WTRITO is International!

The state of the 'ole Tina Union is a mess y'all. Going from Wedding Utopia to Work Hell for the past four months has left me tired, fat (not kidding), disorganized, and creatively constipated (ewww). But thanks to the Internet, I'm not in it alone! I now have help.

I'm so excited to announce a new contributor, Severine from Switzerland! Her first post will display tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see how her wedding pans out. I am sure that it will be great with her sense of style (Hint: She's wearing Christian Lou's). If you happen to speak German, check out her blog. You might see a few familiar faces. (Hooray for the Internet!)

With This Spring, I Thee Break

Work is nuts, so I'm taking a week or so off from the blog in favor of sleep. Hopefully, Severine will be pick up my slack tomorrow. When I return, I have some new-to-me Chicago blogs to share, as well as some detail shots from my sister-in-law's beautiful Florida wedding. Here's a picture of Andy and I at the reception.

Look What Happened While I Was Working!

Severine got hitched!

{Image: schwarzbild}

Her photographer posted a preview that I must have looked at 10 times. (Is that weird to admit?) Everything looks awesome and she looks HOT in her namesake bird cage veil. I hope that if I'm nice and promise to review her posts in a very timely fashion that she'll maybe come back here to recap so we can all read about it** and call her "Fab!". I've heard that there was dancing to dawn and a surprise performance by the wedding party.

Much love, luck, and blog wishes for a long, happy marriage to my favorite Swiss Mrs!

Sev, Google Reader's Translator STINKS!

"Hello" from Severine!

Hello, Everyone:

Wow! This is so exciting! I was so honored when Tina asked me to be a contributor on her wonderful blog. I said, “Yes,” faster than I could even spell it! So, here I sit thinking about my first post in a foreign language. I better start at the beginning…

I live and will get married in Switzerland. Since I read InStyle magazine on a regular basis, the first wedding-related Web Site that I visited was InStyle Weddings. It was there that I was introduced to the wonderful world of wedding blogs. I read most of them (the popular ones and, of course, THIS one!) from beginning-to-end and added them into my Google Reader. I even started my own blog, but I think I may be the only girl in Switzerland blogging about her wedding. I can’t wait to write in English about our journey to the altar. I hope you will enjoy my posts as much as I do all of yours.

Our wedding

I have dreamed about my wedding since I was a little girl. Yes, I am one of "those girls." I dreamt of a princess-like wedding with a white coach and a church ceremony followed by a ballroom reception. I’ve always thought that I’d like to wear an A-line gown, a tiara, and all of the stuff that goes with them. But guess what? None of this will happen!

As it turns out, I’d rather have a wedding that is a reflection of who my fiancé and I are than a "classic wedding." We forget our anniversary on a regular basis. There are no candlelight dinners or red roses. This is just how we "love." I’m equally happy if my fiancé buys me a Starbucks Coffee in the morning or if he gets me shoes when I think I shouldn’t buy them because I have enough at home.

Given this, we will be exchanging our wedding vows in a small ceremony at the conservatory. We view our vows as something very sacred and intimate. Therefore, we made it a priority to keep the ceremony guest list short by inviting only our immediate family and friends.

After the ceremony, our party will enjoy a "Flying/Waking" meal. A flying/waking meal is a three-course meal that involves serving finger foods cocktail-style, then serving a seated, plated main course, and finally, enjoying a passed, finger food-style dessert. Our intent is that the guests won’t tire out too early so that we can dance the night away!

Our remaining guests – extended family members and friends – will join us round 9:00 p.m. for the big party!

As you probably can imagine, we have to answer a lot of "Why are you doing...?" questions. So, I’m wondering, did any of you make unconventional decisions? If so, did you have to take a lot of flak from your guests?

Image provided by Severine