Sign Here. Initial There. Date Here. Retina Scan There. Thumbprint Optional.

A tree arrived at the house the other day, packaged in a long brown tube.

It's the happy couple's guest book.

When I asked the bride, "what kind of guest book would you like to have?" I thought she might say, ""oh, you know, one with nice binding and a pretty silver pen."

Nope. "I want a tree!"

What the bride meant was yes, she did want a tree, but a tree printed on a large sheet of paper with lots and lots of leaves for the happy couple's guests to sign. So we went to our laptops and the search began...

And I was surprised to find so many different options, not only trees but lots of other unusual items people are now selling as "guest book alternatives"...

You can buy clothes pins stamped with the happy couple's name and then your guests hang their well wishes on a small clothes line set up near the bridal party table. In addition to leaving well wishes, your guests can also get same day service on 5 pieces of dry cleaning if it's left before the hor douves are served.

Another idea is pebble notes or wishing stones. Each guest receives a small smooth stone in which they write their fondest wish for the happy couple. These also come in handy if there's a line for wedding cake. Just a couple of well placed throws across the room and you've got the distraction you need to cut in line.

There are signing platters, signing dishes, signing cards, signing hearts, and finally signing puzzles. Each guest signs a puzzle piece and then on the honeymoon the happy couple puts the puzzle together to see who came to the wedding...yep...on the honeymoon...

Our happy couple decided to go with the tree but then they also wanted a traditional option and so a guestbook with nice binding and a pretty silver pen was also purchased. And then a 16 x 20 mat with one of their engagement pictures mounted in it was also needed for guests to sign well wishes.

It's going take people an hour to get from the foyer to their seats...

Sure Hope There's Not A Quiz

One of my best friends is headed into the final stretch as her daughter is getting married in just a couple of weeks. She's been very gracious to share with me some of what she has experienced, and as she and I have been talking these last few months, I've been taking mental notes.

And to be honest, I think I've misplaced them.

Now I can admit that sometimes, as we like to say in the South, I'm not the sharpest stick in the woodshed. I have been known to do stuff like...

Ask the kiddos repeatedly to explain a movie plot on the ride home from the theater ("Inception" about did me in...and don't ask me to explain "Back to the Future", we'd be here for days).

Driving around the block a couple of times to find an house I've been too before. The day before.

Go into the grocery store to shop, forget something...and the list is in my hand the whole time.

But this is different. Something new. And I like to call it "theweddingplanningisturningmybraintomush-itis". The symptoms are

.......

Sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the wedding brain mush. Anyway, I figure the only cure must come after the wedding is all said and done with. When everything is back to normal and I can start thinking about things like, "How exactly did Leonardo end up in that guy's dream anyway?"

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

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!