BLAST OFF!!!

...to the future!

(As many of you know, I will always be a cornball at heart.)

TODAY IS OUR WEDDING DAY!

1...

It's the day before our wedding! We've got tuxes to pick up, and hair to have done! We've got nails to have done, dresses to have pressed, friends to be dropped off at Zoombezi Bay, a dog and a bunny to be fed, and our rehearsal dinner items to be dropped off! We've got a ton of people arriving today! We've got a minimum of five separate airport pick ups, and one short Columbus tour (for our videographers!), AND we've got our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight! We've got a lot on our plate, but we also have a lot of empty plates around just to help!

The sky is starting to rid itself of the ominous clouds that have been looming over for the last two days! I feel absolutely wonderful, and excited, and overwhelmed with the love, laughter and emotion that I am engulfed with from all my close friends and family! Nothing matters at this point!

The excitement in the air is indescribable, and I still have not stopped smiling!

We are getting married tomorrow!!

2...

Two dollar bill...

Two of hearts...

Two x four...

Two year molar...

Two ante meridiem... (um, that's 2:00 am for all of us non-latin speakers...)

Two birds of a feather...

Two buck chuck...

Two cents...

Two halves...

Two inch heels...

Two if by sea...

Two spa services...(attended by the Bride today!)

Two kisses...

Two of a kind...

Two more people arrived from Scotland!

Two step...

Two turtle doves...

Two peas in a pod...

TWO DAYS LEFT!!!

3...

THREE DAYS!!! It's unbelievable!

Today we dropped all our items off at our venue, paid our venue bill, and had our first guest arrive in town from Scotland! Our day is truly here! It's here, and there's no turning back now! (Neither Brian nor I are interested in turning back anyway!)

Today was also the last official day of work for both of us (at least until we return from our honeymoon!), and we know that if we blink at all in the next 36 hours we will miss something spectacular! We are extremely excited for our special day!!!

4...

"I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you
Yes, there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you

I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down
I want to come too

I think that possibly,
Maybe I'm falling for you

No one understands me quite like you do
Through all of the shadowy corners of me

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew
All of the while it was you..."

My Grammie put it perfectly this morning, 'I can't stop smiling'! I'm in the same boat, Gram, I can't stop either!

5...

It's Sunday! Our wedding week is here! T-minus 5 days and we will be walking down that aisle, hand in hand, with two shiny rings on our fingers. What an incredible feeling!

Brian and I have had so much fun planning our wedding! It's going to be incredible to see all the different elements all come together. We are just so fortunate to have had the help that we did. Our families helped us make our wedding the special, most incredible day that we will both cherish for the rest of our lives. We are just so fortunate that so many family members and friends will be able to attend our wedding. We've got people traveling from Scotland, Germany, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, Georgia, New York, Florida, Philadelphia, (Ohio), and I'm sure plenty of other places that I've not listed. And we are both just so fortunate to have found one another.

We are overwhelmed with the love and support and emotion that we have in our lives. We are very lucky, and we are so thankful.

So, if the countdown wasn't on before...it is seriously on now!

6...

It's Saturday, and a week from today we will be married! Brian has done a wonderful job at putting together all of his groomsmen gifts, I have worked on putting together our card box, and we both have finalized our tables. We also started working on the seating cards. (We have a few of those to finish tomorrow.)

I'm not going to lie, it is certainly a challenge trying to figure out where to place everyone for each table. Every now and then you get a table that works out perfectly, but then there are the tables that have an odd number of people that you either need to split or add to, or you come up with an extra table that you don't really want to split up, but it's just not quite large enough to be a 'table'. Brian's family and friends, and mine, are all outgoing, and we feel that really anywhere that we put people they are going to have a good time. Plus, they'll only be seated for a quick dinner...the rest of the night they'll be dancing. (At least we hope they'll be dancing!) So, in the end, I think everyone will be happy with where they are seated.

And, since we are less than a week away, we are 100% with our final numbers. We projected 150 people and it turns out that we will have 140...on the dot! I love nice, round numbers. Now we can have exactly 7 rows of 20 for our seating chart! (Yes, I'm a perfectionist.)

6 days away!!!

7...

It's Friday, and in exactly one week we will be tying the knot! It is just so surreal! We can't believe it is nearly here, and we also can't believe how much we have to do this weekend. We think it is all manageable. I suppose we'll find out quickly if it isn't! We thought of some additional items to add to our list:

-Finalize our table arrangements for our reception. (You know, the who will sit with who deal.)
-Get all our final numbers into our vendors.
-Pick up a few cards for our family and friends.
-Finish all our gift bags for our hotel guests. (Yes, we started on these, but we now have a couple of additional items to add to them!)

We think we have it under control...we think...

8...

8 DAYS!!! It's incredible! Brian and I are amazed at how fast the time has just flown by since we got engaged! We still have plenty of items to wrap up. On the list for this weekend:

-Finish the seating chart (which, by the way, is incredible!)
-Finalize the itinerary.
-Put together all our gifts & gift baskets.
-Hang with Bunny.
-Play with Jack.
-Make our card box.
-Find something to wear for our rehearsal dinner...
-Create our 'Just Married' sign.
-Figure out what we are going to be putting that 'Just Married' sign on...
-Stop by Brian's Mom's house and make sure the dress still fits, as well as do some last minute adjusting...
-Drop of the ribbon for our cake vendor.
-Drop of the planters for our florist.
-And coordinate everyone for our day of event!

It's going to be a lovely day. We started checking the weather about 3 days ago. So far, it's supposed to be sunny with a high near 87, and there's only a 30% chance of showers! Whatever Mother Nature hands us will just be beautiful.

Beautiful!

9...

It's crunch time, ladies and gentleman, and working 8 am to 5 pm, sometimes later, makes this time in particular a bit challenging. We are literally 9 days away from our wedding! We are still finalizing our itinerary (this is taking longer than expected), and we still have a few things to do, but nothing that we don't think we can't 'knock out' (as Brian would say) this weekend. We hope to have nearly everything done by Sunday so we can enjoy our wedding week and not have too many late nights. (We've had a couple of those already this week.) It's all coming together. It's amazing, and surreal, and exciting all mixed together!

10...

We are 10 days away from our wedding day! It feels so close now. 16 days may have felt far away, but 10 feels right around the corner. Brian and I have been busy bees hustling and bustling and getting everything in order. We stuffed all of our 'out-of-town' guest bags, we've been in contact with all of our vendors, we're finalizing payments, working on our itinerary, and booking some last minute extras! It feels like we have a lot to do, a lot to figure out, and a lot to organize, but I am constantly reminded that we are very on top of things and it seems more overwhelming than it really is. I suppose at some point I'll have to let go and let what is going to happen, happen. I know it will all work out, one way or another. It's just letting go that is the scary part.

We met with our DJ last night and he assured us that he would keep the reception night flowing as planned. He has the final list of all of our music selections, and even helped us a bit along the way. We're are still extremely happy that he is able to be the DJ for our wedding and we know that all of our guests will be too!

Next up on the 'to do' list is the card box, finalizing the itinerary, and coordinating the day of items.

The countdown is seriously on!

Sixteen Candles

We had our programs and menus printed today. Brian and I have been fortunate enough to be able to design our programs and menus, order the paper, and have them printed which has helped tremendously with our cost savings. It's wonderful to be able to have the option to do things ourselves!

And, we are officially 16 days away from August 6! This is going to sound absolutely crazy but our wedding day still feels far away. It's just a weird in between time where we are just so excited for our day that 16 days seems so far away, but when we think about it literally 16 seems very close! (You see, crazy.) Nonetheless, it will be here before we know it and our preparations are well underway!

Chump Change

Last night, Brian and I went through all the wedding stuff that we have: all the D.I.Y. things we've incorporated, all the things in the piles that we have in our basement, and all the things we still need to do. And, (no pun intended) all in all, we are in a pretty good spot...scratch that...a great spot! With 17 days left, the things that we still have left to do are chump change compared to the things that we've already done. It's amazing to think of the progress that we've made with planning our wedding. This is no small feat.

Junk in the trunk.

I never really imagined what it was like to plan a wedding, but since we got engaged last July we've been planning one, and to see it all come together just the way we want it to is incredible. We are so, so happy with everything. We are so, so looking forward to seeing all the people that are going to be able to join us, and we are so, so excited (still!)! I'm confident that if for some reason we had to all of a sudden get married tomorrow we would still have our perfect wedding. :)

We are all going to have so much fun! It's going to be incredible for Brian and I, our guests, and our vendors. And that's the way we want it!

PS: I tried on my dress today. It fits perfectly. I have one more fitting on Thursday and it will be coming home with me then too. In less than 3 weeks, our knot will be tied! (Ok, for those of you that thought my dress was going to come home with me at the end of June, that was right. There have been some minor (major at the time) setbacks, but that's an entirely different blog post!)

If you ask me I'm ready

We've officially hit the month before our wedding. Unbelievable. We are finalizing so many details and scheduling our final meetings with most of our vendors. Our bachelor/bachelorette party weekends officially start in one week, and I, of course, have been finalizing all the 'bridal' details! We know this month is just going to fly by, and we really are still in shock that our wedding is so close!

The excitement has certainly picked up. (It was high to begin with. I didn't imagine it would get any higher!) Our house has become quite a clutter with cases of wine, bottled water, beer, Red Bull, and champagne, boxes of vases for all our centerpieces, presents for our bridal party, receipts and notes and papers galore, and many other items that will probably end up taking on a semi-permanent home in our home even after our wedding.

It has been wonderful the amount of things that we have been able to do on our own. Time consuming, but wonderful. We are able to add that special touch and pay particular attention to the details of our wedding to make it exactly how we want it to be. As guests, you will all notice the minor touches that we have added, and as hosts of our wedding, we are so happy with the outcome so far. It's going to be a fantastic day, no matter what happens!

150 Days!

We've literally hit 150 days until our wedding, and even though we started the countdown a while ago, it feels that much more real to see such a nice round number! It seems like it's a lot closer in 'day' terms as opposed to 'month' terms. For example, 150 days feels right around the corner. 5 months feels like we've got some time. But there are both one and the same - six of one, a half dozen the other - and somewhere, middle of the road, we are well on our way.

150 days and counting!!