Mother F'ing May 1st

26 more days and I will be walking down the aisle to say, "I do". Hopefully not tripping on the way there. I don't know though, 4 1/2" heels, a wooden plank aisle, sand, a floor length dress, and my knack to be unbelievably clumsy - the odds are stacked against me.

So two days ago, I looked at the calendar and the realization that May was literally just around the corner made me freeze in panic. As my eyes began to de-glaze, I frantically grabbed a pen and paper to make yet another list of things to be done. Anyone else have stacks of lists?? Since I did this all in an agitated silence, my FH's spider sense tingled and he instantly asked me what was wrong. I recited the date to him, to which he just cocked his head in misunderstanding, to which I then reminded him that we leave the country in 2 weeks. His reaction to that is really of no importance to the rest of this post, so I'll just skip over it so as to not re-hash any temporary ill feelings I may have had.

In the last 48-72 hours I've purchased table runners (ebay), paper for wrapping candles for placecards, printing table numbers and for printing sheets for the guestbook (paperandmore.com), purple and black huge round balloons (bargainballoons.com), satin ribbon, metal tins for candles, and pillow boxes (papermart.com) , a smattering of dresses (H&M and Forever21), and crepe paper for huge paper roses ala Martha stewart (Misterart.com). Way to go me on waiting until the last minute. It's not that I really procrastinated, I just couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted. I still don't know what I want but I feel forced to make a decision, and I'm okay with that. Most of the things I purchased were for the tablescape and reception decoration. I've been incredibly indecisive about it all because I've never actually been to the venue I'm having the reception at. If anyone has ever been, or is getting married at Blue Parrot in Playa Del Carmen, MX - let me know. The WC there hasn't been much help as far as providing pictures of the space, so it's been hard to tell what I'm working with.

I figure I'll just bring what I can, buy what I need there if I can and leave it mostly up to chance. Story of my life, and it's worked out well so far.

Did I mention I don't have a completed dress yet? Yeah... chance...

Here's pics of what I bought, and/or the inspiration for what I'm making with what I bought:

Table Runner:

Candle Wraps/Place Cards:

(picture from Etsy member: ThePoshEvent)

Big Round Balloons w/ Satin ribbon:

Big A$$ Crepe Paper Roses (I'm planning on carrying 1 in leu of a bouquet. The quotes I've gotten for fresh flowers are muy expensivo!)

How it will all come together will be the big surprise! ...for all of us.

Dresses

I'll return to the ring saga shortly. Long story short, it came, I loved it, I had to send it back because it was way too big, I got it back again, it's still too big and I have to send it away again. But it's gorgeous and perfect for me.

I've had dresses on my mind. I know that I definitely don't want white (at least not the whole thing) and I don't want princess poufy. We're getting married in Mexico and I want something I'm not going to pass out in because of heat exhaustion. Not to mention, have you tried getting sand out of tulle? I have, after an intoxicating night at a lovely little venue, my beau heeded to my wishes of going on the swings at a local playground, where I promptly decided to take a whirl on the pony on a spring and fell backside down in the sand. Jeremiah then tells me to open my mouth and as I did so, he kindly poured bourbon into it from his flask. To ease the pain of course. Such a gentleman.

But I digress...

I came across this picture of Katy Perry and the beautiful little number she wore to the Euro MTV awards:

I very much like it. It's not "the" dress, but I love the style of it. More pictures can be found here: more pics . I still haven't been able to find out who created it.

I haven't decided if I'm going to buy a dress, have someone make it, or make it myself. At least I've got lots of inspiration.



/end chapter

Intermission

Just because it's too damn cute not to post everywhere.

The Ring! Part II (Finally)

Whoa, you know that phrase, "they'd be late to their own funeral."? Yeah, well, I think I'd be.

Sorry for the long wait.

So, where was I...? Oh, yes, we found the journal! Amazing. After that we decided to get dressed and head into the small little town (or village rather) of Capitola to see if we might find me something appropriate for dinner. I had something that worked already, but it never hurts to look for another dress. Well, we didn't find one. But! we did end up in margaritaville where we had some delicious tequila, and I finally got to put something in my belly (chips! yum). Leaving slightly tipsy, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Jeremiah planned for us to walk to the restaurant. Later I found out that he was thinking about asking me to marry him before dinner on the walk over, but decided that after would be better. To get to the restaurant you have to walk over these really old train trestles, high above a river (?) that leads out to the ocean.

The trestles

Admittedly, sort of a scary walk when your in shoes that feel like they're going to slip off. It was fun though, and the view from up there is great.

We arrived at the restaurant, Shadowbrook, where you have ride a funicular down to the dining area. (well, you don't have to. There is a long pathway through some very pretty gardens that leads to the dining area as well, but this way is much more fun)

The Funicular at Shadowbrook

The place is really cute. It had a certain type of charm to it that I know Jeremiah knew I would love. As soon as we sat down Jeremiah informs me that we have to hurry because there's something he wants to show me at dusk. Ok! Speed eating commence! The food was good, I wish we could have slowed it down a bit more to enjoy it. We grab the bill, pay the check and rush out... only to find out that the sun isn't going down yet. So we grab a coffee and wait. And the sun, is still not going down yet. So we walk around, and find a bench near the water to sit on and watch the ducks and fish. And, the sun is still not down yet! About an hour has passed and that darn sunset hasn't come. Finally, starts to come down and dusk settles in. I ask Jeremiah what we're waiting for, since I'm getting kind of cold and it's nearly passed dusk into night. He tells me to wait, I can see he's sort of anxious and that whatever it is he wants to show me is really important so I don't complain. After all, I did drag him to the boardwalk earlier and he was an awesome sport about it. So we wait, and wait, and wait. Finally he tells me that we were waiting for the bats to come out. I guess they used to come and hang out by the trestles and eat all of the bugs. I smile, that would've been really cool. I tell him that it's ok, I've been surprised enough by all of the things he did already, and that bats or no- it's was a perfect day. He then proceeds to get down on one knee (in the dirt, and of course my reaction is to pull him up so he doesn't get his pants dirty) and says that if I was surprised already, then I'd really be surprised now. It's then that he tells me that he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and asks if I will be his wife. He slips the ring on my finger, and I can barely muster a yes because I'm so overwhelmed. He sort of looks at me panic stricken, and asks, "so is that yes?". And I say, YES!! YES!! of course, yes!

See that little bench, next to the bridge? That's our bench!

So I'm sure you're wondering about the ring. Well, it was a genuine, vintage - tin ring from a cracker jacks box. It's the ring I've always wanted. I'm a romantic, and my favorite movie in the world is Breakfast at Tiffany's. I identify with Holly so much, and I've always wanted to find my Paul. The one that would love me through all my craziness, the one the would play with me, the one who would adventure with me, and most of all the one who would make the mean reds go away and calm me down when I need it most. Not to mention the one who would call me out on my shit ;) . Well, I found him. And I knew I found him a while ago, I was just waiting for him to ask. Waiting to know that he really wanted me too. I'm glad he did, and I'm glad he asked me with a cracker jack ring. Also, this meant that I could help look for the perfect ring, and I found it.

But that will come in Ring Part III. Which I hope wont take nearly as long for me to do as this last part has. ;)

The Ring! Part 1

*=Footnotes, commentary and general snarkyness.

You can't have an engagement ring without a proposal. Ok, well, technically you can have one, but if you buy it yourself and wear it around without a proposal, that's just...*(1)

So the engagement story comes first, and then with it the ring.

For the last few years Jeremiah and I have spent 4th of July down in Santa Cruz, where he spent a lot of years growing up*(2). When this 4th of July was coming up we decided to spend the whole weekend down there at his dads place. The dogs absolutely love running around the yard, and I was looking forward to some time in the pool. We had a great time bbq'ing and drinkin, playing in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub.

The next day we woke up early*(3) and headed over to the boardwalk. Jeremiah had promised that before we went home we'd go ride the Giant Dipper, a great big wooden roller coaster. I love the boardwalk. I love any boardwalk. I love all things carnival like in nature. Jeremiah, while he enjoys the boardwalk, I think he spent so much time there growing up that the novelty has worn off a bit. So this was a great indulgence for me. We rode the roller coaster, walked the entire length of the boardwalk, AND we even went to the arcade*(4). I joke that Jeremiah was just trying to soften me up for later ;) After the boardwalk we head back to check on the dogs and pack up the car. Jeremiah suggests that we go grab some lunch before driving back to SF, and that we should leave the dogs so they're not sitting in the car. I agree as I'm starving and so then we're off to what I think is lunch. Well we're driving, and driving... and driving. I figure he's just taking the scenic route, and don't complain*(5). We drive past a really beautiful building, and I make a remark about how great it is when I realize that I recognize it! It's a B&B that Jeremiah took me too once when I came home to visit when I lived in NY. He smiles at my realization and all of the sudden, pulls into the driveway! I'm completely confused and say, "I don't think they serve lunch here". He laughs and says, "No? Huh? Well, let's see". So we go to the door, and ring the bell. I'm still horribly confused, and hungry. I'm honestly thinking that Jeremiah just wants to look around the place for kicks. So the inn keeper comes to the door, greets us and asks us if we have a reservation. I giggle nervously and say no, while Jeremiah says yes. I look at him wide eyed, still not understanding. In my head I'm going, "I have work! The dogs! I didn't pack extra clothes!". Turns out Jeremiah cleared my day the next day, and made sure the dogs were being looked after. Unfortunately he had no solution for having me bring extra clothes without spoiling the surprise, but I made do.

The B&B is called the Inn at Depot Hill. It's stunning. When we originally stayed there we stayed in the Kyoto Room. It's lavishly decorated in a Japanese theme. There's a huge soaking tub, a rain shower and bamboo gardens. We ended up staying in the same room. I had no complaints. We get settled in, start a bath and shortly after the inn keeper comes in with a bottle of champagne and a box of truffles. My boy definitely knows what I like. We open the bubbly, step into the tub, and after my first few sips I remember that I was hungry and haven't eaten anything! Combined with the heat of the tub, I get tipsy pretty easily. All's well though, I don't even care at that point. I'm told that we have dinner reservations later so I just wait it out.

At this point, I still have no idea about a proposal. I just think that my boy's being spontaneous & romantic. After we get out of the tub, I remember that I wrote a journal entry in one of the guest books in the room. We find one book, but it looks like some pages are torn out. We think that ours was on one the torn pages, until I start looking through some other drawers. Lo and behold, I find our book and the journal I wrote. It was really something to read back on the earlier time in our relationship when we first stayed there, and everything that had changed in the years.

Ok, I'm leaving you with that for now. I need to make dinner, and quite frankly I'm tired of typing. Part 2 to come.

1. kind of sad.

2. He's moved around quite a bit. Santa Cruz is where he finished high school, and continued to live in the years following, before moving to SF.

3. and a little hungover. Yay rum!

4. We played the silly rifle game, where you shoot at targets and it makes funny things happen, like makes the piano play and the vultures eyes glow red. We even entertained the idea of getting those "period" photos taken, but decided not to. I didn't feel the costumes were up to snuff.

5. though at this point I'm really hungry.

Flashback feelings - Chapter 2

Flashback on me in 1997. I've decided that I'm going to prom, and that I'm going to make my own dress. Some corseted princess-y styled dress, ironically the same type of dress that I'm trying to avoid for my wedding. Not for lack of loving the style, I just don't think it will fit in a beach setting (which is going to be talked about in a whole other chapter to come).

So there I am, sitting in the middle of my living room surrounded by pattern pieces and yards of black satin fabric. I've been staring at the same instruction for the last 45 min with no idea of how to actually execute it. Cut on bias. Bias. What the F is a bias?? *Breathe* and read instruction again. Cut. On. Bias. At this point I think I've tried to collect call my mom in Australia, though it's possible she was in Thailand at that point, memory fails me. My dad, who also sews a bit, was at work. None of my friends knew anything about sewing, and I'm about ready to ravage all of the fabric into shreds with my shears out of pure frustration. So I did what I do now when I can't figure something out, I jumped on the computer. Only then we didn't have cable internet, google, or the numerous amounts of websites dedicated to anything you can possibly imagine. No, I had dial-up and Lycos. I type in bias and after weeding through all of the definitions of bias and points of view, I find some unclear instructions and a slightly helpful illustration. None of which in the end actually helped me to execute the original instruction.

Which is where I'm at now. I feel like I have all of the instructions but no idea how, and little help to actually execute them. I feel like I'm turning to the internet again to find the answers, only to find the equivalent of the "slightly helpful illustration".

In the end of that flashback story, I didn't actually end up finishing the dress. The day before prom, my dad took me to the mall where I found a dress on the sale rack, that we still really couldn't afford, and was a size too big. It was not princess-y or corseted like I dreamed. But, it was pretty, I worked the hell out of it and I still had fun. Even though that story ended well, I still feel like I settled for something I didn't want, because it's what I had. I made the best of it. Well this is my wedding, and hopefully the only wedding I'll ever have. I don't want to settle.

I want to execute the instructions.

/end chapter

And the story begins... Chapter 1

My name is Jazmin and I recently got engaged to a man named Jeremiah. After the last month of wedding planning, and getting intensely frustrated with it, I've decided to start a blog about it. This is more of a record for me and to help me keep track of everything. To vent and help keep me sane, to have a written keepsake (if you will)- but why not invite others to come along for the ride?

So, welcome! I hope you enjoy reading about my antics. ;) As you probably guessed, I'm not looking for the white wedding. However, I'm also not looking for a halloween superstore wedding either. I want something beautiful, something fantastic, something surreal... Everything that every other bride wants, but my idea of perfection does not include red roses and a million layered cake. I will not be wearing the virginal white dress, that ship has totally sailed. There will be no doves, no violins, no rice and the only bubbles that will be at my wedding will be in the form of champagne. You get the picture.

So, there's a little about me. More to come... for now, I have an al fresco dinner to get ready for. I'm loving this unusually warm northern CA summer we're having.

/end chapter