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!

Six Pennies

And last, but certainly not least, the last ingredient for a happy marriage (or so I'm told) is a sixpence that I am to wear in my shoe. The sixpence symbolizes wealth and/or (depending on which website you are reading from) love and happiness. And just to make this extra special, I ordered a sixpence from the year my Mom was born.

Ok, so I'm a lush for incorporating items from people that mean the absolute world to me, but I am so excited to have a little piece of all of them with me. It's going to be a fabulous day, and deep down inside I can't wait to receive my sixpence!

However, I'm not quite sure how it will stay in my shoe...

Something Blue!

'Something blue' symbolizes love, modesty, and fidelity. Our ring bearers, Miles and Ben, have a lovely mother, Erin. She is extremely crafty and talented, and she hand sewed our ring bearer pillow. (Yes, folks, it is 2010 and though relatively far and few there are still people in the world that know how to sew. I am fortunate to know one of them.) It has a sweet blue ribbon to add a slight touch of blue right where we need it. Isn't it just lovely?!

Something Borrowed...

'Something borrowed' is an item that is loaned to the bride on her wedding day from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune is supposed to carry over to the newly married couple. I'm am extremely excited to say that I'll be wearing one of my Grandma's rings for this item. We're not quite sure which one exactly, but it will be nice no matter what!

I am so fortunate to have such a lovely Grammie and it means the world to me that I'll be able to wear something of hers. She has been happily married to my wonderful Grampy...for as long as I can remember...(I can get an exact date...) and I am so excited to see them both on our wedding day!

Something New...

'Something new' symbolizes the optimism and hope for the future that lies ahead. This may be slightly cliché, but I'll be selecting my wedding dress for this item. (I'm not usually one to jump on the band wagon, but I think this is what everyone else does too...) I suppose I could choose my shoes, or some of my undergarments, but I think the dress is the best option for this item. (I can picture it now, 'Brian, my optimism and hope for the future of our marriage lies in this here pair of brand new panties.') Yeah, I'll definitely be sticking with the dress on this one.

(Sorry, photos of that will have to wait until after August 6th!)

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!