Such a slacker! (at blogging....)

So I know, I know....it has been a LONG time since I have blogged. At first, it was because nothing was really going on. But recently, A LOT has started to happen. First, MY DRESS CAME IN!!! WOO HOO!!!! :-) It's so pretty and I love it even more than I did when I first picked it out. I went to the bridal shop (shout out again to the wonderful ladies at Faccio- they ROCK) on Monday and tried it on. I loved it and I loved it even more because it was a little big on me. That made me feel good but I still can't go overboard with it. I want to still be able to fit into it come January when we start the alterations. Another awesome thing is

that last Sunday, all my bridesmaids met me at the bridal shop in Murfreesboro to get measured for their dresses. They were all able to come(with the exception of my matron of honor/sister but like I told her, I GUESS it was OK since she lives in another state and all) No, she's off the hook since we already had her measurements from the last time she was in town. The lady at the bridal shop is so super sweet and opened up her store on a Sunday when she is supposed to be closed just for us and she is doing all the alterations for my girls for FREE which I have never heard of. Just amazing and I am so happy with everything so far. I was so happy that all my girls could come and get to meet each other and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life.

I met with our wedding planner last week as well and sort of caught her up on everything. I as sort of overwhelmed with everything that was thrown at me and I guess I didn't realize exactly how much was left to do. I mean, I know we still have a lot but I didn't know we had to start doing a lot of it NOW. Like I need to get my make up trial run soon so I can be sure to lock in my date with the make up artist. So I am planning on getting that on the books very soon. Even though, our wedding planner suggested that I get the hair and the make up trial run done on the same day but that's going to be pretty impossible considering the make up guy is in Green Hills and may hair stylist is in Mt. Juliet. I could do it on a Saturday but I would have to pay a lot extra for the make up guy to get a private room and I am not sure I can swing that. I need to ask the planner about that again. Also, I was finally able to send off the list of addresses to my sister for the save the dates. I am so excited about getting them out and letting everyone know that it's officially official- Wes and I are getting married. I am so excited about some of the fun stuff that is to come.
Speaking of fun stuff, we have our engagement pictures coming up next weekend and I am really looking forward to that. I don't know how excited Mr. Stilts is about it but I am really pumped. I have never really had any professional pictures taken of me before. I am also looking forward to Mr. Stilts having to act like he likes me in PUBLIC. HA HA
I will post some as soon as we get them back. For now though, I would like to post a picture of the reception dresses for my bridesmaids. I was thinking about alternating between the two for each one. Love them!! Again, bridesmaids- YOU'RE WELCOME! ;-)

So beautiful.........Tear.....

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!!!! :-)

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.