Monday, March 28, 2011

Kate's snake skin wedding shoes

If you've ever met Kate you might be a little shocked to hear that she wanted shoes that were so cutting edge they're not even in stores yet.  You might be more shocked to hear that these shoes are: purple, fake snake skin, and have three flowers on top.  I'd show you a picture if I could, but the shoes haven't been released yet.

Kate, Aunt Jane, and I went shopping for shoes in Walnut Creek's Macy's.  The Macy's is going through some serious remodel and the place was a bit of a mess.  So much of a mess, evidently, that they put out the Kenneth Cole Reaction lilac ballet flats before they were supposed to be released.  We found them, Kate loved them, and the shoes didn't come in her size.

So, naturally, we went back home and started Googling.  Except the entire internet had not heard of these shoes.  Zappos, shoes.com, Kenneth Cole's website, Google images, and Google images sorted by color had never seen shoes like this.  Kate and I both started to wonder if we had hallucinated the shoes.  But since we both remembered the purple, flowered, snake skin ballet flats - well, that would have been one good hallucinogen to alter BOTH our memories.

Finally, after a few mis-dials, hang-ups, and a lot of time on hold I was able to get in touch with the Walnut Creek Macy's, who cleared up the whole mess. The shoes, just in, weren't yet on display or released.  We were going to have to find a Macy's that had the not-yet-released shoes in stock.

Thankfully, Pleasanton's Macy's came to our rescue.  By far the most customer service oriented of the Macy's we visited and spoke with, we placed the shoes on hold and easily went to go and pick them up later that day.

So now Kate has her entire outfit, though sans jewelry, and some pretty awesome shoes to match.  Who knew my suit-wearing bride's shoes would out femme my own?  Love is always such a lovely surprise.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

This month's to do list

This is my March wedding "to do" list:
Finalize our calligrapher
Send invitations
Update RSVP wedsite
Confirm food
Talk with Menachem (our rabbi)
Decide on program language
Figure out music
Centerpieces (began)
Figure out aufruf kiddish
Shuttle (began)
Drinks (began)
Hotel room on the Big Island
Inter-island flights
Figure out what we're doing for Jody's birthday
Confirm Aufruf

There's still so much to do....

Monday, March 21, 2011

Kate's "wedding dress"

Banana Republic (and Gap and Old Navy) had a 30% off sale this weekend, and we found Kate's "wedding dress"!  BR no longer sells the vests online, but they had plenty of them in the store.  Kate looks great in the vest and pants, and we're really excited to have found something that she wanted.  All we need to do is find her a great button down!




Monday, March 14, 2011

Today's mail


Wedding dress re-visited

Remember that beautiful and simple wedding dress I bought?  Well, I just bought a different one.*

First, I needed to lose weight for that dress to fit me properly.  I'm not losing weight (or gaining either, thankfully), but that means that I was starting to get nervous about the dress.

Second, I gave into the Wedding Industrial Complex. Well, more specifically, Kate and I gave in.  She has encouraged me to spend lots of money (a lot of money to me at least) on a dress filled with sequins and embroidery and puff.  So we went to David's Bridal** yesterday and I tried on some dresses.

I liked the dress I bought originally.  But then I tried on something with a little more typical wedding-ness (embroidery, sequins).  Kate really liked it on me.  I thought it looked pretty too.

So I went to the internet and started googling.  And this is what I came up with.

Another A-line dress with embroidery.  I'm a little nervous about the sequins, but I did confirm the broach comes off (if you look at the pictures on the website).  It has a corset back and comes pre-bustled (thank G-d!  I don't want a train!)  I think it looks pretty.  And Kate's really into it - which is the important part.

I'm going to have to have it taken in, but it saves me from the problem I'm having right now.  The dress most definitely will fit.

*I had been saying the whole time that I can simply sell the dress again on eBay and recoup the $60 I spent on the dress.  Not that big of a deal.


**Do not go into David's Bridal on a weekend without an appointment.  You will regret it.  Also, David's Bridal is a scary contributer to the Wedding Industrial Complex and continues the myth that a wedding day is the bride's most important day ever.  Ugh.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Guest information

Invitations have been mailed and we're starting to count down the days (77 if you were wondering).  The pieces are beginning to come together and we're trying to put together an idea of who's attending, who needs kosher/vegan/gluten-free/delicious mac and cheese to eat at the reception, and how many awesome people we will get to see on Saturday morning (hopefully you)!

As part of all the logistical and fun details that are part of a wedding, we are having guests register online on our wedsite.  It creates an instant spreadsheet of "yes", "no", and "awesome children attendees".  You might have noticed that on the top right side of this blog you can now see "Guest Information".  That's for you, wedding guests!  It just gives you an outline of what's on the wedsite and where to go if you have any questions.

It's a holiday weekend, so book your flight, reserve your room, and figure out how to be in the awesomest area of all on May 29th.  Can't wait to see you there!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Engagement photos

Kate & Margee at Hogwarts (aka Exploritorium)
Engagement photos are here!  
And they're fantastic! 
(of course)

We posted a dozen or so on Facebook, but you can see all the great shots over at the website.  No messy sign-ins required.  





Simply go to: www.sendtoprint.net 
And put in: exploratorium




  

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My new last name

Thanks to Kate's aunt and our friend Shosh, our new last name will be Burch.  Like a birch tree, but different.  Taken from Smallenburg and Churchon.

I'm sad that I'm leaving my mother as the only Churchon left in the world (sadly the truth), especially given the amazing story that goes along with our last name, but I want our kids to share our last name.  Kate's electing to keep her last name as her middle name, but I feel that Margee Churchon Burch just sounds weird.  I'm sticking with Margee (Margaret) Manya Burch.

So here comes the brides, with their new last name.  The Burches.  (Not to be confused with the Butches.  That's the next family over.)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Lots of news

I owe you a bunch of updates, but have been terribly short on time.  I hope you don't mind the short update.

1. Totally Successfully Crafternoon!
Thank you to everyone who showed up to help make fabric flowers, find awesome quotes from books, decoupage candles, and keep me sane.  For those who couldn't come and join the awesomeness, a few (bad quality phone) photos below.

2. Invitations!
Invitations have been printed and sent.  If you find a mistake on the invitation, I don't want to hear about it.  The printer accidentally gave us twice the amount of invitations we ordered (300 rather than 150) so now we have over 200 extra invitations.  I invite (ha ha, sorry for the pun) any great ideas on what to do with them.  When we uploaded the spreadsheet of guests to The Knot, I thought they had accidentally doubled it.  Turns out, no, we actually did just invite 168 guests.  Ouch.

3. Last Name
Kate and I are going to change our last names.  We want to honor our heritage while also setting a path toward building a family together.  It's important for us that our children feel connected with both our families and with each other, and this is one of the easy ways we can help instill that idea and emotion.

We want to have a name that resembles both of our last names.  If you have any creative suggestions on how to combine Churchon and Smallenburg, please send them our way!  Our current favorite is Bergon.

And now, 
Photo Time!!!

Pooh Bear centerpiece.  Books bought at Goodwill and used book store.  Fabric flowers made by friends!

You can't see it, but these are awesome.  Decoupaged with pages taken from books, tissue paper, glitter and purple paint, and some amazing creativity.



Hi!  I'm a finished centerpiece!  I'm made with fabric flowers made in the crafternoon, pictures taken from a Shel Silverstein book (hellooooo Goodwill), some awesome fabric-type stuff from the East Bay Depot for Creative ReUse, and puff paint that Margee drew all over the book with.


Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Marge & Kat

The invitations have been ordered, and with only one mistake - I misspelled my name.  Thankfully, Kate caught it  when we got back the proofs, and Kate will not be marring Marge.

Which is exciting, because it means that we can employ our crafty friends this Sunday in helping us stuff and mail the invitations.  Which brings me to my next thing: if you're not on Facebook and live in the Bay Area, we're having a crafty wedding party this Sunday.  Help us create our awesome centerpieces and experiment with us!  Details on Facebook or by calling me or Kate.