Program design time!

This is the design for our programs and I love how they turned out. They have our Cast of Characters, a timeline for the wedding, the list of music and readings from the ceremony and our Thanks yous. Who's got their scissors ready?

Guestbook fun complete... FINALLY!

After many hours our guestbook is complete - now we just have to hope that people will fill it out! There are about 65 pages - should be enough for each

"party" and each page has a space for their photobooth picture, a note to Future Rob and Ashima and a wedding questionnaire with questions about us and the wedding! It can be either silly or serious and hopefully fun for everyone.

Pi anyone?

Here are the cool seating cards we put together. Inside each will be a little word problem related to "Rob and Ashima" which will lead you to your table. We promise they won't be too hard and will be fun to figure out. Pi anyone?

Oooh look what I made!

I just finished my hair flower thingy! I'm super excited about it. It's made from all fakey flowers and beaded feathers from Michael's glued to a comb.
I will probably use it in some kind of hairdo like this:

Lighting Excitement!

I am happy to report that the "Elm Bank Bride's Club" is pulling through with our group lighting project! 7 couples getting married this summer at Elm Bank are splitting the cost of lighting the Carriage House with twinkle lights like this:

It's a look we all agreed on and we're all super excited about it. It should be going up the 2nd week of July so we can go check it out anytime after that! Yay!

Pom Pom Success!

Check out my first attempt at our orange Napkin Ring pom-poms! It was super easy and turned out just like the picture. Plus it will cost about $5 to make all of them! Thanks Martha, queen of craft! There will definitely be a pom-pom party so stay tuned!

Table Names

We've been toying around with different ideas for table names. Want to weigh in? Some of these would be games with the seating card being a clue to the table. Not everyone is going to know the answers to these but it would be fun and could spark conversation!

1. Cellists - Could be first and last names. Your card says Jacqueline so your table is DuPre.
2. Famous Couples - Your card says Romeo and your table is Juliet, could have many different tones of this one - modern, classic, literature, film, etc.
3. Great Food Pairings - Your card says milk so your table is cookies!
4. Us at what age - Your card says 14 so you have to walk around and find the table with the picture of Rob and I at age 14
5. Math Problems - Your card has anything from addition to calculus problems, your table is the answer. Serious math geeks!
6. Composer/Compositions - Your card has a bit from a famous score, your table is the composer. Serious music geeks!
7. Muppets - just good old Muppet tables

Other ideas welcome!!!

Table settings - something totally different

Hi everyone! I started thinking, who among us really cares about linen napkins, tablecloths and fancy china? And I couldn't really think of anyone. But we do care about the environment and wouldn't it be nice to spend some of that money we'd save on food instead of things to put food on which no one remembers anyway! So what do you guys think of these Bamboo plates, 100% biodegradable, sturdier and nicer looking than paper and much cheaper than china rental.
I also found cool Birchwood "silver"-ware, also 100% biodegradable. We have ordered a sample of both so will keep you posted on them!

Amazing Bouquet

I love, love, love this bouquet.

It totally looks like it could have been pulled straight from Deb's garden, don't you think?

Double Scroll Logo

Check out what Pansy made for us!
We are going to use it for the silkscreen on our re-usable bag favors. I took a picture of our cellos last fall thinking it might be fun to use the image as a stamp or something, but I think this incarnation is ever better. I'm now thinking we should find more places to use it - like programs or something?

Looking for more favors

Deb has volunteered to make some nice potted plants for wedding favors but we would like to offer an alternative as well since some people will have traveled far and don't want to take a plant home on the plane, or simply don't want to take care of them.

We like the idea of personalized Re-Usable Grocery bags with some kind of design and maybe our names (discreetly) on it somewhere. It's nice because it's useful, not wedding-y, and reflects our personal values.

Some other ideas, good and bad:

Good: Chocolate, Cookies, Honey, Coffee, homemade jam, personalized temporary tatoos (Creat-A-Tats) :) ...

Bad: Bubbles, Jordan Almonds, anything useless like little glass bells or bags of river stones, candles, shot glasses, mix CDs, pictures of the couple, magnets, miniature scrolls with poems/wedding vows printed on them, mints of any kind...

Does anyone think egg shakers or maracas would be fun? They could be in place of "kissing bells" and have something written on them. You know Lar would like them!

Chopsticks also not a bad idea...

Or, we could always have spark-shooting Godzilla Toys... tough choices!

Spandex anyone?

You all might think it's crazy but I've been kind of into these Spandex table/chair covers. They obviously have a more modern feel than traditional linens. Too weird? I have only found one place locally that carries them and would want to see them live in action before I was committed but what do you guys think?

If we are not renting chairs we will probably want covers since Elm Bank green/gold blend chairs are not so nice.

Paper Lanterns

We're thinking about using white twinkle lights and paper lanterns to decorate the indoor space at elm bank. I like this design (right) using different sizes and heights. We would use white and different purple shades. Only problem is getting them up there... Any ideas? Rob was thinking of putting a small weight on the end of each string and actually tossing it over the beams. Then they could be just cut down easily.



I also like this design with paper decorations (left)
and this one with Martha Stewart's tissue paper pom poms. (right)

Thinking about Hair

I think it's getting to be time to do some hair and make-up! Beatrice gave me the name of her hairdresser who would be willing to come and do my hair on the wedding day. I want to go and have a "hair trial" but really I should have some idea what I want and know what accessories if any I'm going to use. But there is so much fun stuff I don't know where to start!

Hair Accessories Galore
I love these handmade hair accessories from Twigs and Honey on Etsy:


Also these from Tiger Lilly:


Some ideas for half updos:



But these are nice too!:

Invitations - Complete!

After Invitation Parties Nos. 1-3 we have finally finished our awesome invites! I was inspired to do hand-made paper invitations after seeing some really neat designs other brides had created like this one (left). Deb, Grams and Aunt Boo were all such great little elves and we assembled 79 invitations total - That's a lot! Anyway take a look at part of our process


and the final product. (below) We used mostly cardstock and construction paper from Staples. I punched all the flowers myself with one of those scrapbooking punches from Michael's. We assembled with glue sticks and gel glue and pressed them with phone books! Ta Da!

Food!

We're going to be using the wonderful Pepper's Fine Foods Catering for the wedding. We like John, the Catering Director, very much. He seemed able to grasp what was important to us and offer many tasty suggestions. Here is the menu we have at the moment - updates to come and suggestions/comments welcome!

Hors D'ouevres:

Mediterranean Mezze Table A dazzling arrangement of Mediterranean area fun foods, spreads and dips, including French Country Olives with Rosemary, Herb Marinated Sheepsmilk Feta, Almond Romesco Dip, Sicilian Capunatina Morrocan Carrot Dip and Hummus Bi Tahini, with Pita Chips, Crackers and Vegetables.

Pesto Goat Cheese Tortes

Family Style Entrees:

Plates of fresh Sliced Summer Tomatoes

Mixed Field Greens with Chiffonade of Seasonal Vegetables with julienne of seasonal vegetables, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes topped with an herb vinagrette.

Grilled Breast of Chicken, with Basil Minte Verde Sauce A refreshing treatment of grilled breast of chicken. Marinated for 2 hours in our special herbal blend. Then grilled over a hot wood fire capped with a soul satisfying Basil Mint Verde Sauce.

Heart Shaped Ave Maria Ravioli with Fine Herbs Sauce A delicate lemon scented pasta is filled with a delicious mascarpone, sun dried tomato, pignoli nut and basil filling and napped with a fine beurre blanc sauce.

Lemon and Rosemary Steamed Potatoes

Roasted Summer Vegetables

Dessert Buffet:

Apple, Pear and Cranberry Crisp A refreshing filing of pears, apples and tart cranberries. Accompanied by a homemade crisp granola. Served with a cascade of freshly made whipped cream. (Gluten Free version will be available)

Peet's Gourmet Coffee

Our Venue

We've decided to have our wedding at Elm Bank Reservation which is run by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. It is in Wellesley, MA just steps away from my elementary school. During the late 19^th to mid-20^th centuries, Elm Bank was a prominent garden estate owned by the Cheney/Baltzell family. It was taken over by the Horticultural Society in 1996. It houses a Horticulture Learning center, four show gardens, a children's garden and America's Test Garden which helps develop new seeds.


Our wedding ceremony will take place, weather permitting, in front of the main house (above) in the Italianate Gardens. After the ceremony everyone will be free to stroll the gardens while munching on hors d'ouevres and sipping coolers. Then we will all move into the Hunnewell Building (right) which is a converted Carriage House. It is fully air-conditioned and we will have the rest of the event there!