Go Go Bridezilla, Yeah!
Oh No, There Goes Tokyo!
I’m trying not to be a bridezilla and actually have a mellow approach to planning my wedding, as I will be married in approximately 14 months (?). Being a librarian my first impulse on getting engaged was to research, so I bought a bunch of scary bridal magazines and started lurking on indiebride. We have an idea for a location (can’t book it until this July), and officiant (my dad), an outline for the ceremony (modified Buddhist), I was obsessing over invitations last week and I found myself wondering if the colors sage and mocha were not summery enough for a June wedding. Because the invitation colors have to match the season of the wedding! That seemed a bit surreal. I registered a domain for a wedding web site (because my hosting company offers one free registration) because I think I should collect a ton of links and directions for all the out of town people who might be at a loss for things to do in central Illinois. I’m also wondering if it would be crazy to try to knit a chuppa…..
10:07 pm on March 24th, 2005 1
I was just over at Shaun Inman’s site and he was just talking about getting engaged and I asked about technology and weddings since us web designers tend to be a little obsessed. My fiancée and I have talked about a wedding website and have already registered on amazon. What ever Shaun does I’ll not be surprised to at least see a flickr stream of all the web designer’s obsessive photo taking.
All in all, I have heard very little about how to better apply technology to weddings.
10:25 pm on March 24th, 2005 2
I do like the idea of having a web site I can update if I suddenly find out about a good deal on hotel rooms, etc. Haven’t even started to think about what the site will look like — although I’m thinking I could just use the wordpress “write page” feature to just basically set up the whole thing…..
9:12 am on March 25th, 2005 3
I think that sage and mocha are very “you” sort of colors, and would go nicely with the location, so if you like them, who cares whether they match the season? What colors would match summer better, anyway?
6:43 pm on March 25th, 2005 4
There is much to do in East Central Illinois if one is willing to suspend one’s desire for richness and just go with what’s there. Amish country. Chanute Air Museum. The nooks and crannies of the University of Illinois. Corn, beans, beans, corn. Anyone for the butcher shop in Homer? As to color schemes, let me suggest black and white, with all typography in Ariel or Times New Roman. No class, no variety, completely inappropriate to the mood, but think of all the time and decision making that will save. Oh, and send the invitations by email. That’s a lot of postage that could be spent on boots or manga or whatever.
Mere du Tangognat suggested I not send this, as I come across as a wetblanket. I said you would understand where my tongue was when I made these irrascible comments.
8:06 am on March 26th, 2005 5
Hey, congratulations!
I recently saw a wedding site that was pretty simply designed and had sections listing area hotels, schedules, directions to rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception locations, links to registries, a link to the photographer, etc. You don’t have to get that detailed, but I remember being seriously impressed at how freaking organized they were. They also had a cute section up for how they met, which you may or may not want to have up on a world wide web.
I can tell you from personal experience that if you’ve got people flying in who aren’t remotely familiar with the area, a little section on local bars, restaurants, touristy things to do would be freaking invaluable.
From another wedding I went to, if you’re doing anything in the ceremony that is atypical (for varying definitions of typical) some people may appreciate some background info, which could go on the web site. Though this might be one of those things that goes better in the program.
One last note that’s also kind of technologically oriented.. this might not work depending on the size of your wedding, but I’ve been so intrigued by those Polaroid (or other instant camera) guestbooks, where your guests still get to sign a little something but you get a reminder of how they looked that day.
9:35 am on March 26th, 2005 6
Thanks Carol! Yes, I think one of my reasons for doing the web site is to have a list of stuff to do for people not familiar with the area. For my extended family, it is no problem because it will be a big family reunion, but Mr. Tangognat’s friends and family won’t have been to my hometown before, and I’d like to collect a few links to give them an idea of things to do.
The Polariod guestbook thing sounds interesting….must investigate….
LGF, I don’t think the invitations for YOUR wedding were all in black and white in Times New Roman and sent via e-mail.
9:46 am on March 26th, 2005 7
For the record, I’m awaiting links to your wedding registry. Yeah, I’m sappy like that.
We did the simple courthouse wedding, but some day we’d love to do a more formal one. I can’t wait to see how the modified Buddhist format goes.
12:31 pm on March 26th, 2005 8
Aww, Nat that’s so nice! We haven’t registered yet, although I’m sure all the wedding stuff will kick into high gear after this July when we’ll have a date set and a venue reserved.
The wedding will really be a combination of religious traditions if I decide to have a chuppa (Jewish wedding canopy) combined with the Buddhist ceremony.
10:53 am on March 27th, 2005 9
I got married last August, and I felt a constant struggle when planning the wedding between “how things are done” and how I wanted it to be. Mostly I went with the latter. I think the only rules you should feel compelled to follow are those that are about treating your guests well. I’m a big believer in having good food, in doing something nice for out of towners (we had gift baskets), etc. Other than that, follow your heart. Sage and mocha are gorgeous colors. I had an autumn wedding (in terms of our theme, cake, colors, etc.) in the middle of the summer and everyone thought it was beautiful. The more your wedding reflects who you and your fiancee are, the more fun you and everyone else will have. A wedding website IS a great idea. Since hubby and I had a destination wedding, we created a guide to the Napa Valley so that people would have an idea of where to stay and cool places to visit. Ours is at http://www.wolfwater.com/wedding/ (it’s pretty basic). If you need any advice on the whole wedding planning thing, feel free to email me. Good luck!
12:56 pm on March 27th, 2005 10
Thanks for the link to your wedding web site, I’m scoping it out and I’m getting some ideas for my own