Registry Fegistry

For whatever reason, registering for gifts has been something I've been dreading. I love to shop, so one would THINK that registering would be right up my alley. But my shopping habits can be placed in two distinct categories. . .

A. Impulse buys as a result of finding a great deal on something I simply can't live without or

B. Making a purchase that I've put lots of time and effort into by researching consumer reviews and trying to find the product for the lowest price possible.

It seems like registering fits in neither category. And that's my first dilemma.

My second is, where should I register?

I hear Target is a pain in the booty, that they don't accept returns without a gift receipt and even then, require you to exchange your item for the something new in the same department as the item your exchanging. Hello pita (pain in the a$$). (On a side note, they do have some pretty amazing black and white damask items in the store right now... just don't register for them and you should be fine! ha!)

What about Walmart? Their return policy is stellar, but after a handful installments of "People You See in Walmart" emails, I'm afraid my wedding guests might get the wrong impression.

Macy's is a definite. Good website. Located in both Alabama and Missouri. Has the china pattern that we want.

Another definite is Crate and Barrel. I was on Style Me Pretty today and noticed that today was the last day to register for their $4000 gift card give away.

Style Me Pretty

And I thought to myself, "I'm gonna win this". All I had to do was open my registry at Crate and Barrel and keep my fingers crossed. Seemed like destiny's way of getting someone with an irrational fear of registering to bite the bullet and get started! haha!

One problem solved. . . now on to world hunger.

Drum roll please.....

Two weeks ago I was driving to a dress shop talking about the wedding on the phone with my mom. (What will we talk about when the wedding is over?) We'd been talking about having the wedding in May of 2011, Memorial Day weekend. TWO THOUSAND ELEVEN!!!!!!!! 20 months away. It felt like a REALLY long way away. But, I thought that would be the only way to get everything I wanted.

So, my very tip top priority was asking Fr. Dave Pivonka to marry us. He was my spiritual director at Franciscan University and is a dear friend. I thought for sure 20 months away he'd be free. He wasn't. So what now?!

We tossed around a few other dates but none "felt right". Then mom suggested that we just have the wedding THIS May. My response was "sure Mom, whatever", thinking that getting ANYTHING I wanted would be impossible. Mom called my top reception venue choice and my top Church choice. They were both free ON THE SAME DATE in May 2010! We took that as a sign, and booked um dano.

Then I called Adam Bitter, a remarkable musician who we wanted to do the music for the Mass.

I called my good friend, photographer Scott Stanley, he trained me to photograph weddings. I love his work and I love the connection he tries to foster with his clients. He understands photography is about relationship and I couldn't imagine anyone else photographing our wedding.

Mom called Bob Kuban. You know...Look out for the cheater / Make way for the fool hearted clown / Look out for the cheater / He's gonna build you up / Just to let you dooooooooown. We always wanted him to play at the reception.

And of course, I called back Fr. Dave Pivonka.

And guess what?! EVERYONE WAS AVAILABLE ON THE SAME DATE!!!!!!!

Can you believe that?! It was like our date just fell into our lap! It was just meant to be! And, ironically, a very significant date in my history (graduation from high school, first day of the Crusade for Life). As hokey as it sounds I feel like we didn't choose our date, our date chose us!

How did you decide on the date for your wedding?

(Photos Courtesy here, here, here, here, me and me)

Come to Our Wedding... OR ELSE

I recognize that not everyone has the quirky off beat sense of humor I have (or THINK I have, I do have to explain a disproportionate number of my jokes to my beloved)…. BUT I was playing around on Zazzle the other day and created this….

Yes. It says “come to our wedding or we’ll kick your butt”. I thought it was hysterical. In fact it made me laugh out loud. Literally. I showed J. He laughed out loud. I showed my mom. She laughed out loud. See, it’s funny because neither J nor I would ever hurt a fly.

This pic was taken right after we got in a horrible car accident and J’s face made friends with the windshield.

Anyway, back to Zazzle. I’m pretty much obsessed with it. As I mentioned in a previous post, we already have our invites, but since so many of our guests are coming from out of town, there’s no way to get around sending Save the Dates. I think the most cost effective way to send STD’s is to send the post card version. And since I double as a photographer and J and I have enough pictures of ourselves to fill a municipal library… I thought it would only be fitting to have a photo on our STD’s. Here are some options… What do you think?

Exhaustion

I'm exhausted. As I've mentioned, I work full time as a television producer. Well, I also work part time as a portrait photographer. Since it's nearing the holidays my photography job has really picked up. That means I'm at my day job from 8:30am - 6pm and then my photography job from 6pm -9pm. Sigh.

Good pay checks, but those are some dang long days.

All this for the perfect wedding??? Is it worth working yourself to the bone if you're too exhausted once the wedding comes around to really enjoy the day?

Are there any other two job brides out there? How do you cope? Where do you get your energy?!?