Check It Off

I think that the concept of Labor Day {weekend} was not to work and to relax instead. There was plenty of relaxing this weekend, on a raft near the dock, with a beverage in hand. However, there was also much accomplished.

• The Blurb book {our guestbook} is done. It is a-mazing. When opened, each page on the left has an image from our engagement session. The page on the right will be blank for our guests to sign. Here is one of the "left page" layouts we created:

• Ceremony programs were finalized.
• Table decor was finalized.
• "Must-Play" song list {along with the "Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Play list} was finalized.
• Fiances' Mom finalized the rehearsal dinner invitations....they are fabulous.

26 days to go and my Knot Checklist says we have 77 more tasks to complete. Down to the wire we go...

No Rest for the Weary

How time flies. Just six short weeks from Saturday we will {finally} be married.

And I am not sure if I am ready.

Not for the whole being married part...I have never been more sure of anything else in my life. I would marry Chris today in sweatpants...but then I wouldn't be able to wear my dress so scratch that.

I am not sure that I am ready for what the next six weeks have in store for me. I feel like all I have done this week is put check marks next to items on our to-do list...but I don't feel as though I have accomplished anything. I suppose that it's times like these that instead of being six weeks out that we could just be at our reception doing the following:

But there is no rest for the weary. Today I am taking off work and going to hair trial #2, my first make-up trial, picking up the second mock-up of the bridesmaids bouquets, and making the two hour drive home for a trip to the dentist and a family friend's wedding on Saturday (I'll be the one taking notes).

Mommy and I are also going to (hopefully) finish up the design of the programs and make the flower girls pomanders (more on that later). By Sunday when I return to Indianapolis I am hoping that the OOT bags that I ordered will be on the doorstep so we can fill them and put them out of sight and out of mind. Next week brings big decisions on the table settings at the reception as well as whether or not to make/use ribbon wavers/wands for the exit from the church ceremony. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

But to be honest, deep down I'm not sure that I am ready for the whirlwind of "last minute" planning to come and go. In an instant, the pictures will be snapped, the "I Do's" will be said, the cake will be devoured, and it will all be over. Then what will I do!? That, my friends, is a scary thought. So I think that I will just enjoy this weekend and the planning that comes along with it. Be back Sunday! (Unless I blog from the chair while I am getting my hair "did"...have I mentioned I love my new blackberry!?)
(photo above via jasmine star)

Final Fitting

Mommy is here tonight.

We went to my final {gasp} dress fitting. The dress fits like a glove and looks better than I could have ever dreamed it would look. Ever. Finally putting on the dress and having it fit makes this all seem real. I felt like a bride-to- be tonight and soon I will be a bride sitting for her bridal portraits!!

(rae leytham )

Poor MOH has at least 6 bustles ribbons to tie together on the big day. No pressure.

I told Mommy I wanted her to guest blog tonight...wouldn't you have loved that!? However, her usual bed time is 8pm so when we home at 10:30pm, she was done for.

Tomorrow we go for my trial hair do thing, see a sample of the BM bouquets and the table runner, obtain the marriage license and sample the chicken at the reception venue. Cross your fingers that all goes well! (Sidenote: My new BlackBerry Pearl might just allow me to blog on the road!) It's honestly so hard to believe that in less than 2 months we will be married and already back from our honeymoon!

P.S. I will attempt to post a snippet of my dress photos soon!!

Wanted...

1. A videographer that doesn't cost a fortune. Perhaps starting out in the business or something.
2. A convertible car that Chris and I can drive from the hotel to the church and then back to the hotel for the reception. Any convertible will do. Please reference picture below as evidence of how adorable the pictures will be of us in the car.
3. Good weather on Sunday for our engagement pictures...supposedly it will be 75 and sunny. Perfect.
4. A dress (the color plum, of course!) for the rehearsal dinner and cute shoes for said engagement pictures. Attempting to make it to the mall Wednesday night.
5. Life to slow down for just a moment so that I can enjoy the final stages of planning this wedding, see my friends in Indianapolis a couple more times before I move, and just breathe.

Assuming my readers can only really help with 1 & 2...potentially 4. Any thoughts?!

(elizabeth messina)

Allow Me To Brag

Allow me to brag.

Tasks accomplished this weekend:
- We found and purchased the argyle socks that the groomsmen will be wearing in the wedding.
- We added items to two of our registries.
- We stopped by the tux shop and made the final decisions as to the men's attire for the big day.
- BM J picked up the BM dresses from the dress shop.
- Half of the invitations are in the mail.
- I completed thank-you cards for the wonderful wedding shower that was thrown for me last weekend

This week I will:
- Meet with the priest
- Send out the rest of the invites
- Get together outfits for engagement photo shoot (this Sunday!!!)
- Attempt to get my hair cut, tan and get a manicure
- Go to final dress fitting with Mommy and MOH on Thursday
- Go to taste testing at reception venue on Friday
- See the mock-up of the BM bouquets on Friday
- Meet with the organist at the church to determine music for ceremony on Sunday

Thus, blogging on tying the knot will be a little slow this week. Hopefully I will be back with pictures of the final invitations, pictures of the final dress fitting, and lots of updates.
Until then, remember this and this post and my ideas about taking pictures in front of a mansion on our big day? Here's just another little gem that is making me lean towards taking pictures outside the mansion...

(hy studio)

The Sweatshop is Open

Friends,

As of 6pm this evening, my wedding sweatshop will be open. My little wedding elves, i mean bridesmaids, will be hard at work from 6:01pm until the invitations go in the mail on Friday morning.

Yes, friends, the invitations will be in my grubby hands at some point (early) tomorrow night. Shipment #1 of the ribbon has arrived (150 out of 241 yards of ribbon) and my glue gun is ready to assist in assembling the invitations.

This little blog might not be getting too much attention over the next few days, but I will be a much happier person when these little gems are in the mail. Never fear, I always leave you with a pretty picture:

photo via megan w

Precious, is it not?! A "frame-r" for sure.

Accomplishments

This weekend:

• Purchased veil!!!
• Purchased {most of the} bridesmaid's gifts.
• Attended an amazing wedding shower hosted by three of my mother's friends. It was fabulous.
• Assembled registry inserts to include (separate from the main invitation and insert cards) in the invitation packets for guests that might not have access to the internet.
• Determined how to incorporate a signature mat AND a blurb book into our big day.
• Determined that making a card box out of circular hat boxes covered in plum fabric would be a cruel task to make Kristen complete. Going back to the drawing board.
• Beefed up our Macy's registry.

Mommy and I were more than proud of all of our accomplishments. Did any of you attend your shower this weekend or accomplish something "major?"
And since every blog post should have a pretty picture...

I'm not normally a fan of the whole "damsel-in-distress-clutching-onto-the-leg-of-a-man" look...but this one is just too good to pass-by. Love the train, love the gravel and love her dress!

jennifer skog

Two

Exactly two months from Saturday, Chris and I will be walking down the aisle.
two. months.
twwwwwwoooo.

Sidenote: If you remember from this post, I had quite a long to do list to complete a month ago.
Since then, we have completed one of those tasks. And it was a big one. "Notify florist of when we want to see a mock-up of the bouquets." It's penciled in for August 8.

Annnd the pretty picture that should go with every post:

(jasmine star)

Football Fields of Ribbon

In an effort to explain why I will need 240 yards of ribbon:

Let’s discuss, shall we?!
1. Ribbon streamers I posted about here
2. Roughly one foot of ribbon will be used to bind together each program.
3. The florist stated she needs about 4 yards to wrap the BM bouquets. I rounded up just to be safe.
4. Unsure if we will wrap the GM boutonnieres, but I threw in a foot just for fun.
5. Detail on the invitations to come
6. Please let me explain my vision for the napkins:

(please forgive me, I don't have a credit for this photo. let me know if you know who took this!)

A white napkin folded with a "tuxedo fold" making a little pocket for a card I will (hopefully) soon be designing. I envision it not to be a menu, but more of a card that will detail the events of the reception. More on that later.

7. Each of the 17ish centerpieces will have a thick ribbon wrapped around it with our monogram affixed to the ribbon. (I told you I would be slapping the monogram everywhere…) The small centerpiece vases will be similar to this vase:

hy studio

So. 141+118=259 yards of ribbon. More than 2 football fields. Wish me luck.

Eliminating the Laundry List via a Best Friend

The past few days have lead me down a slippery slope of wedding planning burn-out. As a matter-of-fact, I think I’m already at the bottom of the slope. With three months and one day to go it just seems that everything needs to be done and it needs to be done NOW.
So, tonight I told my friend (and bridesmaid) Kristen that I would come over and help her remove the (apparently hideous) wallpaper from the walls of her new house. She insisted that I didn’t HAVE to help and she knew how busy I was with wedding planning. Without hesitation I told her, "You know I think that a night away from wedding planning will be good for me." And then I got to thinking, I was going to order 241.5 yards of ribbon tonight, attempt to settle on an invitation design, work up a design for the map insert card, and start perusing the web for gifts for my bridesmaids….
But that doesn’t matter. Tonight I’ll be removing wallpaper, because that is what friends do. Apparently Kristen knows a thing or two about being a good friend too. I opened up my e-mail this morning to find this:
Jess,
So after reading your blog for today, I decided that I would love to
offer my services. For the total price of "zero dollars" I will help
with what ever tasks, research, set up, etc. that you may need.
Here are some of the items on your alphabetized list that I thought I
could help with:
1. Card box - I will make you a beautiful plum colored card box from a
fabulous fabric at no cost to you.
2. Table runners - Research of local party rental places and price quotes.
3. Sign - Comprehensive design and construction of a sign that will
lead guests from the parking lot to the reception hall complete with
your beautiful monogram.
4. Timeline - Create day of timeline. All I need from you is times you
want to start and finish the entire day and names of vendors. Pictures
before or after? This will be a work in progress and will be reviewed
by you several times before I finalize it.
5. Invitation/programs - Assist with putting invitations and programs
together. I can also research designs for programs.
6. Any other tasks that you need completed.
So, what do you think? As the bride you need as little stress as
possible, and lucky for you you have friends that are there to lift
some of the burden that comes with wedding planning. Jessica Lynn
will you do me the honor of lifting some of that burden?
Sincerely,
KTo
A HUGE smile came across my face and I thought about how blessed I am to have such amazing friends. I love you Kristen, but I don’t think you know what you have gotten yourself into. Besides the aforementioned tasks I think that you could:
7. Pick out the bridesmaids totes and earrings (since you're a bridesmaid you might as well have a say in what you're going to get!!)
8. Assist in cutting said 241.5 yards of ribbon once delivered to my house
9. Make friends with Kinko's people when it comes time to print the seating chart signs, napkin inserts, monogram squares, programs, etc. Achieve discount, if possible.
10. Continue to be one of the best friends I have ever had.

The Laundry List and Addressing the Envelopes

I think I have gone off the deep end. The past two days while at work my thoughts have been consumed with thoughts of how much ribbon I am going to need to order and what invitation design we should go with. At night I come home and sit in front of the computer for HOURS further agonizing over said thoughts that have been bottled up and filed away thorough out the day. While said ideas are bottled up and filed away, they multiply. All of a sudden, before I know it, I have created/dreamed up more projects for myself to do. For example: Clearly I couldn't just address my invitations by hand....that would take hours since I would re-do them all once they begin to look even a smidge crooked. So, I dreamed up the idea of creating a design to use in addressing our envelopes and then printing them out on my printer. Behold:

The back of the envelopes (for the return address) will be stamped with my parent's address via an ink stamp I purchased from expressionery .

Back to business. Please humor me while I share with you our remaining laundry/ to-do list as we have EXACTLY (gulp) 3 months and 1 day until our wedding. Please appreciate the fact that I alphabetized the list for your reading enjoyment.

• agonize over whether to use the reception hall's standard white card box, or make a fabulous plum one.
• buy (white) shoes and earrings for the big day in time for next fitting
• create day of timeline/schedule for the parents, 'maids, and vendors
• design seating chart for the reception once the RSVPs start coming in
• enjoy the taste testing at the reception hall. attempt to pick out chicken that doesn't taste like rubber
• finish invitations...before throwing them out the window
• get thru the rest of the fittings without letting the alterations lady take me to the cleaners
• hope the hair and make-up trials go alright
• investigate that stuff that plugs tear ducts so i don't cry like a baby and ruin my make-up
• just breathe
• keep searching for gifts for the bridal party and parents as well as ties and socks for the groomsmen.
• line up day of transportation
• make or rent table runners for reception that are the perfect shade of plum
• notify florist of when we want to see a mock-up of the bouquets
• order tuxes for the men
• peruse the mall for beachware for the honeymoon
• question if i will be able to design the programs myself while staying sane
• rehearsal and rehearsal dinner time and details still need to be established
• scrutinize the pros and cons of having either a candy bar, favor boxes filled with chocolate, or no favors at all
• try to find more things we can slap our monogram onto
• undertake making a sign to lead our guests from the parking garage to the ballroom where our reception will be held
• veil needs to be purchased at some point in time
• welcome bags for out of town guests need to start taking shape
• x, y, and z are impossible.

More Tidbits

Have I mentioned how productive we have been with our wedding to-do list these past two weeks?!

• As I casually mentioned, I bought my dress about 2 weeks ago! I'll post pictures of it later... the ones of it on-line don't do it justice. I have never been so relieved to actually buy something in my entire life.
• This weekend I'm ordering a j crew dress for myself (completely justified since I will have showers, other weddings, and rehearsal dinners to go to this summer) so that we can see how it will look on some of the BM's



(navy j crew sophia dress....so pretty in the summer with some coral colored or even yellow jewelry...)


• Chris set up the meeting with the priest overseeing our marriage preparation for next weekend. One step closer to getting hitched.
• Chris booked the rehearsal dinner venue yesterday and I can guarantee our time at Binkley's will be as much fun as our actual reception!
• This weekend we're meeting with a potential DJ, determining our wedding liturgy, and picking out our save-the date designs.
• I ordered and received our monogram from e lucky designs. Love it. It's going to be the inspiration behind our invitation suite and will appear on everything I can justify affixing it to. Erin, you did an amazing job...thanks again!

• This weekend we're meeting with a potential DJ, determining our wedding liturgy, and picking out our save-the date designs (the results of the save-the-date poll were too close to call, so I guess we have to decide for ourselves if our pretty faces will grace the mailboxes of our guests).
• We booked our honeymoon! 6 days and 7 nights in St. Lucia in a Beachfront Penthouse Suite. Time alone in paradise with my h-u-s-b-a-n-d= cannot wait!
• Shout out to Aletha at Pearls Events for inspiring me to change up my blog header. You likey?

The weekend is here and that means I get to go home after being out of town (and working 55 hours a week) for the last 19 out of 21 days. This is the longest that Chris and I have ever gone without seeing each other and although our calendar is already filled for the weekend, I know that we'll take the time to enjoy just being together....hope you can do the same!!

Status Update

The weekend is over, a ton of snow is piled up outside, and the holidays are upon us!! I thought that today would be a good day to share where I am in the wedding planning process...more for my benefit than for anyone else's. In listing out every minute detail I hope it looks like I/we actually accomplished something because it sure doesn't feel like we have.

• Got the groom
• Picked the date
• Narrowed it down to 2 dresses
• Forked over the money for the church

the church. picture by Turtle Pond Photography

• Have the contract for the reception hall in my hot little hands
• Coerced someone fabulous into designing and printing the invitations
• Booking our photographer this week (hopefully)
• Started researching rehearsal dinner locations, florists, and the honeymoon

Please excuse me as I pat myself on the back!

Status Update

I love to-do lists. I would create to-do lists all day and everyday if I could. Creating a "pretty" to do list using a sharpie marker and a post-it is one of my favorite past times. I almost have as much fun creating the to-do list as I have crossing the items off of the list. Lately, however, I have begun to resent to-do lists....wedding to-do lists. Each and every time I log onto The Knot our to-do list has grown and I still have not been able to cross anything off.

Take a look at our planning timeline that I created way before we were engaged:

this timeline is courtesy of miss daffodil, get the link to her timeline here
It is now almost December of 2007 and the only thing that has been accomplished is the draft of the guest list, which was only accomplished last night. As you can see above, the priest, church, hotel, reception site, and photographer were all supposed to have been booked BEFORE November. We don't even have our wedding party selected yet!
As for the tasks that were to have begun by December....only the wedding gown search and the honeymoon research have begun.
As of today there is nothing, but the guest list draft, that I can cross off the to-do list. Nothing!

But, I am getting my sharpie ready to cross off some items because here is the plan for this weekend:

• Chris and I are checking out 4 reception hall locations on Saturday and hopefully putting down a deposit sometime next week.
• We are meeting with the priest on Sunday...hopefully he will agree to marry us!
• Visiting 2 churches in Indianapolis and make a final decision on where we will have the ceremony.
• Deciding the wedding party.

The weekend of December 15th or 22 will (hopefully) be spent testing out various venues for the rehearsal dinner, determining our photographer, and deciding on a website to host our wedding information.

What were you most excited to cross off your wedding checklist?

The To-Do List

I would like to introduce my, I mean our, planning timeline:

this image is hosted on flickr here if you would like to view a larger image

this timeline is courtesy of miss daffodil, get the link to her timeline at the bottom of this post

As you can see, before November we need to:

• book a photographer
• book a church & reception hall
• book a hotel for our guests
• draft a guest list
• and select our wedding party

Progress made thus far:

• chosen a photographer ...crossing my fingers about her
• looking at 2 churches that are available on Sunday with Chris & waiting to hear back from 2 more
• no progress on the reception hall or a hotel for our guests
• a guest list will hopefully be in the works after meeting with my parents this weekend
• wedding party is in the works!!

The real planning begins this weekend! I'll post next on Sunday with what we have checked off our to-do list! And maybe I can even get Chris to post something!!

Not Done Yet

As much as I THINK that I have planned a lot ahead of time for my wedding, I realized today that there are still a lot of details that I have yet to explore. For example:

• The actual DATE!! I feel as though maybe this should be a decision we both make. haha.


• Although I know the style of the cake I want, I have no idea where to start with any flavors or fillings for it.


• DJ, church, and reception venue have yet to be determined


• The song playlist for the reception


• The guest list...ugh


• The programs for the ceremony


• Incorporating the white nylon rope into the invitations


• Flower centerpieces for the reception. I am thinking green roses/green berries/other green flowers with a rope around the vase. Something like:

Clean, contrasting, and eye catching. Love it. I guess I have this bullet point taken care of!



Ugh. I can see how wedding planning becomes overwhelming...and I'm not even supposed to be planning yet!! But I am honestly loving every second of it... so far!!