Carly · & · Andy's · Wedding · Journal.

We finalized our rings.  Here are some photos of the wax casts:

Close-up of my ring.  Andy designed it himself. 

Todd had an Old European Cut diamond on hand, so we decided to use that.  The style of cut began to disappear around the turn of the century, so it is definitely unique.  Todd also found some industrial diamonds, yellow things that look like shattered glass.  They're usually used for lasers and manufacturing.  We're going to sink a large industrial diamond into Andy's band and scatter some smaller diamonds like it throughout both bands to tie both pieces together.

Todd has already started working on my ring.  Andy's ring is probably going to be more complicated, due to the amount of metal and the irregular shape of the diamond.  He could probably kill a superhero with that thing. 

One thing is finally working out as planned (and less expensive than expected)!  Whee!

We have definitively decided on our wedding ceremony venue - the Hower House on the University of Akron campus.  I called today and confirmed, now we just have to send in our deposit.

One thing that came up, though...apparently Hower House does not allow flash photography, except for a single professional photographer for the event.  The University's rationale: professional flashes have something "in" them that won't damage the antiques.  Photographers have "special filters".

Let me be the first one to say that this rationale is utter bullshit.

Filters go on lenses, not flashes.  The thing that makes paintings deteriorate is light itself, not the gases inside of the flash bulbs.  If anything, professional flashes deteriorate the paintings more than the average consumer camera, because they are hotter and give off more light.  They even use additional spotlights and other lighting for photos.  A professional photographer may have a bounce flash or an umbrella, but the light will still impact the objects in the room.  There is no way around it.

Another thing.  Light becomes an issue when you have hundreds or thousands of people trying to photograph a work daily (think: the Met in NYC).  That sort of exposure will definitely degrade paint and paper, especially with very old artifacts (I'm talking Mona Lisa, Mother & Child, and papyrus manuscripts here).  The house in question is barely 40 years older than our own house.  It was built in 1871.  If Grandma wants to take a picture during the ceremony, the effect on the house will be infinitely small.  In order to have a negative effect, you have to have an obscene number of flashes going off within a short time span, aimed at a certain finite space.

I'm not going to argue it, though.  Their house, their rules.  I guess that our grandmothers can take our pictures outside or at the reception.  We can send ceremony photos along with our thank-you cards.  We'll make it work.  I'll make sure to note the "no photography" rule on the invitations, maybe even put up a sign...but I'll be damned if they expect me to individually regulate my guests the day of the wedding.  They also better not have someone breathing down my guests' necks and patting them down for cameras and film.

We ventured up to Cleveland on Friday night to talk to Todd Pownell, owner of Gallery M and Tap Studios.  Todd is a metalsmith, and runs his studio and some metalworking classes out of his loft in East Cleveland - his work is pretty well known.  His pieces go beyond just jewelry and become an art form themselves.  Todd has designed and forged wedding bands for some of our friends, and we have been infinitely impressed with his work. 

I wish that I could find some more examples of his work online - he has some amazing pieces in the gallery.  Here are a few examples:
   

We discussed some basic designs, and he's going to dig up some information on uncut diamonds for Andy's ring.  He has an antique diamond in his studio that we're going to use in my ring.  We're very excited about this...especially since we could probably buy a small used car for this price.

Now that we have been thoroughly let down by the Akron Art Museum, we made our peace with the dissapointment and tears and thought out some new ideas.

We both think that Hower House would be a great place for a ceremony.  We can rent it for 3 hours for about $350.  That way, we can do all of our photos before the ceremony and have a nice little pre-reception for our immediate family and wedding party.  The mansion is also rumored to be haunted, so that's a bonus.

     

You also have to admit that my dress would look awesome in that big old Victorian mansion.

The Akron Woman's City Club has turned out to be the best reception site so far.  We could probably do the ceremony on the terrace if we wanted to, although it would probably be chilly.

On my way back from Columbus yesterday, I received a call from the Akron Art Museum.

The wedding is a no-go.  Damn.  They're not going to rent the galleries out for anything, let alone a wedding.  They want the galleries to remain "pristine" (in their words).  They did, however, offer us a space in the gardens or in the lobby of the old section of the art museum.  "You can at least see art during your ceremony", she says.  "Bah!" we say.

I guess we could always do a guerilla wedding.  Our wedding party and all of our guests can pay admission, walk  into the museum as paying guests, and have a wedding right there, during business hours.  What are they going to do, call the cops and drag us off to jail?

Andy mentioned something about "large ball bearings" and "museum windows", but I will pretend to ignore it.

On to new ideas. 

This wedding planning endeavor is painful.  It's like a 5-car pileup on I-77 - it gets ugly, but you just can't tear yourself away from it...

I've organized a music festival for over 2,000 people back in '02.  Organizing hippies is like herding cats.  But this is much, much harder.

Our first choice for a ceremony venue, the Akron Art Museum, has given us a tentative "yes".  However, I guess some of the higher-ups are balking at the idea of us renting a gallery for an hour or so (even though every other art museum in the state does short wedding ceremonies).  They would definitely rent the entire museum to us for the entire evening, to the tune of 4 to 6 grand.  The girl who has been working with us has been an absolute doll, though.  She's just having a hard time getting a solid approval.  We'll know after she meets with her executive director next week.  If the director won't approve, well...Andy will devise some sort of creative revenge.  Maybe he'll fling some paint on their Pollocks.

Of course, we have been kind of bummed since we haven't received a glowing "yes!" from the AAM.  Neither of us are religious (pretty radically non-religious), and there is a definite lack of nonreligious wedding venues in downtown Akron.

Our friend Don suggested the Akron Civic Theatre, in the grand staircase area.  Beautiful venue, and we could have our names on the marquee for a day (I would hope so).  However, they only rent by the day, once again at the rate of about 4 to 6 grand.  Considering that is the budget for our food, we really can't afford to rent the venue AND feed people, too.  But here's an idea - we do an early afternoon wedding at the Civic, and do a wine tasting / tapas reception immediately thereafter at the theatre.  That way, we can have awesome food and an awesome party at an awesome venue, without all of the formal dinner crap.  Don't get me wrong, I love formal dinners.  But everybody does a formal dinner.  Wine tastings are kind of our "thing" - our lives revolve around our weekly wine tastings.  Later we can reserve an area at Fuel, The Office, or The Wineside for all of us to go out drinking.  We can all wear our gear.  It would be awesome.  An afternoon reception is sounding better and better, and our out-of-town guests won't feel like they have to stay in Akron overnight.

Another option - rent a city view room at the Radisson City Centre, and have both the ceremony and the reception looking out over downtown Akron.  We could schedule the ceremony at right about sunset.  All of our guests could get blitzed, and not have to drive.  And the hotel would handle the cleanup and everything!  Yay!

Another option - Silver Lake Country Club.  I'm going out to take a look at it this Saturday, they're doing a wedding setup for another party.  But really, a country club isn't us.  We're too anti-establishment, anti-bourgeois for that.  Neither of us will ever belong to a country club.  I hate playing golf.  Andy hates everything about golf, not just the playing.  But still, the venue is pretty, and it's close to our house.  But it isn't Akron.  Akron is our city.  Akron is the dead hooker in the canal of the Midwest.  We don't want to leave our dead hooker out of the picture.

Another option - the Botzum farmstead.  I went out there a few weeks back, it's beautiful.  We could have a party in a barn!  Trouble is, it will be four days shy of November.  The barn is not insulated, nor does it have proper toilets.  The proprieter assured me that heat will be installed and the porta-potty setup will be gone by this time next year...it's still a risk.

Another option - the Highland Theatre.  I think this is an awesome idea.  Andy think's it's dirty.  I think that if one venue would sum up "life in Akron", it would be the Highland.  The "China White Lounge" neon sign is...quaint.  True, it would take some cleaning up, but the ceremony would be so neat in that huge theater.  We could show old silent movies throughout the reception.  We could set up all of the tables and catering in the aisles and downstairs.  The bar is already there.  I wonder how much they would want to rent it on a Saturday night?

Suggestions, anyone?

This is our wedding journal, where you can experience all of the happiness, tears, and escalated rantings involved in our pre-marital relationship, without sacrificing the comfort of your own home PC (or Mac, if you prefer).

Please feel free to comment, share ideas, or just yell at us in general.

We love the attention. Don't encourage us any more than necessary.

--C