We are essentially down to the the single digits and starting to pack up for our trip to the
Disneyland Resort!!!
This wedding is happening! Fast!
At this point, I'm not feeling too stressed out or worried. I have several checklists and a to do list, and everything is coming together nicely. This afternoon is my last big wedding prep push and I'm just finishing up a few minor crafts that shouldn't take too long. I'm quite happy that I pushed so hard to have as much done as soon as possible, because now I'm hitting relaxation mode haha.
Little side note: I am very sorry if any of this post is difficult to follow/missing thoughts haha. I gave myself a minor concussion Friday afternoon at work. I'm feeling tons better today, but continuing a stream of thought is still challenging.
What we have accomplished since the last post
Since the last post, we have managed to:
-Select and purchase our guestbook. This was difficult for us because we were struggling to find something that we would actually want around in some capacity and to look at in the future. Then I stumbled across
http://www.guestbookstore.com. We love the pages and how they encourage our guests to do more than just sign their name.
-Acquire more books! I have nearly all the books we will need for the centerpieces for the wedding. I am quite excited to see how Kelly puts it all together!
-Order our unity glass. I am so glad another bride on here posted about the unity glass. Diana and I absolutely fell in love with it and are so excited to have such a beautiful glass piece to display in the years to come.
-Order our cake topper. Our cake topper. Oh. My. God. This was another tough one for Diana and I. We struggled for a really long time to find a topper that was not only appropriate for us, but that matched our cake as well. Then I stumbled across something wonderful on Etsy. This is the mock-up that was made. The actual product in person lights up and is just like an old school movie marquee. I have a video of it, but I'm not quite sure how to post that.
-Hair and makeup preview!! I was originally supposed to have my hair and makeup preview back in early November, but the makeup that Chelsea had special ordered for my sensitive Sally skin did not come in on time, so we had to push it back. Overall, the preview went fantastic! I'm allergic to the concealer she used, but other than that, my skin had no issues with any of the products she used
. Here is a picture of what she is doing with my hair from the back. I forgot to bring my sparkly pins, so I had Diana put them in when I got home to get an idea of what it may look like, so the hairdo is not quite as pristine as when I first left Chelsea's since it took Diana a few attempts to get the pins in approximately the right place haha.
Sorry about the lack of pictures from the front. Chelsea needs to order a lighter shade of the special makeup for me, so my skin tone looks wrong in all the pictures from the front that I have haha.
-The seating chart aka The Battle Plans. We have a final headcount of 82 people, which means every one of our 8 tables will be full. Putting the seating chart together was a significant challenge, but we did it! There is a ton of family drama on my side, so I had to be very careful who was seated where. My family does not always know how to behave themselves, so it was very important that we avoid placing most of my family at the same tables lol. Today's challenge is making escort cards!
-The card box. This was another tough item. I was being super picky (much to Diana's annoyance) because this was an item I did not want to spend a ton of money on, but still wanted it to look relatively nice and not completely out of place. After much searching, I finally came across this Martha Stewart card box for only $10 on Thanksgiving during my online shopping perusing!
Perfect! Gets the job done and looks somewhat appropriate for our venue/decor! And I did not have to craft. Even better.
-Dresses. Our dresses are hemmed, altered, and ready to go! The only challenge we have left is dealing with the wrinkles. Since we had purchased our dresses at the Brides Against Breast Cancer event, we did not receive access to a specific bridal salon/tailoring/care type place. That left us in the dark on what to do about the wrinkles since I am VERY nervous to just bring the dress to some random person here to steam for us, and since it still has to be transported in a packed car to Disneyland. We think we're going to try steaming our own dresses since we're being told by everyone it is not too difficult as long as you're careful and basically not as big of a deal as I'm obsessing about. Hopefully this goes well!! Or we're in some serious trouble heh. Any tips from pervious experience would be ENORMOUSLY appreciated.
Other News
This summer was very tough for Diana and me. We lost two of our elderly dogs within 3 weeks of each other shortly into the wedding planning process, and it was extremely rough on both of us. Both of them were normal in the morning when we left for work, and shortly after we got home, it was evident that something was seriously wrong. We've both been struggling to cope with the loss of two of our fur children and it had cast a rather melancholy gloom over the whole wedding planning process for us.
About a month and a half after we lost our second dog, Minnie, Diana had her preview at our hair and makeup person Chelsea's house. I should note, we are extremely partial to Shih Tzus. Their size, personalities, and breed characteristics are a perfect fit for our lives. Well, turns out Chelsea has Shih Tzus and her female had just had puppies two weeks before Diana's preview. She did not have homes for all of them at that point. Of the four puppies, two were females. Well Diana came home from her preview, showed me one picture, and we immediately put a deposit down on one of the female puppies.
Two weeks ago today, we brought home the newest member of our pack, little Clarabelle. She had brought so much joy into our lives and is helping us heal from the losses of Dug and Minnie. Thus far, Clarabelle is displaying a lot of behaviors and characteristics that Minnie possessed, so in a way for us, it is like having a small part of her back.
I think this may end up being my last wedding planning overview related post before the wedding.
I think the next major post I put up will be after we're married!!!
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