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!