Répondez s'il-vous-plaît (ugg.. another wedding rant)

We see this French term in its abbreviated form, RSVP, all of the time. It means simply, "Please Respond." I never realized what a complete ass you are being if you don't.

We are now in the painstaking process of trying to contact everyone who hasn't rsvp'd for my wedding. I am down to about 30 people to call. Some are telling me they are still trying to figure out travel plans, babysitters etc and if they can make it work. Well, that's great, but let me know that's whats happening so I don't have to chase you down to find out when I am a little busy with some other things right now. Besides following up on calling you people who can't return a stamped envelope, I am also ordering an indeterminate number of favors, programs and trying to do seating charts - hard to do when I don't know how many people are coming. The centerpieces alone are hundreds of dollars each. Do I need 15 or 18? Come on people, work with me!

Honestly, as a guest to previous events, I had no clue how rude it was not to send back this little card to my host/hostess. My advice to you, if you want to stay in someone's good graces~ take care of this little card in a timely fashion or at least let the host know whats up. It is soooo helpful! s'il-vous-plaît

and, yes, if you are reading my blog and are currently holding an invitation to my wedding and haven't replied... this is directed to you!!! ;-)

* And, the #1 worst excuse for not sending back the RSVP, "Your invitation was so beautiful, I wanted to keep it all for as a souvenir." pfft! are you kidding me??

These Wedding Things Sure are a Lot of Work

I haven't blogged in awhile because I didn't want this to become my personal wedding planning rant forum. Even with a wedding planner and "set designer" I have still had to do something somewhat big every day. But, all and all, I really can't complain this thing has really come together thanks to the wonderful people helping me and making things happen. Thank god I moved it from being in D.C. no way people here would have been as nice as the mid-west folks I have been working with. I am dealing with a space similar to the Building Museum, just a little smaller and more historical. This is where the "set designer" comes in (he calls himself that, I don't know). He is doing all of the fabric from the rafters, lighting and decorations.

The only hitch I have run into was I rented the wrong piano - they gave me a stand-up. Now why the hell would I rent one little, crappy, stand-up piano for that large of a space when I am flying in a professional player from out of state to play a baby grand?? This is the only thing that took days and about 20 calls to fix. Let's hope the delivery guy comes through, he makes me nervous and never returns our calls.

We have actually doubled the budget we started with. But, considering my mom is paying and she is the one who ok'd most of these things, I don't feel too bad about it. The first figure we had was too optimistic. Did I mention I have the greatest mother ever?!?

There are only a few things I have been adamant about being nice, starting with the invitations, because those are the first impression your guests will get. Those actually cost about as much as the site rental. Then I really wanted an awesome cake, by this one baker, who was busy on my day, but, still agreed to do it (would you believe some bakeries told me they were booked to 2009? what are you supposed to do, order a cake before you even get engaged?) and... I wanted good the entertainment, which is why we are flying this guy in to play. I said it would only be those three things I insisted on, that was until I saw some 7 foot tall candelabra centerpieces and then those had to come too. They look like silver trees with flowers in the middle and orchids cascading down towards the tables. They seriously rock.

So, there's the summary. It's not tooo out of control. And, I actually, haven't been stressed about it at all. I am really looking forward to it. I almost feel like I am just a guest to this thing. I just keep telling myself.. 3 more weeks.. This is crazy, I never thought I would be getting married anytime soon. In fact, until I met this man, I really didn't want to get married. But, with him, it's just perfect. He's still a little worried I may pull a disappearing bride act.

I forgot to mention how amazing my guy has been through all this. He has taken lead on most every detail, it's amazing. Every place we go the women helping us are in love saying how sweet he is and how great he is to help unlike other men they have seen. I'm a lucky girl! ;-)

Mr. Fenty, you are a man after my heart

Zone make me crazy and I hate cabs in D.C. I am actually surprised I haven't been in a serious altercation with a taxi driver. Just in the last 2 weeks I have taken 4 trips to National Airport - same pick-up, same drop-off, same number of bags, and 4 different fares. The lowest was $12 and the highest $18.50. I have only lived in cities with metered cabs and have been dealing with these idiots for too many years here in D.C. But reading THIS really put a smile on my face... could it be true, we are finally getting meters and I won't have to get pissed off to the point of fighting every time I get out of a cab?? yeah!

"D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said today he will sign a mayoral order mandating that taxis switch from a zone system to time-and-distance meters."