Jerry and I had a PERFECT wedding day and we have all our family and friends to thank for it! It went better than we could have ever imagined and we had such an amazing time. We leave in the morning for San Francisco!! Have a great week!
Man holy whirlwind! The past couple of days have been in total fast motion, but we are having a great time! The rehearsal and dinner were awesome and everything is good to go! I am getting married today!!!!! Here is a pic from last night :-) See you on the other side!
My Dad walking down the aisle !!
At about 1:30am, one of my best friends in the whole wide world rolled up in her mini van. Kelsey drove all the way from Florida to come to the wedding and I am so glad she is here!!! She and I have been through a lot together and have managed to keep in touch ever since I moved here. I moved to NC in February of 1998 and she decided to move up in May of that year. She was here for a year and then went back to FL. We have always maintained our friendship and I am so thankful for that! She is one of those "pick up where you left off" friends! Here we are in our "Dawson's Creek" phase :-) Love you Kel!
I am getting married tomorrow!!!! Ahh! How did this happen so quickly?!? Why am I awake at 7:30am?!!? Last night Jerry had his bachelor party! I talked to him a couple times throughout the night and it sounded like he was having a great time!
Yesterday wasn't QUITE as relaxing as I had hoped it would be, but it was productive nonetheless. I am off work until the day after Labor day (starting yesterday) and while the morning started off fun and pleasant, things took an interestingly "bridal drama" turn.
You see, I decided to do very simple arrangements with 2 colors of gerber daisy and ordered them online from farmstogo.com. I'll post a vendor review about them later. But today, I'm going to talk about FedEx. A NATIONALLY known company for being on time. My flowers were sent with a priority delivery deadline of 10:30am. Well, 10:29am rolls around, then 11am, then 12pm. NO FLOWERS! At this point I am starting to freak out because while there are other things I could be doing, I had planned to take the whole day and spend it on flowers. So at this point I feel like I am just spinning my wheels. Jerry came over and we tried to pass the time making vendor phone calls and paying the balances and packing for the honeymoon. but honestly, I was beginning to wonder about the security of buying from this online company as the ordering process had been a little bit difficult with language barriers and such (more on that later). Well, I got the tracking information and found that my FRESH flowers had been sitting ON a FedEx truck since 8:46AM!!! Almost a full 2 hours before I should have received them!!!! I called and went through the automated voice operation (no I don't want to repeat it, the reason you didn't understand what I said is that YOU ARE A MACHINE) and filed a trace report.
Finally, after 2 phone calls with Fedex and one packed honeymoon suitcase later, I had my flowers! It was 1:20pm. Now I had planned on working with the flowers by then, but since I just got them, I had to let them "harden". Something I found out about online. When you buy flowers fresh from the grower, you have to treat them as a florist would, which means cutting the stems underwater and letting them soak for 2-4 hours. That's right. Now I couldn't touch the flowers until after 5pm.
So Jerry and I decided to go run a few last minute errands and get some lunch! I did get a lot done I must say. We picked up the tuxes and cookies for the cookie bags, got all of our jewelry cleaned, picked up a necklace and earrings for the rehearsal dinner and finished getting some gifts! When he dropped me off, I finally got to working on the flowers. I'll talk about that in another post :-)
HAPPY WEDDING EVE!
Last night, Jerry's mom got here. The wedding hoopla has officially begun! We had a nice dinner with our parents at the house so they could get acquainted. I think it went really well!! We also received a couple of early wedding presents including one very special item that I will blog about once I upload my pics!
Right now, I am making it through my last day at work and then I have a bunch of fun errands to do tonight! I am really getting more excited by the minute! I just want it to be 4:30 already so I can get out of here!
Tomorrow will be action packed as well. I should be receiving my 200 gerber daisies before 10:30am and then my kitchen will be flower central! The first thing I have to do is trim the ends and let them drink for an hour or 2. Then I can make my bouquets and centerpieces. I can't wait!
This weekend we had some non-wedding related activities that were so fun! First, I went a baby shower for our friend Morgan and then a surprise birthday party for our friend Regan! Here are some pictures from Regan's party. It was so nice to have a fun, relaxing night and not think of the crazy week ahead! And it was a "Cuban" themed party complete with Empanadas, Plantains, and Mojitos!! YUM! Happy Birthday Regan!
The Birthday girl is here...and she's ready to party!
Graham Loves Updyke!
What would a wedding be without fun parties leading up to the big day?!?! I am so fortunate to have so many great friends who love me!! Thursday night, they took me out to 5-Star for the most amazing Chinese food in the world (seriously) and threw me a lingerie shower!! Let's get this party started!!
Here I am with my Crispy Sesame Beef. If you know me, you probably wish I would just shut up about it already :-)
Kelly decided to go with Bok Choy Chicken. Yum!
Jane had to leave so we had a photo op! Good luck on the new job Jane!
Now it's time for presents!! Uh oh....naughty bag!!
It came with something for Jerry!! (We'll just leave it at that)
Wait a minute! Is this what people are wearing these days!?!?
I guess so!! I got 2 of them!
Sharon thought I might need a little help. So she got me a pop-up book :-)
Great food and awesome friends!!!
Thanks for a wonderful party!!
OH yeah. One week from right now I will be ....well probably drinking coffee or showering or sleeping. BUT one week from a few hours from now, I will be getting married!! Woohoo! Today will be action packed and fun filled :-) I have a baby shower to attend and an another gathering later on, but in the meantime, I am getting this house company ready!
Jerry's mom will get here Tuesday, and while she isn't staying with me, she will be coming over for dinner that night and seeing our house for the first time. So this weekend, we just want to try and get it as nice as we can. It's no small task since we just brought most of Jerry's stuff over. We have been trying to get as much over here as we can to minimize the post wedding move. SO, that being said, I am now sleeping in the wedding room so I can get the guest bedroom ready for guests! They won't arrive til Thursday/Friday, but I would still like to have it ready.
We got SO much done this week. I feel great! Only a few loose ends here and there to tie up. Honestly, we could have this wedding today if we wanted to! Thursday night I had an awesome lingerie shower and yummy dinner at 5 star!!! I'll post more about that later! I am so blessed to have such great friends! I could go on and on...but I won't. Time to clean!
that in 2 weeks, the room we now call "the wedding room" will actually be "our" bedroom! When I bought this house 8 months ago, it was with the expectation that Jerry and I would both live here eventually. SO, while there is a master bedroom, I chose to make another room my bedroom. I decided to do this for a few reasons.
1) I would be living in the house alone for several months and I wanted to be in the center of the house as opposed to the very outside edge. The (soon to be) guest room was just the room for me!
2) I wanted to save something special for after we get married since we spend most of our free time here.
3) I wanted a new experience for both of us after we get married so that Jerry doesn't feel like he is moving into MY house. This way we are both starting fresh in OUR new room!
Too bad the room currently looks like this!!
Yes, that is a full size bed and most of our wedding paraphernalia. Before we will live in this room, it will be completely emptied of its current contents. Tonight, we will be packing up over at Jerry's place. Still trying to figure out the best time to bring his bed over. BUT, the good news is, in a little over a week, there will be no more wedding room! Because there will be a wedding!
I have 10 days to go, a slowly shrinking list and no concept of urgency whatsoever. A friend asked me today, so are you stressed?? Excited??? Yesterday I could have answered this, today I feel numb. I had THE hardest time getting out of bed this morning. It's not a lack of motivation at this point, or even stress. I think it is flat out bewilderment.
bewilderment (noun)
obfuscation, puzzlement, befuddlement, mystification, bafflement, bemusement
confusion resulting from failure to understand
Yep! That pretty much sums it up! I am rounding the corner of stress and feeling overwhelmed to the path of "wedding week". Yet, i don't know how I am supposed to feel during this time! I am so completely happy and ready to be married! I know that once we get a few more annoying chores out of the way (read: packing/moving the rest of Jerry's stuff) I will have a sense of relief. I think.
I had dinner with some friends last night and I was talking about how humbling it is to have so many people 'on my side'. We could NEVER pull this wedding off without all of our friends! And yet, I have felt so guilty asking for help! I am a vortex of female emotion these days.
Some great advice from a friend: live in the moment on your wedding day. Each moment. That way it won't be a blur.
A lot of the past few months have been a blur. That's why I am SO glad I kept this blog! I can't wait to go back and read it when all is said and done...which of course gets me thinking of how I can get all this into a scrapbook..haha...maybe I can finally use MyPublisher!
So yeah, recap: I am jello.
"My goal is to have everything that can be done before the wedding week finished, boxed up and ready to go."
HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!
How foolish I am.
While I did get many things done this weekend, we are by no means finished. NO means! Jerry and I worked our tails for for 48 hours straight and the list doubled! I woke up at 4:30am this morning with so much in my head that I had to turn the light on and write it all down. It was another 1/2 page of "list" items!!!
The good news is that we got most of the shopping done including all the beer/wine and my cute favorite - coke in glass bottles!!
We also used a gift card to help get the new camera we wanted for the honeymoon. Yippee!! It's awesome and the pictures look great! Now we just need an SD card with more memory and we'll be all set.
Aside from all the shopping, we finished painting the hallway (half done for 2 weeks) printed all the programs and got the brads to secure them (awaiting assembly), I had my last dress fitting/hair trial (thanks mom!) and finalized our ceremony music and wedding day itinerary! I also ironed the linens for the reception tables (to go under the vases) and did some laundry. I feel pretty good about what is left on the list. A lot of it pertains to things that can be done on the computer or stuff in need of printing. OH YEAH, and I did my out of town bags all except for the printed stuff.
Overall, very productive. AND Jerry has been sick all weekend! Please say a little prayer for him to feel better. SOON! Thanks guys!
Wow. Ok first of all let me just say that I am getting married IN 2 WEEKS. TWO. WEEKS!!!
This is unreal. I feel like we just got engaged yesterday! Well, maybe not yesterday since I was in a conference for 6 hours. But you get the idea. This weekend is going to be crazy busy trying to get all the last minute details wrapped up. My goal is to have everything that can be done before the wedding week finished, boxed up and ready to go. No sleepless nights for this bride! So, that meant going to Kinkos after work to print and cut my program inserts. I will say that while I think I will be pleased with the end result, this is by far my LEAST favorite project. I can't pinpoint exactly why. I guess I am just not that excited about it. Nevertheless, they will be finished by Monday!
On to the photographer. I mentioned in my earlier post that my friend secured a replacement for our big day. This was HUGE. And I mean HUGE for me! I left her a message on Wednesday and she called me back just a couple hours later and we talked about my ideas and her outlook toward wedding photography. She has a website, but pointed me to the person she normally contracts for to get an idea of her work. I looked up his site and it is amazing!!! It's all flash so I can't post anything here, but I would encourage you to check it out, you won't be sorry!
All I can say is that Neil Boyd himself is the one that recommended the lady I am using so that is enough for me! After talking with her I feel much more at ease about the whole day! She even sent us a spreadsheet to fill out with any special instructions or pictures we would want. The best part about all this is that I suppose I just expected someone to "fill in" but not really get that connected. Instead, we got a wonderful woman who really wants to make our day special! I can't wait!
I need your help!! I am going to be assembling our programs this week and I am torn as to how I should put them all together. They will be booklets with a backing like this:
So my dilemma is, should I secure everything together with a string/ribbon something like this:
Or, should I use old-timey fasteners like this:
How is it that I never found this website!!?? I am completely enamored with all of the lovely things on whiteaisle.com !!! Here is just a smattering of their goods...enjoy!
So Monday after my root canal, Jerry and I went downtown to get our marriage license! It was such a great moment to start making things official :-) I am so in love I could throw up. You probably already have just reading this blog. It's ok, I'll have tic-tacs in my bathroom baskets.
On to the pictures!!
Jerry getting the cash for the Register of Deeds - NC is cash only !!!
Outside the Register of Deeds at exactly 9:52am
We had to call them to get some of it....
Then we had to sign this affidavit. Question #2 makes us affirm that we are not closer kin than FIRST cousins. (God bless the south)
Finally!!! We are officially allowed to get married!
Ladies and Gentlemen, 17 days from now, I can call this man, MY husband ;-)
This post has nothing to do with the 80s commercial I just brought to your memory. It does however, entirely have the potential to provoke the hated bridezilla within to show her face. I'd like to think that I have kept her in her prison and hopefully she will stay there. I was especially tested today.
Sadly, tragedy struck a dear loved one who also happens to be our photographer. She is going through an incredibly hard time right now and (completely within reason) had to cancel for the day of our wedding. As we were talking, there was obviously no way I could expect her to continue with my wedding so I am in no way angry or upset. I have to admit, that makes me really happy. The last thing I want to do is become so wrapped up in my own life and wedding that I forget about other people and especially my dear friends. She even went to the trouble of getting a replacement at the same discounted rate that she was going to charge!
In my opinion this was above and beyond and I am so thankful! I don't know what I would have done without a photographer and only 17 days to go! I left the new lady a voice mail and while her website suggests that she is a little more traditional that what I was hoping for, I think if we get a chance to talk I can explain what I would like. She comes highly recommended so that is more than I could ask for at this point.
All of that being said, I am still getting married! And still SO SO excited! I know that with the pro pics and all the digital ones I am sure to get from friends and family, I will have no problems capturing the memories of this amazing day!
This weekend was full of check-marks! We hosted a coed shower for our friends Joe and Jessica that was totally fun, practiced and played in the Vintage21 band for the last time as an unmarried couple, worked on the house and had lots of fun!
I found THIS amazing recipe for Fabulous Caramel Cake that I made for Joe and Jessica's shower and it was fabulous indeed! Here is a picture (complete with topper custom made from their adorable invitation characters)
Today I had my last dental/Dr. appointment pre-wedding and we got our marriage license!! We took pictures (of course) but I haven't uploaded them yet, so I will save that for another post.
We are down to 18 days. 18 days until I am married! It's ridiculous actually. I am really breaking down the countdowns. It goes like this, 18 actual days until the wedding, 12 days of work until my time off starts, and 15 days until family starts to arrive! It's so exciting and fun to look forward to everything. And, for as busy as we have been, we are really on track to be more or less done with everything a week out.
I am having some friends over on Wednesday to help fold and finish some of the paper things and this weekend we should be able to buy up the rest of the food/drink items we need. It's all very surreal. Yesterday we had our first meeting in the new V21 space! It looks amazing and it's only going to get better between now and the wedding day! Now that we are really truly in the building, I feel like everything is just falling into place. I have several posts waiting in the wings, so I'll add more once I get my pics! happy Monday!
So now that the RSVP date has passed, I am going to finally post my invitations! My brother-in-law designed them with our request of "typewriter" font and then we added the bird stamps. We used both stamps so the invitation and envelope would have different birds. We used online RSVP through ewedding.com and email. It has worked out great! We still have a few people that haven't responded, but we are contacting them and have been getting a good response.
The cards are the standard greeting card size, which worked out to 2 cards per 8.5x11 sheet. We ordered recycled cardstock and recycled A9 envelopes from Paperandmore.com. We were incredibly pleased with their service and delivery time!
You may have been able to sneak a peek in my earlier post, but here are the close-ups:
Invitation
Envelope
So as I sit at my desk on this lovely Thursday wishing it was Friday, I ponder my sweater. You see, I work in a cube-farm and having a cardigan with you at all times is of the utmost importance. My sweater of choice, this and every other day if I could get away with it, is the coveted Mossimo Black Label 3/4 sleeve babydoll sweater.
Now, I am sure there are other, greater, more expensive sweaters. But I have never loved an item of clothing so much, nor have I been able to wear it with so many things. The one problem about this wonderful creation is that just about everyone I know either has this sweater, or knows someone who does (other than me of course). But I have decided to embrace it. Mine is a lovely beige color and it matches EVE.RY.THING. They come in many colors and at under $23 who can resist?? Is there an item of clothing that you can't live without??
It seems like all the blogs have turned their focus to jewelry, which is fine by me!! I have a mixture of old and new, borrowed and blue all just in the jewelry! Probably the most special thing I'll be wearing (aside from my wedding ring!) is my something blue.
I'll be wearing the original engagement ring that my dad gave to my mom when he proposed on my right ring finger. It is a beautiful star sapphire set in white gold. I love this ring! I have always admired it growing up and I am so excited to wear it on my wedding day! My parents just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in June, so I am hoping that their blessings will rub off on us! Here are a couple pictures of my mom's ring. (sorry they are a little blurry, my camera isn't awesome with the close-ups)
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