Wedding Bands - Part III

Upon further reflection from my post here, I have decided that, no, I do not like the wedding band that comes with my engagement ring. It's curved and and just too sparkly. I know, gasp in horror now. But seriously. I thought about the practicality of wearing such a ring every day and it does not fit my lifestyle at the moment. I'm in law school for heaven's sake. I will be keeping my eye out this summer at my firm to see what the ladies are wearing there, but I do not remember seeing any bling during my interviews.

So, here's the ring that matches my engagement ring (excuse the close-up of my cooking-scarred hand—I'm an absolute klutz in the kitchen):

See what I mean?

So, after determining that I don't like it, the next problem was what to do about it. We already special ordered it and paid for it. I also had to bring this up to my future husband, who said on the phone (prior to viewing) that it was probably all in my head and remember about the engagement ring, etc. I waited until he got home (did I mention we were leaving to go to Chicago for our shower that afternoon?) and showed him the ring. While waiting for him, I wore the rings around the apartment hoping to warm up to it and I almost did. That is until I saw the look on E's face—he hated it too!

We came up with a game plan: Buy another ring (feasible because of the crazy deal we got since our jeweler's going out of business) to wear on my left hand and I would continue to wear the engagement ring but just on my right hand. We would keep the bling bling for special occasions. The problem with this plan is that we were worried about what his mom would think about the added cost. Turns out that that was unfounded. She loves our idea! So...

We went shopping again. And picked out this beautiful number:

Here's how I'll wear it:

Isn't it perfect?!?!?! I LOVE IT and cannot wait to wear it. I have to wait how long?! Anyway, I was relieved that my e-ring actually fit on my right hand. The downside is we no longer saved money in our ring budget but we still didn't go too much over! Even with the additional ring. So, thank you T. Kelly's for giving us such great deals and customer service.

Tim himself took a picture with me because he just loves how I'm documenting the whole process.

He's so sweet and always remembers me when I come in (every 2-3 weeks...) to get my ring cleaned. We chat about his health and his daughter and the weather. I'll really miss him when he closes shop. He's talking about opening a smaller gig a few days a week in an office somewhere to do cleanings and stuff for his regular customers. Let's hope that's true!

Wedding Day Accessories

I've been meaning to post about my wedding accessories for a little while and well, it's late and no more homework will be done tonight, so I thought, "why not?"

Shoes
For the wedding photos and ceremony, I'll be wearing my ivory satin mary jane pumps. I have to wear hose so I don't get blisters. No fun. Here's a picture:

For the reception, I'm going to wear these bad boys:

Aren't they fabulous? I love that they are not white. To be honest, I'm also wearing them to my shower this weekend. In fact, I bought them for my shower to match my fabulous shower dress (Thanks, FMiL). They were a bit of a splurge so I am justifying my otherwise extravagant purchase by wearing them during the wedding festivities. Side note: E loves them too. :)

Clutch
No photos to share, but I will have an ivory satin clutch (to match the shoes!) the day of the wedding. I know, I know. I won't have any need for a purse, but I do want something to hold my lipstick, camera (for others to use, I guess), and other potential necessities. Don't hate on a girl for wanting her accessories!

Jewelry
I decided to go nontraditional. There will be no pearls or crystals making an appearance at the wedding. I will, however, be satisfying my "something blue" with these. While reading some wedding blogs today, I realized I totally forgot about a bracelet. That was Tina's question for me tonight too since I wore my jewelry at the fitting today. I did some searching on the website where I bought my earrings and necklace and found a beautiful bracelet that matches. I'm going to keep an eye out of sales and/or free shipping! Anyway, here is the jewelry:

Alright, well, that's enough for one day. 3 posts... Can you say "procrastinating from doing actual studying...?" After this weekend, I'm banned from the internet until the 8th of May. Well, maybe not banned but it'll be a valiant effort to not be distracted.

Fitting # 14 & Veil Revisited

Today I had my FOURTEENTH fitting. Yes, that's right 14 fittings. Fortunately, the end is in sight - only 2 more left! One on May 13 and then another in the first week of August. This week, the dress actually started to look like a dress! I had a skirt and everything this time. Well, not a finished skirt but something that resembles a skirt more than in previous weeks.

Unfortunately, my lovely bmaids were unable to make the fitting this week. Finals can do that to law school peeps like ourselves. It's a shame because it was the most exciting fitting in a long time... I did take photos and sent them to all bmaids and FMiL to catch them up and keep them involved. Those photos cannot be shared, unfortunately, but the ones below are groom-safe and groom-approved. :)

The skirt is currently being produced in 2 layers - silk organza (I think that's what it was!) and silk taffetta (what the dress is made out of).

In this photo the silk organza layer is pinned to the bodice. Tina was in the process of pinning the silk taffetta layer up to the bodice. There is still some tweaking that needs to be done, but it looks really great. Just like a real wedding dress. Too bad I can't post photos. Silly groom.

The back of the dress. It looks kind of like petals, doesn't it?

Now to the second part of the post. I've posted about my aversion to veils before (here and here). Well, I've reconsidered. I think that I have found the perfect veil! I know, complete reversal. Here's a previously hidden photo of me in a veil (excuse the crazy not-quite-finished dress):

It is SO HIDEOUS!!! I just hate it so much. I'm a little embarrassed to even post this photo.

Anyway, here are some photos of the new veil idea:

It's called a birdcage veil. I just love it. I love the vintage-y feel of it. I think this last photo captures really what I am looking for. Tina is going to make it for me using some Russian lace she's ordering and using the chiffon flowers that I purchased from J. Crew awhile ago. Amazing how useful J. Crew's sale website has been. At my next fitting (May 13 after finals) she should have the dress completed and my veil made!

So exciting!

Fitting # 13

Thinking about my fitting later today, I realized I didn't post about my fitting from last week. Not much to update on. The skirt was not in a place to make decisions . . . again. This made me quite sad. Although, I did enjoy being able to delay the decision! For whatever reason, it's really throwing me for a loop.

The bodice is FINALLY done. I mean that sincerely — no more changes! I feel like that's all we've been working on lately! Of course, due to Groom's request, I can't post any pictures, but needless to say it turned out wonderfully (future MiL approves!).

What I can post pictures about is my bmaid's fittings! Their alterations are being done by the wonderful Tina as well. Here's a picture of Bmaid Jess getting fitted:

I, personally, think the socks make the outfit! She's such a trooper. She was having major sinus issues and was really drugged up from Sudafed but she was there! (Notice the bunched tissue in hand). It's great to have such dedicated, caring friends! Love you guys. :D

Easter

I just wanted to share some photos from Easter. Mostly because I was looking through them and partly because I'm sooo not in the mood to study right now.

So we show up to Easter and I match Erik's Aunt K perfectly! And then her daughter-in-law matched Barb perfectly! It was so funny that we had to take a picture. Maybe we married/ are marrying the wrong sons! ;) Obviously, I'm kidding!

I mean, how could I not love this guy? He wears pink for heaven's sake — and looks damn good in it!

And they are so perfect for each other.
Cousin S on the left is one of Erik's groomsmen. We had such a great time at their wedding this past June. In fact, if you click on the "For Guests" link on the right, the picture on our theknot wedding website is from their wedding (pure accident I matched J's colors).

I had to add this picture because Baby Julia looks very freaked out about me holding her and it's pretty hilarious!

Wedding Bands - Part II

Several weeks ago Erik and I picked out our wedding bands. His came in quite quickly (within a week!). His is awesome! It looks so shiny and nice. I'm sure it won't stay that way for very long after he starts wearing it. He jokes about wanting to wear it right away. No, honey, not yet!

Mine came in today, and I have to be sans engagement ring for several days. It's silly but I really feel its absence. I feel like I need another ring on my left hand to just account for the emptiness. And I have 4 more days to go! The reason they need to hold onto it is because the new ring has to match the shape/size of my current ring. Because it's curved, they need to match up perfectly. I may post pictures once it comes in but I'll have to run that by the groom. He's much more secretive than me!

One thing about my new wedding band—it's VERY sparkly and flashy. In fact, my first thought was "I hate it!" I know, I know. I feel bad admitting that. I even said it outloud, which led my jeweler to say defensively, "It looks just like the picture!" Yes, it does look like the picture but it also looks much BIGGER and flashier. It's beautiful don't get me wrong, but I'm just not sure I can rock a ring like that. Bmaid Jess swears I have some diva in me so she has no worries. And my jeweler reminded me (he's such a great guy) that I was a little worried about the flashiness factor of my current ring initially. We all know how that turned out!

Invitations Arrive!!!

Erik got back from California Saturday afternoon. He also brought the invitations with him (picked them up from Chris on his way back). I'm not sure if I was more excited to see him or the invitations. I'm embarrassed to say that it was probably the invitations! (Love you, E — I promise). I wish I could post pictures, but I can't yet! I promise I will in about a month when they go out. I'll just say they turned out wonderful (one minor thing I'm not a big fan of - but I'm not going to say so you don't notice!). It was my mistake, not Chris so don't think he didn't do anything less than an excellent job!

The colors of the invitations match the blue envelopes we purchased from Paper Works perfectly! I'm sooooo happy that we didn't go with the plain white envelopes. They are okay for the reply cards and the thank you cards, but they just weren't nice enough for the actual wedding invitations.

Right now, I'm trying to manage my stress as we approach finals. I'm not doing the best job ever but I am taking my time addressing envelopes. I'm doing 5 a night. It's a very manageable amount and makes me feel like I'm doing stuff. Erik is still finalizing the accommodations/ directions inserts. Once those are complete we are going to start stuffing the invites. Erik's jobs will be to stamp our address (using our new embosser! - See above for picture) on the backs of the envelopes, to stick the mailing labels onto our response card envelopes, and to put stamps on all of them. When we get to stuffing the invitations, I'll be numbering all the respond cards and putting that into my spreadsheet just in case people forget to write their names. Apparently, this happens. Silly guests!

Another Venue Visit

So... Easter weekend, E & I went to The Country Squire again to talk with our coordinator Mike about some lingering logistical questions and to pick out the fabric for the chair covers.

Chair Covers
I'm not sure how I feel about these still... We picked white ones with light blue bows. I'm not sure how close the color is going to be to our light blue color but it'll just have to work because E is very attached to them. He wanted white with navy bows but I'm just picturing what the hall will look like when we first see it, and I just can't handle the navy. I mean, Navy is an accent color - not the main color. I just don't want it to look too nautical!

Questions/ Logistics

• Gave Mike this picture of our cake.
• 
• Figured out placement of seating card table, guest book table, and gift table.
• Verified that our seating card idea is acceptable for Mike. (I'll talk about those during another post - E is handling the "construction" of them!)
• Figured out timing logistics for our wedding flutes, favors, and centerpiece set up.
• Finally got Mike to agree to reduced price "vendor" meals — 3rd time's a charm! Our DJ's and photographers will be getting burgers and fries (sorry, guys, can't afford to give you filet).
• Got Mike to call our photographer, so hopefully we won't have any more reneging from them!
• Figured out size of cakestand we will need.
• AND arranged a luncheon for me and the bmaids for the day of the wedding!

I didn't realize how many questions I had for him until I started trying to figure out the wedding day timeline, which I needed to arrange our hair appointments. So many details! I just have to say that he is very PATIENT with us. I feel really great about him helping us with the wedding. It's such a relief and certainly will make it less stressful for me the day of!

While at the CS, I took some pictures of the grounds. Keep in mind that there will be TONS of flowers the day of.

I'll be coming down the aisle between these two basket pots. It'll look really pretty with the fountain in the background. Again, imagine LOTS of flowers.



We are getting married in front of the gazebo. Imagine rows of white chairs (and flowers).



Erik posing in front of the french doors where our guests will enter the hall. There will be tables set up here on the patio for the seating cards and guest books. This patio will also be nice because guests can come outside and get fresh air during the reception.

In the background, you can see the table where our gifts will go if guests bring them to the wedding itself. You can see the chair covers. This is obviously not our color but you get the gist of it. I really hate them... Sigh.



This is what the chairs look like without the covers. It actually matches the window treatments of the hall, and I think they look very nice on their own!! Silly silly groom.



Here's our bar. There are 2 bars in the picture but since we only have half the ballroom imagine a partition in between them.

This is the entry into the hall itself. I love these stairs — we will definitely be taking photos on them! Also, there are 2 rooms at the top of the stairs where I'll be getting ready with the bmaids and Erik and his guys can get ready if they want. My suggestion for them would be to get ready at the hotel since it's right next door and we won't have to worry about bumping into each other before it's time.

4 Months To Go!!

It's hard to believe that the wedding is only in 4 months! I'll write more later but I just have too much to do tonight. :D Yay for finally being able to do law school stuff. Is it sad I missed studying more?

Bmaid gifts

Despite the fact that I want to blog all about them, I can't! It's sooo frustrating! Again, I may be more excited about my attendant gifts than some of my stuff in the wedding. And again, I almost bought 7 instead of 6 (see the post about the bmaid dresses). I think these girls are lucky — hopefully, they feel the same way!

Here's what I'll say without giving too much away. The gifts were handmade by an artist in Nashville and they were a custom order. They match the wedding and turned out perfectly! They actually came in THIS WEEK!! It's just killin' me because I have to wait 4 months to give them! I really enjoy giving gifts so this is just torture.

Here's a photo that doesn't give away size or type of gift. I just had to post some sort of picture.

Here's what the bridesmaids gifts are NOT. This blogger is on crack (sorry, but really).

Hair Place Booked!!

Over the weekend while visiting the family for Easter and the birthday/ retirement of Erik's dad, I visited the local Aveda salon to interview my wedding-day hairdresser. We went over hairstyles and she was quite impressed with my wedding binder. (Of course, she was). While we did the consultation, another woman came over and gave me a hand massage. Everyone called me the "bride." Let's just say, I'm starting to warm up to this whole "bride" idea! There is only one problem: My hair is not going to be long enough for the style I want... I booked my practice run for the Wednesday before the wedding so we'll see how much my hair grows before then. Until that time I'll be taking my vitamins religiously!

I also booked the hair appointments for my bmaids and future MiL for a total of one bridal updo, 4 regular updos and 3 styles! Needless to say the salon is pretty happy about it. Note to brides out there: All prices are negotiable. They quoted me a pretty high initial quote but I was able to talk them down (at least on the bmaid hairstyles—I took one for the team). The best thing about it being an Aveda salon is that I'll be able to use my Pure Privilege reward points. I knew I've been saving them up since 2005 for a reason! One more thing out of the wedding budget!

As for the day of the wedding, we all have to be there bright & early at 8:30am. And I have to have clean hair, which means I have to be up at like 7:30 to shower and blow my hair out! The wedding isn't until 5:30pm! What the crap!

A cool thing about this place is that they have a private room for us (I saw it—it's really nice) and will provide fresh fruit, juice, and champagne! There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street so we'll also pick up some coffee, donuts & bagels. We are going to be treated like princesses! :D

Wedding Planning Is Taking Over My Life

So, I've hit the point of the wedding planning where I am annoying and boring everyone around me. It's gotten to the point where Erik is, like, "Can we not talk about wedding stuff tonight?" I also have to ask for clearance from bmaids to make sure they aren't too saturated. And, honestly, that still doesn't stop me from telling them!

I've just gotten so much stuff done and want to brag and be excited about it. The blogging helps, I guess, but it's not the same as having a giggly-excited moment with a girlfriend. Sigh.

Apparently, I'm not alone in my experience. Wedding planning has taken over other friends of mine's lives. Here's a glimpse of a gchat chat with a fellow bride (her wedding is in September):

kth.star: of course!!

gah. i've gotta run and meet with the baker for the cake.

me: man, this wedding stuff is ridiculous, isn't it?

it's taking over my life

kth.star: seriously it's taking over my life.

me: exactly!

kth.star: LOL

Nice to know I'm not alone. Please bear with me, Folks. After this weekend, I should be able to take a break from planning until after finals. Well, take a break from everything but addressing envelopes and dress fittings. But those things are too too bad.

Hotel Confirmed!

Attention All Attendees:

The hotel block has been confirmed! We have a block of 50 rooms (we can get more if needed) for Friday and Saturday night. The hotel is 45 minutes outside of Chicago, so it's not prohibitively far if you arrive on Friday and want to do something in the City before the main event at 5:15pm on the 15th. As an added bonus, it's a walk across a courtyard from the hotel to the wedding venue.

There will be more details in the invitations but if you want to get a jump on it, here are the details:

Comfort Suites
1557 East Belvidere Road
Grayslake, Illinois
(847) 223-5050

2 Queen Beds: $79*
King Bed: $89*

MUST be booked by JULY 5 to get the special rate.

*Request Bayer/ Nelson block to get special rate.

Efforts To Not Do Wedding Stuff Fail

First, I know that the above title does not conform to BB Rule 8(a), which, unfortunately, I knew off the top of my head. Just to make sure I looked it up and, yes, I was right. That officially makes me a HUGE law nerd. I like the way it looks with every word capitalized thankyouverymuch!

Anyway, I'm writing because I utterly failed at not doing wedding stuff today. After my post this morning, I swore off wedding planning. I mean, I am in law school and it isn't easy. I have homework to do, articles to read, etc. Despite my best efforts, wedding planning again was on the agenda today.

Oddly enough, it was the groom's fault! I was on his case yesterday (part of a wedding planning meltdown moment, which is why I decided to take a break today) about not helping out more with the wedding and about how I do all the leg work and then he gets "veto power" on stuff. Well, he certainly took the initiative today! He spent the evening designing our map and accommodation inserts for the invitations and they look perfect! He was joking about us having the invitations done in 20 minutes if he & I just sat down and did them. Right... Anyway, it turned out lovely and matches our fonts & colors from the invitation. It will be a nice complement to what's already going out. Great job, Groom!

Also, other things that kept me in wedding planning mode: Follow up needed on a few vendors (for example: I panicked about a deposit w/ photographer being due), bmaid followed up with hairstyle, our embosser was shipped, and the jewelery designer got back to me about the bmaid gifts!

Reminds me of a Star Trek quote (I know the dorkiness is self evident): Resistance is futile.

Centerpieces

I was at Meijer grocery shopping the other day and saw these vases:

[Sorry, the quality is not that great. I have perpetually shaky hands and it was taken with my iPhone.]

I think that these vases with the hydrangeas and eucalyptus will look lovely at our tables. I emailed the picture to Aunt J. and hopefully she will agree! They are a little bit taller which will be better for our tables, which, to accommodate all our guests, are going to be 10 and 14 rounds. I get to see a sample centerpiece the weekend of my shower (which is quickly approaching!) and I can't wait. That also works out well because if J. likes them, I can buy them and bring them with me to Easter.

My only concern at that point is whether Meijer will have enough — we have 13 tables (not including the head table)!

Favors!!

I may have mentioned this before, but Erik and I were going to do personalized M&M's with our names and date of the wedding on them in 2 different shades of blue. These were going to go in those really great boxes I found at a confectioner's wholesale supply with a sticker made of our monogram on top. This was until Friday of this past week.

After running errands for several hours (yes, that's several), I decided to swing by the Fannie May chocolate store (not to be confused with the mortgage broker). It dawned on me that at some point (many many months ago) I had wanted to do Fannie May chocolates as favors because of the local connection to Chicago. A lot of our guests would not have had Fannie May chocolate before. So, I go in the store and discuss options with the sales girls and they take my information for the manager to call me back. I, fortunately, had a sample favor box with me (took it to show a girlfriend at lunch) and they put the truffles in it. It looked PERFECT!! [Side note: Groom disagreed and wants to put tissue or something at the bottom to make it look fuller, which I think it completely unnecessary but I'm humoring him for now.]

The manager called me the next day. She was really nice and is offering us a crazy discount that puts the truffles below the cost of the M&M's. This is crazy because I think this favor is much nicer but I'll take it! The best part is that they are going to assemble the boxes, put the monogram stickers on top, and fill them with the truffles (according to my specifications — there is a particular way I want them in the clear boxes for aesthetic reasons) for no extra charge! This just made my life a whole less stressful. My only worry is that it is too good to be true. Moving forward on the assumption it's going to work out... Here's a picture with the tissue (per "side note" above):

What's even funnier (to me) is that when I came home and went to write up the notes from my ideas in my wedding notebook — there was a note to myself to look into the FM truffles... Apparently, this wedding stuff is actually making me crazy!

Tuxes!

Last weekend, we went tux shopping. And by "we" I mean that Erik and his best man Simon went shopping at Men's Warehouse, and I met them an hour later to see the results. For the most part, I do not have an opinion about the tuxes. It's totally the groom's domain. I don't know the difference between 2 or 3 buttons (we're going with two) nor do I have an opinion about bow tie vs. regular tie (we're going with regular). I do, however, have an opinion about the colors involved in the tuxes.

When I arrived at MW, Erik showed me the vests he and Simon had narrowed it down to. Aqua was one of the options... Aqua? Erik and I got into a kind-of-embarrassing argument about how aqua is not one of our colors. What part of hydrangea blue is aqua?! I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved the color but, unfortunately, it wasn't one of ours and it would totally clash with the wedding. E will not be amused that I posted this, but I actually think it's kind of funny—I mean, it's just a vest and we got into this whole big thing about it. In hindsight, it seems pretty silly. Simon did his best to both stay out of it and referee.

Then I had the bright idea to pick this vest/ tie combo:

Thank goodness I had to take a potty break because I saw what it really looked like in the MW's catalog. Much different than in person. It was almost a HUGE, UGLY mistake. Think circus conductor meets that blueberry girl from Willy Wonka. The picture speaks for itself!

In the end, we went with "glacier blue" vests and ties (see below). Erik will have a white vest and tie because he's the groom afterall. I, personally, would prefer him to wear the blue vest and just have a different boutonniere, but if he wants to wear white, he can wear white. :D

Fitting # 12

The fittings keep on coming! This fitting we focused mostly on the skirt. Earlier this week, I changed the skirt and train design upon Tina's suggestion, I might add. Before last week, I didn't even think I would have an opinion about these things! I was only looking at dresses from the top up. I decided earlier this week that I wanted the skirt fuller and the train longer. Go big or go home, right? I'm just kidding but still...

Here are some pictures to see my options:

Short train and not as full skirt.

Longer train, fuller skirt.

Long train and full skirt.

I haven't decided how long I want the train yet. We've decided to hold that decision until I actually have to make it. It's easier to make the train shorter from a long train than the other way around. I talked to E about it and he likes the picture of the longer train and the fuller skirt. It's funny and cute that he has a definite opinion about these things. So, that made my decision easy—I'll do what he wants me to do since I don't have a definite opinion. It's our wedding afterall.

I don't know how I feel about the bigger skirt and train. I mean, I don't want the dress to be over the top or me to seem like a diva with this whole thing. We are having an outdoor wedding that's relatively small (as far as Polish weddings go), and it seems tacky to make the dress too extravagant. I think it has something to do with the fact that I don't like the idea of being a "Bride." For me, "bridal" has a negative connotation as a descriptor. I hear "bridal" and want to change things. Is that weird?

Another anomaly as far as brides go, is my reaction to veils. I may have blogged about this earlier, but the first time I went to try on dresses the saleswoman put a veil on me (in the dress I am using as the starting point for my dress). I started hyperventilating, and she had to take it off me right away. At this fitting, I decided to try again. No hyperventilating or panic attack, but I definitely felt tense and broke out into a sweat! I am NOT a veil person. I'll give it another shot when the dress is done but as it stands right now, it's a no-go. Erik is kind of opposed to veils, so that works out well for him.

Also, I want to give a shout out to bmaids extraordinaire: Stephanie & Heather. Things are so busy for us at law school, and it's just wonderful that they are able to come and share this with me. I love hearing their opinions because they totally help!

Rings!!

Unfortunately, our local jeweler is going out of business. It's not do to the economy—it's due to health reasons, which is, obviously, much much worse. We found out about this through a mailer that T. Kelly Jeweler's sent out a few days ago. Erik got the mailer because he bought my engagement ring from Tim (owner of T. Kelly's) and it was forwarded to our apartment.

For whatever reason, I was really upset about his closing and about his health. I guess it was over 15 months ago that Erik and I first looked at rings in his jewelry store (Erik's groomsman Rob recommended it for my ring). I've visited Tim at least once a month since the proposal last June to get my ring cleaned. I know about his daughter and his business because we would chit chat when I would come to visit and it was just nice. I really enjoyed that part about our wedding. I'm a big fan of supporting local businesses and it just fit us perfectly. I'm mostly upset because I've really gotten to know the owner of the store and trust him with my ring. When I talked to him today, he told me that 2 girls cried yesterday when they came into the store—at least I'm not alone! A little more disconcerting was the fact that he couldn't recommend another jeweler in town because they weren't trustworthy enough. What am I going to do?! [Side note: He has offered to solder my bands together in early September even though he won't officially be open.]

At any rate, we were forced (due to mailer restraints and inventory concerns) to buy our rings this week. I actually didn't mind because it's one more thing to check off the list! My ring was easy—my engagement ring had a wedding band that goes with it, so there wasn't much for me to decide. Erik's ring, on the other hand, was a little more difficult because it really was whatever he wanted.

Surprisingly, he knew exactly what he wanted! Usually, Erik (god love him) takes awhile to make up his mind, but in this case he narrowed it down to 2 in, like, 10 minutes! Here are some pictures:

So, let me just explain these pictures a little. He was trying them on on his index fingers because the rings were too big and actually fit on those fingers! It was funny to see him go through the same experience that I did when I tried on rings—it's hard to see what you like when it is WAY too big! I had to keep asking him to try it on his ring finger so I could see it. The best part is that he decided on the first ring he tried on! It's awesome and fits his personality perfectly, in my opinion.

Erik's ring will be in the Friday before Easter and mine will be in a few days later. We are so excited and just can't wait!! (Yes, I'm speaking for the Groom but really he is excited too—he even mentioned (jokingly) that we should get married sooner so he could wear his new ring).

Now, this part was surprising to me but may not be surprising to others: E's ring was more expensive than mine and mine has diamonds on it!! Fortunately for us, T. Kelly's going out of business put the rings below our budget instead of above, which they would have been sans discount.

Bottom line: Rings bought, but, unfortunately, we can't wear them for 135 more days!

Goodies in the Mail!

After a relatively uneventful day at school, I came home to 2 boxes and a mailer envelope! This normally would be somewhat exciting (mail is fun) but today it was extra exciting. Last week, I ordered the stickers for the favors, boxes for the favors and a new dress for our upcoming shower. Well, everything came in today!

I was a little concerned about color issues with the stickers (not saying what they are in case you don't notice!), but the difference was slight, and I don't think many people will notice. I put one on of the favor boxes so that I could see what it would look like sans candy, and I think they look pretty cute. I wish we could go with something a little fancier for the favors (personalized mini-wine bottles anyone?) but $20/ person is a bit out of our range (I'm so jealous of the ones from other weddings I've been to). I'll post pictures of the favors at another point after we order the personalized candies! So fun.

My dress for the shower is per-fect! I had to try it on immediately when I got home. I'm such a girly girl sometimes (shopping is a hobby of mine!). While we were dress shopping for E's mom's dress for the wedding, she offered to buy me a new dress for the shower. It's cool how she is really embracing this "you only get to do this once" mantra. I really appreciate her doing that, me being a poor law student and all. The weird thing is I bought the dress on JCrew.com on sale but now it's back up to full price... Good timing on my part! Here's a picture in case you are curious: