sane wedding planning

wedding related ramblings revolving around sanity and practicality, with a little bit of geekery and crazy just for fun!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Celebrating marriage equality with APW

One of my favorite blogs, apracticalwedding.com, is hosting a huge party this Thursday in New York to celebrate the legalization of same sex marriage. They are putting on two legal weddings, followed by a most awesome reception. You can read more about the couples who are getting hitched here. It is also a fundraiser for Lambda Legal, which is a great organization fighting for civil right in the LGBTQ community. You can donate here, it would be greatly appreciated.

Those of us reading around the country wanted to get in on the fun, so we decided to throw some regional parties to kick off the festivities. The Seattle area gathering was yesterday.


We met at Rosebud down on Capitol Hill (thanks to my friend Status for the recommendation). It was a small group, just five of us. We had some fun getting to know each other, talking weddings and APW, trying new drinks (um, pomegranate martini. Yum.) and eating the rainbow cupcakes provided by my friend Sarah from The Chic Cupcake.


It was a relaxing few hours, making some new friends, kicking back a few drinks and spreading the cupcake love around the restaurant. The staff and other patrons got a kick out of the cupcakes, we probably sent a dozen home with the staff, a half dozen or so to customers, and we won't mention how many the five of us went through. Rainbow cupcakes rule. Clearly.


Thanks to Jane, Liz, Hannah and Becky for spending a Saturday night with me APW style (and thanks to Jane for taking pictures).


Looking ahead to the party to come, I wish Leanne & Anne, Cory & Aaron a very happy LEGAL wedding day this Thursday, and hope the party freakin rocks! My friends over at APW are working hard to make it one hell of a day and I can't wait to see the pictures!


Monday, August 8, 2011

Wedding Dresses and Marriage




I read an article recently on NPR titled Why Are Wedding Dresses So Expensive? I thought, being NPR, that it would be an insightful article, well researched and full of information about the craftsmanship, the labor, the quality of material, etc. Though those things were mentioned, the part that got me was this:

"A bride's dress can signal how wealthy she is, what her status in society is. But it can also signal how seriously she's taking this marriage." 

Wait. What? Did the author just imply that those that chose not to spend four digits on a wedding gown aren't taking the marriage seriously?!

WTF?!

Let me just tell you that the amount of money you spend is in absolutely no way related to how much you love your significant other. If you chose to have a potluck dinner after a courthouse wedding while wearing your go-to outfit (the one that makes you feel like a rockstar), this is no way signifies that you aren't as in love as someone who fits into the '12 most expensive weddings ever' category.

Having a lavish wedding is not equal to a long and fulfilling marriage. Just ask Sir Paul. Or Christina Aguilera. Or Lady Di.

Folks please, listen to me here. Hear me. Believe me. Your marriage has no bearing WHATSOEVER on the amount of money it cost to celebrate it. Your marriage will not last longer if you spend multiple tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on the wedding. Marriage takes work, it takes compromise, it takes love and respect. It does NOT take an $8,000 wedding gown.

Eesh.



Friday, August 5, 2011

Engagement Photos: Josh & Alicia

Josh and Alicia were referred to me a few months ago by a fellow soccer board member. I pretty much want to carry them around in my pocket because they are so happy and smiley and cute and REAL. It's been a blast getting to know them and helping them plan their wedding, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to share their new engagement pictures with you so that you will love them too.

 

They have endeared themselves to me in many ways, but most importantly by celebrating their love of all things Sounders FC ; as a season ticket holder myself this makes me sososo happy.  Their wedding colors are blue and green, and they have a few other related surprises that I cannot even WAIT to tell you about.


But best of all, they are just down to earth, normal, fun folks. Alicia posted on Facebook recently that she was thinking of trying out for a local Roller Derby team. This pretty much sealed the deal for me. I want to keep her.





Thanks so much, Josh and Alicia, for letting me come along on this journey with you. You guys rock.

Engagement shots by Fred Calma Photography

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Rehearsal dinners

I recently read a wedding planner blog on the importance of a rehearsal dinner. It advised couples to do things like hire their wedding photographer (for an extra fee, of course) to come shoot pics of the evening, hire a party rental company to come jazz up the dinner space, perhaps hire a mini bus to transport all the out of towners. I read this and I thought "holy hell, its no wonder people have such a hard time with the wedding industry." Eesh, when I googled rehearsal dinner, I even found a website dedicated solely to planning just your rehearsal dinner.


There is no reason you need all this stuff to make your rehearsal dinner a great event. The rehearsal, and the following dinner, are meant to ease your mind. The purpose of the rehearsal is to make sure everyone involved in the wedding knows their place, knows what to do during the ceremony. The following dinner (which is by no means mandatory, but any excuse to surround yourself with those you love works for me!) is meant to gather all the wedding participants in one place so you have a chance to thank them, and to eat, drink, and be merry. (Traditionally, parties were held on the wedding eve to chase evil spirits away. The more noise the better. Oh yeah!!).



In sane and practical wedding land, lets try this. Wedding rehearsal (not necessarily at the ceremony site), followed by potluck dinner at mom's house. Or, one of my favorites, one couple I worked with went to their favorite drive-in for dinner, then invited everyone back to their place to unwind. Couples use the dinner as a chance to pass out any thank you gifts, hear and give toasts, sit back, relax and still have an awesome kick-off to the wedding celebration. There doesn't need to be any stress involved, nor does this need to be a huge expense. Put a little creative thought into the evening, absolutely. But be practical. You don't need to hire a party rental  company to make the evening memorable ... you just need to be creative and happy and know how to have a good time.

Just don't drink TOO much, because the next day YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!!