Brenda and Justin's Wedding Website

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Meet the Wedding Party

Wedding Details

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Visit the Wedding Site: Pictures and Directions

Read our Story:
How We Met, Our First Date, Proposal Story

Highlights of:
Diary of a Bride to Be

FAQ:
Exploring Colorado
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Pictures:
Brenda, Justin, Us
Wedding Pictures

Coming Soon:
Reception Menu
Honeymoon Itinerary
Links

Selected excerpts from my online diary through the UW, or Ultimate Wedding, internet site. I have met many really cool other brides to be through this site and could not have planned my wedding without them!

Abbreviations: DF - dear fiancée, FH - future husband, FMIL - future mother in law, FFIL - future family in law, BM - bridesmaid, MOH - maid of honor / matron of honor

09-24-2001 05:58 PM
It was very difficult to pick out my ring(s).... Justin found it in a local jewelry store, and when I tried it on, we just knew it was the one. The matching wedding band is really gorgeous.We got it in platinum--- and one BIG difference from the photograph is... we have sapphires surrounding the diamond. They are sooo pretty, a cornflower blue color and "picked" in Montana.

09-25-2001
So, I called our jewelry store today where my ring was actually IN!!! It had just gotten in today. We went down to Pearl Street, walked in and YAY! There it was! It was the first time I'd seen it with OUR stones. The diamond is sooo beautiful. I am thrilled with it. Unfortunately, though... it was a little too big! I had ordered a 4.75, but they hadn't made it quite that small, and I think I actually need a 4.5 size, after all. DOH! Anyway, they are going to size it there, and I should have it in a few days. OOOH this suspense is KILLING me!!! BUT on a happy note- the ring really is exquisite- much more delicate than we expected! (It was scaled down for the diamond we picked). Wish me luck! Hopefully I"ll be wearing it by Friday!!! (My fiancee's b-day is Saturday, btw- think it will be a fun weekend)

10-03-2001 10:43 PM

My exciting news: We got my engagement ring at last! I was just about ready to cry over how long it was taking to resize- and then we got it! Yay! It is even more beautiful than I could have imagined. Here's how he presented it to me: I've been just dying with suspense, waiting, waiting, waiting- and it either wasn't ready or our credit wasn't ready or SOMETHING. So today Justin comes in to Japanese class (we're in another Japanese class together:blush all dressed up in nice black pants and a blue dress shirt we'd picked out together on his birthday. He ALWAYS wears khakis (???) and t-shirts, so I was surprised, and said, "What are you doing all dressed up!!!???" and he just smiled mysteriously. Smirked, actually. So finally after class he admitted that we MIGHT be getting my ring this afternoon. I waited for him to be done with his class, had a nice chai and browsed through my favorite girly store (Meow Meow) and then met him in front of his classroom. We parked up on Pearl Street, and he kept smiling, and putting his arm around me, and looking MISCHEVIOUS! We went in, and got the ring, but I didn't put it on right away- Justin took it and put it in his pocket and pretended he didn't know where it was. heh heh. So then we went to the MED, where we had our first date, and had a nice outdoor table by the fountain (right near our FIRST table).... and had lovely tapas with wine. After sharing a dessert... Justin smirks some more, and then pulls out the box. He said, using the same wording, "Will you marry me Brenda" and I said the same thing I had then... "Of Course!" We kissed and I put on my ring. All afternoon we kept looking at it and admiring it! It's so pretty! And my fiancee is so wonderful!!!!!!

10-19-2001 12:32 PM
My Mom is here, and we're going wedding dress shopping tomorrow! Yay! I'm so excited! I hope we find something. It's her birthday (yes, she's a Libra girl) and so afterwards we will probably take her out to dinner. I think she likes Justin pretty well- He is a nice, sensitive Libra boy, which she appreciates.

Another news flash.... My Grandmother (mom's side) has offered to give me her wedding dress! She was married shortly after WW2 and the dress was hand made by her mother (who I was very close to before she passed away)...I had actually always thought that my Great Grandma would marry me, because she was a very cool lady minister... alas, that's not going to happen.. The dress has been hanging up protected in my Grandma's closet all these years, and she looked it over and apparently it's in really good shape- she said the satin is beautiful. Anyway, she's mailing it to me along with a picture of her and my grandpa on their wedding day! It was very sweet, when she called me to offer! I know it would mean a lot to her if I wore it. However, she was married at 18, and I'm 25, and I suspect that she was skinnier than I am now! hee hee. Of all the people possible- I would like to see my marriage as happy and compatible and FUN as my grandparents' have been. I just love them to pieces. When it arrives, I'm gonna probably lock my FH in our bedroom and try it on in the spare room Hope it arrives while my Mom is here!

10-27-2001 10:48 AM

Here I am in my Grandmother's 55 year old wedding dress. Their wedding was on June 8- and I'll be another June bride. I do think the dress is absolutely lovely, but I really think that I want to wear it to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was funny, last night we went out to a going away party at the catacombs, and I ended up chatting with an old friend of Justin's who had recently married. Well, she had the same dilemma I do- her grandma's dress had fit her too, but she really wanted her own dress, and at the last minute got her own. She said it was the decision she was happiest with- and was really glad she had her own dress to wear.These pictures aren't the best, but we took them in the spare bedroom with awful lighting- also, I was super tense, worrying that I'd get something on the dress!!!

11-06-2001 10:57 PM
Also, one of my bridesmaids-Toni- is being an absolute angel. We've been friends since sophomore year at high school, and went through a lot together- now she's married, with 2+ children , but, she's like a sister to me, and she has been the absolute greatest about helping me with wedding stuff. We trade dress pictures back and forth, and today she emailed me some really pretty bridesmaid dresses she found online. (She lives in Washington state). Anyway, she has been the sweetest imaginable, I'm really thinking that I will ask her to be my matron of Honor. I already have a maid of honor, who I love dearly and have known since we were 13!!! But I really want to let Toni that she's special to me, and that I appreciate her.
Justin keeps teasing me, saying I am just determined to have all my friends up there with me, and there won't be anyone on my side of the wedding seating!

11-18-2001 11:03 AM

I think I found my dress!!!

We had a great time Saturday (3 UW brides shopping for a dress, if you can imagine that)!!! First we went to Auers, which was tooooo spendy, then we went to Schaffeurs, which was not spendy but where the customer service is HORRID and EVIL (they "forgot" about a simultaneous appointment I had made for one of the UW girls, and said they couldn't accomodate us because the "service" would be bad. HA! Like they know the meaning of the word service. Ultimately she stuck us in a big double room together, brought us HALF of the dresses we asked for- noticably NOT bringing one that was "above my budget" that I had asked for, and pretty much ignored us. Whatever. It's all about the dresses anyway- though we weren't much impressed with those either.) Anyway, so just when dress shopping seemed like no fun at all, and more stress than it was worth- we went to this FABULOUS place in Denver called "The Brides COllection" where *gasp* they were super nice to us, and we had SO much fun. We didn't expect to all try on dresses at the same time, because we had only been able to make staggered appointments together, but when we got there they were like, oh, cool, so how many rooms do you want? SO we were all able to try on dresses right away. It was great. And that is where I found THE DRESS. I put it on and suddenly felt completely beautiful and like ME and yet a bride at the same time… And the girl helping us was super nice. Very helpful. And you know how a lot of places don't let you take pictures? Well, this girl actually helped us take them! She took fabulous pictures of us all. (gee, I'm modest- sorry guys, I"m in love with that dresss). Anyway, they really defined customer service. All of a sudden we were having a great, giggling bridal amount of fun- and got to try on the yummiest dresses. We tried on the craziest things. I even got to try on the SCARLET Ian Stuart dress I have had my eye on forever. What a dress, that's all I can say. Oh, one other thing, I may talk to the bridal salon and see if it could be possible to ad d more buttons to the back of the dress, so they go all the way down onto the train. And then I would only have it hemmed in the front (I'm on a pedastal in the picture) to give it the longest possible train.

11-19-2001 04:48 PM
OMIGOD
I am getting my dress. My favorite one, the strapless, gorgeous yummy thing by the Bridal Collection. That's all there is to it. Here's what happened:

I called The Bridal Collection to ask a few questions about the dress, and see how it could be modified. (I wanted buttons all the way down the back, and a little longer train.) The lady answered and we chatted for a bit- it is $50 to add a train, and maybe $80 to add buttons all the way down it. And then she casually mentioned, oh, are you getting this during our sale. WHAT??? SALE???? I said, incredulously. SALE???? I didn't know about a SALE!!! And she said, oh, yes, we're having a fall sale, 15% off all dresses ordered before Wed. :O Imagine my excitement. My only hesitation was, I wanted more buttons, and a little more train (I think....gotta try it on again to be sure???) and the price. so, if all goes well, I will be ordering it tomorrow, after I see all the fine print o'course. Hmmm... Oh! I am so excited and happy. I tell you , this is the ONE with a capital ONE! I didn't want to take it off- I felt beautiful in it AND in the pictures- a small miracle. Yay.

11-20-2001 07:56 PM
We are DEFINITELY having the reception and possibly the ceremony at the country club. DEFINITELY. We went and guess what? THere was this whole new room on the top floor we never saw! And... that's where we're having it!!! Yay! Actually, it's like 3 rooms- we get the whole top floor for our event. You go up this nice carpeted staircase, and then there is this middle room, with a bar off to the side, and plenty of space for the mediterranean buffet to be laid out... and then there is the dining area- which has great windows and a huge wooden balcony with a view of the mountains. So romantic. on the OTHER side, is a smaller room, like a board room, perfect for cocktails or just to get away from the party and have a private moment- and it also has a balcony, overlooking the side of the mountain, the mountain, and Denver. We looked down, and there were the sweetest deer below! Also, below is this great little grassy spot with a bench- very nice for photos or just hanging out. Now, we want to have our ceremony there as well, but there is a catch with that. We would pick the balcony on the 2nd floor for our ceremony. To get that spot, we would have to pick a night not being used by the member group- and they wouldn't confirm our night until 2 months before the ceremony. DAH! However, they are being really cool about the wheat free, largely vegetarian menu- even offered to use OUR recipes. I am so happy!

11-23-2001 02:35 PM
We had our Thanksgiving dinner, at Justins' parents house. They had turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and his dad had made me a gluten free/weat free pumpkin pie. How sweet is that! And little veggie me brought over my marinated acorn squash, stuffed with a portabello mushroom stuffing, spinach pie, wheat free french bread, apple pie and an apple crisp. My dad made the apple crisp.

12-01-2001 09:22 PM
So, last night I finished a thesis proposal and emailed it to my professor! Yay! It's about time I got one in. I've had the worst writers block about that thing. Anyway, I was so stressed and unhappy about working on it, Justin made me a yummy refried bean, artichoke heart, mozarella enchilada dish for dinner, and we went and watched TV in bed and drank a bottle of Champagne! hee hee! It was fun.

Then we got up this morning, and checked the mail- and guess what! The last two transcripts we needed for applying to the JET program (Japan Exchange Teachers) were in our mailbox! We were sooo relieved, especially because we need to overnight them on Monday! Anyway, so then we went to Pearl Street and I bought two hairbrushes from the Body Shop (mine get chomped, I don't know where they vanish too, and my hair snarls 30 seconds after I brush it.), and we browsed at Peppercorn, a foofie kitchen shop, and then got fries at The Boulder Cheesecake Factory. Bad Brenda, Bad- and I'm trying to do Weight watchers.... we were trying to kill time though, because as soon as we got there we found out there was going to be a Christmas light parade on Pearl Street at 5! So we went and watched the parade- 5,000 girl scouts in costume , and all kinds of community group floats- it was pretty fun. Afterwards, our car was NOT getting out of the parking deck, 'cause the street was blocked off, we had an eggnog latte (I'M DOOMED), also very fun, and then went to Foleys so I could pay my (ahem) overdue account. While we were there I saw the most GORGEOUS costume necklaces by a company called Monet. I LOVE them- they're $35 but sooo pretty- I'm thinking they might go well with my dress! I couldn't find a picture online, but I will keep looking.... so I can show you guys. They're kinda chokers, with synthetic blue and green (or lavendar!) stones and they catch in the front and dangle down a bit. They look kinda antique... anyway, Sooo pretty. If I could find a tiara/something to match, that would be so cool. But then, I think pearl type things would look nice with my dress as well.... hmmm........ And now we're at the computer lab at school, and Justin is working on a paper for an online class he's taking, and I'm playing on UW. Pretty soon I should go and work on my JET application... which is our OTHER project for the night.

12-03-2001 05:40 PM
So, all weekend we slaved over putting our JET applications together, and this morning Justin mailed them in! So now we are just waiting and hoping that we get in! Cross your fingers for us. Hopefully this time next year we'll be living large in Tokyo!!!

12-08-2001 04:46 PM
So, we were totally planning on going out on pearl street last night, but as I pulled up Justin called me on the cell phone and said Hey! Our apt. party is tonight- I'm over at the mailboxes, want to go? SO I thought, hmm, free food, ok! I meet him over there and find that our apt. complex has gone all out, and has a catered event with Spice of Life food! And free wine. mmmMMMMmm after all day of drooling over it! So, we park ourselves over by the wine table and eat yummy food- unfortunately I can only have the fruit, cheese, chocolate tuxedo strawberries and chocolate fondue. My life is hard. So we stuff ourselves on chocolate- HA, so much for a diet, and drink wine, and then think, OH Justin's mom would love this! (she's a chocolate fiend). So we call them, and they end up joining us at the clubhouse party. And I am enamoured with those chocolate tuxedo strawberries. I wonder if our caterer could make them? Mmmm yummy and cute!

Today I think we are FINALLY decorating the house, and going over to J's parent's house to help them decorate. Whee. ANd then tomorrow, we are going to a christmas concert. Yay. Time to OD on christmas spirit, I think.

12-18-2001 04:06 PM
Last night we went christmas tree shopping with Justin's parents- got a nice tree and a big bundle of branches (almost as big as our tree) for decorating. Well, it seemed like a nice tree, but when we got it home, we kinda realized it was a little bit of a Charlie Brown tree. But we love it anyway. Then we went out and went to Target, Foleys, and then did a quick run to Whole Foods for sushi making ingredients. I made vegetarian sushi, with our famous grilled marinated tofu (i marinate it, Justin grills it) and avocado.... mmmm.. Meanwhile Justin made a fresh wreath for our door, and then I discovered something awful. WE WERE OUT OF PICKLED GINGER! So, of course we had to run out to the grocery store (at midnight) for that before we could eat. such craziness. It was however quite yummy. We're waiting for the branches to fluff themselves, and then tonight we will trim the tree, finish up christmas decorating etc. Yay!

12-18-2001 05:08 PM
I am sooo excited!!!!! WE HAVE SET OUR DATE!!! Justin contacted the country club, and guess what? They had a cancellation, so we can have our wedding on Saturday, June 8th!!! Not only that, but Saturdays are member only dining nights, which mean no one can rent the 1st floor room and snag the balcony, so we can have our wedding EXACTLY where we wanted it AND have the reception on that great third floor room! I am so excited I am beside myself!!!! YAY YAY YAY! I can countdown to a date now!!! Oh my god, will I be able to get a photographer on that date? let's see- the cake comes with the place (by our choice- the pastry chef is willing to do a wheat free masterpiece for us), and I'm doing my own flowers, which is fine by them... umm, ummm.... OH! a minister! eek! Gotta get one of those too!!!!! Wish us luck- I think this week will be intense!

12-18-2001 07:53 PM
Something else I realized as soon as I got home, and looked it up... my Mom's parents, who I am closest to and would most like to emulate in our marriage, were married on June 8, 1946. On our wedding day, they will have been married for 56 years. If there was any day I would have picked, as being the most romantic etc... it would have been June 8th. When I realized that they will (hopefully) coincide, I almost cried. I called my Grandma today and asked if they would mind if we borrowed their wedding date. She didn't mind at all, and was very sweet about it, half laughing and half crying said she hoped it would bring us luck.

12-20-2001 01:47 AM
Guess what we did today! Put down the deposit on our site! woo hoo!!!! I am so excited! We wandered around and took pictures of the place!

12-26-2001 09:43 PM

On Christmas Eve, Justin went shopping while I made gift soaps at home... they turned out really well, by the way! Thanks Keilani! (a UW girl that made them first and told me where to get the molds.) I got some gorgeous new molds with things like celtic knots, a green tree spirit, chinese characters, etc... so fun! Anyway, then we went to the Denver Botanical Gardens. See how pretty?
Afterwards, we came home and worked on the homemade truffles we were giving as gifts... We used Ghiradelli chocolate, and made three flavors: espresso flavored dark chocolate truffle, one flavored with Cointreau (orange liquer), and almond flavored. mmmm. The espresso were my favorite- they were so creamy! Mmm! You should have seen my chocolate mess, though. My hands were COVERED in melted chocolate.

Then on Christmas day, I got up and wrapped a few presents, while Justin slept in a bit... and then we got up and went to his parent's house.

01-02-2002
Our New Years was great! We went up to Copper Mountain with my Dad (who had driven down in his camper), and got a 2 br condo with a kitchen for the day before new years eve, and new years eve! It was so fun! So they skiied, and I snowboarded, until our legs were about ready to fall off! Then on New Years eve they had a skiier torchlight parade, and a lazer light show, and awesome fireworks! We drank a bottle of champagne, toasted in the new year. My god, I get married THIS YEAR - in 5 months! Wow. Anyway, then New Years Day we checked out of our condo and skiied and snowboarded some more! Yeah! Very fun. It was funny to think, last year we were in Paris.... but this year was very fun too....

01-09-2002 04:59 PM
Well, I have some wild and crazy news. I think I am insane. Ok, so you know I'm getting my masters at CU. And this next semester was supposed to be a relaxing, recouperating thing where I finish my much delayed thesis. Well, I got offered a job I couldn't refuse- as a TA with 4 recitations for an anthro class! Oh man. What am I doing!!! The class is on The Tamil Culture (based in Sri Lanka and Southern India).... I don't know the topic very well at all, but apparently it's really uncommon to find a TA who does... and he has no anthropology student options, so based on the chair of my departments recommendation, he asked if I would do it! eek! I'm excited, scared, a little bummed- 'cause I thought this would be a relaxing time for us... but... what can ya do! It will look so great on my resume, and really help me if I'm looking for a religious studies job in an anthropology dept. Let me see, so far I've been a TA for religious studies, a professor in a PHILOSOPHY department, and now a TA for anthropology. Weird. Just call me professor Seamaiden.... Can you tell I'm still in shock? The money will make a big difference to us... maybe mean a good honeymoon? And Justin supports me in doing it...

01-15-2002 06:49 PM
Well, I've been busy today, on my day off from work, wheeee. We scheduled meetings with 2 other photographers (Betsey Holly and Paul with Distinctive Imaging) and already met with Travis Broxton. We liked Travis quite a bit, but wanted to look around a bit to make sure we have an informed opinion...

And then I emailed a bunch of officiants, ok, three... two women and one random guy.

We had a great day yesterday! It was our "one year since we got engaged at the trevi fountain" anniversary.... So I was at work, and Justin called and said that I should stay late because "it wasn't ready yet".... at which point I knew he was up to something. So I come home a little late, to find he had taken candles and trailed them down the hallway to our bedroom, and strewn red roses down the hallway, lit a ton of candles in the bedroom, and cleaned it beautifully, and had two of my stuffed animals sitting on the bed cuddling the rest of a dozen roses! There was also chilled champagne in a bucket of ice, and a bag of chocolate chips (for making chocolate fondue)! And, because I always complain that he doesn't want to watch movies, there was a copy of "Bridget Jones Diary" on the bed too. What a sweetie! Meanwhile, he hid in the spare room and came out as I was oohing and ahhing. How sweet is that! As a funny side note, it was also his dads b-day, so we went by to wish him a happy birthday, and then we went to the Med, our first date restaurant, and then came home to cuddle, drink champagne and eat fresh fruit dipped in chocolate fondue. oh, and watched the movie. All the candles were burning and it was so romantic! Anyway, that was our anniversary.

01-16-2002 04:29 PM
I think I'm going with davids for our bridesmaid dresses! I know, i know, i feel like i'm selling out, but honestly, the agony has been too much for me. This way, my girls are excited about the dresses, can express themselves, AND the colors should match too. I think we're going with periwinkle, and if it's more blue than I was thinking, well, they'll be holding deep purple flowers... think long stemmed purple and cream roses? They really look pretty in pictures, and this way everyone is basically happy! yay! It's funny, I looked at them a while ago and just sort of brushed over them, but now that I've looked at every BM dress designed in the past 10 years, I just want something vaguely simple, in the same color, that is vaguely lavendar. I am eager to see what the other girls pick out! I think my local BM and I are going to go to davids and try them on some weekend soon. Pretty cool huh?

01-22-2002 11:29 AM
We have good news! We booked our photographer! We saw Travis Broxton, Paul Haber----, Betsey Holley, and Travis recommended Bill Moore when he got booked for our date... sooo... we're going with Bill! He has a very nice photojournalistic style, much like Travis, and is very flexible with his package. I got to see a complete wedding of his online and was just BLOWN AWAY. We met with him and saw more of his work, and just felt that he offered what we were looking for- online pictures for ordering, he would give us proofs we could use in our album (though it was extra), we can buy the negatives after a year... and he seemed like a very dedicated,nice, serious guy who would pay attention to all the details. He said he gets "wedding butterflies" but he likes it because it gives him creative energy. He also offers an option to have an additional photographer, which is how the online wedding was done... and I was so impressed with that, I think we might splurge on that! He works with one lady who he really likes, and I think she really adds another dimension to the wedding. We're really excited to have one more thing taken care of. Now, if we can just find an officiant, we'll actually be getting MARRIED in june!

01-24-2002 10:23 PM

yay! We've picked our flowergirl dress for the little girl, and just need to find a slender lilac tulle skirt for the older flowergirl, with a matching satin top... My MOH, the flower girl's mom, found this on ebay...
02-05-2002 05:19 PM
We're going to stay at my DF's family's timeshare -and yes, my FMIL and FFIL will be there- for a week and a half at a condo resort on Captiva Island or the "South Seas Resort". Awww yeah! Pretty cool huh? There is a beach and a golf course- I'm so excited to play on the Florida beach- I've never even seen it before! Actually Justin will be there 5 days longer than me, sniff sniff, so I will have to return all by myself... I will miss him....

02-05-2002 06:00 PM
Speaking of my thesis- after drafting what feels like 15 different thesis proposals, I finally came up with one my advisor has approved! I agree, I think it's finally a good proposal, so I just need to revise it for a few awkward sentences, and submit it to him and my other committee members this Friday!

02-06-2002 04:38 PM
Hello! I have the most exciting news! I just got an email from JET (Japan exchange teacher program) and me, Justin, AND our friend Aaron (best man) who applied all have interviews! So we made it past the first screening and now just have the IN PERSON interview to determine if we get in and get to move to Japan! Our interview is on February 26th, Tuesday at 10:30- (we are scheduled at the same time, I assume we will have two different panels interviewing us)!!! So please be thinking good thoughts for us on that date!!!!!!!!

02-06-2002 09:52 PM

Tonight my bridesmaid Andrea and I went to Davids to try on the mix and matches. She's going with the corset top and flowing organza skirt and she is sooo happy! The color "periwinkle" is EXACTLY what I wanted. Not too blue, but a wonderful light lavendar. I love it, so we're going with it. While we were there I tried on shoes and veils... and I fell in love with this one! I think I've found my veil! I think it will look perfect with my dress! I will decorate the comb myself…

02-11-2002 04:29 PM
Hello from not-so sunny Florida! Hey all! Well, we're playing in Florida....... but it's overcast... wonder if I'm going to need my new swimsuits for anything but the hot tub? Poor Justin got sick last night, came down with some kind of cold, poor baby.. but we're having fun anyway. We walked on the beach... went golfing (ok, i didn't play, but I got to drive the golf cart- which was very very fun)....

02-14-2002 09:54 AM

So we are in glorious (raining) Florida... Justin is feeling better and we've had some fun prowling around on Santibel Island.. went to a very cool coffee shop named The Bean of Santibel and had breakfast at the Keylime Bistro... very fun...Here is a nice picture of him on the beach. My FMIL and I went shopping together too... (while poor Justin was recouperating in bed) and while we were shopping she wanted to know what kind of jewelry I liked! So I showed her some things that I liked... and the other day she went shopping with my FFIL and she came back to the condo glowing and saying I needed to come with her and look at this necklace. So we went out with justin's uncle's wife and looked at this very pretty necklace. The shop (Called Jungle Drums) basically treated us like in "Pretty Woman" where they tell you the price of everything and sneer like you're going to steal something, but my FMIL was determined... I tried on the necklace, said it was beautiful and she BOUGHT IT for me to wear with my wedding dresss. Isn't that sweet? I really did love it... am just hoping that it matches my wedding dress- it's so hard to tell when they're separate from each other..

02-25-2002 03:31 PM
Hey, we MAY have found Justin's ring! He is such a picky little thing, but this one co. Studio 311 has awesome celtic pieces that they will do in platinum, so we are looking really closely at this one, in platinum, with less of an edge, and with 3 gems inserted around the front (hard to explain, sorry I couldn't find a pic)- but we would have two tiny sapphires and a tiny diamond set in it to match mine!

02-26-2002 03:27 PM

So, we had our JET interviews at Embassy Suites in Denver this morning at 10:30!!! It was craziness on a stick. First, we show up and fill our our little interview/voucher forms and give them the passport picture, and are standing around eyeing the competition when the FIRE ALARM goes off. Lights were flashing and sirens were wailing and we all just stood around wondering if we were going to burn to a crisp on the third floor. Various people in charge (mostly former JET people) called down to the front desk who said, well, firefighters will be checking it out shortly... We all filed out down these stairs (they shut down the elevators) and out onto a balcony in the freezing cold, with snowy and icy steps down to the sidewalk... and then stood around in the lobby. Interestingly, one of the panel judges was MY BOSS for this web design job... so I chatted with her a bit and introduced my fiancee. weird, huh? So, turns out the alarm was a false one and we got to go up to our interviews not too much later. They separated the groups into 3 panels, A, B, and C, and Justin was in Panel A and I was Panel b. My panel had MY BOSS, a Japanese guy, and a blond ex-JET lady. THey asked some hard questions- my strengths, possible problems, what Justin and I would do if one of us didn't get in, etc.... The funniest part was when the Japanese panel judge started rapid fire asking me Japan fact questions, like, who was the prime minister, national sport, etc...

I got freaked out, because I know everything about RELIGION there, and some social aspects of history etc, but nothing about weird modern reality! SO i sort of laughed and said, well, I guess you've discovered my weak point, and they all kinda smiled, and the guy who asked the questions smiled (kinda loosening up for the first time) and said, well, those are all things you can learn there and it doesn't matter! *whew* Anyway. Oh dear. But the questions about teaching went well, and I felt that I represented myself fairly well. It was stressy though, because they had a table with tablecloth and water and three chairs facing this lonely little chair in the middle of the room for me. Eek! Hmmm... SO anyway, things went well for Justin too, though he had a panel of 3 rather serious Japanese judges... but it sounded like he did very well.... And we find out in April (hopefully) and find out where we get placed in May... SOOOOO cross your fingers for us! This waiting is going to be AGONY.

02-28-2002 01:20 PM
I'm agonizing over a quotation for our invitations! So far we are leaning toward this:

Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.
- Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery

(a few of the others Justin rolled his eyes over)

03-01-2002 01:58 PM
Brenda's Wedding Planning Cliffnotes:
First date: June 17, 2000
Proposed: January 15, 2001(Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy)
Wedding Date: Saturday, June 8, 2002
Ceremony and Reception Location: Mt. Vernon Country Club, Golden, CO
Rehearsal Dinner: The Med, Boulder, Colorado
Guest list: about 70 people
Ceremony time: 6:00-6:30pm
Cocktails: 6:30-7:00pm
Reception: 7:00-12:00am
Theme: Japanese Water Garden
Colors: Lavendar and Cream (with touches of magenta)
Wedding Night: ???
Flowers: my bouquet: cream roses and blue hydrangea.
BMs: cream roses with iris..
E-Ring: platinum diamond and sapphire ring.
Wedding bands: Justin: Celtic Infinity knot with sapphires and diamonds? Mine: platinum with four?? spaces for tiny diamonds
Registery: Hopefully The Great Indoors, Foleys, The Bon.
Shower: ? (MOH lives out of state. Might not have one.)
Bachelorette Party: I hope out dancing in Denver
Ceremony Music: ?
Officiant: God only knows.
Introduction of couple song: ?
First Dance Song: Enya? NO idea.
Florist: Doing it all myself- lots of floating roses in bowls.
Engagement pictures: taken by a stranger after Justin proposed, in front of the Trevi Fountain.
Photographer: Bill Myers
Dress: Bridal Collection Exclusive. (bah)
Veil: David's Bridal scalloped edges..
Tiara: probably a comb that I decorate myself.
Shoes: ?

Bridesmaid Dress: David's Bridal Periwinkle mix and match (corset tops, different skirts)
Tuxes: ?
DJ: computer and possibly friend Jesse
Invitations: Making them myself
Programs: Making them myself
Favors: it's a surprise!!!
Centerpieces: fishbowls with smoothed glass at bottom, lavendar and cream roses floating.
Toasting glasses: looking for "ai" love champagne flutes.
Cake: ? decorated with hydrangeas and cream roses?
Guest Book: making it myself with homemade paper cover to match invites.
Cake cutter and server: cha
Hair and Makeup: 1313 a Salon
Gifts for BMs: it's a surprise!
Something Old: ?
Something New: everything!
Something Borrowed: ?
Something Blue: Possibly
Honeymoon: We HOPE the caribbean.

03-02-2002 09:24 PM
I've been making mock ups of our invitation! I LOVE this homemade tamarind paper so much. And the envelopes are SO cool- note the funky shape! Our RSVP cards will be cream/white card stock

03-05-2002 08:36 PM

Today I.... ordered my bridesmaid dresses! And my veil! Ironically, though I let them all pick the style, they all picked the same top! And all but the MOH picked the same skirt! How funny is that! My MOH will be wearing the slim skirt, which will look great on her!

03-05-2002 08:43 PM
we went to a travel agent (not helpful) for info on the honeymoon, and to The Great Indoors to register! It was kinda fun, kinda stressful- since we are hoping to be in Japan for 3 years and will be storing things, picking out new things feels very distant- and we have no idea what our future apt. or home will look like! But we did pick out a really cool bathroom glass set- vase, soap dish and toothbrush holder- in cobalt blue, and a bunch of FIRE ENGINE RED Kitchenaid appliances. Yummy!

03-14-2002 03:56 PM
I got up to go meet the Co. UW girls at this place called Japango for a sushi lunch! It's so relaxing to just go and chat weddings and life and girl stuff. I think I hang out with too many boys! Anyway, it was really fun!!! I can't believe we will all be married in the next year or so!

03-15-2002 02:40 PM
well, I'm waiting.... on my dress etc. But I think we will get our paper this weekend and get to churning out the invitations. Pretty exciting! And we've also decided to include magnets for our family members and closest friends that have a little picture of our engagement pic in front of the trevi fountain on it! Oh, and Saturday we are taking our flowermaid out to pick out a dress that matches the itsy bitsy flower girl's dress (but grown up.) So, despite our freakishness, we are having this girl who has been like a sister to Justin be our grown up flower girl. SHe will be... 17? She can hold the 3 year old's hand as they walk down the aisle. Now, the thing is- what should I call her? Flower Maid? Flower Maiden? (this is for the purposes of the program)....

We picked our song! O Mio Babbino.. It is the love song from A Room with a VIew. Now the lyrics are a little weird, but it's about love, and makes my heart go flutter flutter, and it's in Italian, so who will know... this is a translation:

03-16-2002 06:48 PM
So as I mentioned to you guys, we took our (17 yr old) flower girl dress shopping today- after looking in every department store in Flatirons Crossing (DID YOU KNOW prom dresses are $170 now???!!) we decided, well, hell, maybe we should take her to Davids, and for the same (slightly cheaper actually) price she can match the bridesmaids!! So that is exactly what we did. It was a MADHOUSE, a madhouse I tell you... brides and veils everywhere- so crazy they didn't even stop us at the door, and we just went right over to the bm dresses. So, Becca, the flower girl, was the epitome of a good bridal party member and basically said, you pick, you pick... and she tried on the bm outfit, and it looked great! So we've ordered it and are crossing our fingers that Davids can get it to us in time (8-10 weeks SHOULD be ok, considering she lives here in Boulder...)

After dropping Becca off, we went and justin got to try on the ring he was thinking of getting.... AND we are pretty positive we are ordering it! Yay! This is it- instead of all diamonds, his will have 2 sapphires to match mine (there are 5 little stones)- a diamond in the front with two sapphires flanking it.... Isn't it awesome?!!! We'll get it in Platinum, i think... Isn't it gorgeous?

03-19-2002 10:36 AM
We are agonizing over our honeymoon. Last night me and my FH read every review ever written online, pored over every picture we could find (both by the resorts and not)... and we are just completely befuddled. We basically are dreaming of a caribbean vacation, but I'm starting to wonder if it is for us after all. My ideal is somewhere that is tropical (but not mosquito laden) with foofie drinks, some pretty architecture, and a great pool, fountains, and beach thrown in for good measure.

03-21-2002 10:28 AM
We decided! We decided! We're going to Dunn's River at Jamaica for our honeymoon! We were debating between Grand Lido Sans Souci (free spa treatments), Sandals St. Lucia Golf and Spa, and Dunns River, and after pricing them all out, Dunns will offer us the longest stay and nicest room on our budget... AND we were worried that Grand Lido wouldn't be lively enough for us- we really want fun parties and dancing and stuff, and it seemed more RESTFUL, and the rooms at Dunns River are my favorite... and they have theme night parties and things.... Yay! I am so excited! We decided last night, and then my beloved FH stayed up until the wee hours researching prices online.

Exciting news #2- MY DRESS IS IN! Yahoooooooooooooo! I can't wait to go down there and try it on. MY DRESS IS IN!

We are going to pick up invitation paper TODAY finally, and Spring Break is next week! Though I'll just spend it writing my thesis, at least no teaching!

03-25-2002 05:28 PM
So, today I went and got my dress! I decided to take it home with me, because I really don't want to have to go back and forth there for alterations, though I love the shop. A UW girl from the Co chat thread met me there and I got to see her dress too! I love my dress, but I guess losing 20 lbs really did change my size because the dress that fit perfectly now kinda hangs on me! Oops, I will need more alterations.

03-28-2002 11:24 AM
OH! Good news! I THINK we are booking our honeymoon today. Here's what we figured out. J has enough airline miles that we think we can get both our airline tickets that way! So, we are planning on flying to Miami, taking a super cheap Carnival cruise to Grand Cayman for five days, coming back to Miami, and heading over to Jamaica's Dunns River for 7 days! It will stretch out our honeymoon quite a bit and we are so excited. Justin did Semester at Sea a few years ago, and basically travelled the world on their ship, so he has a thing for ships and travelling. We looked into trans atlantic cruises- there was one going to Rome that we would have LOVED, but they are all in the wrong part of the world on our honeymoon dates!

03-28-2002 09:00 PM
JUSTIN BOOKED OUR AIRFARE AND ALL OF IT, round trip from Denver to Florida, and then 6 days later from Florida to Jamaica FOR $200 thanks to his frequent flyer miles!!!! We are so happy! The lady on the phone was super cool too- apparently she got married not too long ago and so was sympathetic to our plight- she even got HONEYMOON typed all over our ticket with asterisks in the hopes of an upgrade! neat-o!

We met with an officiant today- a big (VERY tall) man with crooked teeth and a scruffy beard. hmm. He seemed nice, but we just didn't feel terribly comfortable with him, and he was hard of hearing and complained about his back pain and short term memory problems. hmm.. Also, we didn't care for his standard ceremony, though he said he would be happy to work with us. I just don't think he's right for us...

I booked my alterations lady! I am meeting with her on April 25th. Two other Co UW-ers are using her for alterations (well of course, that's how I heard about her!)- and she's maybe a 15 minute drive away, versus the 45 min to an hour it would have been to get alterations at my dress shop! yeeah! She comes highly recommended by TWO dress shops, not just one. whew.

Are meeting another officiant tomorrow... am a little skeptical, but we shall see. AT LEAST she is in our budget. My FMIL called officiant contacts for me today, doing a preliminary screening. Wasn't that cool of her!

03-28-2002 11:37 PM
WOW! I am so excited! wWe have been peering tensely at computer screens all night, plotting our honeymoon. My FH has been such a trooper! I appreciate him so much for going to all this work. The big news is, it's all BOOKED!

Our plan is:
June 8: Get married (hee hee), stay in some nice Denver hotel

June 9: Have brunch with dear friends and close family
Set off on our flight to Miami and spend night in hotel there

June 10: Get on our 5 day Carnival Cruise to the Grand Cayman onboard the Imagination

Monday Miami 4:00 PM
Tuesday Fun Day At Sea
Wednesday Grand Cayman 7:00 AM 4:00 PM
Thursday Calica 11:30 AM 12:00 AM
Friday Fun Day At Sea
Saturday Miami 08:00 AM

June 15: Spend night in Miami

June 16: Fly to Jamaica! get in and go to Couples Ocho Rios for three nights!!!

June 19: We move to Sandals Dunn's River and stay for five nights!!

June 24: We go home after a Loooong wonderful honeymoon!

03-29-2002 04:50 PM
We got our officiant! Woo hoo! The other day my FMIL called around for us and we got some leads. We met with a lady from the Affordable Minister people- her name is Diane Reiss, she is very non-denominational, and an elegant, charismatic, artistic lady who will let us make our vows however we want, and just will generally work for us! I am SO relieved! And she's charging $225 including the rehearsal, which is MUCH more reasonable than a lot of non denominational types.

We liked Diane- she's a artist and does some sculpture etc, has a nice elderly husband who used to be a professor and they have a sweet little blind dog. While we were at their house, one couple showed up an hour late for their ceremony (they got lost, were driving from Wyoming) and she was very nice to them, and married them in her backyard overlooking a little stream. Not our style of wedding, but nice for a small private affair. Diane seems very take charge, is happy to "herd" the guests after the ceremony, and is friendly. Worked for us. And she has very distinguished, short, graying hair. She wears some kind of black, nondescript outfit for the wedding.

03-31-2002 11:13 AM
Today I think we're going over to my FMIL's and J's bro's little boy will be there dyeing eggs. I'm going to bring my bunny so he can have a real easter bunny to play with (under close supervision of course, he's only 3?)

04-01-2002 08:42 PM
So, i bought these shoes tonight at Payless Shoes... Dunno if they are THE ONES to wear with the dress or not, but they are cute (cuter than the pic really) and supposedly have a 3 1/2 inch heel...

04-02-2002 11:57 AM
I just had a wed-mare. I dreamed that I was getting married and I was wearing this frumpy handmade dress out of some cream satin with lumps in it in the middle where they hadn't bothered to trim the seam fabric so big chunks of fabric were just sticking out underneath for no reason. (alteration anxiety?) And then I dreamed that our wedding was over, and we realized our photographer had not taken ANY posed shots, they were all candids- and we complained, and said, you have 2 of you, why weren't any posed shots taken?? And he said he didn't know, but couldn't we just have candids to represent the entire wedding because they were cooler anyway. And we said WE ARENT PAYING YOU ALL THIS MONEY for NO POSED SHOTS, i mean, we love photojournalism, but this is ridiculous! So he relented and said, well, tomorrow(the morning after the wedding) get everybody together and try to do your hair and makeup and we'll do posed shots. Except the 2nd photographer wasn't going to be the cool lady anymore, it was some frumpy old guy! So we did that, and set out on our honeymoon, and I totally didn't feel married and I was depressed over the frumpy dress episode, but I kept trying to cheer up and think I'M MARRIED, yay! And then we went scuba diving and that was kinda cool except we went into this sunken boat to explore, and it was on a ledge that could go over if the weight was distributed wrong, and my mom was somehow on intercom with me worrying about going over the edge... so we carefully got out, and tried to start to swim to the surface, but I realized I was wearing regular swim goggles, not scuba diving goggles... and then I woke up. EUGH! Too many freaky dreams in a short amount of time!

04-05-2002 11:10 AM
Yay! It's friday! hey summer, no big plans this weekend. Except some SERIOUS invitation assembly. Oh yes, and I'm going to a dress & accessory trying on party potluck thing at a UW girl's house! It should be really fun. Three of us Boulder girls are carpooling together...

This morning my class went well, but one girl tried to read Jane Eyre during recitation! And usually she's a good student. I just don't get it.

I had weird Japan related dreams. I dreamed, I went to Japan and wasn't sure I got into the JET program, but I moved into this apartment that my dear friend (non local bm) Lara had lived in in Japan. (she did JET too). It was part of a house, and had a beautiful, tranquil view of the mountians and ocean. It was small, but such a nice space. ANd the whole time, i was like, wow, this just seems like HER space soo much, I can see why she loved it so much here. Funny huh? We should be hearing about JET THIS month sometime. sigh. If they ever bother to mail us our letters!

04-07-2002 11:53 PM
So today I had the absolutely best time at our UW get together at Allison's house to try on dresses, veils etc. I ran around doing errands this morning (oh, and was up until 6am making spinach pie for the party, bad planning on my part!!!), had to fetch my dress from my FMIL's house, had to pick up crackers for the party, got home JUST in time for Ashley's arrival, then we went and picked up Marianne and went to Allison's party. A little bit fashionably late, ahem, i seem to be cursed to never make it on time.... Once there.... Oh my gosh. Well let me just say that today Allison gets my "best and bravest chef in the universe" award for making wonderful HANDMADE lasagna out of rice and tapioca flour I gave her! (I can't eat wheat) And what a sneaky girl! She borrowed it and didn't tell me what she was making... What a culinary goddess! The get together this afternoon was so fun! Everybody brought wonderful, yummy food, and looked gorgeous in their dresses! I didn't know it was possible to laugh so much while wearing fifteen hundred layers of scratchy crinoline and sweating profusely....

04-09-2002 08:46 PM
Wellllllll guess what guys??? We both are going to Japan! We got our acceptance letters TODAY! We went to the mailbox and checked, and there were two big envelopes with our names on them.... we traded, so I could open his and he could open mine (we were scared!!!) and I opened his and Said "YOU"RE IN" and hugged Justin, and he opened mine, and said, "SO ARE YOU!!!"

So today all we've been doing is running around telling everyone that we're GOING!!! Yay! Went over to my FIL's house, and told them, went over to Justin's GM & parents' house and told them... called my Mom and Dad.... So now everybody knows!! Yeah!

Earlier we went and got ribbon to finish the invitations, and then went to a tux shop (Mr. Neats) and ordered Justin's Tux- he went with a 2 button jacket by Perry Ellis, with a pleated shirt and black vest and black bow tie.

04-12-2002 09:54 AM
Last night I was feeling so stressed (finished our invitations, the inner envelope part anyway- no more ribbon tying, thank god), and unhappy over students and teaching and EVERYTHING that J and I went for a walk at 10:30 or so, walked all the way to his GM Brian's house and hung out there for a bit before walking home. It was a good stress relief- i like late night walks with my sweetie.

04-19-2002 07:49 PM
Last night J and i were bored and hungry and not feeling well, but not wanting to cook, so we went out to the Country Kitchen in Longmont. (plain, bland food sounded good) We had a buffet like the mundane little creatures we are, and then wandered the mall. WELL it is prom season, as you know (thank god) and there were all these teenager shops with prom dresses and platform dress shoes! Soooo I bought a pair of pearly white, 5 inch heel shoes! I do like the ones I got at Payless, but, my boy is a FOOT taller than me, I want to look waif like and beautiful, not like a little shrimpy thing next to him. SO we shall see. They are cute, and sexy, and not PRECISELY comfy, but I figure I can change into my payless shoes later if I'm dying. I will post pics later!

04-21-2002 06:39 PM
So, I decided that I needed a new dress for the rehearsal dinner.. (Will be wearing my grandmother's wedding dress for the rehearsal itself)... so I went shopping today and bought a blue dress and silver shoes to match it! Also, the necklace J's mother bought me, hoping to match the wedding dress, goes BEAUTIFULLY with it, so I will be able to wear it!

04-22-2002 04:08 PM
I just booked our first night hotel! We are staying at... drum roll please... a deluxe king room in the Hotel Teatro!

04-23-2002 01:15 PM
So, my hairdresser has moved to 1313 a salon, and I just made an appointment with her to talk about hair styles. whew. So all day I've been poring over hair styles, both for me and my bm's.

04-23-2002 05:58 PM

Wow, i got trial hair! Wasn't really expecting it, but i came in for a consultation with my hairdresser and showed her the pics on my laptop, and.... she was like, well, shall we play with your hair a bit? (at no extra charge) So here are some pics of it- the curls will ultimately be more sculpted and shiny, and there will be more of them I think.... but I like the tendrils and the overall look a lot!

04-25-2002 12:10 PM
So I had my fitting today- eek! First I got lost (leave it to me) and was late, so her 2nd appointment arrived... I got to hang out on her couch and peruse the bridal magazines... hey, could've been worse. Then, the fitting. I needed it taken in the sides, cups put in, the dress shortened in the torso, and shortened at the hem. why am I such a freaky size? I do still love my dress though, and can't wait for it to FIT! Aww yeah. My sexy shoes are PAINFUL though, just standing there.... I found my first shoes I bought, the payless ones aren't THAT much shorter, so you know, I think I'll wear them for the rehearsal. It should be fine... As for the ceremony, well, apparently I am a masochist...

04-25-2002 01:28 PM
My Mom and Grandma went shopping and found a dress for my grandma to wear to the wedding! At David's Bridal no less!

04-26-2002 10:44 PM
My car wouldn't start after my long teaching day was FINALLY OVER! It's sitting on University, dead as a doornail. I do NOT need to spend more right now on my CAR! So J came and picked me up and we went to HAPA because I was too depressed to face the car problem. Guess we'll get it towed tomorrow? Oh please let it just be the battery....

04-30-2002 04:49 PM
By the way, turns out the only thing wrong with my car was the connection to the battery! Whew, what a relief! I really did not need to spend money on it...

05-03-2002 10:04 AM
a dear friend of mine from HS called me yesterday! We had lost touch (both moved and changed phone numbers several times) and I, in desperation, looked in my old HS yearbook to find the number he put down, and tried every area code in Washington until I found one with a guy named Robert (his mom is married to a "Bob", close enough) and left a message on his mom's answering machine (not sure it was them even) saying I was trying to reach Chris. Well, this was a month ago, and his mom just gave him the message! It was so good to talk to him! He's living in Ca.... got married himself and would love to come to the wedding if he can swing it. Awww, i am so happy!

Today is the LAST DAY I teach my recitations! awww yeah! I am so happy to have this one stress out of the way. Yesterday I cleaned house like a mad woman, moving furniture, and sorting out stuff to give away.

05-04-2002 09:49 AM
So last night was awesome! We had a bachelorette party for a UW girl, Allison. A group of us met at my house and then drove to Denver to the Purple Martini, where we met Val! People were falling all over themselves to buy drinks for the bachelorette (and us too!) hee hee... After that we walked over to Sing Sing, a crazy dueling piano bar thing, where you sing along whenever you can and do all kinds of crazy dances and scream and give them money to play your songs and embarass your friends... of course they serenaded Allison at the piano... and we sang, and screamed, and danced at our table (but not ON the table) and had a overall great time! The piano people called all the "special" people up, birthdays and of course us 5 bachelorettes!!! and we got to dance onstage (dunno the song).... and we screamed like maniacs to try and win the singing competitions, and basically just had an awesome time. People were so nice to us! Anyway, then we all went to a nearby club, and Marianne and Val had to go home (sniff sniff) and Justin came and picked us up in Denver to take us home. (Elaine, Allison and I went into the club and danced while we were waiting for him.) It was great to dance, even though we were only there for maybe 40 min. or so. So, then my sweetie came and got us, and took Allison home, and drove me and Elaine back to Boulder. Now it is the next morning, and my throat hurts from screaming (we were HOARSE last night in the car), but it was worth it! An awesome night out with the girls, and my very first bachelorette party! whee!

05-10-2002 01:15 PM
We got our very first wedding present yesterday! and card! (I was heartbroken to not get a single engagement card, how silly am I, so I was really excited to get a card) This family friend who couldn't make it to the wedding arranged to meet us at J's parent's house (he was working on their landscaping)... anyway, she bought us a Red Kitchenaid Coffee Grinder (which we will use for grinding roasted spices etc.) How fun is that! They're always using those things on Food Tv and now we have our very own! yay!

I've been calculating grades and am now at work. whew. J is supposed to help me by calculating the last half of final grades while I am at work... but he's celebrating the graduation of a friend, so we shall see.

05-11-2002 08:41 PM

So, today Justin and I went to a UW girl's wedding (Allison and Todd's) along with a bunch of other UW girls! It was GORGEOUS. Her dress was gorgeous, the church was gorgeous, the tent reception was gorgeous... and of course Allison and Todd were gorgeous! First the ceremony was at a really lovely catholic church in Westminster, with lovely floofie pew bows with handmade calla lilies! Her uncle gave the sermon, and was really fun. Then the reception was at their new home, in a big luxurious tenty thing with heaters and everything... set up in the back yard with carpet inside! (a great idea!) They had designed special labels for the wine, which I appreciated a great deal 'cause they had pics of the Trevi fountain on them (Todd proposed to Allison at the same place Justin proposed to me- the trevi fountain!!!) and had yummy munchy food. Mmmmmm! I could have the potato slices with cream cheese and smoked salmon, the fruit, the carrot sticks with dressing, and the big tasty cocktail shrimp. And of course there was fabulous coffee! It was all very romantic- found out it's true the bride and groom never get to eat... poor things only got to nibble on their own menus! awww... but anyway, it was really terrific to see such a great UW girl's wedding turn out so perfectly!

05-15-2002 10:36 PM
I bought the present for my little flower girl! Other stuff- our wedding bands are in and Justin's is having the stones put in this week, so we're right on track! Yay! Ordered flowers and hope to hear about the order from them soon... I went with freshroses.com .... And we've been working really hard on our wedding web page... It's coming together at last, though isn't all done yet..

05-17-2002 03:24 PM
So, I have horrible news. A few weeks ago I went and had my teeth cleaned, remember? and x-rays. Now, I have never ever had a cavity in my life and so I've always been pretty blase about going to the dentist... but it had been a while since I had gone. Yesterday I get a call from them to say I have really deep decay in one of my teeth that may require a ROOT CANAL! Holy sh*t ladies. My wedding is in 3 weeks... My bachelorette party is in 2 weeks. I don't have time to have a root canal!!! what on earth can I do??? I am really freaking out here. They say, I can possibly put it off until we get back from the honeymoon but of course there is the possibility of infection becoming a greater problem and experiencing pain or face puffing up on the HONEYMOON! Right now I have a little itsy bitsy sensitivity to cold and that's all, but I am really scared. I have never had dental work before (except for wisdom teeth out) and I can't believe this is happening to me NOW of all times... I'm getting another x-ray on Monday so they can really advise me on the best thing to do...

05-21-2002 12:09 PM
looks like HOPEFULLY we can hold off until a filling June 27 followed by a root canal in early July.
I made a list of things I need to do, organized by when they need to be done..
This Week:

Today:
4) Confirm flower order with freshroses.com
3)Finish writing ceremony.
19) Make Justin order the limo
35) Try a final wedding cake recipe
33) FIND PASSPORT- where IS mine???
34) Practice first dance daily
36) Poke at Mom to find minister grandmother's ceremony..

Rest of week:
31) finalize music selections for ceremony
25) Meet with caterer and pastry chef Wed.
1) Sort/deposit our personal contribution for the wedding (thurs)
8) Figure out transportation details for our attendants and ourselves.
10) Find someone to do my makeup and go for trial run.
11) OR figure out what makeup i want to use to do it myself
20) Work on "Must-Have" pictures list for our photographer, show him pictures
23) Take a look at our registries and remove items that aren't available.
30) find necklace to go with dress. earrings?
35) Order/ find disposable cameras

Next Week:

2)Get stockings and underwear for wedding day (inc. 1st night)
14) look for rehearsal vases (Walmart) for floating roses
16) Get Justin some black socks to wear with his tux.
7) Do beading for my veil comb
13) figure out head table/seating
15) Make favors
18) Make out schedule for "day of" events. Be sure to let attendants know when they need to arrive, what they need to do, etc.
22) Make guestbook
24) Finish choosing and purchase our attendant gifts, gifts for parents and gifts for each other.
26) look for (cheap) lavendar hydrangeas
27) Pick up our rings
32) get together reception dance music

Week before Wedding:

17) Get marriage license (later)
18) Bachelorette Party (June 1 Friday)
19)Have nails done (June 7)
20) Do Flowers [/B]

05-21-2002 06:36 PM
I wrote our entire ceremony out (piecing together different traditions).... I am so excited about it! We have a celtic handfasting, ring exchange, and some other things... I think it really expresses who we are, somewhat traditional but unconventional as well.

May 22, 2002 10:15 PM
Oh i am so tired!
We went to meet with the caterer and pastry chef guy today and finalized our cake flavors, gave the cake guy a gluten free recipe ( I really like him, he seems like a nice guy that loves making dessert).
Our cake flavors are: bottom: lemon cake with rasberry filling, middle: mocha cake with mocha filling, top: champagne cake with strawberry filling.
The lemon cake is Justin, rasberry is me, Mocha is me, and champagne is Justin.
Then we finalized the food and drink menu- they are totally following our recipes! In fact I am providing them with the foofie gluten free flours and special gluten free tamari even!!! It is a mediterranean buffet. It will start with an appetizer plate w/ grilled veggies and cheeses (ham and salami as well, since I had them nix the pasta, I didn't want to be tooo difficult, and some people might like that ) . Then the menu will be: a sit down salad with balsalmic vinegar dressing. The buffet will have : our grilled tofu, grilled artichokes, grilled portabellos (marinated in balsalmic vinegar dressing), vegetarian risotto, rosemary potatoes and a mediterranean chicken dish. For dessert, cake and a surprise, followed by coffee. *whew* Then we are hosting champagne and house wines (4 varieties)... I was up until really late trying cake recipes. It would help if I was actually big on cake. heh heh. And then I got up early to figure out things like head count (currently at 50, final number uncertain).
Tonight we met w/ our teach Allison (hee hee, dance coreographer) and her new HUBBY Todd at the Boulder Cafe for happy hour. Had a really good time, had an interesting seafood platter for $6. How will i fit in my wedding dress? that is however all i ate today, pretty much. hmm. Now however I am soooo tired that I could just fall asleep in my chair... too much baking, not enough sleep...

05-24-2002 01:15 PM
So last night J and I both couldn't sleep because we were stressing out so much. We're both really excited and happy to be getting married to each other, but the wedding details are killing us! Between the wedding, moving to Japan, money worries, and my thesis, we were both just hyperventalating and couldn't fall asleep, even though we were both tired. We ended up getting up and getting water to drink and talking about stuff, and felt so much better afterwards. First we told each other that the wedding is going to be fine, and we've really gotten most of the main stuff done, and it will turn out great. And then we were talking about the pet situation. I looked at Ra, sitting hopefully by his food bowl, meowing for food at 4am, and I looked at Justin and said "Should we give him to the shelter if no one will take him?" (Keep in mind it was 4am, and I was basically going out of my head with stress about the fact that we're moving to Japan to an apartment that may not take pets (won't know until JULY) and it will be really hard to find an apt. to take us anyway, and none of our friends or family wants or needs our pets) And Justin said, "We can't do that, he is such a loving cat, he can't go to a shelter." (Which is true, Ra is just the biggest love you've ever met.) And so.... for the first time, Justin suggested we try and take them to Japan. (We have two, Ra and Neko) I fully intended to give them to a temporary home while we were living overseas, but when we actually started asking people, they said NO WAY, for various reasons. I don't know for sure yet if we are really going to take them, but i was really happy to hear Justin say, "look, this is nuts, we should just take them with us..."

Then we went back to bed, and cuddled, and talked until J fell asleep. Unfortunately, I still had too many little details running in circles in my head, and I couldn't sleep as well... I think I got maybe 2 hours of sleep altogether.
Then this morning, i didn't have to work, but we had to do banking stuff and so we did that, went to Dot's Diner for brunch, and then J dropped me off at work.

05-25-2002 10:16 PM
yahoo! found my passport!
This morning I was sorting my computer music collection and progressing nicely (are using it for the wedding) until I accidentally deleted the whole list. Talk about a downer- I spent HOURS on it. HAPPY SIDE, 'cause I need to go there, we went to walmart and found fabulous square vases (4 in by 4) for the head table (where all the bridal party will sit- rectangular.) SO the guest tables will be round, and have round short bowls with clear marbles (or black rocks) in the bottom and floating cream roses and lavendar roses, with chinese votive candle holders (w/ chinese characters on them)... while our rectangular table will have these awesome vases down the line, with roses clustered together, and then matching square votive candle holders in the middle. I was soo thrilled- am going for a chinese/ japanese water garden look and everything can't all be round!!!

5-27-2002

So today we went to a UW girl's wedding, Val, and had a really great time! She had a beautiful outdoor wedding at the Dove house, and i loved all her details! Her colors were lavendar and pale yellow, with some sea foam green and she picked out the same flower girl dress I did, so I got to watch cute little girls bouncing around in our flower girl's dress! Her bridesmaids were in gorgeous strapless sea foam green dresses, and their flowers were absolutely beautiful. She had the same "bluebird" lavendar roses that I will have at my wedding in her bouquet. The ceremony itself was wonderful- the sun was out and shining on the bride's face and she looked absolutely luminous. A big group of UW girls and their FH's were there, which was really fun. They had several nice readings and I realized how excited I am that our wedding will be outside too! After the ceremony, we went inside for cocktails and appetizers. there was a very yummy smoked salmon appetizer and this mysterious mutated pineapple tree with fruit kabobs sticking into it... VERY fun! We had a whole table sectioned off for us (the UW people), which was wonderful... and we had a great time chatting. We were near this set of stairs that the little FG's played on... The first dance was very romantic- to "At Last", and I think it was the minister who serenaded them with a song! The cake was beautiful, and they also had chocolate dipped strawberries, which I was excited about. Since I couldn't eat the cake, the caterers gave me extra chocolate strawberries... YUM! The whole time Val looked like she was having so much fun- her BM's seemed to have a great time too, dancing to the music played by the DJ. Justin and I got to practice our first dance, which was good... though the DJ played the world's fastest waltz and we got intimidated a bit. There was a bouquet toss, and a garter toss... Justin claims he actually caught the garter, but a guest (gm?) "wrenched" it from him- heh heh, it was hard to tell. And a little lavendar flower girl caught the bouquet. We danced a lot, had some wine, chatted with each other, and just generally had a lovely time. The favors were sparklers and matches, which made for some crazy congo lines! Marianne took this picture of us with her digital camera...

05-29-2002 08:25 PM
my bachelorette party is Saturday, hosted by the beautiful Amber!!!! wheeeeeeeeeeee! Today I made J pancakes in bed and then we went on a mad rush of wedding errands before I work on Thursday. We went to: the country club to deliver our special wheat free flours and tamari (and pay our deposit), Pearl street to try and get our marriage license (turns out licenses are on 33rd or something) and also stopped at Hurdles to see Justin's ring on and to turn in my e-ring for resizing (down to a 4, darned diet anyway)... then we went by the Med, our rehearsal dinner spot to confirm our reservation and snag their cute business cards for guests, and then we went to Sally's for toupee tape (to keep me in my strapless dress and a sexy strapless jumpsuit i got for my bach party), and to Whole Foods for some veggie sushi in a box, then we went to Walmart for disposable cameras and more large, round bowls (they were out!!!) as well as cords for our handfasting... and then we were in the men's section and we found all these great clothes for Justin! His wardrobe is really looking beat, and he has NOTHING to wear on our honeymoon... or he didn't anyway. THEN we went to Joann's where I got tons of flowers for my flower girls/maids wreaths on sale, and cream candles for the reception, and floating candles... and then went to Pier one. GOD I AM EXHAUSTED.

05-29-2002 11:21 PM
Ok, so tonight I put together Becca's (the flower maid) flower wreath. Both her and the little FG will have these, and be carrying cream and lavendar rose kissing balls (HOPEFULLY). I LOVE the silk flowers I found at Joann's (75 cents per bunch) and hot glued them onto a canvas wreath. Isn't it pretty? I hope she likes it... *whew* finished the wreath for the little 3 year old flower girl... i think it will be adorable.

05-30-2002 01:18 PM
We are doing SO WELL on our to do list! I feel sooo much better after our marathon errands yesterday. This morning I went out and bought a guest book to decorate with homemade paper, bought a strapless bra to wear with the infamous fun bachelorette outfit, bought a pair of awesome black shoes to wear with it... And I'm hangin at work now.
SO, Justin had a wed-mare- isn't that cute? Something about our photographer forgetting to show up and we had to call him on our wedding day and reschedule pictures!

06-02-02 07:17 PM heh heh, I am sooo sleep deprived I have a lack of sleep hangover!

SO, last night was my bachelorette party, hosted by the beautiful Amber! It was really fun, and lots of UW girls made it, which was very cool. (Marianne, Ashley, Jess, Rachel, and of course Amber!!) My bridesmaid Andrea also got to come, which was nice. First, Amber came by my apartment and she had a surprise! It was a very cool banner, like a miss america banner that said "Miss Bachelorette" with red script, decorated with red sequins.... Isn't that sweet!!?? And then I got taken to... p.T.'s place, a club with a special "ladies" corner with chippendale like dancers on Saturday! We met up with Ashley, Jess, and Rachel, and Rachel brought me a present! My very own very long veil to wear for the evening! What great ladies!!! We went inside and there were bachelorettes as far as the eye could see. I have never seen so many veils in my LIFE! Anyway, the boys were, well, a bit cheesey- theme costumes? (cop, doctor, construction worker, cowboy, military boy) and super muscle bound. There were three boys they circulated: one was a musclebound, construction worker boy type, another was an asian guy who WOULD have been attractive had he not had a penchant for making weird Elvis like lip curls while dancing- and spending more time admiring his muscles rippling in the mirror than paying attention to any of the girls, and the last was a pretty cute "cowboy" with a more slim build and an "I starred in what you did last summer" look- you know, teen movie heart-throb look to him. His smile was pretty attractive- it was refreshing, since the other boys tended to just look mean when they were trying to look sexy. At the end of our strip club visit, three of us were brave and sat up at the stage and gifted cowboy boy with our little folded dollar bills and put it in his g-string, and then were like, hmm, well, that was exciting, let's go dancing!

Next stage: we went to The Church, a dance club in denver. They have a midnight sushi bar, so we had the slowest sushi chef ever make us sushi. (He also charged me and andrea TWICE our bill price randomly, but then made it better by saying, forget it, it's on me). Then, alas, Ashley, Jess and Rachel had to leave us... and Amber, Marianne, Andrea (bm) and I did some dancin! wheee! I was actually surprised at how quiet the Church was- usually it's jam packed on the techno floor, and it was positively spacious! I did get to dance with one cutie who COINCIDENTALLY hit on Marianne earlier in the evening (we were dancing on different floors for a bit). He was actually a pretty nice guy and even brought me and Andrea water. Oh well. So I was pretty well behaved all evening, didn't get up to much trouble *sniff* hee hee... ANyway, i had a really great time and I owe it all to Amber, my personal goddess of bachelorette parties!

Now, on Justin's side, his very wonderful friends took him out to Chinese food at the Orchid Pavillion, where he had a neat VOLCANO drink, and then they actually took him to Denver, to a strip club called "DIamond Cabaret" that is exactly where he wanted to go. He had a fabulous time out with his friends, and also behaved himself... I was really happy to hear about what a great time he had.

Things are going really well now, but I'm having trouble sleeping- no matter how late I stay up it seems I wake up early and am tired. This wedding is making me so keyed up I cannot force myself to get a full nights sleep....
Anyway, that was our crazy party... or parties, i should say...