The Painted Living Room

Not much of anything going on on the wedding planning front. So I thought I'd post some info regarding the domesticity of mine and Jesse's lives together.

This past month has been focused on updating some areas of the house. One of those areas is the back porch, which unfortunately turned a random purple/rose color from the stain we chose. We're still working on fixing that, but the main thing is that the wood is protected out there, and that's all that matters. The other area that needed updating was the living room. The paint treatment on the walls started to look a bit tired and kinda dirty to me over the last 6 months or so, and it became clear that a change would be necessary. I've been planning for a couple of months, actually, and have been working on deciding on a new color for as long. With Jesse's help, we came up with a Behr color called "Classic."

Here is the living room before:
And here is the living room after:
Yes, I'm aware that it looks a bit pink. And to be honest, the color "Classic" does have some rose undertones to it that give it that appearance in some lights. But it looks really nice with the furniture, and the walls don't look dirty anymore, which is a really nice change in my opinion.

This weekend, I'll be rearranging the furniture and resetting all the knick-knacks and art so that they're in a new configuration, which should be fun. The room had been the same for the past 3 years, so it's nice to shift things about a bit finally. Change is good, right? Right!

Off to work I go. Check back next week for more updates on the exciting domestic antics of myself and Jesse! WOO!

Slow month, it seems...

Still not much going on in the planning area. I've done everything I need to do at this point, and most other things need to wait a few months before they kick into gear. Right now, the main goal is to set up a specific spreadsheet of immediate expenses/deposits that are required to reserve spaces/caterers/send out "save the date" cards, and then I don't need to deal with anything until the day I find a dress to put a deposit down on. And that won't be happening for at least 3 months, I think.

The important thing is that we've found the church and reserved our wedding time with them, and we've also found a perfect reception spot, and we've been penciled in there as well. (Still working out the little details for the contract right now, and I hope to have it all in writing, in pen, by the end of October. Maybe earlier...we'll see.) The reception will be at The Boulevard Brewing Company. Unfortunately, they don't have the new space listed on their website just yet, since they only just opened the space officially last week, but I'm hoping to have a link to it up in the next couple of months. Or maybe y'all would like to be surprised when you first see it? Hmm...

My main struggle when it comes to the wedding planning these days is the distance between my father and I, as well as the issue of time. I feel like giving ourselves a whole year to plan is the most frugal and proper thing to do, considering that both Jesse and I work full time jobs (Jesse is even more than full time most weeks!), and are planning the wedding ourselves. Also, according to most planners, wedding websites, and venue managers, it's not abnormal to book spaces 9 months - 1 year in advance of the date of the event these days. Jesse has a coworker who is planning a wedding in a very short period of time...she got engaged mid-summer, I think, and she's planning her wedding for November of this year. She had a very hard time finding a proper venue that was (a) available and (b) affordable. When you limit yourself with time restrictions, you limit yourself otherwise as well. And I'm really glad that Jesse and I could both agree on having the wedding on a date that's as far out as it is, so as to give ourselves plenty of time to make sure we have the best celebration of our wedding we could ever imagine.

My father (and I hope he doesn't mind me talking about this...) and my stepmom planned their wedding in a relatively short amount of time, and due to certain circumstances, had to change the date at least once during the planning stages. With that experience behind him, he is extremely cautious about setting a date and putting down deposits on locations over a year in advance of the event. And I don't blame him! It's this sort of behaviour that I was exposed to when growing up that made me the no-nonsense, somewhat detail oriented kinda girl that I am today. (I hope to become even more detail oriented as I grow older and wiser...I can't really get any more no-nonsense about things, though. People might not like me much if I get worse on that end!) But the frustration remains when it comes to having to discuss these matters over the phone, with a man who can be sillier than I am when he wants to be, and without the ability to be face-to-face to discuss the details as quickly and efficiently as possible. It's my own fault for moving my ass to Kansas all those years ago, I know. But hey...if I hadn't moved to Kansas, I wouldn't have met Jesse! So there's the end to that argument. :)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find some reasonably priced "save the date" cards to order, so I can plan accordingly for the expense. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Oh joy.

Well, I've discovered the truly fun part of being a bride in the 21st century...e-mail spam and phone calls from vendors soliciting my business. It's my own fault, I know...

I signed up about 2 weeks ago for a free wedding packet from KC Weddings, hoping that I could save a couple of bucks on having to purchase a magazine (which I received a free one of about 2 days later from one of the locations I visited, but I'm hoping that I'll receive a fall/winter magazine when they finally send one to me), and looking forward to receiving information about local vendors via e-mail and mail. The e-mail spam doesn't bother me, really. If I'm not interested, the "delete" key is only 2 inches from my main keyboard.

But on Tuesday, I received a call from an unknown number. I wasn't sure if it was my trainer at the gym finally getting in touch with me to set up our next appointment, or if it was someone calling to confirm my hair appointment a few days early, or what. I answered. It was some girl from a local bridal shop inquiring about my dress purchasing activities. First of all, they want to congratulate me. Nice. Secondly, they would like to know if I'd like to come in to look at dresses, or have I already purchased one? I had some questions of my own, too...how did they get my number? And did they realize my wedding wasn't for over a year? HELL no I don't have a dress yet!

I suppose that some girls will wear their mother's dress still these days. And perhaps there are those out there that would pick out a dress as soon as a whole year before they get married. Personally, I'm taking my time. I'd not only like to lose another dress size before I start shopping (I'm already down one size over the past 6 weeks...so I'm hoping that by the end of December I'll be in a size 14 - that should make it easier to try on more styles in more shops), but I've got other stuff on my mind right now. Finding the venue was one of them, and I think we've got that under control, but I'll know better at the end of next week. Still, it was just sort of shocking (and a bit annoying) to have someone call me out of the blue, in the middle of my work day, asking me about my dress-search activities. I managed to end the phone call without being too bitchy, explaining to the girl that their shop is actually on my list of ones to check out eventually, but that I wasn't going to start shopping until December. She thanked me for my time, and probably hung up hoping I'd lose their shop name and not come in to look for dresses there.

I don't like the feeling that I'm being rushed, and having these folks contact me before I'm ready for them is putting me right in that place, unfortunately. It's uncomfortable, and I don't like it. I can't WAIT to go look at dresses...but just not yet. It's not time. I hope the other stores will respect that concept, and hold off on calling me for a while.

In other news, the church is booked, and the deposit has been paid. The lady that helped me is really nice, and she's apparently the one that deals with most of the wedding planning stuff for the church outside of the priest that we'll be dealing with and who will be marrying us. When I went in to drop off the deposit, she gave me a little packet of information to take with me (basic rules about who they can allow to get married there, and what to expect, and how much it costs, etc...), and she offered me a second packet "to give to [my] mom..." I told her that it wouldn't be necessary. Actually, I think I said, "Oh, my mother is deceased." (I've been saying that a lot lately. To the priest, to certain location coordinators, now to this woman...seems that everyone expects a bride to be doing all this stuff with their mother!! I guess that would make sense, really, if my mother were alive of course. But even in that case, she would be in California...not very convenient for the wedding planning stuff, in my opinion.) The woman said, "Oh, I'm sorry!! My mom's deceased, too, so I understand how you must feel to have people saying that to you." I told her it wasn't a big deal, and she gave me the packet anyway, so I can pass it on to whomever else I have helping me out with certain stuff like dealing with church details (probably going to send it to my twin, so I can have a second brain helping me remember things like when we have to be done with pictures within the church, and what we can use as decorations inside the church itself). It's just funny to me, I guess. I know that a lot of people perceive my age as being much younger than it actually is, and while that's a nice thing, it still causes little hiccups like this now and then, and makes other people feel uncomfortable and excuses need to be made, and it's just a big mess sort of.

But that's ok. Because I have a wonderful stepmom who's willing and ready to help me in any way she can, and a new mother-in-law-to-be that is exactly the same way, and while it's inconvenient to be as far away as I am from the both of them (one in California and one in Indiana), I surely will be taking them up on their offers if I need to!! And I'm sure that mom's here with me too. I know she is, in fact. And for that, I'm always grateful...

Happy weekend everyone! (Go Trojans! Go Irish!)

Clearer and clearer...

Well, it's starting to pay off, all these fabulous fun visits to different venues meeting different salespeople/coordinators, seeing the spaces they have to offer and hearing how much they can do for us and all that good stuff. I think that both Jesse and I have a much better idea of just what will make us happy, and what will make our celebration a special one...outside of the whole getting married thing, I mean. :)

Meeting with the priest at Redemptorist went well last night. He told us that we need to come in and fill out a little "compatibility questionaire" that he will then "score" on his computer, so as to give us something interesting to talk about at our next meeting, I'm sure. In the mean time, we need to put the deposit down on the church (no credit cards, dammit! Not fair...) to reserve the date, and then we'll be meeting with him again a couple of times over the next few months, and planning to go to an engaged encounter weekend sometime as the wedding date approaches. Jesse will likely have to take some time off for that, but hopefully he'll have some to spare at that point anyway, as we'll both be building up some off-time over the next year for our honeymoon, I think.

Now if I could just figure out who the heck I'm supposed to invite from my office, I'd be in a better spot. Thankfully, the location that is #1 on our list right now isn't as tight as the others we've looked at with regards to space for guests, so I'm thinking that the original total of guests isn't completely out of the question. Budget-wise, it might throw things off, though. Shoot...hadn't thought of that! Back to the drawing board!

Tonight...

Tonight, we meet with a priest at Redemptorist. Jesse has agreed to go through whatever he needs to go through in order to let me have the Catholic wedding I've always hoped to have. Now I just need to call and see if they take credit cards when it comes to the deposit I need to make to save the date and time they have available...

A little over a year to go

This week has been considerably better than last in some ways, and not so much in others. I feel like I'm in a hurry, hurry, HURRY to get certain things done, but then I sit back and think about the amount of time I have and I wonder if I'm overreacting and being silly about it all. Then I read little blurbs in magazines or online about how I'm right on track with what I should be doing, and I feel a bit better.

Today, I finally nailed down base budgets for 3 different places, and feel like I can call and have a real conversation with my dad now. The budget is based mostly on what I've learned from 3 different venues, what they have to offer, and then the additional costs that I can figure out on my own for now. I have an idea of what the dress will cost, but as for alterations and the veil and stuff? Dunno. My twin really wants to do the flowers, and has assured me it won't be a pain (I want her to come into town and have a good time without having to worry too much about details like decor, you know?), but I haven't the first clue what they might cost, so I'm not even adding that into my budget. Basically, I've looked up a couple of DJ's, photographers, cake creators, and seen a wide variety of dresses, and I've based my numbers on those sorts of things, putting in an average number for most items.

It hasn't been easy. But then again, not a lot of big purchases I've made over the past 4 years have been, so why should this be any different, I wonder?

Jesse has been really kind and supportive over the past couple of weeks, helping me in the kitchen even after he gets home from a grueling 11 hour day in his work kitchen, and trying to keep me on track with my new eating plan. (I started the eDiets.com Glycemic Impact "diet" about 5 weeks ago, and have really loved it so far. The only problem is the amount of preparation it requires for meals the next day, but I've found that making large amounts of certain meals ahead of time, like I did this last Sunday, saves me money, time, and from spending nights bent over the stove instead of doing what I really love - like doing laundry and watching t.v.)

As up and down as my mood swings have been, we've really been doing well when it comes to talking about our plans, both for the wedding as well as our life beyond that. (I'm quite tired of his jokes about children and stuff, though. Ok, not really...the way he kids with me about children really shows me how well he knows me. It's funny and endearing at the same time!) Last night, while discussing the issues he has (yet again) with the amount the food costs at the Hotel Phillips, I turned to him and told him, "PLEASE! Stop thinking about money...leave that up to me and my dad." After I paused for a moment, stirring my ground turkey and salsa concoction in the saute pan on the stove, I turned to him again and said, "You don't understand, do you? I thought I would have to wait until I was like, 65 to meet you! I have been waiting for this for a LONG TIME, and we're going to throw a party to celebrate it that will make us happy as hell!" He just stopped and said, "Can I get a hug then? I think we both need a hug." And he was right. :)

So. Budget is coming along, my mood swings are right on track, it seems, finding time to plan and work my regular job is proving to be a bit of a challenge (it's been hard to focus at work, and this week really proved to me how crappy I've been at keeping up with everything since the proposal, unfortunately...I'm hoping to remedy that over the next week or so), but it's all working out. For now, anyway. Makes for a boring blog, I'm afraid, but hey, I'm sure that'll change with time...

Catching up...

I know it's been a couple of days, and I'm sorry...work is busy this week, so I've been pretty tied up.

Not much is going on anyway. Jesse and I went and saw another location on Tuesday, and it's one that I love, but it poses some problems. Jesse is focussing on food costs, and is having a hard time listening to me when I ask him to stop it. (Since he's a chef, he simply can't stand seeing how much places are charging for items like prime rib or filets...) At a more expensive location, such as The Hotel Phillips, food is gonna cost more than it would at, say, the golf club we looked at over the weekend. Yeah, different quality product, I would imagine...so we need to accept that, and see if we can find a menu option that will give us the most "bang for the buck" so to speak. It's a really beautiful location, but we're still keeping an open mind, and trying to check out at least 3 or 4 more before we settle into one place as being the target location to go to my dad with.

I also spoke to the DJ company that most everyone recommends, and have an idea of how much that'll cost, so that's nice. Now I just need to see about a photographer, and I'll be right on track with giving a base budget to my dad to look over.

We're also meeting next Monday evening with a priest at a church I'm highly interested in having the ceremony at. They have the date and time available, but now we just need to see if we fit the other requirements they migt have for us. Cross your fingers for me! It's a really beautiful church...apparently, it has the longest center aisle in all of Missouri! Which is good, because I really like keeping people in suspense, and having a long walk down towards the altar will definitely help with that...

I'll be able to post more later, I think, but right now, work is calling yet again! Sorry for the short and crummy posts I've been putting up...it'll get better, I'm sure. Especially after I start looking at dresses in a couple of months! Yikes!!! :)

Change of plans...

We've changed our projected wedding date to October 27, 2007. Jason (a.k.a. the friend of Jesse's that allowed him to propose to me at his wedding a couple of weeks ago...) called on Friday night to let us know that October 20, 2007 is the date that USC and Notre Dame will be playing each other in South Bend.

First of all, I really wish that those teams would get it together. Last year they played in October, this year they play in November, next year they play in October again...c'mon guys! Let's be consistent, shall we?

Second of all, this is not that big of a deal. Apparently, the leaves look prettier later in the month anyway, and that's part of the reason I wanted the wedding to be in October in the first place, so we're still good.

Sorry for all the confusion!

Jesse and I went to see the golf club venue option on Saturday this past weekend, and it seems that Jesse didn't like it much. While it isn't ideal, it is still an option. It's really pretty, and has a great deck off the main room where people can go to smoke, hang out, etc..., while still remaining in plain sight which is helpful and important. But the separate space for kids to descend to after a certain point in the reception would be behind a curtain, and that's not really what he and I want, so much. So we're still looking, and I've contacted several new places for info already. We'll see what happens.

Ok, back to work I go! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend...

Short Day

Today looks like it's going to turn into a short day for work, so I think this afternoon I'll be calling churches and finding out the info I need to know. Finally!

Jesse and I will be going to the golf club tomorrow morning to see what it has to offer, and I'm honestly thinking it might work out better than the other choices I've been looking at so far. We're both interested in finding a venue that has an attached terrace or patio that people can go out on to get air, have a smoke, just look at the night sky, etc...And the venues downtown that I've looked at don't have that option, unfortunately. Yesterday, I went to visit The Clubhouse on Baltimore, and it is lovely. Very pretty rooms, very pretty building, and right smack in the middle of a very good area of downtown. Tons of hotels around it, plenty of parking available (especially after the construction clears for the H&R Block headquarters that is about a block away from the location), and in general a really top notch choice. Except it doesn't have any place for people who smoke to go and do their thing. They'd have to go outside the front doors, and that doesn't work for me. I want people to be able to relax and have a nice place to hang out, and not to have to leave their drinks inside to go stand by the street and have a cigar or cigarette. Especially since the groom is such an avid smoker, I'd hate to keep losing him throughout the night and have to go downstairs to find him for the cake cutting or the first dance or to do whatever. So I'm afraid that one might be off my list. Lovely place though...

This is helping, though. Going to see places and checking them out, seeing what they have to offer...it's opening my mind to other possibilities. And, it's fun. I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Happy Friday everyone!