Watch Your Mailboxes!

It is official! At about 9:20 am a very large quantity of invitations got dropped off at the local post office near my house. I am hoping that a majority of them make it to the intended recipients, but after the wedding shower invitation fiasco... who knows!

I was very nervous dropping them off. I have read and re-read these things hoping that I got them all right! I didn't see any misspellings or inaccuracies, but that doesn't mean they are there. I also had to purchase just a few more stamps because I was about 10 short for the response cards! Those will go out tomorrow - or Saturday because it is late and I am tired!

So the shower is in just 10 or so days! I cannot believe that time is moving so quickly! Greg and I are excited to get many of you together to meet and chat and enjoy a nice lunch!

See you all very soon!

Stuffing, Sealing and Sticking

The invitations, response cards, envelopes and directions are all finally printed. I am finally able to get started with the sorting and stuffing of the envelopes. Over the next few weeks I plan to take it slow and just stuff the envelopes and seal them up and get them ready to go.

I need to go to the post office with a full invitation set up and make sure I have the proper postage on the envelopes! I have read and hear so many horror stories of people not putting proper postage on their envelopes and getting them all returned to them in the mail! That would not be fun!

Only one more week left until the shower R.S.V.P's are due! After that - there is only 2 weeks or so until the shower! I cannot believe how fast time is moving! I think we are both very excited for all of our hard work and planning to pan out into a celebratory event!

Penguin Suits

Earlier this week Greg finally picked out the tuxedo that he wanted to wear and the tuxedos he wanted the guys in the wedding to wear.

We went to President Tuxedo just to price it out. We ended up getting the tuxedos from there because we felt they gave us a good deal. They gave everyone a discount and were patient with us looking and deciding.

Greg decided he wanted to have a slightly different tuxedo than the rest of the guys, but I made sure their tuxedos will still match! We did almost end up with Cornflower Blue vests and ties! I don't know how it happened except for Greg and I have a running joke that I will let him get a powder blue suit. So he was joking with the girl at the store and I think she accidentally wrote those color codes down instead of the color we asked for!

No worries though, we just called and told her about it, she checked into it and fixed it. I would have been so angry if on June 25th, the guys went to pick up their stuff and cornflower blue vests and ties would have been there... Man! Now I just have to get Greg to call the guys and explain the deal and what to do!

Guys are so lucky though... They don't have to pay all that much and whatever they get doesn't have to stay in their closet for ever never to be worn again! LOL!

We Get To Have Our Cake And Eat It Too!

We tackled yet another big one on the list this weekend! We finally ordered our cake!

I think it is safe to say that Greg and I were a little more than annoyed and suprised by the cost of a piece of cake. Never mind the tackiness of some examples and the horrible taste of others... We didn't really know what we wanted to do because we refused to pay so much money for something we were not impressed with!

After flipping through many wedding magazines and cake books we thought out all of our options. Do we want to go all out? Do we want a fake cake with a sheet cake in the back? Do we want to just forget the cake and have a dessert table? Yikes!

This weekend we had another appointment with a woman who makes cakes. We spoke on the phone a few times, I explained how we just wanted simple and it felt like no one could just do simple anymore!! She agreed and promised she could and would do simple.

Greg and I met up with her, after about 10 minutes we had our cake design picked out and she had our color samples cut from my little samples of fabric that I have. We paid her and left with the little mini cake that she made us.

Yeah.. yeah... we bought the cake from her before we even tasted it! That is because we could tell by the little cake she made us that it was the right frosting!

For less that one third the cost of a cake from out here in the city we got exactly what we wanted. Once we got home and tasted the cake... we were soooo pleased with our decision! I don't think I have ever seen Greg so enthused with cake in my life. There is hardly any left from the sample one! We may have to call her sometime in the next 110 days to get another one! LOL!

Second to Last Fitting!

Woah!

Is it almost here already? With a little over 100 days to go, I have been working on getting my wedding dress alterations done. I found a great woman a few miles from my home that does alterations. She barely charges anything and is really flexible with meeting with me to work on my dress!

I had one set of changes done to the dress already. This time I got to put the dress on and it fit! It wasn't too big and I wasn't worried it might fall off. It was just the perfect length too! We worked on how the bustle would look and work... so it will stay up and not have people trampling on it all night long.

The dress is still just as comfortable as ever! It definitely was very exciting to get to put the dress on and know that the big day is very close to being here!

The thing I like most about the dress being at the alterations place... is that I know Greg cannot sneak a peek at it while it is there!

Now if only I could find the patience to sew 9 feet of pearls onto my veil.... LOL!

One Down, Two to Go!

Greg and I have a small list of things left that we need to investigate for our wedding. We need a limo, tuxedo place and a cake.

This past weekend we finally took care of the limo portion of the wedding and it felt pretty good to check one more thing off of our "to-do" list! After calling many places within quite a large radius... we decided to go with a very local place with a wide variety of cars.

Of course, I really wanted the 1956 Cadillac limo. We couldn't get it because it didn't hold enough people. We ended up getting a pretty nice limo at a very affordable price.

We did start the cake hunting. A little bit of tasting and getting ideas on what we like and don't like from some local places. Of course that was a yummy task to take care of!!

Tasting Our Dinner

Greg and I finally had a tasting at the reception location. As a consumer, I found it so strange that venues will not let you taste the dinner you may or may not be eating until you book the hall! We had trust in the Mabry Center that the food would be just fine... but like anyone else spending a lot of money on a reception, we wanted to be sure.

Finally a date worked out that Greg and I could make it to the hall. It ended up being Saturday, February 2nd. I also timed it to have one of the chair cover vendors come to the hall. I was able to have my chair covers chosen before the tasting - which was one more thing that I didn't have to worry about!

Once the tasting started it was pretty straight forward. Get up, get food, taste it, if you like it have more... or not. Try the fondue machine, drool over and step away slowly and carefully! Like most of the other gals there, we used the excuse that there was fruit under that yummy chocolate that made it OK to eat! LOL!

In the end, Greg and I discovered a few things that we didn't like a few things we liked and even more things we loved. I am very glad that we had the opportunity to try some of the food before having to choose a menu in just a few months! I think three to be exact!

I Love Suprises

I got to put a deposit on something today that will be tons of fun for the guest at our wedding and of course for Greg and I!

It will be during the reception and will provide a great source of fun for everyone sober and tipsy!

We Registered!

Oh what an adventure that was! I do not think either one of us thought it would be what it was! We had originally decided on registering at only two places, Sears and Bed Bath & Beyond. We hit Sears up first because they closed before BB&B.

When we finally found the area that we sign up to do the registry, we discovered that people at the Sears at Oakland Mall do not know how to run the system. The girls didn't know how to set us up with the little scanning gun. Once they got that figured out, we went on our way only to discover that the scanning gun didn't want us to register for a lot of things! We would scan an item we wanted like luggage and a message would appear on the screen saying "No registerable item can be found!" We were getting so frustrated and we were warm from being in our winter coats. The staff at Sears didn't want to help us and acted as though they had never used a scanning gun! We didn't stick around Sears all that long.

Then we headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond. Talk about a totally different experience! They sat us down in the "Wedding Registry" bar set up they have. They offered us soda, let us put our jackets down and then explained how to register and what to think about when registering. The guy that was in charge of us checked on us often and answered any questions we had about anything. It was a completely different experience than the one we had at Sears!

Sunday we headed over to Target. Greg had a lot of fun there. Target was just an average experience. I think we were both happy with the prices of things at Target. We got to find a lot of things we could find at the other stores we were at...

We are both extremely glad that task is over!

You'll Hate David's Bridal...

With only 159 days until Greg and I are married, the gals and I finally were able to go out dress shopping today. I had no plans really for exactly what kind of dress I wanted them to wear. I was hoping for one of many outcomes.

What happened today wasn't really something I had even considered, but it turned out just fine! :)

Beth came by the house early and we grabbed some coffee. We headed over to David's for our noon appointment with a sales woman there. I was in no way prepared for the amount of females hormones that we were about to encounter. I had an appointment and you would never guess it. The sales woman was of absolutely no help to us. The gals and I stumbled across a cute tea length dress. It was not only cute, but had this thing that went underneath for a hint of complimentary color and also a matching sash for that "other" color. After lots of trying on and discussing... We decided to go with a emerald green and lilac color. I love the combo. The green is so happy and Irish looking.

The sales people at David's were not helpful to us at all. In fact, they were actually pretty rude. When the girls were paying, the sales person barely acknowledged us. She was so snotty when asked simple questions it was ridiculous. I shouldn't have let the girls even get their dresses there, but I didn't want to put them through another shopping day! Yikes!

Unfortunately, I did not want Terri in the same dress as the gals because I don't feel it is flattering for her. We were not successful in finding her a dress, but we are going on Tuesday after work for that.

We headed to the mall later in the day today and my mom was able to find a great deal on a dress too. So she is set as well... after her alterations are made.

Now.... Greg needs to worry about those tuxedos!

Checklist Update!

So far at the knot.com I have completed 39 items on their little to-do list. Unfortunately today I received an email telling me that I was slacking on my wedding planning. Supposedly I am over due on 13 items on their handy checklist.

• Contact newspapers to announce your engagement (you may need to have an engagement photo taken as well). Not so sure we are even doing this!
• Finalize the guest list. I am trying - really I am!!!
• Start looking into registering for gifts. Already!?!? Yikes!
• Request demo tapes from ceremony musicians. Hmmm.... Do we really want those violinists?
• Think about how you might want to wear your hair. Again, trying...
• Begin looking for a baker to make your cake. Cake tasting --- yummm...
• Brides: Start shopping for bridesmaids dresses. Does trying to schedule a date count?
• Make sure your maid of honor and best man are aware of what you expect of them. Like what? Making sure I don't go crazy?
• Register for your wedding gifts. I thought we already went over this???
• Brides: Decide on the bridesmaid dresses. Again, wasn't this above somewhere.
• Purchase and send guests save-the-dates if your celebration is over a holiday weekend or at a faraway locale. Ugh, I don't know about that one...
• Book a baker, choose your wedding cake design, and send a deposit. I thought it said to look above... We must really be behind!
• Brides: Collect necessary measurements from attendants or pass along vender information so that they can order the dresses themselves. Hopefully this is not necessary and they will get dresses together when we go shopping...

I think it is the lists like this that are stressing me out! Geesh! Hopefully this shower business will be finalized soon and more stress will be relieved!

It Arrived in One Piece...

What a day Tuesday was! My dress finally arrived in the mail via UPS from Kansas! I was able to track the shipment through the internet. It was so stressful to watch the dress move across the Midwest and not know if it was the right size or the right length that I requested until I finally had it in my hands!

When I was getting ready for work Tuesday morning, I logged on and checked the status. The dress arrived in Detroit at 6:30 in the morning and was loaded on a truck for delivery to me at 6:45 a.m. I kind of thought when I got to work it would be waiting for me, but it wasn't.

Finally around 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon the security guard called and gave me a jokingly hard time. I went down and got the dress. Once I got over the shock of how small the package was, I opened it.

I discovered that the dress was in absolute perfect condition! I went to one of the artist dressing rooms and tried it on because I had to... It was a little big but the length was perfect and fit wonderfully! The dress was exactly what I was expecting!

I am so grateful to have found the deal on eBay. I emailed the woman who sold me the dress and thanked her for the deal because without that I am sure I would STILL be dress hunting!

Whew - that is a big stress reliever. Now I just have to stare at it in the bag for 7 more months.

Another Money Saver!

I am quite determined to save money on this wedding in any way possible. With just under nine months to go I have decided it is time to start practicing with making my own head piece and veil. With the assistance of my Aunt Jenny, Greg's mom and my friend Elizabeth I have been deciding what supplies I need, how to design the stuff and what I might change to make it better.

A little over a month ago, my Auny Jenny and I went to JoAnn Fabric in Portage and bought some odds and ends to get some ideas for a veil. After lots of surfing on the web and playing around I think I know that for the cost of $20 at the most I will have a lovely pearl trimmed finger-tip length veil... Instead of a plain somewhat sparkly veil for $150!!

Then Greg's mom and I went to JoAnns in Utica. We were there a while and Greg even tagged along because dinner at Macroni Grill was involved... We found tons of things to use on a veil and head piece. I got pretty pearls, swarovski crystals, clear beads and wire. $10 and 45 minutes later I had a headpiece. A headpiece that my friend who does hair said will be perfect to use!

Bammmmm! I saved even more money! Greg does not understand. If I could rent a wedding dress and all the goods along with it for FIFTY whole dollars - I wouldn't understand either!

Finally Booked It!

I cannot believe we have been engaged for a year and two months already... Do you know what that means? In 10 months we will be married! I think it is about time we finally booked our hall in writing right? We should have done that a few months ago!

Originally we wanted to have our wedding reception at my work in one of the halls there. Once I priced out the dinner with our catering company I quickly realized the reality of it all. The catering company at my work charges way too much for food!! It is not my work that charges too much money, it is the catering company that works out of there that is a rip off!

Anyhow, quite a long time ago Greg found this hall called the Mabry Center. It is very close to the church and close to local hotels and expressways. The venue is only 4 years old and is not out dated like the other places in the area that we could afford.

It took a while to find a number to contact someone at. When I finally got ahold of them we set up a meeting and checked it out. The prices were awesome, the menu was great and from what we met of the staff - they all seemed just fine! We put our name down for our date and the sales rep told me she would call if anyone wanted our date.

We kept in touch here and there, but with time moving so quickly I wanted to just get hall finalized for us on our date. Just yesterday, I finally put down the deposit on the hall! It was a reassuring feeling to know that we can check that off the list officially and that I can tell work that I won't be having my reception there.

Things are very slowly coming together... Now... about the dress...

Get Notified!

After telling everyone and their mother about this site I realized there was a little problem.

How is anyone suppose to know when to come back and check out the site?

So... Me being the nerd I am, I went ahead and set up an email subscription for the service. I see quite a few of you already signed up after having the link up for a week or so now. That is great!

There are 40 more days of school left before this wedding begins to really get planned!

Only 450 days to go!

It seems like the wedding day is so close, but really it is kind of far away! We have 450 days until the big day. We still haven't done much planning since the last update, but I will be graduating soon and I am sure it will pick up then.

I need to schedule an appointment with the church to go over some information that we have filled out already. Greg and I also need to schedule time to sit down with a DJ in Ferndale that was recommended to us by a co-worker. With school it is just too hard to find time to meet with people... but in 47 days that will not be a problem!

Last Thursday I started an aerobics class in Warren at the Community Center. It sure did kick my butt, but it felt great! It is only 1 day a week, but it will help me to prepare for the boot camp I want to sign up for in July!

We have started the round of wedding showers and weddings for the summer. For the next 4 months or so, I will be attending other people's events and keeping a mental list of things I would like and not like to have when my turn comes around. For starters, spiked punch. My cousin had spiked punch at her shower and it definitely helped lighten the mood! :)

Another Show

The wedding planning has been pretty uneventful lately. To me that is good because I have three weeks of my semester left at school and then I start my final one!

My friend Amy and I went to a bridal show at the Troy Marriott. It was kind of crazy there, but somehow it was organized. I got more ideas and more useful information from vendors. Again, I did not win any door prizes, but my friend won a few things - so that is cool!

I did get to meet the woman who is doing the body boot camp that I want to join when I graduate school. It got me a little more excited about joining, especially when she introduced me to a girl that is enrolled in the class now. I wish I could start taking the class now!

I need to be patient. I plan on joining in July.

First Bridal Show

I bravely went to my first "Bridal Show"... And I didn't make Greg go with me! I made Jenny go with me instead ;)

A very talented photographer that I know got me passes to the Brides to Be bridal show in Clinton Township, Michigan this past Sunday. I was a little nervous about going because I didn't know what to expect and I don't like large crowds of people like that. It was hot, crowded and some of the vendors were pushy. It was nice to see ideas and things I know I do not want... My favorite thing to get to see was the centerpieces for rent that were not expensive and looked nice. I cannot recall the vendors name, but I am sure I have their paperwork in my big ol' bag I got when I registered!

We got there just in time to sign up for the door prize drawings, which was the main reason I wanted to go. I was hoping to win a honeymoon or something! :) A few very lucky girls did win.. so there is hope yet!