U + Me = Us

I know my calculus.

Come on, you know you remember that song! Ok, if not, or if you lived in a hole for a year (ok, or if you were born before 1980 or after 1998), here's a little treat:



Who knew so much math was involved in wedding planning? I mean, sure, there's the budget (which is a major part, don't get me wrong), but if you're like me and planning an outside wedding where you have to rent everything A - there's all sorts of rental prices to compare, sizes to compare, etc. and B - square footage. What?! I have to calculate the square footage of not just the tent, but the tables inside as well as the dance floor? And I have to figure out how much "space" each person needs?? This is probably one time I wish everyone I knew was a close talker and didn't need much space :) BUT, alas, you have to account for like a foot and a half of the chair itself, plus at least 3 feet behind that chair, plus like an additional 3 feet between tables, plus I need to calculate how much room each person will need to dance? But some people flail their arms and need more space than others! And I have to guesstimate how many people will want to dance? Oy.

And we've already discussed not being able to accurately estimate how many people will attend your wedding. Yet another impossible equation to solve.

Right, and my trying to map out how to hang the lights in the tent? Not that I did the calculations, but I'm pretty sure (Bridesmaid Lela's husband) Brad did! And my Uncle Randy definitely tried to calculate the weight of the lanterns + lights, height of the poles, etc. without even being there.



So here's a heads-up to brides-to-be and someday-brides-to-be: remember how we all were like "We'll never have to use Calculus in the real world!"

False.

That is all.

-C
xxx

It's My Wedding Week!

Alright folks. I've got a sh-tload to do this week, seeing as how I'm GETTING MARRIED ON SATURDAY so I'm anticipating no blogging til after the nuptuals. There will be plenty of recaps and pictures after I get back from my honeymoon, though! You know, when I no longer have a wedding to plan (that actually makes me so sad!)! I'm scheduling some tip blogs for while I'm on my honeymoon. Hope you like.

Here's hoping it's a beautiful day like this:

(It's supposed to be 74 and sunny with 0% chance of rain as of today's weather forecast!)

And that I don't end up like this:

Or this:

All pictures via Google search

If I get free time (HAHAHAHAHA) or get the blogging bug (more likely than the former), you'll be seeing me on this space. But for now, it's adios muchachos. See you on the married side.

AAHH!

-C
xxx

Licensed to Kill... My Brother?

We're licensed to marry now. I mean, technically there's a 72 hour waiting period (and we applied for it on Friday), but we're basically licensed. This did not happen without incident, though. You see, my brother kind of has a reputation. A reputation which makes every single one of my friends who is coming to the wedding say, "Oh my god - I can't wait til your wedding... so I can meet your brother!" No joke. People aren't looking forward to seeing me in a white dress, or checking out all my little DIY touches. No. They're interested in seeing the man (boy), the myth, the (infamous) legend, that is Brett. My brother is special. He pretty much just doesn't *get* a lot of things. He makes me do the face palm a lot.

via Google Images

He gets some of it from MOB, for sure. For example: We went to a NEW YORK (this is important) Mets game one year (me, MOB, and my brother) and it was a day where they were giving things away at the gate. They gave us all Mets jerseys as we walked in. So we put them on and went to our seats. You know those electronic scrolling banner things? Well it started scrolling "Jersey Day!" and MOB goes, "Look! Look guys! It's Jersey Day!" As in, she thought it was NEW Jersey day... in New York (we're from NJ, if you don't know, so she was really excited that we were there for NEW Jersey day). My brother and I were like... "umm mom, we just got jerseys when we walked in. It's THAT jersey day. Not NEW Jersey day." She's going to kill me for writing this, but I couldn't just pick on Brett. Ok, I could have, but this is more fun. :)

Every time I try to remember a Brett story to tell someone, I can't come up with one. But trust me, there are PLENTY. MOH Cassie could probably tell you some good ones. As I mentioned above, the newest one has to do with us getting our marriage license. I left work early on Friday to get up to NJ in time for us to get our license (since there's that 72 hour waiting period and we weren't planning on going back to Jersey til like 2-3 days before the wedding). Well, I TRIED to leave work early. We ended up being a little late. As in, they close at 4pm and we didn't get there til 4:05pm (I called to make sure we could still come down and LUCKILY they said yes!). We had no other choice but to have my brother come as our witness. We get there and the registrar says she has to ask him a few questions and my face must've visibly dropped. OH NO. Brett?? Questions?? Crap, I didn't know about this or I would have picked anyone else! I didn't prep him! This is going to be disastrous! Ok so it wasn't disastrous, but it was pretty funny. The registrar asked him a few questions and then asks him if he's aware of either of us lying on our application (but in legal jargon) and he pauses and says yes, quite proudly (bc he didn't understand the question, but thought the right answer was yes). The woman looks at him and whispers "The answer is no."

via Google Images

Classic Brett. I then asked if I could get a new witness. Lol.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm at less than 2 weeks and about to lose my mind.

-C

xxx

PS Did you know it's legal to marry your first cousin in New Jersey? Yeah. Even worse than that being legal is the fact that it's listed on the FAQs section of their website. Why is that a Frequently Asked Question?! I wonder what other things are legal out there. I mean, if this is happening in NJ, lord knows what's happening in, say, Alabama! :)

Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow

Today is a lot of things. Today is the day before my RSVPs are due. *cough* I'd like to say today is the day I book my porta potties, additional rentals, and photobooth, but that really depends on their price quotes and response time. So today is the day I email all those people and attempt to get some booking done! Oh right, and today is exactly 30 days from our big day! (According to theknot.com; I would've thought it was yesterday since it was the 18th!) 30 days from today, I'm getting married. I really truly have no idea where that year long engagement went! I'm excited, but I'm also trying really hard not to have a major freakout! I have so much left to do, and only 30 days to do it! Do you have any idea how fast 30 days flies when you're planning a wedding?

Two words:

LIGHT

SPEED

Yesterday I had my "final" dress fitting (turns out I needed a couple more nips and tucks so I now have another final dress fitting Sept. 8th). So glad I finally have my jewelry and shoes decided, though!

Tomorrow (well, Friday - Sunday) I'm going home (AKA my wedding venue) even though my house is still a disaster area from moving - sorry FH but it looks like that's just how it's gonna be when you get here (in less than 2 weeks!!)! Other than the wedding weekend I was planning on only going home Labor Day weekend. Yeahhh I realized I definitely should go this weekend after starting to make a list of things I can do while I'm home. It's a pretty long list. It includes a site walk through with the tent guy, meeting with my caterer, meeting with my DJ, and scoping out photography locations for our first look and day after shots! The last one's my favorite :) One of my photographers is pushing for Wild West City for the day after shots. I'm not opposed to it, but I guess I think it'd be more me than FH? I got me some country roots but he's... well, he's British! I don't think they had British cowboys... But I have an email into WWC to see if we could get in there and we'll see what they say. I'd rather not have to pay admission to get pics taken in front of wild west cheesiness :) But if they let us in for free, that could be another story altogether...

I know I haven't posted much lately in the way of projects. It's not that I haven't been working on any, I have, but they're either slow going and not finished or I forgot to take pictures at the time. :( Don't worry, I'm sure there will be plenty in the coming weeks, and even after the wedding as well! Last weekend Bridesmaid Amanda, Bonnie and I worked on our "nuclear bombs" as their sig others called them (who were present during this project). AKA LED throwies for my chinese lanterns (they'll provide light for the lanterns with the battery operated LED light, versus having more string lights). They're done! I ordered my chinese lanterns from PaperLanternStore.com. As soon as those come in I have to figure out how the LED lights will get attached. I'm thinking fishing line, but need to see how the lanterns are constructed inside. I think I may need to stock up on fishing line before the wedding... Michael's must sell it, right? Since so many people use it for projects? I'll check that out this weekend when I go home.

Hopefully the LED project will make my tent look like this! Except, green instead of blue, of course. :)

Via TheKnot.com

-C
xxx

Don't "Répondez S’il Vous Plaît"?

Google Images

I've been told by several reliable sources (i.e., friends who have been married, other bridal bloggers) that when you send out your wedding invitations you get a FLOOD of RSVPs right away, then they trickle off, then you get another flood closer to the respond by date.

So... what happens if you don't receive the first flood?? FH sent his portion (the UK portion) of our invites out on July 6th or 7th. Not counting his groomsmen, parents, and select family members (who I know are coming), we have received one official RSVP from his side - and it was a no (a no that we already knew). I sent my invites out on July 14th and have received an average of one RSVP (per family/couple) every two days since then. At 84 invitations that went out... and 3 weeks later... that's pretty bad. I keep emailing the hotel for an updated rooming list but there haven't been that many people who have booked rooms yet either (NOTE TO THOSE ATTENDING: the group rate is only until Aug. 17th!), but I have been able to add a couple people down as a yes due to the fact that they booked a room. I don't want to be rude, I'm just scared! It's hard to plan things when you have no idea how many people are coming, you know? I completely understand situations in which people may not be sure if they can come just yet. The part I have an issue with is that I think there are a lot of people out there who just think I know they're coming. I don't intend this to sound bratty or b**chy whatsoever, but... well... I don't. Bridal party, yes. Grandparents, yes. Siblings, yes. Anyone else? I truly don't know if you're coming unless you tell me.

I think people have a hard time telling people they can't come to their wedding. I suppose it's a hard thing to tell someone. Honestly, I promise I'll understand if you can't make it! Sure, you'll be missed. Yes, I'd love it if you could make it. But I promise I won't be mad or upset if you can't make it, for whatever reason!

I know this blog only reaches like 10 people who were invited to our wedding, but I think it's a stressful topic brides deal with a lot so I just thought I'd bring it up*. Truth be told, I think it's probably the #1 stressor throughout the wedding planning process. Not just for the wedding day count, but bachelorette parties, showers, rehearsal dinners, etc. That's a lot of RSVPs to deal with, for all involved in the planning! I have seen it a lot on blogs when it's closer to a bride's wedding date and they're frantically trying to figure out who's coming to their wedding at the last minute! Not gonna lie, that sounds pretty scary to me... I only have a little over 2 weeks left until my respond by date and worry that I'm going to have to start chasing a lot of people. Fingers crossed for a super flood of RSVPs in the next 2 weeks!

Google Images

Any suggestions (or RSVPs :) ) are more than welcome!

-C
xxx

*Ok, and vent a little. I'm only slightly freaking out that less than 20 people (of the 145 invited) have RSVP'd and there are only 2 weeks left for the respond by date...

Moving Right Along

I just feel like doing this because I got some shiz done this week! In addition to all the crafts from last weekend, I've been moving right along with other planning aspects:

Videographer - BOOKED!

Caterer - BOOKED! (also talking to them about rentaling plates/utensils, which would be awesome!)

Brunch Food - got prices

And also tons of moving-related tasks i.e. packing, address changes for all my accounts and all that fun stuff

Oh, did I mention I'm moving this Saturday?!? Who has two thumbs and has been uber busy the past two weeks? THIS GIRL! I couldn't really start packing until my invites were done, so I was up late working on those every night, and since they went out I've been up late every night packing for the move! I have so much crap. I'm just moving across town, but still - that doesn't mean the quantity of stuff to be moved is any less! I'm so excited to move. I've never had my own place before! I mean, it'll be OUR place, but still very different from living with roommates, which I've done since college! YAY my OWN fridge and freezer to fill! YAY not worrying about if someone else is doing laundry when I need to! YAY for being able to leave my wedding projects lying around instead of having to clean everything up after I'm done for the evening (or at least make a path)! YAY being able to decorate every room without having to think about if they'll like it or not!

Oh, and FH's bachelor party (they called it a "Stag Do", and bachelorette parties are called "Hen Parties") is this weekend, all weekend...

In the United Kingdom it is now common for the party to last for more than one evening, hence the increasing prevalence of the phrase "stag weekend." A spin off has been the growth of the stag weekend industry in the UK with various companies taking over the preparation of the event. In the UK, stag weekend trips are becoming mini-holidays with the groups taking part in various day time activities as well as the expected night out on the town. Groups of friends attending weekends away in the UK and even into Europe with their best friend leave home on a Friday and embrace two days of fun. The groom who normally is called "the Stag" will have a selection of tasks to complete on the stag weekend. Group activities might include paintball, kart racing, poker parties, quiz machining, and clay pigeon shooting. Stag t-shirts and fancy dress are now an accepted part of the stag night experience. The best man will usually organize the clothing and night's entertainment. Getting drunk and participating in stag activities is now the norm.

...you know, the exact time I'm moving. So he'll be getting drunk and having an amazing time... while I'll be getting sweaty and sore from lifting things in the 96 degree heat we're supposed to get tomorrow! Life isn't fair! lol.

Speaking of unfair... I also ordered/won the hat for my bridal shower from ebay. I was really excited about getting my tracking number yesterday because that meant it was on its way! But then this morning I received an email from PayPal saying the seller had cancelled the shipment with the reason "Changed Mind". What! I emailed her and asked if she changed her mind about the shipping method or changed her mind about selling it. I really hope it's the former! :( Can they even do that?? Just decide they don't want to sell it after I already paid for it??

-C
xxx

Wedding Nightmare

I had my first wedding disaster dream last week. Hm, actually, now that I think about it I guess this is dream number two. I'll tell you about both.

MOB is renovating umm... like her whole house for the wedding. Now, we've already discussed how my family likes to leave things til the last minute... so I've given her a cut off date on all renovations. The cut off date WAS July 1st, but as long as NO NEW PROJECTS (hear me, ma??) are started in July, then the cut off date for these projects to be FINISHED is August 1st. Have I mentioned that the venue for our wedding is my mom's backyard? So yes, I do feel like I have a right to impose certain cut off dates because if these things are being done in the weeks leading up to the wedding... well, I'll probably have a melt down, and we don't want that, do we? Have I also mentioned that no one is going inside the house - it's all outside - but almost all of the renovations are being done inside the house, using the excuse of doing it "for the wedding"? I know, yes, it's great to do things you've always wanted to do to your house. Yes, it will look great. That's not my point. My point is the renovations have got to stop at some point. If you were getting married at a venue you paid for, wouldn't you be freaking out that all the floors were ripped up 4 months before your wedding? I'm not officially freaking out yet, mind you, but stand my ground on the cut offs. My first wedding disaster dream was rather short, but basically MOB ended up getting so frustrated with all the renovations and problems with them that she called me one day and told me she sold the house and was moving to Florida. "Sorry." she said. If you're following, in my dream she just told me she sold my wedding venue, and offered only a "sorry". Lol. Now, she would never do this (she hates Florida), but technically I think that qualifies as a wedding disaster dream. Onto dream number 2.

Last week, while visiting FH, I was getting a little antsy not having any wedding stuff around me. Like I felt almost guilty (yes, to myself) for not doing any wedding stuff while I was away. So every now and then I'd have a mini panic attack that not everything was going to get done in time. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. So I had a dream while I was over there that basically the wedding was the next day and nothing was done and I was devastated. No decorations, nothing set up... it was awful. I keep thinking the wedding's going to sneak up on me (it totally is), but I guess my dream made it a little more literal - as in it was the day I got back from my London trip.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. I hear it's pretty common for the wedding disaster dreams to start about 4 months out. Is it true? Sometimes I wish I didn't want to do so much for my wedding, but that would basically require me to be an entirely different person, so that's not going to happen. I love doing the things I'm doing, but I definitely need to get moving!

I am definitely starting to stress. Like, when I saw FH's parents and friends last weekend and they said the next time they'd see me I'd be in a white dress.

!!!

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out...

-C

xxx

Time

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been traveling for work and... well, just plain busy to be honest. I know you all were probably crying without my posts... HA, right. Anyway...

Ok even though the other day I said let's not worry about time, now I'm blogging about time. I can be hypocritical at times... or is that just being plain difficult? or in denial maybe? I don't know, whatever. I'm changing my mind! Time! I need more of it! (energy, too!)

and you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
racing around to come up behind you again

Where do the days/hours/weeks go? I know everyone wishes for Friday every Monday, but really? Every time Friday comes around, I blink and it's Monday again. The sock monster isn't eating socks anymore, he's eating weekends. Seriously. I always think I'm going to get so much accomplished every weekend and then poof - what weekend? And while on one hand, I want the next 6 or so months to fly by so that my fiance can be here for more than a week at a time, I am so not even close to having this wedding planned and the idea of only having 6 months to do so when weeks are flying by so quickly blows my mind!

every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time

I NEED TO START WORKING OUT LIKE WHOA. I've said it before, I'll say it again, my gym at work is WAY too far away. 20 floors down to the lobby, maybe 20 feet to the next elevator bank, 3 floors up another elevator. GOSH! I wish they'd make it a little more accessible... or maybe I just need more TIME (ok and motivation) to go there. Or at least not be so damn tired when I get home from work that I can't even do a 30 minute workout DVD - oh, and I also need time to clean up some of the clutter in my room so I have SPACE to do said workout! I really wish I were one of those people that loses weight when they're stressed out, but nooOOOooo, I'm one of the ones who eats MORE when they stress! Great.

We just hired a new coordinator for my department and I'm really hoping she can help me free up some time at work - so that I don't have to work late - so that I don't come home late and/or exhausted and not wanting to do anything - so I have time/energy to do more than just have dinner and lay on my bed thinking about all the wedding projects I need to be doing... like that contest I plan on entering. Can't really do that without time. But so far all she's doing is creating more work for me - because she's too good! She gets everything done so damn fast that I don't even have time to get another project ready for her.

home, home again
i like to be here, when i can...

I also need just a smidge of motivation that some of my friends have. They MAKE time for all this stuff. That's one recipe that hasn't been passed along to me just yet...

So... in recap, in case you haven't noticed, I need a few more hours in the day.

Thanks for listening :)

-C
xxx