Yeah the wedding is up the blog

Finally we managed to get the wedding video up the blog. Tip if your internet connection runs slow: Start the video and hit the pause button and let the video download for a while. The red progress bar should be a long way ahead the play icon to get a smooth running image.

The Wedding - Part One

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This covers everything up to and including the part where we both say "I do". Listen carefully and you'll hear Marielle's victory cry of "YES!" when she puts the ring on my finger.

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The Wedding - Part Two

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This part of the video covers the Unity Ceremony and our walk down the aisle.

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Happy Nightmares

First nights back in London the shopping begins to built our new home. Out with all of the old in with the new. First stop:

Happy Nightmares!

I so desperately need to kill this jetlag

Mutant Incognito

Shock horror. Pinkie behind the wheel of a Toyota SUV (Mutant thought it was prudent to get the girl a as big a car as possible pure safety reasons) and oh wiii did those tyres shriek 4 wheel drive. The Red Rock Canyon will never be the same.

Out in the desert Mutant tried to find some wildlife to join his tribe. I'm afraid the mere sight of the Pinkie gear was enough to stay well hidden.

The Fremont Street experience was the next stop as Mutant and I had visited it at the morning we got our marriage license we were desperate to see the sight at night. What a treat the neon. Classic Vegas.

Furthermore we walked into the Bikefest. The place filled with bikers Mutant was totally incognito except for the colour sense of the Pinkie

Stills from The Event

The proud father, Roel, walking Marielle up the aisle

The lovely bride

and one of us together (yes, I know she's 99.9% of this photo!!)

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We're still recovering somewhat from the event; picked up the photos taken by the chapel yesterday - these are excerpted from the 70 that we received (lovely people, we paid for 40 but they gave us all picture, some 70, that were taken!!).

We've also got a movie of the event on DVD and have just ripped it to disk. We'll be posting that shortly.

Speeches during the reception

Amity, our friend and the photographer that took before and after ceremony pictures made this film of parts of the reception.

Amazing Day

Special thanks to the people who helped us have a most wonderful wedding day:

Reverend: Douglas Gilbert

Photographer:Sarah Stiles

Limo Driver Tom and all at littlechapel.com

The Wedding - viewing in real time

Marielle was up early and making last minute preparations for the wedding - the hairdresser and makeup people, and I'm not sure what else. I properly managed her expectations of my future performance by sleeping in.

Now that I'm up and about, I thought it prudent to post instructions for on-line, real time viewing of our wedding.

This linkprovided by the wedding chapel will display the page showing our wedding ceremony. Keep in mind this service will only be available once our wedding starts.

If you get an error message simply hit reload until your browser can connect and the video stream starts to play.

This link will provide real time coverage of the wedding ceremony as it happens. We'll post additional links after we're married so the ceremony can be viewed after the fact.

Final pre wedding meeting

After lunch we headed over to our wedding chapel for the final consultation before our wedding.

There we viewed the chapel, then sat down to discuss the details of our ceremony, including procession order, photos & videos, etc.

We're headed back to the our hotel to verify Marielle's pre-wedding spa treatments, get her dress ironed, and go over details with the caterer one final time.

This evening our guests and friends will being to arrive. We're hoping to be able to catch a drink with some of them, but as Marielle has an early start tomorrow and we've both got an eventful day in store, we won't be up late.

Lunch

We walked over to the Fremont Street Experience for lunch.

Marielle was amazed at the size of American portions.

Got the license

Up early, we headed directly to Clark County Clerk's office for a mariage license.


In addition to the basic $55 license, we opted for the certified marriage certificate that will allow us to have the marriage recognised back in Europe.

That's it, we're done, everything is all set for tomorrow's wedding!

Vegas Baby!!

We saw some absolutely jaw dropping scenery at 36,000 feet

And the hotel sent a stretch to pick us up.

A long flight but it's worth it - we're here in Vegas.
As our internal clocks are on GMT / CET for myself & Marielle / Roel & Dennis, we're shattered. Excited but shattered.
We're going to freshen up and wander about for a while, to see the MGM complex.

Visitors to the First Class Lounge

Marielle & I bought First Class tickets from London to Vegas, but Roel & Dennis were traveling economy. The good people at Virgin were nice enough let them into the First Class Lounge so we all could enjoy a champagne together before takeoff.

Up at 4:30 AM ... ugh

We got up extra early today, to prepare for a 6:30AM pickup. We each checked two bags, with another (each) reserved for carry on luggage. The big black bag at the top of the picture is my carry on bag. I purposely bought the largest IATA approved carry on bag. It's voluminous.

Look at this lovely nightowl encountered at 6:30AM in the back of a London Black Taxi!

Groom this

So, entering the final stages of our wedding preparations, this morning we headed deep into Central London.

I dropped Marielle off at some girlie place

telling the woman behind the counter groom this.

After hot wax was applied much yelping was heard in London's West End this afternoon! Oh ladies! The pain that accompanies vanity! But we gentleman are indeed pleased at the results.

Later we explored the offerings of the megastores, where Marielle purchased some girlie stuff for our wedding night.

I ain't supposed to see the frilly good bits so I HAVE NOT looked at this photo - no foolies!

Hi Cloudy London

The journey has begun. The Dark Princess has set foot at UK soil. Mutant following in her trail. Loaded up to the max. Master of the precious cargo.

It almost got a bit interesting when during the approach to City airport the plane suddenly started ascending again straight in to a turbulent grey cloud. The small plane, Fokker 50, getting all bumpy Pinkie saw the airport disappear right under her nose. What is this? A plane before us with technical problems on the landing strip or Old Blighty welcoming Pinkie with some extra 'come and discover me' bliss?

The final rubbish runs?

Yesterday we focused on clearing down Marielle's attic, making no fewer than three trips to - where else?

The Recyclingperron! That makes a total of six trips of rubbish we've brought to the recycling centre. I don't think I ever want to see another dump again as long as I live...

But it wasn't all work - we grabbed dinner with her Father (the ever helpful lively and all around fun guy - Roel!) in Almere Centrum, passing through this music festival while on our way to the restaurant


Today we're headed over to the new flat to get an estimate from a painter and check on some electrical work (lamp fixtures, etc) that has to be completed before we can move in.

After that we're off Africadag, or "Africa Day", which is being held in stadslandgoed de kemphaan.

Where the Wild Ones go there is the

Safari Bus!



We finally noticed the bus in Amsterdam when it kept on driving past us like it was trying to say something. So when we walked closer to it, the people started shouting to the driver "Keep them away from us" our suspicions were confirmed:

We are the Wild Ones to be observed only at a safe distance

Picked up the wedding rings

Up early, we called the good folks at Van Pampus and, as promised, our wedding rings were ready. So we headed into Amsterdam City Centre to pick them up and were totally delighted as you can see from the reaction of this beautiful stranger I met at the store.

Both fit perfectly, so now everything is done for the wedding! Next challenge: getting on that 747 outta Gatwick heading to Las Vegas.

Music for the Wedding after party

For the past couple of days we've been planning a play list for our Wedding after party.

Click the link, check it out and comment on our selections! We won't be offended, especially if you're attending the party in person.

And if you're not? Well nuTise will let you listen along to the same music we'll be playing at the party.

Research. Bridal research

So this evening Marielle has been reading back copies of Bruid & Bruidegom magazine to figure out what shes gonna do with her hair, my hair, her accessories, the wedding entourage, the wedding reception, our limo, the flowers, the music, the photos, her makeup, my makeup (as if!), wedding movies, gifts for the entourage and dozens of little and not so little problems The Bride is destined to wrestle with, while I helpfully sat back sipping Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz, watching Natural Born Killers on DVD, feeling all mellow and Groom Like on a totally beautiful evening here in Flevoland.

Tough luck Bride!

The dump, our guests and tidbits

So we spent this afternoon in Marielle's attic, clearing down what turned out to be mostly empty boxes. Of course no house cleaning in Amsterdam is complete without a trip to the "recyclingperron" or dump,

which looked very familiar to me as we'd visited it just last weekend.

But it's all good - we've made lots of progress. We can probably finish the first pass on her attic tomorrow, next weekend at the latest. Then we're mostly complete except for boxing what's coming to London with her on September 21st.

In terms of guests we've now got seven confirmed, with a couple of more drop ins expected. This is without the formal invitations which, by the way, we'll be sending out in electronic form this evening.

We've upgraded the cake to reflect the additional headcount, and are now planning the reception we'll be hosting in our suite after the wedding.

For that we're reviewing menus from the hotel trying to come up with something light and sensible. We're also making iTunes playlists to cover about two hours of music. Finally, we're also setting the Macs (we're bringing two PowerBooks to Vegas with us) up to play slide shows of pictures from the wedding itself, and shots of Marielle and I on the trips we've taken together (New York, Barcelona and a few surprise destinations folks don't already know about), as well as movies of the wedding ceremony itself.

Tiara Tart

Marielle purchased this wonderful Tiara for the wedding from Swarovski

Don't ask me how she's gonna wear it - that's a chick thang! But I just know she's gonna look gorgeous in it!

The World in Glorious Pink

Behold my very first high-heeled shoes on an "Telegraaf" article The Glorious World of Pink:



Mutant is introducing quite a few changes into the life of this Pinkie

Purchased the wedding rings today

Today we visited Van Pampus, a jeweler Marielle knew about in Amsterdam. Looking past the tram, you can see their shop

Once inside we focused our search on three trays of wedding bands, each by a different Dutch designer.

As her engagement ring is platinum, Marielle felt that most of the traditional gold coloured rings were out. And she found a set of fantastic pink and white gold rings that we purchased. These are the rings below; her's, on the right, has five small diamonds in the band. Each has two stripes of pink gold at the top and bottom of the band.

We also purchased shoes for the wedding, and later rewarded ourselves for a day of hard work with a lunch of small sandwiches, exotic deserts and PINK champagne.

So everything for the wedding - except for the license which we can't get until we're on the ground in Vegas - is done done done.

Took care of more wedding details

So today we looked for accessories in Almere, and upon our return cleared down one item from our wedding planner, leaving only a single critical path issue to be closed before the wedding!

We've selected the cake, opting for a round, two tiered Chocolate Chip cake flavoured with Amaretto Cream filing, Ivory Butter Cream icing topped with fresh (Pink coloured!) sugar roses. The cake's trim will be swirls and pink ribbons. The Chapel will have it available for us right after the ceremony, so we'll be able to take it back to the hotel for the after party we've planned.

Nifty!!

We also changed the Brides bouquet and groom's boutonnière to silk, realising that we'd like to these as keepsakes and we can't (legally) bring flowers - fresh or dried - into the UK with us when we return.

I took her to New York, she took me to the dump...

So we spent yesterday hauling rubbish to Almere's "recyclingperron", or dump in 'Merican.




Everything including the kitchen sink can be found here.


Wow! It's the Queen of the Recyclingperron!!

We've made a lot of progress as The Big Day moves closer. Yesterday we moved a lot of rubbish out of Marielle's house, and even managed to clear down the first floor somewhat. We've still got some work to do on the ground floor then can turn our attention to the third floor.

Next on the agenda will be getting movers to pack some of Marielle's property for the relocation to England, as well as to relocate some other stuff to her Father's nearby house.

Today we're looking at wedding accessories - shoes and a tiara, amoung other items that she needs. We'll also order the wedding cake.

That's £1,695 pounds of festive!!

So today we followed up on yesterdays wedding dress shopping activities, this time heading up toward the mega stores on Oxford Street.

We visited M&S who had a very large, and very reasonably priced selection of both wedding and formal dresses but no joy.

We next stopped in at Selfridges where from the escalator Marielle spied a dress she fancied. We took a closer and encouraging look - style was grand and the colour superb. Everything appeared great.

"Ok?" I asked.

"This one is perfect" Marielle commented while rubbing the fabric and critically examining the style. "Very festive" she concluded.

"Festive?" I asked, playing with the verb. "How festive?"

Marielle, looking at the price tag, suddenly frowned. "It costs one thousand, six hundred and ninety five pounds!"

"Whoa" I agreed. "That's a lot of festive". She carefully replaced The Festive Dress.

Ok, let's stop here.

Of course we could afford The Festive Dress but in yesterdays episode we'd decided not to spend so much money on a dress she'd more than likely only wear once.

Possessions vs. experiences once again. Possessions age, become worn out or obsolete and just clutter up your life. Get too many possessions and you don't own your possessions, your possessions own you.

But spending money on an experience is something completely different. We both feel that experiences are worth spending money on. We're flying to Vegas first class. Staying at one of the best hotels on the strip. That experience is something we can never lose, will never become old, and can never be taken away from us. That experience will last both of us the rest of our lifes. So experiences are clearly worth spending money on. But possessions? No.

Anyhow, the story had a happy ending as we stopped in at Debenhams and Marielle found a perfectly wonderful evening dress to get married in.

It cost only about 5% of the Selfridges offering but will be 1000% more festive.

So the current plan is for her to return to Holland with this dress and get it tailored as needed to improve the fit. Shoes are next on her agenda, but these carry a much lower priority as baby needed the dress first! Also shoes will be much, much cheaper in Amsterdam (sidenote: I've been purchasing my shoes in Amsterdam since 1998, long before I met Marielle and the exact same pair I'd pay £80 for here in London only costs about 40 Euro there - go figure). Finally, with her help I'll find a cumberbund and bow tie for my tux that will better match her dress.

But it was a good, very productive and successful day. Another, one of the few remaining critical path items has been removed from our wedding planner.

We rewarded ourselves with French crepes and smoothies for lunch.

Up early, refining schedule for Vegas

We've been capturing all suggested ideas for a couple of weeks now, and as The Big Date approaches we've moved Vegas planning into the forefront.

So we're now trying to optimise our time out west by tracking everything in a shared spreadsheet that we've published to Google Documents.

Take a look, and get in touch if you've got any suggestions!

The Wedding Dress and The Lounge

Upon getting up today Marielle and I evaluated my suits. My tailor in Bombay (Aziz!) recently sent across two that I hadn't worn yet, and the thought occurred to us that perhaps I should wear a suit instead of a tux to the wedding. In the end we decided to continue with the tux as well - not tailor made, however I did have it altered while crossing the North Atlantic aboard The Queen Mary 2 in October 2005.

So today we wandered about Hoxton, looking at what various designer and dress shops had to offer.

Marielle has decided to purchase an evening gown, eschewing a formal wedding dress. She's frugal as well (one of the reasons we get along so well), and decided that splashing out for a dress she's only wear once just wasn't worth the hassle.

I applaud her decision, and it does make this entire exercise easier as she no longer has to shop only at wedding boutiques.

On the home front we're currently engaged in planning how to better utilise the flat for the two of us. First room on the agenda is the ground floor lounge.

It's rather large, and pretty much empty at this point. We visited a furniture shop and are leaning towards reconfiguring the room along these lines

The lounge is roughly ten by twenty feet, and has a doorway to the back garden. We're looking to almost subdivide this room, and are planning to purchase two identical couches that we'll place back to back. The dark black line in the middle is a screen we'll put in between the two couches. This will allow one of us to use the Macs while the other watches TV, for example.

The two circles are ceiling fans I installed when I first gutted and renovated this flat after acquiring it back in 2001 (side note: the only reason I got this place at a 40% discount to market price at the time was the fact that it needed a lot of sweat equity...)

We're going to do all our design work on the Macs before actually purchasing and installing furniture or other items. That's precisely how I did the planning for the initial renovation, and it will help us to avoid expensive mistakes.

Right now the walls of the lounge are covered with plenty of art, and we're not sure how reusing this space will impact that. I suspect some of the larger pieces will have to go upstairs, but that's ok as there is still a lot of empty white walls left up on the second floor.

Salty Kiss turns into chocolate cake

Only 1 month 1 week and 3 days to go the tension is rising. So many important points still open like the Dress, the Rings, hairstyle, make-up, rings and Mutant's gear (he says he's ready, right..), I just had to rub some salt in the 50 year old wounds of my dear co-worker Wijnand.


Aah Let's make up to you. Kissie kissie

Hee Mutant is right. They may be old but they ain't dead!

As long as I get my chocolate fix. Mutant says it's good for you.

Who'd a thunk planning a wedding was stressful?

Not me, certainly not before I got involved in this little exercise. So I've created a Mutant & Marielle Stress Meter to help everyone gauge moods and alter behaviour appropriately.

You can find it on the right sidebar, under the "ABOUT US" entry.

On other topics, Marielle is coming to London this weekend and we'll finish off the remainder of to-do items pertaining to her UK relocation in general and my flat specifically.

Let's see: a National Insurance number, some Local Council hassle, visiting a curtain shop so she can replace what's currently hanging, selecting paint so I can commence redecorating once she's issued orders and has returned to Holland, perhaps purchasing a telly ('cause you know I don't watch no TV) and I think that's about it.

Birthdays

Today besides a huge to-do list carefully managed by Mutant I'm celebrating 2 Birthdays. Happy Birthday to Paul de Swart and Wijnand Tinholt. We hope you have a wonderful day and if you dare not like your "Marielle" presents here Mutant's idea of a Birthday present to Marielle.



Isn't it sweet?

They may be old but they ain't dead (or Another productive day...)

So we visited Marielle's grandma in her home. It was an interesting experience, especially mealtime.

We entered this room of perhaps 100 or so old folks, all chowing down. We filled out our order sheets and when the waitress left she forgot to take Marielle's.

Marielle ran after her and boy did the old guys react!

It was like a scene out of one of those zombie movies, where all of a sudden the zombies discover someone amoung them isn't dead, and they start jerking and twitching and hooting at the excitement.

A young lithe blonde running past an octogenarian will do that. She does it to me and I'm in my 30's (aren't I dear?)

Anyhow, we took some important decisions today.

We agreed an operating budget for the flats, and funding levels. Basically, we're each contributing to the total common costs (clearly defined in a shared spreadsheet) according to the ratio of net incomes.

This is fair, doesn't over burden either of us and we both contribute.

Considering so many marriages get into trouble over money, we thought it prudent to discuss and agree as much as possible up front.

And on the "let's have some fun side" we've completed a first pass at our schedule for Vegas. Not travel or wedding dates; these are fixed. But what we're gonna do while out there.

Our tentative first pass list looks like (please comment if you've got sugggestions or ideas)

• Grand Canyon (I had to settle for a helicopter trip as Marielle refuses to skydive to the canyon floor...spoilsport)
• Pawn Shops
• Cirque de Solei (KA)
• Venetian Gondola
• Penn & Teller
• M&M museum
• Fremont Street Experience
• Star Trek Experience at the Hilton
• Peppermill's Fireside Lounge
• Pinball Hall of Fame
• The Mac King Comedy Magic Show
• Penn & Teller
• Neon Graveyard

Cleaning up! part two...

Marielle has been living here for about nine years and naturally accumulated a lot of stuff. One neat thing we found was this drawing her parents had done to announce her birth

We've been focusing on a single room, and we're getting that cleared down today. Tomorrow a little more then we're off to visit her 86 year old grandmother.

And just to finish the week on a completely positive note we've worked out a deal with Marielle's brother where he'll move in which will allow us to keep the house here. So we can divide our time between London and Amsterdam as we live happily ever after...

Cleaning up!

So I'm at Marielle's house for a few days, helping her to clean up & out and prepare for the move to London.

My trip over was interesting. Usually I fly to Amsterdam and then either take a train or a tram to meet up with Marielle. But our planes windscreen apparently cracked during flight, and they diverted us to Rotterdam.

No problem but my luggage didn't show up!!

The airline reacted pretty quickly and found it before I left Rotterdam. Apparently because I was rushing for the flight from London and checked in only about five minutes before leaving (I was the last person getting on the plane, and it had already been delayed once), my luggage never got loaded.

In any case, my stuff is supposed to arrive at Marielle's house sometime today. In fact the airline called twice this morning, so things should work out ok. (Actually the bags were mostly empty as I've been ferrying stuff back for Marielle, and they were four year old Tumi pieces...so I'm ok with getting new ones before the wedding....I don't pay insurance premiums for nothing!

Lots of progress behind the scenes...

We've both had a lot going on. Let's see:

Marielle has been very busy refining the text for our wedding invitation and translating it into Dutch and French (English too!). She's also been busying herself with the details of the on line event, working with the chapel, preparing the electronic invitation, getting a wedding gift register established at Amazon.co.uk, and generally picking up lots of the smaller but critical tasks.

Myself? Well, researching printers for the invitations, arranging for a limo to pick us up from the airport when we arrive in Vegas, and getting a few other tidbits in place for the trip such as transportation to Gatwick. Got my tux back from the cleaners and I don't have to have it tailored as it has these nifty built in adjusting straps on the pants.

I've also been talking to the hotel about getting a hairdresser, etc for Marielle on the day before. Arranging for a car to pick us up Wednesday AM and take us to City Hall to get the license - I'd like to keep him all day if possible as I'm hearing Vegas is NOT walkable. Trying to get a photographer for the morning before and afternoon after the wedding as we're getting married at high noon.

I've been working on the guest list as well. I spoke to the hotel about catering the after party in our suite, and I'm currently waiting for them to send across suggested menus so I can chat with the bride-to-be and explain why there will be NO meat for lunch (SALMON!!), making sure we've got a cake for after, fresh flowers in the suite for the duration, as well as one kick ass bottle of champagne for a private just-me-and-her toast.

So a lot of stuff is coming together pretty rapidly. We've only got FIVE items on our list of things that must be done before we can get married.

As there were eighteen total just last week, you can see we've been pretty damn busy. And productive.

And happy this is really gonna happen.

Pictures after the wedding

This great post on Ask.MetaFilter is timely, soliciting information regarding the best locations to take some staged post wedding photos.

This suggestion is perfect:

"pictures of you two in your wedding attire but in 50's-style poses [ie man sitting, reading paper and smoking cigar as wife hands him something/whatever...".

As I don't smoke Marielle will have to fetch me a brandy. But it's all good!! And will make a fantastic picture!!!! we'll just edit out the part where the brandy is dumped on my head by a smirking blonde...

So I just I'll just settle for this one, perhaps while we're sharing a brief kiss: "Street shot with long exposure. You'll get the 'moving traffic' effect behind you."

Vegas strip at dusk. Me & her. Great idea.

Here's why I love Holland...

Available in neighbourhood grocery stores



Whoops! Maybe this is why

yes,it's true I just wanted to post this lovely picture of Marielle...

Commercial considerations...

We visited my banker today. She offered us a lovely cup of tea ("cuppa") and while we were chatting away in her office we got us loads'o accounts - no less than FIVE - as follows:

1. Joint current and savings accounts, to be used to run the flat (current account) and to save for mutual acquisitions / holidays / etc (savings account)
2. Marielle got a current and savings account of her own, separate from my existing accounts
3. Marielle got a credit card of her own

All thanks to the good folks at HSBC. Of course Marielle already has multiple banking relationships in Holland, but those are there and she's gonna be living here.

We both were very surprised at how accommodating HSBC was to Marielle - especially the credit card! (so perhaps I don't have to take my plastic to Vegas then huh babe?)

The accounts are presently setup in her maiden name but once we're back from Vegas we just show my banker the marriage license and shey'll change Marielle's last name on the paperwork and plastic.

Well done HSBC!

Almere at the centre of the World

Look at how the white arrow over those grey islands is pointing out the location of Almere:




Only a mere 9 hours time difference from the next centre of the world - in 53 days Las Vegas

Notice Dave has some problems with THE language, Queen Beatrix's language of choice Dutch.

And Pink it shall be

"Oh yes maam that too will be pink, bright Pink"

For all you wondering if the Mutant was present at the booking of this ceremony, the answer is

Ja Schat (oh Yes Dear)

An A- Student baby

(What a) Wonderful World this would be

Formal invitations to follow

But we've booked the ceremony.

It will be held Thursday, September 27th at 12PM at

Chapel of the Flowers
1717 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, Nevada

Their web site provides streaming video of the ceremony as it happens, with pictures posted a few hours later.

About the breeding...

Several folks asked about kids; we ain't talking about the breeding (at least to the unwashed masses such as yourselves), but I am getting these celebratory coins minted. Note I didn't type celebatory so draw your own conclusions.

One ounce of gold, and just look at thatlovely smile on the front of the coin - guess who?

Meaning of the Date

Ha the Mutant did not realise until it was too late. HA! And he thought he was the evil one.

27th of September 2007

and The Number 666. I got it fixed. I will turn this sucker's world around!

See this date adds up to:

2+7 (9) - September (9 ) - 2+0+0+7 (9) = 999

Oh baby you're so ...

Finding a Chapel

Mutant, I tell you which chapels in the next hour. Let's get it over and done quickly.

Several hours later my eyes totally squared from looking at dozens of websites Mutant had to drag me out of the flat just to get me focused onto something else for a while.


My head still buzzing I think we getting close now to nailing 1 venue. Will Elvis attend?

Lots of progress

Marielle has been working away all weekend, reviewing wedding chapels and has narrowed the list down to three.

Final decision to be made today, after we've called each for a brief chat.

Friends a coming!!

Shawn & Amity have purchased tickets to come to Vegas!

Fantastic!!

Ok, has anyone done the helicopter tour?

We're looking at various Helicopter Tours of the Grand Canyon, and we wondering if anyone's ever done one before?

They hardly ever crash anymore, right?

Driving there from Vegas will take roughly six hours each way, making for a long day.

The helicopter will get there in about thirty minutes, and various options / packages are available.

You can even share a congratulatory bottle of champagne with the pilot if you're so inclined! (before or after the tour? not sure....)

Scrubs up well

Never fear about a Grungy Mutant (Bombay, 2005, not my fault!!) soiling the wedding chapel - this picture, taken on the Queen Mary 2 back in 2004, proves I scrub up well!

We just dropped my tux off at the dry cleaners. I tried it on before and we think I may have to get it tailored as I've lost well over one stone since purchasing it (explanatory link included for you 'yanks and Euro types that don't speak The Queens English...you know who you are!)

What else is there to do while in Vegas?

We asked about to see what else there is to do while in Vegas.

Drop us an email if you've got any suggestions as well.

Vegas baby!!

Flights and the hotel have been booked.

We wanted to avoid TSA BS as much as possible, so we're flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class direct from London Gatwick to Las Vegas.

We're leaving Tuesday, September 25th at 11:40AM, arriving in Las Vegas at roughly 2PM local time. Of course for us it will be much later, 10PM or so.

We've booked a full suite at the exquisite MGM Signature where we'll hold a small party after the wedding ceremony.

We're leaving Las Vegas Monday, October 1st at 4PM, arriving back in London the next day at roughly 10AM.

Wedding planner

So it's a go and there is a lot to do.

We've created a Wedding Planner - basically an excel spreadsheet listing all tasks that we've got to complete in order to get married.

We're at 76 open issues and counting - wish us well!

We've decided to elope!!

So I'm an American who has lived in London for ten+ years.

Marielle is a Dutch national who lives in Almere.

I lived in New York for thirteen years before moving to London, and my family still lives in Western New York where I was born.

Marielle's family is all over Holland.

So the problem is no matter where we hold the ceremony we were going to cause an issue.

After posting this query to the good folks at MetaFilter, we've decided to elope!

The Engagement

We visited London's Hatton Gardens to purchase this ring.

The Proposal

Mutant proposed today, doing it the old fashion way; via google! Here's how it worked:

One of Marielle's nicknames is "Pinkie", and by using his Google AdWords account Mutant coerced google into displaying his marriage proposal whenever she ego surfed. He knew he'd promptly catch her attention.

Regardless, Pinkie still insisted that Mutant get on his knees to propose if he was serious.

When he did at first opportunity.

The complete proposal is here.