Weds-Day: I value your behind

Our wedding goes down in exactly 121 days. 

For the layman, that is precisely 4 months. And if you saw this post way back when, you might know that I was preeetty nervous about my procrastination of overdue tasks.

In all honesty, I didn't do much "heavy duty" wedding planning until the turn of 2012. That's kind of who I am. If I have a paper due next week, I'm going to focus on the episode of Teen Mom that's on tonight. If I get engaged 1.5 years before I get married, I'm going to have a year-long contest with myself to see how much champagne I can fit in my stomach in lieu of actual planning. 

Priorities. 

The good news is, I'm pretty good when under pressure. I kind of need a badgering deadline that's looking a little dangerously close before I feel the need to take serious action. So now that serious wedding things are underway, let's talk about thangs. 

This past weekend, we were here:

Home sweet home. 

We rolled into town to take care of a lot of details, particularly and most deliciously our reception menu (!!!) 

But today's topic is something that might not seem so sexy at first.

But I assure you, it is of the utmost sexiness. 

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Chairs.

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I have a long history with wedding chairs. 

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The above photo is one of the first wedding design photos that I fell in love with upon becoming betrothed. While there are many things I love about that whole situation, I think the chairs are an unassuming detail that give me the warm and fuzzies. 

I snapped this pic at my reception site as this wedding was being set up Saturday. This bride clearly gets what I'm talking about. The Chivari chair. It is pure elegance.

My fabulous reception coordinator and I really got into it over this topic.

His argument: "Please. Put the money you'd spend on chair rentals towards your centerpieces and make those beautiful. That's where people will be looking."

This, I flat out reject. First off, when you have 130+ of ANYTHING in a room, they begin to become part of the decoration. If you have 130+ plain nasty (albeit, free) banquet chairs, well, that's going to take away from all that dough you piled into centerpieces.

And secondly, I adore thee, Chavari chairs.

I'm not saying brides should throw obscene amounts of money at things like chairs just because they are pretty. But I AM saying I truthfully feel they are worth cutting costs elsewhere in a budget.

So who won the argument? Let's just say our guests' precious tooshies will be seated in Chavari magic. 

And let's also just say said Chavari chairs were thrown in for free. I was exuding that much passion about them, I suppose.

Did I convince YOU? What do you think? Chavari chairs, covered chairs? Things I don't even know about? Does it not matter so much in your opinions?

Like a cake, Except Mini

I am completely in love with the following.

Are you sick of wedding talk yet? We're just getting started!

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Cupcakes are not only total eye candy (eye cake, perhaps?), but they are actually much more affordable than their traditional buttercream-and-fondant-tiered cousins. PLUS can you say variety? If you are like me and have a hard time making up your mind about very crucial decisions...

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 such as, "but will my guests like red velvet or fun-feti?!"

Cupcakes help you do it all. Even though they sometimes seem intrusive and scary with their many mini-cake selves taking over the place 

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But in reality, they are very friendly confections 

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And oftentimes every bit as elegant as ginormo wedding cakes, without being all, "look at me and my stuffy expensive self"

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So, what say you? Do you prefer cupcake magic or are you more a fancy princess big cake type of person? Or no cake at all? Many folks these days ditch the whole cake business largely due to expense, but so far in my experience cupcakes allow you to have your sugary dreams without offending your wallet.

Weds-Day: Flunking Pre-Cana

Today, I had a realization. 

I'm getting married. In like ... less than 300 days. 

If you think I don't know that this sounds bizarre, that's not true. I know. I know it sounds bizarre. And it has nothing to do with not being excited - in fact, I think I'd say it's the opposite. I've had so much fun just reveling in the idea of getting married, it's tough to motivate myself to do actual work. 

Especially when the "work" looks like this:

The word that comes to mind is ... "Daunting."

And trust me, I know it sounds like play, but some of it is downright WORK. 

In reality, I believe I've "completed" more than "14" (I hope. Dear God how I hope.) 

So in the true spirit of fun, I have decided to focus on this most pressing task this weekend:

Gulp. We've really put this one off. Which is ironic, considering how important said task is where we're tying the knot.

But, this box is an espeically crucial one to check off, so check off we will. Along with choosing our officiant comes the both deeply meaningful and deeply dreadful premarital counseling, known to us Catholics as pre-cana, aka the spilling of guts in order to make sure we are not only feeling love vibes but also that we don't have crazy different goals leading us to the mutual biting off of heads later in life.

A close girly friend of my tried to perk me up about this particularly non-glamorous (but important!!) task by encouraging me to "have fun with it." I liked this advice much in the way I like the idea of attempting to eat 10 salentine crackers in 1 minute - sounds easy, but can it be done?!

The whole fun bit got me thinking: People do this counseling stuff on the regular... wonder how the starlets of America (& not America) would stack up against the stiff, holy judgment? If I were the guy wearing the robe (or a guy in general), here's how my picks would grade.

5. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie - C

Are these two for real, or do they just secretly wish Mr. & Mrs. Smith was constantly playing on loop? I vote the latter. Your kids are cute guys, but no amount of cuddly nuggets are going to keep your mugs off the tabloids.

4. Simba & Nala - A 

Girlfriend knows how to keep a dude in line. Even though these two rely on lyrical conversation in order to communicate, I'm giving them a straight up A.

3.  Prince William Arthur Philip Louis & Kate Middleton - C+

I understand it's beyond tempting to give these two high marks at first blush, but a seasoned pre-cana-er knows better. 

Let's face it, I think Kate tied the knot just so she could sell all of her clothes on ebay every time she wears something in public.

(This grade brought to you by complete and total princess jealousy.)

2. Simon & Tamra Barney (of The Real Housewives of OC) - B+

Don't be fooled by that nasty divorce! You know a couple's got a lot going for them when the only way to keep life interesting is to throw dog leashes at one another and get each other arrested for said dog leashing throwing. Keep up the good work, lovebirds!

1. Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola & Ronnie Ortiz-Magro of Jersey Shore - F

I'm sorry. There's just nothing I can say to justify anything above an F for these two, even as a joke... Once you throw your girlfriend's twin bed mattress onto an outdoor porch in rage and cry enough tears to collectively fill the Hoover Dam, I just think it's time to say "Sayonara!"  

Which Hollywood stars fail pre-cana the hardest? Raise your hand if you think JC & I will flunk! :)

Weds-Day: Will you be my bridesmug?

*So I owe all of you party peeps a very serious apology. It's been a crazy hectic week, and I can't wait to tell you about why! Maybe as a special little "forgive me" gift, I'll try to explain in a second post today. Until then, I just can't skip Weds-Day this week ... so even though it is now Friday, heres you go!

I'm in a very bride-type mood this week, likely because I am currently counting down the days (now hours!) until I get to jet to upstate NY for my wonderful cousin's bridal shower this coming Saturday!! I am proud to be a bridesmaid in my cuzzy's wedding this October.

And in the true spirit of bridesmaids ... I want to talk about mine, now that I've finally rounded all of them up and asked them to be my leading ladies!

Specifically, let's chat about the little gifties I used to ask the girls to be my 'maids. I thought a preemptive "thank you" was in order, because I know how 'spensive these things are in the end. Also I just downright appreciate the love and support these people have shown John & I as a couple, and all kinds of mushy things of that sort.

So I gave all 7 of them one of my love bundles: 

I hope the tangerine and celery theme was not lost on you educated readers. Also note the checkered shamrock guy!

Special little nugz.

The content was a pimped out koozie that I ordered from Deerpath Designs, a lovely curator of cute gifties whom I discovered on Etsy.

Clearly I needed one for meself. 

Wee! 

So there is my contribution to the creative "Will you be my bridesmaid?" world. 

You like?  

Weds-Day: Tangerine & Celery

Since our wedding is still 11 months away (!!!), I don't have a crystal clear picture of what the big shindig will look like. But, I have an over-arching atmospherical snapshot in my mind.... and I think that starts with ...

Our colors! So I thought I would share a little bit of inspiration that will likely sculpt the color-punch party we hope to have next June.

When John & I were first betrothed, I acquired this excellent book from a dear pal of mine as a gift. In it, there are many, many color scheme options, but this was one of the pages that spoke to me:

And then it dawned on me - I have been partial to these summery happy hues for quite some time!

I wake up to this bright situation every morning:

My junior prom dress was lime-ish, and my senior prom dress was tangerine-y. A match made in heaven? I think yes!

Yes, you might know these colors as GREEN and ORANGE as many a friend and loved one have so poignantly pointed out to me, but tangerine and celery make me feel fancy. So we're goin' with it.

A splash of tangerine

A touch of celery

Put them together & you get ... tangerine & celery!

Citrusy summertime fun.



Juicy.

Pray tell, what are your dream wedding colors? Whatcha think's best for a June festive wedding?

Weds-Day: Location, Location, Location!

I realize it's no longer Wednesday (nor is it Weds-Day.) Despite my diligent effort, life happened yesterday, and I didn't get a chance to complete my post. But I want to so... here you go.

Location matters. So we chose ours wisely ...

sunny South Bend, Indiana!

No, we are not masochists, and we aren't so poor that we had no other choices (close.) It's also not because we enjoy laughing at our out-of-towner-guests' expenses.

Simply put, this is the place we fell in love. We examined other options, but nothing else seemed to fit the same way.

It is not Hollywood or New York City, but it's special to us, and I happen to think it's one of the most magicalest places on Planet Earth.

We are having a Friday wedding next June.

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A little peek at the reception site: 

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Pretty regal for the northern parts of Indiana, right? I have to say I never really pictured myself with the fairytale princess wedding. It turns out that is exactly what I'm going to get. 

And I am very okay with it. Romantical evening, for the win! Now if it would only plan itself ... 

Weds-Day: January 10, 2011

I'd like to start this post by conveying my disappointment in the fact that John could not wait another 30 minutes to propose to me. 1/11/11?? Helloooo?!

So I've been excited for this particular post since the creation of this blog. People often ask, "How did you get engaged?" So here's the story, for all of you friends, stalkers & strangers alike!

Our engagement story is anything but the cliche "he dropped a ring in my champagne glass!" or "I saw our names on a jumbotron!" In fact it is highly personalized, so that makes it hard to explain. So personalized, my presh husband-to-be has a hard time telling the story in under an hour's time (true story, he likes details.)

I think it's safe to say that football has been at the center our situationship since day 1. 

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John & I started our relationship as best friends, but before we were best friends or even friends at all we were mortal enemies. Yes, you read that correctly. Mortal. Enemies.

After we both transferred to Notre Dame, we ran with some of the same crowds but never really hung out. Having come from the the University of Georgia and maintaining my status as SEC fan adoptee, I was HIGHLY offended (& had a little too much sun and tailgate fun) when I heard this red-headed heathen yell out, "ROLL TIDE!!!" in the middle of the stands of Notre Dame Stadium, on a day when the Alabama Crimson Tide was playing my beloved Bulldogs. Obviously I had something to say about this, and let's just say a shouting match ensued.

I like to think that I won when I dropped the epic line, "Way to be single!" What? What kind of insult is that? I don't know, but I was pretty proud of myself at the time.

Fast forward to a year later. John & I put the past behind us when we were both selected to work on the same Transfer Orientation Committee together, and from that day forward we were pretty much inseparable. John did a bang-up job pursuing me without my having knowledge of being pursued, and I always had the feeling that he wanted me around, but was going to have an awesome time even if I wasn't there.

So what I'm trying to say here is that I was the last person to know we were dating. Epic fail on my part, and super cool skillz on the boy's part. It all fell together so organically, and that's what I love about what we've got.

From the very beginning we bet on just about everything, but sports was always numero uno in terms of our knowledge face-offs. The NCAA Football National Championship quickly became the Stanley Cup of our gambles.

And I had (and still have - undefeated!) a nasty way of kicking John's ass every single year.

2009: 

2010: 

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2011: 

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I know, it's sad, really. 

We consider the National Championship to be our anniversary.  

This year, as we were watching the game, it became increasingly clear that Auburn (and thus, I) was going to win the National Championship. In the closing minutes, John leapt up from the couch and started pacing all around like a lunatic. He maintains that he was nervous about the game's finale, but I still think he was nervous for what was about to happen. 

Right after the Tigers clinched it, John stormed off and insisted that we turn the TV off as he didn't want to watch any of the post-game hoopla. When I followed him to give him a piece of my mind about taking my victory away, he was holding a big box and said, "I know we said we weren't getting anniversary gifts, but I got you something." 

I got really nervous here. He wasn't acting right. I think I knew there was only one thing that could be in that box. I couldn't make myself open it, so he had to help me, and then I thought I might die when he got on his knee. I never knew I would get so NERVOUS whilst being proposed to!! Sheesh. Anyways he said a bunch of lovely things but I was too busy staring at the loveliness that is my new sparkler... and I don't think I really said yes but some nodding happened, the rest was history. I didn't faint or have a heat stroke, so I count that as a success. Turns out I'm not very good with surprises.

It was 11:30 pm - we went down to the hotel lobby for a pic. Note my PJ's. I had clearly been CLUELESS about the night's events when I dove into that cozy number.

Pajamas & champagne, anyone? I think I had always envisioned my parents would pop out of a closet when I got engaged or something weird like that, but in hindsight it was kind of nice that it was our moment. 

As I recall, this guy was pretty excited to have the question popped and the ring out of his sneaky pocket!

As a good friend of mine says ... Way to marry the "way to be single" guy!

Weds-Day: A year from today ...

A year from today, I will be waking up on my wedding day.

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It's a cool feeling, and a wild one. I've found my teammate, my partner in this life. He's fun, I like him, and I think I'll keep him around for a while. And we have a scary amount of fun together, doing lots of stuff, and also nothing at all.

Also doesn't hurt that he's the best around (thanks, Joe Esposito.)

Exhibit A: 

That's right. Flowers (and orange ones, to match wedding colors, to boot!) on our minus one anniversary? I would say this future marriage is already off to a fab start.

One of the main reasons I created this space was to house my steps, the journey, and all of the fun times during the wedding planning era of my life.  I think Wednesdays are perfect for this (Weds-days, ha!) 

Next up (and finally), the engagement story. See ya next Weds-day!