rings and things!
today we got our rings!!! skip all the hoo-ha and scroll to the bottom to see if you're impatient.
so, despite the recent frenetic pace of fall finals and the holiday season and travel, we've made a lot of progress. while home for a week over xmas, my mems and i did a lot of this and that...assigning guest table numbers to the list on the knot, picking out gifts for the bridal party, discussing hair options (still up in the air)...and i would like to note that the inner turmoil i felt about adding the egregiously priced DKNY duvet cover to my registry was all for naught, because my parents are freaking awesome and surprised me, hardcore, with it as an xmas gift. i kept saying "what? WHAT?" over and over. i don't think i've been that excited on xmas eve since i got the barbie dream house at age 9. i will note that it is dry-clean only (duvet cover, not barbie dream house), which seems quite ridiculous for a bedding item, but i feel so zen when i stroke the hand-embroidered roses atop its satiny green cotton that i forget all about life's little impracticalities:
kz and i had made a balmy thanksgiving day trip down to the beach house to take some measurements, and were fortuitous enough to gain entry into the building while they set up for another wedding, and we really went to work with our tape measure, graphing paper, and iced coffees. i visited home armed with precise measurements of all the inside walls and window/door positions, baseboard heights, deck dimensions, and railing figures (to calculate how many lights we need, wall decorations, and table layout). mems and i held up a swag of a huge bolt of beautiful light sky-blue/grey material she had bought, and figured out what kind of wall decor we could swing. all i have to do is find some dove grey ribbon to tie the swags, and we might be able to make a runner with the excess. last month, mems mailed me a costco member card posthaste, and insisted i go look at their plastic disposable plates as a compromise to the great china vs. paper plate debate. i bought 3 packs, each containing 50 dinner plates and 50 dessert plates, for $18 apiece. they're sturdy and with a pretty silver rim, and really the best option. china rentals are comparable in cost, would have to be washed (by whom? when?) and then returned after the reception; no thanks.
i also left home with a most unexpected, and touching (tear-jerking) gift from my grandma...a double-strand of very short pearls with a beautiful blue-green cabochon clasp, which my mom bought for her in the 60's. it goes amazingly well with the dress. i made them both promise they would wear their own favorite sets of pearls to the wedding, so that we would all be in pearls. something borrowed, and blue...and i didn't even think i was going to do that whole thing. we are well into sap mode; there is no going back now.
i finally booked the night before and night of the wedding at our block-reserved hotel, deciding that being in the area the day before and having a clean, quiet place to get ready the morning of was better than saving the money and doing a 2.5 hour drive down on the day of the wedding. my family made their reservations too, and kz's is in progress...and once all the families have rooms, i can finally send out the save the dates and open it up to everyone else. we've also decided on electronic invitations only; we'll be emailing and have registered a domain for an official wedding webpage for all the usual information and an online RSVP.
next up: some harassing of the bridesmaids to make sure they're still on board and are on their way to getting the dresses; checking out local tux chains to see what sort of less formal, grey tuxes they may have and if kz can find anything he likes; finding shoes (i actually FOUND shoes, utterly perfect shoes - they're just $800. brian atwood silk d'orsay grey pumps in oyster with pearl clusters. le sigh); getting the website up; sending off the finalized catering contract with a payment; scheduling my initial fitting, which i am putting off as long as possible, thanks to the 15 pounds i got as a gift from the first year grad school fairy; and making a weekend trip to RI to choose a cake (traditional or ice cream?) and meet with the JOP we're probably having so we can work on some ceremony ideas. i had a teary bombay sapphire-fueled breakdown at a party last month, wondering how in the hell everything was going to work - chairs on the beach? moved back into the party? seating people? greeting guests? decorating and setting up tables? cleaning up at the end of the night? - and was assured by all my wonderful friends that, whether a part of the wedding party or not, they'd all pitch in to make sure everything got done. that made me cry some more. i love my friends.
this shit is all really epic. and we've still got 4.5 months to go.
so, i'll stop beating around the bush - today we picked out and ordered our rings. i recently changed my mind about the bling factor. for xmas, kz got me beautiful aquamarine studs, which match my engagement ring, to wear on the wedding day. before, i had thought the wedding ring was my last chance to pick something with some rocks and some shine, as the last major jewelry event in my life. i'm not sure why i thought that, but kz reminded me that it might be nicer to have something good for daily wear, durable and simple; something i can leave on during the next transmission swap and not remove when i'm mixing noxious chemicals in the lab. and if we got bands, they could be matching. and after the reception of the earrings, he said he was positively reinforced about buying me jewelry. well, i just about melted and got my head out of my ass and agreed with him. and i forgot i have about another 60 years or more to pine for shiny gifts from him. it honestly never occured to me. so, we came to an easy and excited agreement over matching 14k white gold beveled bands, in 4mm and 6mm:
these are quite close to what we wound up choosing. we haven't finalized what we're getting engraved, but you can bet it will be vomitingly cute, i guarantee it. i am so excited to wear something that is simple, will look good when i'm 50, can stay on my hand 24-7, and really says, "hey! i'm married!". plus we found a really great local jeweler i'm sure we'll use again; it was a productive and exhausting day, but we're goofily excited and happy about having one of the most important things decided upon and so satisfied that we were in such blissful agreement about it. but why would i expect anything else from the love of my life? :)
so, despite the recent frenetic pace of fall finals and the holiday season and travel, we've made a lot of progress. while home for a week over xmas, my mems and i did a lot of this and that...assigning guest table numbers to the list on the knot, picking out gifts for the bridal party, discussing hair options (still up in the air)...and i would like to note that the inner turmoil i felt about adding the egregiously priced DKNY duvet cover to my registry was all for naught, because my parents are freaking awesome and surprised me, hardcore, with it as an xmas gift. i kept saying "what? WHAT?" over and over. i don't think i've been that excited on xmas eve since i got the barbie dream house at age 9. i will note that it is dry-clean only (duvet cover, not barbie dream house), which seems quite ridiculous for a bedding item, but i feel so zen when i stroke the hand-embroidered roses atop its satiny green cotton that i forget all about life's little impracticalities:
kz and i had made a balmy thanksgiving day trip down to the beach house to take some measurements, and were fortuitous enough to gain entry into the building while they set up for another wedding, and we really went to work with our tape measure, graphing paper, and iced coffees. i visited home armed with precise measurements of all the inside walls and window/door positions, baseboard heights, deck dimensions, and railing figures (to calculate how many lights we need, wall decorations, and table layout). mems and i held up a swag of a huge bolt of beautiful light sky-blue/grey material she had bought, and figured out what kind of wall decor we could swing. all i have to do is find some dove grey ribbon to tie the swags, and we might be able to make a runner with the excess. last month, mems mailed me a costco member card posthaste, and insisted i go look at their plastic disposable plates as a compromise to the great china vs. paper plate debate. i bought 3 packs, each containing 50 dinner plates and 50 dessert plates, for $18 apiece. they're sturdy and with a pretty silver rim, and really the best option. china rentals are comparable in cost, would have to be washed (by whom? when?) and then returned after the reception; no thanks.
i also left home with a most unexpected, and touching (tear-jerking) gift from my grandma...a double-strand of very short pearls with a beautiful blue-green cabochon clasp, which my mom bought for her in the 60's. it goes amazingly well with the dress. i made them both promise they would wear their own favorite sets of pearls to the wedding, so that we would all be in pearls. something borrowed, and blue...and i didn't even think i was going to do that whole thing. we are well into sap mode; there is no going back now.
i finally booked the night before and night of the wedding at our block-reserved hotel, deciding that being in the area the day before and having a clean, quiet place to get ready the morning of was better than saving the money and doing a 2.5 hour drive down on the day of the wedding. my family made their reservations too, and kz's is in progress...and once all the families have rooms, i can finally send out the save the dates and open it up to everyone else. we've also decided on electronic invitations only; we'll be emailing and have registered a domain for an official wedding webpage for all the usual information and an online RSVP.
next up: some harassing of the bridesmaids to make sure they're still on board and are on their way to getting the dresses; checking out local tux chains to see what sort of less formal, grey tuxes they may have and if kz can find anything he likes; finding shoes (i actually FOUND shoes, utterly perfect shoes - they're just $800. brian atwood silk d'orsay grey pumps in oyster with pearl clusters. le sigh); getting the website up; sending off the finalized catering contract with a payment; scheduling my initial fitting, which i am putting off as long as possible, thanks to the 15 pounds i got as a gift from the first year grad school fairy; and making a weekend trip to RI to choose a cake (traditional or ice cream?) and meet with the JOP we're probably having so we can work on some ceremony ideas. i had a teary bombay sapphire-fueled breakdown at a party last month, wondering how in the hell everything was going to work - chairs on the beach? moved back into the party? seating people? greeting guests? decorating and setting up tables? cleaning up at the end of the night? - and was assured by all my wonderful friends that, whether a part of the wedding party or not, they'd all pitch in to make sure everything got done. that made me cry some more. i love my friends.
this shit is all really epic. and we've still got 4.5 months to go.
so, i'll stop beating around the bush - today we picked out and ordered our rings. i recently changed my mind about the bling factor. for xmas, kz got me beautiful aquamarine studs, which match my engagement ring, to wear on the wedding day. before, i had thought the wedding ring was my last chance to pick something with some rocks and some shine, as the last major jewelry event in my life. i'm not sure why i thought that, but kz reminded me that it might be nicer to have something good for daily wear, durable and simple; something i can leave on during the next transmission swap and not remove when i'm mixing noxious chemicals in the lab. and if we got bands, they could be matching. and after the reception of the earrings, he said he was positively reinforced about buying me jewelry. well, i just about melted and got my head out of my ass and agreed with him. and i forgot i have about another 60 years or more to pine for shiny gifts from him. it honestly never occured to me. so, we came to an easy and excited agreement over matching 14k white gold beveled bands, in 4mm and 6mm:
these are quite close to what we wound up choosing. we haven't finalized what we're getting engraved, but you can bet it will be vomitingly cute, i guarantee it. i am so excited to wear something that is simple, will look good when i'm 50, can stay on my hand 24-7, and really says, "hey! i'm married!". plus we found a really great local jeweler i'm sure we'll use again; it was a productive and exhausting day, but we're goofily excited and happy about having one of the most important things decided upon and so satisfied that we were in such blissful agreement about it. but why would i expect anything else from the love of my life? :)
posted by sabominator @ 7:09 PM
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