It's Giveaway Time!

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Confession time...the happy couple stole an idea for their wedding reception from another happy couple's wedding reception. There, it's done. Out in the open.

Ok...well now I feel really bad.

Alright, technically it was the bride and me, not the groom who stole the idea. Truthfully, the groom wasn't even in the same state when we perpetrated the crime.

That's better. I guess.

Here's what happened. The bride, myself and the father of the bride traveled out of town to the wedding of the daughter of two of our closest friends. We had a wonderful time (except the three and a half hours I spent crying in the backseat after the bride hurt my feeling...earlier that morning the comment had been made, "I bet Mrs. Dana never asked Melanie to put green glitter candles on her tables."...just hateful I tell you).

Anyway, the bride, the groom, the wedding, everything was just beautiful. And then, as we headed to our table, we saw them. They were sitting neatly tucked within our napkin, just waiting for us. They were classic. They were retro. They were just about perfect.

They were monogrammed matchbooks.

They were missing piece to the table setting we had been searching for all those long autumn weeks. And then suddenly, as quick as walking into a room, the puzzle was complete. We should have monogrammed matchbooks at the happy couple's reception too!

When we returned, the bride showed the groom the matchbooks we brought home and he thought it was a wonderful idea (I guess that makes him an accomplice after all, ha!) so we set out to order them. The happy couple decided to change it up a bit and split the order. Half matchsticks (in the slide out box) and the other half matchbooks. We decided we would get 150 of each for (you guessed it) a total of 300.

The happy couple ordered 150 matchboxes that evening and the next day I was going to order the matchbooks. The price the happy couple quoted me was decent so I thought the matchbooks might be even a little cheaper. But when I got to the checkout it was way over what the happy couple had paid for the matchboxes! But being in the midst of monogrammed matchbook mania, I hesitated but a moment and then clicked the Place Order button. And then promptly forgot about them.

10 days later as the happy couple and I were standing in the garage, looking at who-knows-what now, Ted stopped by for his daily visit. Ted is our UPS guy. We've become very close. Last week, he and his wife asked me to be in the delivery room with them when their first baby is born.

Ted had stopped by to deliver the matches. In a really, really, really big box. Really big.

Now the happy couple's order was perfect. 150 matchboxes. My order? Notsomuch. And here's where the giveaway comes in...you get to guess just how many matchbooks I actually ordered.

Here's how you play:

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

Whatcha playing for?

(1) One $25 VISA gift card

so here we go.......how many matchbooks did I really order?

A. 350

B. 550

C. 850

D. 1150

Comments will be closed Saturday, January 15, 2012
at 11:00 p.m. Eastern

It. Is. Done.

Well, the big day has come and gone...about 96 hours ago my little girl walked down the aisle into the arms of her prince.

So why did I stop blogging? Well as we got closer and closer to the big day (which btw occurred only a few days after Christmas...I think the happy couple planned it that way just to see how close to the edge they could push me) I realized I wasn't able to give the attention I wanted to give to the 'ol blog and help plan the wedding. And work full time. And take care of the bride's siblings. And be nice to my husband. And eat.

So something had to give and since I wasn't budging on the "give up eating" option, the blog got put on the shelf. But now that the happy couple are on their honeymoon (the one wedding item I didn't have to provide a credit card number for) and the bride's siblings have clean clothes (thanks Aunt Lynn) and my husband thinks I'm the cat's meow again and we ate something other than fast food two nights in a row, I thought I'd finish the tale we started months ago.

Stick around, it may be fun!

His Office Held Hostage - Is That A Wedding Gown On My File Cabinet?

Our house may soon be asked to appear on "Hoarders" I have never seen so many piles of stuff in my life.

Boxes and boxes of flowers, candles (but alas, no gold, green glittery ones), candle holders, tulle, lanterns, wreaths, glue guns, lights, trees, napkins, fake china, my 7th grade science teacher Mr. Dewberry, cups, votives, fabric swatches, olive oil dispensers...the list could go on for days.

And where are all these precious treasures being stored? Why, in the only room in the house that doesn't have squatters someone living in it...the father of the bride's teeny-tiny sanctuary from the world...his office.

Overnight, his office has been transformed into a bargain bin craft store.

Lots of foot traffic in his office lately. Lots of browsing going on. Lots of time spent deciding the perfect spot for each new box that arrives from Ted. Who's Ted? Ted is the UPS guy that we used to see once every 8 months.

Our families are now spending Thanksgiving together this year.

I guess it could be worse. I know that soon, all the boxes will be empty and their treasures will be tucked away for safe keeping (or sold on craigslist). And the father of the bride will have his office back.

I just hope I can send Mr. Dewberry back C.O.D.

Ahoy Mateys

from dictionary.com...

mutiny [myoot-n-ee]
noun, plural -nies, verb, -nied, -ny·ing.

noun

1. revolt or rebellion against constituted authority, especially by sailors against  their officers.

2. rebellion against any authority.

verb (used without object)

3. to commit the offense of mutiny; revolt against authority.

Last week I was starting to sense something around the house...a presence, a vibe, a feeling...

Turns out, I had a wedding planning mutiny a-brewin'.

Now at first, I though it was all in my head (which is not an uncommon occurrence among my people, oh the tales I could tell) but I was pretty sure I was right about this one.

All because I began to notice subtle changes around the house. Like...

*The conversations about the wedding that stopped when I walked into the room. (ok, so I knew they were talking about the wedding because I was listening in the hallway)

*The sideways glances at one another when I mentioned picking out flowers for the bouquets.

*The rolling of eyes each time I reminded the happy couple of how pretty those gold, green glittery candles would look on their reception tables.

And then finally the other day, the last piece of evidence that a mutiny was on the horizon reared it's ugly head...

my wedding planner went missing.

Oh yeah. They were coming for me. So I did the only thing I knew to do. 

I tattled. 

I told the bride's dad what I suspected and with a couple of fists of fury he crushed the rising revolt (ok, not really fists of fury...he sat everyone down in the family room and we talked about it). But that was the end of it,  no more wedding planning mutiny. 

And they promised to stop calling me "Capt'n Bligh".

Bouquets & Rice: Week 5 - You Light Up My Life

Some odds and ends from this week...

I dreamed about gold, glittery green candles the other night...maybe it's a sign. *sigh* oh, precious...
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We've recently purchased some flame-less, scent-less votive candles and every time, without fail, that I pick one up...I smell it.
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Unity candles have been a popular wedding staple for years. And I can't remember any wedding in the last 15 or so years that we've attended, that at some moment during the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom would pause, and as a meaningful song played, light a unity candle.Yep, don't think I've been to a wedding where that didn't happen. Until now...

That streak comes to an end in January.

Nope, the happy couple are not having a unity candle. Or unity sand for that matter. Or even any unity-building games, like the trust fall (picture it, the maid of honor falling backwards from the stage into the arms of the groomsmen) or the shoe game (groom's side of the church versus the bride's side...everyone takes off their shoes, puts them in two big piles and the first side that gets everyone's shoes on wins).

We could even play the human scavenger hunt game...

Oh well, it's been a good run.
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The bride and I had a slight disagreement this week over renting candelabras to use in the church during the ceremony.

I want them and she doesn't.

And I can't seem to give her a reason to rent them other than,

"Oh, but they are soooo pretty!"
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Last week we bought two vanilla-scented pillar candles that are each bigger than a full roll of paper towels.

And I keep forgetting to smell them.

They're Gold. They're Green. They're Glittery. What More Could You Ask For? (Oh, And We Have A Winner Too)

As we were walking down the aisle of the craft store, we rounded the corner and that's when I saw them.

Hanging on a rack, just waiting for me to discover them. Like Christopher Columbus. Like Lewis & Clark. Like that guy who discovered the Milky Way...I can never remember his name...

Anyway, there they were...

They were gold.
They were green.
They were glittery.

Really, really glittery.

As I reached for the gold glittered green candles (try saying that fast three times...gold glittered green candles, gold glittered green candles, gold glittered green candles...) the bride looked at me as if to say, "What do you think you're doing?"

But feeling a little like Gollum and his ring, I was drawn to them. They were calling out to me. With a wide grin and a glazed look in my eyes, I turned to the bride, and while nodding my head said, "Oh Kaitlin, what do you think of these?"

*sigh*

She passed on the gold glittered green candles. Needless to say, I was disappointed. But I don't think I helped my cause any. When I asked her what she thought of the candles, I was holding them next to my cheek, slightly petting them and by that point had called them, "Precious" at least four times.

As we turned the corner and headed down the next aisle, I looked back at the gold glittered green candles, and for just a second I thought I heard them whisper, "please, please take us with you. you know you want too"

I've got to stop watching "Lord of the Rings" every night.

And that means the correct statement is B! And our winner is Mary!