The March List: Recap

Good-bye March!! and hello Spring??? Please??

I try not to make these posts too repetitive. But my recaps generally want to start with something along the lines of holy crap. I can't believe it's been a month! But I think you will all be proud of me - I kicked butt in March!!!! Let's see if you agree. 

The March List:

-Invitations - get wording from Jen.  Order full sample. - Sample with custom colors ordered! Realized it wouldn't be with my wording anyway, so didn't need that yet. Hopefully the sample comes in soon! And that we like it.

-Call Kathy at Branford House to update her with timeline info - grr. Yes, I just grr-ed. I called, and left a message, but haven't gotten a call back. I'd like to check it off, but I won't until we actually talk. So there it stays! I plan on trying again this week. 

-Follow up on wedding gift idea - confirm if I need a new one or not.  If not - book! - DONE! Booked! Thrilled. Excited. Wish I could tell him...but I guess I have to wait until 8/8. 

-Get the official word from the Groton Town Hall. - Done...got the official word, don't like it...but I guess we're on to plan B. I've already started the research. Fingers crossed!

-Taste & order wedding cake - DONE! Tasted & ordered. Yum!!  Oh the joys of wedding planning.
-Pay our portion of the photographer balance - Paid. Trying to be a smart wedding budget-er, so yay for that!

-Send "the6monthsprint" mail.  I know what this means, that's what matters. - Done! :)

-Get my favorite best man/groom duo inside a Men's Warehouse at the same time. - Done! And an epic fail…but it led to us finding the suits, so I'll take it.

-Start a conversation, either via email or coffee with Pat about ceremony music - I'm sort of cheating by crossing this off. But technically I did start a conversation. Now I just need to finish it :)
-Decide on table "numbers" theme - Done! We decided on a theme that we are going to try. And hopefully like. and then I can cross yet another item off the master list.
-Mock up current place card idea. -**enlist help of way more artistic family for this. - Not done. But I also haven't gotten said family member to my house to be able to enlist her! An easy fix next month!
-Order Ant's wedding band (???) - Done!!! And so excited to see the final version :)

So…pretty good, right??  Now, I will hopefully get back to you tomorrow or Wednesday latest with my April list……but if it doesn't stop with the crazy weather the only item on my April list is going to be wishing for sun, and spring to finally show up.  Because this stuff is going to make a girl crazy.  This is what my weekend looked like:

Sunday morning our poor house decided to take a bath, and looked like this….

Because our dam looked like this… {dams don't work so great when the water pours rapidly OVER them, in case you were wondering.}

LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER, ON MARCH 31st…my parking lot at work looked like this.  Yes, the caps suggest I am yelling.  I wanted to.  Luckily, the snow is basically gone, and hopefully it was just March getting everything out of it's system.

BUT! We handled our anger like adults, and rallied by booking our hotel for the Newport wedding we have this June!!! I appreciate my friends choosing a fabulous spot like Newport for a summer wedding - we are making a weekend out of it! :)  That helps my winter blues.

How was your March?  Ours didn't go out quite like a lamb…but it is gone nonetheless.  Ready for some April showers???

Branford House RW: Justin & Mary

If you know me at all, you know about my wedding photography obsession.  If you don't know me at all: welcome! I am obsessed with wedding photography.  I talk about it here, here, here and here!  Now that I am planning my own wedding, I enjoy it even more! {and I didn't know that was possible}  The BEST part of my constant hunt for amazing weddings to gush over is when I run into ones that take place at the Branford House.  It's like the beautiful shoot I showed you a couple of weeks ago, but better! Because it's a real wedding.  They are my favorite for inspiration - and my favorite because even when they are so different from my own wedding, {like this one!} - they all show the same beauty and love! Okay….done gushing.  Check out this wedding from Justin & Mary!  As usual, I've posted a few of my favorites below.

The 6 month sprint: Week 4

Week 4!  Disclaimer: these are not necessarily actual weeks - I'm just numbering my updates as I go…this is really more like a week and a half. Bear with me!

Saturday: For real finalized the MUA contract via email. No real changes, just confirmed details, etc. We're good to go!

Sunday: Found out through the generosity of a surprise gift from my future MIL that we had the wrong address on our registry account - oops! Fixed that right away. {I am currently getting the BEST nights sleep on our new pillows!!}

Monday: Got a manicure with my sister in a feeble attempt to start getting my fingers wedding ready. (Barely wedding related- but it counts!)

Tuesday: Got the receipt for our rings in the mail.  Did a happy dance.

Wednesday: Thanks to a tip from a friend I ordered earrings for our rehearsal dinner from Kate Spade! They had a secret sale - wedding edition! Now let me tell you, that is a dangerous thing. I managed to behave - and only ordered the one pair of earrings. Originally 58- I got them for 19!! {Sorry the picture is small, they are no longer available! :( I will get a picture of me wearing them at some pt}

Saturday - Wednesday: Extensive research and email conversations with the woman who is making my custom bridesmaids earrings!!! I am so so excited to talk more about this later- but since they are going to be gifted to the ladies on our wedding day it will have to wait! :)  They were finalized and ordered on Wednesday - now all I have to do is wait for them to be ready!  

Friday: After dinner with my parents we spent about an hour online researching JOPs. What a headache. If anyone out there has any recommendations - PLEASE send them my way!!!!  The most important part of the wedding is the part where we actually get married (duh!) and that has got to be all about us. Not about anyone's ideas of us or what a wedding should be..and I struggle with the idea of handing that huge piece of the day over to someone I barely know. Anyway...we found a few we're looking into. Fingers crossed!

Sunday: My roommate from college came to visit...so bridesmaids dress 5/7 was delivered! (ish...it's currently still living in Guilford for safe keeping) We also had the most stressful and productive day looking at groomsmen suits! Longgggg story short - we purchased 10 slim fit navy blue suits from Jos. A. Bank!! And let me tell you, that is going to be one good looking group of men on 8/8!  The details of that will be a Wise Guys story for another day. 

I originally started this post by writing that it had been a pretty quiet week as far as wedding planning was concerned- but I guess that's not entirely true! This is why I love this series - wedding planning is a million little tiny things that come together to create a beautiful day, and this allows me to reflect on all of it!

How has your week been??

Wise Guys: His wedding band {part 1 - the search}

I think it's fairly safe to say that most girls have spent some time thinking about their future engagement ring, and potentially their wedding band.  However, guys are not the same way.  Ant is not a jewelry guy.  He does not wear a ring or a chain or any other type of jewelry.  SO this wedding band will be his first venture into the world of bling.  When we started shopping for our wedding bands, we were starting at zero.  Which is why this post is going to take place in more than 1 part…it was quite the project.

We first had Ant try on the rings of a few married men in our lives…specifically his friend Jay's, and my dad's.  Jay had his band custom made, and it is beautiful - but too wide and too blingy for Ant. He put it on and I started to giggle.  When he tried my dad's very traditional gold band on - that didn't seem quite right either.  It was too thin and seemed too simple. Again - I had this uncontrollable urge to giggle while he was wearing it - I'm not used to his hand with a ring on it!  It was horribly immature and silly, but that's the way it goes.

These are NOT identical to Jay's and my father's…but give you the general idea.

We decided the best way to start was to just go try some on.  We went shopping for the first time with his mom, and I felt a little better when she giggled in a very similar fashion the first time he tried one on there:) …the poor guy.  At that store we were able to narrow down a few things: he needs a ring of "medium" width (that being a very unofficial, relative term)…to us that meant about 6mm.  Anything wider looked too big on his hand and anything smaller seemed too thin.  He liked rings that had an edge of some sort on it, without being too crazy of a design.  Dark metals did not look right, so we played with yellow gold and white gold/silver/chrome.  Below are a few of the styles he tried...

We didn't love any of them - but at least we got the ball rolling!  Ignore the craziness going on on my hand, the search for my band in an entirely different story.

We took a few weeks off from ring shopping.  When we decided to start again, we went to the store where Ant got my engagement ring.  The woman there was wonderful and helped us try on a number of other rings.  We were getting so much closer! We were able to narrow down a few more things: NOT yellow gold, and no diamonds (although Ant was still considering the idea of black diamonds - we decided no traditional diamonds).

This ring below was the closest to liking one we had gotten!  He liked the size and design in the middle - it was interesting but not too much.

On our way home from lunch with friends later that weekend, we stopped at yet another store.  Again - by now we had a much better idea of what we were looking for…so we were able to be very efficient.  Ant tried on these two rings - and decided that he liked the simple white gold with the lightly brushed inside and beveled outside more than the design of the one above.  He was definitely back to a "simple is better" mindset…but we weren't in any rush to buy so we took some pictures and banked the style as a front runner.

Since I'm sure you are now on the edge of your seat, I'm going to pause here.  If you are already married - did you find that ring shopping for your then fiancé/now husband was difficult?  Or was he easy to shop for?  Ant is not a super picky guy - so I think we were surprised by how difficult it was to actually find something we liked!!

Wise Guys: Wedding planning "the guy stuff"

Okay - so I've decided to add another mini series.  This one is all about HIM.  We are starting to get to the point in the process where there are lots of specific decisions to make that involve my groom to be - wedding bands, groomsmen suits…hotels for his bridal party the night of the rehearsal…and so on.  My intention is to take all wedding planning posts that are "groom specific" and organize them here.

So…my Groom.  The wedding we are doing so much planning for is just a day - but at the end of that day I have a marriage, and the rest of my life with him.  And isn't HE a cutie??

I've been really lucky in that Ant has been the perfect amount of involved in the wedding planning process thus far.  He let's me make decisions that are important to me - and if I want his opinion on something, no matter how big or small, he is happy to give me one!  I think he is actually surprised by how much he get into certain aspects of the planning too {wedding cake being the first thing that comes to mind!}…but that's why he's the best.  

For example: I explained my idea behind this series of posts to him and asked him to help me come up with a title.  He called me back 5 minutes later and said: "Wise guys!! a Groom's guide to wedding planning"  So there ya go.  In a nutshell.  Now, not to confuse matters - it is about him, but from my perspective.  So if you want your groom to know the kind of things he's up against - this is the spot!

I have my own list of topics I plan on covering here - but let me know if there are any guy specific topics you think I should talk about!  We're pretty much living it all :)

The 6 month sprint: Week 3

Okay, so I totally had another post planned for tonight, but I'm trying to keep this blog as real time as I can for ya!  and I just got off the phone feeling crazy productive tonight…so I couldn't pass up the chance to give you another 6 month sprint update!!

Wednesday: I went to Rhody to spend the afternoon with my MOH!  Which turned into a crazy productive afternoon:  one of my best friends and bridesmaids Brittni is getting married in October, and Melissa and I are both bridesmaids!  We took advantage of the fact that we were all in RI together and went to get fitted for her bridesmaids dresses.  It also allowed me to drop off the 168 mason jars I had been driving around with.  Brit is using them in her wedding, and I had been collecting them from every local Target for her!  While I was with them, I also delivered Melissa's bridesmaids dress! (and made her model a million different earrings for me)….(that makes 4/7, if you're still keeping track).  Brittni's wasn't the right size, so I took it home with me!  While I was in Rhody, Ant and I got an email from Mallove's with a quote for the rings we had looked at last week.

Thursday:  I called the White Dress by the Shore to find out about getting Brittni's dress exchanged.  They were wonderful and said they would call Donna Morgan and find out what we could do!  I also called back the original jewelry store we had shopped at to get the quote from them for a different set of rings we had initially liked.  We were pretty sure we weren't interested in the initial pair…but I thought it would be nice to have some comparison with pricing.  Armed with that information - Ant and I made plans to go back to Mallove's while we were in the area having dinner with my parents.  Ant fell in love all over again with his ring….and we met the owner who was amazing and made me feel confident about making the decision to order our rings.  AFTER dinner we went to the mall and looked at dress shirts to make a decision on a color for the groomsmen.  With my store closing, I can get a pretty amazing deal on dress shirts - so we wanted to get that decision taken care of.  We left with a pretty good idea of what we want!  When we got home, I sent the last email confirming my wedding present for Ant. #hethinksheknowswhatitis #hehasnoidea

Friday:  I got a message from the White Dress by the Shore saying it would be no problem to exchange the dress, so I drove over after work and dropped it off so they can get the new size in!  While I was there, I did some earring research (so much amazing sparkle!!!).  Ant sent out a message to his groomsmen to get sizing info for shirts, and we sent out our first of 3 or 4 reminder blasts to friends and family about reserving their rooms for the night of the wedding!  We want to make sure that everyone who wants one, gets it at a good price!  We then paid our piece of the last photographer payment!  I emailed Jen to confirm that we wanted to order the rings (YAYYY!!! insert major bride-to-be shriek of excitement here) - andddddd after making 3 or 4 phone calls and about 5 internet searches - I talked to my new BFF Donna at Foxwoods and booked the room the groomsmen will be staying at the night before the wedding!

PHEW.  I don't know about you, but I'm tired just re-writing that.  I'm going to go pour a glass of wine and eat some M&Ms…..and work on another fun part of my March list!

Tomorrow or Sunday I'll go back to my initial post I had planned for tonight - we'll talk about the boy for a minute! :)  In the meantime - how are you celebrating St. Patricks Day weekend?  Since this girl is working - I'd love to live vicariously through you!!!

Great Gatsby Shoot - The White Dress in Color

In case I hadn't sold you on how amazing our wedding location is in this post…this blog post by Carla Ten Eyck should help push you over the edge.  PLEASE follow the link to see all of the gorgeous images - but I posted a few of my favorites below.  These highlight just how beautiful the building is, and how intricate and detailed the gorgeous carved walls are.  I mean, seriously.  Seeing this made me so excited all over again, just thinking that in less than five months it is going to be us celebrating such a special day, with this breathtaking backdrop.

Stunning, right??  I'm telling you - follow the link to see the entire post.  You won't regret it!

The 6 month sprint: Week 2

Last week's wedding planning, in a nutshell.

Saturday: Sent my dad home with a VERY important package - my sister's bridesmaids dresses!  That makes 2/7 safely delivered.

Sunday: Had an amazingggg afternoon with one of my bridesmaids and her boyfriend - wine tasting on a Sunday afternoon is never bad.  Handed off my third bridesmaids dress! (Making 3/7 safely delivered, if you're keeping track).  On our way home from lunch we stopped and tried on some more wedding bands.  Had zero luck with me, but started narrowing things down a little bit for Ant.  Then ran over to the mall and were THOSE people - who come in a half hour before you close.  Good news, Men's Warehouse was 50% off everything, and we were able to find a nice navy blue suit at a great price!  We committed to nothing - I want the best man to see it first, but gave him our info so he could lock in the price for us.  He even emailed us after saying he'd honor that price for any shirts/ties/etc we end up getting there, if we decide to.

Tuesday: Ordered a couple very important gifts I've been meaning to get!

Wednesday: Had lunch with my dad - which led to Ant having a complete change of heart as far as the menu for our rehearsal dinner…a topic for another day!  Then went to Mystic Market East for our cake tasting!!!  Felicia helped us narrow things down as far as design is concerned…..and then came the best part!  She brought out a plate of cake and a PLATE of frosting, so we could mix and match to decide what we liked best.  Let me tell you, this girl can eat cake.  Long story short - our wedding cake is designed and ordered and good to go. Then on a total whim we decided to go to one more store on our way home to look at wedding bands.  We went just down the street to Mallove's Jewelers, and forgot until we were pulling up that our DOC works there!  It was super fun to get to see her and catch up a bit - and try on a few more rings!  Ant found a ring he was excited to put on (!!!) - and we're getting a quote on a custom one for me that is absolutely beautiful!

In between, I have probably committed about 30 minutes a day (at least) while watching TV, etc to browsing Etsy/Google/Pinterest/any other wedding related page I can find for ideas on place cards, earrings, and table numbers.  None of these things are rocket science - trust me I know, but nothing seems to be jumping out at me!  and so I browse.

...and it's already Monday again!!!  Do you have any big plans for this week??

The March List: 5 months to go!

Hello March!  I am keeping the list pretty short and sweet…I'm also keeping this post pretty short and sweet.  Here is what I hope to accomplish this month from a planning perspective.  You can count the number of months left on ONE HAND!  That makes me one very excited bride to be.

The March List:
First: the things that are rolling over..

-Invitations - get wording from Jen.  Order full sample.

-Call Kathy at Branford House to update her with timeline info

-Follow up on wedding gift idea - confirm if I need a new one or not.  If not - book!

-Get the official word from the Groton Town Hall.

Now: the new things on the list for this month…
-Taste & order wedding cake
-Pay our portion of the photographer balance

-Send "the6monthsprint" mail.  I know what this means, that's what matters.

-Get my favorite best man/groom duo inside a Men's Warehouse at the same time.

-Start a conversation, either via email or coffee with Pat about ceremony music
-Decide on table "numbers" theme
-Mock up current place card idea. -**enlist help of way more artistic family for this.
-Order Ant's wedding band (???) -This one might be wishful thinking, but we're pretty excited about one we found the other day!  So we'll see.

I seem to be doing a decent job of cutting my new items in half each month!  My goal is to leave no more than 3 on the table by the time April rolls around.  What do you have planned for March?

(I almost never post without pictures, I know.  But I'm saving my shots from this week for my post this weekend.  It's been another busy week in the 6 month sprint!)

…okay, I lied.  I can't post without any pictures…so here are a couple shots my sister has taken this week, while her and my mom are being safari kids in South Africa.  Yes, South Africa.  I am insanely jealous.  The first is from one of the daily game drives they went on - and the second is their "hut sweet hut" where they are living for the week.  SO. Jealous.

I love you like a fat kid love cake

Okay - so this wedding planning thing can have its moments of stress, that can very easily get the best of you if you let it.  Which is why you CAN'T let it!!  You only get to do this stuff once - and it is SO MUCH FUN.  Please please please don't ever forget that.  For example: today, Ant and I get to go CAKE TASTING.  Yes, that's official wedding business.  What is more fun than that??

We were told to bring some pictures of things we liked - there are a few I can't show you yet…but for inspiration I hit up Style Me Pretty - who conveniently has a way to filter pictures by category, one of which is cakes.  SO! I went through the first 300 images, and these are the ones that stood out to me for one reason or another - that I will be showing Felicia to give her a sense of what we like.  There are definitely some themes you might pick up on.  I prefer texture to fondant - love hints of pink and gold…and definitely prefer short and cute!  The towering wedding cake is just not for us - I love too many different desserts for that!  

Jonathan Connolly via Style Me Pretty

Jillian Mitchell via SMP

Emily Delamater via SMP

Rachel Schirano via SMP

Kimberly Kay via SMP

Kristyn Harder via SMP

Debra Eby via SMP

Chris Isham via SMP

Lauren Kinsey via SMP

Ruth Eileen via SMP

What do you think of my choices?  What would you ideal wedding cake look like?  If you have a picture of yours, please send it along!  I'm looking for all the inspiration I can get :)

The 6 month sprint: Week 1

My idea behind these posts about the 6 month sprint is to give you a peek into the ever exciting "day in the life" of this bride to be.  Everyone plans and organizes their time a little differently - so everyone's story is going to be very different when it comes to how they planned their wedding - but here's a bit of mine.  With my rotating retail schedule, it becomes all about making the most of free bits of time as I get it.  Some weeks, I do very little wedding planning.  Other weeks - I feel like every free minute I'm trying to cram something in!  This week was one of the latter.

Monday: In email communication about contract details, my MUA Erin mentions that we should schedule my trial for March.  When discussing days that might work, we discover that we both have this Friday off. We decide to plan my trial for 2:45pm.  Why wait until March??

Tuesday: I have an 11:30am appointment to pick up my wedding lingerie at Beneath the Gown.  It fits, its perfect…I take home the prettiest things in a pretty box with a bow.  I also take advantage of my morning off to send out emails to my DJ and caterer, and the Mystic Marriott, where we have our room block.

Wednesday: I email the videographer we've been in contact with and move forward with setting up a date to meet.  I order a wedding related gift to myself I've been meaning to get.  (never forget to treat yourself!) I also finally stop stalling, and call the White Dress by the shore - and tell them I'll be in the next AM to pick up the bridesmaids dresses!

Thursday: I book our hotel room for our wedding night!  I go to Clinton as soon as TWD opens at 12:00 and pick up 7 beautiful dresses, which are currently hanging in Ant's half of our closet.

Friday:  Makeup trial with Erin at 2:45!  By 4pm I have  the most beautiful long lashes and a finalized contract!  I then rush to meet Ant before the jewelers closes so we can look at wedding bands at the place where he bought my ring.  We end up finding a ring that I really really love!  But we are running late for dinner reservations so we take the info and run.

Phew.  That's the week in a nutshell.  Productive eh?

I know March's list is due about now, but I'm taking a break from lists to talk about cakes next!  Cuz this girl loves her cake.