Bengt-Erik and Katherine

Menu

07.16.09 - Getting Close

We've gotten to the point where most of the things that needed a lead time have been completed so now it's just final details and execution. We still don't have a musicians though. We've finalized our vows and ordered our Marriage Certificate. My gown came in and I had my first fitting, it's now out for alterations. The majority of the wedding invitations has gone out, although Bengt still needs to get addresses for a few. We finalized the Rehearsal Dinner location but still need to send those invitations as well.

06.10.09 - Time flies!

Time files when you are... well all kinds of things. Since I last updated we've secured an Officiant in Ray Van Winkle, selected the groom's attire, found a baker, selected a hair and makeup artist, requested a friend to act as Day of Coordinator (Thanks again, Lauren!), did a site visit with the caterer (finally!), "written" the ceremony, and purchased odds and ends such as bridesmaid's gifts, favors, and shoes for Celeste, Eva, and me. I'm sure there are things we've done that I'm forgetting still.

My wedding gown and Celeste and Eva's dresses are due in any day now (mine literally shipped May 29th). We still have not secured musicians and are running up against a deadline there, and we still need to make a final decision on the Rehearsal Dinner location.

The invitations are due to go out mid-July and following that it's the normal confirmations, fittings, trial runs, and what not leading up to the big day!

02.08.09 - Holiday Break

Our planning slowed down for the holiday and winter months but we are starting to spin back up again. I got my dress ordered and took Celeste and Eva to the dress shop to pick out their dresses for the wedding as well. (Pictures Here) We have an email out on the rehearsal dinner location and a meeting today with an officiant. We still need to update our registry though. We sent out Save The Dates with our holiday cards to kill two birds with one.. well, stamp.

We had planned on going with Cupcake Royale for our cake, but when I started conversations with them they mentioned their minimum order for delivery and consultations and we likely won't meet it. So instead I'm working with our catering company and a bakery they usually use so it can be delivered with the rest of the food. Small hiccup, but what can you do.

Other than that it's mostly been the quiet, cold of winter around these parts. For the holidays my parents came to visit and the week following Celeste and Eva were here. We had some record setting and disasterous flooding in the area, but fortunately it does not threaten our home or land. We also got several feet of snow through the holidays which had the whole region out of sorts for a couple weeks.

Is it spring yet?

11.16.08 - Flowers and food

I have got the contract from the caterer, and now just need to sign it and send in my first oh-my-gosh wedding deposit. At least we are closer to having that buttoned up though.

I've delegated the music to Bengt. He has a budget and a deadline so we'll see what he comes up with. Music is much more his thing than mine.

We signed a contract (well actually is signed, stamped, and sitting in my purse) for the florist for the bouquets and what not. We are going to try to use the flower farm across the street from the farm for our table and decorative flowers.

Our first litte hiccup... I had ordered the invitations and thank you cards and they were due to be delivered late last week, but didn't arrive. Fedex showed the packages as delivered though. Bengt had called to find out what we do next, and they had said the driver would go back to where he delivered the package and attempt to retrieve it. We didn't hear anything for a day or two, but just this afternoon we got a call from a neighbor across the street saying they had our package. Thank goodness it had our phone number on it! We now have all of our invitations and cards stashed safely away in the office. We are planning on sending Save The Date cards out with our holiday cards and are just waiting for them to arrive this coming week so we can start addressing everything.

Next up wedding tasks: Updating our registry, interview the baker, actually ordering my gown, and decide on a location for our rehearsal dinner.

11.05.08 - Books and lists

Progress has been a bit spotty of late. I'm still ahead of schedule, but some things I had thought would be wrapped up by now are not. We signed the contract and put down a deposit with Brandon Patoc to do our photography. He seems nice and easy going and has a great style. Dress shopping was ultimately successful, although I had to call in Bengt for a second opinion. I still need to go actually order the dress, but the decision is made. Catering and cupcakes are still uncommitted. It's just working through the logistics with the catering company and making time to visit the bakery still. I've ordered "Save the Date" cards to go out with our winter holiday cards and went ahead and ordered the wedding invitations. It's very, very early, but by purchasing things earlier I'm able to disperse the costs a bit more.

Our biggest challenge has actually been deciding on the ceremony itself. We'll be borrowing from Bengt's Quaker background and doing a Quaker wedding certificate. Since the Quaker church doesn't recognize an officiant and I'm generally Atheist we are kind of on our own as to how we want the ceremony to flow. We've thrown around some ideas, but still need to really sit down and make some decisions.

The next up tasks on my checklist are: Getting the catering nailed down, deciding on and signing a contract for music, and starting to investigate florists (although we are only using them for bouquets and the like).

Some aspects of the planning process have been a little bit stressful already so I reacted in the way I do to so many things... self education. I have a big pile of wedding books and some wedding humor to get me through it all.

09.25.08 - Progress

I'm making progress slowly but surely.

We have confirmed a location and are on their "official" calendar. We ended up going with Craven Farm. It had the ambiance we were looking for and even includes a pirate ship which should add a whimsical touch to photos. We took some photos and a video when we were visiting the site, which you can find on my flickr account: Wedding Location

I'm working on proposals from two caterers at this point. One being Herban Feast and the other Lisa Dupar Catering. I think we know which way we are going to go, but I need some additional details from one of the companies still before we make a final decision. We have also decided to forgo the regular wedding cake and opt for wedding cupcakes instead. We are in favor of this for a couple reasons. One is because it was Bengt's decision primarily, and let's face it, most grooms don't feel like they have much say in the wedding. We also liked the fact that it was whimsical and allowed for multiple cake flavors. I like the simplicity of it, one less thing to stress over - cake design. Our preferred vendor at this point is Cupcake Royale, but we still need to schedule a tasting to come to a final decision.

I approached all of the members of the wedding party about participating recently and am very happy to add Bethany and Julie to my bridesmaids. We'll have a few challenges with everyone being in different locations (me=WA, Beth=AZ, Julie/Vicki=CA) but we are resourceful girls and I'm not that much of a control freak. We'll make it work with out making everyone fly everywhere.

We have decided on invitations and favors already, primarily as a by-product of surfing for other wedding items/ideas.

The next BIG task is...The Dress. My mother and sister will be visiting in late October and we have a slew of salon and boutique appointments set up to start looking for my dress. I feel very fortunate that both of them will be able to help me in this quest.

Next up on my to do list is to: Finalize the caterer, find a dress, and finalize the guest list.

07.31.08 - Starting Line

We are fast approaching the starting line for planning the wedding. I had told myself that I didn't have to start thinking about the wedding until one year before, but I've started drifting in to the wedding plan anyway partly due to my sister's urging and partly because that's how I deal with stressful events... hyper-planning. I already have a half dozen spreadsheets to calculate our budget, expenditures, and even the schedule for the big day itself! According to all the guidebooks our first milestones are: Budget, Location, and Caterer.

We are pretty confident on the budget aspect. Thankfully that was a pretty easy decision on our part because my parents were proactive on the topic and Bengt is very easy-going.

We have three locations in mind at this time mostly due to my sister, Vicki's, equally tenacious approach to planning. They are, unsurprisingly, all farms. You can take a look at the at their respective websites:
Craven Farm - Snohomish, WA
Farm Kitchen - Poulsbo, WA
Fall City Farms - Fall City, WA

Right now Fall City Farms is our top choice. It has the benefit of being 20 minutes from our home and they don't do weddings as their primary business. We look at it as a bonus in this case because they are very flexible and they only book one wedding per weekend. This will help minimize some of the potential stress for us. It doesn't hurt that their site fees also come in at the lowest. We are planning to schedule a visit to Fall City Farms in the coming weeks to confirm our selection.

During the search for a location I ran across the caterer Herban Feast. So far they are our top and only choice in catering. Food is our top priority for the wedding event and we are willing to spend a little more in that area especially if it aligns with our own values around local, seasonal, and sustainable choices. The website is certainly beautiful and I'm very optimistic. I need to schedule a meeting with them in the near future to confirm our choice.

My sister and parents will be visiting in October and I'm going to try to take advantage of that time to start looking at wedding dresses. I got on several tangents regarding little details when trying to put together the budget so we have a dozen sample invitations to consider and already know what favors we will have.

As to the rest of things, we are doing quite well. We've settled in to the house this summer with our first repairs (well leak) and mild household disaster (dishwasher leak warping the kitchen floor). We've started a site for our hobby farm in the making over at Misc. Farm where you can get more details on how things are progressing on that front. Bengt's daughters will be with us for nearly two weeks in August which we are eagerly anticipating.

11.13.07 - We has house!

As many of you know we've been keeping a close eye on the housing market in Washington since last June. All of the pieces started falling in to place for us to both relocate and buy a house. On December 7th we are expecting to close on our only little piece of wilderness. The house is 2000 sq ft with three bedrooms and two baths placed on 15 acres of beautiful woods. We even have our own creek! We love the open layout, skylights, and hard wood floors. In the short-term we will have a guest room, but we hope to turn the other bedroom in to a second home for Bengt's daughters Celeste and Eva. We look forward to having all of you visit us on our farm-to-be. If you are lucky we might even have goats for you to milk!