wedding recap: friday rehearsing

after the trip to the courthouse, we headed up the mountain to the lodge where the wedding and reception would be held the following day. some key wedding party memebers were still in transit, so i went over the details with cheryl, friend and coordinator extrordinaire. i gave charlie her flower girl basket;she collected leaves and nuts, so she could practice dropping things on the ground. eventually, everyone arrived & we were able to do a couple run-throughs...i won't say that everyone really knew what they were supposed to do, but at least they had a general idea & cheryl took good notes.

while we were doing the rehearsal outside, a group of people were setting up for an even being held at the lodge that night. the lodge was full of autumn decorations including mums which was a key item we had yet to purchase. my sister spoke with the woman in charge & asked if we could have the mums and a few other things for a donation to her charity (can you tell she negotiater for a living?). deal!

by the end of the rehearsal, i was reaching my wit's end. i knew the questions and answers were important, but everyone was asking me some kind of question..."what time do you want to cut the cake?"..."what time do you want to leave the reception?"..."what time should i get here tomorrow?"..."when do you want to do the first dance?"..."is it okay if i wear this?"..."what should i wear?"..."you asked for a wooden sign, do you still want that?" i couldn't take any more. i was tired of being the only one who had answers, so after that moment, i was done with questions. i told people if they weren't sure of something to either ask someone else or make it up. i honestly wasn't a bridezilla kind of bride, so i was fine with whatever they came up with. that moment was my only "freak out," and i was totally fine once my no-more-questions decision was made.

from the lodge, my maids of honor, flower girl, and mother of the flower girl, and i made our way down the mountain to the small nail salon i go to to have our nails done. yes, even charlie. she picked a fabulous shade of yellow for her fingernails & gabbed away with while the rest of us took our turns.

next on the schedule was the rehearsal dinner which was held at a local mexican restuarant, casa blanca. we convinced them to let us reserve the patio for the 50 or so people we were expecting. it was so much fun! we had our closest friends and family there, & they were there to celebrate us. it was wonderful.

















one favorite moment that was not at all embarassing was when my dad made everyone (yes, everyone) stand up and introduce themselves & explain who they were in relation to the bride and/or groom...there was speech giving. some of which was helped along by some margaritas beforehand. my little brother gave a very sweet speech that even got him a little choked up.



my sister gave one too, in the style of a lawyer presenting to a jury.



an unintentional effect from her speech was that part of it made danny's grandmother feel like she had to stand up for her family & me a little taste of the threats my siblings (who really love danny) had been doling out to danny...oops. my maid of honor, natasha, gave a wonderful speech that i'm sure was lost on some family members, but it meant so much to me.



all in all, a basically perfect night. from there, it was off to gather all the stuff we needed for the next day & head to the hotel to rest up for the big day!

"mine is this big"

i just got back from an awesome weekend! my friends took me to the beach for my bachlorette party. we went down thursday after work and unfortunately had to come back on sunday (boo!). my picture-taking only involved taking one picture of each of the girls & that's it.


amanda spent all of thursday in the car in order to spend the weekend with me. i hear she builds killer sand castles.


yam spent her beach time tucked safely underneath an umbrella borrowed from the lam family.

natasha flew from chicago to the great state of alabama to spend the weekend. she was definitely our most dedicated tanner.


stef finally got to wear her super cute red shirt from anthropology on the trip, and she made me some very yummy cookies.


jeri drove us all down to the beach and back...12 hours of driving. in return she got some well-deserved child-free time sitting on the beach.

i also managed to snap these two pictures of our sleepers...


this trip was so much fun. these girls really are my closest friends, and it meant so much to me that they were willing to travel long distances and miss work and class in order to spend the weekend with me. they really made me feel loved, and i love them too.

thanks for a fabulous weekend, girls....maybe a beach trip should become an annual thing...yes?

if the girls wear black dresses...

then i am definitely encouraging something like this:

fabulous!

natasha

natasha (aka nat)

natasha was born in russia & moved to the united states with her family in elementary school. i met nat (she hates when i call her that) in 7th grade. i will openly admit that i thought she was a tad bit strange b/c she and another girl in our classes were constantly doing sign language. bit odd. we have been best friends ever since; going on 12 years. we have grown up together with many hours spent at the kitchen table at the shutovs and with lots of time dedicated to sex and the city, friends, mrs. shutov's meat & potatoes, and talking for hours about everything. no, i'm not exaggerating; i literally mean everything. seriously.

natasha graduated from roosevelt university in chicago with a degree in international relations, and now works for an online marketing company in chicago. she has traveled all over the world: france, italy, mexico, russia. she is incredibly caring and sincere and is my resident expert on makeup, obscure russian music, movies, and every television show - past and present.

good news tidbit

as i mentioned previously, my best friend & maid of honor, amanda, is going to design & print our wedding invitations. the other day, she asked her print professor if it would be alright if we came in over the summer to use the print shop. he said it was fine! not a problem! so, come june, i will become amanda's printing apprentice, and then come july, you can start looking for your invitation!

dr. rao

yamini (aka yam, yamu)
technically, yam and i first met in 6th grade when we were both cheerleaders (that's right, cheerleaders) for opposing elementary schools, but we don't actually remember meeting each other, so i guess it doesn't really count. we became friends in 7th grade and have been best friends ever since, and it has been a while. i guess i should mention that me, yam, and nat were pretty much inseperable beginning in 7th grade up until we all left for college (we were known at one point as the trinity). many many weekends were spent at the rao house, & many of the rao family trips included me.

yam graduated from dartmouth in 2006 and is now attending vanderbilt medical school in nashville. she has volunteered throughout the world: india, peru, argentina. she inspires me everyday to strive and do something worthwhile. she is my resident valadictorian, cheapskate, and expert on medical things. she is always looking for adventure, cheap clothes, and ways to avoid fixing her hair.

she is currently on her way to argentina for the summer. hope she doesn't break too many hearts while she's south of the equator...

love this

can i just say that i am madly in love with this dress?



it's from priscilla of boston & miss candy corn is using it for her bridesmaids. if my colors were blue and brown & i had a million dollars, i would be all over this dress. if i owned it, i'm pretty sure i would wear it everyday. love it.

wedding party spotlighting

i thought i should mention a very important aspect of our wedding that i've only mentioned briefly so far: the wedding party. first, i should mention that we do not have a strictly traditional wedding party. i have three maids of honor, and danny has three best men. we didn't see how we could rank one friend above another. the people who make up this party are all equally our best friends, and we're happy that they agreed to stand up with us and support us.

periodically i'll post about a different party member, so you can know a little bit about them & why we love them. today, i'll start with manda pants (danny's favorite nickname for her).

amanda (aka manda)
amanda and i met in college. it feels as though we have been friends for even longer than we actually have. first of all b/c that's how close our friendship is & second b/c i had been hearing all kinds of wonderful things about her long before i got to finally meet her in person. my senior year of school we decided to be roommates. i can't tell you how happy i am that we did; it was an awesome year (even though we had some bad times) that brought us even closer with lots of time dedicated to eating, dancing, tv watching, talking, and trips to the dog park.

amanda is graduating from the university of tennessee on the 16th (yay!) with a degree in media arts. her first painting sale was a sale to danny and me which is something we're really proud of (it hangs above our fireplace). not only is she incredibly creative & a my favorite artist, she is also an amazing person...loyal, forgiving, and kind. she is my resident artist, runner, and dancing partner. she's also going to do our wedding invitations which i'm super excited about.

and the wedding planning has begun

i can't believe we've already been engaged for 3 months now. even though time has passed, it still feels new, and in my mind i perpetually have a year before the wedding to plan...so it freaked me out a little when i got my email from theknot.com that told me i had 9 months to go...uh oh...

we have gotten a few major things off the list:

1. we have a date! september 13, 2008. that's pretty huge. we knew we wanted september...it was the month we started dating & the month we got engaged AND hopefully it will have started to cool off a bit and won't be 105 degrees in alabama. also, the 13th of june is danny's birthday, so i'm hoping that sharing the same number (13) will make it easy for him to remember.
2. we have a venue! monte sano lodge. it's in huntsville on top of the "mountain" where we go mountain biking. i think it really fits us. we're going to have both the ceremony and the reception there. the ceremony will be outside, and if it rains, there's space to have it inside. for the reception, i'm picturing it very open with people flowing inside and outside. the view from the bluff behind the lodge - which will be the backdrop for the ceremony - is gorgeous.
3. we have a photographer! allison jansen. i fell in love with her work long before we got engaged. i think she takes great pictures. she's a bit pricey, but i think she's worth it & after meeting with her, danny thought so too. her time at the wedding is unlimited, so she'll be with us all day. we're also going to do some engagement pictures with her at some point before the wedding.
4. we have maids & men! nat, yamini, amanda, scott, dave, & jimmy. danny and i each have 3 people standing with us, but what makes it really special is that they really cross both sides. the 3 men standing next to danny are just as much my best men & the ladies standing next to me are just as much danny's maids of honor. they are all 6 our best friends.
5. we have an officiant! mr. terry wayne. it was important to us that we have a relationship with whoever it was officiating over the wedding ceremony. i didn't want some random person that i had never met before playing such an important role in the wedding. wayne was really the obvious choice.

wow, that list made me feel some what accomplished. 5 things is pretty good, right? the next big thing on the list is finding a caterer.yamini and i are going to go to a bridal fair on saturday, so hopefully, we'll meet some potential candidates.