Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
What A Coinkydink!
December 3rd, 2007 @ 1:09 pm by Mrs. Toucan
As it turns out, not only will we be married in the same church Mr. Toucan’s parents were married, our wedding date is pretty special too!
(click to enlarge)
Above is a copy of Mr. Toucan’s great grandparents’ wedding announcement which was printed in The New York Times the day after they were married in June, 1917.
91 years later, Mr. Toucan and I will wed on the same day.
Does your wedding date have any special significance?
*Special thanks to Mr. Toucan’s dad for finding this 
Pics of Running of the Brides and the DRESS!
November 30th, 2007 @ 2:06 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Back in June, my team (who I am so grateful for) got up at 3:30 in the morning to trek down to Filene’s Basement for the last Boston Running of the Brides for a couple of years. We got there around 3:50am, and were the 5th group in line! Even with so little sleep, we managed to be excited and enthusiastic, as evidenced by this picture:
from the Boston.com.
Read more…
Just Your Average Post
November 29th, 2007 @ 5:05 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I completely stole this off of the Boston Knot Boards awhile ago. I’m not entirely sure how good the facts are - in fact, I’m pretty sure the budget one is wrong, and I’ve added the correct numbers at the bottom.
*The average bride is 25.3 years old.
*The average groom is 26.9 years old.
*The average number of guests is 178.
*99 percent of newlyweds take a honeymoon.
*Approximately 75% of those married lived together first.
*The average budget is $20,000.
It looks like we’re pretty much the average. :/
*I will be slightly older than the average bride, as I will have just turned 26 a week before our wedding!
Blocking The Block
November 28th, 2007 @ 5:06 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Last month my MOH and sister were home from college for fall break, so I decided to go home for a couple of days. While at home, I decided to check out the new hotel that opened in my hometown since we’re considering blocking off rooms here for our wedding guests. The Hampton Inn and Suites opened just this summer and has a big sign out in front of it to come in and take a tour. So, that’s just what I did.
The lobby
Queen & Co.
November 28th, 2007 @ 1:35 pm by Mrs. Toucan
After searching around for some holiday ribbon, I came across Queen & Co. self-adhesive felt ribbon.
Christmas Crafting
November 27th, 2007 @ 8:24 am by Mrs. Toucan
Christmas crafts are my absolute favorite! So this weekend, I took a break from wedding planning to make Christmas decorations and goodies for our apartment. Here’s what I made:
Candy cane reindeer, Poinsettia Trees
I Must Be On A Jewelry Kick…
November 26th, 2007 @ 10:27 am by Mrs. Toucan
…which is weird, because I don’t wear much jewelry.
Last week, I talked about renting jewelry. Today, I’m going to talk about getting jewelry “cheap” (I should say cheap-ER). I’m a frequent Overstock.com “window-shopper.” I think I’ve only bought something from there once (and it happened to be pearl earrings for my mom).
Pearls and diamonds tend to be the favored jewelry when it comes to weddings, as well as my own personal favorite. However, like most people, I have a certain uneasiness when it comes to purchasing jewelry online.
So, here’s some of what I found while researching pearls.
1. There are many types of pearls. Here, I’ve grouped them by what American Pearl considers “investment” and “non-investment” (or I like to call “expensive” and “less expensive”).
Something Borrowed?
November 21st, 2007 @ 4:56 pm by Mrs. Toucan
A little while ago, I was reading Darcy Miller’s blog about how the Today Show bride, Jessica, got to borrow jewelry from Tiffany’s!
Jewelers are alway dying to let celebrities to wear their jewelry, and they lend it out to them all the time for big award events. But, how about for us mere mortals? I was curious. I scoured the internet looking for rental jewelry.
Here is what I found.
OldCities.com sells antique and estate jewelry, but also gives customers the option to borrow the jewelry. Customers pay for the full value of the piece, and upon return, OldCities refunds all but $100. The $100 covers the rental cost as well as FedEx insured shipping both ways. Additionally, this system allows you to keep the jewelry if you find it too hard to return (you obviously don’t get refunded if you keep it). At a $100 rental fee, I think it’s only worth it for the more expensive jewelry (but then again, you do have to front the cost initially). Here are some goodies from the site.
Solid 14K Yellow Gold Emerald Bead Necklace
How Long Is Too Long?
November 20th, 2007 @ 1:53 pm by Mrs. Toucan
One of our biggest issues to date has been the time between our ceremony and our reception. Since we are having a Catholic ceremony, the latest start time for the ceremony at the church is 4.5 hours before our banquet dinner. As guests at a wedding a few months ago, Mr. Toucan and I didn’t enjoy having nothing to do for about 3 hours, so we didn’t want to do the same thing to our guests.
So, what to do?
Our tentative solution so far:
1. Since only Mr. Toucan is Catholic, and I am not, we will not be having a full Catholic mass. We will try to convince the church to hold our ceremony half an hour later, since our ceremony will be shorter.
2. Have a receiving line
3. We will ask our guests to stick around the church for some group photos.
4. We will hold our tea ceremony at the restaurant 2 hours before the banquet and invite guests to come watch if they would like, plus
5. Hold a cocktail hour 1 hour prior to the banquet, and hire cocktail musicians to entertain the guests.
Short Centerpieces
November 16th, 2007 @ 5:53 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I love, love, love tall centerpieces. They decorate any room so dramatically. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be getting them. My uncle will be shipping them from China, so most likely, I can’t have 30 centerpieces, each 25+ inches tall shipped very feasibly. So… it’s back to the drawing board.
Short centerpiece inspiration (click to enlarge):
