Location, Location, Location

Here are the first pics of The Crow's Nest. I can't wait to see the view behind our ceremony.

My Blue (not suede) Shoes

I am not a shoes person. I am a bag person. This is because I have oddly shaped feet. They are flat but wider st the toe than the middle. The left is an 8 1/2 the right is a 9 1/2. I was not uber-excited about my wedding shoes until I browsed around and found the new trend of wearing colored shoes. I think a splash of color is just what my ensemble needs.
I found 2 pair. One is exactly what I imagined, the other looks like shoes I would actually wear. They are both from Zappos.com and they have free shipping both ways so I thought, why not?

These are the shoes I dreamed of. Wouldn't I look very Marilyn in these babies with a short dress? These look more like my actual style. I prefer strappy and I think the little rhinestones are a nice touch.

Now I have to wait see which ones look best on and with my dress - and if either even fit. The Zappos returns department and I may become good friends.

The Downside

The downside to telling people involved in your wedding about your wedding blog is that it is hard to surprise them. So all I can say is, "I got an awesome deal on two awesome things for two awesome people."

Fabric, maybe

So my trip to Baer was a success. I think. I only found 2 fabrics in the whole place that I liked and they were both on clearence so what did I do? I bought the whole bolt of each. One is low luster, the other is a sheer. I am not very good at deciding. (I will post a great picture of Chris walking down Market Street carrying the sheer on a home decor roll later).

What's going on?

I had my meeting with Jillian (my dress designer) yesterday. We talked about design, fabric, etc. Looking at my inspiration board below. We are goign with a funky strap like the braid, a trimmed waist, empire waist and tea length.
Chris and I are going out of town Memorial Day week-end and luckily there is a big warehouse style fabric store that sells online. I am going to go buy some samples to bring back and then we can order the yardage online when we find out what we need. I also hope to find some trim or an applique for the waist. Jilliam can hand bead it but that would go WAY over my budget. My original dress budget was $500. I want to stick to that plus the cost of fabric. The thing about working with an artist is I can't get a flat quote because she will design it as we go along. You are assured that I will nag her along the way - "So if we add this how much does it add to my price?" Having seen some of her more complex designs I know I can keep it in budget if I don't go off into fairytale princess land once we get started.

Wedding Cake Video

I saw this almost a year ago and it still makes me laugh!

Sanity....sweet, sanity

I like this girl. I like her #1 rule that your wedding isn't going to be perfect so get over it and make it a happy occasion.
I think I do that. All I need is Chris keeping me sane.

It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got that ring

Chris proposed sans ring. I had originally said I wanted him to pick it out and surprise me but I could see how stressed that made him so we decided to look together. We went to four local jewelers before we found the one (see above). We have found some that were "good enough" but we saw this one and we knew.

We got it at Lamon's Jewelers. It is a part of their signature Lydia collection. You can't tell from the picture but we had two small sapphire's set in each face. Howard ordered the diamond to our exact specifications and made the whole things come in right at Chris's budget. We have heard other people who were not as pleased with their experience and we have heard from other people who were. I give Lamon's my full endorsement and suggest you check out their great selection of custom jewelry.

I have my eye on a Lydia watch for my birthday this year.

Shower Fun!

Miss Peacock had this great post about bridal showers over on WeddingBee.

Since Chris and I have already set up house we don't need much. We really only registered because we know some people like to buy off a registry. We were only going to register on Amazon.com but we realized some people like to actually go to a store so we registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Both registries are small but we feel okay about that since we only expect about 20 guests. I expect that most registry purchases will actually come from the shower my co-workers will throw.

Now ettiquette says you should only invite people who are invited to your wedding when you have a shower but when you have a destination wedding this goes out the window. Most destination weddings are small and your friends who are not invited still want to celebrate. My bellydance girlfriends want to have a shower, my aunt wants to have a shower back home (Owensboro, KY) and I know we will have a shower at work.

I like the ideas on Miss Peacock's post about theme showers that vere off of the registry. Chris and I a have a Wii, a DS and we love board games so I think a fun and games shower would be cool. It can have pricey presents like Wii games and not so pricey presents like simple board games and puzzles. - When it snows I do lots of puzzles. I also have my eye on those table topics games where you draw the card about what you should talk about.

My Dress Inspiration Board

So I haven't yet made my appointment with the dress maker. I have been busy dancing up a storm. We have a little break now and I hope to meet with her this week-end.

This is the inspiration board I made to take with me.

From left to right:

1. Jenny Packman - Elizabeth 2. Hairstyle from the the knot 3. Beach Braid from etsy seller LondonDemimonde 4. Mademoiselle from Joan Shum 5. Hairstyle from the knot

6. Bonny #734 7. Necklace from etsy seller LesChic 8. Lea-Ann Belter Bride - Natalie

9. Necklace from etsy seller GoMeagan 10. Veil from MyraKim

My Inspiration Board

That's my actual necklace on the top right, our actual invitation on the bottom left, a picture of the Eurodam's sister ship the Zuiderdam from our 2006 cruise and us. All other photos curtosy of The Knot.

Why a cruise wedding?

With Chris's parents being in New Zealand, it was hard to imagine a wedding were we would all

get to spend lots of time together. Unless it came before the wedding and no one wanted the disaster (I am a bridezilla waiting to happen).

We were talking about where we would get married a long time ago and I joked about Hawaii being half way to New Zealand. Well, one thing led to another and the idea of the cruise wedding was born.

My mom is like me. We do things all or nothing. Well, my cousin had an all out huge wedding and I remember in the car on the way home my mom looked at me and said, "Imagine the most lavish wedding I could afford for you. I will give you that money to elope."

We both see the stress that a wedding can become and neither one of us wants that for me. With a destination wedding of this sort a lot of the details are taken care of. This does mean that you give up a lot of the decision making and control but for me it is worth it. I want this to be a stress free day that I always remember.

The Proposal

Fast forward to July 23, 2007 (almost 3 years later)
the bell that may not exist

Chris often asks what our plans are for the next few weeks. He knows that I will have plans that far in advance and that he was not listening when I told him what they were. On one occasion, after I rattled off which days were what and which days were free, he suggested we go out to eat on that Monday.
Both of us had recently suggested going to our favorite Indian Restaurant but the other wasn't that hungry or some other reason not too. I decided what a great time to go. Chris said no he really wanted to eat on the Square. We should go to the new Thai place. I admit I thought this was odd for the following reasons:
I always drag Chris downtown on a weeknight and it is an hour from where he works.
He really had wanted to go to Sitar for a while.
He knows I am worn out of every restaurant on the Square (it is less than 20 yards from my work).
I agreed and he came to meet me in my office after work. As we walked out the back to Koi, he paused near the bell and said this is where we met. I got nervous and started rambling about how I still can't believe I hadn't noticed it and why is it here, there is no plaque....
Chris took my hand and something about being together, and love -FOCUS, FOCUS on what he is saying I kept telling myself - but my heart was pounding and my eyes were shifting and I felt all weird. He ended with something about wanting to marry me. I stared at him blankly and he stared back.
Finally I spoke, "Was there a question in there?"
"Jen Clark, will you marry me?"
"Yes"
And then I called everyone I know in the phone.

He had actually called my mom and asked permission so she already knew. And she couldn't keep her mouth shut! When I called my Grandma Bertie her response was, "I know. Me and your momma already did a happy dance in the kitchen."

Our first date

I met Chris at the bell. I was early (surprise!) and was walking around talking on the phone when I saw him go by. I scoped him out for a minute and then went up to say hello.
We went to eat at The Brewery. Dinner was good and we had a nice time talking. We got done and went upstairs to where the band was going to be. The Brewery staff was serving wine and beer so we got a drink and sat down to talk. We talked about things to do in and around Knoxville. We both wanted to go to Nama which had just opened. Chris was on a quest to find his favorite beer and I suggested The Beer Seller which was still open then. We talked about all kinds of places that we should go. Then the opening band came on...
It was horrible! We both cringed but kept saying that Jolie Holland would be much better. Well, she wasn't. It's funny because when Springtime Will Kill You came out; I heard it on the radio and loved it. I was shocked to find out it was Jolie Holland - the woman who ruined my first date. Maybe my tastes have changed since then. Anyway, we are both not enjoying the music so Chris says, "You want to get out of here." He didn't say it in a sleazy "back to my place way." I figured we would walk over to Preservation Pub and have a drink and chat some more. I agreed.
We got back downstairs and Chris asked me where I parked. I assumed he didn't want us to head off downtown in the opposite direction. I told him I was in the State Street garage. He said, "I'll walk you to your car." My mind was racing. "Is our date over?!?” I was thinking.
We got to my car and he opened my door. I waited for the awkward "I like you but we just met" hug and instead....
"See ya!” he says. And he waves his hand and walks away.
I called my girlfriend to say that not only was the date awful but he didn't even have the decency to pretend he was going to call me again.
He called the next day. We averaged 1 date every 4 days for the next 2 months. After that it just gets blurry.

Before they had Dr. Phil as a spokesperson

We met on match.com. I always point out that I was kind of joking about it, and Chris really wanted to meet someone. I wasn't go to pay any money for it so I signed up for a 3 day free trial and *winked* at every guy I liked.
Chris responded. We e-mailed for a month about movies, vacations, whatever. I was convinced that ours was an e-friendship. His cousin came to visit so he said he would be offline for a few days. Then he e-mailed me a photo of a concert flyer and said his cousin recommends the band and did I want to go.
The show was in the Woodruff Building and we made plans to meet on Market Square. He asked me to meet him by the big bell opposite the stage at 6pm. I had been to market square many times and did not recall ever seeing a bell. I questioned him as to if this was a prank. He assured me that it was not.

I still have the note I jotted on a piece of kappa stationary.

Aug 6
6pm
market square
opposite the stage
bell that may not exist