catheroominations

Friday, May 25 went much too fast, but I do remember having a fabulous time, being joyously happy, and getting a wonderful husband. I have to steal pictures from other people, since I sort of couldn’t take pictures at my own wedding. Below is one from my dear friend Jenni at Four Feet More (or maybe her husband Jeff took this one). You can read a post she wrote about the wedding here.

I managed to snag some photos from my in-laws’ (heh, I have in-laws!) various storage media, and save them to my laptop, and my avid photographer friend June (who I freaked with on the dance floor), took over 300 shots and sent me the link to her online photo album. Some of her shots are linked in this post, but so many of them are awesome, it was hard to choose which to steal. Matte and I will get many, many more photos from our photographers (who rocked, by the way). We’re getting all the original files on a DVD and I am sure there are a gajillion. Also? We had a photobooth at our wedding. Our friends and family got to leave with a print-out of their shots, but we get all the original digital files taken in the booth. I can’t wait to see what people did in that tiny little studio.

Oh, and remember my April Fool’s Day post? About our wedding plans? Well, what really happened is more like this:

keep reading Catheroo, aka Mrs. Silent-e

When Matte and I designed our wedding invitations (yes, we went the DIY route), we were quite specific with the RSVP cards. Our venue is small intimate, so our wedding and reception are adults-only. (I realize that sounds dirty, but it’s not XXX adults-only, just no offspring under the age of 18 are invited, aside from the 2 adorable nephews/ring-bearers.) To avoid confusion as to how many members of each family are invited, we used the phrase ____ of _____ guest(s) will attend. Thus, a couple with two children would receive an RSVP card to send back to us that stated that they (Mr. and Mrs.) were invited (example: ____ of 2 guest(s) will attend.) Simple, yes? Well, it seems to have worked because we didn’t receive any response cards stating that 8 of 2 guest(s) will attend. It might sound mean to do it this way, but when you have limited space, you sometimes have to do these things. Although, children’s meals are much cheaper than those of full-grown people, so maybe we should have invited just the kids.

In a very glass-is-half-full manner, we used the phrase will attend, keeping the response is positive. Seeing 0 of 2 guests will attend is so much more pleasant than seeing so-and-so will not attend. (We did receive some replies with the number of attending guests left blank and the word not inserted between will and attend. That made me feel a little sad. And rejected. So I ate a big bag of chocolate chips. And if I can’t fit into my dress, I blame those carat-inserting, RSVP-editing invitees.

To help us when we make our DIY place cards, we included Please indicate guest name(s) next to entree selection. Apparently many of our guests have the same name: 1. And even weirder, there are couples who both are named 1. I know! Freaky, right? Now, in instances where I know the couple, I can guess “hmm…I think Mr. S is the 1 who wants the pork and Mrs. S probably wants the chicken.” And if I get their place cards wrong, they can swap plates when their food is served, and hopefully not yell at the servers for bringing the the opposite of what they chose. But when I do not know the name of a guest, such as Mr. K.’s girlfriend (who I really don’t believe is named 1) I will call him to find out, rather than have her place card read “Mr. K’s woman who wants the chicken…or maybe she’d prefer the pork. All I know is she doesn’t want the vegetarian.”

We have received nearly all of our RSVPs back. Several arrived in the first few days after we sent the invitations. It was fun getting so much mail that wasn’t a coupon or a bill, and I loved seeing who would be able to join us for our special day. When we received word that 0 of 2 will attend, we were bummed, but we appreciated the excuses apologetic note on the back of the card about already-planned trips to France, or vacations in Hungary, or graduation ceremonies out of state. I don’t need anyone to tell me the reason they can’t attend, but it’s nice to know that the absence isn’t because they hate our guts or think I’m fat because I have eaten so many chocolate chips, or whatever.

But today, I received an RSVP (hand-delivered, no less) that had some creativity. I want to put it on a t-shirt or something. Oh, and this one? It’s from one of our officiants.

Matte and I have been planning like crazy, so I thought I’d fill you all in on some of our plans. I’m not a normal the knot dot com bride and much of what we’re doing can’t be found on the knot either. It’s just not us to do some of the more traditional stuff. For one, there will be no garter/bouquet toss. Also, I didn’t make personalized cards to ask my bridesmaids to be part of the wedding, which I guess is the appropriate way to ask (who knew!). We’re not doing personalized water bottles, or M&Ms with our names on them, or matches, or having a bride and groom topper on our cake. My dress isn’t white or ivory, or even a traditional wedding gown color. We wanted our wedding to reflect us, and be different.

Here’s a sample of what we have planned:

The color we chose for our wedding is purple and we are incorporating it throughout. Here’s a picture of my dress (Matte, no peeking!) and Matte’s suit.

I’m walking down the aisle to the theme from Star Wars because our wedding day is also the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars (Episode IV).

Our first dance is to Magic, by Olivia Newton-John because we both love Xanadu (guilty pleasure).

Instead of flowers I will be carrying a bouquet of California produce, mostly garlic, artichokes (purple ones of course!), and grapes.

Because we are both geeks, our wedding will be broadcast over the web. We’ll be sure to post the info on our blogs ahead of time so you can log on and watch the ceremony!

This is the most nerve-wracking part. We’re tring to get Jasper and Daphne to be the ring bearer and flower girl, and have them walk on leashes down the aisle by my bridesmaids. Training has proven quite difficult. Jasper is good on the leash, but Daphne would rather tangle herself up in it and attack it. She might have to be carried.

Since we’re getting married at a winery, after we are pronounced husband and wife, we will take off our shoes and smash grapes in a barrel. If we can get enough juice, the owner of the winery said he’d try to make our very own vintage from it as a memento of our special day.

My sister is friends with the personal chef to the Mayor of San Francisco (yes, Gavin). Since it’s a Friday, and he’s available, Gavin agreed to be our officiant! I will have to try so hard not to drool.

Those are the only secrets I want to divulge right now. Must save something for the guests to discover!

Remember that one time, when I wrote this and was all “my dress won’t be here until the end of April! GAH! And the bridesmaid dresses won’t be here until April? WAH! What to do? That’s so late!”

Well…

Apparently the bridal salon’s calendar runs a couple months fast. They called me this afternoon to tell me the dresses for my sister and future sister-in-law (my bridesmaids) came in. The saleswoman told me I could pick up the dresses whenever was convenient and then asked if anyone had called me awhile back to say my wedding gown was in. OMG! It was so hard to contain my excitement. Actually, it wasn’t hard because I thought for sure she was mistaken, and had me confused with someone else. I am so “glass is half-empty” I know, Matte, I know.

I high-tailed it over to the shop after work so fast, that as Matte imagined, there was a loud “poing” sound as I left a cartoon cloud of smoke behind me.

The glass continued it’s 50% void when I saw the dress hanging on the rack. Jeez, it’s so short. It looks like it’ll go just past my knees. They must have measured it wrong. But I did notice how freakingly gloriously beautiful and fabulous it is.

The nice saleslady took me into the dressing room and I tried it on.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for making me only five-foot-one.

My dress fits me abso-effing-lutely perfectly. Nothing needs to be done to it, except the bustle. No taking in, no taking out. Fits like a glove, people. Actually, better than a glove because those are always too long for my puny fingers, and I look like I have freakishly flat fingertips that can’t grab anything.

The salespeople, who are paid to ooh and aaah, did just that over the fit, the color, the style, and the shoes I brought to try on with it. (I’ve replaced these of course, because, as Matte says, I’m John Kerry with all the flip-flopping I do. But the new ones are way cooler. Like super cool. And hot. And sexy. OK, maybe not so sexy. But they are from shoe heaven DSW.)

It is a happy day, and I am drinking much celebratory wine because none of the girls in the wedding will have to show up naked.

Today we met with a travel agent. She is a specialist in Hawaii vacations. Or not.

Matte and I have some ideas on where we want to go in Hawaii and one place is Hana. We found an awesome place to stay that was ranked the #2 spa in all of Hawaii by some magazine that ranks that sort of thing.

The problem with Hana (not a problem for us, really, we kind of like that “problem”) is that it’s basically in the middle of nowhere, very secluded. To get there by car, you travel the Hana Highway, which is beautiful and offers gorgeous scenery. We definitely want to cruise along that road, but neither of us is too excited about sitting in a car for three hours right after we get off the plane, so we figure we’ll stay in Kaanapali for the first night, and then hit the road to Hana the next morning. Because there’s not much to do in Hana, we want to go somewhere else after just a couple of days, either spend more time on the other side of Maui, or head off to the Big Island. But then again, it’s a three-hour drive back to the Kahului airport.

I suggested to the travel agent that we depart from the Hana airport when we’re ready island hop, rather than trek all the way back to the main airport on the other side of Maui. I mean, it’s right there. We can even return our Kahului airport-rented car there, in Hana.

The agent said, “There isn’t an airport in Hana.”

Uhm…yes. Yes, there is. And you can take inter-island flights for as low as $30 each way even.

But the Hawaii specialist had never heard of an airport in Hana.

Uh-oh.

Also? When she recommended a place for us to stay on the first night in Maui, she put us at a hotel that caters to families, where Kids Stay Free!

Uhm…what about the part where I said we want more seclusion, and to try and avoid the family-oriented places?

Guess she missed that part.

So yeah. I’m thinking we can book this honeymoon on our own, or go with a second recommendation I received. This is for a great travel agent that does actually specialize in Hawaii vacations, and mainly luxury Hawaiian vacations. My friend Lisa used them for her first anniversary and had a spectacular time, complete with room upgrades and welcome champagne.

So tell me: do you usually use an agent to book big important trips like this? Or do you do all the research and planning on your own? Do I want to take on additional planning when I’m already planning a wedding? I know I don’t want an agent I have to second-guess.

Suggestions and recommendations are welcome, both for travel planning in general and Hawaii specifically (Maui and the Big Island on this trip). Tell me what we shouldn’t miss.

On Saturday Matte and I had our wedding cake tasting session. My sister the pastry chef came to offer her suggestions, as did our neighbor Liza. We only got to taste four of the twelve available flavors, but I think we chose the best four in the list. I’m glad we brought along third and fourth opinions because I woke up stuffed up and my taste buds were not performing at their highest capacity that morning. The samples are in the photo. From left to right, they are: traditional spice cake (spiced chiffon cake filled with praline buttercream and cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves), chocolate mocha mousse cake (filled with chocolate-mocha mousse lightly spiked with Kahlua), crème brulée chiffon (light vanilla chiffon cake with a luscious crème brulée filling studded with fresh strawberries), and chocolate-raspberry mousse cake (filled with rich dark chocolate mousse, soaked in Chambord liqueur and fresh raspberries).

First we tried the vanilla chiffon. Matte and I are both huge fans of crème brulée, so we had high hopes for this one. But the cake was, uh…dry. Like I almost cacked, it was so dry. I realize it’d been frozen for awhile, but there was no moisture to this cake whatsoever. And it wasn’t sweet enough for my taste. I did appreciate the little vanilla flecks in the filling, and the strawberries were good, but I immediately had flashes of guests clamoring across the table to pour a pitcher of water down their throats while gasping “Gah! This wedding cake is so dry! (hack!)”

The spice cake, our second taste, was much, much better. Yum. Oh. My. Gawd, Becky! I think it sucked up all the moisture that once resided in the chiffon cake because it was so moist, it almost melted in my mouth. And the filling was fabulous. Not too rich, not too sweet, but just right. And the icing was well, the icing on the cake.

Then came the two chocolate options. I don’t remember which we tasted first, because at my first taste I had a blood chocolate level of .5, which rendered me incapable of forming a logical thought. Wow. The devil’s food cake was good. It was moist and flavorful. But the pow came from the filling. I think I could have gotten drunk off the fumes alone. The chocolate mousse was so very delectably chocolaty. It was just hard to choose between the Chambord and the Kahlua filling. We ultimately chose raspberry after my sister informed me that the raspberries could keep the cake moister. Yes! Must have moist cake!

After we made this vital wedding decision, we headed over to the winery to show Sister and Liza where the wedding will be. I practiced walking to my entrance song, without taking a header down the steps, and then we tasted some wine. Because a breakfast of cake should always be followed by a wine course. And then we continued the wedding research at the restaurant that’s catering the wedding. All four of us tried the caesar salad (with homemade croutons) to accomodate our very large plates of food. We had to make sure our two judges agreed that the cuisine was sufficiently awesome to be served at our wedding. And it was. It is. It will be. Oh, you know what I mean.

2/6/07 UPDATED TO ADD: We opted for two flavors. Our wedding cake will have two layers of spice, and two of chocolate cake with raspberry mousse. I guess writing about all that chocolate got me dizzy again and I forgot to mention the winners!

40% off the $39.94 price tag. I heart DSW.