Long Awaited, Much Anticipated - the Story of the Dress Part 1

Before I was engaged, I had the idea to use both of my grandmothers' dresses and my mother's dress all in one dress. I had this vision of cutting up the fabric and bringing them all back together in a sentimental couture wedding dress that would be sure to make everyone cry. (Happy tears people!)

Within weeks of getting engaged, my maternal grandmother sent me her satin dress.

Look at the beautiful train - and the skinny minnie waist!


I also picked up my mother's dress.

Doesn't this vintage Alfred Angelo just say, "I'm a modern 70's bride!"????


And my paternal grandmother was searching in her attic for hers. I immediately contacted a family friend of mine who went to design school. She's a real-life fashion designer who had already sewn two wedding dresses (one for each of her sisters). I talked price with her, I talked logistics, I talked inspiration.

I was ecstatic to move forward with scheduling an initial consultation.

*cue foreboding music*

Ever notice how much I cue the music? In another life I must have been a conductor.

Anydress, when I started the process, I thought the most difficult thing would be convincing Mother Palindrome that what she considered to be her ugly 70's dress could be transformed into pure magic. The story has a happy ending, but all of the steps weren't as happy along the way! Stayed tuned for the next installment of the dress story.

Are you incorporating family dresses into your wedding? Are you wearing your mother's gown?

Opposite of Camera Shy

I probably like to be in front of the camera a little too much. That's why I intend to soak it up on the day of the wedding. I'll be like Paris Hilton and my photographer will be like my own personal paparazzi, following my every move.

Besides liking to be photographed, I also like being on the other side of the camera. As a studio art major (don't worry, my parents made sure I doubled in something a tad more useful - English! hahahaha), I loved learning about the dark room process and how the inner workings of the camera captured light.

That all said, the photography has become my top priority about the wedding. If I'm going to have a big, fluffy wedding, I want the "holy photographer! that man knows how to work an f-stop!" of photographers. I want to bring in the big guns of artistic innovation, meticulous post processing, and an eagle eye.

Due to my priority/obsession, I started collecting photographers names and blogs right after we got engaged (or maybe it was a few weeks . . . or months . . . ok, I always kept a running list). By the time we had chosen a city for the wedding, my list was 50 photographers long! From that list of 50, I cut out several long distance or completely out of the budget photographers. I scoured for my favorites. Eventually I cut to a list of 12. After a run by the Future Mr. Palindrome, it was a list of 10. After the bridesmaids and our moms took a crack at them, it was down to 4. I interviewed 3.

My top choice, Ego Media, had actually already photographed us. They photographed our friend's wedding last fall.

E + C's wedding - courtesy of Ego Media.

I had a whole post in my head about how cute it was going to be that they were going to photograph us again!

The Future Mr. Palindrome with the groom and other swords bearers singing "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" to the bride. Courtesy of Ego Media.

The photos of me are featured in my post about catching the bouquet!

I loved their photographs, I talked to them extensively and agreed with their philosophy on every level. Then came the BUT and it was a BIG BUT . . . the package I wanted, plus travel fees, plus a la carte charges for must have additions came to a whopping $1000 more than the budget could handle. I could have had them if I were willing to sacrifrice some services, but in the end, I made the difficult choice that my quality/quantity threshold did not match the pricing that we could get with them. Bummer! Especially since everything else lined up so nicely. If you're getting married in the Annapolis, MD area, check them out!

My second choice, Genevieve Leiper, had an impressive portfolio. During our interview, she told me how she was experimenting with medium format photography for weddings - something I was 100% interested in! She offers a winter discount on her packages and it was more in line with what we could afford. However, Genevieve is celebrating her wedding anniversary the same weekend as our wedding and her husband surprised her with a romantic getaway! Amazing for her, but sad for us!

Our third choice, K&K Photography, were an all around great choice. They have a great portfolio, great recommendations from Miss Planner, and we had a great interview. I was concerned about the "Florida" feel to some of the portfolio though and in the end decided that it wasn't worth flying two photographers in - I got all sentimental and green, thinking it might be better to go with someone local that I could get more pictures for the price I was paying for travel fees.

In my next photography post, I'll reveal my two new local choices! Have you had to regroup after thinking you had narrowed down one of your vendor choices?

The story of Ruth

I'm blogging live from our new house as we finish a long day of painting and house projects. Being here is solidying the very real move that I am going to make to live with the future Mr. Palindrome after we're married. I'll leave my old city and embrace the new.

This reality has reminded me a lot of the the words that Ruth spoke in the Old Testament. They are a favorite at weddings. Mrs. Cheese used them, and they've been suggested on several wedding websites. They're beautiful and the bond described is so representative of the marriage relationship.

The words, however, were not about a marriage relationship at all. The short story is that Naomi, her husband and her two sons moved to a new town to find food during a famine. Naomi's husband dies and her sons marry two local women, one of them Ruth. Then the sons die. Naomi cannot support herself and tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their families and remarry. One sister-in-law goes back, but Ruth says to Naomi:

"Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

The story of Ruth, of course, doesn't end here. After this heartbreaking chapter, the heartwarming chapter ensues. Ruth supports her mother-in-law by collecting the bits of barley that were left by the harvesters.

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The owner of the field, Boaz, heard about what Ruth was doing for Naomi and he set her up with the best fields, he ordered the men not to touch her, and he let her drink whenever she was thirsty. This is unheard of for a landowner to show this kind of kindness to a servant. Naomi calls him their "kinsman redeemer." Eventually, Boaz and Ruth marry - it's a Cinderella story of sorts, the servant marrying the prince.

The Bible doesn't say whether they're in love or not, but they have a son who is in the lineage of King David, who is in the lineage for Jesus. I think it's a beautiful story of how God can take a hopeless situation and work it out for the good. The widows during that time were basically left to a life of begging and marriage was their only chance at redemption and status. The story illustrates the Christian faith's overarching belief in redemption.

Even though the passage is not about marriage, I will be saying these words on our wedding day as my mother said them on hers. I am glad to share that heritage of faith with her and to take this weighty vow. I'm also happy to incorporate this symbolism of our faith into the ceremony.

Are you planning to (or did you) use Ruth's words in your ceremony? What drew you to her vow?

*Note: For those interested in the entire book of Ruth (which is quite short) it can be read here. The wikipedia entry also has some interesting notes, especially from the Jewish perspective.

That Sophie

That Sophie is a popular gal. Which Sophie you ask? Does this picture jog your memory?

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Fresh faced Sophie, with a delicious mop of red bed head curls, picking poppies in the hills of France before her wedding. (Alliteration anyone? Yes PLEASE!)

I swear I first saw her at Snippet&Ink, Once Wed, or perhaps even Practical Wedding. I know for sure that I saw Sophie a few other places across the blogosphere, including a reference from Miss Bear Cub.

Well, the other day, she showed up in my mail box! Not Miss Bear Cub, but Sophie Poppy! I receive the Martha Stewart Daily Inspiration emails and today, Sophie happened be the email subject. At first I thought, "Sheesh, Martha is hitting bottom of the barrel stealing someone else's real wedding and posting about it long enough after the first post so that it's already been done, but not long enough that people forgot."

I should have given Martha more credit! Sophie is actually a Martha Stewart bride and the blogosphere picked her up from Martha.

*cue "It's a Small World" music*

And so my friends, I've completed the circle of wedding website life with Sophie. It feels like I've come home.

Have you ever followed a trend around the blogosphere? Which trend did you love and stalk?

Squirm*Squirm

I had been told by my friends that the guest list was one of the hardest wedding related tasks. I had heard the jokes when I mentioned I was working on mine: "Good luck!" I had thought that it didn't apply to me.

These are the reaons I thought I was going to have an easy go of the guest list:
1. We wouldn't have to make any cuts because we had made the decision to have a big wedding rather than a small intimate affair
2. It would be easiest to invite all family members.
3. My group of friends would stay set for the year of the planning.
4. We could decide a number, put all the family on the list, then go around from his parents, to my parents, to us and we could each add someone until we reached the magic number.

These are the reasons why I ended up with everyone else on the wedding guest list roller coaster:
1. There are always going to be more people that you could invite.
2. Some family members get arrested, become mentally unstable, or get into hot water with the wedding financiers.
3. During the move toward being a permanent couple, friendships grow and change. Add in two moves and people getting back in touch with you to congratulate you on the engagement . . . you end up with a bevy of old and new friends that it just wouldn't seem right to celebrate without.
4. Since all of the parties are spread across the country, a sit down was impossible and it turned into a "send us your list, send us your list and I'll merge them into theknot.com tracker" kind of deal.

We settled on a guest list as we sent out the Save-the-Dates this week. My personality (read: not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings), combined with Motherdrome's exhuberance for inviting and a dash of Fatherdrome's practicality, eventually met in the middle.

The hardest part of the process was setting emotions to the side. People weren't cut from the list because we hated their guts and would barf wedding cake if we saw them at the wedding. There were simply situations that would prove to be a damper on the wedding celebrations, or just a plain, old lost connection. Fatherdrome helped so much - he took on the responsibility of explaining to family members how the decisions were made.

Are you stressed about your guest list? Has anyone in the family stood up for you and your decisions?
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Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack

All dressed in black black black

With silver buttons buttons buttons

All down her back back back

None of the Palindromaids have chosen dresses with buttons all down the back back back, but they have started to timidly approach my inbox with some very lovely choices! Funny how freedom creates a beautiful harmony *cue Star Spangled Banner music*.

I wanted to share a few that they've sent in so that you can see how it's all coming together:

Palindromaid D


Palindromaid E

*E's will be black, but I could only find the blue pic

Palindromaid S


These have not been all confirmed and bought, but I'm quite happy with the variation and yet unified feel! I can't wait to see them all together for the first time - which may be at the wedding itself.

Did you see your 'maids in their dresses prior to the wedding?

Trumpet Sounds! Hallelujah! Angels singing!

Babies giggling! The whole earth rejoicing! Other various fanfare up the whazoooooo!

Hear ye! Hear ye! We have a venue! And a house!

This has been the most momentous week of my life - other than the week I was born. The future Mr. Palindrome and I have secured a wedding venue and bought a house.

Venue:

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The house :)


More pictures, stories and the rest to come! I'm leaving to celebrate my former roommate's wedding in the land of cheese - wedding detail recaps from her wedding are in your future too.

Smooches, love, rainbows, butterflies, and giggles - and Happy 4th of July!