Let
Spyonit.com
notify you when this page changes! *Spyonit has been down but we hope they come back!
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
The calligrapher we used (and did a fabulous job) recently launched her new website: Nancy Scheer Art.
If you are in the Baltimore Area and are looking for a calligrapher she can be reached via email at calligraphynancy@earthlink.net to set up an appointment.
posted by:Jessica Grieves 8:48 AM
Thursday, April 17, 2003
I have finally posted my online album. All pictures were delivered electronically to us from friends, or taken by Jay or myself. Enjoy!
posted by:Jessica Grieves 1:54 PM
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Wedding Book List As so many visitors to my site are coming via "Wedding Books" keywords, I figured I would make it easier for you to see the list of books that I used in my wedding planning process: I received this planner as an engagement gift from my future sister-in-law. It was really handy for storing all the odds and ends that were picked up over the process. In addition it had great lists of quesitons to ask vendors, and the business card holder in the back became critical to me as the wedding planning progressed.
A fun basic workout book even if you are not getting married anytime soon. The book has workout plans that include strength training so that you can become buff to look great in your wedding dress, or any special occasion. A condensed plan is also included in case you waited until the last minute to get into shape.
Bridal Showers and Wedding Gifts-they add up and it can become difficult to get your motivation up to do those thank you cards. This book is a great resource to help with thinking of unique ways to say "thank you".
A Wedding For All Seasons This was one of my favorite books if for no other reason that the eye candy. If you need ideas for your wedding decorations and other ways to tie your wedding to a theme this book will really do the job. Since we were having an autumn wedding I really took advantage of some of the ideas in this book. I gave my florist a copy of one of the centerpieces for her to recreate and she did an excellent job.
Jay and I decided to put together our own wedding ceremony and this book was a lifesaver. Our ceremony was 11 minutes long and even thoug that may seem short think about how many words are said in 11 minutes. This book helped us with everything from the Unity Candle ceremony to the actual vows.
Wedding planning cannot be all work and no play so for some comic relief slip into your tub with this book. It is a fast and easy read and will help keep you sane when everything else seems to be chaos.
If you have a crafty bone or two in you this book provides lots of great ideas for ways to personlize your wedding. Some of the stuff seemed out there to me but you can use the stuff in this book for gifts outside of the wedding too.
Great for ideas for programs, and also if you are having a small enough wedding to make your own invitations. I used some ideas to make special thank you cards for my in-laws for throwing us the rehearsal dinner, and for our officiant.
A healthy collection of wedding porn-especially magazines, will develop before you know it...
Reviewing Proofs Jay finally had a chance to look at our proofs. I have to admit it is quite the daunting task. We received 212 proofs from our photographer. And, any of the pictures where my eyes are open are pretty good (the extra eye makeup was causing me some problems early on).
I had already gone through the pile and flagged the photos that I liked. Jay then had to go through them again and determine which he liked. Most of them matched the photos I choose.
Once I had the pile of photos that we both liked it came time to design the album. Included in our package was a bridal album containg 24 8x10 photos and 2 parent albums consisting of 12 4x5. We could then upgrade beyond what was included and what we already paid would act as a deposit. Well, 24 photos wasn't going to cut it for us but we have lots of options to "upgrade" to include pages with 2 5x7s, a 5x7 and two 4x5s, or pages that have four 4x5s. So I went to work laying out the album and taking every possible option for page layout. Now, of course, I'm extremely excited about seeing the finished product. Word of warning-this process can take a solid day's worth of work and extremely careful record keeping. The final selection was for 25 pages incorporating roughly 60 photos from the wedding. Yippee!
Next, the parents. Since my parents are divorced we knew that we would need to come up with a way to provide pictures to both of them. After discussing with Jay we decided that we would prefer to give each of the parents fewer pictures but give them some that were larger than the 4x5 size in the default set. So, we decided to do three folios with the photos specifically choosen for each one. For Jay's parents an 8x10 of one of our favorite shots of us standing together under an arch with the church visible in the background. The four 4x5s that will surround this larger photo in the folio include another picture of the two of us (this on shot after the ceremony so the sun has just about set and the clouds are amazing), a photo of the parents with us, the grandparents with us, and one of Jay and his dad sharing a laugh over drinks.
For my mom, she is getting another shot that takes advantage of the amazing architecture of the campus where our wedding was, a shot of my mom and I before the ceremony, a shot of Jay and I with her after the ceremony, a formal pose of me in my gown, and one other shot of Jay and I.
My Dad was actually a hard one because there were lots of fun shots with him included. I decided to give him the big shot of Jay and I where Jay is leaning against a lamp-post. It is one of those photos that will definitely become a portfolio piece for the photographer. For his smaller shots we choose to give him a close-up of me before the wedding, the photo of my Dad and I the church just after he pulled my veil over my face, a picture of he and I walking down the aisle, and one other shot of Jay and I as a couple.
The final task was deciding what other photos we wanted to get prints of. If we order our prints now with our albums they are discounted enough that it makes sense for us to do them all together. We choose one photo that we are going to have enlarged to 11x14 to have framed for our home. In addition, Jay and I each choose a photo of the two of us to have enlarged to 8x10 for our offices. I also choose a shot of just Jay in a smaller size to also have for my office. There were some really great shots of family and friends that we will get for them, as well as getting a print of us for each member of our immediate family and our closest friends. As it turns out we had roughly $500 deposited towards whatever we order, and it looks like we're going to spend another $500 on top of that to be able to have the album we want as well as to give photos to so many people that we want to have them. Our album was the really big expense, about half of what we are going to spend, but it will truly be worth it as the way to remember that day! Both of us had big smiles and lots of happiness just thinking back to it (now that 3 months have passed).
posted by:Jessica Grieves 11:24 AM
Monday, January 27, 2003
Tonight's special on Fox, Bridzilla, features 8 women in Manhatten planning their perfect weddings. Since I just had my wedding I can understand how they were feeling, considering they are compressing a years worth of planning into a 1 hrs special I'm sure they were probably typical brides. We all have our moments of stress, frustration, and bitchiness during the wedding planning process. Even though I tried to keep a calm outlook about the whole thing I was certainly stressed about the cost (our wedding/honeymoon was over $25,000).
Here's a recap of the show. They focused on three types of brides:
Princess Vanessa, 26: and Dan. Vanessa is blond and cute. She doesn't actually play a huge role in this show as she didn't seem to wound up. She really wanted a beautiful $15000 diamond necklace and practically begs her fiancee for it. She gets it at the rehearsal dinner and it looked beautiful on her at the wedding. The only real bridezilla moment was her frantic pleas about he wedding dress: "Don't let it bend" about the wedding dress on the hanger.
Miho, 26 and Joe. They also did not have a huge part in the special but their wedding planner, Lynn was active. She won't let a single detail go unplanned. Miho thought Lynn was very helpful. Joe really wanted one thing at the reception which is to have a dinner bell when it is time to go to the dining room to each. Miho doesn't think it is elegant enough for their wedding at Tavern on the Green so it looked like he got out-voted. Lynn is at an "All time low" when the florist is extremely late causing her to consider alternatives if the florist doesn't make it in time. She was touchy about letting Joe touch her before the wedding (well, her makeup did look good) but she seemed to settle in at the end. I wasn't worried about this too much because I knew that my makeup was not going anywhere. Of course, the garlic bread I ate for lunch kept Jay a healthy distance. :-)
Brooke, a 27 year old interior designer and Charlie. Kate is her wedding planner. One of the problems she faced was that a bridesmaid dress doesn't fit anymore. I hear that. I had to crash diet to fit into my wedding dress and two of my bridesmaids had to have their dresses taken out to fit into them. Her video artist seemed really uptight and a little crazy-mean. He called one of Kate's staff members stupid. meow!
Neurotic Karen, 29, Emmett banker, were heavily followed through the show. They were planning a $90000 wedding and expectations are high for her dress. She had 6 fittings for her $4000 dress. Yikes! Emmett picks only his tux. Karen complains about groom in that there is so much about the planning they are not aware of. They have a child together already so there is an additional stress on their time and finances. "I hate him...I don't even like him." where words from Karen. They do the invitations together though even though they fight over how to do them. Karen also tells him not to come back if he looses a lot of money at his Vegas bachelor party. She tries to lock him into a $1000 cap but he won't have it. He jokes that their home equity line of credit can cover his losses. At their reception at the W hotel in NY they only have a 20 minute cocktail "hour" which really sets Karen off. Apprently it was in the contract but who would expect such a short time for cocktails.
Cynthia 30, Matt. $3000 dress needs radical surgery. They cut parts of the dress apart while it was on her. She does have a little meltdown on her wedding day as she sits on the sidewalk waiting for her dress. I would have been a basket case. She has a guy, Rick as her maid of honor and he helps her carry the dress. Very sweet!
Amy, 27, and Tim. They are planning a $100,000 wedding. Amy went to almost every store in Manhatten to find a dress. She is worried a lot about what she is going to wear for her rehearsal dinner. She finds the rehearsal dress that she wants but she wants it in blue. She really wants it in blue. She even calls the dress shop after she leaves on her cell phone to make sure she really gets it in blue. Tim feels that it is easier for her to get things done without him trying to change her mind. Yeah! Jay figured that out too except we did finally agree not to have caramel apples as our favor because he thought it would be too much work (he was definitely right).
Obsessive Julia, 42,and Allan. At one point she is trying to tell her guests what to wear. At her wedding she is constantly yelling for her mother. She thought she was the bride from hell. She would have had 3 years to plan instead of two. Man, I was glad to have only a year to focus on my wedding.
Tricia, 33, and Jeff. For added stress Tricia is Jeff's boss. She booked a place for the reception without Jeff having seen it which was a neat loft space. That's okay, I did that too. Jay actually didn't see our reception site until we were already married. I knew he would love it though. He told me time and time again that he thought I did a wonderful job planning the wedding and it make me feel great that he noticed!
posted by:Jessica Grieves 5:17 PM
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Wedding Porn No really. Sara points to a picturebook on the Mullets Galore site that should certainly be rated R. Caution-do not look when your co-workers can see unless topless women are a regular part of your Internet experience! (click picturebook, then #23 and get past the hockey wedding to see it).
posted by:Jessica Grieves 10:17 AM
Thursday, January 09, 2003
Bridezilla I like to think I wasn't a bridezilla in the months, days, and hours leading up to our wedding. However, I'm pretty sure I got a little snippy towards the end, and especially when I was running about 15 minutes late the morning of the wedding which sent me into all kinds of stress.
Now, those who have not yet lived through this experience, or those who want to see someone that had it worse, can check out Bridezilla on Fox at the end of this month.
posted by:Jessica Grieves 7:05 PM
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
