Photo Album Snafu

Thank you so much for being a part of our wedding day! We had a blast, and we hope you did too! Now, if only we could remember it...
That's where you come in!

The email I gave everyone at the wedding for photos was incorrect. Please replace the "gmail" part with "picasaweb" and that should work. If it doesn't, you can always just email me the photos directly.

Thanks again for being part of our wonderfullly, hectic, magical day!

How does 80 sound to you?

Well enough of you must have done the sun dance, because there is not a cloud in sight forecasted for Saturday. However, seeing that this is the great Northwest and seeing that it is Autumn, I would still plan for anything.

And...plan for construction. Many roads in and about have been closed for construction. Westbound I-105 is closed all weekend, so please plan your travel route carefully. I know that I had a few special expletives for the road closed sign a block from house this morning on my way to work...late.

See you all very soon! Yahoo!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

The 10-day forecast calls for showers on Saturday, the 25th. Now, I am a fatalist at heart, but also an optimist in the brain, so I'm going fifty-fifty on this one. Chances are it'll pour so much that there will be flash-floods that wipe out the entire campground. On the other hand, the skies could clear and the storm blows through quickly leaving the 25th a glorious sunny crisp autumn day. Or, it could pour.

Either way, please come prepared for a good ole fashioned rainy wedding. If you're camping, this means rain-flies and tarps. If you're not, this means definitely bring a rain coat and galoshes. We won't make you stand in the rain to watch us marry. There are picnic shelters with giant stone fireplaces that would make an intimate, warm, and cozy location for a ceremony.

But then again, it could be 90 degrees and we will all wish we'd worn our bathing suits.

Come prepared. I can't wait to see you all!

It's cold out thar!

Listen folks, it may only be 65 degrees right now, but after being used to 80 some degrees 65 feels mighty cold. I bring this up, because it is very possible that come wedding day, it will be 65 degrees in the sun. So here is my suggestion for keeping warm (and what I'll be wearing...a progression of..):

1. Pretty frock
2. with knitted shrug
3. with boots
4. with warm socks
5. with leggings
6. with scarf/shawl
[transitioning]
7. sweat pants
8. hooded sweatshirt
9. ear-cuff knitted hat
10. mittens
11. nose warmer

Ok, so maybe 9 -11 is going over board, but after having been to a couple of weddings lately that were "cool" and I say that with quote-marks, because I seemed to be the only really freezing my butt off, I recommend that layers be your mode of choice. Gentlemen, you may want to skip 1 and 2, unless that is your thing. No judgement here.

Just remember, we will be in true autumn as the season changes officially September 23rd. I still feel greatly optimistic that it will be sunny.

Ready to Wed

Total cost: $61

Well, it's official. Nathan and I are legal to get married. We have our marriage license in our hands. For an extra buck, we purchased the "pretty" version of the certificate with an Oregon Trail watermark inset into an outline of the state. I was going to see if I could find something that looked vintage online or make something myself, but for a buck, I'm proud to sign my name on the State seal. And, someday, it will be vintage.

The scene in the marriage license office was...strange: filled with giddy couples, holding hands, making gooey eyes at each other. It made me a little uncomfortable to witness strangers' intimacy, and then I started to feel nervous as if the office clerk was sizing up each couple's potential marriage capacity. Did the young couple behind us meet his criteria? Or were they destined to divorce in two years? Hard to say seeing that they brought the bride's mom along. I'm not sure if that was because she needed to sign off on her daughter getting married, or if the daughter needed extra moral support beyond her future husband's to purchase a license. The older couple I think probably had it made. Looked like a second marriage for both, and they were both cool, collected customers. No sappy looks, just big happy smiles. And then it was our turn, and we must have been really impressive because the clerk did not ask for any documentation that stated we are who we say we are. I could've been anyone posing as myself. I could've brought a stranger off the the street to pose as Nathan. Seems a little unofficial to me...

In the end, I must admit I felt as giddy as the 17-year-old behind us. We're getting married!

Continued Camping News

I hope you all know that I was kidding about the hunters. I don't even think it is official hunting season yet, so they wouldn't be out anyhow. Now bowhunters, that's a different story. But, having worked with bowhunters and hunters alike, they usually camp out way out in the woods down a dirt road and then some to do their hunting. They don't hang out in a campground.

With that said, there is no true resolution to this problem. I am remaining optimistic about the possibility that the campground will be fairly empty; however, I do recommend that you arrive earlier than 2pm to reserve your spot. And, if you want to snag more than one spot for yourself and another guest, that's fine too. The spots are also fairly large, so people can squeeze. Isn't a wedding about sharing our lives together? Doesn't that extend to camping spots as well? The spots can even fit a medium-sized RV which fits more than one person.

I'm not too concerned, but if you are, you might want to establish a plan B. Just in case...you never know. I will try to go out on Friday to speak with the campground host to get a feel of how many people have been showing up on September weekends and if we couldn't strike up a deal about campsites. I can be persuasive when I want to be.

All in all, I just want y'all to have fun! Me too! And, bowhunters or not, I believe we will.

Bad News: Campground Overrun by Hunters

(If you are receiving this in an email, it is because you signed up for a campground.)

BLM called me this morning, and we will no longer have the campground all to ourselves. They have decided to keep the campground open to the public through September 30th.  They have also decided, that yes, we do need to pay the campground fee for each site: $10, plus $5 additional vehicle. This also means that the following scenarios are possible:

A) Hunters indeed will drive out on Friday or may have been there all week using the campground as their home base and venison slaughter house.

B) No one will get their carefully selected (by me) campsite and instead will have to sleep in their car in the parking lot.

C) The dancing, etc. will have to cease and desist at 10pm.

D) The place will be deserted except for the campground host, and things will work out.

E) There will be fisticuffs over camp spots Friday night between our lot and the hunters.

F) There will be fisticuffs over camp spots Saturday night amongst ourselves.

G) All of the above.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but the only guarantee that you will indeed get a place to camp would be to get out there and stay the night Friday. I'm not sure how my wedding committee will handle this. I know that BLM doesn't let you "hold" sites by purchasing them...but I also know that certain members on my wedding committee can be quite convincing and might be able to sweet-talk the campground host.

I will keep you posted on the outcome of this potential wedding disaster. Again, if you are thinking of camping and haven't told me yet, now would be a good time, because who knows, optimism may take the day and you may get exactly the spot you want.

All Quiet on the Western Front...

Garden's bounty

A little over a month before we say "I do" and whatever else we must legally say, and things are pretty quiet. Does this mean that all my incessant planning, list-making, and spreadsheet-devising has paid off? Or, is this simply the calm before the storm? At the back corner of my mind where the dust stacks up and spiders take residence, I feel that there are minor details hiding, waiting to be forgotten. Am I worried about these details? No, not really. I suppose things will either fall into place or they won't.

I am sure though that this calm will be short-lived as school starts up, and I realize how crazy it is to try and cook for 70+ people. At least I will have my trusted wedding committee help with all the food preparations and everything else that will need to bought, sewed, nailed, or painted. I'm anxiously watching my tomatoes grow hoping there will be enough to roast and make salsa. I also believe that I will actually have melons to contribute. That would be incredibly exciting. Let's just hope that our summer is a long one providing enough nourishing sun to our gardens, so that I might have a bounty like before (see above). I really hope to provide you all with local (really local in the case of my backyard) and organize food. We shall see.

A little reminder: please RSVP and/or tell me if you're camping. Thanks!

The Assemby Party Aftermath

Origami kitties and owls, of course!

Boy, if you missed the party, whew, you missed some serious fun! Myself and my wonderful helpers, Mom Jill, Aunt Vie, Mom Cheryl, and Friend Laura folded, cut, hole-punched, glued, and tied until our fingers bled. After the others left, I continued on in the origami struggle thinking thoughts of "why am I doing this again", and I came to the conclusion, "why not"...This morning I feel cloudy and slightly hungover...hungover from folding...my fingers ache as I type. It's all good fun. I promised those around me, especially Nathan, that I would reach the state termed as "wedding Zen" after the Assembly Party, and while I am a person who never, ever quite reaches Zen, this morning I feel pretty darn close. The tasks that are left seem less daunting to me now, and I finished a book last night, so that means I can start the one I will be teaching in September and start preparing my curriculum...which means that finally my hammock and I can have some special alone time in the warm afternoons. Ah, bliss. (Don't be jealous, I still have 101 things to do before I open the doors to 101+ 8th graders and still find time for wedding stuff.)

Thank you again to my most wonderful, most loving wedding elves. I am a lucky girl.

Repondez s'il vous plait

If you have a postcard sitting under a pile of junk next to your front door that you keep meaning to send, please do so. I am taking that as an RSVP not word of mouth that you might be coming. Also, I am keeping track of campers, because I want to make sure that those who do want to camp do have a space. Please refer to The Official Map page when deciding your "spot". If you told me in passing that you want a spot, chances are I may have forgotten. I'm a little "stressed" right now...ok, who am I kidding...my brain was never that good for details. So, if you don't see your name on that page, please email me cerigipson at gmail when you get a chance.


Thanks so much!

Friday Morning Guffaw

My man is away at camp doing his camp thing. He is the environmental education instructor there and teaches the kids about food waste and composting during meals. He has turned this into an ongoing epic battle between the "wizard of rock" and the "food waste dragon." With the help of a talented helper, Nathan has created quite a show. (I made his costume. He's the rocker in purple.)

This is why I love him best.

What's not to love? No, that is not his real hair.

Assemby Party - it's here!

Some of you foolishly said you'd love to help me with wedding planning, and you've already received an email with the particulars, but for those of you that wanted to help, but didn't know how...now's your opportunity. I'm throwing an "Assembly Party"...think assembly line plus food.

When: August 1st at 11:30am
Where: My house

If you're interested, just drop me a line. Thanks! xo

Honeymoon Fund

I have spent the last two hours trying to find the cheapest airfare to Maine in December for us to visit my dad and friends. I think $1000+ in total is not so cheap. Where have the days of $200 round-trip airfare gone? Long time missing... I have also been searching my mileage plan for vacation deals to Hawaii. I have found trips that include air and hotel, but no vehicle. I'm not sure that Nathan and I are the "resort" type people, but I do know that we are the "let's drive somewhere cool" people. So, I might be able to get at least one of us to Hawaii and rent a car on miles separately, but the other is going to have to swim or build a raft to get across the Pacific.

This brings me to my point. If you really want to get us a gift, and let me say first of all, I really don't care/mind if you don't (really, truly, absolutely don't mind...times are tough, man), but if you want to bestow your benevolence on us and are not keen on buying us the can opener, then feel free to contribute on our online honeymoon fund: http://www.honeyfund.com/wedding/nathanandceri

If you want to see us do more of this:

and this:

then the honeymoon fund is your cup of tea. Thanks. xoxo

Sunday Figurings

So, I 'd like to think that I haven't become this totally wedding-absorbed bridal beast, but I must admit that I do subscribe to some blogs from gals that have done this thing before, because frankly, I am clueless. I haven't gotten married before. I wasn't the type of little girl to play "pretend wedding" nor did I stare up at my ceiling at night deciding what I wanted my dress to look like or what music played; I was more concerned about the killer robots that hid under the bed. So I am a babe in this bridal world thus the reading of others' blogs.

Both of these blogsters (A Practical Wedding  and 2000 Dollar Wedding) are still writing even after the fact of their own weddings and are dispensing advice to thousands of clueless readers like me (well, they are probably less clueless than me). Sometimes I have to step back and think, whoa there Nelly, this is a lot of thinking going into a day that most likely will fly by, and later, I will have forgotten all the little details that are on my centralized task list (because I tend to forget little details all the time) that according to the blogosphere make a wedding personal and memorable for the guests.

Nathan and I were going over our ceremony script that I threw together from others' idea (again, I had no idea where to start). He was very adamant about not including poems (I like poems--I'm a literary geek), because he doesn't want other people's words to take place of what we feel and want to say. I think that was the best wedding advice I have heard so far. We are back to the drawing board on that one. I am actually glad that he has an opinion about this if not anything else. It seems like the ceremony part, the whole exchange of vows and promises, is the most important part of all. From our ceremony, you can expect scientific ramblings about the autumnal process of the forest and how that ecology is metaphor for our lives. Or, something to that affect...

So, this is what I figure:
I figure that while advice is a helpful starting point, it is just a starting point. I figure I should take it, leave it, mold it, build on it, stomp on it, kick it in the air, embrace it, absorb it, or walk through it.

A Community Wedding

I just completed a communal Google Docs spreadsheet to share with the members of the Wedding Committee, so that I'd feel like we're making progress. I am teacher thus I like to be organized. I like to-do lists on which I can exuberantly cross off items that are done, so I definitely needed a list for this whole wedding thing.

I do need some assistance in many things including maintaining my sanity (just kidding). Soon, we are going to have an "Assembly Party" that will include the makings of the details that will go in to the day of. Also, I will be posting a link soon on how to be a photographer at my wedding. And...does anyone have an extra croquet, horseshoe, bocce ball, Scrabble set they'd like to bring? I just have one of each, and I want to make sure that everyone can be gamin' if they so wish. If you do, please let me know ASAP. Thanks.

All this help from people like you exactly embodies what a wedding should be: a community event. It should not be full of froo-froo bows and little girls dressed like shepherdesses, but of family and friends helping out where/when they are needed. I came across this article that compares building a wedding to raising a barn, and I thought, "yeah, this is the stuff."

Thanks again to everyone willing to participate.

And the planning begins!

I'm back from my out-of-country vacation and have come to the realization of how much work I have to do. Besides painting my house this summer, there is of course the typical yard clean-up, vegetable tending, rose dead-heading, etc. that usually takes up my summer hours, but now I have to get things in gear!

My "wedding planner" (my aunt) went shopping while I was gone and has purchased plates for the reception among other things. She is also my officiant, and we have yet to sit down and organize the ceremony with her. I actually sat down yesterday and generously copied ideas from all over the world wide web and wrote up a ceremony which feels appropriately ceremonious.

I have also been officially measured for my dress, so my mom can get started on that. Of course, these measurements came in after the croissant-binging trip in France. Ha! At least, I don't have to worry about gaining weight. Shoes are proving to be problematic...details, details, details. I guess I'm wearing flip-flops.

My mother and I did some shopping and purchased more vintage plates for the reception. I did pause and question myself about this particular idea. What will we do with 50 some plates after the reception? Give them away as mementos? Return them to the charity organizations we purchased them from? I don't know. They are at least more eco-friendly than purchasing paper plates, right?

Last night, I nearly completed my veil, so I feel ready to marry Nathan. Who knows? Maybe I'll win that trip to Vegas and we'll surprise everyone! Constructing a veil was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I am pretty sure it doesn't look like I have a flower pot on my head, but I'm a little worried that it might look a little like that...

Boy, I sure wish all my aunties were here to join in the planning fun. You know you want to...

Camping Tally

As the adage goes, you snooze, you lose. I already have a taker for a riverside campsite. If you want a specific spot, now is the time to speak up. I'll keep a running tally at a static page. Act now! Space is limited!

(Can you tell that I wish it were summer already? Yes, I do have only one day left with 8th graders, and 5 days left of school.)

I have also marked out the spot of the dining area, welcome area, and ceremony area...just in case you get lost when you get there.

Good News - Camping for Everyone!

Apparently BLM is struggling with budgets issues just like the rest of us, and the good news for us is that the campground will be closed after Labor Day...yet...wait for it...here's the even better news, this means that BLM has graciously offered our party the ENTIRE campground to ourselves. That means my nightmares of bloodied deer carcasses hanging from trees left by hunters WILL NOT come true. That is unless one of our guests decides that we should eat venison.

So, here's the bottom line: if you want to camp, let me know. These sites are gonna go fast! Click here to pick your spot. Nathan and I are taking number 15.

To favor or not to favor

Total cost: still undecided

I am in favor (no pun intended) of reception favors. I personally like the little things one receives as a guest. I look fondly upon my tequila shot glass, my potted sedum plants, my rosemary bushes, and my tumbler and think of the couple who gave them to me. I am not in favor of useless favors. In general, I like things that serve a purpose especially if that purpose includes a consuming nature such as sustenance or beverage.

I've been tossing around a few ideas about favors myself. First, I thought I would dry vegetables, fruits, and herbs from our summer garden as a way to pass on our summer bounty, placing the dried goodies in brown wax-paper sandwich bags with our snappy invitation image on a sticker as an enclosure, but our spring has been incredibly wet, and I'm afraid that my garden will have a late harvest thus leaving less time to dry. Second, I thought of making rhubarb lace seeing that I have tons of rhubarb (still using packaging above), but then my large rhubarb plant mysteriously died. Third, my mother suggested a homemade granola, and I thought that would be perfect for the guests staying overnight, because then they could eat their granola for breakfast, but then...I thought of a new idea: jars of honey just like the ones in the poem. Also, I happen to consume as much honey as a hive of bees do. One of my childhood candy favorites was the hard candy drops with honey inside. I can't seem to find those anymore; the package had a bee on the outside, anyone?

Thus began the quest for the perfect (still inexpensive) packaging and source of honey. My fearless and dependable aunt Vie took upon this quest, and she has returned with many possibilities. We live in a valley full of bees and pollen (actually pretty heavy on the pollen), so there are many excellent local sources of honey with a variety of packaging options including all sizes of jars and honey sticks, not to mention beeswax candles. Now, we just need to decide. Nathan had to point out, of course, that we do have a couple of vegans attending our wedding who perhaps do not partake in honey. Hm, is all I have to say about that. Bit of a sticky situation, eh? Sorry, bad pun.

According to my Internet research, wedding favors are a long-standing tradition stretching all the way back to (perhaps) the 13th century where guests were treated to a bonbonniere, a tiny box filled with sugared candies. This later evolved into the jordan almond representing the bitterness of life (the almond) coated with the sweetness of love/marriage (the sugar coating). Some sources say that the sharing of the sugar showed how wealthy you were and how you could afford to spread the wealth amongst the guests. Others say it is about luck. Either way, I think it is a nice sentimental reminder of the couple who gave it to you...even if it can be quickly consumed.

Family, friends...weigh in...to favor or not to favor?

The Centerpieces

Total cost: $30?...plus the cost of a cat eating her own food, and my auntie growing her own flowers

I had no idea that when I told my aunt that she was in charge of the flowers that she would become a florist-designing-fiend! True, it is her secret wish to be a florist, but really she has outdone herself. I was just thinking a few stems of flowers in her many vases on the tables, but she has taken the owl and pussycat theme and run with it. Check out her prototype below:

So, you know what that means helpers? There is going to be a origami folding party in your future! Perhaps, we can eat sushi for that party.

The Wedding "Party"

(So, it is a good thing that this whole "to-do" can be something to occupy and focus my brain; otherwise, I'd be bouncing off the walls, because I only have 8 more days with 8th graders...not that I don't love my students, but I need a summer break!)

I just finished reading a blog about the sticky wicket of selecting a wedding party. I really hope no one out there is offended, but Nathan and I opted not to pick one at all. Pretty much, if you are there with us, consider yourself part of the party. Why do people create this middle school situation for themselves? OMG! I wasn't picked! I guess I am not her BFF after all!

Beyond the legal fact of needing two witnesses, what is the purpose of an actual wedding party? Is it to get back at your "friend" who made you wear a poofy olive green dress at her wedding? Is it to belittle your cousin by not asking her to be the maid of honor? I don't get it, so I'm going to do a quick Google search for "history of wedding party".

***time elapses...about 5 seconds***

Well, this is what I found out. A wedding party is an ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition in which your "knights" would protect your bride from harm and insure that she made it safely to the wedding. And, the bridesmaid is basically, literally a maid who dressed the bride, etc. Seeing that there are no dragons about, and I can dress myself just fine, I don't believe we need a wedding party.

So, if you want to be more than the party of the wedding party and want to specifically help me slay some dragons, just let me know. I am accepting any and all help. BYOJL - Bring your own jousting lance.

The Dress

Total cost: Under $200 plus the time my mother will spend sewing it

WARNING! This is top secret. I'm not always traditional, but in this I am. The groom shall not gain knowledge of "the dress."

My mom told me she wanted to make my dress; I thought she was crazy. I do not like sewing. My hems turn out crooked. The thread always snags. I like to knit. Knitting can cover a multitude of sins, but if you mess up on the cut of a dress, it is obvious. Anyhow, she wanted to sew my wedding dress. I couldn't deny my mother her wish.

I like pretty things. I like shiny things. I like pretty shiny things. I was a farm girl with dirt on my knees, but with a dress over my head. I knew what I wanted: something simple, comfortable, and elegant. The pattern I chose is a Butterick pattern. Looks simple enough. It's flowy and comfortable, right?

Now, I've watched those TLC shows in which the bride is at that huge store, and she spends hours and hours selecting just one dress. It seems easy enough. Well, my mother and I spent two hours alone selecting fabric for this dress. Granted, we were at a store called "Fabric Depot" and as its name suggests, it was pretty much a warehouse of fabric, but still! How difficult can be choosing fabric?

Very difficult, if you like pretty shiny things. Two hours of difficult. I only hope the sewing of it is not as difficult. Good thing I'm not the one doing the sewing, because I would hate to take those two hours of hard decision-making and turn them into an uneven, lumpy, frazzled dress.

The Location

Total cost: $100

A few years ago after a fall excursion to the coast, Nathan and I took a side trip to an old growth trail attached to Clay Creek Campground. I didn't know at the time that it would be the location of our own fall wedding. Of course, I must admit that in a back corner of my mind, I did comment silently that leaves falling on the bridge to the trail would be a beautiful spot for a wedding photo.

Today, myself, Nathan, and our fearless wedding planners (my mother, my aunt and uncle) took the hour drive out to see the site, count parking spaces, picnic tables, and figure out how to have a classy wedding at a campground with no electricity. Despite the intermittent rain, I still found it to be a beautiful spot in which to be married. (Thank goodness.)

We have reserved the two picnic shelters that are adjoined by a baseball field (more of a meadow really) that I think would be a perfect spot for bocce ball, croquet, and badminton. The site has its own horseshoes courts. And, if it does rain, the picnic shelters have enormous stone fireplaces to keep us toasty while we toast and play Scrabble.

There is a sandy beach with bleacher style seating that seems to be the obvious spot for the ceremony. There is even a waterfall playing in the background which means of course, we'll have to speak up. Yet, the river will have less of a flow by the fall and may not be as raucous. I like that I get to make an entrance down a staircase...yes, I do like a bit of drama.

I am excited that all agree (even through the rain) that it will be a lovely spot.

The Invitations: Part 2, the Compilation

Total cost: $0

After the frustration of printing the invitation cards, I was worried the assembly would be just as much of a hassle, but no! I was wrong. I enlisted the help of two good friends, my mother, my aunt, and my soon-to-be mother-in-law. Quiche, muffins, and chai tea fueled us as we clipped, tied, and glued invitations together. They turned out just what I had envisioned, and despite a tragic tea spill, none were ruined or harmed in the process.

This is the outer design of the invitation. Nathan cleaned up a drawing by Edward Lear, and I used dafont.com to find some beautiful script to write lines from the poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat." I thought I was being original by selecting this poem with no relation to it other than it was a favorite of mine as a child, but it turns out that Nathan's "Granny" (great-grandmother) used to recite this poem when the grandchildren would come to visit. I am glad that it has a family tie as well.

 The innards of the design came into fruition from a trip to Michael's. They had a stack of scrap-booking paper in fall colors, and from there, my mother and I created this design: cardstock with the invitation information tied with a pretty copper ribbon to various fall-colored scrap-booking paper. The opposite side of the inside had an alternating color of cardstock glued in with RSVP information. I included postcards as the RSVP card from my aunt's and mine stash of vintage and art postcards. Some of mine included cards from my travels to museums from around Europe. When I was addressing them, I carefully selected cards for specific people (not all, but just a few) even though there were a few in the invitation-making crowd that thought I was a bit crazy. Yes, yes I am.




All in all, I am eternally grateful for everyone involved, because there was no way I could have done all of this on my own. I would have given up eventually and sent out an evite instead. Ha! Thank you Laura, Lara, Cheryl, Vie, and mama Jill.

The Invitations, Part 1: Printing

Total cost: $70 roughly including printer ink

Never, ever, never work with a computer late at night without any sort of calming influences or libations.The horror! The frustration! The alignment! I thought I would be clever and make my own invitations using my hp printer, but as I know, and as I should have remembered, computers are finicky creatures and oftentimes will simply behave badly just to get a rise out of you.

My invitations have four parts essentially (originally had three, but after a few choice words towards my Word document, I had to negotiate additional wording into its own spot): the card with the Edward Lear drawing of the Owl and the Pussycat plus quote from the poem, an insert with the actual "this is the time and place", another insert with RSVP information and what to wear, etc., and then an old/vintage postcard with the actual RSVP wording. It seemed easy enough. I started with the easiest part, the RSVP. Done. Then, the invitation insert. Done. Then, the card with the picture and quote and the RSVP information printed on the inside. Not so done. I kept aligning, fiddling with the margins, etc., but to no avail! The card prototypes kept coming out all wiggly. I tried another tactic. I created an additional insert for the RSVP information and forgot printing inside the card. Still, though the wiggles...

My best friend called me to check in on me since she is already married and had plenty of her own planning stress. I let out a string of sailor-worthy curse-words, and she responded, "I was joking about checking in on you. I didn't actually think you'd be freaked out." Well, that's computers for you.

She gave me some good advice: breathe and walk away. I did breathe, but I didn't walk away. I'm not one to walk away from a battle. The day must be conquered! But, the breathing did help, because I'm not sure exactly what I changed that made the difference (the alignment again? the margins? the page layout?), but the printing started to go smoothly. After two hours, I had 60 acceptable invitation cards and about 20 that are in the recycle bin. Sigh. Good thing we purchased 100 of the cards.

This morning I have family, friends, and my soon-to-be mother-in-law coming over to help put these monsters together. I hope someone is bringing mimosas. Part 2: Compilation coming soon...

The Goal

Total cost: $0 (so far)

(I am taking a moment to procrastinate grading middle schooler's concept of what a good thesis statement is...)

My fiance has little to do with the planning, and he likes it that way. He did suggest the location, he is clear on what fashion of ring he wants, and he knows that he most definitely does not want "You are my sunshine" played during the ceremony. Beyond that I have gotten very little, "This is what I want..." from him, which I suppose would be a bride's dream, right? Wrong. A wedding should be about two people, not just the one doing the planning. So, I am trying in my own way to incorporate what I know he will like into the whole shebang. We did both decide that we want to be basically a "group camp out" which happens to include a wedding ceremony. 

So, to sort out my thoughts, here are my goals for our wedding.

Goal 1: Get Married. Actually, I would say that no matter what else happens (a torrential downpour washing us out of the field by the river and under the cover of the picnic shelter or perhaps having the campground being completely taken over by hunters and their deer carcasses), no matter what, it is most important that we do indeed get married.

Goal 2: There must be cake, and it must be eaten too. Duh.

Goal 3: Guests (and us too) play games (bocce ball/boules, croquet, badminton, Scrabble, horsehoes) with a cold one in our hands (hopefully homemade apple cider, beer, and/or wine).

Goal 4: There should be lots of laughter across the picnic tables during a family-style dinner.

Goal 5: This thing shouldn't cost an arm and a leg nor should it be a burden on family members and friends who help.

Goal 6: Wait. No more goals. Five is plenty. As a teacher, I should know better than to even attempt more than three goals, because then I am spread too thin.

There! All done! Now, to take the goals and put them into action.

The Beginning

Total cost: a half tank of gas 

I am going to start by being mushy; Nathan is the love of my life. I knew this more than a few years ago, but it has taken us about five to get to the "tying the knot" stage. Both of us our wedding-shy and perhaps even a little marriage-shy. I personally love weddings. It is the ultimate party. Nathan, on the other hand, not so much...


And that brings me to May 1st, the day of the proposal. A day I was beginning to think would never come. We had been out a few times earlier in the Spring for morel hunting, and I kept thinking to myself that perhaps he would ask me now...or now....or maybe even now. Not only did we come home with empty mushroom baskets, but my ring finger was also empty--not that I cared for a ring. I cared for the question more than anything. We had already decided that we were getting married through some very casual conversations, but I wanted to be asked. I wanted to know that he was in this thing for real.

So, May 1st arrived. May Day - a day of protest, a day of Spring rites...but I told myself that I mustn't get my hopes up for morels or proposals as we headed out into the woods. We decided to go on hike up a mountain. It was a dreary day with cold drizzle and whipping winds. When we reached the top, we hung precariously on a clifftop for a timed photo of ourselves. After losing my balance, I decided it was time to go. I noticed a grotto of sorts composed of white-bark trees in front of evergreens with a bit of snow still left on the ground--a perfect photo opportunity. Nathan asked me to take of picture of him there which was strange, because he has never asked that of me before. After I took the photo, I commented that it turned out well because he smiled--another strange occurrence for him in photos.

(Oh brother, brace yourself, this next part is pretty mushy...)

Nathan said, "Since I am already on one knee, will you marry me?" I flung my arms around him with an enthusiastic yes while he murmured, "Er, I have a ring..."

And that is how this all began: with a sweet and simple proposal atop a windy mountain. I need to keep reminding myself of that feeling I had of floating on air and not let minor details cloud a beautiful day.