Wedding Homework?

JC & I knew that planning our wedding would be a lot of work (I mean fun), but we didn't realize that we'd actually have homework assignments.  Our super fun photographer team, Justin & Mary Marantz, gave us a "little survey" to fill out which would help them get to know us better before our engagement shoot.  It's 4 pages. Right, four pages.

Between my crazy work schedule and JC's stupid (oops, did I say that out loud?) travel schedule, we have what feels like a few precious hours a month together these days.  Needless to say, we found lots of other things to do than fill out a million questions in writing.  When we couldn't procrastinate any longer, JC & I finally sat down on the couch with a pen to do our assignment.

A bit of advice for everyone: find 5 minutes to tell your loved ones why you love them.  Just 3 good reasons will do.  That was just one of the questions on our survey, but you can't imagine how good it feels to hear why the love of your life loves you. J

We spent a couple hours finishing the survey (while we watched the Red Sox on tv) but we cruised through most of the questions.  I'm convinced Justin & Mary are relationship geniuses.  Not only are they a great duo, but they spend much of their time capturing the best of other couples on film.

I have to say, this experience was one of the more fun parts of the planning process.  It was really nice spending a little time focusing on the "Why" JC & I are getting married, not just the "How"!

Wit Wedding

Our wedding brewing has begun!

And, the first beer is a Belgian style: a honey witbier. Esther's favorite of my homebrews, to date.

This recipe was formulated to create a traditionally spiced, light bodied beer that has a good portion of wheat in addition to the standard malted barley. Sweet orange zest, coriander and grains of paradise will compliment the spiciness derived from the Belgian yeast that was used to ferment it.

In our effort to try to use as much local food as possible in our wedding, I snagged 4lbs of Boston area honey when we went apple picking this past fall with the maid of honor. Here's some pictures from that day:

The honey will add yet more depth of flavor and, contrary to what you might think, make the beer drier vs. sweeter as all the sugars in honey are 'fermentable'...in contrast to beer made with 100% malted barley, which would result in a sweeter taste. So, when all is done, this first beer will be a thirst quenching choice that should be pretty enjoyable on its own or with food, after conditioning for a few months in the bottle. 

Stay tuned for more wedding brew news! And don't forget to vote (even if you have already) for the third wedding beer option. 

Cheers! JC+E

Wedding Event

Yesterday JC & I went to a great wedding event that was actually hosted at Saltwater Farm Vineyard. There were close to 20 vendors there covering all aspects of wedding planning. It was really cool for us because a few of the vendors we've already booked were featured so we were able to see our own venue set up similar to how it might look for our wedding!

First, I have to say that every time JC & I visit SWF we see new, beautiful updates that make us fall even more in love with this venue. Even on a chilly, gray day with bare vines the vineyard is beautiful! We noticed freshly landscaped areas that are going to look even more amazing when the grounds are alive and green at the end of the summer. Merrily and Michael, the vineyard owners, have been working their tails off to get everything ready for their tasting room to open this summer. If you're in the area in July/August, stop in for a sneak preview! We'll keep you posted on the grand opening date.

By the way, JC is holding my shoes...isn't he sweet? :)

JC's parents came with us so they could see SWF for the first time. The first thing they said was, "Now we understand why the two of you chose this site. It's so "you!"

Anna, our favorite caterer, was featured at the event so we had planned to spend some time going over "fun" details like linen selection, table placement, and timeline flow. A couple strange blue beverages sure made this process easier! Even in the cold rain, Anna walked outside with me from start to finish (have I mentioned how much I love her??) so we could figure out where the welcoming beverages go, where JC & I will exit after the ceremony, where the harvest table should be...so many things to think about!! Once we started using 10th grade geometry to figure out how big the table cloths should be I knew we were done. (a2 + b2 = c2, right?)

This is a picture of the stone fireplace on the main floor. Doesn't it look beautiful with all the floating candles?

For those of you who love following blogs, particularly about wedding planning, Style Me Pretty is one of the best on the web. Abby Larson was one of the featured speakers at the event and many of my friends were a little jealous that I was going to meet this Style Guru in the flesh! If you're interested in reading a little more about what the event was all about, check out this link:

Fun with Wordle

For those of you who enjoy spending countless hours playing with meaningless stuff on the internet, I've found a fun new way to waste my time. I found a link to this website on one of the many blogs I peruse these days (told you, tons of wasted time). Wordle is a totally frivolous tool for creating "beautiful word clouds" from your own text. You can change layout, font, colors, etc and keep generating unique and random iterations of anything your heart desires. This one was my first inspiration when thinking about our wedding.

Have fun! And try not to let too much time slip away...