Was trying to think of what to call this entry, and the marching song "You're in the Army now, you're not behind the plow..." popped into my head. So that explains that.

Oh, and you're probably wondering about the design. I'm trying to combine a static homepage with a blog to see how it comes out. I'm also trying some color schemes that we've seen on Trading Spaces and Designer's Challenge to see how I like them. ;) Now that we're married, I wanted to convert lori-and-al.com to a place where we can post cat photos, vacation photos and blogs, and other random stuff from our life together. The wedding stuff is still here for posterity's sake, but it's no longer the main focus of the site.

Before I get off the wedding track entirely, I wanted to take a moment and publicly hail our photographers. Cristina Taccone and Sybilla Herbrich from blissfoto were really fun to work with, and we LOVE our photos.

We got two large albums that chronicle our day, from the moment we arrived at the venue until we packed up the car, plus a large box of every other photo they took (about 40 rolls in all!). There are shots of me getting ready, Al getting ready, my niece and nephew, Al's brother, my best friend, my dad, both families, and all the goings on at the ceremony and reception in a mix of black and white, sepia, and color. They're wonderful.

I'm smiling in so many of the pictures because, of course, I was happy, but also because Cristina and Sybilla made me laugh so much. No cheeseball, eyeroll-inducing moments—just fun. They said I was the most mellow bride they'd ever worked with, but I think they just made it easy to be relaxed. If you're getting married soon, do yourself a favor and talk to the women of blissfoto. You'll like their style.

While I'm on the subject of thank-yous, I also want to call out to Hillary and Melani (I'm not sure I've spelled her name correctly; sorry if I haven't!) at The Party Helpers in San Jose. Both were incredibly professional, efficient, and kind. The food was excellent, and we felt we couldn't have done better than having Hillary as our account person and Melani as our on-site coordinator. I don't know if Melani has a knack for blending in with every family the way she did with ours, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Finally, a big thank-you also goes to Just Desserts, and specifically to the crew at the Metreon. We really lucked out with solicitous (but not obsequious) wedding vendors, and the Metreon JD staff is a great example of this. Ask for Debbie or Gabriela if you want to order a wedding cake, and they'll get you taken care of. Aside from the great service, the cake itself was... scrumptious? delicious? mouth-watering (even now)? I can't think of a great enough word to describe it. And it was beautiful.

I'll post some of Cristina's and Sybilla's photos soon (they've got shots of the food and the cake, so I can showcase blissfoto, The Party Helpers, and Just Desserts all at once!)... as soon as I can get them scanned, that is.