Wedding Plans getting off the ground

Now that the Visa seems to be out of our hands for the moment, we've begun talking turkey about the wedding. We spent much of today and yesterday hashing out our basic preferences for format and timing.

Tentative Decisions:

• Pending the approval of a few very important guests, we're looking at a Christmastime wedding (for the ease of our traveling guests who need to book time off, as well as for the bride herself, who can't easily get time off during the fall semester and would be hard pressed to find time to plan in the summer).
• We're looking at having an early ceremony (noontime) and champagne and cake reception directly following, then a very intimate dinner later on.
• As for the ceremony, we want to work within the basic "traditional" structure of the wedding, but to really personalize the readings and music to reflect our interests and beliefs.
• We want to try to incorporate some Irish elements (maybe some traditional Irish vows or readings - I already have an Irish hanky to carry down the aisle with me) into the ceremony.
• We're looking for a reading in German, to be read by a German, in addition to another literary passage in English.
• Trying to start thinking about music to incorporate: I've got very definite ideas of the kind of music I'd like to involve - Bach for processing, maybe some Beethoven (Pathetique) or Chopin (a Nocture), and, for Dan (and because I like it), "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence."