Something Old...

As the old adage says, I must carry with me, 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in my shoe'. (I actually just found out about this last line. I wasn't aware that I need to find a sixpence as well as all the rest of the items for this little diddy.) Nonetheless, in carrying each of these good luck tokens it is supposed to bless us with a happy marriage.

Now, I am not overly superstitious, but if someone told me not to 'step on a crack', I would make a conscious effort not to. And since all of these ingredients put together, essentially, make a happy marriage, I figured I'd stick with the tried and true! So, since the saying is as the saying goes, I'm going to do my best to carry a little bit of everything with me.

'Something old' symbolizes continuity with the bride's family and the past. For this item, I received a handkerchief last Christmas from Brian's Mom. It was actually designed using fabric from his Grandma's wedding gown, and from what I understand it is 51 years old. (Don't quote me on that.)


Now, I may be cheating slightly because this is Brian's family, but they will also be my family in a little less than two weeks, so technically they're my family too, right?! This is the 21st century way of incorporating the old with the new. Something 'old' has extended to the bride and groom's family!

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!)

We.heart.music

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I've not really put my heart and soul into playing a particular instrument, and I couldn't really sing a note if my life depended on it, but I.heart.music. And so does Brian.

We are extremely happy with our DJ, but we also are very into picking some of the songs that are going to be played at our wedding. I'm not talking about the songs that we will definitely be picking like our first dance, our father/daughter dance, our mother/son dance, etc. I'm talking about all the additional songs that we'll be hearing throughout the night.

Now, I think it would be a bit difficult to put together an entire list of songs for our DJ to play through the night. Quite frankly, if we were going to do that, we should've downloaded a playlist to our Ipod and hooked it up instead of hiring a human. But, what, I'm wondering, is the limit? How do you tell your DJ that you have an entire list of songs that you want to hear on your wedding day? Are we supposed to actually give him a list? Is that polite?

We are both confident that our DJ will come through and play music that we like (that's one of the reasons we hired him), that will please our crowd, and that will keep everyone dancing, but there are just a few songs that would be great if we could hear. They would make us smile, they would make our guests smile, and they would make our day. I certainly don't think that's too much to ask for.

We have a meeting with our DJ in a week and a half. I suppose we'll find out the answers to all our questions then. In the meantime, we will continue to make our lists...in a non-controlling, non-trying-to-do-our-DJ's-job kind of way!

(I don't think our DJ knew what he was getting himself into!)

OPA!

In the Greek language, 'opa' is an exclamation that can be used during a celebration - a 'time to party' or 'get down and dance' sort of exclamation. It is very similar to 'ole' in the Spanish language. In the three girls celebrating a bachelorette weekend in Orlando language, 'opa' was our sacred word - it defined our weekend!

And what a wonderful weekend it was! Two of my best friends in the entire world met me in Orlando to celebrate my last few weeks as a 'semi-single' woman. (Am I really single if I'm engaged to be married??) We stayed at the Marriott World Resort and we all had a blast! The three of us together literally were three peas in a pod, and it was wonderful because I am incredibly close with Tamara from our middle school days and incredibly close with Brandi from our college days, and the two of them hit it off like we had all played together since childhood. I couldn't have been happier. We hung out at the amazing pool, laughed, ate some incredible food, danced on a few tables, and even went to one of two Icebar's in the entire U.S. of A. (The other is in Las Vegas, NV.) I enjoyed every moment of our trip together, and I absolutely cannot wait until we are all together again in just over three weeks! OPA!

PS: I asked Brian if he wanted to title a post for his Bachelor Party weekend at Put-In Bay. He said, 'yes, title it Mayhem. Mayhem at PIB.' I then asked him if he would like to write a post about his weekend. I explained that it would be very difficult for me to capture the vibe without being there and it would be best explained from his perspective. He declined immediately with, 'I can't do that.' I just had to laugh. His stories will be forever held in the memories of the guys who went...if they remember anything... (And this may be for the better after a few of the stories that I have been told!)

Hot Mess

Flight to Orlando: not sure, my maid of honor took care of it...expensive.

Drink coupons for the plane: free!

Starting the weekend off with a theme song titled 'Hot Mess': $1.29 from iTunes.

Bachelorette party weekend with two of your best friends in a hot, beachy type of place with drinks, food, and no doubt fun: PRICELESS!

Summer Nights

I believe in ice cream, tree frogs, and lightning bugs. I believe in closing your eyes when a warm breeze blows past you. I believe in searching for the moon every night. I believe in stars. I believe in long, slow, deep kisses, and I believe in the soul. I believe in bike rides, and long walks, and relaxation, and I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe in iced tea, good books, and screened in porches. I believe in baseball. I believe in fireworks. I believe in vegetable gardens, fly swatters, sunsets, and thunderstorms. I believe in good music. I believe that laughter cures all things, and I especially believe in Yahtzee! I believe in watermelon. I believe in peaches. I believe in camping, and s'mores with the marshmallows browned but not burned. I believe in listening, and I believe in learning from your mistakes. I believe in running in the rain. I believe in Moms. I believe in love. I believe in happiness. I believe I'm marrying the most incredible man on earth, in the universe, and I believe I am the luckiest girl.

I believe it is a brilliant summer night.

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!

El Toro

Fortunately for us, our venue allows us to bring our own alcohol in for our reception. (This is a huge cost savings compared to not having that opportunity.) And today we received our liquor, beer, and wine order. For nearly 150 people, this is what is boiled down to:

30 bottles of red wine (cabernet sauvignon)
42 bottles of white wine (sauvignon blanc)
5 liters of vodka (Grey Goose)
4 liters of gin (Hendricks - we had to support the family name...)
9 liters of rum (5 of Captain Morgan & 4 of Bacardi)
7 liters of whiskey (3 of Crown Royal & 4 of Jack Daniels)
1 bottle of Jagermeister
5 cases of Michelob Ultra
4 cases of Miller Lite
3 cases of Budweiser
2 cases of Sam Adams
3 cases of red bull
8 cases of bottled water
AND,
24 bottles of the bubbly!

Brian did a tremendous job at organizing, figuring out, and ordering our liquor. He is definitely a man of many talents - one of the many reasons why I love him. He ordered our wine from the distributor that stocks our local grocery store and our liquor and beer from his delightful contact at our local bar. It really was amazing how everything fell into place.

But where, do you ask, are we storing all of this booze? Behind our couch...


And, yes...there will be a bottle of El Toro at our wedding!

23rd Floor

We took the elevator up and got off on floor 23.

The ride was silent, but the few times that our eyes met our smiles made it clear that there was no doubt in each others mind.

We followed the signs which were blatantly marked.

There was no messing this one up.

To the left...to the left again, and we walked down a narrow corridor. We arrived at our destination, we smiled at each other, and entered through the door.

There was excitement in the air.

The view was incredible from that high up.

We filled out our paper work and waited in line. As each person in front of us stepped to the side they brought us that much closer, until it was our turn. As we raised our right hands and solemnly swore, we made it official.

We signed for our marriage license today, and on the way back down to reality, we couldn't help but smile and giggle like giddy 5th graders in a school yard.