Sco's ring

I am in love with Sco's ring - not as much as I'm in love with him, but the ring is awesome.

We found this Japanese artist living in Brooklyn who makes these rings and other jewelry on NOTCOT.org, a wonderful blog of art and design that Sco looks at just about every day. Her name is Sakurako Shimizu.

Sakurako takes a voice recording and then laser cuts a hole through metal in the shape of the sound wave form generated by the sound recording program. She makes necklaces of giggles, bracelets of bell chimes, and wedding bands of a spouse saying "I do" or something else.

Giggle Necklace

I Do Wedding Bands

We recorded my voice saying "I love you" and sent it in an email to Sakurako. We met with her in Brooklyn to discuss the ring and which metal she should use. She is so sweet. Apparently, we're the first people for whom she's made jewelry that she's actually met. She bought us brunch, too. :) We were smitten with her (Sco's cringing at the use of that word, I'm sure) and her jewelry, but I only just learned that she's socially responsible, too! She only uses 100% recycled gold and precious metals from Hoover and Strong. And her prices are very reasonable. I just loved the whole experience.

Our rings together on a funky flower

Eco-wah?

Have I told you about our plates? When my caterer said he might not have the staff to use real dishes, he suggested disposable plates. I said I wanted to have a "green" wedding. He said, "No problem. We can get green plastic plates." Yeah... not what I meant. We started thinking of eco-friendly, disposable options (though it did occur to me to ask people to bring their own plates.) We looked into bamboo plates since bamboo (a grass) is much easier to replace than trees, but it didn't seem to be all that biodegradable. Styrofoam was obviously not an option. Plastic didn't seem very good either. Enter Verterra.


Their plates are pretty, made from renewable resources, chemical free, and are fairly traded.


After collecting fallen leaves that would normally be burned, Verterra applies steam, heat and pressure to transform the leaves into durable products that will naturally compost in 2 months.

VerTerra products are made in South Asia, where employees receive fair wages in safe working conditions and are provided access to health care.

Stuff I Suck At

So, here's a list of things I haven't done yet. Most are things I've at least started. Please shame me into getting these things done.


1. Catering
2. Photographer
3. Map for invitations (my fabulous niece is being held up by my procrastination)
4. Finding a rain location
5. Ordering tables, chairs, etc.
6. Flowers
7. Favors and gifts
8. Decorations
9. Wedding rings
And much, much more!

I'm considering using a caterer I use for work all the time for my wedding. He has the best cookies, and I asked him to throw in a few extra for "tasting" with my last order from him for a recent work event. A delivery guy brought in the food for my event. He handed me the extra cookies I'd asked for and asked why I'd gotten the extra cookies. I explained that I was considering his company for my wedding. He said, "Oh! You're getting married? When's the wedding?" I replied, "June." He got this wide-eyed look and said, "Wow. Your wedding's in June and you don't have a caterer yet?!"

"Yeah, I know. I suck."

Photog woes

I'm having a hard time with photographers. I originally thought I'd want someone I knew personally that had shot a lot of stuff for newspapers. However, I looked at some people's work that I was familiar with and decided that there wasn't enough "pretty." Then, I found this great photographer who was inexpensive and would give me a cd with all my images right away - unusual for wedding photographers. This is apparently a big deal in wedding photography - the photographer also makes money on making prints and albums and holds your photos hostage while they rake in more and more money. A friend of mine won't have rights to her own wedding photos for 10 years. Ten. Years. So I found a real gem, right? Well, this great photographer specializes in bright sunny photos and doesn't do as well in low-light, outdoor situations. She said she isn't experienced enough with flash and that flash tends to make people look like they're in a cave in these situations. So bummed. But I do appreciate her honesty. So, then I check out her recommendation of a colleague, and that photographer is way expensive and is one that makes you order prints from her. I didn't bother to find out how long she holds your photos hostage. And most recently, a friend recommended a photographer she considered for her own wedding - sounds great, but she's not available. :( Every photographer on the Knot seems to really into these black and white shots with only certain parts in color and other cheesy gimmicks like that. I do have a couple of friends of friends to check out...