31 Jul

Gladys the Great Grandmother and Gladys the Ring

Author: Susan  |  Category: Uncategorized

You might know that the engagement ring Don gave me originally belonged to his great grandmother, Gladys Solomon Smith. She is pictured here at the right.

It was given to her by Everett Smith between 1918 and 1925. We know this because it’s a rare cut that was made in a effort to perfect the modern brilliant cut diamond and it was only made for about seven years. At the time of their engagement, the couple lived in Mexico where Everett was an engineer for the American Smelting Company during the Mexican Revolution.

The couple had two children, one was also named Gladys. Their other daughter, Martha, is Don’s maternal grandmother. Both children were born in Mexico. If you’ve ever heard Don say that he is 1/8 Mexican, now you know why.

Martha married Harris Buckner and they had two children - Penelope (Don’s mom) and David.

Shortly after Don proposed we started calling the ring Gladys in honor of its original owner. Actually, I alternated calling it Gladys and Smitty, but Don was resolute and Gladys won out.
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30 Jul

The Invitation Paper Has Arrived

Author: Susan  |  Category: invitations, theme

I ordered the invitation paper and the envelopes from Action Envelope. The colors are great - exactly what I wanted:

Aquamarine Metallic for the envelopes and the printed portion of the invitation and Lagoon Metallic for the accent color. They have a little sparkle, but not a lot. The other materials necessary for my DIY invitations - like tiny little starfish - have already arrived.
I’m going to assemble and test mail myself an invitation from Ocean City this weekend so I can make sure they hold up well in the shipping.

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29 Jul

New Style Board

Author: Susan  |  Category: beach, colors, styleboard, theme

This week I got a couple of great ideas from Martha and Brides.com. To get to our ceremony site, guests will have to cross a beach dune. I saw photos from a wedding where the dune fence was lined with torches. It will be light out when our guests arrive, but it’s a nice touch. Also - enter the cheapskate bride - it should be easy to score a bunch at the end of summer for a major discount.

I’ve been debating about whether or not to have a candy bar / buffet. It’s a nice touch and we have yet to attend wedding with one, but is it weird to mix my professional life into my wedding? If we do, I’d really like to focus on our wedding colors - blues, white, silver … but that should give us plenty of choices. Don says that unless we get all the candy gratis, we won’t have it … but I think he’s bluffing.

The photo of the ceremony on the beach is actually the exact location where Don and I plan to hold our ceremony.

Monday night, I received a shipping notice on the papers necessary to create our DIY invitations. I’m very excited about it. Yes, I know we have 276 days before the wedding … but it’s going to take some time and effort to make these things, okay?
We have a meeting with the caterer on Friday. If he doesn’t make us too angry (yes, there is reason to believe he might), we’ll be ready to pull the trigger on the reception venue. Whee!
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29 Jul

Say Yes to the Dress

Author: Susan  |  Category: don, dress

My wedding dress is here. It’s hanging in a bag on the door of our bedroom. Every morning I look at it when I get up. Every night I see it when I go to bed. I want to put it on and dance around every day, but I don’t.

We’re not planning a traditional wedding. So, scream if you want - I really don’t care - Don has seen it. I always value his opinion and was about to unload a bucket of money on this item of clothing so I showed him.

“Does this dress make you want to marry me and vow to spend the rest our lives together?”

“You could be wearing a burlap sack and I’d still want to marry you.”

I wanted to point out that since burlap sacks are A LOT cheaper than wedding dresses and since Don is well-known in these parts for his frugality, he’d probably prefer the burlap sacks.

But as our friend Suzanne always points out, when a statement can be taken one of two ways, always go with the version that flatters you more.

So, I took Don’s comment to mean he loved the dress and loved it on me even more.

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22 Jul

My First Style Board

Author: Susan  |  Category: colors, food, styleboard, theme

Weddings blogs are a dime a dozen these days. Mine is probably not going to be much different than most you read except that, you know, it’s about me. And Don. And Don and me.

And maybe you know us, so you think it’s mildly interesting.

First things first. We’re getting married. The tentative date is May 2, 2009 in Ocean City, Md. (my hometown). I say tentative because while we have a hold on a venue, we have yet to get a solid answer about ANYTHING from the caterer and so I’m still afraid it’s all going to go to hell.

I’m kinda a DIY bride, and also we’re kinda cheap. Not in the “if you come to our wedding the food will be lousy and you’ll have a terrible time” kinda way, but more in the “hey, I could do that this other way and save a lot of money” kinda way. We’ve selected a very rustic and bare bones venue and we’re doing a lot of stuff ourselves. In the coming months I may come to you to ask for help choosing music, or making invitations, or hanging up paper lanterns - so be prepared.

Considering that the wedding is 280-some days away, I have made a lot of decisions about color and themes and so forth … and if you’re interested, you can read all about it right here.

To start, I created my first style board. Yeah, I didn’t know what they were either. BUT apparently all the cool brides make them. *snort* When you find images that appeal to you for your wedding, you place them on style boards. I guess they help your vendors create exactly what you want … but since I’m replacing most of my vendors, I guess they will just help me stay focused.


Images here include: paper lanterns in our wedding colors for the ceiling on the reception venue, sea-themed cake and cake toppers, crab cakes (one of my very few must haves!), the idea that inspired my table decor idea, the sunset over the bay in Ocean City (the indoor / outdoor reception venue shares this view), very simple flowers, starfish wine cork, the top of the first dress I saw that I fell in love with.

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