No, thank you.

I am so wearing this on my wedding day, for how could it possibly be complete without a giant crazy diamond...on your head...
I don't think I have to say any more.

Lovely Lighting

I am really into the paper lantern look. Not just for weddings, but for lighting options in general. Case in point, these are two of the lamps in my apartment right now.



They're a little bland in that they're not colorful, but I love the shapes and texture. So cool!
Anyway, I was browsing the ads at A Practical Wedding and I came across Allsop Home and Garden. And wouldn't you know it, the next day Meg put up a nice post about this family-owned, environmentally friendly business.

Allsop has lots of beautiful garden and lawn accessories, but I'm really into the solar lanterns. That's right...solar. Each lantern comes with a solar panel, LED lights, and batteries to get you started. Just let them sit in the sun for a day and you're all set! And boy, are they beautiful...

Yes, please...

I see these in my future.

There are also more colors and shapes to suit your individual taste, as well as some cool silk covered lanterns. I. Love. These. Lanterns. And they're an investment, too. Not only do you get to support a small, eco-conscious business, but you can use these lanterns for every picnic, barbeque, or lazy summer evening you have in your yard. They could even be used inside at night. So many wonderful possibilities without using one watt of electricity.

I hope you're sitting down because I'm going to throw even more awesome onto the pile. You can buy these in Wisconsin (and other states too)! There are several stores across Wisconsin that sell Allsop's products, but that may or may not include the lanterns. Check the website of a local store listed on the Allsop website, or call to see if you can save yourself some shipping.

Congratulations!!

I want to give a big shout-out to Giovanna from Swoon. She's getting married tomorrow and is having a wonderful time, I'm sure. Congratulations, Giovanna! Wishing you and yours all the best.

Sometimes I Hate The Knot!

So here I am, browsing on the internet like you do, and what should I find on the knot? You're either intrigued or groaning and eye-rolling right now. I must admit I did a little of both. I find this little gem:

"No party's complete without a photo booth!"

This is the look I'm giving The Knot right now.

GAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! What did I just say, The Knot?! What did I just say a couple days ago?!! The photo booth is not mandatory! Actually, there are plenty of parites that are more than complete without a photo booth! Before the photo booth concept was ever invented parties existed, and I'm pretty sure the party throwers were completely satisfied with their outcomes.
I didn't really want a photo booth anyway, but now I'm just doing it out of spite. Screw you, The Knot. My party will be complete and fun, and it will not involve a photo booth.

Institutionalized Wedding "Fun"

I was recently talking to an aquaintance who is planning his wedding and he was going over the laundry list of everything they had gotten done. "The invites are in the mail, she got her dress, I rented my tux...and oh yeah, we booked a photobooth," he said without any trace of excitement. Not only was there not excitement, but it sounded like one more obligation in a long list of things you need to have at your wedding. I realized that the photobooth is the latest "must-have" at weddings. I don't know how it happened, but it did. The first time I remember hearing about it was at Christian Aguillera's wedding, and it was a really cool idea! It was something no one had seen before...and then it became a trend. Everyone had the photobooth for a while, and now it has somehow transcended from trend to obligatory "fun" wedding staple.

Once you feel like you have to have something in order to show the world that your wedding was "fun" you're not being true to yourself anymore. Photobooths are inherantly cute, but if it's just something else you feel like you have to book because the wedding world is telling you that it will make your reception fun or you feel like your guests expect it, then it's probably time to think about what you really want. If a photobooth is not your personal idea of fun pick something that is! You've probably already hired a photographer, so what about something that isn't photography oriented? I'm just throwing it out there. Catch it if you want. Throw it back if you hate it.

Anyway, there are a few cool looking photobooth rental companies in Madison that are a little different than your traditional booth. Eventworks has some cool additonal options, like projecting pictures as they are taken onto a screen or wall. The Traveling Photo Booth has a lot of cool features (open back to fit more people, quality light, etc) while maintaining that vintage feel of the old photobooth. Their website is really modern looking and fun to poke around even if you're not considering a photobooth (like me). I'm sure there are more resources, but those are the few that I found.

Imagine Standing Under This...

I can't stop watching Lie To Me. If you haven't watched it yet you really must. Tim Roth is a world renowned body language expert, and he's always being hired by the government to determine who's lying through their facial expressions. Of course he has a sassy, smart team of psychologists and researchers to help him out, too. It's like they're face detectives! It's super cool. It's such a time suck and the episodes are on Netflix and way too available. Anyway, I was watching an episode from season 1 where they're at a Korean wedding and the aisle is lined with beautiful awning-type things and I immediately thought of this...

THE GATES!

Christo and Jeanne-Claude set up 7,503 of these gates in Central Park, and I wanted to see them so badly. How great would it be to recreate something like this at a wedding?! I know, it would be awesome.

I like the focal point created by a huppah or defining an aisle, but I'm not Jewish and I'm not crazy about runners. Huppahs have become more mainstream now, and I love the symbolism of starting a new family with your intended under a common shelter. I just had a thought..a gate huppah! Could it happen? Put three of them together with an open front so people can see and there you go! There's planty of wind out here on the prairie to move those babies around, too.

Photo from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's website.

Examples...

Here are a few other songs that I either rocked out to at Krush Girls, or am hearing now that they could easily be playing at the 40 Watt. These songs will give you that dance party vibe I'm going for.

1901 - Phoenix

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

any Lady Gaga song, for sure

Galang - M.I.A.

Read My Mind - The Killers
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet

Hopefully keeping this running list now will help me when it comes to downloading the things later.

More About My CD

Many thanks to Giovanna of Swoon for my mix cd! It's a great mix of songs with everything from Yo La Tengo to The Pretenders to The Roots. I've been listening to it lately when I have to open at 5:30 am as it's fun and gets gradually more energetic. So there it is, firmly planted on my list of opening cd's.
Reading her blog makes me feel like I'm back home. It's about her upcoming wedding, style, life, and other neat things. She lives in Hoboken, NJ which means she can basically spit with some force and hit New York. A lot of the recent reading I've done on other wedding blogs has been about the emotion involved in changing/not changing your name. I don't have a lot of name changing turmoil or identity wrapped up in my name, but I do have a lot of identity wrapped up in being a New Yorker. Also with my Westere European heritage even though my family never practiced anything really traditional. I don't know how that happened, but I strongly identify with being Italian (maybe because that's how I look).
Anyway, I was thnking of ways to incorporate our cultural heritage into the wedding and was having trouble finding things that don't involve money. Here's the playlist from my epic cd.

1) The Wait-The Pretenders*
2) American Music - The Violent Femmes
3) My Doorbell - The White Stripes*
4) Hello Operator - The White Stripes
5) Invisible - Modest Mouse
6) Float On - Modest Mouse
7) Smash Your Head - Girltalk
8) Thought At Work - The Roots*
9) Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies
10) Deceptacon - Le Tigre
11) Summertime - The Sundays
12) We Are The Sleepyheads - Belle and Sebastian
13) The Summer - Yo La Tengo
14) Catch The Wind - Donovan*
15) Northern Sky - Nick Drake*
16) Waltz - Fiona Apple

* = possible DIY DJ selections

Wedding Music from Another Awesome Bride

Yes, that's right. I'm looking at you Giovanna (and I will respond to you when I'm not in the middle of finals). I was involved in a cd exchange started by Anna at Accordions and Lace, and I got this awesome cd from Giovanna in Hoboken, NJ. I'll go into more depth later as I'm running out the door to go to work on this cold, rainy day. Thanks for the mix, and we'll talk more about her selections, our shared New York Italian girl heritage (which is so much a part of my identity), and her stylin' blog later this weekend.