weddingrisk

I’ve had a few ideas about the wedding, but oh no you don’t mister, not on my special day. Seriously? Any one of these things would be totally kick-ass

• beer fountain
• side-boob wedding dress
• donut pile (thanks, Dan!)
• borderline obscene garter toss
• klutzy best man
• x-rated cake topper
• pug-dog ring-bearer
• pregnant bride
• hipster wedding (WTF RE FNGRBNGNG 5TH ROW FRM BTM????)

As most of you know, I’m a big Craigslist proponent.  Bargain hunting is in my genes and Craigslist offers an opportunity for both bargains and vicarious forays into other people’s taste which appeals to my spying inclinations.  It runs in the family - my mother also loves Craigslist and sends me myriad emails about cute animals for adoption despite my protests.

While I was visiting my parents’ house over Christmas, I was perusing Craigslist and came across a listing for 6 place settings of fine china.  Briefly:  I showed my mother (”oh yes, I saw that, I like it”), showed B (”I don’t care about this kind of thing, but I’m not opposed”) emailed the seller, we arranged to meet today in a Panera in Apex, and I am now the somewhat sheepish owner of a partial set of platinum rimmed bone china.

Dear readers:  Are you still breathing?  Laughing?  Rolling your eyes?  Everyone OK?

I don’t really consider either of us “china people.”  I am attached to my cheap Target dishes (not too round, not too square, not too white) and figured that Crate and Barrel was as high-end as we’d venture on the gift registry spectrum.  One of the reasons china has never appealed to me is that it always seemed fussy and staid (totally unfair I realize) like something that would have to be relegated to a cabinet because it would be ridiculous to use it for regular food.  Lots of patterns are just like this - gilded old world plumes of stuffy hell.  But my/our patten is fresh looking.  It’s not totally matchy, and the decoration is  unobtrusive.  And the china itself is really beautiful:  deep, creamy white with a lovely sheen.

The woman who sold it to me, along with throwing in a few extra pieces, advised me to be look on ebay for bargain dishes to add to the collection and I figure we’ll register for separate items (like soup bowls) instead of place settings.  Though in some ways it feels frivolous to begin a china collection in a recession (even one spawned on Craigslist), I think it will be a nice marker of our marriage and a fun tradition to start. And damnit, we’ll eat frozen pizza off our china with pride.

Make with a picture, you say?  Here it is, though I will caution that it is at once more subtle (more gold-toned) and more graphic than it looks in these pictures.  Quite modern…really it’s cool looking…you’ll like it when you see it….  Fine.  Commence with the teasing.

- Martha Stewart

A thousand times yes!

See more on indiebride here

Do you read Chocolate and Zucchini? I am not a foodie (and certainly not a cooking enthusiast, though I maintain that it has a little something to do with my dingy catacomb or a kitchen - sorry, B) but I love, love, love Clotilde , the author who writes so charmingly about her Parisian culinary exploits.

Now I’ve had the good fortune to have found the wedding (and so much more) tonal-equivalent of C&Z in Peonies and Polaroids.

And just look at how lovely:

Image Peonies and Polaroids, of course

Last night I had my first wedding related anxiety dream. It was pretty classic content-wise: The day of the wedding had come and we hadn’t sent out invitations, had no food, no decorations, etc., etc.

It’s finals time, so I think I may be transposing some exam stress onto the still comfortingly far away wedding date.

As a counter, I present this awesomely glamorous (and perhaps a bit ridiculous) birdcage veil (from CastleBride Couture):

I feel better already….

Evidently:

Kate, who has been so involved with this process from the beginning that it appears that she has a sixth sense, sent me an email with the shoes that I’ve been ogling for a few weeks. Jinx! Also, aren’t they wonderful?

The problem is that aside from concerns about heels sinking into the grass, these are prohibitively expensive. Maybe they’ll go on 90% off sale? A girl can hope.

You’ve heard a lot from Mer about gilded truffle forks and rose-scented ring pillows, but now it’s time to hunker down and hear some straight talk from the gut.  You don’t go to the state fair just to observe the ribboned orchids or macrame from yesteryear.  You gotta eat a turkey leg bare-fisted and go on the Zipper with several fried cheese nuggets in your pocket.  That’s how you get the full fair experience.  That’s how you enjoy life.

Kate will back me up here:  I’ve been engaged for a lot longer than Meredith.  The process of designing, creating and refining the ring took about four months.  Worth it, though.  Totally worth it.  It’s a gorgeous ring.  (Meredith accidentally left it on the towel hook the other day so I got a few hours to stare at it like Gollum.)  So, for months of meeting with the ring maker (and enduring the occasional where’s-this’-relationship-going argument) I’ve had wedding on the mind.  When the day arrived, the ring presented and the “yes” released I felt joy but also a certain amount of relief.  “Okay, we can take it easy for a while,” I said to my sweaty shirt and open fly.

This was not to be.

The next day Meredith has me drive us to Borders where she bought a calf-high pile of wedding magazines.  I’ve really got to hand it to her, though.  The reading and the blog browsing and the calling and the talking and the planning has resulted in some very big wedding planning milestones being covered with over a year before the wedding date.  Meredith may claim to be busy with grad school which is why she is blowing everyone off, but you know the real truth:  she’s diligently working towards her MRS.

So yeah, I’ve totally done my part.  Time to kick the feet up and…. what?  Post on the blog?  Son of a–