Ideas

I have been trying to search for a last present for my junior bridesmaid and flower girl. One of the presents I got the older ladies wasn't quite appropriate for the younger girls. I came across a website through a recommendation on the knot: NNichols. I found some adorable items and snatched the last one of two items for my two younger girls. I wish I could show pictures but since I grabbed the last of them, they aren't on the website now! They have some very cute stuff, bulk favors (that are super cheap). Would totally love to order more from this website in the future. I'll let you know the result when my stuff arrives!

I have started getting a little nervous about my florist. I've heard some unfavorable reviews on the knot boards. Not all of them are bad - some of them have been very good. But the inconsistency makes me nervous so I'm going to go meet with the owner again to let him know what I've heard and see if that puts my fears at ease. Otherwise, the deposit was not much and I can try to find another florist - but we're cutting it close at this point.

Also heard this morning that one of our guests never received their invitation. EEK! Is this common? We've had a lot of issues with the mail recently - some shower invites never made it to guests, now our invitation not getting to a guest. I would think it's just our mail - but the shower invitations went out through my Matron-of-Honor at her house. Not really sure what the deal is. I have no idea if more people didn't receive theirs. We sent out exactly 100 invitations and have only received 45 response cards. They are due to us by - um - Saturday. I guess we'll be making quite a few phone calls:(

We opened some wedding presents last night that arrived. That's always such an exciting feeling! We received our napkin rings, toaster oven, and our first piece of china (the sugar bowl). It's all so fun! The only not fun part is that we're keeping everything packed in the second bedroom. Since we'll be moving so soon after getting back from the honeymoon, I'm keeping everything packed neatly and securely so we don't have to repack anything. But it will make moving into a new place together that much more exciting - we'll have all new stuff (instead of the hand-me-downs or college stuff we've been using).

Now, about that move, the question we're getting asked by people almost everyday - where are you guys moving and what school are you going to? Uhh - I don't know yet. It's stressful not knowing! I'm just putting it on the backburned until we have a clear choice to make.

Rain Rain Go Away

No - it's not raining today (finally!). But, I looked at the Farmer's Almanac and here's what I found:

June 2008
1st-3rd Clearing skies in Maine, pleasant rest of region. 4th-7th Wet weather for much of Northeast. Big thunderstorms for Mid-Atlantic states. Rainy skies for the Belmont Stakes. 8th-11th Mostly fair. 12th-15th Showers for much of the Northeast, then fair. 16th-19th A spell of pleasant weather. 20th-23rd Heavy rains, then turning fair. 24th-27th Hot and dry, followed by thunderstorms, especially Maryland, Pennsylvania. 28th-30th Mostly fair and hot.

We're meeting with the priest tonight and I think he needs to work some magic to make sure the above does not happen! Ahhh - the things I wish we could control. I'm hoping the prediction is wrong! And yeah yeah, I've heard that rain is supposed to be good luck. I don't care - I don't want the rain!

Anyways - I didn't post yesterday after leaving work yesterday around lunch time with my stomach making odd gurgling noises and feeling quite ill - that's always a lot of fun!

Weekend recap:

• Got a headpiece and some hair jewelry. I had been looking and looking...tried on tiaras (looked like poo on me), tried on combs with some sparkle (looked like poo on me), or the ones I did find that didn't look like poo on me were too much money to be spending on jewelry for my hair that I will never be wearing again. So, we went to I Do, I Do and found a headpiece that actually adds just a touch, but isn't overwhelming and looks quite tasteful. I found some clips to match and the whole things was less than $200 which I think is a good deal considering that most of the headpieces I tried on were about $250 alone without the 3 clips to match.
• Finalized our music selections.
• Bought materials to wrap the bridesmaids gifts.
• Wrote out all of our ceremony selections for our priest.
• Had a quick trial run to change the lipstick color with the makeup artist.
• Took both Moms out to a restaurant in Fulton for Mother's Day brunch.
• Cleaned our 2nd bedroom to get rid of stuff since the wedding items are starting to accumulate - and by accumulate, I mean that if you're staying at our house anytime in the next several weeks, you might have to use one of the boxes full of stuff as your pillow.

It was quite a successful weekend. I had a mini breakdown and Ian insisted I take a break from everything, curl up on the couch and read some of my book. I did that and drank a glass of wine long enough to get over my stress and regroup to get more completed.

Tonight, we meet with our priest to finalize everything for the ceremony.

1 week until we get to start working with Erin, our coordinator - can't wait! It seems like everything is falling into place...now, about that weather forecast??

Look out for the Invitations!

I've been stuck in a meeting all day - so I'm late on sharing that we mailed out all the invitations today. Actually, I mailed out the Europe invitations yesterday when I picked up the postage - which by the way, I almost had to sell my hands and feet to pay for. So keep a look out for them!! We finished with them at about 11:30 last night and drove to the mailbox near our house and dropped them in - and we took pictures of the process but I'll have to post them tomorrow.

I also keep hearing about the shower invitations that the girls made - but haven't seen it yet! I hope it'll be in my mail later today:)

Rehearsal Dinner Decided

Forgot to mention the good news - we Ian booked Normandie Farms for our rehearsal dinner. I am so happy that we have that off of our list now! The food is good, the location is good, and the price is perfect. The only negative is that anyone staying at the hotel or in DC must have a DD because DC is a no tolerance jurisdiction. Meaning, if you are pulled over and you have had even a sip to drink, you can be arrested. So, anyone staying in there, make sure to make sure someone is your DD. I would love to say we'd be able to provide transportation for our guests I (like we're doing on our wedding day), but that option isn't up to me. It's on Ian and his parents' list so that's up to them!

And I have to say that I have THE best maids of honor and bridesmaids. I love them dearly and from what I've heard they've been going above and beyond to plan a shower and surprises for me. I am one lucky lady.

Anddddd DONE!

We got confirmation from our videographer, Atlantis Imagery so I'm happy that is crossed off my list! We had another busy weekend so here is the recap:

Saturday

I finished buying my bridesmaids gifts. I would go into detail but I can't because most of them read the blog. But I can say that I'd be excited if I were getting the gifts! On another bridesmaid related note, the majority of the girls dresses have arrived and I'm just waiting to hear how they fit! Can't wait to see them.

We also went to Boone & Sons to look at wedding bands. A friend from work got her wedding band there and I loved it so we decided to check it out. It's a good thing we did because they gave us awesome deals on both bands. I can't find a picture of what mine looks like, but it's 15 round diamonds set in a 4 prong fish tail platinum setting. The diamonds go 1/2 way around the band. They gave us 20% off my band. It looks a little like this:


Ian's band was 30% off and looks similar to this:

We also worked out like maniacs on Saturday. We went to dinner at Cafe de Paris in Columbia with Ian's parents. Since Ian and his family lived in France for 10 years, they hit it off with the owner of the restaurant. Our reservation was at 7:30 and we didn't leave until 11:15 after the owner had us over to the bar after dinner for some drinks. The food was excellent and it's a cute little place so you should check it out if you live out that way. It's only about 15 minutes from Baltimore. They offer a cooking class once per month - I think we might have to check it out!

Sunday
We got a late start on Sunday after our later than normal dinner night on Saturday. I used to love to sleep in until 11, 12, even 1. Now, if I am up any later than 9, I feel like I've wasted half the day! It's funny how time changes things. We then headed to Upper Crust Wedding Cakes in Fairfax. Her website impressed me so I knew I wanted to meet with her. Elizabeth is the owner and works out of her home! Her cake was DELICIOUS! I am not even a huge cake person, and I ended up taking what we couldn't finish to go. I am obsessed! I just emailed her to let her know we're hiring her. She rocks. We will have a four tiered cake with two flavors - vanilla cake with fresh strawberries in grand marnier and vanilla buttercream, and chocolate devil's food cake (A-MAZ-ING) with a vanilla buttercream. She also is doing the groom's cake in the shape and design of Ian's favorite soccer team, Arsenal and Ian has chosen to have vanilla cake with a black raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream filling.

And I had another big workout this morning because of the delicious cake, ha!

Bullets

I'm all over the place today. I have to bullet it up to make this mish-mosh have some sense.

Movie Review:

• Simpsons movie: Prior to watching this movie, I had never watched an entire Simpsons episode. I know, something must be wrong with me, I was deprived, whatever. Because of this, I really wanted to watch the entire movie so I could understand what it's all about. Well, I fell asleep about 15 minute before the movie was over and when I woke up the next morning, Ian had already sealed the movie back up to ship it. Jerk! I couldn't believe it. He just assumed I didn't want to see the rest since I had fallen asleep. Actually, it's because we're wedding planning and I'm running around like a crazy woman getting everything done - I'm tired, I can't help but fall asleep sometimes. Anyways, from the part I did see, I liked it.
• The Talented Mr. Ripley: I have always heard that this is a great movie. Well it was! It was disturbing, intriguing and entertaining all in one. Certainly worthwhile to see. And Jude is a hottie in this movie!

Weekend Highlights:

• Went to the eye doctor for a screening for glaucoma (my grandma had it which makes me a suspect) and my eyes are perfectly fine.
• Selected our readings for the ceremony and selected our music for the bridesmaids entrance, my entrance, and our exit.
• My future hubby showed his support of my health kick by ordering me these new running shoes!! I love shoes - even running shoes. They make me happy.

• Celebrated Lisa's 25th birthday in Baltimore. Here's a picture of a few of us with the birthday girl - today is her big day so Happy Birthday Lis! We have plenty of stories behind our night out, including a stripper (who you'd never in a million years suspect to be) was in line in front of us pulling her pants down to show everyone her new tattoo on her cheek that says "Made in Korea", or the girl in line that asked a girl in our group to unbutton her jacket so she could see her boobs, ahhhh the class of power plant bars. A guy actually asked his girlfriend to marry him on stage at Howl at the Moon. It was quite a night!

• Ian bought his groomsmen their gifts and I have to say the idea is quite fun.
• I bought my bridesmaids part of their gifts. I still have one more thing to get each of them.

Speaking of ceremony music, I'm having issues figuring out the regular music for the ceremony. If you are Catholic and know of songs or have had to do this, recommend some for different parts of the ceremony! We already have my entrance song, our exit song, and some songs for the bridesmaids entrance and prior to the ceremony music (for when people are just walking in). It's a Catholic mass but somehow when it came time to picking out music, I can't even remember all the different parts of the mass where I'll need music. And are there guidelines to the music I pick?

And in order to not jinx myself, I will not name the videographer that I just sent a check to. I don't want to hear that we've been dropped again so I'll just wait to tell you about it once we receive confirmation.

I'm crossing more and more off our list which means I'm starting the week off as one happy lady.

Ian's Groomsmen

I forgot to post about Ian's people! Here is his list:

Best Man - Alex - his brother
Best Man - James - his best friend since high school
Groomsman - Jeremy - his old roomie
Groomsman - David - my brother
Groomswoman - Stacy - his old roomie

Chris was supposed to also be a groomsman but he has another wedding to go to (that he isn't even in - weird if you ask me). He'll be missing the big celebration!

I had hoped Ian would post about his groomsmen. I'll get to him eventually!

Lots to Report

Sorry about not posting yesterday - things were a bit hectic. So Tuesday night, Maggie and I went to David's Bridal to try on bridesmaid dresses. We found one material that we liked the dresses and that the prices were quite reasonable. When Lauren comes into town this weekend, I'll take her to both places to see which she prefers. I also am happy to report that I have asked all of my bridesmaids now. Here's the list:

• Matron of Honor - Maggie - Maggie babysat me when I was little and she's like a sister to me. We spend most holidays with Maggie and her hubby and 3 amazing kids.
• Maid of Honor - Lauren - Lauren and I met during our junior year of college and just clicked. I feel like we've been friends for forever. We really "get" eachother! She lives far away but you'd never know it based on how much we keep in touch.

Bridesmaids:

• Annie - Annie and I went to high school together. We've been great friends ever since and have lots of embarrassing photos that will not be coming out during the wedding process!!
• Bridget - Bridget and I went to high school together and have lots of hilarious (blackmail) stories from those days. She just got married in October and I was honored to be a part of her wedding!
• Leah - Leah (or as I call her - Laya) probably is receiving her card today in the mail, but she doesn't read the blog so we're good! Leah and I were extremely close while in Spain together. Once we returned home, our friendship has remained just as strong.
• Katie - Katie (or I often will refer to her as Lewis, or possibly abah) and I went to Spain together to study abroad. We weren't that close while abroad, but when we got back, we coincidentally ended up as roommates and we formed such a tight bond. We act like complete goofballs together.
• Junior Bridesmaid - Abby - Abby is Maggie's daughter and I've known her since she was in diapers. She's the sweetest girl and absolutely beautiful - her Dad needs to be careful once the boys start looking at her!
• Flower Girl - Ellie - Ellie is Maggie's youngest and is my god-daughter. She's a riot and she sometimes acts like she's my age. I will not be surprised if she steals the spotlight on our day!

Yes - I have a lot of people. I was trying to narrow it down but simply could not do it! Can't wait for them to be by my side on the big day. I would love to post Ian's people but he still needs to talk to one of them.

We met with Freed Photography last night. They have several photographers based on experience and different package prices depending on who you hire. We LOVED Russell and Pablo's work. We were so pleased with their work that we're going to go ahead and go with Russell we think. I think it's important to meet with him before we sign a contract though (since we just met with one of their reps last night). I expressed my concerns and the girl we worked with was fabulous. She said she'd throw in the engagement session for free and that we'd use that as the meeting time. If it turns out that we don't click with Russell, we'll walk away with no strings attached. She was fantastic. I have a call into her to find out when we can get the engagement session done since as of Friday the 23rd, I will be on crutches for several weeks and in a cast. No photo sessions for me after that! I'm hoping that he can fit us in this weekend but we'll see!

So I have some bad news about the STDs. We were using a photo that one of my friends from college had taken as the photo for our STD (I am not going to name just to keep this person anonymous). However, when I told her about it she asked that we credit her ON THE STD! Umm - say what? We certainly wouldn't dream of using her photos and making it seem as if it was our work. We offered to credit her on the website and in our program - but she was not happy with that. My fear in putting her information on the STD is that a) there is so little room on the STD as it is, and b) it would make it look as if she had designed them which would be horrible since Lauren is in fact, the person designing them! It's a super long story but basically she asked us about 2 years ago to take photos so that she could have couple photos in her portfolio. We agreed as long as I could develop a few photos for us to use. So she took the photos and then I paid 1/2 for the prints to be developed, and then after I chose the ones I wanted, I paid for those to be developed as well. Up until now, I've just framed the ones I liked and they're in our house. I've gotten tons of compliments about them and recommended her to a lot of people. By the way - this is not her profession - it's a hobby. I just think it's absurd that as a friend, you would demand such things. So we said forget it- we're not recommending her anymore and not using the picture anyways. I would've thought it would've been great for her work to be sent out to lots of young couples invited to our wedding who I'm sure would've been interested in knowing who took them. But not my loss! Also - she probably reads this blog but I don't care - this is stuff that she should know - this is not what a true friend would demand! Especially when I paid half for the prints to be stinking developed! Thoughts on this? Quite a few people have said to just go ahead and use the photo - but at this point I don't want to give her one ounce of exposure.

So that leads me to say that Mrs. Twink and her hubby might take them for us this weekend!! Their recent photos have been AWESOME and I can't wait to give credit to people who are truly our friends and are super excited to get experience!! Thus far, things that are meant to be have just fallen into place. So - I know that this will fall into place as well!

Cakes and Invites

Soooo - still no update on the ceremony location. I wish I'd just have an answer either way so that we can move on and focus on the reception site. I left a message for the person today and haven't heard back. I'm hoping when I get home tonight that there will be an answer in the mail! I am not a big fan of being in a stand-still! For the time being, I have started looking at different bios on the Knot. During one of my searches, I found this Knottie and fell in love with the design of her invitation and cake.

The only difference is that I want some type of hot pink incorporated in there.

I love the comments. To answer questions - we have not officially decided on everyone in our wedding party. Ian is waiting to see how many girls I have. I have a Matron-of-honor, Maid-of-honor, junior bridesmaid and flower girl that already know. Speaking of bridesmaids - I am in search of bridesmaid dresses that don't look like uniforms. I would love to work with a company that offers a ton of different dresses that are cut differently. I want my girls to be comfortable, and they all have different body types. Anyone know of such a company that would offer the same material for dresses but different necklines? I took a look at a couple sites and sent it to two of them and neither one of them picked out similar dresses - yikes. All I know is that they're wearing black dresses. We'll work it out somehow!