This is happening!

So the invitations are officially out the door to our guests who are traveling from far away. This is really happening! We're getting married!

How does Gretchen and Jeff's registry work?

You can browse everything Gretchen and Jeff
might like from a variety of stores on the Internet at
http://www.myregistry.com/public/gretchenandjeff

Over the five years we have lived together we have negotiated a shared style that is thoughtful, eclectic, rustic, and quirky.

Given this we knew we couldn't find just ONE store that captured our style. So our wedding registry is designed to share with you items we like from around the Internet.

We use a service called Myregistry.com. This lets us add things from stores across the Internet to our registry. Stores ranging from Crate and Barrel to Napa Style to Target to Jackson and Perkins. You can view everything we would like at www.myregistry.com/public/gretchenandjeff

If our online registry is too confusing, please use this guide:

• The dishes we would like - to replace our shared collection of dishes left over from old relationships - are the La Rochere Napoleon Bee collection - available on Overstock.com - http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/La-Rochere-Napoleon-Bee-6-piece-Dinner-Plate-Set/3866787/product.html
• The silverware we would like - to replace our Dollar Store finds purchased in between relationships - is from the Stanton Collection at Crate and Barrel - http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Gretchen-Kinder-and-Jeff-Cutler/r4910258
• We want to do some landscaping around the house. So we've registered for rose bushes, forsythia and climbing hyrdrangea at Jackson and Perkins - http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/
• We have a duvet/quilt we love for our queen size bed from Garnet Hill 
• Towels and sheets from Kohls are a-ok with us. We decorate using warm fall colors - garnet red, rich teals, mossy greens, rich camels, etc. 
• We have registered for a wide range of cooking and home decor items at Crate and Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma.

There are many unique items you can find on our registry - Eiffel Tower bookends, hurricane lanterns made from recycled wine bottles, etc. We invite you to peek at the registry online - even if you don't buy online - to get a sense of our negotiated style. 

Or do nothing at all. Please remember, we both love presents, but this isn't why we're having a wedding. We're having a wedding to formalize our commitment to each other, and to share with you our excitement about living the rest of our lives together.

What was your favorite part of wedding planning?

As of this morning we FINALLY have the big things done for our August wedding day:
Venue - Check
Caterer - Check
Florist - Check
Musicians/DJ - Check
Officiant - Check
Cake - Check
Photographer - Check
Dress - Check
Invites - Check

Now we are moving onto the little details. Things like finding embellishments to to package the invitations together, deciding aisle runner or no aisle runner, and selecting music for the ceremony.

There is no David Tutera on hand to help us. Thankfully Gretchen relishes considering the small details (while Jeff wants little to do with any of it).

Bickering over some of the minute decisions made us wonder - what were your favorite parts of planning your wedding? (Or planning a child's or friend's wedding?) What parts gave you the heebie jeebies?

It doesn't get any better than this

SPOILER ALERT 

If you haven't seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel yet you might not want to read any further. 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog post....

We were watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last night. Towards the end of the film an unhappy marriage ends with the wife leaving her husband of nearly 40 years with this sentiment, "We both deserve better than this."

Vaguely panicked by the melancholy statement, Gretchen turned to Jeff and said, "I don't want either of us to ever be in the position of saying 'I deserve better than this.'"

Jeff replied, "Don't worry, because we don't deserve any better than this."

As you might expect, this was followed with some good-natured and slightly hostile pinching.

Nursing his bruises, Jeff clarified, "What I MEANT was it can't possibly get any better than this, than us, together."

Jeff will be 48 and Gretchen will be 43 when they get married on August 17th. It is possible their marriage could last 40 years. They're both counting on the fact that their lives together will certainly get better, and minimally won't get any worse.

Pinterest

Gretchen has surprised herself by loving to talk about the wedding. Jeff, not surprisingly, can handle ten minutes of discussion before allowing his boredom (or anxiety) to completely distract him.

Do you love to talk wedding? Pop over to Gretchen's wedding Pinterest board to see some of the ideas being floated around.  Her username is Clownface3.

Saving the date and planning ahead

We were engaged to be married on 12/12/12. Hooray!

And now we're planning a wedding for 8/17/2013, just two days shy of the anniversary of our first date, seven years ago.

If you have received a save the date card from us, we hope you can come to the party. (And if you haven't, I'm sorry - our budget allows only so many people to join us on the 17th. We have zillions of people we want to celebrate with, so we're planning a handful of other events. Stay tuned!)

So back to those of you who received a save the date card. We DO hope you can join us on the South Shore of Boston for our wedding.

Overnight accommodations 

If you need a place to stay for the weekend please consider staying at the Holiday Inn in Rockland. They have been kind enough to set aside a block of rooms for us at a special rate. Their number is 781-871-0545. Make the reservation BEFORE April 16th and use the code KCW to get the special rates.

(If you don't want to stay at the Holiday Inn in Rockland, no worries. we won't lose anything if all the rooms aren't used.)

Registry 

There are many schools of thought on registries - ranging from "They make you look greedy," to "They are really helpful." We've decided to share our registry here in the spirit of being helpful.

We've created an online registry using the tool MyRegistry.com. This is a cool website that lets you put items from around the Internet on your registry - so you aren't limited to items available in one or two stores. This also aggregates registries from some of the biggies (e.g. Crate and Barrel, Target, etc.) into one place. (We ARE registered at Crate and Barrel, William and Sonoma and Pottery Barn.)

So, hop online to look at our registry. If you want to buy us a gift, (a) thank you, and (b) consider the online list as a guide to our style, rather than a mandate. We both love to shop and appreciate that you might want to go to a real store to have some fun thinking about what gift would appropriately demonstrate your feelings our wedding and future life together.

More details on the wedding, showers, TweetUps, and bachelor parties are coming soon!

What do you do with your mate?

That's not a probing question, it's actually one that really wants to get at the heart of what occurs in your house on a lazy Sunday afternoon...or any day of the week.

Right now, I'm watching as Gretchen plays video games. Unlike when I was obsessed with N64 and other game systems, she uses these to unwind and also to fill time around her other projects. While working 70 hours a week has its benefits (I can't name any), she definitely needs time to set aside work for lighter pursuits.

I'm on the couch writing a self-imposed 11 blog posts in three hours as she plays - then the two of us will go to the supermarket together. Is that something you do as a couple? Is the guy in your house responsible for some things and the woman other things? *For the guy-guy or girl-girl houses, how do you break down the work?

And after work on a regular day, is there an assigned dinner maker? Is one night a week (a month, a year) your date night? Do you have a 20-minute daily debrief over a glass of wine and a Zima like we do?

From where we sit in the Bungalow, we like to think we're pretty normal. But maybe we have blinders on. What's your routine? What special things do you do? And what keeps the sparks flying?

How about it Mike, Jennifer, Gradon, Kevin, Chris, Derek, Bobbie, CC, Lois, Todd? Give us your thoughts - and share this with others.

We'd like to find out if we're going about life the right way or if we're odd people out when it comes to chores and enjoying each other's company.

Comments open....have at it.