I keep meaning to write here. And then I think to
myself “I don’t just want to write about the wedding, that’s not all
that interesting.” But then I don’t write ANYTHING and I do love
blogging, so HERE WE GO. If you're uninterested in wedding things, I apologize in advance.
Miscellaneous wedding things!
- I guess I probably don’t get any points for that, since my bridesmaid dresses are from David’s Bridal. My four oldest nieces are going to be my bridesmaids and I took 2 of them with me to pick out the dresses. Naturally, they couldn’t agree on a style. So I told them they could pick any short, flouncy, chiffoney dress as long as they were all the same color. At David’s Bridal, that color is “Begonia.” You may know it as “fuchsia” or “hot pink.”
- The groomsmen’s ties are also Begonia. My mom is moderately horrified, but I’m totally into it. For the sake of full disclosure, they’re also PAISLEY. Which I love! We already knew my taste runs tacky.
- Speaking of tacky (see how this blog post just FLOWS? It’s like poetry.), I REALLY wanted our cake topper to be two sheep. Like, a ram and a sheep nose to nose. Kind of like this deer cake topper, but with SHEEPIES. Nobody was on board with that idea, so I eventually grumbled and said “Fine we’ll go with a Celtic knot, like everything else.” (I may have been a little heavy-handed with the Celtic knots on various other wedding-related items.) But then Niall finally had an opinion about something and said he would like the cake topper to be something San Franciscoish. I fretted about where to acquire this, but Emily, Leah, and Jenny all reminded me that San Francisco is FULL of touristy shops where you might just be able to find a mini figurine of the Golden Gate Bridge or a trolley or something SF iconic. We ended up deciding on this one:
- Neither of us realized before we bought it that it is also a MUSIC BOX that plays “I left my heart in San Francisco.” I’m thinking we’ll crank it up when we cut the cake. MUSICAL WEDDING CAKE. Because, why the hell not?
- With just under four weeks to go until the wedding I feel like I can now say with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that I am very very PRO plus-one invitations. I don’t care if you bring somebody I don’t know to my wedding, if that’s what you want to do in order to have a good time. Significant other? Not-so-significant other? Good friend? Let me know ahead of time, but go ahead and bring ‘em! The more the merrier! I gave everybody a plus-one. Well with the exception of one of Niall’s friends-- she has a boyfriend AND a girlfriend, so she got a plus-two.
- I remember people telling me “oh you’ll feel differently about plus-ones when you get married” and “You’ll see” and “just wait” and NO. I don’t feel differently, I feel even more THE SAME! Plus-ones ALL AROUND.
- My lovely friends who lived nextdoor to me when I was a wee Julia threw me a beautiful and fun bridal shower tea party. Everything was gorgeous and tasteful, with one or two touches of whimsy. It was just perfect. There were finger sandwiches and tea and fancy drinkies and fortune cookies with hot pink frosting and edible glitter. The games were even pretty fun—they did a good combination of involving everybody and putting me on the spot without making me do anything embarrassing (I didn’t have to strut around in a wedding dress made of toilet paper or anything). I think my favorite part of the day was when I just became so overwhelmed by all the love I was feeling that I got a little teary-eyed, and one of the hostesses said to me “Julia, we’re just here to have a good time. You need to nut up.”
- I have my somethings old, new, borrowed, and blue. In reverse order: blue earring for my ear cartilage piercing, new tiara, borrowed veil from my sister, and old ring of my grandmother’s. And Stephanie gave me a silver sixpence to put in my shoe!
- Speaking of old wedding traditions, have you ever heard of an Oathing Stone? Neither had I. And neither had Niall. And neither has ANY IRISH PERSON I ASK, but whatever. It’s an ancient Celtic tradition so by God we’re doing it.
I love the idea that it connects our wedding not just to the two of us and our families, but also our ancestors and, also, the earth. I’m planning to get a stone from my parents’ back yard and we’ll have it at the ceremony. My rather hippieish friend D will be the keeper of the stone for the wedding ceremony and then we’ll take it to Ireland the next time we go. Niall’s opinion on all of this is mild amusement which FINE WHATEVER I’LL TAKE IT.
- ALSO! Niall’s sister told me that it is a tradition in Ireland to put out an Infant of Prague to guarantee good weather. Niall and I were talking about this at my parents’ house and my mom goes “Oh! The Infant of Prague! Hang on a second!” and she left the room and no joke came back with an ACTUAL INFANT OF PRAGUE STATUE that had belonged to her grandmother.
