Stinkerpants

Stinkerpants Wedding: Girls Getting Ready

October 6, 2008 in Wedding (also on Weddingbee) • Bridal Party • Recap Photos

Thanks to everyone who has found me via Weddingbee.  I am really happy to be done with what’s going on over there.  It’s taking a lot of self-control not to respond to the posts this morning or make a public post about my experience with this, though.  I think it’s better to take the high road at this point.  If you have any questions, though, feel free to email me.Anyway, let’s be done with this, shall we?  Moving on…

Last we left off, the guys were all ready!  Shocking: it took them 10 minutes and it took us hours (haha).

I was really happy with my makeup.  My first trial was a little too peachy–thanks to everyone’s advice over on Weddingbee, I went back for my second trial with some ideas.  She used more purples this time, which made my eyes look really green.

My mom and I, getting our hair and makeup done!  Check out that beautiful arrangement on the table next to me.  My MIL made it–she’s a florist!

Sophie, our awesome hair girl.  She is seriously fantastic.  I loved how my hair turned out; after my first trial, I ended up taking it down (it was half up) and LOVING what it looked like.  It had so much volume!  During my second trial, I asked Sophie to try it all down, and when she was done, we were both thrilled.  I am also happy to say that it stayed looking perfect all night!  I don’t know what she did to it, but it was pretty magical.

My earrings were my “something borrowed.”  Last year, Y and I had my engagement ring made by Geoffrey’s Diamonds and Goldsmith over in San Carlos.  Our experience was SO amazing that I wrote a very long Yelp review, professing my undying love for this store, its owner and the employees. The people that work there are super friendly and know every customer, so when I went back in there, they were really grateful for the review.  A few months later, we went back for our wedding rings and I saw the most beautiful earrings EVAR.  They were yellow something-or-another (maybe citrine?) with diamonds around them.  They were $900, though, which I could never hope to afford.  Imagine my excitement when Geoffrey and Sonny offered to let me borrow them!

I didn’t even know that our photographer was there when this pictures was taken!  I really wanted to memorize my vows, but I hadn’t had time.  Here I am trying to memorize them.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to, and my cards weren’t that pretty.  Oh well, right?  They still came from the heart!

If you will recall, the day I had the break down in the shoe shop was the day I found out that one of my bridesmaids would not be attending our wedding.  My friend Amanda (left), really wanted to be in our wedding, though, so thankfully my friend Liz sent her dress express mail and it fit Amanda perfectly.  The day of the wedding, though, Krista (right) and Amanda got to talking about the fit of their dresses–and they ended up TRADING!  Amanda wore cherry and Krista wore kiwi.  Here I am, telling them both how flattering their new colors were!

Gawd I love my ring:

And my $54 shoes:

I really wanted my mom to help me get dressed.  She and I are very close, so I’d been imagining her helping me into my dress.

With the veil on, I really started to get excited!

Then I went out to meet my dad.  I LOVE this picture (actually, this series of pictures).  He looks so surprised!

Cry!  I love my dad.  Even though I’m no longer Mrs. Cream Puff, I still feel the need to call him “Puff Daddy,” haha.  “Pants Daddy” doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?

We had a bit of time left before we had to leave for the ceremony, so our photographer snapped some portraits:

I can’t get over how much I loved my earrings.  And check out the flower in my hair!  It’s so beautiful that I want to wear it every day.  I had it made by etsy seller myrakim, aka Twigs and Honey.  I was very lucky to get it in time, because she is in seriously high demand!

Next up, Y and I exchange gifts!

Stinkerpants Wedding: Guys Getting Ready

October 2, 2008 in Wedding (also on Weddingbee) • Bridal Party • Recap Photos

The day of our wedding, we had kind of a funny thing happen.  Well, sort of funny.  The guys were on one floor of the Grand Hyatt, and the girls were on another.  The floor for the girls was accessed with a special key card, and we only had about six keys.  At various points throughout the day, people were stranded on the guys’ floor or in the lobby.  One of my bridesmaids, Krista (being the champ she is), was running back and forth between the floors to retrieve our parents, various members of the bridal party, our florist and our videographers.I’m not really sure why I told you that.  I guess because it seems like one of those stories that I could eventually forget, but I think is sort of funny and don’t want to. It’s also a reminder of how great it is to have such wonderful friends.  My bridesmaids were kick-ass.  Thanks, Krista.  :)

Anyway, back to our photo recap!  I never actually set foot in the guys’ getting-ready room, so it was pretty cool to see what they were up to.  Here’s Mr. Stinkerpants, getting dressed.  He kind of looks like he has a floating head in this picture, but I assure you: he does have a very lovely neck.

This series of photos totally cracks me up.  Two of our groomsmen couldn’t figure out how to tie their ties, but no one knew how to tie a tie on another person, so they had to put it on themselves to attempt it.

One guy managed to get it done, but it was the wrong length and had to be done again:

Here he is, getting a little help from his cousin:

A bow tie is easier, apparently:

It’s kind of funny: because the ties are different colors, we know who couldn’t tie his own tie! The men, looking rather snazzy (ties tied!):

Next up?  The girls getting ready!

Bridal Party Gifts

August 18, 2008 in Wedding (also on Weddingbee) • Bridal Party

This post was originally featured on Weddingbee.  To see all of the comments, you'll have to check them out over there!

It makes sense that this post should follow the rehearsal dinner post, because we gave our bridal party the gifts AT the rehearsal dinner.

First, the girls. Because San Francisco can be chilly, I wanted to get them wraps to keep them warm during the wedding.  I had a bright pink pashmina to wear that day with  my white dress, so I thought it might be fun to give them white pashminas to go with their bright dresses.  They loved them!  Here are four of the bridesmaids (and our officiant), all wearing the pashminas on the day of the wedding:

(Hey, do you guys like how I slipped a non-professional picture in there to show you some, but not much, of the day?  I’m sly like that).

Anyway, the pashminas were great.  I got them on ebay from seller Zen Jen, if you’re interested.  They aren’t quite the quality of the pashminas from Nordstrom, but they’re a lot nicer than the imitation ones you find all over the place, which are super thin and not very soft.

I also got the bridesmaids some casual jewelry.  I didn’t want to give them a not-really-a-gift-gift of something to wear at the wedding, so I got them something fun from etsy seller GoMeagan:

I loved them so much that I bought a ring and a necklace for myself!  hehe.  The girls really loved them, and a few of them wore them for the wedding.

What about the groomsmen, you might ask?  I put Mr. Stinkerpants in charge of this, because he obviously knows them better than I do.  Their gift was also two parts.  The first half was a tie each, for the wedding (well, okay, I was in charge of this part):

The ties are Countess Mara from Macy’s.  The second half of their gift was an old-fashioned razor (and spare blades), which Mr. Cream Puff uses and loves:

Obviously the guys didn’t have time to use the razors, so I’m not sure if they were a hit or not.  Mr. Stinkerpants got the razor and blades from Men Essentials.

The only one left was our officiant (who is our close friend), and we really wanted to get her something special. We got her a pashmina to match the bridesmaids, but we also got her an awesome painting of her best friend (her dog), which we commissioned from etsy seller erinkejo:

She loved it.  We did, too–Erin is so talented.  We were considering getting pet portraits for our parents, as well, but I’m not really sure if it’s their style or where they would hang it (especially my parents), so we’ve decided to go a different route for parent gifts.  I truly can’t think of any way to effectively express my thanks to my parents with a gift anyway, so something more personal is probably better.  :)

The Stress Factor

May 14, 2008 in Wedding (also on Weddingbee) • Bridal Party • Ramblings While Planning • Stationery

This post was originally featured on Weddingbee.  To see all of the comments, you'll have to check them out over there!

Okay, now to more thoroughly address what has been stressing me out:

1) The letterpress issue. I did our entire invitation suite myself (which I will post here after they’ve been sent out!), except for the front part of the invitation, which I designed and will have printed at a local letterpress printer. I ordered the entire thing online, uploaded my image and communicated a couple of times with one of the employees at the printer. I thought there would be no problem. On their website, they say single pieces will take 2-3 weeks, and that people should call for a specific delivery date.

So… it has been two weeks, and yesterday I decided to call to get an exact time estimate. Turns out they lost my order. The guy on the phone was kind of condescending, asking me why I placed the entire order online and why I wouldn’t have called to make sure everything went through. I had to explain several times that I’d had an email exchange with one of their employees and didn’t think I needed to call. Initially he told me that I would need to pay a $50 rush order fee in order to have them done by the end of this month, and if I wasn’t willing to pay the $50, they would be done mid-June (my invites are supposed to go out at the beginning of June, and I still have to do some assembly once I get the letterpress). Needless to say, I was rather upset about the situation, because it isn’t my fault that they lost my order, and I shouldn’t have to pay a rush fee in order to have them done later than they should have been done in the first place.

Long story a teeny bit shorter, I had to read him several statements off of their website and all of the emails I had received before he agreed to talk to the “big boss” and get my order moved up. It will now be done on the 21st. I am glad that it all seems to be working out, but the guy didn’t even apologize. It hasn’t really left the sweetest taste in my mouth. Oh, well.

2) The groomsman issue. I was a little worried about discussing this in a public forum, but I don’t think he will read this, and I’m obviously not going to use his name. So basically, he bought a tux for his wedding and won’t be renting anything for our wedding.  Problem is, his tuxedo is the only one that doesn’t match. So I asked him if he would mind renting just the jacket ($45), so that the jackets would all match. He told me that he doesn’t think all weddings need to be “matchy matchy,” that I should take the “rules” with a grain of salt, and he doesn’t want to spend the $45.

He makes a lot more money than the other groomsmen, who are all paying over $100 to rent an entire tux. I really wanted the jackets to match, though, and I didn’t want him to hate me forever, so I offered to pay for the jacket. He emailed me back and said, “thanks for offering to pay–how about I pay for half?” It made me feel like he thought I should be paying for his rental even though no one else is receiving monetary help for their rentals.  In the end, I’m paying for the whole thing because I’m not in the market for anyone to resent me, and I really want the jackets to match.  The end.

3) The MIA makeup artist issue. I had a hard time figuring out who was going to do my makeup and hair. All of the makeup artists recommended online were already booked months and months out from my date, so I decided to wait for an artist who did makeup and hair for my friend Kathy’s wedding. She books three months out from the wedding date. So I emailed her and she said that I could have the date, and that I should call her to set up a trial. She does makeup for movies, so she told me to be patient because she was filming last week. However, I never heard back from her. I don’t want to be a nag, but I feel that the closer I get to my date, the less likely I am to find someone else if she isn’t going to come through…

4) Ceremony Music stuff. I found a group of students to play at our ceremony. They are a string trio. We are not very traditional people, but we will probably have a very traditional music selection for the ceremony (we both want it to feel really “weddingy,” and to us that means the wedding march). The musicians need to be covered with a tent. Now I have to figure out where to get a tent. 

5) The photobooth issue. Mr. Cream Puff really, really wants a photobooth. So as gifts to one another, we decided to split the cost of the photobooth. Unfortunately, since we decided that, the people at the photobooth place we chose have not been answering their phones and have not been returning voice messages. I finally got to talk to someone on the phone on Monday, but she never sent me the contract. So I called Tuesday, and the guy said he’d send it in a half hour, and if I didn’t get it, to call back. An hour and a half goes by, so I call him. He said he hasn’t sent it, and he’ll send it in a half hour. I finally got it.

I feel like a lot of vendors have been this way…kind of flakey. It makes me uncomfortable. Like, if they act this way before we book them, are they really going to be there on time? This is the only photobooth place we can afford; I’ve heard really good things about them though, so I think it will probably be okay.

One last issue: Our MIA DOCs. I am a little bit concerned about the lack of responsiveness on behalf of our day of coordinators. I feel like they should be a little more responsive with their emails considering we’re less than three months from the date and no one has any idea what is going on. However, they are not responding to my emails any quicker than 2 weeks, if at all. Color me NERVOUS. I’ve only sent them a couple of emails, but they’re about important things - like the timeline.

Currently, there are a lot of logistical questions I’m having. How do I get three carloads full of alcohol where it needs to be without making three trips over the bridge three days before the wedding? How do I get all of the stuff for the ceremony to our Day of Coordinators? And how do they get all of it to the ceremony site and set it up? It seems like there is an awful lot of stuff!

All of this is compounded by the fact that I found out that I do not actually have carpal tunnel, according to the nerve test I had last week. Whatever is causing my arms and feet to tingle and hurt is not a problem with any of the tunnels in my arms. I am scheduled for an MRI of my head and neck on Sunday. It’s scary.

I really feel like I need to either take up yoga or find myself some anti-anxiety medication. I feel like my stress level is very high all the time. Honestly, I’m not really liking wedding planning all that much right now. I hope this is a phase, and that it passes soon!

Men, Men, Men. Oh, Men.

April 18, 2008 in Wedding (also on Weddingbee) • Bridal Party

This post was originally featured on Weddingbee.  To see all of the comments, you'll have to check them out over there!

So the men in our bridal party are giving me quite a bit of crap.

Actually, it’s not the men that are the problem, it’s their ties. I am trying to find ties, and it is really hard. It makes me feel really whiny. Every time I walk into a Men’s Macy’s, I kinda feel like throwing myself on the floor and having a tantrum. I kid, I kid.

But seriously now. As you might recall, my bridesmaids chose the following dresses:

They will be beautiful! In my head, I visualized that the groomsmen would have matching, fabulous ties. Now, if I were Alfred Angelo (creator of the bridesmaid dresses), I would make ties to match all of the dress colors. Seems to me that there would be a market for such a thing. Alfred Angelo, however, doesn’t seem to agree, so I am on my own.

When Momma Stinkerpants was in town, we actually managed to find four ties that matched the dresses PERFECTLY:

I had Alfred Angelo’s swatch book, and trust me, they are a perfect match. The problem, of course, is that we are one tie short. The tie in question is Cobalt. When I first started this tie search, I thought cobalt and red would be the easiest to find. After all, who makes ties in persimmon, lime and turquoise? Well, apparently Countess Mara does. But they do not make one in a deep blue.

When Mr. Stinkerpants and I went back to Macy’s to get him a tux (more on that later), he thought we should just buy another shade of blue and call it a day. I was doubtful, but I said to myself, “maybe this is one of those things I should just let go.” After all, not everything is going to be perfect, and that’s fine. So we bought it. But in the back of my mind, I’m still thinking that we should return it and start over. I’ve looked for a cobalt tie in a different style/brand and can’t find any that don’t stick out like a sore thumb. I can’t decide which would be more obvious–a tie that doesn’t match all the other ties, or a tie that doesn’t match a dress. What do you guys think?

Here we have the black sheep of the family. Or shall I say, the “light blue” sheep of the family:

And just to show you, all together, the ties and the dresses:

In retrospect, it would have been far better to arrange the ties in the same order as the dresses, but oh well. The tie on the far left is supposed to match the dress on the far right. What do you guys think? Let it go, or start from scratch?