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Saturday, June 01, 2002

Sara: Bridesmaid dresses

I've been a bridesmaid in 2 weddings. The first was when my brother married his fabulous wife. The whole thing was held in my parents' yard, by the pool, and it was a beautiful ceremony. The bride's daughters passed out bubbles to everyone and we blew bubbles throughout the ceremony. The grass was wet, so the bubbles didn't break. The best part was that we all stood around after the ceremony and offered toasts and blessings to the couple. My brother started to speak, but all he got out at first was, "I am so fucking happy!"

I hope I can be as eloquent.

My dress for that wedding was a standard non-frilly lavender satin-back crepe number. I kind of felt like the puffed-out Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka, but it could have been worse. I really intended to go into the pool in it, but then my aunt ended up in the pool in her clothes, followed by my mom, and then my grandmother. Grandma walked down the steps instead of jumping in like the others. I have a great pic of my mom standing in the pool, and it's probably my favorite photo of her ever. So, after that, going in the pool in the lavender dress seemed anti-climactic.

The second time I served in the hallowed office of the bridesmaid was for Jon and Ryan's wedding. In her infinite wisdom, Ryan let us all pick our own dresses. I think we looked great.

The process of making my dress is chronicled here. Photos of the wedding: here. I'm in the gold top/brown skirt and I had bangs then. How 'bout that chuppah? Ryan and I made that! We had to use math and everything.

So, after that, I can't inflict anything really cruel on Ryan in her role of Matron of Horror. Sigh. So much for this dress. I bet I could've gotten a matching parasol and fingerless lace gloves to go with it.

The Plan is to make the a second copy of my skirt for Ryan, in the walking (non-train) length. I'm actually going to make hers first, as practice for mine. Better to make errors on dark silk taffeta than on white silk satin. Not sure what her bodice will look like. We saw a beautiful midnight blue taffeta at Thai Silks that is probably going to be The Fabric. Ryan looks great in blue.

My junior bridesmaid will be my niece, the beautiful Sarah, age 12-nearly-13 at the wedding. I'm seeing her in a few weeks as part of the Bonnaroo trip, and we'll talk about dresses then. She's also coming out here in August for the annual Niece Spoilage Tour of California. We always have a great time. I'm thinking that I should make the same skirt for her, and then a simple top with a more modest neckline than what Ryan and I will be wearing. She and I will have to go fabric shopping at Thai Silks in August to find her fabric. I suppose she could wear the same fabric as Ryan if she likes the color, or maybe there will be a lighter blue that will be better on her.

I'll use Sarah's fabric as the jump-off point for the flower girl dresses. The flower girls are my other 2 nieces, the adorable Jadyn, who will be 2 and a half, and the lovely and clever Amazing MacKenzie, who will be 8. I'll also be seeing them in a few weeks, hooray! I haven't seen the baby since last November, and Mac and I have some serious catching up to do as well. My plan for Mac's dress is to make it more like Sarah's than like Jadyn's. I'm afraid that, since she is at the top of the age range for flower girls, someone will tell her that it's babyish. If that happens, I can bump her from Head Flowergirl to Jr. Bridesmaid. Jadyn will of course do whatever she wants to do because she's 2 and a half. If she doesn't want to go down the aisle, she doesn't have to.
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Sara: Wedding ideas

HGTV's wedding pages. I really like this:

A cone-shaped floral arrangement that can be attached to the back of guests' chairs is an attractive yet subtle way to carry out the wedding theme throughout the home. Cover a Styrofoam form in the shape of a cone with moss, wrap ribbon around the cone in a lattice-type fashion, and place flowers in the top so that they appear to be spilling out.

I guess you shove oasis into the top of the cone? I think it's pretty. I'm such a ribbon junkie.
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Friday, May 31, 2002

Sara: Sara, the Veiled Threat

If Ryan can be Matron of Horror, I want a superhero name, too. Or maybe we're supervillains. It's so hard to tell sometimes.

The Veiled Threat....mild-mannered bride by day, bridezilla by night. Or is it the other way 'round?

Ok, I'm getting pelted with photography advice, but I think I have a solution to our budget problem. I'm going to drag out both of our albums from weddings 1.0, photoshop out the offending former spouses, and combine them to create new images. As an additional bonus, I'll be a size 6 again.

Maybe not.

I'm getting defensive, which is not good. I know that photography is important to a lot of people; for us, though, it's only about $1,000 important. I'm going to do as well as I can within that budget, but I'm not spending more. Can't, really. In the bay area, that means getting someone who is willing to do a short day. I have faith that this will all work out somehow.

Also, I can't have photography or video during the ceremony at all (church policy) which means we're going to be depending on memory for the most important part of the day anyway. I'm actually happy about that - I think that your photographs tend to become your memories. There will be photos leading up to the ceremony and photos after the ceremony, but nothing to put images into our heads for what went on in the church. That feels right to me.

I've been sewing all night, and need to go to bed! I'm working on a donation for an auction at church - it's a little girl's dressup box. It's gotten completely out of hand, though, like all of my costume projects. I'll get photos up in the next few days. Sleep now.
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Sara: Best ceremony bit

I can't use this in my ceremony because I'm pretty sure Sendak didn't write the Book of Common Prayer, but I really love it:

And instead of ordering the groom to kiss the bride, she said simply, "Let the wild rumpus begin!"

Got that from a post on Table Talk at Salon. It makes me incredibly happy.

I'm sitting at my computer this evening, listening to my beloved Leonard Cohen and trying to get motivated to either clean up the debris from my last sewing project or else start another one. It's not working. Waiting for the miracle to come, indeed.

Really beautiful book: Dance Me To The End of Love

Item I can't find anywhere: a bop bag. One of those inflatable punching bags with sand in the bottom. They don't exist. My brother and I had a Batman one and a Bozo one and they were really fun.

I think I've found the embroidery designs for my dress. I'll embroider a bunch of those big flowers on the bodice and then bead 'em silly. I have a giant image of bits of dresses that I like. However, it's 150k+ and if you're not on a broadband connection, it's not worth it. It's just a bunch of torsos with nice embroidery or beading. dress bits
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Thursday, May 30, 2002

Sara: Happy Thursday

I have no idea what day it is. This always happens when I have Monday off. So, I just woke up and realized that it is Thursday already and I am sooo behind at work. Eeep. And now I seem to be last in line for the shower this morning. That's what I get for not getting out of bed.

Fun wedding blog: Wisteria. I'm looking forward to seeing what the groom's section will turn into.

I have a meeting with a photographer in 2 weeks. I really like her style, especially the black and whites. I've spent more time agonizing over the photography issue than any other, I think. I just can't afford $3,000 for photos, which is pretty much the going rate around here. I'm not a real photo person, mostly because I am not very photogenic, but maybe I'm caving to pressure of the whole 'all you have left at the end of the day are your photographs!' idea. (I'm pretty sure you also have a husband after the ceremony, but why split hairs?) Anyway, I'm talking to photographers now. I'm hoping to get a smaller package for around $1,000. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Sara: Balloon hats

Would it be completely insane to have someone making balloon hats at the reception? I mean, it's not something you see in Martha Stewart Weddings, but you also don't see chubby brides in homemade dresses in MSW so I'm already coloring outside of the lines. I'm really into this idea. Ryan likes it, too, even though Leigh will probably start bopping us with balloons immediately. Dennis gave Leigh a foam BattleBots hand last weekend, and she was completely unable to be mature about it. Most people could handle having a big red robot arm, but not Leigh. It was very fun, at least for me - Ryan got most of the tormenting.
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Dennis: Balloon hats, eh ?

I do love the silly and the prankster in me welcomes things that bring out the kid-esque fun in adults so I'm largely in favor of this. But it does border on having a cotton candy machine, a petting zoo and other carnival accoutrements. That's not a judgement just an observation. Coloring outside the lines usually yields up tremendous things. And Leigh has my permission in advance to bop Sara & Ryan with balloons or other soft objects. It amuses me and it's my wedding, too.
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Sara: Does that mean no bearded lady or strongman?

I think every wedding needs one goofy thing, and balloon hats seem like an excellent goofy thing.

I ordered crowd toys for Bonnaroo today. I got bright colored paper fans and a ton of bubble necklaces and a few cool glowing rings. We've done glow bracelets for shows for a while, so it will be fun to have new stuff to give away. I think the fans will be wonderful to have in the horrible heat, and it's always fun to blow lots of tiny little bubbles. Yay, Oriental Trading Company!
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Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Dennis: Dennis Wedding Nightmare #1

A few nights ago, stressed out getting ready to work the dealer's room at Kublacon (a local gaming convention in Oaktown, yo'), I had the first nightmare related to the wedding so far. In it I'm running around seeing to details of the wedding on the actual day of the ceremony. Only thing is everyone's heads are on fire. Like the old Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider. Yet everyone seemed untroubled by their fiery skulls. They spoke in calm, polite tones and helped with my every request. I however was very concerned for them and tried to put out the flames with pitchers of water that were on neatly arranged tables. Ha ha ha it is to laugh ! The flames were stronger than my efforts to put them out and a few people including Jon became upset that I'd gotten their clothes all wet. Upon waking I was puzzled by it all yet vaguely amused. Fitting I should have a nightmare the very day I post something to Going Bridal for the first time.
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Dennis: Random catch-up

The Jesus doll at Sara's place: It was indeed cuddly & scary but isn't that part & parcel of modern Christian iconography ? I remember being terrified of those raised plastic Jesus pictures in glass covered frames that were all the rage in the '70s. This doll had that same mixed up vibe. And it made it tough to be, uh, intimate in her room when it was looking at the bed...

Invitations: Yeah, those look lovely. As with most details like this I am deferrin' it most proper to Ms. Sara. Still I giggle when I say the word Unryu.

Wedding Porn: NYC photographer Richard Kern has some serious wedding dress kink in some of his collections. Maybe too high brow for those into such things but then again maybe that might be exactly what their looking for. For my own part I can assure one & all that there will be NO wedding porn involving myself or Sara or anyone I know (if you were considering it expect a stern talking-to soon). Just yuck.

Links Links Links: How come I never see a URL for Oscar Myer or other frankfurter related items when I see those words ? Is that so much to ask ?
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Sara: Links For Dennis -

The Weinermobile
Smoky links recipe

And, since we're going to the Great Smoky Mountains in just a few weeks - Dollywood!
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Monday, May 27, 2002

Sara: Are these THE invitations?

I think I'm going to end up using these: invitations. They're purty. I'll do the vellum overlay and then some form of ribbon or raffia or something for the tie...I may get creative with that. I also may do a little outer wrapper of Unryu paper or something.

Ryan's invitations came from the same people, and they were loverly.

More server log amusement: I had a hit for the search 'how much money did james earl jones get for playing darth vader?' Again, sorry for the disappointment.

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Sara: Links! Links! Links!

I've started a links page, but I'm too lazy to put a link in the left nav today. So, here it is: The Page of Links.
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