No paper or plastic

Due to hiring a "ungdomshus" (and I don't even want to think about how I can best translate that) for the reception, we have to provide most things ourselves.

Check:
White tablecloths should not be a problem, due to unknown reasons my mother and I can probably rustle up just about enough large white tablecloths between us to cover the necessary tables - and I'm sure we can borrow some more if we need to.

Check:
Plates. We found IKEA's cheapest plates on sale this weekend (usually 15 nok, now 5 nok) and bought enough dinner and dessert plates to serve all our guests and a few extra.

Check:
Wine glasses. My mother found wine glasses on sale Monday, we now have 72.

To do:
Cutlery. I am NOT using plastic. We might be able to beg, steal and borrow enough from the various family members, though.

To do:
Eh. Perhaps we need glasses to drink other things than wine from? Water, perhaps?

To do:
Recruit helpers to do the washing up...

To do:
Once the wedding is over, flog the stuff on QXL or similar.

Note: It's possible to hire most of these things, but we figured with these prices buying would probably be as cheap and we won't need to worry about picking it up and handing it back - we will need to worry about washing, though, but we'll delegate that ;)

Reception hall: Check

Apparently FMIL had confirmation last night that the "reception hall" (Ungdomshuset) is available for us on the 18th.

Check.

That's the two majorly important bookings taken care of, then - it means we can actually get married on 18 june 2005. All the little details (and yes, I consider my dress to be a little detail) will fall into place eventually. We have somewhere to show up and say "yes" (twice each, in the Norwegian order of service) and somewhere to have coffee and sandwiches* with our family and friends afterwards. And that's the important bits.

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* No, we're not really planning on coffee and sandwiches, but if everything else goes wrong and that's what we have to settle for I really don't mind as long as we get to say "yes", have somewhere to sit and people to celebrate with.

Getting started

So. We think we might have a date. As we have a location, the actual date is dependent on the availability of the church and reception venue. I'll get back to you on that once I've had confirmation of availability. I'll be happy to have that sorted, then maybe I can stop obsessing. I had my first anxiety dream the night before last, and that is really not a good sign. Luckily it wasn't a bridezillaish sort of anxiety dream, I mean, I wasn't freaking out over the colour of the napkins or anything like that. Basically it was the day of the wedding and it turned out a lot of things had been forgotten. One thing we'd completely forgotten was flowers, but that didn't really worry me - we just sent someone out to pick a few wildflowers and got on with it. But then I realised we'd forgotten the paperwork, the forms the best man and best woman have to sign to verify that to their knowledge nothing prevents the couple getting married (e.g. they're already married) and the forms the bride and groom are supposed to sign to say that they are not, for example, closely related. These all have to be with the church office a while before the actual wedding, naturally, so having forgotten them really was a bit of a big deal. Very happy to wake up and realise it was just a dream.

But, yeah, anxiety dreams already? Good grief. Time to get a grip.

Wind in my hair

I had considered trying to keep the guest list down to a little over 30 people and having the wedding reception at my parents', but Martin suggested Mausundvær, and I must say the idea is appealing. There's a chapel out there, but apparently it only holds about five people (according to Martin), so if the minister agrees - something which would have to be checked - we could have an outside wedding. Waves, wind, salty sea air. Yes, please.

Reception and accommodation would not be a problem - we'd just have to check what we'd have to pay. Though I suppose it might be better to wait until we're officially enganged before checking ;)

Ideally, with a location like that, I'd like the cermony to be Friday afternoon, reception Friday evening and then wedding brunch Saturday with the option of "events" Saturday afternoon/evening and even Sunday "morning", so that we get to spend a little time with the guests before scooting off on our honeymoon. The other option is optional arrival Friday for a pre-wedding bash, entertainment for the guests on Saturday morning and afternoon ceremony, evening reception Saturday, wedding brunch Sunday. Might work out better as we wouldn't then require people to take Friday off work in order for them to make it.