The Innocent Eye Test

So, I've found this painting that I would like a print of SO BAD. I would pretty much pay an arm and a leg for it and I'm assuming that's what you would have to pay to even get a print of it. I can't find it anywhere on the interwebz other than images or pictures of the oil canvas painting.


So this picture is named "The Innocent Eye Test" by Mark Tansey, painted in 1981. It was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

With some research, I have found the meaning behind the painting:

Mark Tansey (American, 1949-), The Innocent Eye Test, 1981, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Mark Tansey is known particularly for his monochromatic paintings which are often humorous mock-historical scenes that refer to art historical subjects and concern art criticism. This picture depicts a group of official looking men observing and recording a cow's reaction to a life-size painting of two cows in a pastoral landscape. The men are dressed in lab coats and business suits, and they are all wearing eyeglasses, with the exception of one man holding a mop -- in anticipation of the cow's digestive progress. The cow is looking at an actual painting: Paulus Potter (Dutch, 1625-1654), The Young Bull, 1647.

Since it was painted so long ago, I assume it's no longer printed but I figured there has to at least be posters of this oil painting. I can't find anything!! I did find Mark Tansey's website but I can't get through to it so I guess it's down. It's a fairly unsuccessful day.

To make up for it, I've rearranged a few things on the registries. Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn like to make their things seasonal so they'll take off the silicone tongs I wanted and put up a different set or something along the lines of that. So I went through to replace some things. Williams Sonoma is being a little stupid though since I can't seem to take stuff off (at the bottom of the list) that can only be bought in stores. I hope some people realize some of the stuff on the bottom and go to the store to take a look. In particular, Peter and I really like the designs of these bowls but only the serving bowl is available online. The individual bowls and dipping bowls aren't. It makes me worried that one day they won't be available any more. I'm so tempted to just go out and buy them myself before they're gone for good!

Oh well, if they're no longer there, then it wasn't meant to be, right? No sense worrying about it. If they're still around during/after the wedding, we'll just get it and get 10% off of it! Can't go wrong with that! By no means am I telling any of you to "GO OUT NOW AND GET ME DEM BOWLSSSS" but I just hope that people realize that there is some stuff we'd really like at the bottom of the list. In short, I'm pretty much worried over nothing. :)

I have better things to worry about....like transportation. I keep trying to figure out in my head how I'm going to handle transportation and if we're going to accomodate our guests with transportation between the hotels, church and reception site. The only reason I'm thinking about this is because of a few variables thrown into the mix. We need to be out of the church by 4/4:30pm so the church can prepare for a proper Saturday service and cocktail hour doesn't begin at the reception site till 6:30. Mind you, it only takes 15 minutes to get the reception site from the church. So what to do with the guests between that? Not to mention that many will be traveling so it makes me wonder if they're going to have the means to travel to the church/reception site (and I'm not sure if people would be open to taking taxis in their nice attire).

So, say we do provide transportation from the hotel to the church, back to the hotel and then to the reception. This is the other thing I'm thinking about...

Do we have just one bus that goes to the three different hotel blocks we have set up to pick up guests, bring them to the church, bring them back to their respective hotels, and then to the reception? To me, that sounds pretty ridiculous and slightly complicated and the more complicated it sounds, the more likely something is going to go WRONG. We can't go straight from the church to the reception because they won't be ready for guests that early and cocktail won't even be ready till 6:30pm!!

Or do we have three separate shuttle buses? Or do we set up a place in between for people to mingle without going back to the hotel? My parents and I thought it would be a good idea to have the time in between the ceremony and the reception in case people want to dress casually for the ceremony and fancy for the reception; it gives them time to change! But, getting from hotel to the church, back to the hotel, then to the reception...what do you guys think?

Or do we just tell people to find a way to get there on their own? I want people to have the option to coming to the church, even though most people go to just the reception. I'm okay with people going to just the reception but I don't want to deny anyone the opportunity to see us get married (and to get a cool gift at the end) if they want to see it. I'm just worried about the people traveling. But I guess if you decide to make the travel plans to see it, then I would be really grateful.

If we don't offer transportation, this is going to make me rethink about having a receiving line after the ceremony. For people that are willing to travel across the country, or across the sea, I feel it's disrespectful to just do a table greet during the reception. A little too impersonal because that would be greeting the table, not the individual, even if it's a small "Thank you for coming." If it was a smaller wedding, I wouldn't have a receiving line and I wouldn't be second guessing myself.

Unfortunately though, I've read online that while having a receiving line is traditional yet personal, a receving line after the ceremony might not be practical with our amount of guests. It may take up to 1-1.5 hours just to greet everyone. And then we'd have to take pictures afterwards. I mean, this is IF 150+ people show up to the ceremony. We can get 50 people for all we know!

But if we do get even 100 people, it'll be July and hot out. People will be waiting for 1-1.5 hours in the sun (the lobby is unfortunately not big enough). It also means I would have to set the ceremony for earlier which means waking up earlier! Oh man...the complications. Anyone have any thoughts? I know I have plenty of thoughts..

Peter and I have discussed it a lot. We both generally want to respect the people who are taking the time out of their schedules to see us on our special day but it's hard to fit all this in just one day with time restraints.

Do people think it's okay to do just table greetings during dinner? Man, that's over 20 tables to greet...It'll all be worth it. I really can't wait to see everyone. :)