249 days

It's been awhile since we talked about The Wedding, hasn't it, Internet?  

Lately I seem to alternate between having wedding on the brain 24/7 and, um, not.  I'll spend about a week doing nothing but looking at wedding stuff online, calling wedding-related places, flooding my Joel's inbox with links and ideas and sending my mom seven hundred picture of possible DIY centerpieces we could make.  And then... I'll get tired and look at some lolcats.  I've been telling myself this is fine, no worries!  We still have nine months until The Big Day!  That's enough time to grow a baby, so surely it's plenty of time to plan a low-key wedding.   Except I just counted, and it's actually eight months, so, um, nevermind about that baby thing.

Every time I look at my online checklist and see all the little red exclamation points screaming at me, my inner worrywart starts to panic a little.  What are do you  mean you still don't have an officiant!, the annoying little voice screams at me.  You'd better get Googling, STAT!  

But really, I think we're making excellent progress!  With 249 days to go, here's what we've accomplished so far:

1. Met with a caterer.  Still no idea on what we'll actually be serving at the wedding, but pish posh.  We met with the caterer!

2. Got the entire bridal party set.  Check and CHECK!

3. Met with a florist and gave them general guidelines for the bouquets and boutonnieres. This is what our bouquets will look like:   

They'll be using these pictures as a guideline when they make the bouquets, except they'll be using flowers available locally at the flower market the week of the wedding to replicate the looks above.  (Better for the environment than shipping in specific blooms from California or South America, and also better for our budget, since this option costs about 60% less than dictating the exact flowers for all the bouquets.)

Our centerpieces will look like this:

We'll be using cut hydrangeas in antique mason jars that I've been staking on ebay.

4.  Made a Save-the-Date card.  Just waiting for Joel to approve it and I'll be ordering it from Tiny Prints with my 20% off holiday coupon!

5. I ordered a few samples of invitations to consider.

6.  I bought a dress.  Now, perhaps you remember me saying something back in May about buying a dress.  You'd be correct, and that's the problem with archiving my life here on the internet.  As much as I like that dress and as much as I love a bargain.... I just loved another dress so much more.   So I bought it last week, and I LOVELOVELOVE it.  Itwill be here in May-ish.  Just trust me, OK?  It's perfect.  (Anyone need my other one?  Paloma Blanca, new with tags!)

I know that there is still much to be done, but things are really starting to move along!  Dare I say that this whole wedding thing is actually kind of fun?  

Comments

[Cheryl]

I love your flowers! Hydrangeas are so beautiful, and I love the blue and white and green variations you can get them in (not to mention pink and purple).

I loved planning my wedding, and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd probably have another one!

[Viviane]

I am not exactly a wedding expert but it sounds like your planning is moving along really well. I love the flowers! So what does the new wedding dress look like?

[Nothing But Bonfires]

Oh my god, you are SO far ahead of me. And I think we're planning on getting married around the same time. See? THAT is how far behind I am! I DON'T EVEN HAVE A DATE! Just a general time frame!

BTW, I have the EXACT same vision for my bouquets and centerpieces -- seriously, I'm not being stalkerish: that's EXACTLY what I want too. I think you should totally just ship yours over to me when you're done with them. Ha!

[Annemarie]

I loved the planning too, I felt so strangely un-busy afterwords. I totally want to do it again, if only to wear the dress one more time.

[Katie]

There's so much involved in planning a wedding! I'm not married or engaged, but while I look forward to one day planning my own, I know it's going to be hard work!

[Zandria]

It's a little funny to me that people who say they have no interest in weddings before they get engaged? Actually end up LOVING the planning process. I don't think that person will be me one day, but I've heard it happens. :)

[nancypearlwannabe]

Love the flower choices! And the colors! It's going to be so pretty. And I can't wait to see pictures of your new dress! I would say I'd buy the first one off you but A) it would be about 10 inches too short for me because I am clearly a giant, and B) it would be a bit presumptuous since I have no plans, immediate or otherwise, to get married.

[elise]

Those flowers are GORGEOUS. Gorgeous! Good job planning, I planned my whole wedding from March to August and it was only the first month or so that was crazy. After that it was just details and if you HAVE to get 'em done fast, it can be done. NO worries.

Gorgeous, though, seriously.

[Courtney]

I love the idea of the flowers in Mason jars. I don't even know you in real life, but I'm already getting antsy for the wedding and pictures of said event! I'm glad that you're still enjoying the planning - so many people stress so badly!

[Lindsey]

OMG reading about your wedding makes me absolutely giddy! I used hydrangea too and I LOVE THEM! The mason jars, the flowers, the perfect dress I haven't even seen yet. I LOVE EVERYTHING! The Knot website would freak me out with their checklist, but there were a lot of things that I didn't do until the last month that I apparently should have done months before. They are a wee bit strict and that's coming from me...someone who is totally A-type, totally OCD, totally anal (and totally in love with Twilight!!! LOL) You'll be fine. Just pace yourself.