Ai yi yi!

We've spent the weekend addressing Save The Dates. We have to wait a bit to send them until we get the official wedding website set up -- can't have people getting all confused! -- but we're nearly there.

It's really funny -- as I think everyone who reads this blog knows, we is gonna have a SMALL wedding. Which I still have hesitations about -- but to me it was sort of like, ok, you either have a big wedding and invite everyone you know, OR you invite the core friends and family. Like, CORE core. I still toss and turn at night (and am actually thinking about writing to Miss Manners about it -- like, for people I haven't spoken to all year do I mention I'm engaged in my Christmas card to them? Do I not send a Christmas card? What do I do?) -- but it really hit home when we were addressing the Save The Dates. My pile of invitations is about 1/4 as big as my usual Christmas card pile.

Fact remains that a) we really were just a heartbeat away from eloping, so a small, intimate wedding is a nice compromise, and b) this is a rite -- it isn't a party. (I mean, it is, but it's a celebration the same way a graduation is a celebration.) I remember feeling offended that I wasn't invited to some people's weddings, but it was sort of in comparison -- like, how could X be invited but not me? But if and when the non-invitees ever see pictures of the wedding, they'll GET it. I dunno. I think ultimately we're happy with the wedding we're having.

And I can't wait to send out the Save The Dates -- Reg and I are quite fond of our design.

Also, for the website: I've been trying to do a specialized map of Cleveland with the various attractions and accommodations. Let's see how it looks in Blogger... The red marker on the far left is the airport. The cluster of blue and red markers is the hotel and various cultural institutions in Cleveland. The red marker to the far right is the farm where we'll be married.


View Larger Map

Check, check, and check.

1. Bought the dress. (And, accordingly, freaked out afterwards... but I'm sure it'll be fine. It doesn't arrive until mid-March, so I'll have a long time to settle into the idea of it!)

2. Ordered Save The Dates (known in the wedding society as STDs). (They're going to be magnets -- I wonder if I should buy a stamp (or have one made) for the envelopes to warn the post office and people that magnets are going to be enclosed. Hmmn. (And, in a slightly soothing but consistent way, I freaked out immediately after we purchased those also. But again, it'll be fine. Those don't arrive until the end of November.)

3. We also took advantage of a recent "free photobook" offer from Snapfish and put together a rather nice album of our relationship thus far, from meeting to engagement. We plan to display it at the reception. Reg and I spent a lot of time on it this weekend... we even walked around to take pictures of the bar where we met and the bar where we had our first date. I'm glad we did; it added a lot to the book. That won't arrive until mid-December. (No freaking out on that one.)

4. We're also talking to caterers -- we have a very definite idea of what we want for the wedding for cocktail hours and so forth. And photographers. And we still need to find a videographer and a florist. Lots and lots and LOTS of decisions still to be made. Egads. (And we still have to order official invitations also.) Again: egads.

Ok, just a taste of where the wedding will be:

Case Western - Manor House, originally uploaded by one_insider_2000.

Some decisions, finally!

OK. Announcement: I will be married on Saturday, May 30, 2009.

Be there or be square.

Where: Manor House (the old farm house)

Hotel info: Glidden House, where they're offering us $139 per night for a regular room, $215 per suite. This hotel is a great one (but for the annoying fact that they don't have shuttles to and from the airport) -- but Reg and I love the fact that it's more like a bed and breakfast (with an amazing breakfast buffet the next morning) and it's in walking distance to many of the great things that Cleveland has to offer: the Botanical Gardens, the Cleveland Art Museum, a ton of antique stores, Cleveland's Little Italy, etc.

We're trying to design a Save the Date myself -- I'll probably post it here first, but we'll send those out as soon as we can.

More decisions:
Cake: I think we picked out our cake when we were home in Cleveland, also. Cleveland had a famous bakery, for years, named Hough's ("Huffs") -- it unfortunately dissolved after the owner died (or there was some scandal with the owner's son changing the recipe and all the workers leaving to start their own bakery making Hough's cakes -- not entirely sure). But it was known for a slightly almond taste to the frosting. That is the taste of my YOUTH -- many birthday parties and other celebrations, we celebrated with a Hough's cake. Except for those times that Mom made me a Cookie Monster cake. (Thank you, Mommy!) Anyway, that is all I wanted for my cake -- it'll be very simple, white on white, with three tiers. I said: Lots of frosting. No fondant. Nothing too showy. We showed her some pictures and she sounded like she totally got it.

I'm inching towards a decision on the dress -- it totally caught me by surprise how long the delay is for a dress; really had no idea that most bridal stores only have one dress in stock at any given moment. I always heard that the main reasons weddings take so long for the planning is "because of the dress;" I always understood that to mean that women take forever to pick out their dress. NO, it is because there are people sewing and sewing and sewing in China. They could BIRTH a dress faster than this. Anyway, it's weird -- and I've told Reg this so I'll tell you also -- all of the dresses that I'm liking are very similar in the details: lace, fluid, sheath-like, simple. But the vibe is all over the place -- romantic to historical to Grandma-knit crochets to everything else. It's kind of taken me by surprise; have no idea what kind of bride I want to be.

News spreads of my weirdness: Hilariously, my grandmother is falling off her chair every time she hears the weird stuff I'm doing for my wedding. No priest? No BRIDESMAIDS?

Food: If anyone has any thoughts on food, please let me know -- that is the next thing I need to turn my attention to. I keep thinking that the filet mignon that I've had at galas at the Waldorf Astoria and Cipriani has been unmemorable, which makes me not want to try it for my wedding. I want, like, GOOD FOOD for my guests, but it's in a different place for my parents' and my budgetary priorities.