John's Ring

Saturday we went by Powell's to get a book for John. On our way out I saw a stand advertising a ring at Harry Ritchie's. I mentioned how I didn't like it, and John said he did so we dipped inside to take a closer look. A little while later we had each picked out our favorite bands. John ended up loving the design on the poster thing, and so we'll go get that today. We don't have enough extra funds to get my ring too, but that's okay - I'm going dress shopping this weekend! I'm not sure which one he ended up getting, but it's one of these two:


I hope he's as excited as I would be. He's got his groomsmen situation together, and his wedding band. He's just about done with his necessity in the wedding situation. He just needs to decide what to make the groomsmen wear, and what he's wearing. Then he's just in charge of the reception flowers. Come to think of it, there's not much either one of us has to do at this point. Make a couple calls to get chairs and things, figure out what flowers we're using across the board, and that's it. Other than make ourselves pretty of course. Hopefully someone will buy the dress I got a few months ago to help with funds.

Or I'll get a Johnathan that's willing to go to the bank and take out a loan...

Tradition

I received an e-mail with a 'hey visit our site and check this forum out' theme from one of the wedding sites I frequent. It was on the topic of what traditional things you're leaving out. I realized that as traditional as I feel... we're really leaving out quite a bit of the 'wedding' feel of things. Honestly though, I don't think it's a super bad thing.

We're not planning a tens of thousands of dollars extravaganza. The three thousand and some change is more than we can afford.

No one is giving me away. Last time I checked I was the master of my own destiny, yes?

No father figure walking me down the aisle. This seems to be tied to arranged marriages or something... I'm not sure and don't care to research. I'm getting married to John and it seems silly to have anyone else walk me down the aisle. --EDIT: Grandma's walking me down the aisle, although...she's not much of a 'father' figure now is she?--

No veil. This tradition seems to be fading pretty fast anyway across the board. --EDIT: Yeah.. I did end up getting a veil. I can't help it, sometimes I'm just a girl! --

No aisle runner, no ring bearer, no ushers, no 'his side' vs. 'her side.' Seriously... we don't have large enough family coming to count and John doesn't really have any... so it seems pointless. The whole processional bit is so overdone. Although we will have a flower girl, because every girl wants to be a flower girl so I decided to make that wish come true.

Not walking down the aisle to 'here comes the bride' or other 'classical' piece of music. I'm not telling you what I'm walking to though - you'll know it when you hear it.

Traditional vows. My grandpa is officiating the ceremony, and we're writing our own vows... should be fun!

No garter toss / bouquet toss. Because, really - we hardly have any totally single friends, it's awkward if you're in a relationship and catch one because then it's like ha ha you're next, and I'm not going to throw a bouquet to two people, lol. -- EDIT: We were told we just 'had' to do these. So... apparently we are... --

No cake cutting. I don't know if this will be totally cut out, but I'm kind of thinking it should. Dessert comes with the meals we're ordering anyway and I don't like all that... attention. Saves $ too. -- EDIT: We are doing the cake cutting on a cake just for John and I --

No photographer. Well, there will be a photographer, maybe even two. Plus I expect everyone that comes to bring their camera so we can get a diversified look at things and print the ones we like to put in an album.

No gift registry. Nope. We want and need money. If everyone we expect to come gives us $60 it should be enough to mostly off set cost... mostly, I think. But that includes children and the unemployed so... yeah, not happening.

No save the dates, no boring ol' paper invitations. No unity candle, or anything of the sort. No stuffy formal attire. --EDIT: Kind of stuffy formal attire... John decided he wanted a 3 piece suit, and my dress is all kinds of formal --

Honestly we just want the people that come to have fun. We're only inviting those we love, not blanket inviting everyone. I want it to have the feel of any of the parties we have. Although with better food, and hopefully a lot less drunken drama. It seems silly that people spend on average 24 thousand dollars to create a day that no one will remember. Spending thousands on a dress to wear once. Getting things you'll never use again.

Giant Boobs

Yes, it's official, I now have the biggest boobs ever. As far as I can tell, I haven't grown anywhere else, and may have even lost inches elsewhere. However, now my boobs are so large that my lovely wedding dress I purchased is no longer going to zip over them. I guess that's what you get for buying a dress that fits perfectly.

So I've posted the dress for sale on Craigslist. I'm hoping that it will get some attention, I want to sell it so I can get a new one. I spent all day yesterday researching, and have a few dresses I really like that are close to half off what I paid for my dress. If nothing else, I can get my dress for $80 in a bigger size and pocket the difference (since I fail at shopping and all).

The wedding is getting super close! We've finally started to start to work on invitations. I've got a couple people I've asked to work on photography, but I'm definitely thinking that I want Colleen to do it. For some reason when going down the guest list for photographer options I totally forgot about her. I remembered though! I don't know if she'll want to do it though... but I figure if she does the shots will be a lot less blah and a lot more sexy and fluid than if I go with the family friend who's a photographer. I'm planning on asking everyone to bring their cameras anyway so we'll have lots of coverage.

I've instructed my grandpa to get ordained - and he told me he'd find a church within a month. John's got a plan for the reception (I think). There aren't green linens available in anything other than napkins - so I think I'm leaning towards an ivory and red blend. Like red going one way diagonally, then ivory on top in the other direction. Candles + roses = ta-da!

Ceremony wise we need to figure out how many people are coming ASAP so we can book chairs. I don't think it'll be more than 50. Then we can also tell the caterers, since our dishes aren't cheap - it'll be nice to know how much we're shelling out as soon as we can.

This wedding stuff is expensive! With getting a new dress, or even just altering the one I have... wedding bands, veil, under the dress stuffs, shoes, makeup, John's clothes, the arch, flowers for bouquets, boutineers, decoration, tulling, attendant gifts, invitations, chairs, catering, possibly a permit (Note to self: Check on that!), hotel room for the night of - and possibly the night before... there's SO much output. I don't think we're going to be able to afford a honeymoon :(

Good thing we're asking for money as presents. If people give us $50 a piece we might be able to offset the cost of the wedding. Still no honeymoon, but it'll be like people paid for themselves to enjoy the food and such. Still, most of our guests don't have $50 to spare so... I don't know.

I'm thinking of having John take out a loan to pay for the wedding... but I really don't want to. However, as it looks right now - we're not going to be able to afford anything other than the food for people. Le sigh.

We're getting there... 201 Days

In 201 days, I will be joined officially with the love of my life. I can't wait! I have completely fallen in love with birdcage veils. They're fabulously feminine and edgy with a touch of retro flare. I think they'll work if I decide to chop off all my hair like I've got the itch to do.



I'm thinking of doing little bundles of cherry blossoms in vases, with the candles and flower petals (I'm thinking yellows maybe some pinks), and then the favors all around. They'll all be roughly the same height. Cherry blossoms have the colors I love -pinks and browns, with a little Asian fusion feel.



We've got the place semi-booked, we just have to give them a 25% deposit - shouldn't be too big of a deal. I've got my lovely bridesmaids, my dress, and lots of fun ideas for hair and such. Getting ideas together for centerpieces and a few ideas for fun favors together. I've been working on the playlist, I really need help finding some fun dance songs but absolutely no one wants to help me for some reason.



Did I mention we've got our cake picked out as well? I don't remember and am too lazy to check. Strawberries on top of pound cake. Just a small one, as everyone will get their desserts with meal. As soon as we get the deposit in we're going to make our invitations. I plan on getting my veil soon, and finding a fabulous headpiece to go with it. I've already got the earrings and necklace I'm wearing, I want to find some cool anklets or something as well. I need to get tan, and touch up my tattoos. Other than that and a bunch of tiny details things are starting to fall together. Now I just need to find large sums of money from somewhere...

Location

Tomorrow John, my grandma and myself are going to see all we need to do to make McMenamin's Sandtrap work for us. Yay! I'm sure we'll go over the menu - which I kind of already have picked out, and all the things that need to happen to make the ceremony of my dreams (the part of the wedding I actually care about) a reality.

In other news, I've decided that red should be implemented a bit more. I am, after all, getting married to a half Chinese man. There aren't too many traditional Chinese things we can implement besides color and putting red envelopes for money in the reception locale because of the fact that he doesn't have a family. Hm, I wonder if Lithuanians have cool customs? So I figure I'll throw red into the bouquets, and we'll do the money drop box with double happiness symbol and red envelopes to implement a smidgen of that side of him.

My grandfather agreed to be our officiant, so that's fantastic, we just need to do the ordaining part of that. My grandma knows what kind of cake we're having - just a small one for John and I since dessert comes with the catering plan. Check check and check! We're almost back on track. Will be once we book Sandtrap officially. Yay!

... now what?

Dilemma

I don't really care too terribly much about the reception location. I just want my perfect ceremony on the beach and for lots of gorgeous pictures to be taken and to have music and dancing and fun times. John wants to have a coursed meal for all our friends. So we know that the event has to be catered. Beyond that... it's pretty open. We have three main options as of right now.

The Loft: PICTURES It's open and large - space for 250. Due to our date, it's going to be $500 to rent for the whole day. Catering would be extra on top of this, as would decorations. There aren't any beaches close by so ceremony would have to be set somewhere driving's distance away.

Mcmenamin's SandTrap: PICTURES Same wooden vibe as the Loft, but with McMenamin's style decorations. Location is free with a $2,000 catering minimum. We would need to provide centerpieces and any additional decorations we felt necessary. Beach is fairly close by.

Cannon Beach Community Hall: PICTURES Wooden interior, much like the other two - fireplace (not that it'll be used in July). $600 to rent for whole day. Catering and all decorations would need to be provided by us. Easy beach access.

So, which should it be?

Where to have reception?

• Loft at Red Building - Astoria
• McMenamin's Sandtrap - Gearhart
• Cannon Beach Community Hall

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Bridal Party

Hurray! I now will have Brittany, Azurell, and Tiffany with me on the big day. I love each of you three girls more than I could ever express and you've each helped me grow, thrive, and love as much as possible. I cannot express how lucky I am to have you three wonderful and diverse women in my life and I cherish each and every one of you.

Love!