A Royal Wedding

Ok so Prince William and his Fiancé Kate are getting married this fall. Yea! Popular year! Ok I am not a big follower of Royal Family, but I mean I do find it slightly interesting. So I clicked on a Link which was talking about the first Royal visit of the couple after their marriage, partially out of interest and partially because it said it would be to Canada. (Woot Canada!) But some of the comments in the video blew my mind. One of the reporters was stating that the Royal Family and the world media would be closely watching Kate to see “... if William choose correctly, to see if Kate is indeed an asset to the Royal Family.”

*blink blink* What? An asset to the family? How’s about does William Love Her?! Does Kate Love Him?! Yes to both? Ok than, what more can you ask for?! I mean it wasn’t an arranged wedding, it was romance!

So while Kate and William is a ridiculous situation, I mean he’s a Prince of England, and I won’t even go into how scary it is with how obsessed people are with these two.

However I bring this up on my blog because while I am NOT being watched my the whole world, and I am so thankful for that, it made me think about other people’s opinions and how they can often not be positive.

For family members I am very fortunate, not only am I not marrying into the stuffy high society of royalty (boring!!!!), but both sides of the family have been nothing but supportive and welcoming to the news of our engagement and wedding. So thank you to everyone in both families, it’s appreciated. There were no covert or subtle gestures implying that I was making a mistake, or that there was still time to get out of it (as you often see in Hollywood movies when family doesn’t support a wedding), rather everyone has been great and excited for us. So again, thank you.

Friends also have been marvellous, even those friends that I know don’t really believe in marriage, or at least not in a traditional white wedding as we are planning, those people keep their own views quiet and just are happy that we are happy. I’m sure should I wish to hear their opinions I can ask (lol if I ask for it they can’t be blamed for sharing) but it seems like all our friends understand what we need to hear and see from them and I am so glad for that.

It’s not that I won’t defend my relationship with Mike, or our decisions to get married and to have a wedding with friends and family. I will more vehemently defend our mutual decision for this. But I am glad I don’t have to, because it takes a lot of energy and can ruin relationships if you get between me and my future husband.

So thank you everyone for being supportive, it’s appreciated. And even if you are holding back some inner doubts about us, thank you for keeping them quiet. After all this is a relationship between Mike and I, not an arranged marriage, so hearing other people’s negative opinions about it won’t change my mind, it will just make me mad, and that is not an emotion any bride should have to deal with.

Making Headway

Ok so the photographer is booked. Yea! (See link below in previous post).

Also I have folded 125 cranes so far. I should easily be able to make the 1000 mark, which is traditionally a sign of good luck, and such, as well as a traditional wedding gift. (Thank you Wikiepeidia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_crane )

Otherwise I think I have started giving away some of the jobs that I can. I have others waiting to be done... but I need to confirm some things first or have job A completed before job B. But you may soon be asked upon soon to complete a task for me!

Stay tuned!

Progress and Paper Cranes

OK so it looks as though I'm making some headway (YEAH!).

Accomplished so far:

Save the Date Cards
Having received almost every one's addresses I am finally able to print and stamp all the Save The Date Cards. I will not give any descriptions because I want to surprise people. You should be getting them hopefully *crosses fingers* before Valentine's Day. I just need TWO more addresses.... grrr.

Photographer
Thanks to my wonderful and completely unselfish and forward thinking friend Jennifer, we have chosen a photographer. Jen, without any requests reaching her ears but apparently she can read minds, sent us a copy of ALL her wedding photos (something which Mike had said he wished he could see and I said I could not ask of Jen). With this HUGE amount of images Mike and I were able to confirm that Heather Deitz's photo style and quality is what we want. So I have informed Heather that we would love to use her service, and we have discussed price and such, and now I just need wait for a reply (she is on Holiday for a couple days) to TRIPLE confirm (AKA deposit) her as our photographer. Here is her website http://www.heatherdietz.net/

Lists
Also on the accomplished list is the LIST I needed to make. I know have all the guests down, with lost of columns beside their/your name with things such as address, invitation, confirmed, number ect so that I know what i have for each person and if they are coming and if they are bring a date/children.

Budget
Also I computerized a budget, thank you Excel, up until now I was using paper and pen.... and who says those things are lost? SO yes, budget made easier.  Now if only the yen and dollar issue were as easily fixed....

Finally decorations.

First I will make a quick request for a couple things.

Candles
I am looking for orange(ish) and purple(ish) candles on the cheap. Tea lights and taller fat round candles are the type I'm looking for. I am hoping to use them as centre pieces and lighting at the tables. So if you see any PLEASE let me know.

Icicle LightYou know those Christmas lights that were ALL the RAGE a few years back. Mike and I are hoping to hang a whole bunch around the area of the tent and such to make the night magical.... but we are hoping to BORROW these lights if possible. Sorry but buying lights out of season is expensive, plus I'd like not to have to use them as the lights in my first house because I broke the bank on them. So if you have any.... can we please borrow them? I promise to return them before Christmas!

Ribbon
I'm looking for purple and orange ribbon for just about any type of decoration you can think of. Know where I can get any? Maybe some semi-nice stuff?

Finally I found this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcysOTdASFU&feature=sub in which coke cans and ribbon are used to make cheap Chinese new year decorations. I thought it would be cheap and kind of a green way to decorate. I'm still thinking about the coke can lanterns, but my older sister told me I must be 'sleep deprived' if I thought that more than a dozen of the ribbon phoenixes would be made. She had a point, it wasn't easy, but I thought that paper cranes would be easy and cheap once I got the hang of it. You can buy the paper at the dollar store (daiso in Japanese) and I could just sit and fold them mindlessly over the next 8 or some months.

The Blue was a 'test' bird, this one won't be used, but you can see it folded out.

So here are the paper cranes I have accomplished so far tonight! Once I got the hang of it it takes me about 5 mins a bird but it's rather mindless and I am watching TV or talking with Mike (yea multi-tasking woman!).

'Test' bird on top of some fun paper!

Plus there is LOST of cool paper to work with and I fold them and leave them flat for easy mailing home. Than before the wedding we unfold them and string or place them just about anywhere. It might be a little 'aclectic' but that's OK. So just tonight I have folded 15 wedding birds (plus 2 tests) and have started putting them in a box to mail home. I have about 60 more sheets of paper but I can easily get more. I'm kind of happy with this!

So I'm feeling like I actually accomplished something in the last 2 days and I'm rather proud of them.

Lists

Lists.

I'm thinking I need lists. Like not just mental lists. I'm thinking I need to sit down on Excel and just type up list and lists and lists.

Names
Addresses
Phone Numbers
Things sent
Things received
Things Booked
Things need to book
Things paid
Prices of things

All this I wish I could do in one easy program.....

Now I feel like I need a list of lists!

OK so my need to organize and streamline is kicking in. I guess that's good, but I'm finding it less helpful than a need to actually 'do' wedding things.

Hmmm I'm starting to see why 'Wedding Planner' is a legitimate job. But I'm still not willing to pay the price tag for them!

Changed my Mind!

Ok that sounds like a terrible title for a wedding blog, but well I hope it got your attention.

Mike and I are both fine, we are great, other than apparently both coming down with seasonal illnesses the MOMENT we returned from Thailand. But that’s not important to this part; point is that the wedding and everything is still on. So sorry if I scared anyone.

No the things which I have changed my mind about was wedding colours. Silly I know, but it mattered to me.

Originally I said ORANGE! And I’m keeping that. I love it, it’s great, it’s fall, and well it’s just very me and Mike agrees. However I am a realist and understand that a second colour would be a good idea since not everything does/should come in orange! It’s a wonderful accent colour.

Here’s where the change occurs, I had thought like a soft blue would be good, easy to get and much more available for bridesmaid and flower girl dresses than orange. But as time has gone by I have himmed and hawed this blue. I mean blue is the complimentary colour to orange, artistically they match, but soft blue, as I had envisioned so as not to be THE colour (which is definitely orange), is just well... so... not me! Anyone who knows me knows I like colours that are strong, vibrant, and often jewel in tone. Anything ‘soft’ or ‘pastel’ is kind of falling in my nose crinkling dislike realm.

So why did I make it one of my colours?! Mike has no partial to soft blue, and honestly he’s super open to just about any colour.

That is why I have changed the colours from Orange and icky soft blue (sorry to soft blue lovers) to Orange and Purple! Yea!

All this is really overdramatic since we have bought or ordered NOTHING in ANY colours. This brings me to my next point.

January is BOOKING MONTH!

OMG I have less than 9 months until our wedding! SO much is like ‘chosen’ but not BOOKED! Ah! I need to do that, to confirm things, make down payments, and confirm dates and prices. Seriously as far as most of the retail/rental/service world knows there is NOTHING booked. Eck! It doesn’t help that living on the other side of the world with a 14 hours time difference to my home area, means that I must email and things instead of calling and talking to people. You have no idea how annoy emails are from business when you are just asking general questions, they cut and paste corporate approved things sometimes and I am often more confused than informed.

So yes, this month, with Mike being busy with the wonderful English play (which consumed both our lives for three months last and that was BEFORE Mike was director as he is this year!) I will be really taking the reins on this one.        I hope.

Well I’ve bored you all with this post I’m sure, but honestly I have little to nothing to report on the wedding front – and that’s the part that terrifies me! So I’m hoping this post, while mildly entertaining, will also energize and inspire me to do the nitty gritty booking and emailing stuff that I have to.

Wish me luck.