Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A suitably productive and relaxing weekend

We had a great time on Saltspring. Our initial planning sucked, we didn't pack in advance at all and woke up at 8 on Friday. I decided to look up the ferry schedule and saw that the only two ferries to Long Harbour that day were at 12:15 and 8:30. Did some quick math about how long it would take us to bike 40 km, checked the schedule for the Massey Tunnel shuttle (no bike riding in the tunnel!), and deduced and we'd have to leave at 9:15. So an hour fifteen to eat breakfast and do all our packing and getting ready.

Getting to the ferry went just fine, we were there before 12 actually. And that was pretty good, since when I was looking at the ferry schedule, I thought it was Saturday. The ferry leaves at 12 on Friday, not 12:15. Also, it goes to Fulford Harbor via Swartz Bay, not Long Harbour. Fulford is 15 km from where we were staying (Long Harbour is 6) and also you have to climb a huge long hill, which I didn't know about.

Anyway that all worked out fine and we got to our B&B just fine and had a lovely time and it was hot and sunny. We weren't planning on doing any wedding planning, but we did find a very nice jeweler and a pattern for my practice dress. I'll be making it without those little cap sleeves. I got some awesome fabric for it too, but I can't find a link.

Tonight we're meeting with our officiant for the first time.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

How do people manage with big weddings?

Ours is small and I'm tired of it already. I've comforted myself recently with the knowledge that, once the invitations are sent, we don't actually HAVE to do anything else for the day to go off alright. It's kind of like that point in a course where you realize, even if you don't do one single assignment for the rest of the semester, you'll still pass. Why yes, I did have a terrible case of senioritis my last year of university, why do you ask?

Tonight James and I are meeting with a friend of his to work on invitation design. We've mostly got it down, decided on the wording, figured out whose design we'd like to rip off (this one), and now all we need to do is tweak the layout and argue over fonts. I'm going for Jane Austen and Port Credit, and James is in the "less girly" camp.

James' best man has thrown a monkey wrench into the mix; his work schedule has been changed (he's a firefighter) and he's now scheduled to work at 6 pm on our wedding day. Apparently there is no way for him to get out of this. So, looks like the ceremony has to be at 4. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the in-between-ceremony-and-reception time - we'd been planning on avoiding it because it feels disjointed and leaves people wondering how to kill time for a couple hours.

We've also signed up for a marriage counseling workshop on June 7 at the request of our officiant. Looks like it should be beneficial, and cheaper than individual counseling! Can't go wrong with that.

Anyway, this weekend we are taking a break from planning and instead blowing some money on a trip to Saltspring Island. We're staying in a nice B&B and we're going to have a calm and relaxing weekend. We'll probably do some wine tours, maybe go to some yarn stores after (plenty of sheep on that island, and after the wine tour is the appropriate time if James is to come along). Maybe we'll look at some jewelers and fabric stores as well.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Weekend plans

Since I left JLo at Naomi's house last week, I'm doing my organizing here instead. (Have you met JLo? My wedding planner? Staples, $30.)

THINGS TO DO
  • Friday night: James finish moving.
  • Friday night: Elaine scope out Stanley Park again to make sure the directions are right, especially via public trans
  • Saturday morning: set up joint bank account at PC Financial
  • Saturday morning: James and Jordan go buy their suits
  • Saturday morning: Meanwhile, I guess I'll amuse myself at the mall
  • Saturday afternoon: ugh, trip to Ikea in Richmond... we need some shelves, like, yesterday
  • sometime else on Saturday: Figure out what we'd like to do re: honeymoon
  • also whenever we can fit this in: figure out a registry or wish list or something.
  • if possible: visit fabric stores.
  • unrelated: watch some racing at the velodrome

Sunday, May 4, 2008

engagement bonsai

Hello world,

I'm not much of a blogger so I've been letting Elaine do all the 'net talking. Much prodding later, I'm finally writing a post.

As you all know Elaine and I are a bit non-traditional. I've been getting many requests to see the engagement ring, which doesn't exist. Elaine and I aren't really ring people so we've been trying to come up with a non-ring alternative and we've found it! A bonsai!

(Image is CC licensed and borrowed from ak37's Flickr)

A bonsai has many benefits that match or best a ring:
  • They last a long time, the oldest living bonsai trees are 400-800 years old!
  • They grow and change over time, just like a relationship.
  • You don't have to wear it!
  • It looks nice and attracts conversation
Bonsai!

James.

Friday, May 2, 2008

delegating

James had a talk with me yesterday and mentioned I should get more people working for me. So I'm trying to think of what all needs to be done, and which of that can be pawned off on other people. So far I've come up with:

  • I need someone to go fabric shopping with me
  • I'll need help sewing
  • See invitation-making party idea below
  • James needs to phone around for a photographer
  • I'd like some help with invitation design
  • We need to find a musician
  • On the day of I'll need some help with setting up things
Anything else I'm forgetting? A lot of things that are a bunch of hassle I'm just not doing. Who needs an arch or aisle runner or flowers or anything like that?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

I need to have a party

An invitation-making party that is. This week I went down to Paper-Ya on Granville Island and bought four sheets of cream cardstock, two packages each of green paper and translucent cream vellum, two packages of 5x7 green envelopes and one of 3x5, and seven yards of pink ribbon. That was good for $175, and unfortunately represents a significant savings over just buying them from Wedding Paper Divas or wherever.

Anyway, I've been chopping up the cardstock - initially it's too big to fit in our office guillotine, so I have to do the first two cuts with an exacto knife. I hope I didn't get the lines too wonky. Next up: design the actual things, decide on wording, print them out, and invite my friends over with their glue.