Alternative wedding music

Some music selections for the ceremony or cocktail hour.

FF VII OST - Aerith's Theme
FF X OST - Suteki Da Ne (Piano)

And the mister and I wanted to celebrate our joyful "I Do's" with a version of this finishing touch:
FF Victory Theme

Mixed feelings

I haven't updated this blog in awhile, but as my subject line so succinctly puts it, a lot of complex emotions have been stirred since the mister and I got engaged.  We went from discussing elopement to doing a simple courthouse ceremony with a nice dinner (all immediate-family-only) to doing a casual beach wedding to doing a nicer wedding, etc.  Most of our friends have been generally supportive of whatever we decide to do, even if it's an elopement.  And I deeply appreciate that their support has been unconditional, even on whether they would be invited to a ceremony or reception, because they love and trust us enough to know that we will celebrate with all of them in due time and with the appropriate amount of fanfare.  Family has been trickier to navigate, and I anticipate that more complicated issues with family will arise later, but for now, it's manageable.

Wedding planning stress also noticeably spikes when I'm PMSing.  We've agreed to not make any major decisions while I'm in PMS.  I think this is very wise.

We are also struggling with how to set our budget.  The mister and I are not really broke and can afford a nicer wedding, but paying more for a nicer wedding means having to save more/longer for our first home.  Really, the main thing is that we want to get married, and everything else about the wedding day (dress, flowers, guests, etc.) we don't really need or can do without.

But our parents would be the most disappointed about us not having a wedding ceremony and reception, and so we decided to at least make an effort to plan an event on our terms.

So far, this is what happened:

• We started a guest list and narrowed the main list down to about 140 people, which includes immediate families, extended families (only as far as first cousins), and our closest friends with a select number of plus ones.  Our plus-ones rule: If they're married or engaged, their spouse or spouse-to-be gets an automatic invite.  If they're not married/engaged, we should know them and/or like them well enough to feel that they would contribute to a happy wedding atmosphere.  We also have a secondary guest list prepared.
• We've settled on doing a Sunday ceremony with a lunch reception.  The benefits are awesome.  More dates are available than for Saturday weddings.  A lot of places give additional discounts for doing Sunday weddings, and the decline rate for out of town guests could be slightly higher, meaning we can save more money from a smaller guest count or add people from our secondary guest list.
• Our friend M has a photojournalist friend who offered to photograph our wedding for free!  I expect we'll cover the material costs and wedding food, and we'll probably still give her something for her trouble, but this would help our budget a lot!
• My mother's dream has been to make my wedding dress someday.  Add the fact that my sister is a budding fashion designer from FIDM, and I've got my dress team!  This will also enormously help our budget.
• We visited a few venues in Monterey/Carmel, one in Fremont, and one in Burlingame so far, and most of them have been great about giving us cost proposal estimates for comparison.  Our favorite places are the most expensive, of course, and though I have a definite favorite, we are continuing our search.
• Expanding on the venue that is my absolute favorite so far: the place is so nice and comes with just enough that centerpieces would be the only decoration we need. 
• Traditions we are intending not to include: bridal party (we just want all our friends to enjoy themselves on the day of as guests), engagement party, bouquet/garter toss, church ceremony (I have not yet told my parents about this yet).
• The expense of wedding cake is pretty hefty.  And of the weddings I've been to so far, cake in general is good, but not great.  We are considering cake alternatives, such as pie, or a small dessert buffet.
• By popular demand, we will keep the bachelor and bachelorette parties.  And whoever wants to plan them can plan them.
• We are thinking of asking a special friend to be an officiant for us. :)
• I'm finding myself more and more interested in planning the ceremony and have found a number of readings that I can't wait to test out and possibly integrate in the ceremony.  Maybe my baby sister Jenny would do a reading for us from a children's book.