Our E-Pics

B and I are hoping to have a whirlwind wedding weekend in September. We are taking our engagement pictures (something we did NOT want but it is part of the photographer's package as she uses it as a way to get us used to the camera and learns how to best work with us), getting a marriage license on the Monday (it will be 55 days before the wedding), hopefully I will be getting a make-up and hair trial and B will try to arrange a meeting with the DJ. Oh the fun I will have checking off all those to-do items.

Oh and in order to have the best light, we could choose to have our pictures taken at 8 AM or 5 PM. We took the 5 PM option. It suits our lifestyle much better.

Now I just have to figure out where we are going to take the pictures. Any ideas are welcome.

Another song that wasn't....

I am realizing that I do not like conventional songs. I like darker ones that have a bit of saddness or struggle to them. I don't know what it means but I bet a psychologist would have a field day with it.

Tracy Chapman - The Promise

If you wait for me then I'll come for you
Although I've traveled far
I always hold a place for you in my heart
If you think of me
If you miss me once in awhile
Then I'll return to you
I'll return and fill that space in your heart

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace I
'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting

If you dream of me like I dream of you
In a place that's warm and dark
In a place where I can feel the beating of your heart

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting

I've longed for you and I have desired
To see your face your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting

I've longed for you and I have desired
To see your face, your smile To be with you wherever you are
Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
Please say you'll be waiting

Together again
It would feel so good to be
In your arms
Where all my journeys end
If you can make a promise
If it's one that you can keep,
I vow to come for you
If you wait for me and say you'll hold
A place for me in your heart.

I just find the sentiment of this song beautiful.

Don't Worry

If you thought I was going to use the Death Cab for Cutie song about following someone into death, I am not. Even if I was considering it, grandma put the official kibosh on it over the weekend. Thankfully I did not have my heart set on that song. I guess I did inherit the morbid trait from my mom's side of the family.

Maybe some live entertainment

Maybe we can fly in these guys? Two of them will already be at the wedding.

www.stbrigidsaccordionband.co.uk.

Another song that wasn't...

Another possible first dance song that I really like but in the end may just not be a good fit is "I will follow you into the dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. I really like songs that are a bit darker or that get straight to the matter - kind of like European movies. Much better (and realistic) than the Hollywood machine of everything turns out fine and the poor girl gets her prince. I think it sets a bad precedent but that is a discussion for another time.

So here are the lyrics to yet another song that almost was our first dance song. I still love it and may play it or include it in a slideshow. I also included a video of it from youtube.

Love of mine
Someday you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
No blinding lights or tunnels to gates of white J
ust our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of the spark
If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In catholic school, as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me "Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back
If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
You and me
Have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes
Are all worn down, the time for sleep is now
But it's nothing to cry about cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms
If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
I'll follow you into the dark.

Songs that are not our first dance songs...

So I have been thinking a lot about first dance songs lately. And I don't know why since we have had ours picked out since we got engaged (if you want to know what it is, you have to show up to the reception around 6ish and you will hear it). But I always liked two songs by Beth Nielsen Chapman (thanks Kath for giving me the name when I couldn't remember)- "All I have" and "I Keep Coming Back to You".

For any Days of Our Lives fans, "All I Have" is Jack and Jennifer's song and a reason why it couldn't be our first dance song. I mean, look at all that has happened to them - I don't want a repeat of that.

Lyrics:
You can say you love me
And I'll believe that's true
Trusting you is easy
'Cause I believe in you
There is nothing I would miss
As long as we're in love like this

CHORUS:
All I have is all I need
And it all comes down to you and me
How far away this world becomes
In the harbor of each others arms

I feel like I've known you forever and ever
Baby that's how close we are
Right here with you is where my life has come together
And where love has filled my heart
You know I'd go anywhere
As long as I have you to care

CHORUS

Ooh-and with the love you bring
I never want for anything
I found what I've been searching for in you

"I Keep Coming Back to You" may be too realistic for a wedding song. But that is what I like about it - no fluff, no fantasy, no "You complete me" crap (I am sure I will post more on my feelings on that subject at a later date". It is like "hey life is hard but at the end of the day, you are who I want to be with".

Lyrics:
Seems like after all we've been through
We would have learned by now
Never to fight for gets the last word
It doesn't matter anyhow
But 'round and 'round we go in circles
Trying to work things through
And sometimes it feels like miles between us
But I keep coming back to you

CHORUS:
And it's rough
And it's tough
And it's harder than anything I've ever tried to do
But I love you so much that in spite of the struggle
I keep coming back to you

Hold me now, just think about this room
That we have shared so long
We've studied that map of cracks on the ceiling
Talking till the break of dawn
There is something strong as history
Telling me this love is true
They say "Follow your heart and you'll be happy"
So I keep coming back to you

CHORUS

The DJ and the Lesson I Learned

So I mentioned in my previous post how we divided up the to do list -right? Well my first lesson learned comes in choosing a DJ. B is in charge of the music and the DJ falls into his list of responsibility. He had emailed a few people that I had found on the Internet (before we made the list) and the DJ his sister used. He would tell me what was emailed back and I would reply to his informative email with 3-4 more questions about prcing, what he is asking/telling the potential vendors, also points to consider, etc. It was after doing this a few times that I realized I have to give up control. I didn't want to make all the decisions and B wants to help.


I had to let him choose the DJ just like he had let me choose other vendors. Because if I did this for every thing he is in charge of, he will either stop doing things or I will feel like I am doing it all. Neither is good for anybody's stress levels during wedding planning. And it is not like I have such discriminating tastes that he can't pick vendors up to snuff. And he wants a good DJ just as much as I do, at least I hope so. I sent him an email that just "Whatever you decide is fine" and left it at that.


In the end, he went with the DJ his sister used and the DJ takes direction very well and won't play the songs we don't want played. Also he is a known quantity. For all the weddings we have gone to, not many have been in New York. We didn't have a large list to pull from (among those we have already seen in action). And while most have showcases, we were not going to drive to New York to go to see various DJ's pretend to be at a wedding and excite the crowd. I just keep thinking of the movie "The Wedding Singer" when Jon Lovett performs for Drew Barrymore and she just watches him. It seems like a showcase would be awkward.