiage for the invitation, as well as the response cards. I find that if I do the initial research and then present Author with my top ten choices, it makes things easier for both of us. Except of course, when he doesn't choose the right one.

In any event, we went through costco invitations. The same invitations at other, more popular invitation sites were over $100 more expensive. So I am please. They are simple and elegant. Sort of like us. Well, the simple part at least.

These are not our invitations.