26 Days and Counting

We had our final meeting with our deacon on Saturday, so pretty much all of the major stuff is finished. We picked our readings, sent in our ceremony music request to the music guy, and turned in our Baptism/Communion/Confirmation records. Just need to turn in those pesky witness forms and our marriage license, and we can officially get married.

That's not to say there isn't tons left to do. All the little details are gonna drive me crazy, I can tell. I've finally got fed up with the table decorations, thought "To hell with this!", and have decided that I'll just go with the simplest possible route. Much like the other Kristine suggested, I'll have the lantern in the middle with rose petals and votive candles down a line on either side of it. I had wanted to do this anyway, but somehow thought that just the petals, candles, and the lanterns would look small on the tables. Most people assure me that it won't. So it'll look like this, but with a lantern:

So I bought 7 dozen votive candles in glass containers for $4.97 per dozen this weekend (Yay Michaels!). And then I can buy 6 bunches of roses from Costco a day or two before the wedding, just to harvest the petals. (I think I'll ask a florist if they'd be willing to give them for me for cheap or free, considering it's like taking out their trash for them.) I'm sure it'll look very nice. I asked my brother (who's now an interior designer), what he thinks, and he says it'll look okay. He started going off on adding bamboo or eucalyptus too. I'd rather not bother with it. Eucalyptus would be easy enough to get for free - my work is swarming with eucalyptus trees - but if my coworkers didn't think I was a weirdo before, they'll certainly think so once they see me picking up leaves with my butt waggling in the air (waggling cuz I'm bending over; I wouldn't just be randomly waggling my butt). Anyway, I'm gonna try to back away from the table decorations and stop obsessing about them. Let it go, Kristine. Let it go.

And damn it, Martha Stewart! I bought your wedding magazine for the sole purpose of learning how to do those tissue paper doohickeys, then you go off and provide the instructions for free on your website! Just for that, I will make your magazine into beads or a bowl sometime in the future! So there! ...Anyway, I think it'd be cool if there were hooks at my reception site so I could make those hanging pom-poms. They look really impressive, and I made the little ones, and they were easy as pie! Easier, even! I could make them in pink, green, purple, and blue in all different sizes, and hang them from the ceiling with fishing wire, so it'll be like they're floating. Of course, this is all dependent upon visiting the reception site and seeing if they have hooks.

But I'm also wondering if some of the craftsy projects I wanted to do will even be worth the effort. My idea for the placecards was to have a tissue paper flower coming out of a tiny, 1 inch terra cotta pot, with the leaf as the nametag. Then the color of the flower would show what they wanted for dinner. It'd be cute, for sure. But would it be appreciated? I'm sure our guests would say, "Oh, how cute!", but they'd eventually just get thrown out or left behind, especially by out of town guests, who can't realistically put mini flowers in suitcases. They'd be smushed. So for a lot of my projects, I've been having a debate in my head: Practicality/Appreciation vs. Time/Money/Effort Spent. With less than 4 weeks to go, I can't really afford to get hung up on things that won't make a difference if they're not there. So maybe just little tent placecards in different colors, with a mini paper flower glued to it.

Finally, I figure I should start a weekly To-Do list, since it's really getting close to the wedding date, and there's tons left to do.

To-Do:

• Send check for balance and guidelines to photographer; ask her what entrees they want
• Visit Sportsman Restaurant to scope out the place for details and ask questions
• Follow up with people who haven't RSVP'd yet.
• Call uncle! (Maybe email?)
• Give witness forms to brother and dad (or aunt), get them back before Friday
• Finish witness forms from Sam's parents
• Appointment at County Clerk's office on Friday (Was that at 10am, Sam?)
• Order crinoline & any other bridal accessories
• Drop off dress at tailor
• Start designing guestbook cards, camera cards, table numbers, and programs