I heart Wedding Planning!

Well, now that my hunny is back from the Wild West (a.k.a L.A. for six months) we have been able to finalize our itineraries for the big day. Its a little early to do such detailed planning, but because my super talented sister-in-law is designing our wedding invitations, I needed to give her details - so we sat down and figured out the timing for just about everything. This was a bit challenging at first since there are still a few things up in the air, but we managed to at least figure out that the ceremony would start at 5:00pm - not too early, not too late and the sun will be up long enough for our outdoor cocktail party! They are predicting a warmer than usual fall, so I'm hoping for seventy degrees and sunny - keeping my fingers crossed!

The difficulty in planning out the details is that you need to put yourself in the day, and actually play out in your mind how everything will roll together. This is not as easy as it sounds - there is a lot to think about and because we are incorporating some super secret appearances and some funny little details - it complicates the whole process - BUT- if executed successfully, will make for an amazing day!

We have also scheduled our rehearsal at the Gem and post-rehearsal dinner at D'amato's in Royal Oak - which I am SUPER excited about - D'amatos is a very special place for us and I can't imagine having it any where else. We are having a gourmet strolling dinner (food stations) so we can all mingle and chat instead of being stuck at a table for the entire evening. Another bonus of having our rehearsal dinner at D'amatos is that Good Night Gracies is right next door - so I'm thinking martini's will be a-flowin' after dinner! Woo hoo!

We have also booked a corner suite at MGM Grand in Detroit for two nights. The first night will be on Friday, and since check-in is at 1:00 pm, I have invited all of my bridesmaids down to MGM to spend the day with me at their amazing Infinity pool and enjoy a spa day at the Immerse SPA for who ever wants to partake.

I have experienced almost all of their spa services (thanks to a day package that I was given a couple years ago) and I have to say - their spa is top knotch - professional, relaxing, private and pampering. Pretty much everything that we need for the day before the big day!

I have also invited my ladies to spend the night with me on Friday - the room is huge with two bathrooms, so it will be perfect for a grown-up girl slumber party complete with pillow fights and cocktails :)~ It may very well be the last time we all spend the night together while we are all single. Such an amazing thought!

The second night at MGM Grand will of course be for me and Jason on our wedding night - we have already requested a late check-out on Sunday so we can have a leisurely breakfast in our room, spend some time at the pool and enjoy our first morning as husband and wife!

I am very pleased with how everything is progressing - I know I have said it multiple times, but its unbelievable how easily everything is coming together.

Right down to the table favors. How is it that you can be walking through a store, see the perfect table favors and they just so happen to have the exact number that you need. Crazy.

Almost everything has happened this way - I am having such an amazing time planning my wedding, I'm glad that I gave myself a year to enjoy it.

Did I sleep til fall?

I woke up to a much cooler, sunny, crisp morning today. It has been an unusually warm spring this year. March and April held some 80 degree days and for the first time that I can remember, there was not even one snowflake that hit the ground in April. Amazing. So Summer has come with avengance this year – over memorial weekend the temps were in the high 80’s and I got my first sunburn of the season while I planted my flowers and weeded my gardens. This last week in particular, we received a LOT of rain and some pretty nasty thunderstorms came through. Today, on this glorious Monday morning – as I sip on my coffee and write in my blog, with daisey and stewey at my feet; I feel as though I have been catapulted into September. Today has the feeling of early fall – cool, crisp, sunny and beautiful. Something in the air is making me feel giddy. I know it isn’t the prospect of going to work in a half hour, it’s that I’m FINALLY getting really excited about our wedding.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been very happy with the idea of marrying Jason – he’s a great guy, we love and laugh more often than anyone I know – but the idea of the wedding itself has been in the planning stages for about seven months already. And has been nothing more than a very LONG “to-do” list – triumphantly checked off as things get accomplished.

But today – after our short work week last week – and a very busy wedding planning week – I feel truly excited for our upcoming wedding which in 9 days, will be exactly four months away. Everyone says that the time flies when you are planning a wedding = and they are exactly right. It does, and it has!

Over the past week or so, we have successfully booked our 10 day honeymoon to Costa Rica – which will be glorious. I have seen, and tried on my actual wedding dress, have purchased the last of the candle lanterns that I needed for my centerpieces, ordered my satin gloves, veil & fascinator and made a very extensive inventory list & vendor plan for the reception. I feel like I am so on top of everything it’s a little scary! But if there is one thing that I have learned, its that no matter how much you plan, things may go sideways. Jason and I have already discussed this possibility, and my thoughts are that even if there is a snow storm and the cupcakes hit the ground in the parking lot, it will still be fine. We will still get married and god willing, we will still enjoy our 10 days in paradise.

I have vowed to not focus on the details and just flow with the day. I have witnessed too many brides, on TV and in real life, who freak out if one (or a series) of little details on their perfect day is off or missing. My philosophy is that we aren’t there for everyone else, they are there for us; we are not there for the centerpieces, they are there for us; we are not there for the cupcakes, they are there for us. And most importantly. We are there for each other – and hopefully that will always be true.

How are the Wedding Plans Going?

It seems these days, the first question out of friends & family that I have not seen in awhile is "How are the wedding plans going!?" I believe they are assuming that I am totally stressed out, and ready to have a nervous break down, but truthfully, things have been under control thus far, and are falling into place pretty well. I even have a real vision of how our wedding day will play out, and what a wonderful sight that is!

Jason is home from L.A. this week, and sweet as he is; is offering up an unabridged amount of time to dedicate to our wedding planning. The problem is that I really don't have anything for him to do, and I suppose that is not a bad thing. We seem to be right on track! The things that we need to decide on together (and SOON!) are the Honeymoon plans and his tuxedo choices. we are working on those this week, and will hopefully have them checked off the list before too long.

We are now moving into details mode. With Jason being gone in L.A., I have found that I have lots of time on my hands in the evening, so I have had the time to actually create itineraries for the wedding party, the wedding coordinators, and our contacts at the Gem. I have been passing along this helpful hint (that I read online) - make a master list, and then make an assignment list for those that are helping with your wedding day. That way you can keep track of timelines and who is doing what. Its a method that keeps a busy bride very organized.

I love planning our wedding - mostly because I love throwing a good party - and this will be the best one of all! The butterflies are starting to flutter and i'm getting more and more excited about our big day; which I realized this weekend, is now less than five months away! This realization of course spurred a moment of sheer panic, but I got over it quickly and now all is good with the world...ahhhh.

Lots of things to think about and lots of things to coordinate, but overall I am totally enjoying this experience. This is my official testimonial that you should never rush your engagement - there is nothing wrong with taking your time, planning everything out and getting the day that you dreamed of your whole life. This is the beginning to a new chapter in your life, and if you are like me, you can get a little sentimental about saying good bye to your single life and catapulting yourself into a life long commitment (or as I call it: full fledged adulthood).

This has been a nice easy transition, and I am so ready to walk down that isle, say I-DO and start the first day of the rest of my life with someone who has been a wonderful partner - we support each other in every way, we "get" one another, and most importantly, make each other laugh every single day. I'm a very lucky girl :)

Save the Date!

Last week I sent out our Save The Date magnets! And I finished setting up the Caldron wedding website that contains all of the wedding and shower details.

www.ewedding.com/sites/caldron2010

Vendor Fun!

I have had a couple of really productive weeks with the wedding planning. It all started when I decided that I needed to step the pedal to the metal on getting my DIY centerpieces figured out - and now I'm in full wedding planning mode again!

I have purchased a few things off of Craigslist including a couple of 12" gold shattered glass hurricane vases that will be perfect for the seating card table; I have procured the rest of the fall themed wreaths that I needed, and picked out the gold linens and chair covers that are so dreamy I want to curl up in them and take a nap! I have also ordered round one of my save-the-date cards, started designing our table numbers, began registering at Bed Bath and Beyond and William Sonoma; sent invitations to Poland for my cousin's so they can apply for a visa to come for the wedding, and finally, I have chosen my bridesmaid dresses. Whew! That is a lot of stuff - but lots of progress means an easier ride! right?

First things first - I have discovered (through my company) Affordable Elegance Chair Covers & Linens in Troy. This is truly one of the best linen places that I have encountered thus far. They are very reasonably priced, they do all of the set up for your wedding, they don't try and over sell you AND they are some of the nicest ladies I have ever met!

They let me borrow some samples that I liked, and I set them up on my mom's kitchen table - shut all of the blinds and lit the candles and wow.....what a rewarding feeling to have your vision come to life! It was everything I imagined and i'm still not sure how it all came together so easily!

Another Vendor that I am very impressed with, as far as customer service goes, is Vistaprint - I ordered our Save the Date magnets from them, but was a little apprehensive because I have never used their print service before. Knowing that I wouldn't know the level of quality that they would provide - I only ordered 25 magnets; and thank goodness I only ordered 25. I received them within a week (which was great) but the final product was about five shades darker than the proof that I approved online.

You couldn't see me or Jason's face in one of the photo's because it was SO dark, and the back ground was a deep chocolate color instead of a beige color that I thought it would be. So, I emailed their customer service, told them my issue and asked if they could please refund or credit my account so I could try again on a different template. Low and behold, I received an email THIS morning (not even 24 hours after receiving the magnets) letting me know that they would be crediting my credit card for the amount of the magnets (less shipping). I was VERY impressed by this! And yes, I will be buying another sample batch of magnets from VistaPrint.com.

This is Version 1 - hopefully the final will be coming soon!

Bride.2.be...that's ME!

I have recently discovered a fantastic blog by a girl who had a Detroit Wedding last fall. I am absolutely in LOVE with this blog - it is appropriately called My Detroit Wedding. Bridgette is the author; I emailed her to tell her how much I have been enjoying her blog, and it turns out, she is from Sterling Heights and graduated from Sterling a year after me! Small world huh!? No wonder I can relate to her blog so well. And, thanks to her blog, I have discovered a name for my wedding theme...

Fall Vintage Chic. Love it!

Bridgette and I have had some of the same experiences already, and I feel like her blog will be a fantastic guide as I go forward with our wedding plans; which I have re-entered "full swing" as of last weekend.

I contacted two people on Craigslist to take a look at some fall wedding items that they had for sale. I went up to Macomb Township on Saturday morning and met with a very nice lady who was selling hand crafted fall wedding decorations (left over from her son's wedding). Most of her sale items fit my wedding theme, but she wanted SO much money for the items. It was all really nice, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $125 for plastic pew bows and $150 for 75 votives with leaves carefully glued to the bottom.

I didn't buy anything from this nice lady, but instead, left with a dose of motivation to get moving on wedding plans once again. I left her house and headed down M59 - making a few stops along the way...Walmart for candles, Marshalls for stuff I didn't need & The Flower Factory. Ahhhh, the Flower Factory. That is where I struck gold. I found 15 fall wreaths for $8 a piece, and a sample candle lantern for $10. These are the key elements to the centerpiece that I had in my mind.

I went home, pulled out some of the votives that I had stashed away, and created my vision. I threw down a bed sheet (in place of the real linens) and set up my sample centerpiece on my kitchen table... and... VOILA! My DIY centerpiece has been created! Mission accomplished.

Much to my dismay, I was home alone when I created my vision - so, I called my MOH Cecilia and tried describing what I had created, and she just said, "pack it up, bring it over and then we will have some wine and watch a movie!" She's so awesome. She was also kind enough to take this photo for me, since Jason has our camera in L.A. with him!

Time to pick the veil

Much to my mothers disdain, I have decided to go with a french-style birdcage veil (preferably with feathers) rather than a traditional veil - I just feel like it will go so much better with my "hollywood style" dress - and it will really help bring the look together.

I have tried on a few of these veils- but I'm not sure exactly how extravagant I want to go - and its hard because the ones you try on in the store are SO expensive - I'm talking $200 - $300 on most that i have seen with the soft french netting, feathers and/or beading. I found some prices online that have been pretty reasonable.

A really good site that i found is called www.birdcageveils.com








I LOVE, LOVE LOVE this one on the end! I could SO see myself with a big feather in my hair - I'm just not so sure about the net being over my face all day....hmmm. decisions decisions.