Meran & Dusty's Vow Renewal

Post Title. 11/03/2009
 
okay, i have to get a few things written down before i forget what i was thinking about. since we're having our renewal at Samhain and all the belegarth people will be there i am going to ask Crynoline if she will be our photographer. she'll be there taking pictures anyway, i just hope she'll have time to help us out. she's a professional and her photos are always beautiful.

that just leaves the issue of a videographer. and music. that's where my brother Mike comes in. if we can afford to have Cranachan perform then we won't need mike to DJ. that way he can be my videographer. he's not a pro, but he's better than anybody else i know and would do it for free. if he can borrow Matt's camera, too, then we can get some dynamic shots. what Mike excells at is editing. if i tell him i want a music video like at the end of Robin Hood or the dream sequence in Eragon then that's what i'll get. it'll be awesome.

but if we can't get Cranachan then Mike will have to be my DJ and Matt will end up doing the video. i'm not thrilled with that idea. I love Matt but he doesn't have a creative bone in him. he played football and took AP Calculous. Mike took Drawing, Painting, and computer drafting classes. my brothers are about as different as they get. of course, my sister, Marlaina, and i are complete oposites, too. but that's another story. and don't get me started on our little brother, Milo.

where was i? oh, yeah! i'd rather eat my own boots than let Matt do the video. and that's quite something- they're vinyl! yuck! anyway, it doesn't matter what i have to skimp on - i'm going to get Cranachan and have Mike do the video. i can't fathom how horrible it would be if Matt did it. i'll probably have nightmares about it tonight.
 
 
so the Belegarth people got screwed over on the ren fest site. the owner gave away the space we usually use for Samhain and our leader, Forkbeard, is really mad. we had to move to the Fort buenaventua at the last minute. he says we most likely won't be at the ren fest next year. we have our spring even, yestare, there every year; but that's probably gonna be at buenaventura now. and if that's how it turns out Samhain will be at the fort next year, too. so that means that our vow renewal will be at the fort, also. it's a way more groomed site. not near as wild, and i don't like it as much. but it'll have to do. we just can't afford to rent a site on our own.
 
 
I've decided to change everything. we're no longer having a winter wedding. we're not even having it at the castle anymore. it's just too much. too much trouble. too much money. too much room. too much everything.

we are now planning on renewing our vows at next year's Samhain celebration. all our friends with Belegarth get together anyway and it would be so easy to just sneak it in before feast on Saturday. just like that. done.

all we would need is clothes, a few flowers, the crowns, the rings, the torches, and music. everything else is already there.

i'm gonna take some pictures at Samhain this year so i know what the area looks like in Autumn. i've only seen it in spring. i'll bet it's gorgeous! we also need to pick the area for the ceremony. it's gotta be a lot different without all the Ren Fest people crouding it.
 
 

so, i've decided that it's not worth $1,000 to have our ceremony on friday. so... we're moving the date to thursday, january 6th, 2011. that's a grand we can use for flowers and food and stuff. on thursday the "castle" only costs $1750, instead of the $2750 for friday. that's a no brainer. here's another way to look at it - that's 1/6 of our budget saved by switching days. if all goes as planned we will have $6000 total. and saving a thousand bucks makes a big difference in what we can do. we may even be able to afford live entertainment this way. maybe. it all depends on if we can get some SCA peeps to help us out or not. (by the way, the castle provides tables, linens, chairs, covers, sashes, candelabras, dishes, utensils, and serving staff. totally worth it.)

 
The Castle 04/03/2009
 

well, it's officially "The Castle" now. at least they're not fighting over it anymore. although i'm flabbergasted that they couldn't come up with anything more original than "the castle". i mean... seriously!!  i'm sure i could have thought of something better than that!! i guess they couldnt' change the name too much so that people who heard about it by word of mouth could still find it. whatever.

 
okay, so sue me. 03/21/2009
 

So, i've been obsessing over this site and editing the crap out of it. I have OCD issues. i try to take it easy and stay relaxed but i just have to have this wedding page perfect. am i insane or something? i guess i might be. but it keeps me busy. i get stir crazy if i don't have something to obsess over. oh, well. what ever floats your boat...

 
Flowers 03/14/2009
 


on a different note... i've decided that i'm going to do my own flowers. i've been thinking about it and i just couldn't deal with it if i showed up to my wedding and the flowers were all wrong. i think i might just flip and kill somebody. that would be like hitting a switch. from blushing bride to bridezilla in 0.5 seconds. i can let other people do all the other stuff but the flowers are one thing i have to have my hands in. don't go thinking they're gonna be all DIY. i'm a professional florist. i do this for a living. i have a picture in my head and i don't think i can trust anybody else to do it for me. bad flowers are my biggest pet pieve.

 
 

well, there's a little over a year and a half to go and we're starting in on the real planning now. i've had most of the details and stuff figured out for a long time (like five years... lol). but now is the time to get tangible with it. after much deep and profound brain things inside my head... (lol) ...i've decided that having a tented reception in the middle of the winter isn't such a good idea. so.... we're considering renting a reception venue known as "The Manor," formerly "CastleBrook" in Layton. actually, the name still isn't settled. it's under new owners and they're fighting the old owners over the name. ugh. anyway, they're remodeling and i LOVE the new style. especially the bridal suite- it used to be pepto pink. YUCK!!!  if you know me then you know i HATE pink. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!!!!! you can imagine my relief when i heard they had changed that!! they have a cathedral room that i've totally fallen in love with. the ball room on the other side is icky though. the cathedral had stained glass windows and exposed beam ceilings. they're redoing the wood flooring and all the carpet. it also has a cobblestone lounge just off the room (which i love too). the owner seemed excited to not be doing another cookie-cutter wedding. i couldn't find anything i didn't like in the whole place. well, except that the garden has a lot of trees overhanging and i might have change some things with the ceremony and the torches. grr. i can't let that go. i'm willing to scale back, but i've got my heart set on it.