Photos

And we haven't even gotten the pro's pics yet, so there's more to come. Pro photos can be previewed and ordered here.

I did minimal editing on only some, I mean I had 600 to go through, but if you want any full-sized, I'll crop and touch them up before emailing. Bear in mind, some of these will end up being Christmas and birthday gifts.

Our Wedding Rehearsal

Our Wedding

Connie's Flikr set

New poll

The question is, what did you like about the wedding? Or, what did you not like, so that we can change it next time we get married?

Poll results - belated

Yeah, so the poll closed two months ago. It's never too late.

The question was: What's your favorite movie with a wedding in it?

When Harry Met Sally - 1
Much Ado About Nothing - 0
The Philadelphia Story - 1
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 - 1
Other (leave a comment) - 2

What we learned: I'm bad about updating my blog. Go to my Twitter, I'm better when I'm 140 characters at a time.

Locations of note

Google Map of important locations for our guests.


View Larger Map

Important details

The ceremony will be on April 25th, 2009 at 3:00 2:00 PM at The Inn at Pearl Street. Appetizers will be served.

The rehearsal will be at the Inn at 6pm on April 24th. Rehearsal dinner will be TBA Vinny's immediately following.

Music post

Okay, for the five of you that read this: what songs do you want for the wedding? And if you say YMCA or The Chicken Dance, there will be laughing and pointing.

Wedding Shower

So, we get to have a shower! Rather than having a bridal shower, which usually makes me feel like I am way too liberated, we are having a couple's shower with everyone invited. This way I don't have to play weird word games about marriage, and Eddie doesn't have to be disgustingly hung over on the big day.

Our lovely friends Lisa Vajdos, Agatha Torku, and Suzanne Schroeder are helping us put on a fajita barbeque for our friends, and it will be at our condo around the grill. It's on a Saturday, April 4, and we are really excited to be able to celebrate with our friends and family while wearing clothes that won't be ruined by salsa! So, thanks are in order for Lisa, Agatha, and Suzanne!

You are invited...

Wedding Invitation Text

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Poll #5: favorite wedding movie

This is the official wedding movie discussion post.

Personally? Star Wars: A New Hope. At the end? With the big procession, and the big music, and the shiny droids? All the Rebel Alliance in attendance? With the two dudes...wait a sec...

Poll #4 results

The question was: How should we enter for the processional?

Responses: four said the bride enters and the groom waits for her down front. Two said that everyone enters, one by one. Two responded that everyone enters, two by two. And one person thinks we need parachutes.

Seriously? No one else liked the parachute idea?

Here's the thing: I (i.e. your humble and lucky groom) has a maid of honor. That is, my best man is my best woman. (Actually, she hasn't officially been my best woman since I decided to marry Susann, but let's not split hairs here.) Two by two, pairing off the wedding party...yeah. Probably not gonna do that.

In our meeting with our officiant, he recommended against the groom just appearing from nowhere, waiting for his bride. And I can see that; among other things, the ceremony is small enough that a little more pomp and ado would be welcome.

So. Most likely, we'll come down groom and attendants, then bridal attendants, then bride. (My future mother-in-law, when asked where the flower girl would go in relation to the bride: the bride goes last. Important to remember, that.) More details to follow.

New pictures

We have our engagement pictures back. These are the ones we really like

engagement photos

There'll be a poll later, possibly.

Poll #3 results

I'll get better about these, I promise...well, no, I probably won't. But I'll try, seriously.

Anyway. One person thinks the wedding belongs to the bride, groom, and their parents. One person thinks it belongs to the bride, groom, and her mother. Five people think it belongs to the bride and groom. Three people said, "There's a groom?"

Conclusion: I need more people voting in these polls.

New poll should be up as you're reading this. If not, wait five minutes and hit refresh, I'm still working on it.

Welcome

So save-the-date cards have gone out, so some new people should be coming by. If you're one of those: thanks for coming, and feel free to look around. Take the poll, please, and provide your own grain of salt. Comment at will, advise as you like on music or food you'd like at the reception, it's all welcome. Explore the map, it's not just for out-of-towners. Updates are sporadic, but expected to snowball as the date comes closer.

Poll #2 results (belated)

The question was, "How should the couple leave the reception?"

Fancy car or limo - 0
Horse-drawn carraige - 3
Pedicab - 3
Taxi - 0
On foot, skipping - 3

Conclusion: y'all are silly. I liked the pedicab idea myself, seemed very Austin to me. This is all moot, of course, because we're staying at the same inn where the reception is being held. New poll as soon as I think of one.

Comments

So, I've never used Blogger before now, and am apparently still figuring out some of the quirks. Getting there, though; for example, you can now actually comment like I've been asking people to do.

Reception food

We're thinking about taking care of food for the reception ourselves, having things like a cheese tray, or quiche from San Francisco Bakery, gazpacho from The Soup Peddler, or whatever looks good at Central Market that week. We also wouldn't be averse to cooking some things up ourselves, things that reheat easily like meatballs onna stick or the like. So this post is to poll the readership (that's you, if you're reading this then you're our readership) about recipes you think would be good for this situation. We don't know serving details yet, but there is a kitchen at the Inn for reheating or keeping things cold as the case may be. So won't you please comment away.

Austin's Inn at Pearl Street

This is the B&B where the wedding ceremony will take place. We'd love to fill it up with family and friends, and they will give us a discount for rooms on Friday and Saturday night; room rates work out to $359.37 $179.69 per room per night. (We think they're only double occupancy, but we'll check in that; this email is only to gauge interest, to see if we need to reserve the Inn.) You have to realize that if you stay at the Inn, you probably won't need to rent a car; what . However, if you don't want to stay there, we also have a block reserved at Northcross Suites for $110 per room. So let us know which you'd be interested in.

Poll #1 results

The question was, "What food would you like at the rehearsal dinner?", and the results are in.

Italian - 1
soul food - 3
fish and chips - 4
Mediterranean - 8
sandwiches - 2

So, that's interesting. I hadn't figured so many gyro fans, but there we are. Now, when we pick an Italian restaurant, even though it was last place, you have to understand that there are several other factors to consider: do they have a room or other space they can set aside, where in town is it, balance the price with how nice of a place it is, among other things. We seriously considered an Irish pub, you should know; that's where the fish and chips idea came in. And it placed second, so it might deserve another look. I dunno, we'll see what happens.

A new poll will go up as soon as I figure one out.

Yes, but WHY? part 2

Okay, so I've talked about why marriage. If you haven't read it, here's the short version:

MARRIAGE = GOOD

Yes, but why the wedding?

Texas allows for a common-law marriage (it's actually called an "informal marraige" within the state); if we agree with each other to be married, live together, and represent ourselves as a married couple, in what's called the three-prong test, we're married according to Texas law. At least, until one of our mothers kills us dead.

There's always eloping; as long as we invite family, we avoid moms-killing-us syndrome. It's also cheaper, faster, less hassle all around, and there's the benefit of the built-in honeymoon (once anyone who comes along has moved along, anyway). But somone one will feel left out. Also, people are less inclined to give gifts if they didn't see it happen, I would imagine.

With the wedding, there's the buildup, there's the ceremony, there's the fantastic party, there's both pomp and circumstance and the photos for the generations to come. That's not the reason to do it, though, not the way I see it. Actually, "the way I see it" is the reason: this is for the bride. This is a whole day that's about her, like her birthday times a thousand. She's the star of this show, and the show's all day long, baby.

Here's what the meaning of the wedding ceremony is, for me: this is the day where all you people get to see my bride as I see her. This is our gift to you. Oh no, no need to thank me. *points to registry links to the left*

For more on this, check out this article on Jewish law regarding what's a lie on a bride's wedding day, and what is not.

Yes, but WHY?

This is a repost from my LiveJournal from last August. Seemed appropriate to have it here, too.

Early Wedding Thoughts

For obvious reasons, I've been thinking about weddings lately. Mine, in particular. (Getting it out of the way: I can't invite all of you, Live Journal. Sorry.) There's been discussion with her parents while we're on vacation, and I expect more in the near future with my family since we're seeing them next, and the question that seems to keep coming up:

"Well, what do you want?"

Which is fair. This wedding is half mine (or a quarter mine, or less, depending on who you ask and how you count). I do bear some responsibility and reap most of the rewards, so I should have a say. But there's so much I just don't care about. I don't care about which colors or which flowers or which music (at the ceremony anyway, I have definite ideas on music at the reception), and I don't have a preference for suits or tuxedos (I look rather dashing in both), and I'm not insistent on having a church wedding. Food would be nice, and I do want drinks and dancing, but if need be, I can live without them.

At the end of the day, what I want is to be married to the woman I love. Everything else is negotiable.

But the wedding is an important part to that. I can't dodge the question that easily; I've already tried. So me being me, I take it back to the basics: what do I want my wedding to say? What do weddings say, in general? Why do we have weddings? Why do we get married? That last question is what woke me up at 8 AM Central Daylight Time this morning and wouldn't let me get back to sleep. So here I am, sharing my thoughts with you. I imagine the answers to the rest of the questions will be shared, too, just as soon as I figure it out.

Okay, so. The union of man and wife. Why is that? I know I love her now. I can't imagine loving her more later. Marrying my lover, best friend, central pillar of emotional support, and massage therapist won't change how I feel about her. So then, why? I guess it has to do with societal pressure. The societal pressure, that is: people, humans, us, we weren't designed to be alone. We need companionship and friendship and love, we have a basic physical need to touch someone else.

(This is where, if I'd researched this at all, I'd link you to a study about babies and physical contact and emotional development or something, but this isn't one of those blog posts.)

Okay, so we have to have someone, but why married? Why not just cohabitate? It was good enough for caveman and cavewoman, right? Well sure, but they didn't have insurance companies that offer benefits for married couples. Neither did they have to worry about hospital visitation, or power of attorney, or all the other financial and legal and social benefits of a union recognized by the state.

This is the society we choose to live in, and gleefully (most of the time). I want to be married to her, because I want the full force of the state, federal, and international legal system and God Almighty himself behind me when I say, "That's her. She's the one for me, and there is no other. You. Will. NOT take her away from me."

That being said, lilies would be pretty, I think.