1,000 Paper Cranes Updated

I have always loved the symbolism of 1,000 origami paper cranes at weddings. Wikipedia tells me that they symbolize the giver's wish for a thousand years of happiness for the new couple, and the internet would not lie to me. My mom reminded me of my love for these cranes when she offered to fold them for me one day, out of the blue, because she is awesome. Besides the symbolism, thinking about the time, effort, and inevitable hand cramps that go into hand-folding 1,000 paper squares makes the gift so special. When was the last time you actually made a wedding gift for someone dear to you instead of buying up the cheapest registry items in Williams-Sonoma? I can safely say that I've never done that. Not that Williams-Sonoma doesn't have some bitchin' cookware, and these gifts are probably more practical and useful. Except for the meatball grilling basket. I just can't wrap my mind around that. And the jalapeno popper roaster. Does anyone own one or both of those and use them? Report back, please. I'm getting off on a bullshit cookware you don't need tangent here...(no disrespect intended if you own one...I own bullshit products too)

Anyway, I stumbled across this piece of artwork today on my favorite, Design*Sponge, and was inspired.

I am in love with the opaque bird cut-outs that overlap and merge to create new swirls of color. Wouldn't it be beautiful to adapt this idea as an alternative to signing a matted picture of the couple? You could cut out 1,000 crane shapes, or any image that is significant to you and yours, from different colored tissue paper or crepe paper and layer them on a canvas or flat surface. This could then be matted for guests to sign, and it would be a sweet reminder of your wedding day to hang in your home. Granted, neither of us are Japanese, but we both have a love of Asian cultures, and the minimalist aesthetic in Japanese design. Maybe this is picking and choosing pieces of a culture to appropriate that is not my own, but that's what Americans are great at! A little of this, a bit of that, and voila! Also, I don't think it's being done in a disrespectful way. At least, that is not my intent. My intent is to honor a tradition that I identify with for whatever reason, even though it isn't part of the culture I was brought up in.

Now, truth be told, I would probably be the first to be extremely frustrated by cutting tissue paper. That's almost asking for a stress-induced meltdown right there...here, cut out a thousand paper birds from the flimsiest material known to craftkind. That's like asking someone to build a suspension bridge out of balsa wood. Totally frustrating. This could probably also be done with stencils and watercolors or gouache if you're more into painting. You'd still get the lovely transparent, blending effect from the thin paint without the pressure of ripped paper (bonus). Has anyone done something similar? I think I need to break out my gouache again and experiment. Thank you costume design class for teaching me about drawing and gouache.

Picture of Kara Maria print via Design*Sponge

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.

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

Things I Will Not Do at My Wedding

1) Bouquet toss - I loathe the bouquet toss. Any tradition that rounds up the single ladies like cattle and makes them fight tooth and nail for a bunch of flowers to signify that she, the lucky one, will be the next to get married makes me want to vomit. Marriage is an important and valuable step in a relationship if it feels right to you, but couples who choose not to get married and single women have relationships that are traditionally undervalued but just as valid. I didn't like being made a spectacle of as a single woman, and I refuse to negate your choices, future single female guests at my wedding. So, all the single ladies *all the single ladies* (I also think Beyonce is single-handedly reinforcing gender steroetypes with this crappy catchy song and others, but that's another tale for another time) you may attend without fear.

2) Garter toss - I also refuse to make a mock sexual display of myself and my husband as he ventures comically up my dress to pull off my garter and throw it to one of his dude friends. Gross. I have seen this done at other weddings and thought it was cute because the couple was into it, but when I think about doing it myself I again want to vomit.

I basically won't be tossing anything.

3) Have a head table - This is the traditional way to go, and may be a good organizational choice for larger or more formal weddings, but I hate the exclusivity and on displayness of the head table. The rest of the guests always look to the head table for their cues as to when they can eat, get up, etc. I want people to wander around freely, mingle, and not feel constrained by faux formality. That's not how we roll. I also really hate being stared at, and this would inevitably happen at a head table.

That's all the stuff I hate for now! There will be more later, I'm sure.