Wedding timeline

Our wedding photographer (eee!) has been doing a series of posts on her own blog about her top 10 tips for better wedding photography. She's up to #5 right now, and I'd definitely recommend heading over and taking a look at the first four and following up with the remaining five when she's gotten to them--they're pretty meaty and will be quite useful, I think. Anyway, just wanted to repost the links from tip #5 on planning out the timing of the wedding:

• A Smart Planner highlights the key things you must have on your timeline
• A wedding bee bride has a super detailed timeline which is really helpful

[edit] another real timeline from Cupcake Wedding.

You're The One That I Want

I'm in California for the week for work, and on the Caltrain into San Francisco this morning, 'You're The One That I Want' came up on my iPod and I thought, wouldn't this make a freaking awesome first dance song?

Here is my conversation with Dan over text message:

me: hey if we do a first dance could we do 'you're the one that i want' from grease? it's upbeat and catchy and we won't have awkward minutes of people watching us sway to some slow romantic song
dan: we'll discuss it
me: is that your way of saying 'no this triggers my hassle-causing nontraditional monitor but i am trying to not spoil your fun and shoot down every idea'?
dan: that's one interpretation of my choice of words

Actually Dan was more skeptical of the whole dancing thing at our venue and with our timing/choice of food, but I've seen photos online of people using the lower patio area as a dance floor. I will find a way to make it happen, I want dancing! Perhaps I will appoint Emily and Caitlin to be dance captains in charge of getting people to dance. Maybe that level of responsibility will distract Emily from her nefarious plan to get all my girlfriends to wear dresses of the same color so people think they are all bridesmaids.

Also, as with most ideas, it turns out this isn't nearly as original as I thought it would be. I've also never felt quite right about Sandy's makeover at the end of the film and it all feeds into the 'women must use their sexuality [strike 1] to force men to change [strike 2: men have to be changed] into marriageable material' thing. But, it's still fun and catchy (I couldn't get it out of my head all day today, kept bopping as I walked around SF) and it'd be funny, I think.

The sentiment would be a little bit more solemn for the ceremony, of course, though I think it's probably good to keep some levity in there too. As a life philosophy I try not to take myself too seriously. I really loved this quote posted by A Cupcake Wedding the other day, by David Sarasohn in an article titled, 'A Joint Account That Underwrites Our Marriage':

Being married to someone you respect for being somehow better than you keeps affection alive. That this impressive person chooses you year after year makes you more pleased with yourself, fueling the kind of mutual self-esteem that can get you through decades.

Dan does, in fact, make me want to be a better person, and a good chunk of my love for him is that he loves me. He is a fundamentally good person, and he chooses me. So I must not be too bad, too. The sentiment of 'you're the one that I want' turns out to be quite romantic after all, I think.

A link for my own future reference: various sample ceremonies at A Cupcake Wedding to peruse.

Poofy short dresses

Via not martha's Planning to Elope blog, which is what turned me on to a short dress in the first place.

Random memory: Lauren K going to senior prom in a short dress. I think someone had said to me some time before, "Well of course you'll want to get a long dress for prom!" so that just never really occurred to me at the time. Good on ya, Lauren K. (I remember Laura B had a Spanish rose thing going on, so that probably meant a shorter dress too, but I just have a distinct memory of being a bit taken aback and secretly impressed by Lauren K) Anyway:

• massive thread on Kvetch (since 2006!): I need to read through all of this, many photos are included so it'll be a great source of inspiration pictures
• Dolly Couture dresses: love, love these.

The Beverlywood

(really like the sleeves and the crossover in the front, though a bit older-looking)

The Milan

(strapless just isn't going to happen, but look at the poofy and the flowers!)

While these are not > $1000 which mean budget in the Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) terms, they're still hundreds of dollars. I was going to set a cap of $500 and look into how hard it is to get these sorts of dresses re-dyed, but then I remembered how I wanted to try my hand at sewing my own, and also to get a non-white dress because eh, the whole white = purity = no more purity post-marriage.

I am taking a sewing class right now and so clearly, my sewing skills are serviceable but not great. It might be fun to try, at least, or maybe design and get partway there myself and then try to find a seamstress willing to work with me on the whole fitting aspect.

I think I want red and gold brocade or silk, to reference the Chinese heritage. Also, there's a reason East Asians love red so much--our skin tones look pretty great in it, you know. It's gotta be for-real wearable again so right now I'm thinking a sleeveless v-neck red dress with the red/gold on the bottom hem and around the waist and neck (all over just might be too much...though depends on the fabric, really) with a little jacket that has about the length of the sleeves in the Beverlywood for covering up. Maybe with a mandarin collar, I've got a short neck than I'm constantly trying to give elongating illusion to, but it might be ok depending on the neckline. Then with two pieces together it'll be dressier and separately they can be dressed down more easily.

Also definitely would have to have pockets. Pockets in dresses and skirts are the best trend of the last few years.