The box!

Yep, I'm back! At least for a bit. I'm sure you've all been dying for updates on newlywed life and what sorts of fascinating adventures us Vaders have been up to, but you'll just have to wait. This is about the box.


This box:

With the help of everybody in attendance at the wedding, our wonderful friends featured in this picture put together a box that we nailed shut during the wedding reception not to be touched until our first anniversary. Which was three days ago! And since everybody and their mother (okay, maybe just my mother, several times...) has asked about the box I thought I would share its contents with the world. Read: the 2.7 of you actually reading this since post-wedding wedding blogs are boring.

Without further ado, the box contains:

• 1 expertly dried rose (this is exciting - I tried to dry my bouquet and it half rotted so it smells disgusting and I sealed it in a bag. This is perhaps something I'd advise future brides to read about BEFORE the event)
• 1 dried boutonniere (I have to google how to spell that word every damn time)
• 1 thankfully-not-sweaty $2 bill. You can imagine where that came from.
• 1 delicious, though now empty, bottle of champagne
• 2 blue champagne flutes
• the frameless contents of the stuff on each table (menu, thank you message, table number, etc.)
• 1 program
• 1 tissue paper flower ball
• 1 pilfered table runner
• 1 origami flower
• 1 original copy of our best man's toast
• 3 pilfered picture frames
• 1 card proving that his Holiness Fletcher actually was licensed to marry us
• 1 bag of gross empty candy wrappers (I'm not sure if this was to remember the candy bar without melting ruining the box, or that somebody got confused on what the purpose of the box was...)
• many, many heartfelt notes from our friends and family giving us advice for our marriage, wishing us luck, expressing their enjoyment of the wedding, and sending us their love. These were a joy to read on our anniversary. 
• 1 note asking for more water. Again, with the confusion. Perhaps also drunkenness?
• 1 note with a dragon sticker on it. They came prepared!
• 1 note requesting that if we split up within the year that we send their gift back
• 3 notes with original art: two by children, and one detailed diagram of...communal enjoyment of beverages in the rear
• 1 note detailing a charmed moment from the bachelor party with a...lady entertainer
• 1 original anniversary poem
• 1 note revealing an old family secret I don't remember involving the identity of Santa Claus
• 2 notes expressing sadness over the loss of the blog (ha! Little did you know...)

and...

• 7 notes asking about babies.

The short version of how married life is different than engaged life: sooo many people start asking about your sex life. 

You'll get the long version of married vs. unmarried life soon!

Pictures!

I was totally thrilled (and completely overwhelmed) when we received our pictures late last week. There are a ton, and I'm still discovering new ones as I page through to upload online. I've put many of the group shots with the wedding party and preparations up on Facebook, but I thought the family photos might be better received via blog. Don't worry - there'll be some more pictures put up here, too!

Our lovely families:

I really like how symmetric this picture is

A Ladner family tradition - they thought it wouldn't happen in a wedding dress!

At each picture = 1000 words, consider this my most prolific blog post!

Turns out there isn't that much in a name - the name change process

Three-ish weeks after the wedding, I finally got a day where I could head to the Federal building and apply to change my name at the Social Security office. It was the first time I can remember that I forgot my phone at home, which was very unfortunate, since I could have caught up on some serious Facebook stalking during my hour and a half wait for my four minutes of fame. A week later my new social security card showed up in the mail with my new name, Sarah N. Ladner Apollo. (Vader. Whatever. If you're still reading you know who we are.)

I'm personally excited to have such a long name - think of the boxes I can use up on those by-character forms! I headed to the RMV with my new card and applied for my new license, which required only a half hour wait (hooray!), but where I discovered that my new real name wouldn't be able to be put on my license. Thankfully the RMV lady convinced me that Ladner-Apollo would look less dumb on my license than LadnerApollo, despite some initial hesitation on my part, so I now sort of have two identities. This doesn't seem to alarm anybody of the government sort, which begs the question: what the hell is in a name, after all?

During the following week I walked around waiting to be identity-thefted prepared for the name change process with banks, school, loan offices, etc. with marriage documents in hand. I mostly learned that having access to a photocopier is terrifically helpful in the process, as is only having accounts based in the area you live. Of course, neither is true, so the process took a bit longer. Most people were OK with the two names, but my name will be hyphenated in some places due to logistical necessities. Five weeks after the wedding I think I'm just about done changing my name. Whew! The biggest mystery - today I realized that Google has changed my name on my e-mail account, without my doing anything to change it. From whom do you think they get their information?

To future name-changers: there is no rhyme or reason in what people will require to change your name. Some want a marriage certificate copy, some want every document you can find, and some are happy with a phone call. Sadly, the ones who put you on hold the longest are never the ones who just need a phone call.

We hear the wedding photos should be done by this week, so stay tuned for pictures!

Why everybody needs a photobooth

In the very early days of our engagement, I was seeing renting a photobooth as an option in a lot of wedding magazines. Apparently, it was all the rage in weddings a couple of years ago, but I guess the trend hasn't made it to Maine very often. Always drawn to the booths in malls or on boardwalks, it quickly became something that we absolutely needed at the wedding.

When I was searching for a photobooth I came across a few different options, ranging from photographers setting up makeshift photobooth backdrops to customized booths that cost thousands of dollars. I wanted our photographer freed up for formal and informal shots during the reception, so the sort of DIY option was out. I also didn't want to spend a significant portion of the budget on silly pictures with props. Enter Justin, who owns Portland Photo Booth Company. I booked him over e-mail a year or so out, connected with him a couple of times before the wedding to double check set-up time and to tweak the time people would be liquored up enough for silly poses, and he showed up and was perfect the day of the wedding.

We were able to set the booth up in its own room in the Portland Club, which I would highly recommend, as there was a line for the booth all night. Justin brought boxes of hilarious props - things to wear, things to hold, things to beat each other with in the booth. After four poses the booth spit out two sets of photobooth strips - one for you to keep and one to paste into a scrapbook that Vader and I now have to remember the wedding.

We rented the photobooth for two hours - less than half of the reception, but perfectly timed for guests (and wedding party members!) who were worn out from dancing or looking to catch up with old friends after dinner. I think the open bar probably helped fuel a few of the costume selections, but our goofy guests likely would have gotten along fine in the booth regardless.

Speaking of goofy guests - the photos are all up, in individual shots or photobooth strips, for your downloading pleasure. There are several on Justin's Facebook page (Like them and tag away!), and all can be found at http://portlandphotoboothco.zenfolio.com/apollo. Enjoy!

Here's a gem of our "happy couple" session in the booth:

Married Life

Hey everybody - we're finally married! So far married life is quite a bit like engaged life, except I keep referring to Vader as my fi-husband because I remember halfway through the word "fiance". I'm quite pleased to be done with fiance, may I add, as it's a pretty annoying word to say.

As pictures trickle in from folks I'll recap some of my favorite parts of the wedding process, but I thought I'd start with a general overview of how things went.

Event #1: Rental house adventure with our far flung friends. It was great spending time with friends we don't see enough, relaxing on the beach, playing in the arcade of OOB, and engaging in plenty of shenanigans of all sorts. I would highly recommend something similar to anybody who can - I definitely would have filled the week before the wedding with last minute errands or projects, and having a hard deadline to only have fun was great for my own relaxation. It also made the lead-up to the wedding all the more fun, and helped us feel like we really got to spend quality time with friends who made significant treks to attend our wedding.

Event #2: Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Vader's and my friends have never been so prompt in their lives - several showed up during the "chat with event staff and set things up for the wedding" phase, and quickly began to ask what they could do. There was a lot I needed to figure out and place myself, and in hindsight I perhaps could have drawn up assignments for tasks, but that was too much organization in the moment. I sent most of the party to relax in the Portland Club while myself, my family, Vader's family, and a few terrifically helpful friends scattered the MANY different components I had brought artfully about the room. Once set-up was complete we rehearsed, which was quite painless and helpful for an organized wedding day. Mostly we worked out the kinks of having a 21-person wedding party (including us and our officiant) and fitting us into the space. Afterwards, we trekked to the White Cap Grille in the Old Port for some delicious dinner hosted by my parents. We awkwardly figured out how to try and blend different sides of family and friends while gorging ourselves on sliders, chips, and chicken, and then headed back to the house to get all packed up.

Event #3: Wedding! The day started EARLY for us girls, with a 7 a.m. wake-up call that led into solid hairstyling at the hotel until 2 p.m. Patty Thomas of Hair and Company from Norway, Me did a fabulous job with short, long, thick, and thin hair alike. When most of the hair was done the girls and parents went off to get dressed, and Patty gussied me up before Mom (with some help from Jean, our fabulous photographer of Hanington Photography based in Lincoln, ME who was happy to help with anything else she could do that day) helped me into my dress and veil. Once I was dressed [hint for future brides: getting dressed and staying dressed all night is a multi-person event. Just accept it.] we took some photos in a park across the street from the hotel and I learned why I don't wear heels in grass. The hotel shuttle guy got us to the Portland Club, and Vader and I had a sweet first look that resulted in this beauty:

courtesy of Hanington Photography

We took some pictures outside with the wedding party, to the delight of passers-by who shared their congratulations through honks, and soon it was time to get the show on the road. The ceremony was short and sweet, with lots of personal touches and no uneventful trips (there was one when reentering after family photos). Afterwards, we took family photos outside, and then mingled more than we've collectively mingled in our lives. The Black Tie Company (our caterer, and event space manager) was fabulous, with delicious food and drinks during cocktail hour, attentive service to making sure things flowed nicely throughout the evening, and dedication to the client. When Bridesmaid Cupcake ate a peanut five minutes in, Black Tie sent somebody out in search of Benadryl and a crisis was averted. 

Cocktail hour was followed by our introduction to the reception and dinner and the party got underway. The food was great, the candy bar a huge hit, and our DJ (Joe Dionne, of Dionne Entertainment) did a terrific job of keeping the mood light while we were eating and keeping everybody on the dance floor later in the evening. During breaks on the dance floor, Vader and I exercised bride and groom rights to cut the line that was there all night for the photobooth, rented from the Portland Photobooth Company. We've got several pages of silly photo strips from our family and friends that we'll be sure to use to blackmail commemorate our wedding. 

By the end of the reception several people had petered out, but we still had a crowd ready to head out on an Old Port pub crawl with us to keep celebrating. I changed into a lighter dress, Vader stayed classy in his tux, and we were off to Novare Res with 20ish friends to close down the bar. We heard they closed the bar, anyway, since after about six sips of beer Vader and I were ready to call an end to a long and eventful day. We traipsed to our honeymoon suite, unwound a bit, and slept better than either of us had for over a week. 

I'll include details, thoughts, and reviews of the days after the wedding in a later post, but frankly this post is long enough. I will also get more into detail about the ceremony and reception when there are pictures to accompany them. Thank you to everybody who helped us celebrate at the wedding or from afar through the blog!

p.s. If anybody is planning a wedding, or knows somebody who is, I have an absurd amount of wedding magazines taking up space in my closet from 2010 to now. Let me know if you'd like to offer them a good home!

Too many crafts, no time for blogging

Hi everybody - we're nine days out! As a result, I don't have the time to blog about the projects I'm still finishing up. I promise I'll get caught up sometime in the next few weeks, if there are any blog hangers-on after the wedding.

In the meantime, they say a picture's worth a thousand words, and this is a picture made up of pictures, so this is basically a million word blog post. Here's the seating chart I've worked on tirelessly for the last two days. Each piece has a name on it, and when you pull yours off there's a table number on the back and a copy of the picture piece behind it. I may not recommend this project to anyone again, ever, because it's a giant pain. But enjoy!

My "I'm tired" face. Also, messy apartment = the result of much crafting. 

Guests

When we first started planning the wedding, we ballpark-ed 120 as a guest number. When we started writing down names and asking family, that number kept going up, but we were hopeful that people might be busy this summer and our number might stay somewhat true to our 120 estimate (and the quoted price for that number - our true motivation). Standard wedding knowledge (read: a number I found on The Knot) says you can expect about 20% of invitees will send regrets. We sent out 156 invitations, and 31 folks declined. Go ahead, grab the calculator. With a 19.87% decline rate, our wedding is pretty darn average! We are happy with the final numbers, and look forward to celebrating with close family and friends without feeling overwhelmed by the number of people.

In finalizing the guest list, I did not anticipate losing any guests, but to our great sadness we lost my grandfather a week and a half ago. I will be forever thankful that I trekked to Maine two weeks ago, despite a lot going on in Boston that weekend, to spend time with my family, accomplish plenty of wedding tasks,  and celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary. We ate, laughed, and ate some more in true Baker fashion and, in hindsight, celebrated him out with style. I'm still trying to think of an appropriate way to memorialize my grandfather at the wedding. Grandpa had several thoughts about the wedding, none of which guests will see. We will not elope to save money (though, realistically, it might have been a good idea for the bank account!), there will not be a porta-potty in the middle of the dance floor, and we will not be married by a minister preaching fire and brimstone. We will, however, dance up a storm, have cocktails at 3, and "paint the town red" after the reception. We're less than three weeks out now, and we absolutely can not wait!