No news is fine news

This picture has nothing at all to do with this entry...I just really love it.  We weren’t going to dress up for Halloween since we were visiting NJ and George’s parents, but at the last minute I decided the best costume would be Bobby Haranis.  Can you even tell us apart?

We’ve been busy lately, and not so much with wedding planning...but I want to be more diligent with my posting, so here goes.  Mostly, this entry is an excuse to post more pictures of the Sayen House (enjoy!).  I’ve also said all along that I wanted this little blog to serve as a digital scrapbook for me, and that means taking some time to reflect on this whole process.  There might not be any news, but you know me...but when has that ever stopped me from running my mouth--or keyboard, as the case may be?

There are a couple of news items to report.  My dress patterns came in the mail, which is really exciting, but I don’t want to tell you anything about them.  It’s a surprise!  We also have our engagement photo shoot on Sunday, which might be the most exciting piece yet.  We have a lot of fun ideas and we’ll be shooting at a few locations around Boston that are really special to us, so stay tuned.

Back to this reflection business...I’ve been getting a lot of advice lately.  One of the best pieces of advice was to set a time before the wedding after which all troubleshooting is someone else’s problem.  At a certain time, be it 5 hours or one day before the wedding, any last-minute issues become someone else’s responsibility to resolve.  The logic is, my bridesmaids and family know me well and are trustworthy people--they’ve promised to see me through the whole wedding-planning process, not to mention the marriage that will follow.  They can handle it if the car won’t start, or the centerpieces fall apart, or the caterer runs out of eggplant.  After that magic time, all I’ll focus on will be the joyful things, like imagining George’s face when we’re pronounced husband and wife.

The second piece of advice that stuck with me was an explanation of how a marriage changes a relationship.  In most ways, our life together will be the same.  We share a home, so we’re used to that, and eventually even the name change is bound to feel less novel.  The real difference, I’ve been told, is that a marriage is just as much about the community as it is about the two of us.  When we get married, we’ll be promising in front of all the people that matter in the community of our lives that we will stick with it, that we’ll stand by each other, and that we’ll turn to them for help when we need it.  They, by witnessing our marriage, are committing to helping us through and supporting us on that path.

Alright, you didn’t come for my musings, you came for the pictures.  Here you go--but one last thought.  Feel free to share your marriage advice with us.  Thanks for listening!

Check-writing never felt this good

Sweet, sweet victory is ours!

And it is SWEET!

It’s been a while, I know...things have been busy!  We spent this weekend on another whirlwind trip to New Jersey and boy, was it worth it.  My upcoming trip to LA this week got canceled at the last minute (a few factors combined to equal “not the best time to go”).  While I was really disappointed to cancel it and miss seeing California, it occurs to me tonight that maybe my guardian sleep angel was looking out for me!  We are both exhausted, and this was essentially my second weekend in a row away from home (Emerson Family Weekend is the most fun way to tire yourself out on the job), but we made it there and back and have a venue to show for it. 

The Sayen House and Garden is ours!  We went, we saw, we put down a deposit.  Beth Giglio, the event coordinator for Rosa’s at Sayen Garden, is phenomenal.  We met her on Halloween--her birthday!--and knew within moments that not only was this the perfect site for our wedding party, but that she was a woman we wanted to work with.

The house is so intimate and full of details that are nothing short of delightful.  I really am over the moon!  I also love that it’s not one big box--in some ways the more separated dining rooms will make seating charts a challenge, but I also think it will be a lot more fun for folks to meander through to the bars or dance floor.  And the grounds...don’t even get me started.  Even on an overcast, drizzly day it was a stunning setting.

In other achievements of the weekend, we’ve booked our photographer--the phenomenally gifted Candace Jeffery of Candace Jeffery Photography.  We haven’t even met in person yet (can’t wait for the engagement shoot!) but looking over the site and blog, I couldn’t be more excited.  Candace seems to find that perfect balance between artistic composition and finding real emotional moments.  Much more to come in the next month or two when we get engagement shots...please check out her site!

Last, but most certainly not least, I reserved our week-long honeymoon at L’Auberge de Sedona.  I’ve really gone back and forth a lot when it comes to my feelings about registries, but hearing all of the activities and expansion packages available there, I’m just flat-out excited now!  Plus, the confirmation used our married names...which gave me chills to look at before I promptly archived the email.  May cannot come soon enough--especially with November in New England so cold, and Arizona so warmly beckoning...

Of course, in the meantime, there is still lots to do.  For tonight, though, my only to-do is heating up some apple cider and finish watching this baseball game (first and only time I’ll be crossing my fingers for the Yankees).

Good night, friends!

OK, I'm crazy

In my last entry, I mentioned an extra “final detail” for the save the dates.

Just wanted to let you know how that was working out...

The photo here shows the supplies I’m using to create our stefana, or wedding crowns.  I haven’t made much progress since the first initial burst (I’ve beaded about 1/4 of the way around the first ring), and that mirrors how the whole process feels lately.  We’re in a bit of a holding pattern.  Luckily, whenever negotiations are close to breaking down, we break out laughing at ourselves.

We’ve decided on a florist--Janene Puca of In Full Bloom.  Her website is nice, but to be honest, it doesn’t do justice to the enthusiasm and expertise she brings to the table.  Of all of our vendor meetings to date, I was least excited to meet with the florist.  Because I have some very specific (and non-traditional) ideas about what I want, I assumed an “if you want something done right, do it yourself” attitude.  When we sat down with Janene, though, she was quick to expand on my ideas and add her own knowledge to take things to another level.  She’s also a straight shooter, which means a lot to me and George!

George and I are in the process of finalizing our decision about the venue.  We had been dead-set on Erini, but another option presented itself and I’m enthralled with it.  We’re not sure whether the Sayen House and Garden will accommodate our group, so we’ve reached out to them and there’s a possibility that we’ll go down to NJ again in the next week or so to make a final choice.  We’re also finalizing our choice of photographer soon, after reaching out to several exciting options.

I do find it hard to believe how difficult some vendors can be.  At this point, I’m basically putting money on the table.  We haven’t committed to a vendor for X, we’re considering giving you a substantial amount of money to perform this service for us, please give us information.  Amazing how some folks don’t return calls or emails, make up excuses, or just generally flake out!  Real encouraging sales work, there.  That’s how you win customers.

Maybe because of my line of work, I find the exchanging of money to be a very personal affair.  If I want to win someone’s business, so to speak--to guide them toward directing their philanthropy to Emerson, to my cause--I’m not only responsive, but I try to anticipate their needs.  I want that person to have all of the information they need, when they need it, to make the best decision for themselves at that moment in time.  It’s a wonder that some of these commercial operations stay running with such poor customer service--and, in at least one case, a wonder that I haven’t been able to convince George to run far, far away from the waving red flags.

In happier news, I’m also almost done with our save the date cards!  Envelope liners are all prepped and ready to be adhered, and there’s a final detail I’m going to try this afternoon on the cards themselves (which I thought were done until inspiration struck).  The envelopes are addressed and stamped and we’re nearly ready to roll.  Excitingly, I learned that you can ask the Postal Service to hand-cancel the stamps, avoiding that big mechanical mark across the top of the envelope.  I started planning our custom stamps for the invitations themselves, too...a very G+K detail, if I say so myself.

You know, I sat down to write this entry feeling pretty down about the whole thing.  Not the marriage part, of course, but the planning.  As usual, though, once I started to write out where we really are--and more importantly, think through where we’re headed--I feel much better.  Our small wedding will be a wonderful one, and I know that our long life together will be even better.

Until next time, friends.  Thanks for listening!