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

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!

Heres hoping the rain holds off. At least it looks like it will be cool enough for the fireplace to be roaring

Time to arrive: 5:30pm
Ceremony: 6pm
Bar opens: 6:30pm

Important point to note for the people coming up on the bus, pickup will be from our house at 4PM!

I worked my last day at work this week, Andrew is arriving tomorrow, so I’ve taken a couple of days to spend with him. Monday is a holiday, so I’m working next Tuesday and Wednesday, then thats it!

It’s nothin fancy, and certainly no stretch limo, but considering it’s basically going to be sitting idle for 4 hours, I’m not spending $150+ an hour for it! Besides, as Lizzie says, we’ll be too drunk to care on the way home

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

Wedding rings arrived and are gorgeous.
Dad has agreed to take some photographs, and plans made for that.
Tuxes going to be sorted this week, as is car.

It’s getting there

It’s a nice day for an iPod wedding

professional DJs charge an average of $600 per wedding. A live band can run upwards of $1,000. If a couple has already plunked down $300 or so for an iPod or an iRiver, and spent hours refining their digital-music collection, it’s easy to see why a DJ might seem superfluous.

“What could be easier?“ said Lori Leibovich, editor of IndieBride.com, a Web site for brides. “You bring it, you program it, it sounds great. It doesn’t surprise me at all that more people are doing it.“

We’re doing “an ipod wedding”, and forgoing a DJ of any kind. Our venue is small anyway, and a DJ with equipment would not only take up way too much space, but be way too loud. We have a powered speaker system on a computer that should kick out enough volume (or can buy one for a fraction of a DJ cost!), and that with an ipod will be very compact.

Also, between me, Beth and Lizzie, we should have more than enough music and taste to pick out a good long playlist.

And at the end of the day, this quote from a professional DJ seals the deal

“From a DJ’s perspective, the music is not for you,“ she writes. “You are not playing your favorite songs. You are playing songs people want to hear and that people want to dance to.“

She recommends sticking to crowd pleasers like “YMCA” by the Village People and “Whip It” by Devo.

If a DJ playing at my wedding doesn’t think the music is for me, and isn’t playing my favourite songs, and even *owns* YMCA (or anything else by the Village People) then I don’t want to be paying them $600 to deafen my friends and family!

Nope, it’ll be an iPod and Digicam wedding for us

-rings ordered and on their way
-cupcake tree ordered and here
-shoes here, earrings haven’t been bought yet, but I do have a backup plan for that
-bought wrapping for the favours, and sat down and wrapped them all
-ideas for Friday’s party being kicked around
-bought thank you notes
-bought candles for the venue (that was supposed to be on the list, but was forgotten about until walking around Michael’s today)
-contacted the chef (and the wedding organizer) about the menu changes.  That’s all sorted now

So much headway has been made.

We still need to get Paul measured for his suit (this week sometime).  Andy can get measured when he gets here in a few weeks.  I have that hair appointment next Saturday as a dry run for the wedding,  We still need to book transport, but that’s coming together.

Now I just a few more things for my whole outfit and I should be all set.  It’s really coming together.