SO busy and all the latest going on with me!

Life is so crazy right now- been SUPER busy with finishing touches on wedding which is in upcoming November month. and my birthday is this saturday, day after halloween. past wkend between being swamped with little wedding details, the stress of fking trainwreck florist Laurie- been exhausted and overwhelmed. called us to RUIN our saturday morning/day to tell us she had spoken with HEAD FLORIST [funny how the past six mos she represented herself as the EXPERT IE. HEAD florist and LED us on to believe she is something she is NOT]

In any case, she now told us, weeks before OUR wedding- that the head florist CANNOT do ALL colors we chose for reception [yellow, light green, and melon-red colored orchids] have to be fucking changed because florist says they do not match our lilac color in the wedding [my dress is ivory and bridesmaids are lilac]

Jimmy handled it all for us on the telephone and kept his cool but he is about to go off the deep end too and my mom almost wanted to just find another florist at the last minute because Laurie is that disruptive and stressful to everyone and because she is starting to get nervous this flightly Laurie is going to screw up our wedding and waste 500 plus dollars of her hard earned money. i could tell she is feeling as anxious as i am. we've revised our own plan but wont be able to discuss with laurie til nov. 9th and we KNOW she will make it hard no matter how organized we are because she is consistent about making us start from scratch and not allowing us to just tell her what we want and to be decisive in our decisions.

Laurie is so neurotic that she makes you go thru every single detail to assure herself she is not going to fuck your wedding up. i have about had it to HERE with her and when we do see her, if she tries to inflict more doubt, uncertainty in the choices we make- i am going to go off on her and tell her simply, this is what we want and this is what we are paying you for, so please just do it and stop making everything more complicated than it needs to be. this is ridiculous.

I will be reporting her ASAP after this wedding is over, btw, to the appropriate manager at Publix. No way is she getting off on this so she can ruin someone else's wedding in the future. she is completely incompetent in her role as 'event planner' and does not belong in the job title she is currently in and needs major training in customer skills although I believe it is a mental defect in how she treats others and she is so neurotic and all over the place, that she does not belong in a job that involves leadership, customer service, assertiveness or in catering to a person's special day.

The appropriate head people NEED to be aware of her inability to perform her job or remain professional. I expect her to challenge our decisions of floral and colors on our nov. 9th appt.

We will print and bring the ones we found online [i'll share pix of these at end of entry below] because we simply do NOT want to email her our ideas cos she will just ASK more stupid questions and waste more of our time on the phone, cause more stress and really I would like to fking enjoy my 37th bday this coming saturday and want NO part of laurie in my life this week. Everytime I think about her, I get pissed off. I do not have the patience to deal with her right now. I am fed up.

***Here are the orchid colors we are considering and hope we can come to an amicable consensus b/t laurie and head florist as I dont have much energy left to contend with our choices NOT being good enough.

I hardly think I LACK the visual sense of what colors go with what and knowing how to put colors together. That is one of my best skills and fashion is something I have always considered as a career because that is how good I am at style and color so it REALLY insults me when someone suggests that the color flowers I chose do not go wtih the colors in my wedding not to mention the fact that I thought we HIRED her and are paying her to do our wedding. Doesn't that mean that we have total say in what we want and that what we say goes??!! I feel like these people act like they are the customers and we are the ones working for them. I just don't get it.

Phalaenopsis Orchids >

Doritaenopsis Ruey Lih Beauty "M"





Phalaenopsis Orchids >


Phalaenopsis Sogo David





Dendrobium Orchids >


Dendrobium Nestor "Nagata"




Cymbidium Orchids >

Cymbidium Meglee "Miss Taipei"




Cymbidium Orchids >


Cymbidium Lady Fire "Red Angelica"




Cymbidium Orchids >

Cymbidium Dorothy Stockstill "Forgotten Fruits" with Two Flower Stems




Cymbidium Orchids >


Cymbidium Waltz "Romance"

PS.

BTW, I have the bridal shower pix finally but haven't had any time to upload and share here. Will later when I can find some time! Also had dinner with parents and visited on wkend and took a few photos over there on Saturday. Will share and post at a later date.

New things or upcoming:

1- Marriage License appt is November 7th for the two of us. we cant believe how fast everything is going and it is really an emotionally warming/moving experience to realize that by the end of November I will be his wife and him my husband :D

2- his coworkers which are predominantly female [most i've met and are nice, always tell me what a nice guy he is and such a great catch cos he is so polite and ultimate helpful boss/worker with them] want to hold a little late lunch/dinner get together for US in honor of our upcoming wedding. A bit like a shower but not really..More like a get together and celebration of our upcoming future.

I think that is so sweet and I look forward to it actually. It is really nice of them to think of us this way especially when some people are still set in the tradtitional way of things. It's rare that coworkers would throw any sort of party for the guy in the engaged relationship or the couple then again maybe it is cos they are female and he is well liked by them. It is refreshing that they aren't stuck in conservative conventional ways which I think are very unrealistic in this day and age. It is refreshing that people realize things are far different today and both people in coupleship deserve to be honored! :)

More things going on in life, not all connected to our upcoming wedding, in a future entry when time allows me to do so. I feel so scattered and all over the place that I feel I am way behind when it comes to sharing all that I want presently. More later when I have unlimited time to think, focus and write! :)

(latest wedding update/ details from fiance)

Hi, babe. I just wanted to let you know that I called about the marraige license and the tux. We don't need an appointment to get the marraige license. The lady said that Monday and Friday are the busiest days, but it shouldn't take longer than 15-30 minutes. I'm telling Michelle that I need to leave at 2 or 2:30 pm on Nov. 7th, so I can pick you up and drive downtown to get our license. I could probably wait until 3pm, but I don't want to take the chance of there being a long line and us not being able to get it that day. I'm not sure what they have planned for the little celebration or party they want to have for us, but I'll let you know the details as soon as I know them. It'll probably just be for about an hour or so someplace near work, like Four Green Fields or the Dubliner (both Irish pubs), or some other bar/restaurant.

I called about the tuxedos and everyone has been fitted. I also got our group number so I can look at what we ordered online. They had the wrong vest color in the system, so I asked the guy to change it for me. I'll be picking up my Dad's, both of my brothers' and my tuxes at Citrus Park and your Dad's, Allister's and Corky's will be at the Clearwater store. I'll call again about a week before the wedding to verify everything is correct because the website doesn't show pickup locations.

At lunch, I went to Alessi's to pay the deposit. It was like $71, so the balance due on Nov. 18th will be around $214. Maybe, we'll go there on Sat. Nov. 15th to buy the cake topper and pay the balance. I think we should look around Tampa for other places that might have toppers because the ones there are pretty expensive. The nice one that you were talking about is $45, but I think they have another nice one for $30 or $35. I heard that Party City has a wedding section and I think there is a $5 off coupon in the paper, so maybe we can go there one night later this week to see what they might have.

Well, that's about it. Hope you are having a good day. I'll see you in a few hours.

Love,
Jimmy

(more wedding planning/mom's sweet email)

Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 3:57:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: I had a ball [from mom about candles/decor she bought for US]


I just came back from the store and it was a productive day. I found the unscented ivory floating candles or tea lights and there are 144 for six dollars. I can be use for anything. If you dont like it I can return them for a refund. I bought a bunch of amethyst glass gems which can be use for decorations or par t of favors. I can ask my Chinese friend to inscribe Chinese characters for April and Jimmy'

I also bought a purple small wicker basket which can be used for anything. I can decorate and will look Pretty. Everything is falling in place little by little. We dont need to get stressed out anymore. What do you think of my adventure? Talk to you soon.

Love,
MOM

ready to kill this woman. is she loony or what?

someone please hold me BACK before i go insane and explode on this woman.

i think i am going to scream if she ASKS us the same stupid questions we've already answered again. she has Asked these questions in every time we have met with her. count them - three f***ing times. what the F--k is her problem??

we only spoke with her a week ago via telephone. every question she asked in this email or stated, we have already answered thru the phone.

may i add i have sent clear concise emails in past with details of what i want and do not want.

thank god for my fiance who wrote me something supportive and soothing. im glad he wrote what he did to me because if he had just forwarded her email without saying anything to keep me from stressing out, i would have lost it. this woman is making me lose my cool, and fast.

the comforting thing is that jimmy is experiencing it firsthand with me and validates my feelings by acknowledging feeling the same feelings and frustration. it's so much better when the other supports how you feel and gets 'it' because then you avoid the plaguing and overbearing feeling that kills, that feeling of feeling 'alone' in the world.

he doesn't often commisserate with my feelings because i am way more emotional than him and we are built differently. i am sensitive. he is covered with walls, that he prob formed at a young age to make everyone think he is strong and to keep himself from ever being truly hurt. somex i envy him but it is not my nature and i can never be like him.

we are different people.

the key to contentment is acceptance and finding a way to fit together even when inner natures can be so vastly different. it is merely the difference between a man and a woman.

i think maybe this is common ground experienced and explored and most felt by women.

we are feeling creatures and i wouldn't have it any other way.

---

morning email exchange forwarded to me by my fiance this afternoon:

Subj:Fw: your 11/28/08 wedding
Date:10/21/2008 10:14:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Hi, babe. I'm just forwarding this to you so we can go over it together tonight. You'll also have to give your Mom a heads up on the 50% deposit. We'll need to work our order down to get it to where your Mom is comfortable with it.

Looks like Laurie still doesn't know what is going on and is going to make it as difficult as she can for us. I'm going to write her to say that we can't make a 6:00 pm appointment, so we'll either have to do something later on a weekday or on a weekend. If the florist can't make arrangements around our schedule, then too bad. I can't really take off work anytime between now and the middle of November, and I think your Mom needs to be there with us. If she can't drive to meet us at Publix, then we'd have to make it on the weekend.

Anyway, don't let Laurie stress you out. She is making it more difficult than it needs to be and we just have to get through one more appointment with her.

Have a good day and I'll see you in a few hours.

Love,
Jimmy

Forwarded Message ----
From: Events0754
To: Jimmy
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 9:47:26 AM
Subject: your 11/28/08 wedding

Yesterday, I met with our florist to review your order and make sure we are capturing everything and to get her professional opinion about the entire feel of the wedding. We do have a few questions.

The Wedding

1. For the Pew markers - have you already purchased the tulle?
2. We can now get lucky bamboos (its green and curls at the top) and it is very Asian. Do you know what that is? We can incorporate a few stalks in your altar arrangements and then use it in reception room, to carry your theme from the wedding to the reception.

The Reception

3. For the guestbook table - the butterfly arrangement - do you want the vase crystals to be light blue like in the photo or do you want it to be one of the colors you are using in the orchids?
4. For above, do you want the butterflies to be light blue and purple or do you want them to be multi-colored to coordinate with the yellow, oranges, greens and reds we are using for the blooms to float in the vases? We can make the butterflies most any color you want
5. Do you have access to a fax machine? I have found to other possible ideas for the head table but they are from magazines and so I can only fax them to you.
6. Since we are doing so many things that are not from our books, I want to set up another appointment and have our florist be present. Although she only works 8-5, she is willing to come back in for a 6pm meeting with you two, but it will have to be a weekday. I have 3 slots that we can do hopefully you can do one of them: Tue 10/28 6pm, Wed 10/29 6pm or Mon 11/10 6pm. Please let me know which one works best with your schedules.
7. Just a reminder that on Tue 10/28, you will need to fulfill your 50% deposit and since we don't know exactly the final total, I think a $400 deposit will be sufficient.

I look forward to hearing from you soon! We are just 6 weeks away!

Take care
Laurie

++

Subj: Re: your 11/28/08 wedding
Date: 10/21/2008 10:45:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Jimmy
To: Laurie at publix

Hi, Laurie. I'm going to go over your list of questions with April tonight and we'll get back to you in the next day or two. Regarding a follow-up appointment, we absolutely cannot make it for a 6:00 pm meeting during the week. I can't take off any time from work from now until mid-November. Also, April doesn't drive, so I'd have to pick her up and the earliest we'd be able to make it would be 6:30 pm or 7:00 pm depending on traffic. We'd also like her mother to be there with us again as she is the one paying for it and we don't want to order what we can't afford. I think she was OK with the $500 or so that was first quoted before the changes and adding the arrangements, but $800 is going to be too much so we'll have to scale things down a bit and eliminate where we can. We'd also probably have to pick her up in Clearwater if she is going to be there with us, which would effectively rule out any weeknight meetings. We'll have to check with her and get back to you on dates and times that work.

To answer your question about the tulle, we have bought one roll that we brought in to show you last time, but need to know if it is wide enough (5" or 6"?) or what the desired width would be and if wired tulle is OK. I know you said we'd need at least 30 yards and we definitely would like to purchase it ourselves. We may even be able to purchase butterflies, lucky bamboo, or anything else we can add to arrangements in order to bring the cost down a bit. We really need to do whatever we can to economize and still be beautiful without looking cheap.

I have access to a fax machine here at work and the number is (813) ----. If you are faxing anything, you'll have to include a cover sheet with my name on it so it doesn't get mixed up with anything.

You'll be hearing from us soon. If there are any other dates and times that would better fit into our schedules, please let us know. We'd really like to get this all squared away sooner than later so we have one less thing to worry about.

Thanks,
Jimmy

---

EDIT

my fiance has communicated with nutcake laurie who is further frustrating all and sent me more wedding info in regard to what she said and current details we need to attend to next in regard to delectables our caterer and contending with possibly hundreds more than originally quoted.

wtf?

annoying.

fiance has offered to pay for any overspill of this. i think he knows my mom is way in debt already with this and knows he has to pitch in.

here is what he said/ emailed me and here is a copy of the PDF details and pricing sent by delectables, includes breakdown of food and service provided and what comes with paid service and what each charge is for.

just updating to add this here:

Alma [my mom] and April,

Here is the proposal from Delectables if we have 60 people (PDF attachment). As of now, there are only 36 (including the DJ, photographer, and officiant) from the responses we've received, so it may be closer to the original quote they gave us unless we get a bunch of RSVPs this week. I counted a little more than 60 with all of the people that I thought were coming, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Alma, if the final count is higher than originally anticipated, I can try to pay you back somehow since most of the guests will be from my side. I don't remember exactly what the original quote was, but this one appears to be $200 or so higher from what I recall. We still have to check on the chair covers, which will probably be $200 or more, so I'll take care of that. We'll also see what we can do to get the flowers down to something more reasonable. Laurie at Publix wrote me back and said that Nov. 9th is better for their florist, so I guess we'll just stick with that date if you can make it there with us at 3:00pm. Hopefully, you can request that date off work or swap a shift with someone.

April, they need to know the color of napkins we'd like to use. I just called Marilyn and she said the options for our color scheme would be ivory, lavender, purple or deep purple. She doesn't have an exact match for Victorian lilac, but the lavender would be a lighter purple and might look nice if you didn't want ivory or something darker. I was just going to tell her we'd go with ivory, but I wanted to see what you wanted before writing her back.

Well, only one more hour of work. See you in a little while.

Love,

Jimmy

---

Delectables Catering contract for our wedding:

Event #: 4866 Prepared By: Marilyn
Event Date: Friday, November 28, 2008

Guest Count: 60

Occasion: Wedding Reception

Service Style: Buffet with China & Linens
Venue: White Chapel of Palm Harbor
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
Times : 7:00 PM Event Start

Trademark Buffet

Appetizers-

Stationary Hors D' Oeuvres
International Cheese Presentation w/ Gourmet Crackers
Garden Vegetable Cruditès served with Peppered Artichoke Dip
House Salad Buffet with Two Homemade Dressings

Chef's Choice Fresh Steamed Vegetables for Buffet
Assorted Dinner Rolls with Creamy Butter
Mashed Potatoes w/ White Peppecorn Gravy
garlic

Entree-

Camembert Chicken 4oz.
Herb Roasted Châteaubriand au Jus s/w Peppercorn Sce and Horserad.Chantilly

Beverages-

Freshly Brewed Coffee with Cream and Sugar

Menu Selection(s):
Trademark Buffet 60 @ $22.10 $1,326.00
Menu Total: $1,326.00

Venue to provide
Beverage Selection(s):

Price includes all china, standard linens and flatware

Tablecloth color - Ivory, Napkin color - ?
Accents Ivory and Victorian Lilac
Client to provide own cake, cake cutting fee waived
Champagne Glasses- Flutes 50 @ $0.50 $25.00
China, Flatware, and Standard Linens for Buffet 50 @ $0.00 $0.00
Miscellaneous Subtotal: $25.00

Staffing:

Servers 3 $285.00
Supervisor 1 $135.00
Staffing Subtotal: $420.00

Event Subtotal: $1,771.00

+++

10.00 % Gratuity: $177.10

Subtotal: $1,948.10

7.00 % Florida Sales Tax: $123.97

Event Subtotal: $2,072.07

Payments Received: ($500.00)

Event Total: $1,572.07

Deposit Amount: $500.00

Final Balance Due: 6 day(s) prior to event date.

Print Date: 10/21/2008

---

PS

I will write more later, right now fiance on way home and too much wedding stuff we need to tackle this evening as soon as he arrives home in next half hour. i am so far behind in updating here at this point.