Our First Bridal Show

The Chem Geek Princess and I attended a bridal show today down at the Hotel Albuquerque at Oldtown. This one was small, with about 20 vendors, and we were able to get to every booth. There was also a band playing almost continuously, and a bridal gown fashion show.

We spent a good amount of time at the Pennysmith's Paper Co. booth, looking at invitation papers. The Knight Errant has a calligrapher friend who has offered to do the invitations by hand, so we need nice paper. We also tasted wedding cake, and walked around munching on Hors d'ouvres, as we looked at photgrapher samples, videographers, and tuxedos.

At several booths, the Chem Geek Princess was asked to show her engagement ring so that the vendors could admire it. (I imagine they do quite a bit of ring admiring at these events). One photographer oohed and ahhhed, and then said, 'That diamond cut is European, isn't it?" The CGP allowed that it is. It turns out that this woman photographs weddings all over the world, and showed us many lovely photographs. As we talked, the CGP told her engagement story. The photographer told us that this was the most unique engagement story she had heard. She called her husband over, saying: "Can you believe this? Her fiance flew her to London to propose in a castle!"

Currently, the CGP is considering being married at the Loretto Chapel, in Santa Fe, but they are also considering a destination wedding within the United States. She wants a beautiful, elegant, and very small wedding; their guestlist has only 50 people on it, including the wedding party. I like the idea of the Loretto Chapel, which has a beautiful wooden spiral staircase to the choir loft that was built by a mysterious stranger.

I think the CGP and her Knight are leaning towards the destination wedding, since most of the guests will have to travel anyway, so it does not matter where we hold it. The destinations all have beautiful wedding chapels and packages that do make the planning easier, and in many of those places, the whole wedding can be done at a reasonable cost.

It will be interesting to see what they decide, and I can live with either option.

But I do lean towards Loretto in Santa Fe . The well-traveled photographer does also, and after hearing what she wants, thought that would be best, unless we can make a wedding trip to Prague in the Czech Republic!

Mmmm. Hmmm. Prague is nice for a destination wedding. Maybe we can get the Altenushul?

Wedding Plans: The Beginning

The Ring

So when the Chem Geek Princess and her Knight Errant arrived home from England via Dallas, the Engineering Geek met them at the airport (in the CGP's car) and brought them to Weck's for breakfast. They were having Green Chile withdrawal symptoms that had to be attended to immediately!

After oooh-ing and ah-ing over the ring--and as you can see, this was required!--we got right down to the immediate questions as the coffee was poured, and were deep into discussion by the time the Juevos Rancheros and Breakfast Burritos were delivered to the table.

Then we got down to business. Both the Bride and the Groom wanta small and elegant wedding, but they had different definitions of small. He was for immediate family only (about 20 people) she thought small was 100 people. As the discussion continued, I kept notes in my head. From that breakfast discussion and several more, we have gotten the basic outline down. Here is what they have in mind:

• No "sheet-cake wedding": elegant and unique




• Venue: small and intimate: a wedding chapel, a winery, or a Bed and Breakfast; no southwest decor--Victorian?




• Guests: Close family and close friends, the wedding party (~50 people total)




• Date: She was thinking fall 2010, but they have finally settled on April 24, 2010




• Time of day: Evening




• Attire: Black tie required




• Food: Hors d'ouvres, Sparkling waters and fruit juices, cake and a Champaigne Toast (no bar), perhaps a midnight breakfast, no southwestern food, perhaps Italian?




• Groom's jobs: list of close family, friends, his witnesses, he gets the officiant, plans the honeymoon




• Mother of Bride (MOB): plans with bride (CGP), Groom does not sweat details




• Brides parents set budget and bride abides by it (we like this one!)




• Invitations: elegant and formal, sent out in Engineering Geek and MOB's name




• Dress: she's thinking of using her friend's Italian silk dress, and would add a lace jacket but not worried about this yet




• Colors: ivory/candlelight and gold for the women, black tuxes with gold accents and ivory shirts for the men (MOB's requirement: I get to choose my own complimentary color)

Yesterday, the Engineering Geek took me to Butterfield's Jewelry to get me some birthday gold and garnets (on Monday I will celebrate another trip around the sun!) and while we were there, I picked up a free Albuquerque/Santa Fe wedding guide. After perusing it, and consulting the CGP, I signed us up for The Wedding Gallery bridal show to take place two weeks from tomorrow at Hotel Albuquerque, which is advertised to be:

"New Mexico's first luxury wedding showcase, featuring the southwest's finest products, services, and wedding professionals for couples with discerning tastes."

The Chem Geek Princess and her Knight Errant

This sounds like the CGP--after all, her last initial stands for Princess--and her Knight Errant. And the KE himself had suggested it on New Year's day.

So.

I have 16 months.

The fun begins!

And I mean that sincerely. I have been looking forward to this since I cradled the newborn CGP in my arms.