The Place

So, Michael & I booked our ceremony and reception site a few weeks back. It's a place called Thornager's on Kiltie Lane. It's also known as The Kilted Cat. In fact, there's a picture of a Scottish cat wearing a kilt playing the bag-pipes hanging by the front door. It sounds tacky, but is actually amazing. They're also doing the catering and everyone who's eaten there has said it's delicious, so that's good too.

Here are some pictures of the place. We've discussed it and Michael actually had some ideas/opinions on the decorating (this having a wedding thing is teaching me so much about him!). We decided that we want a natural, wood-sy feel, where we're not imitating nature (like, buying stuff that looks like twigs), but using real things from nature. So if you have any ideas for decorating let me know. I'm really stumped on the bar area: what the heck is up with the decorative plates?! The people said we can decorate any way we want, just no nails or tape on the floor (who does that?).

Right now I'm mostly wondering about table placements. Should we do long tables or round ones? I'm also wondering about making a "kids" table for the littles to play at if they get bored. Louann, would your nieces & nephews play or stick with their parents?

the front room, where we can put escort cards, guest book, and gift table. i'm pretty sure the rug has got to go.

the view of the room from the front
the view of the room from the back corner by the door
the bar area. what am i going to do about the chotchkis?

ps. thanks for your comments on the ipod thing. i'm pretty sure we're going to go with that, i just have to ask alex if he wants too & maybe michael can ask one of his cousins to help, so alex isn't stuck all by himself with the responsibility.

music options

so, michael wants to have a band and, while i don't love the idea, i'm letting him run with it. in the event that we don't get a band, i had thought about using itunes for the music. mainly because i am desperate to save some money anywhere we can (my stomach turns every time i think about the total cost of this thing), but also because i don't look forward to trying to book another vendor. it's exhausting to research, email, meet with, and decide on someone (not to mention flagstaff is limited and people get booked up quickly). i also think it goes well with trying to have a more casual wedding.

however, internet research has shown me that itunes can be a little risky. in my opinion, i think if i plan hard enough to make playlists & get someone exuberant enough to announce things, it'll be fine. how many great parties have you been to that include just an ipod? but limited rehearsal with rental equipment & the potential for things to go wrong (i don't want poor kirk trying to win a computer battle all night) make me nervous.

so i'm agonizing over it and want to know your honest opinion. do you think it could be pulled off?

dress shopping!

last Saturday, I went dress shopping with my mom, sister, and cousin Ashley. we had to drive really far to get there, but it was worth it. when we first walked in, I thought I might throw up a little, but then Kristina & Ashley got a fit of the giggles – the kind when you laugh too hard to breath and end up crying – and everything was okay. that’s what bridesmaids are for right? (although I worry about that happening during the vows, these two are loose cannons) the rest of this story will be best told in picture post form thanks to Ashley who dutifully took many, many pictures!

on the way: "road trip photos!" says ashley

they sent us directly to a room full of shoes -- they know how to treat a girl

i don't know what mom & ashley were doing, i was entranced by shoes

the sweater holly is going to knit me to wear over my dress

the initial viewing....oooooohhh

the first one had lots of bling

similar to the first one, but with less bling

check out the massive train in the back! we loved the color and top, but the bottom was eating me -- i looked like a barbie cake

you can't see it, but where my hand is is where the side comes together. i was doing a penguin walk

i loved that there was no train, everyone else gave it the 'meh'

kristina's request for me to try on. my mom cried a little and everyone said "Ooooh!"

i say, "i'm never wearing this."

this one had pretty blue crystals all over it that my mom really liked.

it had sleeve options, but holly is making me a bitchin' sweater, so they were deemed unnessecary

i still hadn't felt like i found "the one", so we pulled out a few from the b-list. again, everyone loved this one - i did not

this was the only lace-up backed one, but we surprisingly liked it

the front was a combination of everything we'd liked so far: strapless top, bling, flow-y fabric. it was really beautiful

this one has spiky armpits; that's my cruella diville face

trying on a veil to appease my sister. it's my best "romantic" look

trying on a veil because she can't help herself

the last dress was the gold one in a bigger size in white.

I was going to make you all guess which one, but then I thought the anxiety could be too much (what if you say you hate the one I got?, although krissy did hate the one I got) so, scroll down to see which one it is……

the green thing is just to represent the sweater i'll wear & also i couldn't zip it all the way myself

my tentative shoe choice

when I first tried it on, i liked it, but everyone else said it was too plain and meh. I narrowed it down to the dress with the lace-up back and the gold one. when I put it back on, I loved it enough to not care when krissy made a wrinkle face ( I love you sister!) when michael went swimming the other night, I put it on while I put away my laundry. Ashley, I did NOT eat in it! J

Thank you ladies for coming with me, and giving me your great opinions, and indulging all my decorations talk (your ideas so far have been VERY handy). you made shopping so easy and painless and I’m glad you came!!

wedding semantics

ashley says: "why do you think its called an engagement? the word engage always makes me think of sci-fi movies as in 'engage the hyperspeed!' 'hyperspeed engaged!' "

to this, i had no answer. google & wikipedia failed me (which is surely a sign of the apocolypse). the definition of the word didn't shed much light, either. although i'm sure michael would agree with "a hostile encounter between opposing forces." a search prompted by ashley for word derivatives was likewise mind-boggling.

so i ask you this: why do YOU think it's called an engagement?

It's ON

So, this blog has begun, officially as we are getting married. Wooo! I'm going to just put stuff here, that'll probably be boring with a biting wit twist (much like my other blog). Stuff like planning, and asking for opinions, and things that are happening related to wedding bis-naz.

Hopefully, I'll be able to update enough; but here is where you'll all get your Molly Wedding fix. <3