Progress…

I am an optimist. I always think I’m moving forward — even today after working for who-knows-how-many-hours on hand-sewing lace pieces onto the outer-dress. I started thinking about how long it took me at first. The first lace piece took probably an hour to sew on. We’re talking about a pretty small piece, but then again, you need to sew mostly around the edge and it isn’t an even edge. So each piece takes a while. By the time I was done sewing those lace pieces onto my dress, it was taking me about 15-20 minutes per piece. Practice makes perfect. I still need to go back and tack down some of the pieces where they want to stick out a bit, but all the pieces are sewn onto the outer dress. Yay!!!

There have been a few speed bumps the past couple weeks. Planning a wedding is one thing; planning a party with a band and food and desserts and formulating it around the wedding idea is something else entirely! A few weeks ago, the guy who we’ve been talking to about music for both our wedding and reception bowed out of the reception. He had a legitimate reason why, but Dave and Mike had been talking about this since October of 2020. He said he just couldn’t do it in good conscience. I almost cried. It just seemed so perfect. He plays keyboards and has a pretty good voice. We have friends who are musicians (well, one is a drummer) and they all know each other so they were going to be the rest of the band. Well, when Dave bowed out (I don’t like the word “quit”), I talked to my friend Louanne and she said “Ask Bob Barnes — he played at my first wedding.” I’m friends on Facebook, and decided to shoot him a text. He responded and said he would have to check his schedule. A week later, he was still uncertain and I was beginning to give up hope. I said something to Mike about it and he said, “No big deal. Quit worrying. We will just play CD’s if this doesn’t work out.” You know, that’s why I’m marrying this man! He is the calm to my inner storm.

Last week I got a text from Bob saying he was in. His wife, Chelsea, has an incredibly good voice, and she agreed as well. They know Jon Varnell, the guitar player, and actually perform with him. They have never performed with Tim Merklin, the drummer, but I have faith that everything is falling into place. Bob and Chelsea came by tonight to check out the space and everything seems a go! We have a band afterall! I asked what we should call them, and no one really knows. It is Bob, Jon, Tim and Chelsea so far — trying to give them all a bit of exposure! So, should be a fun time.

That wasn’t the only excitement in the past couple weeks regarding our event. I had asked a friend to make sure the ceremony went off without a hitch — a wedding planner job, in other words. She bowed out as well, with good reason. I don’t blame her — she would have been doing it long distance. I asked Louanne, who is very good at planning, and she agreed. Yesterday, we met and talked about details. This is the thing about planners — both wedding and reception — they (Louanne and Brenda) ask me things I haven’t even thought about. Brenda will come up with things for the reception and I am left shaking my head. Her job is a lot more involved, I think, and she is very capable. She’s a rock star! We are 62 days out and she is on top of everything!

I digress. Louanne is great at planning as well. It makes me feel good because then I don’t have to worry about anything. Funny thing happened though — we met at Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner. Louanne just moved so she has been busy unpacking, etc. We sat outside and it was a beautiful day. It just felt good to relax and sit outside and enjoy the sun and nature, etc. All of the sudden I felt this warm liquid land on my leg. A bird pooped on me! It didn’t ruin my day. In fact, I thought it was pretty funny. Dang bird!

We are fretting a bit — we are waiting for RSVP’s. I know it’s a ways out, but we would like to have a better idea of who is coming. I suppose that is the stress of everyone who is in a situation like this. My cousin is getting married in June and she was begging people to RSVP by March, then April, then May something at the latest. I can see why some aren’t RSVP-ing since it is either on the website or via email and some people don’t use either. We will just be patient!

Overall, things are going well. I had planned on showing you all my dress. And I will, but I also want to say that it will look better than a picture of me with a cell phone in front of my face! Also, I’m still searching out the illusive undergarments that will make this more flattering. I’m happy with how it turned out. I will be taking it to a drycleaners (Oak Street Cleaners in Milwaukie, Oregon) to get it professionally pressed. That will be nerve-wracking, but I’ll get through it. I just don’t want to let it out of my sight! Can you blame me?!

Stay safe everyone! Things are getting better. I am happy that we’ll be able to pull this off this summer with vaccine availability. We are trying to be safe and hope everyone feels the same.