: On Wedding Planning :: Part 2 :

Fun, Comfortable, Simple. These were the elements we were trying to achieve at our wedding. Sometimes it was hard not to get carried away with all the fun things we could do, and remember to keep it simple. Fun vs. Simple. It's a fine line. We didn't want our wedding to be so simple that there was nothing special about it, but we didn't want to get so carried away with customizing that we didn't enjoy the whole process (and the actual event!)

Once we got a venue, everything else would fall into place.

I really thought that was true and to a certain extent, it was. We knocked out a lot of other vendors by having only one location and by selecting a location that has a built in "restaurant." The Highland Country Club was our wedding location, reception location and caterer, and they were even providing centerpieces. They provided everything we needed to have a swell party.

There were still other things we needed to turn our party into a wedding though. Looking back I think our vendor selection process helped keep things simple. We chose people we trusted to do exactly what we wanted, and then let them do their job. We didn't have to worry about those things anymore - we knew they were in good hands.

Photography was important to us. I wanted beautiful, artistic photographs that caught all the special moments of our wedding, and Seth recognized that it was important to document the occasion "for posterity." Enter Varland Photography. Varland Photography was started by two of my high school friends who are now married. I've been following their blog since they started, and I've always loved what they do. They tend to document weddings as photo-journalists, taking pictures of things as they happen. Because of that I think their pictures have less of a formal, stiff and posed attitude. They are natural. They are comfortable. They are fun. (They will still do posed traditional shots, but don't limit themselves!)
They are perfect. They are amazing. Hiring them was the very first thing I did, and then I didn't worry about pictures until the day after the wedding when I wanted to see them all right away!

The second thing I did was to ask my amazing brother to design our invitations. Paul is a master designer. Perhaps it's just because great-minds-think-alike, but everything he designs I look at and think it could not possibly be more perfect. I've always been jealous of people who get websites, business cards, or whatever - anything designed by Paul. At the Car-Part training conference last year I received a name tag designed by Paul. It is still hanging in my office and I smile when I look at it. I've never seen such a perfect name tag!

So obviously, here was my big chance. Paul said he would be honored. I didn't realize at the time how much pressure designing perfect invitations for your sister's wedding might be. I told Paul I thought the invitations could maybe represent travel or adventure, something about a postcard, but he could do whatever he wanted. He said I should at least give him the words to use!

So I "hired" Paul and forgot about invitations.

Seth and I decided to have a secular wedding ceremony with a few Jewish traditions thrown in here and there. We asked my uncle Bill if he would marry us. He said he'd be honored. He said he'd send us a sample ceremony and we could get back to him on whether we wanted to change it or not. I was really glad that Bill was going to marry us. It made the whole thing more special.

Next up, the florist. DUN-Dun-dun.
I had no idea what kind of flowers I wanted. I had all sorts of contradictory ideas floating around in my head. Indecision led to reluctance, and I did not want to commit to a florist. "Can't we just get flowers and put our own bouquets together?" I kept saying. This time it was mom who stepped in. "Do you really want to be putting flowers together the morning of your wedding?" she asked - hinting strongly that of course I didn't want to be putting flowers together the morning of my wedding.
"Maybe we could do it the night before, at the rehearsal-dinner-afterparty?" I suggested.
"You want to be putting flowers together while everyone else is having a good time?"
"Putting flowers together doesn't exclude me from having a good time!" I argued, "we can all be putting our flowers together, and its not like people will shun us because we are making bouquets..."

I was going to be stubborn on this one. I really didn't feel like calling florists.

In December, I started to worry again. I had flimsily suggested that Paul have some kind of draft maybe by the end of October so that we could order the invitations in December and mail them in January. It was December and I hadn't heard anything. In January we went to New York and I made him bring his computer. I told him he couldn't go to any shows unless the invitations were done. He went to shows both nights we were there, but the invitations weren't done.

I told him he should work on them all the way home. That didn't happen.

He had a business trip the next weekend, and I told him to work on them in the hotel at night. I don't think that happened, but a week or two later, at last he emailed me the first draft. It was 11 at night and I looked at them on my phone. "I love them!!" We changed a few small things and ordered them. I sent a sample to Mom, who noticed a typo. A pit formed in my stomach and I called Paul. Paul called the printer to halt the presses, and sent them a new file just in the nik of time. We ordered expedited shipping.

I had ordered the envelopes ahead of time and had them all stamped and addressed so that when the invitations came I could just stuff-and-send.
BAM!
Invitations done. Thanks Paul! They were just perfect!

 

By the beginning of February the invitations were taken care of and Mom started asking about the florist again. I was still reluctant. I felt like I had been spending lots of money lately and still didn't know what kind of flowers I wanted.

Finally, she said she'd heard good things about Ft. Thomas Florist, and asked if she could please call them.
"OK."

In a few minutes it was all dealt with. We put a deposit down and had a meeting scheduled for when I would be in town. That was pretty relieving, but I still didn't know what I wanted. I emailed my bridesmaids and asked what THEY wanted  - afterall, most of the flowers were for them! Anne emailed back with a series of BEAUTIFUL pictures of different bridesmaids' bouquets and bridal bouquets. They were so pretty! All of a sudden, I was excited about flowers. I scoured the internet for more pictures and put my favorites into a document I printed out to bring to the florist. Even the day of the meeting I wasn't sure what I wanted. There were so many variations! Which direction should I go in? - there were bright colorful wildflower bouquets, mono-color bouquets, faded color bouquets, different styles and shapes of bouquets ... the only thing I knew was that I wanted the bouquets to look like spring flowers  you could have gone out and picked in a field. Or in a garden. Or something. Spring flowers. They had to be right for the season.

I talked to Kelly at lunch and we decided that for the bridesmaids I'd show her two pictures of bright beautiful wildflowers. I still didn't know what I wanted for my own bouquet. These are the bridesmaid pictures:

When Mom and I got to the florist, I showed her the two I wanted the bridesmaids' based on, and then, to my surprise, it became perfectly clear which one I wanted mine to be. It was the prettiest, afterall, and Anne's email had reminded me that I do like pretty things. This is the one I showed her for mine:

She took the pictures downstairs and put together a sample bridesmaid bouquet. Perfection. Mom said my face lit up when she walked back in. It was so perfect that we didn't make her put a sample of my bouquet together - she obviously knew exactly what we wanted. I knew the flowers were in good hands. (Thanks Mom!)
Boom! Flowers done!

I really wanted to make the cake myself. Seth and Mom didn't think I knew what I was getting myself into and said I would have plenty of other things to do the week before the wedding. (I couldn't fathom what else I might be doing, and they could only reply with "stuff.") Anne has always been great at baking things, and she made the cake for her brother's wedding, so I asked her if she would help me make mine. She said that sounded like great fun and we swapped a few pictures. Based on the pictures she sent me, I knew she knew.

We kept making plans to go to cake supply stores and make practice cakes, but they kept falling through. Anne eventually took the initiative and ordered everything she'd need to make the cake. She graciously made a practice cake, selected the perfect picture to base it off of, then painstakingly made the real cake and brought it to the country club the morning of the wedding. She took care of everything. It was beautiful. It was delicious! (It was delovely!) Thanks Anne! I don't think I could have gotten a more perfect cake anywhere in the world.

But wait! Cake was not our only dessert option! Cindy took on the task of organizing a whole dessert table! This falls into the comfortable and fun categories. She made cupcakes and jello and chocolate covered strawberries, and my aunt Laura made some delicious amazing chocolate pecan pies, and my aunt Julie made a delightful cherry supreme! Anne of course, made the cake.

The dessert table was a raging success. It was situated in between the bar and the dining room, so everyone saw it while they were getting drinks, and everyone made a beeline for it as soon as they were done eating. There was a huuuge line. Thanks Cindy, Anne, Laura and Julie, for your delicious desserts!

Music has always been a big part of my life. Mom's family is very musical and we would get together occasionally for the sole purpose of singing and playing together. Mom plays flute and piano at weddings professionally, so she was obviously interested in obsessed with my music. The problem - again - was that I didn't know what I wanted. Again - Mom didn't let my lack of ideas stop her. She put herself in charge of music and sent me a few sample songs online. They were perfect! They were beautiful Jewish songs and I loved them. She wrote the music out for the instruments we had available, asked family members to play and held rehearsals to make sure everyone was practicing. Is it obvious that she does this professionally?

We opened up the prelude section and asked for volunteers to do solos or duets. Then Mom had the grand idea for the very last prelude song - to have all my Lander aunts singing "For the Beauty of the Earth." They threw it together at the very last minute and it was extraordinarily beautiful. It was the only prelude song that I heard since it was right before our big entrance. Thanks Mom, Laura, Julie, Alex, Carolyn, and Nick, for your beautious music!

For the reception music I put together a playlist and The Frankl Project provided speakers and Jake, who did a fantastic job overseeing the whole evening. Seth didn't stop me from putting the playlist together, it was relatively stress free and I started working on it immediately. Between February and April I only made minor tweaks to song order, with a few adds and deletes here and there. It was done way ahead of time. Thank you Jake!! You were the greatest!

So far even though I haven't had to do a lot myself, my family and friends have been making major contributions. Our wedding was definitely a group effort, which allowed us - I think - to keep things simple and fun - and unique - all at the same time. The only thing I actually took on myself was figuring out how to let guests know which tables to sit at and let the servers know who got what for dinner.

I had been discussing ideas with Jody, the wedding expert, and she said that the more clear it is to guests what they are supposed to do, the smoother things flow and the happier the guests are. Ideas were circling in my head like vultures. Place cards, escort cards, seating boards...

Sometime in January I had this vision of travel posters from the 20s and 30s. Stylish, Art Deco - the golden age of adventure when far off places were still exotic and mysterious (and far off). It came to me as a complete idea (unlike that last "sentence"). Each table would have a different poster, and each guest would be assigned to a "destination." I would make a train station style departure board to get people to their table, and each place would have a "ticket stub" style place card.
Bing! Done. (sort of)

That's all for Part 2! I've delegated everything I could and kept one pet project for myself. I know everything else is taken care of and my brain is filled with images of destinations portrayed in fabulous art-deco glory. Google Image Search Results for "vintage train station departure boards" play like a slideshow in my brain.

It's two weeks 'til the wedding. I've kissed Seth goodbye and I'm racing towards Kentucky, the reception playlist playing over and over in the background. Winter turns to spring and here I am! Hugging Mom hello and formulating the first of many to-do lists over a glass of wine.

Seth vs. KTM

We interupt this regular scheduled programming to bring you an important story about a boy and his motorcycle.

At the Sandblast Rally in South Carolina Seth's bike always gets filthy dirty. Covered in sand-clay-dirt-mud, it arrives back to snowy Vermont in no season for a bath. For the remainder of winter it sits, wallowing in grime in the dank dark basement. Occasionally Seth looks down and sighs wistfully, wishing he could give his beloved a good scrub.

This year, as soon as the first sunny day came Seth was out giving his baby a bath. He's been washing it over and over, trying to get it clean, slowly taking layer after layer off, cleaning every piece. While it's all taken apart, he's been working on it, preparing it for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in June. Today he was cleaning out the carburetor, bringing it up to the bathroom sink piece by piece and cleaning them all out. For some reason the sink is a little clogged up now - there are rings of oil around the sides where the black water pooled in the bowl. Gross. I have to admit that I find an oily bathroom sink pretty annoying. That'll need to be cleaned up post haste.

Anyway, this afternoon when we discovered there was no food left in the house and we were both starving, we decided we would need to go shopping. There is a bike (bicycle) fest going on in Barre, and we've been thinking of going all weekend, but Seth just had too much work to get done on the bike! So, since we had to go out anyway, we thought it would be fun to ride the motorcycles down to the bike fest, and then go "motorcycle shopping." Seth put his bike back together in record time, I got mine out and started it up. Seth brought his outside and pressed the start. "wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE pupupuPOP puPOP puPOP POP pupPRRrrrrrrrrrrrr."

silence.

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

I had been getting my boots on but I went downstairs. "What's wrong?" I asked. There was a puddle of brown liquid on the floor.

For whatever reason the bike had spewed rusty water onto the ground when it almost got started, and now it wouldn't start again. Seth was beside himself. "What's wrong with you???" he moaned.

He tried a few more times to no avail. He thought the water came out of the exhaust pipe, so we took the exhaust off to see if there was any water in it. There wasn't. We put it back on. We found a tiny hairline crack near the muffler, and decided to blame it for the strange and poppy sound when it did start the one time. We decided it wasn't starting because it's temperamental and never likes to start at the beginning of the season. We didn't really know what to do, so we put my starts-right-up-every-time-BMW away and took the car to the store and made dinner.

Seth sulked. His favorite toy was broken, and he didn't know how to fix it.

When we were done eating he got up, heaved a sigh and said "well, I guess I'll go take the exhaust off so I can bring it to the shop tomorrow." He was hoping the shop would be able to reweld the crack and he wouldn't have to buy a whole new exhaust system.

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

I finished up the dishes and went downstairs. I found Seth outside with the bike. He had taken the spark plug out and discovered that the bike was running too rich. It wasn't getting enough air? Or...there was water in the engine?? So, he decided he would try to bump start it. (?) Luckily we live on top of a huge hill, so this isn't a problem. He pulled in the clutch and started rolling down the driveway. When he got to the road he let it go and "baBAM poPOP poPOP poPOP po po po POP POP va vaROOOM vaROOM VVROOOOM" and he was off! As soon as he disappeared down the road, I heard the engine cut out.

I put Thunder inside so that I could walk down the road and see if he needed anything. By the time I got back to the basement door to start down the hill, I heard his engine start up again at the bottom of the hill! (His motorcycle is pretty loud, I can hear it all over our fine hill. I'm sure our neighbors hate us.) I jumped up on the retaining wall so that I could see the road better, and saw Seth FLYING past, his shirt billowing in the wind as he came back up the hill, a devilish grin on his face. I felt like jumping up and down and cheering, arms over my head - Hoorrraaayy! It works!

When he got back a few minutes later, he smiled and said "Well I don't know what it was ..."

"...I guess you blew it out, huh?" I finished. He smiled.

My bike may start-right-up-every-time, but it's certainly not nearly as exciting.
And now I have to go clean the bathroom.

: On Wedding Planning :: Part 1 :

The first, last, and perhaps only lesson I learned from planning a wedding is - if you can't do it (way) ahead of time, don't do it yourself. I learned this lesson from my darling fiance who, while everyone else was saying "whatever you want," was saying "is that really what you want to be doing the day before the wedding?"

Seth keeps me grounded. That's why I married him.

We decided right away that our main goals for our wedding were for things to be simple, comfortable, and fun. My first goal was to figure out where we would be wed. After that, I thought, everything else would fall into place.

Seth and I spent many lingering July twilights staring up at the layers of leaves in our tree, discussing scenarios, options, and hashing out where we would have our wedding. Our first thought was to have it at Seth's Dad's house. It would be comfortable and it would be SO fun! But as I let Seth in on my vision for this stay-at-home-wedding ...

...every room could have a different theme! All the food could be buffet style in the kitchen with tables throughout the house and a tent in the lawn! And a tent on the patio! There could be so many places for things to be going on! People could gather in small groups! It could FEEL like a small wedding even though its a huuge wedding! We could have croquet! The whole third floor could be where the kids hang out, we could decorate it like UP! and have Pixar movies for them to watch! And popcorn! We could make little lanterns for each table! We could...

..."Do you really want to spend the day before the wedding making lanterns, decorating my dad's house, setting up tents and tables and speakers? Do you really want to make everyone we know come over to help us blow up hundreds of balloons the morning of the wedding so the kids can pretend the house is flying away?"

Comfortable and fun - yes - but not simple. We got rid of that idea.

Then I began frantically searching the internet for places in Kentucky and Cincinnati where you can get married and have a reception. SO MANY OPTIONS! There were so many options! Some I nixed because of price, some I nixed because the carpet was ugly, some I nixed because they had drop tile ceilings, some I nixed because they had no windows. (I admit that I am a complete snob when it comes to decor.) Some Dad nixed because no one should have to drive more than an hour to get to my wedding. (Although by that logic I probably should have been looking for a place in Middletown.) In the end I had about three or four viable options. Even so, all these locations were spinning around in my head with their attributes, lack of attributes, menu options, price ranges, seating capacity, rental cost, rules, candle policies, availability...

At the very end of July and the beginning of August I was home for the big Car-Part Training event. There was a lot going on at work, and I had so many things to do after work! My to-do list involved getting a hall, getting a caterer, getting a florist, getting everyone you are supposed to get ahead of time, looking at dresses, looking at bridesmaids dresses, mothers dresses... Mom and I finally made plans to go see a hall on Wednesday, and Dad and Cindy were going to come too. When we got there it was pretty awesome, but we quickly realized it couldn't even hold all the Schroders. (Why they list 200 as their maximum capacity I will never know.) As this realization slowly sank in, all the other locations and their many attributes began spinning again. My brain was on the brink of a chaotic expulsion of hullabaloo, when the lady showing us around said that they had just made a deal with the Highland Country Club, and they were having a special hugely discounted price if you booked in July, and she could take us there right now!

We walked in to the Highland Country Club and were greeted by Dan, the manager, with a huge smile, a handshake and glasses of water, or coke, or anything we wanted. They showed us around and we asked questions. "Oh sure, of course." "Oh yea, we do that all the time." "Oh, you know, the dining room is basically a wall of windows looking out over the sunset." "Oh - and did we mention you can use our glass hurricane centerpieces for a total of $50 extra dollars?"

I think maybe my brain did expel the hullabaloo. This was easy. This seemed fun. They have two fireplaces. (In my brain that means they are automatically comfortable.)

This picture, incidentally, is what I see when I look into my engagement ring.
This picture is what flashes in my head when everything is right and beautiful in the world.

So now we have a venue, and everything else is going to fall into place!

The Dress.
My wonderful and talented aunt Lana generously offered to make my dress for me. This was such a huge relief, since I am never able to find dresses I like that fit me well and look good on me. The first step towards Lana making my dress was to go try on dresses and get a feel for what I wanted, what looked good on me, the different fabrics, what can be done, etc. We went and tried on dresses. The only way to make the thought of trying on expensive uncomfortable dresses bearable to this ragamuffin hillbilly was to surround myself with people who looove dresses, and love me too. I asked the lady at the store if there was a limit on the number of people I could bring with me. She said there wasn't really, but I should keep in mind that the more people came, the more opinions there would be, and the harder it would be for me. I didn't tell her that she was full of malarkey, we weren't planning on finding a dress to buy, that I needed as many people as possible to tell me  her dresses weren't ugly, and that she probably shouldn't let me touch her pretty white expensive dresses in the first place.

I didn't tell her any of that, and brought an entourage of 2 moms, 1 aunt, 3 cousins and my reluctant self. If I had known at the time that Paul was going to be my maid of honor I would have made him come too.

Mom, obviously, provided lots of emotional support, and has lots of experience deciding whether things look good on me or not. (And honestly telling me when they don't.)
Cindy is really great at making me feel good about myself no matter what.
Lana is an expert at her craft, and knew how we could recreate all the dresses I tried on. (And what fabrics they were made out of, so that when I said things like "I like how this does this," she knew what I meant. I think.)
Jody is a wedding expert and knows everything there is to know about what's fashionable and what looks good. She's also already planned her own spectacular wedding and knows what's up.
Anne is a combination of Lana and Jody, and loves pretty things. She always reminds me that I like pretty things too, and that sometimes it can be fun to dress up. Anne also has already planned her own spectacular wedding, and also knows what's up.
Julie makes every event fun no matter how horrifying or dull it could be. Always smiling, always laughing, always a gleam in her eye!

These were all very important people to have with me. The whole event turned out to be quite diverting.
"I like how this one goes whoooooosh."
"I like how this one fits like this here and like that there."
"I like the sash I guess?"
"I like how this one goes whooo! in the back."
"I loove the lace on this one, but its scratchy. We shouldn't have lace anywhere on the bodice or it will be too scratchy."

"You're taking bridal comfort to a whole new level!" Jody teased.

Finally we decided we had to stop and let Anne and Julie try dresses on. That was way more fun.

Oh! Remember the Car-Part Training Conference? That's the whole reason I'm in town. During the different talks and presentations, I spent my time drawing different dress designs, front and back, on the notepaper that was (conveniently) provided. I had two main designs going on, and they were pretty similar. Later we went to Lana's and I showed her my drawings and we talked about materials, looked at Grandma, Jody and Anne's dresses, talked about different shades of white, different levels of glossiness, weight, thickness...all sorts of things I'd never thought about before. We determined a neckline, a skirt and a basic idea of what the front and back would look like. I already knew it was going to be a thousand times prettier than anything I'd seen at the store!

When I was back in Vermont Lana sent me samples of some fabric and some lace. I was so excited! I opened the package and showed it all to Seth. Instead of looking at them and giving a verdict, as I thought he would, he rubbed each fabric in between his fingers and got this disgusted look on his face. "That feels terrible!" This was not at all the reaction I was expecting. Feeling. Now different fabrics and their various qualities (including softness) are swirling through my brain.

Anne suggested that we all meet in New York City in order to find my fabric. What fun! That sounded SO exciting! We decided to go for it, and got a crew together (my support group) of cousins, Lana and Mom. Anne found a great extended stay apartment style room for us for the whole weekend. We arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday. Lots of fabric stores are closed on Saturday, which meant that we had to find fabric on Friday.

Lana, Anne, Jody, Kelly, and Julie arrived eeeeearly Thursday morning. Mom, Paul and I arrived later in the afternoon. Our drive started out pretty relaxed, and as we got closer and closer to New York City we got more excited to be there and more anxious to get out of the car! When we finally got within sight of the City Paul was driving and Mom was giving him directions. "You need to be in the right lane" "I can't get over this guy won't let me in" "Follow the signs to the Lincoln Tunnel" "This asshole won't let me OVER what do you want me to DO!!!"

Tensions were high.

When we finally made it through the Lincoln Tunnel and emerged into the light on the other side, Paul had to make an immediate left. Old Crow Medicine Show was playing in the cd player and we all realized that the most frantic bluegrass song you've ever heard was playing, and getting louder and louder. "Turn left here!" "WHAT?!?!?!?!" Mom punched the radio knob, silencing the chaos.

We all started cracking up.

We were glad to chill out for a while once we got to the hotel. Paul did so by taking pictures of our amazing view!

Did you know Paul was afraid of heights? Look at those knuckles!

That night we had a delicious sushi dinner. I was forced to pick the restaurant because - "you're the bride!" - so we wandered around for a while before dinner. Luckily when I finally decided to take some initiative and walk into a restaurant it was a pretty good one. After dinner we found the cutest little bakery that makes the tiniest little cupcakes! See! In this picture, Kelly tries to take a normally proportioned bite out of an undersized cupcake.

The next morning, even though there was a snowstorm raging and we had a mission (and poor Anne had a sinus infection), we decided to walk some 70 or 80 blocks to the fashion district. Paul graciously documented our excursion:

We stopped at the Met for a photo-op.

Julie and Kelly are characteristically enthusiastic, even though they are cold-wet-and-miserable.

I am characteristically oblivious that snow might be miserable:

Look! We made it!

Finally we arrived at Mood Fabric...Paul and Julie are so excited!

When we walked in, someone told Julie she shouldn't touch anything since she was obviously soaking wet. She, Kelly and Jody hunkered down by the door while Lana, Anne, Mom and I searched through piles and piles of fabric and Paul went around taking pictures. We found the corner of lace, and started looking at each option. There were so many! And yet, so few that were really viable options. Anne would pull one out and unroll it, and we'd all look at it and say what we liked and didn't like. Lacey designs, sequence and pearls began to spin in my head. How could I choose from all of these?! How could I remember the differences between each one when we moved on!? We decided to start looking at fabric and leave the lace decision for later. Very quickly we found a PERFECT piece of charmeuse (?) in a PERFECT color. We took a sample of it and left for the next store, all excited!

When we got outside we realized that it was actually time for lunch and we were going to have to take a break before everyone starved to death. We spent a long time at lunch, warming up and drying off!

Then we went to Lace Star. They had walls of lace. I had been overwhelmed with the corner of lace at Mood; I had no idea how I was going to decide between all of these laces!

Then, we spotted it. It was a nearly perfect lace. It was very similar to the lace on Anne's wedding dress, which, when I first saw it I had declared the most beautiful lace I had ever seen. We got the swatch out of my pocket and put the lace on top. It was the perfect lace in the pefect color. We gasped. Paul took a picture to document the occasion.

We bought the perfect lace and raced back to Mood to get the perfect fabric. Paul graciously took another picture to document the occasion.

Mom took one too!

After we had the perfect fabric and the perfect lace I felt my brain let go of all the differences between the laces we had looked at, the softness factor, the colors, the weight. I had the perfect fabric and the perfect lace in a bag - which Paul was guarding with his life.

Some other photo highlights from New York:

So now, we have a venue and everything else will fall into place.
We have material for the dress and everything is right in the world.


Except, it's getting awfully close to time to send out the invitations, and Paul hasn't started them yet! Oh no!

: On Engagement :

Last summer.

Seth and I had just returned from our motorcycle adventures in Canada and we were settling nicely back into our summer routine. Nothing was any different than it ever had been, and everything was wonderful. Calm, happy, sunny, warm. Vermont. Summer.

Him. Me.

We cooked dinner and ate in the dining room. (Normally, we eat on the couch watching TV. It seems Seth was not allowed to do this as a child and therefore considers it an act of freedom.) I love eating at the table becasue it is easier to talk, and to enjoy the lingering summer twilight. That night we lingered, speaking of life, philosophy, love.

Seth wanted to know how he was supposed to surprise me with an engagement ring if he didn't know my ring size. He said the jeweler told him they couldn't do much without knowing the size. I wanted to know what he meant by such a question.

He wanted to know if I would marry him, I wanted to know if he was joking.

He wasn't joking.

A smile spread across my face and filled my soul. Nothing was really different than it had ever been, but everything was even more wonderful than ever.