Practice Makes Perfect

The day before our wedding was a Friday. I work up early, and headed to the nail salon.

I was just getting a manicure since I had gotten my pedicure earlier in the week (I got an airbrush tan, and they told me to have my nails done beforehand so it doesn't stain my nails). That airbrush tan is a whole other story. And the gist of that story is that it was waaayyy too dark for me. I am one seriously pasty girl. So I had to literally scrub my skin every time I showered so I looked normal on my wedding day and non super tan like this...

I know that may seem normal to most people... but it's way too dark for me (and it was the third day of my airbrush tan... so imagine how crazy dark it was the first day!) I'm usually one of those girls who turns red, not brown... so it was definitely obvious.

Anyway. So I got a gel manicure. I would totally recommend it. It was awesome not having to wait for my nails to dry. They were a little rubbery feeling, but I got used to that. And the manicure lasting straight through my honeymoon and beyond

Joining me at the salon was my mom, my future MIL, my future SIL, and one of our flower girls...

 

 

After my nails were done, I got a phone call from my Maid of Honor that she had arrived in town. Yayyy! Ryan picked me up at the salon and we met up with my Maid of Honor to run some errands. All our decorations needed to be taken to our reception venue, and the desserts for the rehearsal dinner needed to be picked up.

After all that was done, I went home, showered and dressed, and we all headed to the church for the rehearsal. Everyone was on time for the most part, so we got straight down to business by lining up in the front of the church...

 

I hung tight to the ribbon bouquet from my bridal shower...

 

After we were all lined up, the church coordinator sent us out to practice the procession. It was the first time I noticed how alone I would be waiting out there to walk in. It was just me, my Dad, and the flower girls (who loved my bouquet). I started to get really nervous...

 

The bridal party member who needed the most practice was Ryan's nephew, our ringbearer. He was extremely shy with all those people watching him. So when his time came, he walked very slowly down the aisle with his shirt pulled up and his hands in his mouth...

My Dad and I practiced our walk in. I plastered a gigantic grin on my face. Everyone commented on how happy I looked, but I was just doing it so the nervousness wouldn't show. Inside, I was freaking out a little...

 

 

The Pastor ran through the ceremony, and had us practice our lines. I spent a lot of the time staring at the floor or looking around because I knew that if I looked into Ryan's eyes while saying those words, I might cry (or puke)...

  

I was thrilled when the rehearsal was done. Let's go eat!

 

Again with the cheesy smile...

Before we left the church, the Pastor led us in a group prayer...

 

 

The last photo at the church was one of Ryan and I with our parents. I'm so glad we got this. It's a great photo... 

 

 Next up... our awesome rehearsal dinner!

2 Months To Go

Two?! Oh boy.

Ryan and I took an extensive look at our To Do list yesterday (well, okay... it's my To Do list... so it may have been the first time he actually read through it). After we were done, we felt really good about the progress we're making and the amount of projects left for our last two months.

I think I may have mentioned before... but my goal in this whole planning process is to get everything done by the week of the wedding. I have to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that week, and I don't want to be scrambling trying to get stuff done. I want to use that time to organize and pack for our honeymoon (which we'll be leaving straight for from Chicago).

So far, we're totally on track for that goal. Yay, us!

Here's the breakdown...

Past Month Goals:

1) Purchase and create table numbers. Check! I bought 23 IKEA Tolsby frames from a fellow bride for a dollar each. I then spent this past weekend spray painting all of them silver metallic so they go with our colors (pink, navy, and silver). Ryan and I went through all the possibilities for naming our tables, and ended up with specific locations that correspond to photos of us. So I spend yesterday afternoon designing those.

2) Schedule dance lessons. A big fat X for this one. I keep meaning to do it, but then get distracted by other fun tasks. Ryan said he'd do it on Friday (he had off work), but then ended up cleaning the basement. ::shrug::

3) Schedule dress fittings. Check! Yay, finally! I actually had my very first dress fitting last weekend when I was visiting home. A tiny little woman with choppy English scurried around my dress, gushed over how beautiful it was, and crawled in and out of my skirt for an hour. She needs to take my dress in a whopping four inches at the top because of all the weight I've lost. Notice the lack of lacing room...


4) Plan our ceremony. Check! The ceremony was mostly planned by the church, but we figured out what readings we'd like to do, where they would go within the ceremony, and if we wanted any music. After we got all that worked out, I designed the programs. We have to send them to our Officiant to "ok" them before we can print.

5) Decide on aisle decor. Check! My mom and I met with our florist last weekend when I was home. It was nice to actually meet her in person, and she was super nice and accommodating. My mom and I told her we'd like to add aisle decor to our list (we decided DIYing it would be too much of a pain). So the florist is going to add a stem of white flowers tied with ribbon to every third pew going down the aisle.

Photo courtesy my florist, Kio Kreations

6) Print family wedding photos and frame them. Check... sort of. I collected family wedding photos over the past month, and got them all printed 8x10 at Walgreens. Ryan and I have been on the hunt for the right frames, but haven't bought anything yet.

I'm pretty pleased with how we did on last month's list. But that's not all we got done!

Other Accomplishments:

• We met with our reception venue and worked out all the details when it came to our menu, seating arrangements, and cake.
• We confirmed our honeymoon reservations.
• I bought the rest of my handkerchiefs.
• We finally decided on a place to get Ryan's tux.
• We payed off our Photo Booth.
• I bought two mirrors from IKEA and spray painted them with chalkboard paint. We will use them for our seating chart.
• We decided who will greet guests and hand out programs at the ceremony. Although, we haven't told them yet!
• We decided to rent a bus to shuttle guests to and from the reception.

Despite how busy I've been with other stuff, I've been working pretty hard recently to get wedding things checked off the To Do list. It's so satisfying to mark it as "done"!

Goals for the Upcoming Month:

• Decide how I want my makeup to look, and purchase anything I need for that.
  
• Schedule dance lessons. (Seriously!)
  
• Print menus and reception timelines.
• Print table numbers.
• Frame family wedding photos.
• Create activity books for the kids.

I am in disbelief that the wedding is only two months away. I'm not stressed at all, and I haven't yet hit that wall that most brides hit where they just want it to be over and done with. I attribute that to my serious organizational skills and our reasonable amount of DIY projects.

At this point, I'm just getting really excited.

Hand Me a Hanky

I did something a little frivolous and trendy.

I bought 20 vintage handkerchiefs on Ebay.


See, a while back, I made a list of "wedding wants". But that list isn't all inclusive. With all the fabulous inspiration in the blogosphere, it's hard not to get wrapped up in all the tiny little details, and continually add to that list.

So what will I do with the vintage handkerchiefs?


They are for a "Tears of Joy" basket at the ceremony site. Guests can choose (and keep) a vintage handkerchief for the ceremony. Whether the ladies are feeling a little emotional (there had better be some tears during our vows!), feeling a cold coming on, or just want a hankie to match their dress, I'm hoping people will take one. I think they're adorable and sweet.

Now I'm just debating with myself if I should buy more. All the people I know who had them at their wedding say they were a huge hit, and the basket was empty before the ceremony even began.

Ok... I realize how stupid this all seems. Please don't judge me.

Music to My Ears

On Saturday afternoon, after picking up my dress and veil, Ryan and I, plus our moms, headed to the church to meet with the organist.

Normally, she hosts music seminars where a number of engaged couples come and listen to her play and choose their ceremony music. Due to our tight schedule, this was the only time we could meet with her, so it was just the five of us.

She played us 6 processional songs and 6 recessional songs. I was told to choose one song for each of the following:

• Seating of special guests (parents and grandparents)
• Bridesmaid processional
• Bride processional
• Bride and Groom recessional
• Guest recessional

Deciding on my processional music was an easy one. Out of the six songs she played, only one really felt right. The other decisions took a little humming and hawing and asking our moms' opinions until we came to a solid conclusion.

Here's what we decided on...

• Seating of special guests: Canon in D (Johann Pachelbel)
  
• Bridesmaid processional: Air from "Water Music Suite" (G.F. Handel)
  
• Bride processional: Trumpet Voluntary in D Major (Jeremiah Clarke)
  
• Bride and Groom recessional: Wedding March from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Felix Mendelssohn)
  
• Guest recessional: Allegro Maestoso from "Water Music Suite" (G.F. Handel)

My processional music is a little cliche, but I love the overall feeling and general grandeur of it all.

And when I listen to it, I can totally picture myself walking down this aisle...


Only 8 more months to go!

The Big Gap

After Saturday's wedding, I started to think a lot about our wedding day timeline. The wedding we attended had 1 hour between the ceremony and reception, with a 15 minute commute.

Here's the problem.... we have a whopping 3 1/2 hours between our ceremony and reception, with a 30 minute commute.

That is a long time!

I cringe at the thought, but there's nothing we can do about it. The ceremony must start at 3pm, and the cocktail hour must start at 6:30pm. No way around it.

My mom insists it's no big deal, and it's not my problem to worry about the guests... but I can't help it.

I know most people won't want to do any sightseeing or anything like that with their formal clothes on, so that isn't really an option.

Here are some ideas I came up that might help the long transition...

• We could have some water, iced tea, and/or lemonade at the church immediately following the ceremony. Guests could get a cold drink and mingle after they go through the receiving line.
  
• There could be a short list in the back of the program with some nearby bars and cafes where guests could hang out.
• We could rent a hospitality suite at our hotel for out-of-town guests who aren't spending the night to take a break.
• There could be an insert in the program with a list of time-appropriate movies showing near the reception venue.
• We could set up bocce ball, cornhole, and other easy games at the park near the church.

That's all I've got. I know it's common for people to open up their homes in between the ceremony and reception, but we will be having 200 guests, and my mom is hosting brunch the next day, so I don't think that's something they want to do.

Another Wedding

Welcome to my very first follower, Miss June Bride. Yay for june brides!

As I mentioned last week, Ryan and I spent the weekend in New York for his cousin's wedding.

It's amazing how different a wedding is when you're planning your own. Ryan and I were very aware of all the little details and the layout of the day. I'll admit that we were talking about our wedding a lot on their wedding day. Woops!

Everyone loves photos, so here are some detail shots from their big day.

The church where the ceremony was held had beautiful stained glass windows...


Ryan was a reader during the ceremony. His cousin asked him to read first Corinthians, which is the same reading his mother read during her mother's ceremony.


The flower girl was Ryan's niece. She wore an adorable white layered dress with a teal sash...


Instead of throwing flower petals, she threw fall leaves...


The ceremony was very touching, and lasted about 40 minutes.


The wedding party took photos at the church immediately following the ceremony and receiving line. The groom and groomsmen wore brown striped tuxes with teal bow ties. The ladies wore teal strapless dresses and carried fall-colored bouquets...


At the reception, the tables were decorated with 2 vases with submerged flowers and floating candles, along with a tall vase with red cherry blossoms...


We had assigned tables, but no assigned seats.


Each table had a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine (but the bar remained open during the entire reception and dinner). There was a menu on each table, and the guests were asked to choose their entree the day-of.


I ordered chicken stuffed with wild rice and spinach. Ryan ordered some sort of fish stuffed with crab...


The cake was made by a high school friend of the bride and groom. It was vanilla cake with Kahlua frosting inside (and possibly something else? But I'm no cake expert). It had brown ribbons around each tier, and fondant roses on the top, along with little sugary beads spread throughout...


Overall, the wedding was beautiful and fun. I turned to Ryan at the end and said, "can you believe the next wedding we attend will be our own?"


Crazy. Only 8 1/2 months to go!

We Have a Pastor!

It sounds like a "duh", but we weren't sure for a little while there. I emailed and emailed the wedding coordinator at our church for more information, but never heard back.

We had no idea who would be performing the ceremony, when we could complete the marriage workshop, if we could do counseling at our church here in Indiana, or many other un-answered questions.

My home church.

And then out of blue, I had a voicemail from a pastor. He said he would be performing our ceremony and would like to speak with us some time in the next few days. The conversation would be a good 45 minutes to an hour.

So Ryan and I waited until an appropriate non-dinner hour, brought our computer close by, pulled up important information and email correspondence, and prepared to call the pastor.

We were a little nervous... unsure of the type of phone conversation we might have that would last for a whopping hour. Is he going to ask deep questions about our faith or relationship? Is he going to go into extensive detail about our ceremony (for which we haven't given any thought)?

I pressed the "send" key, and put my phone on speaker.

And all he did was set a date to meet in person. All that preperation for nothing.

When he said in his voicemail that he wanted to speak with us, I had assumed that he knew we lived out-of-state. Apparently not. So now one more thing has been added (shoved into) the WOW weekend.

The Great Venue Drama

This past weekend was a whirlwind to say the least. We visited six venues in one day… spread out all over the greater Chicagoland area! As soon as I get my pictures off my digital camera, I promise to post full reviews of each of the finalists.


I won’t give it away just yet… but I think Ryan and I have decided on our reception venue. It wasn’t one of those “omg, this is it” moments like you often hear about. Our decision was based on price, convenience, and logistics mostly.

Now, only 2 days into the big decision, we’re already having venue drama.

First of all, we haven’t booked it yet. Doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, except that apparently all the other 2011 brides are way more on top of things than I am, because Saturday evening reception venues are being booked up left and right!

I have one weekend in June which we can’t have the wedding due to a conflict. On top of that, I can’t do any weekends in May because I work in television, and May is a sweeps month! So we are looking at 3 weekends in June. And our future venue only has one of those weekends available.

So why haven’t I booked it yet? Because I’m waiting to hear back from the ceremony site. We’re having the ceremony at my home church. I have called (probably more times than is socially acceptable) and emailed the coordinator at the church asking if that date is available, but she hasn’t responded.

I kind of want to stop and yell, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” for making me wait… but I know I’m just being a typical stressed-out bride. I have to keep reminding myself that the world won’t end if we can’t have our wedding in June. So what? We’ll push it back to July. (Gurr… we better not have to push it back to July…)


The next issue we’ve discovered is the cost. Yes, that makes us sound like idiots who didn’t do proper research. But when you’re browsing dozens (ok, hundreds) of potential venues, you tend to do a super quick rough estimate of the cost.

Well, my “super quick rough estimate” for our future venue did not include things like a $4 per person charge for cake, or a $3 per person charge to give them an entrée option. Or… oh, I dunno… our venue’s 200 person minimum. That’s 60 or 70 more people than we planned on inviting. So if we don’t make 60 or 70 new friends in the next 13 months, we have to pay for imaginary friends. Joy!


So add all that up, and you come up with a cost that is 67% of our total budget (instead of the recommended 45%). Eek! Yes, my parents are paying. And yes, my mom says it’s no big deal. But in my eyes, that is a lot of money… and it only means one thing for the year ahead: a lot more DIY projects.