Wedding update

I had my life update yesterday, so here’s a look at where we’re at wedding-wise.

HOLY CRAP WE’RE UNDER 6 MONTHS TO GO.

Thanks for that brief interruption of my normal thought process.

Flowers

Thanks to Shelley (and many others!) for the suggestion to check out Whole Foods. The one closest to me does wedding flowers, so the FI and I went in to check it out. The woman who’ll be doing ours is so sweet and accommodating– she totally understands that we’re budget-first-flower-types-second at this stage of the game. We both love the look of dahlias, but they’ll be out of season, so we’re thinking up other alternatives. We also are big into the textures of the flowers and the bouquets, so that’s a cool place to be.

You’ll all be happy to know I handed off the reins to a professional for all the flowers. Go ahead and say “I told you so” in the comments!

Hotel blocks

I’ve been in contact with a few hotels near the party site, and we just have to make the final call for the blocks. There’s one hotel that’s a lot closer to the site (about 10-15 minutes away) but more expensive, as opposed to one a little further away (10-15 minutes beyond the first) that’s less expensive.

We’re thinking of doing blocks at both, but as a guest, which would you rather?

Engagement photos

We had our engagement pictures taken last weekend! We decided to (sort of) reenact our first date by heading to the same place we went mini-golfing and got ice cream. After convincing the nice old man at the window that we weren’t actually going to play golf and that we just wanted the clubs and balls for the picture, we took a few fun “it’s all in the hips” Happy Gilmore pictures. Come to think of it, I think most of the pictures will have me with my mouth wide open, laughing. I don’t do serious photos.

After the pretend golf session, we waited around and peeked in windows until the ice cream place opened, when I proceeded to eat Rocky Road ice cream at 9 am. Breakfast of champions, I tell you!

After that, we headed to Lake Quannapowitt, also known as The Wakefield Lake because everyone’s too lazy for the “Quannapowitt,” and did some pictures there.  It was really nice, since it’s a nod to where we both grew up, and it’s also where we’ll be doing photos after the ceremony. Yay!

Rehearsal dinner

I said to the FI’s moms: “Go for it.” We picked the place and are letting them run with the rest of the details. One less thing for us to worry about, and I know they’ll do a great job. As far as I know, they’ve booked the venue and put down the deposit, which is all fine with me.

Ceremony

We asked our surviving grandparents to bring up the gifts during our Mass and our godfathers to do the readings. Everyone’s been so excited to be asked, and it really means a lot to us that they’re involved.

Still TBD:

• Transportation: after K&M’s wedding, we decided we liked the idea of having a shuttle between the hotel and the party– that way, we cut down on the number of cars at the party site, and we seriously cut down on the likelihood of anyone taking too much advantage of the open bar.
• Tuxes: got some info for the FI, so he gets to start making decisions on this one. Should be interesting
• Crafting: finish the last pomander for the FGs, make the pew decorations (half-pomanders with tissue paper instead of flowers), spray the lanterns for the party tables, figure out the invitation situation
• Dress fittings: kind of dropped the ball on this one, but I just need my bustle and boobs done. No hem, no taking in, nada. Fingers crossed.
• Honeymoon: ::grumble, grumble:: we can’t decide where we want to go because we have no idea how much money we have to spend. At this point, it’s in the zero-ish range, which is making things difficult. Current ideas: Switzerland/Germany/Austria (still); Portland, OR/Seattle/Vancouver; Calgary/Banff/Lake Louise (Alberta, Canada). Anyone have any input on these?

I’m really starting to get excited now!!

Life update

Like I said in my last post, I know I’ve been super-MIA lately. What with starting an AWESOME new job, helping the FI with the business, being down a computer and last but certainly not least being a part of MOH K’s fabulous wedding… I’ve been a little busy. And lazy about blogging. I said it.

Bakery bliss

I love, love, love, love my new job. It’s fun, challenging, interesting, fun, educational, meaningful, and fun. I love the people I work with, my new bosses, the new hires (after me– I’m already an old pro and I’ve only been there a month!), the work I do, and everything I’m learning. I feel like I’m a major part of making sure the business keeps running and keeps growing, and there’s an immense sense of pride in that.

The hours are always a surprise (4:30am-2:30pm morning shift, 11am-6pm closing shift, or 9-4ish admin shift), so that’s a little bit of a challenge, but it’s been fun getting a feel for when I work best. I actually like the morning shift! It’s a lot busier than the afternoon, so there’s more running around and chatting with guests, but the time totally flies.

What I miss about my old job: not feeling like I’m broke all the time, medical insurance, the people I worked with, and being able to have a quick chat with a few friends and Mum on instant messenger. What I don’t miss: the commute, the stress, the long hours with no thanks, the wardrobe, feeling like I’m ready to snap at any second.

Business time

Flight of the Conchords are pretty hilarious. Doesn’t matter if that particular clip has anything to do with what I’m talking about. It’s funny.

Anywho, I’ve been helping the FI with his landscaping business lately. It’s been tricky trying to set a schedule so that we can get all the paperwork and billing done with both of us working (he’s still part-time at Lowe’s a few nights a week), but we’re trying to figure it all out. It doesn’t help that the printer won’t talk to the computer so we have to do the invoices twice– once on paper to send out and once in QuickBooks for his records. Has anyone else run into a printer spooler issue, especially with a Vista machine and HP printer? How’d you fix it?

Best friend’s wedding

By this point, you should know that MOH K and MOSH are my two best ladies. This past weekend, MOH K married her college sweetheart M. I was a bridesmaid, and was so honored to be part of their day. K and M get along so well with the FI and me– us girls are loud and neurotic, where the guys are the silent-but-deadly (funny) types. MOSH and BFN were also in attendance, as were most of the crew we hung out with in college. We all had a blast!

And I danced so hard I broke my dress. Beat that.

New music!

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately, kiddos. My laptop kinda crapped out and the FI’s computer is also on the fritz, so we’ve been scrambling a bit and down a machine. Plus, I’m still adjusting to my hours and role at the bakery (and loving every minute of it like I never thought possible) so I’ve been a little distracted. I’m going to try to make a better effort at checking in more often and letting y’all know what’s up.

Tonight, I want to share some new music with you: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Here’s their video for “Home,” the first song I heard by them and one of my current favorites:

The FI bought the entire album today because we both had “Home” seriously stuck in our heads and wanted to hear more from the band. The rest of the album has an almost David Bowie/Johnny Cash/ MGMT feel to it, which is really cool. If you like any of those guys, definitely check out Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Fun fact: there are 10 band members, and no one’s name is Edward Sharpe.

Registry round 2

The FI and I knew we wanted Fiesta plates and serve ware, which isn’t available at the good ol’ Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B). After a little research, I found out that it’s sold at Macy’s and Kohl’s, but that Macy’s has the 4-piece dining set (2 plates, bowl, mug) as opposed to the 5-piece dining set (2 plates, bowl, cup and saucer), so it was off to Macy’s we went.

I also poked around the site and found some of the higher-rated towels and sheets and whatnot so thought we’d check them out while we were there.

At this point, I would like to ask a question: is it coincidence that both BB&B and Macy’s have their registry stations set up in the china departments? Or is it that the only people buying china these days are brides and grooms so they might as well start there? Smart from a store-planning standpoint, at any rate.

We got our scanner gun- big bonus there, since we didn’t get to scan at BB&B- and were let loose into the store. Since we’d already gone a little wild at BB&B as far as kitchenware and gadgets were concerned, we were slightly more restrained at Macy’s. That, and their Fiesta section was a little smaller than what we’d envisioned. Not to be discouraged, we went for the Ivory and Cobalt pieces, mixing and matching here and there to a nice effect. We were originally going to go with the Sunflower, but once we saw them in person, we realized they were really yellow, not quite the soft, sunshiny yellow we’d thought. Just so you know.

After that, we wandered over into the bedding area, where the FI started the hunt for “million thread count” sheets. At one point, he got so excited, he drooled. I wish I was kidding! I’m blaming the fact that he’d just taken a big sip of hot coffee (thank you, Keurig demonstration!) and was super-excited about the Martha Stewart sheets we’d picked out. And yes, he knows I’m blogging this– I made sure to ask him

After making our rounds, we went back home. I just logged on to our registry site to see how we did and change some colors on things– not all items came in the colors we wanted, so I wanted to do that before I forgot. The site tells me I registered for 53 gifts at Macy’s today. Great. But wait– what’s this?– why are so many “unavailable for purchase?”

A whole bunch of the items are being discontinued. The pillows we’d added, the individual casserole dishes (good for baked scallops with breadcrumbs), the garment bag for traveling, the platter/serving bowl combo… all gone. It’s recommended that we choose replacement items instead.

I understand that there’s turnover for the inventory and product lines. What doesn’t make sense to me is that there were no signs or signals indicating that these products might not be there next week. It might not make sense to have it for all the items out on the floor, but what about a popup on the scanner gun? Or a warning from the registry setup lady that there’s a lot of turnover happening, so just to be aware?

Anyone else run into this, either while registering or trying to make a purchase online? What did you do?