An End to the Honeymoon Indecision

We have finally decided on our honeymoon locations.

A background:
I've traveled a lot. I have an unfair advantage because I lived in the Philippines until I was 9 or 10, but maybe that's why I love it so much. I think that travel is the single most important thing (besides saving for retirement) a young person can do while unmarried and have no dependents, and my biggest regret is not studying abroad during college. I don't think there's anything more educating and encouraging of tolerance and acceptance. As such, after I graduated college and actually started making my own money, I spent it all on travel and not on material stuff. Last year I clocked 4 international trips and man, was that hard on the wallet (but great on the memories!).

Dude has not left the continent. He has traveled extensively around it (I think he's only missing one or two states and he's been to the tip of Central America and we've been all over the Caribbean together). With his newfound love of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, he is now itching to travel.

So when we first started talking honeymoon, we tossed around every idea possible. The biggest idea was Dude's, and that was to go around the world in three or four stops. We thought about SO MANY locations. Greece, Seychelles, Dubai was the original trifecta, then Australia, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Egypt.... the list goes on. Originally we thought that was a great idea. And then we started pricing out flights and hotels, and realized that the most we could take off of work was two and a half weeks. Three or four stops was just too ambitious, and we would spend so much of our time in airports and not seeing where we are.

Compromise time:
Dude picked his top choice and I picked my top choice and we would do both.

So we landed on Japan (Dude's) and Tahiti (mine).

It's actually perfect for us. Tahiti will be the relaxing part of the honeymoon, we will lounge around and stay in a bungalow above the water. And then Japan will be the cultural urban part of the honeymoon. A good friend of mine lives there and we plan on going to Tokyo and Osaka. We'll spend more time in Japan because I have a four or five day tolerance for lounging (sad but true).

Unfortunately since Dude is in school we have to wait a few months after the wedding until we get to go. But at least he won't be stressing about exams and homework while we are away. We'll likely take a couple of days off after the wedding to re-center ourselves and relax, maybe go to a bed and breakfast somewhere.

NO IT IS NOT A FUCKING "MINI-MOON" AND DO NOT EVER USE THAT WORD AROUND ME OR I'LL CLOCK YOU. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. IT IS A MADE UP WORD TO TRY TO FORCE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING ABOUT WEDDING PLANNING TO BE CUTESY-WOOTSY, PONIES AND UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS AND SUNSHINE AND I WILL NOT PROPAGATE IT NOW OR EVER.

I Have a New Favorite Blog

It's hilario.

I Hate Planning My Wedding.

And Yet Another Thing I'm Undecided About

Videographer.

Neither Dude nor I particularly like home videos and so at first we just said no. But as time passes (stupid one year engagement!) I'm having second thoughts.

I was a singer/dancer in my younger days, and I was always sad that my parents never had copies of my performances, especially because they were good. We always relied on getting copies from my friends who were in the shows with me, and of course that wasn't great because the camera was focused on them.

The one point that really got me thinking was one day a very good friend of mine (whose mother passed away when my friend was 16) copied all of her home videos to DVD and told me that until she watched them, she had completely forgotten what her mother's voice sounded like. That was a really poignant thing to say, and at that moment I thought that maybe, still photos weren't enough.



But then, I look at trailers and clips for wedding videos and I think... CHEESY CHEESY CHEESY. PUKE GAG VOMIT. I have yet to see a wedding video that has not elicited this reaction from me. Yes, I include the artistic ones that my friends have posted about as well.

Sigh. Decisions decisions.

Portraiture

I hate portraits. I much prefer candid shots, though candid shots of me are always of me laughing or eating or making some weird face. I don't mind the photographer saying "please pause what you are doing and smile at me for a second" but I really don't like posing.

I think it's because I was a flower girl so many times, and there are just SO MANY portraits of my family in the Philippines that I'm just tired of them. There are dozens of photos, all looking exactly the same, except the bride and groom are different and the children are younger or older, depending on whose wedding it was. YAWN.

Of course, my mom will insist on some portraits, and of course I will appease her on that. But I'm going to do a lot of them my way.

Case in point:


This one's kinda cute except I HATE kissing pictures:


Images from Travis Hoehne Photography.

Actually I hate POSED kissing pictures. If it was a photo that caught a moment we thought was private and unseen then it's okay, I guess.

Hair Hair Hair

I am in the process of scheduling my hair and makeup trial and so I have to actually really start thinking about how I want my hair to look.

Some inspirations below the cut.



Classic bun with a twist


Low and Loose


Chignon

Some Decisions

NO flowers. I've gone back and forth on this quite a bit and I've decided that I neither have the time nor the energy to actually find flowers that I'm not allergic to, and I really don't want to worry about having to take an allergy pill the day of my wedding, which could make me really dry (and sometimes nosebleed, yeah, too much information, I know) or sleepy. Have not yet figured out the alternative. Some definite options though.

YES camping out at my parents' house to use their printer (and sewing machine).

NO nice shoes under my dress. Nothing makes me more cranky that hurting feet and I'm not going to risk it.

YES fabric shopping this week, maybe.

Still need: some kind of cover up to go over the dress.

I Couldn't Really Blame Her, I Suppose

Last week my mom called me at work, in a panic.

"Did you think about the booze?! Do we have to bring some? Where are we going to get it?"

Wow.

I can't really blame her. She knows my disgust for weddings (she made me be a flower girl 7 times, for chrissakes) and so she assumed that like all tasks I don't want to do, I would procrastinate and scramble at the last minute.

So I laughed and told her that not only did I think about the booze, but also that it was the very first thing I thought about, and that everything is included in the venue price per head. Yes that means booze. Also the rentals and the linens and the food. (And by the way, could you please not call me about weddings at work, I work with all guys and they need to respect me. I love you I'll call you later, bye.) I've been to enough dry weddings to know that booze is a must.

We opted for a limited open bar with beer and wine and a specialty drink of iced tea with vodka. We were trying to go for a spiked sweet tea as a nod to Dude's southern roots, which I think would entail either bourbon or whiskey, but vodka will go down easier and will probably be preferred by most people.

Most wedding planning advice tells you to opt for a limited open bar because it saves you money, but interestingly enough, it didn't really save that much money. We almost buckled down and got the full open bar but like everything in wedding planning, even an extra $5 will be a huge hit when you multiply it by your guest list.

Another One of Those Things I Never Knew About Weddings

Despite my aversion for the Knot I still log onto it from time to time because it has the most comprehensive checklist I've seen, and if it were not for the Knot I would never know when the proper time is to do some things and probably procrastinate until the end (ahem, flowers, cough!). So I logged on today to make sure I'm up to speed and according to the Knot, the top discussion today is...

"What's your cake cutting song?"

Um... you need a cake cutting song? Why? So we can sway our hips while mashing cake on each other's face? Perhaps we have to cut the cake on beat with the song?

Hilario

A bit crass, but a pretty funny idea.
Save on Weddings by Finding Out Who Your Real Friends Are.

Although I have to say, the questions are too easy, you could get this information second or third hand. Personally I'd add

11) Have we spoken in the last two years?
12) What are my siblings' names?
13) If I or my fiance needed a bone marrow transplant and you were the only match the doctors could find, would you undergo a painful procedure to help me/him?

Okay, fine, maybe not #13.

Obviously this is not the way we are going, but it brings up a good point. Who wants their wedding to be a sea full of strangers and old acquaintances?