Showering Is Complicated

Part of the bi-coastal event is that I am having two bachelorette-y gatherings: one in California and one in Atlantic City, NJ.

I received my invite to my NJ shower/party from my matron-of-honor Lisa. We're doing a beach picnic with a happy hour to follow. It's potluck for the food. I've requested of my mom to bring cut-up hot dogs in soy sauce and rice balls, just like the bento we used to bring to Ocean City when I was a kid. Some things still need to be determined though. Are we staying in A.C. that night? Can we afford to? I assume Lisa and Jeannie (NJ bridal party members) will provide the plates and utensils, but I have yet to discuss it with them.

In California, Jen and Amanda will be organizing the day event to the Santa Cruz area. Wine tasting and boardwalk time are planned. Similar to the NJ event in that the beach is involved, but logistics will definitely be more complicated for this leg of the bachelorette tour. How is everyone getting from place to place, when/where will food be eaten, etc. Maybe there should be a Lost Boys theme to this one. Red wine to represent David's blood and rice from Chinese containers. :-)

We Have Cake

I just called Love at First Bite bakery in Berkeley, California, and put a hold on the wedding date. We will be ordering 10 dozen cupcakes of various flavors as our wedding cake. Yummy! Any special requests??

Coming Soon: Invitations and Wedding Rings

We are under 100 days to the wedding now. Days seem to be moving faster! We received the labels for the reply postcards and need to purchase a few more stamps before sending out the second batch of invitations. I put a good amount in the mail today. Hopefully I didn't screw up the weight issue (when I went to the post office two weeks ago the lady assured me the envelope was fine, but you never know).

We also began our search for wedding rings this weekend. We have an appointment at Diamond Design Co. in San Francisco to see their knife-edge band for me. I didn't really think about how hard it would be to match my engagement ring, but very few places have knife-edge designs (but Tiffany's has one on hand). A few places could customized a plain band for you, but I don't want to spend even more money on the simple band. Platinum, as is, is pricey. Plus, we are the hunt for the perfect band for J. He doesn't know what he wants, and since he doesn't wear jewelry usually (including the watch I bought him), I am weary of buying him a platinum band no matter how great the design is. We did see a nice titanium band at Simayof.

We had our second meeting with Bob regarding our wedding ceremony and vows. Our next assignment is to write down all of the things we love about each other and our relationship. Those thoughts might be worked into the vows or some part of the ceremony.

3 Months and 2 Weeks, But Who's Counting

Tonight I pick up our wedding invitations at the printer in Oakland! I bought envelopes and some stamps for reply cards last week, but need to still go to the post office, weigh the complete package, and buy additional stamps. Our invitation is a postcard-esque design with us holding a California "postcard", which is the item in focus, on the front side. The printer thought we had a low-res file because our image was blurry (on purpose). The backside is designed like a postcard you would send, the info for the ceremony on the left, and the addresses for the sites on the right. Included in the envelope will be directions and the reply cards, which are regular postcards.

Also in the works are the bachelorette shower plans for the last weekend in July. Beach picnic in Atlantic City, anyone?

Bridesmaids have all ordered their dresses so now we really need to start thinking about accessories and shoes for them. I got my hair cut yesterday and the lady told me how this one wedding party she did had the bridesmaids wanting to go all out with hair and makeup while the bride was more laid-back. While I don't really care how they wear their hair, I guess I do need to consider it so it doesn't look more done up than mine, which at this pojnt I don't really feel like doing up at all....

Last week I ventured to New Jersey to discuss with my church there the ceremony in November. I want that to be short and sweet. We'll walk in together, a sutra will be chanted in Japanese, we'll use some incense, and then go downstairs for the lunch. I am hoping a local Japanese drum group can perform, too, as our entertainment. We'll have pizza, sub sandwiches, birch beer, and hopefully, a cake from Century Bakery. YUM!

Invites Designed, Photography List Estimated

This week has been full of ups and downs. Our friend Taya designed our wedding invitation to my specs and used a photo our friend Kristy took for us. It turned out great! Now we need to find a place that will print the postcard invites (they won't be mailed as postcards, but were designed to look like one) for a good price. We only need about 75 really, but most places start at 250 or 500! 4by6.com I found had options for 100 and 75, but haven't checked out rocketpostcard or psprint yet.

This week also had us meet with Bob O'Magic, our officiant, to go over the wants of our wedding day. It was a nice dinner and productive meeting with Bob. In addition to the day's outline and timeframes, I thought more about the photos I wanted taken at the ceremony, before it, at the reception, and after the festivities were over. Then on Thursday we met with Jamey to discuss lighting at different spots in the grove, garden, and reception hotel. Another productive meeting!

We also found out a little more about the sound system at the Bancroft, and I measured the railings at the grove site. 18 sections on the top, so we'll need to only use 14. Instead of 5 cranes per strand as originally envisioned, the railing isn't that high so only three will probably fit and look fine. So that means instead of 50 strands of 5 cranes to be hung, I think 85 strands need to be tied to the railing. Good times ahead for the wedding party... :-)

128 Days to Go!

The wedding website is on The Knot and every time I go on to check the checklist, it reminds me just how little time we have before the big day. It's just a little over 4 months. Which is a third of a year, and that makes it seem not so close after all.

A few weeks ago, J and I went to look for flowers for my bouquet and the corsages. I am pretty much decided on hydrangeas and maybe white roses. I think the bridal party will carry white roses (single stem). Aside from the bouquets, there won't be any cut flowers at the wedding. Wedding flowers are EXPENSIVE. Of the four places we visited, two said the price is $175 for the bride's bouquet. That's $125 for two hours labor and $50 for the flowers. Yikes! One place said he wouldn't charge for a labor if it was going to be a bunch of hydrangeas but the cost per stem is $15 and you would five of them to be full enough. Still $75 seems more reasonable. I guess I could wait until the last minute to get my flowers (and just order the boutonnieres and corsages) and wrap up some random stems.

We've hit a lull with the planning it seems. We've folded about 500+ cranes. We booked our photographer, Jamey Thomas, and are in the process of getting our invites designed by Taya Harden. We plan to have our initial meeting with our officiant, Mr. Bob O'Magic, this week to discuss the ceremony. But nothing seems pressing (well, getting the invites coordinated, addressed and mailed is, but I'm not worried about getting it done immediately) and that seems odd.

Moorea and Tahiti, Here We Come... in September

J and I are headed to French Polynesia for 7 days, 7 nights for our honeymoon. We will be leaving a few days after our wedding so we can spend some time with our out-of-town guests after we get married. An overnight flight, five days in an overwater bungalow on Moorea (hopefully with the glass in the floor to see below), a day on Tahiti, and back in time for another friend's wedding!