June 29, 2010
Lord of the Ring
One of the reasons I love Garry so much is because he is such a dork.
Yesterday my engagement ring was delivered to our local store and Garry went to go get it. He picked me up at work and then dropped me off at my second job (yeah – it’s really a drag) and went to go get it.
Of course I’m thinking “YAY! Now I get to wear it!” Nope. Not yet. Apparently Garry is stubborn enough (or stuck on tradition enough) to “formally” propose.
Which I still think is funny because it’s really kind of a moot point.
This, of course, kills me because he could’ve been all sneaky and said “Hey I have to run back to the house for a few minutes/drop something off at my friends/get a sandwich while you’re at the station” instead of “I’m going to go pick up your ring” Grr.
THEN because he is so not super sneaky, he said he was worried it wouldn’t fit. Um, the band fit fine and we ordered the same size so I’m guessing it will fit. We pull in the driveway and he said “No, I think I need you to try it on to make sure.”
So I stood there and closed my eyes while he practically twisted my arm around my back (so I couldn’t see incase I peeked – which I didn’t) slipped it on really quick, made sure it fit and then slipped it off.
*sigh*
THEN he went online and posted to Facebook that he was the Lord of the Ring.
What does that make me - Gollum?!?!?
Anyway, it was pretty funny. For someone who claims his totem to be a fox he is not very sneaky.
Speaking of elves, faeries and the like – our second annual Faerie Festival went really well this last weekend! (Garry and I worked at the event) We had a ton of people come and we really enjoyed the music, performers and the joust (I love a good joust!). At night we had a HUGE (although, for me it was too huge) drum circle.
I also found a fascniator for our handfasting! It’s an ivory lily with faerie hair attached. The company is Solstice Art and she makes really fabulous pieces! (I stood there a while and drooled over her headpieces before purchasing my clip)
I’m thinking of possibly having some smaller versions of mine made up for my maids (mine only cost $20 so I’m hoping she can make some smaller ones up for less). Could be interesting!
June 18, 2010
We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends
Something I’m learning is that you can never be too thankful for the help of friends and family when it comes down to planning your wedding.
Garry and I are setting aside around $5,000 for our wedding (legal ceremony) next year. For most people that is just a drop in the bucket, for us, it’s a huge investment. We realized that we would have to be frugal and maybe not have *exactly* what we want on every measure, budget carefully and be creative.
We also knew that we had a huge pool of resources with our friends and family and were hoping that they would be ever-so-kind to help us out on our big day.
My parents are taking care of the food/beverages and venue for us (which when you look at a wedding budget – the VAST majority tends to go there) which saved us a ton of money. Even if they weren’t able to help us and we had a pot-luck dinner – we still would’ve had to come up with some moola for the venue and the main dish – which is pretty pricey for 150 people.
My bridesmaids are making their dresses – which saved me $75 on my budget – and about $200 if we would’ve bought them from a store. I wanted to make sure my maids wore something comfortable and nice for the wedding (I want them to feel pretty too!) so purchasing the fabric and patterns for them was a big “THANK YOU” for standing up there with me and for dealing with all my potential insane moments in the coming year.
Our upstairs tenant and friend was a hairdresser for many years before going into the jewelry making business. She offered to do our hair (both for our handfasting and the wedding!) as a gift.
My coworker is dj’ing our event (although I’m a little nervous that it might end up turning into a roast!).
And today, I asked a good friend of the family who happens to be a fantastic photographer (with all the right equipment even!) and she agreed and even said she’d do it for us as our present! YAY!
We are so lucky that we have such wonderful people that are willing to help us and make our day special!
If you have a lot of people helping you on your wedding day – it’s a good idea to include a thank you page in your program. We’re planning on doing so – and aside from the cheesecakes I’m planning on making for them as thank you presents - it’s a really nice way to acknowledge them.
June 16, 2010
Getting the ball rolling!
The last two days we’ve really got a lot of big things taken care of. Garry purchased our wedding bands and my engagement ring (which my ring will be here on the 29th! I’m so excited!!) and today, by luck, I found my handfasting dress.
Here are our wedding bands:
This is Garry’s band
Photo from Kays.com
This is my band
Photo from Kays.com
I thought he did a fantastic job don’t you think? It’s nice knowing that my husband-to-be has excellent taste in jewelry.
It’s funny though – if he had left the decision up to me – I don’t think that’s what I would’ve picked. I would’ve figured he wouldn’t want anything with stones in it. He just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that would like something like that. I guess I was wrong huh? Originally we were going to get plain bands, but I’m sure my MOH said “Oh no, that won’t do – you should get this” and Garry, I love him dearly, but he’s attracted to shiny things.
Yesterday he came home and brought the bands with him. His is a little too small and needs to be resized. When he was showing me the bands he shoved his as far as he could on his finger and stood there, complete with a goofy grin on his face and a sort-of “Captain Morgan” pose – “Hey honey – this is what I’m going to look like when I’m your husband!”
He is such a dork. But, he’s my dork – and that makes me happy.
So today I was scouring the internet for a while and thinking about my handfasting dress. I ordered the fabric and patterns for my maids – they’re all set. We have bands and my engagement ring is on the way, so that’s set. Another really important thing – my dress – was something of a mystery. I browsed through all the websites for the pattern companies and didn’t find anything I really liked 100%. I had pretty strict criteria when it came to this dress though.
1. Material should look kind of raw and organic – like the shantung I bought the girls. It’s gorgeous! I love the drape and everything about it.
2. It needed to be floor length.
3. It should be comfortable, able to wear a strapless bra (or something supportive) underneath it that I already own.
4. I need to be able to wear it to work (after hemming it to knee length) – even if I have to wear a bolero or a cardigan over it. (I’m poor and need more work clothes – so anything that can pull double duty is definitely worth it for me!)
5. For the love of all things holy and sacred – NO BLING. (Although pearl beading, lace, or flowers were okay – just nothing super sparkley)
The fourth criteria was the hardest to fulfill. There were tons of gorgeous patterns out there, but I couldn’t see them being hemmed short for an everyday wear dress. Secondly, there were a lot of strapless dresses – which I like – but I abhorr with the fiery passion of a thousand suns really don’t like to sew boning. It’s a pain – and sewing can be difficult enough as it is (and I have a really busy summer lined up) so an easy pattern that I can use shantung fabric with that didn’t require boning or was possibly pushing my sewing skills was impossible to find.
I decided to check the David’s Bridal website (again, for what felt like the millionth time) just to see if maybe there was something in my price range on the site that would work (and save me some effort and sanity).
Lo’ and behold I found my handfasting dress.
It even has POCKETS! I almost fell out of my chair! It was perfect! I can wear my convertible strapless bra (I have a clear strap that I can put as a halter) for extra support and the pleating on the bodice won’t show off *too* much cleavage. It’s made out of shantung fabric too! The cut is perfect (the banding looks like it’s in just the right spot for my waist) and I can hem it short and it will be really cute for work or wherever I need a cute dress!
The coup de gras? Well, it was on sale for $109. A little more than I wanted to pay (after you include shipping), but then I noticed that there was an online promotion for $20 off a select group of white dresses. I figured I’d check that out – just in case I found something I liked more. Again, almost falling out of my chair, that dress was a part of that promotion! I ended up paying $89.99 for the dress and after all was said and done I paid $104.94 – only $4.94 more than I budgeted – but without the hassle of trying to sew my own dress!
You can imagine my excitement. 
