The Guest List: Solved! (Kinda)
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
Awhile ago, I posted about how weddings are like funerals in terms of the guest list. While I tried to make the post funny and witty, Lu and I were both stressed out about how to have an intimate wedding when we could easily think of hundreds (literally) of people who are important in our lives.

We came up with three solutions that we think will help solve the problem by including everyone who wants to be there without sending us into debt or having a fire marshall end our reception for being over capacity. Yes, that has happened before.

We know that we're still going to get some backlash. However, since we'll never please everyone, we might as well please ourselves on "our" day.

Open Ceremony: The church where we're having our wedding holds 750 people, so we're going to open up the ceremony to whoever wants to come and witness us exchange wedding vows. After all, that is the most important, sacred part of the day.

Adult Only Reception: Don't get me wrong, Lu and I love kids and originally planned to invite them to the reception. However, then we took a step back and started to think practically: 1) our reception venue is formal and doesn't have the space for children to run around and play; 2) we're serving alcohol (wine-only but still alcohol), which makes the event even more kid-unfriendly; 3) the reception is in the evening and goes into the night past most children's bedtimes; 4) kids don't really care about weddings and will probably be bored; and 5) there are approximately two dozen kids in our families.

Therefore, instead of having three tables worth of restless children -- not to mention their harried parents, we decided that it makes more sense to give the parents a break for the night and have room to invite more adult guests.

Isn't he... cute?! Hmmm.

Post Wedding Brunch: Even though Lu and I are trimming the guest list, we still won't have much time to spend with guests individually at the reception. In order to have more time with people, particularly our out-of-town guests who have traveled to see us, we are going to reserve space at a restaurant for those who want to join us for brunch the day after the wedding.

We won't be going on a honeymoon right away, and most people will still be around the next morning and afternoon. It would definitely be fun to have some relaxing downtime with our guests after the wedding craziness dies down a bit.

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Shutterly Speechless
www.tips-fb.com J
I'm sure everyone has heard the cliche: "A picture is worth a thousand words." Well in my opinion, the photographer who can take a remarkable one is worth just as much. Although I doubt this post will turn into a 1000-word essay on how good our photographer, Jeff Martin of Martin Studio Photography, is (in fact, Val made me promise this wouldn't because I could go on twice as long), there are a few keywords I feel should be associated with him.

Keyword #1: Skilled

He shoots with a Nikon. For me, one of the newest initiates to the Nikon family, that's enough right there. For those of you not so optically inclined, let me shed some light on it. In the world of professional digital photography, there are two poles that determine the gravitational field: Nikon and Cannon. And whereas both manufacturers produce high quality lenses and cameras, they both do so in there own unique (trademarkable) way. My point is not to make a case as to which is better (although I am biased), it's just to say that anyone claiming to be a professional photographer more often than not shoots with a Nikon or a Cannon.

Even more important than his equipment, is his ability to compose a picture in his head before pressing the shutter release. Don't just take my word for it. Take a look at these cool pictures he took of Maggie, Val's dog, during our consultation in his studio:




Keyword #2: Professional
Jeff has been shooting professionally for the last 18 years. Therefore, just as his photographic skills have developed during this time, so too has his knack for running a successful business. From the beginning, his desire to create satisfied clients stood out. He was the first of all our vendors to contact us after signing our contract with the Atrium, and made it clear as our photographer his job more so than not was to capture the moment, not create it. Therefore, from the moment we arrived at his studio, he made every attempt possible show us that this was OUR wedding and he was only there to take the pictures WE wanted (see Keyword #3: Flexible). In addition, Jeff made sure that we left with every questioned answered. He was very transparent about his shooting preferences and potential concerns. He gave advice from his experience with other weddings, as well as his own. He was friendly and personable and made us feel at home in his studio, instead of like guests in a museum. Overall, he was a pleasure to talk with.

Keyword #3: Flexible
Understanding that we were graduate students on a fellowship-based budget, Jeff made no attempt to pressure us into purchasing more time than what came in our package. To the contrary, he showed us how we could fit all of the pictures that we wanted in the time we already had. No matter whether we chose to have a receiving line following the ceremony, pictures in a park afterwards, or pictures with specific guests, he showed us just how it all could be done. And since my groomsman Mr. J took such great engagement pictures of us, Jeff was willing to take our engagement session,and use it for additional time the day of the wedding. Again, I have to reiterate that he made it clear that this was our day and he was only there to capture the memories.

Keyword #4: Passionate
Needless to say, Jeff really likes photography; but when you're as passionate about it as he is, a few words wouldn't help. He loves what he does, and that comes every time he talks about something photography related. In his studio are tons of pictures that he's taken. Pick one, and he'll give you a play by play description of how he captured the scene, right down to the exposure, shutter speed, and ISO he used on the camera. It's almost if he uses these opportunities as teaching moments, which for me was great.

Which brings me to my next point, his goal isn't to be the only photographer out there. He understands that parts of responsibility is to impart the skills and tricks of the trade he's learned to other up and coming photographers, which is why he host several workshops covering topics from understanding camera basics, to landscapes and portaits. In fact, I plan on taking one of his courses this weekend....That's right Val and I are taking another trip to Maryland.
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Channeling My Inner Carrie Bradshaw
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
I'm not stylish.

Sure, I clean up nicely and am not a total wreck on a normal basis. However, people generally wouldn't think of me when they think trendsetter -- or even trendy.

My style is simple, classic, and comfortable with some random fun thrown in the mix. A cute purse, a nice scarf, a bright trench coat.... That's pretty much what I do to make it look like I've actually changed my wardrobe in the last five years.

It turns out that my "random fun" for our wedding is ironically pretty fashionable right now. My random wedding fun is these:


My pumpkin orange wedding shoes!

Front view of the shoes with two semi-finished bridesmaids bouquets.

Bridal shoes are boring and weird. The only time you can wear white pumps with rhinestones on them are a) as a bride and b) as a female Elvis impersonator. Since I won't be donning sideburns and singing "Hound Dog" anytime soon -- or ever -- then I wanted to do something a little more creative.

My sisters, one of my aunts, and my mother were a bit hesitant when I told them that I was wearing orange shoes. More accurately, one of my sisters remarked on the generational difference between us, my aunt suggested silver for a "funky but conservative look," and my mother laughed out loud because she thought I was joking.

When I told my mother that I was serious, she paused and said, "Well, it's your day. If that's what you like, then I support you."

Gotta love my mom.

My friends, on the other hand, were totally supportive from the beginning. One even told me that she'd definitely support me "pulling a Carrie Bradshaw."

These shoes kinda look like mine. :-)

Spoiler Alert: If you're not familiar with the first Sex and the City movie -- don't waste your time on the second, the main character plans a ridiculously elaborate wedding that's even covered in Vogue, only to get dumped at the altar. After she realizes that all of the glitz and glamour meant nothing compared to love, the real union takes place at the courthouse with Carrie wearing a simple white suit and a gorgeous pair of blue satin Manolo Blahniks.

Although I'll be wearing orange Bandolinos, instead of blue Manolos, I have no doubt that I will feel absolutely gorgeous.

Besides, nobody really sees your wedding shoes anyway, unless you show them off -- which I plan to when we jump the broom, toss the garter, and in creative photo-ops like the ones below.

Fast-forward 30 years, and I'm sure that colored shoes will die the same painful death as poofy sleeves. My daughter will probably look at me and wonder, "Why the heck did you do that, Mom?!"

Or who knows, she may wear a size 6 and want to make them her Something Old.
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Wedding Party Attire
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
Bridal party attire is typically boring, uncomfortable, and generally unflattering overall... for everyone.

Let's start with the bridesmaids' shoes: When else is it acceptable for a woman under 60 to wear satin pumps that have been dyed to match the exact color of her dress?!

I can't do that to my bridesmaids! Not only am I axing satin dyeables, but they can even pick out their own style. I just ask that their shoes be bronze, and at least three of my six bridesmaids and both my maid and matron of honor already have a pair in that color.

Why bronze? Well, it's vintage, kinda funky, and more unexpected than silver, gold, or a burgundy that perfectly matches their dresses.

Blech!

Speaking of the dress, like most brides nowadays, I wanted my bridesmaids in a dress that was comfortable, stylish, and that my friends can wear again.... Unlike most brides, I didn't say this and then put them in something that was floor-length, poofy, and/or a metallic color. I'm not judging anyone, but there really is not another acceptable occasion to wear a full-length, taffeta, kelly green dress. Period.

I sent my girls a link with a few different dresses that I thought would flatter everyone's figure, and then I had them decide which one they liked the best. With six women, this could have potentially backfired.

However, I was strategic going in: no strapless or halters for the busty girls, something that wasn't too tight yet emphasized the waistline to draw attention to "good" curves, a dress with a little stretch to eliminate costly alterations, something tea-length for versatility, and a dress that was available in petite for my 5'4" and under girls.

I found several dresses that fit this semi-strict criteria, but most of them were at bridal boutiques. Although bridal boutiques have great dresses and some are chains with the convenience of having stores nationwide, I've found that almost everything has to be altered and almost nothing can be returned.

With these rules, it's not uncommon for a bridesmaid to drop $150 on a dress in a size that fits the "largest part of her body" and is made for someone 5'10", wait 10 weeks to get the dress, try it on, spend another $75 in alterations, wear it once, and then stick it in the closet forever... or try to sell it on Craigslist.

Instead, I decided to go with the Sophia dress from J. Crew. It's simple, elegant, flattering, and goes by "normal" dress sizes. On top of that, the dress ships in about two days and can be returned if it doesn't fit.

J. Crew's Sophia Dress in Vintage Burgundy

This dress was the top choice for four of my bridesmaids, and all six approved of it. I have no worries that they're going to wear it again. In fact, Ms. N even wanted to wear it to an event before the wedding! She changed her mind, but I'm excited that I picked a dress that doesn't scream, "Look at me! I'm a bridesmaid dress!"

Now on to the guys.... It took me hours to look through dresses, go into bridal stores, get my girls' feedback, and finally choose. It took Lu about 30 minutes in Men's Wearhouse to pick out something he liked that matched the dress.


While the guys' tuxes are pretty straightforward (black suit, burgundy vest, and matching bow tie), there was one accessory that Lu had to have... spectator shoes. While these shoes were fine for our inspiration board, I was a little wary about having the guys go with such atypical shoes in real life. Then I thought, what the heck? They should have some fun, too!

If this doesn't say vintage, then I don't know what does!


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Party Time!
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~

Since Lu and I have been engaged, we've had two engagement parties -- three if you count the party after the party to eat the leftovers. And this is just the beginning....
Engagement Party in MD

In less than six months, Jeremy and I will have been the center of attention at:

-- an engagement party in Maryland: Lu surprised me with this one! It was great to have both of our families together to celebrate our engagement.
-- an engagement party in Michigan
-- at least one bridal shower
-- at least one bachelor/bachelorette party
-- a rehearsal dinner
-- a wedding reception
-- a Sunday brunch after the wedding

Gifts and Cards from our Engagement Party in MI

I love to entertain, but wow! We're having at least one party a month, and three back-to-back gatherings on our wedding weekend. I hope I have enough stamina!

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Wedding Lessons Learned
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
Lu and I had a lot of fun at our friends' wedding on Saturday. I'm not one to cry at weddings, but Mr. and Mrs. E were so happy and full of love that it was hard to not shed a few tears. The wedding had the usual rituals and traditions, pomp and circumstance, etc.; but more than that, these two people were overwhelmed with sheer joy to be spending the rest of their lives together.

I know that's how weddings are supposed to be, but that's not something you see much nowadays. Mr. and Mrs. E weren't getting married because they were the "right" age, at a good stage in their careers, or because they'd been together forever and might as well just do it.

These two got hitched because they're best friends... and it shows. All love, but especially Black love, is a beautiful thing.

With all of that being said, as promised, I took notes on some things that I wanted to remember for our upcoming nuptials:

1) Even if you're on time, your guests may not be. Guests were still coming in 15-20 minutes after the scheduled start time of the wedding. The wedding started half an hour late, so it worked out... but it could've gotten ugly.

2) Having a short receiving line will save you tons of time. If the "line" consists of just the bride, groom, and their parents, then the photographer can get a jumpstart with taking pictures of the bridal party.

3) Cocktail (or "mocktail") hour is so necessary. It really helps kill time between the ceremony and reception.




4) If you live in a different city than the wedding, you should tell guests to ship gifts. I know it's not proper etiquette, but ultimately your guests want to make you happy.

5) Place cards that include entree selections are great for a plated dinner. Besides the formality, they're actually really functional because it lets the servers know what everyone's having.

6) Chair covers really aren't necessary. Sure, they look great in an empty room. However, the photographer will be with you, not at the reception when everyone gets there. Besides, when everyone's seated, you'll be focused on everyone else at the table -- not the chairs they're sitting on.

7) Even with all of the planning and the laborious RSVP process, there will still be no shows. Stuff happens, and you can't sweat it.

8) Simple (a.k.a boring) dishes really are better. It's sounds cool to have fancy menu items, but fancy items tend to be "creative." Between food allergies and food preferences, it's safer to go with things that everyone knows.

9) Ringing bells for kissing is cute, but it can get annoying for the bride, groom, and other guests. The bride and groom have plenty of time to kiss -- and whatnot -- later that night, and for the rest of their lives.





10) Nothing gets the party started like a good old-fashioned soul train line!.... Enough said.
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Our First Wedding Together!
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
In about half an hour, Lu and I will be leaving to attend our first wedding together. Two of our friends are tying the knot in Michigan, and we're really happy for them. To be totally honest, we're also excited to see a wedding come to fruition. After the hours spent thinking, researching, discussing, and (of course) blogging about holy matrimony, it'll be nice to see that the day actually does come when you say "I Do" and the real journey begins.

We'll also be taking notes about all the little things that need to come together to make a wedding as smooth as possible. In the next week, I'll be writing a list of "day of" duties for our friends and families who've been eagerly asking what they can do to help. While Lu and I have a lot of the planning stuff under control, I don't want to be worried about details when I'm supposed to be crying with my mom and sisters about how I've grown up.

I'll let you know what happens!

Side note: This couple was also registered at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and we got them one of the items that was on our registry, too.... Christians don't believe in karma, but God's favor is more powerful!
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Bouquets, Corsages, and Boutonnieres? Check!
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
After Lu and I priced a few florists in the DC-area, we found that the cost for 1 bridal bouquet, 6 bridesmaids' bouquets, 2 junior bridesmaid's bouquets, 5 corsages, and 10 boutonnieres would be approximately $900... and that doesn't include flowers for decorating the church or reception centerpieces.

We decided to downgrade from traditional florists to see what grocery stores had to offer. Although the designs were still pretty and the price tag dropped to $500, the professionalism of many grocery store florists left a little to be desired. In addition, the bouquets were dependent on who'd exactly be doing them. Even though it cut the price nearly in half, quality wasn't a risk that I was willing to take.

So I put the florist out of my mind and moved on to tackle some of the other hundreds of items on my to-do list, which took me to Michaels. When one of my bridesmaids, Mrs. R., found out that I was engaged, the first thing she said was, "Michaels and Jo-Ann Fabrics are going to be your new best friends."

She was right! I've been to Michaels more in the last few months, then I've been in my entire life -- well, except when I was in my friendship bracelet stage in elementary school... and my latch hooking stage in high school... and my cross-stitching phase in college. Okay, okay. I'm already quite familiar with Michaels!

Anyway, on one trip, I decided to go through the clearance section and found beautiful artificial flowers in our wedding colors for $2/bunch. Inspired, I grabbed a few bunches, some burgundy ribbon, and some lace ribbon trimmed with pearls -- all on sale. After about half an hour of work and some hot glue gun magic, I had two jr. bridesmaids bouquets that look similar to the the one below for about $5 each.


Swap out the white ribbon for burgundy, add a lace and pearl bow, and you have our jr. bridesmaids' bouquets!

I decided to go back and grab some different flowers for the bridesmaids and myself. After that trip, I was ready to make 9 bouquets for $55 -- less than what the florist quoted me for one bridesmaid bouquet.


With the bouquets squared away, we still had to decide what to do about boutonnieres and corsages. This wasn't a DIY-area that I felt comfortable entering into, so I turned to another new friend: Etsy. If you're not familiar with the website, it's basically an online art fair where people can buy and sell handmade, vintage, and arts and supplies items.

I put up a post describing our wedding theme, colors, and the materials we wanted to use. Then several artists placed bids, and we selected an amazing artist to do our corsages and boutonnieres. We even negotiated a price that cut the total order down by $20 -- not much, but when you're planning, every dollar adds up fast!

The artist was great to work with, making several prototypes of what we envisioned and tweaking each until we had exactly what we wanted:

Boutonnieres for Lu and our fathers

Boutonnieres for the groomsmen and ring bearer

Corsages for the maid of honor, matron of honor, our mothers, and Lu's grandmother

I must admit that I did have some initial hesitations about using artificial flowers -- mostly how they would look and the "stigma" associated with them. Besides, Lu always brings me gorgeous real flowers that I absolutely love. However, then I started thinking...

1) They look gorgeous! (Isn't that the most important part anyway?)

2) My allergies will be kept at bay. Ever seen a bride have a sneezing attack during her wedding because she decided to hold a bunch of flowers two feet from her face during peak allergy season? No? Good -- you won't see that at my wedding either!

3) We don't have to worry about wilting or damage. I'm not the most gentle flower arranger, and the flowers have held up just fine under my shoving, snipping, and bending. Besides, we can take fun pictures like the one below.



4) Everything can be made in advance and brought to the site ourselves.... No day-of surprises about how the florist interpreted my "vision"of what they should look like, delivery charges, or timing concerns.

5) We can pick whatever flowers we want without paying to ship them from some exotic locale.

6) The price can't be beat. Instead of our quoted $500-900, we're getting everything for $158.65 plus a few hours of labor.

7) I'll be able to keep my bouquet forever. :-)


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Elegantly Engraved = Wedding SCAM!!!
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
I'm writing today pretty upset because Lu and I (almost) got scammed out of our wedding favors.

Lu and I love coffee. In fact, our first date was at a local coffee shop in Ann Arbor, which we revisited on the day that we got engaged. As we started thinking about wedding favors, we came across personalized coffee and cocoa. Perfect!



We checked out a bunch of different websites for the best price and decided to go with a Yahoo Store called Elegantly Engraved.... Horrible idea!

Nearly one month and three emails after placing the order, there was no response from Elegantly Engraved. Of course, the store sent an automatic response when I sent each email letting me know that they would get back to me. This wasn't a huge deal since our wedding isn't until October, but after the third time wasn't a charm, I decided to call. Surprise, surprise -- the phone number was disconnected.

At this point, I googled the company, and the first thing that popped up was complaints about people not receiving their orders. When I looked at the company's contact information page on PayPal, I was forwarded to another page with a different name that looked pretty similar to Elegantly Engraved. Hmmm -- more than a little suspicious.

Luckily the charge was still pending, and I was able to cancel the authorization. Whew!

We'll have to find our personalized coffee and cocoa elsewhere, but my advice to everyone is to google any private company that you go with first. Regardless of how professional the website looks and how prompt and efficient the "customer service" seems initially, put everything on a credit card -- or better yet, PayPal.
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Our Wedding Party: A Sociogram
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
Since our trip to Maryland took us away from our lives in Michigan for nearly a week, we lost a significant chunk of work time in graduate student world. While we've been a bit slow giving you the full recap as we jump back into research, we promise the wedding has not been far from our minds.

In fact, I just spent the last week taking a workshop on social network analysis, and I decided to turn our wedding party into the following sociogram:



I could give you the long-winded, statistical analysis and discuss the density of the network, centrality, betweenness of nodes, indegrees and outdegrees, and even do some triadic analysis on our wedding party. However, that might be a bit much for some of you... and for me after spending 40+ hours learning this stuff!

Instead, I'll just talk about some cool patterns that I see in the network:

1) Jeremy and I are the largest nodes, based on the number of ties that we have to others in the network, and we're right in the middle. Not a big surprise, but it's still cool to see it.

2) Our network falls into two clear sides: my side on the left and his on the right. However, everyone is joined with at least five other people. Even though the bridesmaids and groomsmen might not know each other well, nobody is totally isolated.

3) Our family members already have tons of ties between them, which I think is also really cool and a great sign for our future together. :-)


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Whirlwind Weekend Recap: Sugar Rush
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
In my last post, I left off with Lu and me finishing the Bride and Groom Challenge and sucessfully making it to Maryland. Instead of going straight home, we detoured to see our photographer and baker. Since Lu's latest obsession is photography, then I'll leave that post to him. However, since my lifelong obsession is dessert, then I get to share the details about our cake tasting and design.

We arrived at the bakery at about 3:00 pm, a few hours after lunch, and just in time for a late-afternoon sugar fix. Whew! Did we ever get one at Mrs. Oliver's Cakes!

When we walked in the door, we were greeted by Toni, the owner of the bakery and a variety of samples, including: lemon cake with lemon curd filling, chocolate cake filled with coconut, chocolate filled with chocolate buttercream, almond filled with buttercream, red velvet with cream cheese, and butter rum with almond icing.


Just one example of what Mrs. Oliver can do!

After trying to daintily take a forkful of each -- at least I was, Lu was shamelessly enjoying everything -- we got down to details.

I didn't realize how important it was to try to bring everything from the wedding into the cake design. I thought it'd be a matter of just selecting colors and a design that looks cool. Of course, you can select a cake that way, but it's fun to pull in the parts you want to highlight.

In addition to talking about cake flavors and round vs. square layers, we really sat down and discussed a way to make our cake be a mini, edible representation of our wedding. I brought in fabric swatches of the bridesmaids and junior bridesmaids dresses with me, as well as a sample bouquet with our flower colors. I'd also emailed Toni the previous week with our inspiration board and pictures of my dress.

To summarize what we came up with in one sentence: I'm in love with our cake.

The cake is going to be covered in yellow fondant with rouching to complement my wedding dress. The rouching will be joined with edible brooches to pull in the vintage theme. Our "topper" will be a cluster of burgundy, yellow, and orange sugar flowers, and there will also be a few flowers on each of the three layers. The base of each layer will have a white fondant "ribbon" around it, dotted with fondant pearls. Finally, if it doesn't look too busy, there will be a lace pattern (similar to the one below, also in the fondant) in the background.



The cake will look almost too good to eat, but wait until you hear about the flavors we selected:

Bottom Layer: Lemon Cake with Raspberry Filling
Middle Layer: Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
Top Layer: Chocolate Cake with Kahlua Filling

It's going to be absolutely delicious! I was a bit worried about the fondant taking away from the flavor. After all, most fondant tastes like play-doh. (Who cares how pretty the cake is if it tastes like something you ate when you were in first grade?!) However, Toni was adamant that the fondant that she uses actually blends into the cake. Still skeptical, she let us sample the fondant with the cake, and she was right! Instead of play-doh, the fondant tastes more like marshmallows. Yuummmmm!!!

Maybe we'll start a new wedding tradition by eating the cake first....
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Whirlwind Weekend Recap/Book Review: Bride and Groom Challenge
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
I'm a huge fan of flying. However, given the price, luggage constraints, and my dog, I've become quite familiar with the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpikes over the last several years.

No matter how many times I make the drive between Maryland and Michigan alone or with Jeremy, I always get cranky between hours 3 and 4 -- butt's starting to get sore from sitting, not quite time to fill up the gas tank, food I ate before the trip is wearing off, and we're not even halfway to our destination. I developed a system to make this trip more pleasant for me... and whoever is unfortunate enough to be my riding companion.



First, I like to leave between 3 and 4 am. It sounds crazy, but it has a number of benefits. At the 3/4-hour mark, the radio morning shows start. Nothing like Steve Harvey and Russ Parr to give me a boost of energy.

Also, if I happen to be driving through some podunk town that doesn't have a good radio signal, there's a more natural energy-booster that helps at this point: the sunrise.

Second, I like to bring stuff to do or things to talk about during the drive. As I mentioned earlier, even after I make it through the almost-midway-lull, there's still more than half of the trip remaining. Some people listen to the radio, a CD, or their iPod, but I've found that good old-fashioned bonding activities keep me more focused.

On this trip, I brought along The Bride and Groom Challenge, a multiple-choice quiz book that I picked up at David's Bridal when I exchanged my dress. (Most wedding places will only give you store-credit, at best, when you return a wedding dress. Yes! I have the dress. More on that in a later post.)

The book is simple: answer 100 multiple choice questions about yourself, have your fiancé(e) do the same, compare answers, sign a contract, and the winner gets the prize of his or her choice: a romantic dinner, a massage, breakfast in bed, quality time, etc.


The book goes through some pretty basic questions about your partner, including their personality, talents, childhood/teenage years, school, work, favorite things, family, social life, food, travel, daily routine, and a series of questions that start with the ominous phrase, "Has he/she ever..."

For the most part, Lu and I were pretty neck-and-neck with right answers. The questions that tripped both of us up were:

#18) "What talent do we like most in the opposite sex?" Lu picked dancing, instead of kissing (the answer I picked for him). I picked creativity, instead of earning potential (the answer that he thought I'd choose).

#28) "If he broke something in the house when he was a child, he would...?" Both of us said we would tell our parents... both of us thought the other person would try to glue it back together!

#57) "Did he/she ever cheat on an exam?" We both have cheated once when we were desperate... neither of us got caught.

In the end, I got 86 questions correct, beating Lu by a mere 2 points. More importantly, we occupied ourselves for a few hours on our long ride back to Maryland.

Normally, I go straight to bed when I get home, but we had to make a few stops first to see our photographer and to choose our wedding cake! More on these topics next....
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Whirlwind Weekend
www.tips-fb.com ~* Ash *~
It's almost been a week since we've written, but what a week it's been! Lu and I left to go to Maryland last Thursday and just walked in the door after an 11-hour drive.... Gotta love DC-area traffic.

Anyway, we'll be updating you soon with lots of details about everything we've done in the last six days but to give you a preview, here's some of the things we'll discuss:

-- Finding out just how well we know each other: road trip/multiple-choice style
-- Meeting our photographer
-- Picking out our cake
-- Leaving behind my "old life"
-- Visiting the church, reception venue, and the hotels where we blocked off rooms
-- Our engagement party (the first surprise party I've ever had -- kudos to Lu and our amazing families!)
-- Picking out our linens
-- Our first face-to-face counseling session with the pastor of my home church. (We'd been using Skype.)
-- Discussing bridal shower, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and wedding weekend logistics with our families and bridal party
-- Getting my mother's dress
-- Wine-tasting for the reception
-- Choosing our wedding soundtrack

.... I told y'all we were busy! Off to bed for me right now, but expect lots of fun posts in the next few weeks. Any topics that you want to hear about more than others??
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