FPC will thank me for this one day

My sister is getting married in less than two weeks. And since no one else in my family has a blog or even really updates their Facebook pages, it falls to me to record the details for all of posterity. Fortunately I am up to the task! *FLEXES TYPING FINGERS*

You may recall that the Future Pastry Chef got engaged in August. She set her wedding date for December 19. For some people this would mean four months of severe trauma, but FPC is pretty much the opposite of Bridezilla. She also met her fiance while working at a catering company which, when you are planning your wedding, is rather convenient. Food? CHECK. (Also, Cake? CHECK. Wedding gift from a chef. NICE, huh?)

Photographer: CHECK. They just know a guy who knows a guy. Or something like that. I was too busy being jealous to catch the explanation.

It also helps to be related to a detail oriented spreadsheet freak who enjoys bossing other people around. The only thing this spreadsheet freak enjoys doing more than telling other people what to do is doing it all herself. So! Invitations? CHECK. Table cards and programs? CHECK. Maintaining and updating the Master To Do List? CHECK. Hair appointments, day-of schedule, mother of the bride liaison, music and guest book and OMG how can we decorate the reception hall for $5 or less? CHECK. 

(Bonus points if your de facto wedding planner is married to a bona fide computer geek with 'One Summer As An Honest To God Wedding DJ' on his resume.)

(He will kill me for this, but Phillip's DJ name? DJ Philthy. You are welcome.)

Appropriate wedding attire acquired for entire wedding party? CHECK. I wasn't around for the dress shopping - poor FPC had to try on dresses with the two most immediately decisive people on the planet, my mother and my other sister. I should have stuck around to balance out the Waffling and Hmm, I'm Just Not Feeling It Today factor, but FPC prevailed and found herself a gorgeous if-I-may-say-so-myself gown. The bridesmaid dresses were more a of a Process of Elimination buy, meaning that it was the only dress in the entire store the other bridesmaid and I wanted to wear. And we weren't even planning to wear the same dress. SHOES, however, SHOES have been a nightmare. We weren't intending to wear the same shoes either, but for the first time in our lives my sister and I are in agreement about shoes, meaning we think ALL OF THEM ARE HIDEOUS. I have my Nordstrom sale rack pair and hopefully Other Sister will fit into the pair I impulse bought from Amazon the other day. Otherwise: barefoot! 

Decorations: CHECK. Here's another for the Isn't It Convenient? file - when you get married in December, the church is already decorated. Woo! The girls are wearing navy blue, the men are wearing pale blue and everything else is silver and white, with a lot of greenery and red accents (it's Christmas after all). The table centerpieces are glass hurricanes filled with blue and silver Christmas tree balls, candles, candy, and bonboniere which are traditional Italian wedding favors. There will be red candles and garlands along the window sills, poinsettias everywhere else, white lights strung across the high ceiling and white chair covers with blue sashes. And oh yes we are making a photo backdrop a'la PROM for pictures to accompany notes in the guest book. No making fun for it will be AWESOME. I might have to bust out some foam glitterized letters that spell out WEDDING 'O9.

What am I forgetting? Phillip is the MC slash DJ. My in-laws are the official baby wranglers. One brother will be manning the photo station while the other brother watches his shorties so his wife can tell people where to sit. I will be the lady barking orders at everyone else while my other sister sits at a table drinking her fifth glass of pretty-soon-I-have-to-give-the-toast wine. There are about 400 things to do the day of, but no worries, I am typing up The Schedule and will be forcing all involved parties to commit it to memory. If you think I've forgotten something, it's more likely I just forgot to WRITE about it rather than DO it, but let me know ANYWAY. You know how I would positively DIE if something was left out. Like, say, the CHAMPAGNE at MY wedding. I'm not sure I will ever get over that. 

I have eaten about ten pieces of fudge while typing up this post. Add 'Alter Bridesmaid Dress' to the list.

Comments

[Kate P]

Everything sounds great! (Except, uh, hope you don't end up in bare feet.)

"DJ Philthy"--hahahahaha. Sorry Phillip, couldn't help it.

[Christiana]

DJ Philthy - haha. I know a professional event DJ (husband of an old friend) who is "DJ Philly" but I think Philthy is pretty creative.

Is there dancing? Did she pick out the music to dance to? Including looking at the time of the first dance song to make sure it's not too long? 4 minutes can seem like an eternity when it's 100 people watching you and your brand new spouse dance alone. (If you have your heart set on a long song, invite other couples in love to join after the first verse.)

It all sounds great and I can't wait to see pictures! You are putting pictures up after, right?

And I think the a la prom pictures station is brilliant - wish I had thought of that myself.

[Sarah in Ottawa]

I look forward to hearing more about the return of DJ Philthy on the big day.

I LOVE Christmas weddings - so pretty! It will be an amazing day. And you might already be doing this, but -- as for schedules, I developed one separate one for each of the big groups (bridesmaids, groomsmen, my family, Dave's family, Dave himself, limo, photographer...) and it worked like a charm. Blocks of time in which accomplish tasks worked really well.

Good luck, and congrats again to the FPC. Will she let you post pics?

[el-e-e]

Wait. Wait. *record screech sound* the men are wearing pale blue. Please define. I have a picture in my mind that I'm certain isn't correct.

;)

[Becky aka StinkyLemsky]

One thing that I forgot was snacks for the bridal party - just to have on hand. Well - I didn't exactly FORGET, I just didn't think we needed them with us. Let me explain, we all got ready at my mom's house (plenty o'food there) and then we had a mere 3 hours of pictures, ceremony, & more pictures before we were to be at the reception.

Except... throw in 8 inches of snow and it ended up being more like 4 hours between eating & most of the girls hadn't eaten very much in the morning. We were STARVING.

Not sure if that applies to FPC's wedding, but man I wish I would have had a box of granola bars or even some licorice on hand! :)

[Corey]

That reminds of a wedding my husband was in. The schedule literally read:
8:00 Bride dances with Groom
8:05 Bride switches to Father, Groom to mother
8:08 Bride dances with father of groom, Groom dances with mother of bride
And on and on in 3 minute intervals until the whole wedding party danced together!

[Jess]

This is awesome. The wedding sounds like it's going to be amazing. Will there be photos?

[Manda]

WHAT UP DJ MCPHILTHY! HAA! (John's rapper name in high school was Johnny Fresh. Oh our husbands). Also, I am so glad there are sisters like you out there to plan weddings for sisters like me! My sis-in-law kicked my wedding's ASS for me. Without her, I have no idea what would have happened. We probably would have still gotten married, but I'm pretty sure there would have been an Elvis impersonator involved. And as fun as that sounds in theory? Can you imagine those wedding photos gracing my hallway? Oh dear.

[Holly]

DJ Philthy?

Oh my god I just died. That is AWESOME! The gingerbread latte I just totally snorted whild laughing so hard? Not as awesome.

But it was worth it. GAHAHAHAH! Love it.

[Ashley]

I think DJ Philthy just made my day. Thank you.

[Amy --- Just A Titch]

DJ Philthy is amazing. I really love DJ names and that one is exceptional.

[Lisa]

I'd like to see the picture that accompanies YOUR guest book listing when the whole thing is over. Just so we have proof of the prom-backdrop awesomeness.

[Elizabeth]

Ok, for realzies, the men are wearing PALE BLUE? Like pale blue suits? Really?

The rest of the colors sound magical. I am picturing it like your sister is getting married on the set of White Christmas. Sigh. Can you come decorate my house with some of those candles and garlands and poinsettias and traditional italian wedding hoo ha?

Also, finding out Philip's wicked awesome DJ name was the best moment of my week so far, bar NONE. I really hope he has a t shirt with DJ Philthy on it to wear at the wedding.

[Shelby]

I love DJ Philthy! Fan. Tastic. Also, really hoping to see some pictures!

[Michelle]

Just wondering how you plan to do the photo booth...my sister gets married the day before (dec 18th) and wanted to do something with polaroid but that hasn't gone to plan since polaroid is no longer made. Will you have someone manning the booth and taking a photo of each guest, which will then be added to the guest book where each person has written??

The FPC's wedding sounds lovely, since its summer here in Australia ours will (hopefully) be all outdoors in a garden....

[hotel tuerkei]

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