One Week!

So now there is just one scant week before the wedding.
It's amazing.

The wedding is so close now that I can taste it.  I am down to my last days before the wedding, and in good news I am completely finished both with my practicum and with my online coaching class!  This means that, for the next week, my attentions are entirely focused on the wedding and preparation, which is definitely a good thing.

With just one week left, most of the major wedding preparations are complete and now it is a matter of finalization and tying up of loose ends.  We had a conversation with the caterer yesterday to finalize rentals and numbers, we completed the placement of our cupcake order, we have a reasonably good seating chart done, my dress has been brought in from the shop, and lots of other checks on the list.

For me, getting the major things nailed down in a simple fashion is the easiest kind of thing to do; I am definitely more adept at creating the structure and skeleton for things....refinement and details are more difficult for me, I find that I get irritated and often bored if I over-focus on the details of something.  This is something I have a tendency to do.  I know that I do better on assignments if I either: (1) send in a first draft with only a cursory review and edit, OR (2) really, really, really spend a lot of time reviewing and re-reading and editing a paper.

For the wedding, it's tempting because there are so many details to potentially review and refine to go with door #1....which will be fine for something (e.g., the cupcakes) but not so much for other things (e.g., the seating chart).  There are so many moving parts to the wedding that I am still trying to strike the balance of paying enough attention to the details without feeling overwhelmed by them.

I just need to trust myself that it will all get done as much as it needs to and, if it doesn't by the time the wedding actually rolls around, then someone else will take care of it OR it wasn't that important in the first place.

After the other night, I haven't had any panicky feelings, but I definitely float between anxiety and calm, although the anxiety is often short-lived and easily allayed.

Wish me luck!!!!

Boot Scootin' Boogie!

As you may or may not know, I am (along with Christopher) a country dancing enthusiast!  We go dancing at a local country bar pretty much as often as we can (which is not as often now as it used to be).   Christopher also says that the moment he realized that he was in love with me was when he was watching me while I was on the dance floor.

As such, we thought it only fitting if we did one line dance during the wedding.  Racking my brain, I carefully selected the line dance "Boot Scootin' Boogie" that is danced to the song of the same name by Brooks & Dunn.  We plan to teach the line dance at the rehearsal to our wedding party, but we thought it would be fun to give ALL of our guests the chance to learn the dance.

I scoured the YouTube for an example or instructional of the version of the dance that Chris and I know.  That took for-ev-er!!!  Apparently, the version that we do is not the most popular version so the video below is the best that I can find.  

These folks do the correct version for us, and it is altogether a pretty simple dance compared to many of the other line dances that I might have chosen.  We will be doing the dance after I change into my reception dress following the cake cutting.

So go ye forth and learn the dance so that you can have fun with us (even if you do feel a little silly while doing so)!!!!!!

Someone Must Be To Blame

Someone must be to blame for hitting my PANIC! button.

Because, remember when I was talking all about how I am totally calm?  Yeah.
Gone.
Like, poof, into thin air.

This blog post will probably be listed as "published" at something like 2:00 am PST.  I started writing just before 1:30 am PST.

Now, not to say that I am freaking out about details that need to get done or something tragical happening....mostly, I have sneaking feelings of impending doom and my thoughts are racing like they're in the final stretch going for Olympic Gold.

I jump topics like....well, all analogies coming to mind at this moment are a bit inappropriate...suffice to say it is a lot!  I am thinking about: the classwork that is due on Friday (four separate projects, each of which involve writing at minimum 5 double-spaced pages of pure text), what we are going to do for our honeymoon, how the apartment is a mess, the outstanding RSVP's, where we are going to find the apartment for LA, that maybe I should be working out more since the wedding is so close, how long am I going to have to stay at La Familia on Thursday to finish paperwork, when I am going to fit anything else in, how I have a party on Saturday, about coordinating flights for my officiant, my guilt over not having worked on my vows hardly at all, the upcoming move and the required organization, Chris' health, how little food we have in the apartment right now, how good Taco Bell sounds right now, that I should maybe lay off the salt until the wedding to avoid bloat, and how it would be nice to finish the dishes but that would probably be too loud and wake Chris...........
The list goes on.
And on.
And on.

You get the idea.
It's tremendous.

All with this sinking, nagging feeling that, even with every pot I have my finger in at the moment (because everything listed above will be done in time and at least adequately), I am missing something vital.

This rigamarole, this tirade in my mind is what has me up at 2:00am on a Monday night/Tuesday morning when I have scheduled myself for a 9:00am yoga class.

Now, before I click off here and hit the publish button, it would be unfair of me not to acknowledge that this is not the only time in my life where anxiety has taken sleep from my grasp.

Even as I prepare to finish this post, I took a look around the view of the apartment from my perch at my desk to see what other task I can tackle before attempting to sleep.

DIY: Children's Activity Bags

Following the advice and suggestions of many a bride-to-be, I decided early on in the planning process that I wanted to provide activity bags for the children who will be attending the wedding.  Since I happen to love silly toys and things, it was in short order that I purchased bags of small toys and such from Oriental Trading.  I got a couple of big mixed bags that included: bouncy balls, finger traps, mini-slinkys, kazoos, stress balls, erasers, noise-makers, and various other sundry.

I also separately bought a large-batch of crayons (which apparently decided to not include the colors yellow or red), activity sheets, and slow sticks.

I distributed these items across the 10 bags that I determined would be sufficient for the number of children attending for whom the bag would be appropriate.

I packed them up, boxed them together, so that they are ready for placement at the seats where the recipients will be seated.

 Now the strangely difficult part comes: which individuals get these bags...some ages are obviously just right for them (the 5-8 year olds, for example), but what of the younger children (I have a 3-month-old and a 12-month-old attending, among others) and the older children (11? 13? 15? 17?).  Finding the stopping points on either end without leaving anyone out should be an interesting endeavor.

Either way, I hope that the parents appreciate the bags and that the children do not get into too much trouble having fun!

Sidebar: Idealized

I have stumbled across yet another article that I find interesting which relates to the fact that I am getting married shortly: Want a Happier Marriage? Unrealistically Idealize Your Partner

This article reports on a recent study which drew the conclusion that unrealistically idealization of one's partner is correlated to higher marital satisfaction over the first three years of a first marriage.

They suggested that people may either distort their actual perception of their partner to more closely fit the concept of their ideal partner or they have adjust their concept of an ideal partner to match the qualities of their current partner.

Either of these possibilities are interesting.

But what is important here, as it always is, is that these data are correlations....so there is no determining the causation.  The authors state that one alternate possibility is that people who are simply in more stable and satisfying relationships tend to have an idealized perception of their partner; thus, the causation flips from the headline which suggest that, as long as you force yourself to idealize your partner you'll have a happier marriage.

As always, my critical thinking and curious mind asks: how does this differ, if at all, when taking into account length of courtship and/or whether or not the couple was living together prior to marriage.  I expect that the trajectory of Chris' and my was different when we first started living together versus what it will be following the wedding.

Very interesting.

Bottles of Bubbly

I have to say that this was one of my favorite wedding tasks to date: champagne tasting!

My wedding wine provider/selector, who also happens to be my step-uncle, chose a selection of three champagnes for us to try at Easter dinner so that we could select one for the wedding. (Chris did not participate since, as many of you know, he does not drink at all.)

First, up an Asti: the flavor was sweet and bright, and my personal favorite - hello! sweet tooth!! - but ultimately we decided that it was too much to serve to the wedding attendees since many are not likely to share my preference for sweet.

Second, Prosecco: very dry.  Some of the family preferred this one and, while I liked it, it wasn't a stand-out for me.

Third: Louise d'Estree: balanced, and spicy.  The ultimate winner with a good amount of flavor variety.

Who knew I was such a connoisseur of champagnes and that I would have such strong opinions on it?

It was certainly quite fun trying the different bottles and discussing it like a fancy-pants grown-up with my family members.  I'd never had that much of an opinion about these things, and I'm used to the real grown-ups making decisions about wine and things since I'm generally pretty easy to please.

It is definitely nice to know, though, that I got to pick this one....plus the bottle is waaaaaaay pretty, right?

Cupcaked!

After we decided that Frosting's in Walnut Creek would be our cupcake-provider for the wedding, the next step   was to go back and try as many of their cupcakes as we could so that we would know which ones we wanted.

So maybe we took a little bit of time to get to that step.

Whoops!

So we did it this week.

Chris graciously went to the bakery and ordered 9 cupcakes: 

1. vanilla with buttercream frosting, 
2. lemon, 
3. chocolate with chocolate ganache, 
4. chocolate with peanut butter frosting, 
5. chocolate-espresso with espresso-caramel-chocolate frosting which they call a caramel macchiato
6. black-bottom, 
7. carrot cake, 
8. red velvet, 
9. and chocolate with cream cheese frosting

I provided the knife, napkins, and milk.

Over a grueling 45 minutes Chris and I (along with my wedding coordinator/boss and my dad - since, you know, we were doing the tasting at the office) tried all the flavors.

The results:

A few of them were rather disappointing (*ahem* vanilla and red velvet!!! *ahem*), but a few were super-delish.

The Winners:

1. Black Bottom
2. Caramel Macchiato
3. Chocolate with Chocolate Ganache
4. Carrot Cake
5. Lemon

We figure that this will please various taste buds, as well as include our own personal favorites among the options.

There we have it!

I shot off an email to the owner of the shop and will place the custom order in the next few days.

Hopefully they'll be able to decorate with our colors and etc to add to the customization.

Now I have to rope someone into picking them up on the day of the wedding!

Any takers?

Presents!!

I love getting presents.

I also love giving presents! (Honestly!!)

Over the last few days I have spent a lot of time finalizing the gifts that I am giving to my bridesmaids, to the parents, and a few other thank yous.
Golly, is it tiring!

Partly because there are so many people to consider at once and also because giving gifts to individuals for the wedding feels like a completely different animal than giving a birthday or holiday gift.

Still, I'm feeling pretty good because all of my bridesmaids gifts are wrapped and boxed together for easy transport, the parental gifts are nearly all ordered, AND I am almost completely done with shopping for the other thank-yous.  I even got Chris to order his groomsmen's gifts!!

Hopefully, those to whom we give these gifts will appreciate the thought and care that we have put into selecting these gifts.

Final Floral Consult

On Monday, I met with my awesome florist - who also happens to be a family friend - to go over the floral plan for the wedding.

Wow.

I had no idea how many decisions that would involve me making! Not just the style of my own bouquet, but also the numbers of everything else, styles of the bouquets for others, floral arrangements on tables (and just figuring out how many tables would need flowers was crazy!), boutonneires, and anywhere else that flowers can go.  Then deciding on colors and types of flowers I like...and I know absolutely nothing about flowers.

It was fun, but also challenging because I don't know anything about flowers - which are which, when they're in season, what looks good together, cost, etc. - but also because I don't think I have that many strong opinions on flowers.  I did learn, though, that I have more opinions on them that I would have guessed.

I mean, I like flowers.  I think they're pretty.  I like the way they smell.  I have a couple fave-ish, and a couple hate-ish and that's about where it ends.


Regardless, I know that these flowers are definitely going to add a lot to the overall look of the wedding...and I now know that I looooove the smell of tuberose. :)

It's also really, really nice to know that I can trust my florist and I don't even have to worry about it because I know it's going to be gorgeous.

Pins and Sticks

Yesterday I had my first real dress fitting wherein I didn't just put on the dress, I had to stand verrrrrrrry still for a verrrrrrry long time while a woman put many, many pins in my dress in order to make it fit me properly.


Apparently I lost a lot of weight since ordering the dress...which is good, generally speaking, but makes more a much more laborious dress fitting since the dress needs to be taken in on all sides, essentially.  It also means that I don't actually have a good vision as to how I will actually look in my dress.

[Alright Christopher, look away now. I'm going to have to trust that your curiosity doesn't ge the best of you....not like it ever does, which is simply astounding to me since I always want to know what's going to happen.  Maybe that's why I'm marrying you. :) ]





We also worked on adding the halter strap to the dress which, when they pinned on the trial fabric for placement and shape, made an enormous difference in how the dress looked on me.  I knew it would because my shoulders are quite wide indeed and this poorly suited for the proportions in strapless things.  Adding the halter definitely broke up the line of my shoulders, hid the armpit folds (that everyone has to some degree no matter size or shape and that I know I certainly don't find the  most attractive, particulalrly on myself) and changed the whole look of the dress into the pin-up aesthetic which is partly/kind of the point.

It was just me and my step-mom at the fitting, which was nice since we were able to share that together and chat about the wedding one-on-one. 


I also find that I am 100% fickle as all get-out when it comes to completing the look of the dress.  I mean, I picked the shoes, but mostly because I knew I would have to before the fitting for the pinning of the hem.  Other than that, I'm not set on hairstyle, earrings, bracelet, makeup style, or even shoe clips!

The combination of these things can dramatically alter my overall impact - not necessarily better or worse just...different.  I keep finding photos of things that I like that I think will work but then I don't know how I want to put it all together.

Generally, I'm not so great at choosing looks beforehand - I like having lots of styling options in my bag when I travel because I'm never sure how I want to put things together.  Sometimes I like something more subtle, sometimes more dramatic, and other times I just slap it together until I feel like I'm finished or the clock says that it's time to go.



You know what?
Probably I will make ALL of these decisions on the day of the wedding.

Wish me luck!

Banded!

Guess what came in the mail?!?!?!?

Chris' wedding band!

He tried it on and is making complaining noises about how it fits and how he's not used to wearing jewelry.
I told him that he has decades to get used to it. :)

Seriously, though, I'm so happy because it's pretty, and it fits, and it goes very well with my rings.  I know the photo is blurry, but I can't find the website's photo so this will have to suffice because I am definitely not the photographer.

Sidebar: Internship Round II

As I noted before, I have been going through a very challenging process of securing an internship for next year so that I might (finally!!!) graduate.

This morning was the match day for round two for the national system meaning that, this morning at 7am I received an email. That email contained the news of whether or not I was matched to an internship placement and, if I was, where I would be going.

The result:

I matched to the Institute for Multicultural Counseling and Education Services (or IMCES)
in Los Angeles, California.

I start on July 1st.



Now, to be quite honest I was unsure of this placement when I interviewed there and, overall, including placements that I was still eligible/up for using the California system (a few of which I was rather excited about) but could not include since the California and national systems are separate.  There was also the issue of the fact that I believe that one of my interviewers did not like me whatsoever.

Still.
I matched there.
It's a solid placement that will get me to graduation and it pays.

I should get a strong experience and develop as a clinician during my time with IMCES.

So.
While I am adjusting emotionally, I am also considering the pragmatics, which are numerous including deciding on where to live.  But, for now, I am going to do my best to be relieved and happy that I have found a placement that will, at the very, very least, suffice for one year.

THE Dress Arrived...Last Month

When I got the call that my wedding dress had finally arrived at the bridal shop, I was both thrilled and anxious.

Now, that happened, several weeks ago (in point of fact, I began writing this particular blog post on February 11th....it is now well past that date) and I have since tried on the dress and, just yesterday, I scheduled my first two dress fittings!

I realize now that I should probably explain the anxious part of that first sentence.
As you may know, I bought my dress quite some time ago and had first found it even earlier than that.
It was just about six months between purchase and when I learned that it arrived at the bridal shop.  That's a looooooong time to wait in between viewing what is arguably the most important and  expensive dress I will even wear. Especially when our culture puts such a premium on finding the just-right dress; I want to look exactly how I want to look on my wedding day and the dress itself is a huge part of that.  Thus, I definitely do not want to have any serious doubts about whether or not I picked the right dress.

For myself, I tried on dress after dress after dress and had a difficult time finding the right style for me and for what I wanted.  I love clothes, and so it was easy to imagine myself getting married to Christopher in many of the dresses I tried on.  I'm not really sure what ultimately sold me on this dress, and so visions of what I remember this dress looking like when I tried it on danced in my head along with visions of a dress I almost bought and ones that I seriously considered.  Who knows?

So six months without seeing the dress and no taksies-backsies can make a gal go a little silly.
Thus, when I got the call the dress was there, I definitely got nervous that it wouldn't look the way I had remembered and that it would be the wrong size and that I picked the wrong version of the color white for it.


[[NOTE to CHRISTOPHER:  STOP READING HERE!  No spoilers for you, young man!!!!]]


Sorry, I need to eliminate the possibility that he accidentally sees some key words that will give it away -- I don't know why exactly, but I've decided to go with near-mystery on how I will look the day we get married.  Except for my shoes and that I'm wearing a big-ass flower in my hair because...well, of course!! on the latter; not wearing a flower would just be silly!!!


Ok.
Better.

:)

Fortunately, though, when I arrived at the bridal shop with parents and a sister in tow (along with no less than 3 trial shoe options, two hair fascinators, a veil, earring options, and a bracelet) and tried on the dress it was what I remembered.  RELIEF!  Wearing it, I felt beautiful.  The size was the right size to have ordered - although it will have to be taken in in the waist and a little in the bust, it was the right size for my hips which, proportionally, is where I am the biggest.  BUT because of the rest, my dress saleswoman, had to hold back all the boning so that I wouldn't look like I was swimming in it.

I think, also, that I feel like keeping the rest of how I will look a bit of a mystery from the world-at-large, as well (because obviously, 8 kajillion people read this blog religiously!).  If you want to see some of the photos from the try-on, let me know and I'll happily share, but I think I'd rather keep it a bit under my hat for now.

Suffice to say, I loved it.  I can't wait to put it on again and make the changes in the sizing and in the adding of the halter strap (which I am convinced will make a huge impact on my silhouette).  
So I for my wedding-day look I have:
(1) the dress
and
(2) the shoes

I still need to make a decision on:
(1) hair accessory/ies
(2) bracelet
(3) shoe clips
(4) earrings [post to come on that one]
(5) hair
(6) make-up
and
(7) nails

That's good progress, right?

Shoes: Updated

With the help of my dear friend and bridesmaid, Jessica, we went through all the shoe options I posted before and we made a decision.

On my wedding day, I will be wearing these:

We agreed, however, that the black and silver pouf has to go and that I will replace it with something else.
So I shopped on Etsy for shoe clips that might fit the bill.  Because I'm me, though, I have no idea which one I want.......help!

1. Blue Satin with Pearls

2. Lace and Chiffon with Pearls

3. Blue Chiffon with Beads

4. Wrinkled Turquoise Satin

5. Ivory and Aqua with Beads

6. White Chiffon

7. Crystal and Pearl Flower

9. Satin Bows with Crystal Center

They're all around the same price, and I'm sure that all the vendors would make adjustments to customize for me.

So I have no idea which pair I want.

This is the fun kind of dilemma.  Who wants to help me with it?

Shoes!

Last week, with my best friend - you know, the one who's getting married five weeks after we are! - I went shoe shopping...online.  We spent a good two hours perusing Zappos.com and trying to find the right shoes for each of us to wear at our weddings.
And now I have a little problem.
In the form of about $1000 worth of shoe options sitting in my living.  Blame it on realizing that endless.com ALSO has free shipping, free return shipping, and a 365-day return policy.
Please note that these are "options".  I have approximately 12 pairs of shoes, and I plan to keep 2 pairs (one for the rehearsal dinner and another for the wedding itself).  Four pairs have already been determined as "no-go"s, but I have neglected to send them back yet.
Among the remaining contenders are the following shoes:

These are all the wedding shoe options that I'm still considering.

And even though it may seem like overkill, it's been pretty difficult to find shoes that:

(1) I will wear again

(2) Are under $100

(3) Have a medium-high heel

(4) In which I can walk on gravel and grass

(5) I can wear for a few hours in reasonable comfort

(6) In which I can dance, at least a little

and

(7) Are pretty

Honestly, it's most likely that no one will see my shoes -- unless I decide to hem my dress more.

Such agonizing decisions......

Sidebar: Internship

I am a clinical psychology doctoral candidate.
The only thing that I have left to complete before I am cleared for graduation is for me to do one year of a pre-doctoral internship.
I applied for some last year and did not get one of the ones I wanted.  I decided to take another year - this year - to develop my skills and curriculum vitae so as to be a stronger applicant when I reapply this year.

This year:
I applied to >20 sites.
I received 4 offers to interview.
I did not match to an internship.

I found out Friday morning, the 25th.
My birthday was the 24th.
Very disappointing result.

Now what? I mean, I still need an internship for next year because I am going to graduate May/June 2012.  No. Matter. What.
So after the results were posted, the matching system released they also released a list of internship placements that didn't get all the interns they needed.  So I'm applying to a great and very many of these placements.  I will know if I get one of these placements on March 28th, a Monday morning.  The Monday morning, in fact, following my bachelorette weekend.
Hah.
Even so, I could -again - not match through this national system.
Thus, I have already applied for a variety of internships through the California system.

For those who aren't already familiar with this process - and even many who are - it's a convoluted and very involved process that essentially involves gobs of stress and uncertainty.

I say all this mostly to say that this result, among other things, means that I - and thus, Chris, as well - am still in limbo.  Past these next 12 weeks, I have no clue as to where I will be living or what I will be doing next year.

Possible scenarios:
(1) Chris and I live together in the Bay Area while I work at UC Davis earning about $25K
(2) I live in Zephyrhills, Florida (very near my Dad's family) and earn $39K working at a corrections facility there; Chris tries to transfer
(3) I live in places with no Southwest Airport, like Podunk, Indiana
(4) I live in Los Angeles earning $0 (not a typo); Chris tries to transfer

And many, many other iterations of similar living arrangements, types of work, places to live, and income levels.
I could earn nothing all the way up to the $39K.  I could be in the Bay, in San Diego, Texas, Florida, Ohio, New York....anywhere.  I could work at a university, corrections facility, community mental health center, or more.  Chris and I could live together full-time, part-time, or not at all on other sides of the country.
Oooh!  Also, I could start as early at July 1st, or as late as September 1st.

We'll see.

I must have used that phrase about a katrillion-jillion times during this whole internship process.

And yet....
it's true.

And will be for at least four more weeks.
Oh golly.

Four weeks from today is the second judgement day and I have no earthly clue how it will be.

And also this other little thing where I'm getting married in 82 days.

Wish me luck!!

Perfect Fit: My Rings

Before we got engaged, Chris spent many hours deciding on my engagement ring.  Because I had been told that I was not going to be able to choose my ring, I had sent him probably close to 100 pictures of rings that I liked so that there was no question about things that I liked.

So Chris went to a jeweler with one of those many pictures in hand and described to the jeweler what he like about the ring in the photo and how he wanted it to be different for the special-commission engagement ring he wanted.  A few months later, Chris was summoned back to the jewelers and shown the ring that had been created: my engagement ring.  After he proposed, I was amazed at how perfectly he had gotten the ring.  

And yes, these are the best photos I could find of the ring on my delightful sausage fingers.  ;)

And theeeeen, many moons later, we went shopping just to look at possibilities and directions.  Along the way, we found a ring that just slid in perfectly with my engagement ring.  So we took some time to think about it.....then we went back to that store and bought it!

It came in from beings size a few weeks later.

I can't help but think that, considering the uniqueness of my engagement ring's shape (in terms of engagement rings, anyhow), that the new wedding band fits incredibly well.  It will fit even better when we get it soldered together after the wedding.

I feel very fortunate to have found such a perfect fit with such ease.

Now I just have a few dozen days left to wait before I can wear it all the time!!

Cake

Long ago, we decided to have a friend of ours - an aspiring professional baker - make our wedding cake.
Today, we had our consultation with her.

It was so delightful.
She brought us three mini cakes to taste in three flavors specified by Chris: chocolate, lemon, and pineapple-strawberry.

Now, as I posted before, this cake is not going to be eaten by anyone but us since we're having the cupcakes for the guests.  That meant that Chris and I didn't have to consider anyone but the two of us when making decisions about the cake.

When she came in, we dove right into the cakes.
The chocolate and lemon were super-delicious, so Chris and I settled on those.

Then we discussed with our cake-baker about the look that we wanted.
The only thing I knew going into the meeting other than size was that I wanted the frosting to be white (we went with buttercream) and I wanted it to look like a cake.
We came up with something like this:

Except that instead of the flower on top it will be our logo printed on white chocolate, and instead of the black ribbon it will be red/white gingham ribbon, and instead of plain white fondant it will be buttercream with some turquoise colored white chocolate flowers.

Ok.
Maybe that's a lot of qualifiers, but I couldn't find a better photo.

I was definitely impressed with her and I can't wait to see our actual cake on our wedding day.

Plus!  She said she was going to do trial-runs, and she'll send us photos when she does.  I love cake.

One Hundred.

There are now one hundred days left until the wedding.

That's kinda scary and kinda exciting.

The countdown just keeps rolling forward, regardless of whether or not I get things checked of that to-do list.

Thinking about it makes me smile and my heart beat faster.  I think about seeing Chris waiting for me when I turn that corner, ready to walk down the aisle.  I think about dancing in the not-quite-summer air, with stars and lights twinkling around us while Chris makes me keep doing spins until I lose my balance just a little during a swing song.  I think of the people I love most in the world celebrating with us and showing their love just with their presence.

I also think of those few last addresses that I need to get, and the decisions as yet unmade.  I think about some of the things that could go wrong.  I think about how I need to make sure that I reserve enough linens, and that I still need to figure out most of the songs we're going to use during the wedding.


I can't wait....but I'm glad that I still have more time before everything needs to be done.

Gone Postal

I just want to share my excitement that the first round of invitations - that's some 70-odd invites - went to the care of the United States Postal Service today!!

While we are still waiting on a good handful of confirmed addresses for friends and family members, but we figure that they won't know the difference or mind.

We did a lot of DIY on the invitation prep and packaging, so I'll post about that later (plus pictures).  For now, I'm just excited to have taken that step.  It's a big and important one.

Although it was a task that could have been undertaken by one person, I decided that Chris and I should definitely do this one together.  Although we had collaborated on prepping the invites and had them all wrapped, sealed, and stamped when we arrived at the Post Office, we still went to the self-service machine to check the postage so as to avoid 70 returned envelopes for insufficient postage.

We click the buttons, do the thing, and - lo and behold! - the machine tells us that it will be $0.81 per envelope.  But, but!!  All my internetz research said it should just be $0.64 - the extra just to account for their square shape.
So we take the shoe-box full of invites to the counter (just inching in before the lunchtime rush, phew!!) and look to our friendly neighborhood government employee for confirmation that the machine was wrong.
It was.
Instead, the correct postage cost is: $1.03 per invite.
Oh.
So we shelled out for another $0.44 stamp each (just for simplicity).

Theeeeeeeeeeeen, after several peel-and-stick repetitions we tooks our hefty stacks and slid them, a few at a time, into the mailing slots.
With the last stack going in Chris looks at me and goes: "duhn, duhn, DUUUUUHN!!!"

We laughed.
We left.

We're ready for this.