Hey That’s A Nice Life

In July, Don and his fellow bloggers over at We Love DC posted entries about why they love this town. Don finished his entry with this:

The most recent treasure DC gave me was that my darling girlfriend agreed to become my darling fiancée here - on the under-appreciated Roosevelt Island - and that’s going to be a hard one to top.

I thought I should return the favor, only in reverse. Here’s one of the million or so reasons I love Don and agreed to marry him:

He cooks me a delicious breakfast every weekend. I make the coffee (usually), but Don does the rest. This morning we had scrambled eggs, crispy potatoes, turkey bacon and rosemary sourdough bread. Before he met me, Don had never tried turkey bacon … but the fact that he wholeheartedly embraced it because I prefer it is touching (especially since I know he’d prefer the traditional pork kind). What a guy.

My good friend Erin became engaged last night. Her ring is beautiful and her fiance, Diego, is one lucky guy. She has a beautiful three-stone diamond ring in a pave setting - it looks like the one pictured here. They are planning a September or October 2009 wedding. I tried to talk her into a double wedding, but she wasn’t interested. Go figure.

I LOVE Meg’s post on A Practical Wedding from Sunday. She wrote about the things that she remembers from the happiest wedding she ever attended. And she asked her readers to weigh in on the matter as well. You can probably guess that it’s not the linens or the centerpieces or the party favors that people remember … it’s the look on the groom’s face, the emotion of the first dance, the tears they shed in happiness.

I have always said that my favorite part of a wedding is watching the groom’s reaction when the bride appears. When I gave it some thought I realized that, in fact, I do mostly remember things that happened, or some emotional moment. Having said that, there ARE lots of specific, physical details I remember from weddings I have attended. Maybe I’m just shallow compared to Meg and her other readers.

Here are some things I remember from your weddings - some about the happiness of the day and some related to the little details.

• Half the wedding party was sick, but we danced so hard and for so long that I think we all literally danced our colds away
• The meats your family spent the day cooking over an open flame was seriously delicious
• The band was great and all the boys at our table cried during the father/daughter dance (also the venue was lovely)
• The reception was so fun
• The way you Incorporated just a little of your ethnic heritage and traditions was very cool
• The Cape Cod setting was relaxed, fun and really pretty
• I loved how the bride and groom appeared at the end of the cocktail hour, through the woods, holding hands, your wedding party following you
• The unexpected, funny moment during the ceremony allowed everyone to be part of the event, and gave us a great story to tell
• Outside of the wedding party, Don was the only person wearing a tux (the only one NOT serving the food, that is)
• Your vows were complicated enough that your guests could tell you really had to think about what you were saying and mean it
• The bride’s DIY touches - from the programs to the crafted containers of lip balm for the women - were cool
• Rain changed your original plans, but your groom was your biggest defender when it came to making the best of the situation

So, what is it that you remember about weddings?

To re-cap, we found a wedding reception venue in Ocean City that was almost exactly what we wanted … but the caterer was impossible. After probably 60 more inquiries we found another possibility and went for a visit to the new secret venue. It was beautiful, easy to work with and affordable … but it was really remote. This weekend we looked at two other venues - one we loved but couldn’t afford, one we could afford but didn’t love.

So, after a lot of thought, we made up our mind.

The menu, once we finally heard from the caterer was very well planned and all evidence from other brides and meeting planners indicates that once you get beyond the initial ickiness of working with Silent Bob, the property is great, the on-site operations director is great, the chef is great, etc. So. It’s decided!

We still have a few more key interactions with Silent Bob before it’s a done deal, but I just sent him e-mail confirmation that we’re ready to move forward. Yay!

So, weigh in … is this what you were hoping for or did you think we’d pick the barn wedding? Are you ready to get sand in your shoes?

If you have not yet read the article from last Sunday’s Washington Post magazine on the anti-wedding, stop reading this trivial blog and get thee to the Post Web site. It’s brilliant.

I’ve been so excited all week to head to “Name of Secret City With Possible New Venue” this weekend to check the new spot I found. And then today, quite surprisingly, we got the menu and budget from Silent Bob at the Sunset Room.

And it’s good. Very good.

So we’re conflicted. On one hand, we love the setting, we can afford it, it’s what we wanted from the start. On the other hand, the caterer has proven himself to be unreliable and I am finally at a place where I can close my eyes and see a different venue, a different setting for our wedding.

New secret venue, however, is slightly MORE affordable and (we think) lovely. I’m getting so excited about the decor and the invitations and the programs and all the other junk that goes along with the mood of new secret venue.

Argh. Maybe it will clear when we visit new secret venue this weekend.