Wedding Blog
Details
Friday, March 10, 2006
Long overdue
Thanks to some technical issues, I haven’t posted a recap of the wedding day ... this is a *lot* belated, but here we go 
The wedding rocked. It was everything we could have wished for. Seriously, it was exactly what we wanted ... relaxed, informal and *fun* unlike so many weddings seem to end up.
The honeymoon was less good. We got caught in Hurricane Wilma as it destroyed Cancun, Mexico.
We have pictures of the wedding day, and the honeymoon online:
http://smeg.serveftp.org/wedding
and thats the end of the updates to this blog! Thank you to everyone who made the start to our married life so amazing ... we’re almost 6 months in, and its still amazing, thanks for asking
Thursday, October 13, 2005
W Day
It’s fast approaching!!
Tonight is when it all starts kicking off. My brother gets here later, my parents are here already. I’m picking Neil up from the airport in an hour or two. Dave and Lizzie will be joining in this evening also. It’s Beths last day at work, and once she’s home, we’re done with the office.
No last minute updates that I can think of ...
If you are coming to the venue on the bus, be at our house for 4pm.
If you are driving, be there for 5:30pm.
Ceremony starts at 6pm.
See you all soon!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Keeping up to date
We’re in really good shape right now. Beths new sized ring arrived today, and we have the orders and sizes ready for the tuxes.
Were going to sort out our marriage license today (will be three days till we can pick it up, you know, in case we change our minds!).
I’ve got to book some transport for the drive to the venue too.
Also, for anyone coming from the UK, or living locally, we are having a party at our place, the night before ... just an FYI
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Wedding favours
All the wedding favours arrived today, and they are beautiful! Boogsdad did a superb job on them all, and I hope everyone will be very pleased!
For the brits, you may find this as odd as I did ... but in the US a wedding favour is a gift to the guests, for showing up I guess 
Normally it’s something small, some candles or chocolate or similar. Well, seeing as the rest of the wedding is very small, we wanted to do something really nicely, so we have had carvings of our animals hand made, and each guest will receive one to remember the day by
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Invitations
We’re finally sorting out our invitation list, and Jessica at work is very kindly helping us with the invites themselves (ok, she’s doing them, I’m just bugging her with little details and big Excel files).
As is typical with invite lists, we have very limited spots on them, especially with the size of our venue. There are people in both countries we’d invite if we could! We’re also only sending invites to people who have already said they can come (or booked something, like flights or hotel). With the limited spaces, we can’t afford to have half the invite list decline due to travel restraints!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Registry
We’ve been asked several times what we want for our wedding, and we have no clue.
But, to stop people asking, we now have a wedding registry on Amazon.com.
Thing is, we’re both the kind of people who buy the things we want when we want them, so we’re not wanting for much. Therefore the list has lots of different stuff on it. From DVDs, to kitchen stuff to electronics.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Wedding favours
Now, I don’t know if this is because we don’t do them in the UK, or because I’ve never come across them before, but I had never heard of wedding favours.
Just to remind the others looking at the screen blankly ... a wedding favour is a gift from the bride and groom to the guests.
Now, usually wedding favours are something small and cheap. A scented cadle or some chocolate. We didn’t really want to go that route. We want to give something a bit more memorable than that ... a keepsake. We don’t have a huge number of people, so we can do that.
There is a gentleman on Pugvillage.com who makes the most amazing wood carvings of animals. So we got in touch and commissioned him to make some wooden carvings of Brutus, Buddy and Nikki. They arrived yesterday, and they are fabulous. Here are some really bad pics taken by me.
This is Brutus.
This is Buddy.
This is Nikki.
All the pieces are nothing but natural wood. No paints involved!
Here is a much better photo he sent to us.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
The tux
Diosa had been fretting that she wanted to get my suit for the wedding sorted out, and I’m not one to want her to fret. So last night after work we headed over to Mens Warehouse, a rather nice suit / clothing retail chain. They also happen to do Tux rentals (and this being the US, you have to have a tux for your wedding).
A manderin style tux and shirt. No tie. Much more me! The red vest to match Diosa’s dress too 
It’s a rental, and if anyone else is interesting in renting something for the wedding let me know, we can get you hooked up. You can be measured up to the day before for $20 extra (but they’ll hate you for it!).
If you want to see their selection, head on over here.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Wedding update
Things have been fairly quiet on the wedding front lately. To be honest, we’ve been so busy with other stuff we haven’t really thought that much about it. But we got our contract signed and returned, so that’s been sorted (finally. ) and I did a follow up call with Hilary today about the meal. It sounds really good, and everything I wanted. The menu is:
Beef tenderloin with gravy
Roast chicken breast (this way it’s pre-portioned, so no carving station necessary) with gravy
Roast potatoes
Yorkshire puddings
sugar snap peas and carrots
I decided to forgo the salads (Salads?! We don’t need no stinking salads!!) and just stick with that. We talked about the black bottom cupcakes and I gave her the recipe for that. I forgot to mention the change in the toast to her the last time I talked to her, so I brought up that it was to be non-alcoholic apple cider only. I also wanted to skip the hors d’oerves and just get on with the food. I mentioned the wines I wanted (a pinot grigio and a pinot noir) and arranged for non-alcoholic beer, soft drinks, mineral water and beer. She’s going to talk to Michele so we can get the pricing and contracts for that all set.
So the big things to buy/arrange still on the list are Paul’s tux, the rings, my shoes, and the cupcake tree. I am still thinking about making my bouquet, but it’s *way* too early to be putting that together. Also the candle holders for the place. Just need a few of those. At some point we’ll think some more about music for the thing and more about the honeymoon .
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
More wedding stuff
Smeg mentioned that I bought my dress already. I did. Here are the pics of it:
I know it’s not your “traditional dress” but it is totally me. I don’t like white dresses, never did and especially on me. I really wanted something that stood out and that really spoke to me. I looked at several dresses on eBay, but this one I just fell in love with. It was $99 on eBay and only $15 to ship. So all in it was $115 for my dress.
I also asked Smeg’s brother Andy for a very special favour. I don’t have any male relatives to walk me down the aisle or any variation on that theme. I had been kicking this around for a few days, and decided to call him tonight and ask if he would escort me up whatever passes for an aisle (or out onto the veranda if it’s nice out) and welcome me to the Jones family. It’s not the “giving away” so much as “Welcome sister-in-law”. He seemed happy to do it, so I really hope he didn’t mind me asking.
The next thing to get are the rings. I can still get jewelry stuff wholesale, and found some beautiful Titanium rings. They should only run about $100-$125 for both with shipping. I know how much they go for in the shops, so believe me, it’s a bargain.
I also plan on making my own bouquet, and Liz’s. I have some plans, but I haven’t decided on flowers or anything like that. They will be silk flowers. I can’t justify spending lots of money (even $150) on real flowers that will die.
I’m still stuck on the idea of a cupcake tree/tower and making black-bottom cupcakes. The only thing I haven’t worked out is how to decorate them. I’ll keep thinking on it.
We will need to schedule time with the chef at some point. I have a definite menu I want - a roast dinner. It’s not a challenge to the chef’s per se, but it will be interesting to see if they can get back to their roots so to speak and make more simple food. Roast beef and or roast chicken, yorkshire puddings, herbed roast potatoes, maybe some mashed for the Ohio contingient, roast veggies, and gravies. Just yummy simple food.
I loved the idea of the sparkling apple cider toast. I’m not a big big fan of champagne, and this way everyone can partake. Besides, it will be October.
So things really are moving along nicely. We have lots of time for everything. Mental note: must go tux browsing to see if I can find the one I have in mind. It’s a collarless shirt, so no tie nor cumberbund. I think that should work nicely. So we’ll have to do some scouting, me thinks.
Officiant
As you can see in the last entry:
Officiant: Any ordained ministers or clergymen, and justices of the peace may perform weddings. Out-of-state clergy need to obtain a Certificate of Authorization from the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth before the wedding ceremony. A non-minister or non-justice of the peace (such as a relative of family friend) may receive from the Governor, for a $25 fee, special one-time permission to perform a marriage.
Basically, anyone in Massachusetts can get a one time, one shot license, allowing the to marry a couple, legally. We’ve decided we want to take advantage of this, and to make the ceremony mean more, and be more personal than if we asked a random stranger to do this, we’ve asked Dave if he would do this for us. It would mean a lot more to us!
Monday, January 03, 2005
Important details
When: October 15th, 2005
Where: The Inn at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate (In the Tavern building).
280 Argilla Road, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 01938, USA
The venue is gorgeous (the photo on the sidebar is of the tavern). It is an old tavern styled building, on a large estate. The tavern can hold up to about 30 - 40 people, so it will be a very small, private affair. The tavern has an open fireplace, bar, patio.
The Crane Estate is located in Ipswich, and has brilliant views of the atlantic. The Inn is the larger building next to the tavern, and has B&B facilities. There is also The Great House on the estate, which is a large stately home affair. We feel in love with the tavern when we saw it’s photo’s online here:
http://innatcastlehill.thetrustees.org/pages/2638_the_tavern.cfm
The Tavern was built by Cornelius Crane as an escape for himself, his friends and his family. The room is built in the style of an old Colonial tavern with wooden beams and columns, an eight-foot working fireplace, suede covered walls and diamond-paned leaded-glass windows. A breathtaking view of the marsh, the woodlands and the Atlantic Ocean awaits you from the Tavern or outside on the terrace.
The Tavern offers an unforgettable, intimate setting for celebrations with friends and family. Overhead lanterns and soft lighting create a warm, inviting environment. The terrace offers an exception vantage point to take in the unspoiled vistas of the Crane Estate. Our staff and hosts offer exceptional service to your guests allowing you to enjoy the gathering you have planned.
For business meetings, the Tavern is a private room which allows creativity to flow. The seating areas—conference table, leather sofa, window seat and the Crane’s lodge chairs—allow the meeting attendees to feel relaxed. Windows on all sides of the room overlooking the ocean, the marsh and the woodlands provide a wonderful escape from the typical business meeting space. Our staff will attend to your needs with utmost discretion.
We couldn’t ask for a better venue! We visited today, had a look around, and have some semblance of plans already in place.
The first photos of the venue and the buildings and grounds around the tavern can be found here:
More details will follow!
Obligatory first post
Welcome to the first entry on our wedding blog.
A wedding blog? Isn’t that a bit ... well ... sad?
Think about it ... weddings have tons of details that everyone coming needs. There are a ton of details we need to remember and organize, and frankly, a blog is a format I know I can do all this stuff in, and share it with you, the reader and potential attendee at the wedding.
More content will follow, as time goes on, but shortly, I will post some of the things we know now.