Last week I had 3 exams and this week I’ll have 2 exams and 2 quizes so I’ve been busy to say the least. Well today I thought I’d spend a little bit of time working on the invites, trying to get the layout and everything finalized so we could get them out pretty soon. I printed a few out on regular paper and decided to try out my stamps. The stamp pad colors I bought were totally wrong! They look like pretty pinks in the package but on paper one is a horrible bubble gum pink and the other is way lighter than it looks. Ugh!!! I wish you could try out stamps before you buy them. Now I need to go out and buy more stamps tomorrow and hope I get the right color this time. Wish me luck!
I just wanted to give a quick update – there has been a very recent (and very small) addition to the bridal party… My cousin Samantha is pregnant! Yay!!! Congratulations Sam!
Hmm, now how are we going to balance this out on the grooms side? 
Ok, so the jeweler I had been emailing with said she could get the matching wedding band for me from the same company Andy got my e-ring from for $825. Andy and I wanted to keep it under $1,000 so I told her it sounded good to me, I just needed to talk to my fiance and get my correct ring size (since my e-ring is too big) and I’d get back to her.
Today Andy and I went to the mall so I could get my finger sized. Before we went in I told Andy I would first ask them if they had a band that matched mine and then ask for them to determine my ring size since it’d be weird to just walk in, ask for my size, and walk out. When I went with Andy to look for rings for him the jeweler showed me a ring they had that was similar to mine, but the stones were noticably larger and it didn’t look right together. I was figuring the same thing would happen today. Well the lady showed me a ring that was a pretty good match. The stones were still slightly larger, but not too noticable, the setting was slightly different, but would only be noticed upon close inspection, and the diamonds ran a little further along the side than mine do. So overall it wasn’t an exact match, but pretty close. However, this ring is on sale for $400.
Now I have to decide if I want to spend $825 on the perfect matching band or $400 on something that’s pretty close. One the one hand, it’s a $425 difference, which is a lot when you consider that we’re already over budget. On the other hand, $425 isn’t that much money when you consider that I’ll be wearing this ring for the rest of my life. Before I even email the other jeweler I asked what he thought would be a reasonable amount to spend and he basically said under $1,000. I asked Andy what I thought today after we left the mall and he said it’s my decision. Which ring should I choose???
I was finally able to find a jeweler who can get me the matching wedding band so now I just need to go to a local jeweler and get my real ring size. I think Andy got my engagement ring in a size 5.5 and it’s a little too big, especially when my hands are cold (which is nearly all the time). I know will feel a bit of relief when we have our rings in hand and can cross that off of our list. I can’t wait to get the band, put it on, and enjoy how my hand will look as a married woman hahaha!
Also, I found another cute idea for something we can do at the wedding. It’s a fingerprint tree, check it out…
If we were to do this it would be in addition to the guestbook I’m creating.I just think this is a cute idea and it would be nice to display in our apartment, at least for a while. I would probably set it up towards the end of the night near the exit so people do it as they get ready to leave. This would prevent people from walking around with green thumbs all night and risking messing up their clothes or staining linens, etc. I guess we could have alcohol pads or baby wipes or something set up to help get it off. What do you think? Yay or nay?
Since I’m posting photos I’ll throw in some other things I’ve come across recently. First off, I got these awesome candleholders from Target around Christmas time.
Then yesterday I saw some others online that would go with them quite nicely. I was thinking it might make a nice display on the mantle, but it could be a bit too modern, I’m not sure. I really love the historic mansion, but I also like some modern stuff and I’m trying to figure out if I can combine the two sucessfully.
Maybe if I put a few flowers up there on the mantle it would soften things up and keep the feel a bit more continuous.
Also, during our engagment photoshoot our photographer asked us a few times if we had ideas that we wanted to do as far as poses and we couldn’t come up with much. I think it was partly that we hadn’t really thought about it and partly that it was so early in the morning. Since then I’ve been saving photos I’ve come across that I like so I can keep them in mind and maybe show our photographers. So, here ya go…
Well, that’s all for now. I hope I haven’t bogged down anyone’s computer too much!
My maid of honor Laura mentioned that she was interested in seeing the breakdown of our guestlist since 100 seems like a lot (and it is, for us anyway). My ideal wedding, and I think Andy’s as well, would have less than 100 guests because we both are a bit quiet and don’t like environments that are too loud and rowdy. However, we want as much of our families there as possible and our close friends. The funny thing is that our families are almost mirrors of each other. Both of our mothers are 1 out of 6 children and both of our fathers are 1 out of 3. As you can imagine, both of our mothers sides of the family are quite large. 5 aunts/uncles means lots of cousins and some of our cousins have children. I also have a step family to throw into the mix. My stepmom has a large family (1 of 6 kids also!), but I limited it to a few of her relatives who I know much better than the others. So, without further ado, here is our guest list breakdown… Read the rest of this entry »
As you know I already booked our flight to London. When I booked the flight I was able to get us a window seat on the return flight and 2 seats in the center of plane on the way there. I really wanted to get a window seat for the way there too, especially since Andy hasn’t been overseas before and I know we’d both enjoy looking out the window. For this reason I kept checking the airline’s website every couple weeks to see if any window seats had become available.
Well today I logged on and found that not only had our return flight been moved back an hour, but our seats had been changed on both the flights there and back and no one bothered to email or contact me in any way. I was more than a little miffed, especially when I saw that Andy and I were no longer even in the same row on the flight to London!!! There were only 2 other seats left on the entire plane and they were next to each other, so I snatched them up. It’s a good thing I check the site from time to time or we may have ended up next to random people on our honeymoon flight! I was so annoyed that I actually wrote to customer service and I’m anxiously waiting to hear their response. I know seats are never guaranteed, but a little heads up email to everyone would have been much appreciated. Lets hope they don’t pull this stunt again.
Oh, the joys of wedding planning
It is time for a new passport! My current one is 8 years old so the photo looks very different from how I look now and on top of it all it expired 3 years ago. Today I took a new passport photo and tomorrow I will mail out the paperwork so I will be saying “Au revior!” before you know it.
The only other thing I’ve been up to lately (at least in wedding world) is trying to find a wedding band. The jeweler that Andy got my engagement ring from has been slow to respond and not so helpful this time around so we’re trying to find someone else. The company that makes my rings only has a handful of retailers in the US and the one Andy got my engagement ring from happens to be the only one in Florida. I’m a little surprised at how difficult it’s been to get this done. Andy already picked out the ring he wants but we still need to go buy it. Lets hope we’re not putting twist ties on each others fingers during the ceremony!
Wow, everytime I stop and think about it I’m a bit shocked at how quickly the big day is approaching. I feel pangs of extreme excitement followed by fear that I haven’t done enough, that I’m forgetting something, or that everything will fall apart at the last minute. My mom was trying to calm me down by telling me how little I have left to get done, but surely I’m forgetting something, right? Where’s that list?!
So today I mailed off the linen contract and they’ve already deducted the deposit so we should be good to go. I hope I ordered enough! (At $520 that had better be enough!!) So let’s see… what other items do I have left? Read the rest of this entry »
I received our Moo cards in the mail today and they look pretty cute 
Yay! I’m too lazy to take pictures right now so maybe it will just be a surprise for the wedding haha.
In other news, I’m a bit bummed that we’re gotten 4 of our save the dates back due to incorrect addresses. I had to wait in line at the post office for about 20 mins to get stamps and they came out to be the perfect amount. Now I’ll have to go back to get more. Ugh! I’ll try to grocery store first, but I’m not sure if they have $0.20 stamps there. I’m almost tempted not to even bother because 2 are the best man and groomsman so they’ll be there (hopefully) and don’t need the reminder and the other 2 are cousins that we already know will not be able to come.
Also, Andy and I went home this weekend and met with the pastor. He will indeed be out of town the weekend of our wedding (bummer!), but he’s got another pastor at the church who can take over. We met him breifly on Sunday and he seemed very excited. He’s young (~29 or 30) and said he loves to do weddings! I also went to my final dress fitting on Saturday. The seamstress did a wonderful job and it fits like a glove. I can’t wait to wear it down the aisle!!! All I need is a good tan!
Ok, so all of our save the dates have gone out and people seem to be checking out our wedding website which makes me really happy! I put a lot of time and thought into it and would have been disappointed if no one looked at it.
I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet with all the guest count/invite numbers which I think is really useful. We sent out 128 save the dates and out of those people we are estaimating that 95 will come. As I get RSVP’s back I’m filling that into another column. I really hope everyone RSVP’s as I know this is something many brides have a problem with. I plan on making the RSVP date a bit early (probably around 1 month before the wedding) so I can track down any slackers!
The mansion can, at most, hold 100 people in the main room. This would be 10 round tables with 10 people to a table, which is very tight. As much as Andy and I want everyone to be there we are hoping to somehow get around 90 or less so it’s not so crowded. The problem is there are still people we’d really like to invite, but we’ve had to put them on our backup list. I feel bad doing this, but there just isn’t enough room!
I’m antsy to start working on the invites so we can get those finished. Plus, the sooner we get them out the sooner we will be getting RSVP’s back (for those who don’t RSVP online). When Andy and I go home this weekend I’m hoping to get an official starting time set with the pastor and then I’ve got all I need to get working on the invites. Here is the timeline I have in mind: Read the rest of this entry »
