Economy Woes

With the economy apparently teetering on the edge, Erik & I have discussed the feasibility of having the wedding of our dreams next summer. We've already put deposits down with pretty much every aspect of the wedding that needed to be booked in advance. Not to mention the fact that we are emotionally invested in all of our ideas, locations, and plans. So, we are going to move forward with the original plan and be thankful that I pulled my wedding fund out of the stock market this past summer.

The one place where this uncertainty may come into play is the honeymoon. I'm not a huge vacation person - usually I go crazy after a few days of doing nothing. We were originally planning for a cruise of the Greek Isles and we may still do that, but in a reduced form. Or we may just fly to Athens with a brief stop over in Santorini. Or we may scrap the whole Greek idea and cop out with a trip to an all-inclusive Mexican resort.

According to my MS timeline, the honeymoon should be booked within the next month or so. Hopefully, things will have calmed down enough by then to really see what the situation is... Erik and I are banking on the fact that the world will always need lawyers...

Save the Dates

So... The survey is complete and the results were very close! Thanks to everyone who responded.

The results were:

Absolutely Necessary.	20 (47%)
No. Why send 2 invitations?	22 (52%)

It has also come to my attention that some people would have voted had I had more than just two brightline answers. And by "some people" I mean my law school buddies. See below for examples.
K.E.:

hey! i saw the survey on your blog, but i couldn't vote because i don't necessarily agree with either (do i sound like a lawyer yet?) haha:) anyway, i think a nice way of making sure people save the date without the added effort & expense is to include a mini save the date in holiday cards. i just printed up a cute save the date type note on nice paper & put it in the cards. added bonus: december is the perfect time to send save the dates for summer weddings. hope that helps!

C.M.R.:

I'm going to join K.E. and say I didn't respond to your poll because while I don't think save the dates are absolutely necessary, they are a nice way to get people to put it on their calendars well in advance, and make sure they don't plan things that would get in the way - I am glad to have the one from my friend who's getting married in April so that I don't have to always be wondering which weekend it is, etc. Also, we went the magnet route (as did this friend) and I think that it's nice because that way you don't lose it among your papers somewhere - always easy to find! That's just my two cents on save-the-dates ;)

The reason for the survey and the questioning about "Save the Dates" is the fact that historically speaking "Save the Dates" were only mandatory if your wedding was on a holiday weekend OR was a destination wedding. Part of me is also bothered by the fact that people close to me wouldn't remember the wedding date - or, at the very minimum, the wedding month. If the wedding month is known, then they can always call before making big plans - if remembering the actual weekend is a problem. Also, a Save the Date would not apply to you, person reading this blog, because I would assume that you know the wedding date (hint: it's on the right hand side of the page).

Not trusting my own intuition on this, I have done some outside research. It appears that there are conflicting views. Some agree with my aforementioned misgivings about Save the Dates, but there was some merit to the argument about weddings during busy times of the year. August 15 is right around the beginning of the school year - as many of the invited guests are teachers, have children, or are in school themselves, this seems like the strongest argument in favor of Save the Dates. (As a funny side note, I almost abbreviated Save the Dates to StDs... yeah, going to write it out...) AND I talked to Erik about it, and he was like, "Of course we should send Save the Dates..." Right... Too bad he didn't say that a week ago...

At any rate, now, I guess, it's a manner of what kind of Save the Dates to send...

Peggy Post's website says:

E-mail Go’s: “Save the Date” notices. It’s a great way to send an informal note to friends and relatives to put the date aside.

Also, I have found some relatively reasonably priced magnets (always a crowd favorite), postcards, and some ideas on MS for making my own. Sigh. I should just resolve myself that cutting corners is not my nor my future husband's style.

Colors

So, just as I was writing this posting a girlfriend of mine texted me and asked what colors I was thinking about for the wedding! How weird is that? Anyway, I decided to finish the post posthaste... sorry, bad joke... since I have been working it for a little while now - so busy!

As may have been apparent from the colors on the blog, Erik and I's colors for the wedding are hydrangea blue, navy, and white. There will probably be some silvery green accents in there too because I absolutely love eucalyptus and rosemary. I think it will be a nice soothing addition to the bouquets. It remains to be seen whether those work with hydrangeas, but we'll see!

Erik and I are so lucky to have his Aunt J. helping us with the flowers. I'm waiting on price estimates, but it's nice to know that it's a family member and that we are not going to get nickeled and dimed and/or ripped off. What surprised me about hydrangeas is that they are more expensive than roses. People grow these in their gardens... it just seems odd.

The road to picking the colors was not always smooth. I had originally wanted pink - think white roses with pink tips. Erik had this vision of a scary-barbie type wedding and vetoed that idea. So... we started with chocolate brown and fuchsia, which has this wonderful modern, exotic feel, but just wasn't us. Finally, I saw pictures of hydrangeas online, and wondered why I was resisting blue so much. I still don't know the answer to that question, but as soon as I thought about it, I realized that the colors just work for Erik & me. I'm going with several shades of blue - not matching is totally fine with me (the colors will be based off whatever flowers I pick and will be in the blue family). Erik is also very pleased to not have a Pepto-Bismol wedding.

At any rate, here are some of the ideas that I have as far as flowers go:

My Bridesmaids Are Comedians

So... last night because I was in Wedding Mode (which is really hard to switch out of sometimes), I emailed my b-maids to let them know that I have decided NOT to specify the exact shoe they should buy to go with their dresses. How considerate of me, I know. :) (sarcasm should be evident).

I did tell them that the shoes should be silver or navy. I'm thinking it's obvious that I would want them to buy some sort of strappy sandal or cool pump. Well, apparently they are on to how particular I am because this is what Heather sent me in response:

I think I’m gonna go with silver…what do you think? http://www.shoebuy.com/pleaser-electra-2020/242408/519214.

Here's the picture from the link:


Umm... I'm thinking no further comment need be made.

Fitting # 2

Tonight I had my second fitting for my wedding dress. Pretty much Tina is creating the base layer of the torso that all the boning will go on. I tried on a starter-top that she marked and fitted to my body. The fact that I've probably gained about 3-4 pounds during this interview season is hopefully not making the fit too off... I do have motivation to hit the gym though! (I am proud to say that I hit the gym while at a hotel, which is certainly a first for me!) Heather came tonight with me and so kindly took pictures! The next fitting will probably be sometime in early October.

Despite the fact that I'm super excited about the dress and getting married, it is all a little bittersweet because today marks the 4th anniversary of my dad's death. It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years. I try not to get too sad about it, and I think about the fact that Dad LOVED Erik. I think that he would be very pleased about how things are turning out. Also, in case you (reader) are wondering who's going to walk me down the aisle - the answer is simple. No one! I am my own, independent person and no one is giving me away to anyone. Even if Dad were alive, I think that the only reason he would be walking me down the aisle would be because he would have probably wanted to and not because I'm traditional like that.

Tonight Heather celebrated my dad's life with me at Biaggi's before the fitting - I always go out to a nice dinner to remember September 18. I really appreciate her friendship and am glad that she was able to be there. For those wondering where the groom was - he was in Cary seeing a friend from Arizona (Steve, who's also in the wedding) that he never gets to see. I wish I was able to go with him, but, alas, class gets in the way again. We talked about it and decided that it would be better for him to go up to his hometown rather than stay and make a big deal about it. I think that was a good decision.

Close Call

Last night Erik and I got an email from our DJ saying that someone else wanted our date (the nerve!). Turns out the person lives pretty much next door to us. It kind of freaked the DJ out. Here's the relevant party of the DJ's email with address information redacted:

Ok so this is so WILD! I did get an email from someone interested in the same wedding date as yours. The wild part is her address is XXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!! How crazy is that! She actually went to the same grade school as me but was several years younger.

I did want to touch base and see if you guys were booking with us before I got back to her. Please let me know! I still can't believe it's your neighbor I have NEVER had that happen...

Needless to say, I'm mailing the contract and deposit check today. Also, I feel immensely vindicated in regards to being on the groom's case about booking a DJ.

DJ Finally Booked

Erik and I have finally booked a DJ for the wedding. I know finally seems a little odd as a descriptor in the sense that the wedding is 11 months away (or at least it will be as of tomorrow). We are going to use Medleys in Motion, which is based out of Grayslake and came recommended (much like everything else) by our site coordinator - Mike Aquino.

Booking the DJ came during a particularly stressful week for both Erik and me. I was out of town Sunday-Wednesday interviewing in New York and was leaving at 0-dark-thirty for Atlanta to attend a recruiting event for my law school. Erik was and is preparing for his Prelim defense. But nevertheless, we had a phone meeting (that I barely made - damn law school receptions) and loved the guy, Greg, instantly!

So, we will have 2 DJs on site to hold down the fort. We have also booked them to do the music for the wedding ceremony. Although having a string trio would have been nice, it is much easier for us to do it this way. I personally just want to have everything major booked so that I can focus on my career search and that small thing called law school.

Status update from first post:

DJ - Booked. Considering not delegating any more stuff to groom.
Florist - Found, but need to email Aunt J. to discuss pricing/ ideas.
Honeymoon - Received first price estimate. Freaked out. Now regrouping.
B-Dresses - Girls getting sized and sending me the order forms.
W-Dress - Muslin fitting this Thursday. (post to follow).

Celebrating With Friends

On Thursday, I finally got the chance to celebrate my engagement (and birthday) with my girlfriends at law school. My friend Anushila helped by organizing through Facebook (what would we do without Facebook?) and reserving the back area of Boltini's. Also, some of my non-law school friends were able to come, which I was very happy about!

Anushila (party-planner extraordinaire) & me

2 of my bridesmaids & me

This week has been really stressful for everyone, and I think we all enjoyed a night of relaxation and martinis! Thanks for everyone who came out and braved the weather! ( See below)

More photos of the festivities can be found here.

Also, photos from the first engagement party (that Erik's mom and dad so nicely planned) can be found here.

First Fitting!

Today was the first fitting for my wedding dress!!! Obviously, I'm very excited. My dress is being made by Tina Colombo. Tina is my former Contracts professor's wife. When Professor Colombo talked about his wife's business during the course of Fall 2007 semester, I knew that I wanted her to make my dress.

After meeting with her a few times, I knew that she was the one! I went dress shopping in Atlanta with my Matron of Honor, Beth, and found THE dress (or at least an approximation of the style of THE dress) - the first dress I tried on at the very first store. It turns out that I had brought a clipping of it with me (from Martha Stewart, of course). It was so much fun dress shopping, and I'm sure that having the dress made will be even more fun. Tina and I discussed the dress (the entirety of which will remain a secret - at least on this blog!), and I am positive that she's going to do a fabulous job!

This is obviously a fake measuring photo, but I wasn't about to post a picture of her measuring me in my bridal bra/modern corset. She insisted on doing a measurement that she could do while I was clothed (protecting her professionalism), which I totally understood.





My lovely law school bridesmaids (Stephanie & Heather) came with me to the fitting. Heather had to be fitted for her bridesmaid dress, and Stephanie came along for fun and to help me into the aforementioned bra.

I'm not quite sure what they are doing in this picture, but this is the pose they came up with when I told them I was going to take their picture....

Reflections

Today is my 25th birthday and I've been reminiscing about where I thought that I would be at 25. In high school, I was convinced that I would already be married and already have a kid. This is a very frightening thought to my actual 25-year-old self - who is okay with not being married and is VERY OKAY with not having any children.

I'm feeling good about where I am and about where Erik and I are right now. I am sure that Erik and I are doing this at the right time, in the right way. Of course, I would have liked to have been engaged before this summer, but having about a year to plan is plenty and I have to say that the proposal was worth the wait!

What's weird about this birthday is that I have been looking forward to it since I turned 22. And now that I'm here it feels a little anti-climatic. Of course, I'm pumped about having my insurance go down and about being able to rent a car without being charged $25 (an ironic amount) per day in addition to the normal cost of a rental. The funny thing is that the number one thing I wanted for my birthday was rollerblades, and Erik totally made my wish come true! It's a little silly because I think I wanted rollerblades for my 12th bday... but oh well! I can't wait to hit the pavement! :D

Ceremony & Reception Site

We are getting married at the Country Squire in Grayslake, Illinois. It fits our needs perfectly! The ceremony will be outside on the back lawn and then the reception will be in the ballroom. You can check out Country Squire's website at www.csquire.com.

I'm very excited about this site because it was very cost effective as well as beautiful! We were able to get an hour of cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres, a sit down meal with 4 options (chicken, fish, beef, and vegetarian), premium open bar, wine & champagne at the tables, chair covers (an added bonus), a cake, and a rain contingency plan for a REALLY reasonable price. Also, the wedding coordinator is very hands on which gives me a nice sense of security in the planning.

Pretty much it's perfect. I loved it instantly - it took a second trip back to convince Erik that the window treatments weren't hideous. I'm still not sure what he was talking about... They looked fine to me!