The 6 month sprint: Week 5

Picking up where we left off…I've been SUPER busy with work and wedding things…so we're back tracking quite a few days for this 6 month sprint update!!  Hence putting some dates in so you can follow what the heck I'm talking about :)

Wednesday March 26:  Got a confirmation email  from TWD for my 4 fitting dates! {first fitting is 5/8, less than a month!!}  Also, did some bridesmaids hair brainstorming with roomie.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!

Thursday: Emailed the Marriott to confirm an issue with the rooms.  Got an email back the next AM that it was all set!  Yay for non-problems.  Also took an inventory of who has reserved rooms in the block so we can start sending out friendly "8/8 is surprisingly soon - please book!" reminders :)

Sunday:  Did some MAJOR bridesmaid shoe research so I can send out suggestions to the girls.  Got an email that my bridesmaids earrings were ready!!!! {can't possibly put enough !!! to explain my excitement.  I am in love.}  Went on minted.com and ordered the sample of our invite in custom colors so we can start to get the ball rolling on getting invitations out!

Monday: Booked hotels for our first wedding of the summer - yay for a full weekend in Newport!  Finally stopped whining and starting making moves in the JP department - sent an email to one potential person.

Tuesday: Heard back from the JP that he isn't available for our wedding date.  Whined a bit more…then moved on and started searching again.  Got a text from Jen on my way to work that my wedding band came in!!!!  Now we just have to wait for Ants!

Wednesday April 2:  Ant and I had the day off together so we became the most productive people ever.   {roughly} Spent some time online researching and choosing B&W pictures - and ordered prints.  Went shopping and bought frames/numbers/so much gold paint….then came home and started testing out our table number idea.  Did a 95% complete mockup.  Learned that spray painting in the house is not the smartest life choice.  Ran into another scheduling conflict {the joys of two different rotating schedules} and confirmed a new date to meet with the videographer.  Met Ant's mom for dinner and MOTG dress shopping!  Hit every store in the West Farms mall - with varying levels of success.  Came home to a pin from Jen of my ring - Pinterest is great for brainstorming but even more fun as you start to create a board that's all your real wedding things!  Perfect way to see it all come together.

There are less than four months now - and I probably say this all of the time, but I could not be more excited!!!  My monthly lists have done a wonderful job of keeping me sane and on track and we have done a great job of keeping the wedding planning process FUN :)  If it isn't fun, whats the point??

Wise Guys: His Wedding Band {Part 2- WE LOVE LASHBROOK}

Happy Monday!  For those of you who might be having a case of the Mondays - I thought I'd brighten your day with some man-bling.  If you didn't read Part 1 of our great ring search - you should!  

As you know - we were finding ring shopping to be wayyy harder for my fiancé than we expected.  After landing on a "simple is better" mindset - we decided we should look at a few more places before making a decision.  One day while we were in Mystic, we decided to stop in Mallove's - where our DOC Jen works!  It was fun to get to work with her and check out the different rings they had available.  One of the brand thats immediately caught our attention was Lashbrook.  While we were looking at them Jen explained that they do 100% customizable rings - with literally endless possibilities!!  There was one that almost immediately jumped out at Ant {you'll have to wait until part 3 for that!} but I thought their designs were so unique and interesting I wanted to share them all with you!!!  For any couple that is having trouble deciding what style works for your guys…this is the place to go.  You can take any element from any of their designs, and mix and match!  They can also do custom styles - one guy had his wife's fingerprint put on the inside of his ring…another guy got a custom puzzle cut into his!  Below are a few {20ish} that show you the range available.

For your more rugged/outdoorsy man - they have these options: {wood, antlers, camo & tire tracks}

I love the contrast in some of these mixed metals:

Darker colors were not right for Ant - but I think these dark styles look so bold and sleek:

Does your guys want bling?  Lashbrook's got it!  Here are a couple of styles with both black and traditional diamonds.

Here are a few more styles I really liked.  These are probably some of my favorites - they fall into the category of "simple is better" while still having some interesting design to them.  

Now comes the cool custom stuff!  This one you could put any coordinates you wanted on:  maybe where you first met, or where you got married - or any other special spot!

These last four I took off of their Facebook page.  They always post new custom designs they've made, and again…HOW COOL???  Diamonds and wood and dark metal - okay!  I legitimately think it would be impossible to not find one here that would work for your fiancé.

 

That last one was made with pieces of rock a guy saved from all of the different climbs he had been on!  Lashbrook was able to take pieces from each rock and create this beautiful unique titanium ring with them!!! Are you sold yet? :)  We were!  I'll get into more details about the style that Ant ultimately fell in love with on my next Wise Guys post!

The April List: 4 months to go!

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

-Invitations - get wording from Jen. If we like the coloring of the sample when it comes in - ORDER IT.

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

-Mock up current place card idea. -**enlist help of way more artistic family for this.  Ally is overdue for a visit anyway…so I'll have to bribe her over to help me with wine :)

Now: the new things on the list for this month…

-Walk through BH with Jen - finalize timeline stuff, discuss room layout, etc.

-Coffee or BH visit with Pat - discuss ceremony music & other song ideas.
-Contact caterer with finalized timeline stuff.  Make a decision about chicken.  Stop talking about chicken, finally:)
-Mock up at least 1 table # - decide if we like the idea or not.
-Practice seal - decide if we need to order new color or not
-Email BMs about shoes and hair
-Email Amy about setting up a date for hair trial & timeline of the day
-Buy Ant's shoes/belt
-Pick ties for Ant & groomsmen - order 1 to test
-Send updated timeline stuff to Rachel {yes, I'm going to continue to call it "stuff"}
-Send AAC check, FINALLY. Yikes.
-Meet with videographer…book?
-Pay $xxx.xx of our Honeymoon balance


Alright…I'm going to stop there.  I could keep going - but I'm trying to keep the lists reasonable. and detailed. and it's hard to follow my own rules sometimes.

What are you trying to accomplish this month??  Hopefully, in between all of these wedding things it will be warm enough that we can start taking real advantage of our neighborhood.  Ant and I took a walk the other day in our 600 acre backyard, and while it was beautiful, it was still a bitttttt too cold…so we had to cut it shorter than I would have liked!