Mean People Suck

Last night when we checked our comments, there was a very unusual one. We received the following comment in our About Wedding Whirlwind section from Marco, an apparently irate reader:

“Don’t you have anything better to do than talk about your wedding to strangers? Or at least something more interesting to write about?”

At first, I was a little shocked and disappointed that someone would leave a comment for what seems just like the sake of being mean. Then I thought a little more about it and was wondering if this Marco has such a problem with my sweetie and I sharing our engagement and wedding story on this blog, and doesn’t find anything we have to say interesting, then why is he reading it??

Maybe Marco doesn’t have anything better to do than to read other people’s wedding blogs and leave rude comments? If he’s so bored and looking for something to pique his interests, then perhaps he needs to find something better to do with his time then read our blog, which is not intended for strangers (even though we’ve met some really neat folks who’ve stumbled across the blog) but for friends, family, and colleagues who are interested in it. With all of our contacts spread all over the country, and the world, this is the easiest and most direct way to keep everyone on the same page.

And if Marco finds it dull and uninteresting, then there is nothing requiring him to visit the site.

He shared his opinion and I have shared mine. To each his own.

While I am a strong believer of everyone having their own opinion, and their right to express it, this is our blog and we reserve the right to publish comments that we feel are conducive to our theme. You will not see Marco’s comment in any other form than in this post.

We wish him well and a very interesting life. And, oh yeah, mean people suck.

XOXO
M, J, and S

“A Four Letter Word” Review in the New York Times Today!

Last week we posted about a little film we worked on back in the summer of 2006, A Four Letter Word. Well, it opened in New York City this weekend, to a sold out first night and a nice little review by Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times.

The title of the review says it all, “Good-Natured Raunchiness” – it’s definitely not your average coming of age story, but that’s what makes it so great.

Check out the review by clicking here.

Anyway, we’re very excited about the film and we had a great time working on it – it was a great cast and crew – something we will never forget. The film was my sweetie’s third collaboration with director, Casper Andreas, and my second.

We can’t wait for the premiere of Between Love & Goodbye, the most recent picture by Andreas, which is hitting the festival circuit this May at the Pink Apple Film Festival in Zurich, Switzerland for its first screening ever.

We’re thrilled!

XOXO
M, J, and S

Wedding Dress Shopping – My Introduction

Monique Lhuillier “Caitlin”

As soon as I mentioned to some people we had ordered the ring, they immediately asked me if I had chosen a dress. That was almost a month and a half before we were actually even engaged! Of course, being a girl, even though I had never wanted to or planned to get married, I did have some ideas – something simple, no beading, very little if any satin, and clean lines. The dress should be modern with a classic twist perhaps. I had it in mind that the there would also be something about the dress to give that edge – that something a little different.

But in truth, I was just excited to be getting a diamond engagement ring, let alone a dress! Who had time to think about the dress when you had a rock coming your way in the next couple of weeks?

However, that was in November. It seems as though right after I spoke to Emily, she began planning the wedding for me. She started sending me emails about different venues, flowers, wedding gowns, and different bridesmaid dresses (and mind you I hadn’t even asked her to be one yet!!!)

So things started to sink in and I decided that after the holidays and the New Year, I should probably start thinking about the dress seriously. I had it in mind that we would have the wedding in September 2008, but with the possibility of the event happening in 2009. (We were hoping for 2008, and we eventually set it as such, but we had some see-saw action going on.)

One of the earliest thoughts I had about the wedding dress was one I had actually seen on television – how cliché, right? I was watching Brothers and Sisters and saw the dress Kitty (Calista Flockhart, otherwise known as Ally McBeal to people of my generation) was wearing and I thought to myself, “Hey, I could do that.”

It ended up being a Monique Lhuillier dress; the “Caitlin” to be exact. It’s the picture at the top of this post.

So after that, I sent an email to Emily letting her know that after the holidays, not only should I start thinking about the dress, but we should all get together for a little wedding dress shopping weekend in New York City…and the plans for the dress (and the rest of the wedding) were set into motion.

XOXO
M, J, and S

P.S. That’s not the dress I’m going to wear.

And The Wedding Whirlwind Actually Begins – With the List and the Flowers and the Dress…

And so it begins, the wedding whirlwind for which this blog is so fabulously named…

One you are officially engaged there is so much added to your plate. Not only are you continuing on with your daily routine but now you have to think about planning a wedding, making a guest list, choosing a venue, picking your wedding party, thinking about accommodations for guests, what kind of wedding bands you want, should you go with a band or a DJ, what about photography, who can do my hair and makeup, what shoes should I wear, do we have an engagement party, what will the girls wear, where do I get a pillow for the ring bearer, do we really have to throw a bouquet, what kind of flowers, the colors of the wedding, tuxes or suits, day or night, will my sweetie cut his hair, should I grow mine, do we have the event in Florida or New York, what about the honeymoon, who will marry us, what kind of cake should we have, do I need to have a huge rehearsal the day before, will we have bad weather, what about the invitations, oh God – do we need to send out save-the-dates, the engagement announcement in the newspaper, and the list goes on and on. (Anyone who has planned a wedding recently knows that the list really does go on and on…)

Oh yeah, and it’s time to pick a dress.

The dress.

For anyone who has a problem making decisions, choosing a wedding dress can be quite a difficult task – choosing anything about one of the most major events of your life can put the pressure on.

The dress decision itself can be a life changing and life influencing decision; one that you may regret later on down the road when you pick up that wedding album and cringe at what you wore. Or your guests might cringe at what you’re wearing. It goes both ways. (But it’s not about the guests – it’s all about YOU!)

For the fashionphile, choosing between so many different dresses could be the problem. You might want to wear all 60 that you’ve tried on. Or you can’t decide between two. Or you really, really, really don’t like wedding gowns.

The dress decision can be influenced by any or all of the issues I’ve mentioned or by none of them. It really just depends on the person. Which means it really just depends on me, and what I want, which I’ve learned over the past few weeks and months.

If this post overwhelmed you, it should. Because that’s the way I feel sometimes when it comes to the dress, and the rest of that list. As we continue with each post, I hope to give you a little insight on what we went through, some tips I’ve picked up, and give you a couple of laughs along the way.

It’s enough to make us googly-eyed! Kinda like this:

XOXO
M, J, and S

New Direction for Wedding Whirlwind

(Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride)

Hi to all of our readers! We’re very excited to know that some of our readers extend well beyond family and friends, which makes keeping the blog up even more fun. We’ve gotten some great comments and some really fun emails from people all over! I guess the blogging community really is a “small world”.

Anyway, now that you all know our engagement story, so to speak, and have followed all the installments in the Wedding Whirlwind saga (so far), we are going to take it in a new direction. We won’t be abandoning anything to do with the engagement – because there is still a lot more now that we’re “official” but it’s now time to get into the nitty gritty of planning the wedding.

We hope you stick around for all of that. Also, this weekend we’ll be putting up some much needed photos within posts like “Happy Birthday to the Bridesmaid Emily!” and “Almost Engaged…The Christmas Countdown” to name two.

We also know that a lot of these events took place weeks (or months) ago, but my sweetie and I are both very busy with work, planning, and other happenings (like our weekly wine class that we’re doing till the end of April). We promise to keep everyone posted as much as possible. (We have a whole list of topics and post ideas to come, so we’re crossing them off one by one.)

But, if any of you have any ideas for posts or questions you’d like to read about, leave a comment here (or send us an email – if you know our personal emails, use that, if not, you can find it on About Wedding Whirlwind.)

Until then!

XOXO
M, J, and S

Christmas 2007 Morning – Engagement Day Part Two

Quick flashback – I was like an adult child on Christmas morning, waking up excited about the day. I had gone around and gotten all of my siblings out of bed and ready for the day by about 7:30ish. They were none too pleased, but in an overall good mood since it was after all, little baby Jesus’ birthday.

Plus, there was the promise of presents and breakfast. To most people, that isn’t a half bad way to start the day.

So, you’ll remember that I had made my rounds, waking up Jennifer, Christopher, Douglas, and then finally Dale. As soon as everyone was downstairs, they asked where Jon was…to which I replied with a swift motion pointing upstairs toward the bedroom. He was still sleeping, and I just couldn’t have that!

I made my way back up to the room and nicely told him to get his butt out of bed. He was awake because he heard me waking up the rest of the crowd and dreading for his moment of “Good Morning”. So he casually hugged and kissed me good morning and told me he would go get ready for the day.

This meant some clean teeth, washed face, and clothes. Because we all know my sweetie won’t go downstairs in my parents’ house in anything less than a clean t-shirt, jeans or shorts, belt, and sometimes even hat, socks, and shoes! He’s so formal.

Minutes went by which seemed like an eternity. I went back upstairs and he shut the door (now fully dressed and ready for the day.) He got down on his knee, took my left hand in his, and asked away! He used my full name – the first, middle, and last!

He was so nervous and shaking that it almost occurred to me to taunt him, much like he had taunted me with the ring in his pocket for the previous several days, but I didn’t have the heart. I was too excited to have been formally engaged with the ring on my finger!!

And after all the preparation, to be engaged in my high school bedroom is the highest of all ironies, in my opinion.

I quickly kissed him and we hugged and I asked if it was really my ring now – officially…and promptly ran right down the stairs shoving my left hand into everyone’s face. Demanding that they get down and kiss my ring.

As if I were infallible!

Upon seeing the ring on my hand, the first and only think my mother said was, “Where did you get that?!” Thinking I had stolen it without permission.

I, of course, informed her (and everyone else there) that it was official and I was rightly wearing my ring. Mom and Dad refused congratulations until my sweetie came down the stairs and verbally confirmed that it was true.

As if I were a sneak!

And with that, my friends, was the first official day of what was to become known as our Wedding Whirlwind!

More to come, stay tuned.

XOXO
M, J, and S

Christmas 2007 Morning – Engagement Day Part One

6:30 AM EST – So I woke up like a little kid on Christmas morning. Ok, alright, so it technically was Christmas morning. And I’m not quite a little kid – maybe just a big one. I leaned over and said to my sweetie, “Merry Christmas! Do you have something for me?” I shouldn’t have to remind you that I was half-expecting the ring to have already been put on my finger in my sleep.

All I got was a groan that somewhat resembled a “Merry Christmas and no present for you, not now.”

With that, I got up, went downstairs and greeted my parents, who were the only ones up, aside from the six cats, dog, parrot, and turtles. We chatted for a little while. We looked at the explosion of Christmas gifts on the floor of the living room underneath the redwood resembling tree smothered in black and red ornaments, black birds, and lights. I showered and headed to Jennifer’s room.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, poor kid…

She was sound asleep; I armed myself with the knowledge that a sleeping Jennifer is one that will allow me to wear just about anything I choose from the closet. Currently, and in wide awake states, I am allotted only 3 to 4 t-shirts and a single blouse, which I paid for. The kid has about a hundred tops. And with this, I am not embellishing in any way.

And I chose the shirt I would be wearing when I would become engaged – a cute little red number, which Jennifer appropriately wore the weekend of our engagement party. (For those of you who recall my engagement dress – I did, for a half-second think about putting that on, but I thought it might give my expectations away…I had been drawing the line for the last several days.)

I checked back on my sweetie at about 7:00 AM – still sleeping.

Went downstairs, had a snack. Hung out with the family. After waking up to my rifling through her closet, Jennifer joined us. Then, it was getting late. And my mom did say if we wanted breakfast or any presents, everyone had to be up.

Like we were four years old…waiting for Sandy Claws.

(Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas)

So I took it upon myself to move the day along. First it was Christopher, who had relocated to Mom and Dad’s bed. BODYSLAM!!! Two minutes later, he’s up for the day.

Next is Douglas, asleep in his cave bed – he has removed his closet doors and has shoved the bed into the closet, as a built in wall headboard. Jumped on his bed and poked him with my toes till he awoke.

Then it’s time for Dale to be awake. We must always wake Dale up as carefully as possible otherwise, there could be an atomic outburst from him, with everyone running. So, I woke him up quietly and gently saying “Merry Christmas, there’s breakfast” – which was a small lie; Mom hadn’t really started cooking.

So, I went downstairs and informed my parents that everyone was up. Everyone, but my sweetie that is…

XOXO
M, J, and S

Happy Easter from Wedding Whirlwind!

In the spirit of Easter, we thought we’d share this funny chocolate Easter bunny picture we got…Hope the Easter Bunny hopped into everyone’s house last night and left a big basket of goodies. Maybe hid some eggs. Maybe left some bunny prints.

XOXO

M, J, and S

The Eve of the Engagement…Yes, Continued

When my sweetie and my sister (Maid of Honor, Jennifer) arrived back from my Nana and Papa’s home, with a load of unwrapped presents my mother had been hiding there, I couldn’t wait to see what had happened over there.

First, Jennifer came in and looked at me and said something like, “You’re going to marry Jon. We know all about it.” I just looked at her and said, “Well, yeah, it isn’t like it’s a big secret.” Then I slapped her on the butt and ran away. (This is a thing we do – among other annoyances I bestow upon the poor kid.)

So, the next thing I did was naturally give Jon the third degree on what had gone on. And he told me.

Before he told me the story, he did mention that the ring was not yet mine and not to even bother asking!

He said he sat down with Nana and Papa (and yes, Jennifer – I guess we needed her permission as well). He showed them the ring. They listened patiently and then they examined the ring carefully. (However, this would not be the first time they had seen the ring, I had shown them a picture of the original design the week of Thanksgiving.)

Jennifer just sat silently, said nothing throughout the whole visit – for those of you who know Jennifer, you know that this is a feat in and of itself. A true Christmas miracle.

As it turns out, Nana and Papa had been expecting this for some time. In fact, for the past several years, Nana had consistently asked me what our intentions were. I think she is really just in the mood for a great-grandchild. (Sorry Nana, but you might need to keep hoping there!) She is, however, already on the prowl for the perfect “Nana of the Bride dress”. As we all know, Nana loves to shop, especially for fashionable items.

Papa made it very clear to Jon that he had better take care of me, or he would have my Papa to deal with. No one wants to mess with Papa.

Side note here (edited in after original posting):  Jon made mention that Papa actually also said that he had a very good time spending time with Jon on the cruise [September 2006, New England] and that he thought that he was very good for me.  And welcomed him to our family.

At this point, Jennifer is still utterly silent. Continuing the Christmas miracle.

On the way back to my parents’ house, Jennifer said to Jon in the quietest voice, “You’re going to marry my sister???!!!” to which Jon replied, “Yes, which means I’m your brother for real now!”

And he punched her lightly on the arm.

Great, Jennifer now has 4 older brothers. And me. Poor girl.

XOXO

M, J, and S

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Look into the Mind of the Bride-to-Be the Night Before the Engagement

Imagine, Christmas Eve 2007. It’s a muggy, warm South Florida evening, not unlike almost every other night of the year, except it’s the middle of winter.Your three brothers are constantly pounding on the master bedroom door yelling, “Let me in! Are those packages downstairs for me?? Can I come in?” As they shout through the door, they stick their grubby little fingers under the door and jiggle the doorknob as if they were mast lock pickers. During this commotion, your mother flips out yelling back and diving over the unwrapped gifts every time – thinking that this time will be when they burst through the door and see all the loot that will soon cover the living room floor like a 10-ton Santa-bomb exploded. It is hilarious.

Side Note:

You would think my brothers are little boys, but they’re not. They range from 20 to 23. They are the three chipmunks – Dale, Christopher, and Douglas. Or better yet, Crabman (or Snoop Dogg – think of the new video for “Sensual Seduction” and you’ll get the idea!), Easily the lightning bolt throwing Master Shaman or Warlock constantly battling Shatner (or Fatboy – depending on my mood), and Wally (or Dread-Head or Dead-Bug-Doug or anything else on the long list of things we like to call him!).

While all the commotion is going on, and you are frantically wrapping gifts you have no idea who they are intended for, cutting ribbon, and have tape to every finger but the whole time, you know that your soon-to-be fiancé and sister are at your Nana and Papa’s house – getting more gifts to wrap and he is asking permission to marry you.

You already know how it went with Mom and Dad at home. But you are left wondering how it will go with Nana and Papa. You recall how one day how you were told that your Papa would “punch him in the nose” if he was mean to you. That hadn’t yet occurred, but you had to wonder what Papa might say. Or still, what Nana might say.

Really you just keep thinking to yourself, when he gets back, “Do I get the ring tonight????” and keep wrapping presents.

XOXO
M