So Sharon and I have decided that we want Sharon to wear a red dress for the wedding, probably with a pair of long black gloves. The problem is that it’s damn hard to find the right sort of dresses.

We both like the really shinny fabric (some kinds of silk, Taffeta, satin) like you can see in this dress. However, most dress tops are really boring and often actively unattractive (what possible sort of fashion sense could make you think it’s a good idea to try and imitate a garbage bag to cover your breasts or worse your whole body). We both really like the nifty asymmetrical one-shoulder sorta look like you can see here but we both want something shorter (knee length…though shorter isn’t out of the question). Maybe something asymmetrical or loose on the bottom or maybe just a nice slender dress with the one-shoulder look but even just finding anything with the right sort of top that isn’t made in an awful pinkish red or is floor length seems to be damn difficult.

Anyway got any ideas?

I haven’t posted much (at all) on this blog about my personal life. I don’t want to read posts about your cat or how you cooked dinner last night and I presume you (meaning people I don’t know) don’t want to read complaints about applying for postdocs or heard about my sex life. Besides, while there isn’t much about my life I consider private¹ there is certainly such a thing as oversharing. However, I’m going to make an exception and say that Sharon and I are now engaged. Luckily we agree about not really being into a very traditional wedding (certainly no white dress)

Anyway in addition (instead?) of rings we’ve been thinking about the idea of doing marriage tattoos instead, i.e., each of us getting tattooed in some manner to symbolize our commitment. We would have to do them several weeks ahead of course but the permanence is quite appealing. The only problem is figuring out what tattoos to get. We have one idea for a decorative tattoo that Sharon might get on her lower back (a kind of flower with a certain meaning but the relationship symbolism is only weak) but no idea for me.

So anyway does anyone have any suggestions for nice decorative tattoos (or a decorative embellishment of a tattoo) with the relevant symbolism? Optimally some part of the tattoo Sharon is getting would signify the fact that she is committing/giving herself to me permanently and presumably the same thing in reverse. However, the tattoos should be decorative and not crass. That means no hearts of any kind, no “property of P.G./S.G.” tattoo (at least in english), no tattooing names (maybe as a small part of a larger design). In general anything that is too cutesy or would make a 13 year old girl squeal about how sweet it was probably won’t fly but if you have a suggestion of any kind toss it out there. Using pictographic characters to nicely represent more complex concepts (or avoid literal advertisement of the meaning) is an option but Chinese characters that would scandalize maternal relatives probably should be avoided besides this is just so stereotypical.

As an aside if anyone has any ideas about an officiant (having some random stranger do this seems kinda weird but so does just having a friend…preferably it would be someone with an authority that we both recognize which is difficult being non-religious)