What do you think?

I want an elegant necklace to go with my simple dress.  I was thinking pearls, but I really like this.  What do you guys think?  Details here.

Engagement shoot

We're going to do an engagement shoot tomorrow.  I'm - of course - cynical and skeptic about it all, but Kate really wants to do it, and I do what makes Kate happy.

Unfortunately, we scheduled this today, and I don't have appropriate clothing (including shoes)!  I guess I'll just have to go shopping tomorrow...

Amazing Photographer!!!

We have our photographer and I'm so excited!  Alison Yin is fantastic and photographed a wedding of a friend of ours, and came highly recommended.  She has amazing photos, pretty great prices, and we just love her.  Her house is not covered in pink or other things that might indicate fancy wedding obsession, and she is both professional and sweet.  But, most importantly of all, she takes great photos.

Kate and I decided early on that photography was one of the most important parts of the wedding for us.  It's how we'll show our kids our wedding, and remember it ourselves.  And already I'm so happy with our Alison.

We were looking for a photographer who knew what to expect at a Jewish wedding, would give us our high resolution images without a watermark, provide a second shooter at the wedding, edit our photos, and be clear about what they were charging for photos.  The photos need to be artistic and documentary style - no obvious poses for us besides the family line-up.  Alison is everything we wanted, and more.

When we entered her amazing Oakland house, we were greeted by her fantastic dog who was as friendly as Alison was.  Later, we met her boyfriend who will help shoot the photos on the day.  Her living room was beautifully arranged, and it was obvious her artistic skill doesn't end at the camera.  During the non-wedding season she shoots documentary photos, which is partly what she went to school for.  We spoke for over an hour, and both of us really liked her.  I can't wait!!!

Creating beauty

Picture from Maize in Montana

I'm grateful that Kate is making sure our wedding uses sustainable goods that are good for the earth and the people who made the items, but it's also such a pain when trying to keep the budget reasonable!  After rejecting some ideas, I think we've figured out what we're going to do for our centerpieces, thanks to some direction from our photographer (more on that in another post)!

I hope to decoupage votive candles (that were given to us by Kate's aunt) with book pages and colored decoupage.  Kate wants to create the actual centerpieces using fabric and paper (gotten from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse) and make flowers that come spilling out from books.

I'm excited, and now that I have my creative juices flowing, I just want to go home and create!

Wedding shower?

We're being thrown a wedding shower by one of Kate's awesome aunts.  (Kate has many awesome aunts, actually.  I'm marrying into an amazing family!)  The shower's not local, and it's pretty much going to be family only.  I kind of figured that would be about it, but now I'm curious - do any of you care that we don't throw a friends/Bay Area bridal shower?  Not that if you all say "OMG YOU SHOULD THROW ONE" I'm going to figure out how to, but just wondering what you guys and gals all thought.

Check list

Caterer?  Picked.
Menu?  Almost set.
Photographer?  Narrowed down.
Invitations? Finished and ready to print.
Dress?  Bought.
Hotel? Booked.
Love?  So much.

Kate's suit, wedding rings, wedding rights, centerpieces, decorations, programs, chuppah, seating, alcohol, and everything else can wait.  I'm feeling pretty good about wedding prep right now.

Invitations

The invitations are finished!  I'm so glad to have one more thing done.  We now have to figure out printing, but that's much less hassle than the "creating".

YAY!

Gorgeous!

I'm totally in love with this necklace and everything else that's on creationtwinne's etsy.  A little more modern than I was expecting, but I just love how she creates these necklaces.  I emailed her to ask if she can do one with purple and pearls.  I look forward to hearing back.

Re-finding my sight

With the catering, the ketuba, the logistics, I think I've lost sight of the meaning of this wedding.  Things are calming down around here, and I think I've started to be able to breathe again.

Because, after all, all these logistics are simply so I can marry this amazing woman who I love so much.