(no subject)
This is a cross post from wc...trying to see if this business works over here.
I've had a very productive week, wedding-wise. That's good, because I sure haven't had time to do anything else. In order so that I don't fall more behind in my diligent attempts to keep up this journal, I'm going to give an update.
Rabbi
Our rabbi is quickly turning into my very favorite wedding person. I was a little nervous for a lot of reasons. One is that she didn't know me or Seth at the beginning of this process, and two is that she was flaky when we were trying to nail her down at the beginning. Three (and this isn't her fault at all) was that I had to go to this "final" ceremony planning meeting with her this week alone, without Seth. I know I knew what he and I both wanted, but it seemed like something we should do together. The problem is that the next time he's going to be here in CT will be 3 days before the wedding, and the rabbi will be working at a camp in the Berkshires until the morning of our wedding (she's driving down that day...should I be nervous about that?). Anyway, she was 20 minutes late for our meeting (eep! Not good!) and she arrived with her 11 year old daughter, who had to stand in for the groom when we practiced circling. But I'm happy to report that she was very prepared, she had our entire ceremony outlined and had a list of questions to ask me all typed out. It made me, a very long distance bride with very limited on-spot planning time, feel so much better.
So our ceremony is planned, for the most part. We're pretty sure we're going to have a portable chuppah (Seth's request so that we can involve some of his friends in the wedding by having them carry it in and hold it--previously it was all brothers), and that's something I need to straighten out with the florist (who the rabbi said was a little kooky...should I be nervous about that?). There's going to be a balance between traditional Jewish customs and wedding traditions and things that can be accessed easily by all our guests. We are choosing to do the circling, but we're each going to circle each other only once, not the traditional 7 times. We picked a newer translation of the Sheva Brachot (the seven wedding blessings) and the rabbi is going to say them rather than having 7 people come up and do the readings. That's good because we already have lots and lots of people in varying states of involvement and I don't want to open any more cans of worms with that. Seth and I are going to write our own short (30 seconds or less) vows, and we're also going to say the traditional ones. I also learned that the breaking of the glass is actually most often the breaking of a lightbulb. Interesting.
I really enjoyed planning the ceremony and talking to the rabbi. She was so reassuring--she kept saying that whatever other details went awry on the day of the wedding that she would make sure that the ceremony was perfect (she did make me a little nervous about how collapsing chuppahs can turn weddings into jokes, but anyway...). It seems like it's really going to happen! So now I know what my homework is over the next couple of months...that's good! It doesn't feel so much like the monster in the corner anymore.
Music
I think I've mentioned before that I hadn't booked musicians for the ceremony or cocktail hour yet. It was one of those "fear the public" moments where since I didn't know where to start with my calling that I just wasn't doing anything at all. At my meeting with the rabbi, she made the suggestion that I call some people that she heard at a wedding (or maybe it was a bar mitzvah?) that she went to recently...a klezmer band! She said she thought it would be perfect for what we needed, which was just really 2 hours of music...30 minutes for the ceremony and then through the cocktail hour. So I called up the lady in charge and we clicked well over the phone. This morning my mother and I drove to White Plains to meet her in person. She was a very nice, eccentrically Jewish musician lady who played a lot of samples and demos for us, and we inked a deal! I'm so excited about it...I think it's just what we are looking for.
We're having a keyboardist, a man who can play sax, clarinet, and flute, and a vocalist. The ceremony will be all traditional Israeli and Jewish music (which I think is good, because it fits what we're trying to do with the ceremony), and then they'll re-set up again for the cocktail hour, where they will play 90% American jazz standards and 10% Russian folk music. The best part is that in the 20 minutes before they leave, they're going to gather everyone in the room where dinner will be served and play a whole set of hora music (think Hava Nagila but even better!) which I think will be a lot of fun for our guests. When they finish, the first course will be served, our regular DJ will set up, and then we'll do our first dance and toasts. We are contracted with DJ Sam for 4 hours, which will work out exactly from the time the klezmer people finish.
It's a little more money than I think I was planning to spend on this area of the wedding (at this point, what isn't more money than I was planning to spend?) but I think this is just what I was looking for to put our own personal stamp on this wedding of ours...klezmer is not something that most of our guests have been exposed to, and that part will be memorable for everyone. The group can play regular jazz and swing too, which means they will be able to please other people (namely stepmother and FMIL) who wouldn't necessarily say "Let's have klezmer at the wedding!" I'm happy that's done...even though my wallet's a little lighter today.
Hair
I mentioned that the hair trial was a no go. It's actually sort of funny, but not. I asked my mom to book me a spot at her salon for that day because they are the people who will be doing my wedding hair. She said, "I've gotten you an appointment with Phil (chichi owner person). You'll love it. He's going to play with your hair and tell you what looks good with your face." Um, ok. "Yes, but is he the person who is actually going to be doing my hair at the wedding? And can he do updos?" My mother assured me that he could, and that even if he wasn't the person who does my hair that it would somehow work out for a trial. So as is the way things work in conversations between my mother and me, I chose to hear what I wanted to hear, which was "hair trial."
The other part of this story is that my mother is passive-aggressively insisting that I wear my hair down for the wedding because she a) loves my hair and b) thinks my head is tiny and will look even funnier with my hair up (true, but so what?) and c) likes to get her way. At first I was thinking I would go with that, but then I started to think that the most important thing was that I feel comfortable, and since it's going to most likely be hot and humid on August 21 the last thing I want to be doing is peeling 10 pounds of hair off my neck all day. I'm also wearing a fancy-schmancy gown that's nicer than any article of clothing that I'll ever own, and I do think that it calls for something other than my normal hairdo, as much as that might peeve my mother. It's hard for me to do it, but I'm going to stand up to her on this one. My head may look funny, but it'll be better than me nervously playing with my hair in all the pictures. Done, and done. So in August when I come back here I will schedule another appointment and have the person who's really responsible for my wedding hair do a trial. So silly.
Placecards, menus, and other assorted garbage
So my tasks for the next month until I come back for the wedding are to make placecards, menus, and figure out what to do with the OOT bags. I think I'm going to do the pressed flower placecards, since that will go with the theme of my invitations (which I must post a picture of!)...the invites had two small blue hydrangea blossoms on each one, and I think the placecards should echo that somehow. I've got to go back to [b]lawgirl's[/b] planning journal, because I think she was my original inspiration for this idea. I'm also going to make menu cards when our caterer sends me our final menu with the wording of how he wants each course to be presented. I'm going to ask our florist for one sprig of a flowering herb to stick in each napkin with the menus. Maybe rosemary because it smells so good?
Man's wedding attire
Seth and I are both caving to parental pressure (from stepmother and FMIL, surprise, surprise) and the men will be wearing tuxes. More on this to come.
I can't believe I'm really down to this detail stage!
Other things going on...
This week has been crazy with wedding stuff, but we've had time to do other things too. We had my brother's birthday dinner at a super fancy restaurant in Greenwich on Wednesday...
We also went to NYC to see a play last night. [b]Doubt[/b], which won the Tony for the best play this year, was excellent. I recommend it highly.
But not as highly as I recommend the movie my mom and I saw tonight, which definitely lived up to all the hype it was getting from people who told me to see it.
Mad Hot Ballroom. Both Mad and Hot.
Rush to see this, ladies. I know that elementary school and ballroom dancing are two of my own peculiar interests, but you will all love this one.
The reason for the marathon post is that my brother hooked us up with a wireless router today, so that we could finally have internet in the house! Previous to this, we all had to run out to my stepfather's office to use the computer...what a drag. But we're up and running now.
Ah, and the RSVP count is up to 6. No one has said no so far! Eek. People are really coming!
I've had a very productive week, wedding-wise. That's good, because I sure haven't had time to do anything else. In order so that I don't fall more behind in my diligent attempts to keep up this journal, I'm going to give an update.
Rabbi
Our rabbi is quickly turning into my very favorite wedding person. I was a little nervous for a lot of reasons. One is that she didn't know me or Seth at the beginning of this process, and two is that she was flaky when we were trying to nail her down at the beginning. Three (and this isn't her fault at all) was that I had to go to this "final" ceremony planning meeting with her this week alone, without Seth. I know I knew what he and I both wanted, but it seemed like something we should do together. The problem is that the next time he's going to be here in CT will be 3 days before the wedding, and the rabbi will be working at a camp in the Berkshires until the morning of our wedding (she's driving down that day...should I be nervous about that?). Anyway, she was 20 minutes late for our meeting (eep! Not good!) and she arrived with her 11 year old daughter, who had to stand in for the groom when we practiced circling. But I'm happy to report that she was very prepared, she had our entire ceremony outlined and had a list of questions to ask me all typed out. It made me, a very long distance bride with very limited on-spot planning time, feel so much better.
So our ceremony is planned, for the most part. We're pretty sure we're going to have a portable chuppah (Seth's request so that we can involve some of his friends in the wedding by having them carry it in and hold it--previously it was all brothers), and that's something I need to straighten out with the florist (who the rabbi said was a little kooky...should I be nervous about that?). There's going to be a balance between traditional Jewish customs and wedding traditions and things that can be accessed easily by all our guests. We are choosing to do the circling, but we're each going to circle each other only once, not the traditional 7 times. We picked a newer translation of the Sheva Brachot (the seven wedding blessings) and the rabbi is going to say them rather than having 7 people come up and do the readings. That's good because we already have lots and lots of people in varying states of involvement and I don't want to open any more cans of worms with that. Seth and I are going to write our own short (30 seconds or less) vows, and we're also going to say the traditional ones. I also learned that the breaking of the glass is actually most often the breaking of a lightbulb. Interesting.
I really enjoyed planning the ceremony and talking to the rabbi. She was so reassuring--she kept saying that whatever other details went awry on the day of the wedding that she would make sure that the ceremony was perfect (she did make me a little nervous about how collapsing chuppahs can turn weddings into jokes, but anyway...). It seems like it's really going to happen! So now I know what my homework is over the next couple of months...that's good! It doesn't feel so much like the monster in the corner anymore.
Music
I think I've mentioned before that I hadn't booked musicians for the ceremony or cocktail hour yet. It was one of those "fear the public" moments where since I didn't know where to start with my calling that I just wasn't doing anything at all. At my meeting with the rabbi, she made the suggestion that I call some people that she heard at a wedding (or maybe it was a bar mitzvah?) that she went to recently...a klezmer band! She said she thought it would be perfect for what we needed, which was just really 2 hours of music...30 minutes for the ceremony and then through the cocktail hour. So I called up the lady in charge and we clicked well over the phone. This morning my mother and I drove to White Plains to meet her in person. She was a very nice, eccentrically Jewish musician lady who played a lot of samples and demos for us, and we inked a deal! I'm so excited about it...I think it's just what we are looking for.
We're having a keyboardist, a man who can play sax, clarinet, and flute, and a vocalist. The ceremony will be all traditional Israeli and Jewish music (which I think is good, because it fits what we're trying to do with the ceremony), and then they'll re-set up again for the cocktail hour, where they will play 90% American jazz standards and 10% Russian folk music. The best part is that in the 20 minutes before they leave, they're going to gather everyone in the room where dinner will be served and play a whole set of hora music (think Hava Nagila but even better!) which I think will be a lot of fun for our guests. When they finish, the first course will be served, our regular DJ will set up, and then we'll do our first dance and toasts. We are contracted with DJ Sam for 4 hours, which will work out exactly from the time the klezmer people finish.
It's a little more money than I think I was planning to spend on this area of the wedding (at this point, what isn't more money than I was planning to spend?) but I think this is just what I was looking for to put our own personal stamp on this wedding of ours...klezmer is not something that most of our guests have been exposed to, and that part will be memorable for everyone. The group can play regular jazz and swing too, which means they will be able to please other people (namely stepmother and FMIL) who wouldn't necessarily say "Let's have klezmer at the wedding!" I'm happy that's done...even though my wallet's a little lighter today.
Hair
I mentioned that the hair trial was a no go. It's actually sort of funny, but not. I asked my mom to book me a spot at her salon for that day because they are the people who will be doing my wedding hair. She said, "I've gotten you an appointment with Phil (chichi owner person). You'll love it. He's going to play with your hair and tell you what looks good with your face." Um, ok. "Yes, but is he the person who is actually going to be doing my hair at the wedding? And can he do updos?" My mother assured me that he could, and that even if he wasn't the person who does my hair that it would somehow work out for a trial. So as is the way things work in conversations between my mother and me, I chose to hear what I wanted to hear, which was "hair trial."
The other part of this story is that my mother is passive-aggressively insisting that I wear my hair down for the wedding because she a) loves my hair and b) thinks my head is tiny and will look even funnier with my hair up (true, but so what?) and c) likes to get her way. At first I was thinking I would go with that, but then I started to think that the most important thing was that I feel comfortable, and since it's going to most likely be hot and humid on August 21 the last thing I want to be doing is peeling 10 pounds of hair off my neck all day. I'm also wearing a fancy-schmancy gown that's nicer than any article of clothing that I'll ever own, and I do think that it calls for something other than my normal hairdo, as much as that might peeve my mother. It's hard for me to do it, but I'm going to stand up to her on this one. My head may look funny, but it'll be better than me nervously playing with my hair in all the pictures. Done, and done. So in August when I come back here I will schedule another appointment and have the person who's really responsible for my wedding hair do a trial. So silly.
Placecards, menus, and other assorted garbage
So my tasks for the next month until I come back for the wedding are to make placecards, menus, and figure out what to do with the OOT bags. I think I'm going to do the pressed flower placecards, since that will go with the theme of my invitations (which I must post a picture of!)...the invites had two small blue hydrangea blossoms on each one, and I think the placecards should echo that somehow. I've got to go back to [b]lawgirl's[/b] planning journal, because I think she was my original inspiration for this idea. I'm also going to make menu cards when our caterer sends me our final menu with the wording of how he wants each course to be presented. I'm going to ask our florist for one sprig of a flowering herb to stick in each napkin with the menus. Maybe rosemary because it smells so good?
Man's wedding attire
Seth and I are both caving to parental pressure (from stepmother and FMIL, surprise, surprise) and the men will be wearing tuxes. More on this to come.
I can't believe I'm really down to this detail stage!
Other things going on...
This week has been crazy with wedding stuff, but we've had time to do other things too. We had my brother's birthday dinner at a super fancy restaurant in Greenwich on Wednesday...
We also went to NYC to see a play last night. [b]Doubt[/b], which won the Tony for the best play this year, was excellent. I recommend it highly.
But not as highly as I recommend the movie my mom and I saw tonight, which definitely lived up to all the hype it was getting from people who told me to see it.
Mad Hot Ballroom. Both Mad and Hot.
Rush to see this, ladies. I know that elementary school and ballroom dancing are two of my own peculiar interests, but you will all love this one.
The reason for the marathon post is that my brother hooked us up with a wireless router today, so that we could finally have internet in the house! Previous to this, we all had to run out to my stepfather's office to use the computer...what a drag. But we're up and running now.
Ah, and the RSVP count is up to 6. No one has said no so far! Eek. People are really coming!