Wedding Planning Update

Well, first of all, I'm feeling really good. I haven't seen my scar yet, I'm all bandaged up, but I'm in no pain. And I get my stitches out on Tuesday! (;

I was thinking that some of you might want to hear what we've been doing in the way of wedding planning . . .

Big news! I bought my wedding dress!

We'd been trying to organize a time for all of us ladies (except Katie, of course, who lives in Chicago) to go dress shopping and had settled on August 16th in Union Square, San Francisco. Then, on Saturday the 1st of August, the stars aligned and we were all available to get together and shop in San Jose. We thought it would just be fun, a good chance to spend time together and see what's out there.

We'd been to every store in the Valley Fair mall that sells dresses, even Barcelino. Holy cow! That place is odd! Then, as a fun, end of the day adventure, we stopped into Betsey Johnson. And I found my dress!!


It's a very simple cotton dress, but it is strapless and white. As I've told anyone who will listen, I think it's a great compromise between formal and casual, modern and retro, traditional and nontraditional. And I'll be able to wear it again! I won't be posting a picture here. I don't know why, it just doesn't seem right. But I can e-mail you a photo if you would like to see it.

I'm planning now to find some vintage fabric and have a bolero/awesome-retro-vest-thing made to add some color and flare to my wedding ensemble.

When I had my dress on and was looking in the mirror, I loved the dress, and I could totally imagine wearing it in Templeton Park on our day. But I didn't want to give up shopping in Union Square!!!

So my ladies promised to continue to save the date, and we would shop then for their dresses and my wedding accessories.

This is the biggest deal for Rachel who lives three hours away from me and four hours away from San Francisco. But she's a trooper, and an awesome friend, and apparently doesn't mind driving.

I'll stop now and thank Rachel's mom Ann who has loaned Rachel her Accord (?) the last two times Rachel has come up. Thanks Ann! This means Rachel can leave the baby-equipped car at home (with the babies), and Ann's car is much more fuel efficient (which I love!).

I digress.

So on August 15th, Rachel arrived in San Jose at around 10:00 p.m.. She, Brian, and I stayed up talking a little too late. The next morning, Rachel and I drove over to Kam and Mike's (just down the street. We live oh so close!). Kamryn gave Rachel a little pre-shopping/anti-soccer mom/totally adorable haircut before we left for the city.

Rachel drove the three of us to Grace's neighborhood, and after a quick tour of her new, absolutely awesome apartment, we walked down to catch the Muni to Union Square.

We checked out the sales racks in every possible department store: Bloomingdale's, Sax Fifth Avenue, Macy's, and a few other great places like Anthropologie and H&M. We didn't actually find anything for them (or any accessories/shoes for me), but we have a better idea of what we're looking for and what we're not . . . and that however fun Union Square may be to visit, it's not necessarily a smart place to spend money. (;

This picture fits into the "what we're not looking for" category. The colors are a little bright, but the ladies look beautiful, and it does show the kind of variety we're looking for in what they choose to wear.


So besides wardrobe, we've been looking into caterers a bit. We have two awesome prospects already, but we've been told we should taste test three, so we'll end up having three amazing businesses to choose from, great! (;

I'm looking forward to working with Darby, our friend who's artistically and graphically inclined, on the save the date cards.

We've been working on a list of things to put on the registry. We don't want to go into the stores blind, so we're trying to really think about that we need.

I don't know if much more is going on on the wedding front. School starting will inevitably slow wedding planning down a bit . . . or things could intensify because I'll need something to distract me from school. (;