I feel a lazy day....but I have to leave soon :(

So, today I got out of bed around 9 am. It was soooo nice!! After enjoying 2 beers last night and uploading new music.

Well, I don't know about you all, but on the top of my list of things to do after I get out of bed, is to check my email. Nothing to interesting. I go to check my junk mail.......I have to look in their because something business requests end up there. I see this in one of the subject lines "Pictures from XXX and
XXX xxxx are ready to view" It's from Pictage. I think, " I don't know what that is" I'm about to empty my junk folder, and instead I look at that email.

OMG!! It's all of our TTD shots!!!!!! All 772 of them! It took an hour, but I got through them. I have no idea how I'm going to choose.
For you nesties, I posted the link on ND. Looking through them was like reliving the day!!

I really need to go get in the shower now. I have 2 kitty sits, then have to work 1-5 today.
I promise I will try to remember to put my memory card in my camera and get some shots today.

AHR...Pictures!!

The boys in DH's family, his dad's side.
Our friends.

I'm trying to enjoy a bite
DH's moms' side
The boys in DH's dads' side and thier wives.

No pro pix for this. Just a bunch of random shots by my daughter. We had a great time, then went out for kareoke!

Hopefully I'll find some good pictures of DH and I together.....


This was the day after. Of his mom's side.

His grandpa is fighting cancer, this may be the last family shot we get.

Done with the dress

We had our reception last night. It was wonderful! The dress was clean :)
We had about 60 people show up; my mom, all DH's family, a few co-workers and our friends. My family apparently doesn't like to travel. I swear none of them ever go anywhere! When I lived there I couldn't wait to get out of that town!
We had it at a Mexican restuarant (wanted to keep the theme going).
Afterwords we went out with our friends for a night of kareoke. I think the dress has served it's purpose. I've worn it 3 times now, and every time I was excited to get into it. But, after the reception, I couldn't wait to get out of it. Everyone wanted me to wear it out on the town, (i'm sure so they could get free drinks), but I went home and changed. It was hot and heavy.
It's new home is on top of my son's bunk bed. Lord knows how long it will stay there until I decide what to do with it. Will I preserve it? Or sell it?? I could donate it. I'll have to do some more research on that. I heard somewhere you can donate it and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. Or something like that. Can anyone help me out here?

I'll talk some more about our AHR after I get the pictures uploaded.

TTD Video!!

Can I just say how great these guys are?!?!?!? Our reception is this weekend. We did the TTD around 3 weeks ago, and they ALREADY have our video done!!!! So, we get to show it off at the reception!
(let's just hope my dress is cleaned by then and it will all be perfect!)

http://fatcatrocks.blogspot.com/2007/08/extreme-session-kick-off.html

Scroll done towards the bottom of their blog to see our video! It's absolutely amazing! You can't leave comments on their blog, but feel free to give them some love on my blog. They will be reading it!!

Be sure to have your volume on!

Thank you cards

Well, it took awhile, but here they are. (I hope)





Our reception is next week!! So far 50 people have RSVP'd.

Oh, and since we realized all these people would probably want to see our house, we started buying stuff off our registry! We got a new rug, a purse organizer, some photo frames. Still looking for a new shoe organizer.
I'll get some pictures after we're done moving stuff around.



And, I've spent the day making these..........



This one for my MOH.


And this one for my MIL.

I plan on making one for FIL, BIL, Mom and my kids. But, the program is so slow that my patience is gone for today. I'll have to wait for another day....

Thoughts on TTD? (trashing the dress)

Our local paper did a story on this not too long ago. It was a good story, but the repsonses irked me. I just don't understand the controversy.

http://www.kansas.com/living/fashion/story/149290.html

I'll copy the resonses:

Trashing tradition

Comments
i think its great! I love the pictures!
Posted by: parisha

8/16/2007 7:48 AM
Nothing like recycling a story idea from the KC Star.
Posted by:

8/16/2007 8:12 AM
She got the idea from me. I invited her to one of our sessions. Also offered her some of our pics. We do great work!
Posted by: Delano Color Imaging

8/16/2007 8:53 AM
Denise... what's up today's Wichitalk cover photo? Could the Eagle not find a model to fill out the bust of that wedding gown? Geez... find that girl a gown that fits properly!
Posted by: cee

8/16/2007 10:20 AM
ABSOLUTELY, INCREDIBLY INCONSIDERATE!!!My wife spent months planning and weeks making just the right dress that our daughter wanted.Just another modern day, self indulgent, "it's all about me, and I don't care what the cost" attitude. Especially if someone else pays the price, financially and emotionally.Not even remotely respectful or respectable!
Posted by: Dad

8/16/2007 10:53 AM
What a great idea!!! and what awesome pictures. Resale on a wedding dress is next to nothing and like the article said who is going to wear this 30 years down the road, especially if you have only boys.......unless one of your boys becomes a drag queen then it might work....lol
Posted by:

8/16/2007 1:13 PM
These are some she turned downwww.delanocolor.com/TTD-at-CH
Posted by: Delano Color Imaging

8/16/2007 5:41 PM
Check out this website http://trashthedress.wordpress.com/; the pictures are awesome!!!
Posted by:

8/16/2007 6:06 PM
i like totally agree dad she should've saved that dress for her 2nd or 3rd wedding.
people are so wasteful.
Posted by: it's terrible people actually think for themselves

8/16/2007 7:45 PM
Every generation finds some way to embarrass its traditions. It just gets worse and time goes on. A few may regret the memories brought about by saving the dress for daughters and grand daughters, but fewer and fewer seem to care.
Posted by: Sadbuttrue


What great photos. Trashing your dress isn't for everyone, but most brides today pay for their own dress so let them do what they want. For goodness sake it's a dress their trashing not the marriage!
Posted by: KS mom of 4

8/18/2007 9:17 AM
can't people find better things to do these days? give me a break................
Posted by: plenty of things to do

It just amazes me that so many people feel they can tell others how to live their lives...........
The one about the dad paying for the dress........Umm.....ok, so you want to spend money on something that will sit in a damn box forever, as opposed to something that can get some really great shots for some really great memories?
So glad that we paid for everything ourselves. I would hate for our family to try to dictate how we do our wedding. Of course, our families wouldn't do that anyway, but still.

Trash the Dress story

Ok, so last Monday we had a blast with this photo shoot. I spent the morning running all over town getting ready. My dress was where it was supposed to be, so that started the morning off right.

We met Jeff and Tyfanny (the photogs) and Barry and Steph (the video crew) at 3 pm in Old Town.
DH and I were pretty nervous.....we've never done anything like this and aren't used to being in the spotlight. I was totally excited, I've wanted to do this since the first time I found out about it! When I first started wedding planning there were similar shoots, called "the day after". Typically done by destination wedding brides in an exotic location, ie....the beach.

The Day After shoots are typically done the day after the wedding. It's a way to capture just the two of you in a more relaxed way. Most brides do some 'sexy' shots. Since my beginning days of photog blog stalking, I've seen these day after shoots gradually evolve into something else. The brides became more daring, wondering into the cities with their trains dragging behind......going under the water......etc....
Eventually this became known as "Trash the Dress". A controversial name, but I love it! Most brides don't really "trash" it, as the dresses usually clean up quite nicely.

Around this same time, TJ Studios and Fat Cat Productions, right here in Kansas, were coming up with the same concept. A unique way to capture some awesome shots, the Extreme Session.
There is now a website devoted to this concept. http://trashthedress.wordpress.com/
As I was stalking this blog one day, I noticed a list of photographers off to the side. OMG! There was actually a listing for Kansas! I immediately ran to check these people out. Well, not really physically running, just running online. What I found amazed me! I could not believe we had such talent right here where I lived!

Yes, I stereo-typed my area as not being creative. I didn't even try to find a local photog for my wedding, thinking they were all boring and did nothing but posed people shots.
You see, in my photog blog stalking, I really came to appreciate the un-posed and material shots. Once I realized we had local talent, I was really ashamed of myself.
I had already booked a photog in Mexico, so it was too late.

BUT! I could use them after the wedding, to trash my dress. We didn't do the day after shoot in Mexico. Instead we enjoyed our honeymoon and when we returned, I contacted these amazing people for a TTD session.
It took some convincing for DH. Apparently after one night of beer tasting, I showed him all these websites and informed him that we HAD to do this. I had already been e-mailing Tyff and knew the cost, so DH had no way to argue. I was very persuasive and would not let him go to bed, just showed him more and more TTD shots.....until he finally wore down.

Ok, back to last Monday. Here we are in a park in Old Town. Me in my dress, DH in a tux. He was NOT happy with me. You see, I would not let him wear his silk suit he bought for our wedding. I made him wear a tux. So, he was VERY hot. Oh well, life goes on......

Tyff, Jeff, Barry, and Steph are wonderful to work with. They put us in poses that didn't look like poses.....it took awhile for us to relax, but we finally did. Oh, and the ladies thought my shoes rocked! Which of course, they do, but we got a lot of shots of them! Which of course, I loved. And Steph wouldn't stop gushing over my veil! Well, that is until we actually trashed it......But hey, it's not like I was going to wear it again! (story later)

We started in the park, then wondered behind on old unoccupied building by the train tracks. Got some great shots there. Climbed up a fire escape ladder, laid down on the concrete, etc... A few trains went by, and one even waved to us. Probably wondering what these crazy people were doing. Then we went under the train bridge. It was crazy, cars driving by, peoples heads whipping around, horns honking.......

We found some more cool buildings, then found a shopping cart in a parking lot. Yes, they put me in the shopping cart. We had fun, until I felt my veil pulling. Yep, it got caught in the wheel. Everyone (except me) was so upset about this, that we didn't get any pictures........kinda ironic, we actually 'trash' something but don't have the shots. I seriously didn't care. I had no plans of ever using it, and only bought it because it was 1/2 off and I wanted some cool pictures of it blowing in the wind. I didn't get those shots on my wedding day (no wind) but we did get some that day. So, I was happy, the veil had served its purpose.

Next we went to eat at Old Chicago. This shooting thing is hard work! Then we headed to a lake for some sunset shots. This was another thing I didn't get at my wedding (no sun that night). Unfortunately, it was clouding over and the sun was gone for this shoot also. Oh well, we still got some amazing shots at the lake.

First off, they put us in this air thing. They didn't want us wet, yet. We started to drift away from the beach area, into the tree area. No worries! Steph and Barry hopped in the paddle boat to come rescue us. Except the paddle boat wouldn't steer right. They just went around in circles! All 4 of us ended up stuck by all the trees. Jeff and Tyff were back at shore, clicking away. We ended up having to walk through the brush, then in the water to get back to the beach area. I hope we have some cool shots of that!
Then it was time to get wet! The pictures will tell that story. When we left the lake, the owners came out to say good-bye. They had been watching, thinking it was all cool, until I ran INTO the water. They couldn't believe it! Too funny! We'll have to be sure they see these pictures......

Next we went back to Old Town. We ran through and danced in the fountains. Alot of people were around, probably thinking I was crazy. I heard one guy ask them if we were professional models! How crazy is that? I didn't hear our photogs response, but I wanted to yell, "No, we're just crazy in love!"

Then we heard a band playing outside at our favorite wine bar. So, we headed over for a dance. Got lots of clapping for that one!
Then back to Old Chicago (did I mention we had our first date there?) for some shots under a street light. We ended the night on their patio with a beer.

Here are the pictures:
http://www.tjstudios.com/blog/
and the slide show:
http://www.tjstudios.com/blog/debut/scott/
and the video blog (no video yet, it hasn't even been a week!)
http://fatcatrocks.blogspot.com/2007/08/extreme-session-kick-off.html

I'm amazed I'm able to show these off so quickly! These guys are truly amazing!

I trashed my wedding dress!!

Not going into the story right now, because I'm exhausted and need some sleep. But, here is the link to my photogs blog.......just click on view in our blog entry.

http://www.tjstudios.com/blog/

Enjoy! I know we did! Couldn't have turned out any better.

Never tell a bride this!!

We don't have/can't get your dress.

I had this happen to me twice.

The first time was when I ordered my dress. I came home one day to a message on my answering machine. It said "We tried to order your dress but the manufacturer said it won't be here in time". That was it. WTH???
Then the next message "Since the one you tried on is your size, we will hold it for you, but need you to call to confirm this"
So, I call and they say it is all worked out. I have a new one being made and shipped to me.

The second time I heard this was today.
I'm trashing my dress on Monday. So, I took it to the cleaners last week. They said it would be ready on Friday, and I said I would get it on Saturday. Well, I sent DH today to get it. He calls and says they don't have it. WTH?!?!?!? I don't know how long I waited for him to call me back, seemed like an eternity. But he finally did. They found it. Had sent it to their main shop. Isn't that what computers are for, to keep track of that stuff??

Wedding day!

I'm really not sure why I've been procrastinating this post for so long. I guess because of all the stories to tell??

Ok, so we wake up in the morning. Yes, we saw each other the day of. Maybe that's why so many things went wrong? Advice to soon-to-be brides: "Don't see your FI on the wedding day!"

I started getting things packed up to take on the ferry. We stayed in Playa del Carmen, but the wedding was on the beautiful island of Cozumel.
Anyways, I picked up the bottles for our sand ceremony and dropped one. It was in bubble wrap, so I thought it would be okay. Even though I heard the glass breaking. Sure enough, it was in too many pieces to count.
At this point I decided I had enough stress about this wedding and I delegated it to FI. After all, I still had to get a mani/pedicure, hair done, dressed and all that.

My daughter, MOH (maid of honor) and I went to get our nails done. Then we grabbed my son and headed for the ferry with my mom.
We got a taxi, got to the ferry and I realized I did not tell FI to grab the travelers checks to pay our photographer with. Since cell phones were not working, our only option was for my mom to go back to the resort and try to find him before he headed for the ferry.

So, my kids, MOH and I all arrive in Cozumel. We were lost. Quite the culture shock. A cruise ship was docked to the ferry/cruise area was packed with people. We stand on the side of the street trying to get a taxi and they just keep driving by us. WTH? I think this went on for about 5-10 minutes before we asked someone WTH? We were on the wrong side of the stop. Ok, so we finally make it to Mr. Sancho's.

I tell my WC how we're doing the music. She has a sound system set up for our Ipod. Except we don't have an Ipod, we have my FI's blackberry. WC's DH says that some phones have a different sized jack and it may not work with their sound system. OMG!! Then they say that they have a ton of music on their Ipod and can just create our playlist for us. Well, I don't have our playlist, it's on the blackberry with FI. I again say I can't deal with this. FI will have to figure it out with our WC when he arrives.

When he does arrive FBIL (his brother) comes to tell me that they found a bottle to use for our sand ceremony. It's a tequila bottle with a wine cork in it. Genius! I should have had put FI in charge of more things!
And his blackberry connects with the sound system. Whew!

As we're getting ready, our photographer starts to get worried about the light and rushes us. It was cloudy, so no sunset pictures that I dreamed about! I don't have them yet, so I can't comment.

As I'm walking to the ceremony location, I have to walk down a little hill where the grass meets the sand. Everyone can see me at this point. All eyes on the bride. Well, I almost fell. Tripped on my dress.
Good thing I can laugh at myself. But then, I was so scared that I would fall for good, I rushed down the walkway. There was no: one step, stop, one step, stop: walking for me. When I reached my isle runner, I couldn't bring myself to walk on the monogrammed part! I stepped around it!

The ceremony was beautiful. We had those closest to us read 8 blessings.
First Blessing:
May you be blessed with love. May understanding
bring a deep and abiding peace into your lives,
fostering a love that is not only passionate but
serene. May this love between you be strong
and enduring.

Second Blessing:
May you be blessed with wisdom. May you
continually learn from one another and from
the world. Together, may you grow, deepening
your knowledge and understanding of each other
and of your journey through life.

Third Blessing:
May you be blessed with community. May you
always be blessed with the awareness that you
are an essential part of a circle of family and
friends. May there always be within this group
a sense of mutual love, trust, support, and respect.

Fourth Blessing:
May you be blessed with art and beauty. May your
creative aspirations and experiences find expression
and bring you joy and fulfillment. May your sense
of humor and playful spirit continue to enliven your
relationship.

Fifth Blessing:
May you be blessed with health. May life bestow
upon you wholeness of mind, body and spirit. May
you live long that you may share many happy years
together.

Sixth Blessing:
May you be blessed with the experience of nature.
May nature in her magnificence continue to inspire
you and bring you a sense of transcendence. May
the elements of earth, air, fire and water sustain
you and heal you.

Seventh Blessing:
May you be best friends, better together than either
of you are apart. May you work together to build a
relationship of substance and quality. May you respect
each other’s individual personality and philosophy and
give each other room to grow and fulfill each other’s
dreams.

Eighth Blessing:
Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your God, my God.

We did the sand ceremony and oh, it was beautiful! I will post pictures after I get them. We had FFIL officiate our wedding. Which made it even more personal and special.

We also did the hand ceremony. Camerons mother read it.

When we sat down to eat, DH (yes, not it's dear husband!!) got heat exhaustion. He eventually cooled off and started to sweat, but we were worried for awhile. The food was good, although I didn't get to eat much.

We we were leaving (had to be sure to catch the last ferry back to Playa) we tried to pay everyone. We were paying Mr. Sancho's with credit card, but it wasn't working. We had been using it with no problems, but it just wasn't working. We called the number on the back of the card and they said they didn't even see any transactions trying to go through. So, we messed with that FOREVER and finally got it. I was really hoping we wouldn't miss the ferry.

When we got to the ferry, I told FIL that I needed to get my tickets out of the suitcase (he had it for some reason). But, my MOH said she already had them. Whew.......until we got to the ticket taker. They weren't tickets, they were the stubs from the ride over!!! Shit! Did I mention we were last in line? For the last ferry of the night??? FIL was on another one with my tickets! I start freaking out. I tell the guys that my tickets are on another ferry in a suitcase. Bless their hearts, they go looking for the suitcase. And they find it, but it's so late. I was so scared they would leave us!
Of course the things in the suitcase weren't tickets, they were vouchers for tickets!! So, we had to run back to the beginning and get them changed. Then run to get on a ferry. The only place to sit was in the front, facing everyone else. I saw several camera phones snapping pictures.......

When we got back to Playa, we stopped at Senor Frogs. What a blast! They made us recreate our first dance on stage. Then take a shot of Tequila. We had so much fun! I only had one Margarita there, but I passed out when we got back to our room.