Update on progress...can I share?

[zoebartlett]

I thought I''d share what a productive day we had today...I hope you don''t mind.

First, we met with our new officiant and planned the whole ceremony (all 20-30 minutes of it). We''re going to have two or three readings, and we''re thinking of doing a sand ceremony. I rather not do this but my FI likes the idea. We''re pretty sure the blessing at the end will be the Irish Blessing (from what I''ve seen, there are several versions, and this is just one):

TRADITIONAL IRISH BLESSING

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you;
May you see your children''s children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

 

[zoebartlett]

After our meeting with the officiant, we went to the restaurant where we''re having our RD and we decided on a menu. The restaurant is right across the road from the ocean and it''s so pretty. The best part is that since we''re having the RD on the early side (4:30 guests will arrive, we''ll eat at around 5:15 or so), the restaurant won''t be open to the general public until about 5:00. So for that first 30 minutes, we''ll have the whole place to ourselves and our guests can hang out by the water before we''re actually seated. We could have had the RD begin at 7:30 but we chose the earlier time so we''ll be done earlier in the evening instead of having it end late. We''ll have an early day ahead of us (well, I do anyway).

Here''s the menu:

Two bottles of wine on each table -- a red and a white (we''re not doing an open bar for the RD but we''re having one for the reception)

Tossed salad with a house dressing

Corn chowder

A choice of:
-- pot roast
-- shrimp linguine
-- broiled salmon
-- maple walnut chicken

Rolls with butter

Coffee and tea

Strawberry shortcake


So that was our day. What are you having for your RD and where are you having it?

 

[swimmer]

Of course you can share Zoe!
Great work. Your reading that the kids created is going to be soooooo beautiful!
Regarding the sand...and this is coming from our meeting a few weeks ago with our Rabbi; she asked us to explain WHY we were including each part of the ceremony. My answer, "um, tradition" was not adequate. So, she has us going through and explaining why we are circling each other and doing all the different aspects of the wedding. Its been time consuming, but useful. We have to move away from "just because" to "this is important to me because..." It got my FI away from some things that he thought he wanted and me to include things (I was shooting for a 15 min ceremony) because they are now meaningful to me.
She compared it to writing like Hemingway (not my fave) who examined each word and decided if it was necessary or not. Or at least he said he did, or he was just drunk.
Yeah getting stuff done!

 

[zoebartlett]

Hi Swimmer!

I like what your Rabbi is doing. My sister and her husband had a friend from college marry them (she was a JP for the day). When they got together to discuss the ceremony, she suddenly became all business and she took her job VERY seriously. She kept asking them WHY they wanted certain things included. She kept stressing that it would be more meaningful for them to know exactly why they wanted to have certain elements during the ceremony. In the end, it was beautiful and very personal.

When we met with our officiant today, she was saying the same sorts of things. I was the one who kept saying, "oh I don''t know why I want that. I''ve just heard it before and liked it." Saying "just ''cuz" was apparently a big NO-NO.

There''s a reading that we''re considering (our officiant gave it to us). It''s called "Real Love." I forget who it''s by. Anyway, I could not stop giggling as I tried to read it because I just kept singing Mary J. Blige''s song "Real Love" in my head. I guess you had to be there but it was funny at the time. We''re also considering a Native American Blessing (or Prayer?). I''m mostly Irish and my FI has a little Native American heritage in him.

 

[Selkie]

Two more major things out of the way, Zoe! Must feel nice! And mmmmmmm, I want to come to your rehearsal dinner!

Date: 3/22/2008 6:52:51 PM
Author: swimmer

She compared it to writing like Hemingway (not my fave) who examined each word and decided if it was necessary or not. Or at least he said he did, or he was just drunk.

Heh, that''s exactly what I think of Hemingway too, swimmer.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Dinner sounds yummy!!

 

[zoebartlett]

Sure Selkie, come on over!


Thanks Sarah! I think dinner sounds yummy too.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Zoe - not to be the downer nag about this, because it all sounds lovely and its wonderful you are making such progress in your planning, but do you have any vegetarians coming to the RD? If so I''d assume the restaurant should be able to make some kind of option available for them, but it might be worth it to double-check with them just in case. Salad and rolls and butter and strawberry shortcake sound very tasty for dinner, but I think I would have an upset tummy and be really sorry later if that''s all I ate

 

[swimmer]

Hi Zoe! and I totally forgot to say that your menu looks great, though AmberG has a great point, unless perhaps you have all carnivore guests coming?
again, great job getting work done!

 

[zoebartlett]

Good point AG! It''s funny, I made such a point of making sure that our venue for the wedding could do a vegetarian dish as a back up for guests who want one and they can. I completely forgot to find out if the RD restaurant can do this. I don''t see this as a problem though (both venues are owned by the same family). I''ll double check though.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Sure - definitely didn''t want to offend you, but didn''t want the veggie guests to get left high and dry either

Sounds like if its the same family they should be able to offer something at either venue...

 

[anchor31]

I love how you''re trying to personalize everything. Great progress, good work!

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 3/23/2008 8:46:25 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
Sure - definitely didn''t want to offend you, but didn''t want the veggie guests to get left high and dry either

Sounds like if its the same family they should be able to offer something at either venue...

Oh no, definitely no offense taken! I''m really glad you mentioned it. My head must have been in the clouds when we met with the coordinator because it slipped my mind. I called today and we''re all set. So, thanks!

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks Anchor! It looks like you''re making good progress too.

 

[Selkie]

Hey Zoe, who did you decide on as a photographer? Just curious, because I was looking back through your threads because I couldn''t remember your venue (duh) and ran across a thread where you were trying to decide.

 

[Gypsy]

Hi Zoe, just caught the thread! Your RD has better food than my wedding will. LOL. It sounds very yummy. I love the Irish blessing, reminds me of a much shorter version of the Apache blessing I read. You are making some fabulous progress (I''m glad Amber mentioned the veggie option!).

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 3/24/2008 5:52:46 PM
Author: Selkie
Hey Zoe, who did you decide on as a photographer? Just curious, because I was looking back through your threads because I couldn''t remember your venue (duh) and ran across a thread where you were trying to decide.

I''m not sure if I gave the link to our photographer in the last thread or not. We''re using a fairly new photographer because she fits our budget. Her work is good and we get along great. She''s at a different level than the other photographers we almost went with though. The one we really wanted shoots for LL Bean and he''s AMAZING. He''s also PRICEY and he changed his rates literally in the middle of our filling out his contract. We were SO bummed because there was no way we could afford him once he raised his rates (his base package rose to about $5,000, if I remember correctly).

I know that''s probably way more info. than you asked for but I wanted to fill you in. Against the advice of others in the other thread, we chose the photographer who had way less experience, simply because we didn''t want to go into debt. She is great though, and I have confidence that once her wedding portfolio grows a bit, she''ll be more on level with others.