A little public policy...

See also this post.

Dear angry, anonymous poster,

1. You are free to disagree with me. I welcome it, so please do so. If I loved something but you didn't, people should know. If I didn't have a good experience but you did, same thing. Any opinion that is expressed here, is, after all simply an opinion, and based solely on experience. I do not know everything and don't pretend to.

2. I don't want to be a bitch on my own blog, so don't be a bitch to me. This means: don't personally attack others or me. It boils down to being able to having respect for other people and yourself.

3. If you don't like the blog, or find it upsetting, perhaps you shouldn't read it. I'm sorry you found other's opinions distressing, but let me assure you that no one set out to personally upset you.

4. I'm sorry, but I did have to remove your post. Here is what I got: You liked Peggy's. That's great!-- I'm glad you had a good experience there. I didn't understand the portion of the post that talked about the bride whose finance was about to be deployed, but I was interested in hearing about it. Feel free to re-comment about it at any time bearing in mind number 2. above, because I'm sure that other people would like to know about it!

p.s. The first sentence of your post contained a name, but I don't know that person. Maybe that was your name? I'm just unsure of what you meant by that.

WIN a wedding!

Now, I know you all like a good party, so I thought I'd let you know about one coming up that can enable you to win stuff, including a free wedding, AND can benefit charity!

Who: The Nuptial Network of Greater Rochester & some local celebrities, including the mayor. I heard that Mrs. New York will be there. I bet she has good tiara ideas.

What: A Celebrity Bartending and Silent Auction Fundraiser to benefit the Center for Disability Rights. Free at the door.

When: March 28, 2008 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

Where: Shadow Lake Country Club
1850 Five Mile Line Road
Penfield, NY

Why: Well, for a couple of reasons... at the event they will be videotaping auditions from couples to win a wedding worth $25,000. That's alotta cash. You have to have a video audition to be eligible, and the drawing will be held later this year.

Besides the opportunity to save yourself some cash, though it's free to get in, there is also a silent auction, as well as raffles and give-aways that are wedding related. The grand prize for the raffle is a cruise to the Bahamas, and there is a video package from SE Video up for grabs too.

AND it's for a good cause. The Center for Disability Rights is a non-profit community-based advocacy and service organization for people with all types of different disabilities.

I want it. And I want to EAT it, too.

Mmmm. Cake. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Let's be honest here... who does not agree that the cake tasting is one of the very VERY best wedding-planning activity? Well... at least when it's a good cake tasting.
Is there such a thing as bad tastings? Yes, and I can say that with authority. Taste is a matter of, well, taste. What I like, you may not, and vice versa. There is a world of wedding cakes and sweets that I had never dreamed about. Take my advice and go to many tastings, not for the food so much as to get good ideas about

• what sorts of cakes appeal to you
• fillings & frostings
  
• inspiration
• pricing

Here is what we discovered we liked:

• cakes with a denser batter
• contrary to what I thought I would like (buttercream, baby!), I was all about the thick chocolate ganache from Premier Pastry.
• designs on the simple side, with something natural to them.
• that we could get something DELICIOUS and not break the bank (whew)!

And this is we ended up with:

One word: YUM.

images © Stefan Petranek 2007

I've missed you!

So, yes. I've neglected you, brides.

I needed a break after a year of planning, so I took one. But I'm back now, and let me assure you, I have missed you, lovers.



image copyright Stefan Petranek 2007.

Click on this.

favor to ask, it only takes a minute...

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! You can just cut and paste this to email it to someone.
Please pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Drink Up!

We never considered anything but an open bar.

We asked Sara countless times how many bartenders we would have, negotiated Bass on tap, and made sure they could make mojitos, with fresh mint. We had a little sign for the mojitos, but nothing fancy. I was a little surprised at how many people started ordering them,

What can I say? My people drink, his people drink, and the mojitos were absolutely delicious (I like a little extra mint in mine)!


image by Stephanie Martinez.

Color Scheme? What's that?

SO.... we never really picked official wedding colors (see the STD post, below). Why? Well, when it came down to it, we couldn't choose.

Here is the list of colors we ended up with (all non-pro pics):

1. Bridesmaids all wore black. They got to choose their dress, but it had to be floor length and not strapless. I had no shoe requirements. At the last minute (the night before the wedding) I decided to add a black ribbon to my dress as well.

2. Invites/response cards/rehearsal invites/envelopes/thank you cards/escort cards were all printed in the color scheme of my header above - brown, green and orange. They were printed on various papers ranging from ivory to a light brown.

3. I became obsessed with a teal ribbon I saw in a Martha Stewart magazine. It was this gorgeous rich color... my florist found the EXACT ribbon for me (because she is beyond what you could ever ask for in a florist) and we used it on my bouquet. It was a beautiful something blue.


Then she found another (also, less expensive- whew!) ribbon that was an even deeper teal. She used that to accent the flowers on the arbor and in some of the other arrangements. I also got some from her and made it into thinner ribbons for my hair.

4. As you can see above, the bridesmaids all had ivory ribbons for their flowers.

5. The mothers (four of them!) all wore black as well, but their flowers were ivory, along with the father's boutonnières. Doc wore an orange orchid, the groomsmen had yellow orchids, the bridesmen (there were two of them) had blue delphiniums, and our son had a lego boutonnière.


6. The flowers for myself, the bridesmaids, centerpieces and all other accents were multicolored. They were amazing. I wanted a feeling of warmth, and nature. They were UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS. I'll be putting up a post about Maura as soon as I get my pro pictures back because I can't really post too much now that gives you a clear picture of how beautiful they were. There were reds, oranges, purples, etc. etc.... every color I can think of. This is a little blurry, but it get the point across:


So instead of colors, we ended up using some great old animal illustrations (a couple are in my banner above) all over the place to tie stuff together (more on that at a later date). All in all, we ended up setting a tone for our wedding, rather than having a distinct color scheme. Because of it, I felt like I had a lot of flexibility. And with my procrastination, I needed some flexibility!

What are you doing (or did you do) to tie your wedding together?

all images by Stephanie Martinez. As always, please ask before using any personal images, as well as give credit. Thanks!