So we didn’t finish the tracklist like I wanted Sunday…but we did register!  But that’s another post.

Instead, last night, I pinned the reluctant groom down and we hemmed, hawed, imported, split, and integrated tracks to create what we have as our perfect first go-round:

Who’s ready to WORK?

(Image from tv.yahoo.com)

Some notes:

• I’m a little concerned that it gets a little slow at times–especially with the inclusion of the exquisite-but-melancholy “I Loves You Porgy”, hence adding in the two-minute interlude of “Soul Finger” to liven things up towards the end;
• “Crane Wife 2″ is technically a song–this was the track we split in order to save on length, as The Decemberists are notorious for always including at least one multi-song on each album.  While this is more appropriate, it’s also a little softer than had we included both;
• SInce “Brompton Oratory” is a Nick Cave song, it’s filled with references to love and Jesus.  Very stark, rather obvious references to both, for that matter–and this is one of the more subtle songs in his catalog.  But the reluctant groom loves him some Nick Cave (he is a great songwriter)–do you think that folks may be turned off by such obvious references?

We still have some space left, so if anyone out there has any suggestions that would help make this an awesome mix, they will be much appreciated.

Did you make a CD (or wanted to)?  How did you determine which songs would make the cut?

I’d like think one of the main reasons why so many women continue to be attached to Sex and the City is because the general plotlines are all immediately identifiable, much as those of us hate to be identified with the ladies bopping around the city on the SATC bus tour.  As fun as the fluffy, consumerist angle of the show was, the heart of it lay with the friendship of the four women, and the life experiences we watched them go through week in and week out.  All six seasons reside happily in my media library, albeit a little battered (those cheap cases are all broken…durr).

And though the whole Aidan-Big-Carrie triangle makes Season 3 tough to watch, Charlotte planning her wedding adds a serious amount of comic relief:

(from “Running with Scissors”–specifically the first four minutes):

I love Mario Cantone.  I wish Anthony Marantino was here helping me plan this wedding.

Aside from making me giggle (c’mon, how great is it to watch Charlotte flip out over wedding dresses in bridal magazines?), the show has also given me some ideas inadvertently–specifically, the song I’d like playing during our cake-cutting.  It’s courtesy of Season 4’s “Ghost Town,” during the last, very sexy scene (it doesn’t appear here until two minutes into the clip–unfortunately the only clips available on YouTube are chunks of full episodes):

Aidan feeding Carrie cake?  Can enough be said on how freaking sensual this scene is?  The song in question?  Everlast’s “Love for Real” off of Eat at Whitey’s (which, sadly, is not availble on iTunes or Amazon.com MP3.  But you know what?  The song is so good that it’s worth getting the whole CD).

Has a televsision show–especially one that isn’t an obvious choice–sparked any ideas for you?

So I mentioned that I hadn’t really seen the reception venue prior to saying “OK!  Let’s do it here!”  Given that we had so little time to make the decision, I trusted all of the glowing compliments from everyone when they asked “Where are you having your reception?”

About a month after we made the deposit, the FI and I  traveled down to Mendenhall to really have a good look at it–though I’ve seen it countless times as we would drive down PA-52 en route to I-95 to head to the shore, I (eek!) never ate there nor actually saw much inside save for the photographs on their website (which did include our ballroom, so it wasn’t like I was going in there completely blind).

Upon meeting our coordinator (or one of her associates–I’m still not exactly sure how it all works), she took the FI, my mom and myself around the property, starting with the ballroom itself.  Upon seeing it, the FI exclaims:   “This is where we had my grandparents’ 50th anniversary party!  I was really little, apparently cutting up a rug on the dance floor all night!”  This remark instantly endeared him to the coordinator as she ran through what the table would look like, what the atrium would look like, and reiterated the fact that they would be handling all of the details themselves.  To be honest, those were the best words she said to me during the entire appointment, as she kept asking me all of these how-excited-are-you questions, which I responded to with a forced smile and a “Um, I’m still deciding?” during most of the appointment.  I’m sure that unbridled (ha! Puns!) enthusiasm is the norm here, so I don’t blame her–at that point I was still fathoming that all of this was happening at all.

We explored a little after meeting with her, and I took some outdoor shots to show my friends in CT the spot:

(the main entrance area.  The hotel is on the left, the restaurant on the right.)

A tilted view of the main restuarant entrance.  Yes, it has a rustic feel, but this is the country.  And it will be gorgeous there in early October, with the trees starting to turn.

I’ll try to post more pictures of the site as I get them, but this at least gives you somewhat of an idea…

You see, Madonna was right:  music really does make the people come together.

Right?

Right?

Well, that seems to be the case at this particular wedding.  The FI and I are very much music people, and while we have yet to do our pre-cana (more on that debacle later), we have been thinking about the kind of music we want to have at our wedding.

First off, given that our song is by Andrew Bird off of The Mysterious Production of Eggs:

                       image from amazon.com

Want to know what it is?  Join me after the jump! (I know, I’m such a tease.)

The song in question is “Masterfade,” which is an adorable song with all of these wonderful instruments, like musical saws and Mr. Bird’s masterful whistling and violin-playing.  No wedding band can replicate that.  So we’ve gone with a D.J.  But he deserves his own post, to be honest.

Anyway, being the indie-loving snobs we are (and this being fairly well-documented with my parents, as they know my brother and I talk music whenever we’re in the same room together), some concern from their quarter was expressed to me quite a while ago during one of my many visits home:

Mom (slightly worried tone):  You’re going to have Motown at your reception, right?

Me (incredulous):  Um, we want to get people up and dance, don’t we?

My mom has pretty good taste in music–even now, when I’m bored and want something to do as I hang out in my childhood bedroom, I’ll swipe the circa-1975 Fisher-Price record player out of my brother’s old room and bust out her old Beatles and Motown 45’s, because it’s much more fun to listen to them on record:

(image from flickr.com)

Needless to say, I’m a huge proponent of having a variety of music at a reception, especially if a D.J. is running the show.  Yes, even including Motown.

Anyone have suggestions for successful combinations?  How did you or are planning to address the multi-generational aspect of your party?

One of the challenges in planning a wedding long-distance is the fact that I cannot visit every single vendor when we need to make the decision about choosing them or not.  When it came to where we were going to have the reception, I had to charge my parents with doing the visiting for me–I had to sit down with the wedding issue of Main Line Today on Christmas and look at the the nice chart they provide that breaks down criteria such as price/head, basic amenities provided, the style of the location (traditional, modern, rustic, etc.) as well as the location itself.

When it came to picking a venue, I did have some criteria:

• Since Center City was out as an option (too far from the church), the reception had to be somewhere with local tourist attractions and a few options for people to stay in if they wished to
• Had to have good word-of-mouth
• Had to be reasonably priced
• Couldn’t be cheesy or too theme-y–no lame country motif

With this in mind, I drew up a shortlist of places for my parents to visit in my stead come January:

• The Inn at Mendenhall:  one of the highest-recommended locations in the area, and known for years as one of the best places to have a reception.  Located in the heart of Southern Chester County, it has easy access to local attractions and provides a nice guest experience
• The Concordville Inn:  Sister property to the Mendenhall, and located on US-202, it was a little more conference-oriented, and less scenic
• The People’s Light and Theater Company:  The site for many a field trip growing up, it boasted the closest distance to the church but I knew little of its reputation for food and service.

So off they went, going first to the Concordville and then to the Mendenhall.  The day of their expedition found the FI and I at BJ’s buying our bulk groceries (we go through an impressive amount of olive oil in our house!) and my mom called me, clearly excited and gushing when it came to talk about the Mendenhall.  Yes, it was one of the more expensive options, but listening to the litnay of amenities that were included such as the honeymoon suite and the cake, I was definetely swayed to agree with her.  The deal-maker?  The famously persnickety neighbor down the street had her only daughter’s wedding there, and she was completely satisfied with the whole experience.

The only caveat?  We had to make a decision that day because the larger of the two ballrooms on the property had already been reserved for the date–keep in mind that this was JANUARY OF 2007.  Any reservations about starting out so early quickly washed away, and after conferencing with the FI, about a half hour later a call went into the sales office and the smaller Gold Ballroom was ours.

So far I’m not regretting making such an impulsive decision, but has anyone else out there rued the day they did?

Coming up:  photographs of the site, plus a rundown on the tasting we had this past October…

“Every true artist has been inpsired more by the beauty of lines and color and the relationships between them than by the concrete subject of the picture.”

–Piet Mondrian

When it comes to art, I tend to be drawn to strong color and line; it’s little wonder that this Picasso is easily my favorite work of art.  I’m also a huge fan of Frank Stella and the aforementioned Piet Mondrian–the former because he uses bold strokes of many colors but in simple geometric patterns so that the color and line are the focus, and the latter because of his strict adherence to primary colors as his career progressed.  The MoMA in New York is unsurprisingly one of my favorite places in the whole world, as I can awash myself in this minimalist goodness.  In fact, for any brides looking for inspiration who will also be in the New York area between now and May 12, this exhibit may be of help–I’ll be seeing it myself this weekend, and will post photographs of anything that particularly catches my eye.

All this said, when I first stumbled onto Brides.com, I was understandably very excited by this tool:

Between this and discussions with one of my bridesmaids who formerly worked at a local florist for years and therefore knows this stuff better than almost anyone, this is the basic scheme for the moment:

Navy is the dominant, with orange and purple providing the contrast and complementary notes, respectively.

Despite this love of color, I’m not going to overwhelm my reception location with it because the room does have color on its own (albeit muted) and it would be perhaps a bit much.  Instead I’m going to incorporate the scheme into smaller touches–one of the bridesmaid gifts I’m planning are self-designed bracelets (more to come on that later), the flower centerpieces and (potentially) the favor gift wrap.  It’s a start, but I now ask you, cyber-bridal world out there, for comments and constructive criticism and most importantly, creative ideas.  How else can I incorporate this, albeit in a subtle way?  What would you do?  What inspires you?