M+T by Marjorie

My friend Marjorie took some amazing photos at our wedding last weekend. While we anxiously wait for the professional pics, let's take a gander at what Ms. Marjorie captured... I think she could hire herself out, don't you?

our runner

our "altar" covered with flower pomanders and our bagpiper

with T

with my Best Woman's fantastic belly -- and yes, she made it without her water breaking and in fact is still pregnant!
UPDATE: My sis is in labor as of early Monday morning!!!!

Trevor's mom, the two of us, and my sis

the hilarious disorganization involved with attempting a group photo

a private moment in the midst of everyone

my pal Michael - note his political allegiance :-)

Leaving with a smile

We leave the Outer Banks today, after ten days here that featured 100 of our favorite people, ridiculous reunions and shenanigans, the most fun at a wedding either of us have ever had (which seemed impossible!), an outrageous after-party the featured 4/5 of all our wedding guests, jello shots out of a pregnant woman's purse (hi Tracy!!), and my uncle getting naked, plus a delicious week of exploring my favorite place with my new h-word (ha! we are totally not on board with the official terms yet, btw). My sister still hasn't gone into labor, so we've been taking each day as it comes - a little sightseeing here, a little sunning there, a little dinner here...

So. Much. Relaxation.

I'm guessing there's another week or two until we see professional photos, but never fear - there will be details galore, including a few of the important players :-). Here's a little something to tide you over until then.

First, music as you peruse. Our song (shockingly, not a Dracula song):

The ceremony:

The reception:

The week since...

Taking photos of my slowly rotting bouquet in pretty places:

Reacquainting ourselves with fiction - and in Duck, NC, one drinks Duck Rabbit Ale:

Happily sunning

Taking very windy (our hair does not usually look like this) ferry rides to my all-time favorite spot, Ocracoke Island:

Drinking beer and spending hours watching pelicans fight sea gulls for fish scraps from the dock (this might sound boring, but was incredibly entertaining - and pretty much sums up our level of relaxation):

Watching dolphins swim beside the ferry on our way home:

And camping out in one of the screened-in alcoves of our enormous honeymoon abode during a thunderstorm over the ocean:

That's it for now, folks! We'll leave you with a kiss from me...


...and a Hasselhoff pose (with bonus ring flash) from the f-word h-word love of my life.

Election Day :-)

Here's my view this morning while I peacefully eat breakfast before the madness begins... a so-brilliant-the-ocean-glares kind of day:

And look what I just spotted getting wheeled over for setup... OUR FLOWER POMANDERS!!


Yesterday was an insane amount of fun... a morning kayaking with 30 of my favorite people, followed by a Welcome Cookout that was homey and raucous and touching and FUN all at once.

Today's all about getting ready with my girls and getting this thing DONE!

Here's what I'll be wearing today, in case you were wondering:

Much more on that later. For now, there's some marrying to do!

The winning napkins!

As I'm packing up, I just realized we never reported back on our napkin trivia contest. We sorta listened to you. Kinda.


I think they're adorable and can't wait to see them in action. Also, typewriter typeface? Sold.

PS: So it turns out that boxes of wedding paper goods pretty much take up two suitcases, leaving me with not very much room at all for, you know, clothes. Oh well... bikinis and my Valentinos will suffice!

Paper progress

Here's a little taste of what's been keeping us busy lately. Also known as: How to take advantage of the nice printer at your office!

Cookie tags

Our custom maps made by my friend Sasha! They're tabloid size, 11x17. Side 1 is a regional map with wedding details, and side 2 is a village map with shopping/eating recommendations.

All folded up and ready for our Welcome Bags, per the folding diagram that Sasha sent us!

Escort cards done and campaign buttons attached!

Escort cards bagged by letter!

Table signs all done and packaged with our table assignment diagram.

The final Welcome Bag tags.

Random signs

Paper packed up and ready for the suitcase!

One big project left... Ribbon Binding of the programs. Check back with us tonight as we negotiate PACKING, collecting childhood photos, getting our place ready to leave for ten days, PACKING, cutting pretty gingham ribbons, oh and PACKING.

Not part of the plan

Hi! Thanks so much for coming to our wedding!

Oh, you like my dress? Why thank you! I love it too.

Oh, the bandage, not the dress? Of course!

It's actually 3M brand, not Johnson & Johnson.

I know, can you believe it? Such a value. And I almost didn't even get to wear one! But luckily just a few days before our wedding, our cat Fanny freaked out when Trevor let out the biggest sneeze I've heard since the ones my dad used to scare the neighbors with in the garage. Thank goodness I was holding her at the time so I could receive a four-inch scratch across my chest!

Yeah, doesn't it really pop with the white dress? I'm so glad we're having a beach wedding so I can really show it off, too. I'm so lucky! Thanks for noticing!

Focus

With any luck, today will be my last day in the office, giving me all day tomorrow to pack and finish everything that doesn't involve printing. In order to achieve that goal, though, I'll need to finish my Work To Do list and then get all the remaining wedding printing done today, too (3 more Welcome Bag tags, 6 more escort cards, 2 more table signs, 6 more general signs, and 70 double-sided 11x17 maps).

Some of Trevor's family arrived at their rental house yesterday, meaning that people are already in the Outer Banks for our wedding. Wow.

Head down. Another hammock photo to guide me through to the important stuff - relaxing and celebrating! But not quite yet.

Via Snippet & Ink

Screeching and crashing

SO MUCH to do today -- eeeeeeek!!!!!! But since it can't be all wedding work all the time, we have TV On The Radio tickets tonight. And on that note, some yummy words for Sunday:

I will be your accident if you will be my ambulance

And I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast

And I will be your one more time if you will be my one last chance

- TV on the Radio, from 'Ambulance'

F-Word Fridays: Why Don't We Get Drunk and...

I'd like to start this week's F-Word Friday by issuing an apology. Back in late March, in a blatant and transparent attempt to diversify and expand wedding blog readership, I wrote a post that touched on vampires, sex, rock 'n roll, more sex, basketball, and still more sex. And it worked.... we quadrupled regular male readership from 3 to 12, and even got a couple of them to comment. And how did I say thank you? With consecutive F-Word Fridays about men wearing skirts, shoes, and...that other topic that I can't really tell you about, cuz it's still a total secret. I don't know what to say other than "Gentlemen, I'm sorry."

So this week, in the second-to-last F-Word Friday, we're making amends. We're giving back. We're talking beer.

Our "rehearsal dinner" Saturday night is a barbeque cookout in the yard of a big beachside house overlooking the ocean. Pulled pork, boiled shrimp, coleslaw, cornbread. Checkered tablecloths. Footballs, frisbees, and volleyballs flying all over the place. With any luck, it will look like something out of a beer commercial. Which means one thing: we actually need beer. But not just any beer. I mean sure, we could probably throw a couple of cheap brand-name domestic kegs at this crowd and still get the desired response, but Maggie and I (but especially Maggie) have a hint of beer snob in us. So I spoke to a friend who happens to work for a brewer in Montreal, laid out the scene for him, and asked for some help.

Visionary that he is, my budding brewmaster buddy came back with a truly inspired idea.... he showed us a list of six microbrews he could personally vouch for, three of which are from Connecticut (my home state), and three from NC, and thought we should pick one from each state to throw even more local fare into the mix. What's more, he found a local liquor store on the Outer Banks willing to order en masse for us. From these suggestions, we chose the Duck Rabbit Amber to represent the Tar Heel state, and an IPA called Sea Hag from New England Brewing in Woodbridge, CT (we passed on the Thomas Hooker IPA in spite of the obvious temptation to supply ourselves with an unending littany of "Hooker at a wedding" jokes). But our friend wasn't done. Knowing as all good brewmen do that a large cadre of rehearsal attendees will steer clear of the fancy microbrew, he even suggested we provide Lone Star to placate the Coors Light crowd, and allow us to run up the tiniest of Texas flags in spite of ourselves. (And before any of you locals say "wait, how can you pick Lone Star over Shiner?!", try to remember that Shiner sucks....too many Texans blindly love Shiner just because it's from Texas. It's the Dallas Cowboys of regional pseudo microbrew. Lone Star may be no better, and might even be worse, but I simply refuse to perpetuate the Shiner myth any longer. Not only that, but Lone Star is an infinitely better beerpong beer than Shiner. And there will be beerpong.)

So we're set to place the orders tomorrow. Cases and cases. Maybe even kegs. Hopefully enough to last for a few late nights and even into the following week, since Maggie and I are sticking around after everyone else heads home. Gotta have something to drink with your toes in the sand.

Mmmm....Beer.

Wedding crushes

My justification for spending countless hours oohing and aahing at wedding blogs is coming to a close, and as such, it's time for a massive "weddings I have a crush on" post!

First up: I am obsessed with these bridesmaids. There is SO MUCH MORE too, via Rock 'n Roll Bride. You really need to check them all out.

Next, "Nuts for Each Other"?! This is the kind of thing that the F-Word sees and is happy the wedding is finally almost here so I can stop being inspired to add new projects. Via Ritzy Bee.

Here we have fresh gorgeousness punched with orange... and the same standard white wooden chairs our budget is forcing upon us (don't even get me started on chiavari rentals), looking fantastic. Via the Wedding Chicks.

I have a crush on this next bride because she has the kind of fit-yet-curvy bod like I do, and chose a dress that accentuates her curves instead of disguising them. Not only is she proud of her curves, but hellooooo, the glasses? Talk about spiking my nerd meter. Via Style Me Pretty.

Just LOVE the fun necklines on these ladies. Via Grey Likes Weddings.

I'm not wearing a shrug, but these designs make me want to. They are just gorgeous. Made by Rohm, via Something Old, Something New.

Next up, a ridiculously stunning bride and image, which also terrifies me for her a little bit. Via Style Me Pretty.
The bride above happens to be a talented graphic designer. This, folks, is how you design paper goods for your wedding. OMG. Also via SMP.

I've had this bouquet bookmarked for ages, from back when we thought we'd have a coral and peach wedding. I think it's the most stunning bouquet I've ever seen. Really. It's via Fairmount Bride, but I don't have the floral designer information any more.

I've saved the best for last. When I first saw this perfectly patterned wedding over on Green Wedding Shoes, I was on the phone with my mom and interrupted our conversation with a huge intake of breath. I just ADORE it. Every bit of it. I mean, this is pretty much a purple-and-red version of our wedding in our heads, set on a farm instead of the beach. Please join me in a freakout over this scrumptiousness, photographed by Leigh Miller: