Dear Lord, these invitations are killing me

Some of you who are attending our wedding may have noticed that you have not actually received a formal invitation in the mail just yet.  Well, we are working on that, and we will get them out soon if we both don't die trying.  We decided to design and make them ourselves; it didn't seem like it would be too herculean a task.  Ursula does plenty of paper crafts and is very creative; we both know how to do layouts in Illustrator; it should be a piece of cake, right?  Unfortunately, there was another element that we failed to consider.  The people we would need to print our project for us.

So we have these invitations designed and ready to go.  Taking them to the printer should be easy, they print it on card stock and cut it to size, then we're out the door.  So we take our flash drive down to Office Max.  And then Darryl happens.  Fucking Darryl.  Our encounter started bad;  there was a woman behind the counter when we arrived helping someone else, and a guy who was on the phone.  After standing there for a minute the girl asks if we've been helped, and when we say "no" tells Darryl to get on it.  So he ends his phone call and comes over.  Darryl was a mess; he talked too fast, and had question after question.  But he didn't seem to really listen to our answers.  He didn't understand how our booklets were supposed to be laid out.  Dude, they're a card.  I'm sure you've seen them before.  A page on front, two inside, piece of cake.  But he didn't get it.  Finally we drew him a picture, which he decided to keep in with the order in case he forgot.  Around this time, Ursula had to walk away, but for some reason I stuck with it.  I don't know, I figured I could get through to him somehow.  So the next thing is he decides he can print it on larger paper, to get more on a sheet and save us some money.  Sure, sounds good.  Then he asks again about how the cards are going to be laid out.  Look at the picture, Darryl!  I don't know how long this went on.  I asked him how long it would take, and he would tell me prices.  Finally I got a manager to come over.  He says the order form looks right, and it should be 24 hours.  Then comes the kicker: Darryl asks if the other stores would have the larger paper size to print it on.  They don't actually have it in stock.  Now to be clear, I didn't ask him for the larger paper size; he suggested it.  And now I realize I should have walked away when Ursula did.

Anyway, we took our print job to another shop.  The guy seemed to know what he was doing, but his printer was broken.  He told us to make sure our images were pdfs, submit them online, and he would call us to let us know if they could be printed Friday.  Well, I submitted them, received an automated "your job was submitted" email, and never heard a thing.  They are closed all weekend (I'm not sure about Monday).

So long story short, you will see the invitations soon.  If this process doesn't kill the two of us.

Pictures!

It's not all that easy to have many pictures of yourselves as a couple when it's just the two of you. Your choices are really tripods and timers, cameras held at arm's length, strangers in public places, or mirrors. None of those options make for really great pictures.

If only we could teach Penny to use the camera.

While we were in California over the holidays, Morgan and I asked my daughter Emily if she'd be willing to take some pictures of us together, sort of informal engagement pictures. She was game, so we headed down to Santa Cruz on a gray day. Surprisingly, an offer of going letterboxing and having lunch were enough to bribe her. (But lunch was really, really good. Definitely bribe-worthy, I'd have to say. If you're ever in Santa Cruz, stop by Hula's Island Grill and Tiki Room.)

She did a great job, don't you think? I have more, but you'll have to wait a couple of days until I put them up on Flickr.

It's (almost) Official

The wedding is getting close; we now have an official copy of our marriage license in hand.  So, while we are not actually married yet, it is really just a few signatures on a piece of paper before it's done.  I mean, we are still going to put on a party, but it's exciting to know that we are practically there.

Getting the license was a bit of an adventure in itself.  We had to drive out to Martinez; we took a scenic route through the hills and then headed down to the bay.  The weather kind of stunk, but it was still gorgeous.  At the county clerk's, there was a party getting married in an adjoining room.  It was very cool to see a couple getting married while we were there getting our license.  Definitely fun to see.  While filling out the paperwork for the license, I realized I did not know my mom's original middle name, or what state my dad was born in.  I had to call my grandma to ask, which was a bit embarrassing.  Also, we marked that we would be married by a judge, so they kept asking "Do you actually know a judge?"  We didn't really know what to say except "Of course we know a judge, why else would we mark that?" Apparently people frequently mark that by mistake, so they felt like they had to check.

It feels really good to be getting this close to being married.  I think we had started to get a little exhausted by all of the wedding planning, especially with it colliding with Christmas and other responsibilities, but with this step, I feel like I sort of have a second wind.  I'm really looking forward to celebrating with everyone in March; see you then!

Committed

For the past few months, I've been subscribing to an increasing number of wedding sites to gather inspiration. Last night, when I loaded up my Google Reader and the umpteenth washed-out photo of a bride in a white dress topped by a birdcage veil appeared in the list of waiting posts, I realized I was done.

I no longer need to consider each photo, trying to decide if I want to add certain types of shots to our list for the photographer. I don't need to scour the details of the decorations, trying to see if there's yet another thing I should think about incorporating into our wedding. I don't need to contemplate whether an idea I see will fit in with our overall aesthetic.  Morgan and I have got our vision, and it's about as crammed full of ideas as it can be. Everything we've decided on is us, and that's all we need, ultimately.

Maybe soon, when I feel like most of the work is actually completed, I'll be able to enjoy looking through the photos again. But for now, it just feels like so much clutter, and I'm enjoying scrolling right on past.

Am I Losing My Mind Yet?

Well, the wedding is starting to feel close and, while we have a lot of things taken care of, there still are some big items that we haven't really figured out yet. And I think I'm starting to panic a little.

So, most of the big things are done; we have a photographer, officiant, and a cake lined up. Ursula has ordered her dress and another for the maid of honor. We have the venue taken care of (thanks Mom), and the catering (again, thanks Mom). But I haven't really figured out my suit, and it has me a bit worried. Also, there are a lot of little things that I know deep down will fall into place (and we have put some thought into them), but it is starting to feel like a ton to do over the next three months. And of course, these next three months include Christmas, which kind of screws everything up in terms of getting stuff done. At this rate, it feels like I might be getting married with no clothes.

Of course, even though we will be in California for a few weeks, we will be able to take care of a lot of wedding related stuff like getting our marriage license, making honeymoon plans, (hopefully) getting my clothes, and figuring out some decorations and menu items. With some luck, it will feel a little less stressful after that. As it is now, I'm just really happy that I have Ursula next to me; it is a big comfort having someone who is so on top of everything working with me and keeping me motivated.

Looking Forward

It's easy to get caught up in the details of wedding planning. Everything is focused on that one day, trying to achieve the vision we both have of what it should look and feel like. That day is very important to us - we want it to reflect our personalities and our relationship, and just generally be an occasion we will both look back on with pleasure.

At the same time, the wedding day isn't the end. Although from one point of view it's just a day in the continuation of our relationship, from another it's also the beginning of our new married lives.

I wonder what other people see when they look past The Day and into their futures together. A new house? The same house, but with new plates and a new blender? Our future is oddly nebulous.

Looking ahead to the time after the wedding, we'll come back home to Denver and start focusing on preparing for the next big change - a school year in Beijing.

Beijing by Flickr user Dennis Wu

March to September will be all about paring down our belongings and sorting them into Things to Take To China (mostly clothes and personal items), Things to Store (housewares/furniture/other possessions worth keeping), and Things to Get Rid Of (everything else - and I suspect there will be a lot in this category). Once it's all properly allocated, we'll say goodbye to Denver, hopefully for good. (I'd just like to take a moment to point out that Beijing has an Ikea, while Denver isn't getting one till the end of this year.)

Looking even further forward, we'll come back from China to a storage unit of stuff and a life ... where? Who knows where we'll end up?

California

Brussels
by Flickr user Wolfgang Staudt

Austin, Texas
from our trip there

Los Cuatro Torres of Madrid
from Wikimedia Commons

As much as it's a little strange looking forward into an unclear future, I'm honestly thrilled about it. I like the idea that we are going to be embarking on a completely different life somewhere in the world. It might be somewhere great; it might be somewhere I can't wait to leave. But wherever that life takes us, we'll be together, and what more could I possibly want?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, with the extended family or without. We spent the day with just the two of us, and two dogs (dogsitting for a friend, boy was that exhausting). We had some good turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. I think it's hard with just two people, but we managed to make a good variety of things without having an ungodly amount of leftovers (although there is a lot of turkey in the fridge). I think dessert was the best, though; we ordered a pumpkin pie and ice cream from a local shop (Sweet Action Ice Cream rules! Dulce de leche and salted butterscotch ice creams were soooo good!). It definitely made everything a little easier to juggle, I don't know how we would have found space and time to bake our own pie in our kitchen along with everything else.

I think a holiday like this just reinforces why we are happy to be getting married. I'm so thankful to have Ursula here with me to share everything with. Our kitchen is pretty tiny, but even with two dogs in there, I'm always happy to have her in there with me too. And there is no one I'd rather eat turkey with, or share pie and ice cream with. It makes me happy to think that all of our holidays are going to be spent together.