Wedding Nightmares

I've just had a dream that Chris and I were dressed in wedding clothes on the wedding day and still couldn't find a venue.

I don't want a wedding anymore. I don't want to spend what little money we have on stupid wedding table cloths and stupid wedding chairs and stupid wedding cakes and stupid wedding places, stupid wedding food and ... damnit, I'm tired.

Thursday

Today was a pretty good Thursday. I had my own group and chose our own outing today at work. That was very exciting and I feel like I'm really progressing with a lot of the clients. I feel confident in my job and in my co-workers. I have all the support I need and when I need direction, everyone is nice to me and open to my asking questions. I also get appreciation for when I do something well or when I catch on to something quickly. In bigger departments I know how easy it is for some people's work to go unnoticed while another staff gets tons of credit for doing the same job. They just don't work like that at my new job and it's super refreshing.

I got home and promptly fell asleep. I have been finding myself staying up late this week just noodling around with wedding websites and things. I have had quite the adventure gathering addresses. I'm not nearly done, but I have begun putting the ones I have online. I started at weddingwire.com but the site all of a sudden stopped working right for me a couple nights ago. Weddingwire was great about getting back to me promptly when I emailed their support staff but I went over to theknot.com and started a back-up list, just in case. Tonight I went back to theknot and I suddenly had duplicates of a bunch of my guests. I gave up and went back to weddingwire, which had apparently fixed the problem, but then my internet connection stopped working for some reason. Frustrated, I told a friend I was switching back to pen and paper. We'll see...

Adventures in Venue Searching

This weekend Chris and I spent Friday and Saturday in Placerville. Friday night was the Halloween dance at the company I used to work for. Believe me, it was great to see familiar faces, no matter that it was still hard to say goodbye again. Chris and his band did some recording Friday night, which means that the new album is just about complete. We have been throwing around a few names, including but not limited to: "They're So Big" and other things Andrea and I heard them saying during practice that could be taken completely out of context.

Saturday was Venue Searching Day. We went to Mt. Aukum Winery, Lacham, Granite Springs and Fitzpatrick, which seems the most comfortable as a venue but has some weird rules regarding time and set up and will probably be the most expensive. We also took a look at Chris' parents' yard to see what it would take to get the garden at the top of the hill looking like a wedding venue. It doesn't look like it would take too much, so we're keeping that in the forefront of our minds. I just wish it was big enough for everyone to be there. As it stands, there is only room for the immediate family and honorable bridesmaids/groomsmen (we're not actually having bridal party/groomsmen, but there are a few people that we'd like to show our appreciation to for being great friends).

I carved a pumpkin this weekend for the first time in years and years. I was trying to make a picture of a Holland Lop, as that is the kind of bunny I'm trying to convince Chris to let me have, but the nose and cheeks ended up being harder than I thought. I eventually just turned the thing into a ghost. Chris carved the other side with a trippy-looking gypsy-eye thing so we put it on our front porch. Good times.

Chris ended up having a lot of homework Sunday night so I drove up to El Dorado Hills to go Trick or Treating with my nephews. We had a great time. Devin is taller than his mother now and very close to passing me up. Now, at 4"11' and 5"2' that's usually not saying much; most of the world is taller than us. But Devin is only ten. How fast those boys grow!

The Giants won the World Series tonight. We went out to dinner at Burgers & Brew downtown this evening and learned of the good news when some Giants fans ran by the outdoor seating area twirling their Giants shirts above their heads and wearing nothing but boxer shorts. That was interesting to say the least, but as Niner fans, we're glad that at least one SF team is doin' it right. Go Giants.

Hump Day

An eventful Wednesday, I must say. I'm officially a week and a half at my new job and I really, really like it. I feel comfortable there and am learning a lot. Starting a new job in the field I'm in has confirmed that I want to do this for the rest of my career life.

I got home and Chris and I enjoyed a dinner at Ali Baba's, the Kebab place downtown. It's very good food for very cheap. I enjoy the lamb sandwich because it is the closest thing to the Kebap we had in Germany that we've found in the States, so far.

After dinner, I decided to text my friend Mo, who bought a Go Phone to use because his iPhone broke. He hadn't saved his contacts to the SIM card, so when I text messaged him, he thought I was a mutual friend of ours. I just went with it. I recorded the thread and put it on facebook where it will live forever in its epicness. I finally told him hours later who I really was and we got a big kick out of it. Good times with good friends and the reminder that technology can always be used for great things.

Chris remembered that we had some more still pictures that weren't taken off the camcorder yet. They will be available in his photos and probably some in DeviantArt soon. He's been editing some of the ones from the Cannon, including a really cool one from the Eiffel Tower that he edited to make look like a miniature town. Check his gallery out here.

Wedding planning is coming along. I've started two online registries. I'm gathering addresses for the save-the-dates and, later, the invitations. I'm struggling with the budget. It just seems to keep going up as I research more. At this point, if my dress isn't free and I don't bake my own cake, we're going to be a bit in debt come next July. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas? I waited years to hear him pop the question; be careful what you wish for!

Saturday we are looking at a venue in the foothills. I'm gathering as much info and ideas as possible. I've called Safeway for info about a cake. I've researched food. I've pretty much finalized my guest list (I'm sure I'll remember some more later, though). I spent an hour on the phone with my big sister this evening, which is always a good time. All in all, a pretty good day, I think. Time to get to bed so I'll be ready for work tomorrow.

Renting a Hall

I've nailed the wedding date and the ceremony venue (Chris's parent's house), and am now in the process of renting a hall for the reception. I began by emailing the address on the website and I wish I would have just called her in the first place. She now wants me to rent the hall for twenty-four hours instead of the four I requested, which will be another $125 rent. Alcohol at the reception would be an addition $225 to the $200 deposit. I emailed her back to let her know that I didn't want the hall for the whole day but haven't heard back yet.

Also in the email was fax number where I could send proof of insurance. I've never been married before and have never rented a hall so my first reaction was "WTF?" Turns out I have to have a general liability insurance policy of no less than a million dollars to rent this place for more than fifty people. My car is insured up to ten grand, I think and it costs me over $100 per month. I'm a little worried what one MILLION dollars is going to cost me, even if it's for a day. General consensus online is about $200. So my low estimate here is $600 for a hall.

I hope I hear back from her soon, because while I plan on having more than 50 guests, I don't plan on having alcohol, which I hope will keep the deposit and insurance low. We'll see. Worst case scenario, I'm paying a thousand dollars for a community hall, in which case I'll just pay the same price and go find one of the local vineyards and have the ceremony and reception outside in the same place.

Getting married sucks, by the way. I have wanted Chris to pop the question for four years and now I'm thinking that it better be the best freakin' party I've ever  had or I'm going to be one upset little bride.