setting the scene: the venue hunt

Yeah, lame title from a lame theatre kid ::wink and a smile!::

First up, Bucks County.

Finding the perfect setting for the big day was surprisingly simple, and also probably the thing I did my homework on the most. I was looking more than two years out, so I tooook my sweeet time.

We started our research in the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania, hoping to tie in our engagement week's tip to Sonoma into our wedding theme. We clicked on websites of a few fairly local wineries and found our way to Open Aire Affairs. These folks handle events and rentals for Sandcastle Winery, in ridiculously beautiful and quaint Erwynna, PA. It is set up on a hill on sprawling grounds of hearty grapevines fighting for their lives in the fickle weather of Eastern PA... or Anywhere, PA for that matter.

Forming a plan: an organic process.

As soon as I had the ring on my finger back in August 2008, three basic questions were asked of me as a bride-to-be. And my answers to these early questions have helped guide the rest of the planning process:

1. When will we get married:

This is a 2 or 3-parter. We first looked at the timeline of our immediate future and where we saw ourselves in the next couple years. We were definitely in a time of transition- so we thought it best to take our time. Marc would finish school and get a job first, so we looked toward 2010.

Then it was on to what time of year: I value delicious, seasonal food over fluffy, beautiful seasonal flowers. So Autumn won, with a brief debate over late summer so we could savor ripe peaches and tomatoes- my fave. The argument about the extreme heat of August convinced me otherwise.

{Whaaaaaat? Tomatoes in heart baskets? C'mon what are you doing to me?}

Finally, a specific date. I checked the weather history for a couple dates in October for the last several years, and learned that in Southeastern PA, it's pretty much always a 40% chance of rain regardless of the time of year if you're looking at averages from the last 10 years. So, I chose October 23rd, because it sounded pretty and the leaves would probably be changing.

I booked the venue, and then I learned that you can't book a Rabbi on a Saturday- even 2 years out. So the venue allowed us to switch to a Sunday, and we chose the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend so some folks might have off from work the next day... and this day was October 10th, or 10.10.10. A Happy accident.

2. What will our wedding colors be:

Ok, for real? Yes, this may have been the first question I was asked. Since I knew I couldn't be tied down by one or two colors, and I would never be able to decide and stick with it, I chose a version of my parents' colors and autumnized and modernized them. Green and Yellow, or rather 1975 Mint Green and Yellow turned Sage/Clover Green and Mustard.

The choice to use my mother's colors encouraged me to add as many nostalgic elements and hand-me-downs as possible. And this has inspired a "kinda green" motto to my planning. Kinda green like eco friendly, reduce reuse recycle wherever we can. Not that we are always great about this in everyday life, but it has been an amazing mantra for making wedding-related choices.

3. Which leads me to where will it be:

This one was a fair question. Definitely back home in the Philly area for starters. Not in New York- everyone would have to travel and NYC is a pricey place to travel to. The iffy bit was that Marc wanted a city soiree, while an outdoor, country Bucks County affair was calling my name. We followed our hearts and kept it "kinda green." Venue tbr (to be revealed).

Heart is not a verb

You're right. Heart is not really a verb. But I got caught up in the trend to "heart" things, and excited to have a grown-up thing to apply it to. And while "OMG, I heart you!" is really annoying, I found that I was not particularly annoyed by the original:

And when trying to sort of "brand" the wedding blog and website, heart was just so adorable and young. Marc and I are high school sweethearts after all, and we try to stay young at... well.. heart.

And I knew I wanted "becky ::heart:: marc" on the save the dates- so when I saw Janie's I asked if we could copy it in our design.

I had also briefly considered "beckyheartsmarc.com" for a wedding website many months ago but decided originally that it was too one-sided. Now that I had the logo sort of, it was a go. And if you have a keen memory or if you clicked above, you'll remember we heart paper; and if you're in my head, you know I'm obsessed with thoughtful day... hence heart the day and becky hearts marc branding.

Marc asked me last night whether I was comfortable with using heart as a verb. My first response was that it was too late, duh. But I am in fact comfortable with it, in context. In the wedding blog world I think it works. Heart the day means to love the day, embrace each day, and we're looking toward one day in particular that will be filled with love and warmth. And if there's any day in this whole wide world I heart, it's that day. {And the day Marc worked up the nerve to talk to me... or even his birthday (I know, barf)}. I hope to take the joy I imagine feeling on that day and look at each day with wide-eyed hope and love. Repress my cynical sass just a bit.

So, I dunno. Here's to hearting things. And remembering that no matter how annoying life gets, there's still hearts and love. And butterflies and rainbows? And it's spring and the days are longer now.

Small Wonder {Part VII, 2, The Point cont...}

There are two exciting reveals to come in this post {and finally some ring pics!}, so hold on to your hats.

First:  I searched EVERYWHERE all over my apartment, in ridiculous places that could not possibly hold my lost engagement ring for MONTHS. Seat cushions, drawers, pockets, jewelry box (like I said, unlikely places to find my ring).

In pulling apart my night stand, I opened every old purse (bottom drawer) and makeup bag that I came across. Even if I hadn't regularly used them in years, like a little makeup bag pouch where I store nail polish. In my desperation, I dug in there with my greedy, hopeful little fingers, felt something small round and ring-like, and revealed....

Ring part VII/ Loss & Regret Part 2: Getting to the point

I thought I'd try to wrap this long story up today as any readers out there were probably wondering "why the build up for the obvious ring-on-finger ending?"

Well, life is really never so simple. And despite the fact that Marc likes to tell people how nice I am, I think he really means naive. Sure I mean no harm, but I am a bad, irresponsible, messy, been told my whole life to get organized person. Family and friends, ready to scream "I told you so!!"???. Well, here's your chance, I'm coming clean:

the real deal: Going Public

Our save the dates are finally fluttering out into the world- or at least camping overnight at the 38th Street USPS Office near work. And that means we had to put the finishing touches on our wedding website so our guests found something better than godaddy.com jibberish when they typed the following into their browser:

Look! It's clickable!

Save the Date {sneek peek!}

A delightful little corner from our save-the-dates designed and printed by Janie Liu of We Heart Paper.

This design process was a blast for me- zillions of emails back and forth, 28 or so drafts, and late night gmail chat brainstorms. The border was my mom's suggestion, enhanced to a cross-stich effect by Janie; and the little dots on the wings are one of my many favorite details (ehem, suggested tentatively by yours truly, executed with aplomb by JL). She listened and delivered. I guess we can call this my first vendor review?

Maybe this post and We Heart Paper's new website will inspire me to finally* label these paper pretties and get them out the door!

Photo credit goes to We Heart Paper. I'll take some later with the envelopes and labels for posterity.

*More to come regarding our envelope labeling woes.

You're Sure?! {or, part VI}

I failed to mention in my prior posts that I had another trip out to SF planned well in advance. If you're close with my family, and you're going to be somewhere pretty cool for a little while, you can bet my mom will plan a ten-day vacation around it.

So I spent two or so weeks on my own again in New York: rejuvenated, happy, selling top notch dance shoes, visiting home and droning on to anyone who would listen- Marc's friends included- about how ready I was to be engaged to Marc. I felt.... crazy.

I met my fam in Newark and flew to SF.  Marc's family was there the week before us, and we had one weekend of overlap. Marc thought we should go to a tourist spot on Friday afternoon, and he'd cut his last day at the firm in half for love of family. Or so that was how I interpreted it.

Instead he clarified over cell that he thought he and I could walk up to Coit Tower from his office alone. So we could actually hang out and see each other and talk before the mayhem of the 2-family weekend ensued. My folks dropped me off at his office, and the long, uphill battle began.

{our destination}

Propose, already! (The story of a ring, part V)

Another cut-to ::phew!::

The Time: Summer 2008
The Place: New York City-San Francisco
The Mood: Happy/Annoyed/Apart Again/Needing a Change.

The summer of 2008 was one of confusion and action for me. I loved the people I worked with at my restaurant day-job, but I was still stuck in the lunch shift after 8 months of "paying my dues." I had no energy to hit the pavement and audition, and I was deeply unhappy serving tourists in Times Square. Then, once I started getting dinner shifts, my mood did not magically shift to one of happiness and go-getter-tude. I had to make a change.