Welcome back, ME!

oh my goodness, it has been such a long time since I have blogged. Things have been really hectic since I started my new job. So I haven't had the time to blog as much as I would have liked. I am hoping that this will change soon as things kind of calm down on the work front. Since starting the new job, I haven't really had any time to do much of anything. My fantastic sister has started working on the overall look for our save the dates and invites (in her own words, her "creative juices are flowing"). I am SO grateful to her that they are flowing because they are going to be awesome and I just haven't had the time to really work on it myself. She is so good at this kind of stuff and the ideas she has so far, ROCK. I know Mr. Stilts and I are going to love the end result. The invites and everything really just bring the whole "look" and "theme" of the wedding together. So I am really happy with how it's all going.
We finally sent off the contract and the deposit for the florist so we can officially say that ALL of our vendors are booked. That part is really, really exciting. No more contracts, no more going back and forth with vendors to get the best price for the contract. Even though I know it's not all over by any means. We still have a lot to do and a lot of dealings with people left to do. I am feeling really good about the really big stuff being over with. Now, I feel like I can relax a little about a lot of things. I know Mr. Stilts is probably happy about me relaxing a little bit. :-)
The guest list is still a pretty big thing that we have not gotten a hold of yet. We cut down a lot and now we are getting some pressure to add back. This is one of the hardest things. You can't make everyone happy, especially when you are on a tight budget. I really don't what to blow the whole budget on invites. I mean, when you think about it, every additional person is not only an additional dinner, it's also an additional save the date, invitation, chair, napkin, silverware, cake, favor....the list goes on and on. I know I have talked about this before, but it gets more and more real every second. It's a lot to think about it and it brings about a lot of different emotions. I want to be able to make as many people happy as I can and I know that it is going to be impossible to do so. This part is SO HARD.
I am going to try and be so much better about blogging going forward, there is still a lot left to do and we are getting to the 6 month mark faster than I can believe.

One more check! (well almost..)

Well I talked it over with Mr. Stilts and I have officially let our florist choice know that we have decided to go with her. Now (and this is the reason I said "almost" in the title) all we have to do is get the deposit check in the mail. That might be a little harder than it should be. First of all, I always hate asking my parents for the money and I hate asking Wes to ask his parents for the money. I know that they have all told us they would help pay for the wedding but I always feel weird asking for it. I also know that they won't hesitate to write the check (well except if I was asking for like a million dollar check...ha ha) but I still get apprehensive about it. Mr. Stilts and I are so fortunate to have families who are willing to help us out and pay for the majority of our wedding. I do think though that once we get this certain check in the mail, we won't have anymore "big" checks to write for a while. Mr. Stilts and I are planning on starting to pay for somethings on a monthly basis just so that we won't have as much all at one time. Like our DJ total is $600.00 so we figured we could pay $100 a month for 6 months and he would be fully paid by December. One less thing to worry about come March 2010. Mr. Stilts suggested that if we can do this, some things like the DJ we wouldn't even consider to be part of the wedding. So we could even do that with the bagpipe player and organist because we only lack $250 for that one. My advice to anyone planning a wedding- pay as you go! If you pay a little at a time then it won't be such a huge hit on you right before the wedding. The one time you really shouldn't be worried about money. You will have plenty of other things to worry about. So I am feeling good about this. I think if we can do this, we will be able to use more the "wedding money" towards the reception (food, alcohol), flowers, unexpected things, etc. There are SO many aspects of planning a wedding, you really have no idea until you are in those shoes.
I got the swatch of my dress from the bridal shop the other day and I can't stop looking at it. I swear I love my dress so much I can't wait until mine actually comes in. It's a shame that we only get to wear it once. That's why I don't really understand the concept of having two or more dresses for the wedding. If I am paying THAT much for one dress, I am going to wear it as long as I can because I will never get to again. Well except for when I am feeling nostalgic and I end up wearing it to vacuum around the house or something (oh yeah, I will probably be one of THOSE people).
So anyway, we are moving right along it seems. We still need to buckle down and work on the guest list some more. Mr. Stilts and I actually talked about that last night and he agreed that we needed to just do it and stop saying, "we'll get to it later". We really need to be able to get a better idea of the ball park we are going to be in. I know things might change as far as that goes over the next 8 1/2 months but we need to have somewhat of a clearer idea now. I really hope that we can work that out. I really want to be able to invite all the people we want there. I know this is one thing we have been trying to tackle from day one. When we made our first "list" it was well over 300 people. Now we are trying to whittle it down to a max of 200. It's so much of a back and forth thing because on one hand, you don't want to leave anyone out but at the same time every person you have to pay a certain amount for and it totally adds up. Their food, champagne, table, chair, cake, save the date, invitation, place card, favor, etc. etc. etc.....it goes on and on. I pray that we can work it out so that we are feeling good about it and don't come away from it feeling like some people are going to be upset with us.
So in conclusion, florist- half check. Next on the agenda- guest list. I already have a headache........

Oops! I suck.

Ok well I apologize to all my loyal fans (all 4 of you. Don't be jealous.)that I have not blogged since June 11. Things have been sort of hectic lately but in the best way. I have gotten a new job that I will be starting in two weeks. It's something totally different than I have been doing so it will be a big change. One of the best parts is that I am only going to be working about 15 minutes from home. How freakin' awesome is that?!?! SO much better than the hour plus drive for the past three years. Anyway, so things have been crazy but I am both excited and anxious about what's to come though. Closing one chapter and opening another one. I'll update as we go along but I think that this is pretty nuts planning a wedding and switching jobs at the same time. I'm sure many have done it before me but it still feels a little crazy.
In addition to the "new job good news" is the fact that my Mom and I have successfully met and interviewed three different florists. We have been fortunate to meet with three fantastic ones at that. I think having too many choices is better than none at all so hats off to my Mom and I, as well as our wedding planner. I think we have more than likely made our choice but I am still going to finalize everything with Mr. Stilts and make sure that he's on board. I think this one particular florist will be able to work with our budget while still being able to capture our "vision". I feel like that sounds so weird to say "vision" (like I feel like I should have sunglasses on, wear all black and only snap when I like something) but it's really the only word I can think of at the moment. I have an idea in my head of what I would want it to look like (and Mr. Stilts too even though he does not seem the least bit interested in what kind of flowers we are going to have but really I didn't expect him to- he's a guy) and so I would like to try and get as close as I can to that. I think regardless of who we pick, they will be great and we will be really happy with them. We have been so fortunate so far in all of our vendors. I feel like everything is really beginning to come together and I am getting more and more excited every day the closer it gets (I know that will probably change once we are actually "close").
My sister and I have been talking about the design for our invitations, save the dates, etc. and she came up with an awesome idea! She freaks me out she's so creative. She has offered so graciously to do our invitations and hers were SO GOOD that I know I have nothing to worry about. I am so excited to see what she comes up with.
Once we book the florist we will be in a really good place. There will really be nothing to DO for about a month or so. We can kind of sit back and relax. Which will be great for me because I will be starting the new job and will need as little additional stress as possible. I am giving myself a little pat on the back for a job well done thus far. I am really going to try and do what everyone has told me........Enjoy this time, it will be over before you know it.

Tell me somethin' good!

I am in good spirits today. I feel like we are making more major steps and things (so far) seem to be fairly flawless. We have finally gotten the "OK" from the church's pastor to have our long time family friend, Charles, officiate the ceremony. This means so much to us because for one, he is such a great guy and has such an amazing spirit. It means a lot to both Mr. Stilts and I to have someone who knows us perform the ceremony. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he has an amazing speaking voice. I am so thrilled that we were able to work it out. Also, we got the proposal from the florist myself and my Mom met with a while ago. Both my Mom and I really liked her and thought she had a lot of great ideas. The way she described things put such a great picture in my head and it made me that much more excited about seeing it all unfold. It really gets you pumped to finally be able to picture in your head what everything could look like. The proposal was over our budget but she was upfront about it and said that she wanted to put everything in there and then we could start cutting what we could live without to get down where we were more comfortable. We are going to meet with another potential florist hopefully next week. I am just waiting for him to let me know what days and times work for him. I plan on meeting with one more just so we can see what our options are and then we can pick from there. So far though, I am very pleased (even though I have only met with one). I guess for me it's fun to think that these people are just as excited about our wedding as I am. Now, I know that they are trying to get the business so they NEED to seem excited but they do a great job at it! As I was reading this first proposal I could see how beautiful everything would be and it makes me a little misty-eyed. What a wonderful day this is going to be.
I know we still have a long way to go and we MUST start working on finalizing the guest list. That is the one thing that I am really not looking forward to and totally petrified about. We are both so scared about making people upset is they aren't invited. You know, it's upsetting but at the same time, cutting the guest list is the #1 way to cut down costs. I am just trying to do everything I can to make it beautiful but also affordable. SO this is going to be a tough one.
Oh and one little update. I went to have my wedding dress re-measure last week. My Mom and Mr. Stilts Mom came out and his Mom got to see the dress for the first time. She said she loved it and it made me so happy that she was able to see it before the wedding. BUT ALSO- I found out that I have lost an inch off both the top and bottom of my chest (YAY!) and 2 1/2 inches off my waist!!! I mean seriously!! ?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! I was so excited and it really proves to me that what I am doing is working as far as working out and eating right. At this rate, I am SO pumped to see what can happen in 9 1/2 months until the wedding. It really gives me the motivation to keep it up and to make this a lifestyle, not a temporary, "I want to look great only for the wedding" thing.
So, patting myself on the back and moving forward- Tally Ho!!! (I really don't know what that means but it sounds cool) :-)

Inching Forward...

So tonight I have an appointment with a potential wedding florist (YAY!) but this is simply preliminary. I told Mr. Stilts that he could go or not go. It doesn't really matter. He is absolutely invited if he wants to go but if he doesn't- not a big deal. There isn't going to be anything signed or anything final done today. I really just want to get some ideas flowing on what we want for the church and the reception along with the wedding party flowers. I have some ideas in my head but I have no idea if they are even feasible. I am totally a flower-idiot. I really don't know much about them so I am pretty much going to learn as much as I can and hopefully get some ballpark figures on how much they are going to cost us. That is a REALLY big concern of mine. I know we are going to need a lot of flowers because 1) we have a large wedding party 2)we have over 150 at this time on the guest list and 3) we have two different locations for the ceremony and rehearsal. Wes and I both have 7 attendants. Plus, all the flowers for me and him along with our parent's and then the decorations for the church and reception. Whew- my head is spinning already.

Anyway, so we are meeting with someone tonight that our wedding planner recommended. Her website was beautiful and I am hoping that we are able to find out some great information that might put both Mr. Stilts and I at ease. I have also been working on negotiations with a bagpipe player and organist. We have an organist at the church but this particular one plays with the bagpiper a lot so I almost feel it would be better to have both of them rather than the bagpiper and the church organist. No diss on the church organist though, she was great and super sweet. It's all going to come down to cost and what we can fit into our budget. We both really love the idea of the bagpipes playing me down the aisle. It makes me a little misty-eyed just thinking about it. So I hope it works out. I am trying to do the negotiations myself (with the help of my awesome, experienced deal-makin' sister) so that I can go to Mr. Stilts and hopefully make him proud of my accomplishments. I want him to know that I am really working hard to make this work for our budget. I think brides get a bum rap from certain t.v. shows (I'm talking to YOU, Bridezillas) and people just think all we do is try and sneak a $100,000 wedding. You have these woman screaming and crying because their "man" didn't pick their nose the way they wanted them to. So it's totally annoying and it's because of people like that all "brides-to-be" get categorized as completely unrealistic and crazy. Perfect example: "The Bride Contract". You can google it and find tons of variations of it but all are just hilarious and genius. I have included it below for your amusement:

*Bridesmaid’s Contract*

Hello my beautiful bridesmaids! Let me just say again how happy I am that you are going to be a part of my special day! Below are just a few guidelines for the wedding that I’d like you to review, please initial by each point, sign at the end and send back to me. Just want to make sure they’re aren’t any surprises! The planning bride is a happy bride!
Thanks a bunch! Love ya!

______ My hair will remain at the length it is now or longer.

______ I will not change my hair color without first consulting Katie and providing a sample photo or hair swatch for consideration.

______ I will use Sally Hansen’s “Maximum Growth-Daily Nail Growth program” every day for the 4 months before the wedding day.

______ I will not gain more than 4lbs from the weight I was when I was asked to be a bridesmaid.

______ I swear to attend all showers, (lingerie, bridal & bachelorette) to arrive in a timely manner and do everything in my power to support and “be there” for the bride.

______ I will purchase the David’s Bridal style # 81123 dress below in Latte/Champagne within 3 weeks of today.

______ I will NOT knowingly get pregnant without notifying Katie at least 4 months prior to the wedding so a suitable alternate can be found. I will also give my purchased bridesmaid dress to said alternate.

I do hereby swear that I will adhere to all of the above & other understood bridesmaid duties for the wedding on September 21, 2007
X_________________________
(sign, print and date)

And..........You're welcome.

Don't get me wrong, I know we are still 10 months out but I cannot imagine myself getting to THAT point. Granted, there are some things that if we had a bigger budget I would love to have but none of them are things that that we absolutely HAVE to have. I am not one of those people that just insists on having gold and diamonds dripping from everything. Well, first of all EWW and second, it's totally not necessary. What is necessary is for us to be surrounded by those closest to us. In conclusion, I think what we both want is something that is elegant, fun and most importantly- US.

The rut of all ruts......

So I am sitting here at my desk (at work....I know, I know..blogging at work is bad..blah blah blah...) but I sitting here thinking about how we have accomplished a lot for the wedding all at once and then BLAM-O....nothing. Well, I take that back somewhat, I did pick out the bridesmaid dresses this week. SO I guess that's a pretty big accomplishment AND my Mom found the most beautiful dress to wear to the wedding too. So big woo-hoo for her too (YAY MOM!). The bridesmaid dresses are really pretty and I like them a lot. Plus, they ended up being very reasonably priced which is a huge plus. The dresses I had originally picked out were about $300 and I would never ask someone to buy a dress they will more than likely only wear once (seriously, I don't care how many times you say "oh you could TOTALLY wear that again". News flash- YOU WON'T) I have worn the dress I wore in my sister's wedding more than once but still. There's a pretty small percentage of dresses that do actually get worn again, most go into the back of closet only to be seen again during "clean out your closet day" or when you move. Regardless, sorry for getting sidetracked, the dresses I picked out this time are really pretty and the fact that they are not too expensive, is great too. Here is a picture of the bridesmaid dresses (note: this lady is NOT one of my bridesmaids, she doesn't look like the cool chicks I associate with) The colors are going to be royal blue and ocean. I wanted my sister, Linnea, to stand out more than the others because she is my Matron of Honor so I am making her dress royal blue with the sash/tie thingy in ocean and all the other bridesmaids will be ocean with a royal blue sash/tie- thingy. That way they are all tied in together but she will stand out a little more. I am really happy with the decision of doing the different color for Linnea but not having hers be completely different. I was struggling with trying to come up with a way to do that.

As for my Mom, her dress is this one: and this is the actual color it is as well. I really, REALLY liked this dress on my Mom. It made her look fabulous (even though she does all the time anyway, it's just cool to see your Mom so dressed up!) In fact, she looks so great in it that I am going to post the actual picture of HER in it. (Sorry Mom if you didn't want to be featured in my blog........you're just too dang cute not to!) There she is! Mom's blogging via picture debut!!! I L-O-V-E this dress and I can't wait for all the bridesmaid's to get theirs in too. I couldn't see the actual dress in the right colors because the store didn't' have one so I am really excited for the day they come in (which will be like December, so I have a little while to wait)

Other than these decisions, I have done nothing else. I am really ready to start working on finding a florist but I just haven't gotten around to making any appointments. I have contacted one florist (or excuse me- FLORAL DESIGNER) but haven't really set up a meeting or anything. I have that one and two others I would like to talk with and possibly meet, we'll just have to see. Then the chauffeur guy I liked Mr. Stilts was supposed to call and talk to about his prices again but hasn't gotten around to it yet. That I'm not as worried about but it would be really awesome to be able to work out something with this guy because we both love his car so much. Then I have started talk with a guy that plays the bagpipes (I know, right?? AWESOME!) Mr. Stilts and I went to a friend's wedding in October and the bride was walked in by a bag pipe player and we both LOVED it so it's definitely something we want for our wedding. We are possibly going to have him play at our announcement during the reception as well. Super cool. I am really hoping we can work something out soon, I would like to know it's been set up and ready to go. So this rut is not a huge rut but still a rut indeed. I feel like we were getting so much done and then stopped so now I feel like we aren't doing ANYTHING. I know we still have a lot of time left until March 20, 2010 but I want to be able to get as much squared away as early as possible so we can (sort-of) sit back, relax and enjoy the engagment without being "as" stressed". I put the word "stressed" in " " because I know weddings are never really stress free --especially if you're me. Also, on a side note- I am still working out 6 days a week and really watching what I eat. HIGH FIVE TO ME! I have exactly 3 weeks until my re-measure for my dress so I am determined...A wedding dress is the ultimate motivation, believe me! :-)

One more thing-

My birthday is in 4 days...... yay.........  Never in my life has my birthday snuck up on me like this.  Planning a wedding sure does preoccupy your mind. Well and I am going to be 28 so THAT'S not super exciting in itself.  :-)