Marooned

So. Sad.

Over the holidays, I stopped by our Country Club reception site with FI and FILs, and since we'd last been in the summer, they've redone the carpet. Before, it was a medium shade of gray, there probably couldn't be anything less offensive. It had a bit of green shade to it as well, which again, not so offensive as our wedding colors are predominantly shades of green. But alas, that's all changed now. The new carpet color? Maroon. Maybe Burgundy. I'm not really sure what you'd specifically call the color, all I know is that it is DEFINITELY not in keeping with our wedding colors. How dare they, right? (totally kidding, although it is a bit disheartening)

This is the bar area before, its still a very beautiful space, and the large windows, and high ceilings will help take some of the attention off the carpeting. In all honestly, I'm actually not really too upset, I prefer to think of it more as a challenge. People don't really look at the floor anyways, and I'm trying to think of more creative ways to decorate the space so that it draws the eye upward.

The first thing I've come up with is the tried and true canopy that the Club already offers . But I definitely want to have a little more decoration on and around it. So, I plan on employing another of the most popular wedding trends, the played out but oh so adorable paper lanterns. The pictures above are from The Knot, but I think there are a few too, ok, way too many paper lanterns for my taste in the picture on the right. But still, I'm rather fond of how they make any space seem playful, and will definitely draw attention away from the floor.

I'm thinking of getting a few flower balls made to put up with the lanterns, kind of like the pomanders that flower girls carry, only these would be bigger, like Flower Girl Pomanders on 'roids. Or, I have a growing fondness for the Martha Stewart Paper Pom Poms. I like the mixture of paper poms, lanterns and flowers, and that they're all varying shapes and textures, but still spherical.

Out of City, Out of Mind?

I love love love getting mail. There's nothing more exciting than that feeling I get when I open my mailbox and letters, magazines, postcards, and yes, even junk mail come tumbling out. Its the highlight of my day, because someone, somewhere cares (even if it is a salesman trying to sell me something I don't want today).

But, today I got something in the mail that made my heart skip a beat, it was a fabulous little post card for the Veils & Cocktails event on January 30th held by Fabulous-Bridal Boutique, The Madison & Cincinnati Wedding. But, le sigh... I live over 3 hours away, which is a bit much for a Wednesday. Not that there aren't bridal shows in my area, but they're normally at the same place and have no illusions of grandeur... and there are only so many vendors that are really helpful up here since I'm having my wedding so far away.

I suppose for now I'll just have to live vicariously through the posts of brides like Miss Penguin and Miss Cherry Blossom on the Weddingbee, since I can't make it home for something a little bit swanky. So, I'll leave you with some pics of the lovely things I will be missing in a few weeks...

(all images courtesy of Fabulous-Bridal)

Double Duty

I was just listening to Ingrid Michaelson's song Overboard, and it got me thinking...

I love my fiance and I love my job, I probably love both a little too much. So I guess I shouldn't complain that I am fortunate to be in such a predicament, but sometimes its a bit overwhelming. I'm sure every bride experiences (at least a little) that overwhelming feeling of trying to merge two lives together. I'm not just talking about my fiance and I, but rather, my personal life and my work life.

I work in College Campus Ministry which is a life consuming job, but in the best way possible. There is a lot of office work and paper work involved in my job, but there are infinitiely more things that I love about what I do. I facilitate a seminar class on Christian Leadership, and work with a dozen college sophomores each week, as well as help plan events for the students at our parish. I typically work 7 days a week, and although I'm only "clocked in" for 40 hours or so a week, I tend to be here upwards of 50 or 60. While I go home feeling physically and emotionally drained, I also feel so energized by what I do. This is normally fine, since I live by myself and my FI had out-of -town internships 2 of the past 4 months for his final year of Pharmacy School, but now he's back for the rest of his internships, and I initially had a hard time balancing my work life with our relationship (I tend to be a bit independent).

I love going home and cooking dinner with him, curling up with a glass of wine, watching a movie and taking games of Monopoly and Scrabble far too seriously. But I have a hard time pulling myself away from work in the evenings, because it often doesn't feel like "work" to me. It hasn't really caused any problems, he's so understanding and supportive of my passion for my work, and patient when I'm a bit late meeting up after work.

But I can't help but think that it probably won't always be this way. And what about when we have kids? We aren't totally unprepared for this part of marriage, we've both agreed that we both want to be actively involved in raising our kids, but both of us need something outside of that home life, so we're both open to working part-time. But I know I secretly hope sometimes that the part-timer isn't me, while other times I could see myself staying at home full-time... at least for a little while.

Ultimately, I know that some sort of balance has to be achieved (and will). But right now, the scale is tipped in the work direction, with our engagement as a time to tease out a balance between the two.

Meadow Green is to Leaf as Honeydew is to Sage

I received all the paper for our invites two days ago, and they perfectly coordinate with the color of my BM dresses! We ordered the dresses from Ann Taylor and the invite materials from Paper Source. I wanted something that would coordinate, but the similarity between the colors is uncanny. I keep pulling out the sashes to compare them to the paper, and still can't believe it. We've just about got the wording finalized for our invites so hopefully I'll get started on those sometime this week.

Sweet Escape

Who doesn't love a happy ending? "They lived happily ever after..." or "Riding off into the sunset". Sure these scenarios aren't all that realistic, but they sure are romantic.

And for this reason, I would love to do the sending-off at the end of the reception. I think its such a beautiful and classic throwback to weddings of "years gone by", and definitely needs to be brought back. I'd love to tweak it a bit, and maybe mix a bit of vintage with a bit of modern. Maybe using a new song and changing into a vintage dress at the end of the reception for the sending-off.

For the song, I love the idea of rolling out after playing something like Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape. Its such a fun, playful song... and perfectly titled to boot!

Of course I need an equally cute and playful dress to go along with the song! Here are some options that I love... but in my indecisiveness haven't committed to yet. These first two are from the Vintage Clothing site Vintageous.















These next two are from the website Posh Girl Vintage and are also very adorable, and are the kind of style I'm looking for.















This final dress is one that I saw on ebay, and is probably my favorite since I've started browsing for a sending-off dress. But alas, bidding has ended on it, so I hope that it won't be too hard to find a similar style. I love the vintage look, but I'm always a sucker for a sweetheart neckline.

My Glass Slippers

(Photo Courtesy of Yahoo!Movies)

Cinderella made it look so easy, she just slipped on the glass slipper and knew it was perfect. I on the other hand, am having no such luck. I've started looking for Wedding shoes and sometimes feel as though I'm searching in vain. There are days when I look, and it seems like nothing is right, but there other days when I see half a dozen pairs that I think are adorable.

I have some criteria for what I want, but I'm even wishy-washy on those too! I'm almost as tall as my FI, but he has a good 3 inches on me, so I think I'd prefer a lower heel for comfort and to not be too tall. But, at the same time being taller than him on the Wedding day doesn't really bother me or him. Low or High Heels? Open-toed or Closed-toed? White/Ivory or Metallic? All are good questions... that I don't have answers to! At some point I've flip-flopped (hmmm... flip flops, yet another choice?) between them all!

I didn't really think about shoes for the wedding until I was perusing the Real Weddings section of The Knot and came across these fab shoes. I thought that the bow was a bit over the top, but also really adorable... and then when I found out that they were Kate Spade, my heart sank. Because although Kate Spade makes adorable shoes, they ain't cheap! Especially at about $250, yikes! I am quite the shoe addict, but I don't need them that bad.




But, I kept looking... and ended up finding them on ebay (glorious, glorious ebay!), as well as another pair of Kate Spade Shoes that I loved, and they were both much cheaper than the retail price. The ones above are the Kate Spade Nuptial Shoes, and these ones below are the Kate Spade Monarch Shoes.


I think both are adorable, but I'm not sure if I want close-toed shoes like the Nuptial ones, and the Monarch ones are a bit high... I would probably prefer a lower heel.

In addition to Kate Spade, J.Crew's shoes have also stolen my heart. There's a few different styles that I absolutely love, which isn't surprising because J.Crew shoes are normally either what I'm pining after, or my latest case of buyer's remorse.

This first pair is similar to the Kate Spade Nuptial Shoes. Its closed toe, lower heel, with a big bow (not quite as big)... this is also another one that can be found on ebay if you look at the right time. This image below is from The Knot.



I don't now if I'm sold on these next shoes for the entire day, they're cute satin ballet flats that I would maybe switch into for the reception if I end up going with high heels for the Ceremony, and are also from J.Crew.


And finally... I've saved the best for last. When I first started looking for shoes, I looked only at white satin... but I was perusing J.Crew (again, I'm obsessed) and thought, why not metallic? These ones are definitely the front runner. I love that they're metallic gold, its a bit different. I have considered some bold or bright color, but I must confess I might be too chicken to wear something bright. So without further ado, here's my favorite...


And now... I'm waiting. I'm hoping that they will either go down a bit more in price, or that I'll get a J.Crew gift card for Christmas, or that my wildest dreams would come true, and BOTH would happen. But we'll see, there may be some other shiny things that catch my eye...

The Day That Wasn't

"The day that wasn't", that's what my FI likes to call the first time he tried to propose to me, and I stood him up. In my defense, I didn't know!

Its a beautiful, sentimental story... almost. I work as a Campus Minister for the college that we both did our undergraduate work at. When we were students last Spring, he tried to propose to me on a Friday afternoon in March, but his beautiful plans were squashed by my flightiness, or rather a random appointment I scheduled with my academic adviser...

My FI was planning on incorporating one of my favorite prayer practices into our engagement, its also a very symbolic one, and one that I realized is perfectly suited for a marriage proposal. Its called a Labyrinth which is a meandering, but purposeful path that winds in toward the center, and then out again. Walking the Labyrinth is supposed to help quiet the mind and move the soul toward healing. "Its not a maze (there aren't any tricks or dead ends)".

The Labyrinth's pathway is located in the center of the Church under the altar. Here is a picture of our Labyrinth about 10 years ago when the Church was built, it looks way different now. (There are tapestries, and other artwork that have been added)

The experience is different for each person, but often times incorporates three different parts/processes.

Letting Go

The Labyrinth represents a "letting go" of all the daily concerns that frustrate or consume us. "It is releasing, emptying, quieting" of the soul. Its also a way of letting ourselves "drift out of conscious focus". For me this is crucial, I have a hard time doing this daily, I'm always go go go, and when I have a hard time doing this on my own, my FI challenges me to s l o w d o w n, and realize that so many of the things I worry about aren't as dramatic as I tend believe.

Illumination

"Such a long winding path is so illogical. We do not know that we have arrived at the center until we actually arrive". This is true so many times of life. Often times its surprising (at least I know it is for me), but when we come with an open heart and quieted mind, we find the truest answer. With our relationship, it was kind of the same way... I didn't know that I was falling in love with him until I already had (so sappy, but so true).

Integration/Union

This is typically the third part of the Labyrinth prayer experience. It is "a time of meditation and empowerment... and incorporating insights gained." At this point you have typically reached the physical center of the labyrinth, "... each (person) is invited, empowered, even pushed to be more authentic and take the risks needed to manifest our gifts for the world." How beautiful, right? I feel that this is not only true of an individual person's pathway, but that invitation to live more authentically, to take risks is crucial to relationships.

The Labyrinth is a feature not normally heard of in Church architecture and structure. The one at the church I work at is modeled after the one of the famous cathedrals, in Chartres (one of the most beautiful Gothic-style cathedrals in the world). And is identical to the Labyrinth inside the Riverside Church (also a gorgeous church) in New York.

(These two above are of the breathtaking Chartres Cathedral)

(These two are from Riverside, which is an interdenominational church in NY)

For the proposal, he had planned on waiting for me to come to the Church, there are certain days that are designated as "Labyrinth Days", where the play instrumental music, and people can come in and walk/pray the Labyrinth all day long, and wisely anticipating I would go there my FI waited for me to call to let him know I was going to go, so that he knew when to meet me for lunch afterwards. Instead of meeting me for lunch, he was going to go and stand in the center of the Labyrinth, while I walked (well, I would probably have run this time!) the winding path. But I stood him up. Bummer. Soon I'll post on the real proposal...


(The information for this post is courtesy of Veriditas, and if you want to learn more about the Labyrinth Prayer Experience I definitely recommend checking out their website.)