Purpose

"The point of a wedding is to strengthen and widen the social circle of the new family."

- Source Unknown

Musical Inspiration

One day at work, I decided to see if I could nail down some song choices to play at the reception. This is a somewhat difficult task considering the fact that Joe and I have more than a decade between us. Let's just say our musical tastes are not what brought us together. Even so, they are not that far off from each other, but I wanted to make sure we include some pieces from both of our eras, if you will.

So, I stumbled across this website, which basically allows you to search for top 100 wedding songs from each year beginning way back. It was quite humorous to scroll through the 80's, for example, and see how many songs I knew and might even be able to sing along to. It got more and more difficult as the years went backwards, but it was interesting nonetheless to see what the top wedding song of each year was.

I was able to find some good ideas from that, but clearly we have more work to do. Although Joe has been involved in the planning, I don't think he's going to be much help in suggesting songs. But we'll see.

Here are the ideas I have thus far:

• I Got a feeling – Black Eyed Peas (fun, dancey entrance of whole bridal party to reception)
• Yellow – Coldplay (cake cutting or something…love song with rock vibes, but it’s called YELLOW!!)
• Just Dance – Lady GaGa (first song of dancing period…will really get things going)
• White Wedding – Billy Idol (this was Mac’s suggestion)
• Faith - George Michael (I have to!!!!)

Thinking about the music gets me excited again! Almost down to the 7 months-to-go mark!!

Diamonds and Disappointment

So, for about a week now I have been talking about this Ritani trunk sale that Mervis Diamond Importers was having today. I told Joe it was 25% off and they looked nice, so I was going to check it out. I said if I found something I liked, I was likely going to buy it. He said ok.

So, today I get up and go about noonish. When I get there, they show me this amazing eternity band that is just about exactly what I am looking for. It's white gold, shared-prong, and about 1.5 carats tw. It's perfect. So, I ask them how much it would be and they say $2600. Now, it may seem like a lot, but that's the best price for product I've come across so far. I mean, the 1 carat NON-ENTERNITY band at Zales is $2400, so it's like way better. And it looked beautiful with the engagement ring.

So, I snap a pic and send it to Joe. I wait a few minutes, then give him a call. At first, he doesn't seem that interested. I tell him to check the pic and call me back. When he does, I ask him what he thinks and he says, "it just seems like a lot of money to spending in a recession." I was like, so you don't want me to get it? He asked why I had to pay a deposit today...I said, well, because it's a one-day sale. You know, like Macy's one day only sales...

THEN...he starts going on about how this "whole thing is getting pretty expensive." I didn't have much to say... I mean, it's true, our wedding is expensive, but we knew that from the get go. Never once has he said anything about how much everything costs... And I've covered almost all of the payments so far, so really it hasn't affected him at all! I mean, I've plunked down about $9K this far, and he's not even to $1k yet! Now, that's not totally fair because he paid for the engagement ring... But it's the point. And so, here I am...

Eh, what can I do?

Shoe Updates

Woooooo!!! My black diamond Swarovski rhinestones came in, so I was able to finish my shoes. Although they didn't fit in the design as well as I'd hoped, a little bit of spacing all around made it look great. Here are the pics:



Back View



Front View



Side View of Heel



The "i do" on the bottom

It came out pretty good I think...and they are unique! I still need to get some sweet-looking foot pads for the inside so my feet won't ache. Will also need to remember to pack bandaids because they may rub me the first time I wear them.

Apparently my garter set has shipped, but I haven't gotten it yet.

Also, Lulusplendor is working on the hair piece I requested. She sent me a mock-up of the design:

This is the overall design...isn't it beautiful?! Except this is raw brass, as she explained to me, so the finish will look like this:


I think this will work beautifully with the dress and the whole look. I can't wait to see everything all done! And the clip is only going to cost me $62, so I'll get the whole lot, custom, for less than I could get some other boring vintage jewelry.

Cocktail Hour Seating

So, we're kinda out of ideas for this one. Our space for the cocktail hour is kind of boring, so we're looking for ways to jazz it up on the cheap, as well as add some seating for our guests.

Here's the space (sorry for being off-center):

The Whole view from the front of the building...


View from the door to the entry way...

So, not a lot of trees to hang lights or decorations off of... Just a big open circle patch of grass.

(1) Seating.
We are playing with the idea of using hay bales as seats. Check this out!

Photo from Snazzy Jazzy

Except we will be covering the whole thing with fabric. We'll use some egg crate material to pad it, then cover with some awesome fabric. Just a few of these will make an awesome impression.

(2) Music.
Since my uncle Terry's band Second Wind will be playing the cocktail hour, he's going to send me a list of equipment he needs and whether or not he will need power. I think we'll have to run an extension cord from the building if we do need power, but no biggie. We'll work through it.

(3) Decor.
I was going to see if our florist Amanda could do some extra yellow tissue paper balls and candle lanterns for this space. Since there aren't many trees, I was thinking we could tie strings between the few trees and hang things from that. Here's inspiration:

Photo from Wedding Decorator Blog
This one is a little cramped...those balls are huge, but you get the string idea.

Here are some other lights...

Photo from The Knot

It's a work in progress, but the ideas are coming together.