Flowers and Hair Meetings

Mom and I went to the hair salon that will be taking care of all the ladies hair on the wedding day. I went with ideas of what I wanted and didn't want, but I didn't know exactly what would look good on me. I'm pretty happy with what I will be wearing. Hopefully it will be a little better on the day of. :) Mom's style we still have to figure out. We weren't happy with what they came up with. I have some work to do to help her. :) But that is one big thing out of the way.

Then came today's appointment... flowers! I am very happy with the florist we chose. They seem to know the exact look I am going for. Finger's crossed!

Our big day is getting closer and closer. I cannot believe it is just over THREE months away. THREE! I am beyond excited and not the tiniest bit nervous, just insanely excited. :)

I meet with the chef on Sunday so maybe I'll have an update then. When I head home, I will pick up my dress (Yay! It will be the first time I actually SEE it!) and work with the invitations. Things are getting done, but there is still lots to do!

It's Such A Small World

 I have been struggling to find someone for hair and makeup for the wedding. Besides myself, I have a list of some of the girls that want hair and/or makeup done and as each day went by, I crossed one more option off my list. I had about had it. I finally found a place to do hair.  And the one girl I thought I had for sure ended up letting me know she couldn't do it. Then the place that I finally did get for the hair said they could do makeup, but I said I didn't need makeup. Then when this girl let me know that in fact she could not do makeup, I called the hair place back to check with them. Well, turns out, they can't do it either. My list was now all scratched off. But then, my dear friend (more like family), Jillian, offered her help. She has been so helpful and a lot of fun to chat with during the entire wedding planning process. We haven't seen each other for years, but have kept in touch (a lot) more recently. It's be truly wonderful. So she has been so gracious to offer her help doing the girls and my makeup on the day of the wedding. I am beyond thankful to her.

Now, to get to the small world part of the story... My Aunt Mare (Mom's sister - I call Jilly's Mom "Aunt Mare" too, but that's not the one I am talking about here... yet) has a friend that does my cousin's makeup for formals and proms. She is so talented. I just saw more pictures of my cousin's recent prom and she looked breathtaking. And I am not saying that because she is my cousin. She really looked amazing. Now, this friend of my aunt's is offering to teach myself, mom, two aunts and two cousins how to do our makeup and know the best color choices, etc for the big day. So then along with Jillian, we will be able to do a little as well. Great. I'm so happy to have two very talented ladies helping me to make sure I look tip top on our wedding day!

Today my Aunt Mare called up with a funny story or to use her words... I think she said hysterical. She was talking to her friend on the phone to arrange something with all of us to work with her when I come up for a visit and she was talking about my cousin's prom pictures on Facebook and mentioned me and the lady said, "Oh is that your niece that commented on that picture?" So my Aunt said yes and so then she knew what I looked like, etc... Well, then hung up the phone. Within a few moments later, the phone rang again. It was my aunt's friend. She was calling to say that she and I had two mutual friends. She said it was so weird that we don't even know each other, but we have two friends in common. My aunt asked who and it was none other than my other Aunt Mare and Jillian!!! So my Aunt got all excited and told her that Jillian is the one she told her about earlier that was going to be doing our makeup! It's amazing because this lady taught Jillian how to do makeup years ago! And Jillian worked for this lady's family's dance studio doing makeup! Now I really know that I am in two pairs of talented hands!

I can't wait to see Jilly and to have her do my makeup and to meet this mutual friend of all of ours and have her see what she says as well! What fun to look forward to!

I should have learned this lesson already while planning this wedding. I've had hurdles to get over and in the end, after all seemed hopeless, the best, by far, has worked out and has become more amazing than I could have hoped for!

You just know when some things work out the way they did, they were meant to be... And this was meant to be!

Shoe Drama

Okay, so it may not really be drama, but it is a big issue. My dress will be here in less than a month and I still have no shoes... I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel of my hunt either. I found a site that had nice shoes on it. Yay! There is hope... until I took a look at the prices. Yeah, this girl here would never pay $400 plus for a pair of shoes. I wouldn't even pay half that amount. So back on the search I go for ultra flat shoes... and not super narrow ones.

Dress Shopping Dreams!

With upcoming wedding festivities, I have been looking for one or two cute dresses to wear. There will be a bridal shower and an evening with my bridesmaids, a rehearsal dinner and breakfast the day after with family... and of course our honeymoon! I already own nice dresses, but I was hoping to maybe find one new one. :) So last night I had a fun dream about shopping for the dresses! Fortunately but unfortunately I found the dress in my dream last night! Maybe I should spend a day just looking for that dress! What do you think? Where do you think I should start looking? :) No strapless and no minis please!

Must Needed Beauty Sleep

SO much has been going on these past few days. I am sure you have heard about the tragedy in Alabama. That's home to me and all the devastation is local to us. Mono was home and my parents and I were out of town (out of state actually) and I was scared to death. I am so happy he is safe and I can't wait to get home. I know it is not going to be fun being amidst the chaos and lack of power, but with all this going on, I just want to be home. I had tornado warnings yesterday, over night and more severe ones around 3 am this morning - where I am visiting now - so I have been up for quite a while. I need sleep. The day before all this happened, I was exhausted from trying to find hair/makeup people for the bridal party and flowers as well. I wish I could have someone arrange all that for me. At this point, like I said, I just want to go home. :( But, on a brighter note... The Royal Wedding is tomorrow morning! That is where the beauty part of the sleep comes in. ;) I need to look my best for the wedding. Oh wait, that's right... I didn't get an invitation. Well, that's okay. I am happy being in my pjs and cuddled in my blanket watching it from bed. :) Good night all.

I Have Proof!

Yes, I do have proof. Actually I have a proof for our invitations! 

That deserves a big Yay!! :)

I went a few days back and designed how I wanted them and I received the proof back already.

I have to go in today to meet with her and make a few changes and then I will have to wait for the second proof to come back before we can place our order. That will have to wait until the first week of May. There's a lot going on from today through the first week of May so I won't be able to make it back in to the shop before then. Thankfully we can go over things via e-mail, but I have to actually sign off on things to make it official. So exciting!

So today we are heading back down and we will take care of that. I have a few other quick places to stop as long as it is okay with my two amigos that are coming with me (Mom and Mono). There may be a few wedding updates on here this coming, but I am not sure when I will have the time to post... maybe late at night. We shall see. If not, you can look forward to some updates in that first week of May, when things settle down!

I hope you all have a very blessed and Happy Easter!!

She Said To Add Everything I Could Dream Of....

I'm not sure if she* really knew what she was saying when she said this to me tonight:

"Add Everything You Could Dream Of...."

If that is really the case, I say 

"Dear Pottery Barn, Please just truck out your entire store and deliver it to the following address. Thank you. - Mary Anne"

And no, I am not kidding.

I will be registering at the normal stores everyone seems to register at, but I have a few favorite home stores (besides places like Home Goods - you can't really register there), that will have registry wish lists as I will refer to them. I am sure most of the things on the lists won't be purchased, but I will take her advice to add everything I could dream of.

Places like Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware hold a dear place in my heart. When I walk into Pottery Barn, I feel like I could be at home. When I walk into Williams-Sonoma, I just want to cook and bake and even... clean my kitchen. And at Restoration Hardware, well they stole my heart when I felt a certain little blanket they sell. Each place makes me want to have a very welcoming home. 

I want my home to be a place where when family and friends visit, they too feel like they are at home. I know that it's not what is in the home, but the love that fills your house that makes it a home... but these things do help set the mood, don't they? ;)

The process of registering has been all fun, exciting, a tad overwhelming and now proving to be quite dangerous. I am working with a few stores and am in the middle of editing my lists due to the lack of items in certain stores and the multitude of options on-line.

I am hoping to pretty much have my registries completed by the end of this week. Some tweaking may be made in Pottery Barn if I do end up making a list there. I would like to visit the store once more to scout out a few things to decide which of a few things I like more. I do have to limit my list a little, even if it is all dreaming. I mean, after all, I can't have 7 different sets of everyday glasses. I'd like to, but even I think that is a bit much.

*(she) will remain nameless in case her grand (and I truly mean that) advice ends up backfiring when she sees my wish lists. ;) You know who you are though. hehe-