Countdown

I feel like the next 5 Months, 3 Weeks, & 3 Days are going to take FOREVER to get here!

But actually when you think about it...We have already been engaged for 4 Months, 2 Weeks, & 1 day...And that has flown by! So if the 138 days of being engaged have gone by so fast...Then maybe the next 177 days (which is only 39 days more) until the wedding will go by fast too!

I am so excited for the wedding to finally get here!

However, I will miss having a fiance. Hehe

But I bet having a husband will be great too! :)

HONEYMOON!!!!!!

A Note to ALL Brides-To-Be:

ATTEND EVERY BRIDAL SHOW YOU CAN!

As my regular readers know, I have won many prizes. I have won prizes from all different ranges...Anywhere from $500 to just tiny bouquets.

However, I won my favorite prize yet at the Bridal Show I went to yesterday!

I won a FREEEEEEE 3 Day Honeymoon to Riviera Maya, Mexico!!

Without even knowing, my name had been going into a big drawing from attending so many other shows and this show had the big drawing accumulated from all of the others...And I was SOOO CLOSE to not attending the show yesterday! What a great surprise!! Obviously I am so glad that I went! :) Hehe

I know Jon and I wanted to go to Hawaii...But we hadn't booked it yet, and this is FREE!!!!

We always can still go to Hawaii for our Honeymoon and save this Mexico trip for our One Year Anniversary...But we probably won't do that. Hehe

I mean I am a little afraid that if we don't go to Hawaii now we probably never will...But we are paying for the wedding, the honeymoon, and a new house all by ourselves in the next few months...So I'll take something free when possible. :)

The travel agent is supposed to contact me today with further details. However from the packet they gave me about it yesterday, I am sooooo uber excited!

The hotel we won to stay at is really expensive and all inclusive and looks like absolute paradise!

All we need to do is pay for the airfare...And any days we want to stay there after the free 3 days are up.

And what made it really great was that my Mother, my Future Mother-In-Law, my Grandmother, & my Great Aunt were all there with me to share in the excitement when I won!

I am so totally walking on Cloud 9 right now!

So in conclusion, Brides-To-Be, do NOT let anyone talk you out of going to as many Bridal Shows as you want to go to!

Just because I now have all of my vendors booked, doesn't mean I still can't go to Bridal Shows just to try to win prizes! I don't think it is greedy. It's not like I win at EVERY show. :)

But yes, I would say this is my most favorite prize thus far! :)

I will post pictures of the hotel and everything when I get more information from the travel agent. :)

I think we have a lot of options to chose from. We can just pay for additional days to add to the free 3 days...Or we can just take the 3 days in Riviera Maya and then go to Cancun or Hawaii on a cruise or on land...I don't know what to do...So many options!! Most likely we will probably just extend the Riviera Maya trip...Because from the photographs I have seen online so far, once we are there we will probably never want to leave!

Jon and I have never been out of the US...So any trip we go on will probably feel like Heaven to us. :)

PS Yesterday was EXACTLY 6 Months until the wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now we are at 180 days away!

Just 5 Months, 3 Weeks, & 6 Days to go! :)

Uber Quick Updates!

Only 185 Days left! :)

Here are a few really quick updates.

Saturday was our appointment for our Wedding Invitations...And it went really well. She is going to make up a couple of designs for us to chose from.

Then on Sunday we met with the Priest. We were so comfortable with him that we decided on having a mass. We were originally just going to have a non-mass ceremony...And I am actually very very excited about our special wedding ceremony and mass!

Last night we met with a different florist...And I am absolutely in love with this man! He is just so fabulous!

And he gave us a good enough price that we can actually afford to have flowers in our centerpieces! So we no longer have to go with the flower-less centerpieces.

I am sooooo excited for this florist!

Now I think that we have every vendor we need booked!! OMG!

The only thing left to book is our Hawaii Honeymoon!! :)

I am finally way more excited than stressed for this wedding now!

Once we have our honeymoon situated and booked, there really won't even be too much to worry about or do for a couple of weeks at least.

The biggest things I still need to decide on:

• What linens I want
• Escort cards and escort card holders
• More Favors in addition to the photo booth favors
• Location of the Rehearsal Dinner

Then there are just little decisions like what songs to play during the reception...What readings to have during the ceremony...Etc.

Either way, I think I get to start relaxing a bit now...And then I'll stress again as the wedding gets closer.

All I know is that I am soooo uber excited!!

Only 6 Months & 4 More Days left to go!! :)

Dress-Up Time!

Is that dress not absolutely PERFECT for my wedding theme?!

And then add one of these shoes...(Would have to see in person which actually looks better with the dress)...

And I do believe that we have my outfit for the rehearsal dinner! :)

Now I just have to actually go to the store and try the dress and shoes on and see how everything actually looks on me...

(And of course, some how justify spending almost $100 on said new outfit...)

A Few Quick Updates

Last Friday Night we went to the design lady that does flower-less centerpieces. She had some good ideas at a very reasonable price. So we have to think about it.

Saturday Morning we went to our florist appointment to discover that she forgot all about our appointment. So it was a sloppy appointment on her end since she was not ready. All in all, she was nice and had great ideas, but I think she is going to be way too expensive.

So we totally need to keep looking for another florist ASAP!

Saturday Afternoon we went to our cake tasting. And it went awesome! We booked him.

I showed him the design of my butter cream version of my fondant cake that I designed…We were pretty much able to stick with the butter cream version of my dream wedding cake. I am actually really excited about it. I think it is going to look really awesome! :)

At first Jon and I decided we were going to get every tier in chocolate. But then the baker asked us, “what about people who don’t like chocolate?” (Which actually includes my dad and my sister.) So then we decided that the top tier that we take home with us is chocolate. And the biggest bottom tier is going to be chocolate with peanut butter mousse! I am very excited for that! And then one of the other bottom tiers will be a marble cake…And then the other tier is going to be a yellow cake. We tasted all of the cake flavors on Saturday, and they all rock!

We also tasted three different butter creams. One was vanilla, one was more yellowy, and the last was chocolate.

The chocolate butter cream was soooo damn good! I was very tempted to order a full chocolate cake with chocolate ganache in between the layers and chocolate butter cream on the outside. But we did not do that.

All of the butter creams were yummy and not too sweet. He said they can adjust the sweetness level or add flavorings to the creams. But we decided to leave them as is. And we chose the white butter cream for the outside of the cake for the simple reason that my final design called for the cake to be mostly white. So that’s that.

I can’t wait until my wedding day to see my design brought to life in my actual wedding cake!! :)

Tomorrow afternoon is our Invitations appointment. So hopefully that goes well.

Oh and last Sunday I finally ordered our Save-The-Dates that a friend of mine designed for us. So hopefully those magnets will be coming in soon!

And those are all of the updates for now! :)

All that I have left to book is a cake baker and a florist. I have had the worst luck trying to book either one!

On January 23'rd we had an appointment with our first cake baker...But I got the stomach bug and we had to cancel. We told them we would reschedule...But we just haven't yet.

Then on January 25th we had an appointment with a second cake baker...We showed up there and they told us that the lady had to go to the hospital...They thought she might be in labor but they weren't sure...They said she'd call me back. Well I haven't heard back from her, nor have I tried calling.

On January 30th we had an appointment with our first florist. When she told me her address, she left out the town...So I assumed it was in one town and she assumed I knew it was in a different town much further away. So I spent a good long time driving up and down the street in the town I thought it was in...Until I finally called her and we realized the mix-up. So we canceled that appointment. And I haven't decided if we are going to reschedule it or not.

Tonight we have a centerpiece appointment for flower-less centerpieces. So we will see how that goes. I saw their booth a bridal show I was at on Sunday. They made really awesome centerpieces without flowers. And used like colored waters and lights and dried ice and stuff. I was hoping it would be original...But if I still use the centerpieces I bought a while ago, then hopefully they can still look classy and elegant. Unless these people have totally different bases they recommend for centerpieces...And then I just have to return all the ones I already bought. So we'll see.

Maybe we'll get there and see their samples and realize that none of them really work for a classy wedding. I don't know.

I am also hoping that they end up being cheaper than having flowers in the vases. And again, unique can be good.

So I figured it can't hurt to look.

Then tomorrow morning we have an appointment with a second florist...But technically our first appointment since it didn't work out with the other one.

And tomorrow afternoon we have an appointment with a third cake baker...But technically our first appointment since it didn't work out with the first two.

If we end up liking the flowerless centerpieces....Then we only need a florist for bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres...As opposed to centerpieces too. Oh wait, do we need flowers for the church ceremony? I don't know...We'll see.

So that's all that has been going on lately.

So we'll see how all of these appointments go.

Oh! And some exciting news...Jon and I totally decided on our honeymoon location!!

Get this...We are going to HAWAII! :)

I am sooooo excited! Because Hawaii has been my dream honeymoon location since I was a little girl! Eeeekkkk! :)

What sucks is how very expensive Hawaii is though. :(

I am having a hard time booking it because I keep trying to find the best deals on airfare and hotels. And I don't know if we should spend the entire trip in one hotel on one island, and constantly fly around for day trips to the other islands...Or if in addition to island-hopping, we need to do hotel-hopping too...

I might need to involve a travel agent for assistance.

On an other note...

My Mother said that "32 years ago when she got married" that the brides never knew anything about their Bridal Shower. They didn't even know when it would be...That their bridesmaids just picked them up one day as a surprise and drove them to the surprise location.

That is not how I am going to do things.

I love how my friend Nina had a Las Vegas themed Bridal Shower...Since her and her husband went to Vegas for their honeymoon.

Soooooo, I want a Hawaii themed Bridal Shower!

I am actually quite excited about the idea.

I will go buy some cute flowery dress to wear to the shower...And I will get my hair done in the low side bun style I wanted if I was having a beach wedding. And I will put a cute pink flower in my hair...Again, how I wanted my hair for my beach wedding...But since I am not having a beach wedding, and I am probably not wearing my hair remotely close to this style or even putting a flower in it...Now I get the best of both worlds!

And maybe everyone can get pretty leis to wear during the shower!

Original, I know. LOL

OK back to reality. Work for 5 more hours and then our centerpiece appointment! :)