1000 Cranes ... and other updates

It's been a while since I last wrote, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been any progress on the wedding-front. We've been doing several little things...and some big things.

We made our final decision on a photographer - Sara Gettys. We met with her and it sounds like it's going to be a great fit. We are going to do our engagement sessionat Multanomah Falls (in Oregon) sometime in July. We will be incorporating Logan into the engagement session and also doing some pictures of just Sara and I. We are very excited that our photographer is so agreeable to working with us.

It's so good to have several of the major things out of the way.... We also paid for the Cascade Garden (our wedding/reception venue). That was a huge chunk of change, but it's nice to know that it's paid for.

Yesterday we got some good news. Sara's Uncle Jim and his family have purchased their tickets for October. Hooray! It is becoming more and more apparent that Sara's mother has no intention on coming to the wedding... She can't even acknowledge the wedding at this point. It's nice to know that Sara will have family representation at the wedding. We know her sister will be there, but other family is nice to have as well. Hooray for Uncle Jim, Melia, and Cameron!!!

The title of the post mentioned 1000 cranes.... Yes, we have decided to make 1000 cranes for our wedding. It's going to be great. We are doing them in all of the colors of the rainbow. I know we will get sick of them, but at this point they are fun to make. Cranes are a symbol of honor and loyalty, so they are perfect for a wedding...making 1000 is an ancient tradition, so there you have it. The colors also have symbolic meaning. We are currently at 34 ... LOTS more to go. Unfortunately we can't even illicit help from others because the couple is supposed to make all of them. It';s a good thing we started early. :-) We will keep you all updated on the crane count as we go.

We've been making little decisions and purchases as we go. If we buy stuff a little at a time it won't hit us like a ton of bricks.

We are also doing very well at saving.... We opened a savings account and get rewards from the bank based on our Visa purchases. In the last month we have earned roughly $40. Yay for the bank. :-)

I think that's all for today.... I will probably updating a bit more often now that we're starting to make purchases and decisions.

Photographer -- check!

Well...we have made a big decision in our wedding planning! Hooray! We have hired a photographer... Sara Gettys. She will be doing an engagement session with us in July at Multanomah Falls. We are very excited about that. She has even agreed to include Logan in some of the pictures since we have no family photos. That will be exciting. We still have several details to work out in the way of photography, but those will all be determined once we determine the details of the actual wedding. We are very exctied about Sara's work and know that she is going to capture the important aspects of our wedding - the small details and the bigger picture.

With the decision of our wedding photographer we have also started to do some other planning...in our heads. :-) We need to get those plans on paper and move forward with this process. Every couple of days we are asked how the wedding planning is going and I see genuine disappointment when I have nothing to report. :0) Our next step is to find someone to make our cake. We have several possibilities, but need to nail it down. We hope to do this within the next couple of weeks. I dont' know that we're sure what we want for cake, but we will get there.

We have also talked about food a bit ... appetizers vs. lunch. Our wedding time will be determined by the decision on food.

And rings.... we need to order those soon if that's what we want.

Wow! So much to do and our lives are only getting busier. It will all work out...

I know that we are going to be relying on the support of our friends throughout a lot of this. So... here is our question to everyone...

What talents, skills, abilities, etc. do you have that you would like to offer? :-)

Thank you to everyone for your amazing support during this exciting time in our lives.

Supporting Gay-owned Businesses

Well ... there is a bit of progress on the wedding front. Hooray!

We have written two different lesbian women who own businesses - one is a photographer and one designs jewlery. We have written emails expressing our interest. I have talked on the blog before about the photographer. We have just been in contact via email before, but we want to meet in person to discuss a bit further to see if she is the right photographer for us.

As for the rings, we saw a design by Jude Sharp that we like. You can view her jewelry at www.jasharp.com . She makes custom jewelry. I like that idea because then others will not have the same design as we will.

With all the close-mindedness we have already dealt with, we are excited to support gay-owned businesses!!!

I will keep you all posted... I took a bit of a break from wedding planning, but I'm back to business!!!

I will never understand...

Every bone in my body wants to scream! I refuse to change my wedding date. I refuse to let individuals ruin my wedding day. I will not let it happen.

I received a text message today... Sara's mother is definitely not going to be coming to the wedding - she has made other plans for the day. This is Sara's special day! Would she be doing this if Sara was marrying a man?! I don't know if Sara's father or brother are coming...

Why is it so hard to understand that Sara and I are getting married?? Why is it so hard to understand that we are having a wedding that is just like any other heterosexual couple???

I want so much to say swear words in this email, but I'm doing my best to keep that under control....

Sara deserves to be able to have a special day. She should be able to have her PARENTS at the wedding! Why?! WHY???

I will never understand...

Another One Bites the Dust ...

We are down one guest without even sending an invitation... Wow! I guess that will save us one invitation. When another family member told this person that they would be getting an invitation, their response was basically to tell us not to bother because they wouldn't be coming anyway. Wow. Very nice. Family never ceases to amaze me.

This is OUR special day and I refuse to let ignorant people ruin our day. People that come are those individuals that support us - regardless of whether they support our lifestyle. I'm not asking people to agree with what we're doing. Of course, that would be the ideal thing, but I know that not everyone agrees with the lifestyle we have. Love the PERSON! Regardless of anything in my life I am still a PERSON. And, I'm happy!

I had a friend tell me the other day that if people weren't nice I should just tell them to "suck it." I'm getting closer and closer to this!

Checking things off the list

It feels so good to be able to check some things off our wedding "to-do" list!

I have mailed the announcements to the "out of town" guests... Hooray! I think they turned out pretty cute... Hmm.... can I attach a picture of them? I will try to do that tomorrow - it's too late tonight because I'm sleeeeepy!

We have also sent out an initial email to a photographer that we're interested in. Check out her site and let us know what you think ... http://saragettysphotography.viewbook.com/ . She just put it together recently so it doesn't have a lot, but it gives the basic idea. I really like her style and like the idea of not posing for endless amounts of photos... I do horrible with posing... and Logan does absolutely horrible with posing. I hope to get an email back from her tomorrow and we can do from there. If we decide on a photographer then we will be one step closer.

I also want to find someone to make the cake. We have a couple prospects, but I need to talk to them. I was so disappointed after the Kerri's Cakes incident that it's taken me a bit to recover... I will get back on track.

Progress, hooray!

I'm back.... I know it's been a couple days. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with life lately and this is what took back burner. Wedding planning, however, did not.

I have made several purchases for the wedding recently. I have purchased glassware from thrift stores for several purposes. I still have more to glassware to purchase, and it's so fun. :-) There are some great things in thrift stores.

I started addressing our announcements today. They will go to our family and friends out of state. Tomorrow I will work on formatting the announcements and hopefully they will go out on Tuesday. I have a couple addresses I need to get and I need some more envelopes. I am crossing my fingers that our printer holds out. It's certainly having its share of issues lately. It's probably time to invest in another one, but alas, there are more important purchases ahead of us.

Speaking of purchases and money, we finally looked at our wedding budget. It looks like everything is going to work out.

So, while I haven't written a blog posting recently, there has been progress. In the next several months I will be taking on several different project in my personal and professional life, but the wedding planning will never go away. It will be an important aspect of our lives for the next eight months.

Let the countdown begin . . .