Three... Two... One...

I will not throw up.

I will not throw up.

I will not throw up.

Three days.

I will not throw up....

The Little Touches

It occurred to me last night that while there are a lot of things I'm doing for my wedding that have very special meaning to me/us, most people probably don't know about them.  So here they are, just in case anyone was curious. :)

1.  We took our save-the-date photos in Five Points South, a small, historic, kind of hipster area of Birmingham where we had our first date.  Behind the tree to the right of my shoulder is the restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill, where we met.

This picture really can't be on my blog enough.

2.  On the front page of our wedding programs is a quote by Eric Dillard: "Then we sat on the edge of the world, with our feet dangling, and marveled that we had found each other."  I found this quote in a book at Starbucks while getting coffee to warm us up after our *freezing* save-the-date photoshoot.  (We were taking pictures on Saturday; on the following Sunday night, Alabama was covered in an ice storm that trapped us in the house for two days.  And I was in a knee-length dress.)  I absolutely had to have the book, titled 2: How Will You Create Something Beautiful Together?, because of that quote, and it is currently at home amongst the wedding planning.

3.  Our wedding favors are mini chocolate-chip cookies (Famous Amos cookies, to be exact).  One of the first things Bobby noticed about my Match.com profile was my reference to "finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe", and his first email stated that he knew that recipe, and that his mother had it.

4.  My 17-year-old sister is doing a reading during the ceremony of selected verses from Psalm 30.  This particular chapter of Psalm is incredibly meaningful to me because of the last couple verses:

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

These verses are so important to me because of the month or so directly preceding Bobby's entrance into my life.  A long journey shortly told, I gave my decisions and path for my life over to God after floundering in the dark for quite a while, and He answered that prayer with a tall, dark, and handsome.  The first word of the verse 12 is "that", implying that God answered my prayer so that I can sing to Him.  I am often overwhelmed with gratitude for not only answered prayers, but also the love that the Creator of the universe has for me, to shower me with such blessings simply because He loves me.

5.  For the small superstitious part of me, I do have all my "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."  My something new is a dress (duh); my something blue is the light blue beads on my shoes.

My something old is an almost-100-year-old cameo ring from my great-grandmother.  After she died, someone broke into her house and stole the majority of the vast jewelry collection she had acquired; most of it was not monetarily valuable, like precious stones or metals, but was obviously valuable to us.  What we ended up with was a sandwich baggie full of jewelry, and my grandmother gave me the cameo ring.  My something borrowed is handkerchief from the same grandmother that she carried to each of her sons' weddings.

6.  I hand-made the invitations and addressed them in my scrolling, calligraphy-esque handwriting.  Every single one of them.  Just so you all know.

7.  Our cakes are from Edgar's Bakery, *the* bakery in Birmingham in my humble opinion.  The wedding cake will be strawberry, much to the shock of most.  On one of Bobby and my first dates, we went to Edgar's, my first time, and got strawberry cupcakes that we ate and I took the rest home to my family.  I always associate Edgar's with Bobby now.

8.  The night of our wedding rehearsal will be August 12th.  On August 11th, 2010, Bobby met my parents for the first time, and that night I told him I loved him; on August 12th, 2010, I met Bobby's parents for the first time, a few days after he had told his brother and sister to be nice to their "future sister-in-law".

9.  The father-daughter dance song, "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor, is my dad and my song that he has sung to me for as long as I can remember.

10.  The quote on the back of the wedding program is a favorite of the Best Friend Since Preschool.  Here's lookin' and you, kid. :)

And in the end

The love you take

Is equal to

The love you make

-The Beatles

I believe that's all the nit-picky somethings for now.  If I remember more, expect updates.

To Happen or Not to Happen

I have been very good about not being a bridezilla.  However.  This is the random-thought list of things I'd like to happen or not happen on my wedding day:

No one trips while walking down the aisle.  My 12 year old sister is very concerned over this, and now I am too.

I look as pretty as every. single. stinkin'. bride. on Arden, our photographer's, blog.  I haven't discerned yet whether every bride looks ravishing on their wedding day, if it's just Arden's crazy photography skills, or excellent hair and makeup people, but as long as it's mostly the first or second reason, I'm solid.

Bobby does not smush cake in my face.

The ceremony music goes off without a hitch.

The pre-ceremony guest seating music is as impressive as I think it will be.  I'm using eight tracks from the Royal Wedding album, and they are particularly... royal.  Combine that with the tall ceiling and stain-glass windows, and I'm thinking it's a homerun.

The cake shows up perfect, the food tastes lovely, the chairs and tables are all set up, and the eating part of the reception goes as smoothly as planned.

Minus the blue, with square tiers, and you get the idea.

 I somehow lose all my self-consciousness about my smile or at least do not think about it too much while taking pictures.  The closer we get to the wedding, the more I think about it and the more I hope that I'll be happy with my pictures despite my life-long self-esteem issues with such.

Bobby and I get through our vows without bursting into tears or laughter.

I do not pass out from nerves in the foyer.

Everyone likes my reception music as much as I do.  I've spent more time on that than almost anything except my attire, and I really hope people dance and love it.

I actually get sleep the night before.

Bobby is not stressed and is the happy, Joe Cool I remember before we started this madness and get to see every once in a while.

My dad makes it through the day without needing an IV to replace fluids lost by tears.

Someone besides my 17-year-old sister catches the bouquet.

There is photographic evidence of my 12-year-old sister sticking her tongue out like Gene Simmons.  Seriously, her school principal sticks his tongue out at her to get her to do the same.

There are bridal shower pictures, and then there are bridal shower pictures.

Everyone loves my scrapbook. (Which, they should.)

My family... behaves themselves, and remembers that it is my wedding.

My cousin and step-sister, who will both be eight months pregnant, do not go into labor.  Lord, if I may have one medically-related prayer on this day, let it be this one.

No one spikes the punch.

My soon-to-be sister-in-law isn't frightened away by all the crazy women that will swarm her.

Last but not least, if any bad thing happens, I am unaware of it until after returning safely from the honeymoon.

Save-the-Date Postcards

I'm mainly doing this for a lovely friend of mine, but I also think it'd be handy for anyone else who finds my do-it-yourself-ing worthy.

Save-the-Date Postcard Instructions

You will need:

-Printed 4X6 pictures, however many save-the-dates you plan on sending out plus 3 or 4 extra (for mistakes).  Usually about 10-20 cents per picture, depending on where you have them printed or if you print them at home.

-White or light colored card stock- Estimate three save-the-dates per page, but usually cardstock can be purchased in packages of 250 pages.  Usually about $10.

-Glue dots, at least one box, maybe two.  I can't emphasize these enough for all types of art projects.  I get mine at Hobby Lobby, but you can probably get them at Michael's as well. $4-8.

-Postcard stamp.  Also found at Hobby Lobby. $12.

-Stamp ink pad.  Of course, also at Hobby Lobby; just make sure you get one as big as the postcard stamp. $10.

-Paper trimmer.  Hobby Lobby, again. $7.  You can use scissors for this process, but it'll take literally three times the amount of time versus using paper trimmer.  This little baby is also invaluable if you have any other paper projects you're doing yourself (invitations, reply-cards, scrapbook, matting pictures, etc.)

-Postage.   Postcard stamp postage is much cheaper than regular postage at $.29.  Oh, but that's just $.15 difference you say; call me back when you've bought $.44 postage for all your save-the-dates, invitations, and reply cards.  If you only invited 50 households, that is only saving $7.50 in postage with use of postcards, but don't forget about envelope cost as well.

Step One: Dot the picture.

You'll want to put one glue dot at each corner and the middle of the picture.  Press the appropriate spot of the picture onto the glue dot on the strip, not vice versa.  If you haven't used glue dots before, this may take some getting used to before you can pull the glue dot off the strip without it bunching up or folding over.  Repeat until all corner and center is dotted.

Step Two: Attach dotted picture to cardstock

Lay a piece of card stock down landscape orientation (long side on top and bottom).  Carefully place dotted picture on upper left-hand corner, lining up with both top and side of card stock.  The better you are about lining the picture up with the edge of the paper, the less cutting you will have to do and the less time it will take.  Repeat Step One for another picture; attach the next picture lined up against the left side of the card stock and under the already stuck picture.  Turn the card stock to portrait orientation (short side top and bottom) and place dotted picture on upper left-hand corner, lining up with both top and side of card stock again.  Your card stock page should now look like this:

Side note:  I suggest attaching the pictures to the card stock because it makes them sturdier; since they'll be used as postcards and will be traveling through the postal system without the aid of an envelope, this ensures your precious time and money won't be bent or eaten by some machine.

Step Three: Cut out save-the-date.

Line up the right side of the two joined photos in the paper trimmer and slice.   Then line up and slice the bottom of the solitary photo.  Then the side of the solitary photo, then the final bottom of the two joined photos.  (This was the most efficient way I found to cut them.)

Step Four: Stamp postcard print onto card stock.

Press postcard stamp onto ink pad.  Then press stamp onto card stock side of save-the-date.  Make sure you press firmly and evenly; you may want to practice this on spare card stock to make sure you get the feel down properly.  Also, make sure you're stamping right-side up with the right-side up of the picture; aka, don't turn the picture side over to find the "Postcard" label at the bottom and upside down.

Step Five: Address, attach postage, send into the world!

I just wrote "Hope to see you there!" or "Save the date!" and signed our names in the message section.  Address, stamp, and wait for the phone calls.

Hooray!  Now you have great save-the-dates, everyone sticks them on their fridge and calls you because of how cute and creative they are.  For 50 households, the whole kit and kaboodle is $60.  Light comparison shopping lists save-the-date magnets as $2 each, cards at $1.29 each, and postcards at $1.39 each, and that's not including postage.  Besides, I also got to use *this* picture, taken by the maid of honor, at no cost to me.

Happy Crafting!

AWP: Lessons #16-19

Lesson #16: I have a life outside of wedding planning

Seems logical enough, but I would do well to remember it.  Work right now (and by right now, I mean for the last two months) is incredibly slow, so I spend a good portion of my days on the computer playing around with wedding such.  I go home in the evening and think "Okay, what wedding task can I work on right now?"  It makes me incredibly anxious to always feel like I should be doing something, and it's a familiar feeling I used to get at the end of a semester.  I could never give myself a break from studying until after the last final was turned in- surely, there was something more I could cram into my head, more editing to do on that paper, more practice in counseling skills to do.  At the same time right now, though, I am remodeling the walls of the bathroom and, well, living.  You know, crazy stuff, like grocery shopping, cleaning the bathroom, working out, sleeping, all of which has fallen by the wayside due to WEDDING PLANNING.  I'm having to talk myself out of this feeling of constant pressure in order to manage my life and my house, and it's incredibly difficult at times.

Lesson #17: RSVP cards are fantastic

I love getting mail that's not bills, credit card offers, or addressed to people who aren't me.  Typically ALL the mail at our house is for Bobby, and boy does he get a lot of mail.  For the last two weeks though, little RSVP cards are waiting for me almost every afternoon, and I just plain love them.  It's so exciting to see that tiny off-white envelope and run inside to open and see who it's from.  They are a good reminder that, yes, I have actually accomplished things so far and I did actually finish some big thing in wedding planning.  Which brings me to my next lesson...

Lesson #18: "Will you forget the head-slicing thing?!"

If you grew up a child of the 1990's, you probably remember this:

If you weren't a child of the 1990's but had more Greek literature than I did, you probably still remember the monster Hydra, the beast who grew three heads for every one that was cut off.  That's how I feel about wedding planning this week.  I mentioned this in a previous blog about how things that should theoretically be simple are not, but now we've taken it a step further into "Why is this continuing to get more complicated as we go along?"

Let's use ordering flowers as an example.  My thought was, "Okay, walk into Whole Foods, I need this many this and that many that, here's a check, we'll pick them up on said date."  This is an excerpt from the email I received from the lovely Ally, head of floral in the Mountain Brook Whole Foods:

My deep blue single stem hydrangea comes in an assortment box with blue, lavender and purple.  The cost each box of 13 count hydrangea stems would be $81.78.  The price is price per case minus a case discount of 10% (90.87-9.09) for buying the whole case.  The problem is these hydrangeas would be an assortment of blue/lavender/purple.

I have not heard back from my wholesaler of flowers in Atlanta as of yet.  They offer the blue hydrangea “masja purple” retail is $8.69 a stem,  minimum of 40 stems, no case discount.. total of $343.60.  I will not know for certain on the hydrangeas until next Monday as my sales person at our wholesaler is unavailable right now but it is on their availability listings they send me.

I am well aware that the majority of this problem is my inexperience in anything to do with flower ordering.  But holy cow, how unaware of the world around me I feel as I try to knock things out only to make them more complicated.   Every so often there will be a break in the clouds and I will accomplish something (insert fanfare) but it is the planning equivalent of driving from Birmingham to Atlanta with a stop at Starbucks, stop for gas, stop for potty break at the state line, hit traffic on I-285, take a phone call from my mom, arrive at location, and turn around and go pick up food and then back to place of sleeping.  However, I will continue to attempt to stab this thing through the heart.

Lesson #19: I will never appreciate four walls and a bed the way I'll appreciate the one in Beach Cottage #4

I always knew I'd be excited about the honeymoon- the first week with my new husband, enjoying each other's company, being on vacation.  The reasons that I'm now excited, however, have taken me completely by surprise:

1.  We. will. be. alone.  Bobby lives in Troy; I live in Birmingham with a roommate.  We are never alone unless I visit him in Troy, which is usually once a month or less, and when I'm there, we only get about 4-5 hours a night together because he's working during the day.  I cannot wait to sleep, eat, watch movies in the cottage, and sit on the beach alone with Bobby.

2.  I can haz the sleep.  That pretty much sums it up.

3.  We will be in a private cottage and will be alone and isolated in order to, well, "be married."  That's detailed enough.

4.  We have one thing planned for the week, and that is to play with the baby tigers at the Gulf Shores Zoo.  It was completely intentional that we have no obligations other than arriving at the cottage, for reasons listed above.

I mean, come on, would *you* want to leave?

Seaside, Florida

Twenty-nine days.  Twenty-nine days.