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
1 Comment
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! 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.
So I've been gathering ideas and doing research since we got engaged in December, and now that it's June I'm actually starting to put some of that homework to use. I've recently finished the first of five tissue paper poms for our ceremony space. They truly are a labor of love, but I think they'll be so very worth it in the end.  I also started working on my "Mrs. Neal" dress hanger today. It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. The "Mrs." has looked awesome for both of my trials... but the "Neal" is a PITA. I'm gonna keep trying to get it right though. If not, I might just make an "I do" hanger or a "bride" hanger for sanity's sake. Chris and I also visited our first venue this Wednesday. It's the Clubhouse at Hilltop Farm, which is home to the West Mont United Soccer Association. The Clubhouse is gorgeous, but small. We could definitely make it work. It's also within our budget (so affordable!) and lets us have an outside caterer and is BYOB, so that's also a major plus. It's set up perfectly for making entrances and walking down aisles, so that's another selling point. I have a list of about 5 more venues to look at, and then we'll start dragging our moms out to look at our top choices and give us some input.  (ceremony space... porta potties would be removed!)  (reception space as viewed from upper balcony)  (deck where we'd have the cocktail hour and our bar) Finally, I have asked all of my girls to be in my wedding party. Surprisingly, Britta seems to be more excited than anyone. Mine is the first wedding she's been asked to be in, and she said she's actually gotten online and looked up bridesmaid etiquette. I don't expect any of my girls to do anything except show up, but it's really nice to know I can count on her to come over and help with some of my wedding projects as they come up.
| 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...
All |
RSS Feed