Licensed to Wed

stepan: Monday, September 30 4:30 PM

We went by the courthouse and got our wedding license. It cost $36 - which is more than a one-year Texas fishing license - even though it's only valid for 30 days and there is a 3 day waiting period before we can use it. Jennifer says it's for life and I guess she's got a point there.

Reception Wine

stepan: Thursday, September 26 11:27 AM

We did a wine tasting at our first wedding shower and the consensus was to go with the Penascal Tempranillo 2000 for red wine. It turns out that Central Market has a great price on it (a good 40% less expensive than Grape Vine) and just a tad cheaper than Whole Foods, even though they're currently running a special and have a better volume discount. I ordered seven cases for next Friday - we should be able to take them directly from the store to the Allan House.

Nobody really liked the white wines we served at the shower. Taking Omid's recommendation, we are going with Cavit Pinot Grigio that can be had for a great price at Costco here in Austin - we bought a bottle and like it quite a bit. We'll probably pick it up next week when Jennifer's mom is in town with her membership card.

That leaves us to come up with some bubbly for the toast.

My Future BiL

jfer: Wednesday, September 25 8:53 AM

I just read Dominik's "bio" page. I just wanted to take a minute to reassure him that I have no illusions about my wonderful Stepan's birthday remembering abilities - I discovered that our first year of dating when he chose to attend a Madrigal rehearsal instead of taking me to see Madam Butterfly. He's got other good qualities though and it's kinda fun to watch him squirm when you remind him that he forgot a birthday or anniversary or didn't notice when you chopped over 3" off your hair.

Reception Music

jfer: Monday, September 23 11:30 PM

UGH...I've spent tons of time thinking about, researching, and listening to music snippets to find a first dance song. So far, the best thing I can come up with is "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge - but that's about a prostitute and probably won't be appropriate. I think I would really like an instrumental piece - either waltz or foxtrot - but again, I'm suffering from my lack of musical education (pop, classical, or otherwise)...suggestions, anyone?

The Men in Black

stepan: Saturday, September 21 5:29 PM

It looks like all the men in the wedding party have sent in their measurements. We went by Gingiss and changed the shirts from white to ivory, which should look better with Jennifer's dress. I also changed my vest color to gold (light gray would have looked bad with the shirt).

We also found some cool (or so I think) gifts for the guys in the party.

Ceremony Details

jfer: Friday, September 20 9:55 PM

Today, Stepan and I had our final meeting with Father Cletus. We worked out the order of the ceremony (I would advise everybody to eat first) and picked out the readings. My Aunt Bertha will do the first reading (Song of Songs 8:6-7a), MOH will do the Psalm (112:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8, 9), Stepan's sister, Martina, will do the second reading in czech (1 John 3:18-24) and do the Alleluia to introduce the gospel. Fr. Cletus will of course read the gospel (John 2:1-11). Uncle Matthew has agreed to be a Eucharistic minister and I think I'll see if my Aunt Virginia is qualified to do that as well...if she isn't, I welcome any qualified persons to volunteer (if you have to ask what the qualifications are, you probably don't meet them). Now all we have to do is purchase the unity candles, create and mass produce the programs, make the kolaches, get baskets for the flower girls, get a basket and napkins for the kolaches, and make sure everybody knows what time to get everywhere....I'm sure I just missed something from that list - it's just inevitable that I did and that I won't realize what it was until 4:30pm on 10/5!

Rings

stepan: Friday, September 20 1:37 PM

We are another step closer. Today over lunch, I went by our jeweler's and picked up (and paid for) our rings. They look really cool, especially Jennifer's the way it molds around her engagement ring. Mine is really heavy and it'll take me some time getting used to wearing it.

Picture Perfect

stepan: Thursday, September 19 10:30 PM

We met with our photographer at St. Edward's to go over the big day. Kim had us fill out a fairly detailed questionnaire for her to follow and then went into even more detail with us. We have a much better idea of what our schedule will be.

The church is a little dark for photography, but we hope she'll be allowed to use flash during the procession and recession. She picked out lovely spots for our pre-wedding and formal photos - the St. Edward's campus is full of them and we hope the weather will cooperate so that we can take those pictures outdoors. Kim really seems to have her stuff together - it makes me feel like this is going to be one thing we won't have to worry about on our wedding day.

As an aside - every time we go by the Our Lady Queen on Peace I like the chapel more and more.

Flatware I Picked Out All By Myself!

stepan: Monday, September 16 10:45 PM

One of the last items that we had not yet put on our list is flatware. I was going to meet Jennifer at Dillard's but something more important came up, so I volunteered to try to make the selection myself. After lots of waffling, I picked Lenox's Federal Platinum Frost 5-piece sets as well as a hostess set and serving set (I didn't know that there was a difference between the later two, but I guess there is). I'm encouraging Jennifer to go by Dillard's and look at other flatware, but she says she prefers to wait and blame me if she ends up not liking my selection.

I've also looked at luggage (she said we needed a small case and a garment bag and they have to be red). So now our registry at Dillard's has those as well.

The Dress

jfer: Monday, September 16 10:39 PM

I got to try on my dress this weekend. I've been kinda nervous about it since I have absolutely no fashion sense and the whole concept was my idea. Aunt Hanka, my seamstress, thought it was a crazy idea - so did my mom for that matter! On the drive to Dallas, I kept thinking (and bugging Stepan with) "what if I don't like it?", "what if it's hideous?", "will he still want to marry me if I look funny?"

We got in late on Friday night so we visited for a bit, settled Homer into a new environment (Stepan mentioned his fascination with Pepper, the guinea pig), and went to bed soon after. Saturday morning, I finally got to try on the dress. I like it...a lot! I like the fact that it isn't a traditional bridal gown that I'll only wear once then spend countless sums of money and time worrying about preserving for the children I don't yet have. I love the texture, flow, and color of the underdress fabric. I like the delicate look of the overdress and the fact that it lets me look like a bride, it has a nice, long train, and provides an attractive frame for the low back on the underdress. It's not perfect (it's more Renaissance than I intended and it's going to be really hard to pull it on over my updo), but I think it suits me.

In addition to being relieved with how The Dress is turning out, Hanka agreed to make my veil as well. She wasn't so sure about my wanting to add a ribbon trim with same fabric as the underdress, but after some consideration, she thinks it will work out well. She says she getting used my different ideas on fashion and wedding attire.

Lord of the Ring

stepan: Friday, September 13 7:32 PM

I got to see my ring "in the raw" today. I called Brian to see if my cast had made it in and then dropped by Avant Garde after lunch to take a look at it. It's a hefty piece of metal and already looks cool, although there is still all the polishing to do. We may have our rings ready by the end of next week. Woo hoo!

I have never worn any jewelry, so it's going to take some getting used to having a piece of heavy metal attached to my hand all the time.

Wedding Musicians

stepan: Thursday, September 12 3:08 PM

We're pretty sure that we're going to go with Harmonium for our wedding ceremony. They are a classical trio (violin, flute, piano) and the lady I talked to sounded really nice. We have to schedule an appointment to hear them play before we make the final decision. And then there is the selection of the music - but the musicians are going to help us with that. If anyone has suggestions for classical or baroque music that works well in a wedding, please let us know.

WHM Sponsored Shower

jfer: Sunday, September 8 10:06 AM

Stepan and I know some really neat people - our wedding reception is going to be a blast! My co-worker, Lynn, hosted a shower for our co-workers yesterday. She's got the perfect house for parties - it's well decorated and has great flow between the kitchen, dining room, and family room. As Stepan mentioned, the food was fantastic with most of my favorite desserts provided by my co-workers (1886 chocolate cake, pineapple upside down cake, cheesecake, italian cream cake)....I hope Word of Mouth can do at least half as well as Lynn did. What was really fun about this shower was the opportunity to get the various friends from different parts of our lives together. So WHM people got to meet @hand people and they all got to meet bookgroup people - now they won't be total strangers when they meet at the bar-b-q and wedding. Be sure to check out the pictures!

Progress...Progress... - Flowers and Lodging

jfer: Friday, September 6 6:28 PM

I've done lots today! I met with Bekki, our florist, at The Austin Flower Co. We picked out calla lilies for the bride's maids and mothers, numberous white flowers for my bouquet, looked for inspiration for a buffet centerpiece, decided on flower girl poseys, lapel flowers for the men, and scattered flowers for the tables. I also ordered mirrors for the reception tables, made reservations for the honeymoon party in Hot Springs at the Historic Park Hotel, and made reservations for the wedding night at a B&B...I don't think I'll advertise which one though - you never know what kind of mischief people could get into armed with that kind of knowledge!

My goal for this weekend is to look for/find/buy foundation garments, jewelry, shoes, and possibly figure out what I'm going to do about a veil.

Did we mention the wedding is now only 29 days away!

Tuxes are ordered...

stepan: Friday, September 6 3:52 PM

We're going with a black cutaway coat and straight tie over a wing tip collar. Right now I'm planning on a gray vest for me and charcoal for the attendants - but that may still change.

A Month to Go...

stepan: Thursday, September 5 10:07 PM

Met with Rebecca from Littlefield Hospitality to nail down details for the reception - food, tables, dance floor, bad weather tents, etc. We also ordered our cakes from them (Word of Mouth Catering) so that task is off our list, too.

Looking at the calendar, the wedding is just one month from today. Eek!