Cook for the Cure and our Wedding

I receive weekly newsletters from YourOliveBranch.org, full of inspiring stories that are changing the world. In this weeks there was a write-up of Kitchen Aide's Cook for the Cure to raise money for breast cancer. They want 1,000 cooks to host a party centered around food and take donations to be sent to either local or national breast cancer awareness funds. The dates are July 15-24th. How perfect! With our wedding on the 16th, I decided to register as a cook for the cure. Since my brother and I, and many of our friends, are going to be doing a great deal of the cooking for the reception, and because I'm such a food freak who loves to spend all day in the kitchen, I figured it was the perfect icing for our wedding. For more information on it, check out the website here.

Reception Woes Subsided

It took 24 hours of frantic scrambling, but I do believe we have finalized a reception space. The Bath Country Club has a beautiful room that overlooks the green, has a bar, porch, dance floor, and everything else I thought I wouldn't end up with at my reception. It's fantastic and will make our day that much more special. Below are directions to the wedding and reception sites. These are from the south as I believe all of our attendees will be coming from that direction. If you need more specific directions or help in any way finding the places, feel free to email me.

Also, post-reception Tim & I will be heading off to the Sea Dog in Topsham for their karaoke night to wrap up the days festivities. Please join us and watch Tim sing with me (and maybe, just maybe, but mostly likely not, I will sing, too). This just seems appropriate for us considering it was there that Tim proposed to me, in song, so it should be there that we close out our wedding day. In all likely-hood we will need a chauffeur from the wedding, to reception, to karaoke, so if anyone is feeling especially friendly and loving of us, we would greatly appreciate it.

Lastly, again we do have food being catered by my wonderful brother (Bistro Catering), but I would love for anyone who wants to bring a dish to share. Keep it simple and something that doesn't require being kept hot. I will have white placards out for people to write down what their dish is and whether or not its vegetarian or vegan (we have some friends who would very much like to know this when they are choosing their foods to eat). Mostly what we'll be serving is salads and appetizers and simple finger foods - any additions would be wonderful.

Map to Library Park Gazebo is here. And from the Gazebo to the Country Club is here.

Reception Issues

Sooooo....apparently the city of Bath will not allow me to have a street party for our wedding reception. Our backyard isn't big enough (or pretty enough) for it either. Now I'm 3 weeks away from the wedding and back to square one. I'm not freaking out. I trust the pieces will fall into place, but I could REALLY use some suggestions. Any ideas?? I have a large 20x20 tent to use so I could have it outside, but I don't have any friends with large yards to put it in. I have a band, cake, guests, food....no reception hall. What to do.....

Only a month left....

It's official. I'm in total freak-out mode. I have 1 month left until the wedding and we haven't done anything to prepare. I have no decorations. No food. No tables. Barely any RSVP's. I haven't set up the proper permission for the blocking of our street. We haven't written our vows and ceremony. Hell, we haven't even gone down to city hall to get our marriage certificate. Wow. Who knew a wedding could be so stressful? I mean, I imagine those planning a real white, big-to-do wedding deal with this, but I didn't think I would for a 2nd marriage. I just want it all to go right. However, being practical as I am, I can say that honestly, whatever doesn't get done, doesn't get done. There's nothing I can do about it.

That said, if anyone wants to help out in any way, I'd love the assistance. Tim and I are doing everything DIY so there's a lot to be done. However, he works PT and takes classes. I have my 2 kids all week and all 4 on the weekend, plus I'm writing a Climate Adaptation Plan for Bath. I'm super busy. He's super busy. So any help would be G-R-E-A-T. Even just words of support would be amazing....And maybe a few more RSVP's.

-S

A Few Things....

As many of you know, this is our 2nd wedding each and we aren't the frilly type. So, with that in order, expect a fairly relaxed day. Here's a few things I wanted to let all of you know beforehand.

1. Dress is summer casual - no need for high heels and fancy dresses. Keep it comfortable.

2. Bring your favorite camping/lawn chairs. The ceremony will be standing, unless you have a chair and want to sit. Don't worry, it won't take long! And the chairs would be super helpful at the reception.

3. The reception will be catered, but we are only offering up light simple foods. If you want to bring a dish to share, please do. There will be little cards to write what your dish is, and if it has meat (we have some vegetarians in the audience), to place in front of it. Also, we will have a grill ready, with some meat and non-meat options. However, please feel free to bring your own!! It will be a self-serve situation.

4. The reception will have a keg, but if you are picky about what you drink, or just want to bring something to share, please do (and maybe a cooler if you have one). I will also offer up non-alcoholic options, but if you have something you like, bring it along.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll keep posting things as they come. This is turning out to be a lot of fun and I'm trying my best to keep the stress to a bare minimum. The only thing that matters on this day is that we are married by the end of it, and that we all had the best time that we could.

The moment you've been waiting for....

Here it is....(drum roll please)...THE WEDDING INVITATION:

This party will be rain or shine! Don't worry, we'll have you covered :-) And please bring your lawn/camping chairs to both the ceremony and the reception so we have plenty of spaces for people to rest their aching bones after hours of dancing, hooping, and general mayhem.

Please RSVP as soon as possible so we can get a head count for the food. Thanks!

Reception....

Where o' where are we going to party down after the wedding? This has been bugging us since day one. Originally we had planned on having a block party, which is still by far the coolest option. However, I started to panic over rain and weather when I read the farmer's almanac - apparently that week is going to be hit with a slew of severe thunderstorms and a potential hurricane. Awesome. I'm not one to totally buy into the farmer's almanac, but at the same time, it planted a seed of doubt in my brain.

Now Tim and I have literally no money for this wedding, and I mean no money. That's why everything is going to be DIY, and that was the reason behind the block party. However, in light of my fear of bad weather, we may need to rent a reception hall. This is proving to be WAY more difficult than I had expected. My criteria seem simple:

1. I need to get in beforehand and decorate.
2. I would like to not have to undecorate until the next morning.
3. I want electricity for a band.
4. I want to be able to drink, preferably without a bartender, but I can adapt.
5. Tables and chairs are required.

We don't need waiters, decorators, wedding aides, etc. I just want an open space where Tim and I, and all our lovely friends and family can listen to music, drink some beers, munch some of the delicious food, and have a good time...without having to worry about cleaning up after ourselves that night.

So, if anyone out there has any ideas or suggestions, please please please post a comment.

Thanks all!