The Cake

I’m envisioning it now… square, three layers, lots of chocolate, dragonflies, and Japanese cherry blossoms. Or something like that. Keep in mind that the cake is something I haven’t crossed off my list yet—I haven’t even met with a baker or anything. I’m merely in the process of brainstorming at this point in time.

My ideas stem from a cake I saw about a year ago while flipping through a bridal magazine. Check it out:

But imagine this as a much smaller square cake. And the colors would be something like this: white for the base color, green for the ribbon-looking thingies, and orange for the middle of the cherry blossoms. I’m also interested in adding button-like shapes around the bottom edges of the cake, as seen on this cake:

This cake is actually made at Homeland, and for a pretty decent price, I might add. After I saw this in their bakery catalogue, Homeland made my list of contenders for the cake. Although I do like this design, I think it’s both a bit too simple for me and a bit too flowery. I also like their cake topper, but Keegan and I have already picked one out.

As some of you may know, Coheed & Cambria is mine and Keegan’s favorite band. And Keegan owns just about every big preorder package that Coheed has released. In one of the packages was a dragonfly—one of Coheed’s major logos. It’s a pretty good size and is made of some kind of impressive metal (ask Keegan—he’s the one with the chemistry degree). All that to say, I really wanted to incorporate some kind of dragonfly design into the cake. And when Keegan suggested Coheed’s dragonfly as our cake topper, I thought this would be the perfect way to do it. 

Thanks to Keegan for taking this photo

So I guess if I were to combine all of the ideas I’ve told you about, it would look something like this (again, please forgive my crude drawing skills—or lack thereof):

Of course that’s not exactly how the dragonfly will actually look, but because of my lack of artistic skills, I just did the best I could at drawing my own version of a dragonfly. Of course it’s also not drawn to scale. And the cake doesn’t have to turn out exactly like this, but this is the idea that I was able to translate from my brain onto paper in the best way I could.

If you have any suggestions or cool new ideas, let me know. I’m happy to hear your opinion!

-Paige

Location, Location, Location

UPDATE: Our save-the-dates came in! They’re BEAUTIFUL. I won’t give away too much, but we’re very happy with the company that made them—Wedding Paper Divas. They came way before the estimated arrival date, they turned out perfectly, and the envelopes they came with are actually more solid than I thought they would be (so we may not have to buy extra envelopes). I’m so excited! Okay, I’ll say no more—you’ll just have to see for yourself when they come to you in the mail!

Onto today’s topic: the venue.

Location is everything, right?

When it comes to our wedding, I’d tend to agree. And that’s why we’re having the ceremony (and probably reception) at our church. It’s where we met, after all. And as we’re both Christians and most of our family members are as well, it’s important to us to have our wedding at a church—preferably ours.

Here’s the thing about our church: it’s not built yet. Don’t get me wrong—our congregation is currently renting out a place in a small strip mall. But we’re working on building a new building (very exciting stuff!), and it’s not finished yet. It’s estimated that it’ll be finished in spring of 2013, but that’s cutting it a little close, and as you can imagine—it’s a little nerve-racking.

But progress has already been made—the new building has a roof now! It’s pretty exciting to pass by it and see the dreams of many coming into fruition. I know the building will be beautiful when it’s finished, and there will be lots of stories told, hearts moved, lives changed, friendships made, and celebrations to be had in our new building. I know there will be at least one celebration there—our wedding.

Although we’re not 100% certain what the interior will look like, an artist has drawn up some sketches of what the building may look like. Here, take a look for yourself:

Artist renditions by Randy Foster, Kaighn and Assoc., courtesy of Sheri Lashley and BridgeView United Methodist Church

Artist renditions by Randy Foster, Kaighn and Assoc., courtesy of Sheri Lashley and BridgeView United Methodist Church

Artist renditions by Randy Foster, Kaighn and Assoc., courtesy of Sheri Lashley and BridgeView United Methodist Church

I’ve started brainstorming about decorations, but it’s been a bit challenging since I’m not exactly sure what it will look like. But I’ve got ideas—they include candles, white Christmas lights, Japanese shoji screens, and Coheed and Cambria’s Keywork. Here’s a vague sketch of an idea I had for the main decorations during the ceremony (please forgive my lack of artistic skills):

As for the reception, this is where a lot of obstacles come into play. There are plans for a separate fellowship hall to be built in addition to the main building on down the line, but for now, the sanctuary will double as a fellowship hall. So at this point, there’s not really another place in the building where we could hold the reception. And we really don’t have the money to have our reception anywhere else. So we’re thinking we’ll hold the reception shortly after the ceremony, both being held in the sanctuary.

But there might be some challenges to that. First of all, seating—chairs or tables? Chairs are fine for the ceremony, but if we want to bring tables in for the reception (which, we will since we’re having food), that’s going to take a few extra hands to help out and a potentially long wait for the guests between the ceremony and reception. And I know how people get antsy during that time at weddings. And then there’s the food—it’ll have to be brought in and set up.

We’ve talked with our pastor and she’s made some good suggestions about all this. There will be a kitchen area that’s right off the sanctuary. If we already had the food mostly ready to go, waiting in the kitchen or in the corner of the sanctuary behind a partition or something, we could bring it in with little or no problems. But, of course, that correlates with the tables. My mom suggested having the tables already set up so that guests would sit at the tables during the ceremony as well. Although I was against the idea at first, I’m slowly warming up to it because, in reality, that would make things a lot easier.

But we’re definitely still at the brainstorming stage for all of this, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion is always appreciated.

Ideas for next entry:

-Food

-Decorations

-Cake

-Honeymoon

-Your Suggestion

-Paige

You Saved My Life Once

Car Chaos UPDATE: Both Keegan and I are currently searching for good, used, cheap cars… I’ll let you know if we have any luck.

And now we continue with our discussion on music.

I want to carry over our theme of internationality from the ceremony to the reception and play all kinds of music from all around the world. There will, of course, be techno songs included since we’re having a dance (Sandstorm is a given). And I’d love to play music from lots of genres (and nationalities) all across the board, including techno, K-pop, J-pop, big band/swing, smooth jazz, alternative, indie, Icelandic, Celtic, and more. 

Credit: "Bagpipe Player under an Archway" from iStockphoto on thinkstockphotos.com

When I went to Japan in '08, some friends and I stumbled upon this lovely Japanese singer. She was quite good, and I decided to capture the moment (I think I even took a video, if I remember correctly).

I want to play music that Keegan and I both love—regardless of our guests’ musical tastes. Their opinions are important to us, of course, but we want to dance to songs that we love, even if the audience doesn’t recognize them. I can’t really imagine myself dancing to stuff like “Don’t Stop Believing” and other mainstream songs I can’t stand. I’ve written a lot of random song ideas down as they come to me, but here’s a sampling of my ideas for the reception:

-I'm God by Clams Casino (techno)

-In The Mood by Glenn Miller (big band/swing)

-Light Outside by Wakey!Wakey! (indie)

-The Suffering by Coheed & Cambria (alternative)

-Morning Dance by Spyro Gyra (smooth jazz)

-Ponponpon by Kyari Pamyu Pamyu (J-pop)

-Sæglópur by Sigur Rós [an edited version to fit the dance] (Icelandic)

-Titanic Set by Gaelic Storm and/or Swallowtail Jig (Celtic)

-Gangnam Style by PSY (K-pop) (<do I really even have to link you to this one? You know you've seen it a thousand times and have it bookmarked on your browser.)

So we want a lot of flavor for our reception, and not just in the food but in the music as well.

I think I would like to include the traditional couples’ dance and the daddy/daughter dance, and I have some ideas on the music for that, too. As I mentioned last week, Titanic is a film that both Keegan and I thoroughly enjoy (Keegan bought the new super-mega-pack edition of the Blu-Ray/DVD). Another one we also love is P.S. I Love You. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it, but I can tell you that I cry every time. Anyways, I also own the film’s gorgeous score, composed by John Powell. The first track on the album is entitled “Make Up Kisses,” and I can imagine Keegan and I slow dancing to this song. You can listen to it here:

Make Up Kisses

As for the daddy/daughter dance, I was considering another soft instrumental tune. But then one day I was listening to my Phil Collins Pandora station (yes, I have a Phil Collins Pandora station), and “You’ll Be in My Heart” started playing. Then I knew that song was the one to dance to with my daddy. Disney’s version of Tarzan is yet another great film, and the soundtrack complements its greatness. Tarzan has a special place in my heart when it comes to thinking about my dad.

When I was seven, before my parents got divorced, we went on a Disney cruise. There were tons of things to do on the ship, and one night, Tarzan was playing in the ship’s movie theatre. So we went—I remember us getting there a little too late because it was already dark and people were flooding the seating and sitting on the aisle’s steps. So we had to sit/stand/move around for the entire movie, but this was a fun memory that stands out when I think about my family pre-divorce days. 

Dad and I also share inside jokes from the movie. They’re not exactly inside jokes I guess, since there’s no particular personal story behind them, but we went through a phase for a long time where Dad would say “Oh, I see” like Jane does in the movie after I would say something somewhat interesting.

Then, of course, there’s the music. “You’ll Be in My Heart” is particularly special to me because I would listen to it whenever I missed my dad after moving to Oklahoma. The song, as well as my dad’s infamous moon analogy, reminded me that we were never too far apart as long as we kept each other in our hearts.

All that to say, I think this would be a really special song to dance to with my father.

If you have any other suggestions as to music for the ceremony and/or reception, please feel free to leave a comment.

Let’s take a vote for next week’s entry!

-Your suggestion: what do you want to hear about?

-Invitations

-Food

-Registries

-Paige

Sing Your Melody

UPDATE from last entry: No word on the guy’s injuries. Insurance issues are crazy. The car situation for both my fiancé and I isn’t looking too great. If you know of any decent, used cars at a good price, please let me know.

Onto an important topic: music.

I come from a long line of top notch musicians (namely my father), and I love music. I’ve played piano for as long as I can remember (although not as diligently these days), and I played viola in orchestra in elementary school, middle school, high school, and one semester of college. Both playing and listening to music are things that I’m passionate about. And although Keegan doesn’t currently play an instrument, he’s just as passionate about the music as I am.

Jamming with my daddy. Thanks go to my step-mom, Lu, for taking this photo.

I'm the one with the red hair

So as you can imagine, I’ve done extensive thinking on this topic.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve probably figured out that I’m not exactly a traditional bride. I don’t want a bouquet, I refuse to wear a veil, and there’s no way in heck I’m walking down the aisle to the traditional bridal march. Instead, I have this tune picked out:

The Portrait by James Horner 

I know, I know—it’s Titanic. But still. It’s a great song. And this solo piano version is just beautiful. I know a lot of people think it’s super cheesy, but Keegan and I absolutely love Titanic—I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s a great film in many ways. It’s also a major cornerstone in the film industry since James Cameron went to great lengths to do things that had never been done before. But, I won’t continue my tangent on that here (maybe I should start a blog dedicated to films..). Let’s get back to the music.

I can envision it now—slowly walking down the aisle in my Vera Wang ball gown, taking in the sight of relatives I never knew I had and the sound of a keyboard changing keys at just the right moment. I’m also considering asking my dad to compose parts for a string quintet to go along with the keyboard solo. I’m not sure if the string parts might be a bit too much/over the top (what do you think?), but I have time to keep thinking about it.

As for the rest of the ceremony, I have tons of ideas. Actually, I have so many ideas that the ceremony may become a non-traditional Protestant ceremony in the sense that it lasts for more than thirty minutes. But here are the songs I have on my mind:

1) The Winter Rush by Some By Sea*

2) Out of the Woods by Nickel Creek$

3) Wake Up by Coheed & Cambria%

4) Falling Slowly by The Swell Season#

* This was probably me and Keegan’s first song together. I’m not sure if the lyrics make much sense for a wedding, but me and my dad can play with them and make it work. It’s just a beautiful song and reminds me so much of the first few months of my relationship with Keegan. Plus, there’s a cello solo that I think would be perfect to include if I do get a hold of a string quintet.

$ I have this daydream where I’m with the one I love in a grove of trees and the outside world can’t reach or hurt us. When I imagine this scene, sometimes the ground will be buried in snow, and other times the trees become a canopy from the rain that pours overhead. I’m not really sure where this daydream came from—probably all those long trips going back and forth between Oklahoma and Kansas and looking outside the car's window at all the trees—but this song reminds me of my daydream.

% For anyone who knows us, this one’s obvious. Coheed & Cambria is me and Keegan’s all-time favorite band. We’ve been to their shows every chance we get (there’s one coming up on the 23^rd! Can’t wait!), and we love the stories behind the music. This song is no exception, and although we’ll probably have to change the wording a tad, this song is one we have to include for sure.

Me and Keegan with Claudio Sanchez of Coheed & Cambria

 # I’m not sure if this is The Swell Season song I want to do for sure, but at the request of Keegan’s sister—London—who is an amazing, talented singer, we want to do a Swell Season song that London can sing to. Falling Slowly would go great with string parts and my dad’s and London’s voices, but I’m not sure if the lyrics really fit me and Keegan. It’s a beautiful song, and one of my favorites, but it just seems a little too sad to be a part of a wedding celebration. Oh well, I’ll think on it.

So there you have it—those are my ideas for the wedding ceremony.

Next week, I’ll continue my discussion on music with ideas for the reception. I could talk about music all day long, but I’m sure you have more important things to do than read my blog.

Feel free to join in the discussion on music—suggest a song, send me a link to a YouTube video, etc. I appreciate your input.

-Paige