Wow, long time no blog! I swear I didn't forget about the blog, there's just been a lot of stuff going on in the world of Marie. In all the holiday-ness, I haven't done much serious thinking about wedding stuff. I've been idly thinking about stuff like centerpieces, whether or not to have favors, placecards, etc.

I know I wrote about centerpieces before, but the whole floral centerpiece thing I'm just not sure I can budget for. There's gotta be a way to have something cute without having to spend a ton, right? I've found some cute ideas, like this:

source...I love Weddingbee!

It's super cute! I think my real problem is I don't have any sort of theme for my wedding. This blogger had all sorts of vintage stuff like old books, buttons, and luggage (used for her photos, it worked pretty well!). Unfortunately, I can't think of anything. (no Disney, tash.) I'll have to keep pondering it.

I've been thinking about place settings quite a bit too. I wanted something more fun than just plain old placecards. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it, but there's tons of ideas out there. Does anyone have any ideas? Anyone?

wedding planning funk

I had one of those dreams again. You know, the one where you are suddenly upon your wedding day with no hair or makeup booked? Or, in my case, nothing except the photographer and the venue? I vaguely remember having a dress, but I don't think it's the one I picked out the other week. I also remember having to pee a lot.

What are these dreams trying to tell me? It's way too early for me to book hair and makeup, so it probably isn't it. Maybe it's because I can't seem to make any other decisions regarding the wedding lately. There's just so many options for everything else needed in the wedding that I just can't decide on anything. Centerpieces? Flowers? Invitations? Bridesmaid dresses? Too many things to decide.

Hopefully this wedding decision funk will pass. It's possible I just feel less excited about the details because it's the holiday season. Christmas gifts will do that to you.

I feel very un-creative for the remainder of the details I have to pick out for the wedding (which is, you know, basically all of them). I read tons and tons of wedding blogs, browse tons and tons of wedding sites, peruse tons and tons of wedding magazines, but everything I see is either something I can't afford, or something I can't hope to recreate on my own. I'm just not that creative! Since I don't want to spend a fortune on wedding decorations, I'm thinking my decoration is going to have to be more creative, out of necessity.

The main thing I am worried about is flowers. I don't want to spend too much on them! The main things I wanted to spend on for the wedding were photography and food. Flowers are beautiful, but they die within a day, and are super freaking expensive. Those wedding magazines tell me that the "cheap" bouquets (you know...the affordable version of that gorgeous bouquet) go for at least a hundred, on average. Seriously? for flowers? This is where the miserly side comes out.

So yeah. No ideas for flowers. I will likely need centerpieces (but candles? those can work...?) and some sort of arrangements to define the aisles better for our venue. I'm scared of how much that'll cost me. Does anyone have any ideas?

All dressed up...

I'm going to be honest here...I haven't really been all that excited about trying on wedding dresses. Sacrilege, I know! Wedding dresses are what everyone dreams of, that beautiful (sometimes fluffy) dress that makes them feel really pretty.

The real reason I haven't been excited about the dress is a purely vain reason. Um...ok. I'm not in the best shape. And that translates into not feeling so great about myself when trying on these beautiful, expensive dresses. I mean, when the point of one of these dresses is to make me feel like a princess (or something) on my wedding day, I don't want to feel fat and ugly when picking one out.

Still, I signed up for this marathon of wedding dress shopping today. Marathon = 2.5 hours, probably 20 or 25 dresses. It was a serious marathon! I was exhausted by the end. That's a lot of dresses. I tried on some that were seriously questionable.

BUT! it was all worth it in the end! Because I found the dress!

Seriously, I was a little bit scared about it. Who finds a dress the first time they go dress shopping? Beyond that, who loves the FIRST dress they try on? (yup, it was the first dress I tried on). I keep thinking that maybe I should have tried on other dresses, but it's hard to argue when a dress just speaks to you.

And here it is!
(*note: I did not purchase the purse and the wrap. I did, however, get myself a tiara. heh. oh, and feel free to envision me as buff as that model)

It's gorgeous, and lace (who thought i'd like lace?!?), and with beads (who thought i'd like beads?!?), and its so simple and classic. I love that about it. I love the semi-sweetheart neckline too. Plus, the corset back makes it a bit more forgiving if I, say, cave and eat that whole pack of Golden Oreos.

Crap. Guess I should get serious about that wedding diet (you know...beyond cutting out hotdogs. That's as far as I've gotten until now). And that wedding workout plan. But hey, I just got a gym membership. And Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred. Maybe I'll be in good shape by next September! Or, maybe I'll just eat another Oreo.

documented for posterity

For some reason, I felt really anxious about booking a photographer. As soon as J and I booked the Arista as our venue, I started looking for a photographer. Since J and I have been to so many weddings over the past year, I've really gotten to see a lot of photographers' work and been able to figure out what I really don't like.

For instance, I'm not so into the posed shots that come across sort of cheesy. Poses like the groomsmen all hold the bride, or everyone jumps in the air, have never really been my style of photography. We even went to a wedding where half the photos were taken at a 45 degree angle for no apparent reason. What's the point of that? What do you do with photos like that? They don't make 45 degree angle frames.

Anyway, I really didn't know the first place to look for photos. One of my friends from high school had beautiful photos, but unfortunately her photographer was booked for my wedding date. Damn! I resorted to searching on myportlandwedding.com, and luckily, it worked out beautifully for me.

We ended up booking April Greer, a photographer based out of Tacoma, Washington. I am completely and totally smitten with her photos and her style. It's beautiful! She makes great use of color, and I love that her photos are less staged, run-of-the-mill photography and more capture-the-moment.

Some of her work:
I absolutely love her photos! I'm really excited to have April as our photographer. We met her in Portland one afternoon after she did an engagement shoot for another couple. I love that engagement sessions are included in any of her collections. She says it's to ensure the couple gets comfortable with her before the wedding day, and I completely agree. It's important to not be too self-conscious on your wedding day, I think. Plus, engagement photos were a must for me...since I won't be able to have the quintessential downtown Portland wedding photos, I will get downtown Portland engagement photos. Now I just have to find another pretty day in Portland! Hopefully they're not all gone for the winter.

where to get married?

The venue was kind of a hard search for J and me. We didn't really know what existed around Portland, except for things we couldn't afford (the Benson Hotel and the Portland Art Museum are gorgeous, but the site fee is kind of more than what we wanted to spend on the whole wedding). We ended up just going through the 2008 Portland wedding guide and www.myportlandwedding.com to find site ideas, and scheduled appointments to view the locations.

We ended up going with the Arista Ballroom. It's a 1920's Greco-Roman style ballroom. It was really important to us to have a place that was not only affordable, but had charm and character. I really wasn't interested in getting married somewhere impersonal. Luckily, the ballroom is gorgeous!

The outside has beautiful columns, and the door is flanked on either side by these giant, open-flame torches. Check them out!
I love them. The venue also comes with a uniformed doorman to greet your guests. How cool is that?

The inside of the ballroom is just as beautiful. Check out that ceiling!
SO pretty.

I think we picked a beautiful place to get married. I'm really looking forward to using the venue. The event designer we've been corresponding with has been super helpful and friendly. Hopefully it will be a great event!

the intro

Hi, my name is Marie and I am getting married next September. I live in Portland, Oregon, with my fiance J, and two kittens. I've lived in Oregon all my life, with the exception of a few years where I attended school in LA . I don't really talk about that time.

J and I have been together for six years. We got engaged last April, just before I started studying for the bar exam, which I took this past July. Thankfully, I passed! I've been happily wedding planning ever since.

I decided to start chronicling my wedding planning this morning after waking up from my first typical wedding nightmare. It was the typical "day of the wedding with no hair or makeup booked" scenario. I'd had one prior wedding nightmare, but it involved a crazy day-of coordinator and informing me I couldn't walk down the aisle yet because my appetizers weren't cold enough. What? Weird.

Anyway, this is my journey! Hope it's entertaining!