Weddingbee

That’s what Mr. Grasshopper’s grandmother said the day after the wedding. The Grasshoppers are back from Kauai, rested and married! Our wedding was better than I ever could have anticipated. We are still waiting on the rest of our professional photos, but here are a few to start:

Pre-wedding photos in Dumbo.

Strutting down the aisle with my Dad. You may know him from such media channels as Fox 5 news, CBS, AM New York….

MAKE OUT!!

Alex + Karen = 4eva temporary tattoos. A gift from one of the groomsmen. They were a huge hit. Babies and grandparents were sporting them by the end of the evening.

More photos and reviews coming soon!

Do you think your man might forget your anniversary in coming years? Perhaps he should opt for this Remember Ring wedding band instead of that featureless platinum band he has been eyeing.

24 hours before your anniversary the Remember Ring’s “hot spot” will heat up to 120º F for about ten seconds every hour! ALL. DAY. LONG.

(via Gizmodo)

I have been a bad bug this week. We have been so busy from morning to night with last minute wedding errands, I have barely had a chance to read the weddingbee, let alone post! We are pooped, but as Miss Caterpillar said, after tonight, we are done. Whatever is left is just not happening and that’s ok. Like that wall I wanted to paint…. or the sign for the guest book table.

Yesterday on our way into the city to run #11 of 100 errands, Mr. Grasshopper turned to me and said “How much was the coordinator again?” We both laughed with whatever energy we had left.

Anyway, I am signing off of my last post as Miss Grasshopper. When I check back in next, I will be Mrs. Grasshopper! Have a great weekend everyone!

I am off from work this week so that I can get the final last minute plans finished without stressing out before the wedding. However, sprinkled in between my wedding errands, I have a list of things I would LOVE to get done before the wedding. I cannot admit these additional errands to Mr. Grasshopper though, because he is all about getting the necessary stuff done. He’s so annoyingly efficient (which is why we always get things done).

My open list looks like this:

- bring the dog to the park
- name the tables accordingly so that I can pass the seating chart off to the favor/seating card people
- get a facial
- finish the photo project/table signs
- clean the apt.
- order food for our getting ready locations
- pick out songs for special dances (yes, we still have no idea)
- complete schedules for dj, photographer, wedding day quarterback
- confirm and update transportation plan

My personal list looks more like this:

- bring the dog to the park
- name the tables accordingly so that I can pass the seating chart off to the favor/seating card people
- get a facial
- buy some sort of window treatment for the bedroom
- do some clothes shopping for the honeymoon
- finish the photo project/table signs
- paint the living room wall
- clean the apt.
- buy a lamp for living room
- order food for our getting ready locations
- pick out songs for special dances (yes, we still have no idea)
- complete schedules for dj, photographer, wedding day quarterback
- confirm and update transportation plan

I have always been like this. When I have a shared goal with someone, my list always includes six other major ideas that would make the final result so much better. I might not get my personal list finished, but I am going to try damn hard to get the living room wall painted by Friday.

Wow. What a week!

Earlier this week I posted about the Gown Company shutting it’s doors for good. They announced this on their web site. When I wrote this post, I had no idea what a ruckus this might ignite. For many brides who purchased their dresses from this shop, this was the first they were hearing about this news and they were not happy.

I bought my dress from the Gown Company back in December. I had shopped high and low for a dress. I dragged my Mom from store to store every weekend for about three months(!) before I finally decided on my dress. The shop was great, the dress was great, I was pleased. In May when my dress was scheduled to arrive, I finally called the Gown Company to see if they had any news. I spoke to a new women I had not worked with before, the owner, and she told me that yes, my dress was in and that I owed her the balance, which she would charge me via paypal. I thought it was odd that a) no one called to tell me my dress had been in for a quite a few days, b) I was being charged for the balance of a dress I hadn’t even seen yet and c) I had to pay using paypal (which I had not done to first put a deposit down for the dress), but I went along with it.

After my first two fittings, you may remember I was disapointed with my dress, and in some ways because I shopped around for a day or so for another dress, I think what follows next is a result of bad karma. Bad karma and bad business.

The final fitting for my dress was scheduled for Wednesday night, so when I saw that the shop was closing, I didn’t freak out because I had seen my dress and my fitting was scheduled for the next evening. I figured all would be fine. For some reason though, my Mom was skeptical and told me to take my dress on Wednesday night, rather than waiting for additional alterations and a steaming. I told her she was an alarmist. She said “your wedding is a week away, you should grab that dress.”

I called the Gown Company multiple times on Tuesday and Wednesday to confirm my Wednesday appointment and no one answered or returned a message. Wednesday night I showed up a bit early at the shop only to find the bars on the shop were down, the lights were off and sample sale signs decorated the windows. A young man was also waiting outside the shop. Apparently he had been sitting in his car for two hours hoping to catch the store owner so that he could check in about his fiance’s dress. Their wedding is scheduled for October.

During this time Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom had shown up to meet me for my fitting, and we hung around for a good 40 minutes deciding what to do. First I examined the locks on the gates, but was quickly reminded that being arrested was worse than not having a dress a week before your wedding. With that note, I thought a trip to the Selia Yang shop across the street seemed appropriate to me. If I wasn’t getting my dress, I had better have a back up plan as my wedding is nearly a week away. Selia had some really great dresses (note to the brides who have not found a dress yet), and they were all samples. However, they would still need to be taken in and cleaned in a week. I also wasn’t ready to commit to a new dress without knowing what the deal was with my real dress.

On the way home, I called Mr. Grasshopper to tell him the update. We decided that if my dress didn’t show up, he would ditch his tux and we would both wear oversized badger costumes. I blame delirium on this idea.

When I got home I called my Mom, who called my brother, who called me, as my Mom called my sister and the next thing I knew we had TEAM DRESS making plans to stalk the Gown Company the next day. Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom took over the hours of 9 to 11, my brother made a few bike trips down 9th street, and by 11 a.m. they had spotted the store owner. I cabbed it over to 9th street immediately upon hearing this news, only to find that another bride had called Pablo Guzman from CBS to cover the story. Oh geez.

When I finally got to talk to the store owner, she didn’t mention our missed meeting until I asked about it, for which she apologized, but informed me that she did not have my dress- it was still with the seamstress. She told me she would have it that evening. This would have been fine, but I already had an appointment for that evening. When I asked if we could schedule an earlier or later appointment for me to pick up the dress (8 p.m.) she refused to extend the courtesy. She would barely agree to make an appointment for me the next day. She also told me I had no right to freak out about not having my dress because it was only one missed appointment. I don’t know what freaking out looks like to her, but I feel confident that asking someone to make up a missed appointment at my convenience is not freaking out. She finally agreed to call me when she had the dress in her hands so that I could arrange for someone else to pick up the dress.

Then my Dad showed up. With a lawn chair. Ready to camp outside the store until my dress was ready.

I had to head back to work because in the midst of all of drama, that afternoon I was launching four projects I had worked on for the past year. I left my Dad with his lawn chair and Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom. Other angry brides were quickly catching word that the store was open and had started to arrive at the shop too.

By 3 o’clock my Mom showed up to join the team and to keep my Dad off the news cameras.

By six o’clock, my Mom had my dress in her hands!

By seven o’clock you had probably seen my Dad on several news channels with his chair…

I wish all the other Gown Company brides lots of luck with getting their dresses or deposits back. If you need my Dad to speak to Pablo Guzman on your behalf I think he’d be happy to step-up for TEAM DRESS again.

The Gown Company is going out of business at the end of the month and they are selling their samples at very reduced rates. The sample sale is open without an appointment Tuesdays through Saturdays 12:00 pm to 6:30 pm until Thursday, August 31st.

I am not the only one in our apartment who has wedding day wardrobe concerns. Up until about an hour ago, Sasha was unsure what she would be wearing to the wedding.

Sasha is a sporty dog: she likes to run, play frisbee, and chase squirrels. She would not be pleased if we tried to put a bow on her or a collar with flowers. Our florist actually advised against it because she didn’t want Sash to swallow any of the pins that would keep the flowers in place on the collar.

Luckily she came across this collar with a matching lead by Trish Hampton on the interweb that will go well with our wedding style and her fur.

Here is Sasha helping with some wedding planning. That would be a copy of the price list from One Girl Cookies in her mouth.

Baked goods and ice cream. And naps, but naps have nothing to do with this post.

This weekend, a mere three weeks before my wedding when I should be consuming things like grilled vegetables and lots of water, I decided to make a trip back to Jacques Torres. We were scouting wedding photography locations, and happened to find ourselves in the Dumbo area. You cannot visit Dumbo and not visit Jacques!

I had read about Jacque’s chipwiches somewhere recently so I decided to try one out. It was incredible. If I could find some way to keep these guys cold in a desirable displaying manner (meaning not in my parents green coleman’s camping cooler from 1978), I would make these the dessert of our wedding in a second.

These chipwiches have everything going for them. They are cold, delicious, individual packaged, unusual for a wedding treat and seriously the best dessert I have had all year.

Instead of doing seven posts about the various things that have occurred this week in the wedding world for me, I figured I would give you a quick run down of how each day has gone in one post.

Last Friday Afternoon:

After my second dress fitting on Wednesday, I was still very unpleased with the outcome of my dress. This was not a “I have not seen my dress in 8 months” unpleased, but more like a “I look WAY TOO FRUMPY” in this dress unpleased. I bugged out at work and bought this dress from Nordstrom by Nicole Miller online (which actually has a very decent bridal section on their site) in the middle of trying to meet a deadline at work.

During this time, I also discovered a Jenny Lee dress on sale on ebay. OMG! I loved liked this dress when I tried it on at Mark Ingram’s, but kept searching because…I don’t know, I just thought I should.

Last Friday Night:

I get home and bug out on Mr. Grasshopper about this Jenny Lee ebay dress. I talk all night about the dress. Should I buy it? What should I do? I feel like I am cheating on my dress by considering another dress. I worked so hard to find my dress and now I am just going to flat leave it for another pre-worn dress?! Mr. Grasshopper brings me a big glass of wine and I decide against bidding on the dress.

12:20 a.m. on Saturday

Mr. Grasshopper has gone to bed and I make a frantic bid on ebay for the dress. Who cares that this mermaid shaped dress was custom made to fit a girl who is 20 pounds heavier and 4 inches taller? It will be fine! So I (and the wine) make a maximum bid and get immediately outbid even with my maximum amount. I guess some bride wants it more than me. I concluded this is a sign and go to bed.

7:00 a.m. on Saturday

I wake up and immediately check ebay, to see what the dress sold for. A mere $100 more than what I had bid! Sigh.

Saturday Afternoon

I move on with my day and have a super day of banging out wedding tasks all over the place. Mr. Grasshopper and I nearly finish working on our ceremony, when I open my email to search for something and find an email from ebay telling me I have a second chance offer for THE dress because the winner passed on it. OMG! OMG! OMG! What do I do?! Am I cheating on my dress? Mr. Grasshopper brings me more wine. He’s so great.

Saturday Evening

I finally decide it is time to call my Mom and ask her advice since she went to see every dress with me when I was shopping. She thinks I am nuts and cannot understand why I would switch dresses now, but tells me I should do what makes me happy, but first she recommends that I call a dress shop to ask about the measurements, and to also call my dress shop and tell them why I am unhappy about my dress-maybe they can do something she insists.

To me that step seems too practical so I call Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom. She tells me to get the dress on ebay if that makes me happy. With their approving advice, I scurry back to my computer to tell the seller I am in! As I reread the message, I take note that the message says I should contact the seller and not ebay about this transaction. WTF!? I have been scammed! I spent a good three hours deciding if I should get this dress all at the hands of an ebay scam?! Just to confirm, I email the seller through the ebay mail and she tells me that yes, I have indeed been scammed. I am usually so good about detecting scam messages-this dress is making me soft!

Sunday

I report the scam to my Mom, Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom and ebay. Mr. Grasshopper’s Mom does all sorts of dress research for me and finds the Bridal Garden. I check it out online and it looks a bit outdated, but let’s just see in person.

Monday

I make an appointment at the Bridal Garden. Am I cheating on my dress? Why won’t anyone tell me if this means I am cheating on my dress?

Tuesday

I keep staring at pictures of me in my dress. Maybe it’s not so bad after all I start to think…

Wednesday

I visit the Bridal Garden and sheepishly explain to the sales lady why I am searching for a new dress three weeks before my wedding. I almost thought she was going to kick me out when she asked “What happened to your dress?” I walk around and while I think they have some nice options there, I remember why I picked out my dress in the first place.

Then our vendor calls and offers us this bigger tent, opening up so many more possibilities (and tasks).

Thursday

The dress from Nordstrom arrives and it looks… really good :), but now I have stared at my dress pictures for so long I think am pretty happy with my first dress. How did that happen?

Friday

I decide I am holding onto the Nicole Miller dress, just in case… and now I still need to decide about the tent. Doesn’t everyone know all these options are making me neurotic?

My venue called the other day to tell us that the people having a wedding the day after us are using a much larger tent that covers the entire courtyard, and that if we wanted to use it for the same fee as our smaller tent, we could. Hmm. My first instinct was to pass because I wanted an outdoor ceremony in the open air (if it doesn’t rain) and then the guests could head under the tent to “tent it up” (as one guest told me she was going to do) and enjoy cocktails. After that everyone could head inside for dinner and dancing…

But now, everyone could enjoy the cocktail hour and dinner under the tent and it could be beautiful, like this:

But that would mean dancing would take place IN the Foundry (doors open to the courtyard). Is it odd to have the dancing in another room where people are not sitting and relaxing post dinner? We would add a few cocktail tables for the relaxers on the main floor and the entire mezzanine would be dedicated to the non-dancers. The ceremony would also take place indoors too, but that is not so odd I suppose.

Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions? It’s like I cannot make a wedding related decision without reader input!