Invitations are ready to go!!!

HOLY CRAP - we are now into double digits on the countdown - 96 days from today and 3 months from this Friday, but whose counting???  I think I am still doing well with the planning, I have only had a few minor meltdowns, but overall I think I am doing ok!  The checklist is down to 74 open items out of 128, still a lot, but it seems to be things that need to wait.  UGH!  I just want everything done now. 

My mom and dad came over yesterday to help with the invitation stuffing.  I thought it was going to take forever, but it took no time at all!  We were done in a little over an hour and I am so excited to get them in the mail.  Here they are all ready to go:

We aren't mailing them until the end of this month, so they will sit for a little while, but I am so glad we got them done!

So this means only one thing - all of the big items are complete!!!  Now it's on to finishing all of the little touches.  And boy are there a lot of them. 

Updates

I know, I have become a failure at this blog thing.  I was talking to our friend Ben the other day and he described it perfectly - it's like a job.  I think about it alot, but it takes a lot to update!  I have hit the point in the wedding planning that I dont really want to share all of the little details!  I want many of them to be a surprise. 

So the least I can do (for the few of you out there that really care - and thank you to each of you for caring :-) ) is update you on the progress!!

As of today there are 115 days to the wedding - HOLY CRAP!!!  On the one hand I am SO EXCITED and really want it to be here tomorrow; on the other hand I am freaking out!  I still have 80 open items on the wedding checklist.  The good news is that most of them can't be done this early, so I am still in good shape.

The invitation arrived a few weeks ago and I love them even more than when I picked them out.  They had to be reprinted a second time, because they weren't exactly centered but they are perfect now and I can't wait to get them in the mail.  I am dropping them off to the calligrapher on Friday and they will be in the mail by the end of August - Phew!

Marcin picked up hist suit yesterday and it is Gorgeous!  Am I allowed to say gorgeous about a man's suit?  Oh well, I am  :-)  Brian did such a great job; since the suit was custom made for him it really fits him perfectly!

My mom and I did some shopping over the weekend for the wedding too.  We hit up this craft warehouse in DE and got some of the "little details".  Ribbon, tule, candles, etc.  It was a great trip but unfortuantely I was only able to cross off half of my craft store shopping list items!  So tomorrow I will be heading to AC Moore. 

Marcin and I were down the shore a few weekends ago for The JAWS Youth Fund Fitness Festival in Stone Harbor - he volunteered and I ran the 5K.  It was my first 5K - I did OK, ran just over an 11 minute mile.  I was hoping for closer to ten, but it was HOT that day.  I was proud I finished and ran the whole way!  Anyway, that night our band Touche was playing at Keenan's in North Wildwood so we went to listen to them with my Mom, Dad, Aunt Roe, and our friends Kristine and Mike.  We had so much fun and it made me even more excited for our day!!!

Finally, did anyone realize that the Catholic Church is doing away with the Unity Candle?  Well at least in the Philadelphia Archdiocese they are.  I was told it's a fire hazard!  Doesn't that mean that all the other candles that are lit during a mass are a fire hazard???  Well, I have to admit I was a little disappointed.  Not really because of the meaning of it or anything, mostly because I found a candle that I loved and was going to make myself!  And I looked forward to keeping it for years to come.  So I am still going to make it, and have it on our placecard table at the reception.  So if you see a random candle with rhinestones and ribbon at the reception, now you know why!

Ok, hopefully I will have more to update on later :-)

Tuxedos

I can finally cross another item off the list!  The tuxedos have been chosen.  This was A LOT easier than I thought it would have been.  Marcin is having a custom suit made from Henry A. Davidsen.  He met the owner, Brian Lipstein, through some networking groups and he has always played with the idea of getting a suit made from him.  We both thought the wedding would be the perfect occassion for him to do it. 

Marcin picked out the fabric, lining, and design all on his own; I havent even seen it yet!  I am going with him in a couple weeks for his fitting and I am very excited.  The couple of times I have met Brian he always look very sharp, so I know Marcin's suit is going to be great.  And Marcin is really excited about it!

So we knew that for the groomsmens we didnt want a typical tuxedo, we wanted more of a suit look to complement Marcin.  I was nervous going to Men's Wearhouse thinking we wouldnt be able to accomplish this, but it was A LOT easier than I thought.  Our consultant was really helpful, and in 20 minutes it was all picked out!  Here is a picture of what it will look like, well sort-of, but that's a surprise so I can't reveal everything :)

And Cameron is going to look adorable in the ring-bearer's version!

Next up on the list, singer and organist for the ceremony.  Who knew this one would be so hard!

Engagement Pictures

Phew!  I finally have time to myself again.  My work's annual conference is over and I am somewhat back to normal and I have a chance to blog about our engagement pictures.  WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!  And Marcin was such a good sport about it all.  The weather was nice, the sun was shining, but boy was it windy.  My hair was a giant knot all day!  I almost cried when I brushed it. 

We started the day by meeting up with Sarah and her husband, John at the Wildwood sign in Wildwood, NJ.  Well, actually we met on the highway coincidentally on the way down!  Hanging out at the sign was so much fun.  (Maybe someone saw us on the live webcam!)  We took pictures on the giant beach balls, and I was even standing in one of the letters at one point!  Here is a sneak peak of these

Then it was off to wander down the boardwalk.  I was on a mission to find some skee-ball to play, but no arcade was close to where we were.  I was walking in some crazy heels and they kept getting stuck in the boards!  But Sarah, being the great photographer that she is, found some great spots on the boardwalk to take some shots.  here is one on a bench (check out the shoes!) and one by the Convention Center

We took a lot more on the boardwalk, but these are only the sneak peak from Sarah.  I promised her I wouldnt be the crazy bride who stalks her for the proofs everyday, even though some days I kind of want to be :)

Then it was off to the beach to attempt to not be blown away (literally!)  This was so much fun!  in the following picture, that's my ring in the sand and Marcin and I are making the shadow heart :)

notice the rubberband from my hair on my finger - Sarah, we need to photoshop this out! ;-)

We ended the day at Flip Flopz with beer and burgers!  Marcin told Sarah and John that it's his favorite bar in the whole entire world!!!  It was such a great day.

And Sarah, I promise you I am waiting as patiently as possible :)

6 months!!

WOW!  Where have the last 18 months gone?  I cannot believe 6 months from today we will be getting married.  I am really excited, but stress also started to set in this morning, there is still so much to do!  

On my drive in to work this morning I was trying to find a radio station with a good song and I turned on 96.5 and they were playing The Way I Are!  Marcin and I used to listen to this song ALL THE TIME and we made sure it was on the must play music list for the wedding - so I think it was a sign that it was playing this morning!

Most of the big stuff is done.  We purchased the invitations a couple weeks ago - oops scratch that, I purchased the invitations a couple weeks ago with the help of my mom :) Marcin, I hope you like them!  I am so excited about them, they are simple and elegant.  I went in wanting the pocketfold invitations but I knew that I didnt have the patience to DIY them and I couldnt justify spending that amount of money on invitations that will be thrown away to have them done professionally.  So I found traditional styled invites with their own twist of uniqueness.  (Is uniqueness a word?  Oh well, it is now!)

The last thing we have to do is finish our registry and go pick out the tuxedos.  As soon as those 2 things are done, I will feel better and will start crossing the little things off the list. Oh the list!  I feel like I keep adding things to it, instead of crossing them off.  I now have 91 open items of 116.  Oh boy, we still have a long way to go. 

But that's ok, today I am not going to dwell on that.  Today I am going to sit back and relax (ha! that's a joke since my work conference is 10 days away and my team is scheduling 800 customer meetings before it) and think about all of the fun we are going to have and that Marcin and I will be husband and wife 6 months from today!

Flowers!

Ok, as promised I am going to get better with these posts.  So I decided I should start blogging on some of the little details, although Flowers are a big detail to me. 

Back in November I posted on the overall inspiration of the wedding being brown and orange.  Now that the bridesmaid dresses have been purchased in chocolate brown, it's orange mixed with reds for the flowers!  I started saving pictures awhile ago for some floral inspiration and have included some pictures here:

This is what the bridesmaids bouquets will look like.  I think this is going to look great next to the dresses!

And here is what Reese is going to carry.  As I mentioned before we are still trying to break it to her gently that she can't throw petals. 

I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my mom and Aunt Roe a few weeks ago and saw this picture of a Flower Girl Pomander Ball.  Look how cute it is with the Pearl Handle!  I am going to have to come up with a way to make it if my florist cant.

Finally here is Marcin's Boutonniere.

I love the way it looks with this orange tie, but since I went with brown dresses, we can't do orange ties with black, that will look too much like Halloween for me.  And grey isnt really an option for me.  So we are still working on the men's attire, but more on that later.  We actually had already ordered an orange and pink paisley tie for Marcin, luckily he wears ties everyday for work, so it won't go to waste!

That's it for the inspiration of flowers.  I am going to leave my bouquet and the reception centerpieces as a surprise!  I can't give away everything :)

And our florist is Stacey Ballard with Stacey Ballard Floral Design.  Marcin met her through his contacts at work (his connections have really been pulling through for us!)  She does this on the side, her everyday job is real estate development.  This concerned me at first, when Marcin first told me, but I figured I had nothing to lose by meeting with her.  Needless to say I absolutely loved her!!  I knew I would love her when she suggested we meet at the Great American Pub in Wayne.  Beer, wine and flowers - what more can you ask for?  She brought loads and loads of photo albums of her work, and she started telling me stories of growing up in her parents flower shop.  I was instantly sold, and it also helped that she was the cheapest I found. 

I am getting very excited as all of the little details start to come together.

The Honeymoon is booked!!!

Ok so I think my last few posts have all started the same – how I have been lacking with the blog posting. I’ll tell you this house thing takes up a lot of time, but we have had a lot of fun with it. I will post pictures in the next post!  The wedding was put on the back burner a little because of the house, but it is starting to come back to the front.

Marcin and I just booked our honeymoon this week and we are really, really excited for it. We will be leaving Monday, November 8 for San Francisco at 740am, hopefully I will be able to sleep on the plane, or else I am not going to stay awake for anything in CA! We are going to spend that day touring Fisherman’s Wharf and the like and spending the night at the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I was in San Francisco once for work but Marcin has never been. I am really excited to tour the area again and check out the sea lions or are they seals? Oh well!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The next morning we will drive to Napa Valley, where we will spend 2 nights. During the day we will be checking out the wineries and will definitely be shipping wine back home. They better be able to ship to NJ or somewhere close! I will be asking all friends and family in bordering states if we can ship our wine to you :) We will give you a bottle or 2 for your troubles!


We will be staying at the River Terrace Inn – our travel agent sold us on this, when she put in her email: “Great Bar!” I read that to Marcin and he said book it right now! Look at these views!

 








And here's the bar!

On November 11th it’s off to Cabo San Lucas for 8 days, 7 nights!!! We are staying at the Dreams Resport and I cannot wait. Marcin knows the owners of Apple Vacations really well and they gave us an awesome deal :)  I am really looking forward to a swim-up bar, massages, beach and a whole lot of nothing!!!

Dreams Los Cabos Suites Golf & Spa Resort is the only all suite ocean front resort adjacent to 2 championship golf courses and overlooking the Sea of Cortez, this premiere resort offers casual elegance and adds the crowning touch to Cabos most deluxe hotels. The resort is located one mile from the Robert Trent Jones designed Cabo Real golf course and a ten minute drive to the town of Cabo San Lucas. It features a large, majestic freeform swimming pool, health club and spa.

Then it's back to Philly at 11:45 Thursday night.  I am assuming Friday will be spent sleeping from jet lag!

Next up on the planning list - Tuxedos and Invitations!