WELCOME TO MY BIO! I'M HANNAH & MY HUSB IS DREW.Drew has been a paraplegic since 1998 (his senior yr at UC San Diego), at age 22. He had viral encephalitis, which attacks the brain but he had no brain damage. He had been totally healthy before, no warning. He was a waiter at TGI Fridays doing a late night massive cleaning for inspection the next day. He felt fluish, went home to sleep, woke up, threw up, went back to sleep... next thing he rembs he was in the hosp and couldn't move below his neck. He was in a coma for 6 wks and read his last rites twice!! After a lot of physical therapy he has full mobility at his pelvis and up.WE MET 3 YRS AFTER HE GOT SICK. HE CAN DO EVERYTHING I NEED OR WANT! ESP LOVE ME. WE GOT ENGAGED ON AUG 5th, 2004. HE RECENTLY RECOVERED FROM SURGERY TO COVER 2 INFECTED PRESSURE SORES. HIS SURGERY WAS ON JAN 4. THEY WERE INFECTED INTO THE BONE. WE WERE WORRIED THE WEDDING MIGHT NOT EVEN HAPPEN! HE WAS BED-RIDDEN UNTIL 2 MOS BEFORE OUR DATE! ONLY GOOD THING IS HE HAD NO PAIN FROM THEM. ALL THE STITCHES HAVE SINCE COME OUT AND THE AREA'S HEALED COMPLETELY. HE CAN BE OUT OF BED ALL DAY NOW!! FOR UPDATES go to http://hannahanddrew.blogspot.com. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR THOUGHTS & PRAYERS! The planning has been fun but the hell we've been thru w/the sores reminds me ALL THAT MATTERS IS WE SPEND OUR LIVES TOGETHER!I HAVE PUT TOG A BIO WITH INFO & RESOURCES FOR DEALING WITH MOBILITY CHALLENGES AT A WEDDING. IF YOU OR A GUEST WILL NEED TO BE ACCOMMODATED PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! wheelchairbio IF YOU'D LIKE TO ME TO ADD SOMETHING PLEASE EMAIL: hannikan at yahoo. Thanks! The Christmas card we made in Shutterfly.com. So easy! It was a nice way to give our guests a gift of memories including those who couldn't make it. We have gotten many compliments on them! Here's some of our engagement photos we took over Memorial Wknd! They were postponed several times but I am so glad we still did them! PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM W/O ASKING ME FIRST. AND YOU MUST CREDIT OUR PHOTOG, Connie Pon Koplan. She's great!This is the eng photo we decided to enlarge to an 8 X 10 for the recp. Here it is in the frame we'll use."THE DAY IS ABOUT THE LOVE BTWN YOU & YOUR FIANCE, EVERYTHING ELSE IS BACKGROUND"- knottie flyingyak."THE PLANNING ISN'T ABOUT THE PERFECT CAKE OR THE PERFECT VENUE; IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE AROUND THAT MAKE IT SPECIAL", SoontobeRWNbride from N.O. after Hurricane Katrina. Here is the iPod Nano FI got me for Christmas. With that message, how could I not marry him? ;)DETAILS ABOUT OUR DAYWe had a fun, elegant day w/loved ones (turned out to be about 130 ppl) that celebrates our love & goofiness. At first I wanted it smaller but I realized a lot of ppl have done so much for us, esp my FI ever since he got sick. Lake Merritt will be a focal point of the wedding. Our colors are papaya orange and royal blue with hints of silver. I'm ecelctic but want a subtle '20's-'30's feel w/ jazz, Art Nouveau (w/Asian elements) & Art Deco & our backgrounds. I love it when our theme comes through but I'm not obsessed with it because that's not the important part really. It is important to have elements that mean something, sentimental pieces or heirlooms esp. Please let me know if a photo needs credit or removal."They serve the same rubbery chicken at all these things, no one will comment about your centerpieces BUT what makes a wedding isn't the amount of money you spend but the people who you choose to be there w/ you", spaceytrace quoting her friend. Actually, we got a lot of compliments on our food! We rec The Italian American Social Club. Good and very reasonable! "AS LONG AS YOU END UP MARRIED TO THE RIGHT GUY, THE DAY WAS A SUCCESS." the wisdom of Sulla. This is Au Coquelet cafe in Berkeley where we met after writing online through Excite.com for a month. Photo from www.yvening.com. Yve has a cool blog. "I will marry you anywhere, anytime. The colors don't matter, the linens don't matter. AS LONG AS I GET YOU AT THE END OF THE DAY THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS." bridey1's fiance. That was SO exemplified by Steven&Daf wedding. You HAVE to read her bio, their wedding was in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Wilma. Thru it all she was beautiful and has a great sense of humor about it. And has great photos to boot!Some other favorite bios:greengelato, caseygirl, emeraldteaBEAUTIFUL view of the city from Treasure Is. Photo Connie Pon Koplan We went there to talk (& kiss a lil) after our first dinner together, at dusk July 6, 2001... We did our e-pics there because it was like reliving the excitement of our first dates. We had to wait until FI recovered from his pressure sore reconstructive surgery. We did them over Memorial Wknd which was a beautiful time. Advice for those thinking of using Treasure Is for photos. If it's spring or summer, do them early in the day and be prepared for wind blowing at you, not away from you! And bring a some hair barrettes! I obv didn't...WE'RE MARRIED!!NON-PRO PHOTOSThe end of the night. Here's more non-pro and HM photos, too: http://tinyurl.com/zbcv5The view from the patio at our hotel. MY MOH and I stayed there the night before and Drew and I stayed there on our wedding nightBeautiful BM bouquets hanging out in their buckets the morning of. Thank you blondeforyou2luv!Our 1st danceThe bride w/o make-up!! Since they couldn't be there, after the wedding (when we were in Fresno for my BM's Calif recp) we visited my grandparents and I showed them my dress and veil. Grandma's been doing a lil better.My gift from Drew. It's a necklace. Isn't it beautiful! It matches my ring!PRO PHOTOSMy getting ready wear. Note the knottie girl shirt. With BM, Margaret. I cropped some of the photos badly, not our photog.doing lipstickMy mom and I. It was a nice way to incorporate my mom having her do my hair and make-up.The groom having his requisite morning coffee with his Best Man.My bros passing out programs. The bridesmaids waiting for the cue.My mom and my bro, Peter. BIL and MILTime to get married!Here are our guests reading the Apache passage of affirmation (the one that starts with "now you will feel no rain") near the end of the cere. It was printed in the program.sealed with a kiss... or 3 ;)catch ya later!with MIL at receiving line.RECEPTION PRO PHOTOSMy bros were our DJs. they mixed up some of the entrance songs so we're laughing here, waiting for our entrance "Walk This Way"... yes, meant to be ironic.Time to cut the cake!More pro photos to come when I have time to load!FIRST DANCEDancing with the FILRD AT BECKETT'S The authentic Irish pub in Berkeley where we had drinks at on 1st date, had our very 1st kiss there & it's where we got engaged. It's named after the author Samuel Beckett. FI's Irish-Amer. Our RD will be there, I took FILs there & they loved the ambience & food. All the photos are from their website, www.beckettsirishpub.com Here's some history on the bldg. The acclaimed 1925 French Provincial building with the brick and stone front, replete with gargoyles, cobblestone courtyard and the tooting metal piper atop the 40-foot tall chimney, was designed by famed Bay Area architect W. F. Yelland and underwent a complete seismic retrofit in 1998. The 1st photo is the outside w/1925 vintage elements. The room in the 2nd photo is where our party will occur. Bottom left is the same room in full light. We'd like to do some wedding photos there to celebrate w/bridal party after the recp like sfgiantsjo's by Jennifer Kloss. Will depend on how much time we have on the wedding day!RD at BeckettsHere's the wording we used for our RD invites. Really more of reminders for the BP. We enclosed another copy of our map in case they lost the one from our invitations. The cover is the main outside shot of Beckett's from above. RINGS: Here's my round, solitaire eng ring. It has a cathedral setting which gives it a lot of light from underneath-he knew what I like! I love the simple design & it has beautiful sparkle. FI wanted to add sapphires to it but I don't want to alter it!FI decided he wants a ring w/blue. I wanted to add a small diamond to it on our anniversary but he doesn't want it. He chose a Teno Love Steel titanium ring. I finally ordered it and it came! Please ignore his dirty fingernails.. His hands effectively touch the ground all day. He needs new gloves for when he wheels around outside.My wedding band!!I planned on a very simple wedding band for me but Drew had other ideas. The sapphire's my birthstone so he wanted to put them in somewhere and he wanted to find a more vintage style ring since he knew I would like that, too. He had some scheme! He made me try on the ring with my eyes closed!! I love it!"WEDDINGS ARE ABOUT PEOPLE. Enjoy the day celebrating w/the people you love most & relish what it's all about: THE MARRIAGE OF YOU & YOUR HUSBAND." knottie bohlerry FAMILY: My Dad as a baby-where I got my crazy, wavy hair! My dad & I just after I was born! He's here in memory since he passed in 2004.My Grandpa (dad's dad) and me. Unfortunately, he wasn't able walk me down the aisle because my Grandma was in too much pain to travel. He wouldn't come w/o her. I was sad but I understood. Here's him as a Dust Bowl kid!"IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR WEDDING BETTER, MAKE IT RICHER IN FEELING, NOT IN STUFF." Sulla CEREMONY LOCATION:I love Sulla's views on weddings but I disagree that "IT'S JUST A PARTY". YES, THE RECEPTION IS A PARTY BUT IF YOUR WEDDING IS JUST A PARTY DON'T HAVE A CEREMONY. THE CERE SHOULD BE MORE MEANINGFUL THAN ANY RECP PARTY YOU HAVE AFTER.I just love this Joseph Stella called Brooklyn Bridge, 1939. It looks like windows on the water to me. Beautiful, accessible Lake Merritt Methodist, found them on herecomestheguide. I think it reflects us: combines modernity & tradition. Love photo w/the windows, at LMM church could do sim. Here are the ones we did inspired by the 1st photo.The Tiffany glass panels in sanctuary of the church. Aren't they great? The blue & orange gold influenced my color scheme. Love the contrast & I want to play them up. The second photo in the montage shoes them in full afternoon sunlight without the overhead lights on. I hope it'll look more like the first if we have the overhead lights on even in the afternoon sun. I'm not planning on a lot of decorations because I think the church is too beautiful itself! Look at the view out the sanctuary windows!These albums will be most of cere music. Plan to walk to "So What" off Kind of Blue. Yes, I can be ironic ;) We'll have Coltrane's "I'm Old Fashioned" and "Lazy Bird" as our Prelude and Monk's "Well You Needn't " for the attendants, and "Round Midnight" Mother and Grandmother processional and "Misterioso" for our Unity Candle Ceremony, sooo... Yes, that means no hymns, sorry grandma ;) My oldest friend/BM's dad (a minister who was my dad's college roommate) will officiate. He & my dad were/are also big jazz fans so that makes the ceremony hold together with meaning, too."WHEN THE BRIDE & GROOM VOW AT THE ALTAR TO COMMIT THEMSELVES TO A LIFETIME OF PARTNERSHIP & GROWTH, THEY DO NOT COMMIT TO PERFECTION BUT TO INNER COMPLETION." Nissinen, the Conscious Bride, p 86.CEREMONY DETAILSThese are all from Paul and Dee's Wedding that kellita told me about. This is very much how we'll arrange things. The whole BP will sit around us and we'll both sit during the cere. But we'll have a table to do our unity candle ceremony and as a stand-in pulpit. Our minister will be the only one standing and he's 6'7"! Photos by Phil Ritter & Marisa Ritter Reyes. Great cartoon, too! RECEPTION HALL: Holy Redeemer Center in the Oakland hills. There is a ramp on a diff side of the bldg. The hall has doors out to this great patio where the bar will be set up. MOH and I went there in Dec to brainstorm and found there's a creek just down the lawn area! I am looking into having some extra lighting, like Christmas light strings around the lawn area. There are some scattered chairs and small tables if ppl wish to sit during the cocktail hr while the hall is finished being set up. I hope ppl will spend time out & indoors & have a lot of fun! Thanks brownsugabride for finding it!
Review:
We loved the indoor/outdoor mix we could provide our guests. We loved the exposed beams in the hall and the square lay out. They had tables that fit 6 and others that fit 8. We loved how nice the people were who worked at the church site (it is owned by a church, not the church we had the ceremony at). Parking was very easy and there are quite a number of spots, including wheelchair accessible ones. Very importantly for us, it is a very wheelchair accessible site. The bathrooms are spacious and easy to access. There are a lot of large fir trees and a stream running through part of the site. There is a ramp to the head table platform area. There was ample room for our cake table behind the head table. Our caterer liked the kitchen. It was spacious and had a large fridge. There is a side room perfect for setting up a buffet. There is a projector screen for slides shows, power point, etc... There is a nice patio where we had our bar set up. At night, it is nice to hang lights across the patio. It was very affordable."THE BEST WEDDINGS REFLECT YOUR REAL LIFE, whether you spend $5000 or $50,000", knottie Sulla. My parents at their recp in 1976. They did their wedding on the E Coast so my dad's family threw them a Calif recp, too.NOW THAT I'VE DECIDED.....~ ~ ~ ~ * * * * ~NO LOOKING DREW!!! ~ ~ ~ * * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ NO LOOKIE!!* * * *~ ~ ~ ~* * * *~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ MY DRESSFrom the day I bought it! It's from Soiree, on College Ave in Oakland. It's a Sue Wong called Nocturne. They only received 1, I'm so glad it fit! Here's a close up of the back. Please ignore my bra in back. Shows that I can't wear one! Thanks SLOCAbride & other knotties for dress help! So here is my problem. It looks like I took this photo from below but I didn't. Although I agreed w/Diana that the straps couldn't be taken up because of the decorative seam around the bottom of the breast area I feel like too much cleavage shows. I am trying to find a way to cover it more than the little brooch in the photo. I am looking for a stole for the recp but I think it might be too hot to wear inside. I would love some more suggestions! Maybe my veil will cover it enough at the cere. My family is pretty conservative and I don't want whisperings of me looking like a hoochie! Here I am at the "first fitting". With FMIL in the pink. Diana Ackerman put in tiny French point bustles (just hook and eyes) along the chiffon panels on the bottom. She also took the straps up a bit. She did a great job! Now I can dance in my dress with flats. But no cups or bra! Yeah, I know. Hey, I didn't wear any for prom either. But Diana said I'm prob a C cup instead of a B now. I have never been that big! The 13 yr old in me is so excited ;) There's a weird clingy half-slip in the dress that Diana will cut off along the hip mirroring the V-line at the hips. I will have to get a floor length half-slip since the chiffon is more transparent than I thought. Any recs on where to get one?Here I am at final pick up from Diana's. No more clingy slip thing to ride up! Still need to find an ankle length half slip. But otherwise the dress is done! Update: I have taken the dress in for complete final alterations to the lady FMIL is using for her dress to sew the cleavage in a little. And to take in the sides under my arms a little as it was too loose. Hopefully, it won't ruin any of the dresses natural shape! Think good thoughts!! And here you can see my dress with the veil. My hair won't be so loose and the cap part of the veil will sit higher on my head. We will need a lot of bobby pins to keep my massive hair in!Here's the real totally final pick up at Joanne's in Danville. She sewed in beads on the "problem area" (the cleavage) that match the ones on the rest of my dress. Sorry I don't have a close-upbut you can see it fits me much better now. She also took it in under the arms in the bodice area. I highly recommend Joanne for hard to do alterations.
DRESS INSPIRATION
Don't laugh but it was the movie the Rocketeer. Jennifer Connelly in that dress. I wanted to look like her in that dress since I was 12 or whatever.
MY TATTOOSince you all wanted to see my tattoo... here it is. I had it done at Zebra on Telegraph. I love it! The Georgia O'Keefe painting it's based on. Orig I looked at dreses that had deep plunge backs. I kind of wanted to show my tattoo just to make my grandma mad. I know, real mature! HAIR & MAKE-UP: I love the artist Alphonse Mucha & this image is an inspiration for my look. I love this look from Anne of Green Gables The Saga Continues (not true to the books but anyway) too.I plan to wear my hair in a flat bun with my veil cap over it. Thought about rolling it around the cap but that wouldn't look good. My mom will do my hair now since I HATE new ppl working with it and she's prolific in buns! That doesn't sound right. No, but she can do magic with hair in bun forms ;) I think she's excited to do it and it will be a nice way to spend time with her on the big day. Here is hair inspiration for the front, the finger wave. My hair has one big wave in front. Vogue, by Mario Testino. Here is the bun she made when we practiced when she was here. It doesn't need to be perfect since it will be totally covered. But you can see how much hair I have!Here is a Vintage Hair Style Bio from uncommonbliss.comHere's MrsMillyG with her haripiece. They're real wildflowers with decorative wiring. She later reshaped it to wear it as a necklace and bracelet! You have to see her hand-painted dress, as well. I just love her bio so here's the link MrsMillyGMAKE-UPMake-up and coloring references. Karen Elson, Isla Fischer, Julianne Moore, Debra Messing. On the left is my first DIY make-up trial. I used Visibly Even natural look foundation by Neutrogena in blushing ivory, Cover Girl Tru Blend powder in translucent fair, Maybelline expertwear eye shadow in eternal flame (which I also used as a bronzer blush) and Estee Lauder lip liner in spice under my chapstick. On the right I did the same but I used Loreal Infalliable make-up that is supp to last 18 hrs. The lightest shade (light ivory) not quite as nice a match with my skin tone as my Neutrogena but I am more confident it will last all day. I wore it to my b-party and it lasted all night! I also added a Rimmel London eye-liner pencil in Ginger Tea. I may use Ruby Allure lipstick instead of just the lipliner (shown last).And because I have the Ginger Gene ;)... http://www.redheadsfancy.com Here is a great site for make-up for redheads!MY VEIL Not a fan of 90210 but I LOVED Tori Spelling's Great Gatsby style wedding. Love her '20's style veil! I thought about trying to have one like it made but using my grandmas' s have more meaning. My veil will be '30's style as all the pieces are from the '30's. Since both my grandmas married during WWII, all their wedding stuff was from the pre-war period. Here are my dad's parents when they were young in Santa Cruz and at their wedding. You can see both the wax flowers (the mouse ears) and the tulle & lace from my veil is from this grandma. I plan to have my bouquet and veil preserved in a display case with some wedding photos that I will give to this grandma as a gift. I'll wear my hair up w/my veil. You can see I reshaped the wax flowers (no more mouse ears!) into a circle. The headpiece was flexible so I could do it without breaking anything. Please ignore the stupid look on my face in the shop. I'm very excited to try it all on together! You can kind of see my earrings here, too. Detail of head piece & edging of paternal grandma's veil, on right. So, I had an epiphany. Combining my two grandma's veils, shown right. The pinkish, beaded cap part inside the headpiece is from my mom's mom's veil & the rest is my dad's mom's. Diana Ackerman (the Threadbender) Diana Ackerman reconfigured it. She decided to make the tulle part a separate piece (on a comb) from the cap. Diana will attach the wax flowers and wax pearls from my paternal grandma to the beaded cap of my maternal grandma. The wax flowers will be around the bottom of the cap, not the top. I have decided to wear the cap with the wax flowers surrounding it by itself at the recp. So no flower in the side of my hair afterall. I'm so excited to see how it turns out!The finished product!!! I love it. It will sit higher on my head. It kept sliding down. I hope to have photos from when my mom practices my hair at the end of June. My hair won't be so loose at all. I also don't have a triple chin, one of those is a hair strand. See the wax pearls encircling the cap, she carefully sewed that to the round cap. It looks so great and I love the meaning using my grandmas's veils. And you can see both the tulle and the cap tog on left. The comb with the tulle go under my bun and the cap on top of a very flat bun. These photos just don't do the veil justice! It looks so great with my dress!Update: when my mom came up to do a hair run-through we discovered that the notches Diana hand crocheted in are not enough to keep the cap close enough to my head. Even if I had her crochet more notches in, it doesn't seem to want to stay! It kept sliding down even with a lot of pins. My hair is very thick which is often a problem. I could hardly get my graduation mortar board cap to stay on! The only thing my mom could think of doing was sewing in a circular comb with the long teeth. So she's going to do that as an added stabilizer (she's a good enough seamstress to do it). I'm not sure when we can can practice again before the rehearsel so, it's kind of on a wing and a prayer at this point! Since this is really the most important part of my apparel I really hope we get to work!MY BOUQUET My Bouquet!! Thank you blondeforyou2luv!!!!! Where I got the idea to have calla lilies. My maternal grandma who had the cap part of my veil. Wasn't she beautiful? You can't see the back of her head where the cap part of her veil was that is now part of mine! I didn't use any of her tulle, that part is all my paternal grandma's. This art book combines callas and Geogia O'Keefe!I will carry a locket w/my dad & maternal grandma's photos. I found this one on eBay for $20! Best deal and I like the design. Many never saw my dad be goofy (he was a professor & library director) but w/family & close friends he was. He passed away just a few wks after we were engaged at 55, from pancreatic cancer. He'll be mentioned in the program, too. Thanks to all who gave great ideas for ways to honor him. We may also set up a donation box at recp for pancreatic cancer research. It is the deadliest form of cancer w/the shortest lifespan after diagnosis. My dad lived an amazing 2 1/2 yrs, incl time for he and I to go to Europe tog. (He was supp to be doing research for his book but we mostly hung out at museums ;) Most ppl only live a few months. Go here to get info or to donate:http://www.pancan.org. This bracelet is a pretty way: http://www.pancan.orgstoreimages/braceletAlso, the lustgarten foundation has rubber ones for $5. Sorry, the photo of my grandma is hard to see because it's a lil too light. I don't have very many photos of her."THE PRINCESS BELIEVES PERFECTION IS ATTAINABLE; THE QUEEN KNOWS IT IS AN ILLUSORY VISION THE GODS OFFER AS A TASTE OF ONE'S HIGHEST POTENTIAL." C.B., p 90BRIDE PORTRAIT IDEAS LOVE THIS! So Hitchcock! Halo Photography, also thru mirror by Art of Emotion. Twirling, kimsann by Jennifer Kloss. I love this silouette picture by Halo Photo. And middle from S.O. bio. Also love this by Halo Photo.I'm looking into having Bridal Portraits done before the wedding day by a friend. If we do them I hope to do them here, the Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland. It's just 2-3 blocks from my old apt in Oakland and I used to go there often. The 1st photo is from www.oakland.net the montage photos are all from www.filmoakland.com. JEWELRY AND SHOES: Earrings I bought from http://www.1928.com. $23.50, still on sale! Bracelet I got to match my cere shoes, star design which has become a motif w/the veil, too. $20 This is how I want to have my nails done. Shorter French manicure maybe. Or just natural colored. I bite my nails but I've been working on growing them out a little. I need to look into a nail salon for that. My vintage purse! I love it. FSIL got it for my tea shower. She got it in old town Danville on Prospect street. Page me for the store name since I've forgotten it right now!"AS A QUEEN W/THE MATURITY OF THE INITIATED, (THE BRIDE) VIEWS HER MARRIAGE AS A SPIRITUAL & CHALLENGING PATH TO WHOLENESS." The Conscious Bride, p 90.MOB DRESSOk so some of you know how difficult it was to get this accomplished. My mom no longer wears dresses and she didn't have anything dressy enough for the wedding. Plus, she didn't want to buy something new since she wouldn't wear it again. I offered to buy her a dress as her gift but this will work out, too. FMIL bought a sort of flashy dress so I wanted to make sure my mom wasn't in cotton. She used to have tons of nice dresses but I guess she got rid of them. Plus my bros opted to get tuxes (for convienence) so she needed to be dressy. I was going to wear this for the rehearsel originally. I got it for $8 on eBay. It's a Jim Hjelm Occassions so it's a good dress. I got the shawl for like $20 on eBay, too. It's silk cashmere. It was going to be a gift for MOH but I'll get another since it matches perfectly. Both need to be pressed and the dress will need to be dry cleaned. But other than that it should work! Thanks to knotties for all the suggs for MOB dress. GUYS' STUFF: Here is the tux FI chose. It's the Trilogy. And he'll wear a silver vest and necktie sim to this. I think it will look delicious on him. Update! After seeing my grandpa's wedding photo, FI might do a pinstripe suit instead which I think would also be snappy. Not a zoot suit though. The GM will wear royal blue vests and neckties. All the shirts will be ivory to match my dress.FUNNY STORY ABOUT TUX SHOPPINGMy search w/my grandpa for the Selix in Fresno. Technically, it was a Selix but only for children. It was listed as being a full shop on their website and being located in an older (RE: dilapidated) mall in dwntwn Fresno. Since there aren't many businesses left in the mall we thought it'd be easy to find. We wander around looking for the address. Don't see it, don't see it. Finally, on a small sheet of paper posted on a small door on a very large building (clearly was a large dept store in the past) we see the address. It wasn't marked on the bldg itself at all. We open the doors to be swarmed with flies, the smell of menudo (despite the cute band by the name, it's not a pleasant smell when cooking. And I love Mexican food!) and the sight of everything from sneakers to jewelry to the aforementioned menudo. We wander around this "mall" asking ppl who aren't very comfy speaking English where the tux shop is. No one knows. Buried in this hodge-podge of commerce (that seemed to go on forever prob due to the lack of vetilation!) was the Selix in a dilapidated carasol!! In the middle of all these "stores". And it only sells children's tuxes. Now my grandpa is a shorter guy but that would not work. Remember websites and mall directories often have outdated listings for business so keep that in mind when searching for vendors!GROOMSMEN SHOTSI want a photo of his hands like this, by Tee Taylor. Great GM, jumping is from Laurandjim's wedding by Suzanne Chapman. Jennifer Kloss Photo for the top two, 3rd is by Halo Photography. The groom surrounding by BMs is from mag bliss BOUTENIERRES: bouts on real guys! GM w/orange callas like this, photo by Andy Berry with Orange Photo. FI w/white orchid like the others. Thinking of doing corsages for the women folk w/orchids and callas. Blondforyou2luv did an excellent job on our bouts and corsages, too!Here's our guys BRIDESMAID IDEAS: Found these at Barnes & Noble. To invite them to things & updates! I have actually only used them once but they only ended up costing me a few bucks. One of those early impulse buys ;) Thank yous from Sunrise Greetings ($1.99!) Got at Longs.Here are the BM tea cards I made. I will take the girls out for coffee/tea at a Lake Merritt area bakery by our church before the wedding rehearsal. I wasn't going to make invites but I think they should have a reminder w/everything else that's going on!I'm done doing my craft project gift for MOH! I bought a shadowbox at Target for $20. I hot glued in most of the objects. The main central image is froma calendar of prints by the artist Alphonse Mucha. The work was called "Laurel", which is my friend's name. She'll recognize it because I gave her a card with the piece on it one time. I layered and reconfigured the leaf element to be a circular design. I added other things to represent her: Russian dolls and a pic of a Russian bldg cuz she did edu abroad there. She loves all types of flowers so I used some dried ones I had. The UCSB stuff is cuz we went to college there together. We moved to Oakland together when she went to Cal. She loves pearls (they're hard to see but they border the top and bottom). The schoolhouse and teacher are cuz she teaches HS English. She used to work at the LA county museum of Art, hence the LACMA. She grew up by the beach and loves the outdoors. FI helped me find a font I liked to make her name. It was called the Ann! Anyway, we made the background match the green from the Mucha and printed it on cardstock. Ta-da! I'm very pleased w/how it turned out. It took me several weeks to come up with all the things and figure out to make it fit. But it wasn't hard. You get brownie points if you can figure out where the UCSB stuff is from. ;) Flame calla bouquets for all 3 BMs. They are somewhat illusive but I hope we can get them in July without a problem. Bouquet from Anna Sui site.The girls at Lake Merritt. How the colors came together the day of.This is the MOH dress we got on eBay from Fabulous Gowns, seller pookie10@pacbell.net. Just found out she's pregnant! So happy for her! So we'll be getting a new dress. This one's by an Australian designer. It's a richer orange with a pinkish sheen in a certain light. We're selling this dress so page or e-mail me at hrbananah at gmail if you're interested. Thanks! The blue is her new dress. It's MB7097 from Eden maternity bridesmaids. Middle is my BM Angie's dress, #7128. We'll remove the flower and it will be in royal blue, as well. And Marg, my other BM, is also pregnant. She'll be just over 5 mos along at wedding (as well as at her own which is the wknd before ours!) Technically, she's married since they've done a civil ceremony. She got style #7091, on right. I have decided to get these orange Chinese Mary Janes for them for the recp. Aren't they great?! They're from Natasha's Cafe I'm going to look in Chinatown also but if they don't have this orange I'll get them there. I did end up getting them through Natsha's cafe. It went very smoothly.I got this jewelry and matching picture frames from 1928.com, for my 2 BMs. The earrings are $18, the necklace was actually a little diff but I got the last two so they don't have a photo up anymore! It was $20. The frames were $27. Necklace I got MOH, $15, 1928.com. It's a light peach. And the earrings, also from there, $18. I got this vintage bracelet from an eBay seller, who got it at an estate sale,. I thought it was a brooch. The item info was confusing. But I like it so I may have her wear a bracelet instead. If it still fits her pregnant wrist ;) I love the pink and orange butterfly w/blue detail! Collage w/dresses & bouquets fpunkfiona made for me. It helped to visualize all my ideas. Thanks Felicia! BM right is Dessy a621, left from eBay. BMs WILL all be in royal blue now. And still flame orange calla bouquets. No wraps now exc maybe for MOH if she wants. It is too hard to find a maternity dress in pink-orange. And having it made was not an option either. MOH, Laurel, & me at her wedding in March & at her bachelorette party! She got engaged after us, planned all in 6 mos! Here she is at recp site when I showed it to her in Dec. She's next to the creek in the rain! BM Angie & me. Yes, she's already married, too! Ah... winter prom! Margaret, my oldest friend, will also be married by the time we do. At least in a civil cere so her FI can become an American! Her situation is very complex makes me relieved we don't have to go thru INS. They had their civil cere and now her church wedding will be the week before ours!! In San Antonio. It's going to be so crazy for she and her family who will all be at ours. Her dad's our minister! Drew and I will try to make it to their Calif reception 2 days after our wedding! Trying to stay calm about all that ;) This photo is us at her parents' house Xmas this yr. I'll have all Married Maids!BRIDESMAID PHOTOS IDEAS Great bm pic from wilsgirl's wedding. Love the bridesmaid Beatles ;)BACHELORETTE PARTYWe are planning my bach party at Yoshi's jazz house and Japanese restaurant. I've always wanted to go there and I can't wait! It's a little different idea than most girls do but so are a lot of my other ideas. And since I had a few pregnant friends, dancing wasn't an option. Here's the invite we're sending. I think it's too funny! Marisol and I at the pre-party at a friend's house. We managed to get in a couple of glasses of wine before heading to Yoshi's (and sparkling pomegranate juice for the ones w/buns in the oven). One of the funny gifts I got from FSIL's best friend, Kathleen (she's like part of the family). I already ate the groom ;) And the requisite slinky lingerie MOH got me (what I get for getting her crotchless undies for hers!)...not sure how the top works yet...Here we all are at Yoshi's before the Bill Frisell show. The band was cool, a lil country, blues and rock. The lead guitarist was very talented. Like a white Jimi Hendrix (almost!) Not enough jazz element for me but hey, a reason to go back and see someone else! ;) Some of the girls could only be there for the fabulous dinner at Yoshi's, so we took a picture before they left. Only Roselyn is missing. Back row left to right: Kathleen, Amy, Robyn, Kemmeo, front row, Anna, Nicole, Anita, Laurel, me, Keisha, and Marisol. I def rec dinner there even if you wouldn't be interested in the show. The restaurant is separate and has a great atmosphere. Marisol, Keisha, me, Laurel (MOH) and Roselyn.Top photo: Anita, Anna, Nicole and Amy (FSIL). Bottom: Kathleen, Marisol, Keisha. Obv me on right after a great salmon terriyaki and Pomegranate Margarita. We had a great time, nothing crazy which was the way I wanted it. I wanted a classy night out and a good time. We had 2 pregnant ladies after all! MOH was very disappointed in herself that she forgot my bach tiara and veil. I was not ;) She says she's going to make me wear it for the RD at the pub. Works better for me anyway since I did not want that at Yoshi's! TEA SHOWER on Apr 2My 1st shower thrown by FI's "aunties" Paula, Jan and Doreen. The girls at the table are my friends Janice and Laurel, (MOH) FI's "cousins" Nicole and Kath. My other 2 BMs couldn't come to this one. The cake was choc w/rasp mousse and cream cheese frosting from Ladyfingers in Oakland (soo good!) We had a lot of fun and they went all out with 5 teas and great food! So many diff delights. That's FSIL w/my rehearsel bouquet she so "graciously" made for me. Some of the photos came out to blurry to be decent at full size.Our beautiful, shiny chrome Kitchen Aid mixer FILs got us...FI wants to put royal blue racing stripes on it as a take off on Alton Brown's flames on his... Boys ;)COUPLES' SHOWER, June 30thHere we are at the couples' shower some of FILs friends threw us. I was sick actually so I'm not crying, I'm leaking! The Mikasa box we're opening is our squared off wine glasses that match all the square dishes we got! And the other ppl are FILs looking at the beautiful wine tools in a cherry wood case we got as a gift. I had added to the registry at the last minute ;)HOST GIFTSI know many knotties have trouble deciding what to get their shower hosts/hostesses as gifts. I consider myself an expert since in all there will have been 3 showers either for me or us! ;) The first one was thrown by 3 friends of FMIL that FI grew up calling "auntie" they were so close. I got one who loves wine, a nice bottle of Argentinian wine, ($13), one who likes natural things some relaxing shower products ($12) and one who loves flowers a potted pink dendrobin ($15). For our couples' shower, there are 5 couples throwing it! We have decided to do a decent bottle of wine for each couple. For my family shower, 3 of my aunts are throwing it and I have decided to bake them cookies influenced by cookiesbydesign.com ("the original cookie bouquet"). Since this company's cookie bouquets are a little pricey, I have decided to try my hand at making them.will do ones similar to this but instead of writing thank you in other languages, I will put the name of each hostess on a cookie. I'm doing sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting. I will post photos when I finish it. Wish me baking success!Ok, so I have been sick with a bad sinus infection that made me late in putting the follow-up about the cookie bouquets in. They turned out very well... before we had to transport them 3.5 hrs to sweltering Fresno. We put them in a cooler with Blue Ice which I hoped would keep the frosting from melting. It did okay but they had to lie on top of each other which smudged some the writing I had painstakingly done. I managed to fix some of them. But I forgot to take photos of the final product so I have none of the cookie themselves. I used Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe from the Food Network website. I put the sticks in as soon as I took the cookies out of the oven and then chilled them in the fridge to harden the cookies around the sticks. For the sticks, I got dowels from Michael's and cut a few down to give a staggered effect. I used green foam blocks cut down to fit in the baskets that I pushed the dowels into to hold in place. The cookie sticks end up pretty heavy so you have to have a strong enough base, a large enough basket. I used blue paper shredded "Easter Basket" grass to cover the foam. I'll try to make some of the same cookies and frost them the same way and put photos of that in soon. INVITATIONS:This is my absolute favorite bio! JeffsWife2BCheck out her invites, monogram and save the dates! So great!Ok, so we have changed our invites! This was a complete unexpected development. We were orig working with Lynn from Just My Type doing this calla lily design she had done for a previous wedding. I loved them and Lynn is great.But then Sally from Invited Ink letterpress designs approached me with a design I love even more. Invited Ink. Probably because it was done just for us. FI also loved it. And Sally's much closer which is always a factor in all these things. It was a little heartwrenching to break with Lynn and our yr long idea but I think it was fate. The whole long engagement (it will have been almost 2 yrs!) and plans far in advance can cause unpredictability!I can't believe Sally found a ribbon with light orange and royal blue! And see the rhinestone in the middle of the design on the slipcase. She's done such an amazing job.Here's the final real letterpressed thing! I'm so obsessed with them I can't stop taking photos of them (obviously). The ribbon hangs over the vellum when they first open the outer envelope. Then the announcement pulls out with the ribbon from the top. Anyway, I've raved enough ;)Here is our dining room table covered with envelopes drying! I bought Winsor and Newton brand calligraphy ink in dark blue to match our colors. I'm using a speedball calligraphy pen with size C-5 point tips. I bought them at a tiny art supply store here in San Leandro. It worked great! But I was very ready to be done after all that calligraphy! The Monogram we finally chose that Jewells13 did for us. Thanks Raquel!!PROGRAMS Now Sally will do programs with her design from our invites on the front. She wants to do a pocketfold which I can't visualize with a program but she's so talented I'm sure we'll be happy with what she does. She will make up a few digital proofs for us to choose from. Here is what will be on the cover.I thought it would be helpful for others to see how we arranging things. There aren't many bios of program wording or ceremony arrangement. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE OUR WORDING! Thanks! I'm just hoping this can be a springboard for you. We aren't having live music and we didn't want too many scriptural readings but we wanted at least a nod to our Christian upbringing. It was important for us to have reference to our individuality as well as our togetherness. Our minister wanted that, as well, which is great! We also wanted some reference when talking about "in sickness and in health" that we've already been through that and have weathered many storms in our engagement. It was important to us to note that marriage doesn't start on the wedding day, it's a process, a journey. I find tradtional vows and minister's messages very patronizing of couples as if they haven't experienced anything until after they've been married awhile. This is not always, nor should it usu, be the case. There are many variations on the ceremony order and we tweaked some things for our specific situation (ie: FBIL escorting his mother and being a GM). We also tweaked our vows and the minister's message from using the Apache Marriage ceremony word for word. Leave time to find the best way to do things for you and FI both logistically and so it'll express your personalities.Here is our program proof. The cover will be letterpressed like our invites by Sally Lacy of Invited Ink. We think she's done an excellent job! SAVE-THE-DATES:OMG, I did it! With FI talking me through it over the phone from the hosp! I wanted to use an e-pic but as you know we won't be able to do them till May due to FI's surgery. I've always liked this photo. We decided to do save the dates because we're having a 2 yr engagement. Many ppl have forgotten when we're getting married so we thought it was important to have a reminder! I've gotten lots of compliments on them and my calligraphy. I used Printworks brand greeting card paper from Target. They came in packs of 20, 8.5 X 11 paper w/envelopes. I cut the 8.5 X 11 paper into two 5 X 7 pieces for our image on one side and the text on the back. It worked out really well. Don't forget to put the ph # of the hotels as many ppl won't go to the website. E-mail me if you want more info.Homewood Suites/Hilton at the Oakland Waterfront is where we blocked some waterview hotel rooms. They look really nice, there's a shuttle to and from the Oakland airport and I hope our guests enjoy their stay there!CAKESThis is the sketch of our cake design Enez from Cake A Bakin in Pacifica did for us. CakeABakin Love it! She did the design from a photo of my dress. It's been a very good idea to bring photos of my dress and invites to cake decorators as a springboard. We always knew what flavors we wanted since we both love mocha and raspberry tog. The design was more difficult. I had delusions of grandeur ;) It will be chocolate cake with one layer of mocha, one layer of raspberry filling. Trying to get a hint of coffee flavoring in the frosting, too...Cake styles I like that fit our art deco style.On the left is the topper we finally decided on. Bought it from www.wedowed.com. If I had seen this one on the right earlier I might have gone for it. It's from Weddingstar.com. It's out of stock currently but usu runs $25.99. blue_skies pointed it out.And here's the one I finally found with the bride and groom (or even just the groom) sitting. After 2 yrs of looking I found one on eBay for $8! It's a little too cheesy for us and both FI and I want to use the abstract one instead. We may put this somewhere else at the reception (bar?) or at a shower. It came badly packed and the groom's head rolled off when I opened it! Bad omen?! I hope not! I managed to superglue it (and a hand and an arm) back on...Idea for cake table from AvaLikeLava's wedding. Love the orange overlay! Still trying to find something similar for our cake table.GROOM'S CAKEDON'T LOOK DREW!!! YOU'LL RUIN THE SURPRISE!So I wanted to have a Ford Mustang cake made but it's too expensive so I had the bright idea to get fun accesories for a regular small cake. He LOVES the Simpsons so I got all this on eBay. The topper was $50 and everything else very little. Simpson's toppers are hotly conetsted, btw. Some sold for over $100! He wanted one for the wedding cake but I think it'd look cheesy so this was my compromise and I think he'll love it. Topper and flutes both from seller Enchanted Glass. She even personalized the glasses and so did the seller I got the serving set from. I can get that seller's name if you need it. I think this is a creative way to still make it fun w/o breaking the bank. He LOVED it!!!UNITY CANDLEAlso, we'll have memorial candle for the 3 of them because they were important in our lives and we know they will be there in spirit. Our unity candle I may cover with our monogram. Here it is on is ivory cardstock to match the candle. I plan to hot glue gun thin ribbon across the top and bottom.Unity Candle Info from Wedding GazetteUsually during the processional, the mothers of the bride and groom light a taper candle in honor of their son or daughter at the altar or a small table at the front of the church. They return to their seats, and the tapers remain lit throughout the ceremony. After the vows and rings have been exchanged, the minister will explain to the guests the symbolism of the Unity Candle. He asks the bride and the groom to take their "individual" lives (the individual taper candles) and bring them both to the large center candle, lighting one flame with their two individual flames. During the lighting of the Unity Candle, many times couple will have a song sung or played, or the minister will recite an appropriate poem to accompany the symbolism of the ceremony. (We will have Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso" play.) Whether or not to extinguish the individual tapers after the lighting of the Unity Candle is up to the couple. Many couples believe that putting out individual flames appears as if their individual lives have been snuffed out for the benefit of the marriage, while some believe extinguishing individual candles only shows their devotion to the commitment they've just made. According to most ministers, the decision is left entirely up to the couple. (We will be leaving our individual tapers lit) Where? The Unity Candle ceremony can be performed at the altar, off to the side of the altar at the front of the church, or outside. (we'll do it in the church on a table low enough for FI to reach) When? Where you place the Unity Candle ceremony within the wedding ceremony is up to you although most officiants we spoke with suggested waiting until after you've said your vows and exchanged your rings to light the candle. (We'll do it after our vows before we're pronounced husband and wife) MISC RECEPTION STUFFI decided to get a few Chinese parasols (all with butterflies) that will be put in a canister to have out on the lawn at the reception. Since it will still be sunny during our Hors d'Oeuvres Hour, I wanted guests to have the option of shading themselves. I guess I thought of it due to my own sensitivity to the sun!My mom and I. Drew's cousin, Veronica (who incidentally is now totally in love with my bro! ) We got some great photos with these!WEDDING DAY TOASTING FLUTESThese are our toasting flutes for the actual wedding, from the Anastasia line by Things Remembered. I got them on eBay, however. $25 instead of $60 and the seller sent me a silver photo frame gift, as well! GUESTBOOKOur guestbook from Papyrus on Lakeshore in Oakland. It was $30. I am sort of taking ASJ's idea of giving each guest an index card at their seat at the recp to be put in the guest book at a later date. I am using leftovers of the royal blue paper Sally got us for our invites as background with a leftover creme de luxe paper from our invites stuck on top for the guests to write on. I like the idea of giving guests paper at their seat to take all the time they want without a line to wait in. I just thought I'd dress it up a bit. Sally letterpress offered to the orange design she made on the creme paper for us which is so great!! We'll give guests cheap pens at each place seating, as well. I took apart our flip book style programs so I could glue each page in separately. I put in a few photos chronologically following the program, added some wedding cards and then the guest book message cards.TABLE CAMERASSo here's the idea I had with disposable cameras. We had 5 cameras for 15 tables that had this message stuck on the back of it. We'll probably also make an announcement during the recp that ppl should pass the cameras around. It's not like one table is worth a whole roll of film but we'd like to have some photos from our guests. And then we'll send guests a photo of themselves with their thank you cards. This seemed like a reasonable way to have photos of almost all our guests w/o buying 20 disposable cameras! It worked out great! Thank you Jewells13 for donating your leftover cameras and typing up the labels for us!CARD BOXSo this is what I got as a card box, from Michaels. It was $16.99 which felt like a ton after all my cheapy eBay steals ;) Yes, that is a chopstick I used to prop it open since it has no slit to drop them in. It will sit on the table in the foyer with the escort cards. The card sitting next to it says, "Please Drop Cards Here". We planned to have guests drop both the guest book cards and wedding cards in the card box since there's plenty of room. People didn't feel safe about leaving cards with $ in them in the foyer unattended though. Something to think of with card boxes.CENTERPIECESHere is how the centerpieces looked in the end! Beautiful!! Our friends Kathleen and Rodrigo put them together for us! I got clear and royal blue bowls to float Phaleonopsis orchid heads and silver flower candles in. The candles do blow out fast. The ones for the regular guest tables (you know, those common peons ;) are clear, head table, blue. They were $8.99 at Michael's and the clear I got on eBay for about $5 each. Some came broken so be very careful when ordering glass fom eBay! I can tell you more if you e-mail me.TABLE NUMBER CARDSI have started working on table number cards. We will use vintage Oakland and Bay area postcards adhered to royal blue craft paper on one side. Half of them I printed on our home printer the other half are from notecards made by Found Image Press I bought at Barnes and Noble in Berkeley.We used metal holders where you can hook it on top and have stick up pretty high. So ppl can see it from across the room easily. I order them from AbleKitchen.com but they didnn't come in time! Fortunately, our caterer tracked some down for us! they were a little shorter than I wanted but it was fine.REMEMBRANCESI bought an ivory French Memo board from eBay for $6 w/shipping to do a memorial board with photos of my dad, my grandma (who died of heart failure when I was 17) and FI's grandpa (passed in 2002 after a long bout with Alzeimer's). There will be 2 photos of each person, one alone and one with us. I bought the 2X3 frames in Target's dollar section. On the right is the almost done memorial board. I used the Coral Gables Thank You card from Costco printed on regular paper. I wasn't gonna buy the whole pack of 25 when I only needed 4! I printed them on ivory cardstock. Thanks to klau* for pointing out Costco cards. I still need a photo of me with my grandma for the top right. We put their names, dates and a few things about them (career, hobbies, etc) Then we put photos or trinkets that reminded us of them. FI also wants to put a small pack of Wrigley's gum next to his grandpa since he always had it. I put a wine cork that says "Bonjour" on it for my dad because he loved wine and he spent a lot of time in France and I was born there! The "Moe's" is from a bookmark of that Berk bookstore. My dad and I loved to go there. On the left is the board I'm working from, SJBride05's. The top left is her with my mom when my mom was little (and blond!). Here's a close-up of it since my grandma was just so gorgeous! Why couldn't I look more like her! :( Here's Drew and his grandpa. So cute!!PLACECARDS/ESCORT CARDSHow they looked the day of. They came out great! MIL insisted on getting ribbon with our names and "The Perfect Blend" on them from my original coffee favor idea. It worked out well!I got these fortune cookie card holders for escort cards in ivory and blue. They are actually satin coin purses so they pinch open and hold cards in place. I got them from the first shop on the left when you come in the main gates of Chinatown in SF. It's called Butterfly. They're nice there and they had plenty for us to get 140 in blue and ivory. We're going to print guest names in royal blue ink with the font Sally used for our invites, Andes, like here. Exc everyone else will have table numbers underneath, not a title. We're doing DIY printed placecard/escort cards. I bought packs of printable business card size card pages from Target. They are their own brand, Club Wedd. Cost me $15 for 150 cards worth. They have a template you follow at www.uprint.com and you just fill in the names and table number and then print on your home printer. It's pretty easy. They have a fold in case you want to have them stand on up their own but I've been cutting it off for a one layer piece cuz we're using the fortune cookie holders. After doing calligraphy for the invites I'm ready for the computer to do it for me!LIVING LIFE ON THE WEDDING D-LIST, 6-06-06Because I love her and I found so many parallels btwn her life and my wedding life. So we're busy counting RSVPs and trying to make placecards print out in the right direction. Update to info about placecards above! We bought these printable placecard pages at Target that have a downloadable template... that prints them upside down. It's their own brand, with it's own website for these specific cards and they print them the wrong way. Or we're just stupid and can't do it right. We're debating about not doing the fortune cookie holders and trying to print little mini versions of the design from invites (yes, I have gone temporarily bridezilla insane!) onto the placecards. It's not working and I'll return to my Hannah Pumpkin self soon.Perhaps the reason I like Kathy Griffin so much is that she feels as a D-list celebrity the way I do as a bride. That I'm at the bottom rung of the wedding industry ladder. I'm a San Francisco Bay Area bride on an Arkansas budget. I'm Hannah B___, D-list Bride ;) Drew is always bailing me out when I try to do some fancy Photoshop involved thing all on my own the way her husband bailed her out by selling her DVDs himself in the lobby at one of her performances. Currently, I have a hairbrained scheme to copy our cool, abstract design from our invites onto more things ourselves so we won't pay to have them letterpressed again. So far, it's not working. Kind of like her auction to buy a wknd with her on eBay to benefit charity. The top 40 bidders bailed on her taking the winnings down from $28,000 to like $6000... ah, the D list... Her agent doesn't call her back, my bridesmaids don't call me back. I know, everyone's busy but... when you have to find out your best friend from high school's shoe size through her mom (who checks her e-mail more often than her daughter!) that makes me feel like Kathy when the chick from the OC gave Kathy her publicist's number for a Toys for Tots event. "I get it, don't call you at home." I have no coordinator or stylist as my future brother in law called it! When your future brother in law in Sacramento expects you to have a stylist and you can't afford it, that feels like a wedding D list moment. She has a beautiful home she can't afford to furnish. I have a beautiful church I can't afford to decorate (although it really doesn't need it so I got lucky). Her parents love and "support" her but think she's doing everything wrong with her career. Her mom thinks she takes her jokes too far, her dad thinks she should push it further. Mine (my mom and FMIL) "support" me about the wedding but think I'm doing everything wrong. My mom thinks I'm doing too much, ("I didn't spend that much in the '70's") my FMIL thinks I'm not doing enough ("you're not having favors!"). She calls numbers at Bingo nights and enters her dogs in fashion shows to get $ to furnish her house or publicity, I comb theknot.com for coupons, free advice and emotional support from strangers... It just strikes me as funny, esp since many girls/women want to feel like a princess or a celebrity as a bride anyway. I never thought of it that way, I knew I'd be broke. So I guess I should have been prepared for living on the Wedding D list.For more of my D List musings go to my MySpace blog: http://blog.myspace.com/hannikan FAVORS If we have enough $$ at the end we'll do chocolate covered espresso beans. I've looked into Kopper's candies, through "Economy Candy". $5.99 for a lb bag. We actually bought them at Trader Joe's and had the catering staff put them out as after dinner "mints" in little bowls. Ppl loved it!VENDOR LIST Cere Location: Lake Merritt Methodist Church, Lake Merritt UMC, lakemerrittumc@earthlink.net, (510) 465-4793 Recp Location:Holy Redeemer Center PO Box 5007 (8945 Golf Links Rd), 510-635-6341 Photographer:Connie Pon Koplan, Connie Pon Koplan Catering:Rich Guaraldi with the Italian American Social Club, 415-585-8059 Cake:Enez with Cake A Bakin Cake A Bakin, CakeABakin@aol.com, 650-355-5818 Dress Alterations and Veil Reconfiguration:Diana Ackerman (aka The Threadbender) The Threadbender, Diana@thethreadbender.com, 650-216-6111 Invitations: Invited Ink: Sally Lacy, invitedink@yahoo.com, Invited Ink KNOTTIE GTGSAll the get togethers I've been to! Top Left, Left Bank in Pleasant Hill in Feb '05, Right: Fenton's Ice Cream Parlor, both bottom photos are from Tin's Tea House in Feb '06. Thanks to sarob and prnczmel for Tin's photos. 2nd montage from brunch at MrsIncredible's house. She's hiding behind the camera! Sorry about some cut off faces. Even ASJ's husb got in on that action! Most recently, Apr 29 we went to Fog City Diner in the city. Myself, EmeraldWednesday and k-haus. MrsIncredible,me and Caseygirl. Last photo: NPWedding, Rockridge_Tasha, me, Bubbly-Bride, khaus, and MrsIncredible. All the women I've met have been fabulous!MISCSouth Park characters FI did of us! And the shirts he made for us knotties. I personalized the back of mine. Got to cafepress and look for shop "knottiestuff".I'm getting this bridal thong for the HM. It plays "Here Comes the Guide". Vic Secret. The other thong FI made me as a surprise. Too funny! At cafepress.com he has another shop called Handicap Humor. Lots of other funny shirts and stuff there. Billie and I say thanks for visiting!