another bridal shower / some engagement photos
livejournal readers: i’ve already posted this. move along if you’ve read it already!
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i am such a lucky girl. on friday luci, my boss at ladderback design, told me we needed to go to a client meeting in canton at 5 pm. when we walked into helen’s garden to meet the client, i was, instead, greeted by a smiling kat and whit (my boss and co-worker at gilah press + design) at one of the upstairs dinner tables. extremely confused, i took a quick look around and saw a huge box with a bow on it and a big bouquet of flowers next to that. a surprise bridal shower! again! of course i started crying since i was so flattered and taken aback. we talked and ate lots of amazing appetizers: hummus, shrimp al ajillo, fruit and fromage and gorgonzola artichoke spinach dip. each one was insanely tasty. a couple hours later and our boys came over to meet up with us. they enjoyed burgers while we sipped on many more glasses of red and white wine. my gift from kat and luci was a gift certificate for an ancient body ritual service at renew organic day spa. luci remembered how much i loved it at renew when i got my eyebrows and nails done there. here’s the description for the service:
This indulgent ritual begins with a traditional moisturizing body scrub to remove dry and damaged skin cells, while nourishing the deeper layers of healthy skin. Once your skin is polished to perfection, you will be guided into deep relaxation with a soothing massage. Next, a mask of herbs, spices, and essential oils will be applied to your entire body, followed by an aromatic skin moisturizing treatment.
sounds good, right? i’m definitely planning on doing the treatment close to the wedding day to help me escape a little.
and though beth (other co-worker at gilah press) couldn’t make it to the shower, she and whit had gone in together on the gift in the big box. when i unwrapped the first item i realized they had gotten me the 8″, 10″ and 12″ martha stewart porcelain cake stands that we wanted to use for the cupcakes at our wedding! they are so freakin’ pretty in person.
since our new friends chung and alex were nearby, jacob (whit’s husband) called them and asked if we could all come over and keep the fun going at his place. of course they were ready for us with more yummy drinks and poker. so awesome.
saturday was the day of our engagement session! it all began with an early morning blow dry/straighten at padma salon. next was a quick shopping trip to cloud 9 clothing where i picked up a cute new blue coat. then we had our engagement session with jocelyn of studio mathewes, our wedding photographer, up and down howard street, in lexington market, near the rita’s at the inner harbor and in and around downtown baltimore. it was cold and misty out but we managed to stick it out with smiles on our faces. she even managed to get a few of the photos online already before leaving for the week. they are SO beautiful. i can’t stop looking at them! check them out here! isn’t she the best? (oh, and that cute new blue coat was purchased specifically for these photos!)
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book your hotel room / random things
we decided to drop our block of rooms with the hyatt (no one had reserved there yet anyway) and just stick to having rooms at the residence inn bethesda because of how BEAUTIFUL they were when we checked them out. our guests are going to be very pleased if they decide to book a room there. we’re also hosting the rehearsal dinner in the courtyard of the marriott on saturday night, so it’s also going to be very convenient. cory managed to extend the deadline for the hotel rooms’ reduced rates to april 1st, so please remember to book your room as soon as possible. i’ve edited both the accommodations page and map / directions page to reflect these changes.
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random things:
we finally dropped our garments off at the tailor. my dress will be ready next tuesday and cory’s suit will be ready next wednesday. that was the biggest thing i was worried about, and i’m so glad both of those things are being taken care of so quickly.
i had a makeup consultation last friday. it was very fun and educational. i’ve been putting makeup on everyday because it’s too easy not to, especially since it makes a huge difference!
i have a few emails to respond to (the florist, officiant, and DJ are all waiting to hear from me!), so i’m hoping to get back to all of them before the end of the day friday. i also need to call the caterer and clear up some additional confusion regarding setup/breakdown times. it’s the little things that have started to get to me. i just need to take a deep breath, tell myself to stop being so lazy and get them out of the way!
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surprise bridal shower
so when cory’s parents came to baltimore to help us finalize a bunch of wedding details, i had no clue that they would also be throwing me a surprise bridal shower! cory’s aunt and uncle even came up from virginia to join in! i was completely surprised and overwhelmed. if you already read my livejournal you will have already read the following paragraph and seen the accompanying photos (sorry):
we got a ton of great gifts, mostly for the kitchen, which is great. aunt sue caught me off guard with a super sentimental gift: she crocheted this beautiful blue doily for me using a pattern that her grandmother had taught her, and she used her great-grandmother’s crochet hook to make it. what touched me the most was that a photo of aunt sue with her grandmother was included with the doily, and i totally lost it when i saw that. it was so touching and flattering. here’s a good sequence that documents my reaction:
for the rest of the photos please check out the set i put together on my flickr here.
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wood slices in progress
cory’s parents worked away at creating beautiful wooden slices to be used in the centerpieces (and possibly elsewhere) at the wedding. here’s the email and photos i got from mary, cory’s mom:
after 3 hours of tough work the wood slices are shaping up nicely. the wood is damp so we are letting it dry and will plain it one more time later this week. we started with logs from fallen trees in the yard. used the chainsaw to cut off 2 inch slices. then we put the slices through the plainer to smooth them. this wasn’t going too well since the wood is wet and bogged down the machine. so we now have it drying downstairs next to the gas fireplace and will attempt to plain them later this week.
aren’t they the best in-laws ever?
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ceremony readings
am i allowed to post our readings before the ceremony? well, i want to anyway. the three people we’ve asked to do the readings all agreed to it, so that’s exciting. the readings will be scattered throughout the ceremony to break it up a little.
(right after greeting)
What is a friend? by C. Raymond Beran
Read by David Uribe (one of my closest friends)
What is a friend? I will tell you. It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They seem to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard, you can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you. They understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you.
With a friend, you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meanness, and absurdities and, in opening them up, they are lost dissolves on the white ocean of their loyalty. A friend understands. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse them, neglect them, tolerate them. Best of all, you can keep still with them. It makes no matter. They like you. They are like fire that purges to the bone. They understand. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them and hope with them. Through it all and underneath they see, know, and love you.
A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.
(before vows/ring exchange)
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
Read by Mary Griffin (cory’s mother)
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.” “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
(before ceremony closing)
All the Leaves Say Yes, by Ruth Daigon
Read by Jean Wisenbaugh (my mentor from the Maryland Science Center)
In the other, the sunken life,
in the world of green feedings,
all the leaves say yes, meadows
of curved stems say yes and warmth
flows from the depth of this yes
out toward horizons where hills
are still transparent and the ground
white with drippings from the moon.
Waking from this memory of green,
we’ll face the skirmish of each day,
with hostages retrieved from the night.
This time will be different, new patterns
for the feet, wings for the eye,
rhythms for the heart, and our names
everywhere like grass.
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shoes / invites / guestbook / cory’s parents are visiting
i’ve been wearing my pretty yellow heels around the house to start breaking them in. they’re so cozy and i have a feeling i won’t need to take them off once the reception gets bumpin’, which i’ve read is quite common.
we’ve decided to start finding black shoes for cory instead of using the brown shoes we got. when tyler put in his order for his suit, the guy who was helping him said it would go much better with black ones, so we trust him. they’re both going to be wearing black ties anyway so that’s works for me.
we finally finished off the invitations earlier this week and got them sent out. here’s how the envelope looked with with mailing label and stamp:
whitney surprised me today by telling me that she wants to make our guestbook as a wedding gift to us! what a sweetheart. she’s a very talented bookmaker and is very sensitive to making sure things are perfect (she prints almost everything at gilah press + design, after all) so i cannot wait to see what she comes up with. thanks so much, whit.
cory’s parents are coming to baltimore tonight so that we can take care of a bunch of wedding stuff tomorrow. we’ll be checking out the hotels to clear up rehearsal dinner details, visiting the ceremony/reception site, and meeting with the caterer to make final edits to the contract and ask them lots of questions.
i made some small edits to the vendor list. i think we’re nixing the “local activities” section. it’s a little overwhelming to think about adding to it right now.
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more stuff done / invitations are almost ready
i ended up caving in to those gorgeous yellow heels. unfortunately i had to return them due to an obvious defect on the side of the right shoe, but other than that, they were beautiful. i can’t wait to get my replacement pair.
we took today off to take care of a bunch of errands, wedding-related and not. including what we did today, i couldn’t believe how much we’ve been able to get done in the past two weeks. i returned a bustier that didn’t fit me correctly (already got a replacement in the mail thanks to a great deal on ebay), cory purchased his shoes at dsw (he also got a new pair of casual shoes), purchased cory’s suit at men’s wearhouse, got our bonne maman raspberry jam favors in the mail (adorable little 1oz jars so that people can take them on the plane if needed), ordered a custom stamp at baumgarten to use as a finishing touch on the invitations, sent out a check to our awesome florist (hi, ellen!), and made an appointment with our caterer to go over the final details that we’re still 100% confused about.
here’s a little peek at our wedding invitations. huge thanks goes out to my gilah press + design peers for some final critiques and a special thanks to whitney for cutting everything down for me on the big, scary paper cutter. (i think i finally get it!) since the photos were taken, they’ve been stuffed into their envelopes but still need that final rubber stamp touch and their mailing labels:
invitation card
three colors printed on on mr. french’s cement green backed with waste not paper’s chocolate brown
rsvp card
two colors printed on mr. french’s cement green (front) and mr. french’s whitewash (back)
envelopes
waste not paper’s chartreuse green with vintage postage stamps and buff scorebak sticker paper for the mailing label. heart monogram will be hand-stamped onto the back.
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