3 days!

I can't believe it..............in just 3 days Nathan and I will be married. SO SO SO excited. I have been a little stressed these past few weeks. Mainly waiting on people to return my emails and wondering if stuff was going to arrive on time in the mail. Now that I have heard from everyone and everything has arrived in the mail, I can breathe easier and things have fallen into place, right where they should be!

EVERYTHING has been paid off except our hotel for the night of the wedding and our rental car. I can't believe we paid for everything and it went great. We are seriously blessed to have jobs and to be able to afford the simple wedding that we wanted. At times, we both worried about money but, it ended up working in our favor. Everything eventually works itself out. You just have to wait.

We went to Old Navy over the weekend to pick up some more clothes for our Honeymoon. We told the cashier these clothes were for our honeymoon. She got really excited and started asking us questions about our wedding and planning. I told her if I could give her any advice, it'd be to PLAN AHEAD! It's so important. Nathan and I have been engaged since 2009 and I can't even imagine doing last minute planning right now. I'd be pulling my hair out. Nathan and I agreed while planning, that we would PAY STUFF AS WE GO! There is NO WAY we would have been able to afford it if we just paid for everything in the end. It just would not have worked out.

Yesterday, we got to talk to our DJ for the first time on the phone. I email him all the time or FB him when I have a question. He has been swamped with events and we have been swamped with planning. He was really nice and we plan to meet up for lunch tomorrow to go over our ceremony music. We went over our timeline last night and everyones names.We made a disc for him so it's easier. I am excited for him to be our DJ. He has gotten great reviews and seems like a really nice guy so, that makes things easier.

Tomorrow, we have our meeting with our DJ, pick up the guys tuxes, finish packing up everything for the wedding to load to the car and I have to take my Maw Maw to get her hair done for the wedding. So much stuff to do and so little time. :)

I will update tomorrow!

10 Days!!!

I cannot even believe there are ONLY 10 days left until Nathan and I are married. We will be married NEXT week! We are both SO excited. I am happy, excited, nervous, etc. I just want to make it through the ceremony with no tripping, falling or stumbling over the words. Once the reception comes, I will be okay I believe. I am more concerned with my hair than anything else. LOL. I want to look my best for Nathan :)

My Bridal Shower was two weekends ago. It was fun and so glad everyone could come! Nathan's family came from Southern Maryland which was a haul but, it was so good to see them! The food was delicious and everyone seemed to have a great time.

With it being so close to the wedding now, I will be spending more time talking to the vendors and going over everything to make sure all is good to go. We've pretty much paid everything off except the room the night of the wedding and our rental car for our honeymoon. I think we have done so well. We have some last minute stuff to do before the day comes but, I think we will be fine. I stress about money more than anything else but, we paid everything off without maxing out any credit cards or taking out a loan and I think that says a lot. :)

We are so excited for our honeymoon! It cannot come soon enough. Can't wait to soak up the sun on the beach with my hubby! Everyone has told me to cherish these little moments because it will all be a memory soon. While there has been a little drama along the way, I think it's went pretty smooth thus far. It could be worse...I've seen the show..Bridezilla's!!!

Wedding Nightmares!

I really can't wait to look back and laugh at my wedding nightmares and say "holy crap, what was I so deeply worried about? Everything went off without a hitch!" That moment will be awesome...but, until then...I keep having my stupid wedding nightmares. They usually involve my wedding dress, the officiant, our wedding vows, money and the photographer.

Last night I dreamt that my wedding dress was TOO big in the back but, fit perfectly in the front. (I guess it is better than being too small??) The dress was way too long and we forgot to get it altered. I keep dreaming that we forget to alter my dress and the day of it is a mess! Not sure where this is coming from but, I am 110% certain everything will be a-okay with my dress. Atleast I hope so. :)

I also dreamt it was the day before my wedding and I had not heard from my photographer. (She rarely responds to me so, that is where this came from I am sure). I am the kind of person where, if I e-mail you, I like a response within two days. I know things come up but, when two weeks pass.....really? I see you uploading stuff on Facebook. Why can't you e-mail me back? I'd even settle for a "ok. hi."

Yesterday I was stressed because I know I have to get our ceremony wording the way we both like it. So, this is definitely why I dreamt about it. Our officiant's sample ceremony is great but, I want to change the wording around to include some stuff. In the beginning we chose to write our own vows but, with it getting closer, I am not sure what we are doing to do. It will all be figured out and be perfect no matter what!

Money plays a HUGE role in my dreams. But, for some reason, I am not sure if I have ever had a dream where I had *too* much money. Where are those dreams at??? I like the thought of that! :) In last nights dream, it was the day of the wedding and we had absolutely no money to pay off the rest of our vendors with. It was pathetic. All of our vendors are pretty much paid off so, I know it won't be that big of a deal. In my dream, I also asked my amazing Maw Maw if we could borrow some money and she of course said yes without a doubt. I know if we are a little short we can find somebody to help us. But, I really think we will be okay. We invited a little over 100 people to our wedding and there will be less than that. As much as we'd love everyone there, it does help when we have less people to pay for.

My dreams to frustrate me but, I really have to put them aside and realize, things aren't going to go the way I want them to but, there will always be a way to fix it. Everyone keeps telling me, there will be things that won't go 100% but, no one else will notice but me. With that being said, I am getting more and more excited to walk down the aisle to my best friend. He is such an amazing guy and some days, I wonder how he even puts up with me. It can't be easy. I love him more than anything and can't wait to begin our lives together!

24 Days!!

Only 24 days left and boy is it sure flying by! Things are happening so fast. Thank goodness I have pictures to document everything and look back on to remember all these awesome things happening!

The Bachelor/Bachelorette party was last Saturday and it was a lot of fun! The guys and gals got together and met for dinner at this awesome Mexican Restaurant called Uncle Julio's. We had a huge party but, got a seat at the bar until the table was ready and talked while everyone showed up. The drinks were delicious and so was the food...as usual! Everyone got to meet one another and we had a blast!

Us girls went back to Meghan's to party and all the guys went back to his brothers house to party. The girls and I drank, played games and acted silly as usual. Nothing new there. Nathan said he had such a good time with all his friends. I am so glad he had a blast. He deserved that night with his friends. :)

This Saturday is my Bridal Shower. I am so excited! I bought a new dress for it and can't wait to wear it. I love social gatherings and can't wait to hang out with everyone and play games! More people are coming then I thought were which is totally fine with me! The more the merrier, for sure. Nathan will be showing up at the end to play The Newleywed Game with me. We haven't seen his Maryland family since Christmas so we are looking forward to that!

We got our Marriage License on Friday! Friday, the 13th nonetheless. It was so exciting and made things even more real to us. It took NO time and the lady that helped us was super nice. We walked right in and got it right away. A girl showed up to get her marriage license with her fiance while wearing a shirt saying "I'm getting married bitches." Keeping it classy! :)

After we got our Marriage License, we went and got haircuts and headed to The Picture People to get some pictures of us done. They came out amazing and we love them so much. A big thanks to my Aunt's friend Theresa for taking awesome shots. You rock! We will be setting them up at our reception. I can't wait. I think everything will look so great! We couldn't be happier!

I just made an appointment to get alterations done to my dress. David's Bridal was super expensive so, I chose a place close to my house that got great reviews. A few girls I know got their wedding dresses altered there and loved it. My appointment is May 28th and I will get a bustle put on and get it hemmed some. It's so long but oh so beautiful!!! I'm in LOVE with this dress!

More updates next week.... <3

1 month and 1 day left!!!

Time is really flying by. Our bachelorette/bachelor parties are this weekend. We are so excited for them! Us guys and gals are meeting up for dinner on Saturday between 6-6:30pm. From there, the girls are going back to Meghan's house for drinks/late night snacks/games/music and an all around good time. I am so looking forward to spending some quality time with my girls. The pictures the next day will be hilarious for sure. Nathan and his buddies will be going to his Brothers house for the same. He is so excited and it makes me happy to see. I told him if he could have any Bachelor party, what would it be? All he wanted was to spend a night with his buddies, drinking, laughing, playing poker, etc. Nathan and I just really wanted to spend quality time with our friends. We didn't want them to worry about spending a crazy amount of money just to have fun. We just wanted everyone in a safe place where people didn't have to drink and drive. That was our main concern. And, looks like we got it. :)

My dress comes in this week. I cannot wait to put it on again! I really can't wait for Nathan to see me in it. I know he will love it. It really is beautiful and is the dress I should have picked all along!

This Friday I took off so Nathan and I can go get our marriage license. Wow, it's really becoming even more real!! After we get our wedding license, we are going to have my Aunt's friend take some pictures of us that we can put up at our wedding reception. Looking forward to those pictures!

Next weekend is the Bridal Shower! Holy crap. Can't believe it's almost here. Really excited for that as well. Just waiting for everyone to RSVP! The weekend after that, Meghan is doing a trial of my hair and makeup. I will have my veil and headpiece and will be able to see how it will officially look the day of my wedding. I rather do a trial run then have it be a surprise the day of!

More updates after this weekend!

40 Days?!

Where has the time gone....seriously?! I love looking at past posts and seeing me count down. I was shocked when I had a little over 100 left and now....40. It's going to be here before we know it! I'll just feel so much better when I can walk into the reception and have a drink and relax with my HUSBAND!! =)

Nathan and I are getting so excited though! Things have been going smoothly with the planning. (For now). He is so laid back with everything which has made it easier. He voices his opinion and we discuss it out. I am lucky we both agree on everything and have similar tastes. That has made everything so easy.

Lets see...what has happened since I last updated? My girls and I went for our alteration appointment. It was not fun by any means. Since I have lost 40 pounds, my dress was really big on me. I could put it on without unzipping it and it was just so unflattering. I was not happy. I never "loved" the dress. It was just "eh, it's comfy. lets go with it." After that appointment I was crushed. It made me even more frustrated because the alteration lady claimed it was indeed my size, I just needed to have it taken in on the top a little. What the hell was I going to do? I guess the only logical thing someone in my position would do. GO FIND ANOTHER DRESS. I went to David's Bridal with my Bridesmaid and Best Friend Meghan. I tried on probably 6 dresses. She loved them all on me. For once, I enjoyed trying things on. (Losing weight helps!) The first dress I tried on was the one I went in there wanting to try on the most. I fell in LOVE with it. It's simple and beautiful! It felt amazing. AND...it was two sizes smaller than my dress before. I found a veil and headpiece that I loved and put everything on. I felt like a princess. That is how I should have felt in the beginning. I can't wait for Nathan to see me in it!

We met with our cake lady for the final time. She let us try three more flavors. Spice cake with cream cheese frosting, marble cake with chocolate butter cream and strawberry shortcake. We fell in love with the first two. We can have a different flavor for each tier which is so great! We are still trying to decide on a design. There are so many options. Our cake lady is so sweet and is willing to do whatever we want to make our day special. I think every vendor should do that. It's such an important day!

Our cut-off date for RSVP's is May 10th. The same day my dress and everything comes in! We have received a lot of RSVP's but are waiting to hear from just a few more people. I told Nathan he will be making the phone calls to the people who don't reply. He is not looking forward to it. :) Poor thing. :P

My Bridal Shower is May 21st! I am so excited. I bought my dress for it over the weekend and am in love with it. It's so perfect and Nathan agrees. :) I tried it on for him. The Bridal Shower will be such a blast. I am really looking forward to it. My girls are awesome and they are going to make it so fabulous! I just hope people show up, haha. If not, more food for us!

We finally made plans for the Bachelor/Bachelorette party. All of us are going to dinner and then splitting up for separate parties. It will be such an awesome time with our friends. We are both very excited to kick it with our guys and gals and drink the night away! Lots of pictures will be taken. I want this documented!!!! :)

I went out with my Dad over the weekend to find him a suit for the wedding. He was really worried that it would cost an arm and a leg but, we found him a nice one for a great price. He was very happy with that. Now, it's my job to find him a hot pink tie! I'll have no problem with that. I also took my amazing Maw Maw out to find her a dress for the wedding and we both found one we were in love with! She loved it so much and it made me so happy to see her that happy. She looked amazing.

I was on the fence about booking a Videographer. We weren't sure if we had the money right now for it. But, I thought about NOT having a video to watch of our big day and it bothered me so much. So, I found a guy and Nathan and I both enjoyed his work so we booked him. It was a great price and included so much! Plus, he seems extremely reliable and responds to all my emails. I wish all vendors were like that!

I was really stressed about not being able to pay off the wedding but, all seems to be okay right now. I am not getting my hopes up but, I really think we have been doing a great job. Only a little left to pay. I couldn't imagine waiting until the last minute to pay off everything. How do people do it? We pay stuff towards it every paycheck and that has helped so much!

More updates coming regularly I am sure.....

<3

79 Days Left!!! Ahhhh!!

I cannot believe there are ONLY 79 days left until Nathan and I get married. Where did the time go? I remember us first getting engaged and so happy that we had so long to plan and pay off everything. Now, it's just around the corner. While stuff still is not paid off, I think we are doing a pretty good job. So, what else has been going on.........

We ordered our invitations on etsy.com from a seller named moncherdesigns. I highly recommend her. Her work is absolutely amazing and she responds right away which we all know I love! Seriously, I priced invitations everywhere and with her I got the invitations, response cards, direction cards which also includeed the hotel information, seals, envelopes that were self-addressed for the invites AND response cards for half the price it would have been elsewhere. It made me SO very happy and they look amazing! Those went out this morning so, I have another thing checked off the list to do! I love when you can find a great deal without spending an arm and a leg. Love that website!

My bridesmaids and I got had a get together to talk about the day of the wedding, bachelorette party and bridal shower a few weeks ago. I feel like we got everything taken care of. It was great sitting there and talking with my girls. I really have a great group of girls as my bridesmaids. So drama free which makes me happy. We literally sat in Panera talking for hours. Then we went to the party store to check out decorations, etc. It was a very fun day!

Nathan, Jaci (Matron-of-Honor) and I went and checked out my Bridal Shower venue and LOVE it. It's huge, hardwood floors, very pretty and great for the price. It will be so perfect. I can't wait to see it decorated by my bridesmaids for my Bridal Shower! It will look so pretty! Hot pink, polka-dots, black, white...the works. I am so excited!

April 9th we are going in for alterations for my wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses. Hoping it goes smoothly. I know how crazy Davids Bridal can be on a Saturday! I really am worried about them messing up my dress but, have to keep faith that everything will be okay and my dress won't look ridiculous the day of my wedding!

We have another appointment with our cake people mid-April. We chose more flavors to try and we will be finalizing the look of the cake, cake flavors, etc. Nathan and I had a blast trying cakes before and we really liked these people so, it will be awesome! We are meeting them at our wedding venue so they can see the set-up and where the cake will go, etc.

Until next time..............

102 Days To Go!

I cannot believe there are 102 days left until I marry the man of my dreams!! Time has flown by so very fast. It will be here before we know it. I cannot wait :D

So, things have been busy as usual. I found sashes for WAY cheaper than David's Bridal had which made me happy. This way, the girls can just toss them when they are done and not have to keep a $20+ sash lying around! Plus, it looks awesome with the dress. :)

We went to our food tasting on the 6th of February with Nathan's Mother and my Maw Maw. We had a great time and the food was really good! I think we made some great choices for what we are going to have. Hopefully it pleases everyone and if not...sorry, LOL. Who knows if Nathan and I will even have time to eat. We are going to be so busy. :)

So, today, we purchased our invitations from a seller on etsy.com. I am in LOVE with that website. They have everything and for a lot cheaper than a lot of places. We also booked our honeymoon which we are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for. We will be leaving the day after the wedding and driving to Florida to our amazing resort. That vacation cannot come soon enough. Time to relax with my husband :D:D

On a side note...my wedding band is huge on me now since I have dropped 20 lbs and my engagement ring is getting bigger too. Better than tighter I guess!

More updates to come later on...

5 months to go...

Well, it's been a little while since I have posted an update. A lot has changed! Where do I even begin??

We thought we had an officiant picked out. We filled out our form and e-mailed it to her and even set up a time to meet. The day before we were to meet, I e-mailed her to confirm and she NEVER got back to me. She even chose the location and time. It has been severan weeks and still nothing. I can't believe that is how some people conduct their business!!

So, we went on the hunt for another officiant. We found a gentleman that does dozens of weddings a year and has been doing it for years. We loved his sample ceremony. It was put together so nicely! So, we asked if he could join us for the rehearsal as well as wedding (of course!) and he said he would definitely do it! FINALLY!!!

We purchased our wedding bands!! I am so excited for them to come in. Mine is the matching band for my engagement ring. It took more time for Nathan to find his. He has never worn a ring so, he may have some trouble getting used to it :) I do love the one he chose. It's very "him".

We went to David's Bridal this past weekend and picked out the Flower Girl's dress which I absolutely adore! She looked so cute in it. It was perfect! It's long, white and poofy with sparkles! Adorable! Shannon has also been added to our wedding party since someone else left (for reasons I won't discuss! :)). It was for the best and we could not be happier to have Shannon! The perfect choice and wish it had been like this from the beginning!

This weekend I am rounding up the guys to go get fitted for their tuxes. I hope all goes smoothly and we can get in and out of their without any problems. (not from the guys but from people who work there!) I am bringing my Matron of Honor along to help me since this is the first time for me. :)

Also, I wish everyone wrote me back within a few hours of me writing them. I HATE waiting days for a response. It bothers me...