H: Quick update: They're heeeeeere!!!!

The flower girl dresses came in the other night and they're adorable! I can't wait to try them on the girls!

H: The Bride's Side

There are plenty of facets of our wedding that I haven't yet recognized, but there is one very, very, VERY important one that I haven't gotten to yet: the wedding party. These are the men and women who make our lives bright through their warmth, love, and friendship. I'm going to take the time to fully recognize them. This is the first installment: The Bride's Side.

Maid of Honor, Tracy Cosgriff.
Tracy is magnificent. Always there with encouragement, good wishes, love, and amazing fashion sense, Tracy predicted Josh's proposal at Disneyland. She is also absolutely brilliant, being the first and thus far only intern that the Vatican has ever had, and will do amazing things with her life. I love her dearly.

Bridesmaid, Robin Heady.
Robin is incredible. She possesses warmth and easy sensuality that makes her not only amazing, but a ball of pure joy. Her ideas are exciting and complete, she radiates positive energy and comfort, and she is dedicated to creativity and making things grow. I love her dearly.

Bridesdude, Andrew Peake.
Andrew is amazing. Just amazing. He is caring, he is passionate, he is generous, and he has a wonderful sense of humor. He is the most hard-working, dedicated man that I know and he constantly works (and I mean that literally) so that his principles of equality and justice are furthered. I love him dearly.

Bridesmaid, Jen Smuda Cotter.
Jen is fabulous. She is the most creative person that I know and also the most compassionate. She rescues animals that are in pain or in need of help, she is a strict vegetarian and has been for years, and she will give of herself with no expectation for anything in return. She can also bend wire to create an incredible ass head or a gorgeous pair of wings. I love her dearly.

Bridesmaid, Melissa Dahlberg.
Melissa is wonderful. She is my older sister and has always been there for me. She is creative and kind, and has wonderful ideas. She is one of the smartest people that I know and also one of the most generous. She has the most devious sense of humor. I love her dearly.

Bridesdude, Jeffry Asbury.
Jeffry is a force of nature. One of my best friends for years, Jeff was the guy that introduced me to Hayao Miyazaki movies and role playing games. He is resourceful and kind, and made me feel beautiful until I could learn to do it for myself. He is also the most hilarious guy I know. I love him dearly.

H: Flower girls! Flower girls EVERYWHERE!!!

Okay, so how cute is this?:


At the risk of writing a post that is too straight forward, these are our flower girl dresses. BAM!
They're adorable, they're appropriate, our flower girls liked them, and they ended up being 20% off! All in all, a wonderful find.
The search for them began, of course, with the selection of our flower girls.

*cue squiggly-Vaseline-covered lens lines accompanied by harp riff*

When Josh and I first got engaged and started thinking about wedding planning, we considered the various aspects involved with the wedding party; bridesmaids, groomsmen, ring bearers, and FLOWER GIRLS. Plural. More on that later :-)
I'm not overly keen on the idea of a ring bearer. The prospect of a kid carrying a frilly pillow with fake rings tied to it rubs me the wrong way due to my love of things being used as what they are. Plus, the idea of Jeff reaching in his pocket for my ring....I just like it. Same with Tracy producing Josh's. Okay, so ring bearer position OUT.
But who to choose for the flower girl? I knew, for starters, that I wanted an older girl. This is not to say that younger (say...two to four year old) flower girls aren't ADORABLE. I think my favorite was the little girl who was around three whose dress was just a touch too big and hung slightly off her shoulder. She meandered down the aisle not dropping petals before getting really confused and going to her Mom.
(Incidentally, I'm not being sarcastic at all. This WAS my favorite I nearly died from the cuteness. DIED I say!)
Regardless of this, it wasn't for us. I wanted an older girl who would walk in a straight line and drop the petals (call me selfish, but if I could get little satyrs frolicking and playing reed pipes to my entrance I would as long as the petals dropped. I have no clue why that is so important to me, but it is.) Compounding this is the fact that older yet still young girls are in plentiful supply in our family while really wee ones we'd have to hunt for. Josh has one young niece aged 9 and I have two, aged 9 and 10. Perfect. Now who to choose?
I loved the idea of having two flower girls, one representing each family as a symbol of our two families merging. That's easy enough, the two youngest are in. But humans love things that come in three's and I'm no exception, so with our numbers it couldn't be more perfect and a triad of flower girls was born. I think I'll get them little t-shirts.
I found these dresses at girlsdressshop.com finally ordered them on Tuesday. On Friday, I got a promotional email from the company advertising all of their dresses at 20% off, so I emailed and asked for the discount. They are obliging. Score!
This is one of the parts of our wedding that I'm looking forward to the most.

H: Fast times at Engagement High

Josh and I met and knew very quickly that we were not leaving each other, ever. Aside from divine intervention or the contemporary notion of falling in love, we don't know why. We have a slew of reasons about what you'd expect involving love and our life together (we get along, we're best friends, we're incredibly happy, blah blah blah) but there was something else there. Something that told us that this was a part of our fate, and when I say "fate" I'm not talking about the "falling into a mountain in the throes of martyrdom" fate. I mean more along the lines of "there's a higher power, and you can do whatever you want but if you go along with this it will most likely bode very well for you" kind of fate. We just KNEW. Hand in hand with just knowing beyond doubt or explanation that we were right.
What this translated to in our reality is two and a half months after we met, we had moved in together. A month after that we were engaged. Quick? Absolutely. Unusual? It was for us. Wrong? Certainly, absolutely and without a doubt not.

And apparently, we're not alone.
I've met more and more people during my engagement remarking that they KNEW that their mate was the one for them very early on in their relationship. A few of these I already knew about and needed no explanation; my parents were married six months after they met and just celebrated their 29th Wedding Anniversary while my Aunt Patty and Uncle Dennis KNEW after their first date (married 30 years now). But more recent than that, I've talked to other engaged women my age and several (not all of course) have remarked that they knew this person was their intended mate very early on in their relationship. By "early" I'm talking everything from the first date, to four months in the ring had been purchased. It's really interesting and often unexpected.
Josh and I wanted to be cautious with our hearts and had set up a timeline of when x, y, and z would happen. We had decided we would go very slowly, lots of baby steps. At least six months until we considered using the "L" word, a year until we'd consider moving in together, and another year until we'd consider marriage. We laugh about it now because somehow we accomplished all that within three months. *shrug* :-)

Regardless of the frequency with which this occurs, when we got engaged we still got flak from friends and family (all of which were young friends and family) thinking it was too soon. This was understandable so we knew we'd have to prepare ourselves to address concerns and assure them that - even though this was unexpected and not characteristic of either of us - this was right. Some of the flak came from expected places (my brother was none too happy but he's my big brother and that's his job) and some were unexpected (one of my now former best friends. Now THAT was a frustrating, infuriating, disappointing, but mostly heartbreaking experience).

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some places where we thought or were worried we'd find disapproval were the most supportive. My parents are an example of this, though not too surprising they were so supportive; obviously they understood as evidenced by their 29 years together. Plus, they're just supportive parents in general. I lucked out, I know. Josh's family was also very supportive and I'm very fortunate to be marrying into such a wonderful family.
When we got back from Disneyland (the site of our engagement) we immediately headed two places; Mom's and Jeff and Danielle's (Josh's brother-in-law and sister). Mom's reaction when we told her we were getting married was to walk up to me with a concerned look on her face and ask "now this is very important...do you have a date yet? Everything goes off the date!" Laura, Josh's Mom, gave me a hug and welcomed me to the family, and Jeff and Danielle were amazed that we weren't already married (or as Jeff put it "I thought you guys were going to come back married!" *turns to Danielle "didn't I say they'd come back married?" hahaha).

I had one set of amazing, wonderful, and timeless friends that I will forever be grateful for, and these were the darling people that said "Well, we're not so sure about this and we don't agree, but we love you and support you." Later on this became "we approve".
Incidentally, one of my best friends in the whole world pointed something out to me the other day. He said "you can disagree with someone; it doesn't mean you're right". I think that's one of the top three most validating and humbling things anyone has ever said to me and I'm very, very grateful for it.

We didn't do the "fairytale" love. There were no thunderbolts, no dreams in which a spirit guide says that in two weeks, four hours, 17 minutes and six seconds you will meet the man you're meant to marry. If someone told me that for Christmas 2008 I'd be getting a husband I would have said they were nuts (and then wondered if it was true).
We LOVE each other. The kind of comfortable, passionate love that some people can only dream about; the kind that sometimes will make my heart come out my eyes. When I fell in love with Josh, I felt like I had been let in on a special secret that was so very, very obvious all along.

Josh and I are happy. We are incredibly happy. We are incredibly, totally, and incandescently happy. Sometimes I think we're happier than two people have a right to be.
But what it came down to for Josh and I and was it still comes down to is that we needed each other. When that was over, we wanted each other. Now that we want each other, we need each other again. It's a wondrous and sometimes confusing aspect of life, but to be honest I couldn't be happier with it.

H: Saturday, April 10th. AKA Ridiculously Productive Day (Part II)

Hokay. So. Ze make up....
I'd mentioned before about having booked with Shana Beals from Shana Beals Makeup Artistry And Skin Studio in Sac. Her work is obviously good, she is obviously knowledgeable, and she is obviously very nice. One other obvious facet; she is obviously very, very expensive. $225 plus a $60 make up trial to have my make up done, plus $80 each person after that with a two person minimum. As part of the gift for our bridal party, we're paying to have their make up done and once I re-crunched the numbers, I realized that that was going to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to be spending on this portion of our wedding :-(
For a while, I'd been kicking around the idea of going with someone else that had been recommended to me by another bride that had used the Monte Verde Inn; Traci Lynn Makeup Design. I took a look at her work; yes, yes very good...
I took a look at her philosophy regarding bridal makeup (she's there to enhance what's already there). Sounding better....
I checked out her rates, and they were beyond reasonable, PLUS she was (and still is) offering a 25% off coupon off all her services. Seriously.
Still, I'd already placed $100 deposit with Shana so I wanted to afford both of us the opportunity to work together first. So I emailed her to ask if she'd be willing to negotiate her prices. Unfortunately, the rate she quoted me WAS the discounted rate, and she needed to be firm. I understood that.

Meanwhile I emailed Traci to see if she was still available on November 20th. She emailed me back to say that she was and would I like to set up a trial (which she currently is offering for free)? I emailed back to say yes I would, and she was then able to fit me in on Saturday. Perfect! We could head to the florist, then after the florist head to her studio.

Our appointment at O'Shays lasted from 11 to about 1:30 or so. Mom and I dinked around for a while, we visited the local Ross (and I got my church wedding dress! I'll post on that later!), grabbed a bite to eat at Starbucks, and then finally at 4:15 we decided it was time to head to Traci's place.
She has a beautiful studio in her home, very clean and organized. I was immediately at ease. She definitely knew what she was doing, bustling around taking out brushes and creams. I told her a bit about my dress and from that she created a palette for me that was just gorgeous. I truly enjoyed her and the time went by so quickly! Better yet, her work was so good! I booked her on the spot.

I learned a valuable lesson regarding researching. The make up artistry is thus far the only aspect of the wedding that I didn't spend a significant amount of time (say, 4 to 6 hours minimum) researching before I put down a deposit. Luckily the $100 I lost doesn't mean much compared to the money that I'm saving going with someone that I'm inevitably more comfortable with anyway.
After I emailed Shana to let her know that I wouldn't be able to use her services, she emailed me back with another less expensive option that - had she presented it to me earlier when I first asked - I may have stayed with her. But then again, it's ifs and ands and I'm very happy with Traci. I can't wait! 223 days to go...

H: Saturday, April 10th. AKA Ridiculously Productive Day (Part I)

What you see above are the flowers and other assorted greenery that will adorn my bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets, the grooms and grooms men's boutonnieres, various corsages, and Dondi's wreath. Yes, the Dondikins is getting a floral wreath. Oh, twill be adorable! :-)
Green cymbidium, lisianthus, seeded eucalyptus, green hydrangea (thanks for tolerating it, Miss Robin!), lily grass, mango calla lilies, and our beloved roses; circus and Leonidas. YUM!

Meeting with the absolutely lovely woman from O'Shays was quite easy, and between her eye for color and my ten-miles-north-of-apathy-regarding-flowers attitude (due mostly to the fact that I know their work is exemplary and I have nothing to worry about), we knocked out the floral aspect of the wedding! Oh, I wish I could remember her name! But she was so easy to work with and listened very intently to what I wanted. I was most pleased, and also most pleased at the price tag. Just over a grand. Not bad. Not bad at all!

H: Updates and other glorious (and I do mean glorious) things.

I just got back from a quick photo shoot trip with Jessica from Stout Photography, the most amazing photographer on Earth. I had SO. MUCH. FUN.
Jessica is simply divine. She has a genuine interest in people and a desire to get to know them that is refreshing and exciting to be a part of. Just as the plane was landing, she made the comment that there were so many people headed to Disneyland. I looked at her, she looked at me and said "You want to go to Disneyland???" to which I responded "YES!" Oh yeah. We totally went to Disneyland.
As for the photography shoot itself, it was comfortable, comforting, and again so much fun! I cannot wait for our engagement session in May and inspired by Jessica's style (inspiring being another word to describe her, incidentally), I want to be bold, be creative, be spontaneous! I cannot possibly recommend her enough.
Jessica is warm and caring, she's positive and has a beautiful nature coupled with a gentle spirit. At the same time, she exudes excitement (both she and her work are very exciting), strength and confidence. Mix that together and what you come up with is one of the most remarkable people and amazing artists of our time. I mean that very, very sincerely and I also can say with great pleasure that it was my honor to be photographed by her.

In other news, I've found a new bridal shower dress! It's summery and fun, with lovely blue flowers over a white base. I can't post the picture from the website so I'll have to get a picture of me in it, but in the meantime a picture can be found here.

Tomorrow we go to the florist, O'Shay's Flowers in Auburn. Very exciting! Figuring out the flowers is something that I've been looking forward to for a very long time. I met with a couple of the folks at the Monte Verde Inn tasting, and they were simply delightful. Again, exciting!