Making a plan and sticking to it is great and all but we don't live in a vacuum. Life changes and sometimes plans have to change accordingly. If you are inflexible and unwilling to adapt then how are you ever going to move forward through life?
Harumph.
I resisted the urge at first. The idea of walking into a Bed Bath and Beyond makes me twitch. Its just so ridiculous to navigate and cluttered. So suburban. My snooty yuppie ass is chafing. So like a good yuppie I registered at Crate and Barrel and Macy's to provide an easily accessible store. Wasn't terribly happy with the Macy's selection mostly of sheets and china. What really irks me about Macy's is that every time I've gone to purchase wedding gift, half the registry was unavailable. Can't see how this would be ok for my wedding.
I thought I'd give BBB another try this evening because 1. Duplicate gifts/unwanted items can be returned for cash. Yay. Is there anything better than that? Why do I want to be forced to shop at Macy's or buy some unneeded home item at Crate and Barrel?
2. Your guests can use the omnipresent 20% off coupon to get you your gift. What bride and guest doesn't love that idea? You save money so you can buy us more- or not, really not our concern. I'm such a value whore.
So to my surprise, I logged on today and found the Tassimo coffeemaker not available at my two other stores, the china that I registered for and some other contenders, and bedding by Nicole Miller that I adore. Macy's who? Everything I have on my Macy's registry can be found at Bed Bath & Beyond and then some. I will be making the switch thank you very much. Style and shopping experience be damned!
I would say the very first thing I actually did when we got engaged was scout out wedding websites. Not sure why, but www.brianandtish.com amuses me to no end. I checked The Knot and Brides.com and both referred me to Wedding Tracker. Compared to the one other site I'd seen before then, the templates were good and it has a lot of useful features. From guest lists and seating charts to gift tracking and online rsvps, I thought it was a slam dunk.
A coworker of mine recently showed me his Wed-o-rama website and I immediately thought, damn. The templates are a lot more 'high fashion' and utilize flash so the overall effect is much more snazzy. Had I not already built my site on Brianandtish.com I would have purchased a Wed-o-rama subscription and used Wedding Tracker for the planning software only.
I have to say the Wedding Tracker software has been invaluable and its great to be able to log on and work on my guest list wherever I happen to be. I'd probably have spent a few hours on a functional spreadsheet to get even half the features the software gives me. But if you want wow factor, I'd definitely recommend Wed-o-rama.
. . . it's about the journey. At least that's what my ripped yoga instructor Jesus said last week. I don't know if I agree with him. It's been an emotional, hellacious quest for 'the dress' and I have to say I didn't get the butterflies and excitement most brides describe, the same feelings I had when I bought my Watter's sample gown. What I felt most of all was an overwhelming sense of calm and relief.
I went to the sample sale at Priscilla of Boston that day with a downtrodden attitude that I doubt I'd find a dress but it wouldn't hurt to try. I walked in to find half the front of the store was full of sample gowns at 50% off, not 75% like Louise Blum. I picked up a few dresses, my favorite salesgirl, Ann, grabbed the Melissa Sweet Lia I had somehow overlooked and lead me to the dressing room. I told her 'I am SO over the whole dress thing and am ready to be done. Long story short, my two bridesmaids bailed on me, but I called my mama in Calgary while I sat for an hour in the dressing room wearing the dress and debating whether or not it was worth the money. Kind of felt ridiculous making such a huge purchase by myself but was so scared it would get bought the next day that I just ran with it.
The Lia is a signature style Melissa Sweet gown and I've seen several brides at my Austin venue wearing the gown. I tried it on and to make a long story short, after an hour and a half of deliberations and phone calls to each of my trusted wedding buddies, I walked away with a simple and dramatic ivory gown that is undeniably glamorous. To top it off it has a used resale value 60-80% of what I paid!
SIX whole months of obsession have come to a close. I was in withdrawal and unsure of what to do with the time until I logged onto the Knot today and it told me I had 129 items remaining to do in the next 204 days. Oh geez.
With stress. The life overhaul is exciting but instead of my favorite things, I'm going to list things that are contributing to the frazzled overwhelmed girl that I am. I just keep on eating and haven't been to the gym in weeks. I'm an emotional eater for sure.
1. Mod Media Solutions. The website design is almost done, the brochures are in, the marketing plan is almost set. The domain is purchased. But I have no idea how to link that to my .mac site or really anything else past purchasing the domain. Not too excited to learn either. Also uncertain of my photography skills and how I'm going to be able to have the time to get out there and shoot houses without my boss finding out.
2. Roommate. Two kinds actually. I need to find a mature graduate student roommate to live with in College Station. Only one such post on Craig's List who has decided not to respond to me. Also, if I can sell my couch and coffee table, get my contractor out, find the funds for him to build a wall, and get that done before December 8th, then my friend can have a place to stay during the work week since her husband recently moved an hour and a half away.
3. My current job. Since moving offices, the office environment is so much better. I don't have any of the weird hang-ups about walking to the copy machine or other social insecurities I developed from the weird Europeans with staring problems. Unfortunately, the environment is so much better that my boss is in the office all day every day basically getting in the way of me using work time to get items 1, 2, & 4 done. It goes beyond that even because I feel like he's trying to give me more tasks to make it easier for my replacement. I'm just feeling so apathetic to the whole thing that it takes me twice as long as it used to to half-ass my tasks at work. I'm a bad person, I know.
4. The dress. I turned in my contract for Saturday, June 28th at the Alden Hotel and am totally thrilled with the new catering manager who is accomodating and funny and motherly. So we are about seven months out and 6 months is the cutoff for ordering a full price wedding gown if I can't find a sample gown at the Louise Blum Sample Sale next Thursday. (For which I am going to need to play some very undeserved hooky on work for. Sigh.) I'm just very anxious about the whole dress thing, I read something the other day that warned against turning your dress hunt into a job. I'm afraid I've made it more of a career, a quest for some crazy holy grail.
Oh and then there's the other things that I just worry about. Financial aid, wedding decor, whether or not my boss is still making my invitations as a wedding present, we'll save the rest of that for later.
I've been shopping hotels for my wedding guests and noticed several hotels with absolutely no availability. I thought, it's not Austin City Limits, SXSW, or even Eeyore's Birthday. Much to my chagrin, today's phone call to a hotel unveiled the mystery.
June 14th, 2008, my planned wedding day, lakeside in beautiful Austin, Texas. This day is coinciding with the 2008 Republic of Texas Biker Rally. Outsiders might think one of two things. 1. Republic of Texas? That sounds a little frightening. (It is!) 2. Why is this woman so damn melodramatic?
Those who have experienced the visual and auditory cacophony of the ROT Rally are gasping in dismay. Picture this. 40,000 bikers descending on a small city in a swarming frenzy of assless leather pants, even more leathery exposed skin, loud loud loud choppers, and unavoidable bumper to bumper traffic on all major roads. Was that not enough? Here are some photos taken from their OFFICIAL site, www.rotrally.com
This is what guests including elderly grandparents will witness outside their hotels, on the street, outside of restaurants, etc. Not exactly the picture I want to paint of Texas.
Long story short, my wedding venue was very understanding and will allow me to change my date at no penalty. There are no earlier dates available, but I can change to June 28th, July 5th (during 4th of July weekend), or another Saturday in July. July is a hotter month by about two degrees warmer than June with an average high of 95 and an average low of 74. Since we're doing an evening ceremony, I'm hoping the heat won't be an issue for my outdoor ceremony and outdoor reception. The fact that it will be $1,250 cheaper is a much needed price break on a wedding that's spinning out of control. Even better is that my first choice of wedding photographer is available on that date! www.morganlynnphotography.com if you want to check her out, second choice www.tgcphotography.net
My momma is concerned that the summer is too warm for our Canadian guests and suggested we move the wedding to Fall/Winter of 08 but I'm too selfish to make that concession, aside from the fact that the fall is pricey at my venue. We also thought this might be an opportunity to change to a less difficult venue but if you were with me through the venue selection process you know best not to open that can of worms. I have my heart set on this place even though its going to be more than problematic in rainy weather. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!
My dear friend Ngo convinced me it would be a good idea to chronicle my inner ramblings and post for the world to see. While I should probably rethink our friendship, there is some merit to this idea, so voila, here I be. Let's see, I have a penchant for run-on sentences and am currently trying to learn how to work my three day old MacBook. Until then, we will be pictureless. Bear with me please!
