Updates

1) We have a ceremony venue! It's the same place we're having the reception, so for all of you lazy-bones who heard tell that we wanted to parade from the ceremony to the reception and had to feign excitement over the prospect of extra walking, you're welcome. We met with our wonderful, fabulous, amazing venue organizer person/nicest human being on Saturday. His name also happens to be Bill.

EVERY OPTION FOR AN OUTSIDE CEREMONY SPOT HAS FALLEN THROUGH, was the gist of the email we had sent him. CAN YOU HELP US?!

"Yep, no problem," was the gist of his breezy reply. "You wanna stick around for a concert later featuring the European champion of looping and also Kopecky? I'll putcha on the guest list fo' free."

YES PLEASE, we said. YOU ARE THE NICEST.

2) Also during our meeting he confirmed that we wanted to rent the place until "11? 12? We won't kick you out. At least, not until we close." My face was a blank, which I'm sure seemed like a strange reaction to the whole timeline question. But really I was getting irrationally excited about the fact that we could put "Time: 5:00-?" on our wedding invitations.

3) We sent the invitations off to be printed! They have less of the refined elegance associated with weddings and more of the youthful exuberance you'd find on a child's first birthday party invitation. But that's how we feel about getting married. It's the birthday of our marriage! Come celebrate with us! Put on this party hat and never take it off. 

4) I made a list of all the things we still need to do. There are 37 items on it. I thought that was too many, so I put the list away and am left with the vague sense of unease that to-do lists always give.

5) I forgot to mention it, but a couple weeks ago we got wedding insurance, so the horrific natural disasters and devastating acts of God can just roll on in! We're covered.

"That way, you have it."

6) We watched Eugene Mirman's special on Netflix where he marries a couple onstage, and now I kind of want Thom, our friend/officiant, to make up our vows for us on the spot.

7) Speaking of having a friend officiate, in The Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you can only have a friend marry you if they happen to be a judge or a religious leader with an established congregation in Pennsylvania. This may or may not mean that a cult leader could perform the ceremony. However, because we have a whole mess of Quakers here, we can get self-uniting licenses, which, as you might expect, allow couples to marry themselves without an officiant. It's supposed to be reserved just for Quakers, but the people down at the registrar are technically not allowed to ask if you're Quaker or not. So I figure as long as we go in wearing bonnets and holding a container of rolled oats, we'll have no problems.

8) So many people have already responded! I mean, only about fifteen people, but considering we haven't even sent out the invitations, it seems like a lot. I'm humbly chalking this eagerness up to the RSVP flow chart on our website. It's my finest work.

9) I expanded my penny shoe criteria to include all small change. I had failed to take into account that when penny shoes were a thing, shoes cost much less, so you could probably get a decent pair of shoes with a handful of pennies.

10) I've finished the front half of my dress. So basically what I have is a fancy hospital gown.