An Updated List (Again)

Just an updated "to do" list. I'm hoping this will keep the odd wedding nightmares at bay for awhile.

• Groomsmen need to be sized for their tuxes and the order placed.
• Send Bridesmaids' dresses for fittings
  
• Check on availability of Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes (via Sams) in Dallas, Jackson, and Meridian
• Decide on wedding favors to put in the cute little tins we bought. Also, we need to pick up more of the invitation stickers to put on the tins.
• Print, address,and mail invitations
• Put ceremony music and reception music onto CDs.
  
• Decide on bridesmaids' jewelry for the ceremony. (Mine and the bridesmaids)
• Blood tests and marriage license
• Decide who will be able to meet the photographer and point out the important people
• Cabin arrangements (as RSVPs come in)
• Cooking!
• Order new wedding rings
• Write check for minister
• 
  

Wow! It takes up less than a page now. Obviously we're getting close!

Marriage License Applied For (with minimal drama)

Well, we applied for our marriage license yesterday. As with most legal things, we ran into a small problem. This was totally my fault and, looking back on parts of it, I feel a bit ridiculous.

We got all the way to Mississippi safely and had only a small wait at the Health Department to have our blood tests certified. Then, off to the Circuit Court for the marriage license. The clerk took one look at my driver's license and handed it back.

It's expired. You can't get a marriage license with an expired driver's license.

I thought for sure we were doomed. I don't have another valid form of ID on me and I don't what we're going to do. I stood there for a second (in tears, no less) trying to figure out what we were going to do. Next week is Thanksgiving, the week after is Hell Week, then final exams, and then the week of the wedding. Mike and I had already discussed why this was our only opportunity. I can't sneak away during Hell Week or Finals and unless we leave on Monday, we can't get the marriage license the week of the wedding. Well, Mike can't get off work on Monday (it's everybody else's day off). I thought we were doomed. Then the clerk looked at me and said

Why don't you just go across the street and renew your license?

Well that was an excellent point! I felt stupid for not thinking of this myself. But alas, we had a solution. So, I renewed my driver's license and we returned. We filled out all the paperwork and signed our names. Then, I pulled the money out to pay for the license and realized we were a dollar short!

But we had $42.00 when we left Dallas.

Yes. We did. $21.00 went to my new license. That should leave us with the $21 for the marriage license. Except that we had made one other stop in Dallas before we left.

We spent $1.00 to get quarters to put air in the tires.

So we were a single dollar short and I need to mail my parents the fee for the license so they don't have to pay for our license. Of course, this morning, I was reminded that my dad works just a few minutes from the Circuit Clerk. I could easily have gone to his office and gotten a dollar. It's too bad this idea didn't cross my mind. Oh well, the point is, we have our application in and we're going to officially get married here in a few weeks!

Progress and Setbacks

Well, we got a good bit of stuff done today.

• Dropped off my engagement ring to have it dipped for the wedding
• Had blood drawn for blood tests (this was a small nightmare)
• Finished addressing the invitation envelopes
• Picked up tie tacks for the groomsmen
• Had Mike fitted for his tux

But we had two annoying setbacks.

First, the jewelers cannot resize our rings. They won't cut mine down and Mike's can only go up half a size. So now, we have beautiful rings, but we can't wear them. It's back to the drawing board for temporary rings. Then we'll see about having an independent jeweler resize the set we want. Ugh!

Second, the cute little ballet slippers we wanted for our flower girls are no longer available without ordering them online. Somebody (I won't mention any names) never called us back about his daughter's shoe size. Of course, this is the same person who also has not let us know if he has even been fitted for his tux. Ugh. I had planned to wait and get the shoes together so that I knew the girls would have comfortable, matching shoes. Now it's on to plan B--harrass said person until we find out the size. If plan B does not work, then plan C--buy cute shoes for one and ask the second to bring her own. (I think I'm sounding a bit bridezillaish--I apologize; it's an effect of the horrible bloodletting experience I had earlier. It will wear off and I'll be my sweet self again by morning.

Alright, off to print some invitations!

Sixpence Found!

I'm too excited not to mention this (and apparently I'm becoming quite a sentimental bride). I have procured, via my fabulous future Mother in Law, a sixpence. Now, this alone is great news because it's one of the tiny details that I keep pushing to the back burner. (I've found blood tests and marriage licenses much harder to schedule, so there' s justification.) But the most fabulous part about this is the sixpence itself.

The sixpence comes from Mike's sister; she wore it in her wedding. This is awesome to begin with because we're good friends. However, when I was told about the sixpence, I was also told that we can then hold it for my flower girl's wedding. This way, the sixpence at her wedding will have been carried by both her mother and godmother. Isn't that fabulous!

Clearing the Brain of Some Wedding Stuff

• We're getting our rings sized on Thursday. The salesperson at Zales told us we can do it without a problem most likely. We'll find out for sure on Thursday.
• Mike's getting fitted for his tux on Thursday as well (finally). Now all I have to do is get him to call his brother and remind him. Also, I need to make sure he gets our flower girl's shoe size when he calls.
  
• Invitations are being printed this week, so they should be in the mail by the end of next week.
• I have to mail the bridesmaids dresses this week. If I don't--off with my head!
• I need to post a full list of the reception food because I feel like I'm leaving out one thing or another every time I think about it.
• I've decided to go with plain scrapbooking paper (white and possibly silver depending on what I can find) for the wedding day. I'll cut the pieces into halves or quarters and leave it in the lobby in lieu of a guest book. This gives me the chance to get all of the guests to write us a note, but it takes a lot of pressure off me to find an appropriate scrapbook before the wedding.
  
• I still need to coordinate the morning-after brunch.
• Sixpence, anybody?

If I can get past the scheduling and logistics behind the blood tests and the marriage license, all of this is small potatoes. I know we can have the blood tests done locally, but we may have to leave an extra day early to make sure we can legally get married on the wedding day. Pesky rules. It bothers me that even if we get tested and certified in TX, we still have to take the results to a Mississippi Health Department to have them re-certified there. But, I think that's what we'll be doing because there is no clear mention of how long it takes to get the results back if we have the tests done in MS. This means that we would have to plan a separate trip up just for blood tests. There's no wiggle room in either of our schedules for this. Ugh.

Party Favor Head Start

So, I've been procrastinating a paper I'm working on (again). But, it was pretty productive. We decided to do candy favors in cute little silver tins. The tins came with the huge, stickers for the clear top, but I had something a bit better in mind. We picked up absolutely adorable little cowboy boot and hat stickers at Hobby Lobby a few months ago (they went on our Save the Date cards and will go on our invitation). Essentially, they are the first preview the guests have of the wedding before they even open the envelope. Well, I overestimated and bought way too many. But I decided to add some of the left over stickers as the decor on our cute favor tins. So, I spent the night putting tiny stickers on 90 tin lids. Alone, they look like this
Unfortunately, the stickers don't photograph all that easily. So, I dug up some candy we have around the house and tried desperately to get a similar picture of the tins with candy in them. For some reason, all of my pictures came out blurry. But, I did manage to get this decent picture of the tin standing up with candy in it. You'll have to use your imagination and pretend it's sitting flat on a table.
We're putting Chilli Milli's in the tins. They're chili flavored soft candies. Think gummi bears. Only, in the shape of little chili peppers. This is what the individual candies look like (out of the package)
Mike wants to put the chili milis (in the package) into the tin with a mint. I may have to talk him into individual candies. We'll see once we get the candy in--a bit closer to the wedding.

I do have to admit that it makes me laugh to see how personalized this wedding is actually getting. I never would have thought that I had a bride inside my head just waiting to be released!

The Great Land of Cheesecake

Well, I've checked online with Sam's and they do, in fact have our cheesecake! We can actually order it online and pick it up in the store. All we have to do is give them a notice (between one and seven days). They run $10.50 for a 9" pre-sliced. The only problem I forsee is twisting somebody's arm into removing the little sheets of paper between the slices before we serve them.

WOOHOO! Time to send a special person an email and update her. Oh, and call Sam's to make sure they have them on a regular basis. That could turn into a potential nightmare! I might also call a store closer to the wedding location and see if they have them as well. If we can wait a few days to pick it up, all the better.

Update 10/25

Both stores have our cheesecakes! It looks like the plan is to call ahead to the Moms and check on stock in the local store. That way, if they don't have them, we can snag them here and head up. Mike is planning on 6-7 cheesecakes.

Reception Menu

Okay, we officially have a reception menu. Here's the scoop:

Enchiladas of three different types
Creamed Corn (from scratch)
Refried Black Beans
Tamales
Punch
Soft Drinks
Margaritas
Cheesecake (with three homemade sauces: cherry, chocolate, and blueberry).

Mmmmm....I'm ready for a reception!

The Mane Attraction

I got my hair cut the other day and finally started pondering hairstyles. I thought for certain that I was going to curl my hair for the wedding, but when I came home with natural curls in my hair (only enhanced with a diffuser), I discovered that a certain boy hated it! So, I'm back to the drawing board and have decided to straighten my hair for the wedding. I can't wear it down since it's so heavy it ends up in my face (and I end up pushing it aside too often). So, I know that I want to straighten it and I've narrowed my hairstyles down to two relatively simple ideas. Here they are


I like this one because it would allow me to show off the length of my hair. It's also a slightly modified version of what I traditionally wear when I only pull up the front of my hair. Also, it won't be hard to readjust once I remove my veil for the reception.

But then there's this one.



This one seems just a touch more elegant (largely because of the hair wrap around the pony tail). I think it's my favorite of the two so far. But then I'm worried about how my nice thick hair will take to laying this flat. I'm going to experiment with the two and see which works best. I'll check back in when I've had time to settle on a design.

Head Table

Last week I ordered these amazing bouquet holders for the head table. My plan is to attach them to the head table for the bridal bouquets after the ceremony. I bought four--one for each of my bridesmaids and one for myself. I haven't had any "serious" visions of the tables at the reception beyond the centerpieces until now. So, let me explain what I'm thinking at this point. Here is the picture I'm using for inspiration.



Now, what I'm thinking is a bit modified from this, but similar. I have four bouquets, so they'll be a bit more spaced out. I do like the double-layered tablecloths. I was planning on single layered cloths for the other tables, but I have some satin fabric that I think would work well beneath the white fabric on the head table. I need to check and see if we have enough fabric and what kind, though, before I make final decisions. The bouquet holders come with small hooks for doing just this (in fact they are the bouquet holders used in this picture). If we choose to do this on all of the tables, I think we could get away with just adding some small tacks or clips to keep this in place.

I also like the candles on the end of the table, but I want to modify this a bit. In lieu of additional candles, I'm thinking we can reuse the unity candle from the ceremony. Somewhere near the center of the table, I'd like to put the pillar candle from our unity candle and then have the individual tapers burning somewhere near each set of parents. I have to see how this looks with the rest of our decor first, though. If so, I can reuse my unity candle holder (since it's in three pieces). Awesome! OOPS! Apparently this doesn't really "fit" with my reception decor (which is still a bit of a secret to me). So…just disregard this bit about the candles.

Upcoming Craft Projects

As my semester finally begins to wind down I'm trying to get through a few crafty projects for the wedding so that I can send some of this stuff back with the parents so that I can keep things in a central location. So, to keep up with my current happenings, here's what I've got going on.

Cowboy Hat Attachments

I found the cutest little 2" cowboy hats at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago. So, I picked up some in black and some in white. My plan is to attach them together to a small pin back, then attach them to the flower girl baskets and the ring bearer pillow. This way, my plain white stuff will be a bit more suited for my theme without being overdone.

Ribbons on Bubbles

I need to remember to ask my FMIL to bring the boxes of bubbles that we have down when she comes to visit. I want to take the time to tie ribbons around the bubble tubes. I still don't know exactly what type of design I want to go with here, but I want to decorate these a bit more. Or, perhaps, I will get some clear labels and decorate them even more. More on that later. I do know that I want ribbons on them.

Making a Decision on our Scrap/Guest Book

I want to do some work on our scrap book/Guest book for the wedding, but I'm still at a loss for how to start. I've contemplated sending everybody a blank page and then working from what they send to create the book. I think my big problem here is that I know what I want to do, but I don't know how I want to accomplish it. More on this as I have better ideas (or bounce ideas off the moms.)

Well, I'm officially allowed to escape my classroom and head out into the scary world of papers and essays to grade. More as I can.

A few updates

Flower Girl Dresses

Well, it is official--our flower girl dresses are in :) While this may not sound like a big thing, it really is. I ordered them the end of May, the company was in the process of phasing out the line (seriously....this is the new theme for the wedding), but they said they could get ahold of the two I needed. It would just take awhile.

They came in last night. They truly are as stunning as I thought they would be. Oh, and there is a surprise with them. They included a little burgundy wrap with the dresses. My little girls are going to look so fabulous in them!

Centerpieces

I have centerpieces. This is fabulous and while I would describe these to you, there's no way for me to do so since my future Mother-in-Law in holding these as a secret for the occasion. I guess if you want to know, you'll have to ask her.

Ceremony Stuff

Mike and I went shopping a bit over the past few weeks and we've managed to track down a few things we have been looking for. Now, we can officially check off the unity candle, aisle runner, flower girl baskets and ring bearer pillow.

Save the Date Cards in the Mail (Tomorrow)

I'm mailing Save the Date cards tomorrow. This is the one task that I'm the proudest of at this point. Mike did a great job of getting everything designed and printed. I was the one dragging my feet. I couldn't seem to find the time to actually print the envelopes. But, the other night I did find the time. Last night, I got everything in the envelopes and now they are waiting for stamps and to be taken to the post office. That's what I'm doing when I let my students go tomorrow. Straight from campus to the post office.

Don't Get Excited--It's Really Just a List

It still makes me laugh that when I need to know where I am with the wedding planning, I turn to the blog. So, since this has become a theme, I'm going to work on storing the information that I would keep on a to do list here. I have to admit that we've gotten a lot of little things done in the past month. However, with all else going on, I still feel that there's a lot I need to tackle. So, here goes the big uber list :)

• Bridesmaids dresses need to be ordered. I'm still waiting on one bridesmaid to get sized and then this is off the list :)
• Groomsmen need to be sized for their tuxes and the order placed.
• Check on order and delivery of flower girl dresses
• Mail Save the Date cards
• Check on availability of Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes (via Sams) in Dallas, Jackson, and Meridian
• Decide on wedding favors to put in the cute little tins we bought. Also, we need to pick up more of the invitation stickers to put on the tins.
• Decide on the schematics of reception food. When do we want to cook? What do we want to precook?
• Get wedding rings sized
• Decide on and buy unity candle.
• Buy attendant gifts
• Print, address, and mail invitations
• Decide on ceremony music. Put ceremony music and reception music onto CDs. Also, figure out how to distinguish between regular music and specific songs (i.e. First Dance, Father Daughter, etc.) We don't have a LOT of this, but we do want to make sure it gets timed appropriately.
• Schedule dress fitting
• Get in touch with the minister to discuss the details of the ceremony.
• Decide on jewelry for the ceremony. (Mine and the bridesmaids)
• Blood tests and marriage license

I'm not a bit concerned that this is the last bit of stuff on our list. I know there's a lot going into the planning already, but for some reason, I still feel as though I'm forgetting something. Oh well, if it's important it will come to me later. Possibly in a bridal nightmare (literally, the ones you have when you go to bed thinking about the wedding and wake up laughing at paranoid you in the dream). Although, if any of you lovely ladies out there sees any glaring info missing from this list, please let me know!

The Six Month Update (a bit long)

Since classes only ended three weeks ago and the summer session has already begun, I am a bit impressed as tot he amount of things we've gotten accomplished in such a brief period of time. I haven't spoken to several of you, so, here's a run down.

• We have made decor decisions for the ceremony and reception site. We ran into a small stumbling block when we discovered that the deer head mounted above the fireplace does not come down! But, it was the moms to the rescue--within minutes, they had come up with a means of hiding the deer head and making the site look even better. I have to admit, it's a bit plain, but with the decor we're adding, it's going to be fabulous!
• The day after we got back, I bought my gown. Now there was a small nightmare. Since the gown was being discontinued, I wanted to hurry up and get it (sad, I've had the money set aside for almost a year, I just haven't been able to coordinate time). So, I went to the one store that had it in "my size." Well, I tried it on and apparently it was not in my size. It's a slight blow to the ego to discover that you can't buy "your size" in the dress you want because it won't zip in the chest. But, it was Amy to the rescue. She found my dress in my size in a store in Abilene. Unfortunately, they wouldn't transfer it to the Dallas store, so I had to have it shipped. That was fine. It's hanging in my closet now.
• We've ordered the bridal party's boots. The guys' boots have come in, so now we're just waiting for the girls' boots to come in. The price was a steal!
• We've ordered the flower girl dresses (for a picture, see the previous post). The company is waiting for them to be delivered, so they should be shipped at the end of June.
• We've set up our official wedding blog and it will be fully running when we send out Save the Date cards. We password protected it so that nobody can just sneak in.
  
• We found a great photographer who was willing to give us exactly what we wanted for a very reasonable price.
  

I think that's about it for now. Save the Date cards are going out this week, Invitations will be going out in September. Besides that we've got the flowers moving, we're working on a few small projects of our own (more on that later) and still managing to balance school and work.

I think the biggest thing left for us is to decide on who we want to coordinate the day of the wedding. I'm looking into hiring somebody to do this for us (if we can find somebody reasonably priced), since all of the people on the guest list that I would trust doing it are people that I don't want to have to work too much. We'll see. I'm always open for ideas.

Flower Girl Dresses (A Decision)

After a very successful trip home, we've returned and rested. There were a lot of decisions made and plans finalized over the course of the week. But I left with one thing left to do on my list--flower girl dresses. However, now that we've been back and had time to get all of the ideas down on paper, we've also had the chance to search for flower girl dresses. Honestly, I found myself in a different world--the "Goldilocks bride" world. This dress was too poofy, this one was too grown up, this one too expensive. I even emailed Cathy for an opinion when I thought I had found "the dress." Unfortunately, I forgot to check sizes first. We couldn't get it in both the sizes that we wanted, so it was back to the drawing board.

Mike threw himself on the sword for this one. After half an hour, he had found the perfect dress (isn't he great)! So, without further ado...here is our flower girl dress. It's within our price range and in the sizes and colors we want. Yeah Mike! I'm ordering them next week.

First Dance Song Decided!

As I said before, I've been a bit concerned that Stars Over Texas was a bit cheesy given the tone of our father/daughter song (Cleaning this Gun). The reason that I've been so much happier with our father/daughter song than with our First Dance song was that our father/daughter song is so lighthearted and really expresses the true concept we have for the reception. We are not trying for cheesy, overly-romantic, or any combination of the two. Our reception is about our relationship. We know it's not perfect but it's ours. So, we think that our music should reflect that. After much contemplation, we've decided on a first dance song. It's Brad Paisley's Little Moments. As usual, the link has the song in a video that also has the words.

Yeah! Another decision made

Music: The Not So Romantically Cheesy Reception

Of all the weddings I've been to over the years it seems that the reception music is either really good or really cheesy. So, in an attempt to put together a wedding soundtrack for the reception (we won't even discuss ceremony music yet),we sat down yesterday and compiled a list of appropriate music for the wedding. We've put together a great blend of not-cheesy music and not all romantic music.

We decided that Stars Over Texas will be our first dance song, but we may change that. Part of the reason for changing that is that I think our father/daughter song really sets the lighthearted mood that we're going for and I'm worried that in light of that the first dance song seems a bit cheesy.

Our father/daughter song is still my favorite decision. Mike mentioned it and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was appropriate for our wedding given the fathers and daughters we know are going to be on the dance floor during the song. Okay, enough build up. Our father/daughter song is Rodney Atkins' Cleaning This Gun. If you haven't heard it before, play the video linked above (it shows the lyrics and has great acoustics). Let me know what you think; I'm dying to know that we're not alone in thinking this is so appropriate.

A Few Ideas about Flowers

I had a scary moment the other day in which two very significant things happened. First, Mike agreed to let me have my cascading bouquet (yeah!), so now I have to rethink my flowers. But with that realization, I have also finally found myself able to make a few flower decisions. Now, some of you may think these are all minor, but think about this flower killing bride as having made some significant progress.

We've decided to have a Christmas tree on either side of the altar decorated with white lights and crimson and silver balls. I thought about adding tinsel, but the kind I want would take WAY too long to clean up.

Now, my tentative plans are to have the wedding in front of the fireplace at the hall, an if we stick to this, I'd like to have a garland of holly berries, gardenia (and whatever greenery I'm using) across the mantle.

I don't know how I want to decorate the rest of the ceremony hall (be patient, one step at a time), but I've made a few other decisions.

I want to stick to the over-arm bouquets for my bridesmaids and have them consist of gardenias and perhaps a few dark holly berries. I want to wrap the stems in crimson ribbon (my "other" color) and then wrap my bouquet in a silver and crimson ribbon (perhaps braided).

I also decided that in lieu of an aisle runner, I'm going to give my flower girls separate colored petals. I want one walking down the aisle with crimson petals and one with white petals. This way, I think there will be enough color variation that I can get away with not having an aisle runner.

Also, we've decided to keep the centerpieces for the reception tables very simple. I want to have a pillar candle in white and then alternate between crimson and silver (if I can find them) tea light candles on different tables. Then, I'm going to sprinkle a few crimson and white rose petals around them and call it done.

So there we have the current flower decisions. Now I'm excited about talking to the florist and finalizing the details for the flowers. I can't wait to see what ideas she has.

Reception Food Decisions

The other night, we accidentally made a decision on food for the reception. I say accidentally because we were thinking only of the fabulous party we were at and the celebration at hand. Then, Donna pulled the nights enchiladas out of the oven, settled them on the stove beside the cream(ish) corn, and it was as though Mike and I had met our "soulfoods." So, here's what we're planning (in keeping with the western theme for the reception)

5 different forms of enchiladas (one spicy and one plain on each one) or some variant of these types:

• Cheese, onion and green chile peppers
  
• Chicken, cheese, onion, and peppers
• Steak and onion
• Steak, onion, and peppers
• Plain cheese (for the kids and those with bad digestive problems)

With that, I'm thinking we can serve a salad, possibly a tortilla soup (but I'm not sure about that part yet) and the creamed corn that we had the other night (which is so simple to make--corn, cream cheese and peppers).

We're still planning on doing the cheesecake for dessert and a combination of soft drinks, tea, water, and this great punch we had at another of Donna's parties (are you noticing a theme here?)

We've got plates and the serving dishes (thanks to the leftovers from Cathy's wedding) but I still need to check on a punchbowl and figure out the soft drinks, ice, tea logistics. But, other than that, I think we have the food part of this figured out.

Oh yes, we still have to see if we can find a baker/cheesecake maker. It's time to hit my mom up for one of her old friends :)

More to come. We've made a lot more decisions, but I find them easier to refresh myself on when they're posted individually.

Now, to Organize Some Thoughts

Well, I have my list of questions out of the way. Now, I need to contemplate a bit of post-semester organization so that I'll be out of the starting gate as soon as finals are over and I've had a good night's sleep.

Things to do ASAP

• Get fabric swatches from David's (if possible)
• Get ribbon mailed to Mom for the weekend "discussion"
  

Before Leaving for Home

• Send Save the Date cards
• Register for wedding gifts
• Call the park about what they allow in the reception hall and what they provide. Also find out if they could take a donation of trees.
  

While at Home

• Plan to see the park and scout around town for good places to include in the guide
• Visit the Chamber of Commerce for information on the area
• Make arrangements to visit the Minster and discuss the ceremony
• Discuss details with the Moms
• Discuss the itinerary for the weekend and make sure everybody has a copy of this
  
• Tell the parents where we're registered so that they can pass on the word
• Talk with photographers and videographers
• Answer questions on the list (if possible and still needed)
• Go shopping for Moms' dresses and take them to see Bridesmaids' dresses if needed
• Decide who is willing and capable of taking care of some details over the next few months
• Discuss wording of the invitations (who is hosting, etc)
• Discuss welcome baskets and ideas for contents

Keep in mind that this is the hopeful plan for the week that we're there. If it doesn't get done in the time we're there, we'll figure it out. Alright, it's on paper (so to speak). I'm off to bed.