Now it's time to get serious

I first want to say that I am so in love with our photographer for the wedding. Her name is Emily and she just rocks. She hasn't even taken any pictures of Wes and I yet but I am so excited to see what they will look like once we do. I spoke with her this week and we have set a date for our engagement pictures. Sunday, October 25 is the D-Day. We haven't really decided on the location(s) yet but that will come later. We have some time to bounce ideas off of each other and decide. I really like the idea of random places that you wouldn't think would be cool that end up making an amazing photograph. Some other FABULOUS news is that my BFF, whom many of you know as Mrs. Ski is going to be doing Wes and I a wonderful, incredible favor by taking some "pre-engagment pictures" pictures. Mrs. Ski is a fantastic photographer and she has been gracious enough to offer to do this for us. I am very unsure of how we are going to look in our engagement photos. I mean, Mr. Stilts and I have taken many a picture together but engagement pictures are totally different. Mr. Stilts must pretend like he actually likes me (tee hee) and I am just nervous about how they are going to turn out. So Mrs. Ski is going to do some sort of practice for Mr. Stilts and I. She ROCKS.
Plus, she's my BFF and any excuse to hang out with her, I will take in a second!
As far as everything else goes, I'm feeling a little bit of pressure. The bridesmaid dress situation is still not under control and I am nervous about finding a place to get them. My Mom and I are planning on going to check out some of the places really soon. Hopefully I can walk away from that feeling more comfortable. My Mom did find a really great deal for her dress though. The bridal shop where we were going to buy everything from is selling Mom's dress to her WITH all the alterations for a great price. It just works out that the sample they have is in the right color. Granted it's like a size 14 and my Mom is a size 2 but the alteration's woman at this bridal shop is AMAZING so I know she will make it work. It's just working on the bridesmaids and the tuxes. I think the tuxes will be MUCH easier but it's just the uncertainty of it all. Hopefully my Mom and I can go check out some of these places in the next week or so.
Speaking of TIME, we are down to the last couple of weeks before we are going to be sending out the save the dates. My sister is working on them and I am hoping that we will be good to go by the Labor Day. She already sent me an amazing rough draft that Mr. Stilts had some minor changes he wanted to make. Other than that, I think we are right on track. We are asking for lists and addresses from the fams so we can get this ball rolling. First of all, I can't believe that it's almost Labor Day and we are almost to the 7 month mark. We are needing to start the process of registering and getting that together. I am really excited about that. All in all I am feeling pretty good about everything and I am looking forward to starting this next chapter. I am still trying to remember what everyone has told me about really enjoying this process because you never get to have this experience again.

Bumps in the road

So we have officially encountered our first real "bump" with our wedding. I received a call yesterday from the wonderful lady at the bridal shop we were going to use to purchase my bridesmaid dresses, my Mom's dress and all the tuxes. She called to tell me that due to the economy, they would be shutting their doors at the end of September. So now I have to find new places to get all of these things. Which, I have found out, there aren't that many options close by. There are a lot in Murfreesboro but I hate to ask everyone to go all the way there for us. So, I am now in the search for a solution. I talked to the lady at the bridal shop and she gave me some ideas and gave me all the item numbers as well as my sister's measurements which they took while she was in town. At least I have those things but I am totally devastated that they are closing their doors. They were so great to me and everyone I have known to do business with them. I hate to hear that these incredible small businesses are suffering like this in this economy. I am trying not to be selfish about it because those employees are in a much worse situation than I am. I know we will find another place to get everything and that we do have time on our side. I just need to get on the ball looking for the place/places because we need to order the bridesmaid and my Mom's dress in September. I know it will work out it just won't be as convenient. This bridal shop was across the street from my house. So this is really the first "thing" to go wrong with the wedding but I know it won't be the last. That's one of the great things about having planned everything so far in advance. I have the time to fix them (hopefully). I am determined to still have those dresses in mine and Mr. Stilts wedding!!!
POSITIVE THINKING!!!!!!!!! :-)

I can't cut my hair anymore!!!!!

So that means that we are getting closer to the actual wedding. Almost 7 months away....It's nuts. I went to get my hair cut and "styled" the other day and my hairstylist informed me that since we were less than 8 months away, we couldn't really cut my hair anymore until after the wedding. I am wanting to grow it out so that I can wear it half up and let my hair "cascade over my shoulders". That's how she put it. I think it will be awesome but it really hit me that we were getting closer when she said that. We can still trim it but I can't really cut much anymore. I mean, I can't believe that we are under 8 months away. We have done so much and now we are sort of in a lull. It's nice though because my new job has kept me really busy during the day and by the time I get home, I am too tired to even turn on my computer. I have been needing to research our honeymoon options BIG time because since I am going to be asking off for about or 9 days, the earlier I ask off, the better. I just can't do that until we actually book the honeymoon. I mean, I know that I will need some days before the wedding but I am not sure when Mr. Stilts and I will actually go on out honeymoon. I am thinking we will go the Saturday after our wedding. Regardless, we need to at least be working on it. The longer we wait, the more expensive it will get too. So I am hoping to begin working on that soon. Keep your fingers crossed that we get to that soon!
I can start working on some things like my makeup trail with the MAC guy some time and I can get my hair trail run as well. I will wait a little bit longer before I do that, it's not something that needs to be done any time soon. But it will be here before we know it. Also, we are on the countdown until we have to send out the Save the Dates. Yikes, which that means we have to start getting the names and addresses for our guests. Which we STILL have not decided on. I think I am stressing over that too much and I know it should be about who Mr. Stilts and I want to come but there is a lot of pressure to make others happy as well. I guess we just need to DO IT and quit putting it off. We'll see how that goes.........
SO hopefully the next time I post (which will be soon and I mean it this time) I will be closer to getting all this completed and be in a better place with it all.
I can't wait to see the design for the save the dates and the overall look and theme of the wedding. More to come soon!!!! :-)