Wow!

Only 9 days to go, and things have been crazy the last two weeks!

Last week was my graduation week, filled with awesome Senior Week activities and culminating with my speech to probably more than 1,000 people (biggest audience yet!) and getting my hood and diploma. Woohoo! Eric came for the weekend and in between the festivities we had our final meeting with our caterer to finalize all the little details AND got our marriage license!

This week has been full-fledged wedding-related. Among the larger things to do is the very nebulous "clean the apartment." The guest bathroom is sparkling, and the rest of the rooms are presentable, at least; a good scouring and vacuuming will come this weekend.

Our second bedroom, which we used to use as an office, but which was subletted out to my old roommate until the first of the month, is now an office again. And it's filled to the brim with everything for the wedding. All the alcohol is here now (my friends and I took a trip to Nashville the other day to buy 10 cases of Yuengling!), and our 100 vases, plus all the other assorted decorations. It's semi-organized, but still threatening to take over at least half of the room. Another quarter of the room is filled with empty boxes I've accumulated over the last few months that we'll need for transporting wedding items and for packing.

The to-do list is still pretty long, but the big things are done: reception numbers are in, rehearsal dinner numbers are in, and the music is done. I had my hair trial during graduation week, and it held up great. I'll talk to the photographer and videographer this week to make final plans. The big things will get taken care of, and the little things are just little things.

I don't know if I'll feel the urge to blog in the next week, since things will be so crazy, and I kind of thrive under those kinds of conditions, so here are just a few final thoughts:

-My aunt and uncle were planning to come, but it turns out my uncle's brain cancer is back, and he's having surgery around the time of the wedding instead. I'm sad I won't be able to see them, but I hope everything goes well with his treatment.
-The wife of one of Eric's cousins wasn't going to be able to come, we had been told, because she's due to give birth in July, and while I questioned that (I can get into obstetrics rants at another time, but it's usually not a medically necessary restriction), I accepted it. We got their RSVP in the mail yesterday, though, and it looks like she's coming! I'm quite excited about that.
-I didn't believe it would happen, but we got two RSVP cards with no names on them! Even though there's a line that specifically says "Name(s):" I'm so glad I secretly numbered them on the back so I could match them up to the guest list. The best part? They came from a son and his mother! When I figured it out, I laughed.


Sorry they're rotated; I can't be bothered with figuring out how to fix that right now.

Finally, I've been watching the weather. If you live oh, anywhere in the eastern half of the country, you've had some crazy rains the last few weeks. But the 10-day forecast was showing rain yesterday through this weekend for Louisville, and then becoming sunny and warm next week. As of this morning, there's a forecast for our wedding day, and it's great! Partly cloudy, high 78, 10% chance of precipitation, and sunset at 8:55 pm (so we can go back to the Glassworks roof for sunset pictures!). Wonderful!

This is what one month of mail looks like

When it's the month before your wedding month:

I had all my mail held at the post office while I was in New Jersey this past month. I got home late last night and found most of those boxes inside my apartment, put there by my building manager for the UPS guy. I woke up early this morning to go pick up all the rest of the mail, which consisted of the large Kohl's box, a smaller box you can't see, and that large red bin full of mail.

Including all of our RSVPs!

Now I just have to unpack my car, put everything away in the apartment, and get re-settled. My roommate moved out this weekend before I got home, so the apartment is all mine again, and I can spread out all the wedding crap in the other bedroom!

Let the countdown begin!

Oh yeah, even though I really really really want to open all of those boxes, I'm waiting until this weekend, when Eric comes for my graduation. He should get to enjoy opening them, too, right?

Four Weeks to Go!

With four weeks to go, the checklist is getting smaller, but still remains substantial. Here are some random thoughts:

-Last Friday was nice and we sat outside for lunch with our real estate agent in Philly. We were only partially shaded by the overhang from the restaurant, and my right arm got a little sun. In the back of my mind, a little bell went off. Ding ding ding! You don't want any tan lines in a strapless dress! Yesterday, it was really gorgeous out, and after putting in our offer for our first house (!!!), we put the top down on my car to head to a friend's cookout. My arms got a little more sun, and I got a teeny tiny farmer's tan. Not good. I use an SPF 15 face lotion every morning, but I think it's time to start applying sunscreen to my shoulders, arms, and neckline regularly as well.

-It's supposed to be 90 degrees today. I'm living 15 minutes from the beach. I didn't bring a bathing suit out here and I'm not supposed to get tan. Bummer.

-On the fitness front, things aren't going so well. I was doing pretty well with weight loss last month before I came out here to NJ. But Eric doesn't have a kitchen in his efficiency, so we survive on microwaveable food or eat out. Not so good for the waist line. And then we were supposed to be training for a 5K that was to have taken place yesterday, but the last two weeks have been so cold and rainy I wasn't able to train much. At the last minute, we scheduled our house offer meeting with our agent for yesterday morning instead, so I didn't have to run. Whew.

-Eric ordered a wedding band and we found pocket squares for the guys (instead of boutonnieres). At every jewelry store we went to, they asked how long until the wedding, and when he replied, "A month from today," they all responded with variations on the theme of "Wow, you need to get your ring!" Yes, thank you, that's why we're here. He got a white gold band with a brushed satin finish in the center, should be in within 2 weeks. He still needs to settle on groomsmen presents, though.

-Eric's bachelor party was last weekend, and ... no more drunkenness for either of us from here on out.

-My bachelorette party is this coming weekend. I expect it to be tamer than his party was anyway, but still, no drunkenness on my part.

-We need to finish making our music playlist. We don't have a first dance song yet...

-We have no idea what our ceremony is going to be like. No readings picked out, no outline. To be honest, it bothers me more because I need to make programs, not because I want to know what the ceremony is going to be like...

-We've started using a teeth whitening system. It makes my teeth sensitive, so we do it every other day instead of every day. We forgot to take "before" pictures, but I'm not sure I see any results yet (we've done it three times so far, out of seven).

-We've stopped chewing on our fingernails and cuticles. With semi-success. I might need to get regular manicures from here on out to prevent me from biting. When I do my own manicure, the mental block to stop me from fiddling with them doesn't exist, but when I pay money for it... Seriously, you'd think I could have better self control than this.

-I'm going to place my flower orders tomorrow. Yay!

-The number of smaller things we still have left to do is pretty large, but I'm also ignoring a lot of them. Either they happen, or they don't. In the meantime, I can't wait until tomorrow to find out if our house offer got accepted!

So what am I going to make with all of these flowers? Here's the list:

One bouquet for me
7 bouquets for the bridesmaids
1 flower girl container of some sort (basket, flower ball, flower wand, etc)
3 corsages of some sort
15 centerpieces
Decorations for our altar/arbor
A cake topper
An arrangement for the entryway/escort card table.

Whew, right?

Nothing will be too fussy; the general idea is that by saving money we can have lots of flowers, and the beauty of the flowers will be in the fact that there are so many of them (1,885, to be exact!). I think it will work out beautifully. I might still farm out the corsages to a florist, but I have time to make that decision. Eric doesn't want boutonnieres, so I don't have to make or buy any, and the guys will wear pocket squares instead. The aisle decorations will be paper lanterns, so no flowers needed there. Anything I'm forgetting?

Now, for the logistics. First, I have to place the order, and I'm going to do that soon, assuming I don't decide to change the color scheme :) They'll be delivered on Thursday and Friday of the wedding week (Sunday wedding, remember), and I'll tend to them and get them into water and let them open until Saturday morning. Saturday will be flower day, and when they're all done we'll bring them over to the reception site to be stored overnight.

To keep the apartment chilly enough to not have the flowers burst open upon arriving, I'll be turning the air conditioning down a few degrees for a few days (ozone layer, please forgive me!). I have to acquire some 5 gallon buckets to hold the flowers in, as well as some floralife to keep the flowers happy, and some oasis foam forms for the arbor arrangement and cake topper. To make it a group project, I got a few pairs of floral shears (I got them in the Target $1 aisle sometime last year, when they were selling lots of gardenening stuff). I've already acquired about 100 assorted small vases from various thrift stores to use on the reception tables, so we'll be putting multiple small vase arrangements on each table to add to the feeling of overabundance. The plan is that any crafty bridesmaids, friends, or relatives who want to help out on Saturday, can, and everyone else can hang out on their own in Louisville or head down to Churchill Downs, where a group will be headed.

I acknowledge that it sounds like a lot, but I'm fully prepared to tackle this project, and to not freak out if for some reason it all goes horribly wrong. You read it here: I hereby promise not to freak out if for some reason the flowers go horribly wrong!

I don't have too much of a plan for the actual designs themselves. For the bridesmaid bouquets, if the bridesmaids want to pick out their own flowers or make their own bouquets, that will be great. For the centerpieces, all the vases will just have a mix of flowers, and same for the arch and escort card table arrangement. The only big question mark left is my own bouquet. Once upon a time, I really loved the idea of a cascading bouquet in all white. Right now, multi-colored hand-tied bouquets are really popular. I like the idea of both. What should I do?


All white, cascading bouquet (source). Granted, it looks a little dated with the ivy, but you get the idea:

Colored, hand-tied (source):

Another colored, probably hand-tied bouquet (source):


All white, cascade (source):

Maybe the fact that all of the cascade bouquet pictures I can find all line look so dated should tell me that I'm leaning toward a really 80s look?

But wait! Here are some viable options:

Colored cascade, smaller scale, with ruscus instead of ivy (source):

Another colored bouquet (it's even purple and green!), sort of a cross between hand-tied and cascade, with amaranthus to give it the cascading look (source):

According to The Knot, I should pick a smaller round bouquet because I'm petite, a smaller round bouquet because my dress profile is slimmer, a smaller cascade because the wedding is in a loft-type space, or a smaller hand-tied bouquet because the ceremony is outdoors. Hmm, that doesn't help me much, other than telling me I should keep my bouquet small (boo; I like big ones!).

Round or cascade, white or colored? Decisions, decisions. Something tells me I'll decide on Saturday, May 23, as I'm about to put it together...

Engagement Photos Have Been Blogged!

Two weekends ago, Eric and I met up with Carmen of Carmen Fong Photography, to cash in on the free engagement session we won last year. We met down in College Park, on the UMD campus, to show some alumni school spirit. It was a miserable, rainy, cold day, but Carmen was awesome and trekked around campus with us. Eventually it stopped raining, but I don't think the sun ever came out until we were driving back up to NJ/PA later that evening. It's OK, though; I've heard a few times, and Carmen agreed, that cloudy days are good for pictures because you're not worrying about glare or shadows or squinty eyes. That's the silver lining!

Carmen was awesome to work with, and I'm really sorry we're getting married in Louisville and that we already have a photographer booked, because I would love to have her as our wedding photographer! Unlike the other engagement session we had a long time ago, in which the unexperienced photographer we modeled for made me stressed out beyond belief by not giving us any instruction whatsoever, Carmen was very cognizant of the fact that Eric and I have no clue about anything photographically related, and gave us very clear instructions to help make us not look like idiots. Professional models we are not, no matter how much America's Next Top Model I watch.

After a great photo session, complete with an outfit change for me, and tons of help from my sister Laurel, I blog stalked Carmen ritually, even during last weekend, when she told me she would be in Las Vegas.

And yesterday, my stalking was rewarded! We've been blogged!

Here are my favorites, stolen off of Carmen's blog. All credits to Carmen Fong Photography, of course!

Once I realized the forecast for the weekend included rain, I packed my new rain boots and bright yellow jacket and figured I'd make the best of it. I got this jacket at Gap a few years ago on clearance, and I always receive compliments on it. I love it. Laurel brought the awesome umbrella, which immediately got earmarked as a prop.


I like this one because it showcases what I call the "M Circle," which visitors coming through the main campus entrance see and which gets replanted in Maryland colors periodically. I was initially a teensy tiny bit disappointed to see that it was yellow and not red (my favorite), but it matches my jacket perfectly! I love the composition of this shot.

We asked Carmen to take a photo of us that conforms to the New York Times wedding announcement guidelines:

Couples posing for pictures should arrange themselves with their eyebrows on exactly the same level and with their heads fairly close together. Couple pictures should be printed in a horizontal format.

Talk about specific! I submitted our wedding announcement the week before our photo shoot, and now all I need to do is submit the photo. Whether we get in or not remains to be seen, but it's exciting to think about!

Here's one of the photos from our NYT pose:

To be honest, I hope some of the others in that series turn out a little better, but not because of Carmen's photography. My face looks a little fat (I'm going to have to remember that's not the best angle for me!), my hair looks a little wet (smallest of the problems), and Eric's eyes look a little tired (he WAS tired, though). Or maybe I'm just being hypercritical. We'll see how the others turn out.

Eric really likes this one, as evidenced by the fact that it's now his Facebook profile pic:

We're so excited about our photos that we've even been discussing whether to scrap our original plan for a guest book -- a coffee table book of Louisville -- and make a photo book of our engagement photos instead, to share with everyone at the wedding.

Go check out the rest yourself! We had a great time working with Carmen, and I can't wait to see the rest of our photos! If you're looking for a photographer in the DC area (or anywhere -- she'll travel!), I highly recommend getting in touch with her. Thank you, Carmen!!!

Flowers chosen?

Sorry, I know it's been a long time since I've given you any sort of meaningful attention, Harry Kalas aside. There isn't too much big stuff going on, just lots of little progress every day, chipping away at various things on the to-do list.

Well, here's an update for you. I think I've decided what flowers to order!

I worked at a florist in college, which was by far one of the best jobs I've ever had. Even on the most stressful day (think Valentine's Day), you were super busy boxing and wrapping up dozens of beautiful flowers. How stressful can that really be? I loved seeing the wedding flowers that we put together, and developed a very strong sense of what flowers I preferred. I will admit to one day, 9 years ago (oh my gosh, has it really been that long!?), writing down what I wanted my wedding bouquet to look like. My tastes haven't changed too much in the ensuing years, I have to admit.

One of the best/worst things about working at a florist was the development of the idea that I am capable of doing my own wedding flowers. A double-edged sword, to be sure, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for everyone, due to the stress that is sure to come with it. And who knows, after the wedding, I might not recommend it to anyone!

Actually, I'm really excited and looking forward to being able to work on my own flowers, although some of the logistics are going to require attention. Over the last few days, I've been perusing bulk flower websites, and here's what I've decided to order:


I'm aiming for mostly purple (all shades) and green, with a hint of pink. Sort of a wild, loosy goosey look, not too structured. Does this meet the mark?

Here's the flower breakdown:
Lavender roses
Pink/white bicolor roses
White spray roses
Purple lisianthus
Lavender sweet pea
White alstromeria
Purple alstromeria
Bupleurum (green)
Purplush/bluish limonium
Assorted colors of hypericum berries (for the berries in our "vines and berries" motif) (I'm hoping there's not too many red ones in the mix, but more of the green, pink, and peachy ones)
Assorted colors of statice (any color this comes in will be fine, except for maybe the hot pink)
And for greens, I'm using ruscus (evoking the vines in our motif) and lemonleaf.

I don't want too much of a pastel color scheme, but there are more flowers that come in bright pinks than come in bright purples. Hopefully the purple lisianthus will help keep things in the bold spectrum.

What do you think about the sweet pea? It comes in a variety of bold pink colors, but not a true purple, only lavender. Stick with the purple shade and risk being too pastel, or trade it for a darker pink and risk bringing too much pink into the mix? Similarly, trade in the lavender roses for something else (white or pink?) or leave them alone?

I actually have no problems with pink, and love bold pink flowers, but I've seen a few pictures of florals done in all purple and they're really nice looking, too, so I think that's what I'm going to go for. On the other hand, the eggplant bridesmaid dresses might look nice with a punch of pink, don't you think? Or should I stick with the color scheme and go all purple and green? You see where I'm getting stuck...

I traded the ability to pick the exact varieties of some of the flowers (roses and alstro in particular) for the lower price that comes with just ordering "lavender" roses. Hopefully they'll be blue curiosas, but if not, it won't be the end of the world.

Here's an interesting dilemma that occurs when ordering bulk flowers: They only come in bulk sizes! So if you want a huge variety of flowers, you quickly end up adding $3000+ worth of flowers to your online shopping cart and kicking yourself because one of the main points of doing your own flowers was to save money! Or you can find sites that let you buy in smaller quantity, but you end up spending just as much money because the unit price goes up a lot. For example, I originally had lilies, ranunculus, amaranthus, freesia, anemones, and delphinium in the mix, not to mention a bunch of other shades of roses, lisianthus, and alstromeria. But I really don't need 100 of each flower. Well, I'm sure I could decide that I did need them, but our budget can't take it. Instead, if the deliveries arrive and I still wish I had some lily, freesia, or anemones to help balance the color scheme, or I still wish I had some amaranthus just for the luxury, I can head across the street to our local florist or out to Whole Foods to see what I can get on short notice and in small quantities.

So that's the plan for what to order. Have any suggestions for colors/flowers? I welcome them! In a later post, I'll talk about what I'm going to make with all of these flowers.

No good titles come to mind, but this is about Harry Kalas

Yesterday afternoon, I was eating a Wawa turkey hoagie and watching some HGTV while playing around online, and I saw a Facebook status update from Eric: "Harry Kalas is found passed out in the press box in DC and taken to the hospital. Not good."

I immediately hit the "Sports" link on cnn.com, which was the other tab I had open in Firefox, and when that didn't give me any news, I went over to Philly.com. And there, the headline told me that Kalas was not just unconscious, but had been taken to GW Hospital and pronounced dead.

This news has hit many people very hard, including Eric. He's a diehard baseball fan, and one who has enjoyed sharing his knowledge and love of baseball with me (although it's been extremely frustrating for him at times, I'm sure!). Harry Kalas has been announcing Phillies games for what seems like forever, and his instantly recognizable voice is known to many baseball fans, regardless of their team affiliation. His death is the talk of the town today in Philadelphia, still.

But the headline hit me like a punch in the gut for another reason. And then I felt instantly guilty, but still couldn't shake my initial reaction and emotion: "Sh*t. I wonder if he did the recording yet?"

Yeah, I hate to be THAT bride, that wedding-centric bride, but Kalas's untimely death had a personal connection, a wedding connection, and that's where my mind flew first.

~~~

You see, sometime last year I read about two weddings in which Harry recorded the introduction of the wedding party into the reception. One was via Weddingbee; one of the Bees attended a wedding in Philly where this happened, and blogged about it. The other was via a Philly DJ who blogs, and I happened upon his website completely randomly, looking for information on paper lanterns or something like that, and read about a wedding he had done where Harry made the wedding party introductions. I instantly knew it was an awesome idea, and, if I could pull it off, the best surprise for Eric ever.

After idly wandering around the internet looking for Harry's contact info (I'm not sure if I expected him to have a public Phillies email address or not), I finally called the Phillies one day, and was told that Harry didn't make recordings like that. When I explained that I knew of two weddings where it had occurred, the Phillies girl replied, "Well, it must have been a personal favor for someone he knew." I somehow doubted that, and pressed again for a mailing address (at that point, I figured a real letter would be better than an email). She gave it to me, and in early February, I sent off a letter to Harry, asking if he would pretty please record our wedding party introduction. I believe I promised to be future season ticket holders someday, and to raise our children in the glorious Phillies tradition.

The last weekend in February, I went skiing in Snowshoe, WV, where there is no cell phone reception. On the drive back to Louisville, once we regained contact with the outside world, my friend Noah (who I was traveling with) and I both logged into our voicemail accounts. And all of a sudden, as I was listening to my messages, I exclaimed, "Holy #$!%!" causing Noah to wonder if he was about to drive off a West Virginia cliff.

Because there was HIS voice. On my voicemail. "Holly, this is Harry Kalas with the Phillies. I got your letter, and I would be happy to introduce your wedding party when you get married in May. The way you go about that would be to contact Mr. Rob Brooks. His number at the Phillies is ... and he'll tell you how to go about it. You can send a script, or fax or email a script to him, and then we can get it done before the nuptuals. I'd be happy to do it, my very best wishes to you and yours! Thanks."

Harry Kalas! On MY voicemail! It's a classic Harry cadence, with funny emphasis here and there, but all his own. Noah, who wasn't familiar with Harry, remarked, "He has the most announcer-y voice I've ever heard!"

Over the next couple of weeks, I got in touch with Rob Brooks, broadcasting manager for the Phillies, and found out what I had to do. Brooks urged me to get my script in soon, because the team would only be in Philadelphia for four days during their first at-home stretch, and if I could get it in then, Harry could record it.

I enlisted the help of Eric's sister, Paige, and friend-and-groomsman Shea, who is the other biggest baseball nut I know. We put together a pretty good script, and I saved it until last Sunday evening, Phillies Opening Day, hoping I could hear some other Harry-isms to insert. I was really pissed when I realized the TV broadcast was being called by the ESPN guys (I probably just revealed my own baseball stupidity there, but oh well). So off the script went to Brooks, with a question about how to make my requested contribution to the Phillies Charities in return for Harry's services.

Two nights ago, I realized I hadn't yet heard back from Brooks regarding how to make my payment, and made a mental note to contact him the next day. But before I could, Harry died.

~~~

So there I was, sitting on the living room floor, stunned. "Sh*t. I wonder if he did the recording yet?"

Crap. I can't believe THAT was my first thought! What kind of horrible person AM I?

But seriously, I wonder if he recorded it yet?!?!

A text message sent to Paige and Shea conveyed the news: "Um, Harry Kalas just died." I knew they would understand the hidden message: What do I do now?

Yeah, I'm THAT bride. Let's just all accept it and move on.

What if the recording hadn't been made?
What if it HAD been made? Could I still use it at the reception?

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that no matter what, Eric deserved to be told that night. The surprise would come 41 days early, but it would still be a surprise. So yesterday evening when we both got home, I told him I had some news. He looked worried, and said, "Is it good or bad?" and I responded, "It's mixed." I didn't even know what to say to him, so I just put my cell phone on speaker, dialed into my voicemail, and gave him the phone.

He had a surprisingly blank look on his face -- that's the reporter in him, I guess, having learned not to show too much emotion, as well as the poker player in him, too -- and I didn't know what he was thinking. But then he responded in the way I knew he would -- he was really surprised, and also touched. The "surprise" was ruined, but he still knew that I had planned it.

So now we're in a weird situation. I clearly can't contact Rob Brooks anytime soon, but I can't stop wondering if Harry had recorded our announcement yet or not. And even if he had, would they still send it to me? And if they did, could we still use it? And what do I do with Harry's voice saved on my phone? I'd like to download the message and save it on my computer instead of my phone; I guess that's something I'll be looking into soon.

Other people have written great things in memory of the great Harry Kalas, and I'm not going to attempt to add anything to that, because I just wouldn't feel qualified. But this is my own personal connection to him, a weird, spooky story that I had to share.