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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Colors, Duh!



I write "duh!" because I meant to post on this a while ago, but it completely left my brain.

Since we have been engaged since last May, and talking about getting married for more than a year prior to that, I have been thinking about colors and going back and forth among probably six or seven different possible color combinations. My mind has been going something like this:
Well, bright definitely.
But not too bright. This isn't kindergarten.
Right.
So tropical-ish colors.
Tropical? That doesn't go at all with the rustic sensibility.
Ugh. Fine.
So.
So?
Ok, how about raspberry and lime?
Chris thinks it's too mature for us and what we're going for.
Jerk.
What about shades of green?
Green is my favorite color.
Too much green. I mean, I like green, but I feel like the wedding needs more than just green and neutrals. We're more dynamic than that.
How about something like this?
Oooh! I like that. I'm not so big on on orange OR yellow, though. But I like it.
Fine! Let's do it!
But I found this palette and I like it, too!
Yeah!
Oooh! Oooh! What about this one?
Bold! Fun!
Would my 'maids hate it? Is it too...much?
Ack!
Which one!
I don't know!!!

This went on, circling round and round different color options.
Hours spent on color-palette building sites.

Finally.
Here's the color palette we've chosen (first, I beg, vehemently, for your forgiveness of my horrendous skillz with piecing together different pictures I like):




Bright.
Young.
Fun.
Bold.
GINGHAM! That goes with rustic/country.
Interesting.
But not over-the-top, in my opinion.
I love red.
I love turquoise.
I own cowboy boots in both colors.
I mix these colors in my wardrobe all the time.
Chris is on board.

Done deal!

BONUS: my girls think it's cool and fun. We're talking about possibly doing turquoise dresses with red shoes!


Now it's time for a nap.
Exhaustion.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Decisions on Dates

Man oh man! Dates are hard to decide on!
Everyone has an opinion and many people have conflicts.
Between us, we've got 110+ immediate family members who live on both coasts, in the south, and in the middle of the country.
Then, we have to consider ourselves especially since we are at a stage in our lives where things are changing and I am entering a new stage of my career and education and that Chris is searching for new employment...not to mention the possibility of us entering the military next year (hey, just because I didn't get it this year does not mean I won't get it next year).
Even so, we've sort of dwindled it down to some tentative dates (read: don't book any flights just yet!)

Engagement Party:
Saturday May 30, 2010

Wedding:
Saturday May 29, 2011


Even though these dates are not necessarily permanent, it's exciting to have them down and have the most important people (immediate family & wedding party) on board with them.
Both weekends are Memorial Day weekend, so it'll be important to make sure that everyone knows about it far in advance. The good news? It means that those who are beholden to an academic year will have a 3-day weekend to play with.

The more and more we make decisions and get the parents involved, the more real it all becomes...thrilling and exciting.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Results and Photos



Clearly, I have not posted in the past few days.
Why?
Good question.
As a graduate student, I have been applying for internships -- all with the military (Navy and Air Force). Results came out on Friday morning. I did not get an internship. As you might guess, this news sucked....correction: sucks.
Thus, I have not been doing much wedding planning as of late.
The only thing I have been doing much of is having a pity party.

What has happened, however, is that just over a week ago Chris and I had an engagement photo session. Pretty normal for a couple planning a wedding. What was unusual was that we had eight photographers.
Huh?
Yeah.
Eight.
Chris is into photography (www.chrislangsdale.com) and is part of a MeetUp group for photography enthusiasts. Many of the group members are new professionals who are looking to build their photography business. We took advantage of that. We invited group members to join us at a public location (a park) and get an - apparently rare - opportunity to add an engagement session to their portfolio.
So.
Eight photographers, all with different levels of knowledge, skill, and equipment.
No guarantees on the quality of the photos, but the only cost was an afternoon.

We had a blast.
I felt like a rock star.
This is what it looked like to an outside observer:
But that's only four photographers.

Chris isn't super comfortable with having his photo taken...but I am. It was insane, and fascinating.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Here are some of the favorites among the ones we have received from the photographers so far:





(Above photos by Victoria Medina)








(Above photos by Danielle Stolman)


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Location, Location, Location



I apologize for not putting this up yesterday, as I meant to, but the day ended up going longer than I thought it would.
Yesterday, I went with my parents (read: father, stepmother, mother, and mother's fiance) to view Rush Ranch as a potential wedding venue. Chris and I had visited together several weeks ago - in the pouring rain - and had absolutely loved it.
Rush Ranch is part of the Solano County land trust here in Northern California, essentially a private park with upwards of 2,000 acres to its credit.
We loved it, and so wanted the parents' thumbs-up, because it is beautiful, isolated, rustic, fun, and youthful. It also has lots of benefits like few requirements - e.g. no 'required' caterers, and relaxed time limits - a guest house that sleeps 5-7 comfortably, a projector and projector screen, indoor spaces, outdoor spaces, great photo op areas, and more.

So, taking the parents there, I was nervous and hopeful for their approval - a similar feeling to the one I had when I was first introducing them to Chris.
Here is some of what we saw:








I have tons more photos, but I think this gives a good sense of how it looks.
We were there at sunset, so I got some photos of that, but since my camera just a simple point-and-click, it doesn't look that great.

Ultimately, the parents decided that this place has some serious drawbacks: no A/C in any of the buildings, probability of bees/wasps/bugs during the wedding (we're having it during summertime), and being kind of far from where they live.
Fortunately, there are solutions for many of these concerns.
They hemmed and hawed a bit, and showed little to no enthusiasm. They all kept saying things about this being my wedding and that I should have it how I want it to be, and how the place suits me and Chris, and things like this. Good things, but no excitement, no happiness that we seemed to have found our wedding venue.
And, they all gave the so-desired thumbs-up.

So it looks like we have our wedding venue!
I am absolutely excited about it and all the possibilities that come with it.

One more step, one more decision down in me and Chris creating our perfect wedding (which will be appropriately imperfect).

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Logo

One of the things I decided a while ago about the wedding is that I wanted to make sure that it presented cohesively. That is: no mish-mosh of craziness for me...if there's to be craziness it will be intentional in discernible as such.
To that end, at my request Chris put his Photoshop skills to work some to design a logo for our wedding. It's now posted on the right side of the blog page, but here it is once more just for good measure:
We went with the "L" because that's Chris's last initial, which will also be mine following the wedding (yes, I'm changing my name...more about that later, most likely).
The interlocking "C"s for our first initials, which seemed an obvious choice.
The cowboy boot is significant for us because Chris and I go country dancing (think: line dances, two-stepping, waltzes, and swing) nearly every week and it has been a really large part of our relationship since the very beginning.
We added a celtic knot in the shape of a heart because my engagement ring has a celtic-knot sort of feel to it, and we plan to carry that over into mine and Chris's wedding rings. Although we do both also have Irish heritage, I am inclined to believe that this is only a minor player in our decision.

The thing I like about this is that we can change the color rather easily and add it to many things for the wedding: save-the-date cards, invitations, napkins, stamps, return address labels, thank you cards, escort cards, favors, and etc.

I really fell in love with this idea and I hope that it is something that sticks in everyone's minds when they walk away from our wedding.

Monday, February 15, 2010

We're Getting Married!

Okay, so maybe it's not a huge revelation. We've been dating for 3+ years and have been engaged since last May. So, no earth-shattering news to be had, but we are, in fact going to be getting married and...who knew?...it's a pretty complicated affair.
Wait.
I take that back.
Getting married isn't so complicated.
Having a *wedding* is. Especially when both the bride and groom have a family size (including uncles, cousins, and grandparents, etc.) that hits nearly 130 people.
Even better: since my graduate school requires an internship, we're waiting on an answer which determines a lot. In fact, we find out some information this Friday...additional details to possibly come on Monday. Insanely anxiety-inducing.

For the next couple of days, however, I will be planning on having the wedding be at the earliest of the date possibilities just in case.

Because I just want to get this blog about our upcoming nuptials and our life together up and running, this will have to suffice for now and trust that more information will be forthcoming shortly.