Mrs.

Photo by Pat and Jen

I'm a "Mrs" now...

The wedding went perfectly! All the details and planning came together. It was even better than I had envisioned it! It was great to share such a special day with so many loving friends and family. I thought I would post a picture as a sneak peek. As the official photos come in I will write a few more posts about the ceremony, reception, and our "mini-moon." For now, Mike and I are off to the beach!

It is Really Happening

As some of you know, I started graduate school this month. I am so glad that I planned my wedding far in advance. I have been very busy adjusting to life as a student. There has not been a whole lot of time for wedding planning. To be honest, I haven't even been thinking about my wedding until this week. I keep remembering that it's coming. I keep trying to get ahead on assignments for school (as to not have to do homework on my wedding weekend). And I keep having to remind myself that the days are ticking away.

Then this week, it really hit me how few days there are left. It is really happening. I can't wait! But with the last minute prep and the mountains of homework, I will not be posting again until after the wedding. Look for a post wedding recap and pictures when they are ready!

See you on the other side!

Weeks not Months

The other day, a friend ended an email with: "See you in a few weeks." I thought, "What's in a few weeks?" Then it hit me, my wedding is in a few weeks. It is no longer a count down of however many months until the wedding, it's here. And to be honest, I am feeling pretty ready. All the little details that I talked about in my last blog post are coming together. I've been working away at the seating chart and fine-tuning details for the day.

As someone who loves organizational puzzles, making the seating chart has actually been a lot of fun. It's a bit stressful because I want to make sure that everyone has a good time and is sitting with people they like. I think Mike and I have a good plan, though. This task has been made a lot easier by my friends and family who almost all RSVPed by the suggested date! I kept hearing about brides who had to call long lists of unresponsive guests and were stressed out over how many people to expect. So, thank you!! Knowing who is coming has definitely made it easier to plan accordingly.

While I was on a little pre-grad school trip, Mike offered to help out and bought all the pots for our centerpieces. They are sitting in our house, waiting for the flowers! I guess in just a few weeks we'll be putting that all together.

The flower pots plus one of the placemats the flowers will be arranged on.

What's left?

With two months left until my wedding, it's the beginning of crunch time. Or so I'm told. It is the point in the wedding planning process when people start asking "So, what's left to do?" I keep feeling like there is a mountain of tasks to finish before my wedding, but whenever anyone asks, my mind goes blank. Sitting down with my time lines and to do lists, I realized, there isn't a whole lot left. So this post is for those of you who asked and got answers like: "There's plenty of stuff to do... I think..."

The good thing about having two years to plan my wedding is that all the contracts and vendors were taken care of months ago. What is left is organizing all those parties into one big event. I've got my day of time line almost set, but this is what I haven't done yet:

-Get wedding rings engraved
-Finalize ceremony readings and most other ceremony details
-Review play list, important names, and responsibilities with the band
-Decide on jewelry to wear with my wedding dress
-Order the flowers for the center pieces and pot them
-Finish the gift registry
-Get the marriage licence
-Make the seating chart
-Get a hair cut
-Do final dress fittings
-Check in with vendors on arrival times
-Delegate day of responsibilities to the bridal party

Doesn't sound so bad right? My mom and future mother-in-law have offered to help out with some details too, like the seating cards, table numbers, rehearsal dinner, and getting the alcohol.

So maybe now, when someone asks "What's left?" I'll remember some of the things on this list!

No post would be complete without a photo, so here is my wedding ring! I found it on etsy.com

Photo and ring by CJ McKay

Invitations and Replies

I sent out about 80 invitations in mid June. I honestly wasn't sure how many to expect back right away. I also did not expect receiving RSVPs to be so much fun! People have put notes, pictures, and jokes on them. For the first couple weeks, every day Mike and I would have a pile waiting for us after work. We would excitedly open up the cards to see who had written back. Though the stream of cards has slowed down, we still get a few every now and then. We are waiting on 31 more RSVPs, not so bad.

If you remember, my invitations were handmade by my bridesmaids and I. Everyone came into town for a weekend in March and we sat down for some serious cutting, pasting, addressing, and assembling. For a reminder on that awesome weekend check out my previous post.

Now that all my guests have received them, here are my invitations!
My reply cards:
And a few of my favorite replies:

Party Time: Part 2

It's funny when you think about a wedding as a big party, because how many parties have a whole series of other parties leading up to them? I had my invitation making party, my bachelorette party, and now my bridal shower. I am by no means complaining. I am always up for a good party, especially when it means time with girlfriends and family.

My future mother-in-law, me, and my mom (I am holding the ribbon bouquet my future sister-in-law made as I opened all my gift, it turned out really well!)

My bridal shower, this weekend, continued the trend of excellent events. I had not been to a bridal shower since I was 13, so I had no idea what to expect. I had heard stories about playing silly games or receiving embarrassing gifts (like scandalous lingerie), but I should have known not to worry. My shower was hosted by two of my fiance's aunts. They definitely know how to throw a party. The shower was full of yummy food, really nice gifts, and great people! I appreciate so much all the wonderful presents and the opportunity to see so many friends and family members. My parents came down to stay with us for the weekend, so my mom got to meet more of my fiance's family and some of my friends. It's always a delight when people from different parts of my life come together and get along.

Me with my friends and my future sister-in-law

On another note, I also went to a friend's wedding in early June. It was fun to attend a wedding while in the planning stages of my own. My friend's ceremony and reception were beautiful, as was she! It was especially enjoyable to be seated with all of my friends from high school.

Me with my bridesmaids "D" and "S" at the wedding this June.

My summer of parties is far from over! I'm sure there will be more stories to come.

In the Mail

On Friday I took a reusable grocery bag full of invitations to the post office and mailed them! What a relief! I have spent the past couple weeks hunting down the last minute address changes, double checking all the envelopes, and sealing them up. Now they are out in the mail system. I think some have even arrived! Once I am sure everyone has received their invites I will post some pictures of what they look like on the blog. But for now, here is the big stack before I packed them up.

Party Time

This past weekend was my bachelorette party! I really wanted it to be a surprise so up until we left my house on Saturday I had no idea what we were doing. When I talked on the phone with Bridesmaid "W" the Wednesday before, she told me, “I hope you have fun. I guess this will be a testament to how well we know you or not!” They definitely know me well. It was perfect!

We headed out around noon on Saturday and went to Breaux and Tarara vineyards in Virginia. My bridesmaids got me a personalized wine glass for the tastings with my name, wedding date, and "Bride to Be" on it. Plus it is all in my wedding colors. We had a great picnic lunch at Breaux and sampled all 11 of their wines. Tarara was next, which didn’t have as nice of an ambiance but served really yummy wines.

Bridesmaid "I", friend "A", and I tasting wines at Breaux

Dinner was at Hook in Georgetown. The food was amazing! It was also really neat that they only serve fish caught using sustainable practices. The waiter was very knowledgeable about the fish they serve and the morals of the restaurant.

The night ended at a hotel suite in Greenbelt. We stayed up late playing Settlers of Catan and chatting. My bridesmaids even brought cookies and zucchini bread as dessert. As I said before, it was perfect.

At Hook!

Later this month is my shower and next weekend is a friends wedding. This will be a month of parties!

Hair!

So I thought I was going to be writing this post a few weeks ago, but there were a number of reschedules (both my fault and Kristen's). Tonight, I finally met up with Kristen of KrisFosterHair for my hair trial. I brought in a picture of what I wanted and Kristen got started on it right away. At first I was kind of worried about the direction we were headed in, but as she shaped it, it started to look better and better. At one point I asked her to make the curls a bit more curly and then we were really on a roll. The hair style is not wildly out of the box for me, but it will actually stay! When I try to do this kind of thing at home it all just falls apart in a matter of minutes. That's the difference between me and a professional, I guess. Kristen was super flexible and easy going. I also appreciate that she keeps to a time line. That will definitely be a good thing the day of the wedding. When I got home Mike took lost of pictures of my hair so I can remind Kristen of what we decided on. I thought I would post just one as a tease. The other views will just have to wait until the wedding!

How Many Buttons?

Whenever anyone asks Mike what he's going to wear to the wedding, he doesn't want to give an answer. It's because he didn't have one. I kept saying, "Oh, don't worry about it. Picking out a tux is something we can do later." Well, later arrived. The other night I was checking my wedding to-do lists (yes, there is more than one) and realized we were overdue on the men's formal wear. Oops.

We had a little time this weekend and thought we'd go check out what they had at Men's Wearhouse. Well, an hour and a half later we had the whole deal ready to go. I had no idea there were so many subtle differences between tuxedo styles! We decided on a two button jacket with a notched collar. Mike liked the notch better than the peak. Once again, what? We also picked out a vest, pocket square, tie, shirt etc. We went with dark red as the accent color. Mike's vest has a really nice pattern too. The strange thing is, you don't actually try anything on. We put Mike in a couple over-sized jackets and tried to imagine what they would look like if they fit right. Besides that it was mostly guess work. The sales person, was really helpful, though. She put all the pieces together so we could get a better idea of what it will look like. She also took all of Mike's measurements.

This is the tux jacket, but picked a red vest and tie.

So we are set, just like that. All we have to do is pick it up in September. We also picked out tuxedos for the groomsmen and fathers. Yay!

I'm still on it!

Glancing at my blog this morning, I realized I haven't posted at all this month! It's been a busy month, but that doesn't mean its been without wedding planning.

This month I finalized my desert menu. As many of you know, we are not having cake. Instead guests will have a choice of three types of pie. Officially, there will also be ice cream for some pie a la mode!

I also found a hair stylist (I hope!) I have a trial next Saturday, I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

I guess that's it for this month, I think next month will be more wedding-ful!

The Hunt for Dresses is On!

As the colorful spring fashion lines start popping up in stores, it's time to start thinking about bridesmaids dresses. My plan from the start was to let my bridesmaids pick out their own dresses. I gave them three colors to pick from and a dress length. The rest is up to them. I figure this way they will like their dresses, the dresses will be in their budget, and I don't have to worry about shopping for dresses I'm not going to wear. The colors I gave them are orange, red, and yellow. Now that those colors are starting to show up in stores, my bridesmaids have started shopping! Bridesmaids "I" and "S" and going to wear red dressed, bridesmaid "D" is going to wear orange, and bridesmaid "W" is going to wear yellow. I'm really happy that all three colors will be used. I think the autumnal range of colors will look nice. It's fun to get emails with links to dresses or chat with them about it on the phone. What was really great, though, was getting to go shopping together in person a few weeks ago!

Since I am making my own invitations, I had an invitation making party and invited my bridesmaids down to help me out. They came from as far as Boston! We had a great time hanging out, blasting through the invitations (we made, addressed, and stamped all 90!!), and having girly time. We also got to go dress shopping. "D," who had decided to wear an orange dress, was having a hard time finding any online. Neither of us really thought about the fact that it's a rare color. But at the Columbia Mall, we stumbled across this one and it fit great! "D" got it! So she wins first bridesmaid to have her dress. She's going to get a different belt for it and I'm sure she will find some great shoes to wear with it, too. Even though bridesmaids "S" and "I" didn't find their perfect red dresses to wear, we all had fun trying stuff on and hunting through the racks.

It was a great weekend and I'm so grateful to them for coming and helping out.

Different Types of Flowers

Ever since getting my dress I have been passively musing about the accessories for my wedding day. I've gone back and forth about necklaces, earrings, and what to put in my hair. Now that I've gotten all of the vendors figured out for the wedding, I felt it was time to start filling in the details. Intermittent poking around online is over. I started looking for shoes back in the fall. I am very picky about the comfort of my shoes and wanted to wear flats. I found Zappos to be my best hunting ground. It took me a couple orders and returns to get it right, but I eventually settled on the Kimball2. I wasn't 100% sure about the neutral color and the texture of the fabrics, but when I put them on, I was thrilled. They are linen with a big suede flower on each toe. The softness of the shoes makes the pearly dress shine even more. Plus, I think they are fun, while not being overly noticeable.

Beyond shoes, I want to get my other accessories handmade, as much as possible. I love Etsy and shopping on their site is so much fun. I scrolled through page after page of hair flowers, boleros, and earring. There are so many good looking vendors, but Clark and Diversey really stood out for having some unique flowers. I ordered this hair flower, but they are replacing the rhinestones in the middle with pearls. I really like the combination of different materials. I do have to laugh at myself, though. I spent so long looking at every detail of all these different flowers, but at the end of the day, all anyone will see is a big white flower.

From Clark and Diversey

With these two details squared away, I have begun contacting vendors for a bolero. I also have an appointment to show my dress to a seamstress on Saturday! The "look" is coming together.

Pretty Papers

First of all, I hope you like the new look for my blog. When I started the blog, I wasn't 100% sure of what I was doing and just picked a super simple format. After spending more time on Blogger, I decided it was time for an update. Now my blog matches my invitations!

If you haven't already figured it out, I love DIY projects, especially when it comes to arts and crafts. Making my own invitations was something I wanted to do even before I looked at costs. Needless to say, making my own invitations is going to be a lot cheaper than having them made. We are talking about literally half the cost. So with that knowledge, it seemed like a no-brainer.

About a week ago I headed back over to the Paper Source and picked out my invitation colors. It hadn't even crossed my mind that they wouldn't have enough paper in the store. After deliberating over R.S.V.P. card colors and envelope sizes, I made my choices and went to collect all the items I would need. It was then I realized just how much paper I was buying. Of course they didn't have 10 sets of envelopes in the color and size I wanted! Not to mention the 5 sets of special printing paper. The women at the Paper Source were great as usual, though. With a deal on free shipping I left the store with an order confirmation for my paper and it came in the mail less than a week later. Here's what I got!


To help me get a head start in putting all the invitations together, my bridesmaids are coming for a visit. I'm so excited to see them! So not only is my invitation making a fun project, it's also turned into a great reason so see friends.

Flowers are a lot of Fun

When I started the process of planning my wedding, flowers were at the bottom of my list. Bouquets did not seem nearly as interesting as stuff like music and food. Well, I stand corrected. After spending the last few weeks scouring the Internet for florists and examining pictures of bouquets, I have to admit, flowers are a lot of fun.

What's more, I just got back from a great meeting with Ellen, one of the florists from Local Color Flowers. Ellen and I hit it off right away (she likes Haruki Murakami!!) and had a great conversation about the flowers for my wedding. I plan to make my own center pieces, so I really only need a florist for bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. I found the above image on Local Color Flowers website and talked with Ellen about doing all the pieces in that color scheme (the bouquet on the right). As you can probably guess from the name, Local Color Flowers uses only locally grown flowers, which I think is pretty cool. Ellen said they buy from growers within and 100 mile radius, but a lot of the flowers come from growers in Baltimore City. I had never thought about growing that many flowers in a city! The only down side to Local Color Flowers is that they charge a pretty steep delivery fee. Alternatively you can have a friend or family member pick up the flowers for you. While the workshop is pretty close to the Gramercy Mansion, it still might be inconvenient have to worry about flower pick-up that morning. I'm planning to meet with at least one more florist to make a comparison.

On the note of center pieces, it just occurred to me that I haven't written about them. My plan is all about chrysanthemums. Each table will have five small terracotta pots of 'mums arranged on a leaf shaped place mat. I am keeping it simple but colorful. Guests will be able to take a plant home of they want. Plus, potted plants keep living after the wedding day unlike cut flowers. I've already talked to a representative at my local Lowes about ordering the chrysanthemums and it seems all pretty straight forward. I guess the real rush will be potting all of the 'mums the week of the wedding. Luckily, I have some great friends who have already volunteered to help.

Now that I'm less than 9 months away, I feel like my wedding planning is in full swing. Look for up coming posts about invitations, dress fittings, and who knows what else!

Scanner Me!

According to the wedding time lines I've been following, now is the time to start putting together our gift registry. I know it seems kind of early, but as it turns out, this is no quick feat. I'm guessing it will take a good couple months to sort through all the options and really make our lists. Mike and I have already started a list of household goods on Alternativegiftregistries.org where we can ask for item made by local vendors at our beloved Eastern Market. This Thursday, however, we took the plunge and went to Macy's for the true wedding registry experience.

Image from Google Images

Before going to the appointment I had a couple ideas of what to expect bouncing around my head. On the one hand was the sappy scene from 27 Dresses where the main character lovingly picks up each item saying "And this is the umbrella holder he'll put his umbrella in when he comes home from work..." *gag* On the other hand, I couldn't help thinking about a former colleague who told me it was really stressful to register. I think he's comment was something like: "This is the stuff you'll have for the rest of your life! It's really stressful to pick!" I have to say, my experience was somewhere in the middle. For one, we did not go through the store scanning every item that caught our fancy. Mike and I only went for an hour on Thursday and only looked at cookware, and that was really enough. We had a great time comparing sets and cracking each other up. However, it was kind of stressful; you don't want to get a set that's going to fall a part or not work as well! We ended up selecting three sets, we'll have to read the reviews and warranty information before narrowing it down to one. I hope we can make easier decisions for the rest of the list... I can't imaging spending more than 10 minutes on towels. I guess I shouldn't jinxes myself, though.

Listen to This!!

First off, I want to apologize for going MIA. My intention was to write at least once a month in my blog- clearly that didn't happen. But to make up for it, I'll be posting twice in a row!

Photo of Drymill Road Band from their Myspace Page

December was a busy month with the holidays and traveling to see family. That said, I trudged on in my search for an upbeat, fun, and easy to work with bluegrass band. I totally gave up on my plan to see bands live over the summer. So I spent a lot of time in December sorting through Gigmaster.com and other sites. After emailing back and forth with a number of different band leaders and even conducting a couple phone interviews, I narrowed it down to the Drymill Road Band. This band has some great music posted online, is responsive and flexible, and has played weddings. My favorite part of the phone interview was when I asked my contact, Robert, if the band knew Hava Nagila. Robert laughed out loud and admitted that they had never played it. That said, he was sure all of the band members would get a real kick out of playing it on their bluegrass instruments and would love to learn it for our wedding. After our chat on the phone and contacting a couple of references I was ready and happy to book them. So, I did it! I found my bluegrass band for the wedding! Now I just need to figure out what songs I want for the ceremony, first dance, and other important moments.

Also in December (I said I was busy!) I finished making my Save-the-Dates. In my last post I wrote about the materials I bought, and in December I finalized my wording and put them together. It was a lot of fun and I think they came out well. Most people got an email Save-the-Date, though. That I did in Power Point. I found Power Point to be the easiest program for layering and manipulating the images without the file getting too large. Once the Save-the-Date was all set I saved it as a pdf and embedded it in an email. It was so much fun to make that I told Mike, "I should make all my party invitations like this!!" Maybe that would be a bit much...

Well, that's my update for now! Check out the Drymill Road Band and stay tuned for Update #2 coming soon!