myurbandream: (Default)
myurbandream ([personal profile] myurbandream) wrote2008-10-29 09:37 pm
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....so what you gonna do with a cowboy, when that old rooster crows at dawn...

ah, life. all its surprises are so... interesting.

so a couple days ago i talked to jenny durham, a friend of jim's who is also a wedding planner, and she gave me some good advice about getting started for a wedding. i explained about wanting a winter wedding, and the whole issue with december dates, and she said that it is feasible to have the wedding on new years' eve. the basic issues are these:

the dates when i want the wedding to be, dec 29-31 of '09, are right in the middle of the week, tuesday thru thursday. normally people have weekend weddings, but that's simply so that they can work around work schedules and travel, not only for themselves and their families but for all the people that they invite to the wedding. but because it's during a holiday when pretty much everyone invited will be off of work, on school break, retired, or close enough family that it's worth them taking vacation, we won't have to worry about that so much. we will have to worry about booking the place for the reception, because new years' eve parties will be going on about the same time. i wanted to have an afternoon wedding and a dinner reception anyway, but jenny pointed out that if there are parties that need to set up in the same place as the reception, we'll be hustled out early. so there's that.

she also explained that having the reception in a hotel is a really handy thing to do. since my entire family and a good portion of jim's family will be coming in from out of town, they'll need to stay in a hotel for at least a couple of nights. jenny said that most hotels with reception halls will offer a discounted rate to family coming in for a wedding reception, especially if you book multiple rooms in advance.

so what i need to do is pick a church (and pastor/officiary/priest/enabler/whatever) that will do a wedding ceremony on the afternoon of december 31st- and a church that won't look awkward with only 40 people in it, as jenny pointed out- and then find a nearby hotel with a somewhat larger reception hall open for the early (and hopefully late) evening of new years' eve, and then confirm them all.

i also need to make sure that my ring is insured, and meet the jeweler who made it- because it was custom done!!!! *amazed* it's so beautiful, i really want to thank her (him? i think her) for doing it. also because it won't fit in any standard clasp-style wedding bands, which is the kind i want: where the wedding band fits around the engagement ring like a puzzle ring. super-cool, imho. ^___^

and the last thing i've been thinking about is living arrangements for the summer and fall of '09. i finish school in may, and i have a home and a part-time retail job waiting for me in austin. but.... i want to do the PURS/SURF scholarship over the summer, which would mean that i'd need to stay in houston for at least a little while. and i want to get an internship, which is kind of hard to apply for in a city where i don't live. then, i'll have the five months and change of the fall semester of '09 before i get married in december. very few apartments off-campus offer one-semester/month-to-month leases, so i would have to get a lease for a year, basically. but then jim and i will be moving in together in december- well, technically january, i guess. so: where to live?

the only feasible option i have so far for living in houston is to bunk with jim (or another houston friend...?) over the three months of summer, and then get a lease for myself for a one-bedroom apartment until december... at which point i would get married and jim would move in with me and be on the lease with me. that sounds like a good idea to me, but i'm open to counter-arguments or alternatives. i've only just started thinking about all this.

so: thoughts? concerns? ideas? rancid fish? ....anyone?

^___^

Here's an option

[identity profile] zaphod-groupie.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
Get a two bedroom with someone (I'm looking for a roommate starting in may...), live in it 'til you get married, and then have jim move in with you and your roomie for the remainder of a one-year lease. With two of you splitting half the expenses of a two-bedroom, you can save some money and perhaps put some ahead for furniture and things for a place of your own?

Re: Here's an option

[identity profile] jen-chan13.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
mm, yeah, but the whole point of not rooming with sara/kathryn/chari next year is that i want it to be just me and jim after we get married. so that kinda defeats the whole purpose.

thx though.

Re: Here's an option

[identity profile] zaphod-groupie.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
but i'm open to counter-arguments or alternatives.

You sure about that?

I know y'all want it a certain way, but unfortunately, you're getting married at a really stressful spot in both your lives. This is one of many reasons I'm so dead-set against getting married this early in life.

Re: Here's an option

[identity profile] jen-chan13.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
don't get me wrong, it is a good idea, and if it comes down to that being the only option, i'll take it. it's just not something i'd prefer to do- at that point, i'd just as soon go to austin for the summer and move back into cambridge oaks in the fall. it would be essentially the same.

jim is open for me just moving in with him from may to december, but i don't know if i want to do that either. i do have options, i'm just being picky- but this early in the game i can afford to be. later on, not so much, and i'll be settling for something. *shrugs*

[identity profile] nzthepirate.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I just remembered have to work on New Years Day, it's my holiday and they probably will not let me off. So- and the whole planning is totally up to you- if you could do the 29th it would help a lot. But I repeat- it's your day!

Figuring out living arrangements suckzors.

sometimes yiu can get a 6 month lease- if you explain your situation, a landlord would probably be willing to work with you. specially since you'd be a good tenant.

[identity profile] jen-chan13.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
meep!! thanks for telling me!! that definitely makes a difference. if you absolutley can't get off for new years eve, then we can move it back to that tuesday. we're still totally in the planning stages, i haven't even picked a venue yet, so it's fine now. i'll have to make sure jim knows, but it should be fine- we have that wiggle-room in there for a reason.

aye-aye, kapitan! the 29th it is. ^___^

(...where do you work?)

[identity profile] nzthepirate.livejournal.com 2008-11-01 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait, stop the presses... total brain fart.
I do work this New Year's... but you're getting married NEXT year, right?
Well, I could still have to work New Year's. We draw holidays out of a hat. And they throw fits if you try to switch. T_T

So the 29th would still be preferable from my POV. But it's your day, so do what is best for you. *love*

[identity profile] catc10.livejournal.com 2008-10-30 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Unless you're completely against the idea, maybe Jim should move in with you a little earlier than planned?
ME

[identity profile] jen-chan13.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
well..... i want to do the whole "getting married and moving in together" thing. *shrugs* call me old-fashioned, but i like the idea of it, i guess. our other big option was to have the wedding in august when jim's lease expires, but i really don't want to get married in august in houston. weather = suckage.

so i guess, yeah, i'm completely against the idea. ^___^ but i won't shoot myself in the foot, y'know? if it comes down to it.... but we're not there yet! so no.

[identity profile] catc10.livejournal.com 2008-11-03 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Well, bunking with a friend is a good idea for the time when you'll need it. It's only a couple of months, right? Get a futon mattress. Don't sleep on a couch that long. Then, when you move into your own place, save some spot for a futon couch and then reuse the mattress you were sleeping on. After a few years, get a couch that will actually fit your interior design plan.
ME