Vindication is ours!

OK, that's a little dramatic. I should say, "see, told you Mom!"

For someone who likes tradition, my Mom has been pretty open about our nontraditional choices. She tells me what she'd prefer but doesn't force me to change anything (except for the venue). When I told her about the posters, she seems really receptive. She loved the design and was happy not to have to deal with RSVP cards.

Ah, but seeing and hearing are two different things. I don't think she felt so receptive when she saw the posters. She pretended though. Later she told me she thought they were a little too large, almost like concert posters. I don't think she listened when I told her they were concert posters. After her comment, I doubted our decision on size. Maybe I should have made them smaller. Doh!

Oh, but vindication is ours. They are a hit! Mr. Joey's Mom loves them. I've gotten email after email about how amazing and unique they look. People even asked where I had them designed. So there Mom! People like them! I like to forward her the notes of approval. She laughs and asks me who wrote these emails and if they were drunk when they emailed me. All very funny until I threatened to give her invitation away!

Have you had any moments of vindication during your planning process? Something you felt so strongly about that others weren't so sure about?

Zee Ring!

Need I say more? Actually I should. This is my disclaimer, I have no objections to anyone else wearing new diamonds. I eat meat and others don't. No harm no foul. Now that that's out of the way...

About 6 years ago I read about diamonds called Diamond: The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair. The book put me off on diamonds, well, more the industry, ever since. Because of the book, I wasn't sure I wanted a diamond engagement ring. I definitely didn't want one mined out of Africa or South America and while I know there are Canadian diamonds, I wasn't sure about which company owned which mine. I think if I really, really knew where a diamond came from and knew everything about the company who mined it, I might be OK with a diamond ring. That's a lot of research to do and these days you can never be so sure. Plus, I'm lazy and the easiest things is not to buy one. I see other people's jewelry and wish I didn't feel that way about diamonds. They are really beautiful.

Knowing how I feel about diamonds made it tough on Mr. Joey. He asked me if I was oppose to an engagement ring with a pearl or other stone. I told him I didn't care. It was up to him. I was no help at all.

A few months before getting engaged, Mr. Joey and I were stuck behind a passing train and we were all aggitated in the car so we decided to pull into an Antique Mall we passed frequently but never been in. I'm so glad we did. In one of the cases were these beautiful antique wedding sets. Absolutely goregous! I told him so and he asked if I'd wear one of them. I told him I was actually happy with a diamond as long as the money went to someone besides a mining company or big international jewelry chain. Ding, ding, ding. He found his loop hole.

The ring is from the 1940's and reminds me of our reception venue. I love the detail and love that he picked something I would have picked!

Now, need I say more....

On the coffee plant

Again, on the coffee plant

For Mr. Joey!

Mr. Joey got this in a fortune cookie and we loved it so much I framed it!

A Cava cork we turned into a magnet

On the real "Cork board." It took a lot of drinking to make it!

More cork

And more!

the meeting and becomings of the Joeys...

Mr. Joey and I have been dating for a little over 4 years but have known each other for almost 5 year. We met when we both worked at EMP. I had just left my job and DC and was planning to spend the summer in Seattle before heading to grad school in England. I had such a rewarding but stressful job in DC and was looking for something fun and super easy for the summer. I got the job as a Guest Services Representative (slave with light labor) during the interview and started the following Monday.



I remember the first time I saw Mr. Joey. I thought, "hmm, he's cute and I could see myself liking him." Of course I was trying to be practical and decided I wouldn't date anyone over the summer. Mr. Joey was a great friend to make. I really enjoyed our time together that summer as friends. Dating wasn't really an option then as he was dating someone already and I ended up having a nice summer fling. That's practical right?


Mr. Joey and I left EMP on the same day. While I was headed over the Atlantic, he was headed to St. John's University in New York. We parted ways but promised to stay in touch. Over the next several months we shared a lot of emails. I really valued his emails and though he didn't know it, he helped me get through the initial adjustment to Manchester a lot. Moving to England isn't as easy as one might think. I kept myself sane between Katie, Mr. Joey and my friends at the Cafe I worked part-time at.


We were both headed home for Christmas and arranged to do a little gift swap over dinner. One dinner turned into a few dinners. He was still with his girlfriend who was in New York and actually, the dinners weren't romantic in any way. One night he told me it wasn't working out between his and girlfriend and he had planned to break up with her when he got back. I was a little shocked but also didn't think the news would affect me much. A few nights later, on Boxing Day actually, we hung out with some old EMP friends and fell asleep together on the couch. There was no kissing or anything, just a nice night of sleep and snuggling for warmth. It was FREAKIN cold. I have never been so cold in my life!


The next day we decided there was something between us and attempted to talk about it over lunch. Not much was eaten. I told him I thought he needed to figure things out with his girlfriend before we could move forward but that I would be happy with whatever decision he made -- being together (over an ocean) or just staying friends. He said he knew what he wanted but I knew that could change when he got back. Well, I was wrong. He ended it with his girlfriend the day after he got back to New York and we've been together (sort of) ever since. We did spend the first 6 months with the Atlantic between us and months 9 - 18 living apart with me in DC and him in Brooklyn. God bless the Chinatown bus!


We're not proud of the fact that someone got hurt in all this but we are finally to place where we aren't apologizing for it either. Things happen for a reason. What will be will be and all that. I think it worked out in the end. Does your relationship beginning have some complications?

The happy couple on our first trip together. Isn't Lake Louise stunning!?

Opps...I did it again!

No, I didn't play with your heart but I did change my mind about my hairpiece. I know, this is my 4th change but this time it's going to stick -- I already paid for and have received the goods.

Actually, I order more than the goods. I bought hairpieces for my MOH (grey with yellow) and flower girl

a boutonniere for the groom which matches mine

boutonnieres for the BM, ushers and ring boy

and matching boutonnieres/corsages for the Moms and Dads

Since there are so few people in the wedding party, I wanted something that would set us apart as a group. I went back and forth about real versus fake flowers for the boutonnieres. I was afraid the fake would look too fake but they came out just beautifully. I was inspired by Mrs. Avocado's boutonnieres. Her's were gorgeous. I got my lovely numbers from JMGJewelDesign. Jessica was amazing and so patient with me. She even threw in a pair of pearl earrings as a gift. I love how everything turned out!

Are you using non-real flowers in your wedding? If so, why did you decide against the real thing.

Where was I looking?

My ideal registry is a website I can go to where I could register for products from any website. I thought I had done a good job searching this out but apparently I was wrong. I was telling my friend Jeremy that I would actually pay a small fee (around $10) to be able to use such a website when he told me it existed. WHAT?!?!

Turns out he's right and I'm so sad I didn't do a better job searching online. The site is call Wishpot. Apparently you install a Wishpot button on your browser and when ever you come across an item you like and want to register for, you just hit the button and it adds it to your registry. The site also let's guests search for the best price for the product. Obviously there are some disadvantages, like perhaps getting a gift from a site with a not so good exchange/return policy.

The reason I really wanted to register on a site like this is because as far as decorative pieces go, Crate and Barrel and Amazon aren't completely my style. There some beautiful pieces on Etsy I'd love to register for. Also CB2 and number of others where I only like 4 or 5 of their products.

Oh well. What can you do? We've already changed registries and let family and friends know where we're registered.

Has anyone used Wishpot or a similar site? Is it as good as it sounds?

Lions and tigers and bears -- oh my!

We haven't been super picky when it comes to outfitting the wedding party apart from finding matching ties for everyone. Since I only have a MOH, I didn't have to worry about finding multiple matching dresses. The guys are all wearing black suits but grey is OK if they don't have black.

We have not given much thought to the ring bearer and the flower girl. When the flower girl's Mom asked about what kind of dress to be looking for, I told her something appropriate for a summer wedding in either cream or grey. Not much to work with really.

A couple days later, I found the most adorable fabric. It's perfect for a little kid but I wasn't sure why I would need it. Then I realized it would be perfect for a little boy's tie. Perhaps a little boy in my wedding party.?Making a tie seems easy enough (I say that now).

I was chatting with Meg, Celeste's Mom (the flower girl) and I told her about the cute fabric and the tie. She thought it sounded perfect. Then she suggested we use the same animal print fabric for the trim and bow of Celeste's dress. Brilliant! Meg's got a friend who can make the dress easily and for free (yipee!). I bought the animal print fabric and this grey fabric that matches the invitations.

Aren't they cute? I got them on Etsy from Fabric Supplies. They have a great selection and carry all the fabrics I got on ebay for my table runners.

Are you doing anything playful for your younger wedding party members?

What? No wedding website?

So Mr.PapayaDog and I went back and forth about a wedding website for a long time. While we liked having a central place for travel suggestions and wedding information, he was not too excited to have his information in a searchable place.

Mr. Papayadog has some devoted but nosey students. It's the reason he doesn't have a Facebook or MySpace account and the reason he'll never tell them my last name (it's pretty unique). He's OK with a blog where his name wouldn't be in searchable text but he's not OK with a website designed to give out info about us and our relationship that his students could find.

Yes, it seems a little crazy until you have 3 students show up at your apartment one Sunday afternoon. Yes, it really happened. He teaches at a small private school, so keeping info from the kids can be hard. We've even had a few kids threaten to crash the wedding. Luckily, it's in the summer when no kid wants to be at school (the ceremony is at the school chapel) and few other teachers who are invited have sworn themselves to secrecy.

So what to do about sharing info? Local guests are easy. They don't need travel info and essentially everything they need to know is on the invitations. Out-of-town guests need travel info and suggestions for visiting the city. What to do?

Well, I came up with an idea I stole from the back of Blueprint Magazine (R.I.P). I love the layout and the play on the "Want Ads" section of the newspaper. To make it more inclusive, we emailed friends and family asking them for suggestions on what to do, see and eat here in Seattle. About half replied with great suggestions.

It took about 6 hours over several days, but I put together our version of the Blueprint spread. There were suggestions I couldn't fit in, but on the whole I love the way it turned out. I sent the spread to our contributors and everyone loved it.

(it may be better to attach the document. I'll email to you)

Are you doing a wedding website or have you come up with an alternative?

And the RSVPs are rolling in...

OK, not rolling but we've had our first 2 RSVPs. OK, granted we knew that these two people would be attending the wedding, but it's still exciting!

We've gotten some amazing feedback on our 50 things poster and the invitation poster itself. We really liked them both but weren't sure that others would see it our way. A few people even said they are going to frame the invitation!

The other bit of feedback we've been getting is that people liked that we're are asking for RSVPs via phone and/or email. We wanted to do response cards but we weren't sure how to get them into the tube without them being super bent. Also, with postage going up in May, we didn't want our guests to have to supplement postage we placed on the return envelopes.

Not doing response cards was a hard decision for us. We didn't want people to think we were being cheap but we also were trying to be practical. I'm so glad people are seeing it our way. We've made a few alternative choices already - no cake (yeah for cream puffs!), short and non-white wedding dress, ring bowl (instead of pillow) and yellow shoes - we're breaking all the rules!
Did you make a decision you weren't sure people would understand (like forgoing the response cards) only to get support and affirmation of it?

Roll, roll, band, wrap, stuff, label and repeat

I spent a Wednesday night putting our invitations together. We went with the unconventional wedding invitation, a very large poster. I think it's 9x21. Seriously. No reply card or maps, just instructions to email RSVPs to our new communal email address.

Roll

Roll (only for out-of-town guests)

Band - I bet you can imagine a rubber band:)

Wrap

Stuff

Label

Repeat - 50 times!

I got the paper lace on Etsy from bookerpie. 12 yards for $3.50? A steal! I put the invitations together while Mr.PapayaDog watched a UW basketball . He offered his help but I had fun doing it myself.

The last step in the packaging process was putting on the stamps but they hadn't arrived yet. I found stamps I like but they weren't available at my post office. It took a week to get them but aren't they super cute?!

My "workstation"

 

Did you put your invitations together all at once or steps? Did you have a team or did you do it yourself?

yes, I'd like to register for a washer and dryer...

Image Home Depot

Isn't she pretty?

oh... Home Depot doesn't do registries?

Yes, we are still having registry problems. We are still perfectly happy with Crate and Barrel and Amazon.com but our problem is the number of gifts we've registered for. We haven't registered for enough. We have invited 150 people to the wedding and have only registered for 101 gifts. These 101 gifts include the $5.00 bowl (x10), the $3.95 individual dish towels (x6) and other small items you have to register for individually. I know, why is registering for presents so hard? Well here are our reasons...

1. We're building a house. We don't know what the color schemes are going to be and we don't want to buy linens that we're not sure will match.

2. We have stuff. We've been living together for 3 years and we have stuff. I have 16 piece Le Creuset set. Besides a frying pan, we don't need cookware. The major things that need replacing are our dishes, silverware and wine glasses. We've done out best to put items on the registry we know we'll need replacing like the odd knife, cooking utensils and mixing bowls.

3. The stuff we need you can't register for. Well you can, but I don't know who's going to buy us a dishwasher or kitchen cabinets. What we really need are things for the house. It should be ready by the end of this summer so we'll need a lot of stuff. First, we'll need more furniture. Our apartment is 1100 square feet and our new house will be 2700 square feet. We'll need beds and dressers, chairs, etc. Second, we're going to need appliances. Those aren't cheap and you can't buy them at Crate and Barrel:). Lastly, we'll need other finishing pieces like curtains, rugs and lighting. Again, who knows what the dimensions of the windows will be right now or what colors the walls will be.

My solution? For those not interested in the registries, telling them that besides cash, we're happily accepting gift cards to Ikea, Home Depot and Sears. Is it cheeky to tell people where they need to buy their gift cards?

Register! Again?

I know this has been a popular blog topic, but registering for gifts has been consuming us. Late last year we decided that we would register at Amazon.com and Macy's. Amazon offers free shipping on most orders over $25 and there's such a great variety of things available through them. Macy's offered the 5% cash back on purchases made off your registry and it was a nice nationwide chain that most guests had access to. Seemed easy enough.

Ah, and then it happened. I checked our Macy's registry and found that the prices we're completely different than when we registered. Somethings were more because we registered during a sale and somethings were less but a lot of things were gone. We purposely selected towels that we were told they would always carry, but they were gone. The luggage was gone. All are bed linens were gone and so were some of the bar ware we selected.

With much protest, I dragged Mr.PapayaDog back into Macy's to replace the disappeared stock only to find it all disappear a few weeks later. Mr.PapayaDog isn't a shopper and I knew that I may get one more registering outing out of him before the wedding. Time to strategize. I asked around about which store people like to register at and which store people found it easy to buy off registries. I scouted a few places with a friend one weekend. We played with the registry machines and looked at selection. I decided on Crate and Barrel. They had pieces that were simple and more our style and I know that the basics we registered for will be around until at least the wedding.

Perfect. All I had to do was get Mr.PapayaDog into the store. Of course it wasn't going to be that simple. Turns out the same day I decided on Crate and Barrel was the same day we started moving on building a house. In a previous entry, briefly mentioned we were hoping to build a house but of course that was before the mortgage crisis hit. The whole project was put on hold indefinitely. And then just like that, all the pieces fell into place and were back on the house train. I've already paid the advance to architect.

So what does this have to do with registering? Well, before when we thought about registering, the only items I was concerned about lasting a long time were the dinner and glassware. I knew my tastes and living space would change in the future but I also knew I'd probably be in the same apartment for the next few years. Now that's all out the door. If everything sticks to schedule, we'll be moving into a new place by the end of summer, a few weeks after the wedding.
How am I suppose to register for a house that isn't even built? I don't have the mental capacity right now to think about room color schemes when it comes to the house. I still trying to decide how many rooms, the layout of the kitchen and whether I want gas or electric. Deciding the colors of sheets, towels and picture frames isn't going to happen. But what does that mean for my registry? Well, right now it means it's pretty bare. We are registered for sheet sets in a few basic colors (ivory and mocha) and a couple sets of towels in a green, but that's it. There are no blankets, no shower curtains, no duvet sets. I thought about just ordering styles that I like now and then returning them later, but it seems like too much of a hassle, especially with Amazon. I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to register for stuff I might not like or use but I want to make sure we have enough for people to choose from.

Anyone have the same problem trying to register for stuff that may not match your home in the immediate future? What solution did you come up with?

A plane affair

So while I was in Ethiopia, Mr.PapayaDog received our invitations. I was so excited, I was tempted to have him take pictures of them and send them to me. I really wanted to see them! I realize making him take pictures of something I would see in 3 days would be silly especially since I took our camera on my trip with me.

Knowing our invitations were just waiting to be sent out made me think about how I was going to address the mailing tubes. Because of the size of the invitation, we had to invest in mailing tubes. They were pretty cheap, less than $0.35 a piece but shipping them to us cost about $20.00. In all, they came out to less than $50. The only problem with the mailing tubes is that their shape makes addressing them (without a label) really hard. I thought about using calligraphy on clear labels but then realized that A) You could tell that there were labels even though I was trying to hide it, and B) Calligraphy just would match the unconventional style of the invitations.

I knew I wanted to have the address labels reflect the style of the invites, but I didn’t know how to do it on a poster tube. Then I thought, why should hide the label? Why not use a white label? I could incorporate a smaller version of the bells design onto the label and layer the addresses on top of it. Perfect! I played around with text and style of addressing the labels. Instead of using a person’s title and full name (i.e. Ms. Little Bee), I just went with first names. I tried to spell out addresses as often as I could, but Washington is a long state name and once you get a city like Sammamish, fitting Washington on the same line is impossible.

Once I finished the design of the label, I realized I needed a place and way to display our return address. Another label would be weird but I didn’t want to not place our return address on the tube. How was I going to get all the information on the tube and still make it look pretty? I thought about it all night.

I headed to airport in the morning and when I got to the airline counter, I pulled out an envelope with my passport and itinerary in it. As I waited for my ticket I noticed an address label was used on the envelope and that at the top of the label was the logo of the sender and the return address printed in a lighter shade of red. Eureka! I spent the first 4 hours of my 21 hours journey home finishing the labels. I created a “logo” and put our address in a light shade of grey at the top of the label. I had a label template on my computer from Avery already so I pasted the individual images on each label. I think it looks pretty good and hope they print all right!

Have you come up against a planning roadblock only to discover the solution at an unlikely place or time?

It’s here! It’s here! Er, um, it’s there! It’s there!

So in earlier posts I said I would be hand screen printing our poster-sized invitations. I was so excited about it. I’ve wanted to learn to screen print for years and thought this would be the perfect project try.

I bought all my supplies (screen, ink, emulsion set, paper, squeegee) online, printed my design on a transparency, and set out learning to screen print. There are several ways to create your screen (stencil) but I decided that photo emulsion what best method for me because of the detail of the invitation fonts. I mixed the emulsion chemicals, prepared my screen by coating it with emulsion solution, and stuck in a dark place to dry. My first attempt was a partial success. I was able to burn the image of the bells and the large text, but not all of the smaller text. My second attempt wasn’t as good. I didn’t expose the dry screen to enough sun, so none of the invitation image burned at all. In my third attempt, I didn’t put enough emulsion fluid on the screen, so only part of the image came through.

After three attempts, I ran out of emulsion fluid. It was a few days before Christmas when I ordered more supplies. Because of our trip to Florida, the weather and the mail backlog, my supplies didn’t arrive until mid-January. After 4 more unsuccessful attempts to burn my screen, I decided I needed to face reality and seek out professional help. This was probably not the project for a first time screen printer. I had the paper and some ink, so all I really needed was the talent. I placed an ad on Craigslist (my savior) and got a bunch of replies.

After sorting through all the talented people, we went with Jamie at Midair Designs. Although it would be his first time really printing posters, we knew he would be great. He is a talented artist who focused on t-shirts and designing. And to be honest, we couldn’t beat his price. He cut the paper, provided ink and screens, and hand printed all the posters for less than $100! The actually total was about $103 but he said he messed up a few and gave us a 15% discount. Mr.PapayaDog picked them up last weekend and said they looked amazing! He even said the 5 or 6 that were “messed up,” weren’t really messed up and you could hardly tell. I am dying to see them!

Have you had to do a reality check on one of your DIY projects? How did it turn out? Did you just pay someone to do the work or did you change the style or idea of the project completely so you could still DIY-it?

My first wedding freak out!

image credit

I had and am having my first wedding related freak out. There was minor swearing, massive amounts to emails to members of my committee and lots asking myself, “why oh why?!” I found out today that the annual Seafair weekend is the same weekend as our wedding. What is Seafair you ask? Well, for those of you not familiar with this ancient Seattle tradition, Seafair weekend is when the annual hydroplane Chevrolet Cup race and Blue Angels air show occur on and over Lake Washington in the heart of the greater Seattle area.

This wouldn’t be such a huge deal except for the fact that our wedding is at 10am across the lake from Seattle in Sammamish and the reception is in Seattle at noon. Traffic across the bridge Seafair weekend is always horrible. Actually, traffic all over Seattle is usually so bad we try to leave town for Seafair. I would try to change the time of the ceremony or even the site of it but of course our invitations just finished printing yesterday. I can’t believe I didn’t even think about Seafair!

This also means hotels and flights into Seattle will cost a lot more. I can’t change the date or the time of the reception, now what am I going to do about the ceremony? Mr. Papaya Dog thinks even with traffic we’ll be OK, but I’m not so sure.

Here are the precautionary changes I’m thinking about making:

1. Originally we were going to do our couple and wedding party pictures before the ceremony and family pictures after, but now we’re thinking of asking everyone to show up 30 to 45 prior to the ceremony to do pictures.

2. Move the ceremony up 30 to 45 minutes. Even thought the invitations are printed, we include a printed card noting the revised time and reason.

3. Rent a bus to ensure everyone gets to Seattle together. My only worry is that if the bus leaves late, then everyone is late to the reception.

I’m considering all three options though option number 2 is a last resort. I’ve emailed the Seafair organizers to ask about the bridge situation and traffic.

What do you think I should do? What would you do?

Dani’s bachelorette extravaganzia!

My friend Dani is getting married in April and over Martin Luther King Day weekend her super awesome Matron of Honor, Ellie, and Maid of Honor, Kasey, threw an amazing bachelorette weekend for her in Whistler. It was so well planned. There were 12 girls total; her bridal party of 8 (yes 8), Dani, two other friends and myself. Girls flew in from all over California and one person from New Mexico. Kasey and Ellie did a great job. They researched places to stay, booked an amazing cabin that slept all of us comfortably, set up transport from Seattle to Whistler, arranged meals in and out of the cabin, organized a theme night (Dani Through the Ages) and put together a night of dancing all without Dani knowing.

The Dani through the Ages night was hilarious! Each girl portrayed Dani from a different point in her life and dressed the part. Dani is a Drama Queen (no she’s not a handful, she’s actually an actress/English teacher), so there was no shortage Danis to select from. I was wedding planning Dani. I wore a veil and carried around a check list. Her fiance gave me ideas of how to assemble the pink wedding binder she has and even wrote a few lines for me to say. My favorite was Summer Camp Dani played by Kasey. It was the outfit! It was soooo good! Pleated denim shorts, Heidi braids and a fanny pack – how could she go wrong?! The interesting thing about Dani Through the Ages is that when we lined up in chronological order of Danis, we actually unintentionally lined up in the order we had met her.

While there were a lot of organized activities in the evenings, there was also a lot of time for people to do what they wanted during the day. A group of us went snowshoeing while another went skiing. I absolutely loved tubing at the tube park! The nice part of each day was ending the evening in front of the TV watching Sex and the City. It wasn’t so much watching the show, but talking about situations we had been in that were similar to the ones portrayed in the episode we were watching.

I really loved this trip and saw how really lucky Dani is. I never had a lot of girlfriends growing up. I didn’t feel I was missing out until a saw what a great bunch of girls Dani had in her life. I don’t feel bad about it though, I have 10 years travel memories instead. I feel so lucky to have been allowed to enter her circle. I can’t wait to see everyone again in April.
What’s the best bachelorette party you’ve been too? Was there anything really special you did or was it the people you were with, or both?

Sorry I was missing in action but I went on a wedding planning bender

I know I’ve been missing in action over most of January but I have been super busy and been doing a lot of wedding related stuff.

Wedding details accomplished in January (I’m a list person if you can’t tell):

1. Selected our photographer (see last post) and signed our contract.
2. Searched for wedding day hair and make-up artist
3. Did a trial run with a hair and make-up artist and booked her for the wedding. (post to follow)
4. Big meeting of the parents. Mr. PapayaDogs’ parents were in town and had a chance to meet my parents for the first time. We went somewhere casual and yummy (best dim sum in Seattle) and I think whole thing went really well.
5. Took Mr. PapayaDogs parents to the place we selected for the rehearsal dinner. They loved loved loved the food but thought it might be too small so we’re thinking of doing the dinner at the Dim Sum place we went to with my parents.
6. Gave up on screen printing the invitations myself and sent the design to be printed for me. (invitation post to come shortly)
7. Purchased invitation “envelopes.”
8. Went to a menu tasting with Mr. PapayaDog and the Moms at the Lake Union Café.
9. Decided on a reception menu.
10. Think we found our Cava for the Champaign toast
11. Went on my friend Dani’s bachelorette weekend in Whistler (post to follow)
12. Bought more fabric for centerpieces.

13. Started designed the first set of luggage tag wedding favors.

Lastly, decided on the style of all the wedding party’s boutonnières, and hair pieces for me and my MOH.

Whoa, I was busy. Do you ever go on a wedding planning bender but don’t realize it until after it’s over? All 14 of these tasks were completed in a 3 week time period – seriously. Get ready for an explosion of posts. I was noting down ideas for my next 100 (OK, maybe next 8) posts while I was getting all this stuff done.

Planning from Afar

OK, I’m not actually in Afar (a region in Ethiopia) but I am in Ethiopia. Although my work trips are crazy, I do tend to find a lot of down time. Unlike being at home, I don’t have errands to run after work. I don’t have to clean or cook dinner. And if I go to the gym, it’s about 30 seconds walk from my hotel room. I’m usually in my room by 6pm and I’m online until about 9:30pm. I’m not necessarily actively doing work in the evenings, more just making myself available to answer questions from my co-workers back in Seattle and emailing with Mr. Papaya Dog.

So this leaves a lot of time to get wedding details out of the way. What details you ask? Well this evening I have been emailing hotels where we are interested in holding blocks of rooms. We’re hoping to find a hotel that is close to the reception site, is accessible to downtown either by shuttle or public transport, and one that provides interesting amenities. My favorite amenity so far is from hotel that lets guests borrow bikes. I heard that the Hotel Monaco gives guests goldfish as pets during their stay. Another hotel I emailed does a complementary wine and cheese happy hour.

I haven’t received responses back yet but I just emailed 6 hours ago and now it is midnight in Seattle. What we, Mr. Papaya Dog and I, can’t decide is whether to hold blocks at more than hotel. I know some of our guests will be on a tight budget and want something as affordable as possible while some guests will prefer location and be willing to spend more.

What are you looking for in a hotel for your out-of-town guests? Are you holding blocks at more than one hotel?