Aynouk Tan…

Performing life: a chance to touch dear Aynouk—blindfolded—and she had turned the videocam on… why I didn’t give it a go? i don’t know, like when the floor beneath you starts to shake, and you don’t know what to do… just all shook up.

Photo’s: Aynouk No.2

SAIPUA, a Brooklyn-based company is adding to my already overflowing file folder of wedding flowers wants/needs/must-haves. These arrangements have a great range of textures, height, and organic flow. My wedding palette is based on peach, sage, yellow, aqua, and pink. All these bouquets would work perfectly, especially incorporating the ranch feeling of Catalina Island.

I’m looking to get my venues booked by the end of the year, so that I can take advantage of 2010 prices for my 2011 wedding. I wanted to be prepared and to make sure I had everything handled, since I’m getting married two hours away. I put together this list of questions to ask the venue/sales/event/wedding coordinator, so that I wouldn’t waste any time. I thought it could help you guys out too, so here’s a list:

1. What dates are available in the season that you want to get married in? If you already have the date, find out the availability for the date and hours.

For a more flexible wedding date, it is still important to ask the venue about their availability. That will give you an idea of their busy season.

Knowing a venue’s busy season can clue you into how many other weddings will be taking place the same weekend, and the same day as your own.

2. Ask about the wedding season for the location of your venue. Planning a wedding off season can save you literally thousands of dollars. Off season for most weddings are November-mid-May. 

On that note, think about a Friday or Sunday wedding and ask the venue for their prices for those days as well. I’m saving $18K just by doing these two things (Sunday wedding in the off season).

3. What hours are weddings held – from how early in the morning, until how late at night?

Brunch weddings are cheaper than evening weddings, as well.

4. How many events will be held during my wedding? 
 
The facility may do more than weddings, and it is important to know what kind of service you will be receiving on your big day. Ask if there are other events or weddings during yours, before or after yours. This will dramatically affect your set-up, breakdown and rehearsal times.
 
Some venues book back-to-back events and you and your guests may feel rushed if this is the case.

5. Is your venue easy to find?

6. Is your venue licensed to carry out civil weddings?

7. If you do hold a license for civil ceremonies, what authority do you come under and can you supply names and contact details for the registrar?

8. Do you have a list of local officiants and some references for them?

9. Who do I contact if there is a problem? 
 
Because you want your big day to go off without a hitch, it is important to know who the contact person is at the event in case of a question or a problem. Is the manager going to be on site? Who would you talk to and where would you find the venue’s trouble shooting person?

10. On that note, do you offer day-of coordinators? It’d be cheaper and more helpful to have someone on site that has established relationships with local vendors as well as know the ins-and-outs of your location and how to troubleshoot effectively.

11. Does the wedding venue offer any Wedding Package Plans? 
 
A reception facility sometimes offers a wedding package plan. What the package includes varies from reception hall to reception hall. It is important to ask exactly what the packages offer, and if not, which services will cost you extra. Is the ceremony included? Or what is the extra fee for a ceremony? 
 
Money Saving Tip: Compare the price of a package plan to a customized plan to get the services that you need on that day, that also fit your budget.

12. What is the rental fee for the Wedding Venue? 
 
Typically reception halls will quote couples a per-person fee. Not all venues are up-front about the fact that in addition to the per-person fee, there may also be added tax (some venues include it in the per-person fee), and an added gratituity. 
 
On top of that, there could also be an actual rental fee for the venue itself. Ask how much the venue rental fee is, and ask how many hours it covers. 
 
13. Ask the venue how much their deposit is to hold the facility for a specific date. Ask when the deposit is due, and in what form (check, money order, credit card). 
 
Find out when the facility needs a secondary or final payment.

14. Is there a payment schedule? What deposits are required?

15. What’s the cancellation policy?

16. Are there any hidden costs? (Before you sign the contract, read it carefully.)

17. What’s the decor like? Does it fit your style and wedding colors? Will you have to spend a lot of money on flowers and decorations to make it beautiful?

18. Is the wedding venue wheelchair accessible? If not, are there many stairs to climb? How close is the parking to the ceremony?

19. Is there room in the wedding venue for a band, wedding musicians, or DJ to play your processional? Ask about power strips/supply for the band or DJ. They will need one close by to set up their equipment…more members of a band=more power needed. Also, ask about acoustics. Your band director or DJ should know about this but, it’ll save you time and money to have this answered for them before you meet.

20. Does the wedding venue already own a sound system with adequate speakers or will that need to be rented? Or will your band/DJ have to supply it? If you’re hiring a DJ, they’ll have speakers and an amp without charging you extra or making it another thing for you to worry about!

21. Is there a space for the bride and groom to change and/or relax? Will there be separate rooms- bridal suite, etc? You’ll want to calculate the closeness of these rooms to the ceremony and work out how to get to the ceremony without too much time/hassle(brides).

22. Where will you take photographs? Is there a park nearby, or do the coordinators have recommended spots on the grounds? Is there a way to control high traffic areas that you may want to take your photos?

23. Where can your guests park? Are there extra fees for parking? Do they have valet parking? Will there need to be shuttles to bring your guests to the venue?

24. Is the wedding venue convenient to public transportation, especially in big cities? How long will it take your guests to get there?

25. Are candles or other open flames allowed?

26. If its an outdoor location, do they have any backup plans for rain or other inclement weather? If not, is there a place that you can put up a tent?

27. Do they own enough chairs for the ceremony, or will they need to be rented?

28. What is the capacity of the Wedding Venue? One of the earliest and hardest decisions that the couple has to make is how many people to invite. Find out if the venue can hold the amount of guests you intend to invite.

29. Will the Venue Provide Wedding Supplies and Accessories? Chairs, any decorations, aisle runners, huppahs, altars, etc….

30. Do you allow confetti, birdseed, bubbles, flower petals, etc to be thrown at the venue? 

is a really good album.

We had the pleasure of photographing a wedding in Miami last Sunday. The ceremony and reception were held at Signature Gardens. What a beautiful venue. The only problem it was 5 minutes before the ceremony and the Minister had not arrived. So there we were at the absolute last minute trying to borrow an officiant from another wedding in the building but there were none. The guy never did show up and a groomsmen was promoted to officiant for the day. Everything worked out in the end and turned out to be very interesting. The ceremony flew by in about 15 minutes. One really cool thing this was the first wedding we have done with dogs in the wedding party. I really enjoyed that.

Globetrotters are constantly on the lookout for novel world travel destinations to quench their thirsts to know and grow. Tours around the world probably enhances one’s knowledge spectrum to a large extent, bringing a considerable part of the globe at your feet. A world travel guide will lead you through a smooth and hassle free traveling experience.

It is a clever and sensible step to decide on the cheap flights
that take you to the top world travel destinations. These flights provide more than decent services and the crew at the airports as well as that on the flights extends admirable hospitality to the visitors. Most heartening, however, is the fact that these services are meted out by the cheap flights at unbelievably reasonable prices.

The United Kingdom is one of the prime world travel destinations, attracting the travel desires of all and sundry around the world. Hence, an UK tour is expected to form an essential part of the world travel guide. Home to some of the finest world hotels, UK provides a huge array of accommodation
options to the visitors. All of them, however, ensure strategic locations, near to the main conveyance hubs. The rooms at these hotels are generally spacious, well furnished and most elegantly decorated. These some of the best world hotels also provide first class business facilities, like conference centers, STD/ISD facility, Internet, etc. To occupy your leisure, opt to take the assistance of the travel desk at the hotels to visit the famous tourist sites, like the British Museum, Madame Tussaud’s, London Eye, etc. Step up your UK tour by putting up at any of these hotels.

Of all the world travel destinations, Beijing stands out as a special choice. This solely owes to the forthcoming Beijing Olympic 2008. The Olympic Games are programmed to take off on the 8th of August, 2008 and continue till the 24th of August, 2008. The grand opening ceremony is scheduled to begin at 08:08:08 pm CST at the Beijing National Stadium. Some of the events, however, are slated to be hosted by some of the other cities in China. The closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is scheduled to be conducted on the 24th of August, 8.00 p.m. in the Beijing National Stadium.

The mascots of any Games bear tremendous significance and Beijing Olympics 2008 is no exception. The mascot here consists of a set of five Fuwa or the ‘good luck dolls’, comprising Bebei, Jingjing, Yingying, Nini and Huanhuan, symbolizing the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow and the Olympic Flame respectively.

A tour to Beijing during the Olympic Games is sure to be covered in detail by a world travel guide. Whether you will need eighty days to cover your desired trip around the world in a desired manner, is debatable, but, the journey through the much loved places with the help of a thorough world travel guide will be certainly of great assistance to any traveler.

Source by: World Travel Guide: Around the World

“Just Married”

“Wedding Rings”

In addition to the naming reading, I chose two other readings from Singing the Living Tradition for the ceremony we did for Noah. Each of these jumped out out me as I was looking through the hymnal looking for readings that felt right. Each is originally a song, but I read them so they were more like spoken verse (I’m not a singer!).

The Leaf Unfurling

The leaf unfurling in the air,

the newborn child,

the loving parents’ care

these constant, common miracles we share.

All life is one,

a single branching tree,

all pain a part of human misery,

all happiness a gift to you and me.

The selfsame bells for joy and sorrow ring.

No one can know what the next hour will bring.

We cry, we laugh, we mourn,

and still we sing.

—-

It is Something to Have Wept

It is something to have wept as we have wept,

and something to have done as we have done;

it is something to have watched when all have slept,

and seen the stars which never see the sun.

It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,

although it break and leave the thorny rods;

it is something to have hungered once

as those must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.

To have known the things that from the weak are furled,

the fearful ancient passions, strange and high.

It is something to be wiser than the world,

and something to be older than the sky.

Lo, and blessed are our ears for they have heard;

Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen.

Let the thunder break on human, beast, and bird, and lightning.

It is something to have been.

I read the final one as we put the box into the ground. I chose it primarily because of the last line. The middle section wasn’t as apropos, but the opening and close said something that I felt.

I have always thought of having something thrown after the ceremony of our wedding.  I suppose it is normally done as the happy couple run off to their honeymoon, but Mr. Library and I will be staying at the same resort as the reception and won’t be leaving for our honeymoon for another couple of days.  You know… just enough time to open presents, collect our newly-married thoughts, and make sure my crazy aunts haven’t played any pranks on our packed suitcases.

After much deliberation over what to throw after our ceremony, I came up with a brilliant idea (ok, so I thought it was brilliant and sold it to Mr. Library as such).  Instead of throwing rice, which can harm birds, blowing bubbles, which leads to too many plastic containers and seems to be overly done, glitter, which will stick to us much more than anything else, and bird seed, which I hear can hurt and smell bad, I found an eco-friendly idea:  throwing wild flower mix.  Getting married on a bridge means that whatever we throw will inevitably end up in the water, and I didn’t want to be responsible for hurting the ecological balance.  Talk about bridal guilt!  If I get a mix of indigenous flowers, I won’t be upsetting anything; everything will just be more colorful because of my love for Mr. Library!  Sounds like an awesome plan, right?

Here’s the catch.  I have fallen in love with petal cones like the ones Mrs. Caterpillar posted.

Petal Cones

I am a total craft person, as is Sister Library and Mother Library, so that won’t be a problem, but we can’t find any blue paper that will work!  You would think it would be easy to find nice blue paper in a range of shades.  I’m not even picky about the pattern!  Does anyone have any good places to get shades of blue paper?

Call me crazy, but the white chapel wedding had always been my idea of a fantastic ceremony.  Our relatives would be in the pews, the church would be decorated with flowers, and there would be an altar with our wonderful preacher.

Maybe we should have thought about that before Mr. Library and I ended up being different religions.

I am Protestant (United Methodist if you want to be specific) and Mr. Library is Catholic.  It hasn’t ever been a problem in our relationship.  Really, why should religion be an issue?  Spirituality or religiousness should have the end goal of greater love, so Catholic, Buddist, Protestant, Taoist, Islamic, etc. doesn’t change a whole lot for me.  But when it came time to plan the wedding, religion first started to create a hard decision.  Which religion would we be having for the ceremony?  Would we have a Catholic mass?  I voted no.  After all, half of my family wouldn’t be able to participate, and being the bride, I felt like I should be able to take communion in my own wedding.  So that was out.  Mr. Library didn’t like the idea of not having any type of Catholic tradition in the ceremony, so we had to put on our thinking caps.

The location of the ceremony was a result of where our reception was, so once we landed on our party area, we hit the road to preview some churches.  Remember how I said I have a need to be original?  It goes for churches too.  My cousin J had gotten married in Bethel a couple years before, and since her marriage hadn’t made it out of the trenches so well, I didn’t want to repeat anything she had done.  (Incidentally, my ceremony and reception locations aren’t even in Bethel; they are just over the line for the next town called Newry.  Score!) After looking over our very limited options, many of which didn’t even come close to matching what we wanted, we decided to save the decision for later.

Then I heard about the bridge.

There is a covered bridge about two miles away from the resort we’re having the reception at, and when I found this:

The Artist's Covered Bridge, Newry, Maine

on The Knot, I fell in love with its charm.  Thank you, Amy and Cameron, for sharing your wedding online!  After a little debating with Mr. Library, we came to a compromise; if we got married on the bridge, he would be able to have the final say over the officiant.  I wasn’t too terribly picky over who presided as long as I wasn’t forced into stating that I would raise my future children as Catholics (I am a strong believer in raising them to make up their own minds as to a denomination), so I was a-okay with it.  One phone call later, the bridge was ours on July 17, 2010.  For free. (Insert giddy clapping and squealing here.)

Our beautiful ceremony location

“A river?  We get a river too?  Wait… there is seriously a river under this bridge?” – Mr. Library

Sister-MOH Library and Mother Library checking out the ceremony venue

God must have had something to do with this…

“Husband and Wife”

Thanks to the wonderful helpful Vicki from Aisle Style we have just order 10 white shepherds hooks – which will be ready just before Xmas for our 2010 weddings  they look so great and will be nice with out new chairs !!! We are very excited !!!

It’s that time of the year when motoring awards come thick and fast and Fiat is the latest to join the party.

Yesterday CarAdvice reported that Mazda won an award for its “i-stop” start/stop engine technology, and now Fiat has been honoured for another environmentally friendly innovation: the eco:Drive.

Fiat’s eco:Drive is a standard system that uses a USB connection in the dashboard to record detailed information about the vehicle and how it is driven.

The information is then uploaded onto a computer which gives an analysis of the driver’s performance, along with suggestions on how to improve efficiency further by reappraising driving methods.

Fiat claims the system can improve fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by as much as 15 per cent.

eco:Drive was launched by Fiat at the 2008 Paris Motor Show and was recognised as the Green Champion at the 2009 International Green Apple Awards presented by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Fiat designer Luis Cilimingras was responsible for the eco:Drive project and accepted the award in London this week.

“eco:Drive has won many honours since its launch a year ago but, until now, they were mostly for innovation or marketing.

“The Green Apple accolade is much more fulfilling, since it gives recognition of the work we have done for the environment,” he said.

Fiat Australia introduced eco:Drive into its range this year as an upgrade of the Blue&Me telematic system.

Some of eco:Drive’s tips include:

Maintaining correct tyre pressure to reduce rolling resistanceKeeping the windows up at above 30mph (approx. 50km/h)Driving slower in the wet and not waiting for the engine to “warm up” on cold days, as driving is the best way to warm it upDriving sensibly, looking ahead into the distance, avoiding unnecessary braking and accelerating and coasting to a stop in gear rather than jamming on the brakes

by Tim Beissmann

A lovely organization based in Canada, Angel Whispers, sent me a care package following my miscarriage. They included a lovely birth certificate for Noah and a sweet little angel bear as well as brochures/information.

At sunset on the day of my miscarriage, we had a ceremony and naming for the baby. My father had cleaned up the baby’s body and put him in a walnut Shaker box (that he made) and my mom crocheted a little blanket for the bottom of the box and a cover for the baby. We each added some items to the box with him. I chose three readings from the UU hymnal Singing the Living Tradition. This was the naming reading I chose:

Wonder of Wonders

Wonder of wonders, life [was] beginning

fragile as blossom, strong as the earth.

Shaped in a person, love has new meaning,

parents and people

sing at their birth.

Now with rejoicing, make celebration;

joy full of promise, laughter through tears,

naming and blessing

bring dedication,

humble in purpose over the years.

I then shared that we named the baby Noah.

Earlier in the day, Mark and I talked about what to name the baby. I felt it had been a girl and suggested Ava and then we said perhaps we would choose Noa, after a dream I had several years ago, because it was a boy-or-girl name. When my parents came back over bringing the baby in his box, my dad asked if I wanted to know the gender. I said yes and he shared that the baby was a boy. So, I knew it was Noah (boy version) after all. This was not a name on our “list” of baby names, but was instead prompted by a dream I had when my first child was between 6 and 12 months old. I had a very vivid birth dream in which I gave birth to a premature baby in a hospital bathroom alone at about 20 weeks. The baby slipped out into my hands and was still alive. I tried to nurse him, saying that I didn’t want him to “die hungry.” I also remember to smell his head—knowing that each new baby has their own special smell and you never forget it. Then, I called my husband in and said, “we have three sons!” and we named the baby Noah. What was odd about this dream is that we only had one son in real life. I had several subsequent dreams with the same “now we have three sons” language, so I’ve always wondered if somehow we were destined for three sons. So, to me, Noah felt like the right name for this baby.

We are so excited !! of the new additions to our wedding family !!!  we have arriving on Thursday 10 beautiful white timber chairs for our outdoor wedding ceremonies !!!  We are hoping to use them for the first time on saturday so will have some photos up next week

“Bridesmaid in Blue”

… and I will return shortly.

Photo by Nessa Kessinger