Uhhhhhhh....

"Holy Crap!" I literally just said that in my head after reading Peaches by Plums's latest post. In it she reminds us that Christmas is less than 100 days away! Less than 100!!!!! We're not even finished with wedding season 2010 yet and Christmas is just around the corner?!?

via PRetty in Pittsburgh

Sorry, I'm just a little frazzled. I (WE) just need a quiet weekend to ourselves to recharge. One more wedding to go, one more wedding to go, one more wedding to go.................................

11 months

11 months to go, that's a bit scary to even think about. I suppose what's even scarier is that we haven't done much since last month. We haven't booked any additional vendors, we haven't pinned down any additional details.

Of course, this leads to people asking "What have you been doing?" Uh, the same thing that we've been doing since May, attending other people's wedding and helping other people plan their wedding.

I am happy to report that we have scheduled a photo shoot with our photographer for our engagement pictures! That's pretty exciting. A little nerve wracking because now I have to worry about what outfits to wear and how to do my hair and make-up. Oye, being a girl is hard work.

Countdown:

12 months

13 months

Oregon Trail 2010

At first, my goal was to visit home every six months, somewhere along the way, life happened and I only make it once a year. Actually, I should say, WE only make it once a year. This was Jake's 3rd trip to Oregon.

A friend of mine from college was getting married at the end of July, so we opted to kill two birds with one stone and timed the wedding with our annual trip. And as always, it was a whirlwind of a trip. We spent a week visiting friends, family, attending a wedding, doing a little wedding research of our own, and eating a lot (and I mean A LOT) of great food that I can't find in Boston.

Recaps were previously blogged about here:
Ben and Hannah's wedding
Shopping with the bridesmaids
Preliminary ring shopping
Dress shopping with Mom

At the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA. This was both of our first time
up. Kinda strange to think that I've driven around it for years.

The Fam.

ceiling treatment

Because I'd rather blog than work today (or any day for that matter), I'll tell you about our idea for ceiling treatments.

Before I start, you'll notice that I just recently started sharing details and ideas for our big day. We tell people that we haven't done much planning to-date, which is technically true (we've only booked the big ticket items), but we (mostly I) have siffed through lots of different ideas when it comes the details. We were keeping things hush-hush for two reasons. 1) This one is all me, with so many other couples planning their wedding last year, I was paranoid about others stealing my ideas. But now that I'm a year older and a touch wiser, I realize that ideas are constantly recycled/stolen in the wedding realm. I also realize that everyone has their own ideas. It also helps that Weddingpalooza 2010 is coming to a close (soon). 2) We wanted to keep everything a secret because we wanted to surprise our guests. But you know what, there's going to be a lot of surprises! So we should share a thing or two so that people aren't overwhelmed.

Our reception is going to be tented. Tent = blank canvas, we can do what ever we want with it. At first the thought is a little nerve wracking, but then you get over it. There are all sorts of possibilites such as clear tent ceilings, no ceiling panels, chandeliers, draping, etc. There is also the tried and true paper laterns like so:

Kate Parker Weddings.

After some research, I found out that clear panels aren't good for center pieces (too much direct sunlight) and drapery is expensive. Paper laterns are easy, simple, but over done. We want something different, but what we weren't really sure of. I don't remember what I was surfing the web for one day (I'm sure it was wedding related though), when I stumbled across a photo that made the clouds part and the angels sing. Seriously, it was an "aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh" moment.

via Design Swan.

Umbrella's hung upside down from the ceiling. How cool is that?! It definitely is different. Check out Design Swan's page here for more umbrella action.

Here is a neat combination of lanterns and umbrella's:

Photographer unknown, found via flicker.

Flaggin' it down

I've just died and gone to wedding heaven. Just when I'm getting tired of anything and everything wedding related, I see two inspirational posts that make me literally jump up and down with joy.

You see, I've been smitten for sparkler send-off's. But a) I highly doubt that our venue will allow us to have sparklers, and b) we plan on shutting down our own party. We've been to weddings with bubbles blown and lavendar thrown at the couple as they exit down the aisle. I've thought about having ribbon wands, but those convey more of a whimisical feel, which is not what we're going for.

via The Bride and Groom via Swenson Photography

(Source)

Just as I convinced myself that less is more, Ms. Stripes over at Weddingbee blogged about flags as a ceremony send-offs. Not to mention, Boston's very own Bee, Mrs. Potato Chips also semi-DIY'd her own version. BRILLIANT! I don't care that they're considered "indie" in the wedding blogosphere. I just know that they're cute and Jake agrees that they would be a lot of fun for both us and our guests.

Ms. Stripes DIY'd hearts on muslin. Photo by Ms. Stripes.

Mrs. Potato Chips' "YAY" flags via Mrs. Potato Chips.

I'm not sure if I'll make them from scratch of if I'll start with pre-made flags. All these ideas are really making me regret not lugging my mom's sewing machine over here with me four years ago. Then again, I haven't the slightest clue how to use it.

Dressing the Women Folk: MOB

Oh how do I start this post? I know, let's start with a vocabulary lesson first. What is MOB? MOB stands for mother of the bride. Similarly, MOG would be mother of the groom.

While at home in Oregon, I took my mom shopping. We just looked at shops in Salem, OR. As it turns out, there aren't very many wedding shops in the state's capitol city. We found a couple of potential dresses, but my mom struggled with concept of alterations. She thought all "american" dresses were ill fitting and clusmy since the dresses she tried on were too long on her. OYE!

On to pictures. This first dress was our top contendor. I don't have a picture of her in the dress because I'm a bad blogger and totally forgot. Jasmine Bridals - J1168:

(Source)

I must admit, while my mom was trying on the Jasmine dress, I was thinking that Jake's mom, the MOG, would look fabulous in it. The two dresses below are the other one's we found, but just aren't it.

Too matronly!

It's OK, but I still like the first one better.

In the end, she decided not to go with my bridesmaids and me when we went dress shopping in Portland. She told me that she would go with my dad at a later date. You have no idea how much this stressed me out. But what can you do? As it turns out, she tried on a few Chinese cheongsam dresses and liked them a lot more. I speculate it's because the shop had them in her size and the dress lengths were shorter. I'm glad she decided to go the cheongsam route. I was already leaning towards a more traditional Chinese dress for her as to add a touch of culture to our wedding day.

Not too shabby. Or course she won't be wearing red
or black the day of. Also note the black dress looks
all lumpy, the dress wasn't zipped all the way.

Hiccups

When I get the hiccups, I get them bad. They are loud, violent, and they strike at will. I think they're obnoxious, but everyone else seems to be entertained by them. My coworkers have laughed at me. My coworkers have tried scaring them out tof me. Nothing works, I just have to wait till they go away on their own. However, I do know how to turn them on. Swallowing bread after forgetting to chew always does the trick. My friend Jack used to laugh at me every morning in grad school because of this very reason. 

Yesterday, the hiccups hit me twice. The first time, I was walking down the hall at work behind a random dude. After the 5th hiccup, he turned around to give me a funny look. Sorry buddy, but I have no control over them. The second time I was at home...in the shower! Apparently they were so loud, Jake could hear me clear across the apartment.

So why am I telling you about this? While I was hiccuping, it dawned on me that I might possibly hiccup during the ceremony! Of all the things that I could possible worry about, I'm thinking about hiccups. Oye!

I can just see it now, gorgeous sunset, beautiful bride, our officiant saying a few words, *HICCUP*. I start shaking/convulsing/heaving all the while "hicuuup" are escaping my lips. Which then will be followed by both of my hands over my mouth and the crowd rolling in laughter. At least everyone will be entertained.

Note to self, do not eat anything right before walking down the aisle.

Jake Can Cook

The title is a "Yan Can Cook" reference....anyone get that? Didn't think so.

Previously, I gushed about Jake learning to dance. Want to see what else he can do?

He can cook too! That's right people, he's cooking asparagus.

Live from LA...

That's right folks, we're blogging for ya from Los Angeles, CA!

Just wanted to check in and let you know that we haven't dropped off the face of the planet (yet). We were barely 3 weeks back from our annual trip to the Pacific North West before Weddingpalooza 2010 kicked it into double time. Hang tight for lots of updates. We'll recap about OR/WA, wedding planning adventures of our own (aka, dressing the mother of the bride), as well as wedding adventures from NY state and CA.

We'll be back...