is this really my idea

Just a few images I have been enjoying on this (finally!) sunny afternoon:

Wine bottle guest books from here

Gorgeous cymbidium orchid, calalily, and ivy bouquet from here

Mexican wedding banners from here

This bride's to-die-for beautiful makeup here

The students are gone for the day and I am free for a sweet weekend of tux/suit shopping and registry fun!

for once in my life

Super-nerdy, but I couldn't resist posting that I added the very first item to our wedding registries tonight! Brian and I registering at Macy's, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and (wait for it) REI. Tonight I registered for these babies:Whee!

photographer - CHECK!

OK, so this is what I'm most excited about. Today I drove up to SF again to meet with Kali Kraum about doing our wedding photography. Photography is super important to me and I was worried that A) she would be too expensive, B) we wouldn't get along, or C) Mom wouldn't like her. Lucky me, I had nothing to worry about! Her prices were totally reasonable, we laughed like we had been friends for years, and Mom thought she was awesome too! I cannot wait to do engagement pictures with her and work with her for the wedding. Here are a few samples of her work from her blog:

A San Rafael wedding

The same couple's engagement shots

Gorgeous! She also does boudoir sessions, but I don't know if I'm that brave...

stationary - check!

Last night my mom and I played around with wedding stationary. Here are some rough scans of what we plan to do:

Save the Dates

Invitations

Response Cards

The only major difference is that the final invitations and response cards will be done on cream cardstock (like the save the dates). Not too bad for a DIY, homemade wedding!

venue - check!

On Monday, Brian and I checked out Holbrook Palmer Park in Atherton, CA and it was a winner! We signed the necessary paperwork and are all set for July 26. It was such a relief to secure a venue so we could deal with all the other details. Here are some pictures:

We will set up dinner in this courtyard underneath the trees

The bridal party will get ready in the main house and then walk down the steps to the ceremony

The entrance to the park

this is my jam

And we have a wedding website!

Other posts coming, including our wedding venue, and (hopefully) our photographer!

beautiful day

Yesterday, Lindy and Carrie accompanied me to buy my wedding dress (yep!). I didn't really need their help picking/purchasing the dress, but I did want them to see it. More than that, though, I wanted them to try on bridesmaid dresses. Mom has wanted to make them from Day 1, but we figured that if we found something off the rack that fit everyone, why go to that trouble? Unfortunately, since Carrie is six feet tall (believe it), everything that looking amazing on petite Lindy made Carrie look like she was wearing her clothes from junior high school. We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few:We all really wanted this dress to look great, because the style is so fabulous but.... obviously it was not a winner. Plus, in this color Carrie kind of looks like an ear of corn.

Lindy needed to see how the dress looked next to a tux before she made a decision. Winner! (but not in brown, obviously)

However, the dress was too short for Carrie and the store does not make it in a "long," so we came home and started combing through patterns. Thank you Vogue! We'll fit the girls for the center dress and hem it at the knee.

The next job, of course, was to find fabric. Mom and I headed into San Francisco this morning to shop at Britex. I was in fabric heaven!


We ended up with a gorgeous silk dupioni in eggplant (the picture does not do it justice). So much prettier than the brushed cotton dress from the bridal store.


Plus something pretty for me too:


While in the city, we walked through the Flower Mart, since we are going to do our own flowers too and stopped in Fantastico, where I found all kinds of tacky bridal accessories:

Bachelorette on the loose!

Tomorrow we are going to visit the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory in Santa Cruz and will then have to visit the Holbrook Palmer Park in Atherton and make the big venue decison. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!