Addresses

Today I started the oh-so-tedious task of collecting and collating addresses and finalizing formal names for the Save the Dates. Holy crap is it annoying!! I'm a detail-oriented person and all, but I really have not enjoyed this aspect of the planning. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I want to get the salutations correct, and I'm handwriting all of the Save the Date envelopes. My hand feels like it's about to fall off - and I only did like 30! Erik so kindly helped put the return address labels on the envelopes, which I know is cheating but I'm sure it's forgivable on StheDs since they are less formal.

Also, another big issue for me has been addressing things to married couples as "Mr. and Mrs. Husband's first and last name." As an independent, modern woman, it's just offensive to me. We no longer have to live in such a patriarchal society. It makes me want to revolt and keep my maiden name! But I won't do that because I want to have the same name as my kids. So, Erik's mom and I reached a compromise — the younger generation of guests will get StheDs addressed to "Jane and Joe Smith" and the older generation will get StheDs addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith." It makes a little part of me cringe, but I understand that it's the traditional way to do things. I feel like maybe I'm crazy. Perhaps I should do a survey about this. . . I'll consider that when it comes time to address things again in a more formal setting — like the invitations!

Here are some pictures of E and I slaving away on the Eve of Christmas Eve. (Of course, I have to photograph everything now that I didn't photograph the sweatshop work of my b-maids last week).

Holidays

This past Thanksgiving (2 days after our 7 year annivesary), Erik and I spent it with his family. It wasn't until a week later when talking about the holiday with his mom that we realized that it was my first Thanksgiving with his family! It took some time to pin down where I was the last 7 Thanksgivings and why I wasn't with his family (I've spent several Christmases with them). Some of the Turkey Days Erik has spent with me either in Nashville, in Sacramento, or in Atlanta. Or I've gone home and he's stayed in Atlanta (during college). So, this really was the first Thanksgiving with his family.

This makes me feel better though because I'd like Thanksgiving to be my family's holiday. As many of you know, picking which family to go to is a symptom of a long term relationship. I love Christmas with his family — it's boisterous, chaotic with great food and wine and kids running around. However, I miss holidays with my family — Beth and her sons. This year, I wasn't able to make it to Atlanta, and I'm really missing it. I now realize that I need it to decompress. Beth's house feels like my home and is a place of refuge for me. So, hopefully, Beth agrees with my diagnosis and I'll be spending Thanksgiving in the ATL next year!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving: :)

Me & my future Mother-in-Law
(We match!)

Erik & Stacy

Stacy, Dawn, & Me
(Purple is the new black!)

Fitting # 4

This morning, my local bridesmaids and I braved the remnants of an ice storm to have breakfast and go to my 4th fitting. We met at Le Peep and hung out there until just before my fitting at 11am. It was nice to relax and share some good conversation now that the semester is over. The funny thing is that none of us were actually done yet - we had lingering papers to deal with.

At the fitting, I finally got to see my fabric!! It was very exciting and felt so wonderful. It's getting more and more real as the days go on. See below for me inspecting the silk taffeta. It's amazing that Tina is going to take this bolt of fabric and make it into a wedding gown. I wouldn't even know where to begin. If you look at the bottom of the photo you can see Tina's helper, Molly. She's the sweetest cat ever (well, except for mine!) and really enjoys wedding dress making.

This is me making sure my wedding shoes match the fabric. It's not like I would change anything if they didn't, but it was nice to see that they did match! After all, I bought the shoes first. . .

I bought my wedding jewelry at Thanksgiving at my favorite jewelry website and wore it to my fitting to get an idea of how it worked with the neckline. I'm beginning to notice a trend of buying accessories first and then worrying about whether the dress will match. . . This may not be the most recommended way to do things! My necklace and earrings are aquamarine and blue topaz respectively. Since my dress is going to be simple and I won't be wearing a veil, I thought that a little color would be nice and would match the hydrangeas. Plus, I'm not that traditional and the thought of wearing a pearl/crystal combo was not pleasant. I would consider wearing diamonds, but we don't have the money for that!

Anyway, here's the latest picture of the dress, or at least the top part:

It's still a work in progress. I'm 1 fitting away from draping the fabric!! Tina has to put the boning in the above top and have me try it on again before we can do that. I CANNOT WAIT! My next fitting is in little over a month because we are all going our separate ways for the break (yay for being halfway done with law school). This means that I have to be at my wedding weight by NEXT MONTH! The interviewing and stress of school have not helped matters (neither have the aforementioned BWW Sundays). So, with the permission of my physical therapist, I will be hitting the gym daily!

Also, during the fitting, my local bridesmaids worked "sweatshop" style on stuffing the Save the Dates. I figured that the most efficient use of their time during the fitting (they are so nice to come to all of them with me) would be to stuff the Save the Dates — that way we wouldn't have to meet later to do it. They worked it assembly line style and got them all done! My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of my helpers!

Family

Despite it being a truly stressful time, some things happened over the past weekend that helped me put it all in perspective. I reconnected with my half brothers (well, 2 out of the 3) that live in California!!! I guess it's a mixture of the holidays and getting married that make you think about family more. I've been thinking about contacting them for a very long time but didn't know how to because my relationship with our mother is "strained," which is putting it nicely. But thanks to the Internet I found a way - myspace.com. Yes, I googled them and then gently stalked them online a little before contacting them.

I'm really excited about being a part of their lives again and them being a part of mine! I booked a flight out to California for January, and I just can't wait. They've already requested some activities for us to do — going ice skating and going to Sky High. All I can say is - it's a good thing I've been working out!

So, of course, because I'm obsessed with the wedding, my second thought is how to get them out to Illinois in August. Erik and I are going to have to continue to discuss the finances of such an operation but I really want them to be there. They're my brothers! And without parents in my life, they are my only immediate blood family. I've already started thinking about them being ushers and the like. . . I try to tell myself "one day at a time" but that's hard to do in practice when you are so excited about something.

Anyway, thought that all of you would like the update! My finals are over as of yesterday, but I can't quite relax yet because I have one paper in between me and being half way done with law school. So, back to work!

8 Months!

Yes, I am going to post every month on the 15th with a countdown. I can't believe it's only 8 months away. The time has just flown by! To think it's been over 5 months since Erik proposed!

Things are going pretty well as far as the wedding planning is going. We are still trying to finalize the guest list, which is proving much more difficult than anticipated. We are limited by our venue as far as how many total guests we can invite. That being said, we'll have it finalized by Christmas.

The Save the Dates came in the mail last week (they look perfect!!), and I'll be sending them out between Christmas and New Years. My bridesmaids are going to help me assemble them and put return addresses on them, but I'll be hand addressing all of them. . . Maybe. With about 100 being sent out, I'm not sure my hand can hold up that long and still be legible, but we'll see. I'm going to consult Emily Post for the etiquette on that one.

• Our honeymoon is booked and insured now, which is a relief. I can't wait to buy travel guides and think up cool things that E and I could do!
• Our officiate had surgery in October, and I haven't heard anything about how that went. I hope that he is okay. I'll probably touch base with him after the holidays.
• The taste test for the appetizers, entrees, sides, wine and cake is scheduled for January. After finals, Erik and I are going to have to make some decisions as fair as entrees are concerned. Maybe I'll post a survey. :)
• Flowers are decided and the centerpiece vases are picked (as of Thanksgiving). I'm not sure if I need to do anything with that now.
• I'll have another fitting for my dress on Friday. I have to talk to Tina to see if we could do the final fitting before I leave for New York this summer. I'm going to be flying back, but it would be easier to have that done. That would accelerate the timeline by about 2 months, so it may not work out.
• The big thing that's left to do is stationery. This is a big one and I've been avoiding it. I really want there to be the same theme throughout - with the invitations, response cards, programs, and seating cards. But picking a theme is SO HARD. My goal is to have that taken care of before I go back to school. In fact, my goal is to get all the remaining things finalized before I come back to school, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.
• Hair/ makeup appointments and primping the day of the wedding are another big one that is weighing on me a little bit. I'm not sure where my bridesmaids and I are going to get ready and chill the day of the wedding. I want us all to get ready together and get our hair done together, but I'm not very familiar with the area so logistically I'm a little worried. I think I'll break out a map and start plotting things over break as well.

Anyway, that's the update. Back to studying for Complex Litigation!

Football & Various Athletics

Now that football season is over, I decided to write about going to football games at Illinois. I'm not a huge sports person and truth be told without the announcers on the TV and instant replays I have no clue what is going on. That being said going to the football games this year was a welcome break from studying. I had a great time tailgating (see below for my first time tailgating and playing bags). Erik's Best Man's girlfriend was able to come to a game too, which was really fun because we don't get to hang out with them together all the time.

Also, Erik and I watched the Bears play every Sunday and got Buffalo Wild Wings, which is probably why I'm busting my butt to work out now that I've gain a few extra pounds! The dress fittings are very strong motivation to not let it get out of control.

Erik and I are both in physical therapy with the same woman now, which is hilarious. Some of our appointments have overlapped, and it's just funny because we've both been so busy that we don't see each other very often. So it's weird to see each other in there. The appointments are going well for both of us. He's going for his shoulder and I'm going for my shin problems. My PT person says I should be running again very soon - so excited!

Finals & Wedding Planning

Do not mix! In fact, finals and having a relationship do not mix well either. Or having family or places to go or cleaning the apartment or going grocery shopping. I did manage to work out today, which is a vast improvement over the past, oh, 3 months! And I shouldn't blame it all on finals. I should blame it on law school in general.

We just had Thanksgiving "break." I spent most of the time preparing for my finals (like I should have been doing all semester). Erik and I went to visit his family for Thanksgiving and were out of town from Wednesday-Saturday. I only worked half-days during this time. Wednesday night consisted of driving the 3 hours to his mom's and then discussing wedding plans (which, of course, was not hard to do!). Thursday (Thanksgiving!) morning I outlined up until the point I had to get ready and then we spent it with family. Friday consisted of me being slightly hung over and feeling guilty for not studying more. And Saturday we drove back and I took the night off!

I made up for it Sunday by studying all day. I actually asked Erik to go out drinking with his buddies on the night of the 12th (as in, "Dear, do you mind not coming home until 2am?") because I have a take-home final that night. He grudgingly acquiesced. Our apartment is a mess and I'm a ball of stress! My dressmaker, Tina, emailed me to let me know the fabric was back ordered and I had mixed reactions — one part "bummer," the other part "thank god I don't have to deal with this until after finals."

Also, I have to call The Country Squire because Erik has a huge family and we want to be able to invite more people, which is contingent on the other side of the ballroom not being booked.

On a lighter note, outlining is mostly done and our honeymoon is booked. I'll write about that in another post later.

Seven Years!!

Today Erik & I celebrated seven years of being together. It's hard to believe how much has changed since we've been together: we graduated from college, I worked and then went back to school, Erik started work on his PhD, 2 of Erik's cousins have gotten married, 3 of my cousins have gotten married, babies have been born, family members have passed and too many friends to count have gotten married. We live in a different state now and live together (which is still an adjustment!). We've lived in different states and been away from each other over summer and winter breaks — and will be doing that this summer again.

What's amazing is that I still remember the first time I met Erik. I remember the day that we decided to stop pretending that we were just friends and become a couple. Over the last 7 years, we've been through a lot but it has only made our relationship stronger and more lasting. I can't wait for 70 more years (yes, I'm planning on living well past 95!).

We celebrated by going to Bacaro in downtown Champaign. It was very delicious and had fabulous wine (which is a complete must!). Here's us toasting to 7 years:


We then ended the night by watching old tv show episodes on DVD. We changed into sweatpants and just relaxed —> our favorite pastime.

Save the Dates (Revisited)

Tonight while "outlining," I ordered the Save the Dates!! Erik helped me design (well, he acted as quality manager). They turned out perfect! We got them online via MagnetStreet.com. We ended up picking out exactly the ones that I wanted originally.

Turns out that we could change the color scheme so now they match our wedding colors (see earlier post for details). I'm so happy we ordered samples and a catalog before ordering because things look very different in person rather than on the computer.

Ordering the Save the Dates, makes this so much more real now. In a good way, of course! I'm hoping to have these puppies sent out between Christmas and New Years. And hoping to have some b-maid help with stuffing envelopes. . .

Now to get on the groom (and myself) to get some addresses!

Irony

So, today many of my friends are protesting laws such as Prop. 8 that have denied them the right to marry. I, unthinking, put up a status message on FaceBook about my upcoming wedding (9 months from today). [I'm still cringing about it.]

Fortunately, a friend of mine brought this to my attention relatively quickly. The thought of my status message hurting people I care about and especially about something that I personally feel strongly about was very upsetting. It just doesn't seem fair that I'm able to marry the person I love but others are not able to do the same. I only hope that this will go the way of Loving v. Virginia.

Yes We Did!

America, we did it! We entered the 21st century!

I am happy to be able to add another post to this blog in celebration of Barack Obama's victory yesterday!

After cite check last night (we had cite check, which I feel is un-American on Election Night!) I joined Simon (best man) & Erik at the apartment with 15 minutes to spare before the election was called for Obama. Thank goodness we got let out early!

In preparation for President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech, we popped open the bubbly! See pictures below for the celebration.

Highlights from his victory speech:

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Election 2008!!

This morning, we attempted to get up at 6am to vote at 7:30am. This did not happen. Instead, we slept in until about 7:30am and voted at 8:30am. This actually worked to our advantage because, as I was told by a polling place volunteer, we successfully got there during a lull between the people who had to be at work by 8am and the students who will probably not get there until later in the morning. Yes! The entire voting process only took us 15 minutes from registering at the table and getting our ballots to walking out the door. Erik and I were voters #403 and #399 respectively.

This was Erik's first time and my second time voting – I voted in a mid-term election in Nashville, TN in 2006. Apparently I was too liberal for Nashvegas (or to be technically accurate Tennessee) because none of the things I voted for passed. Hopefully, I didn't just jinx Senator Obama. Something tells me I didn't - considering I'm voting in Illinois!

As is obvious by the picture above, Erik and I are both dorks. We brought my camera to capture our taking part in history. Whatever your political persuasion, this is a pretty historical election - we have the first black man to be on a major party ticket - and as president at that! - and the first woman to be on a major party ticket as VP. That being said, Erik and I voted for Senator Obama (as is evidenced by the pictures below).


Hopefully, I will be able to add a post tomorrow or later tonight with us toasting the champagne I have chilling in the fridge to celebrate the Obama-Biden victory! (Fingers majorly crossed).

Us at Our Best

We celebrated Halloween on Friday night at one of Erik's engineering grad school friends' place. Despite the fact that neither Erik or I are really that into Halloween and dressing up, we made a fabulous showing (in my honest opinion). As you can see from the picture, Erik was a tavern wench and I was symbolizing the "walk of shame." If you don't know, ask someone who went to undergrad in the U.S. - most will be aware of this phenomenon.

We were both pretty nervous to show our faces in public dressed like this. It was our task to bring playing cards and dice to the party. We stole them from our Cranium game and took a deck we already had so as not to have to go into Meijer dressed like this! Needless to say the second we showed up at the party, we went right to the keg. ;)

SPAM Wedding Emails

This is a word of advice to all those ladies out there (or gentlemen if you are into wedding stuff). I signed up for "free tickets" to a Bridal Expo on September 14, 2008. That was a BIG mistake. As a normally savvy web-explorer, I'm usually adept at spotting email-address/ contact information fishing expeditions. But, alas, the post-engagement euphoria fogged my vision and good judgment.

Since signing up for the Bridal Expo, which I ended up not being able to attend, I have received at least 100 unsolicited advertisements through email, snail-mail, and even a few phone calls!

For example, the other day I got a phone call that said I had to call this number immediately or apparently bad things would happen. I actually got chastised for calling a day later (they left the message on my old cell phone) and was told that I almost "missed out" because of my delay. Right... My regret is that I didn't call her on that one. Turns out it was a weekend trip "giveaway" in return for me giving up an evening (that evening, in fact!) in Schaumburg to test some products. What?! So, they expect me to go somewhere with one day notice and then tell me I almost missed out because I called back 1 day later... You can see that I'm still a bit frustrated by it.

Also, I get emails from people that I supposedly "met" and "talked to" at the Bridal Expo... That's a bit risky for them to say that because obviously they did not! You think they would err on the side of subtly.

The real kicker is that some of these advertisements were not even related to weddings!

Yesterday, I checked my mail and got an advertisement for Camel cigarettes. Here's the content of the letter (I have to include it in full and without corrections to grammar/ capitalization because it was so bizarre):

Hey good-looking,

Hopefully, you're one of the millions who got a nice fat check from the government. And hopefully you had some fun with it. But chances are more of it went into your gas tank than that new whatever you've been wanting but couldn't afford.

More relief is here. And this time it's only good for one thing - a little break on your favorite style of Camels.

It ain't a flat screen . . . . But maybe you could hang a stuffed marlin or something on the wall instead. Just a thought.

Enjoy!
Camel

Right... because I'm a smoker and an idiot that is going to spend what little money I have on cigarettes. I find it despicable that this company can fake concern over my dwindling cash reserves, but at the same time tell me I shouldn't give up my luxuries. Also, I want to know where this fat check from the government is? If I get that check, I'm spending it on wine - my vice of choice - not cigarettes. I know Bridal Expo sold my information because I do not sign up for stuff online for just this reason. Also, I certainly haven't contacted Camel about how much I love their smokes. I got coupons too, which I'll be giving to my friend Mark, who was pretty excited about my offer to give them to him. I'm just spreading the love.

So, moral of the story: I totally regret registering for free tickets to a Bridal Expo. I hope that after next August I will not continue to get this spam because I really am attached to my email address and don't to change it.

Fitting # 3

Today I had my 3rd fitting with Tina. She has to help me into the top (see left). We nailed down the shape of the neckline and backline so she can start making the more solid piece to which she will attach the boning. I made the front and the back a little lower than we had talked last time - why not show off the goods? I like the look of a v-line in the back and front as opposed to some thing more sweetheart shaped.

I paid the second deposit today as well, which is REALLY exciting because that means that she is purchasing fabric!! The next fitting will begin the draping of my fabric (silk taffeta) and looking at proportions. The fittings will now be with my wedding shoes on too. Unfortunately, this means no more Uggs. (See pictures below). The next fitting will be in early December right after Thanksgiving. The good thing about having all these fittings is that I have motivation to WORK OUT. The motivation hasn't worked so far, but I'm holding out hope... :P A funny side note about that is when Stephanie was helping me into the bustier - She was using all her muscle strength and noticeably struggling, which made me think, "Geez, I have to work out." Turns out that she was trying to get it on the smallest hook-and-eye. Needless to say, trying to undo that was much harder!

Three of my b-maids were able to come - my 3 local ladies - and it was a lot of fun to share this with them. They were my papparazzi and fashionistas! I truly value their opinions, and I'm glad that they could take time from studying and see the dress creation.Yay! Dress!

Picking the placement of the straps is serious business.

Neckline.

Backline.
Uggs are classy.

Jessica, Me, Heather, & Stephanie

Photographer Drama

Erik and I met with our photography company on Saturday for 1.5 hours (S2 Photography). This is in addition to the 1.5 hours that we met with them in August as Stephanie can attest too. (Sidenote: She really won the best-bridesmaid of the month award during that trip up to E's parents'.) Anyway, the last 2 months working with our photographers have not been stress-free. Part of it is our fault in the sense that we decided to upgrade our package after meeting with the owner - we wanted to discuss offline about the higher price but still wanted to lock into the date at least.

The 2 months of stress consisted of me having to follow-up with the owner, Jack, every 2 weeks or so to get our new contract sent to us. When it finally arrived (about a week ago), none of the information that was supposed to be on it was and my name was spelled wrong! I'm not an expert on business practices, BUT spelling the customer's name wrong is a big no-no! I know I have a difficult to spell name, but Meagh-E-n? I'm just going to stop there because I'll become incensed about it again. (Huge pet peeve of mine!).

So, I called Jack to set up a meeting for this weekend - Saturday morning - because he's obviously not good at communicating over the phone. Also, every time I talked to him on the phone, it was like the movie Groundhog Day and had to start over fresh why I was calling, when my wedding was, etc. After a client calls about 4 times not very happy, wouldn't you remember who they were?! Anyway, so Erik and I get to the studio about 10 minutes before our meeting and Jack is nowhere to be found. Fortunately, his office manager Chris is there, but Chris has no idea who we are (Jack didn't tell him about our appointment) and says that hopefully Jack will be back soon. Apparently, Jack got called to do a photo-shoot for that morning and didn't bother to call us to prevent us wasting our time.

The long and the short of it is that Erik and I had to negotiate a new contract with Chris, the office manager, because Jack never showed up - or wait, he did, but it was an hour and 1/2 late and we were about to sign the new contract. Chris gave us a lot of push back to some of the things that Jack promised us and this morning I realized why. Their pricing has changed significantly, and even though we are no longer getting everything promised in August, we are still getting a better deal than anything they offer now. It's just frustrating because I tried to get more specifics in writing initially, but Jack flat out refused to put more detail because "he would remember," which basically means "because I hope you forget."

Anyway, it's resolved now but not without a good dose of stress.

300 Days

300 days from right now (5:19pm) Erik and I will be getting ready to walk down the aisle. I guess that's if things run on schedule (which they will!). Actually, I'm not sure how Nazi-esque I'm going to be about the wedding day timeline. I would like to think that I will just be relaxed and laid back and not be worried about things not going according to plan. Knowing myself, that will not be easy. My goal is to have everything planned and delegated so the day of the wedding, I can just sit back and enjoy all my hard work!

Three hundred days seems very far away. Sometimes I wish we were getting married next month! Then I start thinking about how much I have left to plan and then am happy that I have 300 more days to get everything together.

Flowers

So, this was so nice! Erik's Aunt J. called me at 9:15pm tonight and we talked for 40+ minutes! She finally had the flower quotes, and they were a little more than I had budgeted (damn expensive taste). She is so kindly doing our flowers for us as a wedding present. I'm very excited about seeing them! Before next weekend I'm going to find some sample vases and bring them up to Erik's family's next weekend for her.

At Thanksgiving she's going to have examples for us! I can't wait to see them. She LOVED the eucalyptus and hydrangea idea! I can't wait to see it. We discussed corsages for the moms & grandma and boutonnieres for the men - making sure Erik's is special, of course! We discussed using the extra fabric from my dress & the b-maids' dresses (after alterations) to wrap the bouquets! What a great idea. On the tables, we going to do low vases with votive candles around them. Something very simple but classy.

I tried to find a picture of the idea for the bouquet for this post, but no images came up on Google Images - that must mean I'm the first the think of it. :) I'm just that awesome. (Note: Sarcasm should be evident.)

Honeymoon & Officiate Update

10 Months Until the Wedding!

I finally talked to V. at All Seasons Travel in Itasca. I highly recommend them if you are planning a vacation (not sure who all reads the blog, but I thought a little advertising wouldn't hurt!).

We are looking at several options including cruises in the Greek islands, visiting just Athens and Santorini, going to Aruba, or going to Atlantis in the Bahamas. We don't want to go away for too long, and we want to keep it reasonably priced. As a side note: Flights to Europe are expensive! I remember flying to Rome for $500 in May 2005 - now the same flight costs $1,300!! (I just looked it up on Orbitz!)

On a darker note, our officiate called me today to let me know that he was just diagnosed with colon cancer. He was worried about not being able to make our meeting next Saturday because he might be having surgery this week... I'm thinking - DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! Fortunately, they caught it extremely early so the spot was 1/2 a millimeter. It was nice that he thought of us, but I just hope that we (or other couples for that matter) have not caused him any needless stress. I told him to not even worry about us and just to focus on his health and getting better and that there is plenty of time to talk about our ceremony - especially considering that it's 10 months away!

So, if everyone reading this blog can keep Tom in your thoughts & prayers that would be really great.

Thanks.

Whoops!

So, today marks another momentous occasion - although not one for celebration... I missed my first wedding appointment! I had a phone meeting with the travel agent today at 2pm and totally forgot about it until 4:45pm when I went to get ready for a BoV Reception/ Dinner. Whoops!

I guess it was bound to happen at some point - a person is only able to keep so many balls in the air without dropping one. Fortunately, there is still PLENTY of time to arrange the honeymoon and the travel agent was SUPER nice about it. She works with Erik's Aunt K., so at least she knows that we are not total flakes!

Erik is getting better - he's able to do more things on his own already, which is promising. At the same time, it still is taking a lot of time out of my everyday to take care of him, and I'm pretty stressed about school - especially with Homecoming events going on that I had already committed to attend. Fortunately, I got some deadlines moved until after the weekend. I plan on going to half the Homecoming game and then work all weekend... I guess I just won't be sleeping as much for the next few months... Not a fun prospect.

As a side note, the photographer still hasn't sent us the revised contract... Looks like I'll be making a follow-up phone call tomorrow. They deposited our check, and I have my proposed contract in writing, so I'm sure this will end up just fine.

My Future Husband

So, today marked a momentous day - the day that my future MiL (Mother-in-Law) relinquished nursing duty for her son. While this is a necessary rite of passage for any son, I almost think it would have been nice to have her swoop in and take care of both of us for a few days! The reality of "in sickness and in health" is setting in... ;)

All joking aside, he's being a trooper and the situation in his shoulder was not quite as bad as suspected. His recovery will be several months, but it definitely could have been worse.

The picture above is about 20 minutes before Erik had surgery on his shoulder. No, he had not been given any drugs yet. So far, he has not had any major discomfort and is intent on doing things for himself. Unfortunately (in his eyes) for him, I will be carting him around town until his follow up appointment in 9 days, at which point he will hopefully get the a-okay on driving independence.

And as a side note: It really hasn't been that bad taking care of him - in fact, I find myself checking in with him more than I should - both to his annoyance of being coddled and to the detriment of my studies.

Okay, back to work for real now.

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