So I know I haven't written in awhile, but it's not for lack of things to say. I have been SO busy and haven't had much time for anything NWR. When I do have a few precious minutes of not wedding planning or working, I don't want to spend them writing about wedding planning. Haha- I am all planned out!! Now I feel like I can write some stuff, so I'm going to :) On August 5th I had my bridal shower. It was amazing- beyond my expectations. It was a Paris theme and I loved it. There was a great mix of friends and family and I was SO nervous but had no reason to be. My mum, FMIL, and bridesmaids did a great job. We got some great gifts and everyone had a lovely afternoon.   My bridesmaids and I. My MOH was unable to make it because she lives in Georgia and her first day of school (she's a teacher) was the following day.  My beautiful mum & I  My fabulous ribbon hat  Most of the lovely ladies who came out for my shower We've also checked A LOT off our lists. There is still quite a bit to go, but it's definitely do-able. We bought the lanterns for our cocktail hour centerpieces, confirmed the reception set-up with our DJ (and made most of our playlist, just need to confirm a few little details with Fi). We cancelled the Vieques leg of our stay in PR and extended the time in San Juan because of the hassle (ie- ferry times being unreliable, rental cars not being allowed to leave the main island, no full moon = no biobay, etc.). We also went to Lowe's and bought the wood, paint, and nails to make our table numbers, as well as dowels and wood to make the base for our stacked paper lanterns for beside the bar.
Our RSVP deadline was today as well. We are still waiting to hear back from 26 people, but we are officially below our max amount, so I am thrilled. We are giving the mail until the end of the week to come in (we figure there will be a few stragglers) and then we'll start calling around on Monday. If everyone else says yes (and there are a few we're expecting to say no), then we'll have 96 guests. The smaller, the better, I like to say :) We also made our final payment to the WCC today, which feels REALLY good. We are really coming along!! On Thursday we go to apply for our marriage license, which I am SUPER excited for. Mostly because it means we get to go to the beach! We haven't been AT ALL this summer because of work, and we're using all of our time off for the wedding and honeymoon :( Which will be awesome then... but sucks a lot right now. Finally, we took my engagement ring to be re-dipped. I want it to be nice and sparkly for pictures! They should all be back on the 28th, but I won't be wearing my e-ring again until the wedding weekend. We engraved our rings, too. His will say, "Big Spoon" and mine will say, "Little Spoon." I am in love :) 33 DAYS UNTIL I'M CHRIS' MRS.!!
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We are down to double digits-- 99 days! Holy moly, I can't believe we are SO close. At this time last year I didn't even have a date solidified, and now I'm down to mostly little details and getting super nervous about paying for all of this and making sure it's going to come together smoothly.
I haven't written in a little while because things are really busy right now between work, planning our wedding, and planning the pre-wedding parties for the wedding we're both in two weeks before ours. But lots of things are done now and there are still some things I am just itching to scratch off of our "to do" list that I'm obsessed with these days. I literally have a copy on this website, a copy printed out in my planning binder, mini lists everywhere, and a list of weekly checks in my iPad. Crossing something off is so satisfying. So here's what we've recently got done... -We got our guest book tree in the mail! I used a free graphic I found online, added our name and wedding date in PhotoShop and bought a Groupon to have it printed on canvas. It is SO cute and I can't wait to hang it in our future house! -We also got the picture frame for our sand ceremony. It's a vase/frame combination that we got online that wasn't marketed for sand ceremonies, so instead of paying $50/60 we paid $9.99 on clearance. Love! -Bridesmaid's dresses arrived yesterday! They are SO pretty. The colour is amazing! When we ordered them, we only got to see a small swatch of the colour, so we had to use our imaginations on the rest of the dress. It is so vibrant and lovely. We also got the guys their ties and pocket squares in the same colours. -I figured out my something old/new/borrowed/blue and attached a sixpence to my barefoot sandal. My old is the promise ring my dad gave my mum when they were teenagers; my new is my new last name (Mrs. undies!), my borrowed is a lady bug brooch that a close friend carried on her own wedding day, and my blue is my crinoline. Nice to have those little details sorted out! -I bought serving trays for our seating card display (we're going to fill them with sand and put the seating cards inside). I painted them white and finished them with an acrylic clear coat, so those are ready to go! -Started working on wedding cake stuff with my mum. I think we have our cake!! On my list for this weekend: -Call about rentals (so nervous to do this for some reason- probably because I know it will be expensive!) -Harass our caterer to send us a contract. This is killing me! -Call to make a fitting appointment for tuxes (the shop owners were on vacation so we had to wait for this one) -Call about alterations and set up my first fitting Hopefully my next update finds that bottom paragraph "checked off!" One of these days I'm going to post a giant super post with tons of pictures of all the little details that are currently hanging out around our house and at FMIL's house. Till then, you'll just have to use your imagination <3 So I just realized I never posted pictures of my flowers. So I've finally posted them below. I also ordered a locket for my bouquet, which I'll be adding a picture of my Nana on her wedding day to. I'm considering the locket my "something new," even though a lot of my stuff is new haha.  Bride's Bouquet  Groom's Boutonniere  Toss Bouquet. I love how she put a little hydrangea on the handle where mine has a starfish!  Bridesmaid's Bouquets  Groomsmen & Father's Boutonnieres. The ones for the ushers, musicians, and reader are the same, just smaller.  Mother's Corsages  Grandmother's Corsages  Celebrant's Corsage  Locket to attach to my bouquet. Love it! We had our tux appointment this week and confirmed suits. The guys will all be wearing "Windsor" by Perry Ellis, in the colour latte. They will be wearing aquamarine ties & pocket squares from Dessy, in the same material as the bridesmaids dresses (I ordered them with the girls' dresses back in March and they should be here in the first week of July). Fi decided that he will wear brown shoes as well for the reception, and that the ushers will rent brown ties from the tux place. His suit/shoes are free because he has 5 people renting suits, so that's awesome. He's also considering wearing an ivory tie instead of an aquamarine one.  I also received my wedding shoes early this week and I LOVE them. They are SO cute, super comfy, and exactly what I was looking for. I am so happy with them and beyond thrilled that I found them.
I got my wedding and engagement rings back today from being re-sized. I also had my e-ring re-dipped. It looks brand new! And fits so much better now as well. I ordered a fake set to wear for the honeymoon and have been wearing that e-ring for the past week and a half or so, and it feels SO good to have my real stuff back! I missed my e-ring haha.
Today I went to A.C. Moore and picked up three archive quality pens for our guest book tree, as well as the brown and ivory scrapbook paper I'll be using to make our "Mr." and "Mrs." chair back signs for the reception. I also placed my order for my guest book tree canvas. I got the digital file for free from Style Unveiled and printed it on a 16x20 wrap-around canvas that's 1.5" deep on the sides with a sweet Groupon that saved me $79.00!! I can't wait to get it in. I sent an email to an Etsy seller who prints her trees on canvas to see if she'll just sell me two ink pads, since I can't find the colours I want and don't know what brand to use. Hopefully she'll come through for me! We're in the process of booking the caterer we met with last week. We just want to make sure they'll be communicative (that's been our number one problem with them so far) and want to iron out some small details. Hopefully we'll be able to check that off our list, since it was on my list of things to get done before September 2011 and STILL isn't checked off! To anyone getting married down the Jersey shore, make sure you do this FIRST because everyone closes for the winter and you won't be able to get anything done in those months!! Lastly, we only have one thing left on our to do list for April 22 to May 21!! We just need to book our stupid rentals! That's the last big vendor that *we* need to hire. I only work thirty hours this week, so I'll have time to call during the day on Thursday or Friday to talk to someone and get our stuff sorted out. Hopefully we'll have everything checked off our list by the end of this week! Then I can really start working on next month's list :) 140 days left! We're getting closer and closer... ahhh! I can't believe how fast time is flying now! Fi and I are going to Country Bride & Gents to hopefully find the tuxes tomorrow. Country Bride is where I went for my first appointment, where Veronica got her dress, where we went for our BM's dresses, and where they're getting the tuxes for their weddings. Chris found a tux he really likes when he was there for their appointment. So hopefully that still works and we can check tuxes off of our list! I also just ordered my reception shoes, and I'm really hoping they work out. I'd previously ordered ivory satin flip flops from Dessy, but when they came they weren't the quality I was expecting. They just seemed a little cheap to me, so I'm sending them back. I ordered a pair of flats this time around and they are SO stinkin' cute. I am known in my circle of friends as the "queen of flats," so had to uphold the name. Hopefully they come soon so I can make sure they'll work :) 
First thing's first. We *still* have no caterer. 5 months out and still no food. Can we say STRESSED!? However, I've been talking to the catering manager at a restaurant in Ocean City (just north of Stone Harbor) and it looks like we'll probably go with them. We're trying to schedule a tasting with them- hopefully for this Sunday- and really really hoping it works out so we can sign a contract and let out a HUGE sigh of relief. Keep your eyes open for more info on that!
Second line of business: Tuxes. We ordered ties & pocket squares back in March when I ordered the bridesmaid's dresses. Since my dresses are Alfred Sung (and therefore part of Dessy), ties were available in the exact same colour & fabric as the dresses, so we just ordered at the same time. However, we have yet to book suit/tux rentals. Chris and I are both looking for the same thing, so thank goodness we don't have to argue about it. Honestly though, if he wanted to wear something other than the idea I have in my head, I'd be cool with it. As it is, we're hoping for tan coloured suits/tuxes. We have an appointment this coming Tuesday at the first store I went to to try on dresses. Chris and I are both in a wedding 2 weeks before our own, and the bride got her dress there. The groom and groomsmen are also getting their tuxes there, so Chris has already interacted with their sales team and stuff when he went to get fitted for that wedding. He said he found a suit there that he liked for our wedding, so hopefully that will be "the one" and we can sort out tuxes, too. Then it's just a matter of having the groomsmen & ushers fitted, and Chris' will be free! Luckily, his best man is the groom from the wedding we're in before ours, so the store already has HIS measurements AND we share a common groomsman who currently lives in Texas, so they have his measurements already, too. We just need to have the other groomsman (currently living in Georgia) get measured, and have Chris' brothers (our ushers) get measured as well. We need to find the two of them ties, too. But at least there's an end in sight! Finally, invitations. I have really begun the assembly line. About 15 envelopes are addressed. It's labor-intensive and takes a long time, but I'm slowly working through them. I ordered an address stamper from Vistaprint for the return address, so at least that's going quickly haha. I'm pretty sure I'll be printing the return address on the RSVP envelopes though. All of the invitation mats are marked so I know where to mount the invites. The panel pockets are also nearly all marked so I can mount the mats onto them. I'll probably start actually gluing the mats to the pockets this weekend. I haven't printed the invitations yet because a) our printer keeps freezing in the middle of the page every single time I try to print them and b) we want to wait until we have a caterer booked so we can put meal choices on the RSVPs. Fun fun. But at least I'm making progress and getting finished with what I can. Last (but not least), we have confirmed centerpieces! I don't have my wedding jump drive so I can't post the inspiration picture right now, but I'll post it when I get home from work tonight. It's going to be 3 cylinder vases with floating candles, the tallest of which will have 1-2 submerged purple calla lilies. We're going to put either marbles or sand on the bottom of the vases. I ordered the flowers (30 real touch callas) from Save-On-Crafts yesterday, as well as 36 cylinder vases, 144 votive holders, 36 ivory floating candles, 72 ivory votives, and 72 light blue votives. They should be here Monday already so I can make some mockups and make sure that the colour on the flowers isn't going to bleed. 149 days to go! Ahhhh!!! My mum ordered her dress for the wedding last week and I LOVE it. I can't wait for it to come in!! She ordered it in navy. 
I ordered my girls' dresses today! We went with Dessy D498 in Aquamarine. My celebrant loved the dress, too, so she got one in black. I ordered from ebridalsuperstore.com, which I heard from in Bridal Bargains and has great reviews. Now I just sit and play the waiting game. I also ordered the ties & pocket squares for Chris and the groomsmen. They are the same colour & fabric as the bridesmaid's dresses, and are from Dessy as well so we should get a perfect match. I ordered my barefoot sandals from Etsy last week and they are shipping tomorrow. I'm going to wear them alone on the beach, and add a pair of ivory flip flops for the reception. 
These are the sandals I ordered, but I'll be wearing ivory satin flop flops to keep the more formal feel. Also, she's replacing the large glass bead accents with genuine pearls free of charge.
Also! I finally got in contact with the lady from Vital Statistics in Stone Harbor about having our ceremony on the beach. She told me I needed to send her a letter with our time/date/location on the beach and she'd okay it. Another perk we weren't expecting is that it's free! When we were considering Cape May, it was $50 for a half hour permit (that is, a half-hour to set-up, have your ceremony, and break-down), so we thought it'd be the same in Stone Harbor. She told me it was free, though, so that's super exciting! Another $50 we don't have to come up with :) The letter is on its way to her now.
I went bridesmaid dress shopping for Kyle & Veronica's wedding. They're getting married two weeks before Chris & I (on the 8th) and both of us are in the wedding. She wanted each of us to choose a satin Alfred Angelo dress. She wants black and it can be short, tea length, or cocktail length. So we went to the store last night & I started to try on dresses. Most of the samples are 8, 10, or 12. I wore a size 8 in the wedding I was in in May, and when I tried on an 8 last night it was too big! So exciting!! I will probably order my dress in a 6 :)
Then today I went to (finally) get my fingerprints done. I registered & paid for them back in August. So today I go and the guy pulls up my registration number and asks me to confirm all the information I had entered. And I saw that my weight was entered as 160 (!!!) Let's just say I don't weigh 160 anymore... I've lost almost 20 pounds since then and am still losing :D Seeing that was just crazy to me... Big success is simply the result of lots of little efforts. I start training for my half marathon next week and I can't wait. I took this week off to rest and I really can't wait to be up and running again next week. Sent out my save the dates on Valentine's Day and I'm getting lots of positive feedback about them, so that's a good happiness too :) My mum made an appointment to try on the dress she wants to buy for the wedding. She's going next Wednesday. I LOVE the dress she picked out and hope she does too when she sees it in person :) She wants it in navy, which I think will be beautiful. Morgan went to try on her dress in Georgia the other night too and loves it. That settles it then: that's the dress we're going with. All the girls like it in aquamarine, too, so I'll have a lovely blue bridal party. I love how things are just coming along <3 Last night, we hit a deer. We were on our way to meet Kyle & Veronica at the gym. It was dark, but it was also a pretty busy highway with cars going in both directions. It was so sudden and unexpected. I mean, we grew up in this area and are well aware of the deer & the potential of hitting them. But it just came completely out of nowhere. Chris & I are talking, I see a flash of a deer, and BAM! the car stops dead and air bags are inflating. I'm not gonna lie- I screamed. I was so freaking scared. We are both okay, but I can't say the same for the deer- whose blood and feces are smeared all over Chris' dash board and windshield :( The car even has only minor damage, which his insurance will cover (after he meets his $500 deductible of course). He is so lucky that he just changed his coverage, too- his old provider had a $1,000 deductible and no rental plan. Now rental is included and he only needs to come up with $500. So, while it was very scary and still kind of has my nerves all twisted up, it is nice to be alive :)
On other news, I ordered my save the dates 2 nights ago. We are going with post cards from VP (they were free to order- I paid shipping only). I'm still not sure how I want to send them. I could send them as post cards, or I could put them in an envelope and send them that way. Post cards are cheaper to ship, but we run the risk of our cards getting messed up pretty badly in the mail. On the flip side, envelopes would be an extra cost (but not shipping, since we have 100 forever stamps that didn't cost us anything) and our STD's would arrive in better shape. And we could include a return address easier that way, which is a plus since we recently moved and most of our guests don't have our new address yet. Oh the decisions :p Another decision we're currently trying to make is the male attire for our wedding. We originally were planning to keep it simple (linen pants & a button down shirt), but now we're thinking we might want suits. We were at Kyle's house the other day and Kyle had a tux/suit booklet thing from the place Veronica bought her gown, and Chris was looking at it. I think he's leaning toward sand-coloured suits with light blue ties. I really don't care what Fi decides. It's entirely up to him and I'll be happy either way. However, I'm kind of excited that he wants to wear a suit. Everyone was telling me that I couldn't get this dress or that dress because I shouldn't be a lot more dressier than the groom. So if he goes with a suit, then I can tell everyone to shove it and get what I want, haha. Hm. What else? Oh yeah. I was supposed to go dress shopping again tonight, but I rescheduled for next Wednesday. We had back to school night at work tonight from 6:15 to 7:00, but then I was told I didn't need to be there. So that was kind of lame :( But I had more time to clean and stuff tonight, so it worked out. And finally (most importantly, too!): MORGAN IS COMING TOMORROW!!! I am so ridiculously excited. She's never been anywhere near this area. She's Georgia born and bred and she has NO idea what she's getting herself into. I am taking her to NYC on Saturday (and- it's a surprise- but we're going to take her to see Wicked on broadway-- SO excited for that, too!) I cannot wait to see her! The last time I saw her was on her wedding day and we have so much to catch up on. Ahhhh!! | Planning Blog
This is my wedding planning blog to chronicle the madness of the 16 months leading up to our wedding. ArchivesSeptember 2012 Easy Access To...
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