wedding task wonders: photographer

My friend Anish took this photo at Laura's wedding...maybe he should be my wedding photographer? 

In the first month or so after we got engaged, there was a flurry of lists and plans and emails. I set aside a notebook especially for all my half-thought out notes, most of which can be found written sideways and in a scribbled handwriting that thankfully my journalism experience has taught me to decipher. 

There was the buying of bridal books and magazines, the adding of new blogs to my Reader (under a new category and everything!), and there might have even been a Google Wave titled "Wedding Research" created. I had friends pass on Excel spreadsheets full of venue details and dutifully, John and I took all the 360-degree tours their websites offered.  

And then, in mid-February, we booked the venue. 

And then, the next day rolled around and we stopped thinking about the wedding. 

I mean, ok, I stopped thinking about the wedding. And our wedding, I should italicize, since I had no problem checking out Erica's invitations and helping other friends with their own venue selections—oh, and reading a million articles this one. 

Lots of people have asked for updates, sure, and I just keep feeding the line that we're in the process of looking for photographers and DJs. 

But now it's not just a line anymore. Since we have quite the popular wedding date, I think we need to get on this whole photographer thing, especially since it's pretty much at the top of our list of "Important Wedding Priorities," as determined by that random list we filled out in that wedding planning book. 

Which brings me to my problem: How does one go about finding a good (read: amazing, artsy, absolutely fabulous) East Coast photographer? 

Every blog I read has me falling in love with photographers that are either on the West Coast or in some other part of the country. I know lots of people who have their photographers fly in from somewhere else, but my anxiety has me wondering how it'll be to meet them at the wedding (what if we don't have that much-talked about click?) and what if, as Sabina mentioned, NY lighting isn't nearly as amazing as Southern California lighting? 

We're in the process of putting together a list now, and while we do have some good leads, I figured better to throw it out there and see if anyone else did, too, before I come up with some other wedding-related thing to distract me. 

By the way, have you seen this wedding dress made of cake? 

so, wanna be my bridesmaid?

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about the bridesmaid dinner I hosted a whole two weeks ago. But, it wasn't totally my fault as I had to wait until the gifts I made each of them were safely in the hands of my cross-country bridesmaids. (Although, I guess it sort of was my fault since I waited something like four days after the dinner to actually mail them.) 

But, now, I'm so excited because all 10 girls finally know. Oh and yes,  you read that right—10. We're having ten bridesmaids—and that's just the maids, it's not counting the groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearers, readers etc. etc. that in my mind make up the entire bridal party. At first I thought, wow, that's a big number, but then I realized I have this habit of collecting close friends as I go through life. I've know my maid of honor since kindergarten, half the bridesmaids from high school and the other half since college. Learning to rollerblade, waiting for the ice cream man, throwing a million surprise parties, getting driven by the cops to prom (oh, that deserves a post all its own), surviving Warren Towers, eating at the GSU and drinking in Barbados would never have been the same without them. And with the exception of Jennifer, John's sister—who I'll be spending many holiday dinners with and therefore gets lots of years added to the total by  default—by the time our wedding rolls around next year, I'll have known all of the girls for no less than 10 years each. That seems like a perfect round number, no? 

So two Saturdays ago, I hosted a lovely little dinner in their honor. Since I've been bitten by the prerequisite engagement craft bug, I wanted to make something wherein I would ask each to be in my wedding party. My inspiration came partly from the awesome pieces I saw on Nice Package and partly from this DIY idea on Project Wedding—although I changed it a bit. I found some plain brown boxes and inside I put three pieces of champagne-colored square card stock on top of tissue paper. 

The first card they saw had a small white pouch filled with chocolates on it and it read: "You're so sweet..." 

They lifted up that card and the second had a black picture frame with a photo of us (and other friends) and it read: "And you've been such a good friend, for so many years..." 

Finally, when they lifted up the last one, it read: "That it makes me so happy to ask, Will you be my bridesmaid?" 

I wrapped the whole thing with green ribbon, which is one of the wedding colors. 

The finished boxes looked like this: 

And the end result of them being opened looked like this: 

The whole table, which are in the wedding colors, came together quite nicely. 

Thanks, in part to Karen's vases: 

We started with hummus, cheese and bruschetta and then ate pasta with eggplant and mozzarella, chicken francese, sweet mashed potatoes and peas and mushrooms. Everyone looked happily stuffed at the end, which totally equals success in my world.  

Even though Shannon, Erica and Sabina were too far and too snow-bound to make it, they were totally there in spirit. And overall, I'm just so happy and lucky that I'll have a group of smart, beautiful, talented and amazing girls by my side. 

beyond cut and paste

I've been attempting to spread my "crafty" wings lately. I want to finally graduate from the school of construction paper and pipe cleaners and on to ribbon and gift tags and homemade cupcake wrappers. I'm starting to wonder if this is a symptom of engagement, as it seems everywhere I go I find DIY projects ranging from place card holders made from icing tips to this fun and colorful wedding. 

I'm actually in the midst of working on something now, which I'll hopefully share with you very soon. But a few weeks back, when I was looking to buy some ribbon, I stumbled upon this little shop that sells the prettiest packaging. Plus, it's called Nice Package, which makes it even better. 

I think I am now officially ready to ditch the safety scissors. 

But am I the last one to jump in? Do you like to make/create? 

[Photos via Nice Package] 

Why taking Uggs on my honeymoon might be a good idea

So, did you see the recent New York Times article on the 31 Places to Go in 2010? (If you didn’t, then you may or may not have heard about how pissed M.I.A. was that the newspaper named Sri Lanka number one.) But the article had lots of interesting info on places I never really thought about visiting, like Bahia in Brazil. 

But, the part of the article that most caught my attention was number 9, Antarctica. See, awhile back I came up with a list of things I Must Accomplish in Life. The list ranges from the random (grow my own vegetables) to the slightly profound (publish a book, set up a charity). But overall they’re mostly fun things that I want to do at some point like learn to drive stick shift and to play a musical instrument. One of the most fun things on the list is to visit every continent. Because let’s face it, if you’ve heard me hum, you know I have no beat/rhythm or anything else required to play a musical instrument.

And this is where the Times comes in. Denny Lee writes: “This may be the last year that Antarctica is open to mass tourism — not because the ice is melting too fast (though it is), but because of restrictions that would severely curtail travel around the fragile continent.” The restrictions, the article says, are set to take place in two years.

Now, for some reason, in my mind Antarctica was the last continent on the list to visit. The one where I would be oh say, 60 or so, with an overwhelming desire to cruise and an inability to sit still on a beach for too long. But then I started thinking: Two years…2011…wedding. What about ANTARCTICA for a honeymoon?

Imagine telling people you went to Antarctica on your honeymoon? I wonder if you would meet any friends the way you always hear happens at resorts in Jamaica or Hawaii. “Oh, Jane? Yea, she’s the friend I met while soaking in the sub-zero temperatures on the deck of my Antarctic honeymoon cruise.”

To be fair, there are companies that say they'll have ships ready to sail even after the restrictions—the article mentions one of them. But, c'mon, a parka emblazoned with "Bride" on the back? I might be all over it.