Three weeks to go!

With every Saturday morning that rolls around, I get both excited and a little bit stressed, because I keep thinking "5 weeks to go; now 4, now 3."  There are only three weeks left til the big day and so much to do.  This weekends major task to to complete the seating chart.  I've heard horror stories from friends, coworkers, even my own parents about trying to figure out the right mix of people, so it seems to be pretty daunting.  Hopefully, it's all in my head.

In other wedding news this week, I met with the DJ company to start walking through the reception music.  We have songs selected for all of "special" dances, I just seem to be stuck on which song(s) to play for our grand entrance along with the bridal party.  Some suggestions I've received are:

• Thunderstruck
• Teach Me How to Dougie
• Bring 'Em Out
• Beautiful Day
• Signed, Sealed Delivered
• I Gotta Feeling
• Raise Your Glass

If you have any additional suggestions please let me know!  I want out grand entrance to be memorable.

Oh and I forgot to share the best new of all -- my days as a "single" bride are nearly over!  Troy will be home for good in SIX days!  Yahoo!!!!

It's Wedding Month!

The time has come.  After 24 months of waiting, it's finally THE month that Troy and I are getting married! I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little freaked out about all that's left to be done, but it's still very exciting that we're getting married in less than four weeks.

There's a number of meetings coming up to finalize all the details -- with the florist, the DJ, the photographer.  I swear I have more meetings for the wedding than I do at work!  But the one meeting I was able to pass off to Troy was the one to finalize our cake.  We're working with the fabulous White Flower Cake Shoppe and Marianne has been just fabulous.  Below is the sketch of what our cake will look like.

It's everything that I would want in a wedding cake and best of all, it's so yummy!  We'll have white, chocolate and red velvet cake on the inside.  If you've never tasted cake from White Flower, I strongly suggest you stop by their bakery or their kiosk filled with goodies.  I know I will be looking forward to mine for the next 27 days.

Tigers Love Pepper

This post is coming straight from gate B11 at the Philadelphia International Airport.  After a fun work trip to NYC, I'm delayed and waiting to get home; home, SWEET, home. I love traveling to exciting places, but I also love sleeping in my own bed and hanging out with Coco (who also hates when I travel). So it really makes me think of how hard it must be for Troy to be away from home five nights a week.

This week, however, Mr. Troy will be away for a full two weeks. Because instead of coming home this weekend, he will be jetting off to Vegas tomorrow for his bachelor party. Yes, you read that right. He will be getting his party on Hangover style at Caesar's Palace all weekend. Thankfully in that story, the groom-to-be just gets locked on the roof, and not attacked by a tiger or pulling out his own incisor. 

Now I'm a lucky girl because Troy doesn't drink, and I don't think there's any massive hangover in his future. What's more likely to happen is the scene from Vegas Vacation where Chevy Chase loses all his money and they steal a dead man's winning lottery ticket.

After my day of delayed travel and sitting in airports, I hope I have sucked up all of the bad travel mojo destined for the two of us and that Troy and his buddies can make it to Vegas without a hitch. And if you see a group of fools hanging around Caesar's asking "if the real Caesar lives here," I apologize on their behalf. Because chances are, that group of fools belongs to me.

Invitations are in the mail!

It has been a hectic few weeks, that's for sure.  Between work travel and wedding planning and a lovely bridal shower hosted by my future mother-in-law in Cincinnati, we have accomplished an enormous feat -- the wedding invitations are in the mail!  After hand-addressing 155 inner and outer envelopes, and barely escaping a crippled wrist, they are complete and I am feeling some of the stress dissipate.

I'm fortunate to work with a number of great designers, one of which, created our custom wedding invitations. 

Clearly, I'm not a photographer, and these snapshots don't even do the invitation pieces justice, but I'm over-the-moon with how they turned out!  Now, the part my type-A personality has been craving; keeping track of the yeses and nos and the meals and making sure all of the data is perfectly organized.

One more thing finished.  Now on to the next! 49 days to go...

Weekend Wedding Wrap Up

I know what you're thinking -- wow, writing about last weekend when a new one is upon us?  Let's just say it's been a long week of recovery after a great weekend that was packed to the gills with wedding fun.

The bridal shower was such a good time.  The food at Coffee Creek Estate was delicious, the desserts by Sweet Treats were delectable and the company was out of this world.  It was so nice to have all of my friends and family in the same room.  And let's be honest, everyone's generosity just blew me away.  I mean, take a look at all of this swag.

After the fun and games were over in the afternoon, we all went home and rallied for the evening.  A cat nap can do wonders for your stamina, let me tell you.  My girlfriends went all out for my big night and it's one I'll never forget.  We had a yummy dinner with my mom, aunts, grandma and cousin Hannah (who is still underage) and then the craziness ensued.  But before we did, we had a little bubbly to kick off the festivities.

Now to protect the all parties involved, this video snippet is as much as I will share.  But just know, we all survived and will live to tell the tale of my bachelorette party.  Lord help us for the next one.  We're not getting any younger -- and neither are our livers.

Party Time. Excellent.

Well the fun is finally upon us! After two years of thinking about the wedding and all of the fun leading up to it, it's finally time to get this party started. My first bridal shower and my bachelorette party are this Saturday and I couldn't be more excited. I am so thankful to have such a great group of family members and friends who have been planning these events.

I'm really looking forward to the shower because it's going to be a brunch and hey, who doesn't love brunch? When my mom said she was forgoing the traditional lunch shower, I thought "Hallelujah because I HATE lunch." It's my least favorite meal of the day.  But breakfast?  I could nom on some pancakes three squares a day, 365 days a year. Plus I really feel blessed that she wanted to do something tailored to my likes and that she's put so much care and meticulous thought into this special day. So if you're joining us on Saturday, bring your appetite and saddle in for a great time. Oh, and did I fail to mention there's going to be a DONUT CAKE.  I think that deserves an all caps shout out (see pic below to start the drooling five days early).

After stuffing my face all day, I'll be squeezing into a teensy dress and painting the town red with my favorite people. At first, I thought I really wanted to go big for the bachelorette party with a getaway to a warm location for an entire weekend of fun and debauchery. Think "The Hangover" but with a bunch of Midwestern girls taking on the strip instead of Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper. Then, my practical side got to thinking, and I decided it was probably best to not shoot the wad two months before the wedding, and that my friends and I could have just as much fun in Cleveland.

Now, I do not have a clue what we are doing and I think that's best.  It's easier to deny later (wink, wink). I've only been given a loose outline of the evening's events so I can plan my wardrobe changes. But I do know one thing -- if my ladies are planning it, it's going to be one of the best nights of my life.
So come one back and I promise to provides details on the swag, the shenanigans and everything in between.

License to Wed

Here is a little known fact for all of you non-Catholics out there -- in order to get married in the Catholic church, you need to complete six months of pre-marriage counseling and preparation.

Now this was no shocker to us; Troy and I knew all along that we'd be in for a few awkward meetings with the priest and maybe some sessions with an older married couple in the church to hear all about the ups and downs of married life.  But sadly, we did not get assigned to a sponsor couple. Instead, after meeting with the priest, we were told we needed to attend an all-day, pre-marriage retreat with other couples getting married in the diocese.  I immediately thought I was in for my very own "License to Wed" scenario... you know, that movie where Robin Williams plays a crazy minister preparing a young couple for wedded bliss.

Ringing any bells?

There were no mechanical babies helping us to experience the joys of parenthood; no role playing to uncover deep-seeded issues between each another; and sadly, there was no young "minister-in-training" running around to keep us on our toes.  I guess that's why it's a movie and not real life.

Our real retreat was 7-hours long (not fun), but extremely interesting and helped Troy and I to understand the history of marriage in the Catholic church, as well as what we're agreeing to in May when we say "I do."  Best of all, we had to "enjoy" the extremely awkward DVD about Natural Family Planning with roughly 46 complete strangers.  Now, if that's not the perfect way to spend a Saturday, I don't know what is.