Dress Ideas

So, my future SIL Erin will be making my dress for me. She is a professional seamstress, costume designer, and has her own company, Erin Rose Designs.  I've been researching ideas to point her in the right direction.  Here is a dress that literally made me gasp when I saw it:

I love the colors, and the back, and the one-shoulder colored strap.  I like how you can tell it's a wedding dress, but it doesn't look like just another wedding dress. 

If you want to see more of my wedding dress inspirations, go here.  

A Tentative Schedule

We're having the wedding at a summer camp.  This means that (hopefully) many of the out-of-town guests will be able to stay for the whole weekend, as accomidations are going to be much cheaper than a traditional hotel block.  And I really like the idea of having a "wedding weekend."  Not so much because I want all attention on us for 48 hours instead of 12, but because I want our families to really get a chance to know each other.  Paul's family will be traveling from all over the country, and mine is pretty much centralized in Wisconsin.  There won't be a ton of future opportunites for the families to get together ever again.  Plus, I don't want to feel like I've missed spending time with anyone if all we get is the wedding reception.  We also get the camp for the entire weekend, so might as well use it. 

So here is a tenative schedule for the weekend.  Subject to change whenever I feel like it.

Friday Afternoon: Rehersal. Only pertinant people need to be there.  Other guests can check in, get a room, wander down to the lake, etc. 

Friday Night: Welcome BBQ.  Main meal provided by PC but also potluck. Followed by a bonfire, possibly with live music. 

Saturday Morning/Early Afternoon: Guests on own for breakfast/lunch (maybe have coffee/bagels/muffins for snacking).  Plan is to have the lakefront open so people can swim or canoe.  Possible lawn-game tourney for those who don't want to do water stuff. 

Saturday Afternoon: Wedding at 4?5?  Drinks/snackies after while we finish up pictures.  Dinner at 6?7?. 

Saturday Night: Reception.  Dinner, more drinks, dancing, cake-cutting, etc.  We may have to cut the festivities short because the camp has neighbors and I don't want to get anyone in trouble. 

Late Saturday Night: 10pm-?? Hangin' at my mom's house for those who want to keep partying. 

Sunday Morning: Late brunch and present opening for those who want to attend that.  We don't have to vacate camp until later that afternoon. 

Thoughts on my timeline?  Suggestions? Concerns?

Wedding planning...I'm finally starting to get excited

The more in-depth we get into planning, the more excited I'm getting. When we first got engaged, I didn't automatically have that "wee!" moment. I mean, I did about getting married, but not about the actual wedding.  I actually was going through the motions whenever anyone asked me about wedding details.  I'm afraid I came off as a bit grumpy about the whole thing.  I want to get married, and I want to have a celebration, but I didn't have a vision and couldn't muster much enthusiasm. 

It's taken me a few months of idea-collecting to really get a good idea of what this celebration could be.  I've gone from reluctant wedding-planner to excited wedding planner.  Paul thinks I'm crazy every time I try to show him something neat I've found on the interwebs.  I try to tell him that this is normal, and he's actually pretty damn lucky because it could be much, much worse.  As in, I could be not sharing anything with him because I could be one of those girls that doesn't actually care what her fiance thinks.  Can't wait till I try to convince him we absolutely NEED to make 200 things and he's the lucky sumbitch who gets to stick stickers or lick envelopes.  Joy.

 I've been heavily perusing OffBeatBride.com, and have even become a Tribe member.  It's a wedding site similar in function to The Knot, but much more tailored to a bride like me; someone who hasn't been planning their wedding since they were five.  Someone who may be dispensing with certain traditions and has no desire to do anything if the only reason is "that just how weddings go".  The brides on Off Beat Bride have royal blue wedding dresses with rainbow crinoline.  They wear fairy wings or require the guests to wear Renaissance clothing.  They geek out over Futurama cake toppers and are generally obsessed with robots.  I've found a wedding home. 

Having a venue has also been helpful in deciding a theme for the wedding.  This has two purposes.  The first is to narrow down my obsessive internet searches.  The second is that I'm finally starting to see how this wedding could go.  It's becoming more real, and as a result, more fun. 

Lets just hope I don't go off the deep end. 

Bridesmaid Manifesto

This is a post for my bridesmaids.  I really want to emphasize that I am going into this expecting nothing but support and good times.  But I have a feeling lots of brides feel that way when they pick their wedding attendants.  Something about weddings brings out weirdness in people, so I thought my expectations should be outlined clearly.  And humorously.  Because, you know, that's what I do. 

Bridesmaid Manifesto

Welcome to our wedding. I have chosen you all specifically because I love you, and because you are all classy, opinionated, and fun. In order to get us all through this process together, here is what I need from you:

1. For the love of all that is holy, talk to me about other things besides the wedding. Yes, it's going to consume much of my time and sanity, and yes I will need your opinions and help to pull this off. But that doesn't mean I want to be left out of your lives. I love gossip, and I need to know the world does not revolve around my wedding. Because I will forget, at least once.

2. Give me your opinions. If you think something is going to be cheesy, or not fun, or just plain ugly, please let me know. I'm dealing with a lot of ideas right now, and at some point I'll need to pare them down from “ooh shiny” to “alright lets make 200 DIY things!” Because you will be helping me make the DIY things, and if you think they are dumb, no amount of whiskey will make that better.

3. Yes, you will be helping me make things. I promise whiskey. Just maybe, you know, after the DIYing instead of during.

4. As a caveat to number 2: I'm going to make decisions that you wouldn't make, if you were planning your own wedding. The plan is to solicit opinions on most of the important decisions. But once that solicitation phase is over and the decision has been made, I will ask that you kindly zip it. Like, completely. Unless you are willing to take on the added responsibility, be it financial or otherwise.

5. You do not have to throw me a shower. Showers, as far as I'm concerned, are family things. Plus, with all the people you would invite to a shower scattered all over the country, it's just not really something you need to worry about. I do, however, secretly covet a kick-ass bachelorette party. And I have the unreasonable desire to call it a “hen party” in a snooty English accent.

6. There are a slew of reasons that I picked you specifically to be my bridesmaids. And one of those is your ability to organize and tell other people what to do. This is an asset. My job as the bride is to plan the wedding down to the last detail. There may even be a wedding battle plan involved. What I need you to do is take over team leadership on the wedding day. Another bride called it “honey-badgering”. Be prepared to get bossy. My family will be briefed to listen to your marching orders.

7. If, for whatever reason, you feel like you can't do this bridesmaid thing anymore, please let me know. I don't want my wedding to be something that makes your life less fun and more hard.

Love you all and excited to do this wedding thing with you!

E~

Wedding Venue and Wedding Date

We're getting married at ....

*drumroll*

Pilgrim Center! 

It's a UCC church camp that I worked at for several summers in college.  They  have a fantastic new chapel that overlooks Green Lake.  They've got a sweet lodge for overnight guests.  They've also got killer food.  In one location, we've got a rehearsal dinner site, wedding site, reception site, and Sunday brunch site.  Plus, its about five minutes from my mom's house.

This also means we've got a wedding date.  The date was contingent on when PC was available, so we're now set for September 15th, 2012.  Really, its going to be a "wedding weekend" of the 14th - 16th. The weather in Wisconsin in mid-September will hopefully be the best that fall has to offer.  That being said, we probably will be planning on indoor festivities, at least for the dinner portion.