Ordinary Saturdays

Blogfriends, it's time.  The eventual wedding is over.  Time to move on.  Within a few weeks I will have pictures to illustrate my wedding stories, which may be where I leave some of you.  For the few of you interested in life after wedding, it starts with a wedding-day story.

I mentioned before that DJ and I wrote letters to each other, to be kept secret and read at the ceremony by friends of ours.  Our officiant kept his homily a surprise as well.  We, along with many well-wishing cards, referenced the same idea.  We all fixed on the same thought, a theme that came first from DJ's proposal.  Ring in hand, he said that loved our ordinary Saturdays, and asked me to spend mine with him.

So, of course.  Ordinary Saturdays.  The next chapter in my bad-neighboring, bacon-eating, project-starting, fun-running, recipe-ignoring life.  See you there?

gifts for the ladies

The wedding is over and the gifts have been given, now I can talk about them! Deciding on gifts for the bridesmaids was both fun and nervewracking. I was afraid the gifts would seem self-serving, since they were very wedding-related. DJ kept telling me it would be fine, but I kept worrying about it.
Each girl got a hatbox, tied with satin ribbon. Inside the hatbox was a pair of earrings, a monogrammed pocket mirror, and a clutch purse lined in green silk. The clutches were handmade by me; which could be sweet or not, depending on how you see it.
Fortunately they all liked their gifts - at least enough to wear the earrings and carry the clutches for the wedding.

For the purses, I used this tutorial and purse frames from Etsy. The most difficult parts were testing the pattern (twice! use cheap fabric first!) and gluing the fabric to the frame (buy at least one extra frame and don't rush yourself.)

My mom's gift was sentimental. She had inherited a pearl ring from her mother (my Grandma Julia), which she loved and wore frequently. Several years ago it went missing when she moved, and since then she's said many times how sad she was to have lost it.

The potential cuteness of replacing it was irresistible - recovering something you thought you'd lost for good - so I went antiquing, and hunted down a very similar ring of the same era. It came to me boxless, so I threaded it on a ribbon in a small box full of moss, along with a note explaining the lost and found idea. My mom loved it, and it's even the right size. Perfect.

How did you choose gifts for your bridesmaids? Were you nervous about it?

the honeymoon is over

After the wedding, DJ and I dropped our dog at his parents' house and drove to Michigan.
We napped. We watched movies. We ate pie from a farmstand. We screwed up the zoom on the camera. I went for one single pathetic three mile run up and down the main road past our B&B.
We went antiquing. I bought a silverplate champagne bucket. DJ held tiny things in his enormous hands to make me laugh.

We spent an afternoon in St. Joseph, and killed an hour reading over hot chocolate.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was a resort in the 1930's, now tucked quietly in a residential neighborhood along the lakeshore. It was delicious.

We also went wine tasting. I didn't know that Michigan had vineyards, but it does. Trivia: it's on the same latitude as Washington State, and roughly the same as the south of France. Different soil and weather, of course - but lots of grapes.

DJ's aunt and uncle gave us a stellar wedding gift. They arranged for our B&B to pack a picnic basket (with wine!) and deliver gift certificates to three nearby wineries.

This aunt and uncle actually got married at Round Barn several years ago. They no longer host weddings, but they have excellent wine, and recently also vodka and beer. (Try the cocoa stout. Trust me.)

On our last day we had an amazing lunch at Tabor Hill's restaurant.

We ordered polenta fries with truffled aioli, and a lobster-scallop "cigar" with a sweet/spicy dipping sauce. Those were just the appetizers, then we had lunch!

We finally figured out the camera zoom.

So now we're newlyweds. Newlyweds with two cases of Michigan wine in the guest bedroom. That ought to get us through the first few days weeks months.

kitchen logic

If you want to make buttermilk ice cream, you will have a dozen leftover egg whites. So then you'll decide to make angel food cake, which is oversold as a fat-free dessert. Of course you will start thinking that cake would be delicious with buttermilk ice cream.

Also, you might not own a tube pan (nor really want a tube pan) and decide it might be fine to try a silicone bundt pan instead. Inadvisable. We may be having angel food french toast for breakfast tomorrow.

worth it

Over 21 months of planning, I don't know how many married women told me that they should have eloped. Too much trouble, didn't turn out like they wanted, etc. It makes you wonder if the wedding is really worth it.

Sure, if DJ and I had eloped we would be just as married as we are now. (whee!) But if you're in the throes of catering decisions and floral insecurities, know that the party may be worth it. Really worth it.

(photo from a guest with my camera)

Here I am, dancing with Kid A. My older-younger brother. He is not always well enough to dance, and that night he was all over the dance floor. In all of the problems and trials of life, there we are - dancing badly, kids shaking off joyful energy. So, it's worth it. It might be. I hope it is for you, it was for me.

yes I said yes I will Yes

We're married! (To each other, as DJ likes to clarify.) It was absolutely wonderful, I wouldn't change a thing.

(Snapshot from my camera, probably taken by a bridesmaid.)

DIY flowers: I did it!

At 9:30 in the morning the FedEx guy wished me a happy marriage. He left three boxes; two deceptively narrow, one the size of a small coffin.

Thirteen hours later...
(There are a few more pieces, including one big mama of a bouquet for me.) I'll tell you all about it in a week or so. I'm off to get married! I have had such a good time at EAD, getting advice about veils and family struggles and enjoying all of your ideas. After 21 months of I have an idea and I think I could make that, it's all happening!

Although, at the moment I am most excited about handing my bouquet to Katie so I can hold DJ's hands. Walking back down the aisle together. Sneaking glances at his hand with a ring on it. Doing the stand-and-sway to a sappy song. Celebrating a life ten years in the making, and worth every minute.

words of love

During our ceremony, two of our friends (a happily married couple) will read letters that DJ and I have written to/about each other. She will read what I wrote, he will read what DJ wrote. We are not sharing our letters with each other before the ceremony, so it might be a very nice and genuine moment.

But then we had this discussion over e-mail.

Me: I’m excited to hear what you wrote. Unless you are going to have {friend} get up there and yell WHO FANCY NOW! Because that would be stealing my idea.
DJ: You can have “Who fancy now.” {Friend} is going to holler “Who gonna check me, boo?” and do the head shake thing that goes with it.

We are a very romantic couple.

trial run

There was another bride at the salon on Saturday, with her mom and bridesmaids. They were sipping mimosas and enjoying bagels with the stylists, taking turns having their hair done. The bride had a pretty veil and really cute short hair, super shiny and full of volume. There she is in the corner behind me - bride and bride-in-training.
I really liked how my hair turned out for the test run. But it didn't stay "up" very well, partly because I have a ton of unruly hair, partly because it had been messed with too much, and partly because it needed better pins. Those pins shaped like a U never work for me - do they for anyone? I need the grippy ones you have to pry open, and an entire can of hairspray.

Your Colors are PINK and PINK

Here's the last of the difficult questions. Hairstyle chosen, menu approved, timeline set, song list delivered. But what color will I paint my fingernails?

Dear Future Julia,

Please stop buying neutral nail polishes. You have too many, and you are not very good with minor decisions.

xoxo,

Julia