US meets UK

If I look in my inbox for emails from Mr.D I’ll find about 50+ emails all with the subject line “Andrew Bird”. This is because on our first date we exchanged a few of a favorite artists and Andrew Bird was one of mine. So after he went back to England and I headed back to Arizona I sent him an email to this youtube video – hence the subject title.

Fast forward to the present and Mr.D was working in the kitchen while I was making lunch. The song came on in his iTunes and I had a realization! This should be the song I walk down the aisle to! It means so much to both of us, not just for the Andrew Bird emails, but also because Mr.D learned to play the song on his guitar and would play it for me over skype chats late at night before I fell asleep

My first choice for aisle song? La valse d’Amelie

Mr.D was not a fan, he said it reminded him of “creepy goblin children in the woods” – no lie. I should probably add that Mr.D hadn’t seen the movie Amelie at this point, but within the next day or so I sat him down and made him watch it with me. It still didn’t change his opinion and I definitely didn’t want him to think of “creepy goblin children in the woods” when I walked down the aisle. Which is why I’m so happy we found another fantastic song – one that means so much to us as a couple.

How did you chose your aisle song?

A bit like these guys:

(source of chameleons)

Although our invites are chocolate brown and ivory with a bit of dark purple we’re switching it up. Someone commented on my theme post that our color scheme included gray. At the time of the post – it actually wasn’t in the original color scheme! But we’ve found that gray has been creeping in more and more and we’ve moved away from brown.

Without any further adieu I’d like to introduce our new color scheme:

Multiple grays ranging from soft to slate to charcoal, mixed with hints of lavender and splashes of aubergine, all paired with classic ivory. As much as I enjoy Colour Lovers, I adore Polyvore. So this how the color pallet looks in polyvore.

new wedding colors – by MsUsUk on Polyvore.com

(sources here)

Anyone else pull a switcheroo?

I was shocked when I found out Nick hadn’t seen a single Harry Potter movie OR a Lord of the Rings film. Get with the program man!

So this weekend he went downstairs to make his fantastic and classic English breakfast. This is the semi portion controlled vegetarian version looks like:

If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking the beans and the tinned tomatoes is kind of odd. It’s actually amazingly delicious! So while Nick was busy downstairs making breakfast I was busy upstairs making this:

and these:

so we could put them on and watch this:

It was a fantastic weekend, I highly encourage everyone to make a surprise fort.

How I love/hate thee, let me count the ways… Since I’m stuck several thousand miles away from our wedding location and I can’t stomach $2 a minute phone calls, my father has been left in charge of sorting out the contract for the caterer.

Neither Mr.D or I are as eagled eyed as we should be so it’s helpful that my dad is an ace at contracts, he checks them thoroughly, reviews statutes from the attorney general’s office etc before signing anything.  He is your average “measure thrice, cut once” kind of guy – except it usually ends up “measure 10 times, cut once”. While this process has proved helpful with checking over apartment rental agreements and such it’s been a bit different with the wedding.

There were a few problems in the original catering contract that worried my father, his main concerns were that although the catering company had the necessary amount of insurance if anything were to happen it we would personally need an additional insurance policy because we would be the ones sued in case of a terrible accident.  Also, if for some reason the catering company cancels on us or they close their business we lose our substantial deposit. These were just the tip of the iceberg for my dad, so he set about making revisions and emailing contracts back and forth between the catering company.

Although it hasn’t been fully sorted yet, I was wondering if anyone else has gone though something similar? Did you accept most of your contracts as is or did you make revisions to them?

One of my favorite bridal blogs is hosting a fantastic giveaway.  Photographer David M McNeil is offering free wedding photography. All you have to do is head to Rock n Roll Bride and follow the instructions.

Want photos like these?

If you’re getting married in the UK I highly suggest you enter to win fabulous and FREE photography!

Good Luck!

Mr. D and I often dream of the time after August (maybe even before!?) where we’ll have a place to call our own. Not only that, but we’ll both have jobs, we’ll living in the same country (with our pets!) and won’t be living with roommates. I know, such is the life we dream about.

It may not seem like much of a dream to many of you, in fact you might be living our dream right now. Mr. D and I enjoy looking at design blogs and saving pictures of elements or rooms we like. We also delight in going to Ikea and pretending we live in a few of the “rooms”, we just can’t seem to stop these random people from entering our kitchens and living rooms though. We like bookcases

Sometimes we go on walks in the neighborhood and play the “would you live there game”. Assuming we have limitless money that is and I’m surprised at times how similar but also how different our tastes can be. We’ve played this game everywhere we lived and we both agree we’ll move where ever will hire us.

As much fun as our shared dream is, I think it also serves a larger purpose. We both dream of having a place to call ours and it gives us something to work towards. When we save money it isn’t only for the wedding, but for life after the wedding. I consider Mr. D my partner, my teammate, my coach (esp when it comes to finances), my friend and companion. We approach life as a team and we agree that it’s important to be on the same page. Which is why we support each other in our goals because we know how important they are to each other. While Mr. D supports my weight loss goals he isn’t my teammate in that particular endeavor – he’s my fan. I don’t really understand how to build a website or how to grow a skincare business but I’m Mr.D’s biggest fan. A place of our own is our shared goal, it’s what we work together as teammates to achieve and I’m so grateful that I’m lucky enough to share my life, my goals and my dreams with Mr.D.

Oh, and yes, I will fill our future abode with pretty cake stands.

What are your shared goals/dreams as a couple?

Why do I feel compelled to point out these fabulous weddings? They’re sometimes referred to as “budget” or “diy” weddings and while I feel that those terms should be a source of pride I think they’re often seen as second-tier weddings. I know that opinions differ from mine, and that I hope this post won’t be hit with the word “tacky”, it’s just honestly how I feel. I saw this thread on the WB boards and I was mildly miffed about the part where the colleague said he couldn’t afford a wedding.

Why does this miff me? Though I have my sneaking suspicions that this excuse is exactly that, an excuse, I wanted to address it from my heart. Weddings are about marriage and if you and your partner want to be married then cost shouldn’t hold you back. I know that it often feels like we need a dove release, a 10 tier cake, designer gowns, Manolo Blahniks, peonies and the like. Those aren’t needs, they’re wants, which should be the message we all keep in our heads when we start to get overwhelmed.

These weddings are at courthouses, backyards, restaurants and other beautiful venues. I know it isn’t everyone’s dream to be married at one of these venues, but should we rule it out? I think the saving grace for Mr. D and I has been to set a budget and create into it. If I started with creating a wedding before the budget I would have easily been heartbroken over things like peonies and Monique Lhuillier gowns.

(found here)

(Mrs. Tulip)

(cannot get enough of her blog)

You want more “budget” or “diy” wedding porn? Click those links, you already know my favorite “budget” backyard wedding. These guys had a fabulous $2,000 wedding. Mrs. Tulip also makes a great point about a “budget” wedding.

Who am I to be discussing this? I’m not going to lie to you guys and say that we’re having a $2,000 wedding, but if I had budgeted $2,000 for a wedding I would have an awesome a wedding. Our budget began at a set number and grew by a few thousand (what is UP with tent rentals?!). It has since shrunk further because of a falling exchange rate. Such is life, as our budget shrinks so will our plans. Beer and wine instead of an alcohol free for all? So be it. I do my own make up? So be it. The smaller guest list has been painful yet necessary and I never realized how large my family is. I hope my friends understand if there is lack of an invitation it doesn’t mean a lack of love or friendship.

I’m the kind of girl who refused to try on dresses that cost more than my budget allowed. I’ve made purchasing mistakes and embossing our own invitations cost us more than we would of liked. It happens. I’m not going to beat myself up about it, but I am going to go to the thrift store and find ways to save money. Whatever happens we’ve all agreed not to go into any sort of credit card debt for this soirée and we’re not taking out any loans or dipping into the down payment we have saved for a home.

Am I saying we ALL should have budget weddings? Nope, I’m saying have the kind of wedding you can have. I don’t wear my size 6 jeans anymore because they don’t fit, nor do I wear my size 14s because they don’t fit either. I think it’s important to have a wedding that fits you.

What do you think?

I think this review of He’s Just Not That Into You on Jezebel says it best, but unlike her I didn’t have tickets to Coraline afterwards to have a brain cleanse.

I should also preface this by saying that I love shitty girl movies – I’ve seen tons. TONS. I can honestly say that this is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I had minimal hopes for it as it was shot in Baltimore and the cast seemed pretty cute. You should also be warned that this movie is LONG. Really, really, long. Just when I thought it was over the film continued for another half hour – this happened several times.

Technically I should have loved this movie, why? Because I’m white. I compared He’s Just Not That Into You to Stuff White People Like and according to that white people should LOVE this movie!

Ben Affleck does things by the water (#51) he has a boat AND they get married on it
Jennifer Connelly wears outdoor performance gear (#87)
She also has modern furniture (#79)
She’s putting that furniture in her renovated (#37) row home
Bradley Cooper purchases Clipper City Microbrew (#23)
Scar Jo is a yoga (#15) instructor and everyone else goes to Yoga classes too
Scar Jo also wears T-Shirts(#84) all the time
There are both difficult breakups (#70) and a divorce in the film (#66).
This may be going out on a limb, but since The Wire(#85) is filmed in Baltimore and everywhere the characters live is highly gentrified (#73) I think the Baltimore location counts.
Ben and Jen can see the Domino Sugar sign out their window AND the live near a marina – I think they live in Canton which is (#51) Living by the water.
Jennifer Connelly blames her self for her husband being an asshole and apologizes (#55) to him, they’ll clearly need a lawyer (#56)
Ginnifer Goodwin never stops drinking tea (#13)
Justin Long has a black friend – he made out with her (#14)

The best reason why white people should like this movie? Everyone in the movie has gay friends (#88), and they’re all ultra fierce snappy gay friends. Apparently in the movie there is not only a mold for the mass produced female characters but also for the gay characters.

I want our money back.

Was super special and has been better than any previous one (ever). We spent the weekend full of love, spending time with those we share our life with, food we love, movies (we didn’t really) love, and of course we love fun. While the activities we shared were fun, they’re not what made the day extra special. What makes this Valentines day so special?

Is it the fact that we’re engaged? Nope, that makes it special, but thats not what I’m talking about.

That we’re in England? Nope but that is pretty cool – we did go to a Castle/Prison.

Okay, I’ll stop being a jerk and tell you what makes this Valentines day so very special to Mr. D and me. It’s our first Valentines day together. Only a couple of weeks after today Mr. D and I met in Austin and our lives completely changed.

For our very first Valentines Day together we started it off with Mr. D’s adorable godson’s first birthday party. He likes party hats.

We checked out the local Castle (no joke) which is the western world’s oldest working Prison (how romantic). We both enjoy history and we received a fantastic tour from a very knowledgeable, posh, older gentleman. I’m that annoying person who asks too many questions on tours and Mr.D doesn’t mind at all.

One of our time honored dates, no matter how cliche it might be, is dinner and a movie. We went to see Bolt which was cute, but now we really miss our pets. There is a serious lack of happy movies out for Valentines day ( Doubt and Revolutionary Road just weren’t going to cut it for our happy, gooey date). We went to a great Indian restaurant which had hilarious decorations in honor of St. Valentine. Paper cut out hearts, silk flowers – the works.

My honest to God favorite part of the day? A few weeks ago Mr. D had said that he wanted to hand make my Valentines Day card. I was already in for our Weddingbee swap so I picked up a few extra materials to make Mr. D’s card special. I thought his idea of handmaking our cards was so sweet and I hope it becomes a little tradition between the two of us. His is on the left and mine is on the right.

What did you and your future husband do for your very first Valentines Day?

At least for me – I’m clearly on a dessert kick this week. For those of us falling in love with cake buffets, i urge you to consider diversifying your investments. To not put all your sweets in the proverbial cake basket. If you’ve been to A Backyard Wedding, you’ve seen it – delicious, fantastic, summery, wedding pie.

(source)

I don’t suggest cutting the pie over cutting the cake because I could just imagine a giant cherry plummeting towards doom all over a lovely white gown. But lets focus on the pie…mmm…pie.

(source)

If you’re in Baltimore I suggest you check out Dangerously Delicious. I used to live in the wonderful neighborhood of Woodberry which is right next to a place called Hampden (pronounced Ham-din). I eventually moved out and Dangerously Delicious moved in. Now they have 2 locations, one in Federal Hill and the aforementioned Hampden location. I am stuck far away pie-less in England, which is probably good for my diet. Here is the real dilema though, how can I get my professional pies into pretty vessels?

Such as this lovely one on our registry.

(source)

This one is for all my fellow science lovers.

(source)

I’ll check with the folks over at Dangerously Delicious when I get back to the area to see if I can bring my own pie pan in. I have a suspicion though that like with any baking, what you’re baking the dessert in will affect the outcome. I imagine we could always just plop the baking tin into the nice pie plates – but would it look fugly? I think I’ll have to do a “pie run” (oh yes i did) to see how it looks.

Any one else having wedding pie?