4 months later...


i can't believe it's been almost 4 months since the wedding. crazy. and the thank you post cards are just about complete (whew!).  we really can't thank our amazing friends and family enough -  the help and support is so very appreciated. let's just say we have some rockstar peeps! so, to see how it all turned out, check out the amazing images from the Wedding!! We were also featured on the The Loveliest Day and A Bicycle Built for Two  -- which is also super exciting! the day was pretty damn perfect :)


anyway, i guess it's time that we start getting rid of all of the beloved items we've collected for over a year. if you know anyone in the market for some fabulous shutters or soda bottles, check out the 'it's gotta go' page (on the right of this page). 

Days 348 - 358 (holy moly 19 days to go!)

it's sept! now this countdown is for real. like really for real. while i can't believe we're getting married in 19 days, i'm actually feeling good about where we're at with the process and planning. we plowed through the to-do list this week -
here's the recap --

• finally made it to meet the elusive Vikki (former bride selling her stuff) on route 1 for her chalkboard sign frames! she threw in her chalkboard spray paint and a paint marker too, so we're all set to make us some new signs (and 1st need to figure out what the heck we need to write)
• we ordered some engagement pics to display in the courtyard during the reception and have started going through old pics to frame as well. as we're not doing a slide show, we now need to parse through the stacks of old pics and just select a few for display. this is harder than one might think.
• oh and we went to grey's fabric and found this amazing reproduced vintage feed sack pattern for the photobooth wall backdrop. i like to describe this feature as a de-constructed photobooth. it's going to be cool but just not the small red box that one typically thinks of for a photobooth. anyway, here's the fabric --

•  oh and the shutters...we did it! they are finally hinged together! what a relief to know that this crazy project may actually work as a room divider and they look really cool. just need to clean the remaining 3 shutters and hinge those bad boys together too! check out the handy work...(and to go on the record, liana did in fact help with the hinging as the trusty assistant who handed me the screws and hardware :)

cool, right?!

i feel like we've done more this week (a reason i should be posting more often i guess). last night we were able to check off so much from the last version of the to-do list that a new one has been created and there's really not that much left to do. this is crazy.

Days 211 - 237

wow -- so i'm a complete slacker, but the days have just been going by so quickly and all of a sudden weeks go by. but this just means that i have lots of updates.

1. we've ordered (and received this week!) our invites! that feels like a pretty big accomplishment and we're really excited about them. let's just say that they are in line with our green / sustainable ideas
2. we found a make-up artist and had a trial with lissa and she was great. of course we got all fancy on a stormy day wearing casual clothes and so it was a bit strange, and we both felt a bit, well, not like ourselves, but oh well. we're excited to work with her though.
3. hotel blocks are set and the website has been updated with details
4. this week we met with and booked our dj -- he was great - super laid back and seemed to be a good fit. now we get to really start to think about the music choices. and he liked our secret potential cute/silly 1st dance song...
5. and maybe the most exciting update--- it turns out i do not always end up with crazy eyes and awkward smiles in pictures! we spent about 3 hrs last saturday in harvard and central squares with ashley and had a blast! i think we ended up taking photos in at least 10 different spots including having a few beers in charlie's kitchen, a random alley in harvard square (that i'd never even noticed before), riding the redline, a quiet neighborhood street outside of central, standing outside of the middle east bar, among the funky murals in central sq, and ended up walking over a bridge across the charles river around sunset. the light came out just as we started shooting and the weather was perfect. check out the pics on her blog - this was the best idea EVER!

and with no real plans this weekend, there will be time to sit down and look at our to-do list. still feeling pretty ok about progress, but i'm just a bit nervous and hope that our ideas come together. it's brimfield antique fair time again and we're planning to go next weekend with the hopes to find any remaining 'things' we need for the space. 

days 152 - 172

wow - so i have absolutely no idea where the last few weeks have gone! i think i'm just feeling a bit like i have nothing important to say about progress and things. one exciting thing did happen today though - as you may or may not know, i like to enter a contest here and there and just found out that i won 12 custom wine wings from wine on deck. and so we need to give them some artwork or message to laser engrave into the wing. this should get interesting...here's an example of what we're talking about here-

what do we do for the design? and what do we do with 12 of these? stay tuned...i need to email this guy soon, so please send ideas if you have them. i'm not super into the idea of using our names/wedding date on this as people generally don't need to display another couples wedding info in their homes, but who knows, perhaps we'll come up with something cool,  that's just my initial thought.

what else? not quite sure, this was really the highlight of my day :)
oh i had an all day research study yesterday and will make $400 in a month or so and maybe i just had to take a small dose of some hormone, which in no way had an any impact on my very calm day at work today. totally worth it though, especially since we're thinking about doing engagement pics. let's be honest, i am really not that photogenic and often get what i like to call crazy eyes in pictures and could really use some practice in front of the camera. besides, how fun would it be to do some shots in regular, oh just threw this on, outfits in the places that have meant a lot to us over the past 7 years?! we're thinking harvard square --- charlie's kitchen , noir, and maybe even just between stops somewhere on the T. Anyway, not sure if this is really going to happen or not, but stay tuned.

days 140-151

so we got a fun surprise on a snow day last week --- a box of chocolates from burdick's (addressed to liana)! i of course said 'well you know i didn't send them' (which i later realized was rather not-so-nice). anyway, after we made some guesses who they might have been from, we were pleasantly surprised to see that ashley, our photographer, sent them to us! so excited to work with her!
jealous much?

oh and we also found a cool registry site where we can register for things other than the traditional registry items and include links to things/experiences that we know we'll use and love. the whole concept is still kind of strange to us, but people have asked about it, so that's the deal. it's very much a work in progress until we figure things out, but we both think this site may make the most sense for us.

what else? we're trying to figure out what to do about transportation the day of. i requested quotes on some school buses to use between the hotel (not that we've found any yet) and the venue. not sure if it's necessary, since we're in the city and things are all pretty T accessible, but we should at least consider the options, especially if we need to get a bunch of people from one hotel to the space. then again, it'd be kind of appropriate if we all took the T together (and i'm sure we'd have some fantastic photo ops)
any suggestions would be welcomed :)

so overall, still not too overwhelmed, but we do have a lot on the to-do list for each month. pretty excited to start figuring our our shoes and accessories though. my dress is pretty plain, so the plan is to find some bright colors and funky jewelry.

Days 64-75

ok so i realized that i started a post last sunday night and never actually posted it. i was doing way too many things at once i guess. so i'll give a brief update on the happenings of the week --

• super excited to sign the contract with our photographer ashley o'dell !! she is awesome and we both felt really comfortable with her. and she's from the midwest, which is a fun fact too!  as i may have mentioned, we're not doing a very traditional wedding, so having a photographer who gets that and will capture the moments is important. we're not going for the 'stand here, look this way, say cheese' images'. 
• we made our way up to NH on sunday and have acquired the chandelier!!! it is freakin' cool and  can actually be wired to use in a house. not that it will work in our small condo, but perhaps someday in some larger abode with a grand entrance way...

•  we also found these old bottles that are from the new england bottle company back in the day. we're planning to use these for the table centerpieces.
• save the dates are about done and will be mailed very soon. they look pretty cool too, i must say.
• the wedding website is up and running and will be listed on the save the dates. people can find wedding details there.

 ok well short and sweet today - more this weekend, i promise :)

Days 50-62

it's been a pretty busy week and we've made some good progress on things--
save the dates
we spent about 5 hrs or so last saturday on the living room floor figuring out how to use create the best water/gouache mixture, painting both sides of the post cards, stamping the front of the cards with both the blue and black ink stamps, and hoping that we'd have enough cards in total after screwing up a few of the stamps...take a look at some of the pics

 we plan to finish the back of the cards this weekend and to have 1 project completed
meeting with coordinator 
on thursday, we had our 1st meeting with ashley, our coordinator and it went very well! she totally gets our concept and we are ok with the logistics. she seems like a perfect fit with us! we can get all of our 'stuff' to them before the wedding and they will also hold everything for us after the wedding as well. whew! we were both getting nervous that things would not work out, that our ideas were crazy and would not come together, and that we were in over our heads. but, ashley and shane at AFH both seem to like our ideas and think we can definitely create a warm vibe with these vintage elements in the modern space. ahsley took lots of notes and will be sending us her spacial design once she draws it out in a CAD program - how cool?!  they also said the chandelier is fine and so i'm emailing the woman to see if she still has it and then it's off to new hampshire tomorrow i think.
getting excited for more craigslist and antique fair adventures...
 say cheese!
i think we're going with a photobooth! not a big red booth, but a simple, sleek touch screen from picture this. they have never done any events in the boston area, and i think we've cemented a deal with them :)
i figured that with all of the focus groups and research studies i'm doing, i'll be able to come up with the extra cash for this

Day 9

Not much movement on the planning today. though i did get a call that I won a $300 gift certificate for some beauty treatment (laser hair removal or facial rejuvenation or something) and scheduled a consultation for this thurs. after reading the yelp reviews of this seemingly sketchy establishment, i think i may cancel the appointment. apparently everyone 'wins' this prize and this was nothing special...so sad.

Other than that, i've been making lots of progress on research studies! and they are all single or 2-visit studies and so it's ethically ok to be in enrolled more than one at one time. read more on my funding the fun page for details.

and we suck and still haven't signed the contract with the photographer (no links to post ---don't want to jinx it yet). oh, i emailed this guy from cali who posted on craigslist that he's going to be in boston soon and wants to shoot engaged couples. i need to let him know we are probably not interested in buying much (or anything at all), but i think he wants experience, so that should be cool.