Masking tape makeover

I stumbled upon this Japanese washi paper tape the other day and now I need a reason to buy some. I’m thinking I could set out a roll for guests to seal their candy buffet bags…

Any other ideas?

Find it ::here::

Planning a wedding is like teaching first grade

Hear me out on this one.

All the wedding mags and websites like to point out the average person’s inability to plan a party as large as a wedding. Because most people don’t have experience planning and carrying out huge shindigs, they need to hire a wedding planner to do it for them. That way they can just say “yes” and “no” and leave the details to someone else. I see the point. Some people just don’t think of all the details, and there are a lot of details involved in a wedding. And many people just don’t want to. But there’s no way on earth that I will be hiring a wedding planner to do everything because a.) I don’t have the money for that and b.) I am a huge perfectionist and cannot relinquish that sort of control.

I really do think, however, that I have a huge advantage as a first grade teacher. As a teacher, I think about ridiculously trivial details every day. How am I going to distribute these papers? What will be most efficient? How can I keep them occupied? What will this group be doing while I am working with the other group? How do I make my directions simple and clear? How do I maximize space yet still allow space for traffic flow? How can I involve them in this lesson? What jobs can they perform?

My brain does not overlook much when in teacher mode. When I think about the wedding, I see so many of these details. My mind focuses on the guests’ needs and comfort more than getting my make-up done or posing for photos. In reality, I’ve spent the past year o.d.-ing on details. My sister told me “I don’t really have anything to share…you’ve already thought of everything.”

I’m not trying to bill myself as a professional wedding planner. Just sharing my thoughts. Hopefully my theory pans out and I won’t be thinking of the things I missed after the wedding.  Now if only we were having kids at our wedding (no little ones in either families) ... I would be able to plan a cute kids table!  Darn that generational gap.

Photo from ::here::

If I had a million dollars

…and/or oodles of craftiness, thriftiness, and hours upon hours to kill…

I would get me some of these. I think they are so cute. I would give them to all of my wedding guests with favors of quaint little herb pots. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Of course, I don’t have any of the aforementioned skills or assets, so this is a no-go. It was a nice daydream, though.

Garden markers from ::here::

Overwhelmed

The word of the day today is overwhelmed. As in overwhelm. You know…

o · ver · whelm

1. to overcome completely in mind or feeling: overwhelmed by stress.
2. to overpower or overcome, esp. with superior forces; destroy; crush: the independent and distant budget wedding planner was overwhelmed by the stalwart wedding industry.
3. to cover or bury beneath a mass of something: wedding magazines, ceremony scripts, and other items in the wedding pile have completely overwhelmed the coffee table.
4. to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything: she was overwhelmed by the hundreds of wedding blog posts amassed in her Google Reader.

I have been a very bad blogger. But, as blogging excuses go, well…life just got in the way. I went home to Minnesota this summer for the first time in two years. Blogging was not my top priority. The wedding was pretty high up there, though. I returned to my island only to leave again within the week for a soccer tournament in Taiwan. The internet in our hotel was slow so I didn’t even get to read wedding blogs. And when I got back, school started. I have entered the black hole of the school year, when time is no longer my own and every day of the week is burdened by my classroom to-do list. So, you see, it wasn’t until yesterday that I even had the heart to open up my Google Reader.

I feel so behind and so far away. This summer, wedding planning was real. We actually got to walk through the ballroom and picture everything. I bought fabric and frames and centerpieces in person. Mike even started to get involved. But now I’m back to long-distance planning. Which was okay when I was just brainstorming ideas last year. But now it’s go time. And choosing paper, apparel, and a photographer from thousands of miles away…sucks!

Photo from ::here::

Back to the future

I am officially back on our little island.  The trip home was so nice.  Sadly, though, it had to come to an end.  So here we are, back on the other side of the world for another year of adventure and wedding planning from afar but--one year from today--we will be back in Minnesota, getting married!

I know, I know...I've neglected the blog.  But now I have a lot to share.  Decisions were made.  Centerpieces, the dress, the officiant.  More inspiration was garnered.  And my best friend's wedding.  (Not-so-much like the movie with the groom stealing and such.)

I'm leaving again in four days for a soccer tournament in Taiwan, but I will do my best to squeeze in updates before then.

For now, here's what I'm currently downloading:

It's a free download...so I can make cute pictures like the one above, from here.  :)

Choices, choices!

You'd think that with all these weeks of being home, I'd have something to show for it on the wedding front.  Alas, nada.  For the past year, I've floated along in a sea of excess time.  Things were too far out to really plan and I had all the time in the world.  I perused blogs and websites for hours discovering every wedding-related idea on earth and gathering inspiration.  On one hand this did help me to develop themes and ideas of what I want.  But not really.

Here in Minnesota, I've found myself awash in choices.  For everything, really.  Limitless brands of salad dressing.  An entire aisle devoted to facewash.  This plethora of options has not been present in my life over the past two years.  On my little island I'm lucky to find facewash at all!

And so it is with wedding planning as well.  It's decision time and I'm reluctant to pull the trigger.  The dress.  The invitations.  The centerpieces.  I have less than two weeks until I'm back on-island so I don't have much more time to dwell.

Next on the list is meeting with our reception venue.  Unlike many places, they don't have set menu options.  This is kind of nice, since they would probably be open to any ideas I have.  In reality, though, it's just more stressful!  I don't know which way to go with the food.  Do I fill out the menu with memory-eliciting comfort food?  Go for laid-back picinic fare?  Add some fun with hotdogs?  Or should I just try to have a nice, elegant menu?  Beats me.  At this point, I just want someone to tell me what to do!

:: links ::

mac & cheese : hot dog : burger : boxed meal : pasta salad : lemonade

Sweet home Minnesota

I know I've been MIA lately, but I promise I have a lot of good excuses!

But let's just get to the point.  I am currently blogging from the other side of the globe.  That's right, I'm home in Minnesota!  We flew back last weekend to see family and, of course, get some wedding planning in.  I'm going to be dress shopping, meeting with the ballroom folks, cake testing (just because), and any other miscellaneous bits of planning I can squeeze in, since the next time I'll be here will be <2 months before the wedding!

I'll try to post as progress is made but my internet connection is less-than-desirable, so we shall see.

For now, I'm signing-off to celebrate the 4th with my family!  I hope it warms up!  I'll leave you with my first inspiration board for tabletops at the reception.

:: links ::

thread tealight directions here : wax votive luminaries directions here : buttons from here