Theme? What theme?

After the euphoria of the engagement, when you're past the ideal number of guests, budget, and date selection decisions, every vendor, relative and nosy acquaintance starts asking you "what's your theme?" You may think to yourself, "Theme? What theme? It's a wedding. Isn't that theme enough?" Well, sort of.

Because each wedding is an event to show the union of two distinct people and personalities and because there are so many options on how to go about showcasing those people and their union, a "theme" - whether it's a color scheme, a design style or just a grouping of stuff you like can help personalize the event and make it feel like "yours." For instance, if you've been dreaming of the white wedding with full Mass, a carriage ride to the country club and a gold-encrusted reception, then you probably don't want your caterer suggesting finger foods on sticks and your venue asking if you want them to keep the pinball machines available for your guests' use. Likewise, if you and your partner are die-hard anime fans, you might want to use the new wing of the Contemporary Art Museum as your venue instead of the local hunting lodge. Point being, coming up with a "theme" doesn't need to be as epic and mind-numbing as it first can seem.

One place I particularly love to go for inspiration is the arts. What band gets you out of the house for a show? Who do you have hanging on your walls at home? How do you dress on a regular basis? A great site that combines both the visual and aural arts is
WebTVHub.com's listing of 15 Seriously Artistic Indie Album Covers. Aside from being incredibly beautiful in a variety of styles, the music may also inspire ideas of the kind of atmosphere in which you want to celebrate. For example, the Neutral Milk Hotel album cover featured here might inspire a 1920s beach-side carnival wedding.

Another idea-inspiring place is your locale. If you know you want to be in Vermont in the fall, think about what you love about the area: the foliage? The history? All that maple syrup? You might want to go for an outdoor venue if you want to soak up the crisp air and gorgeous fall colors. Or you may want to find a beautiful b&b if you love the charm of the New England architecture. Each locale, season and venue will naturally lend itself to a style or "theme," and you'll barely have any work to do.

Embrace the "theme." You don't even have to call it a theme. Call it your style, because that's what it is. It's the basis for creating a day that is all yours and your partners', that reflects the two of you in each piece of silverware, plasticware or toothpick, and that makes your day special to you two.

60 Days

Here I am... slowly losing my mind.

About 8 months ago I got engaged to a kick-ass dude - someone that thinks my inappropriate jokes are hilarious, my Patsy-and-Adina velour sweats that my mom gave me are flattering, and that I am just generally a genius. The whole engagement thing took some getting used to as, for the most part, I just figured I'd just live with my boyfriend forever and not bother going through the legal and financial rigamarole of the wedding process. That went out the window pretty quickly - especially when I was staring down the barrel of a heart-felt proposal.

So I tried to change my tune: I've been to weddings. I've been IN weddings. Weddings are fun, they're a reflection of the couple that's getting married, a celebration of- oh, who am I kidding? Weddings are the reason I never wanted to get married. They are a total hassle, completely nonsensical and make everyone you know - and even those you don't - completely insane.

Despite my career as a producer - live events and otherwise - I was not prepared for the emotional insanity that would ensue with my family, my boyfriend's family, my friends, my parents' friends - you get the idea. So far I've had my mother add at least 1 additional couple to the guest list each week for the last 2 months, my boyfriend's cousin call to inform us that we must have mislabeled the invitation and she will in fact be bringing her 7 children, and a dear friend (who's getting married 2 weeks before me) ask me to move my wedding to Spring of 2011. I shit you not: people get crazy.

On the plus side, I have managed to, thus far, use my producing skills to negotiate the shit out of vendors' services, my coupon-clipping penchant for procuring discounts on wares and my DIY craftiness to learn and make most every decoration in the venue. Still, with the last two months being where the budget tends to fly out the window with the "let's just get it done - what's another $200" mentality, I've decided to start documenting the chaos. Hopefully not only to keep me in line, but to help anyone else that might need an idea or two.

60 days and counting (as per www.theknot.com checklist - an obnoxious yet annoyingly helpful tool for anyone planning a wedding).

There has to be an easier way to throw a wedding. And I'm determined to find it.