We Have A Winner!

The happy couple has decided on the color scheme of their wedding. And they are a beautiful combination of colors that will compliment the day perfectly. 

But that didn't stop me from suggesting the following...

"Since the wedding has an Italian theme, why not decorate using the colors on the Italian flag? Plus (brace yourself, here comes another great idea) since the wedding is so close to Christmas, we could probably get a lot of items on sale for the wedding in those colors, cause you know, they're Christmas colors too. (not done yet, here comes another one) Oh my gosh! What do you think about using actual flags to decorate for the reception? We could even put little flags on the tables! Whaddya think?"

As I began to hear the sound of crickets chirping, I realized that the bride wasn't quite catching my vision. 

And she was also giving me the stink-eye. (That precious look that only a daughter can give a mother when she thinks her mother has just uttered what might be the most ridiculous idea she's ever heard).

So my idea about incorporating the Italian flag colors into the wedding was "non va bene" (not good) but turns out,  it's "molto buona" (very good) for someone!

And that means the correct answer was A! And our winner is Jenette!

btw...I'm really loving the Lady & the Tramp idea...hmmm, might just have to bring that up during Sunday dinner tomorrow....

It's Time For Another Edition Of "Name That Bad Idea!"

***********Comments Are Closed!**********
 

It's Friday and you know what that means...no, it doesn't mean playing hooky from work and going to the craft store to look at fabric swatches for napkins...hmmm...

oops, sorry, got a little distracted there, thinking about napkins...

Ok, so it's Friday and that means it's Giveaway time!

Last week we had a post called "Name That Bad Idea" and I thought we'd continue the fun this week with another chance to win a gift card!

Yes, you get another chance to choose which bad idea I shared with the bride is actually true. And this week's idea choices have a theme...an Italian theme in honor of the groom's heritage.

And what's the prize this week you ask? Well, since we have an Italian theme this week, how about some Italian food? The prize is:

(1) one $25 gift card to Carrabba's

Here's how you play:

Read the three statements below and choose the one you think I actually "discussed" with the bride. One of the statements is absolutely true. I really thought it was a good idea. And then it was thrown out like a pot of bad spaghetti sauce. 

Leave (just one!) comment with your guess (A, B or C) and when times up, I'll put all the correct guesses in a bowl and pick a winner!

so here we go.......which one of the following do you think I suggested to the bride last week?

I thought it would be a great idea to...

A. Change the colors of the wedding to the colors of the Italian flag

B. Since our honeymoon 25 years ago was a disaster, take us with them on their honeymoon to Italy

C. Re-create the spaghetti & meatball eating scene from "Lady & The Tramp" for their Save-the-Date cards

Comments will be closed on Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern

Bouquets & Rice: Week 2 - The Rocky Edition

Some odds and ends from this week...

We're going back out there. Come sundown tonight it begins again. We're not gonna let it beat us. We're taking it to the mat. We've been in training all week long. We've been running, done hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups, punched slabs of frozen beef, drank dozens of raw eggs and have listened to the "Rocky" theme song over and over and over again...

...all in preparation for the big day.

We're going wedding gown shopping on Saturday...again.

 Yo, Kaaaiiitttllliinnn!

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Well, my plan to eat only foods that begin with the letter "R" didn't work out too well this past week.

Who would of thought only eating Rice Krispie treats, Ricotta cheese, Red Jolly Ranchers and Rocky (there he is again) Road ice cream all week would actually make you gain weight. And on top of it, we've been training all week to go shopping (see above).

Maybe I'll give the letter "Q" a try.
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Besides inheriting her father's level-headedness, love of list-making and general practicality, another gift the bride has inherited from her father is motion sickness. Yes, that happiest of all travel ailments affects two of our family members severely. Neither one of them can read in a moving vehicle, ride in a back seat or sit on a boat for more than 17 seconds without getting ill.

It's made some of our family vacations a real treat.

And since the happy couple are still discussing their options for the honeymoon, that means going on a cruise is out.

Sometimes boats can be a little rocky (I know, stretching the "Rocky" reference a little thin here) and even the big cruise ships will sway from time to time. And I have a feeling that the groom would rather not spend their honeymoon holding back his new wife's hair while she's "indisposed".

So no cruise for the happy couple. Maybe a train trip to the Rocky Mountains would be fun (ok, starting to get a little desperate with the "Rocky" references now).
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One way I deal with the stresses of planning a wedding is by escaping to our sunroom, turning on the Netflix and watching an episode or two of my favorite cartoon from childhood, "Rocky & Bullwinkle" (really!)

and so I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the squirrel and the moose from Frostbite Falls, Minnesota...

Rocky: Well, they don't call him Wrongway Peachfuzz for nothing!

Bullwinkle: You mean they gotta pay?

Couponing Through The Tulips

My love for coupons has wiggled it's way into the planning of the wedding.

Oh you haven't heard? Why yes, I'm the gal in line ahead of you, the one who has 32 boxes of cereal and a stack of coupons to match. The gal who has a buy one, get one free coupon for 86 cans of cat food...and doesn't own a cat.

(just kidding...I'm not really "extreme"...but I do have 12 bottles of BBQ sauce and 8 jars of mayo at home)

My problem is sometimes my love of coupons blinds me. Sometimes all I see is the savings, and not the item itself that I'm considering purchasing. And that can cause conflict between me and the bride. Case in point:

Me: Kaitlin, look at these! Pink boas! Oooo...and they're on sale! And I've got a...hold on a minute...(as I begin digging to bottom of my bag)...found it! I've got a 40% off coupon! It expires in 3 minutes but if we hurry and run across the store to the checkout line we can still use it! Oooo...what do you think? Wouldn't these be perfect for the bridesmaids?

Kaitlin: Ummm, no mom, I don't think pink boas would look good.

Me: But they're on sale AND I have a coupon! (the holy grail of couponing)

Kaitlin: Well, I really don't think pink boas are a good idea, even if they are on sale (she is her father's child...level headed and sane).

Me: *sighing* alright, I guess we'll pass...Oooo, (seeing something shiny out of the corner of my eye) what's that? Gold patent leather purses on the clearance rack! And I think the 40% coupon would work! Oooo, wouldn't those be perfect for..."

Kaitlin: *sighing* let's go mom (leading me by the arm out of the clearance aisle)

Now if I can only find a coupon for their honeymoon...

I Wonder If They Do Catering Too?

Magazines like these seem to be magically appearing every morning at our house...popping up in the most unusual places...

...I think we may have wedding elves that come in at night and leave them.

 Kinda like Santa's elves,

only they're dressed in white, 

throw rice everywhere, 

and wear veils instead of pointy hats.

The white tree with all the wedding trimmings Kaitlin put up in the living room last week makes sense now.

The Wedding Gown - Round Two

We went wedding gown shopping again...and this time we went to an actual store.

*sigh*

We made the appointment, drove into the big city, met with the consultant and then Taryn and I sat down in front of the mirrored dressing rooms for the try-on's.

And try-on's did we ever.

Not only did the bride try on multiple dresses, but throw in cathedral length veils, finger-tip length veils, veil caps, feathered hair clips, beaded headbands, fake diamond necklaces, fake pearl necklaces, heels, flats...good grief, I'm sweatin' just typing it.

And so after two hours, one box of tissues, three bottles of water, six dresses and multiple accessories we walked out of the store...dressless.

I'm starting to wonder if finding "The One" is sorta like those hunters and fishermen that tell you stories about the deer or fish that have always alluded them. That mystical 12 point buck that great-grandpa told stories about, roaming the forest, always staying just out of sight of the hunter. Or that 18 pound bass that swims in and out of the reeds, the one nicknamed "Bubba", that steals your bait but is never hooked.

But then again I'm sure "The One" is out there. Our very own "Bubba" is somewhere out there, lurking among the racks and racks of lace. And we'll keep hunting until we find it. Just as long as I don't have to do this:

Shopping for wedding gowns is not for the faint of heart...

And The Winner Is...

So the other day Mark found some items for sale online.
Wedding items. (drool, drool)
Burlap wedding items (drool, dro...wait, what?)

Yes, Mark was looking at wedding items online (why he was looking at wedding stuff on a Saturday morning I don't know) but nevertheless he was and he found some special wedding items that were priced right. He then sorted them by price, printed, color coded and collated them, and then proudly presented them to me and the bride.

"40 burlap table runners" read one ad that caught my eye. And of course I thought these would be perfect for the reception tables. It's a Tuscan theme, natural colors, a kinda garden motif. But the bride thought otherwise. I believe her exact words were:

"Feed sacks really wasn't the look I was shooting for at our reception."

Oh well. Maybe I should have suggested the butter sculpture of the dog instead.

And so that means the answer is B! And our winner is Sherry!

Coming up: The Wedding Gown - Take Two

Name That Bad Idea & You Could Win A Prize!

**********Comments Are Closed!**********

Over the last couple of weeks since our daughter has become engaged, there have been a quite a few discussions around the kitchen table that begin like this..."What do you think about doing this for ___________ " 

It's like Mad-Libs, just fill in the blank (the wedding, reception, honeymoon, rest home for your mother) 

And for the most part, those moments have gone pretty smoothly. The bride and groom have been patient even when I've suggested something completely weird. I just like to throw ideas out there when they come to me. I get an idea and then suddenly there is this sense of urgency that I gotta tell somebody or the idea is gonna vanish (this happens more often than I'd like to admit, get an idea and *poof* it's gone).

And since we're planning a wedding, guess who gets to hear those ideas? Yep, the bride (and sometimes the groom if she's not in the room at the moment, poor fella)

Now I understand that she has specific ideas about what she wants the wedding and reception to look like, the atmosphere, the lighting and all those special touches. And for heaven's sake, I know we all have different tastes.

I just didn't know how bad my taste was until now.

So in honor of bad ideas everywhere, we're going to play a game. And somebody gets to win a prize!

So let's get ready to play...drum roll please..."Name The Bad Idea!"

Here's how you play:

Read the three statements below and choose the one you think I actually "discussed" with the Bride. One of the statements is absolutely true. I really thought it was a good idea. And then it was shot down like a turkey the week before Thanksgiving. 

Leave (just one!) comment with your guess (A, B or C) and when times up, I'll put all the correct guesses in a bowl and pick a winner!

And what's the prize?

(1) One $15 dollar gift card to Starbucks

so here we go.......which one of the following do you think I suggested to the Bride last week?

I thought it would be a great idea to...

A. Crochet gloves for all the bridesmaids to wear during the ceremony 

B. Purchase burlap runners for the reception tables, sight unseen online

C. Figure out a way to get a butter sculpture made of our dog Lucy for the reception

Comments will be closed on Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern

Bouquets & Rice: Week 1 - The Odds And Ends Of Planning A Wedding

Some odds and ends from this week...

Well, there's no turning back now. It's official. Forget about getting the deposit back on the reception hall. And it's all because of three little paragraphs and a black & white photo.

The happy couple's engagement announcement came out in the local newspaper this week!
(thanks again Lindsey and Deidra!)

Living in a small town, word gets around pretty quick so most of our friends knew about the happy couple's announcement before it hit newsprint (and having multiply Facebook pages within the family doesn't keep things quiet for too long either) but as I was looking over the announcement I realized we'd forgotten to tell someone. And then the phone rang.

Yep, that was a fun conversation. :)
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Mark's role within all the wedding planning hoopla has been pretty minimal. And of course he likes it that way. But every so often he'll casually mention a suggestion that he has given some thought too (usually he prints out his suggestions and collates them for us...yeah, he's that guy) and this week he had two. And they were both about the wedding gown. (no, we didn't change our minds about the Kardashian dress)

Mark's suggestions about the wedding gown were the following:

1. Why don't we try to find a wedding gown at Goodwill?
2. Why don't we try to find a wedding gown at the flea market?

After the first suggestion, Kaitlin looked over at me and I shook my head "no" ever-so-slightly. After the second suggestion, Kaitlin looked over at me and I began hitting my head repeatedly on the coffee table. Surprisingly he didn't have much to say after that.
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In the quest to lose 782 pounds in the 6 months before the wedding, I have begun to consider some alternative methods of weight loss...and this week I came up with this plan...

I'm going to only eat foods that begin with the letter "R"--

foods such as Rice, Radishes,...Reese's peanut butter cups, Red velvet cake, my friend Mary's Really good chicken & dumplings...
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We're going wedding gown shopping this weekend...*insert-mother-realizing-daughter-is-really-getting-married-sigh-here* sniff, sniff

The Vegetable Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken

My daughter has been engaged for about 6 1/2 minutes and we've already had our first fight disagreement.

Over green beans.

For the record, let's just go ahead and get who wants green beans and who doesn't want green beans out there in the open.

I'm pro-bean. She's anti-bean. (and if you ask me, it's just plain un-American to be anti-bean.)

Now we're not talking your run-of-the-mill green beans. We're talking about Italian Green Beans. Those big, flat, green beauties that we consume by the gallon around here at Sunday Dinner (we live in the South, and in order to do so, it's required that we eat a huge, fat-filled, butter-coated, artery-hardening meal after church every Sunday, hence Sunday Dinner). Needless to say, I'm a big fan of Italian Green Beans. Easy to make. Easy to eat. Just. About. Perfect.

And to hear my daughter say that she absolutely does not want Italian Green Beans served at her wedding is heart-breaking. Just heart-breaking.

It all started innocently enough. We were sitting around the kitchen table the other day and the discussion turned to the menu at the reception. Now granted we won't be nailing down a menu for a few months, but hey, we need to get a general idea about what we're serving. And since we're having an Italian-themed wedding I assumed that Italian Green Beans would be included.

Umm, not so fast.

The words "...and what about Italian Green Beans" were still hanging in the air, like a cartoon word bubble when I was quickly informed that there would be no Italian Green Beans served at the reception. I looked to the groom for some kind of back-up, a little support, a slight nod of the head, as if to say, "Don't worry future mother-in-law, I'll make sure Italian Green Beans are on the menu!".

Nope. Didn't happen. He was no help. (and now that I've had some time to ponder it, I'm beginning to think he may be anti-bean too...un-American I tell you!)

At this point, the hairs on the back of my neck were starting to rise up and my face began to get flush. No Italian Green Beans at the reception? How could they do this to me? What would everyone think? I could hear the whispers at the reception months from now...

 "Why aren't they serving  Italian Green Beans? I thought this was supposed to be an Italian wedding? I can't eat my chicken parmesan without Italian Green Beans! Where are the BEANS???"

The room began to swirl and get dark. When I came too, I was on the floor, with my loved ones standing over me, a look of great concern sweeping over their faces, including the bride and groom.

"Mom, are you ok?" Kaitlin asked as she knelt down and cradled my head. "Yes" I whispered in a weak, small voice, "yes, yes I will be...as long as we have Italian Green Beans at the reception."

Nope. Didn't work. She didn't take the bait.

So we will be having a bean-less menu at the reception. And I think I can live with that. Of course there's always the chance that a can or two might show up. She'll be too busy to check my purse.

The Wedding Gown - Round One

Last week we went wedding gown shopping. We looked at what seemed like dozens and dozens of gowns until Kaitlin found one that was just perfect and decided to buy it. It was, after all, "The One".

Now shopping for wedding gowns, as most people know, is a time honored tradition that for decades, mothers and daughters have shared together. Precious memories made among the white satin, the lace, the beading, the exuberant salesgirl...and for us, the tradition included one extra special memory...

The computer.

Yes, she bought her wedding gown online. And I was an accessory.

Someone had gotten word to us that the local bridal shop was having a huge sale. Giant. Big. Ginormous. And what better way to check out a great sale then by going online and seeing what's what. So that's exactly how we spent her lunch hour last Tuesday. Perusing gowns in front of the laptop.

And then she found it.

"The One".

And it was on sale. Big time.

And I had a promotional code for an additional 10% off. (I'm feeling a little faint just typing it)

Giddy with the glow of  I-can't-believe-we-just-bought-your-wedding-gown-for-$...we naturally began bragging telling anyone and everyone we could think of the unbelievable deal we got on the gown.

I think I might have even dialed our bug man and told him.

A week passed and then this afternoon a big, pretty white box arrived at our doorstep. Tissue paper and ribbon, white satin and ruching, a delicate flower applique...and then she tried it on.

In the midst of zipping her into the gown, suddenly the words "looks like something a Kardashian sister would wear" were uttered by someone in the room. Now I'm not quite sure who exactly said them, but since it was only me, Kaitlin and her sister Taryn in the room at the time, I'm guessing one of us has seen one too many tabloid magazine covers at the grocery store lately.

Back into the box in went. "The One" turned out to be a dud. Our deal of the decade was a lemon, leaving a sour taste in our mouths. But on the bright side, the huge sale isn't over yet and we have an appointment with a real live exuberant salesgirl next week.

I'm just hoping she'll take my other promotional code.

Planning The Big Day

Planning a wedding is beginning to feel a little like being pregnant...months and months of planning but no real action until the big day.

Since "planning the wedding" has become a way of life around here the last few weeks, one of the first things we did when Kaitlin and Jesse got engaged was look for a wedding calendar. One of those nifty little devices that politely lets you know what you need to have done month by month in order for your wedding to perfect. Important things like:

-get your teeth whitened for your engagement photos (Nothing says "one of us better check on a dental plan before we get married" like a mouth full yellow teeth)

-check to see of your church requires liability insurance for your ceremony (in case of fire, property damage, flood...usually listed under the sub-heading "Bridezilla")

-book your calligrapher (Who knew how important the right calligrapher could be? Or how hard it might be to book one?)

I'm glad weddings come with calendars nowadays, since I'm the type of person that leaves a trail of sticky notes wherever I go. I write sticky notes to remind myself to look at my daily planner. And even that doesn't always work. I was supposed to meet a good friend for coffee last week and was gently reminded that I completely forgot our date later that evening. See what I mean? No sticky note to remind me to look at the planner.

We're still in the very early stage of planning...the first trimester if you will. As the big day grows closer it should be interesting to see what's in store. Things like...how much weight am I going to be able to lose two weeks before the wedding...how often is the phrase, "well, it's my wedding after all" going to be muttered under the bride's breath (three times so far)...how many people will Cousin Gertrude bring to the reception without RSVPing any of them...all the little unexpected things.

Yep, planning a wedding is a little like being pregnant....man, I hope it's not triplets.

She Said Yes

Our daughter is getting married.

Our oldest child, the beautiful girl who looks like Snow White, said "yes" to her Prince Charming.

And she's got the engagement ring to prove it.

They've set a date, six months from now. A winter wedding planned for a Saturday in the new year. She wants to go try on wedding gowns. He wants to know what we are going to eat at the reception. Her sister wants to wear a Gryffindor scarf with her bridesmaid dress.

I want to go on vacation.

I'm hoping this little writing adventure will provide me an outlet, a release, perhaps an escape once in a while from the craziness of planning a wedding. And of course I'm willing to drag anyone, sorry...'invite' anyone who is willing to come along.

Let the stress begin!