You guys! BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING.
For example, we’re getting married in ten days. Maybe nine days by the time you read this. Don’t freak out because not everyone can freak out, and we have dibs.
Two glasses of wine into my evening, I decided that stamping individual letters onto the seating assignments was probably a little beyond my capacity… what can I say, I’m a small person and two glasses of wine is a a lot of wine for me. You wouldn’t believe how much spell-check helped this post happen. Anyway. Rather than make seating assignments, I decided to work on our favors, and that brings me to our last Favor(ite) Things post: the candles.
The candles were the original idea, and, I think, are awesome. That said, they were the biggest time-suck of all of the favors. The most money and the most effort for the least results. But, whoa, they smell good, and they’re nice, and who doesn’t like a nice beeswax candle? No one, kids, no one.
So here’s how you do it:
supplies: wax, wicks, weights, and a jar
cut the wax. this is SO HARD. that's why we only have 8 candles. yes, 8, for all this work.
you can stab it and nothing happens! don't say I didn't warn you.
some people have double boilers. i have a measuring cup in a pot of boiling water. it works.
once it melts, you have a clear liquid.
prepare the wick - cut to the appropriate size and attach weight
attach top of wick to something that will hold it up when you pour in the wax... you can trim excess wick later
action shot! pour hot wax into jar.
setups for multiples
pretty candles setting!
my amazing photography celebrates our success (which smells lovely!)
why, where did this beautiful candle come from? someone awesome must have made it.
But also, forget favors. Here is what is happening ten days before the wedding:
We are freaking out. We are forgetting to take our regular medications, and we are fighting a lot. Seriously: a lot. A friend of mine who got married last year said, “Wait till the week before your wedding. The week before our wedding, there was just so much love and support. The week before our wedding was amazing. So much love.”
cute pictures of us interspersed in here to remind me of the important part: how happy we make each other.
Okay: I know there will be love. There already is love. I am blown away by the people who have stepped up, by the offers to help with things wedding-related, like various parties and craft projects, and the things sanity-related, like painting our study. Yes, one of our bridal brigade spent Sunday with us painting our study so that I could have a good place to study Orgo and a nice guest room during our wedding craziness. Thank you, Laurie!
Well, I don’t know about a week before our wedding; we still have a few days to go. But I can tell you that ten days before our wedding, we are arguing, a lot. Stress levels are high. Will the favors get done? Where will we seat people? Did my suit get lost in the mail (answer: possibly. It’s in Colorado somewhere.)? How will people get to the wedding? Will the car be fixed by then (answer: probably not. The Awesome continues.)?
More hapy pictures! photo by Ellie Leonardsmith
Okay, I know I’ve said this a million times before, but here’s the thing: there is no one else I would rather be arguing with. Plus, my therapist says this is normal pre-wedding behavior. Turtle says that she’s sorry, but she thinks she’s probably testing me to make sure I’ll stick around. And I’m for sure stressed out about classes and missing them – and hopefully that was resolved by my officially dropping both of them today, though my guilt about putting off vet school for another year adds another level of stress. Someone, please tell me it is crazy of me to start Organic Chemistry a week and a half before getting married? Yes?
So what is the takeaway here? The takeaway is that getting married is crazy sh*t, you guys. It is nutty, and it is hard to prepare for this big party that has all of your most important people. Even if it’s simple, of course it’s crazy, right?
A friend of mine got married recently, and it sounded like her wedding turned into a much bigger event than she originally planned, and a lot of people that she didn’t really, truly want there all said they would be there. So she and her fiance and their two best friends went to the ocean at midnight and said their vows and they were married there at midnight on the day of their wedding. I think that is amazing.
silly, because that's how we roll. photo by Ellie Leonardsmith
But, same thing I’ve always said, our people are important to us. The community that has supported us is important to us. Turtle’s mom is coming this weekend and I am SO relieved by that.
Oh, you guys, I feel like I’m losing it a little. Seriously, what are your happy ideas/sanity-savers/survival mechanisms? Some happy, calm thoughts would be helpful. Thank you, fo’ reals. You guys are amazing.
Roughing It 