it's a date...

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring, productive deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid" -- Frank Zappa

Happy Sunday! And speaking of Sundays, I should have done this sooner, but our wedding date is set! We will be getting married on (drum roll please... ) August 23, 2009!

We've been getting a few questions about the date, so I figured I'd address them now :) . First of all, "Why August 23rd?" We chose the date for a few random reasons: 1) It was one of the few late summer dates available at our reception venue, 2) Al believes the number 23 is lucky... I mean, it's Michael Jordan's number, and if our marriage is half as successful as his career, we're in good shape! (it's also one of my favorite psalms), 3) Al and I met on the 23rd (not of August) so we can attach some (pseudo) significance to the date. The second question we've been getting is: "Why a Sunday wedding?" Again, a few reasons: 1) Most of the Saturdays in July, August, and September were already taken when we checked last month (a year and a half in advance!), 2) Sundays cost slightly less, 3) Apparently Sundays and Fridays are the new Saturday (not really, but read this and this).

All of this official-ness is really exciting. :)


"The LORD is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want... Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." -- Psalm 23:1,6

he loves me, he loves me not...

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -- Anais Nin

So apparently Martha Stewart agrees that yellow is an excellent color choice for a summer wedding (pick up the summer 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, shown here, if you don't believe me).



I'm not sure if it's the nice weather or the weekly emails I get from ProFlowers.com, but lately I've been getting a lot of floral inspiration. To that end, I am really excited about figuring out my bouquet, although I think I'm still a long way off from deciding. So far a few of my favorites include:

• Calla lilies - very clean and formal looking.
  
• Freesia - they smell so good! and are pretty too.
• Rununculas - fresh and soft, rose-like.
• Gerbera daisies - just because my sister loves them.

Here's one bouquet recommended by Martha that I happen to really like a lot. It's very soft looking (which I like) but I think my bouquet will be little brighter (aka not so pastel).


"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." -- Isaiah 40:8

a SUPER cake

"The most dangerous food is wedding cake" -- James Thurber

Lately I've been a little stressed (mostly for reasons not related to the wedding), which is probably not a surprise to any one I've been hanging out with these days. So to lighten up the mood I thought I'd share a delightful find passed on to me by one of my college room mates, Janice "J-dawg" Kim... a Super Mario wedding cake! (Check here for more info)


Seems like an appropriately fun/nerdy dessert, for any appropriately fun/nerdy couple. Among the many reasons why Alphonse and I would get such a cake:

• Alphonse proudly proclaims that he is still very much a kid, and he has the video game skills to prove it
• My ring tone on Al's cellphone is the Super Mario theme (I'd like to think this is because he thinks I'm a princess, but it's not...)
• My lovable Italian fiance dressed up as Mario for Halloween a couple of years ago:
  

And while Alphonse and I will be taking a more traditional route for our wedding cake, it will not be lacking in creativity. We'll update more about that when we get to it :) . For now, congratulations to my lambmate Audrey, who just got engaged!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" -- 2 Corinthians 5:17

you win some, you lose some...

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." -- Gloria Steinem

So it's official: we're doomed to always watch the home team lose this year. It's only June and we've already sat through a few Knicks and Nets losses, a Nationals loss, and wayyyy too many Mets losses. And to make matters worse, we've made no progress in our wedding planning, according to ourweddingday.com:

Luckily, that's not entirely true. In fact, I think with 15 months to go we're in pretty good wedding shape! We have most of the "big" things taken care of now we just have to figure out the bazillion "small" things that will make our day extra special. :) . And according to theknot.com, this month we should be focusing on engagement parties, colors, and romance... all of which we've got under control. This wedding planning stuff is a piece of cake, right?


And I apologize for updating so erratically, but we're meeting with our event planner, Tom, tomorrow, so expect another update in the near future (I know you're brimming with anticipation). And last, but not least... Thank you to everyone for all the input and feedback (verbal/written/mimed/etc) on colors and dresses... It's been very helpful so far!

And one of my favorite verses to close: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" -- Jeremiah 29:11

another ball-game/park

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." -- Dave Barry

One of Al's life goals is to visit all the baseball parks across the United States. As his future life partner, I might as well be part of this goal. So alas, this past weekend, we made some progress on our cross country (cross century?) journey by visiting Nationals Park in Washington, DC. What better way to spend the longest day of the year, than by soaking in some summer baseball? The park was absolutely gorgeous, and brand spanking new. And the many hours that we spent on bus/train/foot this past weekend made for some quality talk time about a variety of topics, obviously the wedding being one of the most prominent. I would be lying if I said that all this planning isn't stressing me out one bit, but I'm glad that Alphonse and I are talking through each decision and truly making this wedding our own.

Here's a sampling of photos from our ball park visit, complete with a goofy Alphonse photo.

Also, as I side note, we've been to four games this season and have yet to see the home team win... perhaps, we should stop watching live baseball. We'll see how things play out at the Mets game we go to on Tuesday. And even if we have no luck in baseball this year, we've been pretty lucky in love so far.

"But he said to them, 'Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.'"-- Genesis 24:56

one, two, three, FLASH!

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." -- Ansel Adams


Ok. so I like photo booths. Seeee:

Actually I like most things photo-related, including, but not limited to: photographs, photo opportunities, photo albums, and photosynthesis.



At times my "I love photographs. Let's take another picture!" collides with Alphonse's "Another photo?! Seriously?" But luckily such incidents almost always playfully evolve into Alphonse sticking his tongue out or attempting to sabotage my photo in some other way. And by now it should come as no surprise to you that Alphonse and I can be quite silly at times, so such attempts are well received (and documented via photograph). When I saw that my friend Raph had a photo booth at his wedding, I thought it might be the perfect way to combine my love for (candid) photos and Al's love for (candid) silliness. And photo booth photos (or frames) might make fun favors, right? Of course this may mean cutting down our original photography package, but it might be worth it. We'll keep you updated...

A few photos from Raph's wedding, click to enlarge:

“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” -- Psalm 68: 4-5.

the dress hunt continues [1] ...

"A happy bridesmaid makes a happy bride" -- Alfred Tennyson

I thought finding bridesmaids dresses would be pretty easy since I don't consider myself a very picky person, and I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. At this point I've gone through (too) many websites, and literally hundreds of dresses, and sadly, so far this is pretty much all I've come away liking. It turns out, I am pickier than I first thought, and I don't really have any idea what I'm doing. This sampling is from collections by BCBG, Ann Taylor, Jim Hjelm, and Bari Jay:

click to enlarge:

A few things I've liked so far:

• sweetheart and v-neck -- these necklines seem to be comfortable and flattering on most people; I'm also leaning away from strapless, since my gown is strapless (and supposedly the bridesmaids shouldn't match the bride too much)
• chiffon and organza -- these fabrics seem pretty soft and flowy
• empire waist and A-line silhouettes -- again, these styles seem pretty flattering
  

Let me know which dresses you like (aka HELP!) Also, I forgot to mention it earlier, but Alphonse and I saw Sex and the City a few weekends ago. To protect Al's manhood, I think I'm required to say that I "forced" him to go and that he "hated it" (both false). But anyways, we both learned a little about wedding planning, like (surprise!) the bride-to-be should consider her fiance's opinion on major decisions, like party size. Anyways, stay tuned for more dresses from Betsey Johnson, Nicole Miller, Maggy London, and Anthropologie!

"As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." -- Isaiah 62:5