4 months 4 months 4 months!

Holy majoly - but very exciting! I think of 4 months ago [April] and that doesn't seem too far away, so it is nuts to me that in 4 months we'll be getting married. Today I'm sending in the retainer letter & deposit to my florist (very excited about the direction we are going). My FH and I are going to have a date night on Friday - our pastor has given us the 'orders' and we must report back to him on Monday, our next session of counseling. We are at the point where we are going to start discussing ceremony and timelines and all that other stuff. I went to Borders after work yesterday to look for a Florida Keys coffee table book to use for our guest book - no such luck - nothing even close! I am going to have to order one online and hope for the best that it will be good. I was hoping to be able to skim through it to make sure it's what we'd want... but there are some choices online.

Other things I have been thinking about and working with others on: menus, itinerary for evening [my aunt], programs [FSIL], and FH has started working on music - starting by initial reception music... I told him I'm in control and on top of the late night music, ha!

whatimadoin

i'm on a 2 week break from school. although I am still working, I feel like I am vacation. I have begun to work on some projects. I have assigned my mom the "welcome bag" job for the hotel guests - she has already purchased a small item to include inside. I have given her the direction I am looking for with them, and I feel good that they will not be a last minute thing. I just placed an order for "oatmeal" brown paper gift bags with handles [in bulk] that I will be using for them. I also need them for project #2 I am working on and that is a surprise I don't want to discuss b/c I think some of my BMs may read this blog from time to time... no big deal, just something I've thought up for my shower. no more hints.

I went to Michaels yesterday - I was trying to avoid it b/c i want to buy everything - but had to stop at SuperTarget for some food (Atkins day 6!) - I have a new obsession with rubber stamps and homemade cards. I for a long time do not really purchase "regular cards" and like to use blank ones anyhow, but now I just bought some very nice cardstock and envelopes with some cute stamps to use as my thank-yous... I made a purchase a couple months back of 50 cards for thank yous from Home Goods (wayyy good price) but I will be needing more than 50! Right now I have about 120 thank you cards including the cards I purchased from Michaels yesterday to make. I want stamps for everything now. Birthdays, thank yous, Miss yous, thinking of yous, etc...... I realize there is a whole sophisticated world of rubber stamp card making, but i am exciting to try to enter it! :-) i want every rubber stamp to my disposal! Could I get this good?:

so it begins!

So i can write.. i have things to say. I started my "diet" on Tuesday - it's my combo atkins/south beach diet. I did this for Emily's wedding last year, without working out, and lost about 10 lbs?! maybe a LITTLE more? SOoooo, with working out, b/c I am going to add that in (although my weight was ok, I was flabby - particularly my arms) and I want to be CHISELED yo! Day 2 was rough, yesterday was OK - but I drank wine, a NO NO, but it was my last day of summer school, I attended a wake of a friend that tragically died, and I was having dinner with another friend I haven't seen in a while... 2 glasses of vino was in the cards!

So on my lunch today out of boredom i decided to check out Payless for some shoes, and I ended up buying my wedding shoes for $7!! I love them too -they are adorable with a good size heel, and comfortable enough! I'm sure I could have found ones i love MORE (i've been eying some peep toe ones on zappos) but why spend $60 on shoes you do not see, and will not wear again?! I'd rather spend that money on somehting that WILL be seen!!

Less than 5 months to go!

this past weekend we hosted a party for the bike races that happen in our town. Alex was here from Philly for his 30th birthday. He and I went to Oak Park Friday night to check out 19thCC and restaurant, and he met my caterer. I wanted him to get a good feeling for the venue to help with decor. FH & I had a counseling session last night, soon we will start discussing the ceremony, length, music (no clue!!), vision of wedding, etc... That's the fun part!

My "knot" 5 months to go email said to start talking about groomsmen's outfits and groom's outfit and order... we still do not have a full wedding party!

stuff

Yes yes yes, I never post anymore! But not like anyone reads this anyhow - a few do I think, but I don't have a long list of followers begging for my next entry. I started summer school (slightly regretting it) but I'm 2 weeks into an 8 week course, so that's promising.

Alex comes in 2 weeks!! yay!! I pick him up from the airport on 7/10 and we're going straight to Oak Park to Cucina Paridiso for a bite to eat and cocktail - once it's not too busy, Anthony will take us over to 19thCC so I can show him the space. I'm sooo excited b/c he's so creative and I want him to see it and help me with decor. It will be wonderful to have him be able to picture everything rather than just looking at pictures. And then, it's his 30th bday on 7/11!

I have been finalizing my ideas for flowers with my florist, Carolynn - she has been wonderful in dealing with my tight budget and my "all over the map" ideas. I think I have settled on something [above] minus a few things. I love love love this bouquet and am so excited. I'm having holly bouts (thank you Katherine Heigl wedding last winter where I got the idea).

We have been discussing ceremony music, and still doing counseling with our pastor... things are moving, nothing HUGE, but moving! TGIF!

Less than 6 months!

Not too much new to report, therefore the lack in blogging. I'm starting to get my addresses together - I have taken our guest list and at least put everyone into a Word address list - so I can start to manage who I need to get addresses from, and those I already have. I am lucky to have Josh's sisters addresses from her wedding last year, which I have used as my template and now have addresses from his side of the family.

We had another counseling session with our Pastor last night which went well. It has been fun and beneficial for him to get to know us better and vice versa. I feel that will really be a positive thing for our ceremony, rather than someone that is "rented" or means nothing to us. The counseling/discussions force you to talk about things that you may not want to bring up, or already know, but just good to get it out there and bounce it off someone else too!!

We have started talking about our ceremony music -I contacted some people [mostly pianists], and we have some bids, but we need to pull the trigger and get on it.

We were at 6 months last week - still lots of time, but still lots to do! I start summer school today, blah.

To photo or not to photo.... before the ceremony!

We met with our photographer, Michael, this week - I think it's decided that we will not see one another before the ceremony. For a while, I was pushing for it because our ceremony will begin at approximately 5:45pm in December and therefore it will be DARK. We will not be able to take any pictures with natural light, and that sort of bums me out. He gave us the option of doing an engagement shoot, which I really was not into before, but now that we will not be seeing one another to use natural light on the day of our wedding, I am liking the idea more. He suggested some places around the city - my FH thought the Museum Campus when the colors are changing - so we'll see - don't have to decide that now. The studio we are working with is who my brother used to work for nearly 5 years - so I am excited as I know many of them and I know they will do a fabulous job! Check out their website: http://www.yamashirostudio.com/

After our meeting we had a great dinner with some friends at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba (one of my favs!) and then met up with an old friend from NYC that I went to FSU with :-) Any chance for me to talk about the Seminoles is a good day and night!