Skirt dilemma

So, the MOH and I went to my semi-final dress fitting on Saturday. The dress looks amazing! All they need to do now is line the skirt, and finish all the edges, and a few other finishing touches. I am in love with it.

Mr. T and I have been practicing our first dance, and it's become obvious that there is no way I can dance in my skirt. As soon as I step backward, I'm going to step on the train and it will all be over. Or Mr. T is going to step on my train and it will all be over. Oops. That's what I get for going for drama!

Now I'm pondering either buying a cute skirt to change into right before the first dance, or having my dressmaker whip up a shorter skirt in the same material, if such a thing is even possible or remotely attainable on my budget/within our timeframe. Hm.

RSVP Already!

So our RSVPs are due today and there are at least 12 people who have still not responded, including some family members. Frustrating! Planning a wedding has given me a whole new perspective on weddings...I will never RSVP late again. So much stuff depends on headcount; we feel a bit paralyzed until folks respond.

I was dismayed to find out that some invitations went missing in the mail. I hope the folks who didn't get their invites while other family members did weren't hurt by our apparent lack of inclusion...well, they know now that we sent them, anyway. And the invitations are so awesome that I feel annoyed at the post office for not delivering them. ;-) Here's the top of our lovely invite (I cropped out all the wording, sorry!).


We decided not to do the craters, which we were going to do as blind letterpress, but they look awesome even without them. Didn't Mr. T do a good job? Although two of my friends have commented that he should've made my boobs bigger! Ha!

Even with all the unknown replies, Mr. T and I have worked out a rough seating chart already. We did this when we were at dinner on Saturday. Pretty much any time we're together we're talking about wedding crap. I look forward to the day when we become interesting people again!

Shopping Spree

After I looked at the MOH's dress options and we had our belly dance rehearsal on Saturday (told you it was a marathon day!) the MOH and I proceeded on our shopping extravaganza. First I decided we should eat, because I was getting hangry already and shopping wouldn't improve that. We had pasta. Mmmpasta. Second, we hit a TON of stores in a very short time period:

• A sock shop, where I got a pair of striped tights and a pair of striped socks. I think I'm leaning toward the socks; more comfy. They're over the knee, so they're still cute.
• Four lingerie shops, and no luck there. Can you believe it? Thankfully I hit up Macy's later in the week and they solved all my problems. Love them.
• A tattoo/piercing shop, to look at earrings. I thought I wanted black faceted cubic zirconias, but I didn't like them close up (the stone wasn't very big, actually) and they were $200! I ended up going with black horn earrings that are lovely and a bit art nouveau-ish and won't fight with the rest of my outfit. I got 10% off thanks to a coupon I've been hoarding for just such an occasion! But they were very reasonably priced, actually:

• A costume shop, to look at fascinators. They didn't have what I wanted, so I ended up ordering another one off Etsy from the maker of the red fascinator I previously purchased:

I can't remember if I already mentioned that since my dress fabric changed, the red fascinator no longer goes with it (that's what I get for ordering too quickly!). This black one is also lovely and the black faceted stone matches the choker that I believe some elves are buying me as a (pre)wedding gift:


It looks so great with the corset! I'm a very lucky girl with generous friends.

Anyway, after all that we also went to Sephora (for Fiberwig mascara) and then Nordstrom's to check out their lingerie (another fail) and also the MAC counter, where I proceeded to empty my wallet. I love makeup! I bought all of the eyeshadows and the eyeliner from the Dita Von Teese makeup tutorial. I also bought an eyeliner brush (since I bought the Black Track Fluidline gel liner) and the highlighting face powder, and those two things were my fave purchases. First, I wanted to bathe in the face powder, it was so dewy and glowy and awesome looking. Second, I had never used a professional eye liner brush before and IT CHANGES EVERYTHING. Such control! Such fine lines! Such even lines! I will never go back to the brush that comes with the eyeliner! Sorry to wax rhapsodic, but I just can't believe I've gone this long without a proper eyeliner brush.

We went to a friend's wedding on Sunday (it was lovely, and I took NO pix, because again, I'm a bad blogger), and I tried out the DVT makeup. Folks told me it looked good, but since I forgot to take pictures I'll have to do it again so I can see how it looks on film. Sometimes I change my mind about something once I've seen a photo of it.

The rehearsal dress came in and the material is, to put it bluntly, cheap looking. However, it does look really cute on, if I do say so myself, so I'm overlooking the cheap material. I think it's not as apparent once I have it on, or perhaps I'm fooling myself. I'll ask my belly dance girls for their opinion on Saturday, but I think it's a keeper even with the fabric. The design is just so cute!

Anyway, phew! Things will only get busier from here, I bet...

MOH/BM Dress Update

After the tasting on Saturday I went to the MOH's house to look at the dresses she'd bought as potential MOH dresses. My bridesmaid has already bought her dress:


It looks super cute on her! The MOH ended up not liking either dress she'd ordered, so she's shipping them back and trying some other things. Those repro vintage dresses mess with you on the sizing...an XL might be a size 14, or a size 8!

She knows she doesn't have to go with a vintage look, of course, but I think she really wants to find one she likes and can wear again. I hope she loves one in the next batch!

Tasting/Menu: CHECK!

On Saturday I had a very typical marathon day. It started with a tasting at our venue. We were there to settle the vegetarian entree and the last appetizer. The venue had an updated list of appetizers, so we selected a bunch to try in case we wanted to either add a fourth app or change our mind on the coconut shrimp we'd already selected.

We tried:
Phyllo cups with gorgonzola cream cheese, walnuts, and pears
Crab cakes with aioli
Lemon peppercorn prawns
Portobello mushrooms in phyllo "purses"
Risotto stuffed mushrooms

We opted to stay with the original coconut shrimp. They were yummy and we preferred them to the other seafood apps we tried. Likewise, we chose the portobello purses as the final appetizer. They were delicious, the vegetarians can eat them, and they don't contain cheese, which means I can eat them too! (I snuck a taste of the gorgonzola cups and they were yummy, but Mr. T thought the flavor, which was strong, might not appeal to everyone.)

For the entrees, we tried curried veggies and a lentil stew. They were both yummy, but we ended up going with the stew for two reasons: 1. It contains protein. I think vegetarians are frequently shafted on this, because folks don't like to work with tofu. 2. The curried veggies, while delicious (I reaffirmed that I'm a huge fan of turnips, to my surprise), seemed more like a side dish to us and we worried that folks would overlook them as an entree option.

The tasting was super quick and easy. I want more of those portobello purses right now! Nom, nom, nom....

Oh, and we opted not to add a fourth appetizer. Our coordinator at the venue said that it usually ended up being too much food with that appetizer/guest count ratio, and that it would go to waste.

Our other appetizer is a cheese station with "gourmet cheeses and crackers", and I think we'll be bringing in pumpkin butter and/or quince paste for some other options. The venue was fine with that as long as the items were store bought--something about health codes. I found that so interesting, as my sister-in-law handmade some of the desserts at her wedding. I guess because our venue is a hotel/caterer they are held to stricter standards? Anyway, I'm no Martha Stewart, so buying these things at a store is so not a problem!

OMW Week 37, WW Week 27

I either lost a pound or stayed the same, I couldn't really tell this week. I miss the digital scale. I might be forced to go out and spend money on one of my own!

Mr. T and I have been forced into a Tues-Fri workout schedule thanks to our busy weekends lately. It's not optimal--my body feels more tired and I don't think the workouts are as good. And then, Tuesday mornings are particularly hard after 3 days off. I guess I should be grateful we have time to work out at all! I was looking at my calendar to contemplate what I have to do the week before the wedding and realizing, "I am going to have family and friends in town starting Saturday 10/24...how the heck am I going to get to the gym?" I need to steal time somehow, even if it means getting up at an ungodly hour. I think the workouts will help stave off the stress...plus, we need to do some preemptive work to get rid of the candy and cupcakes! ;-)

2nd Dress Fitting, Rehearsal Dinner Dress, and Cufflinks!

I went for my second dress fitting yesterday. I'd thought they were going to do another muslin, but this was my actual dress fabric--exciting! Unfortunately, they have to re-make the corset. The cutter didn't make the lace on the bodice wide enough, and the pattern of the lace was upside-down. However, it was fun to try it all on together! My first thought was that it makes me look very tall! Actually, that was my second thought. My first thought was WOW.

They are going to finish the corset that I tried on and sell it at Dickens Fair...funny to think of someone buying something that was literally made for me. I wonder who out there has my measurements?

Autumn, my dressmaker, is awesome and so nice. She is full of compliments every time I'm in there, about how great I look in the dress, how my figure is made for a corset, how tiny I look, and this last time she told me my arms look good. I could keep her around all day!

As usual, you can email me for pix...I can't post in case Mr. T checks the blog. I have another fitting in a little over a week. Yay! At that fitting I think we'll make some decisions about beading the corset and/or the skirt.

What I CAN show you is the dress I splurged on for the rehearsal dinner and/or the bachelorette. It's a little strain on the wallet, but it's so cute! Hopefully it looks as good on me as on the model...or at least, half as good anyway!



And, finally, we bought Mr. T's cufflinks today. They are Halloween with a classic look. I think you won't be able to tell they're Halloween-appropriate unless you're up close, which is very him. He likes his dark side to be more subtle.

Rehearsal Dinner: Check??

I forgot to mention that we may have found the place for our rehearsal dinner, although nothing's final yet.

We gave up on finding anything near the wedding venue, which opened up some places we'd ruled out before. I emailed our favorite Chinese restaurant in our neighborhood to see if they ever close the restaurant for private parties (the place is tiny, so we'd have to buy them out), and they said they did! We've been working on a menu, and it looks like we'll also have a tea presentation after dinner, which will be really fun. I love this place--they use organic produce and free-range meats, and they're known for their tea selection. And better yet, the prices are not going to break us.

We haven't put down any money yet, or finalized the menu, but I am cautiously optimistic that we've found our restaurant! Hooray!! And phew. I was getting worried there.

OMW Week 36, WW Week 26

I'm not sure how much I lost/didn't lose this week! The digital scale I've been using at the gym is broken, so I was forced to use one of those old-school scales where you slide the pointer over and see if it balances. If I go by that scale, I lost 2.5 pounds, which seems unlikely to me. Hm.

They put new carpet in the locker room. I guess they have to replace it frequently because of all the swimmers and folks wet from the shower who drip all over the carpet. One woman wears normal closed-toe shoes (not flip flops, like all of the rest of us!) in the shower and then tracks soapy water all over the locker room. Folks' choices baffle me. That's stranger than the woman who wears jeans during her workout. Or eyeshadow lady. I do love people watching!

45 Days to go, and counting...

...and all I have to say about that is GAH.

Today I bought our ring bearer (Mr. T's nephew) and flower girl (my niece) a couple of books each, as their wedding party gift. They're both almost 4.

For the ring bearer, I thought Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs would be fun, and then his parents could take him to see the movie!


For the flower girl, I got Beatrice's Goat, which is based on a true story. I like to annoy my brother by giving my niece ultra-liberal message books. The last one was about environmentalism.



And I thought it would be fun to give them a couple of Halloween books, and these looked cute and not too scary:



I haven't decided who gets what yet. I might have to read them first!

This weekend we're going for our final tasting at our venue, where we're nailing down the vegetarian entree and one of the appetizers. I was happy to see that the apps menu is much longer than it used to be, so it should make choosing much easier. Last time there was a lot of deep fried stuff. Not that deep fried doesn't equal yummy, but my thought is that one deep fried app is enough.

After the tasting I'm going on a whirlwind shopping spree with the MOH, to buy makeup, lingerie, and earrings. I can't wait. After saving for so long, it feels naughty and forbidden to plan a shopping trip, which makes it that much more fun.

Last weekend we went to a friend's wedding in Sonoma, and this weekend we go to another in Saratoga. It's wedding season! After Sunday we're done, until ours, that is! I'll try to blog about the weddings later, but I've been a crappy picture taker lately, so they might be short posts.

Finally, we got our first wedding gift!!! It's official, we're getting married! Or that's how it feels, anyway. My lovely friend bought us a food processor. I'm sending off our first thank-you card to her today (we bought some Martha Stewart ones at Michael's last month; that woman is a genius!).

RSVPs so far

It's been so exciting to have the RSVPs come in! We opted for folks to RSVP online at our wedsite or via email, so it's instant gratification. So far we have 31 yes-es and 5 nos.

I think you just can't have a wedding without offending someone, try as you may to avoid it. Someone's already complained to the MOH because they didn't receive a plus-one on their invite. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm choosing to focus on the excitement of watching it all come together and I hope that we haven't ruffled too many feathers along the way. I will think twice before commenting on anyone else's wedding choices in the future, now that I know how hard each decision can be!

Lots of folks seem to like Mr. T's invite design, which is gratifying. All that hard work paid off! They look so great, in my opinion. I'm proud of us!

Weekend Wedding Warriors

This weekend Mr. T, his mom (Future Mother-in-law T), and I hammered out our plan for the wedding table centerpieces, which she's helping us assemble.

First, we ruled out dry ice as a potential part of the centerpieces. There's actually an Albertson's near Mr. T's mom's house that sells dry ice, so we bought a pound and tested it out. FMIL T thought we could put a dish under the centerpiece pumpkin, with something in that dish to elevate the pumpkin itself, and have dry ice in the dish, waiting to be activated with water at the start of the cocktail hour. Here's what we found:

• Dry ice melts pretty fast. Timing its placement in the centerpieces would be tricky (AKA, a pain).
• Unless you have a lot of ice, and a lot of warm water, the effect isn't as grand as one would hope. When we had everything in place, you could barely notice the steam snaking out of the centerpieces. And for that much trouble, I want a lot more wow factor!

So, we decided to do dry ice in big cauldrons at the bar and the escort card table. Someone will still need to get the dry ice, not too far in advance of the ceremony, and then we'll have to make sure the staff knows not to activate it until cocktail hour, but apparently 5 pounds of ice and a good amount of hot water is supposed to give you enough steam to last an hour, which is perfect.

So now our centerpieces will consist of:

• Pumpkins, which we'll need to buy beforehand and carve a few days before the wedding. We've decided instead of table numbers, we'll carve "icons" into the pumpkins, like a bat, ghost, cat, raven, etc. Then folks will be assigned to the raven table, or the cat table, etc.
• Flowers that will go in the pumpkins. Even the "cheap" websites like fiftyflowers.com are pretty expensive, so we're going to hit the SF FlowerMart and Trader Joe's between Wednesday and Friday before the wedding. This stresses me out a little, as I feel like we have a lot to do at the last minute, but I think it's better than overspending on something I didn't even want to have in the first place! And flowers die so fast--no need to spend top dollar. Unless they're Black Baccara roses. Mmmmmmm. Anyway, filling out the flower arrangements are an assortment of feather and other picks that FMIL T and I have gathered over the last few months. This weekend we also cut branches off her curly willow and spray painted them black, applying orange glitter as they dried. That was Mr. T's job this weekend! So we'll have creepy glittery sticks in the centerpieces too.
• Fake tea lights that will sit in the pumpkins (under the flowers, which are not going to extend all the way down) and hopefully illuminate our icons so they are more visible and just plain look cool.
• Wreaths. The pumpkins will sit in the center of these. We bought some plain twiggy wreaths at Michaels this weekend and my task was to spray them with clear enamel and apply copious amounts of orange glitter to them. FMIL T is keeping them at her house to apply other fun things to them with hot glue.
• Votives, which we already bought.
  
• Possibly scattered (fake) Fall leaves. FMIL T had bought some of these.

Hopefully it will all come together! My concern is that folks aren't going to be able to see around the centerpieces, so we've committed to buying shorter, fatter pumpkins.

We were also on the hunt for cheap frames that could hold the various signs we'll need to post, like our menu for the bar, the menu of cupcake flavors, etc. We didn't find a ton, but the ones we found were only 99 cents, so I'm not complaining.

We pretty much traipsed all over town in hunt of frames, spray paint, containers to hold all our crap, wreaths, glitter, fake tea lights, and other fun decor elements. At the end of the weekend, I was exhausted! So much for a long holiday weekend. We packed most of it up and brought it to our house, where it's all cluttering up our front entryway. And the wedding mess begins! The cats were very puzzled about all the new stuff.

And of course, I didn't take any photos because I'm a bad bridal blogger. You'll just have to see it all later, I guess!

OMW Week 35, WW Week 25

Half a pound gained this week (or, should I say, this weekend?). I know it was all the rich food we ate at Mr. T's mom's house, so I have no one to blame but myself. Sigh.

I determined that I'm probably not being as careful about portion control as I used to be when I first started Weight Watchers. I'm back to literally measuring everything and if that doesn't work, I throw my hands up! Here I'll stay.

Still struggling with the assisted pull-ups, although they were easier today. The day that I can lift all of my own weight to do an unassisted pull-up will be a day for celebrating. Also a non-"girl" push-up. I tried to do one of those and collapsed at the bottom of it. Ah, well. Baby steps!

In Search of: The Perfect Processional Song

I thought I'd found it: Radiohead's "All I Need." And then I googled the lyrics:

I am the next act waiting in the wings
I am an animal trapped in your hot car
I am all the days that you choose to ignore

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

I am a moth who just wants to share your light
I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you because there are no others

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all right

Well, I should've expected that Radiohead wouldn't do a straight up love song. Back to the drawing board.

Hair Trial Results

Wednesday night I went to have my hair trial! Too bad I wasn't going out afterward. It was funny walking home in my tee shirt and updo.

Anyway, I really liked the stylist and knew we'd get along. She had a nice vintage vibe going on with her clothes and hair, and she was very warm and friendly. She told me she'd gotten married last year; they rented Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs and had a small wedding there. She wore a short flowered Betsey Johnson dress. Cute!

Anyway, I asked for a french twist with some extra wrapping detail, reminiscent of these photos:




I wanted more height at the crown and less at the base of my neck. She had some trouble with my hair b/c apparently it's long enough that the wrapping proved challenging--what to do with the ends? After back-combing, wrangling, wrapping, pinning (with a small mountain of pins) and shellacking my head, this is what we ended up with:





The wrapping is not as tidy as the inspiration images, but that doesn't bug me. I am not a super neat or tidy person, so I think this suits me better! Also, it will be slightly neater on the day anyway--this was just a trial. I love how the top goes into the wrapped sides from the back view.

My one concern is, does it look like I have a beehive? Both the MOH and Mr. T told me that I was being silly, it wasn't too big at all. And perhaps once I'm in a red corset dress instead of a brown tee, it will be less incongruous. But I'm not sure.

What do you think? The higher the hair, the closer to God?

Note my fascinator...I had the presence of mind to bring it, although I'm not sure it's going to work with my new dress fabric. But that's another story...

Review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I think I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the actual book. I thought it would be laugh out loud hilarious, but really I only laughed once (when Elizabeth Bennett defeats three ninjas blindfolded, rips out the last one's heart, and bites into it). There was a lot of guy humor about having "balls", but this was just okay for me.

It did make me want to re-read the original, so that's something. I wonder what Jane Austen would have thought of it. I've always thought she was ahead of her time...

OMW Week 34, WW Week 24

No weight lost this week. The Weight Watchers site says it's not a plateau until you haven't lost for a few weeks in a row, so we'll see what happens.

Not that I'm not happy with my progress, but I'm a little between sizes. If I were to stop I'd prefer it to be in another 5-10 lbs!

I'm back in the women's gym. It looks like they painted a few walls and moved some machines around, but not much other than that. I guess it took a long time for the paint to dry.

I almost forgot!

I almost forgot, I have two more invitations to send out!

The first is to our handsome president, and the second is to our celebrity governor. They won't attend, obviously (although, wouldn't that rock?!), but they may send congratulatory letters back. And by they, I mean their staff. But still.

I found these instrux for sending to President Obama and his lovely wife:

How to invite United States President to your wedding:

The Honorable Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama
The White House
Greetings Office Rm. 39
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Wedding invitations to the President can also be faxed to: (202) 395-1232

Invitation Tip: The White House greetings office handles as many wedding invitation requests as they can. Send your wedding invitation at least six weeks in advance. Be sure to include your old and new mailing address in case the RSVP comes later.

And for the Governator:

The Governor & Mrs. Arnold Schwartzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

I was just thinking we had a lot of invitations left!