Weddingbee Blog

Whenever I get confused and my brain feels like a pinball machine on hyper-drive, I turn to old faithful to bring me back in line: the list. There’s lists for groceries, chores, things to do at work, restaurants to try, Christmas presents to buy, even topics to blog about.

“Before you go buying things and spending frivolously, did you come up with a theme yet?” Asks Mr. Sewing, as I peruse a clearance section at Michaels with interest.

“Hmm. I dunno. Get me a pen and a paper, we’ll brainstorm a list of ideas!” I answer, now clutching a completely useless (but adorably cute) pack of pewter charms.

Mr. Sewing groans audibly. “You don’t even know what you’re going to do with those, put them down.” Ever the practical man, he doesn’t believe in buying things without having a firm scope in place for the items use. “Half off of a ten dollar item is five dollars wasted” is his mantra.

Since I couldn’t rack my brain fast enough to come up with a feasible idea, I put the charms away. We went home and I busted out a list of criteria for our wedding. With this in mind, maybe I wouldn’t be like the hungry person that decides to go grocery shopping and ends up buying way more than expected.

Our wedding had to be: accommodating to all ages, inclusive to about 150 people, non-touristy, not overly feminine, and not boring. But above all it had to be relevant to our lives - things we love and enjoy. What kind of situation would satisfy all of the above?

Mr. Sewing and I celebrate each dating anniversary by going back to the anime convention where we met. One of our favorite events at the con is something called “Anime Hell”. There’s really no good way to describe it, other than to say it’s a night’s worth of random video clips that only happen to have the words “funny” and “anime” in common.

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Our wedding, I think, will be something of a play on that idea: random, but still loosely themed together with the topics “fun” and little parts of “us”. (Not body parts, of course.)

In a blurb (aka my pitiful replacement for an inspiration board - use your imagination!):

An explosion of artistic pop culture infused with stylized shout-outs to our Asian roots, a touch of the tropics and plenty of things to keep the mind occupied. A nighttime affair with delicious island food and fragrant, brightly colored flowers. An evening’s worth of variety and entertainment taking the place of the traditional drinking and dancing. Video clips, bingo, algorithm marches and more. We’ll mix up old and new wedding traditions to the point that it becomes a logistics nightmare with something for everyone. (Or at least something for everyone to talk about later on!)

Fortunately, our chosen theme is still vague enough for me to continue to browse random sales racks. I’m glad we agreed on something; it’s encouraging to have that first building block - the foundation of things to come - in the back of my head as I look at venues and decorations with a better sense of purpose and vision.

What about you? Was theme the first thing you decided on in your planning? Or did your theme evolve from the vendors and purchases you acquired?