Kids n Babies

Baby Adam. Future ring bearer? Eh, he's gotta learn to walk first.

I was reading a wedding blog the other day (yeah, I get it, walking stereotype, whatevs), and it highly, highly recommended banning kids and babies from weddings and receptions. "They're no fun for kids! This is a classy affair! Parents want the break! They're going to cryyyyyy!!!" Which got me thinking, yay or nay on the toddler set?

Because I'm relatively young, I don't have any close friends with kids. With the exception of my future nephew-in-law, Adam, everyone in the immediate family is old enough to grab a beer at our reception. Still, there are several babies of cousins who we plan on inviting (who will likely be rambunctious 2-3 year olds by the time we tie the knot). I've been to "adults-only" weddings and receptions, and ones where kids got their own kid-friendly mini reception (all the adults were envious of the cookies and cakes playland my cousins had for the kids at their Alabama wedding).

I've seen kids have mini meltdowns and seen them charmingly ooh and aah over the brides, and to me, it simply will not be a complete celebration if my littlest family members aren't there. And I get it, kids are unpredictable. They run around and scream and talk very loudly and press cake-covered hands all over white gowns. But my attitude is, they're kids. What do you expect? I'm not inviting them to get up on stage and sing "Fly Me to the Moon" (although how adorable would that be?). If the worst that happens at our wedding is some kid loses his cool and knocks over the cake, ok, it happens, and you deal with it.

If we end up at the reception hall where we're thinking of, we're planning to set aside one of the rooms as the kid room. Throw a TV in there, some Disney movies, hire a couple of baby sitters, and order a pizza--the kids'll be happy to have some space to chill out should the reception prove too boring, the parents'll be happy to drop them off somewhere and enjoy themselves, and Dave and I will be able to coo and snuggle our favorite toddlers.

A Pretty Birdie Told Me

Here's a flock of pretty birdie clutches to brighten up your Sunday

And why yes, they are from Etsy. How did you guess? Hand-embroidered clutches for $72-78 from the store, ClutchThat

All That Glitters

Seeing as the last few posts have been more on the serious side, I thought it would be nice to have a more frivolous post. That said, Sparkles!



A little glitter is a nice way to bling-out the wedding without going all "WE Presents Platinum Weddings" on everyone.

Clockwise from the top-left:
Jimmy Choo, Logan Glitter d'Orsay Pumps: $495.00
Kenneth Pool: $17,990
J. Crew, Crushed Glitter minaudiere: $50
Monsoon, Vintage Beaded Flower Girl Dress: $100
Bordello, Peep toe Boot Platform Gold Glitter Shoes: $53.95
Chanel, Sequin Bolero Shrug


*I would also like to note that the majority of these things are inSANEly expensive (if you bought all those things the bill would equal the average annual income for a real estate broker). Try not to get enraged that people spend so much money on silly things and just focus on the pretty stuff...

The Nicest Thing Anyone Ever Said to Me

Not long after Dave and I got engaged, I received a present in the mail
from his (very wonderful) Aunt Michelle and Uncle Charles.


Isn't it lovely? I keep it on my dresser.

Although it is very beautiful and sweet and a very nice engagement present,
I love it for an entirely different reason.

At Dave's brother's wedding two years ago, Dave and I were dancing together when Uncle Charles came up and took our picture. He smiled at us and said, plain and direct, the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said to me:
"I can tell just by looking at you how much you love him."

It was one of the kindest things I had ever heard about myself.

Yeah, sort of lucked out there on the in-laws

Perfect Day(s)

There's a lot out there in the wedding world about making your wedding "perfect." Every other day I get an email from the Knot (so I subscribed to them, so they fill my inbox with somewhat inane emails about hairdos, so what?) about potential wedding mishaps and wedding insurance and what to do if such and such a thing happens. And a lot of my wedding conversations with people include the advice, "You know, you really should do [blank], otherwise [blank] will happen."

But the thing is, I'm not really interested in having a perfect day. I mean, ok, I would obviously like our wedding day to go smoothly, but I sort of expect some things to fall apart or go a bit bumpy or be sort of awkward. And that's ok.

A few years ago, I was down in Florida with my family for my grandpa's funeral. And my grandmother, a strong woman in her own right, was holding it together pretty well, but as we were driving to the cemetery, dark clouds started gathering overhead.

"I just really, really hope it doesn't rain," she said, looking out the window.

To be honest, I was hoping, too--there's nothing quite like a rainy day funeral. But instead I took her hand and said, "So what if it rains? What's going to happen? It's just rain, right? And we're all together." And she smiled at me and said, "Yeah, you're right."

And honestly? That's pretty much how I feel about the wedding day. Not to be flip about it, but if mishaps happen, mishaps happen, and if I'm with my friends and my family, and they're all healthy, happy, and surrounding me as I marry the man of my dreams, I'll be pretty ok if the appetizers are cold, you know what I mean?


*Image from the wonder that is Cake Wrecks. Because every disastrous cake has a silver lining. And that silver lining is being famous on a blog devoted to silly cakes.

Kick Up Ma Heels

I'm not sure what shoes I'll wear on my wedding day except that I know they won't be white (or clear or silver or dyable) and will probably be brightly colored and good for dancing. I'm thinking probably something along the lines of a bright yellow Mary Jane heel, but while walking down the street on the phone with Dave, I passed a Western-style leather goods store and decided that nothing would be nicer than a pair of little red cowgirl boots to do some dancin in.

Something tells me they will probably be vetoed by my mom, my friends, and (admittedly) my own fashion sense, but at least they got Dave's approval.


These beauties on sale at Etsy (of course. I tried looking elsewhere first but should have just stuck with the tried and true): $155 from Rust Belt Threads

Fountain of Youth, Love, Happiness

One of the fun things about planning-not-planning the wedding is finding sweet little details that mean a lot to me and Dave that are also nice perks for our guests.

Case in point: chocolate fountain.

Way back in our college dorm, Dave and I used to regularly attend study breaks thrown at the house of our laid-back, kind, and funny house masters (they're like the mom and dad of our dorm. Or, in Harry Potter terms, the McGonagall to our Gryffindor). They would often be themed--sub sandwich (I still dreeeeam of the meat lover's blend), chips and munchies--but the best, by far, were the dessert theme nights, and the crowning glory of the dessert study break was the chocolate fountain.

It took Dave about three seconds to decide that we were absolutely having a chocolate fountain at our wedding, in a nod to our Cabot House, sugared-up roots, and also because, y'know, chocolate fountains are AWESOME.

Image from Forever Fountains, from which you can rent some "flowering chocolate fountains," whatever that means. We are probably going to rent, not buy, because while having a chocolate fountain at your wedding is fun and delicious, keeping one in your kitchen pantry is probably the definition for some kind of eating disorder.