Check. Check. And Check!

Church, booked. Photographer, booked. Reception venue, BOOKED!! :) It's so amazing how it ended up working. The venue was being held for another couple until December 27th and we would find out at that point if it was ours or not. Today my parents wanted to take Mono and I over there just to see it in case we do get it, and apparently, on our drive over there, the lady called us to tell us that it was now OURS! Our cell phone never rang so when we got there, she thought we were there because we got her call, but we didn't so we didn't know what she was talking about. She told us it was ours and we were all beside ourselves with excitement! The parents of the bride came to the place for dinner a few nights back, saw how nice it was decorated for Christmas and decided that they would have their daughter's wedding in December instead!! YAY! Thank you to that other bride! :) You made our wedding day that much better!! So now we have a third very large part of the planning done! :) Off to bed I go. Lots going on this coming week so I don't know how much blogging I will be doing. Merry Christmas to all!

Rings And Things

We picked out and bought our rings today! So exciting! I knew we were going to the jeweler to have my engagement ring sized down a tad and to look at choices of wedding rings, but I had no idea Mono would buy them today! First he picked out his, which I think looks really good on him. And then I picked out mine... kinda. The jeweler (a family friend) asked what my favorite one was and the look I really like was and so I showed him, totally not thinking that would be the one. Mono then said, "Can you please get a price on that for her size?" And he ordered it!! He said I will have this for the rest of my life and he wants me to have the one I like the best. He was so happy to get them! So our rings are ordered! It was so weird trying on wedding rings together... a good weird of course! :)

And today my Mom did some searching for hotels for our guests to stay in. Apparently it will be a busy weekend and quite a lot is already booked up. Hopefully everything will go just right with that. My parents have been doing some running for me, meeting with people and I really, really appreciate it. I am second in line for getting the reception hall I really want. I am going to go see it with them and Mono this week, which I am looking forward to. I'm praying we are the ones that get it. We will find out by the 27th for sure. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers going up to heaven! :)

That's about it for right now though. Not much else has been going on. I am sure there will be lots of talking while we are visiting with family. The other day we had a birthday party for Mono and I saw family for the first time since our engagement. My aunt cried. :) She's the sweetest. I can't wait to see the rest of my family. :) The party was so nice, being with some of my family and most of Mono's. It really hits now that they will officially be my family too soon. :) I already consider them family though. The two of us are so blessed to have such wonderful families! :)  We have so much fun when we are all together!!

I will try to keep you posted on any other things that go on. Mono's Mami and my Mom both gave me wedding magazines to help with the planning which I am loving looking through. :) I am really enjoying the Christmas season, but it will be nice when we are back home, and all this is over and I can sit and focus on wedding plans. :)

Let The Plans...And Bills... Begin!!!

I just mailed out my very first check for our wedding! It was certainly the best one to start with though! Our photographer. You know, the one I wrote about having a bad dream about the other night. ;) I have no worries or second thoughts going into contract with her. She is absolutely amazing! Ah-mazing! Photography is certainly one of my my most important areas for the wedding. I want images to look at forever and ever that are stunning, and I know with her, they will be! No doubt! :)

I wonder what the next check will be for... reception, hopefully! :) Then..... the DRESS! I can't wait to find the dress. Let the fun begin (oh yeah, the bills too)!!

The (Bad) Dream About My Dream Photographer

So, I had another (bad) dream about my wedding last night. This time it was the photographers turn to be the bad guy. :( I had a (bad) dream about my photographer! How is that!?! A bad dream about my dream photographer? Doesn't make any sense! She was just as cute as I imagine she will be though. The dream wasn't specifically about her being bad. For some reason, instead of her shooting our pictures, a weird (really weird) guy took them. And when I went to her office to meet, she just wanted to help me plan my wedding instead of talking about the photography…. which really wasn't bad at all. The bad part was just the tremendous disappointment of not having her do it. :( I hope none of this comes true. It didn't scare me one bit and I can't wait to sign my contract with her! She is fabulous! Really! :) I know we are going to come out with some stunning photos on our wedding day!!! I guess if I am going to continue to have bad dreams about my wedding, this wasn't the worst that could happen.

Is It True? Is It Really True?!

Is it really true? Do I have the photographer I really wanted? The photographer that I have followed for so long now?! Yay!! AND to make it even better, I have the Church too! And one of my choices for the reception is free!! Thank you to all my friends in Heaven, especially you Gram!! As of yesterday, nothing was going well in the planning, and I pushed on through (discouraged though) and fought through the frustration and today it all worked out for me. I am sooo excited to know that two of my biggest things on the list are set! I haven't signed the papers, but they will be on their way. This Church was important to me and I really wanted to try for it. As of this afternoon though, it wasn't looking good. I ended up hanging up being so upset, and I called her back and proposed another option to her...and she accepted!! And the photographer that I was dying to have is free too!! :) I can't wait to sign my name to the paperwork for both of these things.

It's been really hard not having my Mom nearby (and not available through a computer) during the planning these past weeks. I look forward to seeing her and sitting down in a couple of weeks. :) I am so thankful for our phone calls, even though some of them have been covered in such frustration. Can't wait to see you Mom! My Dad has been a wonderful help too! He has been helping me with calls and he is very excited about this process. :) Thank you both, Mom and Dad! I love you!

So, I can sleep well tonight knowing things ARE coming together. The ideal date, the Church, the photographer...THE photographer. ;) Thank you God, for all of Your help in this working out. I know You are helping me and hearing the many prayers I am sending up to You!

Good night all. I have my first 5k tomorrow - Gotta get in shape for this wedding of ours! ;) I have a goal now that there is a date set!

Frustration!

I'm overly frustrated right now. The Church is booked for the day we were hoping for, but the photographer is free. The Church is free for another day, but the photographer is booked. So far, NOTHING has gone well together. I am really not sure what to do and it is discouraging. I have an e-mail off to the photographer asking her openings around that time, and I am going to talk to the people at the Church again once I find her free dates. I really hope I can get these two things to work out TOGETHER!

Lights. CAMERA. Action!

Well, today I got a response from a photographer I would really, really like to use for our wedding. If you know me well, you know I love photos! It is a really important aspect of the day. I will want to capture the many wonderful memories from our special day in beautiful photographs. It is something I will have and cherish forever. So it is one of the most important things I want to look for and not settle on. The photography competes for importance with my dress. ;) That is how much I really want to have nice pictures. :) I am waiting for a more detailed price listing from her and then I can go from there. :) I am still deciding on some places to go look at for our reception. I am thinking when I am up north for Christmas, I will spend some time driving to different venues. There is a super nice place but it is further away and probably pretty pricey, but we are maybe going to look into it at least and just see how bad it is. I think we have a date that we are aiming for... Saturday, October 1st, 2011. It is the feast day of St. Therese (Gus and I both have a special love for her), so we thought that might be a nice day to have it. We will see. I have to find out from the Church if they are available and I also have to find a banquet hall open on that day. I'm praying to her for some guidance in my decision making! :) I am looking forward to knowing that I have a date, Church and venue decided on. Then the real fun can begin!

I See Light!

Today was a good day. Most of the good news came from the afternoon on. It started out with a nice conversation with my best friend in Chicago, followed by another conversation with my best friend in New York...Yes, you are allowed two of them when they are as special as these ladies! Mono's sister-in-law, who is my soon-to-be sister-in-law (yay!!!!), sent me a whole list of possible reception venues in the area we are looking to have our wedding. I am so thankful for all of their help. They each live in a different state, very far away, but they all offer as much help as they are able to. I am so blessed. I also got word from the Church that we are allowed to have our wedding ceremony there. I will speak with someone tomorrow about more details. Praying that that all goes well. Then this evening I got another e-mail from a dear friend of our family's of a nice hotel within a short distance that she thought may be something I'd like. And it is! I have to show my Mom (which will be a task being that she is hundreds of miles away and does not know how to work a computer...hmmmmm.....) and see what she thinks and then I may call them to get some more info. :) That would be absolutely wonderful if a place so close worked out. :) Next on my list, after all this is settled, is needing to find a place for photographs. I would like somewhere scenic, not just generic. So we will see. I am asking for ideas from anyone that lives in that area, so hopefully I will get some good places. :) I am really excited that I am seeing some light in all this. I think once these big hurdles are over (ceremony, reception, date, etc) then the little details will be a lot more exciting! It will be nice to start all of this after Christmas when my Mom comes home. :) So that is my update for today. Hopefully these posts will get more exciting. And eventually they will come along with pictures, hopefully!

Just An Update

There is soooo much to do when you are planning a wedding... especially when you are nearly 800 miles away from the location! Right now, I am still just trying to get little bits of information figured out. I really have to find a place to hold the reception and I think that is going to be the biggest issue... for now. We are waiting to hear back from the priest to hear if we are able to use the specific Church that we want to be married in. Hopefully we will hear back from him soon. Once we get the okay on that, we will really look for a reception hall. I didn't want to go full force if we weren't going to be able to be married in this Church. I am having a hard time locating a place that I want though. I have to see if I can talk to a few people up in Maryland to see if they know of anything good. I have my list of guests and Mono is working on his. I have my list of bridesmaids, etc... and I am just looking forward to let it out who I have chosen. Each and every lady is very special to me so I am pretty excited about asking them. Mono is taking care of the groomsmen. I have a little bit of an idea what I am looking for in a dress for myself, but I am still looking. I want to start cutting things out so I can bring them when I go hunting for a dress. I am a little unsure about the colors for the girls' dresses. I had an idea of the look I wanted, but I am not quite sure yet. We are thinking the wedding will be next fall so I am not sure my look will be what I am going to keep. I may have to change it up a little bit. I have to ask a few people what they think. Another thing I am a little concerned about, I really, really wanted to have peonies in my bridal bouquet. They are probably my favorite, along with hydrangeas, and I am not sure if I will be able to have them in it. They are more of a spring flower. :/ I guess I can't base it all on the flower though, huh... I mean I could.... hmm.... ;) just kidding. And last but not least in my update for tonight... My very first friend, Katie, has been really spoiling me with gifts since we got engaged. It's like she went out that night shopping! haha- She sent me a card and three magazines first, and then today I got another package of gifts for wonderful wedding planning. She is surely a wonderful friend, and not just because of gifts. She is a very special friend. I am blessed with wonderful ladies in my life. Very wonderful ones. My other best friend, Kathleen, and I finally got to catch up and chat for a bit on the phone today. It was wonderful catching up and chatting about some wedding ideas. I wish both of them lived nearby, but unfortunately they both live states upon states away. I am hoping to see Katie in December and Kath in January. :) Thank you to all my friends and family for being such wonderful and special people in my life. Mono and I are both very blessed to have each and every one of you!

Guest Lists... Oh my!

This is a much more difficult task than I would have thought. I could have hundreds of people on the list very easily! Obviously hundreds of people aren't going to be making it to the final cut. I mean come on, do I think I am planning William and Kate's wedding?! ;) I want the whole world to be there, but my budget doesn't. ;) Plus, we want to keep it as personal to us as possible. It's hard with large families though. Today we started to work on combining our lists. Thank goodness for a pen with a choice of 4 colors! It makes the category markings so much easier. :) I think we have part of the list down to the pre-final (if that is what I can call it for now) list. I am hoping by the end of the weekend, I can have the whole "pre-final" list together and then go from there. I can't wait to have something more finalized. I have so much to still think about! I am guessing that I need to have a basic count of people, to then be able to look for a place that can hold our number of guests. Is that how it works? haha- I like the little details more than the big ones, like booking a place. I guess it's the business side of it I don't like. Oh well, it will all be fun!! :) On to more list combining!

Post It Notes For Him....Long Lists For Me!

Today I got a few more things to add to the organization end of my wedding plans. No real planning has begun yet. Just some thinking and talking. Mono and I discussed a few things that we would like to have for our wedding and I also gave him a list of a couple of things he should start thinking about and working on…nothing terrifying, just a small post-it note with 3 or 4 bullet points. :) I don't think he minded. I'm really looking forward to figuring more things out and setting them in stone a bit. For now though, it is off to sleep, to dream sweetly.

Must Stay Organized!

So today I bought a plain canvas bag with black trim and I am going to embroider some fun things on it. It will be my very own, personalized wedding planning bag! I am SO excited to design it (it'll be real simple) and fill it with some things. I am thinking of a nice notebook, a planner that I have, some magazines and then some nice pens, a highlighter or two… I am thinking of asking my friends (married and even unmarried) of ideas of what I may need inside!

And The Wedding Dreams Begin!

I had my first official "wedding" dream last night. It wasn't quite a nightmare, but hopefully there will be much better ones to come. Someone else picked my bridesmaids' dresses (the person who picked them out will remain nameless!) and they picked the most awful thing ever! They were strapless (NO! NO!), short (ANOTHER NO!!!), pleated, (MY GOSH!) and different colors (none of which I wanted!). Crazy part, they wore them OVER clothes. Weird huh? Amazingly when I saw the girls on the day of my wedding, I was in shock, but I just laughed and apologized! And we still had fun!!!!

I Said Yes!!

Mono and I got engaged today! I am so excited! The purpose of my blog will be to update my family and close friends on the wedding plans. Every keeps asking me the same things, and this is a neat way to help people stay updated!! I have no idea of any details yet. We are just enjoying being engaged for a few days! Then the planning will begin! :) This will gradually take on a better look, but for now, it's going to be pretty simple. With Thanksgiving and Christmas (among LOTS of other things) coming up, I'll be quite busy. I'll keep up with the little details and getting this to look like a real blog real soon!