halfjapanese hamburger (HH)

Matthias has been forbidden from checking my blog during the next month, so I can finally post some pictures for my girlfriends! (It’s bad luck in Germany for the groom to see the dress or know anything about the dress before THE DAY.)

So, here you go, I went in for my first fitting today!

I still haven’t decided on a veil: what length it should be, whether I want lace edging the veil or just a plain veil with no lace, and if I want two layers so that one covers my face during the first part of the ceremony. And I’m not sure about the tiara, whether I should have one or not.

I’m so excited. It’s a beautiful dress. Since I’m petite, the seamstress is going to shorten the train a little so the length isn’t too out of proportion with my height.

The only question I have is how the train should be bustled when I don’t need it. Should it be tucked underneath a fold like this? (This is a called a French Bustle.)

Or should it drape from above like this? (This is called a Pick-Up Bustle.)

Girls? What do you think?

Cool.  I just found out the time at which we are getting married should be lucky for us: Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 11:30 AM.  According to superstitious belief, we should marry on the upswing of the clock, on the half-hour, because in that way the hands of the clock are on their way up, not down.

Phew! According to the Moon Phases Calendar for 2008, there will be a new moon in the northern hemisphere on August 1st followed by a full moon on August 16th. This means the moon will be waxing on our wedding day, August 8th.

A growing moon and a flowing tide
Fortune smiles on a happy bride.

Apparently it’s bad luck if a wedding takes place during a waning moon because the couple’s love will wane as well.

I can’t help it: I’m abergläubich (superstitious).

I can’t get the Tears for Fears song out of my head…

We took advantage of the break in rain to work in the garden. There are large bald spots where Annette, the previous tennant, had dug up her rose bushes and torn down her greenhouse. I couldn’t decide what we should plant there instead, so the easiest thing to do was to just grow some grass. I figured if we started today, we’d have 34 days left for something to sprout there in that empty space before everyone arrives for the wedding party.

For the one rosebush she didn’t take, we enlarged the mulching area to create a circle, lined it with rocks we found, and laid down a layer of topsoil and then mulch. This should make it a little easier to control weeds and to mow the grass in this area.

For the spot where the greenhouse used to be, we had a sudden creative moment and used old cement bricks to create a heart. We sowed grass seeds outside the heart and plan to put red or pink flowers inside the heart.

As I’m learning to garden, I’m also learning German gardening terms:

der Torf - peat
der Rindenmulch - bark mulch
die Pflanzenerde - topsoil

_{Updated July 10, 2008.}

In keeping with German tradition, I’ve been collecting Pfennige, pennies to buy my bridal shoes.