I opened our mailbox today and discovered four RSVP post cards for the wedding (the first that we've received). What a thrill! *smile*

Sound of Music

So tell me, when you saw the header, did you think of Julie Andrews or the spoof version from National Lampoon's European Vacation? Which was I thinking? *Debra sings softly, "The hills are alive with the sound of Griswold, this sh*t's been around for a very long time..."*

Actually, the title represents my absolute ELATION regarding the music for our wedding ceremony! Today, Ed and I met with Roy and we finalized the musical selections. We swapped out one song, added another and discussed the "creation" of a piece to weave together our readings. We are so excited to have Roy participate in our wedding. He's not only a wonderfully funny friend to us, he's also a gifted musician and a deeply spiritual man. To our delight, he informed us that Beth, one of his praise team vocalists,--she has the voice of an angel-- has agreed to sing at our wedding too! Hurray!!! We've also selected a beautiful song for Ed's Aunt Carol to sing when we light the unity candle and Ed's Uncle Stewart has agreed to play the keyboard/piano for the family processional which will begin the formal service.

Ed and I are pumped about the music choices...we have selected an eclectic musical line-up that really suits us....there is classical, contemporary Christian, "popular" ballads, a movie theme song for my bridal procession (heads up Princess Bride fans!!) and we'll recess to a song from one of Ed's favorite musicals. It's gonna be AWESOME!

*snoopyesque dance of joy*

Nine weeks and 6 days until the wedding (not that we're counting *sheepish grin*). I mailed the invitations on Friday (the 24th). We mailed them 10 weeks in advance because we've got friends and family coming from Australia, Texas, Alaska, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia (to name a few). WHEW....that's a lot of travelin' so we decided to give everyone ample time to make arrangements. :-)

Gracious Gifts

Here are pictures of two baskets that I decorated for the wedding. They'll sit on the table outside the reception ballroom and will hold our "Wedding Times" scroll favors. Ed and I bought parchment paper for the the Wedding Times favors and ribbons in our wedding colors to tie them up. We also found some little gold wedding rings that we'll attach to the ribbons.

The baskets are the same ones that Ed and I received when we joined Living Christ Lutheran Church. On the day that we joined the Church, we were given the baskets (then undecorated) containing bread, religious books and other symbolic welcome gifts. Our faith is a central part of our relationship, so we thought that using the baskets in our wedding would reflect how much joining Living Christ means to us.

I had to use some of the ribbons that I bought for the favors to make the "wraps" for the wedding party flowers. Originally, I planned to buy more ribbons, replacing what I'd used. But, last week, Jean, the wonderful secretary at our church, emailed me to say that a few weeks ago someone working at our Church's yard sale set aside some burgundy and gold ribbons for us (8 spools of them!!!!) thinking that we just might be able to use them in the wedding. The ribbon is lovely, and I can use it to replace the ribbon that I used for the florals. HURRAY! What an amazingly awesome coincidence! I am so thankful for all the support we are receiving from our Church "family."

Stardust

On our first dinner date, Ed brought along a book. He didn't say anything about it, just set it off to the side of our table. I was curious why he had it. However, he never said a word as to why it was there on the table. My mind raced with possibilities. Finally, I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore. I said "Why'd you bring that book, Ed? Did you think that if the conversation lulled you might be able to eek out a chapter or two of good reading? Did you think I'd be that boring?" [Admittedly, even for a librarian such as myself, it seemed a bad sign if a date brought along a book to the first dinner date!] Ed's response stunned me. He looked surprised by my wild postulations and quickly explained that he'd taken the book from his personal collection and brought it along because he knew that I liked sci-fi/fantasy and thought that I'd really enjoy this book (one of his favorites). He wanted to loan it to me. I was STUNNED. Huh. Imagine a man willing to loan out his personal copy of a favorite book ON THE FIRST TRUE DATE (we'd had one previous meeting at a local Borders bookstore). WOW. It was one of the first signs that my Edward was willing to trust and open his life to someone.

He was right, I LOVED the book. We were both delighted when we heard that it was being made into a movie with a pretty stellar cast. We arranged a "date night" surrounding the movie this past Saturday. Ed made reservations at the same restaurant (the Weber Grill in Schaumburg--also the site of our rehearsal dinner) and we stopped on our way there to get tickets to the evening showing of Stardust. When we went into the restaurant, Ed carried a plastic bag with him but wouldn't tell me what was in it. During the dinner, he gave me a gorgeous illustrated version of Stardust (awwwwww how romantic). Then we went to the movie (which was AWESOME). Once we got home, we sat on the couch and discussed how the movie differed from the book and we took turns finding the parts that differed, reading them out-loud to one another. Awwwww.....let me tell you, THAT is the kind of activity that makes this little librarian's heart go pitter-pat! He is such an incredibly thoughtful man. And me? Well, I'm the luckiest woman in the world.

The Challenge

Whew! It's been a busy two weeks since our last post. My friend Mary has acquired the trim and fabrics for our wedding attire. She'll be starting to make our mock-up outfits in the weeks to come and once we "tweak" those, the real outfits will be made next! Woohoo! Ed and I have been VERY busy too! We've made significant progress on the wedding music, programs, favors, we've got the invitation inserts copied and all of the invitations addressed and ready to mail (target mail date: August 24), I've made major inroads on the floral arrangements, AND we had the fun pleasure of hanging out with Ed's Mom and Dad when Janet found her dress for the wedding. [Editor's note: she looks LOVELY in it]. I feel very blessed and happy about being able to be there with my Mom when she found her gorgeous outfit for the wedding and then being with Janet when she found hers too. I'm sentimental and sappy about things like that! So, now that I know the colors that the Moms will be wearing (iridescent burgundy and pale pink), I was able to create the flowers for the Moms and for the sisters (Dena, Ayanna and Cheryl). I went with three roses for each mom and a single calla lily for each sister. Each one is a little different in color but all coordinate with my wedding colors and should compliment their outfits. As you can see in the pictures below, I did a "flower wand" theme.....YIKES.....you have NO IDEA how long it took me to do each one of these! Since I've never done it before, I just looked at some pictures, adapted to what materials I had and "winged it"...not bad, huh?Today's challenge is to create the large altar arrangement. I've been avoiding this project like the plague because the basket is huge and the task appears quite daunting. However, today I woke up with a "vision" in my head and I'm ready to take on the challenge....here's a picture of my "raw materials."

Want to see the finished arrangement? *teasing grin* You'll have to come to the wedding for that! I can't give ALL my secrets away! Isn't that big basket lovely? Ed and I found it at one of the craft stores and both of us thought it was perfect for a fall-themed arrangement.