Save the Date

We've ticked off a milestone on the to-do list by sending out our save the dates a couple weeks ago. We decided to only send them to family since most of our friends are already well aware of the date.

Jess used her mad design skills to make these for us, and we just love them. As was the case for the 3.5 years we lived together in college, I'm extremely jealous of how well her left brain functions. We've had so many people tell us how much they like these and what a good idea sending them was. We agree, thanks. :)

We used my beloved Paper Source for the supplies, printing these at home on "deluxe" textured paper in reddish-pink envelopes that roughly match the color of the flowers.

Mario's Wedding Cake?

Our wedding cake! Kidding, but this would be one heck of a conversation starter at the wedding.

I saw this and it was just way too cool not to share.

Now that you're thinking of the little Italian video star and probably having flashbacks to those evergreen songs, I leave you with this for your viewing pleasure. You won't be sorry if you ever played video games growing up, or had brothers who played 24/7...

It’s Officially Official, We Have Officiants

We will be fortunate enough to have two of the three coolest Catholic priests I’ve ever met say our wedding mass together. (The third, Father Roger, got transferred to another parish when I was in junior high and I have no idea what happened to him.)

My great uncle Augie, a priest from East St. Louis, and Father Dan from St. Pet’s in Glen Ellyn will be con-celebrating our mass this spring.

Because Gavin is only Catholic in theory and occasionally in practice, and I love being a part of the church but can’t stand the uber-conservative kill-joy priests that are omnipresent, having celebrants we could relate to was really important to both of us. We wanted to have a relationship with the person saying our mass so it is wholly a personal occasion.

We know Uncle Augie well, and know that he’s an open-minded and extremely interesting person. Unfortunately, he had a stroke shortly after our engagement. Although he is still able to say mass every day (and swim a mile at the local Y… so he’s in just as good of shape as me!) we wanted to be sure he had someone present to help him since the mass is long and St. James is enormous.

We discovered Father Dan through a series of coincidences, and have genuinely enjoyed going to mass each time he was the officiant. His style reminds us of Ed Norton’s character’s style in Keeping the Faith, although he doesn’t look like him or Gavin wouldn’t have gone along with this plan given my “thing” for the actor. We’ll be meeting up with Father Dan soon to get better acquainted.

We’ve finally managed to assemble the necessary elements to actually have a wedding ceremony – church and priests. Onto music, readings, etc, etc, etc.

Colors and Dresses and Tears, Oh Lord!

I’d rather play with lions, tigers and bears at this point, although that’s not too unusual given my animal-loving ways. You get the point…

My statement that this wouldn’t take as long as it took me to find a dress? HA. My poor bridesmaids.

Beyond the first couple weeks of wedding planning, nothing has been smooth. Vendors don’t call you back, don’t show up for appointments and don’t do what they’ll say they will. We have to keep track of every move we make to be sure nothing falls through the cracks with the eleventy billion vendors we will have contracted for this wedding. I keep reorganizing my organization system just to keep up!

So why would finding a bridesmaid dress to fit my seven lovely ladies be easy? Silly.

I went into the bridesmaid dress stage figuring I would let the girls pick a dress, and then I’d pick a swatch. I wasn’t set on any particular color. That was silly thinking. Newly engaged ladies, you need a vision.

(The original idea of chocolate brown and light blue or sage green was shot down by my handsome groom in an instant the week after we got engaged. It’s ok though, in retrospect I would have regretted the choice since I now have better idea of what I want the wedding to look like.)

After dragging the poor girls to Schaumburg, Oak Brook and Glen Ellyn multiple times, we haven’t found anything good for the body types and colorings represented in the party. Trying to save them money, we’ve been looking at discount bridal stores that seemed acceptable, primarily House of Brides.

We did find one dress that everyone, me included, loves. Unfortunately, the only color it comes in that isn’t odd is red, which isn’t the best for a spring wedding in a church that will likely be filled with pastel Easter flowers. (Boys, are you gagging yet? I know you care…)

Finally, I took a month-long hiatus from looking, ended by a solo trek up to Schaumburg to see what was available in wedding stores and on department store racks now that homecoming is here. After a frustrating trip, I figured why not just give in and check out the tackiest sign on the strip – Bride$mart. The sign is bright pink and employs the dollar sign like you see here. Cla$$y.

They have so many good choices though! I couldn’t believe how many lines they carry and how many dresses are crammed into the little store (it doesn’t exactly look nice, but the merchandise is a-ok). So, one final trip to Schaumburg this weekend to see if we can find something everyone is happy with before settling on a pretty purple dress that looks better in the pictures than on real people.

Here’s to hoping we find something!