Here is your ray of sunshine.

So Friday sucked. In the worst way possible. BUT! Saturday and Sunday were amazing. They more than made up for the suck known as Friday.

Saturday I picked my dress up from the cleaners, who got it done in record time. Thanks Bridal Kare! Then it was off to have the dress fitted. I thought this was going to be a nightmare for several reasons. It didn't even come close. She adjusted the bustle because I wanted to make sure it was up and off the floor. She's adjusting part of my strapless bra so that it fits me better. She's replacing the zipper and fixing the beading... all as if I had purchased my dress from them. Which means I'm saving $300+.

Thank heavens for Bridal Chateau. Honestly.

Today I was setting out to fix the reply card disaster. I managed to end up with this strange white-ish blob on my reply cards. Not cool friends. NOT cool. I took the handy dandy little jump drive back to the fine folks at the Office Max on the Boulevard, and everything was fine. Blob gone; crisis averted. AND he trouble shot his way through a paper jam, and printed proof after proof for me.

In the mean time, my goal was to mail the invites between 3mos and 90 days to the Wedding.

Today is 90 days. Oh well. They'll be worth the wait. ; )

Invitaion: Fail

Today was one big boatload of fail in the invite department. It's taken me what seems like ages to round everything up that I wanted for invitations. The biggest problem with this is that I started looking at things entirely too early, so I kept changing my mind and I wasn't too terribly eager to commit to something. I was looking at new things every week so I didn't want to pick a style and then find something better just days later.

I bit the bullet today and decided to sit down and just do it. After about 4 hours I had Information Cards, Invitations, Reply Cards, A map; that I later scrapped. And I moved the ceremony time up 30mins.

We went to buy the Parchment Card stock, only to find that they had 3 sheets. I need roughly 105 sheets. Awesome. We went to Office Max to see what they had. Found something I wasn't super excited about, but we bought it anyways.

Time for printing! Wrong-o. The color machine was working, but the B&W wasn't. So they could print my Invitations... just nothing else, unless I was willing to pay 49 cents per page... which I was not. They said we could go to another location but that we'd probably have to leave everything and pick it up some time tomorrow.

So I have envelopes. No invitations.

But hey, we bought 4lbs of taffy for the shower. So it's not a total wash right?

for your added convience..

Matt and I went ahead and made our Amazon Wish Lists Private. So that way people would stop being directed to those instead of the Registry.

This week I continue to taste taffy for favor bags for the shower, terrible job really. Actually I lie- it's wonderful.

Anyone need 50lbs of lemon taffy? No, I'm serious. Do you?

I also have my dress fitting this weekend which has me all sorts of nervous. I know I shouldn't be. I'm just afraid to hear how much the repairs/alterations are going to be.

Deep breaths kids, deep breaths.

We've made it to double digits: 97

I decided we're gonna do some shout outs tonight. Because I can do what I want here. Right? I thought so.

First and foremost, Amanda. What in Gods green earth would I have done without her? I mean honestly- how am I not myself. Think about it. She doesn't even LIVE in NY, but off she went on an adventure to find me boats. And she was victorious. Armed only with her wits and a UPC Code she set forth on NY/PA. And she won. Hats off to you Amanda.

Next up is Marsha. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! Marsha is my florist. [ www.vannormsflorist.com ] And I love her to itty bitty bits. She didn't try to sell me things I didn't want. And she LISTENED to what I wanted and didn't want as far as colors and flowers. All too often vendors try to pigeon hole brides- because they think they can. Marsha didn't even come close. Thank you, from the bottom of my weary little heart.

Melissa. Oh, Melissa. How do I love thee? Let me count the calls. [ www.munelitphotographic.com ] I think it's safe to say that I get Mel and she gets me. I met her by chance and thank heavens. We took an afternoon to bond... and a few late night chats. It's fairly safe to say that I can't stop laughing- it's hard for her to take serious-esque pictures of me. I'm working on quiet thoughts for her though ;). Thanks for agreeing to come on this whirlwind adventure.

Insert sigh of releif here

I ordered a veil from www.etsy.com and I was terribly nervous that it wouldn't match. It arrived today. And it does indeed match. I just have to decide if I want to take the time to sew beads around the edge of it. I might- I don't know, we'll see how bored I get.

Dress: Check
Veil: Check
Shoes: Check
Old: Check
New: Negative
Borrowed: Check
Blue: Check
Six Pence: Check

WOOOOOOO!

110 days. How did this creep up on me?

I think I'm finally starting to let go.

I made my LAST Florist Appointment. I bought 18 little boats. I bought a new veil. I got myself some adorable shoes. I've even got my something borrowed. It's winding down. But everyday I smile because there's a Wedding coming. A ridiculous party. A fabulous good time. And it's all mine to share.

I've stopped freaking out about things- because I can't anymore. I can't stop whatever is going to happen. I can hope for the best and deal with the troubles as I get them. I wish I had done this sooner. I'd still like Matt and I to take a dance lesson of seven before September, but if we don't? We can fake it... just like everyone else.

Someone asked me recently when Matt and I were going to drop the whole Pirate thing. And it got me thinking... do I have to? Ever? No not really. You do what you want on your Anniversary, I'll do what I want on mine. If someone is honestly disturbed, dismayed or bothered by Pirates being involved in a Wedding that is not in fact their own, they are more than welcome to stay home in September. I'll have all of their fun for them. It's ok, I don't mind really.

I don't honestly think that Matt and I will still calling it swashbuklin' on our 50th Anniversary. But who knows? Maybe we'll be terrible old people obsessed with puns and other ridiculousness. Maybe we'll spend the rest of our days swabbing poopdecks and manning mast heads... but probably not. We'll have french toast though. Every Saturday if I can help it.

There's a Weddin' in my future.

I totally let out a little squee when I hung up the phone. My Aunt just called to tell me that she's gotten a few reply cards in the mail for the shower. Now, I didn't think that they'd be out and about that fast. And I know that there are people who haven't gotten them yet. But man oh man- this kinda makes me stop and look around.

I have a Wedding to go to. Mine.
I have a smallish to do list, which is better than a big one.
But I need to get my bee-hind in gear.

I need to figure out if this Photobooth is in the Budget or not. I'm so very digging on it. Mostly because it would serve 2-ish purposes. Favors and Guestbook. MAN OH MAN! If only money were no object. But it is. And I do not have unlimited time to decide.

Registries on Fire.

I some how managed to get myself THREE Target Accounts all tied to one email address. Their Customer Service Rep assured me that what he was seeing was an impossibility. He was wrong. I did in fact have three, and the crisis has thus been averted.

Apparently the other 2 accounts caught up with me yesterday because I couldn't actually log in to add things to the Registry. I found it when I would search for it- but I did not posses enough mojo to log in and edit it. I was more than a little worried. Mostly because it's chock full of stuff we need/want. Matt hated the first trip to Target so I could only imagine what would happen the second time around.

....

Hmm, I managed to walk away mid thought. And here I am coming back to the keyboard almost 3 hours later. So I say oh well, it can wait.

Seamstress?

The Bridal Shop I bought my Dress from was seized on Friday. I may or may not have a Veil at this point. Because I assume they ordered it. But I don't know for sure. Awesome. I have to find out if I have a Veil or not and I need to find a seamstress.

Wahoo.

Miss me?

I'm sure you did. Since we last talked I bought three pairs of shoes for the Wedding. Don't worry I'm returning two pairs. I bought a veil; I know, I know! I didn't even do Veil Night. Sorry- I'm too damn picky. Besides, I'd rather have my accessories be cute little family things. Not the veil- I'm just going to take that off. I also managed to find myself graced with two HYSTERICAL Photographers for the Wedding.

I decided last night that Matt's getting a Grooms Cake. I'm excited about it. I need to find an outlet for that energy though... otherwise it won't be too much of a surprise. Oh well.

I still don't have favors picked out. I'm completely unsure as to what to put in them. Mostly because I don't want it to melt. I know it won't be a scorcher, but it could be hot enough to kill chocolate.

Knowing that there are only 143 days left almost makes me panic. Almost.

Let them eat Cake!

I am truly truly relieved. I thought that I was going to order the cake 6 months in advance since our date seems to be so popular. But ours is only the second Wedding on the books for the bakery. : D They told me not to worry so much, that I can order my cake as early as today or I can wait until 3 weeks before the wedding.

3 weeks makes me nervous though.

I'm going to wait to order it until after Easter. They're still taking orders for Easter pastries and breads- so I'm going to go back in when their business has calmed down.. and when I've calmed down some. Although, I'm much more at ease after hearing what Debbie needs from me. I was worried that she'd tell me that she couldn't do what I wanted on the cake.

It's kind of amusing though, I have 3 weeks to get a sketch of what I want on the cake, which seems like all the time in the world. Yet ordering the cake just 3 weeks before the Wedding makes me panic. I am a strange one.

6 months

So that's all that's left. And that doesn't seem very long. This has me worried. Granted there isn't much left for me to do. But there's enough to keep me busy. Not to mention it would be nice to have the living room painted and furnished by this fall. Since we will be having people coming from out of town who we will be entertaining and they may want to see the house. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

What's left:
Dance Lessons
Invitations
Cake
Flowers
Favors
Aisle Runner
Ties for the Boys
Shoes for the Girls

[x] I'm not sure how I feel about these anymore. I want to go... but I'm not so sure I want to add another thing to my to do list.
[x] I will not enjoy addressing these. But I'll deal.
[x] I know where I want the cake from and what I want it to look like. I just have to get the decorators on the same page.
[x] I know I want red flowers. But there are lots out there. So I've been trying to weed out the ones I DON'T want to make any more floral consultations go more smoothly.
[x] Favors... ooooooh favors. I can't decide between those little chests I linked earlier and round metal tins. I also need to figure out what to put in them
[x] I was going to ask a friends mom to sew the runner for me, but the fabric I wanted was too expensive. $450+shipping for something I'm going to walk on? No thanks. So I'm left trying to get creative, but I think it'll work.
[x] Ties, simple enough
[x] Shoes: my one true love and current hate.

In other news I got my second box today... I still haven't gotten Thank You cards printed. I stink.

While I am terribly excited to get the gift of a Matthew, I know I'm ridiculous. The gifting process that goes with Weddings has me giddy. Matt and I had been living together in apartments, so we had limited space. But now we have a whole HOUSE! So some of our registry items are a touch silly. But well, we need a fair amount to fill and furnish this little ranch.

Today, the first box came. I made a mess with styrofoam peanuts and fell more in love with Kitchenaid than ever before. And as I was sitting on the floor cleaning up my mess it hit me: I have to send thank you cards now.

No big deal right?
I don't have thank you cards.

I should probably go get some...

Legal mumbo jumbo

In an effort to smooth things out later we went and had Matt's name changed. Which means I'll have just over 6 months to get used to him being Mr B before I become Mrs B. It's going to be an interesting ride. But I'm sure I'll manage. : P

I have an appointment with another Florist next week so I'll hopefully be able to check that off the list. And I have a friend looking into a runner for me as well. I feel like there's so much that still needs to be done- especially since we're almost at the 6mos mark.

Oh well, I guess I'll just hustle my little butt off for the next 2-4 weeks and see if I can get the rest of my to do list done.

: D

Now I know that all my headaches were worth it. Because I keep getting Phone calls and Messages from people saying that they love the StD's. Which makes me happy.

We went to Target today to add things on to the Registry. Because well, they were pretty much empty. I could tell that Matt was not enjoying the processes. And Target was super full. So I think I'll go back by myself to finish the rest. He stuck it out, and that pleases me.

I wanted to get shoes and a veil today as well. But work isn't going to let that happen. So maybe I just do that Th/F next week when I'm not running around.

SEVEN MONTHS!

The Check's in the Mail.

Well, not really. But the Save the Dates are! So check your mail boxes! Hopefully they'll get to all of you by Monday-ish!

YAY!

A little late, buuuuuuuuuuuuuut: MY MAGNETS ARE HERE!

So as long as the envelopes can withstand all of the stuff that needs to go into them they'll be mailed on Wednesday!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

My very first terrible vendor experience.

I had called a hotel about 2 months ago to set aside a block of rooms for people. I told them I would need 50-100. There are people coming in from out of town as well as people living in town who wanted to spend the night away from home.

They said "No problem!" Started giving me details. I hung up the phone feeling confident and completely at ease. Fast forward to today. Amy! Calls. She was unfortunately confused, she thought I was getting Married 10/19 not 9/19. Since it's back to school time they can only give me a block of 15 rooms.

...

33 is the low ball on rooms. That's doubling up on people who know each other and might stay together. That's expecting/hoping that some of the people will be staying at their parents houses.

So now I look for a new hotel and see if I can find one that'll give me ~50 rooms.

Keeping myself busy...

While I patiently wait for our Magnets to arrive I've been planning Registries. I will freely admit that this is the second most exciting part of the whole Wedding Planning process for me.

Some people think that Registries are the Devils work. I am here to tell you, no. They are not. The Registries are about your life together as Husband and Wife, and God willing: Parents.

It's about all of the little things that make your house into a home. And it's about the two of you. I will also freely admit that I put Wilton Cake Decorating Tools on there... as well as Cookie Sheets. Mostly because Baking is a big deal to me. And how am I to be expected to throw fabulous Cookie Exchanges if I don't have the proper tools and equipment?

I'm also trying to get the things that *I* want out of the way so that way Matt doesn't have to sit there and wait for me. But more importantly I'm hoping to take some of the tedium out of it so when we have to go 10 rounds over silverware- he'll have some stamina.

Picking paint for the house was terrible. I can only imagine what silverware will be like.

SO! What was your #1 must register for? What do you wish you'd Registered for?