These are a few of our favorite things

If you would like to get us a wedding gift (and please do not feel obligated to!), we have created a couple of gift registries at stores we are fond of, including Crate & Barrel, Bed Bath & Beyond and Amazon.com. Our Crate & Barrel registry includes tableware, flatware, bakeware, and cookware, as well as other wares. Our Bed Bath & Beyond registry includes linens (bed), towels and a bath ensemble (bath), and various kitchen essentials and accessories (beyond). Both registries can be accessed either online (at the links above) or at stores: all you need is our names and wedding date. Finally, our Amazon.com registry includes all of the things we really wanted but couldn't find at our other two stores. It's not a list of our favorite DVD's and CD's, as you might imagine (we already have those); it's actually all kitchen and dining-related items. While we were putting together our registry, my sister, Kristen (who is a much better cook than I am), sent me some helpful suggestions from Cooks Illustrated and the folks at America's Test Kitchen on kitchen wares and gadgetry. Their suggestions sounded well-researched (and being a scientist, I like good research), so we decided to create an Amazon registry to ask for the cookware, appliances, accessories, and SPYDERCO 204MF Tri-Angle Sharpmaker System knife sharpener that we couldn't otherwise find. We would be deeply grateful to receive any of the gifts that we've registered for; certainly, though, the gift we would cherish most is your company on our wedding day.

Where to stay in Sandwich

We in particular recommend two places to stay in Sandwich: the Dan'l Webster Inn, which is more upscale, and the Sandwich Lodge and Resort, which is more affordable. The Dan'l Webster is located in the heart of downtown Sandwich (bustling metropolis that it is). The Sandwich Lodge is also convenient, just outside town on Route 6A. We've reserved a block of rooms at the Sandwich Lodge for our guests; mention the Gray-Jacobs wedding party for their group rate. These rooms will be held for our guests until May 19th.

There are also a number of smaller Bed and Breakfasts in Sandwich, if that is more your speed. We've stayed at the Inn at Sandwich Center during a couple of visits and can recommend it strongly; the Innkeepers, Jan and Charlie, are friendly and thoughtful. (Actually, I think a number of our guests have already booked rooms there, so they may be full!) A directory of other Inns and Bed and Breakfasts in the area can be found here; we've also included accomodations information with our save-the-date cards.

Lodging on the cape books up well in advance, so please reserve accomodations as soon as possible!

Save the date!

Our wedding will be on Saturday, July 19 at 5:00 pm, at the lovely Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts. We've sent out save-the-date cards, and if you're reading this, chances are you got one already! (Actually, chances are you got one almost eight months ago, but we're pretending that we were more timely in putting together our wedding website, remember?) Invitations will follow. We hope you can come!

Our wedding blog

We're probably quite a bit late in putting this together, but better late than never. I am writing this on May 2, 2008 - 78 days before our wedding. To pretend that we were more on top of the whole wedding website thing, however, I'm "creatively" dating this entry as having been posted on September 7, 2007 - the day before we mailed out our save-the-date cards (at least they were timely!).

That said, welcome to our wedding blog! More informative, useful and/or entertaining posts will follow. For the moment, having set up our wedding blog, I mostly needed a first entry so that I could fiddle with settings and colors and get a sense of what that the blog would look like. For example, what color should links be? What about links that people have already visited? Decisions decisions. It's a good thing that I'm not OCD about this kind of thing. *cough*