DIY

Because I am one awesome bride (and because I've planned this wedding aka stalked The Knot since I was 14) I already had tons of DIY (Do It Yourself) things planned when Blake proposed. Well ... life got in the way and I realized just how long all of these projects would take so many went by the wayside. But there were a few projects that weren't too time consuming that I attempted. I've finished most of the projects (because they HAVE to be done by the first day of school!) and I thought I'd share...

Card Box ... and the smiling girl does not come with. That's just how full the guest room is!

The beginnings of the Candy Buffet. Still on the hunt for purple candy.... hmmmm...

Ooopps! Too lazy to switch it around but the goody bags for the candy buffet.

Letters for the church doors.

Bathroom Baskets

My Garters. The blue one is my something blue and to toss (for now) and the ECU one... well that's self explanatory.

Soo that's pretty much all I have done so far. Hopefully this weekend will be productive in the wedding category. Tux fittings and bridesmaids alterations! fun fun!!

You've Got Mail!

Invitations arrived last Wednesday so I've been anxiously waiting for the cardstock to arrive to print out directions cards and get these suckers in the mail... well we're done now! The better part of my Tuesday and Wednesday went into getting these invitations stuffed, sealed, and hopefully soon delievered! There's a lot more that goes in to these things... like printing out close to 200 envelopes each with a different address. And then stuffing and placing things in the envelopes in the correct order. And stamping the reply envelope and the outer one.. whew!

This is what my coffee table looked like --


And no I didn't lick each and every envelope. I'm smarter than that -- I glue sticked them close! And hopefully everybody will be able to still open them...

Pre-Marital Counseling

ohhh that title freaks me out a little. I mean really... we haven't even gotten married yet and we're in counseling?!? Being the daughter of a family law attorney there's one thing I know... marriage isn't easy. It's definitely not something I go into lightly because I know it's a lot of work and we both have to be dedicated. She's always told me that the two major things that break up a marriage are a lack of communication and money. I've always valued these things most in my relationship with Blake.

Soo we are required to be counseled before we get married. It may sound weird but it's definitely important I believe. We decided to meet with my minister, Paul, who has been at my church since I was 6. He's also marrying us. I feel it's more important to meet with Paul instead of some random old white guy because he has a vested interest and has seen me grow up.

Right before walking into church tonight Blake said, "I don't know how I'm going to like this." I told him to be honest--it's a lot easier to be honest than to lie and have to constantly cover it up. So we met and discussed how Blake & I met, what our normal lives are like, and our conflict management skills. The number one thing that came out of the meeting was that it was incredibly important for us to continue "dating." This means to go out on dates together at a specific time, preferably weekly. We do this a little bit but it's not a set in stone thing. As life goes on it will be more important to have our dates because as kids and life gets in the way, we can't let that affect our relationship. Our one hour session was over quickly and as we left Blake said, "That wasn't so bad."

"Never Let Your Praying Knees Get Lazy... And Love like Crazy"

Growing up one of the no, the number one thing I was looking for in a husband was that he was a Christian. (And then he had to be a baseball player, had to love sports, had to look good, had to treat me like a princess, and love my family... I'm not demanding at all!) So one of the first things established between Blake & me was that Jesus Christ was our Lord and Savior and that we lived our lives for Him. (I remember one of our first phone calls.. because that's how we rolled... Blake said something about winning the lottery and the first thing he would do would be to give 10% to his church. I knew I had a winner!) It's really no surprise that when planning our wedding that our ceremony--the part where we witness before God, our family, and friends of our love for all--would be the most important. And here's some of what we've decided...

-The ceremony will be long. Not Sunday worship long but longer than the "zip zap we're married." Expect to be there about 45 minutes. After all, this is the part where God's putting us together as one, do we really want to rush that? And we're having communion. ALL of us! Jesus Christ died for all of us, not just Blake & me and not just our wedding party. He died for all of our sins so that one day we can be with Him.

-We will be corny and play the corny Canon in D. It just gives me gooseeeybumps and I love it!

-Continuing with the cornyness, one of our scripture will be the Corinithians' "Love is patient, love is kind..." It just explains what love is.

-We have two people who are really important in our lives singing -- a college friend of mine and a family friend from Blake's childhood church.

We're still working out all the little details but the big stuff is done. I've been working on the program today (only 5 pages long so far!) and I'll make those sometime before the October 2.

The honour of your presence is requested...

After a few delays and discussions we've ordered the invitations. They will be simple yet elegant (the theme of this wedding) white with pearlized border. The inner invitations will have a purple liner that gives the little bit of color that I wanted on the invitations.

What do you think? I mean, without all the blackouts to protect what little bit of privacy I have. And the Post Office is sooo good to come out with the most perfect stamps just in time for my wedding.. I mean obviously someone must have told them that purple love stamps were an absolute necessity...

How freakin' perfect?!? We ordered like a million of those to use for all the stamps that we'll need in the next month or so.

Sooo for now we're waiting until the invitations are printed then mailed to us. I'm hoping they'll be here by the first of August so I can get them out by August 4th. That's my goal date. We'll see how we do!