T-12 days!

It sure is getting close! Much planning has happened since the last blog, but I've been so busy I've hardly had time to write about it!

Most notably, we forced responses out of everyone who hadn't responded yet. Well... forced probably isn't the right word. But you wouldn't believe the effort by my mom, Elaine, Matt and me that went into getting those last 100 yes's and no's! Our final count, including all the bridal party, is 246... about perfect, I think. Big fun party, but not so much it'll break the bank! The final count was handed in to Larry, the guy at the reception hall, a few days ago.

So with that, the seating arrangements could be done. Ha -- it's unbelievable how much my mom knows about people who don't like each other!?!? But I think we've got it down pretty good. Hopefully, with the seating chart's help, a good time will be had by all!

Oh! And we officially, finally, set the menu:
- Appetizers during the cocktail hour
- For dinner (buffet):
.... Salad and assorted garnish
.... Stuffed chicken breast
.... Roast beef
.... Mostaccioli (vegetarian)
.... Parsley potatoes
.... Green bean almondine
.... Honey-glazed carrots
.... Vanilla ice cream and wedding cake!
And, my mom finally decided on this one... a full bar! Coooooool... "well drinks," not top shelf anything, but it will be pretty sweet. :)

In other news, my mom had a 'girls night out' party to construct all the favors, etc., with her girlfriends and our female relatives. They assembled several bells, boxes o' chocolate stones, candles, and more! A big thanks to all of them, that's for sure.

I also officially decorated my veil and headpiece to be more sparkly a few weekends ago, and we ordered the flowers. We're going with gerbera daisies and roses and whatever other they find in my bouquet, and gerberas and other flowers in the bridesmaids'. They're all going to be cascade... none of this new fanagled hand-tied silliness that's out there, since apparently that's just a big ploy by florists to make more money by requiring all the flowers to be jam packed close to one another! And the guys have rose boutineres... decided to not go with daisies, so they wouldn't look like clowns.

So what's left then? Decorating the hall and church, putting the place cards with name and table number on the bells, I need to buy lip liner (lol... so random!), getting the marriage license, the last consult with the photographer, manicures for bride and groom, a haircut and practice up-do for me, and packing for HAWAII of course! And... I think that might really be it??

So close! So excited!

A crazy weekend home...

Matt and I went to Joliet this past weekend to work on wedding "stuff." Ha! We got in late Friday, around 11pm, and then had our meeting with Shirley, my dance teacher, at 10am Saturday. Although we were REALLY apprehensive about it, it went great! She taught us the end of the dance, and fixed up some of the parts we had been having trouble with. Matt is no longer freaked out about it. Phew. (That's what really matters!)

Then after a quick shower (I was full of sweat!) I went and had my dress fitting. Oh my gosh when it fits it looks so much better! It is gorgeous... I can't wait to walk down the aisle and see Matt's face. I almost teared up when I put it on, just thinking about getting married to him. There still a few minor adjustments... mainly letting down the straps a little bit so they don't dig into my shoulders... but hopefully it will be done soon!

After the dress fitting, I tried on all of the jewelry, veil, and headpiece to try and figure out what to do with the veil. I hadn't done that yet, either, so I nearly started crying again! The veil actually turned out pretty long, but it's going to be gorgeous. My mom is going to sew on iridescent beads and rhinestones to dress it up a bit, and we're adding a little more iridescence to the headpiece, too.

The rest of the weekend was just trying to figure out what's actually left to do. My mom is having a big "party" with her friends to construct the box 'o rocks favors... tehe. I hope they finish them. Putting chocolate in 300 plastic boxes and tying bows around them does not sound like my cup of tea. Of course, I'll help out if needed, later!

We decided to do the programs ourselves, today, too. Matt and I bought a laser printer from Craigslist, so I'll order the paper, print them out, punch holes, and tie the ribbons on in Cleveland. That can be my pet project. They were going to charge nearly $200 to have them just printed at a printer! Can you believe it! I'll have to buy the nice paper now, but I don't think it'll be $200 worth... I think we'll get Astrobrights Stardust White.

Finally, I'm trying to figure out the scheduling for the day of the wedding and subsequently inform all of the important players as such. I think the car/ride situation is covered, now, and there's a timeline for both Friday and Saturday. Ei yiyi so much to do!

Matchy matchy

After the big program design fiasco, I was able to do the table placecards and favor tags, too, to match.

Matchy matchy matchy... I hope they turn out cute because everything has the same daisy motif!

Our favors are going to be chocolate stones per www.fiestacandy.com in little plastic boxes with a ribbon tied around them and the tag to the right tied on. So corny... but I love it!









Yes, those are chocolate...

The Dance

Much to Matt's dismay (or delight... I haven't figured it out yet -- he's just REALLY nervous), my old dance teacher Shirley is choreographing a first dance routine for us to "How Sweet It Is" by James Taylor. It's going to be awesome... but of course we have to practice sometime and somewhere again before going home next weekend for another rehearsal with her. Don't want to give anything away, but make sure to watch if you're at our reception!!!

Wedding Program

After mucho debating between my mom, my fiance, my maid of honor, and myself, I seem to have finally made an agreed-upon wedding program design. The cover is shown above! Since gebera daisies are kind of the theme, it's incorporated into the program.

With the program, the service also had to decided on. So we decided on this!

Prelude
Processional
Air on the G String, Bach
Trumpet Voluntary, Clarke
Invocation
Congregational Hymn
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,
Beethoven and van Dyke
Sermon
Music
O Lord Most Holy, Franck
Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Mark 10:6-9
Marriage Vows
Exchange of Rings
Pronouncement
Lighting of the Unity Candle
The Prayer, Sager and Foster
Prayer for the Couple
The Lord’s Prayer
Benediction
Introduction of the Couple
Recessional
Hornpipe from Water Music, Handel

Of course, then the bridal party is listed, music shown, etc. The hardest part, though, was coming up with appropriate wording for this:

The memory candle on the altar honors Paul Heinzel, father of the bride, who is in our hearts always and celebrating with us today in spirit.

Ei yi yi, it was depressing to do so, but at least the phrase isn't too entirely depressing for the family to read that day...??? Whacha gonna do.

Brides Side Shower

Had the brides side shower yesterday in Joliet, hosted by Aunt Deb. It was really lovely... and really big. We know a lot of women! :)

Louie's definitely knows how to make good food, and Aunt Deb had some really nice baskets as prizes filled with girly spa-type stuff. It was so so so nice to see everyone, especially a lot of people I hadn't seen since my dad's funeral last year. It was definitely nice to see them on a decidedly more happy occasion. People were really generous in their gifts, as well, I could hardly believe it. Matt and I are going to start off our new life together in style!!!

On another note, we officially completed (and passed!) our pre-marital counseling with Pastor Dave this weekend. It was much less stressful than we originally were afraid it may be. Thank goodness he is still willing to marry us!

Cleve-town Bachelorette PARTAY!

Let's just say that Thursday May 10 will go down in history as one of the most fun nights ever. :)

Things began with a nice dinner (okay, + jello shots) at Nicki and Nina's place -- yummy chicken/pasta alfredo and salad... mmm. We also played a game that tested how much everyone there knew about Matt and me (and our relationship!)

We then got into the "Bachelorette Mobile" (aka Lor's mom's van) and drove out to a local dance studio. Not just any dance studio, though... a very physically fit woman taught us all how to ... uhh... "dance!"

Finally it was on to a nearby hotel suite for the last portion of the party before sleeping, an eye-opening and crazy toy party!

We'll leave it at that, but girls who were there, I'm sure Matt will thank you all after the honeymoon. :)

Ladies Dresses are so pretty!

I chose Raylia Designs for my bridesmaids and flower girl. The dress is "Shana" and the color is "pine" (about like the background of this page.) The FG dress is white with pine trim, and is on the right. The BM dress is solid pine, shown in the middle. We're also having bellmaidens, who will ring bells in the front while I enter, in home-sewed pine dresses with white trim + white gloves, shown to the left. It is a McCalls pattern.

The Guys

The guys went with After Hours Formalwear, after we won a $100 coupon at a bridal show. Everyone has a black long tie, but the vest colors are different depending on the role in the wedding: groom gets white, groomsmen and ring bearer gets teal, and ushers get black. They are going to be so classy looking-- I can't wait to see my groom!

Veil

A family friend of ours made my veil -- beats paying $200 at David's Bridal! We are going to bead it ourselves. Obviously, my hair isn't done here and it's all wrinkled, but you get the idea.

Photographers...

Wedding photography is a one-of-a-kind deal. We at first tried to go the "cheap route" and hire someone by the hour... but then none of her pictures looked very good...???

So, after realizing that the pictures are what you have forever, we went with Reflections by Tracy in Shorewood. She ain't cheap, but she ain't outrageous either... and her pictures of weddings are gorgeous!!!

Mmmmm... Cake

Figured out what I want for cake: CHOCOLATE. Mmmmm.... that's right, chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, baby. With some white frosting decoration to make it wedding-y, I guess... :)








The cake is going to be 3 tiers, circular, with the top tier only on pillars to give it height. I really like the drapey design of the bottom cake, but it will be colored like the top cake.

The cake topper is porcelin dancing bride and groom... since we have a choreographed dance for our first dance, I thought it was fitting!

Shoes shoes shoes

These are the bridesmaid shoes... $17.99 from www.target.com baby! Definitely beats the dyeable ones...

My shoes are from David's Bridal. They were not $17.99. But that's okay, because they had size 11 and in a low heel, and that's all that mattered.

Invitations!

So... who knew it could takes hours and days to pick out wedding invitations?

First you have the invite itself... but then there is the wording, and the extra stuff like reply cards, and oh, did you want lined inner envelopes and your return address printed on the outside? uhhhh

Poor Matt, he had to sit through all this. But he made it through, and our invitations are done! They are sooo pretty too! :)

Registering... an adventure

So registering is the way to get things you'd like for your wedding and showers, though of course gifts are not required. We took a little bit of a different spin than a lot of couples, it seems -- we registered for tools! Much to Matt's excitement, of course.

That was the easy part, though. Deciding on what you'd like to have in your home for the rest of your life is an interesting process... but we finally managed to come up with a pretty good list. We've registered at Bed Bath and Beyond, JC Penney, Sears, and cooking.com -- hopefully there will be plenty to choose from!

Flowers

So the florist is amazing, so I'm only going to give a few basic guidelines: Gerbera daisies, roses, white, and pinks. Anything beyond that she can add, arrange, whatever... because she is so cool and awesome with flowers! The images to the right are my inspiration for the "guidelines."

The company is Joliet Floral Co. owned by the Jerbi's -- they go to my church and I grew up with their triplets.

We are doing brides' and bridesmaids' bouquets, flower girl petals, corsages, and boutonnieres. The unity candle arrangement on the altar is going to double as the head table display at the reception. We're also going to incorporate a memorial arrangement and/or candle for my dad who passed away in March '06.

Also at the reception, we are going to have tall skinny glass vases with two long-stemmed gerbera daisies as centerpieces.

Ceremony Music

Matt, his parents, and I went ceremony music shopping together while I was visiting Kokomo. It was a really nice time, and we picked out great music! We're going to have Air on the G String (processional), Trumpet Voluntary (processional - bride), Panis Angelicus (duet), The Prayer (duet), and Hornpipe from Water Music (recessional). We're still deciding if we should include a hymn -- maybe Joyful Joyful, as Matt's parents had??

HAWAII honeymoon!

My dad's retired dental partner had too many vacation club points... so Matt and I get to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon! WOWZIE! We're so excited! We'll be staying at the Kona Coast Resort in Kona on the big island. Snorkeling, hiking through the volcanoes national park, going to a luau... it's going to be Awesome with a capital A!

Jewelry

I received my wedding day jewelry as a Christmas gift, it's from Na Hoku. It is freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals on illusion wire. My aunt made matching (though more simple) bridesmaids necklaces and earrings, though you can't see the earrings here.