Some fun stuff to do around around town, bring the kids!
Approved! 26 September 2008
Before we really started thinking about where we might be registering, we thought about what charity we’d like to support with our registry. Though the I Do Foundation, you can select from their already-approved charities or nominate the charity of your choice to recieve a percentage (3-10%, depending on the store) of the monies spent on your registry (from their partner stores, which include Target, REI, JC Penney, and cooking.com.) They’re also partnered with WeddingChannel.com, which gives up to 3% to the charity you select from the WeddingChannel.com pre-made list.
For the I Do Foundation-partnered stores, we discussed several charities and decided to have two – Dawson County Humane Society and Terre Haute Humane Society. Angus came from Dawson County and they just built a shelter/clinic, instead of operating out of other vet’s clinics. In Terre Haute, Jeremy’s landlord worked with THHS, and often brought home larger dogs to foster. Both could use a little help.
Unfortunately, neither was already on the I Do Foundation’s list, so we submitted them for approval. Today, we got the email that they’ve both been approved! We’re very happy that we get to support these!
Atlanta/Georgia Government 23 September 2008
If you head to downtown Atlanta, here’s some governmental-type things you might want to check out, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.
- National Park Service’s info on the Capitol building
- State of Georgia’s capitol building info- open M-F, 8-5, guided tours available on Fridays starting at 10am
- Atlanta Municipal Court (7am-7pm, M-R; 7am-4pm, F. Doors close 30 minutes before end)
- About Atlanta’s City Council
Yay, math! 21 September 2008
Our full date, 7-11-2009, is totally a prime number when squished together.
primeness!
Smokes 20 September 2008
Looking for, say, a cigar shop near the MGH? Or looking for something in the Decatur area? (Note: The MGH rules say that smoking is only permitted outside on the patio.)
- Got Cigars? (the closest, and within easy walking distance of the hotel and the house.)
- Puff ‘N’ Stuff (voted #1 in Atlanta, and you *could* walk, but sidewalk disappear on the way there. It’s an easy walk from our house.)
- Highland Cigar Co. (has a bar and lounge, in Va. Highlands.)
- Ash Cigar (in Buckhead)
- Other area cigar shops
First 19 September 2008
Had the first (of what I hope are very few) wedding-related freakout last weekend, mostly along the lines of “I’ve got so many ideas and I need to execute them all. right. now.”
So, last weekend, while I was at the mall, I saw that ties were on sale for cheaper than I can buy the material. In colors that I might want. And, of course, they’ll never be on sale again. So there were a flurry of texts between me and Jeremy about tie numbers and colors before I came to my senses and told myself that ties will be on sale again, like after Christmas and Father’s Day, and I need to make them myself anyway, so I can print on them before pressing, and ties are really, really easy to make. And if I got them now, we would lose one, or the cat would claw them up and we’d have to shop again or I’d have to make another one. So I went home and had a glass of wine and some cookies.
And then I remembered that we don’t even need ties, we just need the license, officiant and the people we love to get married. Coordinating ties are totally in the “nice to have” category.
After all, it’s just a wedding.
Update 17 September 2008
So far this week, we’ve emailed a bunch of caterers already on the Mary Gay House’s approved caterer list (it just means that they’ve worked with these caterers before and didn’t have a problem.) I also hit up Hancock Fabrics for some practice material (more on the reason for that next week.) Hooray, sales and remnant bins!
Tonight, we’re stopping by the hotel near downtown Decatur (and within half a mile of the MGH) to check it over and see about reserving a block of rooms.
Ridiculousness 12 September 2008
One of the things that Jeremy and I would like to avoid is the ridiculousness part of weddings. By that, we mean that we’d like everything at our wedding to be reusable, reused, recyclable, compostable, edible, or of use after the wedding. And, of course, nothing monogrammed, because then everyone would be attending the BS wedding.
So, at the bridal show I attended with Sydney and Abby a few weekends ago, my goal was to find 5 ridiculous things that I didn’t need. I didn’t imagine that I’d find all the ridiculousness on one table. (A secondary goal was to get some paper goods ideas but, sadly, there weren’t any paper goods vendors to be found. Also, no caterers, which made for a pretty sucky bridal expo-thing. And! They had some “give us your information” card that we were supposed to fill out when we arrived, and one of the questions was “how much to you plan to spend on your wedding?”, but the smallest amount was $10,000. $10k! I added my own “less than $10k” box, checked it and then didn’t turn the card in, thereby successfully avoiding giving them my information.)
The table of ridiculousness was a favor vendor. Mini-whisks in heart shapes! Measuring spoons in heart shapes! Tiny monogrammed notebooks! And my favorite, LED tea-candles on tall, spindly pillar-things! And those seemed like the most possibly practical things on the table. I can’t remember the heights to which the ridiculousness went. After all, the LED tea candle won’t set the place on fire if Cousin Shannon knocks it over while reaching across the table to nab the center piece after a few drinks. The woman trying to sell me on this stuff seemed to realize how ridiculous this stuff was, and could probably tell how ridiculous I thought it was.
Now, I also saw favors on that table that I’ve loved and use at home (coasters? wine stopper? tin of X (that also happens to be attracted to magnets)? All in use at our home right now.) But for the most part, we can do without those things.
Another flower option 10 September 2008
I had another thought about bouquets. We could make the bouquets (3), boutonnieres (7-8) and corsages/mini-bouquets/whatever the mothers want (4) for the wedding the day before, and store them in our cleared-out fridge. It would definitely be a all-hands-on-deck flower party, but we could just hit the flower market that morning, see what’s available, and improvise flowers/colors from there. We’d be able to mix in herbs and garden flowers, too, making sure that there’s plenty of greenery.
And then, for centerpieces, we could grow herbs and flowers in pots (or just grow the herbs, and stick cut flowers in later), so we’d have yummy-smelling (and edible!) centerpieces that, if they aren’t all taken by people, are useful after the wedding. My flower thumb is pretty black, but my herbs and veggies thumb is pretty darn green.
Some examples of practice and day-before bouquets. And some instructional videos and posts.
So, what do you think of that?
Ideas about flowers, mini-post style 7 September 2008
I’m sort of in agreement with Grandma Harper about this: to me, flowers from flower shops smell like the flower room at the Fun Home. It’s not that I’m really against them, they’re really pretty, but I’m not so fond of the smell. I think it might be the foam, but it also might be the fridge that they store them in. So, I’ve been collecting some ideas about what might be fun as something to ask for as an addition/change when I talk to shops, or as an alternative to flowers for me and for the members of Team Bride that are cool with carrying bouquets.
- Herbal wedding bouquets and veggie ones!
- Love this fern bouquet
- Crystals, another photo, and bejeweled bouquets
- Buttons!
- Build-a-bouquet
- Parasols, but umbrellas are cuter
- Fondant seems melty
- Feathers
- A purse
- Ornaments
- Origami
I really like the addition of herbs to a bouquet, since I still love the bright colors, or the fern/greenery/simple flower approach. If we go to our back-up plan of having teh ceremony in the park next to the Mary Gay House and it’s raining, I love the colored umbrellas (though we’d have the ceremony under the tent.)
Any other ideas?
