Wedding Ring - check!

So, today I can officially cross another item off of the "Wedding To-Do List". I have my wedding ring!

Ms. Temple of Groom had a great idea: wear my grandfather's wedding ring. It's a pretty great idea because my grandfather has always been an inspiration throughout my life. I called my parents, and they shipped the ring.

The cool thing is that it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It's plain platinum and not very shiny. I tried it on, and it actually fits pretty perfectly. I hate wearing anything on my fingers so I think I just have to get used to it.

Even though I know I have to wear a ring, I never have looked forward to it. Not because I don't want people to know I'm married - I have a WEDDING BLOG I obviously don't care if people know I'm going to get married - I just don't love the look or feel of wearing a ring. This was a good way to make me pretty excited to wear a ring. Also, it was a great way to cut costs on something that didn't really matter to me all that much. It has more meaning to me now though! Brides, if your groom isn't looking forward to wearing a ring, pitch this idea. It's the only thing that would have worked for me!

Temple of Groom - Best New Wedding Blog!

Wow! I just got an email from Wedding Blog Awards letting me know that Temple of Groom has won "Best New Wedding Blog"! That's pretty exciting. I wish I had prepared some sort of speech. (pulls a speech from his jacket pocket...)

Unreal! Who would have thought 27 years ago that I would one day win the "Best New Wedding Blog" award? Certainly not me! Through the ups and the downs, the twists and the turns, my family has always been there for me. For that, I thank them. Without their love and support I would never have had the courage to turn the laptop on and write a blog. There are so many times in life where people tell you that you CAN'T do things. That you WON'T do things. (the crowd starts to "boo") No, no, hear me out. (the crowd hushes) To the people that told me I couldn't, or wouldn't, I thank you too. Your negativity was my catalyst to prove you wrong. It's a fact that 95% of all wedding blogs are written by women. People doubted that this could be done by a man. (start tearing up) People called me... (almost lose it)...people called me (pause) Ah, I told myself I wouldn't get emotional. (now pull it together) People called me names and said I was stupid for writing a blog. Who's stupid now?! (Applause!) I won't allow your bloggetry (wink) to get me down!

To my loving fiance, Rebecca: (hold up award) We did it baby!! (hold for applause and camera close up on Rebecca) Without you I wouldn't have started the blog. I'm so happy I had the idea, and then you supported me every step of the way! Ernie thank you for not barking too much while I needed to sit down and write something, and thank you for letting me take some cute pictures of you!

Gosh, I know I'm forgetting a whole bunch of people to thank! Thank you to WeddingBlogAwards.com for bestowing this prestigious award upon me. And most importantly, thank YOU, my fans, my followers, anyone that has made a comment, and anyone who has ever visited the blog. (crowd roars) Without you this blog would just be something I do for myself. I write this as an outlet for myself, sure, but hopefully in some way it's an outlet for you too. I love you all. Lastly, I want to take a moment to thank someone special. This person has helped creatively along the way, and I think he should be thanked. He's a great guy and I want him to know one day we'll blog his wedding! To my good friend Ni..(music plays me off so I don't get to finish but I don't care I'm just so happy!)

Anyway - that's just a little something that I happened to have in my pocket in case the situation ever came up! Go see my honor on the website by clicking the picture below!

Back to Work

Brides, how do you possibly plan a wedding while you have a job? I've been back to work for the last 2 days and have looked at zero of my wedding planning blogs.

How do you do it?

Need a Tie?

This site has some pretty good ones if you're looking!

Grooms generally buy the ties for their groomsmen, and this seems like a pretty decent place to do it. Or if you just need something for yourself, check it out.

Snazzy.

"He's just not that into you"

This has absolutely nothing to do with wedding planning at all, but I felt that it should be noted:

The movie "He's just not that into you" is quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. We rented it this weekend, because we love watching mindless movies. What it resulted in was feeling completely depressed about relationships in general.

The wedding is still on.... but BARELY! (not because the movie made me skeptical about relationships - but because it was Rebecca's idea to rent it)

What SHOULD I be doing?

Okay, so we're 14.5 months away from our wedding. THAT'S most likely the real reason I haven't been Bloggy McBloggerson lately. Honestly, if there's something I should be planning right now or we'll be WAY far behind, please tell me. This isn't even guy lingo for "Holy Eff, we're 14 months away and we're ALREADY talking wedding stuff. Get off my back woman." This is just normal person talk for "We aren't in the thick of things yet, so let's just have some fun enjoying the calm before the storm".

However, here's a list of what we've gotten done though (I think we've got a good start):
- Bought a Gocco to eventually do invites/programs/thank you cards/etc
- Bought the wedding dress!
- Picked our colors
- Picked our date
- Bought Ernie a tie for the wedding!
- Saw what potentially will be our wedding venue

So I know that's not a lot when it comes to weddings, but people (including my cousin & his wife who just had an AWESOME wedding) can pull together a wedding in like less than 8 months, I gotta believe we can figure this out in the next 15.

Anything off topic anyone wants to talk about?

Video Save-The-Dates?

Thanks to Maria for sending this one to me. I think a video Save-The-Date is a cool idea. The two in the video below did a great job! I guess you would send everyone a dvd? Or maybe just an email with a youtube link? I wonder how the older guests would view it. True story, I burned a copy of a video onto a DVD for an older woman a couple weeks ago, and when I handed the dvd to her it took her about 10 minutes to understand that she could put it into her dvd player or computer and watch a video. She kept thinking it was pictures on a cd. I kept saying "no, it's video", you can watch a movie on it. I guess I should have just said this in an old timey voice: "It's talkies, see... moving pictures, see! You get me? Put this in your dvd box and you'll have a real gas!"

Anyway - check out the youtube save the date and let me know what you think!

Have a good weekend!

Totally off topic, but who cares, it's MY blog! Enjoy the pics of my pup Ernie, and wish him luck - tomorrow he gets "fixed".




My sister was in town for the last couple weeks so that's why things have been a little slow on the blog. Next week back to normal!

Love you all, have a great weekend!

Wedding Dress?... Check!

Everything else?..... yeeeeah, we've still gotta get around to everything else. But at least Ms. Temple of Groom got her wedding dress this weekend, right?! It's a good start.

My sister is in town from NY and my fiance thought it'd be a great opportunity to start looking at dresses. She did a quick round up of some relatives and close girlfriends, and before she knew it, she was in wedding gowns. For those of you wondering, I did not go with them. We always said I'd most likely see her dress before our wedding day, but for some reason actually GOING and watching her try on the dresses seems a tad overboard. Maybe it's the episode of "Rich Bride, Poor Bride" I just watched where the groom wanted to pick out the dress with his bride... it just seemed controlling and a tad creepy.

Anyway, I got a call from my sister while the group was on its way to the 2nd dress boutique. The first store was a total bust. My fiance never felt like traditional wedding gowns were for her, and the first batch of 20 dresses she tried on confirmed that for her. She felt like a total poser of a bride. The dress she originally wanted was not right for her and I was already preparing to do damage control when she got back home. I was almost out the door to pick up 50 twix bars and a bottle of wine when I got a text from my sister "we found something amazing".

Guys, if you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco, send your brides to The Glamour Closet. Since the beginning of my blog, I think this is the most valuable nugget of info I've written about. It could save you THOUSANDS of dollars. I'm not exaggerating. The Glamour Closet is a boutique that sells designer dresses that were displays in showrooms, runway samples, or overstock from other boutiques. All the dresses are brand new. It's a great way for brides to get their dream dresses without spending the dream dress price. Trust me, we don't have Monique Lhuillier dream dress money, but Ms. Temple of Groom was able to find the perfect dress and couldn't be happier.

A couple updates - I will NOT see the dress (either on the rack, or on my fiance) before the wedding. If you missed what my fiance commented on my post regarding whether or not it's cool for a groom to have wedding dress input or see the dress here is what she said:

Well, I already know that you will most likely see a photo of the dress before the wedding. (considering I've sent you every link of dresses I like so far). Also, I know me well enough to know that probably on one lazy saturday afternoon, when we are just laying around, not showered, eating take out and watching movies, I will probably decide to try it on for you. Is that so bad?

She's singing a much different tune now. That's how I knew that this is "the dress". She has forbidden me to see it, see pictures of it, and most of all see her in it. Over the weekend she somehow became a real bride! She's more excited to get married than ever. I'm telling you guys, if you are looking for a designer dress but are on a budget - or even if you want an awesome dress but don't want to spend retail, go to the Glamour Closet. She's been gushing ever since she went.

Lastly, and most importantly, I'm happy to report that the dress isn't so formal that I can't wear my Converse Chucks with my suit. So this weekend was a total win.

15 Months

Today marks exactly 15 months till our wedding. I only know this because The Knot sent an email to tell me. It kind of gave me a mild panic attack. I know that 15 months is an eternity when it comes to wedding planning, but for some reason it caught me off guard this morning. It just seems like such a short time to me.

So, thanks "The Knot". You've just given me another reason to punch you when we finally meet.

A cool way to end the night

How'd you end your reception? Did you have people throw rice, release doves, hold sparklers, shoot fireworks, or just wave goodbye? Lately, sparklers seem to be the trend. They're priced right AND drunk people love to write their names in sparks in front of themselves. However, if you're having an evening wedding, and don't want sparklers, I came across something kind of cool...

Check these out: Sky Lanterns

They are like mini hot air balloons. You light them, and in like 10 seconds they float up and away. They are completely biodegradable and will not harm any animals. They sell wedding packs of 100 sky lanterns that vary in size. It seems like a really cool way to end the night. I already emailed the company to see if you could potentially tie the lanterns and have them hover above your reception illuminating it - and I got yelled at by the company. They told me "Sky Lanterns should never be tied down and are meant to fly!". (I have some friends that live by the same philosophy!)

Anyway - just thought I'd share this with you guys. Even though you can fly these lanterns anywhere, if we do a wedding near the beach I think it would be a cool way to end the night. It would certainly make for some pretty cool pictures!

I get the hint "The Knot" newsletter...

...you think I'm gay. I know I signed up for your service AND your newsletter, but that doesn't mean you have to send me "Top 10 Wedding Day Makeup Tips!", and "Wedding Dress Dos & Don'ts". I told you I'm the groom... I told you I'm a guy... you don't need to send me EVERY newsletter.

I get what you're trying to tell me, and I love that you're including me on everything, but I promise, I'm just a guy that loves planning his wedding. I am definitely against Prop 8, but even gay guys I know probably don't even care about wedding day makeup tips.

If you keep this up, I'm going to have to quit you....

While I'm thinking about gifts...

...what are some "off the beaten track" items you registered for? Anything fun other than new plates/silverware/blenders?

If not, what's been the best thing you registered for? Was there anything on your list that you said "No way in hell someone will buy that for us" and next thing you knew it was delivered to your place?

No time like the PRESENTS!

When it comes to wedding planning, there's one thing I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to - creating the gift registry. I can't wait to get to a store, get that registry gun in my hand, and just start zapping items I can't live without. I think the Beatles said it best "Happiness is a warm gun".

As much as I can't wait to get into a store and start shooting, I just saw a new way to do things that may keep me home. You can now register on amazon.com. They have an area of their website dedicated to wedding registries! The best part of the service is that amazon installs a "Put on Registry" button onto your browser. You don't have to find your gifts on their site. You can be on ANY store online. No matter how big or small. Any time you see something you want online you can click the "Add to my Amazon Registry" button and the item seamlessly gets added to your registry. For example, you could be on the Williams Sonoma site, see a kitchen gadget you need, and add it to your Amazon registry! It's incredible. The entire internet is at your fingertips and accessible for your registry.

What do you guys think of the idea? Incredible right?