Bags

Finished all of the Gift Bags (minus the Galenaians that I will pick up Friday while in town) and Scavenger Hunt Bags!

Bachelorette Party

What a great time! Especially the Stripper!

School Wedding Shower

Cyndi threw a great wedding shower; wonderful gifts too! $100 gift card for Meijers, $50 for TGIF, $50 for Micheals and some wonderful kitchen supplies!

Brew Labels

Chris finally finished the labels after working on them all weekend.

Zombie Wedding Topper

It is complete!

Seating

Worked on seating tonight by starting to write out all the names on our place cards. Still waiting for some RSVP's thought so I am unsure about some tables and whether to stick with 7 since we have that exact number or to add the 8th table just in case.

Shower

Today was my bridal shower and though I had major anxiety about going and having to open gifts in front of everyone, it was more then wonderful. The guests were great and many were in black and white, the food tasted amazing, the written advice was prefect, and of course the whole event was more then I ever imagined. Nanci was an amazing host, her husband Bill took great photos of us all, Jean made wonderful black and white center pieces, Cyndi coordinated the Black and White gifts artistically, Joni and Karma did a great recipe book made with things from everyone, Lauren took photos of the gift opening, Tiffany made a beautiful bow bouquet, Lana was a successful gift getter, Laura was a great gift putter awayer helper, Karen was a great driver and everyone else was also such a great addition to the party. Thank you everyone for everything!

Rings Bought

Chris finally ordered his ring yesterday (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA03201N1586) and today we bought my ring. Another thing done and checked of the list!

No Children

It is official, today in court an order was written saying Lauren had to take the boys during our wedding despite her claims for already booking a vacation when we gave her almost a 40 day notice that we would not be able to make our visitation that weekend. Now that is just one less thing to worry about

1 month

And so the one month left to get everything done count down begins...

Hotel

So who would have thought that the hotel blocks would have went so bad. Though people were told over the phone they had a month before the actual date, which would be Tuesday August 14th, I told people the block expired the 10th as that is what my contract said. When I called on the 10th to see how many rooms I had left, I still had about 16 and was informed there was no end date on the block. The woman also said not to worry because they wouldn't fill up within the next few days even if they did go off the block. Well after writing my nice emails and not getting phone calls back about Lana not being able to book on room yesterday, I finally called the hotel again and demanded to talk to Dena. Needless to say, our conversation basically ended with me very frustrated that the hotel would not help regardless of the fact that they told my guests the wrong dates. Thankfully my resources kicked in and I was able to tell Dena that if you tried booking online, there were still rooms available but not at our price so how could the hotel be full like they were claiming. This is when I was informed that the rest of my block was indeed not 'sold' but instead given to Expedia like sites so technically there were still rooms left but I had to use another party to book them. Now one would think that the hotel would want their guests to be happy and would get this worked out but nope; I had to call the third party and explain to them the situation and they then had to call the hotel to confirm that they could indeed sell me a room, which is eventually how Lana ended up getting her room on our block. Overall, not happy with how the customer service was handled on this...

RSVP's

Today was the 'official' last day to RSVP and of course, I have about 25 people not confirmed. Many came in today but there are still more to hunt down. If you have not registered on the website or booked your hotel room, please do so before the night is over to help save me some anxiety!

Photographer booked!

http://www.apieceofcakephotography.com/

Ring

Found the Candians responsible for making my wedding ring band and even found in on their website however they says there are no 'authorized dealers' within 100km. Considering such, I messaged them seeing if they could help.

Wedding Bands

Christopher and I attempted to shop for wedding bands today while at the Galesburg mall as well as on main street. Chris found some he liked but thought they were way too expensive. We think we will get a Titanium one as though ceramic is cooler looking, it is not as 'tough'. He liked the ones I tried on, especially the two sided enhances as they make the ring look huge but I didn't find one I loved nor were any others really what I wanted. I found one I liked at Kohl's Diamond Gallery (http://www.kohlsdg.com/), which is not associated with the Kohl's department store we are all familiar with despite the name. Though I liked this one, it did not fit great with the ring cut, nor did they have it in my size and of course, it was more expensive then I wanted to spend. I tried finding it online but could not and they didn't have it on their website either so I called them and asked about it which is when I found out that it is a weird brand (Libman item # b3545wd.07) that you really cannot find or buy therefore they had to take a picture, which was really crappy, and send it to me. Now the goal is to find something like it! 

Wedding Shower Invites

Nanci's beautiful black and white shower invites have started arriving; Nanci is so amazing!

Coupons

Today I was not only able to use two 50% of coupons to buy my Wedding Skeletons that I saw earlier this month at Micheal's, but I was also able to use my free Victoria Secrets coupon for free Bridal undies. Like I have always said, coupons not only make everything cheaper but also make everything that more enjoyable!

Ham

Every time I work on Wedding stuff, Moto insists on sitting right next to, or ontop of, whatever I am working on. I think she does it because she knows I am photographing everything I do and wants to be a ham and be in each picture!

50 Days

Since it is 50 days to the weekend wedding, we applied for our Wedding License today. We were able to do it at Kane County since they do 'Weddings' everyday of the week, as opposed to just Friday's like DuPage County. The license goes into effect tomorrow so I can call and make our appointment to be wed at the court house on the 12th like we initially planned. Pray that date is still available as people have only had about 10 days to start booking as they require that you cannot get your license earlier then 60 days prior to the wedding date. Chris said we should be good because he claims that no one will want to get married on the day after a national tragedy - I hope he is right for once haha!

Ballerina Slippers

Who would have thought that out of all stores, Miejers would have my wedding shoes? (http://www.meijer.com/s/df-by-dearfoams-womens-ballerina-flats-with-bow/_/R-206290)? I was looking for my Fila Skeletoes shoes as they had a coupon for $10 off of shoes but just like every other store, they also did not have them. Fortunately though, they did have white ballerina slippers and they were one sale for $9.00 - Of course when I should Chris what I was buying he was like "Um what are these for?" I told him they were for the wedding and the look on his face was priceless; I thought he was embarrassed but instead he said "Wait so you get to wear comfy slippers and I have to wear uncomfortable dress shoes?" I just laughed and told him he could wear flip flops for all I cared.

Female Issues

Earlier this week I started my mini work out routines that work on my flabby arms and baby pouch so that I look better in my wedding dress. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it has been 3 years since I had my surgery to remove the cervical cancer, I am still having issues, with a new one that just surficed this week. Considering such, I now cannot work out for a while due to issues I am having...perfect timing for the wedding no? The one time I was not looking for an excuse not to work out I get one...

Center Pieces

Starting putting together the center pieces today. I think they will turn out ok I just need to figure out how to way them down so that the items stay where places as well as spray paint things a bit more as the true colors are still showing through on some.

I also had time to go through all the table items and put each table in it's own bag so that those helping me set up can just take the bag and put out all the plates, napkins, silverware and suckers without having to ask me for help!

2 birds...1 stone

So today was very hot out and I did not have the air on because Chris and the boys are at his parents and this was the first time this summer I was able to have the air off and the windows open. Needless to say, I knew getting ready for Carri's wedding tonight would not be fun in this heat and my long hair nor did I feel like doing anything after getting home from shopping for a new dress for tonight so I figure instead of me doing my hair appointment next week with no where to go, why not do it today and get use out of the hair style? Overall things went ok...it took almost 3 girls over 3 hours and what I think to be more then 55 bobbypins, 'style' knots, a regular brown thick rubber band and some readjusting when I got home, but overall it was good and what I want for my wedding.
I also hurried up and put my wedding dress on and ran across the street to a neighbors house as I saw them sitting outside and told them that I had a silly request to take a picture of me since my fiance was not home and I wanted a picture to make sure this is what I wanted for my wedding as well as to have a picture to send to my mother.

Crafting

This is how I spend my Friday nights when it is just me and the pets - testing our crafty stuff for the wedding

Spray Painting

While Chris was at diving today, the boys and I began Spray Painting the sticks for our center pieces but unfortunately mid way through we ran out of spray paint. Opps!

September 12th?

So after getting off the phone with my mom trying to help her plane flights for her to coincide with my deaf grandparents flights, I decided to look into what time we can get married on the 12th as maybe I would not have to take off too much work and could instead take of Thursday. Well while looking over the Dupage Court House wedding info, I find that they only marry individuals on Fridays starting at 11:45pm and do apporximately 30 in a day. Needless to say, this totally screws Chris and I's idea of getting married on our September 14th, our anniversary date as that is a Wednesday! Guess I should have looked into this before...Ekk - Oh well, time to look for some other places to get married at that is close by as Cook County is way too far and we are down there enough for court. Maybe Kane?

Brains

Met with Megan today for brunch and we were discussing wedding plans and I was explaining my issues with the need for reverse stencils to do the glass etching as party favors. She immediately responded with an idea to use letter punches on stickers as then they would be reversed - how smart! Needless to say, after I went shopping and bought a dress for my birthday dinner the night before the reception, I went to school to pick up my letter press sets and sure enough, her idea worked like a charm! Thanks for much Meg!

Shopping

Laura and I went shopping today for everything from shoes to centerpiece 'sticks'. We hit up a lot of stores and had lots of time to discuss wedding concerns or things I need to do; even figured out the something new, something borrowed, something old and something blue! I also got an email back from Dena at Stoney Creek today regarding my list of questions; basically she said she will get back to me Friday as she is talking to Eliza our caterer on Thursday. Why can't she answer my non-catering questions now and answer the other ones later as I want to know if I need to buy salt and pepper shakers like now!

Cake Topper

Ordered!

Wedding Vodka

What more do I need to say? I really want to try the 'Bride' vodka now as it is 'Wedding Cake' flavored which means it will either be really good or terrible like the Rootbeer Vodka I bought on sale last time. Regardless, we started making our 'Alcohol' box for the wedding since we are providing all the hard stuff, plus beer as wine will come from Stoney Creek itself due to their liquor licence.

Printed, Cut, Folded and Stuffed

It's official - the invitations are done! Today I picked them up at 7:30am from Don and Chrissie at Custom Printing and they looked great. Chrissie was able to get the paper back to normal after I blew dried it as she repacked it with her machine to make it tight and flat. Then while working at school today, I was able to get them all cut and folded. Stuffed them when I got home and mailed them out this afternoon. The post office said all non-international invites should arrive by the end of the week so make sure to check your mail boxes as they are small!

Table Cloths

So we realized it was cheaper to buy table cloths then to rent them and since we wanted black and Stoney Creek only had white, we bought them. There were several places that had them for just under $9.00 a piece however this place not only offered free shipping, but this week they had a special for 3 days where everything was 15% off so we saved way more then if were were to rent them. Now if you ever need 8 black round 90 inch table cloths, you know who to borrow them from!

Decorating kit

So the room we are having our reception in is pretty empty so I need to put up decorations yet decorations are so expensive. While at Party City today to by Cyndi's daughter, as well as Carri, both a wedding card, I happened to find Black and White decorating kits and they were super cheap - only $9.99 which shocked me since Party City is over priced on everything else. I opened the kit up too and the items are good sized. I am debating now if I should buy more or just stick with one. I guess I better ask Dena if decorations are ok first. Needles to say, here are the sets online http://www.partycity.com/product/black+damask+party+decorating+kit.do?sortby=ourPicks&pp=60&size=all&navSet=170233

Printed and Stamped!

So everyone said not to get big invites or envelops because it would cost more to send them. So leave ti to me to get super small ones. Problem with that is that no printer could print them! I finally was able to tape each one onto it's own sheet of paper and manually feed them into the printer one by one. All of our envelopes are not only printed, but also stamped. Now if only I had the invitations to put in them...Oh and yes, I put the stamps on sideways...opps!

Bows

So while watching Marrisa and Landon sleep last night at Karen's while they had a softball game, I was able to get a majority of the bows and bells tied onto the place cards. Let's just say it was very tedious and reminded me of when Nanci and I were tying bows for the shower she was throwing. Another good thing I got done was convincing Fedex/Kinox to let me copy the Scrabble board paper to make the center pieces. How did I do it; said it was for my classroom as teachers apparently get copyright privileges waived haha.

Invitation Nightmare...

Invitations...who thought it would be this difficult! Besides the hours spent at Office Max last week, and the millions of phone calls to other places, one which wanted to charge over $100 just to print them as I would be providing them with the paper, I think we found one. Greg Leyden from work was helping redesign my classroom and I asked him if he knew anyone since he's lived and worked around here for a long time. He said he had a friend named Don who owns http://www.custom-bindery.com/. Needless to say, Don thinks he can do it so we decided to go there today. Unfortunately when I went to retrieve the paper from the laundry room, somehow it had gotten all wet and was now wrapped - how I have no idea. I tried blow drying it and it got out most of the wrinkles but not all. He does not know if it will run through the printer and we couldn't find more for at a reasonable price so he is going to try to use it and his graphic artist is going to work on the file to make sure it lines up. Needless to say, this is my LAST shot because if they do not do it, sorry Chris, your request is going to be left un-met as I am sick and tired of waiting to send these out which means I will be doing them myself...which I wanted to do weeks ago! He said they should be done by Monday at the latest so pray this is true. Now all I need to do in the mean time is work on envelopes which Cyndi is letting me borrow her classroom printer and if that does not work, then I will do them at her house as she just printed her daughters a few weeks ago.

10 to 8

Took the boys with me today to try on and get fitted for the new dresses they reordered for me and yep, I did go from a 10 to an 8; the lady even said that I should keep the 8 as it just looked better on. She also said that either the purple one we tried on was stretched out because they warn people their dresses run small but people insist on trying on the smaller sizes or I lost weight. Though I would like to say it is the second option, it is more likely that it is the first! Regardless, I now have the 8 and was able to return the $30 bar I bought from Victoria Secrets as this size fits better in the chest and there is no need for a fancy push up haha!

Spray Paint

So leave it to me to purposely order something that was defective so I can fix it. Oriental Trading Company had place cards on clearance because the bells were discolored which was perfect because I knew I would have to spray paint them anyways to be my colors. So today the boys and I tested it and though we like the black, we think we want to try some white so that we can go with the the black and white theme and do every other or girls vs. boys. So we went to school to pick up some white spray paint and black ribbon. When we got back, we noticed that Moto of course had eaten one while we were out, but besides that, we tried the white and now have a variety of ones to use.

Zombie Wedding Cake Topper

Wedding cake toppers are well not very interesting. I found one that matched out theme but I wasn't sure Chris would go for it but he did! http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/food/novelty/zombie-wedding-cake-topper.asp Unfortunately this one was a one of a kind as the creator makes them custom for brides and grooms via her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZombiesbyZombiatch?ref=seller_info_count However leave it to me to realize that the same non-zombiefied cake topper is sold at Party City so guess who is going to DIY her own wedding topper - ME!

Food & Cake Ordered

Today we did our tasting and oh my goodness was it a lot of food. We changed one of our Chinese items and got rid of the meatballs but added pre-vow exchange appetizers of meat with cheese and crackers as well as trays of assorted fruit and various vegetables. We also got the cake ordered too and if the food place will not deliver it with everything else, the cake place, which mind you is by the same company, will charge us an extra $50 to deliver it. I told them to please ask the food people since there will be lots of them coming and heck, it would save time and money haha! Now it is just time to find our cake topper as since we did not have it already, it is not going to be put on the cake until it arrives for the wedding as we won't be down there before then - oppps! Should have thought about that prior...

Every Other...

Today the boys and I worked on putting together the every other black and white table ensembles as well as the stickers on all the suckers. This was of course after Moto had eaten some of the center pieces and one of the suckers...Once all was said and done, we were able to figure out what we needed to return and what we needed to buy more of. Still debating about what to do for cups for wine and mixed drinks.

Paper

Today we spent about 3 hours at Office Max with nothing to show. Our first trip resulted in Tessa not being able to get the image to print without being cropped on any of their fancy printers. And, oh Ryan charged me less then he should of last week so I had to pay more if I wanted the job done correctly which means I had to 'return' the charges from last week but the manager couldn't get the Hero's gift card to work so that was another hassle. Regardless, Tessa finally got the self print color printer worked with the image but everything was off by a few inches. After much photoshop fixing, it still was not right and we had to bring Moto to the vet for her shots so we left. After that we came back, Tessa was gone and there was now Bruce who tried assisting us by doing the same errors and wasting paper just as Tessa did with the other printers though we warned him but he thought he could make it work. Finally he listened and went to the printer that worked but did not know the right printer properties that Tessa did which resulted in even more errors in printing the fixed images. Finally I convinced him to just refund my money and give me the paper to let me print them myself. He agreed and I got the paper for free! However Chris is not keen on the idea of me printing them myself...arg!

Imagery Complete

So I attempted to get the first test of our Wedding invite done today however they resulted not going in my favor as the girl who helped me the day prior, who was also get married in September, was not there and the 'non-print' general employee tried helping as the print employees apparently do not get in until after 10am. Let's just say he was on the phone for most of the time I was there, had to look under the keyboard for a code, and even asked me at one point if I wanted to come behind the desk to help him. Needless to say, I left with just paying for the paper so that they could order it since they did not have enough in stock and I needed to get to work and finish packing for our trip Canada. I guess the invites will have to wait until next week...

Envelopes

Why is it so hard to find black envelopes? Yesterday the boys and I tried various stores with no luck. Micheals had some on sale but not enough so we went to another Micheals but they were not on sale there; go figure! Needless to say, at the other Micheals I found these 'Thank You' cards that came with white envlopes with a little balck design on the back.  I figured these would be perfect as I could use the envelopes for the invites and just use other evenlopes for when I send the 'Thank You' cards out; getting two things for one price = perfect! I found them online to share but they have a bow on the pictures whereas mine do not but maybe I could add one as it kind of looks cute that way. http://www.michaels.com/Floral-Thank-You/28670,default,pd.html?cgid=projects-wedding-thankyou&start=1

Spanx

Thanks to Laura's advise, I now look stunning under my dress in my super comfy spanx I got at Target today! They are so super comfy; I might just have to go buy some more to wear under normal everyday dresses!

Zombies

I left Chris to work on our Wedding invitations while I went and tried setting up our table idea at the museum. What he came up with was very clever; artsy, funny and unique (to say the least) and people are either going to love it or hate it but whatever, I am game because if they do not want to come to our wedding due to our invitations, well then I probably do not want them there anyways as they do not share my sense of style or humor!

Down a size?

So when I tried on my dress at the store, we thought a size 10 was the way to go. When the dress arrived at my house though, the dress definitely fit differently and was loose so I called the Jessica Mclintof store to see what they thought and they informed me that you can exchanged the dress for a different size all the way up to the date of the wedding as long as it is still in stock. Needless to say, mine was so they reordered it in the same size as well as a smaller size just encase the one that was sent to me was missized and I needed that size. Now just have to wait a while till it comes in to see if I am indeed lower in size which is always good!

Invites and Photoshop

Today Moto and I spent the day working on the invite ideas...lots of cut and folded test papers. The basic design is done now I just need Chris to make them all nice and cool in Photoshop as he is way better with that type of Graphic Design then me! How we are actually get these done, I have no idea though as I doubt any place will cut and fold them like the way we want so I bet I will have to be doing a lot of on my own...

Square Plates

So I finally found a place that actually has two different size sets of square plates in stock they got them in for graduations. I've been waiting months and no store had them but today when I searched I found one and left within 5 minutes after I called to confirm they were in. Needless to say, I now have lots of plates and napkins to choose from though I think I want to use the newest ones I bought and maybe use the others design ones, like these Harlequin ones, for something else like cake or after words or maybe the shower? Who knows but I know I will not let them go to waste as they cannot be returned since they were ordered offline! Nice thing about the ones I bought from the store today is that though there are no returns on these products, I can exchange them whenever I want for whatever I want!

Final Dress Shopping

So the wedding is in less than 4 months away. Considering such, Cyndi and I went shopping again today. We started at Stratford Mall and had absolutely no luck as there were hardly even any dresses left over from Prom so I had no idea where the students shopped. From there, we then went to Schaumburg to try Davids Bridal where we didn't have an appointment and were actually first ignored while standing in line to be set up with a dress person. There I tried on several short dresses, many which were by DB studio.

The first dress above is the one we liked best seen on me and online at http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_One-Shoulder-Charmeuse-Dress-with-Side-Draping-230M02930. The other is the one I knew I wouldn't like but it had pockets so I was determined to try it on. Well let's just say Cyndi said there was no way she'd ever let me buy it she saw it on me so I had to sneak a picture of it to show you all. I also tried on one made of Ostrich feathers just to make my mom laugh.

With no luck there, Cyndi was determined to find me a dress so we went back to Woodfield. Looked at some stores but then ended up back at Jessica McClintof where I tried on several short white dresses, many which were not there the other two times I went. Needless to say, after trying on the original one that Cyndi liked months ago, we decided it was it, especially after fixing the cleavage problem by using the inner layer folded up and also because it was 25% off this weekend. So, despite my requests, Cyndi bought me my dress, as seen here http://visualdeyanaweddingplans.blogspot.com/2012/01/dress-shopping-attempt-2.html, and it ships out next week. I'll post more details once it arrives!

Galena Canning Company

Emailed the Galena Canning Company, better known as the 'Hot Sauce Place' to see if they could do anything special for us. Their location is small so not sure if a tour would be a possibility or not but maybe they could be part of the scavenger hunt and give something away!

Ghosts

Back in February I tried contacting the two ghost tour companies, one from Annie Wiggins and the other from the DeSoto House. I was able to email the Annie Wiggins Ghost tours so they got back right away and here was their response: "They will need to book the regular ghost tour. That calendar will not be set up till about July" Lame! As for the DeSoto House one, they only did phone contact which means I didn't in touch with them as I was not in the mood to do phone stuff. Considering such, I emailed Dena from Stoney Creek to see if she had a good way of contacting them via email but also she could provided me with the phone number for Steve, which was the same number she wrote down on the phamphet she gave me over the summer when she visited her. Needless to say, I finally made the call on Monday and left a voice mail for him to call me back. Due to my wonderful busy week, we played phone tag as he was very eager to get back to me. Once we actually talked, he said that dependent upon how many interested, we could either blend in with the normal tour as he takes up to 30 or we could book a private one. Either way, the tours would be $10.00 a person.

Center Pieces

While helping clean up the 8th grade dance, I noticed that they were starting to take apart the unique center pieces that a mother spent a long time making so I piped up and said, hey what if I took these all apart for you after I borrowed them for my wedding in September. They loved the idea...now I have about 20 centerpieces sitting in my classroom. Who knows if I will actually use them or not but hey, they could work. I brought a few home to test out some ideas. Notice Moto in the background blending in with the colors...

Menu

Chris and I finally sat down to look at our Menu. Since we cannot decide for our 64 guests and therefore would like to do a combination of two different buffets off of what you sent me...

~35 orders of the 'Dinner Buffet' with Marinated Chicken, Roast Beef, Lettuce Salad with Dressing, Oven Roasted Potatoes, Oven Roasted Vegetables and Variety Cheese Cake
~30 orders for the 'Chinese Buffet' with Sesame Chicken, Beef with Broccoli, Kung Pao Chicken, Chicken Egg Roll, Crab Rangoon, Fried Rice and Fortune Cookie.
~Also 4 orders of the 'BBQ Meatballs Appetizer'

Shower

Nanci spoke to me today about throwing me a shower. She is so wonderful and sweet! I have to get her my contacts or better yet, just send her the address labels file!

Time

One year ago, Chris and I had not slept the night before due to a wonderful argument that had lasted more then a week due to his lack of follow through with a surprise to promised he had for me. Little did I know that the surprise was that he was going to propose but was waiting for the ring to come in. Now in less then 5 months, we will be married. How time flies! Couldn't be happier with how our love has come to be

Chocolate drips

This is the cake we like...minus the Spider webs! Could possibly do the skeletons but something else might be better. Who wants to make it for us?!?!?

Engagement Photos

Check out all of our Engagement photos on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100551390221679.2556093.30806118 &type=1&l=0996619392

Pictures!

Though I thought it would never happen, today we took our Engagement pictures; hey late is better than never! Chris set up the time and everything; all I had to do was help prep the kitchen with him and get pretty. Our photographer was Karolina Bajkowska. Check her out at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002878341582

Arranging

Ezra and I merged all 3 wedding boxes full of stuff into one nice sealed one today. There are tons of Black and White things I ordered months ago that I doubt I will ever use like cupcake wrappers and sugar treats to adorn cakes...what was I thinking; did I really imagine that I would be making cupcakes for everyone and then haul them to Galena the night before? I bet they were on clearance and just thought I shouldn't pass up the chance encase I did in fact need them down the line...

Brew Tour Confirmed

After playing phone and email tag with Megan and then Kathleen, today we were officially able to confirm our brew tour of Galena's Brewing Company. The tour will be at 4:00pm and cost $5.00 per person which includes our private tour as well as a 16 ounce beer or a beverage of your choice.

6th Months

6 months to go...and still so much to actually do! I guess that is what summer is for...

Tables

Back in February I emailed Dena asking her if she had a photo of the room set up with all the tables. She said she was setting up for a Bridal Shower on February 25th and she would take some pictures.

This is a picture of how the tables look set up with linens for a special event

This is a picture of how the room looks with 8 tables set up

Nightmare

Totally woke up from a DIY's wedding nightmare: Our reverend never showed up and we couldn't get a hold of him, we forgot a box of items for the reception at home which was 3 hours away, we had no plates for people to eat their food, and some couples didn't read their invites and brought their kids so the hall wouldn't allow them in...argh none of this better happen or I will totally be having panic attacks... 

Post Office Bar Codes

So it has been brought to my attention that the wonderful Post Office not only scratched out my Stamps, but they also put a mailing bar code over the bottom of the Save Our Date post cards which covered the part which said: "For details about the itinerary of our unique Wedding Weekend Getaway in Galena, visit  http://visualdeyanaweddingplans.blogspot.com/" So annoying; now many do not know to come here - sniffle sniffle! Guess I should have Goggled how to make a post card because it shows that they will print a bar code at the bottom and since a portion of my post cards were black, the had to print them out on stickers and place them over the bottom so that it could be scanned - opps!

Scavenger Hunt

While eating wonderful food at the AFT Union Dinner/Meeting tomight, Laura and I came up with the different items to look for while completing the Digital Galena Photo Scavenger hunt. We also did temporary Westfield Stadd seating assignments too!

Mr. Postman...

My homemade 'Save Our Date' postcards were finally all printed and stamped today - they get mailed out tomorrow on Valentines Day - Ohhhh so sweet! Lets hope I got everyone's address right. If you do not get one, message me your address to confirm I sent it to the correct place!

Please note that if the printing of your postcard isn't perfect, blame my printer because it did not always grab the paper in the same exact spot - totally annoying and it drove my anal retentiveness nuts but there was only so much I could do. Also, the non-matching Ahola stamps were the only stamp option they had available for postcards....

7 Months

As of today, Christopher and I will be getting married in 7th months. This means we need to get into action so we worked on the final invite list to send out our 'Save the Dates' which are done, just need to be re-printed (Chris requests harder paper), addressed and stamped. I also emailed Dena at Stoney Creek for some updates, emailed Galena Brewery about our Brew Tour, the 2 different Ghost Tour places, and the Alpine Slide to see what they all thought about our 'events' for the weekend. Now onto still looking for a dress and all that other stuff....

Ideas....

Someone else wanted a checkerboard floor!

http://www.wanelo.com/entertainment/Gothic+Wonderland+Wedding+Flowers-189257.html

I liked their idea of the map, maybe we do the same thing with the different event locations, i.e. the reception, the tours, the slide, etc.

http://www.wanelo.com/entertainment/Real+wedding%3A+Lauren+%2B+Lawrence+%7C+Brooklyn+Bride+-+Modern+Wedding+Blog-134599.html

Katie Kirkpatrick

The story of Katie http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/katie.asp