June 2011
1 post
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February 2011
1 post
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Be vewwy, vewwy qwiet. We're hunting houses.
So, it’s been 4 months since October 2nd, 2010. If my memory is correct, we should be right at The Nest issue discussing buying our first house. Which is good, because that’s where we are, and we need all the advice we can get! Here are the latest contenders:
“The Grandma” - (Haven’t toured) Perfect location, ridiculously cheap price, permanently yellow, nice uh,...
January 2011
5 posts
Beyond the "I Do" →
praisepianist:
I believe in arranged marriages. And I don’t believe in marrying for love. My Father picked a boy for me to marry before the day I was born. I had no say in the matter. I was to grow into a woman, and this boy into a man before He would tell us that we were created for each other. To this day…
It’s true.
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Infiltrating Game Night
It all happened so fast. “I have no idea what I’ll do tonight,” I said. I could already feel the boredom sinking in even though I was barely 5 minutes through the door. “You could go to game night, you know,” He said. “Yeah?” I replied warily. “Yep. Nerds find girls ten times more sexy when they join in on game night.” “Um. Right. You...
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A Little Night Reading
Every night we read one chapter in a book before we go to sleep. They’re usually of the Christian-Marriage-Relationship sort, but last night Dan wanted the Christian-Marriage-Relationship-Sex one. Whoo! He had enough of the Dobsons and their old married people blah blah blah and was ready for something a bit more…interesting. I groaned and he snickered as he grabbed my phone and hit...
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So Close But So Far - or - The Search Engine Who...
Most relationships tend to feel like carnival rides, with the ups and downs and whirling about. But as I get to know him, it has been feeling more like one those scrambler-type contraptions where the arms swing out wildly, thrusting the revolving cars in one direction and tossing it wildly back again in the other. When you ride with a friend, you eventually get squashed up against the wall, and...
December 2010
1 post
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2 Month Anniversary
The great thing about getting married at a little-known park a few blocks from your house is that you can go there anytime you like and it will still be your wedding place. Churches are pretty, but 10,000 people might get married there in its lifetime and they will go there every Sunday and the industrial Berber carpet and padded chairs will forget you were ever there in all the traffic—-if...
November 2010
1 post
: The Marriage Train and the Dating Taxi →
macaronimasterpiece:
Dating is like a taxi in New York; constantly stuck in the traffic of other taxis, all desperately looking for somebody to flag them down. Eventually someone will come along, and sometimes he’s a complete looney and sometimes he’s okay, but in the end, you’ll go around the block a couple times,…
October 2010
1 post
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Honeymooning
So far, being married feels just like dating, only easier and without the awful part where he says good night at the end of the day and sleeps somewhere else.
I know I still have a long road before me, but as of right now, this is the happiest I’ve ever been and it is freaking amazing.
September 2010
6 posts
5 tags
Erin E. Gets Married
The thing I’ve realized about getting married is that it’s like NOTHING you’ve ever experienced, and it definitely doesn’t feel like watching a wedding in a movie. No, this is a whole new beast. But we humans like generalizing things based on what we know, so I’ll try anyway.
Five months away, getting married does feel like watching a romcom. You associate with the...
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The best laid schemes o' mice an' men..
…Gang aft agley. Annnnd the whole duplex thing fell through because my brother has decided that he wants to continue living with the folks. Sigh. So much for the hoping.
Also, that phrase is way better in Scots.
11 Days and Counting Oh Lord. I have 11 days before D-Day and the civil war that is going on between the north butterflies and the south butterflies in my stomach has reached...
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Room and Board
Somehow, something happened. We went from being sure we were going to be stuck in my closetless (but cute) one bedroom apartment forever to suddenly finding ourselves a duplex with 2 bedrooms, a dishwasher and a basement! This is better than bad—-it’s good! So here’s how it may go down: Firstly, a map.
College Student X and College Student Y live in one of my family’s...
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August 2010
5 posts
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Groomsmen Guilt
The argument has come and gone since Dan chose his groomsmen a few months ago, but as the bride and the oldest in my family, I just can’t help the prickle of annoyance and guilt that appeared after he chose an an old roommate whom has hasn’t spoken to or seen in ages over my brother, whom I adore. The two were roommates in college for 2 years, sure, but my brother has been my brother...
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Marriage Reality #321: Debt
I wish I could strangle every parent who gave their teenager a credit card and did not teach them how to manage it. Hell, I wish I could strangle every parent who gave their teenager a credit card, period. A credit card in the hands of an 18 year old with no proper parental guidance + zero fiscal responsibilities growing up = 0 financial future. My parents aren’t perfect, but I could thank...
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The Wedding Singer: Unplugged
Old parks don’t generally have electricity, and we chose our little old park knowing it full well. The only impact no electricity has on the ceremony is that everything has to be live and unamped, including the music. Between my brother and my friend Shawn, I think we can cover it, but does anyone know any awesome weddingy songs that can be played by a proficient guitar player and an...
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2 Months to go, and enter the Drama
So, with 2 months to go, this wedding has surprisingly been pretty drama-free as far as participants go. My bridesmaids are perfect. The groomsmen are cognizant but nonexistent. My parents and his parents are off in their own little worlds. Until now. Drama has come, and it’s the worst kind because it has nothing to do with the wedding, but it could effect its atmosphere in not-so-pleasant...
July 2010
7 posts
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Through Richer or Poorer...
I don’t know how poor people have weddings. …I suppose they don’t. They just go to the courthouse and get the papers signed, and I guess that’s technically all I should be able to do. That’s what everyone’s been saying to do from the beginning, anyway. With this crappy economy, Dan’s hours were cut over the summer, so he’s making even less than he...
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Photographers: In which I make a very risky...
I chose a photographer last night after the medicine that controls my impulsiveness wore off. I didn’t choose a safe photographer. I didn’t even choose a cheap photographer—-he’s still $1500. I chose one whom I’ll have to fly in from New York. He’s not even a wedding photographer—-he does those hipster fashion photos, you know? So no, we don’t get a...
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Finding my Senses
Today I’m blind. My glasses disappeared between taking them off last night and waking up this morning, which makes zero sense in my mind. But then again, it is me and I’m capable of losing just about everything, everywhere, anytime.
That being said, am so glad I have another pair of eyes who can find all my lost things, (phones, keys, purses, pizza pans, everything in my fridge that...
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Moving onto Flowers (and a bit on photographers)
So, we’re still looking for Photographers. The first team of photographers would be working for 6 hours, which is great, but I still can’t feel good about about the Rights thing. So, any suggestions are welcome! Email anything you got to degrootwolfe (at) gmail (dot) com
Finding Flowers: A Rose is a Rose is not a Poppy.
I made my first stop at the Flower Factory yesterday, and it...
Photographer #1
Cons: 1) Fairly expensive. I could buy a car for $1500. 2) We don’t get the rights to our photos until a year after the wedding, and only if we pay $100. They don’t want people tampering with their work. Pros: 1) They are really quite good photographers and their craftsmanship is top notch. 2) They use the best lab in the country 3) I completely trust that their taste 4) They are not...
June 2010
4 posts
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Photo(grapher) Needed
So, wedding photography. I hate photos of me. Dan hates photos of himself. We’re weird looking. So we’re looking for a photographer who can take the edge off the weird. Like a level 26 Ansel Adams Dark Magician Wizard. Know anybody like that? The photographers at the Wedding Expo had fancy white couches and huge books full of photos, but the work looked like it was taken by...
In Miyazaki films, I’ve noticed that characters have two ways of crying. When it’s crying for themselves, they’re normal tears; when it’s crying out of love, it’s great streaming orbs that fall from their eyes. I can understand those orb-tears these days, because they definitely feel that way. October seems 3.5 decades away and watching him walk out the door every...
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Reinventing Ohana
Dan and I reached a very important point in our relationship tonight. I was freaking out, and he tried to explain to me what his role was in his family when people freaked out, and I think we both realized right then that the role didn’t apply anymore. I wasn’t his mom or his sister, so the way he reacted to them is ineffective and he will have to create a new reaction, and I’ll...
May 2010
2 posts
5 tags
The One | A Sadly Shrinking Guest List
***Go read a technology blog, Dan. This has spoilers. Shoo!*** So what’s happened between now and The One?
The Other One vs. The One Yes, it’s true, I cheated on The One. During my visit to I Do Bridal, I actually believed I found the real One. It was very simple, no frills, and it was part of a sample sale that would go back to the main company that coming Monday. Everyone seemed to...
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Waistline vs Bottomline: Why fat girls get the...
Wedding shops, in case you weren’t aware, have really wonderful, smiling women who work there. They treat you like fashion model queens and grin like cats with wingless white canaries. I’m pretty sure that if they didn’t, the dressing rooms would be full of large, suicidal, half dressed women. Barnum and Bailey Bride I wear a 14 in just about everything, from Dillards dresses to...
April 2010
9 posts
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Enter the Roommate
So, something got it into my head that I need a roommate until I get married.
Maybe it was the extra $175 a month. Maybe it’s because she might actually wash her dishes. I dunno. I’ve never shared my bedroom with another girl, much less had a roommate, so I’m not sure. Something tells me it’s going to be SUPER WEIRD. One bedroom. 2 bunk beds. One bathroom. One computer....
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Invitations at last
Let it be known that last night, I sat down and started drawing our invitations. I’m not very far, but for the sake of entertainment, rough drafts will be available shortly! (Also, Dan loves them, and this makes me happy. People like using their expensive wedding/engagement photography for these things, but we’re not really picture people, and cartoons represent us better, I think. My...
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On this date in history, nothing happened here.
Just so you know, what you see going on here is exactly what’s going on with our wedding plans. That is, approximately nothing. Sure, the cake lady called me today and Dan and I looked at dress patterns last night, but all in all, nothing has actually changed since I last posted. You didn’t miss much. However, if you want some sort of update so as not to feel cheated, we did decide...
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The Dress Pattern Search Begins
In case you weren’t aware, the reason why I’m getting my dress made is because A) I don’t like any of the current styles of dresses and B) None of the older styles are exactly it either, or they wouldn’t fit me. So when Lorraine, the woman who’s making my dress, requested that I find a pattern, it didn’t occur to me until I started looking at patterns that all...
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Good News! (At last) - 4/14
The Dress I have someone to make my dress! Yay! I’m aiming for something similar in shape to the little one in the middle with a bodice and moss green ribbon like the old one. I have till July 1st to find a pattern that she can use, and while I’m hoping for an old pattern, a new one would be so much easier. To say I’m excited to get started is an understatement…do you...
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Yet another variable.
Most people have lots of variables thrown in to make their stressful wedding plans just a little bit more stressful. You know. Moms. Grandmas. Mother and Father-in-laws. Entire families…*cough* Yeah, well, I have an extra one, also known as my shrink. However, the difference between normal variables with “good advice” and my shrink is that he actually LISTENS to my problems and...
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I think I’ll buy all my wedding decorations on eBay. 1999 would be so proud.
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The Start of a Wedding Blog: Where we are.
I get married on 10/2/10. That’s approximately 172, 11 hours away from right now. And because a crapload of stuff has happened—-but not really—-since February, I give you a timeline, in high definition black and white:
February 2010 - Get engaged. :D March - Large but limited guest wedding at a church, open reception at Riverside Park, Portland Honeymoon. :/ Mid-March -...