All Flowers In Time Bend Toward The Sun

Having felt strongly for some time now that I've "gotten all the blogging" out of my system (as any of you who find my lack of Facebookery appalling should know) this isn't something that comes naturally to me anymore.  I used to revel in what I considered in my foolish youth to be "cryptic transparency"... encrypting what I felt were my deepest thoughts into sentences meaningless to those without the key (as I often was).  At least now I better know my foolishness.

I think the reason I've done this less over the years is that I've come to find the real world to be complex enough on it's own merit.  It stands to gain nothing from obfuscation.

As the wedding draws nearer I find myself thinking more frequently (and with ever increasing fondness) of the days that must follow it.  As incredible a day as it is sure to be, and as much work and effort as is being invested in it (the vast bulk of it by Ri, it seems - I should do more) I can't imagine it being anything less than the day we're dreaming of.

But for me, this close to it, I realize the dream doesn't just end there.  Now I'm old enough to know that marriage isn't all sunshine and roses.  All growth needs rain, and all things move in circles.  It's going to take more work, more sacrifice, more effort than anything else we've ever done, could ever do without each-other.  But that's the beauty of it, at least in part.  In some way, all the work and preparation that goes into this one day that marks the change, is a metaphor for what it takes to really make it work.  There's challenge in it, compromise, disappointments at times, we've seen that.  And there is joy.

There is such joy.

It takes a dedicated balance to achieve, this joy.  Moreso than any other human endeavor.  And the duty continues to unfold before our feet...  "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began".  It's a work that began long before we fully realized it, and where it will lead us, I am eager to follow.

--J.

Here we go again!

I am a terrible blogging bride.  I'm supposed to update this almost religiously and keep everyone up to date with every detail of the joy that is wedding planning.  Unfortunately, busy times are busy!  Here's a quick update:

Work has gotten really busy for both Joe and myself.  I've been known to hang out at work well past closing time and Joe has spent a few weekends working away. 

Wedding planning...that's where the real stress lies.  We've been quite lucky to have chosen an amazing caterer who has been our rock and our champion throughout all the madness that we've been faced with.  As those of you who read this blog are aware, we started our hunt for the perfect wedding venue well over a year in advance.  We were aware that some of the best locations book up quickly, and as a constant worrywort...it was in our best interest to have all of the major details taken care of far FAR in advance, lest I have a nervous breakdown.

We thought we had it.  After visits to almost every "unique" wedding venue in Southern California we thought we had it.  The Automobile Driving Museum was our place!  HOORAY!  ...and then it wasn't.  And then it was again!  And then we couldn't have our original caterer.  And then we could!  And then the staff would change and they would ask us for a deposit, we would ask for more info and then the staff would change again and we would repeat the process.  We kept fighting the good fight because we loved the venue.  And then...we didn't have the venue.  They gave away our date with less than 6 months to go before our big day, and it was a huge disaster.  No one would give us information.  Worst of all, they did not tell us directly, they told our caterer and didn't even bother to mention this issue to us.  It was our wonderful caterer who called me in a panic one morning.  But, we continued to fight.  They offered a subpar venue next door, and at first we wanted to fight for the original room that we had booked.  But, they wore us down.  We were tired of fighting and convinced ourselves that we also loved the venue next door.  And then...contract time.  What a shocker, we had to keep sending it back for revisions.  They were backing out of items that they had initially promised.  Our caterer suggested that I "go bridezilla" on them.  We went through this madness for another month and half and just last week we had decided that we had enough.

There were no bridezilla blowouts, no shouting matches.  Just one little 5'1 bride who said to her 6'5 groom, "this is too much".  Luckily the groom said "I agree".  We decided to look at another venue that our caterer suggested, and wouldn't you know it?  IT'S PERFECT.

We spoke to the venue manager, who is a real great guy and I can't wait to have a beer with him at the reception.  He sent us a contract that we didn't have to revise and the location is absolutely wonderful.

We've got 3 1/2 months to go and we're starting from scratch and I couldn't be happier.

-ri

BEHOLD THE MIGHTY COLOR PALETTE

This is why my Maid of Honor rocks harder than yours:

-ri

262 days to go

After a bit of a hiatus, we're back on the wedding planning track.  I got lost in a sea of bridal magazines, websites, blogs and fabric swatches and I decided to take a break during the holidays.  I needed to regroup and gain sight of our original vision for our wedding.

There are so many bridal magazines, websites, blogs etc out there and it's very easy to quickly fall into a very cookie cutter wedding when all you see, hear and run into are all geared toward the "blushing bride-to-be".  To my horror, I found myself contemplating some very traditional, typical, sometimes boring wedding elements.  The joy of some much needed time wrapped up in the holidays with family and friends and even dealing with some work shakeups has brought me back to reality and reminded me of everything that we had hoped for.

I have put in my orders for the Save the Date materials and I'm ready to start planning the wedding of our dreams.

-ri