... advice!

When I first got engaged and started planning the wedding, my mom gave me a really great idea that I haven't really had the space to do what she suggested. But now I do! Blogs are great things, eh?
So. To all you ladies who have been brides - what did you love most about your wedding? What would you do differently now? What would you definately tell any bride never to do? I would love to read your comments and learn from your wisdom!
Here is a picture to help some of you remember:

If only it were the 80s!
sarah

Musik

Der französische Schriftsteller Victor Hugo hat mal gesagt:
"Die Musik drückt das aus, 
was nicht gesagt werden kann 
und worüber zu schweigen unmöglich ist."

Es erstaunt mich immer wieder wie viel es bei einer Hochzeit zu bedenken gibt.
Und Musik ist ein, wie ich finde wichtiges Thema.

Es fängt bei der Kirche an:
Möchte man einen Chor, einen Solisten oder etwa doch eine Heilsarmeemusikkapelle haben?
Oder sollen die Musikstücke auf einem Klavier oder Orgel begleitet werden?

Es gibt aber auch besondere Programmpunkte bei einer Hochzeit für die man Lieder oder Musikstücke aussuchen sollte


1. Eintreffen der Gäste in die Kirche
2. Einzug der Braut
3. Auszug des Brautpaares
4. Den Eröffnungstanz des Brautpaares
5. Den Vater Tochter Tanz
6. Die Hochzeitstorte angeschnitten wird
7. Hintergrundmusik während des Essens 


Diese Liste lässt sich natürlich noch um einige erweitern.
Ein guter Tipp kommt noch aus Sarah`s Weddingplaner, gerade für diejenigen die eine Band oder DJ engagiert haben:
Eine " Bitte nicht spielen" - Liste erstellen. Darauf kommen Lieder und Interpreten die auf keinen Fall gespielt werden sollen. Somit verhindert man das man mit solchen Liedern wie z.B. Ein Stern von DJ Ötzi überrascht wird.


Zum Schluss noch ein Link zu einer englischen Webseite die sich mit dem Thema beschäftigt:
http://hifiweddings.com/

Sport ist Mord. A poem.

I hurt.
Knees
Feet
Legs
Neck
Amrs.
They scream.
They cry.
Running.
It kills me.
And yet.
I do it.
I will.
Until I collapse into a crying heap screaming 'why?! why?!'


I was never very good at poetry. So here is a picture that shows you how I feel:

How delicous

What this wedding needs is what Chidi Ogbuta had at her wedding. Herself - Butterscotch flavor! Wow!

Erm, life sized by the way.

How I am getting ready to be a wife

That title sounds a wee bit old fashioned to me. It makes me think of preparing the trousseau, crocheting doilies required to make my household look civil, planning how to stock the pantry, feed the husband and take care of the kids. Can you tell Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorites? Diana Barry gets engaged to Fred and Anne is appalled and makes fun of how many doilies she is crocheting in preparation to getting married and talks to Gilbert about how chubby the kids are going to be? Remember? No? Just me I guess. I can just picture it causing some of you to cringe and maybe think 'why not just concentrate on being you?' or something feminist that I can't imagine because I'm not very feminist.
The thing is, although it makes my stomach feel weird and my heart constrict looking at the words 'preparing to be a wife', that is exactly what I am doing and what I have been doing since I started going out with Patrick. It was clear from the beginning that if we decided to begin courting (I'm sticking with the Green Gables theme here. There's no going back) then it was serious for both of us and we would be in it for the long haul. It was 2 months from Patrick telling me that he liked me and my revisiting the subject and then 3 months of talking, praying, reading the Bible and lots more talking before we decided that we were together and made it official by kissing (and I didn't want an anniversary in August so I said it would be nice if we could take the date in September instead). There are many things I have learned in the past 16 (maybe 17, math is not my strength) months that have made me a better girlfriend, fiancee and person that I won't bore you with here.
But. I was doing some thinking today about the fact that I am getting married (I think about that every once in a while) and what I am doing to get ready and I thought it would be fun to list them here so that I can look back one day and chuckle at myself and also so you can see some of the things that I am thinking about and maybe pray for me as I get ready to make my only little branch of the Honsberg family with Patrick. So, in no particular order:
1. I am trying to get up earlier and get to work earlier. I live above my office. Sometimes I sleep until 10 minutes before work. Not anymore. I get up at 7 (or try to) and am in the office by 8. It's a better work rhythm for me and knowing that before Patrick and I become husband and wife and work team is nice.
2. I am eating better. I don't want to enter this marriage with unhealthy eating habits. Especially when I will be the main provider of food and responsible for the 'health through food' for the man I love.
3. I am trying to give up burping really loudly. Now. This is tough for me admit on here cause only my family and Mareike really know how loud (and disturbingly often) I can burp. And it's gross. I have burped once or twice in front of Patrick. I didn't like it. So this habit needs to be broken and fairly soon (even if it is quite liberating). It's just not lady-like.
4. I am learning to say sorry.
5. I am trying to cut ties with rubbish tv. Ok, ok. I am trying to figure out how I can sneakily watch rubbish tv.
6. I am getting fit. I hear that after a marriage the couple tends to gain weight. Well not with me, calories! And I hear that some of the activities within marriage can be pretty exhausting and I mean to be as prepared as can be.
7. I have already made Mareike promise to force me to talk to people when I am married so that we don't become one of those couples that are insular. Nein, danke!

That's enough. I need to get back to crocheting our marriage blanket. I will not be outdone, Diana!

    (Anne and Diana. Sigh) 

Schuhe

Wer sagt denn das man immer weiße Brautschuhe tragen muss

Ok das sind weiße Schuhe, aber mit roten Herzen!

Diese Schuhvariante kommt aus dem Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten

 

 

Und ok es gibt auch diese wirklich häßlichen Schuhe

 

Die gefallen mir sehr gut

Ich bin wirklich von bunten Schuhen begeistert.
Und was denkt ihr?

...peonies!

I love peonies. A big bunch of them. Either pink or white, a whole bunch of them in one bundle and no other green or schnick schnack just looks amazing. Sadly, peonies won't be in season when I tie the knot but if I were having a spring wedding, a bunch of these fluffy, friendly, gorgeous flowers would be the way I would go.

Begeisterung

... Hochzeiten!
Ich war ungefähr drei Jahre alt als ich das erste mal eine Hochzeit besuchte und auch Blumen streuen durfte. Inzwischen war ich schon auf über 20 Hochzeiten (aber ich kann euch beruhigen, ich habe nicht auf jeder  Hochzeit Blumen gestreut ;)

Jeder dieser besuchten Hochzeiten waren verschieden.
So besuchte ich eine Hochzeit die in einem Dorf stattfand und die ganze Dorfgemeinschaft anwesend war.
Aber auch eine Hochzeit wo nur das Ehepaar und 10 geladene Gäste waren.
Oder ich erinnere mich an eine Hochzeit die in einer großen deutschen Stadt stattfand, bei der die Braut über eine Stunde zu spät kam weil sie in einem Stau stand.

Und dann war da noch die Hochzeit meines Bruders Olivers und meiner Schwägerin Christiane. Nicht nur für die beiden ein unvergesslicher Tag.
Auch ich werde mich wohl immer darin erinnern wie Christiane in die Kirche reingelaufen kam und Oliver mit der Fassung kämpfen musste. Oder wie Tobias (mit seiner Simpson Krawatte) die Ringe fallen lies. Und wie nach der Trauung  rot & weiße Luftballons in den blauen Oktober Himmel stiegen.

So könnte ich jetzt Stunden weiterschreiben und euch von meinen Erinnerungen berichten.
Das was mich begeisterte, aber auch das was ich auf jeden Fall anders machen würde.

Ich werde Euch in nächster Zeit berichten was mich begeistert
und was ich so gelernt habe:
nachdem ich in der Zwischenzeit schon über zehn Hochzeitsmagazine gelesen habe,
meinen stundenlangen Internetrecherchen
aber auch den besuchten Hochzeiten auf denen ich schon war, hat sich doch einiges angesammelt.
Ihr dürft gespannt sein!

Maid of Honor Mareike

                                                                                                & die Braut Sarah

Honeymoon Schmoneymoon

Finding the perfect place for our Honeymoon within budget is turning out to be a bigger challenge than I expected it to be. With the Hons being in London and I in Bremen and us talking at night when we want to go through our day and just talk without any wedding business (most of the time) it is quite hard to find time to decide on where we want to go and what we are looking for. My suggestion of Iceland was immediately laughed away and replaced with 'somewhere warm' so that is what we have been looking for. It's not easy. And not that fun so far. We have very limited funds and I have (quite possibly unrealistic) desires.
Did you ever play the game M.A.S.H.? You know, the game where you were 10 and you would sit with your girly friends and say 'Ok, 5 boys you want to marry' and then the boys names would roll out 'Dan, Garrett, Dustin...' and you would go on, through how you would live, where you would work, what dress you would have, what ring, flowers, and Honeymoon places. 5 of each. And your friend would count the lines and start crossing people out. In the end you hear the result - 'Ok, Sarah, you are going to marry...' (at this point you're feeling sick with nervousness) '... Dan [yay!] and you will be living in a shack [oh no!], working as a ballerina [yay!], you are going to where a turquoise dress [(sadly now) yay!], your ring will be plastic...' you get the point. The thing is, that game is misleading. When you're planning a wedding, and, I am realising, a Honeymoon, you don't have 5 choices and a friend who crosses them out for you. You have budgets, and limitations and time constraints. Not quite as fun.
I could really use some inspiration on this Honeymoon thing. So, if you are reading this please, please please: where did you go on your Honeymoon? Where are you going? Where would you go if you could? Any cheap, romantic, hot, beautiful, old, perfect, student-budget places?
Please, or I will just have to do it like this:

She gets me off the couch...

We have been watching some 'Losing it with Jillian' and 'The Biggest Loser' and I have never wanted to do sports more. We went jogging today for the first time in ages. I had torn a ligament in my ankle in November and this is the first time we went out. We went farther and faster than we ever have been before. I thank Jesus (we pray while we jog) but also Jillian. Every time I got tired, I just thought of her shouting at me. 

236 Days - the perfect day to start a blog

I got engaged on the 17 of September last year. I'd known for a while that eventually one day I would be marrying the man I'm marrying and I am blessed to live with a girl who shares some hobbies with me - one of them being weddings. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to get married and have been thinking about what flowers, what dress, what colours, what ANYTHING I would have at my wedding. Almost a year before the longed for  ached for  proposal came, Mareike and I began collecting wedding magazines. Ok, maybe not the most healthy hobby, especially not for the poor Hons, who had to put up with my 'So one day when we maybe get married...' (which he did with patience, most of the time) but a  great hobby when it comes to being prepared for planning a wedding. So when the proposal came (a story I may share eventually here), I was ready. Mareike was ready. We did not waste much time.