This weekend I was in Chicago for a small bridal shower hosted by my Aunt Ellen. My aunts, cousins, sisters, and mom were in attendance, and we played silly games and drank sangria and ate quiche, and it was a most fun and excellent afternoon. I also got some very lovely gifts, both for myself and for our home. But of all the biggest surprise of the day was from my sisters Claire and Julia, who bought me a wedding dress!
For those of you following the story, I had a really great vintage c.1960s dress, by 1950s-60s gown designer Seymour Jacobson, I planned to wear. When I picked it up from the dry cleaners a few weeks ago, it was ruined--the cleaning solution they used dissolved the dress's gold thread embroidery in patches, and there is no way to fix it. I've been scrambling to find a replacement, with not much luck. I've also been intent on using this debacle as an exercise in homing in on what should be important about the day---namely, that our friends and family are there, that the booze flows freely, that the music is good. And while in my heart of hearts I know that's all true, I still want to wear an awesome dress, dammit! But leave it to Claire, who has worked in fashion in New York for many years and who has an amazing eye for interesting clothes, to take command of the situation. She, with Julia's assistance and treasured second opinion (Claire can be a bit more adventurous than Julia or I), scooped up a lovely cream satin dress from the Marc Jacobs RTW Spring 2011 collection on super sale (a shout-out here to my mother for instilling in us the important value "never buy retail") that fits me perfectly, even though it is a size smaller than my usual (ironic shout-out to Eleanor Antin). More important, it's going to be extremely meaningful to me to walk down the aisle in a dress that my sisters helped choose, especially because my first dress was one I found with the help of my mom. I also like the symmetry of a move from Jacobson to Jacobs!
So, I have a dress. Now I just need to find shoes.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Brand New Suit?
I was super excited to get home today to find a Citibank credit card early fraud warning alert message for Jon on our answering machine. I think this means he was successful in purchasing a new suit for the wedding! Either that or his wallet was stolen at Nordstrom Rack. Best man Josh Kamensky texted me a picture of Jon in a black Sean John number around 3:30 or so; he looked pretty dapper. I like the idea that he'll be wearing the clothing of a rap mogul to our wedding.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Enjoy the Wonders of Los Angeles!
The lovely Morgan has permitted us to re-post this great list she made for a friend's wedding blog some months ago. It is a great overview of places to visit, eat, and drink, many of them on Los Angeles's East Side, in neighborhoods roughly adjacent to the one where our wedding will be. I would also like to recommend the Uprights Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood as a great and cheap place to see improv and stand-up. One of this city's great natural resources is its comedic talent. Full list after the jump.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Carving: A Traditional Sculpture
I'm thinking about Eleanor Antin's work Carving: A Traditional Sculpture as I think about my unfortunate wedding dress situation (thanks, Esteem Dry Cleaners of Pasadena!) and in general the cultural pressure on brides to look perfecto. The following is from Wikipedia; I think, write, and edit art stuff all day long and so am consequently too lazy at the moment to write something about it myself. I got to know Antin's work when I helped edit the WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution catalogue for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 2009, and I think she's pretty cool. Description after the jump.
A Word about the Registry
Many of you have been asking whether Jon and I will have a wedding registry, and it’s something we’ve been back and forth on over the last few months, because we do understand it makes things easier for guests who don’t want to guess at what we have or need or want for our household.
The thing is, though, that we are kind of old. And we’ve been living together for five years already. Just those two factors, alone, have resulted in enough towel sets, wine glasses, flatware, throws, salt and pepper dispensers, and pillowcases for a small encampment. Seriously, we are two people, and we have, at last count, 15 towels. When I was 30, I decided to invest in a few sets of very nice Reidel wine glasses because I didn’t know if I’d ever be married and I didn’t want to wait. When Jon was in his early 20s, he invested in a set of pots and pans so precious that I am forbidden from using a metal whisk or spatula while cooking for fear of scratching them. (I’m not kidding. You’d think a restaurant quality set of pots and pans would be able to withstand, like, common kitchen utensils, but apparently this is not the case. Either that, or Jon is just being anal. Either way, you get the point.) It is the amassing of these decisions through the years that has resulted in the accumulation of more stuff than we really know what to do with.
This is not to say that we don’t have items we want to purchase for the house, but they tend to be expensive things that are not appropriate as single items on a wedding registry. I desperately want to purchase a dining room table, for example, before I turn 40. And after the great power surge of 2010 left us without a stereo receiver, it is time to update our sound system. And, wish of all wishes, Jon and I want to take a nice trip together after the wedding. Fact: we have only ever traveled to Baltimore, Chicago, Florida, New York, Vegas in our seven years together as a couple. I will let you guess which trip was not family related.
It goes without saying that the most valuable gift you could give us is coming to our wedding, and we know that many of you are traveling great distances at great expense to be here with us, and, truly, that’s enough. But, since some of you have been asking, the second most valuable gift you could give us would be a donation to our honeymoon fund. And, after some poking around the web as well as discussions with other recent marrieds who have gone this route, we have decided to forego the online middleman (many of whom charge fees) and ask that such gifts be sent directly to us. We have chosen the Dutch Antilles, of the coast of Venezuela, as our destination—specifically Bonaire and Aruba, islands that promise to offer relaxation, scuba diving, and freedom from hurricanes during the months of September and October. We are planning to leave a few days after the wedding, spending five nights in Bonaire and seven nights in Aruba. We are very much looking forward to marking the beginning our marriage with this new adventure, and we are hoping the trip will set the tone for the rest of our years together, years that will be partially drenched in sun, seawater, and rum-based drinks.
Much love,
Liz & Jon
The thing is, though, that we are kind of old. And we’ve been living together for five years already. Just those two factors, alone, have resulted in enough towel sets, wine glasses, flatware, throws, salt and pepper dispensers, and pillowcases for a small encampment. Seriously, we are two people, and we have, at last count, 15 towels. When I was 30, I decided to invest in a few sets of very nice Reidel wine glasses because I didn’t know if I’d ever be married and I didn’t want to wait. When Jon was in his early 20s, he invested in a set of pots and pans so precious that I am forbidden from using a metal whisk or spatula while cooking for fear of scratching them. (I’m not kidding. You’d think a restaurant quality set of pots and pans would be able to withstand, like, common kitchen utensils, but apparently this is not the case. Either that, or Jon is just being anal. Either way, you get the point.) It is the amassing of these decisions through the years that has resulted in the accumulation of more stuff than we really know what to do with.
This is not to say that we don’t have items we want to purchase for the house, but they tend to be expensive things that are not appropriate as single items on a wedding registry. I desperately want to purchase a dining room table, for example, before I turn 40. And after the great power surge of 2010 left us without a stereo receiver, it is time to update our sound system. And, wish of all wishes, Jon and I want to take a nice trip together after the wedding. Fact: we have only ever traveled to Baltimore, Chicago, Florida, New York, Vegas in our seven years together as a couple. I will let you guess which trip was not family related.
It goes without saying that the most valuable gift you could give us is coming to our wedding, and we know that many of you are traveling great distances at great expense to be here with us, and, truly, that’s enough. But, since some of you have been asking, the second most valuable gift you could give us would be a donation to our honeymoon fund. And, after some poking around the web as well as discussions with other recent marrieds who have gone this route, we have decided to forego the online middleman (many of whom charge fees) and ask that such gifts be sent directly to us. We have chosen the Dutch Antilles, of the coast of Venezuela, as our destination—specifically Bonaire and Aruba, islands that promise to offer relaxation, scuba diving, and freedom from hurricanes during the months of September and October. We are planning to leave a few days after the wedding, spending five nights in Bonaire and seven nights in Aruba. We are very much looking forward to marking the beginning our marriage with this new adventure, and we are hoping the trip will set the tone for the rest of our years together, years that will be partially drenched in sun, seawater, and rum-based drinks.
Much love,
Liz & Jon
Saturday, July 16, 2011
ABC, or Visions of White Sand Dancing in Our Heads
It's been a while since posting, and we're happy to report that many of the bigger logistics are nailed down: we have a lovely venue at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts; we have a great menu planned by the wonderful non-profit Homegirl Cafe (affiliated with Homeboy Industries); we went strictly commercial for our equipment and our bartender, but it's all in place.
As we've been working on all of this, and as we continue to plan the rest of the festivities, we're frequently bouyed by thoughts of our honeymoon. Believe it or not, other than family trips or a Vegas weekend, the two of us have never taken a real vacation together! So we're tremendously excited by our plan to go to the islands of Aruba and Bonaire in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela. (We'll have to return at some future time to Curacao, the "C" in "ABC Islands.")
What will we do while we're there? How long will we stay? Will we be fluent in Papiamento by the time we come back? We don't know any of this yet, but we're looking forward to finding out. We're planning on taking scuba lessons because Bonaire reportedly has some of the world's best diving. And we're looking forward to some hard core sloth on Aruba's beaches.
If you've been to these islands and have tips for us, we'd love to hear them! And we'd very happily accept contributions to our honeymoon fund! (We are looking forward to -- nay, need -- this trip more than we need, say, any china!)
(Note: Our ABC Islands are not to be confused with this or this.)
As we've been working on all of this, and as we continue to plan the rest of the festivities, we're frequently bouyed by thoughts of our honeymoon. Believe it or not, other than family trips or a Vegas weekend, the two of us have never taken a real vacation together! So we're tremendously excited by our plan to go to the islands of Aruba and Bonaire in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela. (We'll have to return at some future time to Curacao, the "C" in "ABC Islands.")
What will we do while we're there? How long will we stay? Will we be fluent in Papiamento by the time we come back? We don't know any of this yet, but we're looking forward to finding out. We're planning on taking scuba lessons because Bonaire reportedly has some of the world's best diving. And we're looking forward to some hard core sloth on Aruba's beaches.
If you've been to these islands and have tips for us, we'd love to hear them! And we'd very happily accept contributions to our honeymoon fund! (We are looking forward to -- nay, need -- this trip more than we need, say, any china!)
(Note: Our ABC Islands are not to be confused with this or this.)
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