I have said this before, but I am a big fan of the whole wedding planning process. It helps that we have so much time to pull it together and it also helps that my google reader is home to 15 wedding blogs that seem to update 20 times a day. I get to sift through all the ideas and star the ones that really work for us.
One thing I have been struggling with is the best way to do a guest book. The past few weddings I have been to have used pieces of paper that you write a note on and then stick in a box for the bride and groom to read later. I love it because it avoids the traffic jam at the signing table. I don’t love it because, well, I am a book maker. I would not feel right if there wasn’t a book on the table.
I have decided that I will be covering a screw post album in a similar style to the way my custom journals are made. (The photos will be ones from our engagement session and a few others that represent us.) The pages of the album will be cream and about 5x7. They do not have lines and more closely resemble a scrapbook than a guest book. I was hoping to provide a bit more direction than “a scrawl your signature in a ‘From all of us’ birthday card”, so I was thrilled when I saw this guest book idea on Style Me Pretty. Little envelopes! In gray! How perfect! Guests can sign business size cards, tuck them into a pre-mounted baby envelope and we’re all set. I can’t wait to get this guy produced.
Another item that I wouldn’t say we are struggling with, but I would mention as a topic of discussion are the ties for the groom/groomsmen. Orange, as you may have noticed, is a tricky color to get right. The tie in the photo is Banana Republic but it still isn’t quite what we want. I am passing this decision off to Paul. He’s the best at declaring what won’t work because it is “burnt orange” AND he’s the lucky guy that gets to march down the aisle wearing it.
One other wedding activity that we were able to check off the list last week was to start our gift registry at Crate&Barrel. It was quite the experience. For one thing, since I moved to Maryland and in with Paul, I have been talking about all the things that some magical day in the future we will register for. Paul has always followed up my comments with “Babe. I do not want to wait THAT LONG for [insert product here.]” Needless to say, we still "need" a pizza peel, a spice rack, a mixer, better towels, a Cuisinart, a waffle maker and a wok. So this is finally our opportunity to stock up on some items. But the thing about Paul and I is we are anti-clutter and (fairly) reasonable. We took our register jobs seriously and spent a lot of time looking at items. Paul would say something like, “But babe, we don’t decant our wine.” and then I would respond, “Yes, but do you think that sometime within the next seventy years we might want to?” And then Paul’s eyes would glaze over. It could have been that he was overwhelmed by all the options but it’s more likely he was contemplating the hazards of living seventy more years with me.
Either way, I loved it. It was sort of like writing a Christmas list when you still believe in Santa Claus. And also very much like playing house. I can’t wait to get married.
