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This is only a burning question because I am wondering if these could be my “something blue.” Or do they only count as my something bluegreen?
These are not the exact sandals I have chosen, but the color and feel is the same. The style I purchased has a little more vintage styling, but I can’t seem to find a picture and my digital camera is lost forever in Mexico.
I am very sorry to have been absent from writing all week. There were two very different reasons for this.
One was that I have been feeling the pressure. With only a little more than a month left to go, I have had to really think about what it possible and what is probable in terms of projects. I have a million ideas for programs, guest book, centerpieces, etc. But I have had to face the hard truth that they may not all happen. Now that I have sorted what I think I can get done, the projects will be coming fast and furious.
The other reason is that I fell prey to something that I think is probably pretty common among women as busy as we are. I was burning the candle not only at both ends, but sometimes in the middle. I went to work, planned for the wedding, wrote a lot, taught jewelry making for Advent Conspiracy at my church, failed at reading a new book, tried to hang out with friends and spend meaningful time with Mr. Robin, then bake for Thanksgiving and on, and on. I was averaging about 4-5 hours of sleep per night, and eating terribly because I had no time to cook.
Having decided that we were not participating in the usual Black Friday craziness this year, Mr. Robin and I instead launched ourselves into a road trip down the breathtaking Columbia Gorge under the guise of running some errands for the wedding - first drinks, both wine and beer, and then gathering intelligence for possible mini-moon places for the week after the wedding.
(the Gorge, Portland Ground)
I admit it, I was a gown novice.
It was soon after I started looking online that I realized I was a little out of my league, which was an odd feeling for someone who usually considers herself pretty stylish. I didn’t even know what the names of the styles referred to. When someone started discussing “girls with pick-ups,” I knew that the mental picture I had of a woman in a Ford F150 probably wasn’t right. I was going to need help, and fast.
*** Mr. Robin stop reading right here****
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Well this part had a lot more actual invitations, and a lot more challenge if not disaster.
We were on a very tight time constraint for invitations, due to the fact that there was simply not very much time between beginning planning and the actual wedding date. Also, my roommate donated her time and talent to make these, and I did not really want her to lose sleep or become a crazy shut-in because she felt she had to meet some sort of extreme deadline. Therefore the invites took several weeks to complete, and finally last week they were proofed, checked and ready to print.
Sometime during the endless rounds of conversation about where we should register and for what, Mr. Robin came up with the idea of asking our guests to consider gifting to several charities that we either donate to, or are actually involved with. I loved this idea of giving more through our wedding, so we wrote the following note to accompany our invitations:
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
It is amazing to me how quickly things can spiral out of control. The invitation creation has easily been the most stressful part of wedding planning so far, and that’s silly because it was one of the pieces that I would have sworn I wasn’t so interested in.
We started with a simple concept for invitations, a brightly colored one sheet announcement with the all information and RSVP by phone or email, drawing inspiration from the fabulous invites of Unless Designs. Her designs have a cheerful poster-like feeling to them which I love - you can frame your invitation afterwards and hang it in the dining room.
(a cute Unless Designs piece)
The Story of a Practical Theme
You may of heard a little something about Portland, Oregon… it rains. According to our reputation, almost incessantly. It is my opinion that generally the city gets a bad rap, because the rain is fairly seasonal and the natural beauty it creates is breathtaking.
Suffice to say that, like any stereotype, there is a part to this one which is true - every winter there comes upon the city a rainstorm that begins in early December and keeps on going pretty much until the end of January. Our wedding date is smack in the middle of that.
I am serious. I didn’t realize it before now, but I don’t know many of my friends’ addresses. I know their personal e-mail addresses, their work e-mail addresses, and their cell phone numbers. I am their myspace friend, and their facebook friend (but I refuse to join friendster). I read their blogs, watch their videos online, and have long instant message conversations.
I have been to many, if not all, of their houses, but I don’t remember such things - I just plug the address in Google maps and go. Or know that they live four houses to the left of Hot Lips Pizza.
It is amazing in this world of instant, accessible communication, that you can be friends with someone and never know their precise location to mail them something as simple as a letter.
Mr. Robin has been on the phone for two days gathering addresses from friends and family alike! The guest list however, is finally almost done. Hooray!
Why pick only two wedding colors, when you could have three. And why stick to only three, when you could have three different colors and two shades of each of those.
At least that is my motto. I am a big fan of color, as anyone in my life would tell you. My shoe collection is such a rainbow that the other day I was bemoaning the fact I couldn’t find a pair of neutral (black or brown) flats to wear.
And if something is so much a part of your personality, then I say work it into your wedding day. So, as I stood in the Dutch Boy paint aisle of a local Fred Meyer’s I was torn. There were two different greens and two different blues that I was in love with, and I couldn’t choose. So I didn’t.
And here is the color palette in all its glory:
The only one that isn’t showing up well is the darker blue, it is much less turquoise than it appears.
Chalkboard Spray Paint.
I like to play with things. I admit it. I will buy paint, art supplies, and vintage furniture with no real idea how I will use them. I just like the idea of some things, and this is how I came to have a can of chalkboard spray paint.
I desperately want to find some element in the reception to which I could apply this chalkboard spray paint to. There has to be something at the reception upon where the ability to draw would bring great joy to the guests. What, I have no idea, because our wedding is very modern glam (with Asian influences), and I am not sure that the whole chalkboard thing would fit.
But here are some ideas I came up with:
1) A sandwich board at the door welcoming everyone. If I buy a permit (and it isn’t raining) I could even put it outside for those guests who might be confused by the whole wedding in a theater concept.
It seemed innocent enough. Go to wedding show last weekend, enter contests, see if you win, and while you do that search for a florist or at least floral ideas. Right?
Apparently not.
Not even four hours after departing the wedding show I get a call from the show sponsor saying that I have won some toasting glasses and a hotel stay for two nights. Well hooray… oh wait.
Because then the kind lady says that to get these “prizes” Mr. Robin and I will have to show up at a cooking demonstration at this particular time (Monday night) and in this particular place (all the way across town). And the longer she talks the more it sounds like a timeshare presentation. Not that I am knocking them - when Mr. Robin and I were in Mazatlan pre-engagement, we went to an awesome timeshare presentation for a resort and received $150 in restaurant credit (to amazing gourment places) and $100 cash. Plus french toast!
I wish that I could say that my desire for a ring without a diamond was due to a higher sort of emotion: a concern for the growing problem with conflict diamonds, and the ways in which the diamond trade leads to violence, war and death for the peoples of the African Continent. Or from a desire to say no to consumerism in a culture that urges us to have too many things.
These things are definitely a part of my feelings about diamonds, and are some of the reasons I told Mr. Robin pre-proposal that I would want to help choose the ring together. But the truth is that it was my plain affinity for color that had me passing on the diamond ring. I’ve just never been awed by the sparkle of a diamond like I have for the way that light refracts through emeralds, or dances across sapphires.
This is not my ring, as mine is set in a band that is thinner and a little more feminine, but the stone setting is the same. Five amazing blue sapphires set together in a rectangle. I wish I could show you, but my digital camera is insisting that it is broken:
Ring by Divinti
I sort of knew the proposal was coming. The minute Mr. Robin told me that we would spend the rest of our lives together on the phone, I knew. We had been very careful to make no statements of commitment that we could not back up out of respect for each other. This is mostly because last February we took four months apart while Mr. Robin lived in Mexico to figure out our relationship, because after a year we had reached the point of either committing to marriage or not dating any longer. We were not together as a couple during these months (though after about a month we began talking over Skype at least once a week for several hours). Sometimes when I am feeling silly, and people ask “how long have you been dating?’ I answer: “Three months.”
So for him to say something about “forever” was Major (with a capital M)! And then he started saying things like “After we are married…” or “In a few years…” Ummm, did I miss the proposal? But no, little did I know that Mr. Robin had sneaked off to my parent’s house, in far away Sherwood, and asked their permission to marry me. However, the question plagued him about where to do the formal question popping.
Getting this event together in only a few months means there are a few things that I have to keep in mind as I proceed.
First, priority. Decide which things are important to you. For Mr. Robin and myself, this is setting and food. With only a little over three months after we arrived back engaged from Mexico, a venue was actually the first thing that needed attention. I would definitely recommend making the decision quickly as possible because wedding venues tend to fill up sometimes as far as 18 months in advance. If you only have a handful of weeks like me, don’t lose hope, think outside the norm. I was looking at barns, warehouses, empty retail space downtown - if you could pack 140 people in it and have it look pretty cool, I looked at it.
What I ended up with is the lobby of a theater. You’d be surprised at what you can find - a family friend got married underneath the Broadway Bridge. And spaces like these are often available much closer to the wedding date.
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Mrs. Robin, Portland Age and Occupation: 26, Client Services Coordinator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Professional Poker Play/Options Trader Engagement Date: September 5, 2007 Wedding Date: January 5, 2008 Blogging Since: November 2, 2007 Venue: Portland Armory About Me: I am a wine-loving, earring-obsessed foodie who lives in Portland, OR. I design jewelry as a hobby and love to shop for jeans, shoes, and vintage furniture. I am a crazy mix of modern and traditional values, and I can't wait to marry my best friend and see where God will lead our lives together.
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