Hi readers,
Um, as you can tell I’ve been less than faithful updating this blog. But the good news is, I’m trying again! My little sister and I have started a cooking blog over at sisterkitchens.wordpress.com, so if you’re in the mood for something NON-wedding, check us out!
I took a big, if sort of silly, step today in cementing the name issue I’ve been struggling with for the past….uh….13 or so months (side note: holy crap, less than 4 months til the wedding! Invites are coming soon, dress fitting is coming soon, things are heating up!). Today I got myself a new gmail account in my married name. Yep, you can now reach me at emily.mylasthislast@gmail.com. It’s only a big deal because I’ve changed my mind about 100 times as far as changing/not changing my name. First I was going to take his name. Then I was going to keep mine. Then we were going to blend our names into a new last name (well, ok, he was never really all that into this idea, but I was!). Then we were going to go with two last names for both of us. Then I was going to keep my name. Then we were going to blend. Then we were going to hyphenate.
But I finally decided I’m going to go with two last names: Emily Mylast Hislast. The extra cool part is that he’s going to do it too! (Hopefully, although I fear changing his name might be complicated, especially since we’re moving to Texas about….three weeks after the wedding? What, I didn’t mention that before?). It may make for some complications in form filling out, child-naming, etc. etc. but I think it’s the best way to 1) keep my own last name and 2) share a last name with him. Those were the two big factors in the decision, and this is the best compromise. 
What do you think? Should we have just changed our last name to Universe instead?
We decided at our last meeting with the florist to line the aisle with shepard’s hooks, from which we would hang small floral arrangements–and then we could move these arrangements to the tables for the reception! Brilliant and money-saving, no? Yes. I think this will brighten up our already lovely ceremony space, and it will be super easy to move them from one location to another. Look how pretty hanging arrangements can be:
But my florist, brilliant though she may be, seems to have some communication and/or orginization issues, because I thought she was providing the vases for the shepard’s hook (or at least that she was going to look through her collection and see if she had them). But in her last email to me, she asked “How tall are the vases on the sheperd’s hooks going to be?” Erm, I thought. So my mom and I finally did a little research tonight (I’ve had this email sitting in my in-box unanswered for at least a week, unfortunately) but the question is far from dealt with. How do you go about hanging a vase from a sheperd’s hook anyway?
Look at these pictures, and the one above–you can’t even really tell how the flowers are attached!
We finally found this on weddingchannel.com:
Not bad, although I don’t really like how the vase looks all caddywhompus, like it’s supposed to be hanging straight but failing.
And this one, you can kind of see how there’s something (maybe fishing line?) wrapped beneath the lower lip of the mason jar. I actually love the mason jar look, and they would be very inexpensive–in fact I bet between my mom and I we have at least half of what we’d need–but I worry it’s too “rustic” for the rest of our decor.
Pretty, eh? And how much do the containrs really matter? I am sort of at the point in planning all of this ridiculousness where I feel like, ok, there will be food, cake, an officiant, I’ll be beautiful, M will be handsome, and at the end of the day he’ll be my husband and that’s what matters.
So anyway, my mom and I are on the hunt for a) mason jar or b) small/medium vases with a lip (www.save-on-crafts.com seems to have a decent selection of inexpensive ones).
What do you think? yay mason jars? nay mason jars? (Keep on mind they’ll be sitting on the tables as well, so people be looking at them through out the night).
As I once blogged about a long time ago, I’ve been growing my hair out for the wedding since we got engaged in Jan. 2008. It’s just about down to my shoulders now (it seems like it’s been growing really slowly!) and it’s driving me CRAZY. It takes what feels like a looooong time to blow dry, especially for a girl who takes forever just getting out of bed in the morning. I don’t have time to spend 20 minutes blow-drying my hair! I could be sleeping! So this afternoon on the phone with my sister/MOH/hairstylist, I mentioned that I was thinking of cutting it BEFORE the wedding instead of after. She said, “Think about it for two weeks.” Ok, I promised I would, so I’m thinking about it, and, of course, doing research!
Offbeatbride.com has a great post about short-haired brides. There are a couple of other sites (including, hilariously, stylesdowntheaisle.com) that claim to feature short-haired brides but really just have “before” pictures of people with short hair, and then “after” pictures where-in their short locks are cleverly disguised as long hair in an updo–and by diguised I mean they had extensions added. I’m just not into that–whatever hair I end up rocking on the big day, I want it to be MY hair, not Jessica Simpson’s.
Here’s a couple of my long-hair style inspiration photos:
Braided bun from theknot.com.
Anne Hathway at the 2009 Academy Awards. I can't find a great picture, but her hair was so elegant and lovely.
Soft low bun--I'll definitely have enough hair for this one, if I don't cut it.
And here’s a couple darling short-haired brides:
Lovely 40s glam vibe (but I'm not sure it would go with my dress).
If I decide to go back to my really short days, I love this pixie. Very Audrey Hepburn.
Very chic--imagine if I added a headband with a big white flower.
What do you think? Should I stick my pre-natal vitamins, or go for the chop?
Actually, vendor isn’t the right word, but I wasn’t quite sure what category this fits in: we found an officiant, FINALLY! This has been one of our trickier decisions. As I mentioned earlier, we’re writing our own ceremony, and just needed to find someone to perform it, someone who feels comfortable in front of a crowd, can speak well, etc. etc. Someone who had some kind of licence so that when the ceremony was over and the certificate signed, we would, in fact, be married. Originally, we had asked M’s sister to get certified through the Universal Life Church so that she could marry us, but the more I thought about it the more uncomfortable I felt. It turns out I I wanted someone older, and more ‘authoritative’ than a sibling. M was ok with asking her to be a bridesmaid instead (and she seem pretty relieved, to be honest). 1 down.
Then we realized M’s great-uncle is a judge, and maybe he could legally marry us! Awesome! We asked him, and he agreed to do it. We thought we were set. Then, a couple of months later, he emailed M’s mom to tell her that he’d done a little research, he couldn’t perform a ceremony in Washington after all (he’s a judge in California), he didn’t want to get ordained online, he wouldn’t be able to marry us after all. 2 down.
At this point we started feeling a little desperate. We talked about a variety of different family members who might be willing to do, including M’s dad and his uncle who’d been ordained in order to marry M’s cousin. But the more I thought about it, the less I wanted a close family member to perform the ceremony. Uncle Jim was ok because he was older, less familiar, and, as a judge, had actual legal authority. But for me, getting married is about making public and legal something that became true in our hearts a long time ago, and I wanted someone “outside” our relationship to conduct the ceremony in order to recognize that aspect of the wedding. M, on the other hand, loved the idea of having some one close to us officiate our wedding. It was a tough situation, because not only was there no clear compromise, we were running out of ideas.
Then M had a fabulous brainstorm. A couple of years ago, a good friend of his family had run for state representative. He’d been a very active volunteer on her campaign, liked her a lot, and knew that she performed marriages on occasion. Perfect! Someone close to us, especially him, but also far enough distant from our relationship that I felt like an outside authority would be conduct the ceremony. We emailed her, but unfortunately, she was already booked. 3 down. But luckily, this friend was able to recommend someone, a close friend of hers, who also officiates the occasional wedding. M was open to this idea, so we set up a meeting.
We met with her this afternoon, and she’s great. She’s a little bit of a hippy, very, very sweet and friendly, excited about the idea of us writing the ceremony, excited about weddings, etc. I like her a lot, and M does too, so we decided to have her marry us in August. I hope that he feels ok with someone he doesn’t know performing the ceremony–but I think by August, we’ll know her pretty well, as we’re planning to work through the ceremony with her as many times as necessary to get it perfect.
I feel SO relived to have this big check taken care of!
What’s the best or most unusual thing you’ve seen included in a wedding ceremony?
I have to say, this was probably the easiest decision of the entire wedding process thus far! After we ordered the bridesmaids’ beautiful dresses, I spent a little time poking around the Priscilla of Boston website, and lo and behold, there’s a matching flower girl dress, which is super cute to boot!
Voila:
Melissa Sweet Style FGMS1
Obviously, it will be the same blush pink as the bridesmaid dresses. Isn’t it darling? (Although I have to admit the model looks a little matchstick girl to me, tilting her head all sadly to entice me into buying matches and then subsequently freezing to death because she has no shoes).
But it wasn’t QUITE as easy as all that. See, Big and Little Sisters live in Reno, NV, so we couldn’t ordered their dresses from the same salon where we bought the bm dresses. The PoB site listed one bridal salon in Reno that carried Melissa Sweet–Swoon. I sent them an email verifying that Big and Little’s mom could order the dress there and got a reply, literally, in an hour or so. There’s almost nothing I love more than a quick email responder, ’cause I’m not fond of talking on the phone, but I AM fond of getting information quickly! Michelle from Swoon confirmed that the dress could be ordered through them, and, even better, they actually have a sample so Mom will be able to see it before she orders it for Big and Little. I wrote Mom an email with all the info about the dress and the salon and sent it off Sunday evening. I haven’t heard back from her yet, so I’m a little nervous, but I think she’s going to love it too!
Do you like flower girl dresses that match the bms? Or did you go with straight white?
So this weekend, I have another meeting with our florist (and my mom. And FMIL. And possibly M too. We like our meetings big!) Our florist situation is kind of cool, in that our florist is a good friend of M’s mom. Because his parents are paying for the flowers and because, at least originally, his mom cared about them a LOT more than I did, I didn’t even bother looking into other florists when FMIL suggested her friend Jan. The cool thing is that Jan has been a full-time professional florist but is now basically retired, so ours is the only wedding she’s doing next summer! This makes me feel a little less reluctant to suggest follow-up meetings than I am with my other vendors, who I know are VERY busy and are following stricter timelines in order to balance their many brides.
So anyway, this Saturday is our meeting with Jan, and I’ve been searching for floral inspiration so I’d have something concrete to show her, something beyond my wishy-washy descriptors of “loose, natural, and glowing colors.” Yesterday afternoon I sat down to page through some Marthas (what, you’re not on a first-name basis with Ms. Stewart?), and in the Winter 2009 issue I found this:
Lovely, lovely bouquet from Martha Stewart Weddings.
and this:
And matching centerpieces!
So. Perfect. Aside from the ranunculus, which is sadly out of season, I want to carry THAT down the aisle. And, I’ve found some French roses that have that same layered look as the ranunculus, so I think that will make a nice substitute. And a nice looking boutonniere:
French rose (also called Garden rose? I think?) bout. M approved
So where’s the comping together, you ask? Well, I started reading the article that goes along with those lovely flowers, and, lo and behold, the florist is Sarah of Saipua, whose work I swooned over earlier!
Ah, the wedding world is a small one after all.
M, my love, this post is a no go for you. Wedding attire ahead!
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I mean it.
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Sorry, dear readers. My stats show you’re quickly dwindling, and I can’t blame you! Only one post in a whole week, for shame.
The veil debate continues, but I think I’ve found at least PART of my head wear for the big day:
Flower comb from etsy seller modernromancepdx.
Isn’t that pretty? The flowers are the same style as my shoes, and it’s lovely and romantic without being too frilly (it’s such a fine line I walk). I’ve never bought anything on etsy before, so I’m a bit nervous about ordering it! But I’m excited too, as I think I’ve found some earrings and some other unmentionables (erm, not lingerie, but gifts) that I want to buy too! It feels good to purchase wedding stuff from small independent vendors, too, especially with the economy tanking like it is.
She shows the comb with a traditional tulle veil in her etsy shop, but I’m imagining it with a birdcage. Cute, no? I’ll like just buy the veil too….I know I’ve been talking about making one, but I’m not sure I trust myself to actually do it, and I don’t want to wake up the week before the wedding with nothing pretty for my head!
Do you think the comb would look better with a birdcage or a more traditional style?
Well, dear readers, WeddingBee has added a bevvy of new bloggers in the last couple of weeks, and as you might have guessed, none of them are me. I’m a little disappointed, but I have to admit–I’m sort of relieved too! Now I can blog when I HAVE something to blog about–no more stressing about posting often enough to impress Bee judges. AND! No more limiting myself to wedding topics….because while I do think about the wedding WAY TOO OFTEN, I also, surprisingly, think about other things.
This afternoon I was thinking about lentils. When I went to Seattle a few weeks ago, M and I had dinner with my sister, Bridesmaid C (hee hee, sounds like a gameshow…) and a friend of hers at Smith. It was uber-hip (being on Capitol Hill and all), and the menu was full of interesting things like marrow (yes, people, marrow. As in the inside part of the bone where blood cells are made). Being vegetarian, I am not much of a marrow eater. Neither were my friends, much to my dismay–I mean, what does marrow even LOOK like? But I had a really, really delicious lentil dish served with a piece of toast piled with goat cheese. Today what I was sitting at work, thinking about dinner, I remember that we had goat cheese from our last Costco run with Momma. Even BETTER, we had kale that needed to be used, and lentils. So I did my best to re-create my lentils from Smith. Here’s what I came up with:
1 1/2 c. french lentils
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 large onion (I used plain old white, ‘cuz that’s what I had)
1 1/c cups roughly chopped kale
vegetable broth
salt
pepper
balsamic vinegar
your favorite crusty bread
a soft, spreadable goat cheese
Rinse the lentils, then put them in a microwave-safe bowl, add just enough water to cover and microwave for 5 minutes. While the lentils are microwaving, heat a large saucepan/small stockpot over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Mince the garlic and finely chop the onion, then add to the pot. Be sure to keep the heat low–you don’t want to burn the onion, but cook it until it’s translucent and the sweetness is starting to come out. For me, this takes about ten minutes. While the onion and garlic are cooking, de-stem the kale and chop into bite-size pieces. When the onion is done, add the kale, lentils, and about 1/2 a cup of vegetable broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover, and cook for 15ish minutes, until the lentils are the level of doneness you like. Be sure to check it every 5 or so minutes so all your cooking liquid doesn’t dry up. You want to keep just enough broth and/or water in the pot so that everything is cooking, but you’re not making soup. Unless you want to, then knock yourself out.
While the lentils are cooking, put your crusty bread under the broiler. When the top side starts to look toasty, take it out, flip it over, and slather some goat cheese on the uncooked side. Put your toasts back in the oven, cheese side up, for a few minutes. My goat cheese was fresh from the fridge, so I spread it around when I took my toasts out of the oven, but if you plan ahead you should be able to skip this step.
When the lentils are close to done, uncover and boil away any excess liquid. With a minute or two to go, add your balsamic vinegar. I added about 3 tablespoons to our lentils and it was pretty good–could have used a tiny bit more. I recommend going about 1 tablespoon at a time so you don’t end up with something inedible. Stir the vinegar in, cook for another two or three minutes, and serve in bowls with cheese toasts on the side (cheese toasts make an excellent vehicle for carrying lentils to your mouth, btw).
I have a confession to make: I started this little series hoping it would help me decide what kind of veil I want to wear for the wedding, and now that I’m on the last post, I don’t feel any closer to deciding! Oops. I think I have it narrowed down to two basic categories, though, and I’m hoping with a little help from the peanut gallery I’ll be able to get even closer to deciding. I’d better do it soon, though, if I’m serious about making it myself!
Option One: Sassy birdcage
This has been the front-runner for a long time. It’s lovely and bridal without feeling super traditional, and I think the birdcages are more glamourous than any other option. A few inspiration pics:
Etsy seller brendasbridalveils.
Everybody knows Myra Kim of Twigs & Honey (and rightfully so!) but there are tons of other very talented Etsy vendors making birdcage veils. This one comes from Brenda’s Bridal Veils–a click on the picture will take you to her store.
Image courtesy of Ben Chrisman.
I love this longer birdcage–it’s definitely retro, but she looks absolutely beautiful in it, and it’s so FUN! Not stuffy at all. Plus, it could pinned into a big pouf for the reception part of the evening. (Aside: Ben Chrisman’s blog
is full of really beautiful wedding photography. Check it out if you don’t already read too many blogs…)
The lovely Mrs. Seabreeze.
Mrs. Seabreeze of Weddingbee–and she made it herself!
Option Two: Elbow-length or shorter traditional tulle veil.
Courtesy of Ben Blood.
I love how full this is around her shoulders; I think it works beautifully with the strapless dress (like mine!)
Veils from Romona Keveza.
I actually sort of love these. They look a little Barbie. They look a little like a cheerleader’s younger cousin playing dress up with her pom-poms. But they also, to me, look young and fun and happy! A long veil says church wedding, being giving away, elegance, etc. Very traditional. Gorgeous, but not me. A shorter veil, like these, is still on the traditional side (like me: check!), but is a little quirkier (check!), and a little sillier (check!). I guess it’s weird to keep saying I want a “silly” veil, but I just want myself to remember this is a wonderful, happy, joyous PARTY, an important day, OBVIOUSLY, but one to enjoy!
So what shall I do, team? Go back and try some more? Order me some supplies and see what happens?
