Thursday, September 9, 2010

Wedding Planning Week!

I just spent a really wonderful week in California doing wedding planning! It was very busy, but also lots of fun and super exciting to see the wedding coming together! There were several moments over the last week when it dawned on me: oh my god, we're actually getting married!

First I flew out to Los Angeles to spend some time with my mama,  who helped me shop for my wedding dress. APL's mom came with us to some of the appointments too. (I love her, and she doesn't have any daughters of her own, so I was super glad she got to join us a few times!) 

I think trying on wedding dresses would be exhausting work even without having to deal with achy joints and fatigue. Some of those gowns are really heavy, and you usually have to wiggle into them, because the sample is some ridiculous size that no reasonable person actually wears. And then you end up having to stand around for a long time while someone zips, clips, buttons, or ties you into the dress. Then you have to stand around even longer to decide if you like the dress. Then you have to stand around while they undo all the zips, clips, buttons, and ties so you can wiggle out of the dress. Then you start over with the next dress. By the end of each appointment, my knees were made of fire and I desperately needed to sit down. Or take a nap. Who knew trying on dresses could beat a person up so much?

In some cases, you also have to save energy to deal with a "bridal consultant," who either doesn't understand what you are looking for, and keeps showing you dresses that you would never consider wearing, or is just downright rude or inappropriate. The best/worst bridal consultant moments?
  • I tried on a dress that, for some unknown reason, had buttons over a zipper over a  lace-up corset. As she laced, zipped, and buttoned me into the dress, the bridal consultant would not stop making jokes about how difficult it was going to be for my husband to undress me on our wedding night. In front of my mother. And APL's mother. Awesome.
  • I may have gained some weight from being inactive and on prednisone for the past two years, but I am not a large person. In fact, I am a totally reasonable an healthy size. But I had one bridal consultant say this to me: "If you ever want to find a gown, you're just going to have to use your imagination. No samples will ever fit you." Needless to say I won't be purchasing my gown from this woman.
Good thing I have a sense of humor!! And good thing that, in the end, I found the perfect dress. I am super excited about it and I can hardly wait to see APL's face when he sees me in it. 

The timing of this trip was also lucky because I got to go with APL's mom to pick up their brand new, 9-week-old, Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. Her name is Saba and she is such a love! (That's who is in the picture in this post.) I'm pretty sure puppies are the greatest therapy known to man. There is simply no way to be the slightest bit unhappy with that ball of wiggling love in your lap.
 
On Friday, APL's parents and I (with little Saba on my lap) drove up to Groveland, where the wedding will be. APL and RK flew in and met us. Then we had a weekend's worth of wedding errands to run - but we had a ton of fun doing it. We booked houses for the wedding party to stay in. We visited a local organic flower farm and talked to the amazing woman who owned it - not only is she going to do all the flowers for the wedding, but she sent us away with about 10 vases and seeds already! APL had his BBQ tasting (sooooo yummy!!!) and we decided on a menu for dinner (which will be cooked on-site). And we spent all day Sunday tasting the local wine and talking to a small winery that will provide a wine tasting bar for our guests at the wedding.

It was an amazing week and we made so much progress on the wedding. I can't believe that APL and I are getting married in less than 9 months!

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Yay! That was so much fun! Let's remember to get the name of the hair/makeup/nails girl from the super nice real estate agent lady.

In conclusion, mmmm, wine.

Sophia Jacob said...

I always read your article.....I like your writing style...Good one

Wedding Planning