So, we're going to do our first venue visit. We're going to check out Atlantica in Cohasset, MA. Has anyone been here? Any tips on Cohasset in general?  (FH and I both grew up west (me) and north (him) of Boston).

More importantly, what should we make sure to ask? I want to bring a checklist of questions with me and I don't want to forget anything!

What did you ask? What do you wish you had asked? 

Thanks!

... with discovering your dog's food allergies?

The vet suspects Roxie might have a food allergy - recommended that we try and deduce what ingredient she's sensitive to by trialling a new food for 6-8 weeks. What are your experiences with trialling new foods, or with dog food allergies in general?

As a side note, I am interested in eventually getting away from kibble (interested in trying simple home-cooked meals... turkey/potato or turkey/rice).

Thanks so much!

( A picture of the girl! )

We are having one, and i'd like to hear your tips, ideas, cost-cutting tips, do's, dont's, etc and especially see your pics...dish about your wedding!!


We are having a small potluck wedding for about 55 gusts, mostly all close friends and family on August 14, 2011, and i'm just dying to hear how your small informal weddings turned out. My guy will be wearing a traditional Hawaiian wedding shirt in white, with black slacks, and the Groomsmen will be wearing sky blue Hawaiian shirts with khakis, I couldn't help it, I fell in love with my dress over a year ago and ordered and paid for it back in July '09, so I will be wearing a wedding dress, but nothing too poofy or formal.
I'm mostly worried about decorations, I don't want to spend too much money on them, but we're going with a Hawaiian/Luau theme. I've found a lot of cute things in the Oriental Trading wedding catalog they've been sending me, but other than that, we don't want to do too much, because our entire wedding is so low-budget. The most money we're spending is on the cake ($300), DJ ($625), and Photographer ($650)...we've estimated around $1000 for flowers and decorations total , but I really REALLY don't want to spend NEAR that much for them...$300-$550 would be more my alley...is that doable???

We are having a vegan buffet dinner. Middle Eastern, Greek, Italian theme to give a nod to my heritage.

For dessert we will serve the cupcakes that will be our 'cake'. (We are cutting a giant cupcake). I am thinking both Pistachio & Rosewater, and Lime & Coconut.

We would like to offer one other dessert also, and I'm thinking either baklava OR poached fruit (whatever is in season) drizzled with dark chocolate.

Would you prefer baklava or fruit to go with a cupcake? 
(I am open to suggestions too, though it has to be vegan, and yes, our chef can make vegan baklava).
Thank you!

A question about wedding registries, after the fact.
( useful vs not useful )

Tonight I made soup!  I started with this recipe and tinkered with it a little.  ( Follow the bouncing ball... )

I am getting a student teacher this year.  I want to make sure it's the best experience that they could have and they learn a lot from me.  That being said, What's the best thing you learned while student teaching? 
If you are a student teacher, what helped you the most?
Was there something you wished your teacher taught you before you went into the classroom?

I just want other opinions on what they thought was helpful.

I teach 3rd grade if that helps any and this will be my 7th year. 

Thanks for any insight!

So I just started seriously thinking about our ceremony music and the fact that it's outside. I have to get in contact with the right people to find out whether it's going to be plausible to hook up PA etc. equipment aka whether there is any electricity convenient to the ceremony site. If not, we're going to have to go the live route which was never my original intention so I'm a little lost. My dad is a great guitar player but he will be walking me down the aisle so that's not possible. I also have a friend who is a brilliant pianist but I can't think of any way whatsoever that a piano could be safely and easily transported to and from the site...So my questions are as follows:

-For those of you who had/are having outdoor ceremonies with prerecorded music - how did you do it? What were the challenges and what worked well/went wrong?

-On the other side, for those of you who had live musicians, what worked well/went wrong?

-How did you cue the music, either with someone operating a playlist or with live music?

-Did anyone have their live musicians play classical versions of non-classical songs and if so, how did you go about finding the music?

( Part II of Wedding Worries )

Thanks in advance for opinions/advice!

I am currently looking for a florist for our June 2010 wedding in Williamsburg, VA.
I asked for couple quotes, but florists didn't get back to me yet for some reason.
I am deciding between buying flowers in bulk and arranging party flowers ourselves(no experience at all), hiring a florist somewhere, but still buying in bulk and having a florist do everything. I have literally no idea of how much any flowers cost.
What did you pay for your flowers and what did you order? i.e. how many bouquets, buttoners, centerpieces, etc and where.
Or, maybe, there is a better way to estimate that?
P.S. I am thinking of white roses, blue irises and maybe some daffodils for me and FH and any white\dark blue flowers that will be in bloom that week for others.

UPD:
Please, tell me where you are(did) getting married. State and the size of the city are also important:)
Thanks!

What is everyone's opinion on retractable leashes? I just used one for my golden retriever for the first time today, and it is SO much easier; she seems to actually agree with me more and walk nicely when it's her choice. Like a game.

However, the leash has more tension than I thought retractable leashes do. It's a classic flexi leash; will this tension cause any damage to my dog's neck? She seems pretty happy with it, but I don't imagine it would be a good feeling to have one of these leashes around my neck. Or are dog's necks just stronger than humans?

I think (think) I picked flowers today! This is just based on photos I found online, but they are lovely, and while an arrangement still needs to be decided, if I know what I'm using, the rest will be easy! (I hope...)

Reminder of who I am: Intro Post and Bridal Party Drama

( Below the cut are pics of flowers! )

Also, how many types/colours of flowers do people typically choose to have? I would be perfectly happy with my forget-me-nots in my hair and my harebells as a bouquet. Should I add something white instead? This is kind of confusing for me. And I'm also not the kind of person who's been dreaming of and planning her wedding since she was five years old. I've been toying with ideas for a couple of years, since we decided it would be medieval, but nothing serious until now.

I guess I should consider myself lucky.. I'm 3 days away from getting married and the stress is just NOW starting to get to me.
( Cut for rambling and some gratuitous swearing )

I'm done worrying. I'm done caring. After flowers are bought (happens on Friday), that's it. I'm done. I'm marrying the guy I love on Saturday. There will be food and family and friends, and it might even be above 0! And that's all that matters.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the wall of text.

 Hey folks.

I start student teaching next week, well actually in less than a week. I'm fairly nervous, but I'm also really excited. I have lessons (in art) for the first week or so planned out for every grade level (at this placement it's k-4) and then the planning for the next week will start midway through the first week. I know it's not going to run like clockwork and I expect some mishaps and glitches but do any of you have any advice on how to make this as worthwhile and successful as it can be?

We only have about 6-7 weeks at each school per placement. My placement goes until the end of February, I have break and then I start in the beginning/middle of March and it goes until the end of April. I really do wish they had us at one school the entire semester so we could get a better baring on our surroundings and get to the know the students a little better.  I'd love to know every kids name by heart but I feel like that will be somewhat delusional of me to think that I can do that in such a short period of time. I hate referring to students as "you" and I'd really like to be able to call every student by their names, it's more personal and I don't feel so fake, either.

I guess it's just the whole process that throws me off, everything is scheduled, I have to take attendance, introduce the lesson, do a demonstration and then answer any questions and go on and help the students as they need it. Does that sound right?? Can I do that?? Haha, any confidence boosters you can all think of I'd be eternally grateful for. I know this is a learning experience and it doesn't all have to be perfect and I'm there to learn.

That being said, any suggestions or advice??

Name and/or LJ userID: helbling
Wedding Date: Earliest will be Autumn 2011, might be pushed back depending on budget and time we need to save.
Bride/Groom/Other (please specify): Bride
Age: 25
City/State/Country you live in: Somerset, England
City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): South England - family is scattered across the lower half of the country, so anywhere we find that's nice!
Your song/First Dance song: Jeff Healy - Angel Eyes
Wedding Colors: Cream/Gold/Deep Red
Formality: Fairly Formal
Theme (if you have one): Probably won't have one, other than the colour scheme
Number of guests: Probably around 100
How'd you meet your fiance?: University society
How long have you been together?: 4 years
Do you have a personal wedding website?: No, I just have a specific LJ filter
Have you read the community rules before posting this survey? Yes

Hello all! I've been watching this community for a while because my partner and I have been talking weddings for a while. He surprised me on the 2nd by proposing, so I'm delighted to be a fully fledged member, finally!

I'm currently trying to do initial budgeting so we can work out how long it will take us to save for the things we want, and thus when we can schedule the wedding. I'm having a bit of a problem - I can't find anywhere that gives a straight forward list of wedding expenses. Lots of places that tell you who's supposed to pay for what, but nowhere that just gives the straight forward list.

So folks, what costs do you/did you consider for a wedding? Beyond the standard venue/catering/outfits, what else did yours involve?

What did/are you pay/ing for them, if you don't mind saying? What did you consider the maximum reasonable amount to pay? What was the minimum cost you were hoping for? Where did you save money unexpectedly? Where did stuff cost more than you expected?

If you're now married, what do you consider money well spent, and what would you skimp more on if you knew then what you know now?

I'm having some venue issues (mainly, seating and fitting everyone in). I just wanted to post to kinda organize my thoughts and plans and map out what is done and what needs to be done still. I've been kinda bitching about the stress of it all in my journal (friends only, add me if you want to read), but I need a lot of advise, so if you're feeling helpful, I really, really appreciate it.

( tl;dr in here )

omg, The Knot just informed me we only have 164 days left. AAAhhhh!!!!

According the The Knot, we're 500 days out, so I thought I'd do a progress post!

Karen & Anthony
May 21, 2011
Colors: Brown, white, pink and green
Theme: Vintage, elegant, garden party on a budget.

( Us and my ring )


We signed the contract for our ceremony and reception venue tonight!

( Venue details )

( A bride and thrifter's dream )


( Miscellaneous )


In other news, my bridal party (although I have yet to formally ask them -- I want to do cute cards -- but I pretty much told them they're my 'maids) and I are going to a bridal expo in Novi on the 17th. I'm really excited!

And in other, other news, I started a website at The Knot. It's a work in progress, but let me know what you think.

This was a super-fast yet very yummy soup I threw together last week when my bf and I were sick thanks to large family gatherings full of sniffly people. It uses a few pre-made ingredients, but you could definitely replace the boxed stock with home made (and replace the water with more stock)

Ingredients (everything is approximate)
2 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 c carrots, cut into 5mm rings (about 1 1/2 large carrots)
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced (or to taste)
1 box Campbell's vegetarian soup stock
about 3 c water
1 c frozen corn
fresh ground pepper, to taste
wide egg noodles, cooked

To Make:
Heat olive oil in stockpot, and saute onion and garlic until onions just start to get transparent. Add carrots and celery, and saute until nearly cooked. Add pepper if desired (don't add salt- the broth has more than enough!) If the veggies are starting to stick, and a little water to deglaze the pot. Add the entire box of broth, and more water to taste (I added about 3 cups, since the fresh veggies add a lot of flavour). Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add frozen corn. Cook on low heat for another ten to fifteen minutes, until everything is at correct temperature and has had a chance to blend a bit.
Serve in a bowl with wide egg noodles (or preferred vegan noodle).

Serves about four people, or two sick and crabby people who just want to lie on the couch and eat soup.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2010!

Hello all :)

I want to start discussion groups with my class, which will count for 10% of their final grade. I teach adult education, and my students range between the ages of 18-22 and some are in their 30s or 40s but not many. I want the topics to be interesting, something they will WANT to discuss.... Do you have any ideas for catchy topics or websites that would help me out? I've already figured out a couple of things like, 100 things to do before I die, talk about a country or city I visited, personality/intelligence tests and share the results, things of the sort... I wouldn't mind having more controversial topics but I have to keep in mind that I want them to be open to each other's opinions and advice and I also don't want any religious/ethnic battles to start. I'd probably like to have them follow a specific code so that they know how to behave during these discussion groups...

Any tips on topics or how to run the groups, website, etc... would be welcomed, thank you!

Hi all! I joined a long time ago and never filled one of these out (or posted at all...) so here we go:

Name and/or LJ userID: ordinaryfool, aka Tiffany
Wedding Date: June 19, 2010 (the day after I turn 25!)
Bride/Groom/Other (please specify): Bride
Age: 24
City/State/Country you live in: Horicon, Wisconsin
City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (my hometown)
Your song/First Dance song: Unsure. "Our song" is "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher, but we might go with a Carpenters song because I love them and their music seems a little more "wedding-y". My fiance doesn't care about music for the most part, so he hasn't really given much input, but he does like the Carpenters, so he'd be okay with one of their songs. Or Sonny and Cher. Or something else entirely, and I've thrown a lot of other ideas at him, so we'll see.
Wedding Colors: Blue and yellow
Formality: Mildly formal. If someone shows up in jeans I might be offended. But at the same time I want the wedding to be fun.
Theme (if you have one): In my wedding planner my MOH wrote "Traditional with a game theme" when we first started planning. My fiance proposed while we were playing Scrabble by putting the ring in the letter bag, and in general we love games. Practically our entire wedding party is obsessed with Nintendo Wii, so we've been toying with the idea of setting up a Wii at the reception, but I keep going back and forth as to whether that would be fun or tacky. Anyway, my future MIL has been collecting used boardgames from Goodwill, like Monopoly, Scrabble, Boggle, etc, and we're going to try to incorporate game pieces into our decorations.
Number of guests: Unsure. 200, maybe?
How'd you meet your fiance?: We did theatre together at the college he attended, which happens to be in my hometown. I wasn't in school at the time, just working full-time, but I had some friends at his school who convinced me to come to auditions, because it was a pretty casual theatre group. They did a collection of short plays that semester, so I didn't meet him right away because we weren't in the same plays, but we instantly hit it off once we met.
How long have you been together?: A little over 4 years
Do you have a personal wedding website?: No
Have you read the community rules before posting this survey? Absolutely
Anything else you'd like to tell us?: The reason I'm posting: I'm starting to freak out a little. Which is probably a good thing, because our wedding plans have severely stalled. This might get long so I'll put the rest under a cut:

( Both of us being procrastinators is not a good thing )

For brides who live in or near the Triangle area of NC: http://www.gorgeousgownsanddresses.com/

I just heard about this wedding/formal gown consignment shop today. It's located in Cary, NC. I haven't been there myself, but I thought I'd pass it along as another option if you're in this area looking for a more budget-friendly dress source.

From a local news story about the store:

The selection includes gowns by popular designers and range in size from zero to 24. All are three years old or newer. Some of the dresses are as low as $99; the average cost is between $300 and $650. Owner Liz Pogue says, "All the dresses are priced half of original retail cost, so it's a really good way to stay within your budget."

The consignment boutique also carries veils, accessories, flower girl dresses, plus a large selection of mother of the bride dresses. Most of them are all under $100. The store even has all different choices of brides maid dresses in all different styles with the average price tag of $65 to $85.

Even though my FSIL is making my dress, I think I'll check them out for jewelry and accessories!

Anyone have any suggestions for how to use it? I have a package sitting in the refrigerator, and other than stir-frying it with some spices I'm at a loss. What are your favorite tempeh recipes? Thanks!

This entry is a long time coming. Lol.

We got married June 20th, 2009, in Milwaukee, WI, and I've been lazy so I've waited until now to do a post-post. We'll start with the wordy part, which I will try to be brief about:

The Good
-We got married!
-It didn't rain! (it POURED the day before)
-People loved the glow bracelet favors.
-My husband's friend who had recently been diagnosed with several forms of cancer was able to come, despite having started radiation that day.
-We finished under budget.
-I got laid!

The Not-so-Good
-The boys' car locked them out so we missed out on one of my “must have” pictures
-My sister showed up in a slutty dress to my conservative church wedding
-My longline bra kept poking me in the side.
-It was so hot and humid! (which is why people may look sweaty)
-I got bitten up by mosquitos while we were taking pictures, and they swelled pretty tremendously.

Vendor Reviews
-David's Bridal: B. I had no problem whatsoever in customer service, but my bustle was different from the way they had it when it was pinned...so it dragged a little.
-Tuxedo Alley: A. They had lots of options and discounts, and were really easy to work with.
-Elizabeth's Cakes: A+. This cake was so deliciously awesome and affordable (3 tiers and a half sheet cake for under $400), and Elizabeth was super nice and easy to work with.
-Best Western: B+. Everything with the Best Western was perfect and the sales and catering rep Jean was easy to work with; she even cut me a deal when more people than expected RSVP'd no and we were coming in under the minimum amount required. Except that it took them forever to clear the buffet off the dance floor. So instead of having the wedding events start at 8, they started at 9.
-Bob and Kathy Kapsy(photographers): A. This married couple was so nice and professional and had a great sense of humor. I know my pictures aren't OMG-AMAZING but, in all honestly, I couldn't afford photographers that were. I am extremely pleased with what we received for what we paid, especially after I forgot to make sure discs of the pictures were included in the contract, and they gave them to me anyway.
-DJ: B-. Dan was great leading up to the wedding with keeping in touch and feeding into my neuroses, but he didn't play all the songs on my “must play” list. He kind of had really bad breath too, lol.

( and of course....PICTURES! )
And then we galloped away into the night.

Advice?
Don't take anyone's bullshit...Just do things the way you want them (within reason).
Give yourself plenty of time for everything.
Make your slutty sister show you her dress ahead of time.

( EDITED TO ADD SLUTTY DRESS!!! )

Ingredients:

12 oz. cranberries
Scant 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 scallions, chopped
Small bunch of cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

-Bring cranberries to a boil in hot water, boil ~2 minutes, DRAIN WELL
- In large bowl, mix sugar and lime juice
-When cranberries are thoroughly drained, add them to the bowl
-Add other ingredients, mix well, cover and allow to macerate at least 20 minutes before chilling in refridgerator.


I like this receipe in particular because it involves no added salt. It's pretty scrumptious.

Hello my fellow wedding planners!

My husband just informed me that Modern Bride or Brides and The Knot had requested permission for our wedding website www.wedohearts.com to be in their magazine a few months ago. It may have been as far back as June 2009.

He couldn't remember when they were going to publish the article. He thought it was going to be in an August or a fall magazine. The magazine was writing an article on top personal wedding websites. He thinks The Knot just has something on their page.

I've tried searching online at Modern Bride/Brides and The Knot but I can't find reference to it. Since I stopped receiving the magazine back in June 09, I was wondering if any of you came across the article!

I would love to know when it came out and if anyone would be willing to sell me their magazine I'd appreciate it!

Thanks so much!

Found on Not Always Right:

Me: “Thank you for calling [bridal store], how can I help you?”

Customer: “Yes, I bought a bridesmaid’s dress from you a few days ago and I need to return it.”

Me: “Okay. Well, our dresses are non-returnable, but we could do an exchange or I could give you store credit. May I ask why you need to return the dress?”

Customer: “The wedding was canceled.”

Me: “Okay, I’ll see what I can do. Can I have the bride’s name, please?”

(She gives me the bride’s name and I find that the bride hasn’t called to tell us the wedding is canceled.)

Me: “I’m looking at the information now, but it looks like the bride hasn’t told us the wedding is canceled.”

Customer: “Yeah…that’s because she doesn’t know yet.”

REMEMBER Ladies and germs: It could always be worse: You could be on fire.

I'm signing contracts for my wedding, and I'm realizing: I have no clue what time I want everything to start and end!

My ceremony site will be used for less than 1 hour (ceremony and photos).

My reception site is open for decoration all day, but once the party begins (time I declare), I have 4 hours of time on site. Of those four hours, two hours have buffet style food served. Regardless of the time of day, the food will be the same.

The wedding is on Saturday, 12 June. There will be plenty of daylight (sunset is approximately 8pm in June). I have a lot of guests with an hour drive to the site and another hour back home. Some of the more elderly guests won't drive after dark. I also don't expect too many people to stay the full four hours. I'll have music and dancing, but no alcoholic beverages.

I originally had said the wedding would be around 3PM, but now I'm thinking of putting it later.

I'm starting to feel the wedding should begin at 4PM, reception starting at 4:30 (we'll arrive at 5:00 or later) and ending at 8:30PM. Dinner buffet would be open 5:30 to 7:30.

What time is your wedding starting? Is there a lag between your ceremony and reception? Are you serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, or hors d'ouvres?

I hope I'm not the only one worrying about timing!

**Edited to Add**
Thinking about too much wedding stuff right now!

When are you doing your big "send off" with rice, bubbles, birdseed?

I'm considering doing a receiving line with our parents at the ceremony site. While doing the line, I'd ask my bridesmaids and groomsmen to "wrangle" the guests as they leave the doors and pass out bubbles (I'm doing bubbles...). After everyone has passed through the line, Hubby and I can run out the ceremony site (there's a straight sidewalk), through the bubbles, around the back, and get back in the church for final pictures.

Or should I just wait for the bubbles for the end of the reception with not all the guests there?

It feels sort of surreal being 3 days away from your wedding, on saturday 9th january, it will be our turn!

( Read more... )

A friend of mine just got engaged, and she and her FH really want a small wedding...but they're afraid that FH's family will feel it necessary to invite an additional 50 - 100 people over their desired guest list. I proposed that they have a small ceremony followed by an intimate reception for about 30 people only, and then do a second, more casual (and cheaper) reception the following day (or post-honeymoon) for the extended family. She really likes the idea and plans on talking to her FH about it tonight.

The idea, of course, came from some of you guys! So I'm wondering if, for those of that have done (or are planning on doing), could you please post a bit about your plans and maybe pictures of the invites to the second reception? I'd love to be able to provide her with some ideas to jump-start her planning.

I looked through the tags and didn't see anything, but perhaps I missed it...so if I did, please point me in the right direction.

So my surgery date has *finally* been scheduled, and it's not that far away! Essentially, my surgeon told me that the recovery for this resection will be one week in the hospital, and two months at home. That sounds pretty long to me, and I don't know what that will entail. I'm assuming other people here have had resections (this is a multiple - 60 cm of small intestine by the terminal ileum, and 30 cm of my descending and sigmoid colon), so I'm hoping someone here can give me an idea of what I'm in for!

1. Is the pain pretty bad?
2. What about diet? How soon can you eat, and what kinds of things?
3. For the home recovery, how debilitated will I be? I'm doing my PhD in computer science, and there's no reason why I have to be at the university or heck - even sitting up in order to work on it. Do you think I'll be capable of getting much done during the recovery period?

Thanks, everyone. I'm happy that this will get better soon, but terrified, too, so any info any of you can give me would be much appreciated!

*happy thoughts to all his fellow IBDers*
Sebby

Name and/or LJ userID: Jamie poooooot

Wedding Date: June 19, 2010

Bride/Groom/Other (please specify): Bride! :)

Age: 28

City/State/Country you live in: Niles, Ohio

City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): Youngstown/Austintown, Ohio

Your song/First Dance song: Dunno yet. Nothing cliched though, so DEF no Beatles, Mariah, or anything like that. I'm a huge Journey fan so I'd like to go in that direction, but we'll see.

Wedding Colors: Green and white. (White? - Are you a virgin? Hale no! We have two kids! I'm wearing white and idgaf! lol)

Formality: Wedding party is formal attaire, but we're having the ceremony and reception outdoors in this really beautiful pavilion at Mill Creek Park, so it's not a "casual" affair, but definitely not formal. I guess you could say "laid-back."

Theme (if you have one): No theme. Just what we like and looks good with the surroundings.

Number of guests: Guest list is at 250 :O - I'm hoping only about 150 show up though. I get nervous sweats thinking about that many people looking at me.

How'd you meet your fiance?: We've known eachother since 3rd grade. We dated in high school, but reconnected in Spring 2006.

How long have you been together?: This time around, 3 1/2 years. Will be 4 years 2 weeks before the wedding. :D

Do you have a personal wedding website?: No, but I've been ljing about the stress of planning, if that counts.

Have you read the community rules before posting this survey? Yeppers

Anything else you'd like to tell us?: Not really. I'm sorta overwhelmed trying to plan and pay for this whole thing by myself (I'd say ourselves but when I ask my fiance for his input, he says "which one is cheaper? I like that one." So he's no help. lol), so I'm gonna need a lot of advise and I'll probably sound like a mad woman in the weeks before the wedding. :)

Okay, so slight change of plans so far as the whole marriage thing is concerned.... we're going to get married in Vegas on Valentine's day :)  We're still going to have the big October wedding for the family Hopefully we can reserve the ala cart chapel time at the TI, but if not we're just going to do the courthouse thing and party on accordingly.  Honestly, I'm relieved.  This is way more my kind of jig, just the two of us somewhere fantastic followed by food and fun.  I mean, I'm looking forward to the big wedding too (in a way), but this is pretty much what we wanted to begin with.  Hehe, Vegas elopement... so that being said, I am trying to decide what to wear.  I don't want to be so casual that it's jeans and t-shirts or whatever, Imean, it is our wedding and all, but I also don't want to be so dressy that the FH feels the need to show up in more than a nice shirt and slacks.
( So here's a few ideas I've had :) )

Hi Everyone!

So I am currently completing an application for a teaching position in an American School in Europe. Do any of you have experience teaching in an American school in a foreign country? Could you tell me about your experiences?

Thanks! :D

Married already or not - I'm looking for information on all locations except for Wynn and Maggiano's (I've taken care of that!) in Vegas. Chapels, hotels, anywhere you were married or are getting married - and where you had/are having your reception. We need info - pricing, any details you can give us. :)

blueirisheyez  might be getting married in Vegas, so lets give her lots of info!!!

So I posted about a dress i was interested in Here i ended up booking a appointment and visiting the two Maggie Sottero stockists in my area. the dress wasn't available to try on, but alas i tried on a whole heap of others.
I managed to have a friend take some photos
Excuse the quality. Camera phones truly do suck.


( Clicky here for dresses )

I don't actually have a bridal party, but I do have a friend who is essentially acting in that role without the fancy dress. She's gone with me to vendors, helped look for things online and generally been a great source of support.

I'd really like to give her a nice thank you gift, but I'm stumped! I'd like something that will be a nice memory of the day, but since she's not in the bridal party I'm leaning away from things like wraps/purses/jewelry to coordinate with her non-existent bridesmaid dress. She's an artsy, funky and crafty woman with three great kids, and a lot of the classic bridesmaids things really don't speak to me for her, but I know she's sentimental enough that she would appreciate something that's a memento of the wedding (rather than something that might just as well make a nice birthday gift for her).

So if you're doing something offbeat for your MOH, or just have a cool idea, lay it on me! The wedding is in less than a month, but I have a reasonable amount of time and am moderately crafty. Also, since I'm only buying one gift, my budget is pretty flexible.

I need some inspiration!!

show me your table chart layouts?
you know like where it says table number and the name for the guests to look at when they need to find where they sit?
i've searched google to no avail.
hope you'll all be of some assistance :)

So after over a year's hiatus, I've decided to pick back up with blogging.

I've started a blogger blog, but will (at least for now) also post my update here.

So to catch you... In the last year I have:

• gotten a fluffy, spoiled shih-tzu puppy
• walked away from a wreck so bad the paramedics thought they were going to have to get the jaws-of-life to pull a corpse out of my car after I got rear-ended on the interstate by a truck going ~ 70mph (I was going approx. 35 mph because of traffic in front of me).
• bought a house just before the bottom fell out of the housing market.
• gotten married
• turned quarter-of-century old
• a new boss who is a complete nincompoop and sexist, who lives to make my life at work miserable.
• looked for a new job off-and-on for the last year.  Boo for recessions!
• bought a wii (Wheeeee!)
• bought an iphone
• ditched my iphone for an android phone due to crappy service and lack of customization and control.

so there you have, my "year in review"  Any questions? :)

Name and/or LJ userID: oh-cake
Wedding Date: August/September 2010 (TBD)
Bride/Groom/Other (please specify): Bride
Age: 32
City/State/Country you live in: Boston, MA, USA
City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): beach, MA, USA
Your song/First Dance song: a tango
Wedding Colors: sand & water (beige/cream & aqua/pale turquoise)
Formality: Um... elegantly informal? (Suits not tuxes, what's the term for this?)
Theme (if you have one): Elegant New England Summer
Number of guests: a headache. Oops. I mean... right now we're trying to trim the list down to 100. I'd prefer 50-75. 
How'd you meet your fiance?: match.com.
How long have you been together?: 4 years as of March 2010.
Do you have a personal wedding website?: not yet.
Have you read the community rules before posting this survey?: yes.
Anything else you'd like to tell us?:Help!
( all the dirty details...  )

What website (other than Vistaprint.com) did you use for inexpensive invitations?

I do not want to have to print or assemble them myself.

Thanks !!!

You guys have no idea...

Quick reminder: Wedding is (probably) July 3, in Calgary. We got engaged on Christmas Day 2009.

Over the last couple of years, I've drifted away from my once best friend. And when I asked her to be a bridesmaid (not maid of honour, I already knew that wouldn't happen), she declined (she had good reasons, since she's living in the US now and the wedding will be in Canada, but was a bit rude about it, so I was upset).

Meanwhile, the girl next in line for matron of honour is having a baby in May and can't say for sure if she'll be able to come to the wedding. She is, instead, going to make all the favours and help design the decorations, and then if she can actually come she'll supervise the decorating. (She may also make some of the decorations; we're thinking that we'll use silk flowers for a number of things.)

I have two sisters-in-law, and they are going to be bridesmaids. My niece will be flower girl. I don't need more than three attendants - I am not a "high maintenance" kind of person. (Thinking of our medieval theme and how many attendants a bride would have had to help her get ready - especially royalty.)

So I turned to my friend Janna. We have the same first name and have been friends for several years. We share ambitions and faith and all that good stuff. She had already agreed to be a bridesmaid, so I e-mailed her and explained all of the reasons why I decided to ask her to consider being my Maid of Honour.

And today, she said yes!

I squeed. For real. :D

Now I just have to make sure my Uncle is available for July 3, book the cathedral, book the hall for the reception, and figure out about food. Then dresses? I have no idea. I have lists. I will follow them. It will be fine, as long as I remember to breathe. ;)

I hadn't known that when they made my pouch that they don't tend to last long.No one had ever mentioned to me or my family that it would be "temporary".I do know even back when i got mine, that they don't like to give them to crohns patients because they tend to fail quickly... does anyone have a pouch that had UC? Have you had probs with it at all since they removed your colon?

If you had/have a pouch how long have you had it? what made them take it down if they did? Did you fight them on that?

The more I think of what the docs said the more i am confused. No one ever told me i have an "S" pouch and i have been thoroughly studied for years.

When you started taking remicade did you have to be on it permanently or do they take you off of it when you are not flaring or fistulas heal?

Since my wedding is very small (25 guests), I've been looking for something interesting to do in lieu of the traditional guestbook. I thought about a signature mat for a picture, but then I stumbled across this. It's a pen that can be used to engrave directly on to silver.

So, I'm thinking about buying a nice silver picture frame and having my guests sign it. It seems like an awesome permanent memento of our wedding, and a great keepsake. However, I've never used one of these before, and I'm not 100% sure how well it will work. Does anyone have experience with silver engraving pens?

1) Is it generally better to feed your dog before or after a walk?

2) How much exercise should a 6-year-old female golden be getting a day? (in terms of minutes/hours, please)

Thank you!

I have been on Remicade for close to 4 years now. It helps my Crohn’s but I'm not sure if any of this other junk I’m feeling is from the remicade, crohn’s or something else.

Feel exhausted most of the time physically
My memory is poor & I often feel fog brain & confused at times
I get dizzy spells & sometimes have to lay against the wall or furniture to keep from falling or passing out.
Just figured I would ask to see if any of you have the same problems. THANKS!

Name and/or LJ userID: Lynna/weezilee
Wedding Date: October 17th, 2010
Bride/Groom/Other (please specify): I'm the bride :)
Age: 24
City/State/Country you live in: Victorville, CA USA
City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): Erie, PA USA (my hometown)
Your song/First Dance song: Heh, no idea yet.  We have several to choose from though :)
Wedding Colors: sangria(ish?), plum, pewter and ivory
Formality: Casual chic
Theme (if you have one): "Quirky, Artsy European with some Taiwanese Touches in Autumn" is about as close as I can sum it up, lol.
Number of guests: 175
How'd you meet your fiance?: We were stationed in the Army together and worked in the same hospital.  Everytime I saw him he got me to laugh, so I literally chased His Royal Shyness down, cornered him, and asked if he'd like to hang out sometime.  He said yes and the rest is history :)
How long have you been together?: We were together exactly one year when he proposed, and will have been together exactly two when we get married.
Do you have a personal wedding website?: Erm, not yet but I suppose I should put one up... I feel a little self-conscious doing that though, heh.
Have you read the community rules before posting this survey? Yep.
Anything else you'd like to tell us?: ( Yep, all this! )

So, I've made a couple of posts in the recent past regarding bridesmaids dresses, and after me being indescisive and flustered at finding some things that would work, but not many, my BMs not being very helpful/cooperative in general, and just not really being able to see anything in person I was considering buying online, I was FINALLY able to go to David's Bridal today and look at the 'front runner' dress I've been considering for a long time. Well, thankfully the dress looked great in person and so I actually bought bridesmaid dresses! There is no going back now! Here are pictures (stock photos) of what I am getting.

( DB dresses and comments on them for people who might also want them )

So between the FH and I saving every penny we can and taking what our families have offered, we have a wedding budget of about $25,000 (including EVERYTHING, aside from an engagement party, a wedding shower, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and a brunch, if we have it, because these are all being thrown outside of our budget by others, if they happen). $22,000 is what we're hoping to save, and the rest is from family. Our only provision is that we do NOT go into debt for the wedding - we will scale back expenses before doing that, or before making anyone feel as if they are obligated to contribute.

My question to you guys...is it stupid to spend this $25k on a wedding? My head says "Yes, idiot, buy a house or something more tangible, it's only one day out of your life", but my heart says, "Have the wedding and honeymoon you want. You only get the experience once, and you want to make it memorable." I have never had a lot of money and don't fuss over designer things, but I have always wanted just this one nice thing, so I'm really torn. :[

The FH and I have a plan to start saving for a house as soon as we get married, and not have children for about two years. For reference, he makes about $20,000 a year and I make $40,000. Neither of us come from wealthy families. We are comfortable, but have a little debt [he has a few (about 6-7) thousand dollars' worth of credit-card and student-loan debt, I have about $4,500 in student loans and a car payment, but no credit-card debt]. We plan on getting married in April 2011.

Thanks in advance for the advice, guys. I want a nice wedding, and I don't mind spending the money if I have it because it's a dream of mine, but at the same time it just feels irresponsible for some reason.

EDIT: Thank you all SO much for the advice. I think we will most likely scale it back a considerable amount (more likely somewhere between $15k and $20k), splurge on the things that are most important to us (i.e. honeymoon, photography, food), and still save but shop around and find deals as best we can before knowing exactly what we're going to spend. And if we have any left over (which I am planning on having), it will go toward our bills. Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate all the comments...they really helped a lot!

I went into work on Sunday for a few hours. The school was completely empty and I had free reign over the copy machines! I got so much work done in that 3.5 hour time frame.

I had this amazing feeling coming in to work today. I knew everything was done, copied, posted online, and ready for the first day back. I am in my 6th year and I still struggle to get enough planning done ahead of time.

But this... It feels great!