Registries!

Bed, Bath, & Beyond Registry

Macy's Registry

Sears Registry

We registered at Bed, Bath, & Beyond like a month ago or so. And then yesterday on a whim we decided to register at Macy's & Sears, too.

Soon we will also have a Honeymoon Registry. So there should be a lot of options. Hehe

HOUSE!

Jon and I have been looking at houses for a long time...But we really cracked down and started taking it more seriously the past few weeks. We finally fell in love with one on Wednesday and that had only been on the market for two days. Three other couples put an offer on it as well, but we got it! :)

So now with paying for a house and a wedding all by ourselves, we really have to try to stick to our budget as closely as possible.

Which means no frivolous spending.

Like on chocolate and peanut butter fountains, ice sculptures, dessert and candy tables, and ice cream stations. :)

Hehe Our wedding and house are going to be awesome anyway...We are just going to be totally broke...But it will be worth it, right?

We are at the 5 1/2 Month Mark!

We booked our Honeymoon to Riviera Maya, Mexico Friday Night! I am very excited! I will post pictures I have found online and more information about the hotel and the trip later.

So since Friday I have been thinking that we are done booking everything we need. And I thought I can relax for a little while. Lately my fiance and I have been focusing on looking for houses. We would like to buy a house ASAP. So we have a nice house to live in after we get married...And then we will no longer have to live in our current crappy apartment. :)

So it just hit me that we are 173 days from the wedding...That is 5 Months, 2 Weeks, & 6 Days away! There is not that much that I can do for the wedding right this second, until it gets closer.

But it just started hitting me just how much there will be to do. And now I am starting to stress.

Here are some of the things I can think of off of the top of my head (in no particular order):

• Help my girls pick out & book my Bridal Shower Location...And anything else that I am supposed to help out with for the Bridal Shower. Also help give the girls ideas to make it Caribbean themed...Which is more of a tropical beach theme then just Mexico theme.
• Pick out & book Rehearsal Dinner Location
• Let the Limo Company know the times/locations to pick everyone up...And give him the girl's dress colors to match the cocktail napkins to...And whatever else the Limo guy asked me to give him.
• Tell my florist the colors the Grandmother's are wearing...Once they all get their outfits...
• Get all of my centerpieces and candles to the florist so he can set them up and bring them to the reception hall.
• Make a list of songs I want and do not want the DJ to play.
• Tell the DJ what time the Reception starts...And give the DJ said song list.
• Tell my Cake Baker what kind of flowers he should make out of sugar for my wedding cake...And give him a color swatch to match the sugared cake jewels to.
• Figure out what I want to do for Table Numbers and Holders for each table at the reception. (Considering you all know how much I hate Table Numbers...I have yet to figure out exactly what to do.)
• Meet with the owner of the banquet hall for food tastings...And finalize our menu for the reception.
• Finalize linen decisions for the reception.
• Finalize the wording for the wedding invitations so I can finally get back to my invitation lady so she can finish making them.
• Pick out and buy my shoes.
• Pick out what shoes my girls should buy.
• Pick out how I want my hair (that includes color and style), makeup and nails and do some trial runs.
• Pick out how I want my girls' hair and makeup and maybe have them do some trial runs too.
• Maybe FINALLY mail out our Engagement Announcement to the newspapers. (We have only been engaged for 4 1/2 months already!! LOL)
• Pick out and buy (once we know how many people are coming to the wedding) guest favors.
• Pick out and purchase Escort Cards and Holders.
• Buy a garter for me.
• Buy a toss away garter.
• Figure out what dress I want the Flower Girl to wear.
• Make basket for Flower Girl.
• Make pillow for Ring Bearer.
• Ask the Church if they allow rose petals thrown down the aisle...If so is there a cleanup fee?
• Ask the Church if they provide an aisle runner...If not, am I allowed to bring one?
• Ask the Church what can be thrown outside of the Church...Otherwise I will need to go buy bubbles to hand out to the guests.
• I need to see how much my Invitation Lady will charge to make me some Ceremony Programs...Or I need to make my own.
• I need to decide on music for the Ceremony...As well as who is going to play the songs.
• I need to pick out the readings, the readers, and the songs and singers for the Ceremony.
• We need to pick out and buy each other's wedding bands...In enough time to have them sent out to get engraved.
• We need to finish getting all of the wedding party's gifts. (I'll give you a hint...The Bridesmaid's gifts have been bought for months already but the groomsmen's gifts still haven't been ordered!) Also need gifts for the Flower Girl & Ring Bearer...And for our parents. I am pretty sure we will skip giving gifts to each other, the rings and honeymoon will be enough.
• Need to tell the photographer and videographer the time and location to show up at...And all subsequent times and locations to appear at.
• Need to finish getting prices from different hotels for all of the out-of-town guests (which is pretty much every guest.)
• Make sure all of the guys have been going to their tuxedo fittings.
• Check on my girls' dress alterations...Whenever they go get them altered. (Obviously after I pick out their shoes.)
• I need to find a seamstress that I trust enough to alter my wedding dress for me...And then eventually make appointments for said alterations.
• Let the Photo booth company know the time to be at the reception.
• Decide if we want to register anywhere else. (So far we only registered at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.)
• Pick out and buy a dress for my Bridal Shower
• Pick out and buy a dress for my Rehearsal Dinner
• Pick out and buy a dress for my Bachelorette Party
• Do anything I'm supposed to do to plan for my Bachelorette Party
• Decide if we are having a Day-After-The-Wedding Brunch. If so, figure out the time, location (at either my parent's house or our possible new house), food, etc. (And what I'll wear to it!)
• Decide if I want to have Menus made up at each place setting at the reception...If so, then I need to make them or have them made up.
• Do I need to figure out what the guests can do to entertain themselves for the 3 hours in between the ceremony ending and the cocktail hour starting? If so, then that is something else I need to figure out...
• I don't know if I need to figure out any transportation of guests from hotels to the Church to the Reception Hall or anything...
• Oh and of course figure out when every vendor needs their final payments by...And start paying every vendor the millions of dollars we owe them! (OK not really millions...But it sure feels like it!)

I know there are a billion more things I am forgetting about!

I actually like having that list...It makes me feel more organized. Yes, seeing the huge list also stresses me out...But I would much rather have a big to-do list then forget to do something!

I will, however, definitely need to organize that list by due-dates or vendor or location or something!

P.S. A lot of the times in that list where I said "I"...I realize that sounds really Bridezilla...So obviously Jon can help in any of those decision making processes...He just usually doesn't want to. LOL

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...)