Hey That’s A Nice Life

This blog is almost exclusively about planning my wedding, but Don and I are lucky in that no one had to take a vote about whether or not we have the “right” to marry (quite honestly, I have to wonder about how that vote would have gone). BUT since that’s not true for everyone, today I’m not talking about my own wedding. I’m talking about California and the opportunity that residents there have to affirm the love and commitment made by same-sex couples.

They’re here. Our save the date cards arrived … for the second time.

The first time they arrived, last week, there was a big black box over most of the informational side. I was on my way to New York so Don took care of it (yay! good and helpful fiance!) and the replacements were sent out. There’s still a small printing issue (everything is just a bit too high on on the back of the card so that the line touches the top, but doesn’t touch the bottom), but I think I’m using these anyway because the mistake is likely ours and it’s a pretty small detail.

Here are the cards:

See how “Please save the date …” is closer to the top of the card than “Love, Don and Susan” is to the bottom? Maybe I could trim the bottom on the paper cutter and make it more even? Or maybe I should I shrug the whole thing off and forget about the small error?

When we were in Ocean City for the food tasting, we took a bunch of pictures on the beach including the image used on the front of the postcard above. We took those two starfish with us (it’s a recurring theme for the wedding) and started off down the beach. I wrote the various text items that we needed and Don plopped the starfish down and took the pictures. We went straight down the beach for about a block.

Assuming that the centering issue doesn’t make me change my mind above using this version, the next step is to get them addressed. Ack!

As I mentioned when I went through the first trial run of my wedding bouquet, I think I’d rather have a single type flower represented. We have people coming for dinner tomorrow night, so I wanted some flowers. I figured it was a good chance to try out a new bouquet style.

We were at Giant picking up some groceries and I popped a bouquet of cream colored spray roses in the cart. One bouquet - six stems. Total cost $4.

I followed the same procedure as the first dry run, including using clear packing tape and straight pins. This time I wrapped the bouquet in the ivory ribbon that matches my dress and added my something blue to the arrangement - a brooch with an aquamarine that belonged to my grandmother (her birthstone).

I really like the results.

Here’s a close up of the brooch.
It’s so simple and pretty - exactly what I wanted. And, again $4! Seriously, $4.

*happy dance*

My very good friends, the Dickersons, own a hotel in Ocean City called the Francis Scott Key Family Resort and we’ve reserved a block of rooms there for our guests. There is a special rate if you tell them you’re with the Fussell - Whiteside party (an excellent rate!). The hotel is very family friendly and has TONS of activities like indoor pools and an arcade, etc. If that’s not your thing, we totally understand. Ocean City has lots of other types of properties and I am happy to make some suggestions if you want to stay on the waterfront, or rent a condo, etc.

But, I suggest you think about the hotel for these reasons:

1. It’s close to the Welcome Dinner on Friday night
2. We’re running shuttles to the wedding from the Francis Scott Key Resort on Saturday
3. We’re hosting the Bagel Brunch there on Sunday

Visit their Web site at: http://www.fskmotel.com/. Actually, if you have kids you might want consider a visit later in the summer, too. You can hardly imagine all the stuff they have for families - a small water park, mini golf, an outdoor pool (with a pool bar for Mom and Dad), an indoor pool, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, an arcade, a fitness center and more. It’s not all open in early May, but at least you’ll have a chance to check it out.

Here are some photos:

Indoor pool - the Caribbean Key. Site of Bagel Brunch on Sunday.

Here’s a list of DIY projects I know we have on the schedule at this point -

Save the Date cards:
These should arrive this week and will get their own blog post.

Invitations:
I posted about the invitations several weeks ago and posted a picture.

Centerpieces:
I didn’t want floral centerpieces on every table, but I found some great lanterns to use instead.

Flowers:
You may have already read about this project here or here.

Boutonnieres and corsages:
Inspired by this idea I saw on Martha’s site.

Table Name Cards:
Related to our Save the Dates cards.

Program Fans:
Since it could be warm in the sun on our wedding day, we’re going to make our programs into fans like the one below.

After the tasting on Saturday, we had a chance to see the Sunset Room decorated for a wedding. Until now, we’d only seen it stripped down after an event. The wedding was a little larger than ours, but much smaller than the event set-ups we’d seen previously. It was set for about 116 people, I think. Plus, we got to see the linens, silverware, glasses, etc. so it was a really good representation of what it will look like for us on May 2.

The couple using the venue last weekend decided to hold their ceremony on the covered portion of the deck - our rain back-up location - so it was very good to see what that looks like.

Here’s a preview:

To see more pictures of the Sunset Room decorated for a wedding, visit Don’s Sunset Room Flickr stream.

On Saturday, we arranged to taste some of the menu suggestions for the reception. Wow. The food was all amazing and I couldn’t believe HOW MUCH they served. We had plenty to box up and eat for dinner and lunches into the long weekend.

Here’s what we tasted:

• Chocolate Dusted Scallops with Vanilla Butter Sauce
• Maryland Crab Soup and Cream of Crab Soup
• New York Strip with Chocolate Merlot Sauce
• Crab Cakes - two kinds (with and without green and red peppers)
• Cocoa and Chili Rubbed Flank Steak
• Three kinds of of vegetables and two starches

The first item brought out for us was the scallop dish. The catering manager remembered seeing Emeril prepare a chocolate and scallop dish for a Valentine’s Day special. They were excellently prepared and had been suggested as main entree … but we didn’t want to compromise on the crab cakes. The caterer suggested a way to turn the scallops into an appetizer so that was appealing. Also, my father loved them, and I loved that my father loved them.

A few months ago, I had the idea that I really wanted to serve shots of crab soup as an appetizer. They have really gotten into the idea (probably because it will make a great offering for future events as well) and have been researching glassware and the best way to present the soup. Even though they haven’t found the right bar ware yet, the presentation was amazing. A simple silver tray with both kinds of soup (red Maryland crab and white cream of crab) served in footed sherry glasses. The sherry glasses are too big, but they will look for similar shot glasses. On the top of each soup shot was a pinch of crab meat along with a whole wheat crouton on the cream of crab and a piece of corn on the Maryland crab. Both soups were delicious; their recipe for cream of crab was particularly excellent (Don really liked that one).

After tasting the appetizers, we moved on to the entrees. We had asked for a traditional Eastern Shore crab cake and a beef using cocoa or chocolate in some way. When the suggestion came back, there were two chocolate and beef entrees that sounded really appealing so we asked to sample both. There is no such thing as sampling with these people. We were served three full entrees with full portions of meat, veggies and potatoes.

We each received two crab cakes and were asked to select between the version with peppers and the version without peppers. Both were good and the version with peppers looked really pretty. To me, though, the peppered version tasted more like crab imperial than crab cake, so we selected the version without peppers (no one but me seemed to have a preference).

We also had to choose between the two kinds of meat. We first sampled the NY strip with chocolate Merlot sauce. The sauce was applied heavily and not attractively arranged, but the flavor was pretty good. Then we sampled the flank steak with cocoa and chili spice rub and thought it was excellent. My father actually liked the chocolate Merlot sauce with the flank steak better, so we decided to offer that as an optional drizzle for anyone who wants to sample it. The catering manager suggested amping up the Merlot and going lighter on the chocolate which I agree would make it tastier.

Since we’re having two stations - one for crab and one for beef - there will be different veggies and starches for each area. That way we won’t have to worry about making separate vegetarian options; anyone who wants a meat-free meal can choose to eat two vegetables, a potato and orzo or couscous. Oh, and we’re going to wait and choose the vegetables in the spring because we expressed our interest in sourcing local food where possible and they were very receptive.

We were very impressed with everything from the presentation to the flavor and feel really good about the venue / catering selection. Can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks.

This past weekend brought lots of wedding planning, and with it lots of upcoming blog posts. I am so excited about everything right now that it’s hard to imagine we didn’t have a place to get married a month ago.

On Friday evening everyone is invited to the home of our good friends Jim and Annemarie Dickerson (on the same property as Annemarie’s mother who happens to be my mother’s best friend) for a welcome picnic hosted by Don’s parents. The property (click the picture above to see an enlargement) is located about 3 miles or so from the hotel where we have reserved a room block (also owned by the Dickersons). The house is located on a river with really beautiful sunset views and it was built for hosting parties (complete with a row boat ice cooler for beer, an outdoor fireplace, a huge grill and and a tiki bar). And Jim and Annemarie, along with their three kids, are some of my favorite people. Annemarie was my very first friend; she and her mom were waiting at the house the day my parents brought me home to live with them. An Eastern Shore picnic is not just your standard hamburgers on the grill, by the way. Expect steamed crab and shrimp and corn on the cob - as long as we can easily get them at that time of year (it’s a little early).

I am very excited today because we’re headed to Ocean City for the tasting this weekend. Among the foods we’re trying are:

• Cocoa and Spice Rubbed Flank Steak
• New York Strip with Chocolate Merlot Sauce
• Cocoa Dusted Scallops, and
• Crab Cakes

We’re also going to meet with a potential wedding celebrant (who happens to be a guy I knew in high school). Hopefully, we’ll also nail down some other details as well - like reserving the hotel block, figuring out the transportation issue and maybe some rehearsal dinner talk. Should be a busy, but productive trip.