Unique Locations

If I tell the truth, I wanted to hold the ceremony in this place. But there was just no way that we could cut the guest list down to the fifty or so that might be allowed. I have spent so much of my life in this particular place that it would have suited me perfectly. But I am not the only one getting married, and Mr. Robin has a lot of amazing people in his life that deserve to be a part of our big day. But I still wanted to spend some time there on the big day.

What place am I talking about exactly?

Powell’s City of Books. The largest independent bookstore in the world. Which happens to be right across the street from the Portland Armory, where our wedding is taking place.

Don't get me wrong, I love our location with all my heart now, but this was my first impulse. I didn't even mention it to Mr. Robin because it was so off-the-wall, but I am a big fan of weddings in personal places. I really like this wedding from Offbeat Bride that took place in a library. The aisle is so sweet.

But if like me you can’t fit that unique location into the reality of your plans, don’t give up entirely. I wrote the following somewhat begging-toned letter to the Public Relations department at Powell’s asking them to let me include the store in my wedding in some way:

Hello to whomever it may concern:

I would like to inquire (beg, really if we are being honest) whether it would be possible to take some photos inside of the Powell’s City of Books location.

Some background perhaps: I am getting married on Sat. January X, 2008 at the Portland Armory. Being somewhat obsessed with books I spend quite a lot of time in the Powell’s location on Burnside over the years. It is where I used to go on my birthday (woohoo birthday loot to spend), after school once I got my license, late at night when I lived alone and needed people, on days off to browse during my first job, and was the first stop every time I drove home from college. I love to walk the stacks, and guess what I found myself a man that likes to browse and sip coffee as well. Though, he is down in that strange and foreign rose room I have heard rumors about (blue room, red room myself).

So long story short, I would like to have a few pictures taken inside of Powell’s City of Books on my wedding day. If need be it can simply be myself, my groom and one photographer so as to cause as little disturbance as possible. It is a place we spend time together in our real lives, and I would like to have it in our photos. I understand this may not be possible for myriad of reasons, but if it is even remotely possibly, I would be willing to jump through some hoops to make it happen.

Thanks for considering my silly wedding photo dream.

All the Best,
Miss Robin

And they have agreed! So the Robins' pre-ceremony photo session will be taking place in Powell's, the reveal (where Mr. Robin will see me for the first time) as well as other silly photos. This way I get to include a place that means a lot to me, even if I can’t have the wedding there.

Anyone including a non-traditional site that is personal to you in some way?

Powell's photos from the New York Times.

Taking the Cake...

I had a whole cake plan. Well it was more of a desert plan.

See I don't really love cake. I mean plain birthday/wedding cake type cake with frosting and such. In fact, I border on dislike with a few exceptions. But I love dessert. I love baking and Mr Robin's mom has made wedding cake and other family members have baking talent. So I thought that we would lay out an amazing dessert spread of a small wedding cake, cheesecake, cookies, tres leches cake, and pie. Something like this:

(From Josiah's Catering, a crazy beautiful caterer from Manila)

I still think it is a grand idea, and if it had been any other time of year it would have worked out.
But we put our families in a pinch, we know, by getting married only eleven days after Christmas. There just isn't enough time to do everything that we want.

So, about two weeks before Christmas, we all began to realize that there is a certain love expressed in buying dessert. Love for our families. Though it would be meaningful to have a course supplied by family, it is also meaningful to just let everyone relax and enjoy.

So we turned to Saint Cupcake. Fellow Portlanders will be familiar with Saint Cupcake's amazingly delicious cupcakes, but what they might not know is that the sweet little bakery does full size cakes in the same flavors of their cupcakes, and they will even put together a sweet little arrangement like this:
A small little cake on the top for the two of you to cut and custom dyed cupcakes all around. And since I am slightly obsessed with the Toasted Coconut Cream cupcakes, guess what our little personal cake shall be...

Once again not exactly what I wanted to happen, but I think it turned out for the best.

Getting Down

We need to have control of the music. That was decided from the beginning. I have just heard too many stories from couples who made detailed lists, provided songs, and then heard none or little of what they wanted.

Add to that the fact that a great many of our dates were to concerts and shows and we needed to rock the iPod wedding. So a friend of Mr. Robin will provide ceremony music with her guitar, and then when the reception rolls around we will have an iPod full of all the songs we love.

However, we have an issue... What song are we going to dance to for the first dance?! We have it down to two, which you can listen to thanks to YouTube:
First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes - this is a really sweet video
Why We Like It: This declaration of love and commitment because it is so real. It talks about how amazing love is, but also that it is scary and full of hard work. So awesome.
My Favorite Lyric: "Yours is the first face that I saw/ I swear I was blind before I met you"

I Wasn't Prepared by Eisley
Why We Like It: Because for us it is true. We didn't think when we met that this would be love, we were not prepared at all, and, also we went through a period of separation while we reflected on making this commitment. I think this song really speaks to that. Also we LOVE Eisley.
My Favorite Lyric: "Oh, I wasn't prepared for this..."

So which one should we dance to?


Of course we plan to play this song also, because "Love is like a Roll of Tape" just speaks to everyone, right?? Oh and we are goofs who are obsessed with Flight of the Concords.

Merry Christmas WeddingBee!

Merry Crafty Christmas!

Like many of you, I am sure, I spent the last few days cooking and wrapping but I wanted to stop and wish everyone the merriest Christmas. Happy wrapping and unwrapping, and joy in the lovely season that surrounds us!

Oh and say TWO WEEKS!! until I am Mrs. Robin.

Our Only E-Pic

We have had extreme luck in vendors for our wedding. Our caterer/event manager is a family friend of Mr. Robin’s and my make-up/hair artist is my good friend and bridesmaid. As for our photographers, well I spent a long time searching the internet looking at different types of photos.

Then one day I was cruising Offbeat Bride and saw this photo:

I was in love with it. And then I saw the name of the company that did it, FS Weddings. And I thought to myself where have I seen that name before? Hmmm.

Oh right, every third Sunday when I serve at church and my leader e-mails me, that is the end part of his email address. Because he took that photo! Jackpot! I wasted no time in talking with him about the photography.

However, we didn’t really have time for an e-pic session. We kept trying to fit it in somewhere in the schedule, but with only 16 weeks we couldn’t make it fit anywhere, and then it was only 5 weeks to the wedding and it seemed too late.

Luckily for me Ryan and Joelle Flood (the lovely pair behind FS Weddings) are always doing photography for our churches various missional communities and so captured the Robin’s serving at a REACH benefit.

It isn’t a whole session, but I love the look on our faces, especially Mr. Robin. He’s such a goof.

Off the Map

I dread the question. Everyone asks it!

"Where are you guys going to live?"

Here in Portland, what part of the city you live in says a lot about you. Before you ask newly met people what they do for a living, you ask them what part of the city they live in? I live in Alberta currently (crafts oriented, arty, coffee-fueled, funky) and Mr. Robin lives in Sellwood (community-oriented, good food, supports local merchants).



So the fact that we have no idea where we are living is a source of great concern to everyone who asks the question. They don't know where to place us. I have to say it bothers me a little too. I love certain parts of the city, but I don't know if we will be able to afford them right away.

But the truth is, we can't focus there right now. We have this huge trip coming up and we still are waiting in some ways for some direction on what that trip will be about. How can we think of an apartment that we won't occupy for another eight months.

I can tell them where our storage unit is going to be. What questions does everyone ask you about getting married that you just dread?

Glassware Extraordinaire

So I am just not a flowery girl. I will admit something to you all... I don't really get excited about flowers.

That isn't completely accurate. I think flowers are pretty and lovely. But I am only really attracted to strange looking ones. I love lime green flowers like Bells of Ireland. I like it when Mr. Robin gets those for me because I know he really thought about what I love.

But the truth is, for the wedding I just can't see paying hundred of dollars for them. I am mostly ambivalent about my bouquet and the other floral elements.

That is why I didn't think that I could do flowers for the centerpieces during the reception. It just wouldn't be me. But one thing I do love is early and mid-century glassware, so my idea was a mix of glassware in blues, greens and browns. Then, I began to worry I wouldn't have time to gather that much glassware so I bought 33 clear vases from Ikea with the intent to fill them will colored water and floating candles.

Well, they are going back! I just couldn't seem to ignore all the amazing finds out there lurking in discount shops and thrift stores. I love the idea of hundreds and hundreds of candles shining through colored glass.

So my MFIL has been helping me gather tons of vintage pitchers and decanters and cordial glasses! So now the only decision is shall all the glass on each table be the same color, or should each table be a mixture of colors?

All one color

The Blues, Greens, Ambers all together

What do you think?

Maid to Order

I had written in the past of my obsession and desire for custom Lynn Lugo dresses for my bridesmaids. And also I had written of the complete impossibility of getting them given my time constraints. So I gave up that ideas and hunted through hundreds of websites looking for something else I liked ready-made.

The reason that I really wanted the Lynn Lugo dresses is because I could not make up my mind when it came to bridesmaids dresses. I went back and forth between blue to green, back to blue and then to the brown dress below from Nordstom's (because it was the safe choice). But I wasn't really happy with that choice.

So I decided what I really wanted were dresses that reflected all my 'maids personalities, and I wanted to work in all the colors that I love. I decided that I wanted to have a dress in each color. Green for my roommate who loves that color, peacock blue for my close friend who loves color just like me, and brown-gold for my amazing MOH, my sister. So we were back to custom dresses. And to the internet research.

I have had to admit that I have been guilty of not thinking locally. Which is strange because normally I am a huge proponent of supporting local merchants and it is something that Mr. Robin is really passionate about. Luckily I have some bridesmaids who weren't so shortsighted. Strolling along a strip of popular stores on 23^rd Avenue they found Cocoon.

(my mom checking out the bridesmaids dresses)

At Cocoon Silk there are racks and racks of lovely dresses to choose from. However, that isn't the best part. Any of the dresses that you see can be made in any of a wide range of different colored silks. So I was able to set my dearest women loose in the store to choose any style they fancied. My only conditions were that the dresses be knee or just below the knee length. And after they chose and were measured, we got to sift through these amazing silk swatches and choose each woman's color and accents.

It was such a great experience because the store seemed to care so much about each woman in my party. The owner made suggestions and was willing to alter the details, such as length and straps, on any one of his designs, and was willing to work with my insane one and a half month deadline. And I got exactly what I wanted.

So here they are the first fitting:

I think that because I spend so much time and energy planning and writing about my wedding on the internet that sometimes I forget there are great finds in my own Portland.

What is your greatest wedding find in your city?

Rehearsing Casual

Our wedding is fairly elaborate for a being in the planning stages for only three months. And I will admit to being stressed (that is code word for going slightly crazy). However, I knew this was coming. From the moment we decided that our absolute maximum engagement length was four months, I knew by the end I would be tired.

Which is why I have been standing my ground on my rehearsal dinner plan. I knew exactly what I wanted from day one... Actually before that, I knew before Mr. Robin ever proposed.

Here is a vision of my perfect rehearsal dinner:

(center image from Banana Republic)

Red wine. Spicy pepperoni pizza. My favorite jeans. All our friends.

This is the last time I will see Mr. Robin until we are all suited up and ready. I want to relax. I want to chat. I want not to think about the details. I got the idea from my sister, who just wanted margaritas and Mexican food for her rehearsal dinner. But she didn't get it, she graciously gave way to family demands for a very fancy, formal rehearsal dinner. But I have been saving her idea for about seven years now. And I am determined to get my way.

Which is why I have rented out Portland's most haunted building, Old Town Pizza. They have a large upstairs room which can accommodate the wedding party, and out-of-town travelers, so that we can all eat some amazing pizza and just be together.

A Total Bust(le)

**Sorry Mr. Robin, skip this one too**

I had originally thought to have my aunt, who does costumes for theater, make the alterations and bustle on my dress. I began to have second thoughts when faced with my time crunch however. It is a beautiful thing to have friends and family do things for your wedding and they can save you tons of money. In fact, we have personal relationships with our caterer, photographer, invitation designer and my hairstylist, but since I needed the alterations done quickly, having a business relationship only sounded nice. I am so much more comfortable being picky (and lets face it, demanding) with someone who views me only as their client.

And when I saw this picture in the David's Bridal Bustle Guide, I was sold on having them do it:

That is my dress! And I love the way it is bustled with a brooch, mimicking the draping above. I decided the minute I saw it that I wanted it.

There is one small problem however. I went for my first fitting last week and the seamstress stared at me blankly when I mentioned the style. When I mentioned the Bustle Guide she cocked her head and said she didn't know what I was talking about. Of course, thinking since they had created the guide and would therefore have it in the store, I hadn't printed the page off the internet and couldn't show it to her. But finally she found an employee who knew to what I was referring. It was then that I was informed, that though the guide is put out by David's Bridal, not all styles are available in all areas. They don't carry the brooch to do that style in little ole Portland, Oregon.

Well, I still love it and I have my heart set. So I am having her put in a bustle with pearl button and ribbon ties to create the draping effect and now am going to find a brooch and just pin it over. Now the only question is what color and what style? Here's what I am thinking.

a lovely vintage faux pearl brooch from Agataga.

I like the idea of a light blue, like this cameo from Ebon Swan.

Too bad this one is sold. It was on Vintage Costume Jewelry and is the perfect colors with two lovebirds painted on it.

Other suggestions?