Shananigans--congrats on the house! And on picking out a (gorgeous) reception site! Glad to hear things are coming together.
I'm thinking more and more about a destination wedding for us. I know that means that a LOT fewer people will be able to attend, but I think it may be the only way we can have a honeymoon (since we can't afford a honeymoon ourselves, and Jeff's parents are both, hmm, financially unstable). It will be like the wedding and honeymoon wrapped up into one (assuming Jeff and I could stay a few days longer than our family and friends so we'd have a bit of alone time ). My parents are going to have to foot the entire bill, and a destination wedding may actually be a better bargain in the end. But who knows--I'm sure I'll change my mind again in 5 minutes
Shan- What exciting times for you! Your reception site looks gorgeous.
Jill- I bet a destination wedding would be really fun, and I'm sure everyone who attended would enjoy it.
We spent the weekend looking at reception/ceremony locations in my hometown. Next we'll look at our "destination" spot, which would be about an hour and a half drive for either family. Planning a wedding in a short time frame is fairly stressful- We need to get invitations out in a little over a month, and we don't even know where we're having it yet! We'll work it out, though. Well, we'd better. Wish us luck!
Shan- Congrats on the reception site! I've attended events in that area of Monona Terrace and it has been gorgoeus every time- even bad weather looks beautiful through that wall of windows!
Shananigans- I've just 'toured' your reception area and it looks amazing!!
Jill- excuse my transatlantic ignorance, but over here there is a trend for honeymoon lists (where rather than buying house things, people contribute to the cost of your honeymoon) We get married in November and can't go away until December so fingers crossed, after we've spent all of our pennies on the reception, we will be able to go for 2 weeks somewhere hot, and our guests will have paid for us to have the experience, which makes it doubly special. We looked at destination weddings but our relatives would kill us!
Christine- you'll be fine. If it wasn't for the fact we are paying for everything ourself and have to save, we could get married tomorrow. My dress would be a bit bigger, that's all!
The dress is now ordered (in a US 10) so there's no taking the eye off the ball for me now- I'm 160 so hope to see a 'new decade' of numbers by the end of the week. I think the last time I've seen 159 was about 10 years ago. I'm looking into BFL but it seems a bit more commitment that I think I can give at the moment, but we'll see.
I think I've decided on flowers (stephanotis and lisianthus for a 'country' feel) and we have a volunteer soprano friend to sing during the ceremony, so it's all coming together now.
Jill- excuse my transatlantic ignorance, but over here there is a trend for honeymoon lists (where rather than buying house things, people contribute to the cost of your honeymoon) We get married in November and can't go away until December so fingers crossed, after we've spent all of our pennies on the reception, we will be able to go for 2 weeks somewhere hot, and our guests will have paid for us to have the experience, which makes it doubly special. We looked at destination weddings but our relatives would kill us!
A honeymoon list would be fine if we didn't really need other things more (like a new microwave, new dishes, new silverware, new small kitchen appliances, etc.), but being young and broke, we really need those things more than we need a brief trip. Especially with buying a home in the fall (our monthly mortgage will be roughly DOUBLE what we are currently paying in rent)--we won't have a penney to spare for anything other than our bills, let alone anything to actually put IN the home
Also, for us, because our family and friends are so spread out geographically, there is no location to which EVERYONE would actually be able to attend without travel arrangements, so a destination wedding wouldn't really be much different for most of our guests
Hi ladies! We're back! I don't have a ton of time (unpacking/gift unwrapping/work catchup has me going crazy) but I wanted to show you the one picture I've gotten back from the photographer. I was taking group pics at the Claremont hotel in Berkeley, and there was a birthday party next door with all of these little girls. They RAN over to me all wide eyed, and one of them said "are you the BRIDE?". Then they handed me a bunch of balloons. I love, love, love this picture.
Oh, and I'm not changing my ticker until I've had some time to push water/sodium out with lots of water for a few days, but the scale isn't good. I am sort of OK with it, though - I mean, I get to honeymoon once, and I didn't go crazy, but I did have some AMAZING food. Did lots of walking and exercise, so we'll see where I finally settle out scale-wise.
Mandalinn, so glad the stress is over for you and you survived and had fun! All I could think of when looking at that picture with the little girls (besides how FABULOUS you looked ) was, "My GOD, look at how those little girls are dressed...I never had a birthday party like THAT when I was little!" Heck, their little dresses probably cost more than my entire wardrobe combined when I Was that age
I'm moving ahead with the idea of a destination wedding. The trick now is to find the destination. I don't want it to get too expensive, so we're not hauling off to Australia (which would be my #1 choice--to be with the penguins on the beach ) or the Mediterranean or anything like that. I don't really want to go anyplace just for the beaches--I require about an SPF 500 to be in the sun for more than 5 minutes at a time Although we would LOVE a place with hammocks to relax in. I'm thinking of maybe someplace in the mountains or something on the coast of New England or something. We don't drink nor gamble, so Vegas is out (ha, we went to Atlantic City once, and all we did was shop and eat). Who knows...plenty of time to keep talking myself in circles
Not sure if I mentioned that I got my dress a couple weeks ago, but couldn't really tell how well or if it fit as I couldn't really get myself totally into it.
Well, today my friend came home with me for lunch, and helped me put it on. The good news is that not only does it fit, it's a smidge big! I've got about 1/2" extra around my rib cage (most fitted part).
So, I don't need to worry about stressing myself out about the dress not fitting, and in fact, I'm hoping I will actually have to have it made a bit smaller for me before the big day!
How soon before a wedding do you usually do your final fitting?
Cindy
Jill, penguins would be awesome. When I go to Antarctica, I'm going to try to sneak one back with me.... I noticed there are some interesting "mountain" weddings in various places including NC and NY. I really want to visit the Adirondacks in NY, the pictures look pretty cool.
). My parents are going to have to foot the entire bill, and a destination wedding may actually be a better bargain in the end. But who knows--I'm sure I'll change my mind again in 5 minutes 
) or the Mediterranean or anything like that. I don't really want to go anyplace just for the beaches--I require about an SPF 500 to be in the sun for more than 5 minutes at a time 
Although we would LOVE a place with hammocks to relax in. I'm thinking of maybe someplace in the mountains or something on the coast of New England or something. We don't drink nor gamble, so Vegas is out (ha, we went to Atlantic City once, and all we did was shop and eat). Who knows...plenty of time to keep talking myself in circles 
