Wedding Events I, II, and III, a reflection

The last few weeks have been crazy. Good, but crazy. As Wedding Events I and II got closer, and we still had so much to do, it was hard to concentrate on work, and hard to find time for, you know, life stuff. Laundry? Grocery shopping? Events at the kids’ schools? Who’s got time? But of course, it all got done, with lots of help.

First, as we got closer my partner-in-crime at work, Keri, announced that I was not to do anything but the bare minimum, and helped me by picking up my slack. Also, talented friends came through with our outfits, my hair and make-up, and officiating. My parents helped by beautifying our yard. AJ's parents helped with wine selection. Rahel and Shira each had a project or two for the wedding, and my niece helped decorate the house. My brother Alon and sister in law karah hosted a dinner the night before Wedding Event I for everybody already in town. My cousin Inbar became my point-person for all things needed and the best man, Jaz, became this for my (now ) husband. Lots of help!

The first houseguests arrived a few days before, and that meant the festivities started. We introduce the parents, and they got on great. My new mother in law, Lucille, got into some artsy projects and that was great. She helped us finish the table decorations, and the favors, and put together some beautiful stuff we hadn’t thought of. The day of Wedding Event I she, my new father in law, Dennis, and my new sister in law Robin took over setting up the tables and made everything so pretty! I was free to get pampered and ready.

The tables:

guest sign in table and one of the tables for eating, drinking, and socializing

The wedding itself went great, with only one mishap that was not major in the end. Everybody had a great time, the food was good, and the cds rahel made for music were good (our processional was an instrumental version of Metallica’s “nothing else matters” and the recessional was the theme from Princess Bride. Even the weather cooperated! The best man gave a great speech, as did my mom, my new father in law, and my other sister in law Joanna. Our good friend and officiant Brenda OWNED the ceremony we’d written.

Ceremony:

and before the ceremony:



At the end of the evening, my new husband and I left the party, leaving my cousin and best man to wrap things up, and the teen aged kids all piled up on the couch watching a movie together. My new husband booked us a room at the fancy-ish Claremont hotel. A room with a beautiful view of the SF Bay, and a Jacuzzi tub. Those jets were fantastic! The next morning we came back home, with brunchy foods and hung out with the family some more.

Wedding Event I was a week later. This one was for friends only and was at Teatro ZinZanni, a circus in SF. The morning of this event saw me once again getting made up and having my hair done. The house was empty of guests, but I had two friends over. One who did my hair/make up and one who was finishing up outfit Two, another gorgeous custom made corset (again, as for Wedding Event I, I made the skirt to go along with the corset).

Outfit for Wedding Event I:

Outfit for Wedding Event II:

We got out of the house late, my cousin driving us to the venue since I was, well, wearing a corset. I was, I admit stressed out as it was close to show time. Luckily the people at the venue did a superb job setting up, incorporating our stuff within their design and being all around fantastic. Our cake lady came and set up this beautiful creation:


Our photographer agreed to switch an engagement session for a one-hour session at Wedding Event II he did great at both events and I would gladly recommend both him and our cake lady!

The people at ZinZanni rented us the lobby for an hour before doors open to the public so we had some time to mingle and to have another ceremony. We actually reworked our ceremony and vows a bit for this one and it was great to have all our friends there around us as we gave our promises to each other. Once the circus was open to the public we had to break up our special things. The venue staff took our cake, to be served to us later, and my cousin and our best man took the guestbook, presents, etc. back to the car. As for me, I waited until after the ceremony to have my first drink, and then I too was ready to relax and party.
Ceremony:

The show itself, at ZinZanni is phenomenal! It’s a 3 hour show, with a 5 course meal interspersed with the acts, and some wonderful performers. Our friends had a great time. The show is interactive, with the performers interacting with the crowd and calling up volunteers. Our party was enthusiastic, and we whooped and hollered and clapped and stomped, and had a great time. The performers made a point of telling us how great a time THEY had with us there. Our friends had a great time!
At the end of the show we had the lobby for another little bit and this is when we ate our cake and hung out for a bit more before calling it a night. Well, we called it a night. I don’t know if our friends continued the party elsewhere….

The next morning AJ, Rahel, and I went to the county offices to do the legal stuff. This was mellow, and relaxed, and took far less time than I anticipated. Rahel was our witness.

Legalities:

Afterward, we took her to school, went to brunch with our officiant and Best Man, came home, and took a glorious nap.

So that’s it, we stood up and declared our love and commitment before our family, then before our friends, then in front of a representative of the state.

We’re married!

Now there are Thank you cards to write, and the waiting for the professional pictures. There are many more non-pro pictures, uploaded and downloaded from various cameras.

And the rest of our married lives to enjoy.

We Done Did It!!

Wedding Events I, II, and, yes, III are done!

Wedding Event I was for the family. It was in our backyard and small, with 35 people.

Wedding Event II was for our friends, at a circus/dinner/show venue in San Francisco. This one had 65 people in attendance (more people were there, but not with our party).

Wedding Event III came into being when we found out what a hassle it would be to deputize our officiant. This event came at the county recorder office, just yesterday. In attendance were the bride, the groom, and our witness, my soon-to-be 15 year old daughter.

Each of the events went wonderfully! So many details came together; so many people helped make them happen. I keep reliving moments of each of the days, though I've not had time to put it all in narrative form. We had great food, and music (people loved our playlist!), the outfits came together well, with help from talented friends. Our officiant officiated (in all but the legal aspect,) and did a great job. Our pro photographer took ooodles of pictures (which I am DYING to see), and others took pictures too (of which I will post...soon). Our families got along great and had a good time. Our friends whooped and hollered (and stomped their various stompy boots) and had a great time at the show. Our cake lady outdid any expectation we had (ohmygod, wait till you see pictures!). The kids did great at the family event (my younger daughter helped me pick out artsy activities and did a great job). The legal stuff at the recorder office went quickly, smoothly, and with much less hassle than I was expecting.

The thing that made it real, was yesterday when, after a glorious nap, I woke up and realized I have no planning to do! Of course, there's still some wrap up, and the thank yous (one last wedding related DIY project).

This is my second marriage and on the way to the recorder office, as I was grinning madly, as AJ was putting some coins in the meter, Rahel quietly asks me why I'm so excited, given it's my second marriage. I pointed to him and said "cause I'm marrying THIS guy". She smiled and agreed whole-heartedly.
Yay!

Wedding Event II

Wedding Event I was last weekend; Wedding Event II is this weekend!
Last weekend went great: everything went off well. We had minor mishaps but it all worked out and people helped out a lot. The families got along REALLY well and the weather cooperated too. Everybody, from the 8 month old, to the 94 year old had a good time. I'll post a real post about it soon, I promise, but in the meantime I have to finish getting ready for Wedding Event II!
This event, happening this afternoon/evening, is for our friends. It is taking place at the fabulous Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco (http://love.zinzanni.org/) and they are taking care of everything (well, almost). This will be where I get to relax, have a drink, and enjoy a good time with my friends. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Wedding Event I, it's just that this time, somebody else is wholly in charge. All we have to do is show up, with our favors for our guests, and the disc for the wee ceremony we'll have, and that's it.
In 20 minutes my (so F-ing talented) friend, Julie is coming by with the SECOND corset she's made for me to wear. In a couple of hours, Heather, another (also awesomely talented) friend is coming to do my hair/make up.
My cousin will be my point person again, and the Best Man of greatness will be on hand. Our kick-ass officiant is ready to go.
Yay! So excited!

We did it!
Wedding Event I went off without a hitch! Everything went according to plan, and everybody got along wonderfully. We had people who met for the first time at the wedding and the energy was good. There were chatting and laughter. The food was good. Our officiant and best man did a superb job, as did my cousin who was my point person. My daughters were great as my bridesmaids. We got so much help from everybody! it made us feel very well loved.
Some pics taken by our best man:
Our tables:

I made the center pieces and my Lucille and Robin put it together the morning of.

The bride and groom:

There are tons more pictures floating around; We hafta go through them and figure things out. And then pro pics will be ready in about a month.
Now onto Wedding Event II
And I'll write a full-fledged post soon!
Yay!

Tomorrow!

Wedding Event I is tomorrow!
Today was kind of nuts, and we now have a full house, but it's all going alright.
I tried to take a nap but was interrupted four times, by phone calls and doorbells, before giving up on it.
We had a dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's, introducing all the out of towners who are here, to all those who live here. Alon and Karah law did a phenomenal job! There was lots of good food and lots of good conversation, and the kids all got along very well, the soon-to-be cousins.
Now I am showered and ready for bed.
Hopefully I can get some sleep before the big day.

2 days to go!

This morning, an hour before my alarm was set to go off, my eyes popped open, and refused to close again.

We have 2 days until Wedding Event I, and now I am getting nervous.
Everything's actually going ok (knock on wood, etc.), but I'm still nervous.
We still have a bunch of little things, and not so little things to do. Thankfully, I do not have to go to work tomorrow.

I know they'll all get done, though, and we have people stepping up to help us.
That's helping, and you know what else? I've decided to take tonight off! That's right, I am going out. I am putting on my stompy boots and going out to an industrial music club in San Francisco.

Stompstompstomp!

Wheee!

Getting close

The caterer came by today, to drop off "a few things" and have taken over my livingroom! There are so many things in there, in boxes, crates, baskets, all over the floor!

Our wonderful friends and family's gifts to us are arriving and the pile of boxes is growing.

Also today, the Kilts and accessories came. We unpacked a big box with kilts, sporrans, jackets, etc. then had to find a place to put them all.

Earlier that day, uncle Ian put all the drinks in the fridge to chill. More room on the counter; less room in the fridge! We still need some space for cakes in there...Fridge tetris!

Also, since our house guests have started arriving, the house is busier, and fuller. We are having to juggle space, and also our time. Soon-to-be and I are both working this week and so I constantly have to tell folks I need to get back to the computer, or the office. I WANT to spend time with them, but can't really.

Tomorrow our officiant and best man are arriving and we'll do a run through of the theatrics.

Tonight (right after I grade these papers) I will finalize my vows. Soon-to-be and I decided we want to surprise each other, but we'd still like to make sure they are of roughly the same style/length. Rahel will read them both and let us know what she thinks. This was Shira's idea and it is a damn good one!

In other news-AJ's mother, my two daughters and I all went to get a manicure today. The pampering continues!
I got sparkly silver polish! Since my outfit is darker colors I figured this would be a good contrast. Shira got teal, Rahel got a french manicure, and Lucille got a pretty coppery color.

3 days to go!

Mah outfit, let me show you it!

Actually this is only partial outfit. It lacks the boots and my accessories, and the shrug, but, well, it's what I got right now.

The colors look a bit wonky, because it was in artificial light, but you all know the color of the corset, and that gives yo a good idea about the rest.
Not included: boots, shrug, hair fascinator and little crystals strewn through my hair. If I put the whole thing on again before the wedding (4 more days!!), I'll take pictures.

I am so very excited about this!

In related news: In-laws are here. I had a previous agreement to go with my parents to dinner tonight. AJ decided, unbeknownst to me, to take his parents to dinner tonight, at the same place. Impromptu meeting of the in-laws! We only found out about the plans 30 minutes before dinner. It went well!

In further related news: my cousin, who's a close friend and my designated helper, also arrived in town today. She is staying with my parents. We are meeting for tea tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, officiant and best man arrive in town. The next day: everybody else. That night my sis-in-law and mom are throwing a dinner for all who will be in town and the next day....wheee! mawwige!

Corset! I has it!

Yesterday I drove up the state to pick up my corset. My (extremely talented) friend made it for me. We needed to do some last minute hand sewing to get the straps where we wanted them, and we chatted for a bit while that was going on.
Then, proud artist that she is, she had my put it on again and took picatures:

There will be, ahem, less shelf action at the wedding. This picture shows me in the skirt I wore to work that day. The actual skirt is the same color blue with an overlay of sheer black fabric.
Anyway, here are some close ups of the crazy beautiful detail:
Front:

Back:

it is blue satin with black lace overlay.

As soon as I came home AJ wanted to put me right back in it (and I need his help for this), and I took pictures of the whole outfit (minus the shoes), which I will post as soon as I've uploaded them to the computer.

4 days to go!

Getting close

5 days to go!
We took a chunk of the weekend off from wedding planning. We attended a friend's wedding and my nephew's 4th Birthday Party. Lots of fun with kids, babies, laughing with new friends and old.

Then we came back and back to it we went.

First house guests arrive tomorrow!

This afternoon I am driving an hour plus to pick up my corset! SO excited. A friend is making it for me as a gift and it turned out more complicated than we thought. Which accounts for the delay. But now it's ready and I am going to get it, right after work!

This means my outfit for Wedding Event I is complete.

So, of course, I have to start second guessing. Do I want to wear the boots I bought for the wedding, which are really (really) pretty, but also higher heels and thus less comfortable (even though I've been practicing), or wear my kick ass platform stompy boots, which are comfy and kick ass, but not special for the wedding?

These are the things occupying my mind this morning, instead of the work I should be doing...

On Pampering

We are a week away from Wedding Event I. This time next week I will be....hopefully NOT running around setting up but gently delegating and trying not to muss up my hair/make up/clothes.
This week has been busy, what with finalizing with vendors, and guests, trying to finish up the little details still left, and, you know, regular work/life stuff.
The things that stand out most in my mind about this week, however, are the new experiences I had, and they fall under the heading of "pampering".

I am not a girlie-girl. I'm just not.

So having the make-up and hair trials this week was novel, and exciting for me.

I went with my friend H, who's also my hair stylist, to the make up store for a consultation. The first 10 minutes, were rough. The make up guy was disappointed in my moisturizing habits, and the fact that Ido not pluck my eye brows for example. But after that it was great. He wandered the store and came up with all sorts of things to make me look like me, but a notch or two fancier. He was patient and explained things well, letting me see the progress every few minutes as H was taking notes so she could reproduce the effect. She will be doing my hair and make up for both Events I and II as her wedding present (very generous of her!). At the end we bought some stuff and off we went. I came out pleased with the way I looked and overwhelmed with the sensation of pampering.

A few days later I met H, at her salon to do my hair trial. First we did the usual (I dye my hair black and, right now, have teal extensions in it as highlights). Then she brought out all sorts of styling things, and did my hair. She did an updo, with curls down the back (my hair's curly and down to the middle of my back). She also clipped little crystal beads into my hair and put the fascinator I made out of my grandmother's brooch in there. It all works well together and with the jewelry Rahel made for me to wear. Again, I felt very pampered.

I'm not used to being worked on like this. Not used to having professional beauty industry people use their time/expertise/style, to make me look pretty.
It feels nice.

I, of course, did not bring my camera, so I don't have pron to post yet, but H, did take a couple of pictures and will email them to me.

And now I have a pretty good image in my mind of how I will look on at the wedding. This time next week in fact!
Yay!

Quick update

We are 9 days away from Wedding Event I

This week has been spent on details, nuts and bolts, and minor freak outs.

Things we’ve done:

Finished the girls’ outfits.
Rahel’s finished the jewelry
Shira’s finished the card box (well, that was last week)
Center pieces are finished
Guest book stuff is finished
AJ hung fairy lights in the trees
My dad’s finished the planting and beautifying the yard
We’ve given last payments to the caterer, the cake lady, the rental people for Event I and the venue for Event II
Went to get make-up consultation with the lady who’s doing my hair and make up (her wedding gift to us)
Finished the ceremony text
Almost finished the vows.
Made manicure appointment for my girls, AJ’s mom and me.
Prenup draft is done!
Seating arrangement for Event II

Things still to do:

Finish the vows
Pay the photographer’s last payment
Get drinks for Event I
Order cheese cake for Event I (and one non cheese cake as per Shira’s request)
Decorate the yard (Abbey will help me with this)
Go over ceremony with our officiant.
Sign the prenup and get it notarized
Put together favors
Make disk of music for Event I in case ipod doesn’t work out.
Make and distribute flyers to the neighbors telling them Event I is happening.
Clean the house (some at least) and get it ready.
Other things I am forgetting now
Remember to eat right, sleep enough and breathe.

The minor freakout was handled by making lists, doing some stuff, and going out to a movie.

16 days!

Wowee! We have 16 days left before Wedding Event I!
We just returned from Burning Man and so now wedding planning is getting into high gear again (oh, and of course, catching up on work, email, etc. dealing with kids, groceries, lifestuff and such. Must remember to sleep!).
The big pieces are done and now we are on to the many many littler details we still need to finish. Last night I realized I am running myself ragged listing things mentally to myself, over and over. The result? An actual list, with a time line!
Things left to do include
Finishing the favors
finishing the center pieces
Finish getting the kids outfits together
Finish prettifying the yard (my dad's helping with that and doing a great job of it)
Get beverages
Finish setting up lighting in the yard
Make seating chart for Wedding Event II
Finalize ceremony text
Finalize Vows (oh yeah...)
Finalize things with photographer
Do the corset handover with the lovely lady who's making them for me

I'm sure there are more, but yeah, that's what I remember (the actual list is at home, I'm at work. eh)
Wheee!

Just under a month!

Ohmygod! We are at just under a month! Our Wedding Part I happens on September 25. Part II will happen on October 3 (the first's for family, the second for friends).
Many things are done and most other things are almost done or cannot be done until the week of. We will buy cheesecakes for Part I (and one non-cheese cake as per Shira's request), we will finish the favors, which include edibles, we (well, AJ) will hang fairy lights in the trees. My father will finish designing the beautification of the yard (and I will prohibit him from doing the physical work himself); we WILL finish tidying up the house before 40 people descend on it; we will do many other things that I cannot think of right now.
In the meantime, I need to finish hemming Shira's dress, help Rahel find a tie (she's wearing a suit!), hope my bolero comes in time, finish writing the ceremony and our promises to each other, figure out the sand thingy (we're doing a 4 people unity thing which will include the both of us and the girls), make sure the vendors are on track (and pay them), and try and do as much of this as I can before leaving for Burning Man next week. AJ's already left. He'll be gone until September 8th, which leaves us, what 17 days? Right. 2 weeks to finish everything while still maintaining life, and our sanity.
But it feels ok, like we're getting there, and then we have years and years to relax together. (um, yeah, we tend to come up with big projects on a regular basis...)
One month to go!

I've not updated in a while (bad blogger!), but in my defense, life's been busy. School's back in session, but the girls' school is not-go figure. So I have been working full time and dealing with bored kids who are sooooooooo ready to go back to school (in my opinion, of course). Anyway, what with work, home life, kids, getting ready for Burning Man, and getting ready for a wedding in (ohmygod) just about 6 weeks...yeah, life's busy.
However
We have been getting things done. The music is all but done (Rahel's done a great great job with it all), the card box is in process (Shira's working on that), both my skirts are done, one for the family wedding and the other for the friends' wedding, my corsets, I hear, are coming along nicely. My dad's feeling better and the work on the garden's coming along; it's going to be beautiful! The girls' outfits are just about done. The lawyer/prenup thing is progressing. We've finished the programs. That was a big one. AJ, mostly, worked on that. A lot. It started as a simple project mainly because I felt the need to cite the sources we were using (English teacher that I am). And the project grew and grew until its final form was a booklet of silver paper pasted onto blue and with black words printed on it. We also pasted pictures of ourselves on one page, and created a crossword puzzle with trivia about us (well, the internet helped with that part).
Here's the finished product:

The other big piece we finished, and one on which I mostly worked, is the center pieces. I got the idea here: http://offbeatbride.com/2009/01/diy-ornament-bouquet but changed it around a bit. Instead of a bouquet, it's a centerpiece, and that means construction had to be different. I played with it a while and finally found the right way to do it. We also experimented with different sizes of ornaments so the result is a mix of sizes. My niece Abbey helped with this project and it was fun to hang out with her a bit.

This will sit in the middle of a pewter dish with black and blue marbles on it. I'll post pics when it's all done.

Things still to do:

Finish the prenup stuff
Pay the vendors the balances
Finish putting favors together
Rewrite the ceremony a bit as we've talked to our officiant and have a better idea how it's all gonna go.
Finish the earrings the girls and I will wear
Finish working on the yard decorations (closer to the date)
Talk to the photographer about shots we want
Do seating chart for the friends' wedding
Do the technical paperwork for, you know, getting married
Find a frame for the guest book explanation sheet
Write the individual parts of the ceremony

I'm sure there's more that I am forgetting...

Weekend Craftiness

Ah. I have the house to myself this weekend. The girls are with their dad, AJ is away for the weekend, SO, I am taking the weekend to finish some DIY-ness before school starts up again.

This morning I finished these:
My bouquet. It still needs to be fluffed out just right, but this is pretty close:

My two daughters' bouquets, along with mine (the girls are my bridesmaids):

The boutonniere for AJ and our best man:

I got the idea from this post at offbeatbride.com: http://offbeatbride.com/2010/02/crystal-bouquets. Thank you, Megan!
And now that's done, I am going to finish my skirt! And then, the center pieces! And then...well, it'll probably be the end of the weekend by then.

In other news, we're figuring out the music for the actual ceremony. The first song (processional?) will be Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" in a classical, instrumental, cello version by Apocalyptica. Yay!

Photographer worries

So we got our photographer a few months ago. The process was...fine. I mean, it took a couple of weeks, lots of phone calls, and quite a few visits to different websites, but we found him. We spoke on the phone several times, got the details down and decided we like him. We signed the contract, gave him the deposit, and answered some more questions. Last we heard was "your wedding is on track as far as my part. Do your thing and we'll talk when we get closer to the date." Great!
A couple of weeks ago we wanted to run some ideas by him and to get some more information. We sent an email; no response. We sent another one a few days later, still no response. Yesterday I sent yet another email....nothing.
Should I be worried? I'm getting a bit worried. If I don't hear from him today, I'll call him this afternoon. If he's bailing on us, that'd be bad, but I would rather know now, 8 weeks out (eeee!) while we have time (barely) to find another one.
In other news-We're getting married 8 weeks from tomorrow!!!

Squeee!

I do not squee often, but this calls for it:
Our wedding bands arrived this morning! Squeeee!!
They are plain 14k white gold bands. Mine's 3mm wide and AJ's is 6mm wide.
We put them on to make sure of sizing, showed the girls, and took the rings right off again. They are now in our bedroom, in plain sight as we worried that if we put them in a "safe place" we'd forget where that was.
Pictures will come when we have them on our rings for real.
Until then, again I say Squeee!

Tassels

I forgot to add a picture of the tassels that will hold the Chuppah onto the poles. I made them from ribbons and beads I had around the house.
This is a crafty house; we have lots of material lying around. It just all happened to come together nicely for this project.

yay!

Chuppah

As many of you know, I quilt. I love to quilt. I quilt quite often.
I've made quilts from crib to king size ones, table runners, one big gigantic 3 yard square quilt. I've made them for weddings, babies, birthdays, Bat Mitzvas and just for fun. I've given them away to loved ones, sold a couple, and given more to charities. I made my first one when Rahel was a baby (14 years ago) and have easily made 40 since then.

My latest creation is this:

and a close up:


It is a faux crazy quilt, made almost entirely from scraps from my (way to extensive) fabric stash. The only fabric I bought specifically for this project is the silver fabric.
The quilt measures 65 inches squared

I am quite pleased with the way it came out, and very very pleased about its use: it is the Chuppah for our wedding.
AJ and I will be married under it, two months from today!

It seems I have a problem

I cannot stop myself from taking on more new projects. Even after I have told myself, and everybody else, that enough is enough, no more new projects, that it's time to start wrapping up projects, not begin them, that I'm stressing because we're getting closer (just over 2 months) and the semester starts in 3 weeks, I still think of new projects.
However, things are indeed wrapping up, some projects anyway. Things that have happened this week:

1. My older daughter started making our favor cds and organizing our playlist.
2. She's also made necklaces and earrings for herself, her sister and me (they girls are my maids of honor).
3. My younger daughter's designed our card box (and will start working on it next week)
4. AJe is going full steam with his current project (the programs) and they are looking beautiful!.
5. We've got the final menu from the caterer for the family wedding.
6. We've had our questions answered from the main guy at the place we're having the friends' wedding (and enjoyed the venue visit! But that's a different post)
7. I've cleaned up a draft of the prenup for the lawyer to see.
8. I've retained the services of a lawyer.
9. I've been sewing a lot, working on our Chuppah (i.e. wedding canopy) and it's almost done!
10. We ordered our wedding bands (!!!!)
11. We ordered, and received, silver colored Jordan almonds for favors.
12. I'm almost done with the crystal beads bouquets and boutonnieres, using the fabulous tutorial I found on offbeatbride.com.
13. We've received all but one RSVP for the family wedding and one for the friends' wedding. Mostly in the positive too, which is great.

Seems a lot when I write it out like that. Lots left to do, but lots already done.
Yay!

Legalese

I met with a lawyer today to talk about the prenup. I like her, and have decided to have her represent me in this, but I do NOT like the process!
The terminology is confusing, the issues are complicated, and the whole thing reeks of ick.
Based on our conversation, I've just spent an hour cleaning up the draft. I'm dizzy. I know it's for the best, but I don't like dealing with it. The next meeting with the lawyer is in 2 weeks. This means I don't need to do any more tonight.

AJ getting crafty

AJ and I have been doing a lot of crafty in preparation for the wedding. We are making a lot of things ourselves, including invitations, decorations, favors, and so on. I'm also sewing a lot, including my skirts and our Chuppah. The Chuppah is a canopy under which the couple is wed. There are many aspects of tradition and symbolism to this element. We decided to make the Chuppah a focal point, and part of the decoration. It is a meaningful part of my culture, and also a chance to do some sewing! (I'll be posting pictures when it's done...). Traditionally, the Chuppah is held up by 4 members of the couple's family or community. Since we wanted the only participants, other than us, to be my girls, as special special members of the wedding, our Chuppah is being held up by dry branches and wooden poles. The poles and branches will be collected in 4 glass vases we found (again, pictures will come once we've assembled things) and we knew we wanted the whole thing to go with the colors we chose.
And here's AJ painting the poles in our backyard:



The color is deeper in real life and will go nicely with the black and white branches in the vases.

Not that there was ever a doubt, but my engagement ring is here, and totally worth the wait.
I posted about the saga of the ring earlier, so I won't go into the whole thing again. Here's a synopsis: AJ picked the design, I picked the gem (blue sapphire) and the metal (white gold) and AJ's father made the ring. He made my ring. He cut the stone and set it in the band. It offered many challenges, the design had to be tweaked, new epoxy had to be used, the project had to be put on hold for a while, and now it's here. It's beautiful, created by AJ and his dad, made with love, one of a kind, and I love it.
What more could I ask for?
And here it is:


The photo doesn't really do it justice; the sun catches it just so and there are blue sparkles all over it. Purty!

I can has a skirt!

I finished one of my skirts:

When I first started thinking about making wedding clothes for me, I knew I needed to take care with it. Up until now, I have made lots of quilts, and kid clothes, but no fitted clothes for me, and certainly nothing out of fancy material. So I knew I had to do this right. I bought patterns, and muslin for mock up clothes, and a sewing form. I was having a tough time figuring out how to translate pattern size charts to my clothing size (they do NOT conform to clothes tag sizes). Well, thanks to some lovely ladies, I figured it out and made this; having the sewing form (which AJ has named Rosa) made it soooo much easier.

It is silk on top and tulle on bottom, in a separate petticoat. I will wear it at the wedding we are having with our friends and the top will be a corset of black fabric with blue needle point at top and bottom edges.

I am very happy with it.

I have another skirt to make, for the wedding we are having with our families, and that is going up on Rosa as soon as this one goes in the closet.

Woohoo!

It was a long time in the planning and a long day to do it, but we actually have a draft of the prenup done!
We've been putting it off, as it is really the LEAST pleasurable part of this experience, though we realize we need to do it. So we have been saying and saying that we need to do it (the closer to the wedding date, the less likely to be held up should things go sour), but we've not been doing it. Imagining all the different scenarios we will have to deal with if we break up is not fun. However, with a house, and children, involved, the ickiness now will cut down on a much larger dose of ick if it comes to divorce, so we did it. Another unfun aspect is the legal language. We are both fairly intelligent, well-read people. I'm an English teacher for gossake, and it was still hard to decipher. Some terms I am still not clear on (and will need to ask a lawyer about...)
Yesterday, we decided to tackle it for real and 3 hours later, and with a massive headache, the draft is done.
What a relief!
Now we print it out and each bring a copy to a lawyer to have it looked at. Then we make whatever changes need to happen, and have it signed by a notary, and it's done. Where to find a lawyer? And how to find one?
I shall ponder while I do some more fun stuff, like craftiness!

My Hair Jewelry

Last night I finished my hair jewelry!



It is a silver filigree brooch with an onyx in the middle. The brooch is nestled into black lace and has 3 circles of blue tulle behind the lace. The whole thing is sewn on to a small hair comb.
Since our colors for the wedding are blue, silver and black, this fits in.

The brooch in the middle belonged to my grandmother, who died a few years ago. She was the wisest, most accepting person I've ever met, and I miss her nearly every day. I always wear something of hers on special occasions; this way I get to have her with me.

I knew I wanted to incorporate this brooch into my wedding outfit, but didn't know how. I'd had a couple of ideas before this one, and once I'd conceived of the hair toy idea, I knew I had it.

I am so pleased I'll be able to wear her brooch in my hair.

In other news, my elder daughter has started making the beaded necklaces she, her sister and I will wear. They are looking VERY pretty. I shall have to post pictures of them when they are done.

On a roll

Last few days I've been really getting into wedding prep mode (and out of prepping for class mode; yay!). We've accomplished a lot in the past couple of weeks:

Got a nearly full first draft of the ceremony
Finished the playlist (that was a big project)
Bought label maker software which will help us make cds, favors for our guests.
Talked to my daughter and arranged for her to organize the playlists and make said cds.
Got to work on some other favors (and invited a friend to help me put them together).
Started making my skirt/bolero combo for the friends' wedding (yay for sewing forms!)
Got decorations for the ceremony spot for the family wedding.
Got some work done on the prenup (the least fun part of this).
Got some beads for my daughter to make matching necklaces for herself, me and her sister (they are my bridesmaids).
Been practicing walking in my wedding boots, and breaking them in.
Started working on my hair accessory.
Talked to my hair stylist (and friend) and set up hair and make up appointments (her wedding gift to me).
Reserved tables/chairs/linen from the rental place.
Finally got the prototype for the center pieces we're making. Now we can start constructing the rest.
I think that's it...
We have 3 months to go but want to finish the planning by the end of august.
2 more months and much more to do!

And then there were two

A few days ago I posted the Saga of the Ring. In it I explained the ongoing story of my engagement ring. I ended that post by saying I was wearing the skulls ring, the pre-interim engagement ring that would let me try the size for a few days before committing to the size for the wedding band.

Today the mailperson brought us another package (after the sewing form already arrived) and this package contained the interim ring. It's beautiful, and unusually cut. It has an onyx and a tiny little diamond set in white gold. I love it.
I moved the skulls over to my right hand and am wearing the onyx one on my ring finger.
They are making me smile

Pictures? Sure!



The Onyx and diamond ring. I love the unusual cut of the stones and the setting.







The skulls. I love how mischievous they look. They have itty bitty onyx crumbs in the eyes.

Sewing Form

My dress form is here!
Being merely a passable seamstress, I've been stressing over making my wedding skirts. They are to go along with my corsets, made by a very good seamstress, so they need to look good.
Up till now my clothes sewing experience has been mostly for the kids and that mostly when they were little. I've sewn a few skirts for me as well as a dress or two, but nothing fancy. Also, I usually sew with cotton (used mainly for quilts).
All of the above means that I've been worried. I got some fancy taffeta and more fancy satin, and I was worried I'll mess them up.
So I got some muslin for a mock up of the skirts, and a sewing form. This way I can actually hang the skirt on a form that resembles me instead of on a coat hanger or spread on the floor (which is the way I've done things up till now).
The sewing form is adjustable so I can make it just my size.
And today it arrived at the house, which means I can start making my two skirts.
Yay!

Profile picture

The picture I've posted here is the result of a combined effort. AJ and I were looking for an element to use in the friends' wedding celebration. We need a button for our guests to wear that will identify them to the bartenders at ZinZanni.
We spent a long time looking at buttons and trying to figure out what to say/put on those buttons. My cousin joined the conversation and immediately said, how about no text, but an image that combines visual elements of both of you. From "AJ" to "Skull" took about, oh, .02 seconds. And the morning glory for Tamar was not much longer. I typed "skull morning glory" into google images, and there it was! All we needed to do was a bit of cropping.
Another project for the wedding done.
Yay!

The Saga of the ring

My engagement ring is worthy of an epic poem. Really, like, a long and wonderful poem.
The ring is a joint creation by AJ and his father. I picked out the stone (blue sapphire) and the metal (white gold) and they did the rest. AJ found a design he likes and his father, who is a gem cutter, among other things, is making it. It is a product of a lot of love and attention.
It is also not quite ready.
When we got engaged, in very late February, AJ talked to his dad and they came up with the plan. AJ wanted to wait until I had the ring to tell people (other than our families) about our engagement. His dad agreed to make the ring by the end of March.
He bought the material, and the white gold ring to set the cut stone in, and set to work. Gem cutting NOT being his job, this project would get done when he had time on the weekends and such. He went into this with so much enthusiasm, I was really touched.
The first stone chipped.
The second stone, which took a while as Dennis (AJ's dad) had other stuff to do, ended up not looking right and he scrapped it.
The third stone would NOT stay glued with the epoxy. And every time it fell off, the cutting process had to be done from the begininig or the angles would come out wrong. At this point, I think, Dennis started seeing this as a challenge.
This was in Mid-may and I was getting anxious. Let me explain. It isn't the ring itself. I couldn't ask for a more meaningful ring, and I have decades to wear it. So the anxiety is not about the ring itself or the timing. It's about the wedding band.
Let me explain once again:
I was unsure about the ring size the lady at the store told me. I figured it's ok for the engagement ring to be a bit loose as I would wear the wedding band next to it and it could hold it in place. But in order to get the wedding band, I wanted to wear the first ring for a bit and see how the size actually feels. Also, since I'd like to wear both rings on the same finger, I wanted to know what the shape and finish of the engagement ring is so it would match the wedding band.
So before we could get the wedding bands, I wanted to not only see the engagement ring, but also wear it for a week or two.
Last weekend we visited AJ's parents and heard the continuing story. Dennis is now on the 4th stone. The third one got ground in the wrong angle and was not salvageable for this project. The fourth stone was on the lapidary machine and in progress, but it would not be done during our visit. It will be done, and it will be beautiful!
I saw the ring, and tried it on. It was a bit loose. I was also dehydrated that day so I'm still not sure if it is the right size. However, I did see the finish and so that question's been answered.
AJ and I decided to get me an interim ring to wear for a fortnight to test the size (don't ask me why I am so unsure of this...I don't know why). We went online and found 5 rings we both liked and AJ planned to buy one of them so there would be some surprise to it.
The next morning he told me he'd found a different ring! This ring is silver and has 3 skulls in relief on it. The joke here is that he asked me if I'm antsy enough to wear skulls and I said yes. So he got me skulls! He also got me one of the 5 we'd looked at but that will take a bit longer to get here.
I am now wearing the skulls ring (the interim interim ring) and am seeing that the size of the wedding band does indeed need to be a size smaller than the engagement ring. So things are all figured out. We are ready to get the wedding bands.
I will have 3 engagement rings altogether!
And the one designed and made by AJ and his dad will be the bestest of them all.

Planning trip in Southern California, and corsets

This past weekend we drove down to southern California to take care of some planning details. I, thankfully, am on summer break and so there's time. Friday night the girls went to their dad's for a few days. Saturday I went to Shira's softball tournament (which was very good, and exciting) and then came home, woke AJ up and off we went. Sort of.
Getting out of town took a while.
But we finally made it. We drove to visit our friends in LA who are integral to the wedding. They are a married couple and the woman will be our officiant while her husband will be AJ's best man. All of this makes them important and we went down to talk with them about various details. Since we're having 2 wedding celebrations we need them here for both and were worried about their ability to be gone from home for over a week. Luckily they said they could do it!
So the plan is for them to drive up, stay with us, do the first celebration, then hang out, do the second celebration and only then go back home.
We also talked with them about duties and tasks and started working out the ceremony details. Very exciting. We figured some things out and have a clear way to go. Yay!
On a personally exciting note-we went to visit the fabric district in LA. So much fabric!! I was giddy. I was also, unfortunately only able to walk around a few stores as they were near closing. The main goal was to find material for the corset our friend is making for me for the wedding. I found some that could work; she found the perfect one online. This weekend is fitting number 2. Wheee!

DIY

I am a fairly crafty person. I've been known to paint, draw, and do beadwork. I sew quite a bit and used to knit and do needlepoint as well (though I cannot do it comfortably any more). This, coupled with some difficulties finding the sort of things we wanted for wedding purposes, let to a decision to make most of the stuff ourselves. Some I am doing on my own, some we're doing together, and some will be done with the help of others.
We did our invitations ourselves, with pretty paper, some supplies from the scrapbook aisle, and our trusty computer and printer. We are pleased with the way they came out. Also, we just received an email RSVP because the son of a cousin thought the paper was so pretty he hid the RSVP from his parents and they cannot find it to send it back (how cute is that?).
Now we are on to the center pieces. I've tweaked a creation I found on Offbeatbride.com for this. The original design can be found here: http://offbeatbride.com/2009/01/diy-ornament-bouquett.
Originally it was a bouquet but I've changed it around to make center pieces for our tables. This process has been harder than I expected. We've gone through a lot of trial and error, some wrong material, some broken material, and lots of time. I think I have it now and am constructing what I hope will be a good prototype. The problem has been finding the right size ornaments and figuring how to affix them properly. Also, figuring out what we wanted to put them in since nobody's going to hold them. We also toyed with the idea of lights, but can't make it work the way we want. Tomorrow I plan to finish making the prototype and see how we like it.
Pictures will come when I have it.
And now it's time for tea.