OMG

my parents are arriving tomorrow. It’s all starting!!!! wooooooooooooo!!!!!!



(PS: the weather is AMAZING)

 

The Seven Sleepers

Well thank you everyone for putting up with my freakout yesterday. After some teary phone calls and an episode of Gilmore Girls, I was feeling more like myself again. And today was the big day – our wedding day is showing up on the 16 day weather forecast! I mean.. what a big milestone!! :)

Ok, I know, my mom told me the same thing. I should STOP looking at the forecast. Just stop. Because I can’t change it!!! And this is oh so true, especially because, in the Allgäu near the Alps, the weather can change at a moment’s notice, so really, even the day-of forecast might not predict the future. BUT I just can’t help myself. I have no power against it, every day when I wake up, I think about checking the weather. I think I have just been thinking about it so long that I can’t help myself.

Anyway, you probably want to know what I saw this morning when I logged onto wetter.com, right?

Well, I saw this (all temps in Celsius, of course):

Right up until our wedding day, it’s supposed to be amazing, and then BLECH. Well, I know, it’s totally unreliable at this point. In fact, just yesterday the prediction for Friday the 9th was only 16 degrees. So it’s been changing daily. But I was understandably a teensy bit bummed. Mr. S then tried to lift my spirits by telling me about the Seven Sleepers Day legend.

According to Wikipedia (and my Fiance), Siebenschläfer (which is this Sunday) is a prediction for the weather to come in the next 7 weeks. It’s one of those old farmer’s legends, that was originally based on an old Christian legend that you can read about here.

Anyways, the farmer’s legend promises the following:

• Wie das Wetter am Siebenschläfer sich verhält, ist es sieben Wochen lang bestellt.
How the weather behaves on Siebenschläfer, so it’s ordered for seven weeks more.

• Wenn’s am Siebenschläfer regnet, sind wir sieben Wochen mit Regen gesegnet.
 When it rains on Siebenschläfer, we will be blessed with seven weeks of rain

• Das Wetter am Siebenschläfertag sieben Wochen bleiben mag.
The weather on Siebenschläfer will stay for seven weeks

• Wie’s Wetter am Siebenschläfertag, so der Juli werden mag.
 So the weather on Siebenschläfer day, so the weather will be in July

• Wenn die Siebenschläfer Regen kochen, dann regnet’s ganze sieben Wochen.
When the Siebenschläfer rains are cooking, then it will rain for a whole seven weeks

• Ist der Siebenschläfer nass, regnet’s ohne Unterlass.
If it’s wet on Siebenschläfer, it will rain nonstop

• Regnet’s am Siebenschläfertag, der Regen sieben Wochen nicht weichen mag.
If it rains on Siebenschläfer, the rain won’t stop for seven weeks

• Werden die sieben Schläfer nass, regnet's noch lange Fass um Fass.
If the seven sleepers get wet, then it will rain barrels and barrels (this is my favourite, heheh)

• Der Siebenschläferregen, der bringt dem Lande keinen Segen.
When it rains on Siebenschläfer, it does not bring the countryside any good signs.

• Siebenschläfer Regen - sieben Wochen Regen.
Siebenschläfer rain, seven weeks rain

• Scheint am Siebenschläfer Sonne, gibt es sieben Wochen Wonne.
When the sun shines on Siebenschläfer, there will be seven weeks of joy

So, and I bet you’re wondering what the weather is supposed to be like on Sunday? Here it is:

High of 80, less than 10% chance of rain.

THAT’s what I call a good sign.
Anyone else getting really superstitious?

Wedding Angst

Ok, I am allowed one stress post, right? This is the one. Here is all the stuff that is stressing me out

• money. right. we have to pay off our venue, our photog, our band, our florist etc etc all within 8 days of the wedding, so BEFORE we head off on the honeymoon. Theoretically good, but that doesn’t leave us with much wiggle room… and we may or may not be a little behind, despite all the awesome savings we have made along the way. EEK
•  feeling in shape – I mean, I KNOW that it’s pretty much too late to change much before the wedding, but I want to feel really good. I have been going to the gym and doing crazy workouts from Jillian Michael’s “Make the Cut” program which has been helping, and of course watching my eating.
•  nails/hair/skin – I am trying not to bite my nails but that happens to be a nervous habit of mine, so it’s been tough. And taking care of those other parts of me is also important, but hard on a time crunch!
• STUFF TO DO! Placecards to make, programs to write, vows to compose, playlists to complete. And work is totally distracting me. Well.. only 3 more days of work and then I am FREE!

So that’s that. I am officially stressed. But I guess it would be obnoxious for me not to be – right? Just getting it out of my system :)

Our very first...

Wedding present! Yup, our first official wedding present was waiting for us when we got home yesterday. What is it? Well, a family of suitcases!! We likened them to suitcase-matruschka dolls, since they came all nested in one another. Mama, Papa and Baby suitcases, in a bold green:

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This lovely and thoughtful gift came from my parents, and we can't wait to use them on our Honeymoon and to visit my family in the USA! I already started packing for our honeymoon (EXCITED!!)

1 month to go..!

I just counted. I have exactly 11 days left to work before the wedding!!! 11!!!! This is so exciting, yet so nerve wracking, because this means that the wedding is SOON. In 1 month, to be exact.

Just a small list of things left to do, if you are curious, or really more for me because it makes me feel better to get this stuff on “paper”

• complete our outfits (hair piece for me, earrings for me, shoes, belt and shirt for Mr. S)
• finish writing our ceremony (choose a ritual, finalize the texts and translations, go over all of this with our officiant)
• complete paper products (escort cards, table numbers, programs, placecards)
• finish gifts (for bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, other “helpers”)
• music and dancing (choose a first dance song and a parent dance song, practice, compile playlist for prosecco toast, meet with our Friend-DJ for post-band music)
• make signage (welcome sign, bathroom signs, golf course, mud bath, ceremony etc…)
• photobooth (finish backdrop, get paper ready, make signs, change printer cartridge, fix photo program)
• decorations (make poms, hang garlands, find a place for various pretty things)
• chair covers (sew them! ahhh)
• favors (pick up honey in 2 weeks, make labels, label all jars)

and some other non-essential but desirable things that I am trying to squeeze in:

• healthy eating and lots of jogging so I look my best
• STOP biting my nails
• pull everything out of the “magical wedding closet” and organize and label it
• clean and organize our apartment for our “impending” guests
• see friends and enjoy the lovely summer
• purchase clothes and pack for honeymoon


I think those last two things will prove to be very difficult. But with 1 month to go, I think a schedule is in order! I am off to print off a big calendar and start plugging all these activities into days. Because, folks, there are only 30 left!!!!!!!

Ring of Fire, the trilogy

Remember when I told you that Mr. S. sent me a gcal invitation with the title “Ring of Fire” to “schedule” our ring ordering appointment for, oh, last saturday? Right. We were WAAYYY too lazy to leave the house. All day. So we procrastinated again. Then, we made “ring of fire II” attempt, on wednesday, but then a friend of Mr. S’s called and asked if I would accompany her to Ikea. To IKEA?! WHAT?! Um, yes please. So we had to postpone that one too.

That brings us to Ring of Fire III. Ok well this is the deal about the rings. I ordered a beautiful ring from SingleBbeautiful on Etsy. It came and I loved it – but it was too big. Oops. Said ring sat around for quite a while, and I kept showing Mr. S various rings and he would say “I like that” and then we would forget about it. But, it being a month till the wedding and all, we thought we should probably get on it.

Anyways, we swore we would go on Friday, at lunch. There is a jeweller that I had visited in my more ambitious early days of wedding planning, and I liked him a lot. He is an actual artist and not some stuffy jewler that tries to convince you to buy all kinds of white gold and diamonds and schtuff. Not that there is anything wrong with those things, but it’s just not us.

We we walked in (finally!) and handed him my ring. Can you resize it? – we asked. Sure, no problem. Phew – see, my ring is hammered recycled argentium silver with inlayed white sapphires. He actually asked if they were diamonds, which I thought was pretty impressive because after all, he is a professional. This is my ring:

Anyways, he seemed really impressed that they were white sapphires and told us how much he likes to work with them, etc etc. At any rate, I was worried about resizing the ring cause I had read online that silver, especially with inlays, is hard to resize. But he seemed undaunted. So Mr. S. starts to explain that he wants something similar, only without the stones and a bit thicker and as he is speaking the shop owner pulls out a ring and says “like this”? We stare. Um, yes, actually, exactly like that. That is right, folks, the jeweller actually read his mind. We liked this guy. We arranged for engraving in his – the same engraving that is in my engagement ring (I will not be having my wedding ring engraved, since it is so thin) and he said he would text us when the rings are done. In about 8 days.

WOOOOOOOOOO

This is finally done. We have been procrastinating this task for so long and it feels sooooooo good to finally check it off our list. We are meeting with the honey man and the florist tomorrow and the venue coordinator on sunday and then, my friends, we are almost all set! (except for 100000 details but that’s another story..).

We made all kinds of giddy jokes in the U-bahn about how thank goodness we didn’t need a Ring of Fire IV and that the fourth sequel to a movie is always really bad and that the third one is usually the best! haha! (we’re so funny..)

So… we’re so happy to have found a non-stuffy jeweller who was nice to us and didn’t lecture us that we need white gold or platinum or diamonds instead of silver and sapphires. Oh, and in case you are ever in Munich, you should visit him cause he has some wonderful other jewellery pieces that I oogled today.

Here is his website – it plays new agey music which is hilarious. http://www.artweger-design.de/

the calm before the storm

We finished the invitations on sunday. That’s right – they are gone! out! sent! Better late than never, that's for sure!

I won’t lie – it was hard work. Like 6 hours a day in the evening for a week straight hard work. But based on the compliments we have been getting, it was totally worth it. I am going to wait another week to share the fruits of my labor with the blog-o-sphere, and for now am going to rant (rave?) a bit about a phenomenon that I have read about in my myriad of wedding blog readings and am now experiencing.

Total lack of motivation at the (less than) 2-month mark. That’s right, folks. I need a break at exactly the time where there is no break allowed. After slaving over the paper puncher and ordering zillions of euros of stamps from the Deutsche Post, we (ehem I) are (am) tired. And we are getting excited! like… really excited. So like a little whiny kid, this is what I feel like:

ARE WE THERE YET?!

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I want to see my friends and family! I want to eat our cake! I want to get MARRIED! NOW! Also, I want to fly happily married to our honeymoon and lie in the sun and drink cocktails and remember the lovely weekend we had with all our guests.

I have also strangely lost my desire to comb the shops for more blue and green details, or brainstorm about bridesmaids gifts, or painstakingly plan every detail of the weekend. Maybe that isn’t so bad though, because really we’ve done a lot, and I think we’ve reached a point where we can really say that we are almost there. But there are still a few “big ticket” items that we haven’t finished:

Purchasing Mr. S’s ring. Yup, we are big procrastinators. Also, we hate german wedding bands. I already ordered my ring from Etsy a while ago – but it needs to be resized. He wants to get a semi-matching one made. We are kind of lazy and kind of afraid what the snooty shops will say. We are sucking it up and going on Saturday – Mr. S just sent me a “ring of fire” gcal invitation. I know he called it that to make me laugh and stop me stressing– which it did. I love this man.

Finalizing flowers – I went around the corner – yes, the flower shop is literally a 25 second walk from Mr. S’s family’s door in Buchenberg – to talk to the flower lady last time we were visiting. We talked through my ideas for bouquets, boutonieres and ceremony decorations. We also discussed the reception deco, but that was kind of complicated since our venue coordinator is technically taking care of (and paying for) that part. We agreed to use my (40-some) blue and green bottles and vases, which I will bring to her on June 6th when we go down for our “last” (ha!) visit

Favors – we have been trying to meet up with the honey man, but the weather has been so gosh darn horrible and he told us that cold weather makes bees aggressive (just like me!). So we are crossing our fingers for good weather on June 6th so we can meet him, photograph the honeymaking in progress to hang up at the reception, and take a look at the honey jars so we can design a label.

My hairpiece, his shoes, shirt and belt – the final touches to our “outfits” are still MIA – my tailor agreed to fashion me a hair flower, but I keep forgetting to bring her a hair clip! I am planning on doing this tomorrow. Mr. S. and I will hopefully squeeze some shoe, shirt and belt shopping into our saturday “ring of fire” escapade.

Music – we have yet to discuss music choices with our band or make our playlist for the cocktail hour. We also need to clarify the (friendor) DJ after-hour setup with our venue, because apparently his portable speakers will be being used to broadcast the world cup semifinal in a beer tent outside our venue (here’s hoping that not too many of our guests run off to watch it!)

Ceremony – ooooo this is a big one! We actually have written most of our portion – we are waiting for our officiant’s text. We have already chosen music and walking order, and now need to decide on a ritual and create our programs. Getting there getting there.

Photobooth – my mom is creating the backdrop for this. Ms. S needs to “fix” the printer to print on smaller photopaper. And we are gathering props.

Chair covers – my lovely Maid OH is making these … but we need to get a go on this one! We have yet to order fabric….

So I guess we can’t throw in the towel JUST yet. But we are definitely getting there, and there really aren’t that many “big ticket” items left to clarify. The rest of it is all stuff we will have to take care of the week (or day) before – like making 50 poms and hanging them, decorating, hanging signs, assembling OOT bags…. oh, the list goes on.
Anyone else wish they could just kick back and relax?