Today's Wedding Wednesday post is being written from our apartment. After ten days of living in the hotel we were finally able to move back into our home yesterday. Sleeping in our own bed has never felt so good. Just after we thought we had gone through enough the past ten days, last night we discovered our car had been broken in to. The front passenger window was shattered and our GPS and iPod were stolen. While it is disappointing and frustrating and quite possibly the worse timing, they are just things and can be replaced or repaired. If we have learned anything this past month, it is that P and I are stronger than ever and can get through just about anything together. Of course there were moments when emotions ran high out of frustration and exhaustion, but I know I could not have gotten through it without him.
Now on to the wedding.....it is in 17 DAYS! It is so hard to believe is coming up so fast. Our to do list has 30+ lines and growing but we are hoping to tackle LOTS of items this weekend. Here's hoping to nothing but good things for the next 17 days!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Wedding Wednesday: Traditions
Happy Wednesday! We are still living in a hotel but should be able to move back into our apartment by close of business on Friday - fingers crossed!
When it came to planning our wedding, P and I knew it would be very traditional: married in the Catholic church followed by reception with friends and family. But there are a few traditional wedding things where we are going to stray a bit.
Even though today is the first day of spring it is still freezing in DC with highs only the 40s through the weekend. We are hoping that it warms up considerably in the next three weeks!
When it came to planning our wedding, P and I knew it would be very traditional: married in the Catholic church followed by reception with friends and family. But there are a few traditional wedding things where we are going to stray a bit.
- Receiving Line - instead of doing the traditional receiving line out the church, P and I will be doing a receiving line as guests enter the reception area from the cocktail hour. The main reason we have chosen to do it this way is we our constrained on time at the church after the ceremony to get pictures. We also thought this was a great way for us to get to greet and interact with each guest and not have to do the obligatory walk around to each table during the reception. The receiving line will only consist of P and I which we hope will speed up the process.
- Bouquet Toss - I have never been a huge fan of the bouquet toss at weddings. It is awkward to be called out as the "single woman" or the "still not engaged woman" and then have to pretend like you care about catching the bouquet. I think it is a bit antiquated to assume that every single woman at a wedding is dying to be the next to get married. Plus, I did not feel like paying extra money for a toss bouquet.
- Garter Toss - our reasoning not wanting to do a garter toss is pretty similar to the bouquet toss. Plus neither of us would have been comfortable with a room of our family and friends watching him slide a garter down my leg. No thank you.
Even though today is the first day of spring it is still freezing in DC with highs only the 40s through the weekend. We are hoping that it warms up considerably in the next three weeks!
Monday, March 18, 2013
What a Weekend
We had a very full and adventurous weekend.
My older sister came to town on Friday night. On Saturday she had a full day of interviews with two counties in the area for potential teaching positions. I played chauffer and drove her around while getting other errands done along the way. After coming back to the apartment to freshen up and pick up P, we headed out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The first bar we attempted to go to was packed. Like couldn't breath, let alone get a drink packed. Plus we had heard of a guy puking in the bar's alley on our walk in and decided it just wasn't our scene. So we headed over to the Irish Channel in Chinatown and celebrated P's Irish heritage with drinks and green jello shots! After a couple of rounds of drinks we met up with our buddy John for dinner before calling it a night.
The weekend's big adventure began on Sunday morning. We woke up to soaked carpet in our bedroom, closet, and hallway leading into the living room. Early Sunday morning, like around 2am, a pipe burst in our neightbor's apartment. Their unit was completely flooded with about an inch of water. We are fortunate that we only share part of a wall with them (a stairwell blocks the rest) but there was enough water to soak the floors in the affected area. Starting around 8am we had the apartment maintenance men, plumbers, and carpet specialist in and out of our apartment. By 10am carpet and padding was ripped out of our bedroom and closet and heavy duty fan were blowing. After talking with other units who had been impacted (seven of us total) we were all able to piece together that our units would be uninhabitable for 3-4 days, the apartment building was not planning to pay for our hotels, and our closets would need to be completely empty so the cabinets could be removed. Throughout the whole ordeal we have not heard from anyone from the apartment's management company. All of us have emailed management but have gotten no response in the past 24 hours. Despite the huge inconvenience, we are lucky that none of our property was damageed and none of the items we have been gathering for the wedding have been damaged.
Despite our new living circumstance, P and I are prepared to tackle many things on our wedding to-do list this week! We are less than four weeks and counting!
My older sister came to town on Friday night. On Saturday she had a full day of interviews with two counties in the area for potential teaching positions. I played chauffer and drove her around while getting other errands done along the way. After coming back to the apartment to freshen up and pick up P, we headed out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The first bar we attempted to go to was packed. Like couldn't breath, let alone get a drink packed. Plus we had heard of a guy puking in the bar's alley on our walk in and decided it just wasn't our scene. So we headed over to the Irish Channel in Chinatown and celebrated P's Irish heritage with drinks and green jello shots! After a couple of rounds of drinks we met up with our buddy John for dinner before calling it a night.
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| Cute Leprachaun in the bar! |
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| Whiskey Sour in honor of Grandpa. Made with Jameson in honor of P's heritage |
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| A glimpse of our bedroom |
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| Enjoying the hotel life |
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Wedding Wednesday
This week's wedding Wednesday installment is bittersweet.
My beloved grandfather passed away on Friday afternoon. He had been sick for several months and while my family had lots of time to prepare it has been a tough couple of days. My grandfather was such a charming man who loved his family. I will always remember his great smile and sweet blue eyes. I know he is in a better place now, but I miss him so much.
Despite the sadness, the timing of our wedding - which is now ONE MONTH away - could not be better. It was so great to see family and be able to hear how excited everyone is for the big event next month.
The past thirteen months have been a whirlwind of excitement, anxiety, and planning. Now that we are in our last month before "I Do," I feel incredibly calm. We still have lots of little things to finalize, but I know they will all get done. And most importantly, I know that in one month I will be married to the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and really, that's all that matters.
My beloved grandfather passed away on Friday afternoon. He had been sick for several months and while my family had lots of time to prepare it has been a tough couple of days. My grandfather was such a charming man who loved his family. I will always remember his great smile and sweet blue eyes. I know he is in a better place now, but I miss him so much.
Despite the sadness, the timing of our wedding - which is now ONE MONTH away - could not be better. It was so great to see family and be able to hear how excited everyone is for the big event next month.
The past thirteen months have been a whirlwind of excitement, anxiety, and planning. Now that we are in our last month before "I Do," I feel incredibly calm. We still have lots of little things to finalize, but I know they will all get done. And most importantly, I know that in one month I will be married to the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and really, that's all that matters.
Friday, March 1, 2013
It's March!
I cannot believe it is already March. That means there is only full month before the wedding! If work continues at the same tempo, this month is going to fly by and next thing I know I'll be walking down the aisle!
We still have quite a few to-do's to check off the wedding planning list:
This weekend I'm looking forward to spending some time with my high school bestie Megan and my mom and Meredith in Maryland!
TGIF!
We still have quite a few to-do's to check off the wedding planning list:
- Buy items for and stuff welcome bags
- Finalize, print, and tie ceremony programs
- Final meeting with DJ
- Meeting with priest
- Obtain marriage license
- Final dress fitting
- Purchase remaining gifts for bridal party and VIPs (and wrap all gifts!)
- Work on our speeches (P and I are planning to say a few things at the rehearsal dinner and reception)
- Create wedding weekend timeline for bridal party and VIPs
- Make arrangements for Calvin for the wedding weekend
- Work on seating for reception (RSVPs are due in two weeks!)
- Finalize rehearsal dinner contract
- Meeting with reception coordinator to finalize all day-of details
This weekend I'm looking forward to spending some time with my high school bestie Megan and my mom and Meredith in Maryland!
TGIF!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Getting Showered
I had planned to write this post last week but after working a 15 hour day on Tuesday I just never found the time or energy.
Last weekend my sweet bridesmaids, mom, and future mother-in-law threw me an amazing bridal shower. The whole day was absolutely perfect. The attention that they put into the decorations, food, games, and gifts really captured me and P.
The weekend started with some of the girls getting into town on Friday night. We ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched 27 Dresses. They surprised me with a gift card to a spa for Saturday morning to get a mani, pedi, and my hair styled while they were hard at work getting the shower set up. It was the perfect way to start the day! My friend Jenny was giving the tough task of joining me at the spa. I was so happy to spend the morning catching up with her!
The shower was held on the 11th floor of our apartment building. We are lucky that our apartment has a beautiful party room with a kitchen and lots of seating. It was the perfect area to have the shower and still have a warm and cozy feel. The room was decked out with cherry blossom decorations and many pictures and memorabilia to capture me and P. Here are some pic from the day. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of myself with the lovely hostesses.
After the shower a lot of the girls joined me in my apartment. We all relaxed and loaded up on caffeine before heading to dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant, Tortilla Coast. Although we had originally planned to go straight to the bars after dinner we decided to head back to my apartment since it was still early. We ended up just staying at my apartment all night, drinking wine and enjoying lots of fun girl talk. Honestly, it was the perfect night for me. I joked with a few of the girls that if this had been five years ago the night probably would have been a little crazier - I guess we are just getting old! Here is a picture of me and the girls after dinner:
Last Monday I put some of the scrapbooking goodies to use right away and made this keepsake for all of the cards I received at the shower. I saw the idea on Pinterest and plan to make one (or two) for our wedding cards too.
With the shower behind me, we are down to 48 days until the wedding. We are both getting so excited!!
Last weekend my sweet bridesmaids, mom, and future mother-in-law threw me an amazing bridal shower. The whole day was absolutely perfect. The attention that they put into the decorations, food, games, and gifts really captured me and P.
The weekend started with some of the girls getting into town on Friday night. We ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched 27 Dresses. They surprised me with a gift card to a spa for Saturday morning to get a mani, pedi, and my hair styled while they were hard at work getting the shower set up. It was the perfect way to start the day! My friend Jenny was giving the tough task of joining me at the spa. I was so happy to spend the morning catching up with her!
The shower was held on the 11th floor of our apartment building. We are lucky that our apartment has a beautiful party room with a kitchen and lots of seating. It was the perfect area to have the shower and still have a warm and cozy feel. The room was decked out with cherry blossom decorations and many pictures and memorabilia to capture me and P. Here are some pic from the day. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of myself with the lovely hostesses.
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| Each guest was asked to bring scrapbooking supplies to fill these awesome organization cubes. Everyone knew me so well! |
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| The room was filled with pictures and scrapbooks of P and I. The blue sign was made to replicate the night P proposed. |
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| French Minnie and German Mickey made an appearance. Special shout out to P for the awesome playlist he made! |
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| Chatting with some of my favorite ladies. Check out the special DC wine glass in front me. |
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| Game time! I believe this was during "Where in the world are P & E?" I love Allison's expression! Each guest was also asked to share their favorite memory of me and/or P and I had to guess who wrote it. So fun! |
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| Most pictures of me opening gifts are not very flattering. I had to include this one of me laughing after reading the card from Jenny. Her card was an engagement card that had a great line about if we are living together we might as well get a bunch of free stuff. Everyone in the room loved it! |
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| Group shot during game time. On the couch is my mom (blue sweater), P's sister, P's mom, and P's cousin Kristen who will be singing at our wedding. |
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| Another group shot. Check out the banner hanging up - we are planning to use it at the rehearsal dinner. |
After the shower a lot of the girls joined me in my apartment. We all relaxed and loaded up on caffeine before heading to dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant, Tortilla Coast. Although we had originally planned to go straight to the bars after dinner we decided to head back to my apartment since it was still early. We ended up just staying at my apartment all night, drinking wine and enjoying lots of fun girl talk. Honestly, it was the perfect night for me. I joked with a few of the girls that if this had been five years ago the night probably would have been a little crazier - I guess we are just getting old! Here is a picture of me and the girls after dinner:
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| I seriously have the best group of sisters and friends. I feel so blessed! |
Last Monday I put some of the scrapbooking goodies to use right away and made this keepsake for all of the cards I received at the shower. I saw the idea on Pinterest and plan to make one (or two) for our wedding cards too.
With the shower behind me, we are down to 48 days until the wedding. We are both getting so excited!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Wedding Wednesday
With less than 70 days to go until April 13th (66 to be exact) we have been checking LOTS of things off of the ever growing to-do list.
This past Saturday we mailed our invitations! We went back and forth on when to send them. 12 weeks? 10 weeks? 8 weeks? We had read that any of these timeframes was appropriate. Ultimately we decided to send them 10 weeks before the wedding since we are inviting guests from all over the United States and Germany. By mailing them out 10 weeks in advance it gives everyone more than enough time to receive them, send back their reply cards, and make their travel arrangements. It's been fun getting so many sweet messages from friends and family this week as they've been checking their mailboxes!
In addition to sending out the invitations last weekend we also finalized the groomsmen attire and met with the music director at our church. She was AH-mazing and really helped guide us to pick beautiful, meaningful and holy songs for our wedding mass.
Yesterday my awsome MOB (mother-of-the-bride) came down to DC for lunch and a trip to the florist. She helped pull together her and P's mom's ideas (which were identical) with mine and P's vision. I cannot wait to see our flowers in two months! I took her to the bakery where we ordered our cake and we split a sampling of one of the flavors our guests will be enjoying. Yum!
Tonight is my hair and make-up trial. I had really hoped to do this the morning of my shower but in the end I'm glad it is today so that my hair and make-up will be a surprise to everyone. My sweet (future) sister-in-law has been working in the area this past week and will be joining me at the salon.
This weekend is my second dress fitting and P's parents are coming to town so we can have dinner at the rehearsal dinner location. Next weekend is my bridal shower and bachelorette festivities. While me and my favorite ladies are taking over DC, P is headed to NYC with the guys for his bachelor weekend!
We are getting SOO close to April! I'm ready to walk down that aisle and say I Do!
This past Saturday we mailed our invitations! We went back and forth on when to send them. 12 weeks? 10 weeks? 8 weeks? We had read that any of these timeframes was appropriate. Ultimately we decided to send them 10 weeks before the wedding since we are inviting guests from all over the United States and Germany. By mailing them out 10 weeks in advance it gives everyone more than enough time to receive them, send back their reply cards, and make their travel arrangements. It's been fun getting so many sweet messages from friends and family this week as they've been checking their mailboxes!
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| Obligatory picture of us before going into the post office |
Yesterday my awsome MOB (mother-of-the-bride) came down to DC for lunch and a trip to the florist. She helped pull together her and P's mom's ideas (which were identical) with mine and P's vision. I cannot wait to see our flowers in two months! I took her to the bakery where we ordered our cake and we split a sampling of one of the flavors our guests will be enjoying. Yum!
Tonight is my hair and make-up trial. I had really hoped to do this the morning of my shower but in the end I'm glad it is today so that my hair and make-up will be a surprise to everyone. My sweet (future) sister-in-law has been working in the area this past week and will be joining me at the salon.
This weekend is my second dress fitting and P's parents are coming to town so we can have dinner at the rehearsal dinner location. Next weekend is my bridal shower and bachelorette festivities. While me and my favorite ladies are taking over DC, P is headed to NYC with the guys for his bachelor weekend!
We are getting SOO close to April! I'm ready to walk down that aisle and say I Do!
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