I'm Married!

Hi everyone!  I'm here and I'm married!  The day was perfect, really amazing.  I couldn't have asked for more.  My vendors were impeccable and my friends and family all seemed to have a blast.  I'll be gone for awhile while I wait on pro pics (and figure out how to organize recaps!), but until then, here are some photos from Anthony's cousin to give you a little feel of the day.

How did you feel the day after your wedding?

This is It

I'm getting married.  It seems crazy to write, but it's finally here.  Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous, but that's the farthest feeling from my mind.  I am ecstatic to start my new journey with Mr. Biscuit, and have no reservations.  Something funny happened to me in the past few days: I stopped caring that everything would look perfect and realized that all that matters is that we'll be married today.  That's it.  I never thought I'd start letting go and get to this point, but here I am.

Hive, I want to thank you for listening to me.  From problems with a no liquor wedding to finding a new florist 6 weeks out, you have truly been there through all the wedding planning ups and downs.  I will be thinking of all of you as I go down the aisle, because without you, planning would not have been as fun or rewarding.

And, I'll leave you with this picture that I drew for my blog when I became a bee.  The software I use to draw has a pepper stamp.  There is no earthly reason for the pepper stamp, but I like it.

Signing off,
Miss Biscuit

And--they're off!

Can you guess what this post is about?

Here is a hint:

And another:

Yup, you guessed it, I am no longer "Brace Face Biscuit"!  Those babies came off Monday, and I have never felt better.  It now takes me 5 minutes to floss my teeth rather than 30, and I can actually eat things like apples and popcorn!  It also means that my wedding is ridiculously close.  Aaaahhhhh.

Anyone else have a major change to their appearance the week before your wedding?

The Final Countdown

I know, I know...my post title isn't original, but this song has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks, always while I'm super stressed.  And then I think of Gob and his "illusions," which causes me to laugh and stay sane.

via Joystiq.com

A lot has been happening and with one week to go with my planning, everything is now coming to a head.  Plans are finalized, and my grandiose vision is slowly turning into reality.  However, some stuff that I've previously blogged about just didn't work out.  Surprisingly enough, all of my DIY is coming together nicely despite my numerous rides on the DIY fail ship.

No, these issues happened due to my--albeit high--expectations.  I'll go through the list with you, and give you some solutions to help you all out who aren't currently on the wire time wise. 

Dilemma #1: My cake. 

     The beautiful idea I had just didn't work out.  Our baker cannot recreate the lace work I desire.  I was only able to pick from three bakers, and I chose the one that provided me with a cake made of edible products and didn't give me indigestion.  So, the cake will still look cool and taste great, it just isn't what I originally envisioned.


Solution: Martha Stewart Weddings may not be the place to look at cakes, especially if you have limited bakers to choose from.  Also, don't just assume that if you could teach yourself to do something (i.e. I do know how to elementary meshwork on cakes) that your baker can do something more extravagant.


Dilemma #2: Our beverage situation.
    
     Mr. Biscuit had a big mis-communication with the food and beverage vendor at our venue.  We only get one microbrew instead of 3.  So, we'll have Great Lakes Commodore Perry, Sam Adams, Corona, Yuengling, and Bud Light (*visible shudder*) served at the wedding (in addition to wine).  I'm incredibly disappointed about this one, and to be honest, I probably would have just had liquor if I knew this would happen.  Mr. Biscuit is still pretty firm on not wanting liquor--as are my parents--because he doesn't drink it.  I'm afraid we'll look cheap for not serving liquor, even though I am ecstatic that one of my favorite beers (that just happens to be from the same city I spent four years in during undergrad) will be served. 

Solution: Don't trust your FI to properly relay messages.  The end.  And don't care what other people think.  We are providing more than enough alcohol for everyone and paying pretty much the same amount of money as a liquor, beer, and wine bar.  If someone thinks we cheaped out, that's their own problem.

Dilemma #3: Our ten day forecast.

Solution: Have your wedding indoors (woo hoo!).  Oh, and make sure you give all of your relatives large metal poles to hold outside.  Tell them that it is a very important tribal ritual in your SO's family, and it is rude to question culture.


Dilemma #4: Keeping track of guests.

     We've been having some problems with my rather large Excel spreadsheet.  I haven't been saving it as much as I should have, and some people have been getting deleted.  Trouble ensues.


Solution: Save your damn spreadsheet.  On a MacBook, you simply press Command S.  Or File-->Save.  I don't think it could be easier.  Sigh.  Oh, and save all your RSVPs and double check everything.  This is really not a realistic problem.  I have never heard of anyone having any issues with this before.  Probably because everyone is much smarter than I am.

Dilemma #5: Our honeymoon

     We were supposed to do a whirlwind trip to Europe.  It didn't work out, because my parents talked to some of our family who are fairly high up in the military and suddenly equivocated traveling to Tuscany with taking a pleasure trip to the African Congo.

Solution: Don't care about appeasing your parents.  That's the only one I could come up with on this one.  We're still doing something, and it will still be fun, but it won't be Europe.  And I'm not telling you all yet.  It's a surprise!  We'll let you know once we're back (with a billion pictures, I promise!).

Dilemma #6: Having fewer than 250 guests, meaning I could have had my wedding at a different--read: more aesthetically pleasing room--at my venue.

Solution: Have a B list, instead of a billion people on your A list, and plan accordingly.  I knew the droves of 85 year olds I was inviting wouldn't be able to make it, but there was that thought in the back of my mind. 
     I'm also looking on the bright side.  We're still having around 230 guests, and we won't be cramped in a smaller room.  Also, our uplighting wouldn't have been as dramatic with windows, since it doesn't get dark until about an hour before our event ends.

So there you have it.  The five plans I had that were dashed.  Are they that important in the grand scheme of things?  No way!  Are they disappointing?  Of course.  I'm glad most of these issues occurred in the last few weeks, when I didn't really have time to dwell on it.  Going to school full time and trying to finalize wedding plans doesn't leave much time to do anything else with my brain.

What were some of things that just didn't work out for you during planning?  How did you deal with your disappointment?

Cake Renege

Way back when, even before I came up with my Mad Hatter idea, I knew I wanted a Mad Hatter cake.  I had seen it years ago on some cake show and thought to myself, "Wow.  That's the coolest cake ever.  I must have this at my wedding."   Sure, I had other ideas about my future wedding to Mr. Someone-I-Haven't-Met-Yet (OK, let's be honest, Mr. Guy-in-middle-school-who-didn't-know-my-name), but that cake was the only thing that stuck into my adult life.  And that's a good thing.  If not, my wedding may have looked like Lisa Frank ate some bad clams and vomited all over the room.  Well, it may look like that anyway, but at least we'll refrain from having rainbow kittens riding on unicorns.  I swear.

Everyone in my family has been on board with my Topsy Turvy/Mad Hatter cake decision.  It was one of the elements of the wedding Mr. Biscuit was super excited about.  However, no decision could be that simple for the Biscuits.  Of course not.

I started thinking about how to design the cake and got nervous.  As my "wedding journey" (wow, how pretentious do I sound, huh?) progressed, I began wanting the reception to have a slightly more elegant feel than I had originally envisioned.  It also didn't help that I was looking at old pictures of my parent's and saw their monstrosity of a cake that was really "hip" in 1975.  They had not one, but two staircases coming off their cake.  And turrets.

And then I started worrying that maybe a cake decorated in the normal topsy turvy style would look a little bit like a birthday cake for a 5 year old. 

So I decided to Google "Topsy Turvy Cake" and most of hits were of cakes like this:

via Pinkcakebox.com

Not a 5 year old's cake, but still not what I was going for.

This was not acceptable.  Suddenly, my bride brain took over and the world felt like it was crashing down around me.  I was going to have an ugly cake, an ugly wedding, and everyone was going to judge me. 

I began obsessively looking at cakes.  Eventually, after hours of poring through buttercream and fondant works of art, I came upon this gem:

via Martha Stewart Weddings

It was perfect.  I loved it.  I needed to have it.  Only I wanted the cake and lattice work to be gold, and the flowers purple. 

But then Mr. Biscuit stepped in, and said he would be really disappointed if we didn't have our topsy turvy cake.  Way to be a Debbie Downer, Bis.  So I then had a big decision to make.  I'm completely embarrassed to admit it, but I really soul searched this one out folks.  Don't make fun of me.  Yes, I have gotten to the point in planning that I have to look inside myself before I make any decisions.  Because they are all SO important.

Eventually, we decided that we could keep the design I loved and make it Topsy Turvy to appease Mr. Biscuit.  I'm sure you all quickly came to that conclusion while reading this, but at the time, it was a very tough decision.  Now, we're both happy and I'm crossing my fingers that my four tiered beauty won't be ridiculously expensive (we don't find out until we have an exact number of guests and RSVPs are still trickling in).

Did you change your mind a lot during wedding planning?  Do small things suddenly seem like a BIG deal now that you're close to the day?

Going With Your Gut

Hive, I wasn't going to write this post because I was afraid it was a wee bit too personal for blog land.  But, you know what, wedding planning isn't always a happy sunshine land that rains candy canes and I think it's an important thing to realize.  I had always heard there would be one big family fight during wedding planning, but I always thought I would escape it.  And until we were six weeks out, I managed to stroll along without conflict.  But then it happened: The Biscuit Flower Event.

You may remember way back when,  I had an initial meeting with my florist who was friends with my grandmother.  We wrote up a makeshift quote, and she was pretty rude and less than helpful.  She definitely put me off, and I was told to come back when I actually knew what I wanted flower wise.  That was easier said than done, as I know next to nothing about flowers.  Remember my brown thumb?

So, I eventually found proper inspiration--at about six weeks out--and came back to the florist with my grandmother.  The first thing the florist said as we walked in the door was "Oh, I didn't realize you were still getting married since I never heard back from you."  Uh, you told me not to come back until I actually knew what I wanted.  We had a quote written up, and since she didn't have a contract, I (incorrectly) assumed that was enough.  She then said that she was on vacation that week, but maybe the girls downstairs could handle it.  My mood began to drop.

And the meeting went downhill from there.  From name dropping other brides who "didn't get married" (or who found a nicer florist) while looking for my initial quote to insinuating that I had found a new groom ("are you still marrying Mr. Biscuit?") to making me feel stupid for having seven bridesmaids ("my niece has a lot of friends too, but she only had four bridesmaids") the meeting started to leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

When I showed her a picture of the flowers I wanted she asked what they were.  Isn't that her job?  To know what flowers look like?  She then claimed that the bouquet for bridesmaids would be $200 a pop and didn't offer any alternative flowers that would give me a similar look.  By the end of the meeting, I was fuming and could barely speak a word.  I was told to write down the flowers I wanted and to give her a call.

After telling my mother about the issue, she decided enough was enough and it was time to find a new florist.  Instead of my grandmother defending me, she claimed the florist was "being realistic" and was not happy with my decision to find someone knew.  And you know what?  Maybe the florist was being realistic about my options, but she darn well sure could have been more helpful.

So there I was.  Six weeks out, with no florist.  I had no idea what to do.  Until I realized that my venue was having a bridal show the next day.  It was serendipity.  While at the show, I met with a florist who works with my event rental company and my photographer.  And he was free July 30th.  Score.

After meeting with him, I realized that I should have gone with my gut a long time ago.  I showed him my inspiration, and he actually knew what flowers were on the page.  He also knew what he could substitute in order to make my *gasp* seven bridesmaids' bouquets affordable.  So far, I am extremely impressed with him.  Seriously, best florist ever.

In the end, it seems to have all worked out, but for a couple of days, all was not well in the House of Biscuit.  Luckily, my grandmother is not mad that I'm not using her friend anymore (and really, how could I?  She's on vacation that week), but I do still feel a little guilty because I know I disappointed her.  However, at the same time, I knew from the initial meeting that our personalities did not mesh, and I had been worrying about my flowers ever since.  I feel extremely lucky that I wasn't locked into a contract and could switch florists midstream.

Did anyone else let a vendor go close to their day?  Anyone follow their gut from the start?