Since I am roughly four months away from "The Day," you can pretty much guess most of the planning is underway. As of now, we have the following:
- a ceremony venue (a Catholic Church)
- a reception venue (an art gallery)
- a caterer
- an officiant (see ceremony venue)
- a DJ (almost)
- a photographer
- an idea for the invitations (um...what do I mean by idea?? I'll explain later:)
- save the dates
- music selections
- the dress
- decorating ideas
- (most of) our wedding entourage (I promise, I'm not being facetious, that's just what we call it)
- the guest list
- a budget
Let me just put it out there: This is not going to be one of those DIY weddings. And, if you promise not to laugh (which you would if you knew me), I'll let you know that I originally had grand plans for a DIY wedding. From invitations to centerpieces to sewing dresses (when I don't even know how to sew---but, that's besides the point!). What was that saying, "The best laid plans...yada...yada...yada..." Yeah, so much for the DIY wedding. As things progressed, I realized that DIY'ing this wedding was not in the cards (for the most parts). I don't want to make excuses because, as many of you know, there have been many brides (and grooms) before us who have DIY'ed weddings both large and small. Big budget or no budget. Etc. Etc. Etc.
I'm not the craftiest beaver out there, but I used to love to craft (in grade school------what? That totally counts!) While I love to learn new things and am not afraid to get dirty, I came to the conclusion that...a wedding was not the time to do it. *Insert huge sigh* So, after tons of research and vendor searching, I've decided to do what I can, pay for what I can't, let go of what I can't do nor pay for, and (hope to) have the wisdom to know the difference.
To all you crafty brides and grooms, bless you for all the things you are able to accomplish. To those on the other side, bless you for providing work for those you are entrusting with your wedding. Whichever side you are on, at the end of the day, we all have the same goal (I think): To have a really awesome day surrounded by our loved ones!
So, I will not be providing you with much DIY tutorials, but I can share with you my trials and tribulations of finding the most suitable vendors and learning when to let go and/or sacrifice. First, let me share with you how our plan came to be.
I started perusing the internet some moons ago without a clear vision. You know, just wanted to get some ideas and inspirations. Okay, scratch that. There were certain elements that I, I mean we, wanted. We wanted the wedding to be in the city. We've both spent a majority of our lives in Chicago, and what better way to say goodbye than to have our wedding in our beloved city before the big move out west? J wanted a Catholic ceremony (I'll explain more about this choice in a later post). I did not want a ballroom or banquet hall (for the record, I've been to many amazing weddings in both places). Our venue had to accomodate our guest list (which we were thinking to be roughly around two hundred people). Aside from having a wonderful ceremony, we really wanted to find a place that we could really show our guests an amazing time.
With these thoughts in mind, I ferociously started to google anything wedding. Which has led me on an incredibly wild journey into wedding la la land (who knew you could have such adventures at the touch of your fingertips and without EVER leaving your home??). I came across awesome websites such as Weddingbee, Style Me Pretty, Once Wed, Rock and Roll Bride, etc., etc., etc. At first, it was a bit of an information overload, but I kept coming back to certain styles and ideas; which really helped me to piece together the ever-popular "inspiration board" (or two or ten) to show J my findings and help him get a sense of what our day would look like. I guess you could say it was sort of like a puzzle. What helped to tie everything in was the big B word: BUDGET. Yes, you've heard of it; and whether it's tall, grande, venti or somewhere in between, a budget is what we (inevitably) succumb to when making choices.
Soon enough, the ideas and budget became more concrete and allowed us to select the locations and vendors that seemed appropriate for what we had in mind and on our (my) inspiration boards. It all seems pretty easy, doesn't it? Yeah, right. All of these plans deserve their own posts. So, you'll see how everything eventually came (or is coming) together.
How about you? What was navigating the wedding jungle world like for you? Care to share any tips or tricks on executing your plans and ideas?
Wednesday
#2 The Proposal
This is not about the movie starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. No, this is the story of our proposal. After reading about it, you may want to check out the movie because our story is kind of just vanilla, and the movie is probably more entertaining. Vanilla's not bad. It is what it is.
J and I had discussed marriage before. I think? (I know, that's horrible that I don't remember.) But, we never "officially" made any direct comments about getting married, or engaged for that matter. No, not.at.all. So, the proposal was definitely a surprise.
Let me rewind a little bit. A few months before J proposed, a good friend of mine had recently gotten engaged. Her then-fiance, now-husband, had gone about it the traditional route via asking her father for her hand in marriage. Well, traditional is relative, but that's traditional for her culture as well as mine. I'm not really a traditional girl, but I did mention to J that asking for my hand in marriage would be important to my Dad. Well, that was that.
Fast forward to just before the proposal. J had purchased the ring with the help of a gemologist friend of his. I have to give him a lot of credit because, for one, J was completely broke and in school at the time. He spent every dime he had on this ring. We never discussed rings, but he picked out a beautiful one. (For the record, I would have NEVER expected nor wanted him to spend everything he had on the ring.) BTW, this was completely out of his element since he is so much more practical and cautious than this.
Fast forward again to the proposal. J decided to take me to the restaurant we had our first official date. We had dinner. Then dessert. Then he asked me to marry him. I was shocked at first because I totally was not expecting it. Of course, I said yes. We finished dessert and walked back to the car. I asked him if my parents knew and he said no. He said he consulted with his mother and she told him it was not necessary to ask my Dad. Hmmmm...
We went to my parents' house and we told them. It was quite a shocker. They were stunned. Don't get me wrong. My parents love J. They just were not expecting it at the time. Fast forward to the present. All's well in the land of parents and everything. Our friends and family are excited for us (my mom even announced our wedding date on her Facebook status, like, OMG!).
So, here we are, on our way to wedded bliss...or something like it. And that, my friends, is our proposal story. No, really, that's all there is to it. But, stay tuned because the wedding is definitely going to be greasy-butter-movie-popcorn worthy. We're talking a parade, an impersonator of sorts (more on that later), a New Orleans style jazz band, a multi-lingual DJ with a phenomenal international music collection, food galore, libations, samba dancers, a photo booth, a Chinese lion dance troupe, lots of dancing and more!
What flavor do you consider your proposal? Vanilla? Chocolate? Rocky Road (my favorite!)? Or something else?
J and I had discussed marriage before. I think? (I know, that's horrible that I don't remember.) But, we never "officially" made any direct comments about getting married, or engaged for that matter. No, not.at.all. So, the proposal was definitely a surprise.
Let me rewind a little bit. A few months before J proposed, a good friend of mine had recently gotten engaged. Her then-fiance, now-husband, had gone about it the traditional route via asking her father for her hand in marriage. Well, traditional is relative, but that's traditional for her culture as well as mine. I'm not really a traditional girl, but I did mention to J that asking for my hand in marriage would be important to my Dad. Well, that was that.
Fast forward to just before the proposal. J had purchased the ring with the help of a gemologist friend of his. I have to give him a lot of credit because, for one, J was completely broke and in school at the time. He spent every dime he had on this ring. We never discussed rings, but he picked out a beautiful one. (For the record, I would have NEVER expected nor wanted him to spend everything he had on the ring.) BTW, this was completely out of his element since he is so much more practical and cautious than this.
Fast forward again to the proposal. J decided to take me to the restaurant we had our first official date. We had dinner. Then dessert. Then he asked me to marry him. I was shocked at first because I totally was not expecting it. Of course, I said yes. We finished dessert and walked back to the car. I asked him if my parents knew and he said no. He said he consulted with his mother and she told him it was not necessary to ask my Dad. Hmmmm...
We went to my parents' house and we told them. It was quite a shocker. They were stunned. Don't get me wrong. My parents love J. They just were not expecting it at the time. Fast forward to the present. All's well in the land of parents and everything. Our friends and family are excited for us (my mom even announced our wedding date on her Facebook status, like, OMG!).
So, here we are, on our way to wedded bliss...or something like it. And that, my friends, is our proposal story. No, really, that's all there is to it. But, stay tuned because the wedding is definitely going to be greasy-butter-movie-popcorn worthy. We're talking a parade, an impersonator of sorts (more on that later), a New Orleans style jazz band, a multi-lingual DJ with a phenomenal international music collection, food galore, libations, samba dancers, a photo booth, a Chinese lion dance troupe, lots of dancing and more!
What flavor do you consider your proposal? Vanilla? Chocolate? Rocky Road (my favorite!)? Or something else?
Tuesday
#1 The Introduction
Hellooooooooo World!! Welcome to my little blog! I've started this blog so you can join me on my journey into the world of wedding planning. Ummm...that is, if you'd like to:) Shall we then...
My name is L and my fiance, J, and I are planning a multi-cultural affair for two hundred of our closest family and friends in the great city of...dun...dun...dunnnnn......CHICAGO!
We were both born in different countries and our families emigrated to the United States (Chicago) when we were young. (Separately, that is.) We met at work and have been together since (with the occasional bumps in the road). While we no longer work together professionally, we are trying to navigate our way into this multi-dimensional world of wedding planning and having as much fun as we can along the way!
So, here's a little about me: I am a woman of many diverse interests. (Gee, that sounded arrogant.) I'm going through what I call a "career renaissance" right now. You see, I have always loved the entertainment/media industry. I really, really, really (no, really) wanted to pursue a career in it since I was a little girl, but was sidetracked by fear. Well, I decided that I either pursue it now or never. So, here I go. This is going to be a huge year for me and it's already half way through (well, one third of the way through if you really want to follow the Chinese calendar). You see, it's the year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. ROARRRRRR!! And, I'm a Tiger!!
Ok. Sidetracked much? Story of my life...sigh. Anyway, I have decided in order to follow my passion, I need to be in the best possible place for that, which to me, is LA. LA = Entertainment Industry, no? So, I'm following my passion, moving to the west coast, and marrying my partner in crime...er, life...all within the next several months. I'm so excited about all of these changes and scared at the same time! Eeeekk!!
I also love to travel, dine out, bake, cook (a recent hobby), work out (TBDL or, to be discussed later), read, music, art, water, trying new things, adventuring (that's a word, I swear!), hanging out with J, our dog, friends and family, blogs, blogging/writing, movies, theater. Well, you get the point...I love a lot of things:)
J could not be more opposite of me. (Although, we do share a love of travel and food.) He's got his feet planted firmly on the ground, while my head's above the clouds. He's the pessimist to my optimist. He's the conformist to my free spirit. He walks the straight and narrow, always there to make sure I don't fall (completely) off the edge. You get the picture. But, somehow, we make it work. And, making it work takes work. But, we try to laugh along the way, or, I try to make him laugh along the way.
We're super excited to be planning the party...er...wedding of our lifetime and being surrounded by our dear family and friends. After scouring the interwebz for ideas and inspiration, I've (i mean, we've) finally got a plan and we're sticking with it. There will be lots of food. Lots of entertainment. Lots of cultural tie-ins. Lots of fun. And, most importantly, lots of love!
I hope you enjoy the ride as I share the details of our upcoming wedding! (Which, BTW, is this coming October!) (One more thing, I also really love parentheses! And, exclamation points!)
xoxo,
L
My name is L and my fiance, J, and I are planning a multi-cultural affair for two hundred of our closest family and friends in the great city of...dun...dun...dunnnnn......CHICAGO!
We were both born in different countries and our families emigrated to the United States (Chicago) when we were young. (Separately, that is.) We met at work and have been together since (with the occasional bumps in the road). While we no longer work together professionally, we are trying to navigate our way into this multi-dimensional world of wedding planning and having as much fun as we can along the way!
So, here's a little about me: I am a woman of many diverse interests. (Gee, that sounded arrogant.) I'm going through what I call a "career renaissance" right now. You see, I have always loved the entertainment/media industry. I really, really, really (no, really) wanted to pursue a career in it since I was a little girl, but was sidetracked by fear. Well, I decided that I either pursue it now or never. So, here I go. This is going to be a huge year for me and it's already half way through (well, one third of the way through if you really want to follow the Chinese calendar). You see, it's the year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. ROARRRRRR!! And, I'm a Tiger!!
Ok. Sidetracked much? Story of my life...sigh. Anyway, I have decided in order to follow my passion, I need to be in the best possible place for that, which to me, is LA. LA = Entertainment Industry, no? So, I'm following my passion, moving to the west coast, and marrying my partner in crime...er, life...all within the next several months. I'm so excited about all of these changes and scared at the same time! Eeeekk!!
I also love to travel, dine out, bake, cook (a recent hobby), work out (TBDL or, to be discussed later), read, music, art, water, trying new things, adventuring (that's a word, I swear!), hanging out with J, our dog, friends and family, blogs, blogging/writing, movies, theater. Well, you get the point...I love a lot of things:)
J could not be more opposite of me. (Although, we do share a love of travel and food.) He's got his feet planted firmly on the ground, while my head's above the clouds. He's the pessimist to my optimist. He's the conformist to my free spirit. He walks the straight and narrow, always there to make sure I don't fall (completely) off the edge. You get the picture. But, somehow, we make it work. And, making it work takes work. But, we try to laugh along the way, or, I try to make him laugh along the way.
We're super excited to be planning the party...er...wedding of our lifetime and being surrounded by our dear family and friends. After scouring the interwebz for ideas and inspiration, I've (i mean, we've) finally got a plan and we're sticking with it. There will be lots of food. Lots of entertainment. Lots of cultural tie-ins. Lots of fun. And, most importantly, lots of love!
I hope you enjoy the ride as I share the details of our upcoming wedding! (Which, BTW, is this coming October!) (One more thing, I also really love parentheses! And, exclamation points!)
xoxo,
L
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