Halloween? Venice?

Halloween? Venice?

Do Halloween and Venice belong in the same sentence? As an october born, mid-20 year old, college-graduate and an American, Halloween is a very important holiday. It just hit me when booking our hotel today that we will be spending our first holiday abroad together, and that holiday is Halloween.

Growing up Halloween meant my upcoming costume birthday party and trick or treating.

In college it meant skimpy Halloween costumes with a weeks worth of awesome house costume parties, bar costume contests and pretty much wearing your costume any chance you got.

On our honeymoon......uhhhhh....do I include a costume in my packing list?
Do they celebrate Halloween like us? Is it more tame? Is it crazier? Does it involve costumes at all?? Or should we plan a day trip to another town to experience the halloween celebrations? I'm baffled.

Guess I better get to researching this intriguing topic!

Wedding Invitations: RSVP

        Ok, so all of the wedding invitations are out, except for about 20 due to either address changes, haven't received an address from the guest, or just recently got the address and I have been procrastinating about printing. I am awful. Tomorrow, they will all be printed and mailed though, I promise myself they will be!

         

          If you have followed my blog or know me at all, then you know I made these invitations myself. I was secretly jumping for joy inside when Henry's Uncle John walked into the office today and said, "Dang Heather!! Ya'll must have spent a fortune on those invitations! They were NICE!" I was happy to A) Know that a MALE noticed how nice they were B) He thought they cost a fortune C) Inform him that we didn't spend a fortune after all, just $300 and a lot of hard-work :-). I then enjoyed his bug-eyed reaction at the $300 and his reply of, "I thought ya'll had to have spent at least $15 a piece on those!" No sir, 130 double-pocket invites for $300, yes I did. Do the math people. 

        When I was putting these together I think I had to have fret the most over the RSVPs. I googled the crap out of "Creative RSVPs" "Original RSVPs" etc. I wouldn't say my turned out GREAT or very original at that, but I do like how they came out. I had the obvious "RSVP" title and the RSVP return date. I opted to put "name(s)" instead of "M" because quite frankly I have received invitations I had no idea what that meant, and figured it was less formal - like our overall wedding.

         I then gave the "Choice of Entree" - which I am sure people looked at and said, "What!? Huh? No fried chicken?" But the menu is themed around our favorite restaurant/cookbook - The Reatta <3 

         The "creative" part, which wasn't very creative, was just putting at the bottom the option of "REQUEST A SONG that will get you up on the dance floor" - I loved this idea because I obviously know a few classics and various songs that are popular for my "generation", but I wanted song options from other people too. It has so far worked out great because I have gotten some wonderful song requests I would have NEVER thought to tell our DJ. 

         "Creative" Part Zwei - "We have reserved _____ seat(s) in your honor" - I love kids, I do. However, when we started our guest list, we had 500+ people on it. Our solution was to limit kids and rando girlfriends/boyfriends. I am sorry single guys/girls, I love you, but I don't love your random fling of the week and I would much rather have two friends, than one friend and someone I don't know. For kids, this was tough. If we knew all the relatives were going to be at the wedding, such as a few of Henry's neices/nephews, and it would be near impossible for a babysitter, we let the kids slide. If it was a distant cousin/relative/friend of the sort, we had to cut those kids. If you can find a babysitter on your date nights or whatever it is you two do, I am sure you can find one this time too. It wasn't an easy decision, I promise! Then there was a friend's wedding who invited a single guy friend "Mr. Joe Bob and Guest" - and he tried to invite some random girl PLUS a college buddy and the college buddy's date. People, if the name isn't on the envelope, they weren't invited - it's etiquette. 

          "Creative" Part Tres - in the midst of googling I came across a girl who had put on her WEDDING INVITATION "P.S. If you don't RSVP bring a chair and a sandwich" - When I read this, I laughed SO FREAKING HARD! The reviews beneath were mixed. Some were appalled, some seemed to be just as amused as I was. Then I read the girl's reasoning - she had attended a wedding herself a few short months prior to her own wedding where 40 - yes, FOURTY,....FOUR-ZERO - guests showed up who had not RSVPed. My jaw dropped. Our venue can only accommodate 150 people comfortably - I mean comfortably as in pushing-it-comfortably - if 40 extra people showed up, there would LITERALLY be no where to add extra tables or chairs without diminishing the dance floor. Not an option people, this crowd knows how to get down. 

          After reading that, I asked a few family members - which all had the same cracking up response I did. If people get their panties in a wad over it, well then they are probably the people that wouldn't have RSVPed and would've shown up anyway. So, people can loosen up, have a little chuckle and send in those RSVPs - whether it is a yes or no! Please :-) 

       Now, I did put it on the back, bottom-side of the RSVP card so it wasn't all up in their face yelling at them and I included a little clipart piece of a heart being placed into an envelope. So, hopefully people understand I say it with love. :-)

       Last note - if you are a family/friend reading this, please RSVP one way or another, it makes life so much easier on the bride and groom. We even paid for custom stamps and pre-addressed the return envelope, so all you have to do is fill out the card and stick it in your mailbox. :-] If you are a follower reading this, please remember to turn in any RSVP you get for any event! It is such a pain to track down RSVPs when vendors are calling you to get final numbers and deadlines are approaching.  Yes or No - give an RSVP. It's the nice thing to do. :-]

Alana - XoXo

Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 17}: Country First Dance Songs

         I made a previous post listing mostly Texas Country First Dance Songs, but since then, I have listened to a lot of country songs and utilized my trusty iPhone Notes to keep track of them as I hear them. Below are ones I have fallen in love with:

        The most recent song release that I absolutely adore is by Easton Corbin - Loving You is Fun

The first time this song played with Henry and I in the car I was kind of in a daze, just thinking - I think A LOT - Next thing I knew, Henry was squeezing my hand saying, "Loving you IS fun." I looked over at him shooting me a quick smile before directing his eyes back on the road. The first thing I said was, "Huh?" - Then the chorus came back on "Ohhhhh! Awe!! Loving you is fun too! I love you!" Now every time this song comes on we think of each other. It is like our personal theme song. :-) This is actually one of the only songs that has made Henry reconsider his traditional George Strait option for our first dance.

A Texas Country First Dance option: 

Stoney Larue - Feet Don't Touch the Ground

Miranda Lambert's song "Making Plans" - this song is by far a new favorite. Her words are perfect - short, sweet and simple. She is so talented. "'Cause I'm not easy to understand, but you know me like the back of your hand, I'm your girl and you're my man, And we're makin' plans"

What every girl wants to hear: Keith Urban - Your Everything

I would've probably never thought twice about this song, until my sister texted me while Henry and I were at a country dancing bar saying, "Brice and I agree that 'Cowboys and Angels' should be yalls first dance!" I fall more and more in love with this song as I listen to it.

Dustin Lynch - Cowboys and Angels

You of course can't forget one of the classics. This is Henrys final choice. George Strait is definitely one of the most famous Country Singing Icons and this song is from one of Henry's favorite movies "Pure Country" - Which he made me watch and I rather enjoyed.

I remember growing up, like 3rd/4th/5th grade and listening to this song and thinking, "One day I want this to be my first dance". I just may get that wish. <3

George Strait - I Cross My Heart

Check out my other Country First Dance Song Suggestions:

1}Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No. 7}: Texas Country/Country 1st Dance Song Suggestions

2}Wedding Inspired Wednesday {No 19}: Country First Dance Songs Continued

To Eat Or Not To Eat....Chik-fil-a???

I'll start off right now by saying, I will eat Chik-Fil-A and any other place I dang well please regardless of their views on anything or what they choose to support. Unless it is absolutely absurd, like killing puppies. Let's not take it to the extreme though, otherwise we could go on forever.

All these "Boycott Chik-Fil-A" groups are ridiculous and honestly a waste of everyone's time. Don't we have more important things in this world to worry about? Like world hunger? AIDS? Curing Cancer? Curing Diabetes? Child Abuse? Illegal Immigration? I mean, those are a just a few, but no you have all these people with their panties in a twist because someone utilized their Freedom of Speech to voice their Freedom of Religion - and that someone just happens to own Chik-Fil-A Whoop-D-freakin-doo!!! If they choose to use his hard earned money to support those beliefs, so what? There are people supporting and funding things of all different angles on a wide variety of topics. If you start nit-picking each person for not supporting this and not supporting that, you lose the freedoms of this country. End of story. This country has so much to be thankful for, but instead everyone is suing everyone and getting their feelings hurt over the dumbest things, and in turn make everyone feel they have to walk on glass with each word they say. This country needs thicker skin and to put on their big-girl panties.

I found this quote along my pointless tracking of all this Chik-Fil-A hoorah: 

"Will you boycott gas because the OPEC nations put homosexuals to death? I doubt it. You're only boycotting Chick-Fil-A because it is convenient. If you truly want to make a stand, boycott big oil. Boycott the military. Picket at churches and synagogues and mosques. If you're not willing to do those things, shut up and get back to your lives."- Bruce P.

It is very true! If you are going to boycott Chik-Fil-A because of their religious views, and if cities such as Chicago and Boston are going to ban or prevent Chik-Fil-A's from opening, then are they going to ban every Church, Mosque and Synagogue from every opening too? Where do you draw the line? 

 If Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech were what this country was founded on and if you are going to "boycott" his company because of his religious views, then aren't you yourself discriminating??? It is such a hypocritical position. Why can't people in this country agree to disagree? Just because you don't share the same views, does not make either party a bad person. It is what makes this country so great, the DIVERSITY.

But while we are on the subject, I do not believe same sex couples were meant to be. I do not oppose them being together, but I am not going to go out of my way to support or not support them being together either. Look at it simply, regardless of religion. Darwinism and natural selection: relating to species and it's members who were the most successful at survival skills and ability to reproduce. Those that could not find food, avoid enemies, or reproduce died off.

Get where I am going with this? The physical anatomy of men and women were meant to compliment each other. There is a reason two men cannot reproduce without the help of science. There is a reason two women cannot reproduce without the help of science. It was physically not how we were built to live. They would not "survive" or be considered "fit". If that isn't evidence enough that it is against nature and all this natural, then I don't know what is. 

I am fully aware that this post will probably result in some poor comments/emails - but like I said people, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I fully welcome any opposing views, but keep it classy. :-]

Alana XoXo