Ahem

Invitations people (puts hands on hips and taps foot impatiently). I mean, for heaven's sake, there is a stamp and everything. All you have to do is check a box and drop it in the mail. Seriously, if you are THAT lazy, drop me an email with your menu choice. PLEASE.

P.S. Did you know that "Nag's head" is apparently a popular pub name?

More invitation clarifications

I was thinking this morning about the invitations that have come back and it occurred to me to clarify (some more). If it isn't clear from your invitation, if you have a significant other who you'd like to bring (even if they aren't explicitly mentioned) they are invited. This only applies to about three people, but I thought I'd mention it. Just write us a note on the reply card and indicate which two entrees you want. Now I'm going to nag. Send reply cards now. NOW. No procrastinating!

Party at Edith and Brian's House!

If anyone (else) was thinking of getting us an outdoor table and chairs for a wedding present (I can hear a couple people saying, "I wish I had thought of that" right now) it's too late. Thanks to Mike and Jayson for the excellent gift! Now everyone come over to our house for cocktails on the back "deck" (I'm working on that one. Maybe we'll build it out next summer.)

Invitations are out

They should arrive soon in the mail. Thanks to Kirsten for making them as fast as she possibly could even while suffering from pregnancy-brain. AND for mailing them out.

You will have a choice of entree for dinner. Because we are not all that organized and we are lazy and/or unable to make decisions, it will ask if you would like "fish," "beef," or "vegetarian". I know that is not very descriptive so I will attempt to elaborate. The fish is likely to be something like red snapper with mango coconut salsa (OK, so it probably will be exactly that, because that sounds good.) Beef means tenderloin (I think? I don't know. I'm not eating that) and vegetarian will probably be some sort of mushroom pasta thing (Porticini mushroom pouch?). Choose wisely.

Cake is good

As many of you know, my mother is a Celiac. One of the only wedding requests she made (well, besides you know, wanting me to HAVE a wedding) is that she wanted to have a cake she could eat. So began the great cake search of 2008. Well, I exaggerate. The cake search really consisted of my mom saying, "hey, there is this woman in Arlington who makes gluten-free cakes!" And me responding, "OK! lets go taste some cake!" Then my mom set everything up and on Tuesday Brian and my mother and I traipsed over to CeliaCakes (where I parked my car, Selma,* on a very dangerous seeming hill) and ate some cake. The summary: cake is good. Buttercream frosting is good. I like cake.

After that surpising revelation, I learned that choosing a wedding cake is not really about choosing cake flavors so much as choosing cake decoration. Honestly, I am happy when someone just plops a mangled slice down in front of me, so I hadn't really considered this, but in the end we settled on a design that I think I will like very much. It has what I consider to be the traditional wedding borders around the top and bottom of the layers (2) and some yellow and green scrollwork flowers on the sides. On top (to add some height) will be some fresh flowers (which I think come in some sort of handy dandy flower holder thingy). As for the cake flavors, well, I'm being careful not to reveal too much. I will only end by repeating, the cake, she will be yummy**.

* Selma and I are having a little bit of an argument right now. She seems determined to cost me money. Brian tried to appease her (or me) by telling me she was purring like a kitten, but then he added, "a very large, very angry kitten."

** Do not be fooled by the picture. There is no fondant involved. I can't guarantee that you won't witness me dragging Brian by the scruff of his neck to the altar, but I can't guarantee that you will either.

Sartorial adventures

The first thing Edith did to kickstart this whole wedding process was to buy a dress. Now with about 4 weeks to go, most of her obligations are complete (she says she has finished shopping, as of this morning), and most of my list remains to be done. So, yesterday was reserved for my wedding outfit shopping.

Together with my better judgment (also known as Adam and Seth), I took the afternoon off of work and headed into Cambridge, still trying to nail down my preferences on the car ride there. I initially thought I would just buy a new, fancy suit, something classy but slightly unusual, like Adam's linen suit that he wore to his wedding. But after further consideration, I wasn't sure I liked that idea. If Edith gets to wear a fancy dress to distinguish herself as the bride, I should wear something that marks me as her date. I thought about wearing a "HELLO my name is GROOM" tag with my suit, but since our first stop was Keezers, I started trying on tuxedoes, and decided this was the way to go. A suit is just... a suit. A tuxedo says "I just spent money to borrow someone's clothes for a special occasion." Except that I didn't do that, I actually purchased a new one -- the "finest quality tuxedo in the store", according to the owner. And it is nice, an Italian design with three buttons. I also purchased a vest and bow tie that should coordinate nicely with the bride's outfit (or so I hear).

Keezer's was a great place to shop. There have been some remarks from the peanut gallery about how "all the Harvard kids go there to get their cheap tuxes". There is a wide variety of pre-worn merchandise there, but they also have a large new tuxedo section. I couldn't find any item of clothing in the store that wasn't reasonably priced, and you know that I am cheap frugal. The owner was helpful with his suggestions, but also gave us time and space in order to try all the different combinations that we wanted to try. My better judgement says I looked good, and I bought a whole outfit (except shoes) for less than a sport jacket in a high-end department store.

Above, Adam and Seth confer about my choice of outfits.

Announcing: Edith and Brian's Photo Search

"Finally!" You say, "Some actual information."

Well, maybe not information, but participant interaction. Does anyone have any good digital photos of their adventures in New Hampshire? (Adamooo, I'm looking at YOU.) Or good picture of us? Or pictures of Brian making a fool of himself? (Note that I do NOT say me making a fool of myself. Because I am always dignified and beautiful and therefore I never am photographed with my mouth wide open or food all over my face. Also, I never break stuff because I'm totally coordinated and graceful all the time.) I would very much like them, if so. I'm not telling you why, you'll just have to, er, hrm, trust me.

P.S. AND I always smell like roses.

It's just a tiny, tiny bit of genetic material

There seems to be some confusion. I believe it is related to a little tiny missing bit of chromosome, a condition that afflicts about half the population. In order to avoid future problems, I think I should try to clear things up now.

My beloved, darling, ever-so-awesome, husband-to-be seems to be a little unclear on the meaning conveyed by repeated use of the phrase, "We need..." (as in, "We need a wedding website." or "We need new siding on the house.") Just to clarify, it does not mean, "We need to think about this problem for a long time." or "If I wait long enough, Edith will solve this problem for me." What it DOES mean is, "Edith has assigned this problem to me. I should figure out a way to solve it so that she stops repeating this phrase." I hope that this clarifies things and makes them easier going forward.

Defending my honor

I'm told that I have to make an appearance here in order to ensure that my good name is not tarnished, or something. Also, Edith is getting lonely in blogland. So here I am. With regards to the creation of this blog, for the record, I didn't know I was responsible for creating the blog. I thought I was only responsible for naming the blog. It's not that I'm lazy (I am), but there was a misunderstanding.

With that out of the way... speaking of croquet, the inn has a large grassy area that seems well-suited to the game. It does have a moderate slope, but anyone who has ever tried playing with the St. A's group on the Orwig Lawn in Providence will find it to be a weak challenge, at worst. Please review the 6-wicket American Tournament Rules prior to attending -- no wimpy "backyard rules" for us -- and come ready to play.

I was a girl before you knew me

Brian was surprised this morning to wake up and find that I have a set of hot rollers and I'm not afraid to use them (well, not very afraid. Ouch. I may have burned my finger.) That's not all. So far this wedding preparation process has taught him: (a) I like shopping (b) I really like shopping and (c) I am not afraid to wear pink. No, alright, I do wear pink on occasion anyway and I haven't actually bought anything pink, although I am pondering black and white polka dot shoes with pink accents for the rehearsal dinner. The point is, Brian is discovering a whole new "girly" side of me. I don't want to divulge my secrets (yet) so I'm not going to go into details, but I have a whole plan for my "rehearsal" dinner outfit. I'm very proud of my outfit.

But what will we do when you aren't getting married?

When we were visiting the Inn, we noticed a croquet set right at the door. So, croquet anyone?

Yeah, we invited her to the wedding.

If you don't believe in synchronicity, well, you should:

http://currentconductor.blogspot.com/2008/07/they-are-very-model-of-modern-married.html

The birth of wedding theatre

So I say to Brian, "Hey, do you think we need a wedding website?"

And he says, "um, ah...um...yeah, I think it would be good."

"What should we call it?" I say.

He pauses, then laughs. "Brian and Edith's wedding theatre dot com?"

I took him seriously, but he might have only been joking. I think the truth is that he wasn't sure whether he was joking or not. He knows better though. If he didn't want it out there, he shouldn't have said it in the first place.

Having got the naming out of the way, I left the rest up to him. He didn't do anything. I prodded him some more (it's like we're married already). He still didn't do anything. I was bored at work one day and blogger makes it really easy to set up a blog. I set up a blog. That's the whole story.

You see, when you've been engaged for two years and suddenly decide to throw a wedding in eight weeks, you just can't take yourself too seriously.