Blown Away

We've booked our photographer! Hooray!

We met last night with Scott of Scott C Photography in his home/studio about 45 minutes outside Indianapolis. He has a wonderful meeting room there with lots of great sample prints on the walls and several albums of his work to look through. We love his photojournalistic, artistic style and really felt like we clicked. (He totally got what we were saying when I told him what we want in a wedding photographer is someone who will "make us look cool!") And while it might just be that he's a good businessman, we left feeling like he will be just as excited as we are to be at our wedding because it seems like it will be a fun event. I think "elation" best describes how we both felt on the drive home ... it was just so clear that this is the right choice for us.

Anyway, I encourage all of you to go check out his site at http://scottcphotography.com/.

DIY Flowers Trial #1

So, I stopped by the local farmers market today and picked up these:

A whole buncha flowers. 80 stems, to be precise. Armed with a sharp knife, floral tape, floral wire, and a bit of ribbon, I was ready for the first trial run of DIY flowers.

I started with a boutonniere, which was quite simple. FH was kind enough to model it for us in a jacket. (FH is blog speak for future husband ... omg, I just said husband! eek!)

Next I whipped up a corsage. Both of these were quite simple. I now have 100% confidence in my ability to turn out the bouts and corsages for the wedding (all 13 of them! eek again!)

Below is a nice shot of the two together (pinned to a pillow.)
















Then I moved on to a bouquet, by far the most difficult of all. Which was not what I expected. In any case, here are the results:













And then, just for fun, I put some of the leftovers into a little arrangement. Yes, that is a 2-buck Chuck bottle. I "heart" Trader Joes!







I definitely learned a few things from this little experiment, like get more leafy and broad fillers and greens, less spiky greens (at least for bouquets and such.) These pieces are actually a little more "wild" looking than we are going for (though we still want a very natural look.) Maybe a little more brightness, some different flower choices. Obviously what I bought today is not what will be in season next June, but this first attempt was really about putting colors together and trying out techniques. All in all I am satisfied. (Though I don't plan to quit my day job.) Hooray!

Have feedback? Leave a comment.

I got a dress!

So, after much searching, I chose my dress last night. Woo hoo! I'm not going to post a photo here and ruin the surprise or anything but I am very happy with my choice. It is definitely not what I expected to choose, I really only tried it on on a lark thinking it would sort of cleanse my dress-viewing palette. Before I knew it I'd been wearing it for 30 minutes and was prancing around the dress shop looking for accessories to try on with it. I highly recommend the "prance test" when choosing a wedding dress (highly superior to the "mom crying" test) ... though I suppose this only works for one who doesn't often prance to begin with ...

We went home for a visit with my mom this past weekend and did some shopping there. My sister, Michelle, (our lovely and talented Maid of Honor) was also along and tried on many bridesmaid dresses. She was quite the good sport as I piled more and more dresses over her arm to check out "just for fun!!" Then last night Michelle and mom came over to Indy for another round of shopping, culminating in the purchase of my dress! In any case, it was a fun and productive weeekend.

To DIY or Not to DIY

So, in this whole wedding planning process there are many, many (expensive!!) decisions to be made in a variety of areas: venues, attire, food and beverage, favors ... and flowers. Now, being a theatrical props artisan I have a wide variety of hands-on skills, including the occasional floral (albeit fake) arrangement. This leads me to consider the idea of doing my own flowers for the wedding.

Now before everyone freaks out and says "oh, NO! you couldn't possibly do THAT!" understand that I have considered this carefully. I have access to the theatre's prop shop where A) I can store the buckets of flowers in preparation for the arranging; B) there is a large expanse of work space for the actual arranging; C) the finished arrangements can be stored (the A/C is turbo so it's quite cool, plus there is a fridge that I can remove everything else from and set the temp to a decent flower storage temp). Since we're getting married at the theatre there will be no troublesome transportation of the flowers the day of the wedding, they'll simply be loaded on a rolling cart and wheeled down to the lobby.

In talking about style for the wedding Bill and I agree that we like a more "wild" look to the arrangements. I'm thinking simple, hand-tied bouquets made from seasonal, locally-grown flowers purchased from a vendor at the farmer's market (we would make arrangements in advance for quantity we need, of course). I feel very confident that I have the skills to actually create what we're looking for. We'd have the cost of finding our own vases, sure, but part of my job is finding things for cheap! (And I have access to an entire prop storage room ...)

The only real question here is whether doing the flowers myself is too stressful. The nature of flowers requires that the work be done the day before the wedding. Do I really want to have that much to do so close to the actual event? Would having a creative activity actually end up being a theraputic escape?

In the end, I realize that there's no way I could do ALL the flowers by myself. Accomplishing this task will certainly require the help of a few other volunteers (I'm willing to bribe people with chocolate and beer!) Also, it might be wise to consider doing only PART of the flowers myself, say I do the bouquets and corsages and buy the centerpieces or vice versa. I plan to pick up some flowers at the farmer's market soon to do a little test-run, just to make sure I'm not crazy. I'll be sure to post photos of the results!!

In any case, I'm pretty serious about this idea. I mean, really, what good is being a props person if you don't get to use your skills for personal gain??

Spotlight Interview: Dorothy

Now for our third Spotlight Interview. This will complete the bridal attendants so wake up guys, you're on deck!

Name: Dorothy

Role/Relationship: Bridesmaid;
Jen's friend and Partner-in-Crime

Location: Houston, TX

Profession: Eight Grade English Teacher

What Dorothy has to say: I was born in New York, but grew up in Texas. I love to draw and garden -- getting my hands dirty is a good thing. I have three cats and a dog, and my latest favorite accomplishment is training my dog to sit and stay for 20 seconds. He's rambunctious, so this is a HUGE accomplishment.

What Jen has to say: Dorothy and I met when we both signed up for a beer-league soccer team. Somehow we always ended up on opposite sides during team practice ... we'd go for the ball at the same time and (seeing as I outweigh her by about 40 pound) Dorothy spent a LOT of time getting knocked to the ground. Our team was awful (we lost every game and only scored one goal all season) but we got free beer, had great fun, and started a wonderful friendship!

Spotlight Interview: Janelle

And now, for the second installment of our Spotlight Interview Series!

Name: Janelle

Role/Relationship: Bridesmaid;
Jen's Childhood Friend Extraordinaire

Location: Buffalo, NY

Profession: Social Services

What Janelle has to say: I grew up in Central Illinois with Jen, and like Jen, I moved away. I've lived in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and now Buffalo. I like moving to new cities and starting all over fresh in a new place. I like the experiences I've had in each city. In Philadelphia, I fell in love with the big city life, going to the New Jersey shore and my husband. In Pittsburgh, I married my husband and I really moved my career forward. In Buffalo, I bought my first house and learned to snow ski. I'm really proud that even though I'm an introvert, I've pushed myself to try new things...moving to a big city by myself, going to grad school, traveling/hiking on my own, and spending three weeks in Vietnam. As a result, I've learned that I love hiking/camping and traveling in the country and overseas. As a couple, my husband and I also try to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to help other people. Right now, we are sharing our home with a woman and her son who needed to move out of their home in an emergency situation. I was nervous, but it's been a lot of fun.

What Jen has to say: Janelle and I shared so many things growing up: junior high basketball and track, the freshmen cross country team, high school marching band (go Marching Ironmen!) ... we even had matching cars! (To be fair, my was a Ford Crown Victoria and hers was a Mercury Grand Marquis, but they were virtually identical!). One of our favorite past times, second to watching X-files of course, was getting together a group of friends to play Toys-R-Us tag. True to its' name, Toys-R-Us tag involved playing tag inside a Toys-R-Us. Experience taught us that one can play Toy-R-Us tag for about 45 minutes before getting kicked out of the store. I am so glad Janelle will be part of our wedding and can't wait to see what the next 17 years of our friendship will bring!

Spolight Interview: Michelle

As promised, here is the first in our spotlight interview series. Michelle has graciously agreed to go first (so pay attention, cause I'll be emailing the rest of you soon to ask these same questions!)

Name: Michelle

Role/Relationship: Maid of Honor; Jen's (amazingly cool AND younger) sister

Location: Los Angeles, California

Profession: Operations coordinator for a stock photography agency, freelance photographer, and manager/server at a hip little Vietnamese restaurant

What Michelle has to say:
I thrive on being busy and active, I get bored way too easily! I am constantly listening to music and I like to imagine what songs would be playing in the background if my life were a movie. I love to sing but refuse to do so in front of anyone. I talk to myself - a lot. Photography is a passion of mine and I am always looking for the perfect shot. I very recently started a blog in which my goal is to post a new picture taken by me every single day. I enjoy making things and consider myself "crafty". I read way too many magazines. I like to run and ran my first marathon last year in San Francisco. Oh and I make killer guacamole!

What Jen has to say: My favorite childhood memory of my sister and I is of listening to my parents' Herb Alpert record. We had this sort of "dance" we would do to Zorba the Greek ... the song has this section that starts really slow and gets faster so we would start by walking in a circle really slow, then we would walk faster, and faster, and then run in a circle as fast as we could ... every time this drum accent hit we would jump up in the air and pretend we were jumping over snakes!

Sneak Peek at the Venue

The Indiana Repertory Theatre. I couldn't imagine a more perfect location. The ceremony will be held on-stage, the reception in the amazing Art Deco lobby.