In honor of Valentine’s Day (and my new doodle app on my iPad), I bring you a pictoral history of Friday, August 26, 2011, aka “The Day After Will Proposed.”
Making Things More Complicated
Choosing the wedding location was easy. I’d long been fascinated with all the fun and interesting places people get married in this city of mine, so I knew what I wanted to see. Will and I made appointments at two places, and stopped when we saw Architectural Artifacts – no need to look further.
{via}
Caterers.
Our lovely contact at the venue gave us a list of caterers they’ve worked with in the past. We emailed all sixteen for proposals. One was automatically eliminated when he 1) called me “Andrea” and 2) inflated our guest list by 100 in two subsequent emails. I don’t want to work with people who aren’t into details. The other fifteen submitted proposals. We waded through. Four rose to the top and we scheduled tastings.
Photographers.
Mother Dearest and I met a wonderful woman at the Navy Pier Bridal Expo, so I made an appointment for her to meet Will and show us what working with her would entail. We went. We liked her. We booked appointments to meet with other photographers.
I mentioned these other photographers to my mother in passing, and she asked, “didn’t the appointment with [lady from the Navy Pier Bridal Expo] work out?” I told her it had, but we wanted to get comparisons. We ended up going with someone else.
Really, how much is too much?
Will and I are using Google Calendar events to keep our schedules in synch as we meet with all these vendors. I get that weddings involve a certain amount of planning and work, but… could I be over-complicating things?
Part of me wishes I’d gotten married in a time before one could while away the hours clicking through the online galleries of wedding photographers in your metropolitan area. Sure, being able to view a potential vendor’s work prior to meeting them is helpful but it also is presenting me with a kind of hyper-choice that leaves me paralyzed.
Can I pick a vendor based on gut feeling? Do I need to constantly run the math to make sure it’s the economical choice? Should I look for alternatives? How many alternatives?
I haven’t lost sight of the goal, I’ve just never planned something on this scale before and want to make sure I’m doing it “right.” Is all this research helping me make “the best decision possible” or am I just making things too complicated?
[I wrote this post on October 27, 2011, amid a flurry of planning meetings for the wedding. Posting was delayed to keep anyone from getting mad at me during the vendor-decision process.]
A First Look at Wedding Dresses
Saturday was a big day for the ladies of my family. My mom, my sister, and I went shopping for wedding dresses.
We looked briefly at dresses on a whim the day after Thanksgiving, but this was the first Official Look at Dresses.
(Also, last time I was caught a wee bit unawares and was wearing ridiculous underwear featuring bright, multi-colored butterflies. Yes, they were visible through most of the dresses. Yes, I own butterfly underwear. No, I didn’t wear them on Saturday.)
We had double-appointments at two locations. “Double” because we were also searching for bridesmaid dresses for my lovely sister. Apparently you and your sister can’t look at dresses at the same time. These appointments were clearly bifurcated at both locations. More on the Bridesmaid dresses later.
At our first appointment, we discussed dresses with the consultant and then followed her back to look through the stock. Dresses in hand, I was whisked away to the dressing room. While I was helped into our various selections, Kerry and Mom took a seat on a couch around the corner. The set-up was perfect as it allowed me to emerge from the dressing room and prance over to them in full Bridal Glory.
As we zeroed in on two dresses, I got My Moment – the full Mom-is-beaming, Sister-is-atwitter, oh-my-goodness-aren’t-you-so-beautiful, gushy-goodness that I’d always imagined would occur on this day. It was a complete high.
Back in the dressing room, the consultant commented on how sweet my sister was. The constant encouragement from Kerry truly made the day. I felt so beautiful, so special, so sure I’d take Will’s breath away in whatever I chose. Seriously, I should rent the girl out to other brides-to-be.
I left the salon torn between two equally-amazing choices. As time has passed post-appointment, one has risen to the top.
Anticipation of showing Will the full ensemble in ten months is completely delicious.
{Dresses featured here are from Alfred Angelo and Vintageous. Neither are the one I picked, I just like them!}
Traditions: Bouquet Toss
There are various aspects of the “standard” wedding that I’d like to edit out. One is the bouquet toss.
{via Inspired by This}
First, I never really liked bouquet tosses as a wedding guest. There was a whole lot of single in my life before I met Will, so I always groaned when Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” started to boom from the speakers and all the man-less misfits were herded to the dance floor. A touch dramatic? Probably. But that’s how it felt.
“Hi, I am single, POINT AND STARE!”
Past a certain age, it started to lose appeal. Yep, still not married! I would stand there and passive-aggressively make no attempt whatsoever to catch the flung flowers.
{ via Style Me Pretty, photograph by Laura Leslie Photography}
As a bride paying for the flowers, I can assure you I won’t be tossing them at a group of underwhelmed, unattached attendees. It will likely grace the sweetheart table during dinner and rest there unmolested throughout the evening.
I know I’m not the first to choose to cut out this ritual. I’ve read of several alternative treatments for your bouquet.
- Present it to the couple who has been married the longest (unless, knowing ahead of time who this will be, you are concerned that they wouldn’t enjoy being singled out as being likely the oldest guests in attendance).
- Give it to my mother.
- Give it to Will’s mother.
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