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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found my shoes / cory’s outfit, i hope / rings are ready
no matter how many times i search for yellow heels on zappos.com, endless.com, piperlime.com, like.com, etc, etc, i keep coming back to these beautiful pair of shoes over and over again: frye ada pleated peep toe pumps in lemon.
they might not have the ankle strap that i really wanted, and they’re not the bright yellow that i originally imagined my shoes to be, but i am still absolutely in love with them. they have a great retro feel to them which i think will go well with my dress’ style and flower fascinator/birdcage veil. and since they’re more of an earthy yellow, they might suit the browns and greens that will dominate most of the wedding anyway, but be subtly tied in by the touches of yellow in flowers and other things that will be yellow that i can’t think of right now.
man, i hope these shoes are everything i’m imagining. i’ve never spent more than $100 on a pair of shoes before. all of my accessories are suppose to add up to $150 or less, but these shoes are gonna cost me $180. eep. at least i’ll get a ton of use out of the shoes after the wedding. i can’t wait to wear them around in the spring.
sheesh. i never thought i would obsess this much over a pair of shoes.
hmm, i guess i should be thinking about cory’s things, too. i’ve neglected his outfit for too long. i’ve already found the perfect tie clip for him and tyler. now we just need some black ties, dark brown shoes, white shirts, some funky socks, pocket squares, belts, cufflinks…argh. oh yeah, and the suits. sigh. i guess i’ve been ignoring his side of things since i know exactly what i want them to look like and the picture makes it look easy enough, beard and all:
in other news, our rings are done. they look incredible. thank you so much to beth (bcyrjewelry on etsy) for such a smooth and quick process. i’m already emotionally attached to them and i haven’t even gotten them yet! can you believe how gorgeous they are?
as you can see, we decided to carry on the theme of our day into the rings. we totally could not afford some kind of fancy metal for the rings, so they’re a simple sterling silver. no matter. it’s the symbol of the rings that matter most to me. i want to put mine on already.
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bunch of stuff done
contrary to what it feels like, we’ve actually gotten a lot done since our last post:
- deposit made on birdcage veil headpiece
- ceremony musician deposit sent + final songs selected
- made edits to original catering proposal + will call monday to finalize
- met with officiant to discuss the ceremony structure + final readings selected
- measured ring finger sizes and requested custom wedding band order on etsy
- finished letterpressing invitation suites (now it’s just a matter of buying stamps and putting everything together. i’ll be sure to post them before sending them out)
but we’re still a few weeks late on:
- booking the hotel room for our wedding night
- booking our honeymoon flights
- making/buying the favors (will most likely be tiny 1 oz jars of our favorite jam)
- contacting the people we want reading our readings
that’s not too bad, though. i’m still having trouble finding a grey suit for cory that his best man can also purchase for a decent price (according to my budget, it needs to be around $90. hahaha, we’ll see about that). i’m also still looking for the perfect pair of heels. i’m pretty sure it’s gonna come down to finding a dyeable pair in the style i like to get the exact color of yellow i’m looking for. it’s been impossible otherwise.
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antiques / dress is done / accessories
over the christmas break i went to pennsylvania to hang out with cory’s family for christmas. while i was there mary kindly showed me her milk glass collection and salt and pepper collection:
awesome, right? click the photos to make them bigger.
i’m planning on using two of her cake pedestals to display desserts. one of them is pictured on the far right of the milk glass photo. i even saw that exact cake pedestal at a local antique store for $75 and almost got it! good thing i didn’t. as for the salt and pepper shakers: a select few of them will be placed on each of the tables at the reception. those log ones in the back left of the third photo are my absolute favorite.
my dress is finally done, and ahead of schedule, too! i saw pictures of it earlier this week and it’s just gorgeous. i’d show pictures but i don’t want cory to see it until the big day.
i’m gonna be custom ordering a yellow flower headpiece with detachable birdcage veil through etsy soon (veil will be kept on for the ceremony then removed for the reception). since the flower will be somewhat extravagant, i don’t think i’ll be wearing any additional jewelry, but i might wear some simple pearl earrings just to finish everything off. the headpiece will be like a combination of these photos:
i’m also on the lookout for some cute yellow heels:
SWOON! totally perfect.
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vintage stamps for envelopes
i’ve been looking for vintage flora/fauna stamps on ebay to put on our invitation envelopes. there are a lot of great choices out there, but what follows are my absolute favorite ones. just imagine them on either a chartreuse green or brown envelope, clustered in groups of two or three…they’ll be perfect!
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huge website updates / florist + guitarist finalized
while supporting cory at an art sale put on by one of my studios today, i worked extra hard on the website whenever there was down time (there was lots of it). tons of little pictures were scattered throughout many of the pages, almost everything was organized and updated with additional information, and most importantly, the hotel accommodations page went up!
we met our florist and guitarist this past week and loved both. our florist (who might even be reading this–hi!) made us (aka, me) *especially* excited. there was a small paragraph in her proposal that summarized the whole “look” of the wedding. being able to read my vision on paper, the vision that i’d been planning and daydreaming about for the past year, made me smile really big. i can’t wait for everything to come together.
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