Heating Up For The Kettle Wedding: A Pre-Wedding Dinner

On our last stop before official wedding recaps, we have our rehearsal dinner. We decided not to call it that because it was on a different day than the rehearsal and also in a different city. We called it a pre-wedding dinner.

Our schedule the week of the wedding was: Wednesday get married, Thursday rehearse for wedding, Friday have rehearsal dinner, and Saturday have wedding. It worked for us. It made everyone else think Mr. Kettle and I were crazy, but it worked for us.

The pre-wedding dinner was scheduled for a certain time. I'm honestly still not sure what time that dinner started. All I know is that as Mr. Kettle and I were getting ready, we kept getting calls from people asking where we were.

That tells us we were qutie behind schedule. I don't know how we got the wrong time, but there was nothing we could do about it at that point. We loaded up the car with our wedding thank you gifts for our parents and wedding party. There were thirty five bags. I'm not joking.

We got a separate gift for each parent, one for each host/hostess, the bridesmaids/men, the groomsmen, the maids of honor, the best men, the junior bridesmaids, the flower girls, and the ring bearers. That's thirty-five people.

At the party, when we finally arrived, the place was packed. The slight feeling of being overwhelmed that happened at our engagement party doubled. There were maybe only 20 more people at this function, but I think it's proximity to the wedding made us more anxious.

Mr. Kettle and I agreed that we were soooo glad we were already married. We greeted everyone while slowly making our way to the back of the room. They brought us food and we dined on really delicious caribbean food. The restaurant we were at is actually owned by friends of Mr. Kettle's family, so they took good care of us.

In movies, the rehearsal dinner is all about speeches and giving gifts to the wedding party and other loveliness. In our real life, there was mostly a lot of shouting because there were so many people there. At least 1/3 of our guest list, including wedding party, was at this pre-wedding dinner.

When we handed out our gifts to our wedding party, we had to track people down in a crowd of over one hundred people. That was interesting. I'll wrap this up with the only picture I have from the evening. It shows our cakes (yes, plural) along with some of the wall decorations, which were in honor of our honeymoon to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Personal Photo: Those cakes were pretty tasty!

Making Decisions Left and Right

I love purple statice. I thought I was getting purple status, but after looking at the picture from before (and a quick Google search to confirm), I was actually getting purple statice. This is an amazing flower. They're so bright and vibrant. And it's a sturdy flower, which is great because I really like to run my hand over it again and again. I can't help it because it feels like a lei.

Image via FlowerShop Network

Image via Luau Shirts / When I rub my fingers over the statice in my bouquet, I'll be thinking warm and welcoming thoughts!

We recently had our meeting with our venue to sort out some details of the wedding day. We picked linens and napkins and table runners, all things I don't really care very much about. But it was a productive meeting to make sure our venue and our family was on the same page.

It's becoming a bit of a routine to roll into these places with lots o' people. There me, Mr. Kettle, Momma (and sometimes Daddy) Kettle, Mima (and sometimes Poppa) Kettle, and maybe one or two more. I'm continually impressed with these vendors who don't seem fazed by us. We come in full of jokes and distracting laughter. No meeting lasts less than 90 min, even when it's supposed to be an hour. If I had to do this all over again, one of my top priorities for vendors is that they are patient with a good sense of humor and no problem repeating themselves.

Since I was still unable to decide between two florists who had come up with very similar ideas for our wedding flowers, we decided to have a flower-off! In my mind, we'd have the two florists show up to our venue. One would be wearing red, the other blue. They'd battle it out with bouquets, table arrangement, and altar flowers. After a tough battle, one would emerge victorious, and I'd have the perfect florist.

In reality, it was much more tame. Mima Kettle picked up a sample table arrangement from one of the florists. The other florist volunteered to come to the venue and and bring two sample table arrangements with him. When we first saw them both, we weren't happy. There wasn't a clear winner. All of my newfound confidence at having re-learned my ability to make decisions deflated.

But as our supposed-to-be-one-hour-long meeting with the vendor continued, it suddenly hit me, I really liked one waaaaay more than the other. Luckily, it was the vendor who was actually there who's sample I preferred. The flowers were just right, and the decision to leave the hydrangeas out was perfect. Curly willow, which was previously my heart's desire, suddenly didn't look so hot.

We chatted with him about a couple of things we wanted edited with the flowers, and he re-did a quick estimate, and we handed him a deposit check. I was so thrilled because in that moment, that meant that all the major decisions for the wedding day were done. And we made our deadline of having them all finished by Nov. 15th!!

Wedding Venue, Day-of-Coordinator, Florist, Clothes, Hotel, Invitations, Music, Food, Cake, Done!!! We were engaged for 5 months and 14 days when we had everything done, so that's pretty good. But we were just 91 days from the wedding, so that's not so good. I figure it's what happens with a relatively short engagement (less than one year).

How long did it take you to get to the end of planning the major wedding decisions? How happy were you when it was all finally done?

Cake Tasting and Contract Signing

I love when a meeting with a vendor goes well. Our cake tasting with Creative Cakes went so well that we decided to sign the contract that day. Having that additional large, huge, big deal checked off the list lifted a weight from my shoulders I hadn't fully realized was there. Also, their cakes are really beautiful. Want to see some? Sure you do.

Image via WeddingBook

Image via Project Wedding

Image via Project Wedding

We arrived for our tasting promptly at 9:00 am. Apparently, the Kettle wedding party rolls large everywhere we go, cake tasting included. At each appointment, I let all the major players (Momma and Daddy Kettle, Mima and Poppa Kettle, etc.) know about it. They know they're welcome to come to anything since we're planning this big shindig all together. It ended up being 6 of us there.

Mr. Kettle and I along with both sets of parents make for an interesting time no matter where we are. There are always plenty of laughs, anecdotal stories, and fun. There's just not always a lot of listening or focusing on the task at hand. In fact, our baker's response to our spaciness (well, not mine, but most of our entourage) gave her beaucoup bonus points and let me know she'd be great with our group.

When we arrived, they were photographing cakes for a catalog or book or something. They looked so delicious. Cue mouth watering visions of cake slices dancing by. And it smelled so yummy in there. They brought us out several plates of cakes and cake mousses. They also told us anything else we want to try they'd bring out as well. We began digging in and all realized we loved their simple white cake.

I had just gotten off work, and in my defense, I work 12 hours and was really tired. So I forgot my camera, but I did take pictures on my BlackBerry!



Personal photo: Starting at the red velvet cake and going clockwise we have red velvet cake, strawberry mousse, chiffon cake, vanilla bean mousse, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, white cake, white chocolate mousse. The white dollop on top of each cake is just the basic buttercream.



Personal photo: Just another cake photo to get a better view of the other side of the plate. Drooool.

Personal photo: You can clearly see which cake and which mousse we preferred. It was all about the white cake and the strawberry, chocolate, and white chocolate mousses.

After realizing we all liked the white cake more than the chocolate, and even more than the (gasp!) red velvet, we knew that it would be okay for us to go with just plain white cake for an entire wedding cake. That's how I know that cake was good, I wasn't even thinking about fun and exotic flavor mixes anymore.

Once we had a cake flavor it was time to think filling flavor. Based on how long our cake would be out before serving, we knew mousse was our best bet, plus it was a way for me to get more whipped cream into the cake. I thought the chocolate and white chocolate would go well together and they did. Winning! On a whim, I asked for the lemon mousse, which turned out to be really lemon-y. Almost too lemon-y. But I tried it with the strawberry mousse and it was heaven; it tasted like really good strawberry lemonade.

We decided to alternate layers between the two chocolates and the strawberry lemonade. Then we had to talk design We pulled up pics of my dress on the store's iPad and showed her the details. She came up with a great drawing where each 2 of the four tiers mimicked my dress. Divine!

Personal photo: sorry for the blackberry pic, but you get the idea, right?

I don't know if you saw the line that says 135 servings in that picture. But our baker says we don't want to end up serving way more cake than is needed, especially since we're doing the cake as part of the dessert bar. We can always order an extra sheet cake if need be, but this would be just fine four our venue.

The fact that she didn't try to sell us on some 6-tier 300 serving cake really pleased us. It pushed us over the top and Momma Kettle wrote her a check. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm definitely adding "close up of cake details" to my must-have shots list for the photographer. Speaking of photographers, I've got a great idea for a photo guest book, but that's another post.

Yummy Yummy In My Tummy

I know that title isn't nearly as sophisticated as it should be, especially considering our venue.

Image via My Chicago Wedding

The tasting was sophisticated and classy. But the food was so good, I just wanted to dance up and down and go, "mmmmmm, yummy." In fact I still do. So there you have it.

I don't know where my camera is. I thought I'd left it at work and was kicking myself for not having it for the entire five days I was off (birthday celebration, woot!), but I'm back at work and still can't find it. So all pics from here on will be taken on my super cool new Blackberry that was a birthday gift to myself. I apologize in advance.

Mr. Kettle and I picked up Grandmother Kettle and drove out to Joliet for the tasting. There, we met Momma and Daddy Kettle, Mima and Poppa Kettle, and FSIL Grand. Yeah, we took 8 people there. I tried to take pictures, but it was an afterthought.

Personal Photo: Momma Kettle, Daddy Kettle, Grandmother Kettle

Personal Photo: Mima Kettle, Poppa Kettle, FSIL Grand

The brought us out the food and caused a bit of an issue with us that we got sorted out and hopefully won't have problems with anymore. They had some clerical issues where they neglected to tell the chef we had 8 people coming, not 4. So they only had enough food for a tasting they normally do for 4 people. We were nice and shared, but we were all still starving when we left. The silver lining to that fiasco is that the entire family is on board with having a DOC now.

But on to the food, which was so tasty. We started out with and hors d'oeuvres platter. They brought two of each.

Personal Photo: 8 different options, with 4 different sauces

Then it was time for the entree selections. I'd chosen three options, and they all looked pretty good. Mima and Poppa Kettle cut all the entrees into 8 pieces so we could each try a bit of it. The steak was really good and so we knew that would be our beef option. We had to choose between the two chicken options. We really couldn't decide!

Personal Photo: New York Strip steak

Personal Photo: Chicken Piquant

Personal Photo: Chicken Saltimbucco

Ultimately, I decided whoever was actually ordering the chicken for the wedding would choose. But almost all of us were getting the steak! Grandmother Kettle said she was getting chicken. Since she was the only one, we let her choose. She picked the chicken piquant. It will be so tasty. It has a lemon caper sauce. Yum!

Up next was the three options for cake. I forgot to tell them ivory buttercream, so they brought us pure white. Because this was my birthday weekend, I had a lot of icing. Hive, you were so right about the ivory buttercream being way better tasting. I'll make sure I choose the right icing for the wedding. Our three options were red velvet, french lemon silk, and milk chocolate mousse.

Personal Photo: I almost forgot to take a pic, but luckily it's only missing one bite.

We all loved the french lemon silk. We thought the others were just okay. That was enough to make us check out another option for cakes. Yet another thing to add to my to-do list... Yay...

They have dessert buffet options, so we tried out those. Lots of chocolate options. They also have a chocolate fountain. I want that chocolate fountain!

Personal Photo: They had chocolate versions of everything!

Personal Photo: I think there was even chocolate baklava!

They gave us wine and beer with the food. We were very pleased with the food. So now I can feel good about knowing that the dinner will be tasty and our guests will be happy.

Get In My Belly!

The time is finally coming up this weekend for our tasting with our wedding venue. I'm so excited. I feel like I should store up extra free space for all the food we'll be trying that day. It will be me, Mr. Kettle, Momma and Daddy Kettle, Mima and Poppa Kettle, FSIL Grand, and Grandmother Kettle. We take entourages everywhere we go now, apparently...

On that day, I'll feel like this:

Image via Cystic Fibrosis Fatboy

All the food possibilities overwhelmed me just a bit. Luckily, we only had to choose three entree options. I'm guessing they'll fill in the sides with options that compliment those choices best.

I just had a scary thought. What if we don't try any sides?! Oh, the horror! I'd hate to have to choose sides without knowing how they taste.

I must admit that I'm not so worried about side dishes. I'm really thinking about.. cake!

We're considering having our cake done by the venue as well. I don't have a big fancy cake idea in mind. I just want a basic buttercream cake that mimics the color and pattern on the top of my dress. Don't get me wrong, I have a strong distaste for buttercream, but I dislike fondant even more. And bakeries aren't exactly making wedding cakes with whipped cream, so I'll take what I can get.

We have to choose three entree options. We've chosen: chicken saltembucco (which seems to be spelled 3 different ways), new york strip steak, and chicken piquant. I can't wait to try these. We pretty much know the steak will be our beef option, but we have to decide between the other two for the chicken option.

I love me some strip steak! / Image via Sunrise Foods

Image via Skinny Chef

Image via Delectable Victuals

 Those look pretty tasty, right?

The other choices that have to be made is deciding which cakes to try. They want us to choose 2 batter and three filling.

Our batter options are: white, yellow, chocolate, marble, banana, carrot, red velvet.

Our frosting options are: white buttercream, chocolate buttercream, mocha buttercream, hazelnut buttercream, ivory buttercream.

The filling options are much more numerous. There are three fresh fruit options, two jelly options, four fruit mousse options, eight mousse options (including Bailey's irish cream and Grand Marnier!), six cream options, and one chocolate option. How am I supposed to choose?

I'm leaning towards white cake and red velvet for the batter options. That means ivory buttercream or maybe mocha buttercream. What's the difference between mocha and chocolate? Coffee flavor?

For fillings, I have no idea. I love the french lemon silk idea. Mr. Kettle and I both love lemon. There are a number of options we can't go with simply because of taste preferences of Mr. Kettle (he loathes the texture of most fruit, weird, right?) and the drinking preferences of a lot of our guests. I'd hate for a lot of people to be unable to eat our cake cause the entire filling was from a liqueur.

With those parameters narrowing down the options, I think we'll go with white cake, red velvet cake, white buttercream, and ivory buttercream. I just know Momma Kettle will be happiest with selections that aren't "doing too much". So no mixing crazy flavors. This is my cake. But we're not paying hundreds of dollars for a cake that nobody but me wants to eat!

For the fillings (how can I choose just three?!), I'm going to go with French Lemon Silk, Cream Cheese, and Milk Chocolate Mousse. That should give us enough mixes that may taste good enough to choose one for the wedding.

I know I also have to be prepared to discuss cake design, but I'm not even close to ready to have that discussion yet.

If you could pick out mixes of batter and filling what would you choose? Did you have to choose your cake options before you cake tasting?

Wording Wedding Invitiations

Momma Kettle and I working out wedding invitation wording. It took a whole night of sitting at the dining room table at her house. We bugged Daddy Kettle, Mr. Kettle, and both Mima and Poppa Kettle about spellings for the invitation. But we got it worked out.

I know she and I are both very particular about certain things, but I really didn't think it would take that long. Naive and foolish I was. I want to go over what we came up with, without revealing our actual wording, of course. And I need your help hive.

Host Line

Image of host line on invitation via Epiphany Events edited by me

People choose all sorts of ways to do this part of the invitation. My parents are paying for the whole wedding, so they're names are definitely going on the host line, but Mima and Poppa Kettle are helping out financially and so many other ways that they're going on the invite too. It was a pretty easy decision as it's been important to all of use since the engagement was official to be all in it together and really join together as a family.

Reception Card

Reception card image via custompaper.com

Our ceremony and reception are going to be in the same place, requiring no travel. We figure that's best since our wedding is in Illinois in February. So, we decided not to have a reception card. It would be a waste of money and paper.

RSVP Cards

Image via Photocard Chef

This RSVP card is lovely, but it's far too simple for our needs with our wedding. We have to give people a date to RSVP by otherwise they won't bother (our engagement party showed us me that). We have to tell them how many seats are reserved for their household so they don't bring extra guests who won't have food at the reception.

We have to have lines for them to write out the names of all attending guests since... ahem... we don't actually know how to spell all the names of invited guests (like some of Mr. Kettle's cousins' kids... and some significant others of my cousins...). We also have to have them choose a food selection so we know what to order. Having an exact food order will make a difference of up to $1000 in price for reception food, so We.Need.To.Know!

And lastly, I really want some cute and fun wording for the RSVPs or to leave a space for guests to write notes. I've seen it in so many bee invitations and I want it! But how do I make that fit on an already overstuffed card? I've hand-drawn the basics for you to see what I'm visualizing. I apologize for the crappy blackberry phone, but I had no other options at the time of this post.

Personal extra crappy photo. I tried to adjust the photo so you could see it better. You can get the basics, right?

1. So I need something better than Accept/Decline, but I don't have a lot of room for extra words. I want something clever. This is where you come in hive. I need suggestions that are fun, but not so cheeky that Momma Kettle and Mr. Kettle veto them immediately. Please help!

2. Yes, we really do need that many lines. Most of our households have at least 4 people in them, and several have more. 4 was splitting the difference. None of us are going to make hundreds of phone calls to track these people down for name spelling. And we need it so we have it for once and all. Also, we have to have a seating chart, which means place cards, which means we need lines for names.

3. What should I put on the back? Should I leave room for notes? How about a drawing? How should I word my request that I want people to get creative with their responses? Will it be overkill since I'm requesting something similar for our guestbook at the wedding?

Hive, I know you can help me. You will save me from myself and my desires that don't have a creative support.

Best Engagement Party Ever! Part One

I don't know if my engagement party was really the best ever, but it was the best one I'd ever been to. The food, the music, the decorations, the guests, everything was exactly as it should be. It really warmed my heart and Mr. Kettle's heart too. Now we only talk about eloping when confronted with overly detailed wedding decisions, instead of every time we thought of the impending too-big-too-succeed wedding.

Momma and Daddy Kettle, along with some help from friends of theirs, put together a wonderful affair.
We had our engagement party at the lovely L26 restaurant and it was better than I could have imagined. So, onto the recaps.

Mr. Kettle and I agreed he wouldn't take any gigs the days of wedding events. He forgot this agreement and took a gig the day of the engagement party. I was concerned he would be late or miss his own party, but I didn't request he cancel the gig. Interestingly enough, I was the one who made us late to the party because I was last-minute shopping in Orland with BM Milk. But I ended up with a great dress. I don't have any full length pictures of me standing up wearing it though. I can't believe I went all night without getting one. Recap fail.

Personal Photo: This is the only photo I have where you can see the whole dress. It is lovely even sitting down isn't it?

One of the better surprises of the day was my best man, BM Doc, deciding at the last minute to come to the party. He got on a bus from St. Louis that morning. I tried to track down a ride for him amongst the bridesmaids, but a friend of mine ended up picking him. They seemed to have hit it off and she's coming with Mr. Kettle, GM Dark, and me to St. Louis this month for a weekend of hanging out.

When I finally got home from the mall, I gave Mr. Kettle the new shirt and shoes I bought him and he and I hurriedly dressed. BM Doc (cause he's in medical school) was already ready to go. Momma Kettle called us at around 5:45 (the party started at 5:00) to see where we were and luckily we were just up the street. Mr. Kettle dropped me off at the door and went to go park the car since it was raining.

I arrived to the restaurant to see a sea of faces sitting there. They were just... staring. They were staring at me unexpectedly and smiling as if I was supposed to break into song and dance or entertain them somehow. It was incredibly awkward. Momma and Daddy Kettle weren't letting anyone eat until we got there. And we were bringing the speakers, so the DJ, GM Mac (cause he owns everything they make), couldn't properly DJ. So there were crickets and I was looking for an escape. "Um... I'm going to get Mr. Kettle. He's parking the car." I hightailed it out of there before anyone could respond.

After I met Mr. Kettle at the entrance of the hotel that housed the restaurant our party was at, I explained what had just happened and how I was apprehensive to go back in that room dripping with expectation. While we were walking, we ran in Mima and Poppa Kettle who were also (and always) late. The four of us walked in together and it just got much better after that. When we got back to the room, everyone wasn't just sitting there anymore. The cameras were out and ready to take pictures of us. Momma Kettle came and pinned Mr. Kettle and I with pins that read Future Bride and Future Groom or something like that.

I began taking photos of the lovely event.


Personal Photo: They took this picture of us right when we came in. Poor Mr. Kettle is still decorated with raindrops on his shoulders.



Personal Photo: They had this photo of us outside the room. I was so impressed by how nice it looked with the balloons. I love balloons so I relish chances to use them since they're not "fancy" enough for our wedding.

Personal Photo: This is an upclose shot. This photo is great isn't it? It looks like it was taken outside, but it was just in front of a window. It's one of my favorite pics of us as a couple.

Personal Photo: Our menu of our delicious food.

Personal Photo: Our delicious food. beef skewers, chicken wings, shrimp on cucmber, punch, fruit. Perfect hors d'ouevres.

Personal Photo: The favors table; can you see all the cute boxes? Lots o' M&Ms, and the world's cutest napkins



Personal Photo: A closeup of napkins. They're in our wedding colors!



Personal Photo: Our cake! It was tasty. Momma Kettle understands my strong love for whipped cream and my strong distaste for buttercream. The frosting was whipped and delicious!

Personal Photo: A shot of the table setup. That fuzzy baby shot was of me. They had lots of matching photos of Mr. Kettle and I on the tables. This was one of the cute ones. We also had our college grad photos, which were cute. But there was a terrible one of each of us...

Personal Photo: More table setup. I had to include another nice photo. They also had our pics from HS graduation. I am definitely not showing the picture of us from elementary school. Let's just say it was rough!

In the next post, I'll finish my recap of the best engagement party ever!

My Mansion For A Day

In my last post, I talked about re-designing the budget. I mentioned that Momma Kettle was looking to move our wedding venue somewhere else other than Chateau Bu-Sche. I glossed over it at the time, but now I'm ready to talk about it.

Actually, hive, I want to shout it from the rooftops!! But first a bit of background for anyone who hasn't been stalking my Weddingbee posts. We started our wedding venue search looking for somewhere we could have the ceremony and reception. We found a great place that just wasn't right for us.

We moved on to another venue that I fell in love with, but was outside our budget. Ultimately, we went with a venue I liked and had some details that worked for us, even if it wasn't a perfect fit.

Now, back to my shouting!

Image: Houston Streaming Video

We have switched our venue to the Patrick C. Haley Mansion!!!! This was the venue I fell in love with but was outside our budget. All our budget re-working was to make this venue happen. Our classy yet raging party we all hoped to have is going to go down there! Woot!

I truly didn't believe it when Momma and Daddy Kettle told me and Mr. Kettle we were making the switch. I hesitated to believe it when they took Mima and Poppa Kettle out to Joliet to take a look. They loved it too. Then my parents came back with a contract for me to sign to transfer the deposit from Chateau Bu-Sche to the Mansion.

When I got the confirmation e-mail from the Mansion, then I believed it. It was true. The Chateau people agreed to transfer our deposit so we didn't lose it. Thank God they're owned by the same people.

So now we're having our lovely, possibly 300 guest-attended, winter wedding at the venue of my dreams. Just to remind you...

Personal Photo

Personal Photo

Personal Photo: I can't believe I'm actually truly really getting reading in this room!!

I figured most people wouldn't take the time to scroll down the right side of the page on my posts for Weddingbee to see that the venue listed isn't the same as the one I've been saying was our venue. Only one person asked me about it. I was glad about it since I wanted to tell our story in the order that it happened instead of glossing over the details. But now my story reflects what's posted. Yay!

How To Be A Rebel Bride - Guest List Edition

Every one says how important it is to get a guest list together before you get too deep into wedding planning. Those people would be 100% right. Because we only had a tentative guest list of ~250 people, we felt confident that all the venues we were looking at would work no problem.

Me, Mr. Kettle, Momma and Daddy Kettle, FSIL Grand, and Mima and Dad Kettle, all sat down and hashed out a preliminary guest list. But then the numbers began creeping up. Mima Kettle thought of more people who had to be invited. Most were family, so we added them.

I have no idea what the total number of people were who were suggested to be on the list. But I think between the 7 of us, that list had the potential to be almost 500 people had we included everyone. That definitely wasn't going to work.

In that first meeting, I saw my dreams of a smaller guest list wedding going away and never coming back. I re-assessed my priorities and realized it was probably better to include more people if it fit in the budget because that meant a bigger party and more people there we cared about.

So, you must be asking, where does the rebellion come in? The fight I had on my hands to get everyone's addresses required a bit of rebellion on my part and Mr. Kettle's part too.

I had a certain date I wanted to send out the STDs by. When that date came and gone, it was time to send out e-party invites as well. We wanted to send them out 6 weeks before the e-party. That date came and gone.

We had to do a bit of... arm twisting to get all our addresses. People's addresses change, they move etc. But we still needed addresses.

Neither Mr. Kettle nor I make a habit of treating our parents like anything other than parents. But when they weren't coming up with their addresses, we had to make some tough choices.

• People we had fought to keep on the list got taken off when their addresses weren't found by the time we had to print off our envelopes.
• Mr. Kettle had a pretty heated conversation with Mima Kettle about taking off some of their cousins and church members. He was amazing in getting the list cut down to less than 325 people total.
• I e-mailed numerous e-mailed to Momma and Daddy Kettle to get their addresses.

It was an uncomfortable time, but we got it done. And at least it's done now. Unless more people move in the next 3 months, we're done tracking down hundreds of addresses.

Momma Kettle and I were still struggling with how we would organize a seating chart for all those people into the two rooms at Chateau Bu-Sche. Every person that could come off the list was only a benefit.


Personal photo: Our ceremony will be here, but also our reception.




Personal photo: We will also use this adjoining room because our gargantuan wedding won't fit into just the atrium above.



I'm still mystified as to how we ended up with an invite list of over 300 and there wasn't a single person on that list who could come off. It's mystifying.

Did you have a hard time getting your guest list done? Did your family have addresses for the guests they wanted to invite?