this is so amazing i'm posting twice

i want our wedding to be just like this:

Brian & Eileen's Wedding Music Video. from LOCKDOWN projects on Vimeo.

yummies

There has been lots of talk about those pink sugar cookies from Lofthouse gracing our dessert table. I have been committed to the pink cookie longer that I've been to Michael! But with our meeting with Karen, our de-facto wedding planner & owner of our site, Michael suggested that perhaps pink cookies were not the way to go. Yes, I was shocked too!

He thinks that maybe not everyone likes pink cookies (to which I say, who are these crazy people & should we invite them to our wedding?!). Maybe other cookies should be present. Maybe, just maybe, there should be no. cookies. at. all. Wha?! Karen did give us some other options to noodle:

1. Cuppin cakes. This is the idea I like the most. New Frontiers, the vegan-friendly store in town, & KP (a parent and their baker) makes the best baked goods! They'll be making our small carrot cake to cut. We can get "junior" cupcakes for about $1.30 each (& the regular size feeds 2 people). However, with around 160-ish guests that makes for about $208 without tax. Yowzahs! Pink cookies are around $80; $160 if we go crazy & do 2 cookies each.

2. Cheesecake bar. Thornager's will make cheesecake & put scoops into bar glasses. Then they'll set out all sorts of toppings, like different berries & sauces. Everyone can make their own type of cheesecake. Michael LOVES cheesecake, so this is a good choice. I don't know their cost, though.

3. Cookie & Ice Cream variety. We can get all sorts of different cookies -- maybe from New Frontiers (the chocolate chip & snickerdoodles are amazing) & possibly include the coveted pink cookie. Then add some ice cream so people can have a cookie AND ice cream. This'll still probably be on the less expensive end because we can buy any old ice cream.

So people (the 3 or 4 of you who read this) what do you think? Which yummies would you like to have? Should we splurge on the cupcakes & take money from some other part of our budget? Or should I stay true to my long-fantasized-about pink cookie extravaganza?

PS: Here is our bitchin cake stand that is sitting in our other room & I really, REALLY want to use!! It's got real twigs! My "outside-is-inside-and-looks-like-something" vision is really coming together (in a vague sort of way)

The world is so different up here

Yesterday, I took my dress to a great friend & all around good person, Liz, so she could hem it for me. She said it'd be done in just a week or so! I'm so excited to have it be the right length for walking. Of course, to figure out that right length I had to decide on my shoes. My original choice were some shoes I've have forever:

After spending copious amounts of time looking around on the internet at people's amazing shoes, I decided to get some! Zappos.com & Endless.com have FREE shipping & FREE return shipping for 365 days!!! Why wouldn't people want to buy tons of shoes this way?! Well, I narrowed it down to 4 shoes to order:
After walking in them & with the input of Michael & Christa, a choice was made. Aaaa-aaah-ahhh (that's the noise you make when light shines through the clouds. you know the one) Here is the winner with the dress on:

When I put them on for Liz, she loved them and so the dress has been pinned and the choice is final. I've worn them for about 3 days in a row now to start slowly breaking them in and they're not painful (I even did an exuberant hopping dance in them) I think as long as I can grab a sitting break here and there, I'll be golden.

But the really, truly best part is that I. Am. So. Tall. My whole worldview is different! I can reach the bowls & tall glasses. The freezer is eye level. I have to bend down a little to look into the fridge. Even Michael said, "Wow, you're tall!" in the most surprised voice I think I've ever heard.

Finally, my blogging life has come down to shoes - WOW. I'm off to my real life blog to say something a bit more interesting

anal. retentive.

wedding planning begins in such a frenzy of excitement & "huzzah!" that you kind of loose your mind for a while. for about 6 weeks or so i was consumed by everything: the date, the place, the guest list, the way it should look, the dress, etc, etc, etc. it was exciting, but also overwhelming. i mentally willed myself to calm down and not fixate, but of course it didn't work. i was dreaming about wedding details. i'm sure michael was dreaming about getting un-engaged :)

and then, one beautiful day, i stumbled across another bride's planning on the internet. and you know what that wonderful woman had? timelines. lots of pretty, colorful, organized powerpoint slides of timelines. it was glorious! birds were singing to me!!

and so, for the past 2 weeks or so, i've put aside aimlessly scrolling the internet every time a wedding detail popped into my head only to be immediately distracted by something completely unrelated (looking up wedding favors would end in trying to track down unique ceremony quotes). i began to make my own lists, timelines, charts, and calendars. it has been the single best thing that has happened during the planning. here're some examples:


the calendars are my favorite, because they let me say "today, molly, you will ONLY worry about the invitations." or "i've got only a week left to finish that damn registry!!" plus it lets me see what's going on in my real life and hopefully keeps me balanced.

so now you all know my dirty little anal retentive secrets (and this doesn't even talk about all my Excel Spreadsheets!!!"

i had to share

every so often (when michael's out for a prolonged period of time) i do some frivolous wedding planning. for the past few days, i've delved into actual music options and came across this:

Vitamin String Quartet (http://www.vitaminrecords.com/web/page.asp)

They are a group that turns regular song into instrumentals. They have literally anything you can think of (weezer, the doors, dashboard confessional, tool, pussycat dolls) and i just had to share it. not only is it perfect pre-ceremony music (i hope you all have fun guessing which songs they are!), but it's just plain fun to listen to. The website has some samples & if you go to www.playlist.com they come up with a handful to listen to as well.

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?