Thank You Gifts for Friends

My 5 best friends in college are planning to come to Kansas a couple days before the wedding to help me with whatever I haven't completed yet. So, I definitely want to get them something nice as a thank you gift. The problem is that "nice" cannot equal "expensive." Not that I don't want to spend money on them, it's just that I can't.

I went to a street fair and found these pendants:

But I'm not sure if that's really enough. (ps: i'm not sure why the picture is turned on its side...)

What do you think? What are some good gift ideas?

We Hit a Snag

As you know, we're getting married two days before Christmas in a town about 1200 miles from where we currently live (wedding: Kansas - residing: New York). So, obviously it's unlikely that planning will run 100% glitch free.

This particular glitch deals with the marriage license.

In Kansas, there is a three business day waiting period between applying for the license and picking it up. Meaning that if you apply on Monday, you can pick it up on Thursday. Additionally, it MUST be the bride or groom who applies and he/she MUST do it in person. So, given the fact that we won't have a lot of time in Kansas, this waiting period makes our timeline very precarious.

Here was the proposed the timeline:

1. Go back to Kansas on November 25th and will arrive home after the office closes.
2. Apply for a licence on November 27th.
3. go back to NY on Sunday, November 29th.
4. fly into Kansas on Friday, December 18th in the late evening.
5. pick up the application on Monday, December 21st.
6. Wednesday, Dec 23 we get married!

The hitch in our getalong: The office where you apply for a marriage licence is CLOSED on November 27th.

If you go back over our timeline, you'll see that November 27th was the ONLY day in which we could apply and still comply with Kansas law. I mean, the reason that we bought our flights on the dates and times that we did was because my fiance was busy up to our flight times and I wanted to fly with him. However, it is possible for me to leave earlier. So, I gotta change a flight and get myself into Kansas at least 4 business days before the wedding.

I tell you what. It's days like these I want to work for the government - the day after thanksgiving off?? Count me in!

Sole Mate...

source
I'm in love.

(And in case you were wondering: Yes. I bought them.)

processional ideas?

Source



Source

Did any of you do nontraditional wedding processionals?

My fiance seems up for not doing the typical stuff. And I'm not going to have my father give me away. And I'm not sure how I feel about people staring at me as I walk down the aisle...

I talked to my pastor about this and he said that he's been to weddings where there weren't processionals at all... but they were done by people "who eat granola." (I think he meant hippies :) ) I like granola? But, then he said that there is a legit reason for the processional which was that it sets the mood for the solemnity of the occasion.

What do you think? What have you seen/done that worked?

photographer issues

I don't think I've mentioned this on my blog before but about a month ago, my photographer quit. The only reason that I can write about it so calmly now is that I've found someone new (haha - blog spoiler!). But, it's worthy of a post I think.

Before starting out, I want to say that I feel no ill will towards my first photographer. Despite the fact that she quit a few months before the wedding, she was very professional about it. She wrote me an email saying:

I have some bad news. Because of the way this semester is going in terms of classes and my major, I have chosen to stop business for a while. I'm approaching graduation and it has become apparent that 100% of my focus needs to go towards school and internships. In order to do so, I am not doing photography anymore (for a couple years, anyways). I would feel that I was not providing my best service to you and your wedding because I would not be able to prepare properly for the event.

However, I have found a photographer (who I feel meets your style preference even more than I do!). I have copied her in this email so that you can contact her. Ask to see her recent maternity photos and her Cardboard Confession Series- those two albums will give you a taste of her style.

I am sorry for any complications this sudden change may cause. Passing on a wedding is a very big decision on my end, and I would only recommend someone who I would trust to provide a service and the products at the same quality as I would, if not better!

If you agree that she fits the expectations you have in the line of photography, I agree to prepare as much as possible for the event (walking through locations, providing a back up camera/flash, providing a checklist, etc).

All in all, I'm not that angry at her. She was honest and offered to help me find a new one. Unfortunately, it turned out that the girl she suggested didn't think she could do the wedding either.

So it was back to the drawing board for me.

I blanket emailed every photographer in the Lawrence/Kansas City photographer looking for someone to give me the same deal the last photographer would. That was hard because I had quite the deal: Free photographs. $100 for editing. Pay extra for prints.

Granted, this is not much but, as I've mentioned before, my fiance and I are paying for this wedding out of our own meager pockets. Also, she was relatively new to the business and looking to build her portfolio.

Anyway, I received a lot of emails and I'd like to tell brides in the KC area that you can get very talented photographers for around $500 if you look hard enough and are truly strapped for cash (because they're either just starting out, or are nice enough to understand your situation and care about making the experience good for you).

I won't say how much I'm paying for my new photographer but he was incredibly understanding of my situation and I can't tell you how grateful I am! Also, he's really very talented.

These pictures are from his flickr page.

So, while I think he's only done one wedding, I'm SUPER excited. Aren't those photographs amazing?

Then, after I hired him, I got another email from a woman named Deirdre. She's looking for wedding experience and offered to be a secondary photographer for free. I say, "YES!" to that. Well, first I asked the primary photography then I said YES!

I got that photo off her website. She has some fabulous pictures of a child at a grocery store but I couldn't get it to transfer to my blog.

Anyway, I feel very confident about the talent in my new photography team. I'm a little worried about them both showing up though... I mean, there's not a ton of monetary incentive which is the risk I'm taking but! like I said, the talent is there and I'm excited!

surprise!!!!

I mentioned at the end of my last post that my best friend and here husband were coming in from DC for the weekend. Well, I was wrong. THREE of my best friends from DC, Iowa and Colorado came in for the weekend! Then threw me a bachelorette party with a few of my friends from here.

AMAZING.

They made me a Halloween costume (since the party was on Saturday night). It was the "Bride of Frankenstein." It was a black dress from H&M with lace and grey strips of fabric tied around it and had this necklace and veil:As far as embarrassing outfits go, it was really cute! AND we could go to the nicer bars in the area without looking like total fools because it was Halloween!

My friends all dressed as different phases of my life and things that I like. Like one dressed as a trekkie, one wore all purple, another was Audrey Hepburn, etc. LOVED IT!

My best friend had asked Bryan questions about our relationship prior to the party and then asked me the same questions to see how many I got right. I'd say I rocked about 50%. While we did that, we ate yummy fondue.
Then we went out to bars in the area.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

It's a walk-off!

Yesterday in my Evidence class I was surfing the net as I usually do... (yes I'm paying a TON of money for this) and I found this:


Now, my fiance and I love love love Zoolander and were pretty heartbroken to find that in our recent move, we lost it somehow. So, I figure that this is a perfect New York-y event for us!

So, after a couple meetings I had after class, I rushed home to change and eat something. By the time we get out the door, we're about 15 min behind schedule. I'm not terribly concerned about this though because usually for these events that benefit charities, they have some sort of speaker at the beginning.

Well, we get there about 15 min late and some girl lets us in the building. This is the inside of the building:
Considerably less legit looking than what I expected... Then, it got even less legit when we got to the door and there was a sign that said, "If locked, call this number:" So, I called the number and the girl was like, "We're not ready yet. We're still setting up." At this point there were 3 girls from NYU also there wanting to get in and we all sorta look at each other like, "what? we're 15 min late..." So I asked the girl on the phone, "Are we the first one's here?" Yes. Yes, at 15 min late, me, my fiance and 3 random girls were the first people to arrive at this event.

She let us in anyway. Well, the location was just some studio. I think it's usually a fashion studio? Anyway, let's revisit the flyer above. Doesn't it seem a little more legit than a projector on a studio wall that hasn't even been set up at 7:15? I thought so.

At 7:30 my fiance says, "How long are we going to wait for this to start?" "What do you think?" "I say we put a hard cap at 8pm and reassess at 7:45" "Agreed."

Around 7:45 the girl running the event comes up to us and offers us free drinks. Our drink choices consisted of PBR, soda (out of a 2 liter bottle), wine OR the advertised Orange Mocha Frappacino. Although I was a little wary of the concoction, my fiance convinced me to pick it.


It was NOT delicious. My fiance said it wasn't that bad though and finished it.

Then we realized that we were actually mere blocks from friends of ours so we gave them a call and asked them if they wanted to come watch the movie. They were totally in. and FINALLY, at about 8:15pm, the movie started. (and more people had arrived by that time)

Obviously, was totally loving it. And then, about halfway through, they stopped it.

...FOR A WALK OFF.

No joke.

Annnnd, after the Derelicte Fashion Show was over, the girl hosting came over to my fiance and I and asked if they could turn off the movie now and start the party... because we were clearly the odd ones out. and clearly the only ones in it for the movie.

so, we headed out and went to the friends' apt.

All in all, it was a fun night - not what I expected but fun!

(ps. best friend and her husband are coming this weekend!)