While it has certainly been an eventful few weeks in the Friedman family, we're actually getting some wedding planning accomplished!

Last weekend, Elliott and I had a Skype video conference with our tech-savvy cantor, Bella, and she walked us through the framework of the ceremony, and addressed many important questions about ketubahs, chuppahs, witnesses and all sorts of Jewish wedding odds and ends. We're very excited about how everything is shaping up, and Bella seems to be very much on the same page and has a lot of creative suggestions for us. We're going to try to meet with her in person when we're in Sonoma in May.

Marc gave Elliott his wedding ring, the family ring that has been passed down for 4 generations, about 120 years. So cool! Elliott will have to get it resized, and then it will be all set. We bought my ring last weekend, seen here at a weird angle that doesn't do it justice at all! http://www.facetsparkslope.com//pic.php?n=images/IMG_1390.jpg. It really is lovely and unique and was a clear winner! So, rings: check!

We also scheduled a tentative rehearsal time (4pm Saturday) at Cline, which we hope will not be bumped for another wedding, and decided to start the rehearsal dinner at 5:30, followed by the toast at 8:30. We'll take another look at the Swiss Hotel menu options tonight, but it sounded like we were in agreement about what we want. My mom went to a birthday party at the Swiss last week, and said she was so impressed with the food, atmosphere, service, etc. Good choice!

I've been talking to a couple of recommended Sonoma florists, who will give us proposals soon. My friend Kelly has been an invaluable source of advice here (and in many other things), since her wedding in Santa Barbara 2 years ago was, in many ways, so similar to what we want, and she's given me terrific guidance on flower ideas, budget, etc.

After briefly toying with the idea of getting married in jeweled jelly flip flopshttp://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/shoes/flipflops/PRDOVR~25579/25579.jsp
I found some other gorgeous J.Crew flats that are less likely to have me tripping and falling on my face while walking down the aisle. Ordering veil today too, I think!

That's all for now, except to publicly wish Abby a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Looking forward to celebrating tonight :-)