Thursday, June 26, 2008

ceremony location: ACHIEVED!

Warning: lots of pictures. Not sorry about it, just warning you.

I know what you're thinking---Shannon, you never update. Shannon, you never plan. Shannon, you're running out of time.
(Which is true, of course. For those of you counting, 126 days. Four months. Fuckin' hell, you guys.)
You, Shannon, are a terrible bride.
Well, that may be true. But luckily, the terrible bride has an amazing groom. As I have said, Greg The Super Fiance plans like a madman on his days off, calling dudes and checking webs. And, as I have yet to say, we are currently in negotiations with all our vendors.
You read me right.
I.E., this wedding is ALMOST PLANNED. It is so on. So let's show some pictures!

For a long time, we were in negotiations with the Joslyn Art Museum, since it was very pretty and directly across the street from our reception venue, the Scouler ballroom.
We would have rented out the Strauss Bridge, which features the huge glass installation of Chihuly's "Inside and Out." (Eliminating the need to have any ceremony decorations whatsoever, for how could mere flowers compete with swirly blown glass goodness)
Unfortunately, an early miscommunication gave them the impression that we wanted to rent the space for the entire night...about six hours longer than we actually needed it. When we finally cleared it up, they said we could hold our wedding there, but it couldn't start until 6...which means, if we still did the break that we are planning to allow for trick or treating, costuming up, and of course pictures, we wouldn't offer food to our guests until 8 or 9 o'clock...which is a little late for families to be feeding their children, and would only allow a few hours for dancing. So we didn't go with them. I need lots and lots of dancing.

Then there was the Holland. The Holland Performing Arts Center is a beautiful, beautiful place that I will admit I've been eyeing since before ever being engaged. It is a drop dead gorgeous building. The archetecture is clean and modern and it has windows for days...but early price quotes and capacities made us think it was out our reach.
HOWEVER, as is often the case with this wedding, luck smiled upon us and we found a connection...Greg works at the building, and since he is amazing and sweet and our wedding is on a Friday, we got a deep, deep discount. I won't say how deep, but let's just say if it were a hole, we'd be shovelling magma.
The main lobby is where most weddings happen...it has an epically huge staircase and an amazing sculpture by Jun Kaneko. We both like the drama of the main staircase, but it is a little extreme for a tiny flower girl (and a klutsy bride in heels) to navigate. And, as breathtaking as the glass stairs are, minty green doesn't really go with the whole "autumn" vibe.But oh, there is another lobby just beside the grand lobby...a tiny, unassuming lobby
with floor to ceiling windowsand a more managable, but still effective, staircase
A sweet little intimate space where we can get married in style.



Oh, and the chairs that come with the rental are ORANGE.

Destiny man. Destiny.

Friday, June 20, 2008

i'll be back soon

I know it's been a while, I'm busily working to get Shakespeare on the Green on...the....green. Working in the costume shop for fifteen hours a day really drains the brain, and when I get home, I really want to go to bed, not look at different photographers.

(reminder to self: LOOK AT PHOTOGRAPHERS. and then post about it)

I have a box of ribbons and feathers sitting by the door waiting to go to my fabulous cousin who is doing our flowers, and about once or twice a week my mom calls to ask if I have sent it yet. There is a meeting looming with our number one catering choice. Our rehearsal dinner venue has changed. Again. Probably. And maybe, someday, we will sign a contract with our ceremony location.

But I don't want to do that right now. I'm still very enthused about getting married, I'm just so very, very tired. And the thought of making decisions (and paying deposits) kind of makes me want to cry.

But that doesn't matter. Because I'm getting married in ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO DAYS, and decisions have to be made.

Luckily I am marrying someone who is both incredibly organized and thoughtful, and (hallelujah!) has Mondays off, and he has been doing the planning for me. Other brides, start your gasping now. And just to let you know---it's WONDERFUL.

Also, I just think, when I'm done...I'll be married. And happy. AND IN MEXICO.
Ahhhh, so THAT'S why people have honeymoons. I get it now.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Rehearsal Dinner

The easiest decision we made, other than our wedding date, is our rehearsal dinner place, The Old Mattress Factory.

I love me some exposed beams!
We discovered this amazing bar and grill right next to the qwest center on Memorial Day when we had no groceries and no where in the entire metro area was open for dinner. (Oh, and by "discovered" I mean "finally ate at that place that everybody else already loves"). Oh boy howdy, is it delicious. They've got burgers and brick oven pizzas and SWEEEEEET POTATOOOOO FRIIIIIIIIIES!! (which, for those of you not in the know, are on the short list for Greg and Shannon's Very Favorite Foods). When we realized they had a private room it was TOTALLY ON.


There's a little lounge area with leather chairs and bunches of tvs (quote Greg "so people can watch whatever sporting event might be on?") but there's also a screen in the eating area for a possible slide show. Or a constant stream of old school Halloween movies.

I'm so in love with this place that I even have little fantasies about using it for our other purposes...either for an incredibly informal ceremony or a very small reception. The wedding idea is out because, in the very wise words of the Ms.O.H., "you don't want your wedding to smell like food." And as for the reception, the 100+ guest list strikes again...we can hardly keep the guest list for the rehearsal dinner under fifty. Again I must mention that if I were having one of those adorable little 75 person weddings, our wedding would be totally different and mega cute...we could deck this place out for a reception and still have room for a dance floor. I'd hang lanterns from the low ceiling and instead of centerpieces, I'd hang photo mobiles from the ceiling over the tables with pictures of us, our families, and friends, and maybe some vintage Halloween postcards. Like so:

But as it is, I'm just thrilled to have an Omaha institution for our rehearsal dinner!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

god bless you zappos

I promise this is the last shoe post...for a while. I can't go cold turkey but I'll try to go lukewarm chicken for you.
...That sounded dirty.
First, let us discuss Nona, the saucy mink:
I lurve those pleats, obviously, but that Nona, she's a pincher. I'm sure I could've walked around in them for several hours without visibly limping, but they rubbed me the wrong way. Also, deep down, I know I wasn't meant to rock peep toes. I've got kind of chubby toes and chubby toes don't readily lend themselves to "peeping."
Oh man if I were in the market for every day shoes I would be all over these. They're crazy comfortable and super shiny, and even though they are pointy toed (which tend to make my size ten feet look witchy...and not in a cool hallowedding way) they looked really cute!
Also, check out the lining:
Pigs! What a fun little secret to keep in your shoe.

I wanted those shoes to work out. I liked the idea of Greg and I wearing red shoes together, and since they were just straight up pumps I could conceal all sorts of pads and doo-dads to make them the most comfy shoes ever. My only issue with the reds is the toe cleavage (see picture) which, again, is very cute on others but usually looks unintentional and chubby on me.

And as much as I love the reds...
Who can compete with orange satin? These shoes are so hot in person it almost felt adulterous to try them on. As soon as I opened the box Ashley and I both said "I like thooooooooose."
And they're comfortable! The most comfortable of the three! I could walk in these, I could run in these, and you know I'm going to dance in these...I think whenever you wear these shoes you automatically learn the samba.

So of course, I'm going with orange...Greeter Penguin, could you add some fanciness to this decision please?
(Notice the shoe explosion around Greeter Penguin. This is not posed, this is just the state of our entryway. Or you could say all the other shoes are bowing down to the awesomeness of these shoes. Even you, jelly shoes. Even you.)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

unforseen delay

YES, I tried on the shoes, and YES, one of the pairs was perfect. I have not posted about it yet because of a bit of circumstance--mainly, someone breaking into my car--has occupied my time with stinky non-wedding shoe related business.

Do not worry! Nothing was broken or stolen, in fact they actually left stuff in the car. Silly criminals.

But I'll post as soon as I can about shoes! And maybe I'll throw in some greeter penguin, since you've been so very patient.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

full of promise


Free overnight shipping, friends!

Perhaps if I send Simon back in one of the shoe boxes, I will get to keep all the pretty shoes?

Pictures once I paint my toenails.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

shoes! volume 2: practical perfect

Okay, so the feathers and frou frou will not be making an appearance on my feet...probably. A little too expensive, a little too elaborate. But I will give you a preview of my current Zappos shopping cart, so you may anticipate their arrival as much as I am. I had an ENORMOUS list of possibilities, and then slowly--painfully--narrowed it down to four.

Basically, my shoe requirements were pretty simple:
1. Shorter Heels: I love the way heels improve my posture and poise, but in anything above 2.5" and I start to clomp around like a newborn pony.
2. Comfort: Obviously, everyone looks for comfort in their wedding shoe. This one was rough, however, since I had to eliminate any shoe that got nasty reviews for comfort. Which means a lot of shoes that I loved, deeply deeply desired in my heart, were eliminated.
Farewell, Touch Ups Sharmain. I hardly wore thee.
3. Color? I'm still considering white, and will be ordering two pairs of shoes that are in the ivory family, but color is...intriguing. I love color. Especially in shoes, where my pale skin doesn't come into play with things being flattering. Greg will be wearing red shoes, so I'm also considering shoes that are red or can be dyed red.

These are Nona by Touch Ups. It is a dyeable shoe, which is nice for post-wedding wear and could potentially go red, they are pleated (bonus!) and I think it's just begging for a shoe clip...perhaps a bit of feather frou would be possible after all! These look like they would stay put and have the most support, but looks can be deceiving. They only have one review, but it is positive. We shall see.
Presenting Favorly, by Nine West. This is one sexy shoe. Surprisingly, Zappos had many reviews for the Favorly and they all said it was very, very comfortable. That is pretty much the only reason I am considering these in white. I might not even order the above shoe because...well...it's so...ivory. And why have ivory when you can have ORANGE SATIN:
OW! Look out, they might burn ya! I love love love these. And I'm thinking in person they might end up being a little more red, and could work with the red groom shoes. I may just order these and then, if they just won't work with the color, but are as comfortable as everyone says, I might send away for the cream option.
Oh Chinese Laundry. I have been a fan for a long time. And now you bring me Jaeger, with it's tiny little heel and pleats and candy apple red leather. These are Greg's favorite by far. They're a little plainer than I imagined the wedding shoe to be, but I could seriously rock these after the wedding is over. They're just really, really cute.

So hopefully I'll be getting a box from Zappos on Wednesday and then I'll be wearing these hot little numbers all over the place. Expect lots of booty shaking.