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...