A Girl, A Boy, A Dress, A Scarf:

 

Copyright Higher Vision Photography, All Rights Reserved

 

Our amazing photographer and friend, Josh Premako, put together a little sneak peek of our wedding–
I cannot WAIT to see all the photos he caught!

Oh, Holy God:

 

I have four days before our wedding.

DO ALL THE THINGS:

 

In the meantime,
here’s a picture of a hedgepig,
hedgin’ it up:

 

“They said there would be cake. It was a lie.”

I Didn’t Expect:

 

My wedding to involve quite so much spray paint.

 

Make Your Own Mercury Glass. Take that, Pinterest.

 

Just call me the Matrimonial Tagger.

 

Spray all the things!

 

Not Sure if “Paranoid” Or Just “Bride”:

 

On my list of things that I am currently afraid of happening at our wedding:

1) My bridesmaids actually hate their dresses and are just being kind about them
2) We are, in fact, having a hipster wedding (but…but…there’s no Pabst! and we’re not serving kimchi!)
3) In five years, I’m going to hate the dress I wore
4) My dress will turn out badly (through no fault of Amanda’s)
5) My mother will, in fact, be incapable of putting her damn camera down
6) Our guests won’t like the food
7) We won’t get a photographer
8) My leaf garlands will look stupid and tacky and all my snorting at Michael’s Crafts wedding aisle will be for naught
9) I will wish that I had worn sleeves
10) My grandmother will say something snide and insulting about my body
11) Our geeky references will just appear snotty
12) No one will RSVP and we will have 400 guests show up and will have to send a groomsmen to Costco for food
13) I will trip on my way down the stairs, taking Ben with me, bashing in our teeth, and end up both dead and homeless
14) It won’t be beautiful

 

…

Anyone have a Quaalude they can give me?

Today I:

 

Feel completely and totally behind the ball.

Knowing that I’m not
(we have our site, our photographer, our rentals, our officiants, and I’m starting to work on my dress with the Amazing Amanda)
doesn’t really help,
because I feel like I should have EVERYTHING DONE.

I kinda figured this might be my particular problem.

*le sigh*

Back to it, mates!

WHOOSH:

 

That is the sound of six months,
flying by at the speed of something very fast indeed.

The Boyo and I decided on our site yesterday!

Honestly,
that is one the hardest parts of planning a wedding–
once you have a site reserved,
you can actually start going ahead with the rest of your plans for
rentals, vendors, food…

but what I’m reallyreally looking forward to
are all the little things,
like Art Noveau centerpieces
filled with jasmine and peonies and roses,
and maybe a couch fort in the library of our location because
HELL YES is why,
and maybe strings of paper snowflakes made of pretty tissue paper
that catch the light and diffuse it.

I’m looking forward to holding his hand and grinning like idiots
because we will be surrounded by the people we love most in the world.

Light and color and friends.

Perfect.

 

Sneak Peek of the Villa. …I KNOW.
(photo by Stephanie Williams Photography)

Guess What?

 

 

Number 19:

 

The Roommate,
my friend,
my chosen sister,
Jessie Jones,
got married on Saturday.

 

There were wine bottles
and Jurassic flowers
and roses and peonies
and a very small dinosaur on her bouquet.

 

"Rawr" means "I love you" in Dinosaur.

 

Protea, Thistles, Peonies and Roses, Oh My!

 

There was a brief rain shower,
during which we all stayed blessedly dry.

There was laughter and dancing
with far away friends,
home with us just for a little while,
and two of the best toasts I have ever heard–
they couldn’t help but be that way
because?

Jessie and Mike have made their lives around people who are wonderful,
just as they are.

 

Mr. & Mrs. Greenholt

 

Making a wedding happen is always hard work–
I’m home sick for the second day in a row because of it.

But every once in a while,
I get to be a part of a day that is so special,
I would do it all over again tomorrow if I had to.

 

Mike, Jessie.

I love you both.
Thank you for Saturday.
May God smile on all of your days together.

 

ps (i miss you, jess.)

 

The Pink Hair. The Redhead.

Advice from a Wedding Coordinator:

 

The Care and Keeping of a Wedding Guest

 

A Wedding Guest is a unique creature.
You and your partner have culled your guest list down to the few,
the proud, the relatives who don’t have access to your embarrassing baby pictures.

Most guests understand small budgets.
Most guests won’t be offended by cracker and cheese plates from Costco,
nor will most guests be offended by a cake and punch only reception.

All guests need a few things, however, to maintain that lack of offense:

 

1) Seats for the ceremony. If this is impossible, for whatever reason, have your officiant cut the ceremony down to 15 minutes maximum.

2) Comfortable temperature.

a) Outdoor ceremonies HAVE TO HAVE SHADE. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you put your guests in the sun, no matter how pleasant the day is, they will be hot, they will be squinting, they will get sweat on their nice clothes, and they will be grouchy. One memorable event I attended had the guests facing into the sun as it set because the bride thought that sunsets were romantic…

In Palm Springs. In 100 degree heat.

Please don’t do this to your guests.

b) Outdoor receptions must have heaters after the sun goes down. You may only need one or two, but if there is no place for guests to get warm, they will leave.

c) If you are going to have dancing indoors, please have fans and/or air conditioning. And crank those bastards up. Everyone will dance longer if they can cool down in between rocking it on the floor. And you really don’t want to get pit stains on The Dress, do you?

(Addendum to the Temperature Clause: If you are having an outdoor wedding, and the ground is soft, please let guests know so they can wear appropriate shoes.)

3) Water, water, water, water. Have a lot of it. Have it easily accessible at all times. If you don’t have a waitstaff, ask a relative or a friend to be specifically in charge of this.

4) It is normal for guests who are flying in to rent a hotel room.
Please let them do this if they wish.

If you offer a private home for those guests to stay in, basic consideration for their needs must be met: A bed or a *comfortable* couch to sleep on, sufficient blankets for those beds; towels and washcloths, shampoo and soap for showers; and basic breakfast foods must be provided. If you have pets, make sure no one has allergies. Additionally, said home should be clean and welcoming.

Remember that out of town guests don’t necessarily know where to get food quickly and easily–avoid inconveniencing people who have dropped hundreds of dollars on plane tickets to get to your wedding.

5) A word about family members or friends who are coming in to help before the wedding:

They are guests, too, and should be treated with courtesy. Remember that if you didn’t have their assistance, you would be paying a great deal of money for the services they are giving you out of love. Express your gratitude often and publicly…even if Aunt Ida is a loud-mouthed, opinionated blowhard. She set up your tables and took out the garbage after your reception. Smile and act grateful–you can bitch about her later.

6) Apologize when things (inevitably) don’t go as planned–even if you weren’t responsible. Someone will end up covering for you–driving out to the grocery store to buy another cake because yours fell into the dirt; pulling flowers from a neighbor’s yard at three in the morning because your florist didn’t adequately prepare the flowers for the ceremony, etc, etc.

If you take the first step of apologizing, people will be *much* more willing to continue covering for you.

7) Try to greet and thank every guest individually. Think of the weddings you’ve attended, and how nice it was to know that the bride and groom took the time to thank you for coming–it’s just a good gesture.

8 ) Favors aren’t necessary, but they are like the individual thanks above–a good gesture. Especially if the favor in question is tasty.

9) If you don’t have a lot of experience with planning events, parties, or haven’t been an integral part of making a wedding happen, please find someone who has this experience, ask for their help, and act on their advice. Your wedding vision may be beautiful, romantic, and meaningful to you and your partner, but if it means making your guests uncomfortable, you will need to adapt that vision.

10) Adapting your vision for the comfort and love of your guests does not mean you won’t get the wedding of your dreams. Keep your guests informed, demonstrate your gratitude, provide shade and water, and your wedding will be remembered with joy.