We haven’t even made the registries official yet, but we received our first gift from it for Christmas! Don’s parents purchased a wonderful heated blanket for us (probably because they heard the one we had been using was 30 years old and they were afraid I’d electrocute their son in the wee hours of some morning). We got some other pretty awesome gifts, too. Right now I’m watching Don play some hilarious game on our new Wii. Wheeee!
I used the word wee/Wii/whee three times in the post. Word.
As I mentioned back in October, I have a pretty extensive list of DIY projects for the wedding.
Among the most important of these projects is the invitations.
As you know, I’m trying to stay way ahead of schedule since I have very busy spring. Thankfully, several of my friends offered to help with some of the DIY projects. My awesome wedding elves started helping me assemble the wedding invitations last week and we’re moving much faster than I ever imagined. Last week, Don cut all the invitation pieces, Katy hole punched them, and I tied them together. This week, Jaimie started adhering the starfish while Katy and I started (and finished!) the response cards. I am very pleased with the results.
The response cards were printed four per page and trimmed to be the size of postcards. Onto the front of the postcard we adhered a reproduction of a vintage postcard from Ocean City. It originally said “Greetings from Ocean City,” but Jaimie had the great idea to change it to “A Wedding in Ocean City” and I think it turned out great! I even had to time to stamp them tonight (after triple checking the USPS Web site to make sure postcards rates are not increasing in 2009). The only thing left to do on the response cards is to write a very small number on each one so that I can figure out who sent it in the event someone forgets to write their name on the response (which, I understand, happens more frequently than you might imagine).
Now I just have to print out and trim the information card (hotel and travel information, etc.), finish adhering the starfish and stuff the invitations. Oh, and address them.
Don’t worry little wedding elves, there are a lot more DIY projects ahead. We have to make the program fans, and the favors, the escort cards and the menu cards. Plus, I’m sure I’ll come up with a few more projects for us in the next 130 days!
I am the first to admit that I am a sap. A sensitive, prone to cry at tissue commercials sap. So it should come as no surprise that I have a tendency to make even non-emotional things into teary moments. My latest silliness is to apply the phrase, “the year I was engaged” (or the “the year we were engaged”) to everything. For example, this is the Christmas we celebrated the year we were engaged. We saw West Side Story for my birthday the year we were engaged. The Christmas tree fell down when a neighbor’s cat snuck into the house and remained undetected for two days the year I was engaged. Yeah, it’s weird.
On Monday, I celebrated my birthday. I am now 34 - the same age I will be when we get married in May. The realization made my stomach flip flop in the most pleasant way and I know that starting in a few weeks everything is going to be all about the “year we got married.” One thing I’m really excited to say is, “President Barack Obama was inaugurated the year we got married.” Here are some things I am hoping to say:
What do you hope will happen in 2009?
Over at a Practical Wedding, the wise and wonderful Meg just hit the nail on the head as she so often does. Meg and her boy have been struggling with the wedding registry and this week she figured it why it matters. She said so perfectly herself that I can only quote her.
And then I got it. The registry has nothing to do with the wedding. Our great-aunts and grandmothers are on to something when they insist that you register so they know what pots you want. The registry is not about the wedding, the registry is about the marriage. For us, we hope that means a long life with a passel of kids, a ton of family gatherings, and lots of cooking. So for us, that’s what a registry is about - letting our friends and loved ones build that home for us. The registry is like a barn raising.
Don and I have been struggling with the whole registry thing, too. I’ve attended dozens of weddings so I understand why you need them. I get that even if you make a real effort to try to encourage people not to give you gifts or make donations, people WANT to give you an item to have in your new life as husband and wife and that it’s a lot easier for the couple AND the gift giver if you provide suggestions. Quite honestly, I prefer to buy a gift than to make a donation when it comes to weddings (I’m all about supporting charities - I just like the idea of helping people I love create a home they will love).
Don has struggled with it even more than me … and I had to start our registries on my own while trying to coax him in.
For awhile I was making the joke that our wedding Web site would have to say:
But then one day a few weeks ago, I met him at a store. When I walked in he said, “Does this place have a wedding registry?” I told him it did and he said, “OK. We can register here.” So we did. He liked that the store in question had a lot of low priced items (they have a lot of high priced items, too - but a huge variety) and that they have a coupon every week.
We haven’t finished our registries yet, but we’re getting there and hope to be done before Christmas. And, as Meg said, we’re registering for things we’ll have and cherish as we grow old together - like the rest of our Fiesta Ware collection (which I already love and on which I want to serve Don dinner for the rest of our lives) and for a fancier place setting, too (which I will love and on which I want to serve holiday meals and other fancy dinners until I am too old to stand at the stove). We’re registering for some silly things that might not stand the test of time, too - but things that we will enjoy for right now anyway (like silpats for baking).
If our guests would prefer to make a donation to their favorite charities, I’ll be delighted. But I am going to be just as pleased to get a spoon that I will use to stir the creamer in my coffee and Don’s coffee when I am 34 and when I am 94.
Thanks, Meg, for helping me see the light.