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 booked Binh! So we have a DJ for our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception at a price that can't be beat for what we're getting! Yay! I'm beyond excited and just elated that the DJ search is over!!!
So... with a venue, date, photographer, and DJ booked, the next step is finding a caterer. Our venue is not a traditional wedding venue, so we can basically bring in anyone we want. It's going to save us a ton on the bar, and I'm hoping to save a lot on catering, too. Many places in the Stone Harbor/Cape May area wanted anywhere from $75 to $150 per person to use their venues for our event. That's a lot of the reason we went with the Civic Club- because that is a ridiculous amount to pay per person for a meal and service. So now I get to start searching for some reasonably priced caterers. At least interviews will be fun- I'm totally down for some tasty food. It might be another headache, but it's the next check I need to make on the vendor list, so here goes nothing I guess. DONE: Venue Photographer DJ Celebrant Dress & Veil Crinoline & Long Bra Guest List STD's (designed and printed) Wedding Rings Cake Topper Garters Booked Half the Honeymoon (cruise) TO DO IN NOVEMBER: Interview and book caterer Send STDs to OOT guests Identify rental needs Research rental companies I don't know how much I've posted here about my god-awful DJ search, but I believe it might finally have come to an end.
I have been contacting DJ's left and right. Making appointments, rescheduling, dealing with sketchy or unprofessional people who just don't work for me. It's been terrible and stressful. All I want to do is stinkin dance! So I'm browsing the South Jersey board on TK, basically reading every single thread about DJ recommendations. Contact a few and finally strike gold. This guy is solid. I mean it. He really knows what he's doing. Wanna know how I know? He sent me samples of his mixes/blends. He provided a voice demo so I could hear him announce a bridal party. He made me feel 100% confident about his skill/knowledge as a DJ on the phone tonight. Am I booking him? Probably. I can't make that decision without Fi, and he won't be home from work until around 9:00 tonight. But I can tell you that I feel SO much better to know that this guy exists, and that not all DJs are creeps! Also, on an unrelated note... My wedding dress & veil are in!! I can't wait to go pick them up and put them back on again!! Today my mum told me she and my step-dad were going to pay for everything I bought at David's the other night. That means they are covering not only my dress, but my slip, "long bra," veil, and dress preservation box/service. I am so beyond thrilled and over-the-top thankful. Now I just need to pay for alterations, and I am so happy to be saving the money.
This week I received my cake topper, garter, and garter charms. I also bought totes for my bridesmaids that were on clearance at Target for $4.24 (marked down from $16.99- sweet), as well as beach-themed potpourri for the bathrooms. I know, that's a kind of pointless purchase, but it'll be a nice touch I think. I am going absolutely crazy with DJ shopping. My top three priorities for our wedding are as follows: 1. It's at the beach (check!) 2. We have a fantastic photographer (check check!) 3. That we & our guests dance all night long That last one seems to be the one I'm having the most problem with. Every DJ I have contacted is either above our price range or leaves me feeling uncomfortable or with a bad taste in my mouth. I am feeling so- blah. I just want the major vendors to be booked so I can relax! This is making me crazy. My co-worker, Carrie, recommended her DJ from her wedding in April and I contacted him yesterday. He has been amazing so far and so communicative. He's from a town very close to mine, but his in-laws live in Stone Harbor so he said there would be no travel fee for him to do our wedding (yay!). I just hope we can stinkin' afford him. We were at Chris' mom's 50th birthday party last night and they had a DJ that everyone kept saying we should book. He wasn't that impressive though, and almost everyone at the party was 50 or over, and the music was definitely their style... NOT mine. So we nodded politely and said, "maybe..." but won't be looking into that one. However, it did get Chris and I talking about how we were willing to adjust the budget and do without some things so we can maybe spend some more money on our DJ. Ahhh! I just want this part over with so I can have fun with little details!! Oh- another interesting part of the party last night is that Lailah, Chris' cousin- was there. She is about 7 or 8 years old and was sending us major signs that she wants to be our flower girl. She kept asking about the wedding. She kept staring at me, pointing at her dress, and walking away. She wore a white dress. Her mother told me she wore a white dress because she knows that's what colour flower girls wear. How am I supposed to tell her/them that we aren't having kids at our wedding?? Now I feel bad, but I am NOT budging on that one... Yesterday my mum came upstairs to do laundry. I was researching flowers when she came in, but wanted to show her this dress site I found that has designer dresses at a fraction of the price (goweddingdress.com, if you're interested). I was so excited when I found it because my dress budget is pretty low, but I haven't been able to find a lot in my price point. As we're looking at some of the gowns I have bookmarked (some that I've been eying for the past 7 months and am totally excited I can actually have now that they're so affordable), she mentions that she wants to pay for my gown. I was floored. She already said she's buying our cake. But the dress!? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am beyond thrilled and there are no words for how thankful I am. She wants to go dress shopping to try some dresses on, and then order from that website. Her cousin does dress alterations, so that will be free/nearly free. Also, on the website is that shipping is free and returns are honoured if done so within 7 days. So basically, if I don't like the dress when it comes, I send it back and it's like the whole thing never happened. It's virtually risk-free, and I get the designer dress I've been dreaming about. Now.. if only they carried Maggie... Here are some of the dresses I'm considering. Obviously I'll try them on first (or at least ones that are similar):  Allure 8764 My front-runner :)  Demetrios 3140 I've had my eye on her for awhile. She's completely different than all the other dresses I like.  Allure 8755  Demetrios 1356 A stunning gown, but it needs straps. I think adding them might take away from it though. Believe it or not, I love lace gowns. I know that assortment doesn't really reflect that, but I was always taught to try things outside of what you were positive you wanted, because you can be surprised. So those are some dresses I want to try on to see what I might like.
The day's excitement doesn't end there. After talking with my mum, I had to get ready for dinner with Chris' parents. They invited us over to "talk about the wedding." I was SO nervous. Last time they wanted to talk about the wedding, I ended up crying for three hours because they told us they thought it was a bad idea for us to get married in Mexico. It turns out that I had no reason to be nervous. They wanted to go over our plans: ceremony on the beach, cocktail hour outside in the space between the beach & the reception building, reception inside, etc. We pulled up pictures, got excited, etc. Then they told us that they want to help pay for it. !!!!!!!!!!!!! We were NOT expecting that at all. I think the wedding gods were smiling on us yesterday. They want to contribute a good amount of money and also host the rehearsal dinner. A huge weight off my chest. I feel like we can actually do this now, without having to live with no electricity and keep ourselves warm under a blanket all winter. Other things we learned yesterday and weren't expecting at all:
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