forget the guest book

i bought this beautiful poster instead, from etsy seller fancyprints.  guests sign the leaves, and then you put it in a frame and hang it up in your house.  hooray!  i can't wait for it to arrive. 

the kids were nice enough to come with me to the party store yesterday and pick out decorations for the reception.  today i'm hoping to put together a "sample" table and then decide once for all if i'm going with the brown or green tablecloths.  i'll be honest: i am not doing real linen.  i'm not even doing paper.  i'm going plastic.  i know it's not as nice at paper or fabric, but it's also a million times cheaper, doesn't have to be returned (if rented), and can all be thrown away at the end.  the plan is for us to do the clean-up the day after the wedding, and i don't want to spend all day doing it.  i think i've come up with a way to make plastic look cute, so we'll see!   

rhapsodic

so i'm thinking about using rhapsody to DJ our wedding.  anyone have any thoughts on this?  have you used rhapsody?  do you like it?  have any tips?  we'll still probably need someone to man the computer on occasion and keep things flowing as well, so it won't all be robotic.  they just seem to have a HUGE library and that means i won't have to buy CD's and MP3's we might not ever listen to again.

i also wouldn't complain if you had more song ideas!  not just romantic, we're dancing in a spotlight shit either; i need some happy, dancing music too!

ooh, and i just discovered this rilo kiley song,

brass tacks

when i first saw these tissue paper pom poms, i knew they would be perfect for my wedding reception.
for one thing, they are crazy pretty, for another, they look like dahlias, which are my favorite flower.  unfortunately, dahlias won't be in season in may, so i can't use real ones; these pom poms kind of make up for that.  month ago i ordered a ton of tissue paper from dick blick (they have great paper!), and made a test pom pom that's still hanging up in our living room.  they're fairly easy to make, but i learned early on that you do have to be kind of fiddly with them.  you need to use a bone folder to make the creases sharp, and unless you have the most amazing pair of scissors EVER, you need to use an xacto knife to get the points sharp.  i made about four pom poms last night, and by the time i was done, my back was fussy from bending over, and i was shocked to realized i still have TWENTY TWO more to make, at the very least.  all this homemade wedding stuff is delightful and charming, to be sure, but sometimes i could kick myself. 

i also understand susan's pain quite a bit better now...

invitation nation

lately my favorite thing to do on monday nights is to assemble invitations while watching it's always sunny in philadelphia.  i'm sure that's a time-honored bridal tradition somewhere.  tonight D helped with my little invitation sweatshop.  earlier this weekend i roped the girlchild into helping.  i have yet to make the boychik lick envelopes, but he did have to go through the agonizing process of picking out paper.  in short, we're all working hard.

we also went to costco and cash and carry this week to price out food for the reception.  did i tell you that we went to see a caterer?  and that they wanted $3,000 for soup and sandwiches and salad?   yeah, i had a slight heart attack.  nothing too major, mind you, because the best thing about being us is that 1) we've both catered before, 2) we have a lot of catering/food service relative and 3) we're willing to roll our sleeves up and get into the food ourselves.  in fact, today we saw some things that gave us a million good ideas, and all i will say is this; the theme is decidedly picnic-y.  i'm happy!

so far things are coming together nicely.  i'm not as stressed out as i should be (or expected) but maybe that will just come closer to the actual date.  we'll see! 

going to see the caterer today!

wedding plans are moving forward at an amazing clip.  for a while there i really felt like we were not getting anything done, but i think we were just percolating ideas.  the invites are 85% done (if we hadn't had printer and computer issues, they would be DONE and not giving me a headache), my dress is here, we have a plan for the PA system and decorations, our rings have been settled on (and will be paid for this afternoon), we've got an officiant, and it feels like most of the big ticket items are covered.  whew.

it probably feels like there is never enough time to plan and throw a wedding.  also, i really want a soda bar that is all rainbow and crazy cute.  if we're going to have soda for our guests, then it can double as a cute decoration.  

i spent a big chunk of last night

working on invitations.  just so you know.  i'm not totally slacking off. 

four wheels

i worked on my registry today, after my mom pointed out that people have started asking her where we're registered.  is it weird that i put a bike on there?  after all, my bike got stolen last year, and D doesn't even have one!  so, in fact, i put two bikes on the registry.  we can go ride our bikes together if we get them, which i think is something nice married people do.