well, that was fun...

No more spell check dit dots. 'Zilla has left the building.

However, I did run through my calendar this morning, and realize that over the next two weeks, we have to:

- get Trey's ring size
- do an event floor plan
- get down to some fine tuning on decor elements, pink mini lights, for instance, or white?
- get the addresses for the guest list
- nail down sources for the specialty disposable cameras (black and white, lomo)
- nail down sources for decor supplies
- find the perfect non-floral bouquet
- order the cake topper
- and speaking of cake....who's doing that?

I think that's all.

And as all that's happening, we also have to make immense strides on getting everything into place in this house, because we have to...

PAINT.

(bride passes out)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

The little red spell check dit dots are in the blog header, too.


DRAT!

Hang it for tonight. I'll fix them tomorrow.

hmm. just hmm.

Trey and I ran a test print of our invitations yesterday, and even on "fast draft", were pleased with how they turned out. Love 'em, flat out. Just one problem (other than the fact that I failed to notice the little red spelling check dots under my name): Tomfoolery.

The event info includes the following: "Event starts at 6.00pm, ceremony at 8.00pm, cake to follow, and tomfoolery throughout." I thought it was witty, cute, even. Trey? Trey does not like the tomfoolery. And that surprises me, for reasons you can read all about here. (Just peruse the entries - he can play quite the fool, can Trey.) So, no tomfoolery for me.

So *what* then? Tomfoolery has become a serious bugaboo. I'm kind-of-sort-of-maybe thinking we should change that part to say something about the eighties, since the party/wedding is sporting an eighties theme. Then we could mention that guests might want to dress the part, if they so choose. I put the idea out there, and we went to sleep last night with it still floating around the living room ceiling.

It's still there this morning. If not tomfoolery.......what?

why diy?

I'll be completely straight up about this: Trey and I have both done this before. (Gasp! I know, I know, haven't we learned, we should wait seventy years, we should this, we should that, and then we should do something else just for good measure.) "Should" reminds me of a particular four-letter word. And while my past experience has been full of gorgeous, amazing things that one typically associates with weddings, and while I am very appreciative of having had those experiences, I noticed something: There's a whole lot of "shoulding" that goes on when you start planning a wedding. And all that "shoulding" - what to wear, what to serve, where to do everything, what to send - can usher you straight into shelling out enough money to fully arm a small country in the course of six months because you *should*. Been there, done that, wanted the red cake, got talked into the white, wanted a black dress, got talked into white, wanted a colorful bouquet, got talked into the one that would blend, and became a competitive little princess 'Zilla just like I was supposed to. I punched my steering wheel over the fact that anyone dared mention having plastic plates at the reception so hard my hand was stiff for days. *Yeah*.

When my life took a series of upending turns, I decided that it was high time to just embrace who I am and go with what I honestly feel I should do. Trey's the same way, and has been through as much "stuff" as I have, so when we got engaged there was never any question as to whether or not we were going to do something that reflects who we are. I think I probably started getting a little more "out there" with the initial planning than he did, for instance, I went through a couple of days where I had my heart set on getting married at the Sno Cap Drive In in North Augusta, SC. He expressed a desire to actually have a wedding, a real wedding, with a cake and invitations (I've been there, he hasn't) - but he still wanted it to be cool. That grounded me a bit, and put us squarely on the same page.

Combine the desire for a real wedding that's different, fun, and fully reflects who we are with budget constraints from both of us gearing up to go back to school next year (not that outpricing anyone matters to us in the slightest), and you've got why we decided to do as much of this ourselves as possible. I honestly think we're doing everything but our clothes and the cake ourselves - oh, and someone has to marry us, obviously. Once we jumped outside the wedding box of settling for something we didn't want because we *should*, the whole thing became more fun than the most fun day at the fair imaginable. Since planning parties and making stuff are things we're both already into, the DIY approach is just another way of making our event that much more authentically us.

And honestly, I don't think we *would* do it any other way - this way, we get our vision *and* save a small fortune, and no member of the traditional wedding brigade will ever tell us we should really opt for the softer, prettier option. I'm sure certain elements might slightly raise some eyebrows, but a little facial exercise never hurt anyone's complexion, now, did it?

life's funny, isn't it?

I've been laboring over what to write as our introductory entry for a while, and so far all that's really hit me is the title. But, especially in this instance, life's pretty funny.

Case in point:




That's us in 1990, when we first became acquainted. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of us together (that we know of), but neither of us would have considered the other back then. I was too dark, he was too pretty, and a whole host of other things were in the way. And while we ran into each other on a night out about five years ago, and he gave me his number (which I lost), we didn't actually wind up hanging out one-on-one until September.

I won't go into September. We were both dealing with big ol' swirlies of drama which we're both quite relieved to have behind us now. No need to rehash, and if you know us, you know all about it anyway. But somewhere in the middle of those aforementioned swirlies of dramas, it occurred to us that *this* works, so we decided to stay. On 11 October, we *really* decided to stay - he proposed and I (obviously) accepted, which brings us to:



And there you have the backstory, with one small exception...

Our rather small wedding will be the 6th of February 2010 at 8.00pm, hence "oh two oh six ten at eight".