Let the Spreadsheeting Begin

Thinking about wedding planning is an awesome way to procrastinate on my schoolwork. Yesterday, instead of a gloriously well-crafted progress paper I produced a venue cost-comparison spreadsheet that is both sufficiently elaborate, and very easy to update as we get more information on the actual expenses at each venue. Behold:

The yellow cells can be changed, the red cells are guesstimates and must be changed.
Other than that, it's all self-updating 

I'm glad we aren't planning this somewhere (like Toronto) with a hundred thousand possible venues. We narrowed the options in Kingston down to five front-runners pretty easily.

Why?

Source

This is a small thought, too big for a tweet, too small for a proper post, but here goes.

I put music on the websites I designed... awesome MIDI files back in 1998. Around that time, the convention in web design became "don't include music just because you can. Your audience is forced to listen to it, and they should be allowed to peruse the website at their leisure."

Given that, WHY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD do 99% of wedding photographers put horrible sappy "mood" music on their portfolios? I have my own music, or I might be at work. See the above reasoning for why the music on your website, if you choose to include it, should be on pause by default with the option to play. Web designers who create these horrendous Flash monstrosities for photographers: what are you doing? Have you ever opened the sites for eight photographers in tabs and then after a moment of aural assault had your (awesome) computer seize up and die under the weight of so much Flash??

Whatever your reasoning, stop, please.

Winning the Dress Lottery

I have a wedding dress. Way WAY sooner than it really makes sense to have a dress.

I can't post pictures, they're secret from Dave!
Here is a photo of the garment bag instead.

Mom and Dad didn't want to miss out on dress shopping with their favourite daughter, so while they were in Montreal last weekend, I thought we could drop by "that shop Catherine got her dress at, where you don't need appointments."

Saturday morning, I gave them a call - just to make sure they were open on Sundays, when we planned to do some browsing. I found out that no, they weren't open on Sundays. Oh. But would I need an appointment to come by some other time? I asked. Ah.... yes. Unless it was one of their sale days (maybe once or twice a year), appointments are necessary. And they had one that afternoon because of a cancellation.*

We showed up a bit before 3:30, and were let into the beautiful (very flatteringly lit) salon just as the group before us was leaving. I explained that I was recently engaged, and just hoping to get a sense of what sorts of styles suited me. I was happy to try on anything. Ten dresses and an hour later we had a pretty good sense of what looked good**, and my mom pulled out "just one more dress" two dresses after I said I was ready to be back in my normal clothes.

The (wonderful) lady helping me tossed the layers of satin and tulle over my head, and zipped it up smoothly. It was perfect - a very elegant and classic dress that didn't stray into "mature bride" territory at all. Flattering in every dimension and a perfect fit.*** It didn't fill me with childlike glee, like the cinderella ball gown I had tried on seven dresses previously:

Not like this except for the extreme amount of tulle in the skirt.

But also unlike the cinderella dress it was the sort of dress I could definitely see myself getting married in. Then I saw the train, and the detail on the back, and I fell completely in love with it. Mom & Dad agreed - it was the sort of dress by which all other dresses are measured. They quoted us a price, but suggested that I wait and come back the following Saturday for one of the sales.

Me and my dress, outside the salon.

This morning I walked out with my dress! Even though it's not in agreement with the month-by-month wedding to-dos available online, the dress is the first thing we've checked off the list!

*Stroke of luck #1: same-day appointment at a bridal salon
** no strapless, no white, no lace and tapered through the torso to my natural waist. This eliminates about 95% of bridal gowns in existence.
***In this salon, the dresses aren't samples - they're produced one at a time, and when they sell, they sell. If it's made in your size, it can work. If it isn't, you're out of luck.