Wednesday, September 30, 2009

367 days...

I have ordered a few paper samples from a paper company because I'm hoping to have my Save-The-Dates ready to go soon.  At first, I thought that something close to a year in advance would be too soon, but I'm excited to get the word out!  I'm also excited to get these creative juices flowing, and I also realize that a DIY wedding also requires a more forgiving time table.

I've also decided to crack down on watching what I eat and being an all-around healthier person.  In January of 2008, I joined Weight Watchers and dropped a total of 27 lbs. within 7 months.  Unfortunately, when you take 1-part of moving in friends, mixed in with 2-parts of a busy schedule and you sprinkle some old habits on top of that and allow to simmer, you get 7 pounds that make their way back.  Since signing up for the program, I've definitely been making better choices and I'm certainly better off than I was in December 2007 but it would be nice to make more progress. 

I think that's all for now!  We're quickly approaching that one-year mark!

-ri

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

368 days moar!

more inspiration strikes:




I'm looking at more mid-century roadtrip items and the photos, images and subsequent ideas have really started to flow.   I was doing a little research on teardrop campers in relation to our possible Roadtrip Honeymoon and I was reunited with my love, the Airstream Trailer.

-ri

Monday, September 28, 2009

369 days to go...

This was the first weekend in a while where we didn't have any venue appointments or meetings.  Of course, I've still got wedding planning on the brain, but some much needed playtime was in order:

Alright, the photo is from last year but you get the point.  On Saturday, we had some quality Szczypkowski family time and then we spent some time at Disneyland with friends on Sunday and soaked in the Halloween spirit.  Do you realize that by next Halloween season, we're going to be married?! (eee!)

Before Disney time, we stopped by Home Depot so that I could pick up some paint chips and get crackin' on my idears.  With the inspiration still fresh and exciting, I figured that now would be the best time to tackle the minutia while I'm still fairly calm.  Here's to driving the roommates crazy!!  (I'm sorry Clair, Paul and Luis...mostly Paul. You brought this upon yourself for being Maid of Honor worthy!)

-ri

Friday, September 25, 2009

372 days to go!

Thanks to the lovely Ms. Inthia, moar inspirations!



-ri

Thursday, September 24, 2009

373 days to the wedding

It's the end of September and the predicted high for the valley is 104'F.  The predicted high for Torrance/Lomita is 94'F.  Where is my fall weather?!

I've been very concerned about our wedding/reception being boring.  I've been searching for a theme or a source of inspiration.  Inthia and I have been sending each other wedding site links and while all of them have me ooh-ing and aah-ing, nothing has really clicked quite yet.

UNTIL NOW.

Behold, my first REAL source of inspiration:





I've been very hesitant about divulging too much wedding information because there have been security breaches and some information leakage within the past month.  I'm trying to keep everything hush hush until I hash out the real basics.  I'm not quite ready for information overload just yet.  The information exchange that I have going with the few people that I've been bouncing ideas off right now is perfect.

-ri

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKI!!

My baby brother is 20 today!!  He is my maid-of-honor and the reason that we chose the month of October to get hitched.  Before we even started thinking about kicking off any of those bachelor/bachelorette festivities, we wanted to be sure that Mak was of legal age.

-ri

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

375 days and picking colors

When we first embarked upon this wedding journey, I thought that I had the colors down: "Green and Brown! End of story!", that was my mantra.  But after visiting a few venues and actually envisioning our wedding there, I'm beginning to realize that the colors that I had planned on might not work well with the actual venue we choose.

That seems to be the theme for the wedding planning, a lot of new inspiration.

Right now, I'm most partial to the 1st set of colors.
-ri


Color Choice #1



Color Choice #2


Monday, September 21, 2009

376 days to our wedding

This year is going by fast.  It seems like not that long ago we just got engaged and we had 1 year and 8 months to plan!  Now, the 1-year mark is fast approaching and all these plans are becoming more and more real.  (Thank goodness for my trusty binder, my color-coded post-its, my 3 highlighters, my clipboard, my checklists....all of which are keeping me sane!)

On Saturday we attended the wedding of my dear friend Kristine who I've now known for 24 years.  Kristine was a beautiful bride (of course) and the reception was fun.  I got to see Jason and Pheleah who are also Maryknoll friends that go WAAAAAaay back (3rd and 4th grade!) and it was nice to catch up and hang out.  On the way home, I told Joe that it wasn't until I saw Kristine in her wedding dress that I've realized how far we've all come and how we've all grown up.  It feels like just yesterday Kristine and I were sitting in a sandbox in Kindergarten.  An old photo of me and Kristine in the 7th grade came up in the slideshow and I couldn't help but giggle.  Watch out friends and family, I'm now inspired to dig up some old photos!

For now, here's one of us at Disneyland on our 1-year anniversary:

-ri

Friday, September 18, 2009

Earth below us

Back in my day, a man only blogged if he couldn't get a job and couldn't find any newspaper in the garbage can at a gas station to clean your windows even when you explicitly ask him not to.

My how times have changed.

To tell the truth, I never really thought much about what the wedding-planning process would be like. I spent plenty of time as a wistful youth daydreaming about being married (manly men never do this!), perhaps even the getting crossed my mind a time or two... but the actual planning was an alien concept.

I mean, that's girl stuff, right?

So it is not without irony that I find myself enjoying it so far. It's certainly a matter of reaping the fruits of Ri's labor, so the enjoyment might be an easier proposition for me than it is for her, but I do expect that she expects me to be bringing home copious amounts of bacon (and other meaty goods) eventually, so this might just be some sort of "investment opportunity" for her.

One thing that certainly would not have occurred to me, had anything about the planning phase actually occurred to me beforehand, is that Location Scouting is a golden opportunity to get into places for free. You know that museum, the aquarium, that zoo you're accustomed to lining up behind loud, sweaty children behind and shelling out hard-earned dollars to enter on any normal day?

Guess what, you're getting married! Now you're a VIP! The curtains part, the golden rope is raised, and these people will out-and-out pay for your parking just for the privilege of granting you free entertainment for the day. And that's just for places we're actually considering. Imagine if we were unscrupulous, and decided to book meetings with cruise lines, insisting on 3 days aboard to help us make up our minds...

On second thought, maybe we should consider extending the engagement. There are a lot of cruise lines out there.

-J.

379 Days To Our Wedding!

I’ve been keeping track of all the wedding planning with my trusty binder and an awesome little website called The Knot.

The Knot likes to remind me how many days are left until our wedding. A little countdown to wedding planning explosion. So, I thought that it might be great to get back into this “blogging” that all the kids are doing so that I can update everyone with everything that it going on with the wedding and one day look back at this with fond memories of venue hunting, index cards and papercuts.

-ri