How do people get married without Michaels?

Before we got engaged, I don't think I'd ever been to Michaels.  Now I'm there at least once a week.  Sometimes three times.  Sometimes, like last night, twice in 10 minutes.  Upon my second trip into the store, I realized exactly how much time I had spent in Michaels and I got a little sad.  Wedding planning is almost over!  Well, I guess the planning is over, let's how I have the thing planned by now!  But the prep work, the creativity...it's all coming to an end.  It made me sad, even though I'm also excited for the day to be here! (And let's be honest, also excited for it to be over.) :)

This week has given Matt a glimpse into what I do for a living.  As he's grumbling through prep work and projects, I reminded him last night that this is how I spend all day, every day, so he should have new found appreciation for me!

But back to my unendorsed plug for Michaels.  The place has everything!  Even things you didn't know you need!  It's actually kind of a train wreck...new ideas are born within the aisles of the store.  Now that I think about it, brides are probably happier never having stepped foot in Michaels.  But they don't know what they are missing, it's amazing.

And thus ends my delusional rant.  Clearly I'm sleep deprived...

Craft Central

Wow, wedding week is really here!  I'm not going to lie, I'm a little bit in denial.  I also may be obsessively checking the 10 day forecast. (So far so good, 83 and sunny.  Cross your fingers.)  I also am most definitely up to my ears in DIY projects.

A warning to all future brides: wedding blogs are a blessing and a curse.  While I've gotten some fabulous advice and ideas from sites like Weddingbee, I've gotten too many ideas!  And of course, wanted to do them all.  And true to form, didn't start any of them until two weeks before the wedding.  What can I say, that's how I roll.

So this past week has been entirely devoted to ridiculous wedding projects.  THANK YOU to Matt and all of my friends who are blistered and bruised from helping me. :)  But the good news is, we got it all done!  I may have spent every waking moment working on the wedding all week, but I am starting to feel like this wedding may actually happen!  Which is good because there's no turning back now, and my friends informed us that after they spent 5 hours assembling programs, we are getting married no matter what happens this week or they will disown us. :)

Long time no post

As it turns out, planning a wedding leaves very little time to blog about planning a wedding!  We're in crunch time - two weeks to go!  Since I've abandoned the blog for the past month, here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

My bachelorette party in Kansas City was a blast!  12 girls spent the weekend shopping, going to a Royals game, and hitting the downtown evening entertainment.

Matt's bachelor party in Chicago was also great!  8 guys enjoyed whirly ball, a Cubs game, and the Wrigleyville area bars.

My house sold!  Woo hoo!

In a dramatic turn of events, my dress waited until this week to come in to the store.  Somehow I refrained from having a heart attack when it was two weeks late.  And it fits...despite being long enough that Matt could probably wear it.  Still, it fits!  Phew!

Hair trial, done.  Final florist meeting, done.  DJ meeting, done.  Reception venue meeting, done.  Marriage prep, done.  And we have our marriage license, thank you John for attesting to our identities.  This wedding may actually happen after all.  Oh and the big news you've all been waiting for...the chairs have been ordered, you don't have to stand. :)

We went a couple weeks ago to stalk watch another wedding at Simon Estes to see how they did things...let's just say that was a lesson in how NOT to plan a wedding.  Let's just say, be very happy that I ordered you chairs, and never fear, our wedding will be starting on time.

So now we're down to little details which I've brought upon myself by dreaming up 20,000 DIY projects at the last minute.  Bring it on, wedding, we're almost ready for you.  Almost.

Kansas City, here we come!

I'm headed out on my bachelorette party weekend and I'm so excited!  Twelve girls, two nights, Kansas City = fantastic weekend!  On the agenda: shopping, Royals game, and Howl at the Moon, the BEST PIANO BAR EVER!

I can't wait!  Stay tuned for a recap! :)

Yes, shortest post ever.

Marriage prep

As it turns out, we aren't just throwing a wedding, but also starting a marriage.  Who knew?  So the other day we had our first marriage preparation counseling, via the technological wonder that is Skype, with our minister, Brian.

First of all, some background on Brian (and why we are doing our counseling through Skype).  I have known Brian since we were in the same three year old preschool class.  Growing up we were always in the same choir and youth group at church, and we were good friends in high school.  Oh the stories I could tell you about Brian...but I digress.  I will tell you that he TP'd my house SEVEN weekends in a row my senior year of high school!  My dad is still threatening to drive to Pennsylvania and get revenge by TPing Brian's house.

Brian and I in high school.  Ah, memories.
Sorry for the slightly blurry scanned photo...but please enjoy my ridiculously long hair.

When Brian decided to go to seminary after college, I always had in the back of my mind that I would love to have him perform my wedding some day.  How cool is it to have someone that has known you for practically your entire life officiate your wedding?  Luckily Matt also thought that would be great, Brian was available, and we were on our way!

But back to the counseling session.  None of us had ever used Skype before, so we weren't sure exactly how this would go, but it was so easy and worked so well!  It was like Brian was really with us, except for when he was messing with the special effects and was flying in a spaceship on the screen. :)  Matt and Brian had never met, so we talked a little about Matt's life and then dove right in to all kinds of topics, and before we knew it we were out of time.  Brian gave us homework for the next session and we came up with some topics for next time.

So we are now officially on our way not only to having a wedding, but starting a marriage.  Six weeks to go! 

Random musings

Thought number one - there is NOTHING better than watching wedding RSVP's come in!  I get an email every time we get one, and while it is incredibly distracting, it's also incredibly awesome!  We just keep watching the list grow as our family and friends agree to spend the day with us.  One of my good high school friends RSVP'd today and it hit me just how many of my favorite people I'm going to get to see all at the same time!  It's getting real now, and I am getting SO EXCITED!

Thought number two - wedding planning really does take up a lot of time!  Even though I feel fairly on top of things, there is just always something to do, something to plan, something to think about.  I suppose selling my house in the midst of this doesn't help.  But as excited as I am for this wedding, I'm also excited for the day when I get home from work and I don't have a giant to do list waiting for me!

Tomorrow's post - the engagement pictures.  Stay tuned!

Wedding Shower!

This weekend we went to Ottumwa for a wedding shower hosted by some of my mom's wonderful friends.  They had the great idea of making it into a coed cocktail party so that my dad could be involved and everyone would have a chance to meet Matt!

Check out the beautiful invites!  We knew we were in for a good party.

Details have been blurred to protect the hosts

The party was so much fun!  Food, drinks, and great people that I hadn't seen in WAY too long.  How can you beat that?  While I was sitting there, it hit me that we really are getting married!  Holy cow!  Turns out this isn't just a fun party I've been planning...

I was so excited that so many people came that I've known since I was growing up, and all of whom knew my mom.  I know she would have loved to be there.  Thanks to everyone who came, it was great to see all of you and the party was very much appreciated!

Two months till the wedding, here we go!