One Month

This next weekend will be my second bridal shower (I’ll blog about the first one soon, too!) and my bachelorette party was a couple days ago, and so now that they’re over, I feel crazy excited/anxious! I feel sad that these events I looked forward to are now done and overwhelmed with all the nice things my friends and family did for me over the past couple of weekends. Above all, right now I feel overwhelmed with gratitude toward everyone who came to my shower and/or bachelorette party, gave me a gift (even if we’re talking peen straws or casserole dishes), said something nice to me, paid for my fancy bachelorette drinks/hotel suite/gifts, and just generally made me feel so special this month. I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude that the phrase “I can’t thank you enough” comes to mind. No, seriously—I can’t thank these people enough. I have the best family and friends!

 I’m anxious about making sure everybody who comes to the wedding has a good time. I’m so worried I won’t be able to say hello to everyone in attendance, or a friend who doesn’t know anyone else there will be miserable - how can I spend quality time with 250 people? It's sad but I just don't think I'll be able to. I so appreciate everyone who is taking time to drive to Yakima for our wedding - spending their hard earned money and free time to help us celebrate. I deeply appreciate everything our friends and family are doing! And I am so very excited to see everyone flying and driving to Yakima, just for us!

In the past few weeks, people have been asking me if I’m nervous about the wedding. Nervous? No, the only thing I am nervous about is getting all of my to-dos done. It’s crunch time! I'm 100% excited to marry Nate, that much I am calm about.

I'm wrapping up work here in Seattle so that I can move home for the 3 weeks before the wedding. I am really looking forward to lots of time to accomplish wedding tasks, workout with my sisters (here I come pilates!), and catch up on sleep so I can be as relaxed as possible when the big day arrives.

When did you start feeling stressed? Was the last month before your wedding busy and sometimes overwhelming too?

Less than 100 days!

The 100 day mark has come and gone - and let me just tell you, I am so excited!!

...and, I'm so ready to be done.

Don't get me wrong, I am loving and have loved being engaged - but a 21 month engagement is very long. I am just so looking forward to the wedding (week!), I can't wait to see everyone - I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Here's whats going on at the moment:

Invitation Assembly!

Sewing wedding napkins!

Wait, what did I say? Yes, I think I may have officially lost my mind. I've decided to sew all 250 wedding napkins! It just seems like it will be cheaper than renting and so much less boring! Our tables need a pop of color and pattern, so I'm doing 7 different patterns of napkins all within the color scheme of the wedding. The cuteness factor is through the roof, trust me! Plus it gives me a great excuse to watch lots of Sex and the City while sewing these puppies. 

 

(Thats sort of the look I'm going for. Cute right?!)

We picked out Nates tux (and the groomsmen, and the ushers, and the Dads...whew!). We went through Mens Warehouse here in Seattle and really had a great experience. I knew going into the appointment that I really have a soft spot for classic black tuxes and bowties (I'm not the biggest fan of vests) - and luckily, Nate agreed!

Here is (essentially) what we picked:

Nate's going to look so handsome!

And speaking of Nate, I ordered his ring! I'm obsessed with it and hopefully he'll love it too. I was totally nauseous with excitement when I ordered it - everything is so surreal! 

I just ordered it a little thicker, though it looked more manly that way. 

Some more happenings: 

-His parents have booked the rehearsal dinner at Creekside West (Yay!), it will be such a lovely dinner. 

-I've been busy crafting and buying wedding gifts for bridesmaids and Moms  (sorry, I can't post pictures until after!). 

-My first bridal shower will be next month! Nates sisters (and bridesmaids) are hosting it in April. Excited does not even describe how I'm feeling! 

- We've started the process of having all the bridal jewelry custom made. I'm having a necklace made for myself, all the bridesmaids, the two moms, and my junior flower girl. I'll definitely post a picture when I get them! 

-The bridesmaids dresses came in! I pick some of them up tomorrow actually. I really hope the girls are all pleased with them. 

Next up? Sending our invites out on April 2nd and then on to buying all the alcohol for the reception! 

What's on your to-do list?

Obsessions

Now that all the big tasks are taking care of for the wedding, I have moved on to something very fun - putting together all the little details that I am so in love with.

For example, feast your eyes on these pictures. I have been just drooling over cafe (globe) lights-

So, I naturally bought four boxes (100 globe lights) to string over our dance floor. So excited!

Speaking of details, did you all get the newest copy of Yakima Bride magazine? There happens to be quite a fun article written all about wedding details, authored by yours truly :-) Definitely go grab a copy!

Less than 4 months till the wedding, just details yet to go :-)

Getting the Party Started

As you know, one crucial element of the reception that I have been putting off recently, is hiring a DJ. Well, my procrastination is over because we finally made a decision and hired Entertainment Plus! I feel relieved just to have this task taken care of - but I also feel really good about Darin (and the cost was so reasonable!).  The DJ really does play a starring role in the success of the reception and so I feel very confident in Darin's years and years of DJ experience. Keeping the party going and the reception schedule running smoothly is pretty important to me and Darin is the right guy for that job!


Phew, now the reception is pretty much taken care of. All the major decisions for the wedding have been made and I can move on to details. By the way, have you realized there is only a little over 6 months till the wedding?! 6 months! I know I said this before, but I have never been as grateful for such a long engagement as I am now. I feel so relaxed  heading into our last 6 months only because I've had so much time to figure everything out. I'd likely be tearing my hair out if my entire engagement was only 6 months long! I remember how fast the first 6 months of our engagement flew by, so I'm hanging on for the ride! Its going to be a seriously fun 6 months.

Updates!

Its been awhile since my last wedding update! Not too much is new though - school seems to be taking the priority right now and I've never been so thankful for our long engagement! Certainly a blessing right about now.

We have our honeymoon flights and hotel booked! As if I could have been more excited for our wedding, I now have a relaxing vacation on white sandy beaches to look forward to. As a mentioned before, we signed up for a honeymoon registry through Traveler's Joy to help out with the costs of our 5 day stay in Barbados, but thanks to the generosity of my parents, frequent flier miles covered both our flights and so Nate and I just had to book our hotel! We chose a cute little hotel right on the beach, with a small kitchen in the room so that we can buy food from the grocery store near by and save on some food costs. Its close to the nightlife and the major shopping areas. I seriously cannot wait to lay in the hot Barbados sun for 5 days with my new hubby! Bring on the sunglasses and rum punch!

On a recent trip back to Yakima, I took my wedding dress, veil, and reception dress into Coralie's Alterations to start that whole process. Since I purchased the right off the rack sample of my wedding gown, it needs a few alterations. My reception dress is a tad too big and I am also having my Aunts veil altered slightly so that it looks a little more 2012. With all three of those alterations, I figured the more time I gave Coralie, the better. I love that she is going to alter my gown in steps, having me come in every so often to try it back on and then move on to another alteration. I have complete confidence that my two dresses and veil will be just perfect by June!

I met with a local designer to start the process of making our wedding invitations. Just like everything else with our wedding (and in life, really), it was important that we make our invitations reflect both our personalities. I just figured going the custom route was the way to go so that we get exactly what we both want. We hired la Happy (and here is her wedding on Style Me Pretty!) and I could not be more excited!! I am going the DIY route and Sally was so great about giving me as much control over the assembly as I wanted. My guess is that I will have lots more for her to help me with as the wedding gets closer. (Did you see her amazing calligraphy?!) I will definitely post pictures on here once we get some invitations all put together.

Next on my to-do list? I need to hire a DJ! I'm having a hard time picking one...and I'm sort of putting it off. I wish I could just snap my fingers and the perfect DJ (with the perfect price) would just fall into my lap! So far it hasn't been any easy decision. A DJ wasn't on our list of top priorities, so we unfortunately didn't allocate a ton of money for one. But a DJ can definitely make or break a reception, so its fairly important not to just go with the cheapest option. What to do? Do any of you have any stellar recommendations? I could use the help!