Weddingbee

Last night we were double checking the seating chart, making sure that everyone is seated appropriately (i.e. non-drinkers are not located next to the bar, crazy relatives are separated, that sort of thing.) Reflecting on it as we were lying in bed, we started thinking about which “singles” we could possibly pair up. (It actually reminded me of high school sleepovers.)

No, we’re not doing a singles table, as most people naturally fall into a particular group (high school friends, college friends, grad school friends) of people. But Mr. Dahlia’s got this friend from high school, and I’ve got this friend from college, and well, it seems like they would just be perfect for each other.

I know that this sort of meddling typically doesn’t work out very well, but it is so tempting.

Anyone else playing matchmaker at their wedding? (And if you met your special someone at a wedding, please share!)

No limo for us on our wedding day.** Nope, we’re saving a couple of bucks, and using my dad’s sweet ride.

My Dad’s PT Cruiser Convertible, as seen by Google Street View.
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Good News: There is just over a week until our wedding, which means we are clear into 10-day forecast range.Bad News:

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Taking the advice of many in yesterday’s post, I decided to head to bed early last night. I’m not sure whether it was the exhaustion, the cold or the cold medicine, but I had a crazy dream last night.

It was a Sunday morning, which in my dream was the morning of our wedding. Only I didn’t realize this immediately. I went to church, was chatting with people and what not, and started driving to my parents’ house around 11:30am. Driving over there, I realized that I had totally and completely missed my hair and makeup appointments, and started freaking out because I was supposed to be at the hotel getting ready so that we could leave at 1pm for the church. I called the hair salon, but the person I spoke to said that they had wondered what happened to me, and that since they closed at 12pm, there was nothing they could do to help. I started panicking, but no one seemed to quite understand why I was so stressed out.

Then the dream ended. And I realized that there was no way that I was going to forget my hair appointment the morning of the wedding.

What crazy wedding dreams have you had?

And arms. And throat. And nose.Yes, it’s attack of the killer cold from Michigan. Sore throat, coughing, congestion, runny nose, the works.

Image found here.

Getting sick was not part of The Plan. And while I’m grateful that I’m getting sick this week, and not next week, it took Mr. Dahlia over a week to get over his cold, and I’m getting married in, oh, 11 days. And there is still quite a bit to do.

So. What is your best, fast working cold remedy?

One of the items on my checklist that I took care of this weekend was registering our honeymoon travels with the US State Department. Although I’ve never registered my travels before, since we are headed to Indonesia, I thought it might be a good idea to do it this time.

Basically, you just provide the State Department with your contact information when you are traveling, so that if there were some emergency, they would be able to contact you. And it’s really easy, since you can do it online. Took about 5 minutes or so, and now I know that if something awful should happen, it’ll be a little bit easier for the government to find me.

Has anyone else registered their travel with the State Department?

The due date for guest responses to our wedding was May 1 (which, as you all probably know, was yesterday). We received 2 more responses in the mail today, which I’ll consider on time, since they were postmarked April 30.

Anyways, we have 7 outstanding invitations remaining that are for a total of 17 people. (This includes a family of 5, where the mother is a reader, the father is our videographer and one of the daughters is our soloist. We know they’re coming, but don’t know whether they want vegetarian or chicken.) Still, that isn’t too shabby, given that we sent out 121 invitations to invite 227 people. That’s a response rate of 94%, which is pretty darn good.

Now begins the task of calling those who did not RSVP, and finding out what their intentions are- hopefully, it’ll be taken care of by the end of the weekend.

How many of your guests have you had to track down after the RSVP deadline?

Awhile back, Mrs. Tomato mentioned Brilliant Earth in her post about conflict-free diamonds. I wanted to share my brother’s experience working with them on his fiancee’s engagement ring.

As both of them are laid-back individuals heavily interested (and involved) in sustainable development and social justice, my brother didn’t want to involve himself with DeBeers. However, he also knew that DeBeers or not, he wanted to get his lovely fiancee a diamond engagement ring.

After a bit of internet searching, he came across Brilliant Earth, and quickly settled on this ring:

White Gold Halo from Brilliant Earth
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I’ve talked quite a bit about our honeymoon, and now that it’s coming close, I realized there are some things that I need to figure out.

Like what to pack. As we are traveling with carry-ons only (since spending a month backpacking in Europe, I have a hard time packing more than just a carry-on), space is pretty limited. I thought I’d share my packing list for other people traveling to warm climates who hope to pack light, as well as open it up to any suggestions for items that I have forgotten.

Clothes (including what I will wear on the plane):
2 knit dresses
1 pair shorts
1 pair pants
2 short sleeved shirts
1 cardigan or long sleeved shirt
birkenstocks
sneakers
socks
underwear
3 swimsuits
1 pashmina
rain jacket
(I plan on buying some nicer sandals once we’re in Bali.)
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In the process of blogging about the wedding, it turns out that quite a number of guests have started reading the blog. (Hi everyone- I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!) As a result, there are a handful of things that I’m super excited about but can’t yet post about, as it will ruin some of the surprise. (Fear not- I will blog about everything in full detail after the wedding.)

I know I’m not the only one who has some things being kept on the down low, but assuming Weddingbee is primarily trafficked by brides to be (and not interested guests), I think it’s safe to ask the following question.

What secret surprises do you have planned for your wedding?