Once. Twice. Three Times a Lady.

I'd like to take a minute [just sit right there-- lame 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' reference] to talk about in-laws. 

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While you could have an experience of hate [roll film on Monster-In-Law], mine thankfully has been quite the opposite of that. I want to brag on my future mother-in-law. [Family-in-law, really. They're all pretty fantastic!] 

She has helped out so much with wedding planning. She has come along-- willingly!-- to so many appointments. Choosing the venue: She was there. Florist appointment? She recommended the florist! Cake tastings, she helped pick out flavors. The one part of wedding planning she wasn't there for was picking out my dress. As you all know, my dress hunt didn't go quite as planned. I had wanted my mom, my sister, my best friend, and of course, my future mother-in-law. I quickly rushed over with the dress right after we bought it, but still. It wasn't how I had planned.

I talk to her pretty frequently. Mostly about wedding stuff, but also occasionally about our common thread--the man. We're even Facebook friends! [Yeah, she's hip. She's with it!] The day I realized her side note on Facebook said she was a mother to three super boys and one future daughter-in-law [Hey! That's me!], I was beaming. I was so excited to see that. I knew I was a "future daughter-in-law" but I guess it didn't hit me til I saw it in writing.

We have gotten to do a lot of wedding stuff together, and I'm so glad that I've gotten the chance to hang out with her. Most FMILs aren't as great as mine, but I got lucky. She even stuck through the crazy registry lady at one of the infamous registry stores! Great lady? I think so.

Do you get along with your FMIL? Has it always been that way?

100 Days of Planning...

It's like 500 Days of Summer only a whole lot less cute.

Instead, it's painstakingly, horrifically, excruciatingly... close to being done!

That's right, I said it. We are [and really, I mean I am] almost done with plans for the wedding. My wedding to-do list is slowly being filled with strike-through and is quickly starting to look more accomplished. Much less overwhelming than it was about two weeks ago. It's amazing-- reading back through my blog, even just this month-- to see how much has gotten done. Flowers, cake, dresses, groomsmen attire, etc. Things are really starting to come to fruition. And a lot of that has been because of the amazing help I've had with my family and my future-in-laws.

We're at a mere 100 days from our Texas nuptials and I couldn't be more excited. The planning is coming to fruition. I still have a long time to go. One hundred days is still pretty long, but it's still a lot closer than we were when we got engaged. I am so ready to be married to the Mister. Sadly, a lot of wedding planning has happened without his input due to his commitments in the Navy. He's missed out on a lot of questions, planning, thoughts, and [to his delight, I'm sure] ridiculous freak-outs about crazy things!

Within those almost-two-digit-days, there's still a list of things to do; it's just considerably smaller now. I throw myself a little party every time I strike-through another item on my Word document "Wedding To-Do List".

How is your planning coming along? Does anyone else get really excited to knock out important wedding items?

Oh, the Joys...

If there were one reason I would NOT want to get married so young, it's college.

I'll be finishing my degree three weeks after the wedding, don't you worry. The degree will come to me. But, the bigger issue I have with college and wedding planning is the showers.

I would love to say that I'm excited for showers, and for the most part I am. However, most of my friends and bridesmaids will not be finishing school in July. Many still have another year left. And several are traveling abroad  in the weeks before the wedding. Of the important ladies who I am desperately trying to plan around:
1 will be in Russia May 13-21
1 will be in London June 6-? (She, sadly, is missing out on the wedding festivities as well.)
2 will be going to France from May 23-June 23
1 will be in France from May 23- July 8 (And, she's a bridesmaid!)
1 will be out of town May 17-22
1 has been in Turkey since February and won't be back til June

Not to mention, finals for most of my girls are May 10-14. Some of my friends don't know whether they'll be in Texas, be at school, or it doesn't matter and  they'll be here. Car, plane, train; they'll be at my shower.

Are we seeing how setting a date is difficult for a shower? My wonderful mother and FMIL are planning my shower for the "ladies" such as aunts, family friends, my friends' mothers, etc. That one doesn't depend on college finals and things like that. But, I want a shower with my friends! I want to get to hang out with them and do girly things. It's been weighing on my mind for some time now, and I cannot find ONE date that satisfies everyone. It's disappointing to know that someone will miss out, but at some point, I just have to bite the bullet.

Do you find yourself struggling to set dates for things? How did you handle it?

Quiet Drive

As I was driving back to Oklahoma, after a weekend of more wedding epicness, this song came on my iPod. Now, it may not be Cyndi Lauper, but this is the version I have on my iPod and to make it more realistic, I found you this one. Have a listen as I explain the significance.



As many of you already know, the Mister and I have had our fair share of problems and then some. We broke up, we fought, we got back together; wash, rinse and repeat. The importance is that even though we had those problems, we've learned to fight with each other. I know what not to say (or if I'm being stubborn--what TO say) to make him mad, and he knows what not to say to me. It's just one of those things. We've learned how to fight with each other, but more importantly-- how to make up.

Throughout our entire relationship, I feel like one of us has always been in a different place. Always walking ahead of the other, and the other has to wait patiently for them to hear to "slow down". There was a time when I didn't want to be with him, but he waited for me. He knew I would be back, whether I did or not. Later, it was he who thought he didn't want me, and even though I was a disaster, I waited and patiently let him be free to do what he wanted. It was only after that that we were both in the same place.

The same place where we finally know what we wanted with one another. He knew that I would be there to catch him when he fell, and that if I was lost, he would guide me through. We fight, we make up, but most of all: we love each other.

My sixteen-year-old brother was talking to me the other day over ice cream. He said he was surprised that the Mister and I had made it this far. And, honestly, I think some days we are too. It has been a rough relationship, but every road block has made us realize how to live together and love together. My brother also said he knows we'll be okay because of the fighting. My brother is wise beyond his years and it makes me feel happy that he feels we're okay. Not that his opinion would've changed mine, but to hear my brother say he knows we'll be okay means a lot to me. He may be only sixteen, but I am really close to him.

I'm glad that Trenton and I have learned how to fight and make up before we got married. We're going to be okay. We're both in the same place and I couldn't be happier.

Do you feel that songs can be a good representation of life? Did it take a while for you and your significant other to get on the same page?

Dudes in Dresses

You heard me. Dudes in dresses. Only, we're talking dress clothes, not actual dresses.

Today, the future-mother-in-law, one of the groomsmen/future-brother-in-law and I went out looking for the dudes' wedding attire. We already knew that out of our four groomsmen and the one groom, we had two suits. Groomsman N and T both have black suits, and today we took care of the groom and Groomsman R.

I wish I could tell you that I have pictures to show you... but I don't. Epic fail at bride-dom blogging. I should've taken pictures, not only for you but also so that when the fiance comes back, we can show him pictures of the suit we bought him. We ended up buying two dark grey pinstriped suits for Trenton and Groomsman R. They're almost the exact same suit, but one is slightly darker.

Our (me and the FMIL) vision for the wedding party was light pink shirts with pink ties. We happened to get lucky and find EVERY shirt we needed in the right size and the exact same style. Plus, we quickly found five matching ties. I would have loved to have a chic non-matching ties wedding party, but that got complicated real quickly. Groomsman/FBIL R got final choice on ties, and we settled for a hot pink tie with small dark squares.

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With light pink shirts like that, they'll blend nicely with my dress and also look okay with the white rose boutonnières they will all be wearing. The hot pink ties, while it sounds like a whole lot of pink, really look good with the shirts. It's not overwhelmingly pink, but it still goes with the overall color scheme. I wish I could find a picture of the ties, but maybe I'll have a groomsman try the whole deal on so I can accost him with a camera.

Looking for these shirts and getting the suits for my fiance crosses one more item off my ever-growing to-do list. Do you ever feel like the to-do list for your wedding is overwhelming and multiplying like rabbits? 

Back in Black

Okay. I promised a post about the bridesmaids' dresses... so here it is:
They will be black.
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Oh, you wanted more? Sorry, let me indulge you. For most of my bridesmaids, dress picking was easy. My Maid of Honor B already owned a black, satin dress from a wedding she was in December of 2008. She will re-use that dress (savings to her!) and make it work. This is her dress:

(All photos courtesy of Davids Bridal)

Bridesmaid A has also chosen her dress, from David's Bridal. We went two weeks ago to pick out some dresses and look at how she looked. we tried three dresses on her, but we knew the first was right for her. Here's her dress...

Bridesmaid K has looked at a dress online, and actually went to a David's Bridal near her university to try it on with another good friend, who okay-ed the dress. K still wanted to make sure I liked it before she bought it, so since she's home on Spring Break--we're going to David's Bridal for her to show me the dress. K's dress:

We'll see if this is the dress K ends up with, but I'll update if this is not what she picks. I think it'll look great on her, and she's got great taste. The only bridesmaid left to dress is bridesmaid E, my fashionista bridesmaid. She has great style, and nothing at David's Bridal has really peaked her interest. I'm hoping over Easter she and I can go peruse another DB and possibly White House Black Market. They've got really great alternatives for bridesmaids dresses.

Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, my girls all do look like models and stand awkwardly chic for pictures. Hehe. They're all gorgeous and I'm completely flattered that they'll be standing next to me, even if they do put me to shame. I know I'll have some really gorgeous wedding party pictures.

Do you have a hard time finding dresses? What are some other places to get bridesmaids dresses?

It's Like a Marathon

We're rapidly approaching the 100 day mark in our wedding planning. Can you believe it!?

However, along with our impending nuptials, are all of my pending projects. Still left are... invitations, centerpieces, guestbook, table linens, food, drinks, dressing the guys, and programs. (All are going to be addressed in later posts! Never fear, I won't let you down!) And that's only what I can think of off the top of my head. It feels like the middle of a race, a marathon, that I will never finish.

Now, when I last left you, I was still considering pocketfold invitations. That has since changed. Upon looking into pocketfolds, ordering them pre-made online was just a little too expensive for me. I wanted to keep our invitations as a budget-friendly project. So, I thought about making them myself, but that would either require ordering larger paper (another costly thing) or re-sizing our pocketfolds to fit common scrapbook paper (12"x 12"). Neither of those options seemed like something I wanted to do, so I just decided to scrap the idea. I loved the look, but my goal in this wedding is to GET IT DONE.

So, now we're going with just a plain flat card invitation. We're still going to have a response postcard, directions to the venue, and I'll probably include a list of hotels in the area for our out-of-town guests. I want to wrap the invitation "suite" in a belly band. Yes, it sounds like something for a third trimester, but in reality it's just a simple piece of paper designed to hold everything in place. Just a strip wrapped around the middle (or "belly") of the stack to keep it together.

The rounded corners were an issue for several months. I love the look of them.

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But, for the longest time, my friends convinced me that it would be WAY to much work to round all of the corners, even with a corner rounder. After two months of debating my decision, I finally told myself that if I still wanted rounded corners this bad after so long, I should just do it. Yes, it's an extra step and added complication to the invitation suite, but I just love the look. It will make me feel better about sending them out.

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That, my friends, is a belly band. This one is taken apart, but imagine all those other papers stuck under the yellow strip of paper. Probably, this is where I'll use our monogram I told you about here. I can't really find another place to use it, so that's where it'll show up! I have to start working on invitations soon, as they have to go out in about 5 weeks. I have none of it done, and I still need to do envelopes and all of that. Lots and lots of cutting left to do. Can you say "invitation party"?!

What ways can you cut back on wedding invitations? E-vites are always good (for the environment and otherwise) but some think it's tacky. How do you feel about online invitations?

Let Them Eat Cake! And Flowers...

I am at a loss for words for the title. So much has happened, and yet so much has yet to be done. This weekend was another marathon wedding weekend.

This weekend started early, with a meeting with a florist early on. We ended up booking the florist, and thankfully, it was a pretty painless process. I brought in my "inspiration" pictures and he looked at them, discussed what I liked, and he made a plan from there. My bouquet will have Revel roses, gerbera daisies, tulips and hypercium berries.

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My bouquet will be mostly pink, in fact, I think we decided on ALL pink. No white flowers for me! I know some of the above pictures are white, but my girls will be carrying white flowers with a bit of pink, as mine is mostly pink with some (or no) white. And, the gerbera daisies are kinda reserved for me. They're my favorite flower and the florist suggested only using them in my bouquet since y'know... I'm the bride. :)

Then, after the florist, it was cake tasting at Market Street (quickly vetoed based on the flavors of cake) and then shopping at Target. I got a new floor lamp for the apartment with Trenton and a dish rack for the apartment with Trenton. My mom and I also showed my future MIL other things I registered for, but we couldn't find my shower curtain! I think they've decided to take it online only, so I may have to watch for it.

On to the cake! We tried lots of flavors, ordered the cake, and we're pretty excited! The cakes are going to be delicious. I can't wait to try it. Or to save my top tier for next July! We're doing a simple bridal cake with just white butter cream frosting and a simple ribbon trim around each tier. Then we'll also probably get some flowers from the florist to make a topper type... thing. 

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Think that without the Swiss dots. And... flowers only on the top. But, that's the basic look. It's going to be delicious and yummy. I think Trenton will have to hold me back from just... devouring the entire cake. No hands, just face.

No clues on the flavor of the bridal cake or the grooms cake. You'll just have to wait until the wedding to try what we've chosen!

Pearls for the Girls

Alright. So I already told you about the amazing tutorial I found for ribbon tie pearl necklaces. I figured I would go ahead and try my hand at them. They're not hard at all, and anyone looking for a good bridesmaids' gift or for just a nice project, these are quick, easy and not very expensive. They look great when they're done.

I apologize in advance for the crappy photo quality. I have been home sick from work and was crafting on my couch bundled up in a blanket. Walking to my room to get my camera was just too hard, so it's a cell phone camera. Let's get started, shall we?

First, gather your supplies. I got all of mine at Hobby Lobby while the beads were 50% off. Here's what I bought:
5 packs of 8mm glass pearl beads
          (50 beads per pack - I only used 40 for one necklace)
1 pack of Czech glass beads clear seed beads
          (You only need one tube. Its to space the pearls so they don't rub.)
1 roll of nylon coated wire
1 pair of round nose pliers
1 bag of 9mm round jump rings
1 bag of 2.5mm crimp beads
3 yards of ribbon

You can also buy crimp covers, but the crimp beads aren't really an eye sore, and the ribbon distracts from it anyways. I also had to buy some black thread but I had needles at home already.

Steps
1. First cut your wire. I ended up using about 18" and I still ended up with extra to cut off at the end.
2. Using your crimp bead and jump ring, slide the crimp bead on, followed by the jump ring. Loop your wire back through the crimp bead. Then use your pliers to flatten the crimp bead to secure the wires.

All personal photos

3. Trim the extra wire from the crimp bead and begin beading with a pearl bead. Then alternate a seed bead between the pearls to prevent rubbing.

4. When all the pearls are on, ending on a pearl bead not a seed bead, put a crimp bead on. The follow with a jump bead. Just like before, thread your wire back through the crimp bead.

5. Cut your ribbon to 12" pieces. I used black satin ribbon in a 5/8" size. Slide your ribbon through the jump ring and fold it back on itself. 

6. Take your needle and thread to close the ribbon and secure it with several knots.

7. Complete steps 5 and 6 on the other jump ring to create your ribbon tie.

Now you're finished and ready to wear the necklace. Or in my case, wrap it up and give them away!

Sticky Situation

You stalk photo blogs. You creep on wedding blogs like they're celebrities. There can't be enough wedding inspiration. Overload doesn't happen-- you just get more sucked in.

While this is fun and a good way to throw away your free time, the only problems are you start getting ideas. You start thinking, "Ooooh, I would love to have that. I wonder if that's possible." You forget for a moment that your venue is already set and gorgeous enough on it's own. You forget your budget and enter... Wedding World.

It's a scary place that can be a good place-- or a very, very bad place. For me, it varies. Some days, it's helpful for finding other inspiration and getting tutorials. I've learned a lot of really great stuff, and even found better advice on how to deal with etiquette, family, etc. 

The good: I've found great tutorials. I love reading the blogs of other brides to see what they're doing and how they're doing it. Some brides have unlimited (or very large) budgets, some have small budgets. While I err on the latter of the two, I am happy to be there. I may not get the letterpress invites, the huge centerpieces, or the $4,000 photographer-- but I am more than happy with what I do have and the interesting things I share with you guys.

The bad: Sometimes in looking at blogs, you start seeing the ideas, the formal invites and the price of other weddings. You think to yourself, "Oh, how I would love to have that." And, you think... "Am I doing my wedding right?" You get into a sticky situation based on other people's perceptions. Is there a right way to do a wedding? Is it okay for me to do a wedding that is styled after us? 

My answer is "NO! YES!" Any wedding planning, any aspect of this wedding reflects me and Trenton. You do weddings based on your own personal feelings, no right or wrong way. My wedding may not be formal, but I didn't want that to begin with. My wedding will be fun and "budget-friendly". My wedding will be full of love, friends, family and dancing. I want the alcohol, the delicious food, the laughter. I want it to be "us". I want for Trenton and I to be a huge part of the wedding (both aesthetically and physically).

If our response cards are rude, or our food is cold, we won't care. If the shades of the pink and green don't exactly match, it seems huge now, but it won't be a problem the day of the wedding. Everything in relation. What matters today, will not matter tomorrow.

My Bad

Wow, guys. Sorry for the lack of posting. I had a pretty crazy couple days. It's mid-terms here in Norman, which means lots of reading, studying and writing. I had three mid-terms, one was a paper, one was multiple choice and three short answers, and the last was all short answer with a few long answer essay questions. It's been nuts. But, it's over, it's Spring Break and I just have to work-- no school!

In other news, my dad got a job! I'm very excited for him as he's been doing this training program for a while now and he deserved to get his theater. I'm sad he'll be moving to El Paso, Texas this coming week, but I'm still just too excited he got a job. I'm so proud of him for sticking through the silly training (that he blew through, by the way-- my dad is just too awesome for his own good) and getting his theater. It's company policy that managers (which my dad is) do not get vacation time off between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Do we see the problem?! My wedding is right between those dates! But, don't worry. My dad's new boss in El Paso understands that his daughter is getting married and that my dad needs to come home. His new boss is really great and values family so he told my dad he would work it out with him. Sadly, it means my dad may get in the day before the wedding and leave the day after. I don't mind that as long as he gets to be there.

More news: the wedding planning is driving me a little crazy. In wedding planning, you start thinking about stuff that in every day "normal" world, you would never think twice about. You fret about fabrics, colors, flowers, matching all of the aforementioned items. You go a little berserk over things that in the grand scheme of things-- really don't matter. I found myself worried about colors, ties, jewelry and flowers this weekend. I'm worried how the guys' ties will look with my girls' jewelry. Something you would never worry about outside of Wedding World. I've finally decided to make life easy and go with something cute. And that I can make myself. Wanna know? Do ya? Huh huh?

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Pearl Ribbon Necklaces! I would use slightly smaller pearls because those are just a little... too giant. My ribbon would be pink or green depending on the boys' ties. I would probably have some girls wear their bows in the front (as shown here) if they're in strapless dresses like my sister. One of my 'maids is wearing a halter dress, so her bow would tie in the back to "accent" the bare back her dress gives her. Now, BM K is looking at a dress that is a "faux halter". This means the bare back of a halter is not actually there. From the front it looks almost the same, but it has more coverage in front and fabric covering the back too. Obviously wearing a necklace with such a neckline is a little silly, so for her, I would probably make her a bracelet instead.

I found a great tutorial here for how to make these pearl ribbon necklaces. It seems easy enough and not very time consuming. I'll probably try it out myself first before I get my heart set on these necklaces. To have a necklace like this custom made through Etsy it's around $30. I figure for that I can buy most of the necessary supplies for my three necklaces and one bracelet. Not too bad. And, they're cute enough that my girls can wear them again, which is all I really wanted.

More to come on bridesmaid dresses once I actually know what dress each BM is wearing.

Epic Day of Awesome

Okay. We have several topics today. One not-so-good, some REALLY great. We'll start with the bad.

Personal Photo

'Member him? Yeah, so, he's leaving to go under water for the next two to three months. He's on submarines so obviously, limited contact. The teensy-weensy glimmer of hope: he has access to VERY slow e-mail. That gets read and censored and all of that wonderful military stuff. At least there will maybe be some contact. He's leaving relatively soon (as was expected) but today I found out the actual date, and let's just say it is much, much sooner than I was hoping. I knew it was coming, but to actually have a set date... it just changes things.

Brighter notes: I had an advising appointment today for my final semester in college (WHAAAAT?!). In said appointment, I was told that not only am I on track to graduate in a mere nine months-- but I have a whole lot less credits I need than first thought. I was under the impression that I still had two more classes to take (about six credits) for my major, and about three or four more elective classes (about twelve to fifteen credits). My wonderful advisor informed me today that (wait for it...) I am done with my major coursework. That's right. DONE! I have NO MORE SCIENCE! I'm finished. Fin. Finito. 

This is great news for me-- and good news for Trenton too-- as now he will not have to deal with his new wife being absolutely crazy taking a full-time school schedule and a full-time job. I have thirteen hours left to graduate. In September, I get to apply to graduate, I get to walk in December, and I get to be done with college. As it's looking now, I can take one class in May Intersession here at OU (which was already planned), then two classes during the summer (again, I was already planning to do this as well) and then finishing my fall semester with a mere four hours. However, my Capstone (the required course here at OU to graduate) is only three hours. So I must find another three hour class to satisfy my one hour left to graduate. No big. I'm super excited that my final semester-- and first semester as a wife-- will be so light. My Capstone is pretty intense, but six hours rather than twelve is way okay with me. Graduation, here I come!

Personal Photo

That's me, my sister (MOH B) and my brother at my sister's college graduation from OU. It was so hot that day, but it was so great to see her graduate. We're actually graduating from the same college, but different degrees.

Other good news, my shoes came in today! I already put them on, and they are so comfortable! I can't believe what a great deal I got on them, and they are BRIGHT blue. So, I've at least got my "something blue" taken care of. I would post pictures, but I don't want to run the risk of the man seeing them, so sorry. If you leave me your e-mail I'll send them along. It's been a really great day so far. I had taken the day off of work to just... relax. Get my advising done, some homework and just generally be away from work. It's been nice. It was really good to get the day off, but it just kept getting better!

Dressing the Girls

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Let's be real. I don't want my girls looking like that. But, is it nuts that I want all my girls in different dresses? Before you freak out, I'm not letting it be free-range and there are some guidelines--one being that it CANNOT look like the above picture!

The only rules:
        a) Must be knee-length.
        b) Cannot be the same dress as any other bridesmaid.
        c) It has to be black!
Pretty easy to follow. In fact, my sister (Maid of Honor) already has a black dress from a wedding she was in last December. She looks great in it-- although she looks great in anything. Bridesmaid E said she already has several dresses that fit said criterion, so she's bringing them up in a few weeks for me to see/pick. My other bridesmaids, BMs K and A, are both meeting with me in the next few weeks to look for dresses. They have both decided to most likely buy their dresses.

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It may seem crazy to let them all wear different dresses, shoes and even jewelry, but look at how gorgeous that looks! I'm letting them choose their own shoes-- black shoes--no limits. Just, black, any height heel or no heel at all, they can be sandals, stilettos, whatever. Jewelry... oh, take this one. I'm letting them choose their own jewelry. I want to go shopping with each of them and let them pick out what they want to wear. They can be green, pink, black, or white. Whichever they want.

They only imposed rule with jewelry is set there so we don't have to mess with colors clashing or anything like that. If we keep it within the realm of the wedding colors, all is well. Plus, each of my 'maids has her own flair. Bridesmaid A is a little hippie and likes other... hippie stuff. BM K and MOH B are both more "classic" styles and choose things that are totally different from BM A. BM E is always completely fancy and it such a stylish girl. She's always got amazing style and cute clothes/accessories. I want them to get jewelry they can wear again and not just another strand of pearls. If they want chunky funky, let them have it.

More to come on the bridesmaids later. Expect dresses, bios and pictures!

"But, what do I do?!"

So, the decision-making has yet again taken a standstill. We've come to a stalemate. I am worried (again!) about the "etiquette" of our wedding. I would like to be able to say that I don't want to hurt people's feelings, but... let's be real.

I don't care.

It is our wedding. It reflects us- not to say we're awful people, but at some point, worrying about what other people think is too much stress. I'm starting to worry about ridiculous things that no one is ever going to remember.

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You'd think I'd start to just blow things off. Not worry. But, no. My most recent freak-out regards response cards. Do I leave the "number of attendees" blank? Do I individually print cards with the number of chairs saved for them? What about telling people, "Hey, this is how many seats you get. Decide who's coming"?

I found a site saying that you can leave a "___ of ___ guest(s) attending" spot and you fill in the second blank with how many you want to come, and then they fill out the first blank with how many are coming. The site also warns that some people may find that "distasteful" but... um, what if I don't find it bad?

While I would love to invite everyone, and say "Hey, college friend- totally bring your boyfriend of two weeks to my wedding!" frankly, I can't afford it. Not only can we not afford to feed all those extra people, my venue only holds 100 people seated, and my guest list (including me, the fiance, and our photographer) is already at 110! We can't have people bringing guests and unaccounted people. We don't have the space or the finances to accommodate them.

Whining to roommate, Meghan, has not come to any sort of conclusion. Being my amazing pro-bono "wedding planner", she dutifully said "It's your wedding, do what you would like. I understand why you would need to do that. People will understand. Etc. Etc." What I needed to hear, but what I more needed to hear was from Trenton. I needed him to respond and tell me it was okay for me to limit the guests.

Also, worrying about plates and tableware. Who will remember the linens, plates, or silverware? I might, but that's because I paid for it, picked it out, and everything. Remember here, when I talked about bamboo tableware? It's awesome. Let me give you some pictures of how cute they can be!

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So. Darn. Cute. And, eco-friendly! They are pretty affordable, and they have plates that match. Oh, and did I mention they are biodegradable? Which means when I throw them out, they'll decompose in the trash heap at the dump. Makes me feel better about my money. But, again... do you think people will think poorly of me because I'm not using "real" plates? Or not using china? These are the ridiculous things I'm worried about.

What do you think? Should I give up on making people happy and do what will make US happy? 

Quick, Quick Like a Bunny!

I've got about five minutes before I leave for work, so I'll fill you in.

I BOUGHT MY SHOES!!! I went with the Madden Girl ruffle shoes. Good price, and I got free shipping!

Other than that one item crossed off my to-do list, it seems to be multiplying like rabbits. Every time I turn around to look at it and revamp my list-- it's already twice as long as I thought it was. It's not overwhelming by any means, but it's still not easy. Thankfully, I'm going home soon and I can hopefully cross off a bunch of stuff off my to-do list!