Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wedding Par-tay!

The main idea of this wedding party social is to get our peeps on both sides to meet one another, integrate some new faces, and all chill out with a little over a year to go until the big day. The goal: pictures and good times inspired by actual friendships and fun, rather than posed "sillyness" and a support system which can actually support if there is drama.

There'd better not be drama.

Planning our wedding party social has been a great warm up for planing the actual wedding. Boy and I have both had lots of ideas, some great and some not so great.

When it came down to it, it was all about compromise and reality, which is what I think all brides need to focus on sometimes!

For instance: My original (genius, by the way) idea was that it should be bridesmaids vs groomsmen in an awesome real world vs road rules style showdown. Our two wedding ninjas would be split up to join other teams and all would be right with the world. Think of the pink vs blue t-shirts! Wedding related games! Cocktails!

That is where it all fell apart. We're not what you would call "big drinkers," but we're not small, either. And even though very few of us were a part of Greek Life up at PSU, we do love us some competitive drinking. Almost as soon as I put out the idea, I started getting feedback about my "awesome" plan.

It was almost universally negative. Everyone was psyched about the games, but were quick to point out that (duh) our friends are very competitive, and merging a drinking component with a battle of the sexes would only lead to ticked off and very wasted girls as their husbands/boyfriends/fiances/friends drank them quite handily under the table. While I wanted to get on my "girl power" soap box and re-enact a scene from Annie Get Your Gun, I saw reason and bowed out. Rather than ditch the drinking component (come on, I'm not crazy... yet), I acquiesced that mixed teams were better.

Enter problem numero dos. Things turned very quickly into a night that was mostly about competitive, college style imbibing. And while I'm all for having a good time, I most certainly did not want anyone to get sick! There are a few people on both sides who prefer not to drink to excess, and Boy and I don't want to pressure anyone. But how do we keep things interesting for those who choose not to play drinking games?

We brainstormed for a while about activities that would get everyone involved. We all love a good game of flip cup, but it's not much fun if you aren't drinking. And who wants to ride the bus with water? Not this girl.

The trick ended up being a beyond brilliant idea that should keep all of our very geeky friends happy and having a great time, even after the drinking stops. I don't want to say too much here to spoil the surprise for the wedding party members who I know read the blog (ahem). But it will be epic.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Look at this cake.


This is a serious cake right here. This cake makes me want to jump and do all sorts of crazy gymnastics that I am nowhere near coordinated enough to do.

It's so simple, and tall, and round, and pretty and I must have it. (sings the "I want it now" song Veurca Salt sang in Willy Wonka)

The photo, btdubs, is by the very sweet and fantastically talented Nicole Aldrige of NKA studios. She does great work with families and especially awesome stuff with weddings! More on how I came to know her coming soon...

I know, I can be such an evil little tease sometimes.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Bye, bye land of make-believe

It's starting to get real. Really real. And... uhm...

Theoretical wedding planning world is a pretty un-stressful place to be. There are no worries in happy, fluffy cloud world. Hell, we can have flippin unicorns as our ring-bearers! We can have peonies in July! I can magically look beautiful in a sheath dress!

Not so much.

So here's the list of things I wanted to have taken care of by June:
1. Lose 15 pounds
2. have brilliant, creative wedding theme
3. decide on venue
4. get wedding party together

And while two of those admittedly big things are taken care of, the first two.... the not so completed ones... are the ones that are looming large at the moment.

Especially the second one. The first, I'll deal with at dress time. The theme, or overall feel of the wedding is what I'm fretting over at the moment.

Because I just don't know.

I was sketching out some Save the Date ideas yesterday, so I snapped a picture and sent them over to Boy. He showed the necessary approval with my work but rightly pointed out that they're a bit... bland. Yes, they have our colors and they incorporate the things we want/need in an STD but these designs definitely aren't going to knock anyone's socks off.

What now? Search wildly for inspiration, that's what! Here's some of what I found (clicky all for big and source):







Ok, that last one was just for fun :)

The overall feel I'm going for is simple, personal, and fun. I'd love there to be a little bit of unexpected in there too. We could even do some fun playing with our date in Euro format 3+7= 10 and all that jazz. hmm....

So much to ask for one little postcard!