Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
This will be only my 3rd year of hosting Thanksgiving, but both years prior, I would write out a detailed game plan for the week, and an hour by hour plan for Thursday, and each year I’ve lost the list or thrown it away. Here, I’m recording the game plan for posterity. I’m including recipes (some mashed up from recipes I’ve tried in the past, some tried and true) and a grocery list. Maybe if you’re taking on the task of hosting this year or next, you’ll benefit from this time breakdown. This post is broken down as follows:
Things you should consider registering for if you’re hosting Thanksgiving
Brief overview of dishes
Recipes
Grocery list
Schedule/Timeline for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Section 1: Things you should consider registering for if you’re hosting Thanksgiving
I don’t know why I chose to link to stuff from Sur La Table… it’s all very expensive! But it’s organized nicely in a Thanksgiving section, so it was easiest for me.
Mrs. Star, New York CityAge and Occupation: 22, ActressFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Casting AssistantWedding Date: October 2009Venue: Ceremony: The Kraine Theatre, Reception: Midtown Loft & TerraceAbout Me: I’m a professional actress who’s always had New York City in her blood and I'm finally getting the chance to make a home in Manhattan with my fiancé, my dog, and my big dreams! I love polka dots, craft projects, Dunkin’ Donuts’ iced coffee, and anything sparkly. I’m having a blast planning our elegant/dramatic/New York City/acting-themed/largely-DIY wedding and am thrilled to be the youngest current Miss Blogger!
It’s no secret that Mr. Star and I are huge animal people. I mean, we had one of our dogs serve as our ring bearer and I run my own small dog boarding business. So wherever we are, we are on a constant lookout for cute animals — we just can’t help ourselves.
What we weren’t expecting (more with the unexpected-ness in our travels!), was the vastly different attitude there is towards animals in Greece. Whereas here in the U.S. we make attempts to capture and domesticate stray animals (or at the very least maintain feral cat colonies), in Greece it is considered perfectly normal and acceptable for stray cats and dogs to roam the streets and countryside as they see fit. As it turns out, these animals are cared for by the locals and seem to be well-fed and happy. We didn’t think they were suffering in any way, but of course wanted to take them all home and give them love! We decided that if we moved to Greece, between the two of us and what animal suckers we are, we’d have to have a whole farm full of adopted semi-stray animals.
There were large stray dogs everywhere. EVERYWHERE! This was just outside of the entrance to the Acropolis. They looked happy, though! Just look at that guy.
Miss Trail Mix, New YorkAge and Occupation: 26, PE TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, MBA StudentEngagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Tannery Pond at the Darrow SchoolAbout Me: I'm a country girl who somehow found herself living in the Big Apple and loving every minute of it. I'm planning a rustic, country-chic wedding in my hometown in upstate New York and it's going to be a Party with a capital P. White wine, flea markets and running keep me happy and my friends, family and fiance are my world. I'm a little bit crafty, a little bit crazy but mostly just crazy in love.
In case you’re confused, I’m not talking about the kind of band that plays music but the kind that is all sparkly and pretty on my hand! Yes, I’ve been stalking wedding bands and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s way more fun than when I was stalking engagement rings because I don’t have to be all sneaky and not tell Mr Trail Mix what I’m doing (yes, I was totally that girl).
Anyways, I’ve got a lot of different ideas for a wedding band. Let’s take a look at how my decision-making process evolved, and afterwards, I’m going to ask all you readers for your input, if ya don’t mind.
First off, just for fun, you all remember my ring, right?
Well, in case you’ve forgotten what it looks like, here’s a refresher:
Ms. Potato Chips, Boston/Narragansett RIAge and Occupation: 29, PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Personal Trainer/Business Owner/Physical Therapy AssistantEngagement Date: January 1, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Narragansett TowersAbout Me: A semi-professional bookworm, if I could be a literary character I’d be a cross between Jo March and Jane Eyre, only better accessorized and much lazier. My hobbies include sleeping in, seasonal brews, running, Trader Joe’s, and watching Unwrapped and Good Eats with Mr. Potato Chips. I harbor an irrational fear of tulle, crafts, things that are fussy, and overuse of the phrase "Your Special Day". After a year or seven together, down the aisle we go, slouching toward adulthood and planning a Rhodie party with equal parts whimsy, cheer, and pizza.
Like Miss Pretzel, my preferred footwear is a pair of these:
I even rock my Chuck Taylors when I teach, paired with a blazer and dress pants. (Yeah, I’ve totally given up the illusion that I’m any sort of authority figure. Or the sneaks bring me one step closer towards that absent-minded, crazy-haired, ink-stained-missing-buttoned-leather-elbow-patched professor I’m so bent on becoming.)
Dare I say, the sneaker-with-dress-clothes combo is becoming increasingly popular? I’ve seen lots of inspiration photos of groomsmen in Chucks (jealous!) and the sneakers-with-nice-clothes is even in the pages of the ‘Crew!
Miss Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
Right from the get-go, I knew I really wanted us to have an extensive and super informative wedding website, especially with about half our guest list being from out of town.
Trying to be cost conscious as usual, I looked into all the free options, like on theknot.com and the Wedding Channel, but they were so basic. Then I started looking at wedorama.com and some other sites with fees, but that would give a little more flexibility. However, none of these jumped out at me, they limited the number of pages I could have and seemed to have pretty cheesy templates. Where were the wedding website services that would just let me do what I wanted?
Miss Rainbow, TampaAge and Occupation: 22, Makeup ArtistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Electrical Engineer/ProgrammerEngagement Date: November 27, 2008Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: The Gamble PlantationAbout Me: I'm a quirky (and slightly Type-A) freelance makeup artist who was born in Washington State, raised in Alabama, and now living with my one and only in sunny Florida. I'm fashion and beauty obsessed, and have recently discovered my inner domestic diva extraordinaire. I'm a wannabe chef, decorating addict, and trying desperately to be as crafty as possible---albeit only with a glue gun. I'm hopelessly in love with my fiance, and all things sparkly and feathery. Despite the glittery exterior, I'm a total hippie on the inside. When I'm not making up pretty faces, I love doing what I can to help people, animals, and the environment. Someday the FI and I will change the world, but first we're tackling our modern-vintage-Marie-Antoinette-meets-Alice-in-Wonderland inspired wedding. I just can't wait to be Mrs. Rainbow!
That’s what we’re currently doing to our guest list, and it feels oh-so-good.
I have found that, when it comes to the guest list, I am quite different than your average bride.
If we could get our guest list down to 25 people, I would be in wedding planning euphoria. Well, today, I’m happy to say that we’re close to that number. Very close. Closer than we’ve ever been before. We started of with 75, then we cut it down to 50, and then… and then.. 30! That’s right, we are inviting 30 guests!
We wanted something small, intimate, personal. That’s not to say that a wedding with a 300 person guest list can’t be personal, but logistically, it is much more difficult to incorporate those personal, homespun touches that I love so much.
That said, I’d like to share my personal guest list dwindling mantra:
BrooksnTiff handmade fern nests for their organic looking peony centerpieces.
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
Miss Pudding, Greater Toronto Area/VermontAge and Occupation: 26, High School TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Computer EngineerEngagement Date: August 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Ceremony, Cultural Hall ReceptionAbout Me: Quite literally a citizen of the world, I was born in Poland, grew up in Canada, and now live in the beautiful state of Vermont. I love reading historical biographies, multi-tasking, teasing my hair, and, despite my height, wearing high heeled shoes. I am the ultimate klutz with an uncanny ability to put on a graceful front. Mr. Pudding and I have been dating for over six years, and are very excited to finally merge our (very large) families. We are planning a traditional Polish-Catholic wedding that is anything but predictable.
Even though I liked the first draft of our STDs, I was still so in love with the fabric idea. I knew that the yellow pattern stood in the way of the fabric backing, so I reworked the design completely to complement and not compete with the fabric. Here is what I came up with:
Miss Ramen, PhoenixAge and Occupation: 26, Optometry StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Industrial DesignerEngagement Date: January 3, 2009Wedding Date: December 2009Venue: Phoenix Art MuseumAbout Me: I'm an SF-born, Seattle-raised girl, transplanted to Phoenix where I'll be getting married, and planning all the way from Orange County where I go to school (yes, it feels as crazy as it sounds). I loooooove Yogurtland, am slightly very obsessed with all things paper, am heavily addicted to wedding blogs, deeply desire a puppy, thoroughly enjoy cooking, cry when I watch (almost all) movies, thrive on solo car-karaoke, can't stop being sarcastic, am neurotic about taking pictures of almost everything I eat before I eat it, and aspire to travel the world. My super-talented fiance and I are attempting to DIY a majority of our massive (~350 guests) "clean & modern, yet romantic, but completely unexpected, with a teeny dash of vintage" wedding, stay within our not-so-massive budget, and somehow get a really luxe (but still fun!) look/feel at the same time. In music terms (since we're both really into music) think Coldplay meets Motown meets Kanye meets Sinatra.
I know it’s a bit pathetic to post about something so miniscule, but it was a huge relief to start checking things off of my list!
A few weeks ago, I was back home, escaping school. So we decided to go get our marriage license!
You can’t bring cameras into any of the AZ courthouses, so we just took a picture of ourselves at my house. When we first arrived at the North Phoenix facility, there was no wait! We just had to fill out some paperwork and give them our driver’s licenses… yeah, except for the fact that I LEFT MINE AT HOME. So we drove all the way back to my house and then back to get our license. I think Mr. Ramen was a wee bit frustrated, but he quickly got over it.
Miss Spaniel, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 28, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, PsychologistWedding Date: March 2010Venue: Calamigos RanchAbout Me: I'm a third-year law student trying to balance graduating with starting my career, keeping up a relationship, and, oh yeah, planning an Old World, multi-cultural, "mountain lodge" wedding for 180 guests! A South Asian Jewish girl getting ready to marry my handsome Catholic Dane, I'm hoping to blend our cultures in our wedding just a bit more gently than by providing samosas as appetizers and offering æbleskiver for dessert. (Although that would also be awesome.)
Here are a bunch of lovely bridal outfits from Bargello, all made in Pakistan. They range from around $1,600 to about $2,200, and probably weigh about a thousand pounds each! I’m not really into the red and gold people usually associate with South Asian weddings, as you can probably tell.
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