Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
This past weekend I flew back to Georgia to spend a weekend with my mom, brothers, and my grandparents. In all the crazy hustle and bustle of last-minute wedding planning (24 days and counting, gah!), it was nice to get away from the stress for a bit and reconnect with family.
While I was home there was a lot of wedding talk of course, which spurred my mom to pull out some of her own wedding stuff. As soon as I saw her veil and headpiece in the dress box, I couldn’t resist trying it on.
Here’s my beautiful mother wearing her veil over thirty years ago.
And here I am—proving that this look was much better on her than it is on me. Read more…
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
In ways large and small, and ways that I don’t even know yet, marriage will change a lot about our relationship because of the meaning it holds both for us and for other people. I have been a staunch advocate of marriage equality for as long as I can remember, but being on the verge of marriage myself really illuminates all the ways that marriage is different from a civil union. Those changes I referenced in my last post, well, I’m not sure if or when they would’ve happened if Mr. FW and I weren’t getting married.
It seems to me that people have been viewing us differently since we got engaged, and I think it’s because they know what a marriage is, they know what it means, and they know how to relate to it. It’s not like we didn’t have a serious relationship before, because we did. But our relationship looks somehow more significant to people now, and thus they react to it differently. Like everyone else, we had the option of entering into a civil union or domestic partnership earlier in our relationship, but we wanted to get married. And marriage is not the same as a civil union or a domestic partnership. The proof of this is that even heterosexual couples avail themselves of these options in order to, say, take advantage of their partner’s health insurance benefits, and they can do so prior to the point where they feel “ready” to get married. For me personally it sometimes feels like civil unions and domestic partnerships are talked about as if they are “wedding light.” I don’t necessarily see it that way, and I’m sure queer couples (who enter into those arrangements because they’re the closest they can currently get to marriage) don’t see it that way, but to me it’s pretty clear that marriage is more than just the act of two people legally entangling themselves with one another Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
After a roller-coaster ride of making a hair and makeup artist decision, I’ve finally found the woman who will be making me up on the day of the wedding. Despite some previously unfortunate circumstances on the glamour front, and having not budgeted any money for my day-of hair and makeup, I was left in quite the predicament. Thankfully, I have the most amazing family in the world, and my parents graciously offered to pay for my dream vendor! A winning situation? I think, YES!
Anyway, enough jibber-jabber. Let’s get on to the good stuffs.
Last week, I met with the lovely Susie Cee for a hair and makeup trial, and boy was I blown away! From the moment I sat down, I knew I was in good hands and knew that the unexpected investment would be totally worth my parents’ money.
What I typically look like without makeup:
Mr. Seal and me after completing Bay-to-Breakers in SF this past May
Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t show you what I looked like “before makeup” on the actual day of the trial, and I will gladly explain. The only picture taken of me without makeup that day was by Susie…and it was right after I got my eyebrows waxed. When I showed the picture she sent me to the Sealman, he (no joke) laughed for a full minute. Anyway, I’ll let you see the picture below, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of that photo being on the FRONT page of the blog for all to see and laugh at…because I totally look terrifying.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Almost a year ago now, as I was preparing the Thanksgiving meal we would share with Mr. FW’s parents, I became aware that I was spending time reflecting on relationships and family—more specifically, how relationships shape how we define family. I had been casually referring to Mr. FW’s family as “my in-laws” for a while, probably since the time everyone started taking for granted that I would be included in his family functions. Last year though, as I was about to tell someone, “We’re having Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws,” I stopped myself from using that term, instead changing it to “dinner with Mr. FW’s parents.” In that split second I recall thinking that they would be my legitimate in-laws in less than a year, so I should reserve that term for the time after we’re officially married.
The phrase ricocheted around in my mind for a second longer than it should have before I realized why it felt so uncomfortable.
We spent the majority of our relationship knowing that “officially married” is something we couldn’t have. Read more…
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
After this wedding, I’m pretty sure I’ll never want to create any sort of signage/labels/tags ever again. Because let me tell ya, our guests are going to be the most fully-informed, non-confused, wedding guests ever. As things have gotten down to the wire we decided to nix a few of the signs on our list because, in all of our wedding brain craziness, we came to our senses and realized our guests could probably figure some stuff out on their own (like, say, where the bathrooms are or how in the world to navigate the fifteen feet between the elevators and the ceremony space).
There were some signs that were always non-negotiable for us though, and those were the ones that were meant to be functional while also adding some crucial design flare (and, let’s be honest here, that would make for some incredibly cool detail shots). Labels for the dessert buffet and the candy buffet definitely fell into that category.
As is probably true with all good design, these little devils look much more beautifully simplistic than they actually were to create. Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Welp, kids…the Sealman and I officially applied for our marriage license and, I’ve gotta say, it was exciting.
We began the day by finishing up the very last of our church paperwork and—despite an onslaught of relentless rain—decided to take care of our license, too.
At our local parish waiting for our letter of permission to get married in San Francisco.
(Don’t mind my hair—we had just taken refuge from the torrential downpour outside. Mr. Seal was mocking me, but the joke is on him because I’ve just shared his goof-face with the world wide webzzz.)
Thankfully the town in which Mr. Seal and I live also happens to serve as the county seat, so we didn’t have to travel too far in the storm to take care of our soon-to-be-married business.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Having decided to get married on a Friday at the top of the city, and being two people who are completely mesmerized by the city lights, Mr. FW and I didn’t even have to talk with one another about what time of day to have our ceremony. We knew it would be an evening ceremony, after work and after sunset. We were even more sure about this when we visited our site last November to take some pictures of the space after dark. On that night, it was jet black outside—a completely cloudless and fogless evening, and there was the most incredible full moon visible through the windows of our ceremony space. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have photographic documentation of that, so you’ll just have to believe me that it was gorgeous.
In order to be absolutely certain about the lighting conditions on our wedding day, I consulted http://www.timeanddate.com/ to get the lowdown on sundown for November 11, 2011 in San Francisco.
At this point you may be thinking what I was thinking: “What’s the difference between astronomical, nautical, and civil twilight, what do they have to do with sunset, and how do they impact my wedding?” Well folks, I’m here to answer that question for you in as brief and painless a way as possible. And I promise that, if you’re having an evening wedding or an early morning, you docare about this information.. Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Apparently the theme of my posts lately is “Ms. FW brags about Mr. FW’s amazingness.” So to continue with that theme, I’d like to tell you about how instrumental Mr. FW was in creating our super-fun rehearsal-dinner invites. It started when we were both standing in line at Michaels (so we could have two separate transactions and thus use two separate 40%-off coupons—obvs) and he wandered over to the one-dollar bargain section, where he picked up the cutest little silverware-set rubber stamp. He suggested that it might be nice to emboss this little knife, fork, and spoon design onto the back of whatever rehearsal-dinner invite we chose. Of course I was all for that, so we snapped up the stamp and then went looking for a coordinating invite.
We fell in love with this design from Invitation Consultants. (FYI…we were really happy with the quality of these invites. The paper has a slight sheen to it that feels very luxe, and they are printed in color on both sides. Also awesome was that we snagged a $10-off coupon from Retail Me Not!)
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Well, we’re in the final countdown. (You have permission to hum the song if you’d like.) On top of life being completely crazy right now, I am totally suffering from “I don’t wanna do nothin’ wedding-related” syndrome. Don’t think it exists!? GOOGLE IT, PEOPLE.
Apparently it happens all the time. Basically this means that, despite actually needing to hunker down and get stuff done, I just plain don’t want to. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying the (unfortunately light) trickle of RSVPs, I think it just means that I am absolutely ready to be married and done with doin’ stuff. I honestly never thought I’d be affected! Not me. I loved being engaged. I looked forward to writing vendor emails and sending in deposits and payments (sick, I know).
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
I am so flippin’ excited that we’re going to have a photo booth at our wedding! And yeah, I know it’s one of those things that’s been done everywhere at this point, but I honestly don’t care about that in the slightest. The idea of giving our guests a fun, non-dancing activity during our reception is totally worth it to me. (Not that we don’t want people to dance, of course. We just want them to have options.) Our photo-booth package includes a box of props, which is great because it means we don’t have to raid the Halloween stores on November first to find our own (although that did sound kinda fun). But we still wanted to find a way to personalize things just a bit.
I’d seen pictures of those awesome chalkboard speech bubbles, and I thought that might be our answer. But when I talked to Mr. FW about it he seemed concerned. It’s not that he thought it was a bad idea, no no. He just thought it would make me freak out to be near chalkboards on our wedding day. See…I have a bit of a chalk phobia. For realz, just typing out the word “chalk” makes me shiver. I can’t stand anything about it—the way it feels in your hand, the way it sounds when you’re writing with it, the dust it creates when you erase it. Ugh…seriously, it’s a problem.
So Mr. FW went searching for alternatives, and he discovered the ingeniousness of white-board contact paper. Yep, it’s contact paper that you can write on with dry-erase markers. You can probably purchase it a lot of places, but we’re online people so we bought ours on Amazon.
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
The Sealman and I have decided to exchange gifts on the morning of the wedding. Initially, I was against the idea—we were having a big, pretty wedding and get to spend the rest of our lives together, what more do we need? But then I saw a gift that I really, really wanted to get him and decided it was only fair to afford him the opportunity to do the same.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Last night I came home after a long day at work and I headed to the kitchen to get some water. I mindlessly opened the fridge, and this is the scene that greeted me. (Please, oh please, read on past the picture because this is seriously hilarious.)
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
The RSVPs have started to trickle in, which tells me that it’s finally time to reveal the Ferris Wheel invitations to the world. Are you as excited as I am? Oooh, I certainly hope so! Truth be told, every single step of creating these little lovelies—design, production, and packaging—was unimaginably time-consuming. The process involved unanticipated material costs, social isolation, lack of sleep, a ridiculous amount of mistake corrections, and at least one or two probably unnecessary freak-outs (”Oh no, I think I hate them. Do I hate them? Should I hate them? Will other people hate them? Maybe we should start over from the beginning. Agh!”). But, BUT… At the end of all that, thankfully we adore the outcome! That would be enough on its own, but we’ve heard from at least a few people that they love them too, and somehow that makes it all worth it.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Now that I’ve confessed to my one and only princessy bridal moment, it’s time to put that into some context for you. My musical ear is pretty finely tuned, so I was super picky when it came to ceremony music—not just what songs we chose but how those songs would fit together to set the stage for our celebration. I wanted them to create a mood, to flow from one to the other in a sensible and meaningful way. I guess you could say that I wanted to create something of a soundtrack for our ceremony that was reflective of both our personalities as well as the significance of the occasion.
This was another one of those times where not being tied down to any traditional or venue-imposed ceremony music “rules” was both a blessing and a curse. We had to figure out our own preferences (lyrics vs. instrumental, contemporary vs. classic, edit songs ourselves or play from the beginning) in order to narrow down an incredibly vast world of music. Mr. FW and I pretty quickly agreed on a few songs we liked, but finding the perfect arrangements took me for-freakin’-ever. In fact I almost abandoned the project on several occasions because I couldn’t find a useable copy of something, or the arrangements of two songs were each beautiful but didn’t work well together, etc. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
After over a year of searching, I’ve found a wedding band to pair with my engagement ring.
