Rob and Kiesha Get Married

On Friday I booked the hair and makeup appointments for myself, my two bridesladies and my mom for the wedding day.

Today I booked an appointment for this Saturday for the florist. I also stopped at Wendy’s Bridal and picked up my undergarments for use under the wedding dress. They look like they’re costume pieces for a revival of “Gone With the Wind.”

I feel like a lot of stuff is getting done and I love it.

Next step: Invitations.

In other news, I got my Flight of the Conchords vinyl record in the mail today, a day before it’s even technically released and a full week before I expected it to arrive. Kind of makes up for a semi-yucky day at work.

The show will go on!

Andrew Patton, aka DJ Funky D, has agreed to provide the soundtrack to our wedding. There’s even talk that he’ll do an all-vinyl set.

Andrew also writes for Rob’s website www.donewaiting.com and is part of the Funkdefy DJ Crew here in Columbus.

(Rob and I at a burrito shop in New York City last year - hence my old glasses.)

Yes. Yes I did.

I went to Wendy’s Bridal today here in Columbus. I pulled five dresses off the rack to try on. Fourth dress’s the charm.

I can’t reveal too many details because I’ve decided to keep it a surprise until the day of the wedding. Rob and I will be seeing each other before the ceremony for photos, but I’d like to surprise him with the dress because it is so radically different from anything I’ve looked at before.

That’s right, radically different. RADICALLY.

I will reveal a couple of things. It was a sample dress. I bought it off the rack. It needs minimal alterations (hemming, darts in the bust). It’s in beautiful shape. And it was less than $400.

If you want to see a photo, and your name isn’t Robert Duffy, please e-mail me at kiesha.jenkins@gmail.com and I will share.

Oh, goodness, will I share.

We’ve finally decided on a honeymoon location!

We tossed around the idea of driving down the California coastline, but some of my co-workers told me that there was no way we’d be able to do the whole coast and see everything we wanted to see in a week. So, we scaled back a little bit.

That’s right! We’ve decided to spend the week after our wedding in the Pacific Northwest! Final locations are still being decided, but I think our plan at the moment is to fly into Seattle and then drive up to Vancouver, down to Portland and then spend a couple of days in Seattle before flying back home a week later.

I’m very excited about it. One of the things that I wasn’t crazy about with the California coastline plan is that both Rob and I have been to San Diego, Rob lived in San Francisco for a year (and we both spent a week there four years ago), and Rob has been to Los Angeles. Neither of us has been to the Pacific Northwest, and I think it’s a very fun and romantic idea for us to spend our first week as a married couple in places that are completely new to us.

So many fun things to do!

Late night edit: Yikes! Did you know that passports cost $100? Looks like we’re confining the trip to the good ol’ USA and just doing Seattle and Portland. There are still about a million things to do in those two cities, and we’re hopeful that there will be some awesome concerts while we’re out there!

Out-of-town guests coming in on Friday night: Don’t confine yourselves to your hotel room Saturday morning and afternoon waiting for the wedding! Get out and explore Columbus! I’ve added some fun activities and places that you can visit to our FAQ page, which you can access from the navigation at the right. I’ve included the web pages for each suggestion, but if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.

In the world of wedding planning, March has been pretty boring. We’re so far ahead of the game with scheduling and booking and what-not, that there’s really not anything to do.

I am going dress shopping again sometime in the next week, either Saturday or Monday. I have a feeling the place I’m going to this week will be a lot more expensive than the place in Cincinnati, so this may just be a fantasy shop.

Next month, however, hoo-boy. There will be a LOT going on!

• Ordering the dress
• Buying shoes and other accessories
• Talking with a florist
• Scheduling my hair and makeup test-runs and real-deals
• Figuring out invitations
• Planning the honeymoon!

It should be a very exciting month in the Jenkins/Duffy household.

Along the right hand side of this blog, you’ll see a new page you can visit entitled “Frequently Asked Questions”. You can check it out for the story of how Rob and I met, and some info about the wedding. If there are any questions you’d like to have answered, please post them in the comments section and I will add them (and the answers) to the FAQ page!

The Countdown is on.

So today was the day.

Melissa and I jumped in my car and drove off toward Cincinnati this morning at 9:30 a.m. We got to the “Bridal District” of Reading around 11:30.

“District” is an understatement. Imagine shop after shop for blocks and blocks being completely devoted to weddings and proms. It’s craziness.

We found the shop, Carrie Karibo Bridesmaids.

Cute shop.

I set to work immediately, withdrawing the printed picture of my dress, the dress I have come to love over the past few years. And of course, they didn’t have that one in stock. So I tried on a similar style. It was the right length and cut, but it didn’t have the sleeves.

And you know what? I didn’t really look that good in it. True, it was a couple of sizes too small, so I was holding the back closed and trying to imagine it in a larger size, but it just wasn’t working for me…so I tried on other dresses (gasp!)

It was sort of amazing having two different women rushing up to me with dresses in hand, “How about this one? Do you like this one? Do you want me to put this one in the dressing room???” So I started trying stuff on. Some didn’t warrant pictures, because they wouldn’t zip up enough to stay on me, or because they were just not right.

Here’s one that got consideration:

This one was definitely more wedding-y than anything else I’ve ever considered, but I just don’t know about strapless. I feel like I’d be yanking at it all night and that’s not very becoming of a bride.

So we trudged on, trying on a multitude of dresses, until we came to this one:

Now, the thing I’ve come to learn about bridal shops is that the employees must have awesome imaginations, because they only stock one dress in one color in one size. So this one is obviously not white and not at all my size. In this picture, the back is gaping open and I’m holding it back with my arms.

But I really really like it. Which is amazing, because I didn’t think I would like a long dress. But the lady pointed out that the length and the scoop neck work to make me look taller and leaner, which I’m sure every bride is after.

Another view:

They found basically the same dress in a larger size for me to try on, although this one was tea length and now in vibrant purple! But this time I was able to zip it up (and subsequently swim in it), and they were able to clip up the back to give me a better idea of how the top part would look. So, in this photo, focus just on the top and not the length.

So, I think we have a winner. I’ve got until April to order it, so I’m going to go check out a couple of more places, but I like this one because a.) it’s still a fairly simple dress without too much fussiness going on and b.) the price is right.

I should really hammer home the point that I will not be wearing a blue or purple dress. It will be white. They just didn’t have any white ones available in this style for me to try on.

Mission (almost) Accomplished.