spaceinthewho.blog

So now that I have entered the ranks of the engaged, I get to partake in the strange and crazy world of wedding planning. 

It's like an alternate universe where everything costs 50% more because it is white or because it has the word "wedding" attached to it, and its where men and women *just have to have that one thing because its the cutest thing evah!*

So far, its been pretty fun.  We looked at a bunch of venues on Lake Union and decided on the Tyee Yacht Club catered by Ravishing Radish.  I had my first minor melt down while trying to book this because I had trouble reaching the event coordinator to confirm my booking, and she left me a voice mail telling me someone else was interested in booking the date.  I don't think she meant it in the way like "if you don't call me back in 15 min, you don't get it".  M actually thinks that she really meant "please call me back by next business day to confirm" because we had already preliminarily signed the contract with her, she just needed to confirm the catering estimate. 

Next up was the photographer.  We met with several really talented photographers and we had a tough time deciding on who we wanted to book.  Seriously, when I feel confident enough to do wedding photography, I should consider doing this as a business -- you can make about $60-200/hr! 

We also booked a wedding coordinator.  M was initially skeptical as to whether or not we needed to hire someone, but after seeing me so stressed about the venue drama, he thought it would be good to hire me an assistant.  We found this awesome girl who recently got married and is doing this on the side.  She'll be helping me research the rest of the vendors and developing a "vision" for the look and feel of the event. 

I went to try on a bunch of dresses and ended up finding several dresses that I loved at each store.  I think my favorite experience was at The Bridal Garden in Kirkland.  That's also where I found the dress I love the most.  However... it's also ridiculously expensive, and practical me cannot justify spending that much money on a dress I'll wear for 1 day.  The one thing I don't like is how HUGE the mark up is on the gown... I found my second choice dress online for $1400... the store is selling for $2300! 

So anyhow... I've had a lot of fun so far.  M has been quite accomodating, coming along with me to appointments and what not and generally being very supportive in making sure we get the best person for the job.  The date is set for Aug 1, 2009 and I can't wait!

I'm totally obsessed with the Olympics right now...

...and I've been cheering on the American teams because Canada has been sucking at all the events that I have been watching

But yay Phelps!  What an exciting guy to watch... especially that 7th swim.  That one was insane!

I heard this song on the weekend and I've been obsessed with it ever since.  I think I've listened to it about 30 times in a row today. Wild Horses by Alicia Keys:

 

 

I am totally stalking my email inbox... arghhh got to stop checking every 30 seconds

I wrote this awhile ago but never finished... I suppose I'll post it for now and finish later

I just returned 2 days ago from a 2 week trip to India and Bangladesh. This was an incredible experience for me and I am really glad I made the time to go there.

I experienced some really amazing and wonderful things...

When we arrived in India, the first thing that we experienced was the heat and the crazy driving that they do there. There is no point to the lane markings--nobody follows them. There is a constant cacaphony of honking as you drive down the road. You're sharing with pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters, auto-rickshaws, bicycle-rickshaws, semi-trucks, busses, and yes, even cows.

The next thing that struck us was the poverty that surrounded us everywhere where we looked. As we pulled up towards the hotel in Karol Bagh, a beggar woman with an infant came up to the car and started begging us for money to feed the child. The baby had no clothes, and had a rash on it's bottom. It was really heart breaking and a little scary, especially since I didn't expect that kind of aggression in their tactics. In North America, people are pretty passive... they will hold signs up or put a hat on the ground. Very rarely will they approach you and I've never seen any who will knock on the car windows.

In India, the highlight of the trip was to see the Taj Mahal. We took a million shots in and around the Taj... it is truly stunning. We got up at the crack of dawn to catch the Taj with fewer tourists around. Since June is the low season for tourism in India, there were even fewer than there normally are.

There were a ton of false tour guides and children selling trinkets around the Taj... as well as every other tourist spot we went to. We got had by 1 of the fake guides at the Sikandra tomb, even after being warned by our driver. I suppose I should have seen this coming... what happened was, we had to take our shoes off to go inside the tomb, and then this guy latched onto us by asking "Hey where are you from? Do you know the history here?" I didn't realize it until a few minutes later that he was a fake guide who wanted to get some money from us. At the conclusion of his 15 min tour of the place, he asked for money and after we gave him 50 rupees (about $1), he asked for more. I was annoyed that he was so demanding, so I walked away.

To be continued...