making my to-do list my bitch

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make yarn pom poms
make tissue paper pom poms
put together music playlists*
buy wedding dress
buy kick ass shoes 



I am awesome.

(photos of the pom poms and dress will be forth-coming)


*though the music will be a continuing work in progress pretty much right up until d-day


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after she saw this post, my friend abbey pointed me towards these shoes (which also happen to be on her wish list).

guys.
they have polka dots.

which automatically makes them about ten times cooler than 99.8% of the shoes I have seen thus far.


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signage for the photo booth?

[via]

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man, I wish we were this effortlessly chic.

[via]

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so during lunch breaks (and sometimes mid-afternoon...) I have been browsing the internet for an awesome pair of bright yellow shoes to get married in.

heels. flats. sandals.
didn't much matter.

but much to my chagrin, awesome yellow shoes are proving to be much sparser than I thought they would be.

case and point?
my favorite pair of yellow footwear thus far:

yes, those are wellies.

and yes, I may be seriously considering it.

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why, oh why does our venue not have a miniature railway??

[via]

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“One of the best things about marriage is that it gets young people to bed at a decent hour.”

M.M. Musselman

(image: stumble upon)

oh old people...your fears are completely unfounded! 
I always go to bed at a decent hour! 
because apparently I am an 80 year old in a 27 year old's body.

[whole shebang via here]

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ah, norman.

your paintings depict such a simpler time.

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a sneak peek at 1939

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I think  "oh myyyyyyyyy" just about covers it.

[via]

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it's snowing here.
it's lovely.
everything is all fluffy and white.


...fluffy and white...


...the wedding...


...oh god. have to find fabric to make bunting...

[this is the way my brain is wired these days]

and continuing on in this seemingly random to the unsuspecting reader strange thought process, I have a confession to make.

I don't think marriage is going to be the life changing experience other people tell me it is going to be.

sure, marriage used to be a much bigger deal.
but a few decades ago it was not the norm for couples to co-habituate pre-wedding. it wasn't accepted to live in a marriage-like state before actually getting married.

back then, after the wedding, two people did actually start a new life together. they had to get used to being around a new person 24/7. they had to learn about and learn to deal with their partner's strange little quirks. they had to adjust to working together towards common goals. they needed lots of new stuff.

but things have changed. now-a-days, most couple go through the majority of those steps and trials much earlier in the relationship. almost all are living together before they even get engaged.
marriage now seems more of a life continuing step, than a life changing step.

and this is the case with ben and I. we've been together 9 years, and have been living together for 5 of those, give or take. we're practically already married, in the standard sense of the word.

I have tried, and failed, to see how this wedding is going to change who we are as a couple/partnership.etc.
[legal/tax/spousal insurance mambo jambo aside]

the only thing I can think of is, when we get married, other people will view us differently. we will most likely be treated as more adult. more mature. better equipped to proceed and deal with life as it comes at us.


which, if I am completely honest with you, bugs me.

if I don't see myself as different,
if ben doesn't see himself as different,
if we don't see ourselves as different,
why should others see us as different?

there is no good answer to that question, but it's the one that's been flitting through my mind a lot lately.

such are the trials and tribulations of the non-bridal bride.

by the way, I have just watched a guy shovel and shovel again the same patch of sidewalk in from of my office four times over the last hour and a half.
which is awesome.
hooray snow!!


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when dorks write love notes.

[via]

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my friend amanda (fellow brave explorer of bridal conventions and wedding dress boutiques) has a blog!

well, she actually already had one.
for her kick-ass photography.
but apparently studying for your 7 architectural exams in a [insane] attempt to become an honest to goodness legit licensed architect [in the state of massachusetts] doesn't leave much time for website/blog updating.

who knew?

but lately she's been wooed by all the lovely blogs in these here interwebs.

and now said blog has become a multi-purpose distraction from work entrepreneurial/wedding planning en devour!

what can I say. the girl can multi-task.

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you heard it here* first.

[via]

*(andoneveryotherblogthatpostedthisimage).

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ummm, who is awesome and already got this for their fiance for christmas?


me.


I totally rock.

[via]

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or a city wedding.


[via]

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in another life I'd be having a backyard wedding.

[via]

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I need to learn how to properly use our slr camera, so when ben and I eventually have kids (god help the remainder of civilization) I can take phenomenal photos like the ones cara and nye take of their new little girls.

who wouldn't love to have photos like that documenting your childhood?

they are art.

forget wedding photos, these are the ones that'll really matter twenty or thirty years down the road.

[via]

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puuuurdy.

[boutique via esb]

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since amanda won her free engagement photography session at the wedding convention we crashed attended, I have come to the realization that free stuff is wicked cool.

so from now, on a whim, any any contests I come across that catch my interest will now be entered.
today that includes the giveaway of a $1,000 wedding dress and a book on homemade weddings.

I mean, why not?

after all, crazier things have happened.

for example, 8 inches of snow in alabama and atlanta and next to nothing in boston and new hampshire.
or a baby hippopotamus and a 130 year old tortoise becoming best friends.
or the seattle seahawks taking down the new orleans saints in the first round of the playoffs.

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In Which Amanda and Bethany Survive a Wedding Exhibition *

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8th of January in the year 2011 (AD)

2:24 PM: I still can't believe I am about to enter a "Bridal Convention". holy hell.

2:29: dear lord. there is going to be a cake dive. a cake dive people.
and it turns out the tickets were not complementary.
there damn well better be free champagne and cupcakes.

2:33: hmmmm, this may be the same venue, but this is nooooo build boston.

2:41: UPDATE - Single Ladies will not be played at our wedding. (there is a wedding band exhibiting their talents. nothing against said band.)

2:42: also, no calligraphy of any kind.

2:48: mission accomplished...CAKE PROCURED!

cake! (ignore the expression. cake does that to me.)

2:54: it just occurred to me that I must look like quite a fool walking around constantly scribbling things in my moleskin notebook.
and then I realize I do not stand out one bit.

3:04: skinny models are walking down the catwalk in wedding dresses and I am sitting here scarfing down multiple pieces of cake. awkward.

3:22: Lauren Bridal's slogan - "walk in a princess. walk out a queen". oh dear.

3:31: the fashion show audience is comatose. they had to play canned applause. no joke. I blame the cake.

3:34: the dj plays 'Hot Stuff'. The Full Monty flashback ensues.

3:44: I finally run across a booth peddling something I can get behind, a vintage photoshoot! they turn photos into guinness adverts! [the image of which I unfortunately could not find] beyond cool. Vintage Girl Studios.

[too bad they are not what I consider "in my price range". per usual.]

3:56: there are casino tables in the corner of the exhibition hall. pretty sure they were set up purely for the dudes that got dragged along by fiances/mother-in-laws, but they have a steady crowd around them. never underestimate the draw of losing money very very quickly. and that is no accident they are placed directly adjacent to the bar.

3:58: MORE CAKE!!

4:19: AMANDA HAS WON SOMETHING! in the raffle! she has won a free engagement photo session with one of the photographers at the convention! WOOHOO!
[there was supposed to be a picture of amanda smiling and holding up her prize here, but I apparently don't know how to work her camera phone. so instead here is a picture of a hedgehog.]

4:23: well shucks. no free honeymoon trip to st. lucia for me...

4:29: five girls are about to dive into a huge wedding cake after two diamond wedding bands. they're wearing bright pink smocks. this should be interesting.

4:30: it was not nearly as interesting as I hoped it would be.

4:31: oh well. we're calling it a day. off to the bar!


*but just barely


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so ummmmm, I think I found a dress.

or at least narrowed it down to two or three.

I have the council (mother, sister, best friend) coming up at the end of the month to help, as apparently if you are an indecisive person (read: me) and have 10 dresses in front of you, the most you can do is weed out about half of them.

and all the shiny fabrics.

but am quite happy with the ones that made the final cut.
finally found a simple dress that doesn't cost the same as a small sports car!

when I (mother/sister/best friend) pick one on the 30th, I will post a photo.

and one of the best parts?
since the dresses are so simple, bring on the oversized and colorful accessories baby!

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damn.

if only I were a size two.

if you are a size two, find the wicked awesome dress here.

(also if you are a size two, two things. one, thbthththth [that's me sticking my tounge out at you]. 
and two, eat a cheeseburger or three. not necessarily because you need it, but because you can.)

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people who wear hats like this to our wedding get a free drink at the bar.

(we'll ignore for a moment the fact that beer and wine will be provided...)

you get bonus points for this as well.

[images via lillian + leonard]


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not only are these photos pretty freakin spectacular (if we had excess funds, we'd blow them on hiring these guys [ignoring the fact that they just had twin baby girls and there's no way they'd be hopping on a plane from scotland anytime soon...]), but the wedding they photographed is my idea of a good time.

to quote lillian + leonard:

This summer Mel and Rich got married in Manchester, Rich's home town. While Mel got beautified in an amazing room at Great John Street Hotel, Rich readied himself in an apartment in the city centre. They met, along with their friends and families, for a quick pint at a pub in town before everyone walked through an unusually sunny Manchester to the ceremony venue.

After the ceremony everyone headed back to Great John Street for a party on the roof, overlooking the set of Coronation Street! GJS used to be a school and the bar on the roof was appropriately called The Playground, perfect for Mel and Rich's playful, relaxed day.

they went to a pub before they ceremony.

we have a brewery right across the street.

just sayin.


[and cue the eye candy]

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I was looking at the wedding website ben set up again, contemplating the pure poetry of the prose, when I noticed a little number on the page.

156 days to go.

"well that can't be right", I thought to myself. "156 days is so long! the computer must be calculating it wrong."

so I called ben, telling him that the day countdown feature was malfunctioning.

no, he informed me. that number was correct. we did indeed have 156 days to go until our wedding.

"well hell!" I thought. "that's plenty of time! what on earth are we worried about?!"



this proclimation may come back to bite me on the ass in say, oh, four or five months time.

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can we talk about something?

I can understand the point of engagement photos (even if I don't want to go anywhere near a camera until I absolutely have to). commemorate the proposal. get some good photos of yourselves if you don't have any. practice in front of a camera for your wedding day. etc etc etc.

but anybody else think it's getting a little weird and creepy?

these engagement photos, for example.

yes yes. alice in wonderland themed. I get it.

but aren't you supposed to be happy in engagement pictures?
do these people look happy to be getting married?
no they do not.

they look like they are contemplating eating the bunny rabbit.

these two?
nary a smile to be seen.

and I'm not even going to begin to pretend I understand this weird obsession with detail shots of people holding props. (see creepy bunny shoot for further examples)

.....

and while we're in "things bethany's not on board with" mode, referring to bridemaids as "my maids" puts me on edge.

[images via + via]
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Ben currently has quite the nasty cold.
he is staying home from work to get better.
he now has an internet connection at the house.
so what does he do when he is home sick?
he creates a wedding website.

behold!

our website.

we think it fits us pretty damn well.

[the knot being the domain server aside]

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and yet another helpful diy guide in the "can ben and bethany actually pull this wedding off?" series.
[also found at the ever so wonderful a practical wedding.]
how to ipod dj your own wedding!

a rockin wedding band way out of your budget?

too cheap (or unwilling) to book a cheesy dj?

do it yourself!

(by compiling your playlists while listening to the entire contents of your ipod at your desk at work.)

[image via]


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excellent.

the universe knew I would need guidance.

behold.

how to diy your own photobooth.

helpful? oh yes.
for example, I may not have thought to set it up in a corner.
or, you know, make sure the camera batteries were charged...

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so amanda and I are heading to this on sunday.

manda is hoping to find a dj.

I will be scoping out the free cupcakes and champagne.

we will be reporting from the trenches for your amusement.

(based on the assumption we survive.)

[and sorry bout the shutterstock images, but they were too apt to pass up] 

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