My Precious

Guest list blip #1: verbal invitations. Someone who is not on the “official” guest list has just expressed to us how excited he is to come to the wedding. Oh joy! How many more people are feeling this way? As I mentioned, we literally can’t fit any more people at the venue so this is not really okay. At all. An interrogation of fiancé’s parents ensued. The culprit was weeded out, illicit invitation acknowledged, and some thorough explaining was done. I kind of figured the guest list would shrink after it was completed, but I am learning fast.

Here’s what else I am learning about: some people stare at engagement rings. I mean really, it’s great and all, but can you be a little more discreet? It’s not even big or particularly unique; there’s really no reason to stare. Like I said, I think it’s fabulous but there’s something about someone staring at my finger instead of looking me in the eye that’s unnerving. Call me crazy, but I kind of get protective like they’re going to reach out, snatch it off my finger, and run in the other direction. Then I think of Gollum from Lord of the Rings (“my precious…”) so I guess you can see why I think it’s creepy.

Vegas!

For Christmas I made everyone commit to a Las Vegas bachelorette party. Bridezilla who? My crazy bridesmaid started it. And by gosh, I’ll finish it if it kills me. The thought of staying up until 6am and having flashing lights in my face everywhere I look isn’t too appealing, but I do enjoy lying poolside, free drinks, and my friends. And getting to say I’m going to Vegas for my bachelorette party isn’t too shabby.

I’ve never been to Vegas, and I am 100% sure I will never go again. This is my one chance, and boy is it a good one. The big decision is now whether to go to Chippendale’s or “The Thundah from Down Undah” and I am not even kidding you that is what it is called. Translation: do you want to see naked Americans or Australians? If they have any speaking parts I want the accent, but otherwise you betchya I don’t care.
If you have any tips on how a small-town New England girl can survive in Las Vegas let me know.

Maize and Mist

It has been hard for me to decide on colors. I like colors, I like ‘em all. Do I really care what other people wear or look like? No. But somebody once upon a time said that the bride had to pick dresses for her friends and that the color palette for the entire wedding would thusly be decided. No pressure, right?

Wrong, because have you ever seen an ugly bridesmaid’s dress? Have you almost laughed out loud at a beige and hot pink concoction matching the cake, tablecloths, napkins, flowers and cummerbunds? I have, and I will have no one feeling the same way about my bridesmaids and my napkins. Poor napkins, they have it hard enough as it is. Oh, and poor bridesmaids too.

So, thinking about the summer, it is safe to say beige is out of the question. So are most dark colors. And red, or anything that looks best in a) a company cocktail party or b) a formal. Or c) a prom. Nothing prom-y please. We’re going with a yellow and a blue-green, “maize” and “mist” if you want to get technical. And if you are going to vomit at my color choice just do it now and save us from seeing your lunch come up on MY big day.

Trying to be Crafty

Martha Stewart is the bomb. If I could make half the stuff she comes up with I would be amazing. How does she know so much random stuff about so many random things? I mean baking and flower arranging are in no way similar; throw in sewing skills and making stuff with sea-shells and she sounds fictional. I can see Roald Dahl having some secret craft-lady in a cabin in the woods helping the inevitable poor little kid out of destitution. That might actually make a good children’s book…

My mum and I saw this cool tissue-paper flower decoration thing in the latest Martha Stewart Weddings, so we thought we would give it a whirl. Martha would have died, it was so ugly. I won’t even show you a picture. Like I said, how does she do it?

Decorations Take II

Another decoration idea came from my mom: paper lanterns. Now I am in no way Japanese, or related to anyone Japanese, but in my head the reception tent is starting to get a certain Japanese flair to it, no? How much is too much? My cousin studied abroad in Japan in college and that is as close as I come to being linked to Japan (until my Japanese-themed wedding that is). But I like the lanterns. You can get them in one million sizes and colors, not to mention weird shapes in addition to your standard sphere. Don’t even get me started on how long I surfed the internet looking at paper lanterns.

The best part I think is that someone will have to rig up said paper lanterns. My mom is convinced the neighbor, a kid my age who owns a tree-cutting business, will perform spider monkey-like acrobatics for us. (How tree-cutting and wiring paper lanterns in a tent are related I don’t know). Regardless of who helps and how it gets done I think it will be a fun event to watch.

Decorations Galore

So I had this idea that it would be cute to have paper cranes as decorations at the reception. I looked around and did some research, and it turns out you can’t have paper cranes unless you make one thousand of them because that’s how many it takes to get good luck.
My fingers hurt.

What's in a Name?

So I’m looking through some book and it has TWO chapters on name-changing, and I start to panic. I’ve grown up and lived my whole life with two names. No middle name, no nickname, no hyphens, nothing tricky or fancy or deceptive. It’s rather boring, but they’re my names and I like ‘em. Why haven’t I thought about changing my name yet? Does this mean I want to or don’t want to? What does my fiancé think? What will other people think? Do I care? Like I said, panic.

While I don’t particularly want to be “Mrs. ________” (this image is—no offense—not what I want to be in the future. Ever.), I do think it’s confusing when kids have different last names floating around their family. I’ve taught several kids with hyphenated last names and it is basically guaranteed I will use the wrong last name when greeting their parents. Even worse is when mom kept her own last name and I never knew it so I call her Mrs. Whatever and she has to correct me. Dammit!

I think it will make life easier for everyone else (not that I really care) if I just take this new name and deal with it. But there is a debate in my head so I’ll keep you posted.