Engagement Photos

I'm so excited to introduce our photographer - Rachel Hadiashar of Merge Weddings. I found her completely by accident, poking around the wedding blogs one afternoon. There was one post in particular where the couple did a day after shoot at Boston Sand and Gravel. I recognized the location, as I drive over it on the highways at least once a week. Who in the world would be taking such great pictures at Boston Sand and Gravel?



Some sleuthing led me to Rachel's website, and I was totally sold. As she puts it, "If you just want someone to take some nice photos of you cutting the cake, you might want to look somewhere else. I like to think of the ultimate wedding photo more along the lines of when your grandma gets on the dance floor at the same time as your uncle Hamid and starts dancing like she is 22 again. I am an artist committed to bringing out the amazing details of your life and personality. I am bored by mediocrity. I am inspired by life, color, and cultural collisions." To which I say, "Oh pick me, pick me!"



I love that Rachel was a flute player. Artists and musicians typically speak the same language. It was obvious as soon as we started emailing that she was the one for us. Besides the fact that she takes some fantastic photos! I'm not naturally comfortable in front of the camera - that's partly why we decided to do engagement shots - but that afternoon was such a blast.



Since Fred and I play weddings all the time, we know what it means to work with a couple and help create their most fantastic wedding day. There's no life in it if it's just another gig! Now that we're on the other side, we hope that everyone helping to pull off our day is excited for us too. So thanks, Rachel!!! And be sure to check out the rest of her website, she's pretty darn awesome.

Location Frustration

Fred and I have had the darndest time finding a wedding location. Without going into it, we contacted over 25 locations before we found a place we liked that was willing to work with us. I think this is just obstacle number one in our plans for a non-traditional wedding, and I'm ok with that. Any standard wedding venue would have been easy, but that's just not our style. So where are we getting married? Stanley Park in Westfield, MA.

Great, easy, done! Fred played soccer at Stanley Park when he was a kid. Their herb garden is the perfect balance of unstructured natural beauty. The park has a number of different gardens that beg to be wandered, and we like the idea of our guests exploring the space before the ceremony starts. So we went to visit said herb garden this Columbus Day weekend, one year out from the wedding. And . . . . they mowed it down.



Ugh. That's not to say it won't look beautiful next year at this time, assuming they wait to mow, but I would have felt better seeing it. So the search is back on! Luckily, there are other places in the park we could use. Should we get married by the tree? In the rose garden? By the burning bush? In front of the gazebo?



I think we're going with the gazebo view. Not because we're particularly into the gazebo wedding thing! Hey, from our vantage point we don't get to see the gazebo at all, and I kind of like it that way. But that area looks like I imagine the herb garden might. Lots of texture and structure, but a little undone as it's all gone to seed. It's also one of the more private spaces in the park, despite being adjacent to the rose garden.



There's that long strip of grass you see above, but there's also a break in the garden opposite that gazebo view. Basically there's a T-shaped space where guests can sit (the park only allows 20 chairs) and stand around us. It moves towards the wedding-in-the-round idea that we like, with people on three sides, and I think everyone will be able to see that way.



Maybe it's for the best that we changed locations! Anyway, I'm still really glad to be getting married at the park. Stay tuned for the next segment of "our slightly atypical wedding," when my Aunt Judy and I take on my biggest rival - the puffy white wedding dress. Showdown!

-1

Yesterday was our -1 year wedding anniversary! Well, we have the date set tentatively, but we'll nail it down for sure in the next couple of days. As Fred says, we're going to end up with two wedding anniversaries - the actual date, and the Sunday of Columbus Day Weekend. While we're at it, I think we might just take over the whole holiday weekend. Let's hope we have the same amazing weather next year that we've got right now!

Purple

White vs. Color. I can't seem to decide. My old apartment was an obvious sway in the color direction, but I found myself coveting the tranquil white rooms that are all over my favorite design blogs.

While I still swoon over pics of those amazing airy spaces, three things have happened since. First, I moved into a new apartment with white walls. Ok, apartment-off-white walls, but still. Second, I realized I can't keep my place clean and organized 24/7, and the purest white walls and furniture just aren't going to look tranquil with all of what I've got going on. And third, I started to swoon over the most colorful pictures on those same blogs.

Now this, for better or worse, was my entry way. I love having an entry way for the first time in my renting life, but this sad scene wasn't cutting it. So I did what I thought any self motivated and determined young person would do - I upholstered it. Purple.



Inspiration and starch recipe found here. Yes, this makes a great big pot of goo, but I used a whole lot of it and it's not expensive.



Step 1: Paint a bit of the wall with the starch. I slopped it on pretty thickly. Smooth your fabric up against the sticky section, leaving some overhang at all the edges. (The fabric will shrink as it dries, and you'll go back and trim it later.) Then paint again on top of that section of fabric, all the way to the corners, just to be sure everything is well saturated. I also used a couple of thumbtacks along the top to be sure the fabric would stay put, just because it was going to get heavy.



Step 2: Work your way down the wall in sections, painting the wall first, smoothing the fabric into place, and painting over the fabric. Don't worry if you need to pull up the fabric and adjust in spots. Just keep painting on the starch, and things will stick right back down.



Step 3: Let the whole mess dry. Trim along the edges with a utility knife. Enlist the help of a tall person, if necessary. Use more starch to paste those corners and edges securely onto the wall. It all dries clear, so touching up is not an issue. We had a hard time trimming around the woodwork, so we actually pasted on some extra patches to square everything up a little better. The patches just barely peek out from behind the main piece, and you really can't see they're there at all.



Step 4: Enjoy! The fabric pulls right off the wall when you're ready to move on. Supposedly you can then toss it in the wash and use it again for other projects. All the work involved took maybe 2 hours, from making the starch to trimming the edges, but I did leave it to dry overnight between steps. I bought 3 yards of fabric from Ikea for this wall. Total cost, under $10.

It's Official!

Remember this handsome guy?



Well, in about a year and a month I'm going to be his new Mrs!!!



Before I go overboard and dish about all of my plans and inspirations and diy's, let me just say two things. First, I have to acknowledge the amazingness of a groom who wants to help plan his wedding. Because discussing color pallets and stationary styles can't be top on his to-do list, but he's my hero for wanting this to be our big day.

And second, we want this wedding to be about people. We're trying to plan an event that honors our families and the marriages and friends we hope to follow and learn from. That, and of course we want all of our guests have to a blast. Yes, there will be much discussion of dresses and the like on this blog. But please, when I stray too far with worries about this detail or that, feel free to send some good sense back in my direction. My Dad's baseline for a successful event is, "everyone got a hotdog and nobody got hurt." Besides the hotdogs and adding a bit about getting married somewhere in the middle there, those are the priorities, no matter what the glossy wedding mags have to say!

Alright, one picture, I can't help it. My niece is on tap to be the flower girl. Or rather, the two-year-old of honor. She's not going to hold the rings, she's not going toss petals, her only job is to get herself up the aisle and look cute. So I think she gets to wear something along these lines...


I forget where I snatched this pic from, but credits and thank you!

Home

At least, my summer home. Gracious, I miss this place! I hope you all had a fantastic summer, and best wishes for the back-to-school season. We'll be in touch :)

Downeast

I love how people use "summer" as a verb. For example, "we summer on the Cape," or, "we summer at Martha's Vineyard." I'm certainly not living the lifestyle of those so rich and famous, but I like to say I summer in Maine.



Downeast Maine, to be precise. There's a music festival up here, and by some strange twist of fate (and a long phone chain) they called me to come fill out their horn section three years ago. Every summer since it seems I can't keep myself away. So here I am, summer number four, spending six weeks in Maine. Summering in Maine. And it's such a good thing.

So I'll be in touch sporadically. It all depends on when we get into civilization for internet and cell reception, because we have neither out in the woods. But I look forward to sharing updates on the music, the hiking, the quilting, and the Maine-ness of it all.

Oh, and that there photo up there - that's my back yard this summer.