Building the guest list

I am still awaiting the proof of my Save the Date? and am starting to doubt, somewhat, the virtues of Etsy's Alchemy? but since I've already shelled out the cash, I'll just have to be a bit patient for a bit longer.

Of course, to be able to send out the Save the Date, I need a full and complete guest list WITH addresses. WHAT A TASK! I compiled the information that I have from various sources and not only am I missing about half the addresses, but I also need tons of last names! And I need to sit down with Mr. Schnitzel and discuss the list, making sure that we aren't leaving anyone out/including anyone we don't want.

The plan is, because of budget, to hand deliver as many STDs as possible, but it would still be good to have the addresses, for the invitation list.

Basically, I have set up a spreadsheet and am writing or calling those with missing addresses, one by one, and marking them in blue if I have already emailed and am awaiting an answer. At the moment I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with everything so these nit picky details seem daunting. I guess since that "beginner's" energy has fizzled away somewhat (we just had our 3 month engagement anniversary on Halloween!) I just am not as fervent to tackle the more mundane tasks. We do, however, have an appointment with our venue in two weeks, and we are also planning on visiting a potential bakery and meeting with the town flower lady. The good thing about doing this in a small town is the lack of too much choice ? it leaves us to concentrate on other aspects.

How did you handle your Save the Dates? Your guest list? The insanity?

Scoping out the site

Hi all, so I'm here for the weekend at Mr. Schnitzel's family home, in the small town in the Alps where all of the wedding festivities will be taking place! We're here for a visit, but also to scope out some things, most particularly the Landhaus Sommerau where we will be holding our ceremony and reception. It looks like the whole date change debacle is shaping up into a great idea, namely holding the civil ceremony the day before with close family and friends, dressed in Dirndl and Lederhosen, followed by drinks at Mr. Schnitzel's family home and dinner at a cozy local German pub. Sitting here, with this lovely view of the church spire of Buchenberg, I can really picture it.

We haven't gotten a chance to go over and scope out the Sommerau yet, most because it's saturday in August and they, of course, have a wedding going on! (which would actually be kind of great to spy on, maybe I'll tramp up there later...) but we plan on heading over tomorrow to get something to eat and check out the event room again, as well as one of the hotel rooms, and just generally ask some basic questions. I have been endlessly flipping through their brochure and they really just offer everything and I think they will be really flexible with our ideas. I can't wait!

Yesterday when we arrived, Mama Schnitzel fed us and we got to talking about the wedding, of course. We hadn't yet discussed who she was interested in inviting, so she rattled off a list of names that I, of course, have never heard and Mr. Schnitzel looked confused, mostly because they are his polish relatives that he has, in fact, not seen for at least ten years, since he last visited Poland. And I got to thinking about how weddings are really amazing because they bring a whole bunch of people together who haven't seen eachother for a while or maybe ever for a common, joyous occasion and I got really excited about the chemistry that fills a room when so many people from so many different backgrounds and families and cultures get together for a fun event. I can't wait to meet everyone, and for everyone to meet eachother! Really, that's the most important thing to me (as I've said before, stitching together two families!)

Otherwise, I have been relaxing and staring with a giant goofy grin on my face at my husband-to-be :) *sigh*

the first "sparks"

The last week has been a relaxing one, the first in about a month and a half since our trip to the US and my parents visiting. Not that I didn't enjoy all that tremendously, but it's awful nice to just come home from work and relax at home, or do the laundry, or run errands. The weekend weather was gorgeous, so we soaked up all that sunny Munich has to offer, visiting biergartens, grilling by the Isar river and going to the public pool on sunday, topping it all off with Schnitzel in yet another biergarten. It's too bad, in fact, that such a picture perfect weekend had to end in my very first wedding planning fight.

I won't go into details in such a public forum but suffice it to say it had to do with the guest list and numbers and the fact that I am inviting so many friends and it was a very turmoiled 11pm on a sunday night phone call. I mean… I am one of those people who invites 45 people to my birthday party. I just like to be surrounded by people I love. Lots of them. But really I never considered that my guest list, "gigantic". I mean, it's all relative and I guess certain relatives of mine had tiny backyard weddings, and that's not exactly what this will be. But there will most certainly not be 500 people milling about. Not even 1/5 of that…

It turns out that the "problem" had a lot to do with feeling overwhelmed about the number of German guests who will be coming. Like the whole thing will become a wholly Germanized German speaking event. Of course, that's one of my biggest goals: make sure that everyone there, regardless of language or nationality, feels welcome and can follow what's going on! It'll be a challenge, sure, but actually I think that once everyone is there it will all mesh just fine. Plus, all my German friends speak English anyways, so communication shouldn't be a problem at all.

At any rate, I do hope that the rest of this planning process is relatively Sunday-night-argument-free or very argument free in general. I think just because the TV shows show feuding families and disagreements, doesn't mean that it has to be like that. What do you think?