Miss Avocado, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 23, Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Consultant
Engagement Date: July 27, 2008
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 30, 2008
Venue: LDS Seattle Temple & Hotel 1000
About Me: Somehow this little farm girl found herself a genuine Pole to fall in love and eventually move away to Poland with. I am an LDS bride attempting to plan a private religious ceremony, ring ceremony, seated reception for 100, and an open house while coordinating for guests flying in from across the United States and as far away as Poland. I try to avoid fads, excess waste, and saturated fat. I strongly endorse photography, DDR, calorie counting, rss feeds, cooking, and utilizing your resources.
Meet the Parents
October 3rd, 2008 @ 2:33 pm by Miss Avocado
I’m hosting my in-laws this weekend and it is exhausting. They are wonderful, and I know I am really lucky to be marrying someone with such easy parents to get along with, but I am unable to communicate with Mr. Avocado’s mom, and so all conversation is with my FFIL.
It’s hard to force myself to take this break from the wedding planning. I am very happy they are able to see where I grew up and meet my family. And they brought me some presents and some European chocolate, so I guess I can’t complain about that. 
Did you ever host your in-laws before the wedding? How did your first “meet the parents” experience go?
Chandelier Jazzing
October 2nd, 2008 @ 12:55 pm by Miss Avocado
We found this chandelier for $27 at the wholesale floral outlet. It was perfect, except we can’t burn candles at our venue. I think the plastic electric ones always look fakey, so I wanted to come up with something that would still look cool without a flame or light coming from the chandelier. The ring ceremony is at 4:30 in a glass enclosed atrium, so I don’t think the light would show that much anyway.
Step 1: Take one chandelier.
It’s Really Official!
October 1st, 2008 @ 4:15 pm by Miss Avocado
For most, getting their marriage license is “the step” that makes them realize that they are truly getting married; that the big party is really going to happen. For me, and likely for others of my faith, there is a different event that brings about those feelings. After picking up our marriage license, the government will recognize our marriage, but I couldn’t set foot inside of the temple to actually get married until I completed a personal worthiness interview with my local church leader, and then an area church leader, at which time they grant and sign a temple recommend. Temple recommends are essential to entering the temple. I in no way could have been married inside of the temple without one. I never intended to be married anywhere else, so this was an essential step for me.
This is actually the Dallas, Texas temple. Isn’t it beautiful?
Source
Belly Band Ripping
September 30th, 2008 @ 1:17 pm by Miss Avocado
I knew the belly bands on our invites had to have a button. I didn’t know what they would be made of, but the button was essential. We thought about sewing the wrap out of fabric. Did I want to do this 275 times? Fabric gone. We thought about creating dangling strings of buttons. Did I want to do this 275 times? Hanging buttons gone.
Mamacado comes home from Paper Zone with some crazy textured paper. The Avocado belly bands are born.
These sheets are huge. I was able to make 33 12″X2″ bands. I tried cutting them, but as you can see, the edges have a beautiful frayed effect. I wanted all of the edges to look like this.
How to Cut Your Own First Dance Song
September 29th, 2008 @ 3:05 pm by Miss Avocado
Ask and ye shall receive, my friends. It’s DIY week for me, and I couldn’t be more excited to share the following projects with you. I wish I had five, because that would a be a complete workweek of projects, and it’s just a nice number, but I only have four. I am busy, so I might not even get them all posted this week. But they are going to be good ones. Well obviously I think they are, or I wouldn’t be posting them.
Let’s begin with my tutorial on how to cut your own first dance. Mr. Avocado and I will be dancing to “Meet Me By The Water” by Rachel Yamagata, but it has this 50 second intro we would have to wait through. Plus we don’t really feel like fox trotting around for four whole minutes.
Before you begin, you will need to download the program Goldwave.
Read more…
The “After” Shoot
September 28th, 2008 @ 11:31 am by Miss Avocado
It took a few months of finagling, but I was finally able to nail down a “week-after” photo-shoot with Mamacado for the Thursday after the wedding. I wasn’t sure it if could happen since she has the huge task of assembling our hometown reception 2 days later. I won’t be there to help them set up and tear down this event for 150-200 people, so I know that she will be insanely busy trying to get everything coordinated. It’s a huge thing I am asking her to do, but we don’t have much time for couple portraits on the wedding day, so this is the best way to fit them in, and there is also something to be said about having wedding portraits taken by your own Mom hanging up in your house.
We won’t even have to leave the honeymoon site, as we plan on having them taken at Cave B Inn. I’m sure we will spend a few minutes holding hands, wandering through the (frost covered) vineyards. Ironic that we don’t drink wine, isn’t it?
How Can We Thank Them?
September 26th, 2008 @ 9:32 am by Miss Avocado
There are no words to describe your parents when they are paying for your wedding. They are more than gracious. My parents blew by generous about $5,000 ago. How can you ever thank someone for such a contribution?
Yeah this doesn’t work…
Source
Let’s try this one:
The Imperfect Inserts
September 25th, 2008 @ 9:33 am by Miss Avocado
Miss Avocado and her slick haired salesman friend are back to walk you through the confusing details of her invitation inserts. If you didn’t know, Miss Avo will have a temple ceremony with 35 people in attendance, a ring ceremony and dinner in Seattle for 120 people, and a tented reception for 200 (200 is capacity, it is TBD the number that will actually come) at the home of a family friend.
Salesman: “Those invited to Seattle received a small invitation card insert, inviting them to the ring ceremony and dinner to follow. The curly decorative motif from the announcement was copy and pasted here, as well to tie the inserts to the booklet.”
Miss Avo: “Leaving these cards out of every invitation was incredibly difficult. I truly wish we had a venue large enough to seat everyone.”
Accept the Imperfection
September 24th, 2008 @ 10:24 am by Miss Avocado
Scene: A slick haired salesman in crocodile shoes approaches the reader’s computer screen. Miss Avocado lags behind a bit out of shyness and apprehension surrounding the critical response.
*knock knock*
A seasoned Weddingbee reader, one who has seen gorgeous DIY invites come from the likes of Miss Shortcake, Mrs. Cupcake, and Miss Pomegranate comes to the computer screen.
Reader: “Hello?”
Salesman: “Special delivery, brought to you by Miss Avocado, Mamacado, and Elizabeth Anne Designs!”
Reader: “Oh, do come in. Miss Avocado teased me with a preview over a week ago, and I knew this day would be coming rather soon. I can’t wait to have you show and tell me everything!”
Read more…
The Wedding Bands: D-U-N, Done
September 23rd, 2008 @ 10:34 am by Miss Avocado
I have been getting a lot of things in the mail lately, but the box containing our wedding bands was one of my favorite deliveries. Christen exceeded my expectations with her detailed craftsmanship, and I can only hope that the groom will end up wearing his, as he didn’t give any input in the design or ordering of the bands (he doesn’t really want to wear one, but I told him he has to try).
I love the fine grain texture even more than I anticipated I would, and I think it is going to be just the width he was looking for. He didn’t really give me any input at all, so it’s going to end up being a surprise to him on the wedding day.
