5 days!!!

Weather Update

So yesterday was the first day I could look at June 4 in the 10 day forecast and it wasn't ideal: 69F & 60% chance of rain on both the 3rd and 4th.

Today: Partly sunny, 67 with only 20% chance of rain.  Perfect!  Fingers crossed it holds.

Next Week!

I woke up this morning and realized this time next week I'll be heading up to Portsmouth with my Mom for the start of our wedding weekend!!  As excited as I am for June 4, I am really looking forward to Thursday and Friday too.  Thursday will just be me and my mom for some special alone time.  We did the same thing the night before I went to college and it was really wonderful to be able to have some quiet moments during these milestone occasions.  I am so blessed and thankful for our close relationship.  She definitely is one of my best friends.  Friday our girl time continues with a 1/2 day at the spa - a massage, mani/pedi, & blow outs.  I really don't want to be running around like crazy that day so as a Mother's Day present I booked all of our appointments for some scheduled relaxation.  Later in the day lots of family & the wedding party will arrive and we will have the rehearsal and then the clam bake rehearsal dinner (can't wait for some lobster & steamers!) at the Stage Neck Inn.  Even without the wedding & honeymoon this so much to look forward to! 

This is making it very hard to concentrate at work...

Last night I sent in our final counts to the Wentworth and Signed, Sealed, & Delivered!  And tonight I have my final meeting with our wonderful photographers. 

There are lots of smiles in my cubical today, despite a rainy 10 day forecast.  Plenty of time for that predicted rain to go away, right?

10 days!!!

Wow.  The big day is so close!! And I have tons of things to write about still!  Unfortunately work has picked up again, so hopefully I can play some catch up this weekend/next week.  Only 2 1/2 more days of work until my 24 days off!

Upcoming topics:
-My Bridal shower (I started this post back in March...oops.  It's Deloitte's fault)
-Bachelorette weekends
-My last marathon planning day (I had a blast at my 5 appointments yesterday!  As Laurie said "all your ducks are in a row")

Will write more soon :)

25 Days

Or 24 days until the wedding.  They should make an "advent" calendar for eager brides.  I suppose opening RSVPs is kind similar, haha.

So the big day is coming fast, but not fast enough.  Today's accomplishment was ordering the programs, which I think is the last major element on my to do list. 

I'm also getting really excited for my bachelorette weekend!  At first I was worried about planning to be to be away for an entire weekend only 2 weeks before wedding, but now that everything is in place I'm really looking forward to our roadtrip & girl time up to Montreal!!  I'm being doubly spoiled by my girls with a girls night in Boston too.  One of my bridesmaids who couldn't make it to Montreal because of her little sister's graduation (yay!!) is planning a fun night for the Boston group too.  What a sweetheart!

Florist & 2nd Dress Fitting!

Yesterday I again went up to Portsmouth and met with our florist, Jardinière. I had an initial meeting with Kathie back in November, so this meeting was really just to finalize the choices we had discussed earlier. I think our whimsical choices like peonies and hydrangeas are going to add a wonderfully romantic element to the day.

After the florist I went for my 2nd dress fitting.  It was perfect.  The dress was so beautiful 2 weeks ago when I saw it, but now that it has been tailored just to me it is even better.  Really all that is left for them to do is iron the dress.  Cheryl, my seamstress, was so happy with how it fit and said "no offense to the other brides I've seen in this dress, but you are totally owning this style".  Yes, I know she works in a bridal shop and probably says that kind of stuff all the time, but it still made me feel so pretty and excited to walk down the aisle wearing my perfect dress. 

Now onto the shoes.  I brought the new seafoam shoes with me and LOVED how they looked with the dress.  The styles compliment each other so perfectly.  The only maybe issue is hemline.  As I mentioned before, my dress did not need to be hemmed at all, but with the new shoes it no longer touches the floor.  The seamstress thought the dress needed to be 1/2 inch longer, while my stylist thought it was perfect.  I kind of liked how the shoes just peeked out from under my dress while I walked, but will now need to decide if I want the front to actually touch the ground or not.  Decisions, decisions.  

After the whirlwind of 5 wedding appointments in 7 days, I have the next 3 weeks off!  Plenty of time to wrap up the final details and enjoy my bachelorette weekends :)  

Hair Trial & Weekend recap

A week ago today I went for my hair & make up trial. I went to the salon with several ideas, but I had found so many cute styles I wanted to see what Betsy came up with. First style did not wow me, but because I didn't have a set vision in my head I was having trouble articulating what I wanted. Betsy was great (and my Mom helped too) and together we picked apart what we liked and didn't like. 2 1/2 hours later we nailed it, but at that point none of us really wanted to power through make up. I was so happy with the final result and definitely glad I went for the trial so on the big day we will all be on the same page.


Sunday we made another trip up to Portsmouth to meet with Laurie, our coordinator for the weekend. Arthur had not met her yet, so it was good they were able to meet and Arthur was able to express his thoughts on the weekend. While I have been having so much fun planning, I am really glad I have Laurie to help execute all my plans. It is so important to me that my family and bridal party are able to concentrate on having fun and being guests, rather than stress about details and trouble shoot any issues that might come up. Between Laurie and Gina, the coordinator at the Wentworth, I am feeling so stress free about the wedding.



After we met with Laurie, Arthur and I met our DJ, Nik. The DJ is definitely the vendor I was the most nervous about booking, because unless you or a close friend has actually attended a wedding with the DJ, I don't know how you can really tell if it's the right fit. I had spoken to Nik several times over the last nine months and he had great reviews, but I was still a little apprehensive. Arthur was also a bit worried about the DJ, mostly in the sense that the music plays such an integral role in the atmosphere of the reception and we really want it to be right. Our 2 1/2 hour meeting went great - by the end we both felt Nik understood our preferences. I'm super excited about our song choices and very glad we decided to do the final meeting in person rather than over the phone.

Everything is really coming together!!

1 Month!!!

I can't even describe how exciting I am getting!!

Royal Wedding

I've had such a good time watching the royal wedding today!! Kate's gorgeous dress and all the pomp & circumstance is just so fun.  The family weddings this spring + royal wedding have me so excited for June!  My wedding stress has been almost non-existent (credit I give to many lists and excel spreadsheets keeping everything on track), and now I am so ready for the big day.

5 weeks from right now we will be at our rehearsal :)

THE Shoes??

So I know I said after the first dress fitting I would finally choose my shoes, but after nine full months of wedding shoe hunting you can't just cut a girl off.  If you recall I ordered my first pair back in August before I had even found my dress.  So last week I ordered another pair (#13 or 14 maybe - I've honestly lost count).  Because they didn't hem my dress at all I thought, why not keep browsing.  And then I found them.  And ordered them and they arrived last night and are so beautiful!  Now because I've talked about the shoe hunt so much I think its only fair to share a peek. 

I'm in love.  And at just under 3 inches I will still be shorter than the groom.  I hadn't thought of "seafoam green" before but I love that they aren't white.  And "seafoam" what a perfect color to incorporate with my seaside color pallet!  The broach is just enough sparkle to be fun and a little vintage flare.  I think I will keep the other pair as backup - they are very practical shoes.  And of course I can't 100% commit to these beauties until I see them with the dress at my 2nd fitting on Tuesday.  Here's a look at my practical and maybe reception shoes.



40 Days!!

Saturday was my lovely cousin's (and bridesmaid) wedding which means we are now in the home stretch!!  Plus I caught her bouquet, so now I have to get married!  It's going to be a busy (less than) six weeks, but I can't wait. 

2 1/2 weeks until Arthur's bachelor party and 3 1/2 weeks until I'm off to Montreal with my girls. Yay!

This week: hair & make up trial & meeting with our DJ.

Marriage License - signed!

Yesterday really was a very big wedding planning day.  It's rare that both Arthur and I are in Portsmouth together on a weekday (actually I think yesterday was the first time) so now that the wedding is less than 90 days away we went to city hall to get our marriage license.  At first I didn't really think much of it, but as we were walking from lunch to city hall my stomach started getting really nervous; excited, but nervous.  The closer we got, the more butterflies I had.  Arthur made fun of me a bit at first, but then he started feeling it too.  We are realllly getting married!!  We filled out the paperwork and the lady took our IDs, checked it over, brought us a test copy, etc.  Finally she came back with the actual license.  We both signed it and I felt instantly better.  It was the strangest thing, but I have a feeling it is exactly how I will feel the morning of June 4.  

46 days to go!    

First Dress Fitting & other Accessories

In addition to seeing the completed invitations for the first time yesterday I also had my first dress fitting.  I've heard some brides are nervous for their first fitting because it's usually been quite awhile since they have seen their dress, but for some reason I wasn't nervous at all - just super excited!  I ordered my dress back in August and so hadn't seen it since, but it was just, if not more, beautiful than I had remembered.  It fit wonderfully, and will need very little alternations. 

As I had mentioned in previous posts, first dressing fitting = deadline for deciding on shoes.  Well ladies - I have my shoes!! What really sealed the deal is when I put the dress on with the shoes the hemline was perfect! When I ordered the dress the stylists thought if I wore 3 1/2 - 4 inch heels I wouldn't need it hemmed, but my 2 inch heels worked great.  I think if I went any higher the dress might have been a tad short, and if I had gone with the flats I definitely would have needed it hemmed.  So the search for shoes is over (lucky pair #11 out of 12).  Just 1 pair left to return :)

The last item left is my veil and I received notification that it shipped yesterday.  My next fitting is in 2 weeks, so I should have everything in my possession by then, including the wedding bands that we dropped off this weekend at the jeweler for engraving.

Invitation Arrival!

Invitations began arriving yesterday!! While I had seen the proofs 100+ times yesterday was the first day I got to hold the entire invitation packet in my hands.  I am so happy with how they turned out.  Thank you Ellen & Lauren from Signed, Sealed, & Delivered!!  I am so excited to start receiving response cards from all our guests.

Accessories

Well it's been a big wedding preparation week and I'm excited to say that I've found all of my bridal accessories!  Veils, hair items, undergarments, jewelry, garters, and a few other decorative items are all set.  I'm so happy with everything I found!!  Now if I could just decide on shoes.  I've got another 4 pairs coming this week (which I think makes my total pairs ordered 10?).  With the first dress fitting 2 weeks from tomorrow I've decided to bring the 5 pairs I still have and just decide when I see the shoes with the dress.  Once the alterations begin I'll be locked in (at least for shoe height...haha).   While it's a bit ridiculous how indecisive I've been about the shoes, it's really the only area of wedding planning this has happened, so I'm actually pretty amused at how much I've been dragging my heels about this decision (pun intended..). 

Only 62 days left - sooo excited!!

75 days!

Scuba!

Last night Arthur and I visited East Coast Diving company (conveniently located next door to Mercedes' vet) and signed up for scuba diving lessons.  We also purchased our own set of fins, masks, snorkels, and booties.  We have 2 classes, 5 pool sessions, and 6 open water dives until we are PADI certified open water divers!   I can't say I'm looking forward to diving in the northern Atlantic in May, but it will be so worth it when we can scuba dive in French Polynesia!!

Wedding Bands

Last week I got my wedding band and I absolutely adore it.  I was pretty certain I did not want the band that matches my engagement ring so it took a bit of time to pick out a sparkly ring that went nicely with the beautiful ring Arthur gave me.  I also knew that I wanted a band with a little bit of substance, should I want to wear it without my engagement ring, but I also didn't want something that would overwhelm the delicate band on my e-ring.  The ring arrived last Wednesday and is perfect. 

Arthur has also been looking at wedding bands, and has decided he wants something with a lot of substance that coordinates with mine.  We've checked out quite a few and I think he's picked out the style he wants.  Now we just need to order it!

*Please note-the above rings are not ours.  Just a nice picture :)

Presents!

Yesterday Part 2 of my bridesmaids' presents arrived!  Part 1 arrived way back in October, and now that part 2 is here the presents are complete!  I am so excited about what I found for my girls and I can't wait to give it to them in June.

In addition, part 2 of my gift to Arthur also arrived this week (I am now on a first name basis with the mail delivery man at Deloitte...)   I think he is going to be very happy with the gifts I've found for him (especially when he hears about what great deals I got! hehe)

I've really enjoyed spreading the gift shopping out over so many months.  It has allowed me to find real great items with zero stress about running out of time.  Only a few more presents to find! 

Honeymoon updates

As I am very behind on my blogging, then next few posts will cover events over the last few weeks...

So honeymoon!  Last week we finished booking the first leg of our trip: LA.  We will fly out early Monday morning (direct flight - yay) and arrive in LA around lunch time.  Arthur found us a wonderful hotel right on the water in Marina del Rey, so we will have a nice relaxing break before our Tuesday afternoon flight from LA to Tahiti.  I'm so happy we decided to leave a day early and spend some time in LA.  We both decided early on that we wanted our honeymoon to be very relaxing and I think by taking the extra day in LA we will eliminate any potential stress of possibly missing our flight to Tahiti.  Plus who wouldn't want an extra beach day?

The honeymoon is now completed booked!

Wedding Dress!

After nearly 7 months, my wedding dress has finally arrived!!  I scheduled all three fittings today.  Unfortunately, the first one isn't until April 18, which I'm a little sad about because it means I have to wait another month to see the dress, but it's also 1 more month to get in better shape too :)

Can't wait!!

100 Days!

Tax Season :(

It's that time of year again...

This week was the first 80 hour work week of the season which means I did zero wedding planning.  To make up for the lack of wedding planning I thought I would give a quick update of the things that happened back when I was only working 55 hours a week.

Invitation wording is done!  Design has been started - we've picked out the paper & colors, so now we need to decide on fonts and layout.  I think I've mentioned this before, but I love nice stationary, so this has been a really fun process for me.

I hired Laurie from Everyday Details to be my weekend coordinator.  Yay!

Both moms have picked out their dresses.  MOB and I went dress shopping last fall and she's decided to go with the one we both liked.  It's so pretty and I'm super excited for her!  I haven't seen Mrs. A's dress yet, but it sounds beautiful too!

I ordered wedding shoes #5, but have decided pair #4 is still my favorite, so #5 went back to the good people of Piperlime.  Love free shipping both ways :)

Lots of guests have booked their hotel rooms in Portsmouth!

MOH and I picked a tentative date for the bachelorette party.

So that about recaps January & early February.  My bridal shower is only 2 weeks away and I am getting really excited for that.  It looks like all my bridesmaids will most likely be able to make it, which is really unexpected and wonderful.  Lots of out of town family will be joining as well.  Can't wait to see everyone (and spend a Saturday out of the office!)

Happy Valentine's Day weekend!! xo

Details Details Details

Saturday the groom and I ventured up to Portsmouth in the "storm" (and by storm I mean the massive amounts of snow predicted that turned out to be a dusting) to finalize tons of wedding details.  MOB also joined us :)  First stop - invitation design.

We met with Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, an awesome graphic designer and calligrapher team.  Every one of their invitations is customized and absolutely gorgeous.  I think I could have looked at their portfolio for hours.  After some brainstorming and looking at every possible shade of blue they had, we settled on the colors, paper choice, layout, and basic design.  Now I'm anxiously waiting to see their proposal, which will hopefully arrive sometime this week.

After SSD we sat down with Gina, our coordinator at the Wentworth, to go through every single aspect of our day - cocktail hour food, wines, entree choices, chairs, linens, order of the reception, etc.  Even though Gina's questions went on for a rather long time, it was really exciting to discuss each little part of the reception.  By the end of the meeting I had a wonderful picture in my head of how our of special day will come together.  I'm especially excited for our food choices - I foresee a future post dedicated to the menu ;)

Once we left the Wentworth we headed over to Madeline's Tux to pick out the groomsmen and groom's tux.  We had decided earlier that it would be easiest for all the guys to get tuxes in Portsmouth, as they are coming from all over the country, and wouldn't necessarily be stopping in Boston before heading to Portsmouth for the wedding.  Now menswear was something I really hadn't thought about at all before we stepped foot into the shop, but I had thought we'd be in and out of the shop quickly.  Let's just say I think picking out my dress and the bridesmaids' dresses was much more fun.  I was surprised to find out what different taste groom and I had in tuxes, so it took a bit longer than expected, but we did find something we both liked for the guys, and agreed we needed to go elsewhere to find something Arthur.  I definitely picked out my dress in less time, but to be fair I had a fabulous stylist helping me and didn't have to worry about coordinating with anyone.

All in all, a very exciting and productive day!

145 days to go.

Save the Date!

Save the date cards are out! Given yesterday was the 5 month mark (yay!), it feels great to have another item in place.  Now that 2011 is here I'm getting really excited for all the pre-wedding activities, upcoming friends & family weddings, and, of course, our big day!

Now just need to gather those last couple of addresses...