gah!

You're killing me

http://fleursnyc.wordpress.com/

and you:



and you:



and you:




and you:



and lots more of you, but i digress..

I am also in love with the idea of getting married on a farm. in kentucky. totally putting my eggs in one very fragile basket right now. it would be just as i really want and probably 1/4 the cost. and so fun. i would love bbq and graeter's ice cream for dessert. and the obligatory 'riding the tractor' pic.

I also am in love with a wedding planner, but might not need to have if the wedding moves to kentucky. i can sort of afford her, but would love to not spend california money. feel me?

and then i can do stuff like this:



photos grabbed, copied, coveted and dreamed about found in Fleurs, Saipua, and one other that i cant remember but is proabably one of the links i have on the side there...[sorry, that was sloppy of me]

One more: from citylady countrygirl

have you ever seen anything so utterly perfect in your entire life? its like they opened up my skull, looked inside of my brain and made a picture of my wish. how do i make this happen?

i am a princess

and i deserve the wedding i want.
i deserve the wedding i want
i deserve the wedding i want

i deserve the wedding i want:




look at that beautiful table [board swiped from snippet and ink]

and this [also swiped from snippet and ink :


lose the mass amount of chairs and focus on the square with the banjo player in it. you see this image. THIS is the dinner i want. loose. easy. peaceful. smiling. delightful. in sonoma. where no one lives.

i am a princess [i suppose]

things are shaking out

So we looked at three spaces for the reception, and have decided on Prairie Production. Here it is all naked and waiting to be set up:




So far it seems the couple that run it are lovely and it should be a fun space to dress up. here's more pics from their site which shows how others have planned it out, but I think my 'team' and I will do something much different.

We also looked at the space A New Leaf has in Lincoln Park:



This place is gorgeous, but has a couple levels, which didn't feel was right for our reception, but I would love to figure out another way to use the space. When we were there they were setting up for a Bat Mitzvah party.



This was the space upstairs [people have used it as a chapel]:



Too bad it wasn't the right fit. I took zillions of pics and their space is adjacent to one of their flower shops. I like to go in their shop just to take pictures.





They have a candle area downstairs that is such great eyecandy:










We also stopped in at West Loop Studio which was nice, but small, and way overpriced for 'nice but small.' He had some great pieces of furniture in there, though! And a little room he uses as a sort of photo booth where he takes pics [he's a photog] of guests with props and hats, etc..We are going to steal this idea and just set up our own area somewhere in the space [somehow we will figure this out]

After a day of perusing spaces, I let go of the space I really wanted [it was too expensive but I didnt care--I WANTED IT], we decided on Prairie. It was reasonable for the season [3500K] the space was big and grand, and the catering and liquor options were completely open. done. now. to convince the family that the Saturday after TGiving is ok....

Then we can have fun, right?

so this is what it is like...

It is one month and two weeks since my beloved proposed to me.

I had one lovely night and brief moments of the morning to enjoy that news with only him. Then we started to tell people.

First piece of advice: savor every minute of being engaged and no one knowing. it's glorious

Two weeks later we had a trip to Mexico planned with my folks and by then my fiance and I had dreamt up a beautiful ceremony idea: in Sonoma, in a rental estate home with our immediate family and friends surrounding us. I could see all their smilng faces, the beautiful landscape, sunshine glistening on everyone's hair, and Chris and I joining forces for life.

And then the ickiness began. Mom didn't understand why my great-aunt Rhoda wouldn't be invited[to the ceremony]. Why did you pick California? "You know, people arent going to want to give you gifts if you dont invite them to the ceremony..." GROSS! She also "always pictured [me] getting married on a beach" What?? I don't ever go to the beach. With this alabaster skin, are you kidding? Whose wedding exactly are you speaking of?

Long story short, it is now 1 month and 2 weeks since we got engaged. Yesterday I had my first crying breakdown and 2nd realization that this may not be as much fun as I had hoped.

But here's what WAS fun. buying 25,000 bridal magazines. Oh, and books. Oh, and reading every blog ever and saving countless images and sites to folders and bookmarks on my computer.

All of that seems like so long ago because NOW I have to 'work with' my parents to find this perfect estate home in addition to a local spot in my city for the reception. I have imagined myself into a really challenging, detail-oriented wedding plan and I want to go back to it all being thinking about pretty stuff. Paper poms, flowers, kitten heel shoes, make up and accessories. how I'll dress up the little girl. How I'll dress up my future husband. The fun stuff.

I can only imagine that the girls that have fun with all this either have amazing parents who actually let them do whatever they want [with the money that they give] or they are just going to do it themselves on a showstring budget but with no one to have to answer to. I wonder if it is worth it to give up on the Sonoma dream and just have the wedding everyone else has just to save frustration.

This is where I am at right now. I would rather post pretty pictures and have a darling and charming first post, but this is what inspired me. Pretty pictures to follow, I'm sure [fingers crossed]