Tag: weddings

Prom prom promenade…

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Wow… It’s hard to believe but next week, we will have ONE MONTH until our wedding. That is SO exciting (can’t wait) but also scary because there are sooooo many little details left to plan that life and grad school have decided to not give me time for… :p So we’ll see how this last […]

Just like brothers…

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So some of you may not know this, but my first animal love was not the shark. It actually started out with whales and dolphins (and I still love whales and dolphins too… don’t let my shark filled blog lie to you). I always loved toothy, grumpy things too though so once I got my first stuffed shark as a present, it’s easy to see how I was soon obsessed with sharks. Anyway, because of how much I love sharks, I decided that what better present to throw to my girls than a shark (instead of a bouquet) at our wedding (and you were wondering how this was going to turn into a wedding Wednesday post…)! I mean, my first stuffed shark is still one of my absolute favorite stuffed animals today and he paved the way for sharks being my new favorite animal! Plus, my friends told me they would much rather catch a stuffed shark instead of a bouquet so I say it’s a win-win situation.

Because Scrarmpl (scr-ARM-pul) was my first stuffed shark, I decided to buy the same stuffed shark to throw at my wedding (the gateway shark… hahaha). He arrived Monday and I am a bit embarrassed to see how “loved” Scrarmpl is compared to his little brother. They barely even look like the same shark! In this picture, Scrarmpl and “new shark” are reading the most recent Entertainment Weekly together… As you can see, “new shark” is much bigger and fluffier than Scrarmpl…

Anyway, “new shark” is going to be totally decked out for the wedding. I know I have pretty much zero time right now, but I still would like to at least make him a bow tie or something to wear for the wedding. I can’t wait to see who catches him!

As for the garter… that’s just going to have to be a surprise. Though Cobalt and I are super excited about that too (it came this weekend… we giggled a lot…).

As for the rest of the bouquet, I haven’t decided what to do – if I want to hold long stemmed flowers during the ceremony and then just throw the shark during the reception or if I want to have long stemmed flowers surrounding the shark during the ceremony and then throw him? Who knows…

Your task for today – tell me what you think I should do about my bouquet. I don’t really have any specific flowers in mind (had planned on anemones but I don’t think they’re in season that late in the summer). Recently, someone suggested that I use dahlias. They seem really pretty… I’m actually not very picky about the bouquet. I think I should probably be holding something but I haven’t decided what. I like the idea of a simple bouquet (just a few long stemmed flowers would be fine with me) but otherwise I am drawing a blank. Ideas? What are your favorite flowers to see in bouquets?

So many weddings!

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So Cobalt and I have been busy: this past weekend we made pasta and then the weekend before we went to see our friends A and T get married! What a great night! The ceremony was adorable and heartfelt. A made her own dress which is freaking awesome. This first picture shows off her dress as she stands all ready to get married to T! What a gorgeous bride! :)

During the ceremony, they sealed love letters in a box with a bottle of wine to be opened on their 10th anniversary. Look how cute it was! 10 years from now will be exciting!

Finally, I love this cake picture!

After all the cake shenanigans, we danced the evening away and that was awesome! Congratulations A and T! :):):):):)

Mr. and Mrs…. ????

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Let’s do a scandalous post today….

Let’s talk about last names.

I know I know… I can hear everyone get all awkward… or maybe that’s just me being awkward. Maybe everyone else is totally cool with it. If so, can you help me?

So the last name thing is a hot spot for me and I’ve blatantly shrugged it off over the past few weeks and months promising to deal with it later. Well, last weekend we had our last premarital counseling session with one of our officiants and we were working on planning the ceremony. He asked if we had thought about how we want to be introduced at the end of the ceremony (you know, after “You may kiss the bride,” there’s that part where you are announced as “for the first time ever…”). What’ll it be? Mr. and Mrs. [insert Cobalt’s last name here]? Cobalt [Cobalt’s last name] and Potassium [my last name]? Just Cobalt and Potassium, for the first time ever as husband and wife? The short answer is I don’t know.

For the entirety of my life, I always assumed that I would change my name to be my husband’s last name and become “Mrs. Whatever” because that is what you do. Then I even started joking about it and I was like Hey! My last name is cool! If he has a boring last name, then he should change his last name to match my awesome name… but then when it actually happened and I actually got engaged and actually had to think about changing my last name… it broke my heart. I have been Potassium [last name] for so long that it is part of my identity! Some of my nicknames even are based on that last name. It seemed like changing my name would be like changing my identity. Like lopping off my connection with my family and my past life and joining Cobalt’s family. I mean, I want to be a part of Cobalt’s family but not at the risk of completely losing my connection with my own. I know that is not what is going on here but it still seems weird to me that the girl is expected to do that but the guy doesn’t do anything like that for her family. I don’t know. These are the things that I think about.

So I’ve compiled a list of my feelings on this issue.
Reasons why Potassium doesn’t want to change her name

  • Read the above paragraph for all the emotional reasons Potassium is attached to her name: family, identity, etc.
  • I’ve published a paper in the scientific world with this name. And if you look up my last name in a certain scientific database, this paper along with papers published by my uncle and my grandfather pop up as well… Which is kind of cool. A nerdy family legacy if you will… Okay that is sort of a family issue but the real point here is that if I publish any other papers under any other name, then this one paper will be lost in a search for me and so people won’t have my complete paper publishing record… It’s a complicated science thing…
  • It’s a pain in the butt/very expensive to change your name!!!!! I don’t really think anyone LIKES going to the DMV so why would I purposely give myself a reason to have to go back there?

Reasons why Potassium does want to change her name

  • I still do kind of want to be Mrs. [Cobalt’s last name] because marriage is a joining of families and because it makes everything all tidy with kids and mail and checks and bills etc. Plus my mom didn’t change her last name and it made me feel like she didn’t want to be part of the family or something (it sounds stupid but it was kind of weird for me…)
  • I can keep my scientific name my maiden name so my papers could still be published under that name even if I legally had a new name.

I am sure there are plenty of other reasons to go in both categories but there are a few. Let’s discuss!

In other news, it is really exciting to get our RSVP postcards back in the mail every day.

In other other news, we are having problems coming up with the fortune for the inside of our fortune cookies. Any suggestions? Someone suggested that we put “lucky numbers” on the back that are 8, 4, and 12 (wedding date… hahaha) but what about the actual fortune? We have thought of jokes, trivia about the two of us, cute “ice breaker” questions like “When did you first meet Potassium/Cobalt?” and nothing has really stuck. Thoughts about those?

Okay… Here is your mission for today:

  1. What are your feelings about name changing?
  2. Be excited about RSVP postcards (and send yours in if you have one but otherwise just be excited)!!!
  3. Fortune ideas?

One more thing – the picture! It’s the cake for the bride and groom at the wedding Cobalt and I went to last weekend (hopefully a post about that coming soon!). Adorable, right? I love it. The groom’s mom made it too. Nice work!

Fake Married?

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Last week, Cobalt and I got the aluminum sizers for our wedding bands in the mail. We each got to pick three different sizes of the same width so we could wear them around for a while and figure out which size was the size for us. Cobalt had an easy time of it, one of his sizers fit perfectly and the other two were either too big or too small. So that worked out for him.
I had more of a challenge. Because this ring is so much thicker than my engagement ring, the largest size I picked out (which would have been too big for a skinny ring like my engagement ring) was actually a little small. It went on my finger just fine but then it didn’t want to come off. In fact, I actually hurt my left finger trying to get the sizer off, which is why we are wearing our sizers on our right hands in the picture. So last weekend, we got to go on a fun trip to one of our local jewelers so that I could ask about sizing. Turns out that the half size up fits much better, going on easily but coming off with just a little encouragement instead of yanking and pain. So yay! We shipped the sizers back on Monday along with our preferred sizes so crisis over. Whew.

Guess what else we mailed on Monday?! Allllll of our invitations. Yay! Saturday was a fun day full of envelope stuffing, fancy handwriting (aw yeah, calligraphy pens), and envelope licking…

We are headed to wedding number two of the summer this weekend and one of my blog friends is also getting married this weekend. So exciting!!! Any fun plans for your weekend? Natalie, I know what yours are… :):):)

Congratulations to a new married couple!

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This weekend, Cobalt and I headed to our first wedding of the summer! It was awesome. J looked beautiful in her dress and S looked handsome in his tux. The ceremony was lovely and we all cried like babies. We caught up with friends who we haven’t seen in years over dinner and then we danced the night away! Good times… During the dancing, J and I talked about how exciting this summer is! First her wedding and then wedding number three of the summer is Cobalt’s and mine! Can’t wait! Cobalt and I are sooooo excited right now. :) I’ve been up to a lot of stuff so hopefully I’ll get a chance later this week to talk about it all… but for now, I am celebrating Memorial Day by taking a nap in the middle of the day! I hope you all are having wonderful Memorial Days! Is there anyone you are honoring today?

Pictures: up there! J looking stunning during their first dance – one of my favorite parts of a wedding.

Down here: J and S during the toasts… they were all very good toasts… :)

Dress Fabric update (and a day in the city)!

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Hey everyone!
Wow… it’s been so long since I updated. Boooo grad school making me do stuff all the time. It’s not like you’re my job or anything… Anyway. Craziness has semi subsided so you get a post today! And it’s a fun one with LOTS of pictures! :)

Also, today is Cobalt’s birthday! Yay! Happy birthday Cobalt! I’m sorry grad school has made a bad fiancee out of me this week but I promise I will make it up to you tomorrow on your fancy birthday outing that I have planned! :D But that’s a secret (for now) so let’s talk about something else…

So last weekend, my mom and I went to go get fabric to make my wedding dress! When you want good fabric for something fancy like a wedding dress and you live in California, there is one really good place to go and that is Britex Fabrics in San Francisco!! So that’s where we went. Since neither my mom nor I really enjoy driving in the city, we decided to make a day out of it and take the San Francisco ferry into the city. It was really fun. Some pictures:

Here is a pic of Mom and me on the boat, ready to go!


Scrarmpl the shark got to come too but after this whole fiasco of him getting on the other side of the railing in an attempt to reach the water, he had to spend most of the boat journey in my purse…


The Golden Gate bridge was being shy/mysterious and decided to hide behind a cloud of fog…


San Francisco!!! So pretty. I like that I got the sail boat in the pic too..


It was windy on the boat… :-/

Anyway, then we got off the boat and walked to downtown San Francisco where Britex lives. It was a beautiful day in the city, perfect for walking around and hanging out with your mom. Britex had a HUUUUGE variety of fabrics in all sorts of colors and patterns. I was drooling as soon as we got inside. Anyway, we found a bunch of really nice silk satin fabrics in all sorts of colors. I actually found the perfect blue I wanted for my dress but when Mom and I put it up to my skin, we realized that perhaps light blue is not a very good color for me. She said I looked all ashy but I thought I just looked yellow. SO I gave up on the plan for a light blue dress and decided I would rather have a color that would make me look pretty instead of a color that I personally like but that makes me look weird on my wedding day. We found this amazing silk satin instead that looks really good with my skin color and it was sooooo soft. I can’t WAIT to have an entire dress made out of it. So exciting. Sorry though, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the fabric store AND I can’t have pictures on here anyway because Cobalt reads this blog… So you all will just have to wait for that.
Anyway, we went upstairs (Britex has FIVE FLOORS of fabric, people… :):):)) and found some really nice fabric for my mom’s MOtB dress too. I also got some French netting and a comb for my veil/hairpiece thing. I loved chatting with the French netting ladies because they were so excited for me and we talked a lot about how to arrange the netting to make it be the perfect veil/hairpiece. They were very knowledgable and funny. :) So yeah. A good experience overall! And a great day. I love San Francisco. I feel bad though because being there reminded me of how much less I like Denver, CO… Sorry Colorado…
Here are some more pictures:


Beautiful day in a beautiful city. Look at those trees and the buildings and the sky! <3


Saw this guy at the grocery store at home… Totally made me want to buy those nectarines… Haha, such a sucker for shark things.


Cute bunny in Colorado… See, there are things I like about Colorado!

Anyway, that concludes my post for the day. I hope you guys are doing swimmingly! I am off to have lunch with Cobalt for his birthday!!!!! But while I do that, you should tell me some things… Like… what is your favorite city in the whole world? I think it’s a tie between San Francisco and Seattle for me. But there are so many places I haven’t been to yet! Also, I am always talking about sharks in here so what is your favorite animal?
Have a good weekend! :)

Transparency

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Last week, Karyl tagged me in a blog post. Basically, each person tagged had to answer a specific question. Mine was: “What do you look forward to in your marriage?”

I thought about this all week last week. Not that I’m not looking forward to anything… more like I was trying to figure out what will be different about being married. I know that things will be different but Cobalt and I have been together for so long now that it’s hard to nail down exactly what. So I thought a lot about what changes when you get married: the breaking off from your families and forming a new unit, coming up with new traditions, etc.

Then Cobalt and I met with our premarital counselor/pastor last weekend and he talked to us about this idea of being transparent to each other. We were talking about learning how to better communicate our feelings to each other and our pastor told us that we are becoming the safest person in the whole world for the other person. That it’s okay for me to open up to Cobalt and that it’s okay for him to open up to me. That we can be totally transparent about our feelings and our beliefs and that it’s okay. It’s safe. Cobalt won’t stop loving me when I am feeling fragile or angry and I won’t stop loving him when he is feeling frustrated or hurt. And I think that is what I am most looking forward to in marriage, learning how to be transparent to Cobalt. Makes me feel all warm and bubbly inside. Makes me feel safe to know that he’s the one I get to finally open up to…

In other wedding news, we have officially paid off the photographer! Kudos to her for making us a contract where everything is due BEFORE a month before the wedding so we can get her checked off before we have to start paying everything else off in July…
Also, the invitations are almost done. Cobalt and I had to decide on some fonts for T, which we did this weekend. Hopefully we can get those printed off soon.
ALSO – we are starting to get registry gifts! I am excited to try out Natalie’s Gift/thank you note excel file and excited that Cobalt and I already purchased our Thank You notes.

Picture: Cobalt and me at 14,000 feet above sea level on Pike’s Peak – the easiest 14’er to get up around here (you drive).

One year and a letter

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Dear Cobalt,
As you know, a year ago today (April 16, 2011), you proposed to me! I can’t believe it’s been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday we were standing on that mesa in New Mexico, me thinking about lunch (>_<) and you nervous about the proposal. Then you started to talk and I was so clueless about what was going on until halfway through and then so !!!! about what was going on after that that I don't remember what you said! You told me later that you don't really remember what you said either so I guess it's up to the winds of New Mexico to remember that part…
Anyway, you proposed and I said yes and then we sat there on the edge of that mesa feeling nervous but also excited as we planned our future together looking out as far as the eye can see at red New Mexico…
I just want you to know, despite how stressful planning this wedding has been and despite how crazy our jobs are making us, how much I love you and how excited I am for August 4th. I am so excited for us to be together forever and for all the fun adventures we will have in the coming years. :)
Love,
Potassium

Picture by Holly Carlyle Photography.

First dance

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So some of you may know that my favorite part of a wedding is watching the couple do their first dance. It always just makes me so happy to see them waltzing across the floor whispering and giggling to each other as they go. I just love the mystery of it all – they’re giggling about something important to each other and we get to share in that moment.

Anyway, so obviously since this is an important part of weddings for us, Cobalt and I have been discussing the perfect first dance song. Nothing too overdone but something that shows our love for each other and will give us our own private joke moment. I can’t tell you what it is because that would ruin the surprise for all our guests (some of whom read this blog! Hi guys!) but I can guarantee you that it is perfect. Now we just need dancing lessons so we don’t trip over each other while we’re doing all that cutesy giggling and whispering….

What about you guys? What is your favorite part of the wedding? What song did/will you dance to for your first dance? If you’re not married and not getting married yet what song do you think would make the most amazing first dance song? :D

Picture: Cobalt and me being crazy at a wedding we went to in 2010!