Our Wedding by the Sea

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

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!