06.07.08

Well, better late than never?

 I had wanted to wear my hair curly and free, but there was no way the Michigan summer was going to allow for that. Thus, my record for sweltering hot weather parties remained unbroken, and my hair was straightened for the first time ever.

I am wearing a robe my soon-to-be husband's grandfather brought back from Japan in 1946. Hair by Lanna.

I was dressed soon enough, and my lovely maids and I gathered in the garden.

Friends, Sisters, Daughter

I am wearing my mother's veil. The dress is a vintage eBay find that I could not have made work without the loving talent from Linda Neal, Seamstress and best friend's mother. Originally, my maids were all supposed to wear different shades of blue in different styles, but my sister and blonde friend inadvertently bought the same dress five states apart from each other. They look great, don't they? 

I was ten minutes late for my wedding. I didn't think to wait for the photographer because there was a bitchy old woman at the door tapping her foot at me.  Bryan teased me mid-ceremony about it. Here is me telling him, before God and family, to shut up.

The church was built in the 1970's and has infamously ugly carpet. However, I love the streamlined, Frank Lloyd Wright-esque simplicity of the church and felt that even the carpet could not detract from the beauty of the altar, wood focal points, and the gentle presence of God amid the love of our friends and family.

 

And then there we were - Mr. and Mrs. at long last!

We had a long break between the ceremony and the party. Some went back to our parents' homes, some went to the bar early, and we stopped here and there for some photos along M-59 in Pontiac, MI.

President Tuxedo, 12 Oaks Mall in Novi, messed up the tuxes to a ridiculous degree, but the groomsmen and lady were badass all the same.

Then, it was time to PARTY!

We booked the lower level of Clutch Cargo, a local multi-level club in a former Lutheran church with a storied reputation that had recently been bought back by a former owner, Amir Daiza,  and rehabbed into this spectacular space:

 

  

  

It was a wonderful time, memorable and still talked about by our friends today.

 

My best girlfriend bustles me up.

  

Our caterers and our photographer canceled on us the week of the wedding - we dined on Buffalo Wild Wings, White Castle Sliders, and Highland House salad and breadsticks. Everyone said it was the best wedding food they had ever eaten, and they must have meant it because it was GONE.

  

We did individual cheesecakes, cupcakes, and lemon meringue pie.

  

 The speeches had the right blend of humor and sap to make everyone laugh and cry. See? I almost ate my husband's face, I was laughing so hard:

 

At the end of the day, though, no matter all the drama and fun times, the most important thing that happened was that I married my best friend.

All captured by the talented Michael Ferguson of Photo Impressions.

Guess what happened the following February?

 

the story continues at boingerhead, the blog.

tagged

122Lovesme tagged me!

Four Things You Don't Know About Mr. Mawwage:

1. He is afraid of spiders, and freaks out if he thinks there is one present. I'm talking dancing, shrieking, throwing things at the poor arachnid. I will then catch it in my hands and find a safe place for it outside, where it can eat the bugs.

2. He used to play serious hockey and his calf muscles are gigantic.

3. He is a great daddy. I believe he loves my children more than he loves me.

4. When he goes out, he texts me love notes that become increasingly abbreviated as the night wears on...
"I love you!"
"I luv yu!"
"I luv u!!"
"I :) u !@"
and it makes me laugh.

Tomorrow is my wedding day. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome my toes look.
With heat in the upper 80's and high humidity, I"m pretty sure my hair is going to look awesome, too - like Buckwheat awesome.

a dress that isn't

Long stories short: we have rings, we have shoes, we have a photographer, we have flowers, all we need is to make sure we have train fare for Bryan to get into town Thursday!

In lieu of an actual post, because my brain is short-circuiting on a daily basis, just for Peonies and Poloroids, here is one of the two dresses that ain't!

This actually my fault. The listing agent, I could have sworn, had this listed as a modern M/L. I was hoping by the lines of the gown and excess silk it could be altered. But it's a modern size two, so no dice.



Photo: coutureallure (links to eBay store)

first today, then tomorrow

I was wondering what I'm going to do with this blog after the wedding. Originally it was meant for family and friends, but I think my bridesmaid Jill is the only one of those who actually reads it (Jill! Post here instead of sending email responses - it ups my popularity!)

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm taking the blog into an actual direction. I'm going to plan mini-weddings and feature new and upcoming vendors - read: those not charging $$$$ yet but offering $$$$ quality - as I find them. Each event will come in near or under $5,000 and will focus on not only the big day, but the purpose of the big day. I'm so tired of the Big Day mentality - ya'll need to understand what comes next is the rest of your life as a duo, not an uno, and some of that should be covered better.

But that's tomorrow. I'm off my soapbox. Today, it's my wedding I'm worrying about. In no particular order...

Dress - I will be wearing no jewelry. I opted to wear my mother's veil, which is perfect with my dress. I've lost 1-3 inches at each measurement, so I think with my industrial-strength undergarments, my dress just might be loose. I got my shoes - they are not what anyone, least of all me, expected but I can't wait to see pictures. Except...

Photographer - we ain't got one. If I have one piece of advice, it's to never use friends for anything big. Ever.

Flowers -I have no idea what they look like. My mother, aunts 1 and 3, and my grandmother had a sleepover at my mom's and took them apart. They went and bought more silks and remade the bouquets to their liking. Now, many (most?) brides would have flipped out at the very idea, but I know those women have impeccable taste and if my mother says they look better, I know they look beautiful. She took before and after photos.

Food - Going to require a little orchestration because we're ordering from five different places, of which only two are delivering. Not going to lie though - I'm worrying about the cake/cupcakes tower. I can't believe what a tremendous flake the cake lady is turning out to be!

Music - Need to burn our specific songs for the DJ, and we need to finalize the mother/son and father/daughter dance.

License - I've got to get to Michigan by June 1 and apply for it. My parents can pick it up for me, but I've got to apply for it. I just know we're going to have a wedding but not be married for weeks afterward because we failed to do this.

Programs and Photo Sharing Info - it's done, just needs to converted to .pdf and emailed to myself so I can print them at my mother's house that weekend.

Rehearsal - out of our hands. It's at his parents' and we are just hoping for clear weather so we can have a good, relaxing time.

Transportation - we were planning on more people staying at the hotel and paying for a shuttle to and from, but since only one person has so far made a reservation, we can't see paying $60 for a huge shuttle bus for one person. I've already decided I'm not drinking much, so I will just make sure everyone has a safe ride.

Rings - still waffling and don't have those either.

You want to know the truth? My biggest emotion right now is JOY. When it looked like the reception was reduced to PBR and hot dogs in someone's backyard, I felt intense joy that I did not care! We are getting married and that's all that matters! (well, if I get the license, anyway!)

two weeks to go

In the last week, we have had some highly stressful situations arise and we could not have dealt with them without the abiding, exasperated love and support of our parents and friends.

The good news is that wedding reception is on as planned.

The bad news is that we're going into debt to have it be so, which is one thing we were so sure we were going to be able to avoid doing. If I weren't so concerned about the government watching us I'd go ahead and say all the vile things I hope befall the IRS. Although I am not a conspiracy theorist, I'm not taking chances.

The other good news is that I have a secret. :) !! I should be able to share my secret within the next two weeks. (No, Mom, I'm not pregnant, and I don't care if you had another fish dream, I'm not gonna be pregnant either!)

I was going to write a to-do list, but instead I'm going to pull a Scarlett O'Hara and think about it tomorrow.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Photo: dusdin, polanoid.net

the dress has been altered

And......it......FITS! Like a glove! A perfectly tailored, custom-made silk and satin pearl-encrusted glove!

I can't wait to get pictures of me, me, me in this dress.

My mom rocks. She was all ready to go on a shopping rampage and get me another dress if it didn't work out. Thank goodness it didn't come to that. I don't think anything of it, but for some reason most people give me a funny look when they find out I've bought five wedding dresses. I bought and then resold two so that was more of a business decision with some actual profit involved. I kept one of those original three as backup, bought and will likely donate a vintage size 0 gown that was listed as a size "M/L-ish" on eBay, and the fifth, the The Dress, has been let out to accommodate the bounty of my figure and so, no more dresses for me! Yay!

I saw my mom's dress and my sister's dress and I think it's really funny that they are similar styles when they haven't shopped together in more than ten years.

This coming week, I'll be taking a new direction with my blog and that will be to plan weekly mini-weddings with budgets of less than $5,000 in mind. Since I live in Chicago and I grew up in Detroit, most of the ideas and resources will draw from those two locations but should translate to most any locale.

Happy Monday to all! I am three weeks from taking my last walk as me shortly followed by my first walk as me + him.

:)

Hey this jumbo butt bow, will make a nifty rescue flag.

-Deirdre Flint, The Bridesmaid Dress Song

I have been a bridesmaid three times. Each time I was in the unique situation of the bride paying for everything. The first two weddings were close together and I was a destitute, newly divorced mother; in the last, she remembered $300 she owed me from ten years ago that I had totally forgotten about. Even-stevens! Now, as the bride, I was lucky enough that my best friend's mother is a seamstress who knew of a going-out-of-business sale (dresses 1-3) and then found a few gems on eBay (dresses 4 & 5) for less than $50 each.

So, the budgets of my bridesmaids has been foremost in my mind from the beginning. Reading sites like theknot.com and brides.com and the many other sites and high fashion blogs out there sets a daunting task of making a wedding so personal...it ends up like everyone else's anyway. I don't think most women are up to the huge pressure of a wedding these days. It seems like we've pegged ourselves into ridiculous expectations no matter what our personal visions are. It's a cream puff princess wedding, an organic diy adventure, something in between? There are so many books, magazines, photo blogs, inspiration blogs...it's overwhelming. It's fine to look at the pretty pictures, but how is the average girl supposed to put on a party in the style of Vogue or Brides in small town America? In this economy?

I don't think I have many readers, but since I am mostly done with the planning and am now in the execution stages (less than one month to go!) I am going to devote the next week or so of blog entries to deals and steals for those brides who want style and flair but can't spend more than $ to get it.

To start, I'm going to tell you what I did for my maids: I gave them near-carte blanche. I told them they could wear whatever they wanted as long as it fell within a range of blue.

No matchy-matchy required. The color is the cohesive element; the most important thing to me is that each lady's personal style and beauty be able to shine through. I know one girl chose a soft black; another a royal blue sheath; another a royal blue and purple strappy grecian gown.

My greatest gift to my maids has been, I hope, to allow them to save money and time by choosing individual styles that met the demands of their pocketbooks and can be worn again.

Next entry will be devoted to bridesmaid dresses and accessory ideas.