Fitting Fiasco

I've been getting lots of questions about the law school decision. So here are some answers. I had been wait listed at U. Maryland about 2 months ago. Maryland was one of my top choices. I had been accepted at many schools, but U. Miami and American were two that stuck out. I was just about to make a decision between those two schools when on Friday, I received a call from Maryland asking if I was interested. I expressed my interest and asked when I might hear - 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months - not knowing if they could even tell me. The woman's response - I would hear on Monday but that it looked very probably. All weekend long, I had my fingers crossed and my stomach was in knots. Monday, the "CONGRATULATIONS" envelope arrived to my mom's house and I received a phone call with the happy news!

My reasons for choosing Maryland over American or Miami: it's a new location (in downtown Baltimore) so we'll be able to move (which we wanted to do), it's cheaper than American (by about 1/2), and it's ranked better than either school. So there you have it!

We've started asking around for recommendations for a realtor in Baltimore. We don't have a ton of time on weekends to go look at places to rent (since we have the wedding and honeymoon!), so we're going to have a realtor start looking for us to save us a lot of time. If you know of a good Baltimore realtor, let us know!

Last night was my last fitting. I was accompanied by my mom and Bridget so they could learn how to help me with the dress (and a couple other specifics which I can't share because of the boy reading this). Well, I arranged to leave work early to be on time to my appointment. About 5 minutes from the bridal shop, I get a call from their alterations woman. She asks to reschedule for later in the evening. I was a little heated and said nope, that I was 5 minutes away and that she should've called much earlier in the day.

I get there, and am kept waiting for about 45 minutes. What was she doing - finishing the alterations on my dress that should've been completed LAST Wednesday when they had to cancel that appointment because the storms caused the power to go out. When she finally came out and asked for 10 more minutes, I blew up. The woman got married on Monday and said she wasn't feeling well during the day which is why it wasn't quite finished. I said - unacceptable and that I was unhappy as I had taken off work early to be there on time.

I finally put my dress on after she's finished, and right, it is still too big in a few areas! So after she pins them and shows my mom and Bridget some stuff, we wait more time for her to complete all of the alterations and I try it on one more time, and voila - it's finally right! So after all of that, it'll be steamed and ready for picking up on Monday. Yay! I am sooo excited to finally wear this sucker!

In Need of a Long Weekend

This is going to be a super short post - I have to review a very long document (1000 pages - eek).

We picked up the card box and it will work perfectly. Done! Also while at the mall, we swung by Macy's and picked up Ian's tie for the wedding, and one last gift for his best man. Done!

I have a half day tomorrow and then a 3 day weekend and I plan on sleeping A LOT!

I also got asked a question by a fellow bride-to-be who is also a date twin! Yes I am starting to stress a bit about one thing out of my control - the weather! Otherwise, I'm trying to forget about the other things! Thanks for reading!



Tonight, I am having dinner with my friend Alina. Alina was one of my AMAZING roommates when I studied abroad in Spain. She is from California and is in DC for the day to visit American for grad school. I'm thrilled she's staying long enough to have dinner with me:) And here's a picture of Alina, Nicole, Me and Sarah - we were all roomies! This was a picture from my 21st birthday party - the girls arranged for everyone to sign these huge card they'd made for me. Oh how I miss those days.

1 Month to Go

AHHHH - I cannot believe we are one month away from saying our I-Do's. Last night, we met with Erin, our fantastic month of coordinator. I felt such a relief handing over our contracts and having someone have my back for everything. I really think hiring Erin was one of the best wedding decisions we made!


I've come across a few great wedding sites recently and wanted to share them. The first one is one that I heard about on the knot that has amazing photos for ideas for flowers, hair styles, dresses, etc. It's called Project Wedding. I also wanted to spotlight The Unbride who happens to be an amazing photographer who is getting married in the DC area in the fall. We also have the same colors so I've been loving looking at her ideas. Her blog is also super spiffy and I'm jealous of it:) Additionally, I found Unveiled Society through Justine's blog and am just starting to get into it. It has a whole lot of other fellow bride blogs that are great resources. Check them out!


Also, I've been checking out lots of knottie bios recently. Here's Ctinaleigh who has lots of great ideas, pictures, etc. in her bio. She also has managed to find the time to make the awesome bio - I on the other hand, started to make a bio and pooped out. I am impressed with anyone who manages to complete one, let alone have it so nice and organized and up to date! Love that she and her STB hubby are so into their pups and even had them in their engagement photos:





We have the majority of our responses in which is just fantastic. We're waiting on a few more but at least now we have a pretty close estimate. Invited: 190. Attending: 130 plus or minus a few. I think it will be the perfect amount of people for us and not too many that we won't have enough time to pay attention to each guest. Also, we'll have plenty of dancing time which is super important to me!


A fellow knottie who is a date twin of mine is selling her card box because a family member made her one and now she can't not use the one the family member made. So I'm picking that up from her tonight at Montgomery Mall. Here's a picture of that:

It's pretty plain but nicer than me trying to make a box, right? I might spruce it up a bit with some pink or black accents. I'll see how it looks tonight!

This weekend's main project is going to be: finishing the design of the programs and getting pricing on printing at Kinkos should we decide not to print them ourselves.

And since I'm in a picture posting mood - here are a few of the dresses that I LOVED that I tried on before I found the one:

Talk to Me Gut - Please?

Last night's fitting went much better than the first one. The dress is starting to feel like mine. It still needs some minor adjustments in the bust. The length is perfect. They are adding a hot pink tie underneath the dress to attach my grandmother's wedding band as my something old and borrowed. I tried my dress on with the earrings, the headpiece and the veil and thought whoa, I look like a bride:)

After I got home from my fitting around 10 last night, Ian and I had to have a huge discussion about law school. I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to American University but need to make a deposit within 24 hours. It wouldn't be a big deal to just go ahead and make the deposit even if it is the wrong school, except for the amount - $700 NON-refundable. We had to decide what is right for us. Right now, I'm still waiting to hear from U. Maryland and Wake Forest where I'm currently on the waitlist. I think either one of these two schools would be a higher pick than American or U. Miami. However, then money makes a difference - at Miami, I have a decent scholarship versus any of the other 3 schools. But I'm scared to live in the city of Miami, and move THAT far. Ideally, I'd love to move to North Carolina. WHAT TO DO?! WHAT TO DO?!

So we talked - and it reminded me of why I am so in love with the boy. He is so incredibly supportive. Honestly if the situation were reversed, I'm not sure I could be as good as he is being. We decided that I couldn't turn down American at this point because things are still up in the air - so even if we lose $700, it's not the end of the world. But at least putting down a deposit gives me a definite option besides Miami should I decide that Miami is indeed not for me.

So once again I'm in limbo, not sure which way I'm going to fall. I just keep looking and praying for their to be a choice that makes sense, that falls into place, that my gut will tell me which school is where I'm meant to be, or what area we're meant to start our married life in. But, my gut is speechless right now - maybe overstressed like the rest of my body and mind? I keep talking to it hoping it'll speak back to me - but so far, no such luck. But what I do know, is that I have a loving, supporting (soon-to-be) husband who is by my side through it all, and that in itself makes me feel a little less in limbo.

It's a Blur

I feel like as we get closer, my weekend recaps become longer and even more all over the place than before. Our weekends in some ways feel extremely long because of how much we get done, but in other ways feels super short because we don't have a lot of quality time together nor do we have just relaxing time. I also start panicking every weekend fearing that I'm going to forget to do something that is important.

Weekends are full of minute details that tend to be tedious and somehow exhausting. Wrapping 7 bridesmaid gifts had me wanting a nap. After doing a load of laundry I feel I need to lay down for a few minutes. Who have I turned into? An 80 year old woman - maybe so.

Also, any sense of keeping up with housework has gone down the tubes. We barely manage to clean up about once a week and by the end of the week when we need to clean again, our house looks like a tornado has hit it. For the life of me, I cannot gather the energy to hang up my clothes I wore to work, so throughout the week, the pile of work clothes piles all over the bedroom leaving paths for us to walk through. The mail amounts during the week until finally we can take it no more and we HAVE to clean for about 2 hours. I will be slightly relieved when all this wedding craziness is over and I can relax and thoroughly clean. Wow - I'm a loser.

So here's a little breakdown of our weekend:

• Saturday was a big craze. Ian was up an running by 7:30 for his usual long Saturday run - this week was 7 miles. I got Tessa up at 8 am took her for a walk to greet Ian and cheer him on during the last mile. Tessa thought him running was a game and proceeded to bit his shorts as he ran by. We then took her to the vet where we got medicine for her pink eye, and the doctor performed the lovely procedure of expressing Tessa's anal glands. Tessa was mad at us after that - can you blame her? We then went to Ian's bank to close out his savings account, went to my bank to open a joint account, as well as Ian open up a regular account. Then - off to grab bagels and go to get a card for Chris and Chrissy. Ian dropped me off at home and off he headed to get a haircut. It didn't turn out so well so we know he'll be styling his own hair for the wedding. Off to Baltimore we went for Chris and Chrissy's wedding at my college chapel, and their reception was at a nearby golf club. It was very lovely and I was taking notes the entire time to remind myself of things I'm missing. I had far too much to drink and danced the entire night - good times.
• Sunday I woke up with a killer headache but worked through it in time to go see my goddaughter, who also is our flower girl, in her dance recital. She's 6 years old and is so freaking cute I can't stand it. On our way home, we did our grocery shopping. We then cleaned up our house and did lots of laundry. Made a yummy dinner. Emailed tons of people that haven't sent in their response cards (we've received about 50 of the 100 response cards - eek!). Stayed up to wrap the bridesmaids presents. Wrote thank you cards for the gifts we've received thus far.

It was a busy busy weekend. Tonight, I have my 2nd dress fitting. Hopefully I'll come away in a better mood than my last fitting!

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??

6 Weeks to go!

As I checked our wedding website today - I saw that we have 42 days left! It sent me into a mini panic attack. I am getting super excited to have all of our friends and family together, but the nerves are starting to hit me as well. How were you feeling several weeks before your wedding? Did the nerves hit you about now? I am overly excited as we get closer though!

I didn't accomplish anything wedding related last night, but did manage to grab some yummy chinese food and watch Grey's.

I verified all of our guests' hotel reservations yesterday, and contacted the few that still need to book a room. We only have a few rooms open in our block out of the 25 we had originally blocked - it's going to be amazing have 45+ people stay there with us!

I also just did a list of everyone who needs to be on the two buses we're renting. Both buses are now full so it looks like we'll be upgrading one of the buses to a bigger bus! We have one bus for the attendants, our parents and grandparents, and another bus for all the guests who wish to take the bus from the hotel to the ceremony and back.

I'm getting a list together for the rehearsal dinner and sending that off to Ian's parents this weekend.

List of to-dos for this weekend:

• Quick makeup trial for the lipstick only
• Wrap bridesmaid gifts
• Write out ceremony selections
• Find hair piece
• Take ring to be engraved
• Finish choosing music selections

We're also going out to brunch and taking both of our moms on Sunday.

Have a good weekend!

Calmer

The owner of the store was fantastic. She apologized and was very proactive. She had already called the manufacturer to figure our a solution. The solution was for the manufacter to rush order the section that needed to be replaced. Problem - it wouldn't be here for 4 weeks and then all the alterations would have to be made then. I went by the store after work to decide what is best. After trying on my dress, I decided not to risk the timing and move forward with it as is. It's still beautiful without the changes and maybe it all happened for a reason anyway! Overall, the owner recovered well and I still like where I got my dress!

Oh - and I can wear my pink shoes for the wedding day. The dress is long enough for them!

I'm excited that we've received many responses already! Although considering that we're supposed to receive them all by May 17 - I think they're coming in a little slowly. We haven't received many "no" responses which is exciting.

Here is the most recent list I made of things I need to get finished soon:

• Ceremony - finish choosing music
• Donate $ to Washington Animal Rescue League
• Get Ian's ring engraved
• Get present for Ian
• Create a gift box
• Wrap bridesmaids presents (good reminder Kim!)
• Present for junior bridesmaid and flower girl - any good ideas for these??
• Write out ceremony readings and intentions for priest
• Check with hotel on a vegan meal option
• Get hair accessories
• Cancel previous makeup person

Tonight, Ian is heading out with some friends for drinks so I have another "me" night - yay! I think I will work on some of these to-do items while watching a movie!

Speaking of movies, we watched Rendition last night (Reese and Jake) and thought it was another good movie! It wasn't rated that well, but it was good I thought - rated it a 3/5 on Netflix.

Dress Issues

So my dress fitting was not the best. Some things that were supposed to have been added to the dress by the manufacturer were never done. I had the store call and deal with them just to verify and got a call today saying that they hadn't been done. I'm sorry I can't go into more details about what was supposed to have been done - the boy reads this!

Well, I am being refunded the money I paid to get the extra things done. But when I hung up, I realized that it wasn't enough. The dress I had wanted for my wedding day is now not going to be the way I had imagined it. I called the store back and asked that they contact the designer again to try to get 10% reimbursed. She thought it was highly doubtful that they'd do it because the problem should've been discovered within one week of receiving it. I argued that the store never asked me to come in within a week so I couldn't have possibly done that. I feel like I should be compensated for the inconvenience, not to mention me just having to deal with the dress as is instead of some personal touches I had wanted. I'm clearly bummed - and very upset that I'm going to have to fight for some type of compensation. My dress was not cheap and I don't feel the service has been up to par. Not even an apology. It's really upsetting that businesses don't take more responsibility for these things. I know I'm okay with my dress no matter what - it's beautiful even without the changes. I guess I kind of have to be okay since there's nothing I can do about it 6 weeks from my wedding!

I am speaking with the owner of the store at 5pm today so I'm hoping she has some type of resolution to try to make me happier with her and the designer. I'll let you know what happens. But right now - I'm just feeling a bit bummed.

Mission Shoes

Saturday we woke up bright and early to head to Baltimore for the March for Babies. We had a great time chit-chatting while walking those 4 miles. (Stacy - send me the pics from the event so that I can post them!!)

It also inspired Ian to realize that he wants to run a marathon. Now, sometimes Ian gets this ideas in his head that are great in theory, but in practice he has trouble keeping the motivation, or finds that this idea wasn't so great after all. But Saturday night, I found him researching marathons and getting training schedules. Depending on where we end up in a few months, he is going to run on October 11 in Baltimore. He starts training this week. He seems incredibly motivated and found a cause he'd like to support - National Association for Children of Alcoholics. I'm sure I'll be blogging about this topic quite a bit in the next few months since I'll be on the sidelines supporting him through his training. Super excited for him though! I think anyone who sets out to run a marathon is remarkable and even more remarkable to go through with it!

We went to see our soloist sing at her parish on Saturday. Our chapel arranges all of our musicians for us. While she has a lovely voice - truly beautiful voice, it's just not my style. I prefer a soloist that doesn't have as much vibrato. Unfortunately, I believe our music coordinator has already booked this woman which means he's going to have to go back to her and tell her we're going with someone else. Wish I had heard her before he had officially booked her. I'm contacting our music coordinator today to see if we can go listen to some other options. Eek - not much time to figure this out!

I went shopping yesterday for hair accessories and ceremony shoes. I found shoes:

They don't look very pretty in the picture - and I find the bow a tad bit annoying, but they are comfy and hot pink and don't have a huge heel. I'm taking them to my first fitting tonight to see if they are low enough. If not - I'm probably just going to wear the white flats I already purchased because white low heels that are somewhat cute have proven to be impossible to find. Although, I'm fairly determined to find some type of heel that is comfy and cute and low. I'm on a mission - Mission Shoes!

We've gotten the first set of response cards on Friday and Saturday!! Very excited about running home everyday to check the mail for those:)

Will post tomorrow about my experience at my first fitting!

We watched Michael Clayton this weekend - it was a pretty good movie. A little hard to follow when you're sleepy, but overall was quite fascinating.

Last Minute Details?

My dresses arrived yesterday to work but I forgot them there so I couldn't try them on last night:( Oh well - something to look forward to this weekend.

This morning I stopped by and picked up the unity candle set from Caitlin, an old friend from high school who is getting married in 2 weeks (hi Caitlin!). Very excited to have that done! She also gave me another candle set that she isn't using and might be perfect for the bathroom. Sweet!

Tomorrow, I am heading up to Baltimore very early in the morn to walk in the March for Babies with Stacy and her friends (and I'm dragging Ian with me). It's for a fantastic cause, plus it'll be my workout for tomorrow. Yay! If you're not doing anything tomorrow at 9am and you live near Baltimore, head to Camden Yards where the walk starts to support a great cause!

Some wedding related items for this weekend: look into heels for wedding day (since my first fitting is Monday!), hair clips, go see soloist at her church to listen to her sing. I have a call later this afternoon with our hotel to answer several questions. Erin - I cannot wait for you to step in in just a few weeks. Seriously - for those of you engaged - hire a Day-of-Coordinator!

Not a whole lot going on this weekend - I feel like I might be missing something. What else needs to be done and I can accomplish now? What did you do for your wedding that you wish you'd had more time for?

As I chatted with Caitlin this morning, I asked her what kinds of last minute things come up that I should be prepared for. She mentioned that the Catholic wedding program is a bit stressful, and she didn't anticipate having to hunt guests down for replies and after hunting them down, realized that some invitations never got to them, and that she hadn't received some replies even thought they'd been sent out. Two great things to know I think! What other last minute things come up? What are some things I should be prepared for?

Major Progress!!

Recap of our weekend:

• Saw Baby Mama on Friday night - it was witty and cute. A very good date night movie - light and fun. We had a great italian dinner and Ian was psyched to go to the movies.
• Saturday, we drove all over the place. We picked up Tessa's medicine from the vet, drove out to the middle of nowhere to pick up my Hanky Pankies from the Fedex holding warehouse (which by the way, makes you feel like you're in the Matrix - a long hallway with all closed doors), went to Target to pick up our table number frames.
• Wore my Hanky Pankies (the non-wedding pair) on Saturday night and fell in love with them.
• Finished our table numbers and boxed them up so they're ready to go.
• Took a break from wedding related stuff to go support Sarah at Catholic's first Relay for Life, which she organized!
• Designed, completed and boxed up our menu cards.
• Designed, completed and boxed up our favor cards.
• Picked up our invitations from our invitation lady's house.
• Put invitations together.

All in all - it was a super busy, but super successful weekend! WAHOO!

Today, I am heading to the post office to find out how much postage I need to put on the invitations (this is more complicated because of some of the invitations going to Europe). Also, postage rates go up again on May 12 (to .42) which means we need to put the higher rate on the return envelopes. Tonight, after we meet with our priest to sign off on some paper work, we will be stamping the invitations and tomorrow they go out. Even though it's a rainy Monday here, I am in a great mood because of how much we accomplished this weekend:)

Clumsy

Today is the 2nd day that I've been back in non-flat shoes (yay!). Well - I guess my feet are just not used to it. As I am walking gracefully back to my desk from the bathroom, the heel slips on the recently shined tiles and I go flying forward onto all fours. What makes matters worse, is that our building is 10 floors, and I'm on the top where all of the executives sit. As I'm in slow motion starting the fall, I hear "ding" come from the elevators (I fell directly in front of them) and immediately think "uh-oh, what executive is about to witness this?" I quickly get up and readjust myself and glance around to see one of the execs who has a confused look on his face and says "Ummm, are you alright". Secretly, I was thinking that my foot was killing me and I didn't know if I could walk (not my ankle - thank goodness - I think my foot just hit the tiles hard), but giggled as I assured him I was fine and then walked away in horrible pain.

Ahhh - onto less embarrassing topics. Last night, I picked up my veil from Maggie's, picked up the bridesmaid gifts that arrived, and went to the mall to buy earrings for the big day. I found some that I like and snatched them! Here they are:

I have a makeup trial tonight and then we're heading to dinner at Pasta Plus with Stacy and Jon. We haven't seen those two in AGES so I'm pretty excited to catch up over some fine italian food.

Tomorrow, I am getting my hair did - color, cut, and trial for the wedding day. Essentially the whole works! Then tomorrow night we are doing dinner with Sarah and Carlton!

Sunday, I am heading to brunch with Emily.

Lots of plans this weekend with friends and wedding pampering! Also, trying to complete one of our projects this weekend - we'll see if we're able to fit that in!

Motivated!

Sometimes, getting a little overwhelmed can motivate me. I was a total stress ball yesterday freaking out about everything that needs to be done and all the details. I keep looking at my list of to-dos and it's stressing me out. It's all I can think about.

I decided yesterday that the stress is inevitable. So what can I do about it? Well I can either sit and worry and stress, or I can use it to motivate myself to get things done now.

I decided to delegate a project to Ian. I put him in charge of the out-of-town bags. I wrote him a nice email asking him if he'd be up for the challenge, but that agreeing to do it means he is taking it on 100% - no questions for me, no asking me to do the research, none of it. He is up for the challenge and I love him dearly for it. I even emailed him a list of a few people who recently had weddings who I'm sure would be willing to give him the information he needs (eh-hem, what they even are since he doesn't know). So Kim, Bridget and my friend Julie from work might all be getting emails or calls from him for help.

Last night, I was boyless. I took advantage of the situation and got chinese food, then put myself to work. I did a quick version of the program, wrote our intentions, picked our vows, picked most of the parts of the mass, some of the music. It was fantastic to get some of that done.

Today, I ordered some Hanky Panky panties (and I realize having just used that word aged me by about 50 years) to try out before the big day to see if they might be what I want to wear.

I also called and made my nail and pedicure appointments for the weeks leading up to the wedding. I will get acrylics put on a few days before the shower, and then just get fills up until the day.

Next on my list - call and make appointment for a massage 1 week before the wedding. I have a gift certificate for one from my birthday and I've been saving it specifically for this purpose.

Tonight I am picking up my veil from Maggie's house because I need it for my trial tomorrow. Then I am picking up the rest of the bridesmaids gifts (I had to order them and they just came in).

I'm starting to think of my something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I have my something new, something blue, but am missing my something old and borrowed. Hmm - I'm a little stumped on those. I know a lot of people wear something from their families but I am not sure my family has anything that would work for me. Did you follow those traditions? I just added that to my list of to-dos - to figure out what I'm borrowing what is my something old!

Hanky Panky?

Recently I have been hearing so many people rave about Hanky Panky underwear? Have you heard of these? What's all the rave and how come I'm so behind on hearing about these? I'm very intrigued and think I might have to check these out for the wedding. Where do you even buy them?

What is your underwear of choice? TMI - I think so.

Invitations Ordered

Yay! All done - wahoo! Okay well I'm not done with EVERYTHING but now I have lots of DIY projects to complete: menu cards, favor cards, name cards, programs, table numbers. If you are one crafty biatch, I will hunt you down to help me. You've been warned.

Kim - yes I would like your help with invitations!

Now that we're getting closer - I'm getting all worried that I'm missing or will forget to do something important. Am I missing anything on my nifty to-do list over there?

I would also like to add that you have to read Nanette's post from yesterday. Absolutely positively adorable!

I am also searching for some cute wedding jewelry that isn't outrageously expensive. I'm looking for earrings and a mini tiara - okay not a tiara, more like a comb that has some sparkle on it but that is not large or too sparkly. I tried some on the other nights but it just didn't look right. Where did you find your accessories? Also, what underwear did you wear for your wedding?

It Fits!

We picked out an adorable dress for my flower girl. It will be long and white with a black sash. She looks like a diva in it! I'll get her mom to send me pics so I can post them.

I also got to take a peek at my dress and try it on. It fits quite perfectly except for the boobage area being way too big. The changes I asked for were done perfectly and the color doesn't wash me out. It's white, but not stark white. I'm excited for my first fitting!

We received our invitation proofs yesterday so I've been revising those and will send them out tomorrow to be ordered. Any volunteers to help me stuff them when we get them in?! Come on - you know you want to help out!!

Next goal: menu cards.

If He Sees the Dress

Last night, Ian was clearing his camera memory card by uploading his pictures to the computer. We started looking back through old pictures that are organized by date in folders. We go through each folder with comments like awww, do you remember when we went there? it was so fun, and awww, tessa was so little there and aw my wedding dre...EEEEEKKKK DON'T LOOK OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD DO NOT LOOK. WHAT DID YOU SEE - TELL ME EXACTLY HOW MUCH YOU SAW?!. That's a little how it went down. Boom - we accidentally go into the folder that has several pictures of me in my sample wedding dress, and within 1-2 seconds he had clicked on another folder to get out of it.

Here are my questions and his responses:

Me: Tell me exactly what you saw!
Him: It's kind of off-white.
Me: What else?
Him: It's shiny.
Me: What else?
Him: Nothing.
Me: Did you see the style or any accessories I may or may not have had on?
Him: No. If you put your dress in a lineup with 4 other dresses, I wouldn't be able to pick it out.

Phew. I don't care about him seeing that it's shiny - most wedding dresses are shiny. And I didn't end up ordering the ivory so he's even wrong about that. So ha!

I immediately had a tantrum and sulked on the bed wondering if our marriage is doomed because he saw that my dress is (gasp) shiny and somewhat white. I think we're okay:)

We are heading to Pittsburgh tonight after work and will be there until Saturday night. Tomorrow I am attending a class at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, then having lunch on campus and getting a tour from a current student. Tomorrow night we will try to soak up the city as much as possible, and Saturday will look into neighborhoods for possible locations to live.

We just booked our rental car for our big trip next week. We're driving to Miami (yes - driving because flights to and from Miami at the time we need to go for my open house at U. Miami are upwards of $500 per person). We'll leave Thursday morning to head to UNC Chapel Hill to visit their law school, then continue driving to Miami. Friday we have the open house, Saturday we have a realtor showing us areas to live, and then we will start the drive back and possibly stay overnight somewhere on Saturday in order to break up the 16 hour drive. You're jealous - I know. Ian has assured me that he will do all of the driving in order to let me sleep - I get cranky like a little baby in the car and the only thing that helps me get by is sleep. Even car rides to Baltimore I sometimes nap. It's a sickness I think.

Have a great Easter weekend!

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!

Italian food makes me happy

Weekend Recap:

Friday night I went to Fiore for a consult. What I liked: how b-e-a-utiful the flowers were. I went through pictures of bouquets and found a bouquet I absolutely love! I'm even making an exception because this bouquest has calla lillies in it and I was really hoping to not use any calla lillies. But I like the bouquet so much that I'm willing to have them in it. Here's the picture:

My one negative about this florist was that the woman didn't seem very knowledgeable. My mom used to work in a florist shop so she knows her flowers, and after we went through the vision we have for the wedding and showed pictures of certain things I like and dislike, the woman was having trouble naming off flowers she could use - it was more like my mom was suggesting them and the woman was agreeing. Once the flowers were named off, then she was great in showing me samples of each type. She was so sweet but just seemed like she was a new worker there who might not have had a ton of consults before. We'll have to see what her proposal comes in at and then make a decision.

After the florist, I raced home to meet the boy and his best man, James to go to Men's Warehouse to pick the tuxes, have the boy try on the tuxes, get James measured and get everything ordered. Here is the tux:

It's a three-button tux but his will be without a vest, only with a tie and black suspenders! He will be wearing a light silver tie and the groomsmen will be wearing black ties.

We basically ate Italian food the entire weekend. I think the cold makes me crave some hearty italian food, especially pasta. After picking tuxes, we went to Olazzo for dinner. It was quite yummy!

Saturday, we had dinner with my future in-laws at Cesco Trattoria in Bethesda (they don't have a website) and I had a fantastic entree - whole grilled turbo in sea salt. I wish I had a picture of it - it was amazing. Here's a couple pictures of us at dinner:

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Bridal Showcase at the Dulles Expo Center. And I mean "we" as in my mom, me and the boy! Once he heard that there would be food and cake samples he was all about joining us. But let me tell you, it was INSANE! I don't do well in malls because of getting quite claustrophobic, hot, overwhelmed by the people (and thinking about the germs), and it was like 100 times worse there. But I sucked it up and hurried through and tried to enjoy the fun things like trying cakes! I walked away with what I think I will be ordering for my invitations, and a cake that the boy, my mom and I all LOVED! I have to look up the name to post it and find the invitation picture to post it. I was exhausted by the end of the show but was thrilled to have possibly found these two vendors and be able to cross these things off my list! The boy did very well until about the last 1/2 hour. We were there for a total of 3 hours so I think he did quite well. The last 45 minutes his eyes were glazed over and when I'd turn and look for him and call his name, he'd kind of look at me slowly and then walk over to me in a daze. It was good husband-training for him I think - he even carried the bag of goodies we collected along the way and my purse after awhile!

Last night we watched Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. I am a huge Harry Potter fan (more so of the books) but have to admit that this movie was not as good as the other ones. How did you feel about it?

I am sad to say it's Monday and I'm back at work, already looking forward to the next weekend!