So, I'm having a little bit of a struggle with the wedding planning/eating conundrum. It seems like I am eating out SO MUCH MORE as these final weeks are coming up. This weekend - Saturday we met with our friends to talk about flowers for their wedding, not ours, over dinner - one meal out. Tonight we're meeting with our hairstylist/friend over dinner to discuss our wedding hair - another meal out. Shower - tons of food. My sister's shower - again with tons of food. Rehearsal dinner - tons of food. Continuing onward up until the weddding.

90% of my weight loss success has been due to me cooking at home, grocery shopping, and planning. The other 10% of the equation has been exercising...and my regular gym time falls right during the standard "social" hour...so I've had to sneak in half-workouts wherever I can. So how are the other brides out there dealing with this? I know - make good choices at restaurants, watch portions, etc, and thats all well and good, but its starting to slow my losses down and make me unhappy with the scale in the morning.

Thoughts?

Hey neat, I just found this thread :) Always more than happy to chat wedding!

DF and I have been engaged for a year and 8ish months. We're getting married June 30th (which is almost exactly 100 days away--eek!).

I'm glad to see that for the most part you ladies like things pretty simple... The average cost of a wedding nowadays is apparently around $22k, which I can't even imagine! Sheesh! Anyway, it makes me feel like less of an oddball to be planning something pretty low-key.

We're having about 50 people, although if it were up to DF's mother, we'd have half of Brazil up here in no time. (He's from Brazil originally... read Catholic... read family-centric... read fond of giant weddings!)

Here's what I have so far:

My dress. It's actually a bridesmaid's dress! I didn't want a train anyway... It's a little dramatic for my taste... So this was the perfect compromise. It was very affordable and it is also very beautiful.
Here's a link to the dress:
http://www.alexiadesigns.com/main/index.php?p=124
Be sure to check out the back of it, too. That's my favorite part :) Have to find undergarments, though, that go low enough for that back... There's a problem to be solved. It's shown in white and claret, mine is in ivory and claret. Subtle difference, but I'm pale enough to begin with and don't need pure white against me!

My locale: We're having a lunch reception and the ceremony on the site of a bed and breakfast in northern VA: http://www.thebluerockinn.com/
It's surprisingly not incredibly expensive, and it's so beautiful! Also, the general manager is just about the nicest guy I've ever worked with, it makes the deal even better. I haven't figured out what to do with the evening yet. We don't want to dance, but we want to get everyone together once I'm out of the dress.... Maybe we'll take over my dad's farm and have a bbq :)

The cake is made by the b&b, and one of the owners of the b&b also owns a flower shop in Crystal City and therefore claims all the wedding flower business from weddings at the b&b. So those two things are set. We're getting one arrangement for the mantle in the dining room, then some kind of bouquets for me and my girls. Have no idea about colors or kinds of flowers!

I got a photographer off craigslist, actually.... A middle-aged married couple who want to get into wedding photography seriously. They've done a few, mostly family weddings, but they do very nice work. For two people they're only asking $500! :) I guess they see this as building up their portfolio... And when they're more established they can ask an arm and a leg like everyone else. They are very friendly and I'm incredibly happy to have found them.

I think the main thing I'm missing is someone to actually marry us!! We're having a civil ceremony. We might use the same guy my dad and stepmother married with.... It would be neat. But for some reason having a person actually perform the ceremony has taken a backseat to silly things like dresses!

Ooh, have to talk about rings too! In January I finally found my perfect wedding band. It's still with DF for fear that I will start wearing it right away :p The engagement ring he gave me is estate jewelry from the 1940's and was very difficult to match in style with a wedding band. There is one central diamond and six smaller flanking diamonds, three on each side. The trick is, they're bead-set. So of course I want the diamonds on the wedding band to match... Nowadays most diamonds are either claw-set or channel-set in the ring, both of which look silly sitting next to my engagement ring. But such are the modern tastes. After going to MANY different stores and being told over and over again I'd have to get my ring custom made (for more $$), I finally found this little tiny independent shop. The owner designs and creates his own jewelry... And there it was! He had made an engagement/wedding set which had a bead-set wedding band, and he let us just get the band. So that's that story. I can't wait to wear it :p



Somehow talking about my wedding makes me feel like I'm more prepared than I actually am! I keep thinking I ought to be worried/stressed out about it because people expect me to be... But I think I have a lot under control... Along with juggling a job and grad school and immigration applications for DF, I think I've done pretty well!!

David's bridal has an undergarment with a low enough back - its the one I'm wearing with my dress (and I think the backs are similarly low). I just googled "low back bridal bustier" and found several. Just make sure whatever you buy is marked as "low back".

Your plans sound GORGEOUS...and that dress is amazing! My cousin is wearing a very similar one for her wedding in June.

We did a very similar thing with our photographer - only he had just moved to San Francisco, and was looking for gay weddings for his portfolio. 20% discount off his standard rates to be his token gay couple...he is a sweetie.

Do you have someone very special in your lives who could officiate? They can become an ordained minister online at www.ulc.org, giving them the legal permission to officiate your ceremony. Sometimes, the perfect person to officiate isn't an official at all - its someone more close to home.

I think our wedding is probably the most "formal/traditional" of what is being planned in this thread, and we did that on purpose. Our thinking is that having the traditional wedding format would make people more comfortable with the untraditional wedding...and this is indeed the feedback we are getting from our more traditional guests. Gives them an idea of what to expect since the ceremony itself is going to be a new sort of thing.

So, on the tulips, Sarah says a few things are important...

1. Season. Tulips that didn't have to be flown in from Holland because they are out of season here will be fresher, and therefore less likely to give out mid-reception. Spring is tulip season, as well as a brief period in the fall.

2. Freshness. She says if your florist got them in fresh, it shouldn't be much of an issue - make sure they aren't ordering the flowers for your wedding to arrive a week before, and make sure they stay in water as long as possible (they only start to go limp / open when they start to get dehydated).

3. Have your florist deliver your flowers only a little bit before the wedding - they can keep them in water/refrigeration a lot longer if they are delivering right before. If they delivered them the night before or you picked them up, they'd have a better chance of wilting.

4. If you're worried about the stems getting limp, you can explore wiring/taping of the stems - this will keep them in exactly the shape you want them, held with a wire, which reinforces the head of the flower so that when they do dehydrate and get limp, they'll still stay right where you wanted them. This won't help with the flowers opening, but will help with stem bending.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the info re: the undergarment thingie (is it really called a bustier? I don't need to be any bustier! :lol:), mandalinn. I was worried that I'd have trouble finding something low enough, but it sounds like it's common enough. I have to plan a trip up to DC sometime soon, not only to drop in on the flower people, but also because the nearest David's Bridal is all the way up there!

BTW, mandalinn, your dress is beautiful! I love the skirt of it. You look amazing!

I'm not sure who I would get to officiate if we did have someone get certified to do so... My stepmother has brought it up before but having her do it would upset the family political balance and remember, I'm trying to keep things low-stress! Ah well. It's a good idea, though. My aunt is a judge and we were going to have her do it, but turns out she can't even come. :(

Jill: yeah, I just love the area. Washington is about another 30-40 minutes west of Warrenton, and it only gets prettier the further out west you go! I really love Virginia... Oh, and congrats on getting engaged!! That's awesome :)

Christine: Your buffet is a neat idea! I've never heard of someone doing it like that, but I can't imagine it would be much more difficult or expensive than working with a caterer.

madalinn - Thanks for the tulip info! Our wedding is in the spring so that should be perfect for tulips. I have a friend that has offered to do the arrangements, so I’m going to see if I can get the florist that’s doing my friends wedding this fall to let me just order stems from them. We’re having a Sunday ceremony, so I imagine we’d pick up the flowers and arrange them on Saturday and we could keep them in water in the refrigerator overnight. Wiring the stems is a really good idea.

Britomart – I love your dress! The setting of that B & B looks lovely too.

We’ll be putting our deposit down for the ceremony site next week. Very exciting!

Britomart - your ring sounds great - any chance you could share a photo of this with us? I'm a jewelry-aholic, so I'd love to see it. Especially because it's an estate piece.
Cindy

My sister also has bead-set diamonds in her antique-style ring. I think she found her band on Ebay, but she had a seriously hard time matching as well.

Alright, Jeff and I have searched through literally thousands of rings online, and we can't find a picture of the one I want! So frsutrating...

We went to 2 Jared locations last night (we originally saw the ring at a Jared in Va Beach over the weekend while visiting my sister), but neither of them had it in stock. They did have it at a nearby Kay, but they wouldn't let me take a picture of it (which I don't understand, since most of their rings are online, and the sales guy even grabbed a flyer because he thought there was a picture of it in there--I KNOW a picture in a flyer would be much better than any picture Icould take in a store, so I don't understand why they wouldn't let me take a picture, but anyway...).

Looking through so many rings online, I started to second guess myself--maybe I want one with more this or less that, etc. But as soon as I saw it again at the store, I knew I wanted it. Now it's just a matter of finding the best price and the best diamond for the setting...

Here's a photo of my engagement ring. I have a pretty old digital camera which doesn't allow for good focus close-up... So this is the best I can do!

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...eringclose.gif

(Don't know why the image is not inserting itself instead of linking even with img tags around it... Oh well. It works either way.)

Jill, no one would let me take a photo of a ring I liked either. I understood why when we were at the little places, but at the big places like Zales that advertise their rings anyway? I don't understand! Ah well.

oooh, pretty rings. So fun to look at. :) I am so in the dark about what the boy is going to do. We have gone shopping tons, but when it comes to actually getting the ring, he wants to do it without me. He has also said, "it will be better than any of the ones we have seen," which to me means that he will not buy me any of the ones we have seen together. Is he designing a ring? My other thought is that he may have a family ring up his sleeve. I am going crazy waiting, though...

Mandalinn- You brought up all the eating out that seems to surround weddings. I cannot really offer advice, but I can say that I can relate. I currently commute more than an hour each way about 4 times a week. Micah and I are narrowing down where he will be going to school next year, which means we are traveling to visit schools and communities. I feel like I'm constantly out, either with shopping or parties for his family or whatever. I definitely make excuses for myself. At this point, I am losing very very slowly, and I feel almost like I should just be grateful for anything I am getting, because my effort has been moderate at best as of late.


On the planning front- I am wondering what to do about reception table decorations. We have talked about only using individual cakes as centerpieces.

Here is the problem I am running into. I don't want all the tables to look the same, and I don't want them to look too formal. I want to coordinate without being matchy-matchy, make sense? My initial thought on how to do this was to scour garage sales for various pink tablecloths, then have each table have its own, different tablecloth. We have also talked about doing something similar, but instead looking for interesting glass and ceramic pink pieces. Then each table could have its own little grouping of pieces. Or both?

I like these ideas, but I really don't want it to look too strange and hodgepodge. Any ideas about how to strike a balance of these ideas? Are they all crazy? hehe, any feedback would be great.

I love the idea of using different tablecloths for each table. You could also (we debated doing this) name each table (rather than numbering) and incorporate the name into the centerpieces. So for our wedding, we debated naming each table after a flower (again, sarah = florist = flower/spring theme wedding) and incorporating that flower into the centerpiece for that table. Ultimately it got too complicated. But you could name each table, for example, after a city you've lived in (incorporate maps in the centerpiece), a special person in your lives (decorating with photos makes tables look unique), etc.

Since you're doing individual cakes, could you find a really interesting topper per table? photos, maps, movie tickets, other items you've found at places that are important to you - this would make all of the cakes slightly unique, and reflect the two of you as a couple.

I did not enjoy looking at rings at ALL. I think it was because i had no clue about anything about rings, except for what I didn't like. My fiance knows how picky i can be about stuff, so he proposed to me with earrings (he's so cute). We went to every jewerly store around the Maryland/Virginia area. From Costco to Tiffany's to Zales. After a while all the rings looked the same to me. Thank goodness my aunt knows an owner of a jewerly store in Chevy Chase, MD, or else I'll still be looking.
I don't know how to get a picture on here, but its round cut center, with two smaller stones on either side on a platinum band. i love it.

The only thing i know for sure about wedding dresses, is that i DO NOT want one with big poofy skirts. siiigh....i can go on about what i don't want at my wedding, but i don't know what i DO want.

I think we're going to have our reception at a Chinese restaurant, the menu's are usually set and there are 10 courses. The only think i'm really looking forward to planning is my cake. I want it to be INSANE, those folks at Charm City Cakes can do just about anything.

At times i think i want to elope...sooo much easier.

Nickname,

Did you happen to go to Charleston Alexander? Their MD location is in Chevy Chase (or is it Bethesda? I get confused). One thing I was fascinated by was that they had a computer that could analyze a diamond for you, it was pretty cool. They also had all sorts of diamonds, even from Canada. They even said that they'd set a created diamond if we wanted. (and said many of their customers actually ask for that)

Picking out the ring is daunting, I was overwhelmed at first as well.

Since you are in the area, I'd also recommend Clyde's in Chevy Chase for any occassion but we went there for the pre wedding dinner. It was nice. Gotta love green plush seating!

I love the idea of the different tablecloths as well! How many tables do you think you'll have?

One thing I toyed with, with the individual cake thing, was having a different cake plate on each table. But, since I"m doing a fall theme, I wasn't sure that I'd find plates different enough to incorporate into the theme. But, with just pink as a criteria, you could do white ones, clear ones, ... for each table.

Another cake/centerpiece idea for you all is cupcakes. WM has white 13-cupcake cupcake trees, which I was going to put onto a fabric-covered riser on each table. Cupcakes tend to run about $1.50-$2 apiece, so this can be a very cost effective way to go. The stands are about $7 each. I still like the idea, but DF wanted cakes instead, so we'll have cakes.

I'm going to try to insert a photo of my ring. Mine is yellow gold on the sides, and is hand-engraved with a scroll design. I really wanted something that looked antique, and this turned out to be a good compromise for me. The diamond is a round cut, but the prongs on the antique head makes it look like a princess. Still working on trying to find a band to go-with. It's my goal to have to have this resized 1/2 size down by the wedding - I hated buying it this size! The good news is that it was tight when I first got it, and now it's almost loose!
Cindy

I think cupcakes are so adorable. Seriously, you all have such great ideas! I can't wait to see pictures from everyone when the big day arrives!

We officially passed our "pity point" on responses. See, our site holds 100 people...we knew the space would feel sort of empty if we didn't hit at least 50 attendees (wouldn't have been a problem with a smaller space, but we loved the space soooo much...). So we were freaking out that with our 85 invitees, we wouldn't hit that 50 mark - we are at 55! So that was a big moment.

This weekend we have a TON of honeymoon shopping to do. Its a lot of money to drop, even on relatively inexpensive things (we are going to work the Target)...we literally have -no- summer clothes or evening casual clothes in our sizes. Its a 10 day cruise (with coin laundry, sure, but who wants to do laundry on their honeymoon??!?!), which will require soooo much clothing (for each of us: 2 formal dresses for the formal dinners, 8 evening casual outfits, at least 4 sets of gym wear, 10 day wear outfits (jeans, t-shirts, capri pants, tank tops, etc, swimsuit, sunglasses, etc, plus sweaters or sweatshirts if it gets cold). Being that we are starting from nothing, there is a LOT of shopping to do. I bought formal dresses on ebay (for like 10 dollars per, thank goodness, because $100 per dress would be too much for both of us to spend on 2 dresses each), swimsuits on clearance, but there is still soooo much to buy. The credit cards are getting a workout this weekend. Hopefully my size is close to stable now, though, so I can use these clothes through the entire summer.

Can I join the party? I'm getting married July 28. Yesterday I finally got around to ordering my bridesmaid dresses (actually tops and then separate skirts) from www.perfectbridal.com and hopefully they will come in June. One top is white with a burgundy trim and a black skirt, and the other two are solid burgundy tops with black skirts because our colors are burgundy, black, and white. For the white/burgundy top, we're doing a burgundy colored shawl and for the burgundy top, it will be white shawls. This is because all my bridesmaids are self conscious about their arms and so I told them they could wear shawls if they want to. Our bridal shower is April 21. Is it appropriate to send out invitations with information about where we are registered with the bridal shower invites? Because most of the people I don't know and never talk to (his mom's inviting friends) and I want to make sure everyone knows where we're registered at. My dress is being handmade by my dad. It is the wedding dress from the movie The Princess Diaries 2. I found the pattern and now just need to get the material. The skirt is a sparkly burgundy color, the top is white and it will have black lace over that. My shoes are silver with rhinestones. Anyways, any advice is welcome!

Your shower is on my wedding day! Welcome!

I would probably not send registry information out with the invites to the shower, but would instruct the people who are taking RSVPs for the shower to give out the registry information when people call to RSVP. Everyone is going to have to RSVP anyway, so the info should get to everyone.

Your colors and dresses sound so pretty!!

Mandalinn,

You have less than a month to go! I wish you the best of luck. I know I was a bit stressed about a month before my wedding. Once you get to the day though it is smooth sailing. Actually our initial wedding dates are coming up. We had planned to get married at the end of April or early May but then DH wanted to accelerate the plans so we did. I'm actually pretty glad it was quick between engagement and the wedding, just because it was a lot less time to stress and think about the entire wedding. Especially now that I'm in the process of writing a 60 page paper for my last class in my Masters program.

I really enjoy reading your guys stories and such.

I also remembered something today. When I was looking for invitations to my wedding, I got frustrated because they were so expensive and I was having a small wedding and didn't want to spend tons of money on just invitations. I borrowed a laser printer from my inlaws and bought blank invitations at Walmart. It cost me $19.99. I had also thought of various things like using postcards for response cards and such.

It is amazing how little things can stress you sometimes too.

How many calories does panicking about the seating plan burn? How about 5 hours assembling lucky bamboo plants for favors?

Jilly Bean 720

hahahahaha...i said the exact same thing, when i was looking at the rings. Everytime someone asked me what I liked, i told them what i DIDN'T like, and your list sounds like mine, no yellow gold, no solitaire ( i thought the stone looked lonely, I'm insane I know), no marquis cut, no princess cut.... I'm with you with the not too formal wedding, if people want to come in jeans, fine whatever, if they want to wear a ball gown, fine whatever. AND i don't want a church wedding, but i feel that greatly limits my options...
I have no clue what I'm doing. However, there is a doughnut place (VooDoo Doughnuts) in Portland, Ore. that will marry you for $175, and they provide coffee and doughnuts for up to 10 people. It's sounding better and better everyday.

Nelie,

I went to Boone and Sons. Though that computer thing sounds like fun, but I'm so bad with technology I'm liable to break it.

Have fun shopping for the honeymoon Mandalinn!
I heard that the most expensive thing in a reception is an open bar. Is that true?

Jilly - we found glass pots for them at Wal-Mart, as well as little river stones to fill the pots with. This lucky bamboo supplier is MEGA cheap -
http://www.kaptivaimports.com/c_62_34_40.html

We are doing one straight stalk inside a spiral stalk. I love these things, and they are coming out to about $3 per person, which is totally in the right range for a favor.

Good morning gals. Now I'm really thinking about the table cloth idea - not necessarily different ones, but maybe something like a table topper to dress up the plain white that my reception place has. I'm thinking of maybe something I could make or buy dirt cheap - but it would be nice to do a sheer fabric with some sort of fall leaf motif on it. Yes, I know I'm dreaming.... LOL

Last night we went to a banquet so I got a chance to sit at an 8-seat round table - much bigger than I remembered. Each of these toppers would end up being pretty big - maybe a 70" square would work? I really need to find out the actual table dimensions before I really think about trying to do this.
Thoughts?
Cindy

Jill -- that's an awesome service plan deal! It's kind of like car maintenance... gotta change the oil every 3000 miles ;) You've talked so much about this ring, you better post a photo when it's finished!!


I tried on my wedding dress really for the first time since I got it today. I've had it since the fall, as I ordered it in June of LAST year (we were originally having a fall wedding... long story)... when I weighed less! So what was big on me then fits perfectly right now. Not that that's a good thing. I was planning on having to have it taken in. Now that I have a clear image of what I look like in the dress, I'll have to make it help me get a few pounds off before the wedding. 10 would help me feel a LOT more comfortable in that thing (especially if those 10 come off my back!).

It is a beautiful dress, though! I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Hi Guys!
 

Hey guys I stumbled across your site and I too am a bride to be looking to lose weight before the big day. I have a lot to lose but a lot of time so I guess that is good. Our date is July 5, 2008 and actually the wedding stuff is pretty much done we just have to come up with a way to pay for it! Hopefully I can convince my fiance to cut back on the guest list a bit! As all i do is worry about the cost. I look foward to sharing this journey with you guys. Stephanie

looking4better--welcome! I see you're in NOVA--me too! Lord knows that in this area, you pretty much HAVE to be worried about the cost or it will very quickly and easily go out of control :dizzy: Can you share some of your big day details with us? I love hearing everyone else's plans (so I can steal some of them when we're ready to start making firm plans ;) )!

OH, and bfl cat, another suggestion for wide fabric that wouldn't require a seam down the middle--queen/king size bedsheets. We've frequently bought sheets to make window curtains because they can be much cheaper than buying the equivalent amount of yardage of bolt fabric.

Looking4better....welcome! Not a ton of time at the moment, but wanted to say hi...so great that you have so much of your planning done.

Jilly - its ridiculous trying to lose weight with all of the planning. The parties...the many, many parties...are murder, and all of the days out running errands...not to mention the tastings and etc. Its insane.

Yes, sheets! You can often get them for cheap at places like overstock.com. Also, look for fabric wholesalers - lots of them sell big wide bolts.

Finally, it might add a bit of expense, but where we are you can rent "overlays" for your tables from a party rental company. Locally, they do have the autumn/leaf motif overlays, and I think renting them costs something along the lines of 8-10 dollars per table. Now, thats a lot when you consider that are only RENTING, and won't end up with them afterward...but honestly, do you have use for that many huge tablecloths post-wedding anyway?

So the whole wedding thing has been kinda of funny as he is very traditional and I am not. But we have come to some agreements.
The first compromise was the ring. I didn't want a diamond ring per se. I do not wear a lot of jewelry so if I am going to wear a ring I wanted it to be different. So I got a pink sapphire ring that has diamonds down the sides of the band and then the wedding ban will also have diamonds.

As for the ceremony, we are going to have it in his church but no communion and shortened down on the bible readings. His friends will do 2 bible versus and mine will read 2 poems. And the whole thing has to be shorter than 45 mins- (I'm aiming for 30 mins)because I hate long weddings! They are soooo boring! I wanted a fall wedding so that I could have dark rich colors, but he coaches football so fall doesn't work so well. So we decided to go with an evening wedding. My colors are wine and silver.

As for the reception we decided on the newly remodeled VFW hall. We were going to have it at quantico marine base-but dates wouldn't work. but the vfw does the catering and prices are good so I can't complain. As for favors we ordered shot glasses that on one side read "take a shot we tied the knot" and on the other side have our names and wedding date- We are debating as to use these for the toast or just put candy in them and put them on the tables. We're still thinking about something else small to give as well.

Because our wedding is a holiday weekend we decided we are going to send out Save the Date cards, but instead of cards we ordered magnets that have our picture on them with the message- they are really cute!

Actually for as far away as the wedding is I have a lot lined up already. We have the place/catering, the DJ, the wedding singer/organist, and the photographer all arranged. As for my dress I sent a picture of one that I really liked with my measurements to this man in china- a little bit of a risk but if it turns out it will be a huge reward! and I guess if i hate it i will find something around here.

We still have to do all the fine tune planning- flowers, actual guest lists, cake but we are well on our way.

I traveled to North Carolina this weekend with Micah to check out UNC's computer graphics grad program. The school looks great, so we may end up there. It's very exciting but also overwhelming! The area is really pretty, but more expensive than Indiana. (Not surprising- Indiana may be about as cheap as it gets.)

So, on top of wedding stuff, I'm thinking house stuff and trying to find a job. Ack! I'm going crazy!

I am really excited because the dress I want for my bridesmaids is on sale. I don't think I've posted it yet:

http://www.chadwicks.com/product.asp...id=1&ViewAll=1

I also found a 30% off code, so I think they will ship for $35 each. I am THRILLED with this. I have put out so much money for bridesmaid dresses before, so that price is great. Plus, I can afford to buy the dress for any girls for whom money may be an issue.

The dress is a lot more casual than many of the dresses being advertised now, and that is fine by me. I want more of a casual feel anyway, and I think they're cute. Plus, I like the fact that they're not strapless. Oh- We will order them in pink.

All for now, take care gals.

boy I don't envy you-that's why i decided they can sit where ever they want!:D

Cute bridesmaid dresses! I'm sure your maids will love not only that they are affordable, but that they are infinitely wearable after the wedding.

Yes, you'd say that you'll just let everyone sit whereever...until you realize that you have both work friends and your friend who tends toward being very sexually suggestive in the crowd...not to mention all kinds of people who refuse to sit near all kinds of other people...not to mention lots of uncomfortable family who'll need someone familiar nearby. Basically we assigned tables to create "buffer zones" - buffer zones from the very catholic family with my boss who starts spouting off controversial religious viewpoints when he has been drinking, buffer zones from our friend who hit on Sarah's stepdad before he knew he was Sarah's step dad...buffer zones buffer zones buffer zones.

lol I guess I am lucky..all my family is in Michigan and canada so only immediate family is invited to come down to the wedding. Then a seperate party will be held at my grandma's house for everyone that couldn't make it. So Ben would have to worry more about buffer zones and I don't think he cares

Just zipping through ladies, back from my mini vacation in LA and lots of work to get done here! Our annual gathering (dubbed “nonukkah”) was especially joyous this year as three engaged couples were in attendance. Must be something in the water. ;)

Welcome new people, look forward to hearing about all your plans!

My df’s father hosted a lovely poolside engagement party for us and our friends on Sunday. Our close friends who are also engaged gave us a couple of books that are really interesting and useful, The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World http://www.amazon.com/Knot-Complete-...5106583&sr=8-2 (from the same people at theknot.com) and the New Jewish Wedding http://www.amazon.com/New-Jewish-Wed...5106929&sr=1-1. Can’t wait till this work event is over on Sunday and I can start devoting a little time to seriously planning my own event!