We did it!

We are leaving in a few short hours for Ocho Rios, Jamaica...when we return next week, I'll have lots to post, but for now I leave you with an image that Ryan's mother took of our first dance:



Love. :)

table names

So in reading the various wedding magazines I've collected since last July, I keep seeing this idea over and over to name tables at the reception, rather than just numbering them. Yes, we are doing the seating chart thing; I just feel that telling guests exactly where to sit and seating them with people they know or will get along with eliminates the middle-school-cafeteria awkwardness. Especially considering our venue is not large enough for four or five people to take over one 8-top table; plus, we are renting white chairs for the reception, so there won't be many extra seats.

We will have about 20 round tables at our reception, which means if we are going to name the tables, we have to think of a category that has 20 things in it. Of course, with my fiance's love of sports, we could have gone with mascots or something...but that would be completely irrelevant to the style and theme of our wedding. After a lot of thinking, I finally came up with the idea to naem the tables after places or things that are special to us.

For instance, one table will be called Mine That Bird, which is the name of the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner. This horse is not just relevant to FH and me because we attended the Derby when the horse won -- FH actually placed a $10 bet on that horse on accident. For one, he never bets $10 to win on any horse, and for two, he thought he was betting on the one with chocolate in the name, "because I like chocolate," he said. Well, FH's accidental bet earned him $500. WTF. Needless to say, we went out that night. :)

So, the table called Mine That Bird will have a sign showing the name. It will also have a 3.5x5 wooden picture frame featuring a handwritten explanation of why the table name is relevant to us.

This will be repeated at all the other tables. Other tables will be named after song titles, bars, streets, teams, etc., and every name will be accompanied by an explanation.

The idea is to seat guests at tables where they will learn something new; we figured this will help our guests get to know little details about us that they probably didn't know before.

The only problem is, why didn't I think of this sooner than 10 days before the wedding??

the checklist.

at least the major stuff.

- finish gift for groom
- get gift for mothers of bride and groom (and probably new stepmother of groom as well?)
- finish list of formal group pictures (ugh. too many on the list already. more like, edit the list of group pictures.)
- finish ceremony script (almost done. swear.)
- finish day-of schedule
- create seating chart and name cards
- finish slideshow (which includes scanning baby pictures. perhaps the most time consuming task i have left. a.k.a. royal pain in my @ss.)
- get dress steamed
- get ring cleaned/refinished
- finalize programs (designed and to be printed by FSIL, who also designed invites, god love that girl!)
- meet with ashley about our cake (i know. but we don't want much. promise. she knows this.)
- finish ceremony music cd and give to dj
- confirm pa system with dj
- print copies of ceremony readings and mapquests for guests
- get marriage license

that might sum up what i have left to do over the next week or so. maybe.

holy cow.

parties.

my shower and bachelorette party went off without a hitch. no drama, no awkwardness. no weird sentimentality or embarrassing moments either. just girls having a good time.

i did spend several hours by the pool and am still recovering from the sunburn (i haven't yet become attached to the spf as i should). also, at some point on sunday i lost my voice, which i am blaming on allergies because if it was due to my determination to talk over the loud music, my attempt at singing at the karaoke bar, or god forbid, my intake of alcohol, i'd be over it by now.

i do remember the entirety of the bachelorette party, which includes the parts where i attempted to sing "total eclipse of the heart" with 3 other girls and completely botched the words in the first verse; where i attempted to dance on a giant speaker and was removed by a guy wearing boxers and a tie (who, by the way, stole my pink garter that said "bachelorette" and immediately took my place on the speaker, wearing my garter on his head, and never gave it back); where i moved to dancing on the bar (which was apparently more appropriate than dancing on the speaker); where i ran into a former basketball player from my college, asked him what he's up to now, and bragged to the basketball player that i was going to call my fiance and brag to him about my conversation with said basketball player; where i ran into two old, old frat guys i used to hang out with when i was a freshman in college; where i slurred over and over how much i loved the BM who was driving us home for being so kind as to drive us home, considering she absolutely does not drink and had to tolerate my dumb@ss drunkenness; and my favorite: the part where i met some guy from new zealand and realized the only thing i know about new zealand is that they filmed the lord of the rings movies there -- my completely numb brain could remember this fact but could not remember the name of the damn movie. lord only knows what i said to the guy, because all i remember is him repeating, over and over, "it's not australia!!"

as i relive these moments in the sharing, i remember why people tend to black out when they drink, and wish my own brain could have been so kind.

i'm sure some incriminating pictures will surface soon enough, as i did not bother to carry my camera around, knowing i would have either forgotten i had it, or lost it altogether.

rain rain.

this is what my world has looked like lately (at least, the last few days):

the view from the couch

(did i mention that being a teacher has the most amazing perks? specifically, the opportunity, for a couple of months at least, to sleep in until noon and lay around like the lazy dog you see here? which is especially nice when you are someone whose allergies kick in at their worst when it rains [mold allergy, maybe?] and on such days you lose your voice along with your ability to breathe easily. perfecto. nothing like taking a day "off" to recoup, get the mind off of wedding stress, and read a good book.)

as FH said last week when we saw the week of rain in the forecast, "i hope the rain is out of its system before the wedding." i agree, even though i'm not sure of the grammatical correctness of the sentence. (who is 'it'? the sky?)