Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
The Excitement Builds
October 16th, 2007 @ 2:56 pm by Mrs. Penguin
Do you ever think back to before you were engaged and just think all this “wedding nonsense” was… well… nonsense?
Well, that was me, six months ago. All over the board. Garter toss? Lame. Bouquet toss? Lame. Color coordination? Lame. Cake cutting? Lame-O-Rama.
As the months have passed by, and the wedding creeps up, I’m slowly beginning to realize that I’m indeed excited for all these little “wedding traditions.” It all came to a head this weekend, when Ingrid Frazer, our cake baker, sent us over a sample of our wedding cake to try while visiting our reception site. She practically sent us the entire top tier of our cake! And you know what that meant… time to practice the cake cutting!
Some pictures are worth a thousand words, but these are worth only two: SHEER EXCITEMENT.
Our Venue - Villa Toscano Winery
October 15th, 2007 @ 4:12 pm by Mrs. Penguin
Venue Shopping 1 - Hotel Vitale, San Francisco
Venue Shopping 2 - David Girard Vineyards
After an intense month of spreadsheets, trips to venues, and exhausting our online resources, we finally settled on a venue that we both loved. What is really special about getting married at a winery we frequent is that we can come back often and reminisce.
image from villatoscano.com
What’s Mine Is Yours
October 11th, 2007 @ 11:32 am by Mrs. Penguin
Money. The most dreaded topic.
What to do with our finances after we officially become Mr. and Mrs.? I’m an independent contractor, meaning that I don’t get a regular paycheck, but work job to job. So for tax purposes, I keep close tabs on my business expenses, and have 2 separate bank accounts, one business and one personal. I only transfer money into my personal account to cover my minimum personal expenses, and leave the majority “pool” of money I have in my business account. Long story short, a joint checking account would be really unfair to Mr. Penguin, because he would deposit ALL the money he makes into the account, while I would deposit a minimum amount to cover my personal credit card.
Lately, not having combined accounts has really gotten on my nerves. Now that we cohabitate, I’m sick of deciding who pays for groceries, who pays for dinner, who pays for plants, furniture, ANYTHING. It’s not even a “50/50″ thing, because neither of us care about who’s paying more or less, its more of deciding who has more money on hand at that particular moment. And after 2 years, it’s getting exhausting.
Elegant Children
October 10th, 2007 @ 3:55 pm by Mrs. Penguin
I’ve been wondering what to give to the “little ones” at our wedding to keep them busy and happy.
For the past six years or so, I’ve been exclusively purchasing all my baby gifts at The Elegant Child.
Its a posh baby gift site frequented by many Hollywood types, and the owner, Teri Weiss, runs her shop out of her home. I’ve visited many times when I lived in L.A. and everything she has is capital “F” Fabulous. She treats all her customers like they’re the most important people in the world, and her unique gifts never cease to amaze me.
Give Me A “C”!
October 9th, 2007 @ 12:26 pm by Mrs. Penguin
I’m really trying to restrain myself from shoving the Penguin’s Alma Mater down our guests’ throats.
Okay, okay, no I’m not. The above was me attempting to portray myself as a normal human being and not a crazy obsessed die-hard Bruin fan and UCLA alum. Truth is, Mr. Penguin and I plan our lives around UCLA sports. His parents are scheduled to come into town from Minnesota this week, simply because its a bye weekend for Bruin Football. We didn’t choose June for our wedding simply for the mild weather and sunny skies, but rather because it’s a dead month for the big NCAA sports.
So, obviously, the design for our groom’s cake will no doubt reflect our love for UCLA.
Mr. Penguin, please refrain from reading any further.
Flour, Sugar, and Eggs on Display
October 8th, 2007 @ 12:20 pm by Mrs. Penguin
I have a confession: I never watch couples cut their cakes. Dinner is over, I’m enjoying a cocktail and conversing with long lost friends, and the 20 kids bouncing around the cake table is kind of a turnoff. And even if I wanted to watch the cake cutting, often times there are 30 guests crowded around it, and I’m not about to elbow the bride’s grandma in the pancreas just to catch a glimpse.
When we met with our wedding coordinator, I asked her if it was okay if we placed the cake smack dab in the middle of the dance floor. She said that she hadn’t done it before (it’s usually shoved in a corner of the tent), but that there was no reason why we couldn’t. I suppose there is a possibility that someone would come over and knock it over, but isn’t that the case even if the cake is in the corner? We could rope it off if we were REALLY that concerned about it. We’re not.
One Bloom Bouquets
October 5th, 2007 @ 4:59 pm by Mrs. Penguin
There is something incredibly clean and simple about bouquets containing only one type of flower. Ever since Mr. Penguin’s step-sister carried a bride’s bouquet made up entirely of stephanotis, I was hooked. I really want my bridesmaids and I to carry bouquets containing only one flower.
CozmoDeck
October 5th, 2007 @ 9:26 am by Mrs. Penguin
I recently received the most wonderful gift from one of my best college girlfriends: A deck of CozmoCards. CozmoCards are basically a deck of cards that give you $15 off at over 40 restaurants around a particular city. You recieve one $15 “gift card” PER RESTAURANT, and are able to send in for 6 “jokers”…meaning you can repeat 6 of the restaurants if you’d like. They’re good for one calendar year (January-December). It’s a great gift for your wedding attendants who dine about town often! A CozmoDeck retails for $30 and you can find them at www.cozmocard.com.
CozmoDecks are currently available for Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Venue Shopping 2 - David Girard Vineyards
October 4th, 2007 @ 11:58 am by Mrs. Penguin
Venue Shopping 1 - Hotel Vitale, San Francisco
At first, we were reluctant to look outside of the Bay Area for venues. Mama Penguin begged me to consider how much easier it would be to plan a wedding closer to my hometown, and how there were already several venues that we were already intimately familiar with right around the Sacramento/El Dorado County Area.
Registry #2 - Crate and Barrel
October 2nd, 2007 @ 5:17 pm by Mrs. Penguin
Mr. Penguin and I took a Sunday morning to take advantage of some Crate and Barrel freebies at a spring registry event. We hop between the Bay Area and Sacramento often, so after our bummer of an experience at Williams Sonoma San Francisco, we decided to try our luck at the Crate and Barrel in the Galleria at Roseville.
With low expectations but high hopes, we entered the store and were greeted warmly and directed to all the right places at all the right times. They appeared to have a sales associate working every section of the store, so that any time you had a question, a knowledgeable staffer was on hand.
