2 months from today...

So none of the promised posts have materialized yet - YET! But maybe while I'm on the airplane to Israel in 17 DAYS!!!! I will write some posts! Also, kind of weirded out that the wedding is in exactly 2 MONTHS! Handed over all the remaining planning and putting together of stuff to Beau because I have no time. Its a little weird letting go after being in control for over a year - though I do check things over and he runs things by me. I think it will be good for me and good for us as a couple. He needs to learn that I won't always be able to do everything (sometimes I think he doesn't do things because he knows that I will do it), and I need to experience (because I already theoretically know) that he is completely capable of doing everything that I do, just maybe not in the exact same way that I would do it.

Anyways - pretty picture because I might have final found a dress to wear at the party in Israel, its more than I wanted to spend, but at least on the model its perfect and JCrew is having a 30% Off sale with free shipping - so I might as well get it and see, since I have nothing else to wear.

"Ribbon Cut-Wave Dress" by J.Crew

Remind you of anything?

And since the likelihood of me ever getting to a post about the bachelorette party and the distinct lack of acceptable pictures to post I will put up this one picture.

Yes, that is me wearing short silver sequin skirt.

(My purchase, everything else by some of my besties)

And a giant plastic engagement ring.

And a t-shirt that says "I'm getting married Bi***es".

And a pin that said something like "Sexy Bride"

And a veil. (Not visible in this picture, but I assure you it was on)

And to top it all off a crown that said "I'm tying the knot, buy me a shot"

WITH a detachable plastic shot glass.

I just love my friends. Anyways, fun night, bad morning after - no vomiting - extra good!

Thats all for now. Back to the grind.

israeli reception - part 3?

My mom is in Israel and she is (again) looking for places to have our wedding reception - she decided against all the other places she looked at the first time.

This morning I got an email with a link to a place on the beach called Rocca, and (based on the pictures) its perfect. Its exactly what I envisioned. Its so beautiful it makes me wish we were doing the entire wedding in Israel and flown out Beau's immediate family. I am trying not to get too excited because my mom hasn't gone to see it in person yet and we don't know prices. Oh, and they serve sushi - major bonus points!

But seriously, how could you not want to have a wedding here?

*All images from the Rocca website

Israeli Reception

[Still no computer, but I finally did order one today...]

My mom has been in Israel for the last two weeks and she did some searching for a place for our Israeli reception. There have been two problems: (1) every place costs more than we anticipated, (2) our favorite restaurants don't do private parties and (3) most "venues" are for weddings of over 200-500 people (yeah 200 is a small Israeli wedding).

However, my mom did check out three places, and this was her favorite (at least before she went to visit) - "HaPina HaYeruka" or "The Green Corner". Its in Tel Aviv along the banks of the Yarkon River. Here is one pictures from their website.

At least from the pictures Beau and I think its perfect! We'll see what my mom has to say now that she has seen it - she gets back tomorrow.

update

Back from ASBMR - all went well with my presentation, yay!  Sitting at the lab, not doing work - he he!

Now that I'm back I'm starting to feel pressure on wedding stuff again...  

We have our engagement session coming up in a few weeks and I want to get my make-up done, but I don't really know anyone in town and the person the photographer recommended charges $75/hr - that kind of seems unreasonable, right?  Oh, and once we have the pictures back I need to make Save the Dates... and mail them out - oh but before that I have to collect peoples addresses...

I'm also getting nervous about our invites... Josh really likes the ones I designed, but I'm afraid they won't look professional enough, especially since I'm printing them at home.  I emailed the Budget Savvy Bride and her rates are very reasonable - for $50 she will design 5 invites for us to choose from based on our wedding colors, styles etc, and she will design them so they can be easily printed on a home printer.  For an additional $25 each she will also design RSVP cards and any other elements I want.  I'm seriously considering it.

Its also almost time to start looking for a florist... I'm not looking forward to it.  I want really nice flowers, but I refuse to pay a lot because I know its something I could do myself - my family won't let me (they have no interest in having me transform into a Bridezilla the afternoon before the wedding).

My mom is also going to Israel in a couple weeks, so we have to settle on a guest list, and date for our Israeli reception so that she can find an appropriate location.

I think thats all for now.  Just needed to unload.

would rather be...

the lab has been pretty crazy recently.  i'm desperately trying to get data together for the meeting i'm presenting at in just a few short weeks... in the past 5 days i've spend approximately 45 hours in the lab.  

i would definitely rather be here...

... Finland.

Home of the cell phone, 190,000 lakes, and, of course, 

the Wife-Carrying World Championships.

i'm so not joking.

check out the BBC article - gotta love a country that can be so serious and so ridiculous - reminds me of myself.

Israel Reception

My mom and I started working on the reception in Israel.  I want a place on the beach, or at least with ridiculous views of the sea.  A dessert wedding would be a very close second.  

But first we had to assess the number of people so we could narrow down venue options.  We were thinking the guest list would be 50-60, like at my Bat Mitzvah.  After my mom named everyone that had to be invited we were at 82 - not including babies, or some other family that could be invited.  Oops...  We had forgotten to consider all the marriages, significant others and kids that have come into the lives of our family and friends in the 15 years since my Bat Mitzvah (or 10 years, if you count since my sister's).  Now we have to reassess the guest list, and figure out who we can cut without insulting large factions of the family.  Personally, I would cut everyone who's name I don't know, but I don't think thats going to work...  Apparently my mom has to confer with my grandmother about it.  

I'm finally starting to understand why other people have huge weddings with family they barely know - its all politics!

(Also, it just occurred to me that if my Israeli and German families all moved to the states, my wedding would easily top 200 people!  INSANITY!)

would rather be...

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska

Would rather be here...

The village of Oios on the island of Santorini, Greece

Image from here.

Not actually on a planning vacation...

Remember when I thought I was done with planning till September - yeah, not so much.  Totally didn't register that I still need to buy a dress and that if I wait until September it will be cutting it close.  I was definitely blocking it out.  It all came crashing down when on a whim I made an appointment at a bridal store in Jersey so that I could go dress shopping just once with my BFF D before she moves to Turkey...  I actually found two dresses that I liked, so I now have a number of different options ranging in price from $900-3400; and ranging in style from empire goddess to princess ball gown to simple a-line to mermaid.  No idea how I'm going to pick.  Still can't get a clear mental image of what I want to look like the day of.  They all seem to mesh with different aspects of my personality.  Right now I'm leaning towards a Marisa that I saw this past weekend (sorry, the Marisa website totally sucks and I can't find a picture).  Its a flow-y a-line, very simple, but with some whimsy.  It would need a killer necklace, but I know just the place in Israel.  I'm going to attempt to try it on again here in the ROC, and then I might pull the trigger.

More invitation experimentation

My newest invitations using InDesign, Photoshop and these swatches, which I now remember are from iDIY.  Beau prefers the one on the left, I prefer the one on right.  Thoughts?

I'm a little annoyed at how the color of the pattern is showing up.  In Photoshop and InDesign and when printed its much less bright - more of an olive.

I also printed them out on the back of some invitations left over from a shower I threw last summer to see the quality of our printer.  I think that the quality is really quite good.  

These pictures are also not showing the color quite right - its not that brown.

Shout out to Budget Savvy Bride where I got some of my font inspiration.  I ended up using:

• Bickham Script Two
  
• Imprint MT Shadow
  
• Copperplate Gothic Light
  
• Ornament Scrolls and Flourishes
  

Eventually, I want to make a Hebrew version, and possibly a German version to mail the overseas family, but finding nice (free) fonts has been an issue.  I also can't seem to figure out how to get my computer to type the Hebrew from right to left - its really annoying trying to type stuff in reverse!

Wedding in 3 places?

So we are trying to figure out what do about seeing my international family (everyone except my parents and sister) for wedding celebrations.  Right now we are stuck on when; let alone where, how much, etc. 

(View of an old church from the hills around Jerusalem, Israel)

We chose a wedding date based on when the weather would be nice, the venue would be the cheapest, and it would be most convenient for guests in the US to come.  Unfortunately, Beau will still be teaching for another 3-4 weeks after the wedding which means that we couldn't be able to go anywhere until July at the earliest.  Unfortunately, this is one of the most expensive times to travel (tickets to Israel could easily cost

 $1200-1500 EACH!) and Beau would not do well in the Israeli heat and humidity in July or Aug.  We could probably buy tickets to Israel through a European or US carrier with a stop in Germany, so that we would hopefully not have to pay extra (other than hotels/food) to see my dad's family.

(A beach near Tel Aviv, Israel)

My newest thought (which I have no idea if it would be OK with my grad advisor or my family or Beau) is to get to at least Israel in April during Beau's spring break.  The weather should be lovely, and the tickets a little less expensive (maybe around $1000, or we might be able to use miles).  We could have a reception with my lovely Israeli family (I could, in theory, wear my dress - wearing it twice halves the cost, right?).  With this option there is also still the possibility of stopping over in Germany to see the other half of my family.  Then I would still have about 1.5 months from when we get back to finalize all the US wedding stuff.

(The famous "Ahava" -"love"- statue at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel)

With multiple receptions is it OK (etiquette-wise) to have a reception before the actual marriage ceremony so is it considered somehow rude?  I guess we could always go to city hall and have a civil ceremony before all the of receptions and then have the religious ceremony at our US reception?

All images by me.  I don't have any recent pictures of Germany because I haven't been there in almost a decade (sadness).