I'm not really the type to have bad dreams, but when I do, they really tend to freak me out. I had one before Lisa's shower, and in it, I fell on the cake and ruined the whole day. Then, a week AFTER her wedding, I dreamt that I was at home getting ready for her wedding. I was trying to get my hair and makeup to cooperate, but was having no luck and got more and more stressed by the second. Then, I started getting text messages from the other bridesmaids telling me that I was late and they were already in the limo on their way to the church. I woke up in a cold sweat and had to mentally check the date and make sure I wasn't having a premonition.
Now it's my turn to have nightmares about my own wedding. I knew I'd have them at some point, but I figured it would be more towards the actual date of the wedding, not a year before! It happened the other night. I was slumbering blissfully, when my mind took me down a path of wedding-day terror. We decided to move the wedding up from August 2010 to August 2009, which left us hardly any time to do anything. So on the day of the wedding, it was rainy, humid, and gross out, and I started freaking out because I realized that NO ONE HAD SENT OUT THE INVITATIONS! Nobody but our families and the bridal party knew about the wedding. On top of that, I was running late, couldn't find my dress, and was missing most of the bridesmaids. Panic set in and I was running around like a lunatic, throwing things into the car, trying to hold back my tears, and hoping we'd get there on time. Then, suddenly, I stopped and said, "We can't do this today. No one knows it's today! We have to wait til next summer."
And then I woke up, anxious and sweating again over a silly nightmare. I hope that's it for a while. Waking up in a cold sweat is really kind of disgusting!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
It's official...
Yesterday we put the deposit down on the Crowne Plaza, so we now officially have our reception site booked. It's pretty exciting-- now we have the two biggest aspects of the wedding taken care of. I'm excited to see how the reception turns out at the Crowne. It's a beautiful hotel and the staff has been really helpful and informative so far. They know what they're doing and they do it well, which is comforting.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Florist!
On Friday I went with my parents and Lauren to my first meeting with the florist. He was fabulous-- his shop (Florentine Florist in Cranston) was beautiful and as soon as we sat down the ideas coming from this man were great. I went into the meeting really clueless, just knowing that I liked how bunches of hydrangeas looked, but only knowing that because I see them everywhere. I'm really unaware of all the types of flowers out there. He liked the hydrangea idea and added some other nice touches, like daisies and roses. He's going to decorate the cake with matching flowers to tie everything together, too. We're thinking of doing a mix of tall and short table arrangements at the reception to make it visually interesting, and he even has these beautiful wrought iron stands that he bought specifically to match the designs in the Rotunda Room where our reception will be held. Cool, huh? He also suggested I go see him at a couple of wedding shows so I can get a better idea of what I like (since I'm really not too picky or specific right now).
One thing he said that I'm really going to take to heart and start working on was this: he told me that I need to be more assertive throughout this planning process and really know what I want and be willing to tell the vendors what I want. Apparently I kept saying "I'm not sure" throughout our meeting, and he insisted that I did know what I wanted, I just don't have the vocabulary for it yet. It's partially that, but it also really is that I just don't know right now. I have ideas and if I see something, I usually know immediately if I like it or not, but when it comes to making all these decisions, I really don't know. But, he was right in a sense. If I keep saying that I don't know what I want, I'll get talked into things that I really don't want by vendors who can sense my state of not knowing. So.. that's the next thing I'll work on: really figuring out what I want so I don't get taken advantage of during this process!
This past weekend was great (I'm sitting here writing this on Sunday night at 11:00... I REALLY don't want to get up for work in the morning. I wish I was still on the Cape!). I spent the weekend at Matt's house with his aunts Ros and Liz. We talked wedding, looked at pictures, researched photographers, cut out appliance and homey things from magazines... the works. The two of them were so much fun and had some great ideas. Their excitement makes me more excited! I'm really looking forward to being a part of their family.
So tomorrow it's back to reality for me. Work, scrambling to get the writing done for my first submission (planning a wedding while doing grad school? I must be crazy...), and a doctor's appointment. At some point this week I've got to drop off our reception venue deposit and contract to make it official. Eek!
Also... if there's anyone reading this, feel free to leave suggestions or advice in a comment. I'm completely open to ideas, opinions, etc. In fact, I'm really looking for all the help I can get! I'm especially interested in knowing how other people have made decisions, ideas on colors and themes, and things like how other brides have incorporated family heirlooms into their big day. Let the ideas roll!
One thing he said that I'm really going to take to heart and start working on was this: he told me that I need to be more assertive throughout this planning process and really know what I want and be willing to tell the vendors what I want. Apparently I kept saying "I'm not sure" throughout our meeting, and he insisted that I did know what I wanted, I just don't have the vocabulary for it yet. It's partially that, but it also really is that I just don't know right now. I have ideas and if I see something, I usually know immediately if I like it or not, but when it comes to making all these decisions, I really don't know. But, he was right in a sense. If I keep saying that I don't know what I want, I'll get talked into things that I really don't want by vendors who can sense my state of not knowing. So.. that's the next thing I'll work on: really figuring out what I want so I don't get taken advantage of during this process!
This past weekend was great (I'm sitting here writing this on Sunday night at 11:00... I REALLY don't want to get up for work in the morning. I wish I was still on the Cape!). I spent the weekend at Matt's house with his aunts Ros and Liz. We talked wedding, looked at pictures, researched photographers, cut out appliance and homey things from magazines... the works. The two of them were so much fun and had some great ideas. Their excitement makes me more excited! I'm really looking forward to being a part of their family.
So tomorrow it's back to reality for me. Work, scrambling to get the writing done for my first submission (planning a wedding while doing grad school? I must be crazy...), and a doctor's appointment. At some point this week I've got to drop off our reception venue deposit and contract to make it official. Eek!
Also... if there's anyone reading this, feel free to leave suggestions or advice in a comment. I'm completely open to ideas, opinions, etc. In fact, I'm really looking for all the help I can get! I'm especially interested in knowing how other people have made decisions, ideas on colors and themes, and things like how other brides have incorporated family heirlooms into their big day. Let the ideas roll!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Hoping next summer actually acts like summer...
My apologies for the previous post with the awful yellow font. Once I made it yellow and realized you can hardly see it against the background, I tried to change it, but Blogger was being uncooperative and wouldn't let me turn it any other color. Boo to you, Blogger!
The weather today is awful. It's gray and wet and cold, and it's the end of July! This summer has been mostly bad, and I'm PRAYING that next summer is nicer. If it rains on my wedding day, that's ok. Really, it doesn't matter. But a part of me is hoping it's beautiful out for good pictures and just a general summery feeling for the wedding. Everybody cross your fingers!
Tomorrow is meeting number one with the florist... I'm excited. I have a couple of pictures to bring with me as ideas, but I'm really interested to see what he thinks will look good. In my head, I see daisies and hydrangeas, but I'm no florist and I don't know many flowers beyond the basic garden ones. We also need to put the deposit down on our reception site this week, so once that's done, we'll have the big stuff figured out! The church, the reception, the florist... I guess after that we need to make a decision about a photographer and we can sit back for a few months, right? I've already got my dress, so there aren't many other "big" things we'll need. Woo!
Any suggestions from the world out there? From anyone married or who has seen something at a wedding they really liked or didn't like? I'm about as open for suggestions and ideas as they come... this process can be overwhelming, so any advice is greatly appreciated!
Hoping the sun comes out this weekend...
The weather today is awful. It's gray and wet and cold, and it's the end of July! This summer has been mostly bad, and I'm PRAYING that next summer is nicer. If it rains on my wedding day, that's ok. Really, it doesn't matter. But a part of me is hoping it's beautiful out for good pictures and just a general summery feeling for the wedding. Everybody cross your fingers!
Tomorrow is meeting number one with the florist... I'm excited. I have a couple of pictures to bring with me as ideas, but I'm really interested to see what he thinks will look good. In my head, I see daisies and hydrangeas, but I'm no florist and I don't know many flowers beyond the basic garden ones. We also need to put the deposit down on our reception site this week, so once that's done, we'll have the big stuff figured out! The church, the reception, the florist... I guess after that we need to make a decision about a photographer and we can sit back for a few months, right? I've already got my dress, so there aren't many other "big" things we'll need. Woo!
Any suggestions from the world out there? From anyone married or who has seen something at a wedding they really liked or didn't like? I'm about as open for suggestions and ideas as they come... this process can be overwhelming, so any advice is greatly appreciated!
Hoping the sun comes out this weekend...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Players
So, I'll be honest-- it was impossible for us to choose a small wedding party. We probably could have done it if we tried, but there are so many important friends and family members that we wanted to include, that we couldn't imagine leaving them out. Our bridal party may not "match" the size of the guest list (150ish), but who cares? It'll be a fun group before and during the wedding, and that's really what matters more than following convention. Right? Right!
The guys consist of our 4 brothers (Andrew, Tim, Andrew, and Nick), 2 of Matt's buddies from college (David and Sam), and 3 of his friends from the Army (Gerry, Pat and Kevin).
The girls are made up of my nearest and dearest friends who've been with me for years, some from childhood, some from college, and the rest from high school. Lisa is my soon to be sister-in-law, but we started out as good friends when we worked together at RIC. Another friend from working at RIC-- Katy, practically as good as a sister the past few years. Lauren has known me since we were little babies (I'm 6 weeks older and our parents have been friends since college, so we grew up together). Sara M is another friend from childhood, but we got really close in middle school when a science project forced us to work together one day. The rest is history...
Sara K, Sonja, Shana, Chelsea and Sam are all my best friends from high school. They were around for some of the most important growing-up years, and even though we're scattered around now, they remain some of the most fun and awesome people I know.
Our two flower girls are David's daughters, Sarah and Daniella.
It's a big bunch, as you can see, but I can't imagine it any other way. Everyone is important to us, and we want them all to be involved!
The guys consist of our 4 brothers (Andrew, Tim, Andrew, and Nick), 2 of Matt's buddies from college (David and Sam), and 3 of his friends from the Army (Gerry, Pat and Kevin).
The girls are made up of my nearest and dearest friends who've been with me for years, some from childhood, some from college, and the rest from high school. Lisa is my soon to be sister-in-law, but we started out as good friends when we worked together at RIC. Another friend from working at RIC-- Katy, practically as good as a sister the past few years. Lauren has known me since we were little babies (I'm 6 weeks older and our parents have been friends since college, so we grew up together). Sara M is another friend from childhood, but we got really close in middle school when a science project forced us to work together one day. The rest is history...
Sara K, Sonja, Shana, Chelsea and Sam are all my best friends from high school. They were around for some of the most important growing-up years, and even though we're scattered around now, they remain some of the most fun and awesome people I know.
Our two flower girls are David's daughters, Sarah and Daniella.
It's a big bunch, as you can see, but I can't imagine it any other way. Everyone is important to us, and we want them all to be involved!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Getting the wedding ball rolling...
I'm slowly learning that planning a wedding is a lot more complicated than it sounds. I always knew that it would be really involved, but I didn't anticipate all the small details, all the decisions, all the opinions other people would have.
But, regardless of it all, we've gotten the ball rolling and that is really what matters right now.
*the proposal*
Matt proposed on May 16, 2009 on a jetty off a beach on Cape Cod. It was a beautiful spring day and we rode our bikes from his parents' house to the beach, then walked down to the jetty. We both had our cameras and were snapping pictures when he suggested we sit down and take some of us together. I'll be honest-- I had hoped he would do it that weekend because he had let on that he might have a ring and the suspense was killing me. But that morning, I put the possibility out of my head because he was acting too normal. I've always heard about guys being nervous and weird the day they're going to propose, but he was just too calm and cool. Although, if you know Matthew at all, you know that he hardly ever strays too far from calm and cool, even if he's stressing out. So, I figured we'd just take a nice bike ride and enjoy the weather... but he fooled me (which is hard to do... I figure everything out.)
So he suggested we take some pictures on the jetty. He sat down behind me and we started snapping away, but when he put his arms around my waist, I glanced down and saw that he had a small black box in his left hand.
"What is that??" I asked him, but I already know what it was, so I immediately started crying. As much as I had wanted that day to come, I was totally overwhelmed with the actual moment. And if you know Matt, you can guess his reaction-- he laughed. I'm crying, he's laughing, and he hasn't even opened the ring box yet. Finally he asked if I wanted to see it, and I said yes, then he got around to asking me to marry him, and I said OF COURSE. It was a perfect day all around and I couldn't have asked for a better proposal.
We didn't do much planning right away (aside from buying a pretty wedding planning binder at the book store ) because Matt's brother Andrew and his fiance (also my good friend) Lisa were in the final stages of planning their wedding, which took place on July 11. We wanted to make sure we weren't distracted from helping them, since Matt was the best man and I was a bridesmaid. The weekend following their beautiful, beautiful wedding, we started visiting venues and meeting with people and choosing our colors and all that stuff.
*the venues*
We went to three hotels this past weekend: The Crowne Plaza, the Radisson, and The Marriott in Providence. We're looking at hotels because we'll have a number of out-of-town guests and we figure it'll be easy for them if they can party and sleep in the same building, especially since the reception is going to be roughly 6pm-midnight. All three hotels offered the same general package, but after looking everything over again, we realized that the Crowne Plaza would be giving us more for the money we'd be spending and we liked it visually more than the other places. The Marriott was gorgeous, but it's more expensive and you get less, and the Radisson is nice inside because it's just been renovated, but the outside is a little bit dumpy.
*the church*
Since I'm not Catholic and Matthew is, I decided to enroll in RCIA which will start in the fall. It's Catholic education for adults, and when it's over, I'll be confirmed into the Catholic church. This wasn't really a hard decision for me to make. I didn't grow up very religious, but when I met Matt, I realized how important his faith is to him. He never pressured me to go to church with him, but ever since the beginning, I've enjoyed going with him. I like seeing what it means for him and his family. I like that they never push their faith on anyone else, but they share it openly because it holds them together. I've had experiences in the past where religion has been forced on me and since I didn't understand it, it pushed me away. With Matt, it's always been my choice to participate, and when I have questions, he answers them without judgment. This is why the decision was easy for me. We'll be married at Sts. Rose and Clement church, which is also where I'll do my RCIA class come the fall.
*photography/invitations/dress*
We also met with a woman who works for Bella Photography as a consultant, and she showed us the packages they offer and explained how their program works. Basically, you fill out a survey and they match you with a photographer who best suits your needs for the kinds of pictures you hope to see from your wedding. The package is pretty good... they include a really nice album, plus small "clone" albums for the parents. Plus we would own the rights to all the pictures and anyone could access them at any time and print them from their choice of printer (be it Walgreens or Snapfish or whatever). We thought that was really nice. We're opting to skip the videographer and instead just have someone set up a camera at the ceremony and then again at the reception. We'll have to figure that out later.
Our invitations are already purchased (thanks to WalMart and Ebay and Martha Stewart) and we spent no more than $45 on them. I also have my dress, thanks to a discount at Cinderella's Bridal (www.dressesbyscott.com) off a dress I fell in love with.
To be honest, I don't feel picky about much of the components of the wedding. There's so much that goes into a wedding, and in the scheme of things, it's just one day of your life together. I'm excited for it, of course, but I kind of feel like it's silly to get swept up in the planning when it's only one day. I'd rather focus on what it'll be like every day AFTER the wedding, because I think that's what really matters. But... don't get me wrong-- I'm excited for the day to get here because I love him more than I can say and I can't wait to start our life together.
But, regardless of it all, we've gotten the ball rolling and that is really what matters right now.
*the proposal*
Matt proposed on May 16, 2009 on a jetty off a beach on Cape Cod. It was a beautiful spring day and we rode our bikes from his parents' house to the beach, then walked down to the jetty. We both had our cameras and were snapping pictures when he suggested we sit down and take some of us together. I'll be honest-- I had hoped he would do it that weekend because he had let on that he might have a ring and the suspense was killing me. But that morning, I put the possibility out of my head because he was acting too normal. I've always heard about guys being nervous and weird the day they're going to propose, but he was just too calm and cool. Although, if you know Matthew at all, you know that he hardly ever strays too far from calm and cool, even if he's stressing out. So, I figured we'd just take a nice bike ride and enjoy the weather... but he fooled me (which is hard to do... I figure everything out.)
So he suggested we take some pictures on the jetty. He sat down behind me and we started snapping away, but when he put his arms around my waist, I glanced down and saw that he had a small black box in his left hand.
"What is that??" I asked him, but I already know what it was, so I immediately started crying. As much as I had wanted that day to come, I was totally overwhelmed with the actual moment. And if you know Matt, you can guess his reaction-- he laughed. I'm crying, he's laughing, and he hasn't even opened the ring box yet. Finally he asked if I wanted to see it, and I said yes, then he got around to asking me to marry him, and I said OF COURSE. It was a perfect day all around and I couldn't have asked for a better proposal.
We didn't do much planning right away (aside from buying a pretty wedding planning binder at the book store ) because Matt's brother Andrew and his fiance (also my good friend) Lisa were in the final stages of planning their wedding, which took place on July 11. We wanted to make sure we weren't distracted from helping them, since Matt was the best man and I was a bridesmaid. The weekend following their beautiful, beautiful wedding, we started visiting venues and meeting with people and choosing our colors and all that stuff.
*the venues*
We went to three hotels this past weekend: The Crowne Plaza, the Radisson, and The Marriott in Providence. We're looking at hotels because we'll have a number of out-of-town guests and we figure it'll be easy for them if they can party and sleep in the same building, especially since the reception is going to be roughly 6pm-midnight. All three hotels offered the same general package, but after looking everything over again, we realized that the Crowne Plaza would be giving us more for the money we'd be spending and we liked it visually more than the other places. The Marriott was gorgeous, but it's more expensive and you get less, and the Radisson is nice inside because it's just been renovated, but the outside is a little bit dumpy.
*the church*
Since I'm not Catholic and Matthew is, I decided to enroll in RCIA which will start in the fall. It's Catholic education for adults, and when it's over, I'll be confirmed into the Catholic church. This wasn't really a hard decision for me to make. I didn't grow up very religious, but when I met Matt, I realized how important his faith is to him. He never pressured me to go to church with him, but ever since the beginning, I've enjoyed going with him. I like seeing what it means for him and his family. I like that they never push their faith on anyone else, but they share it openly because it holds them together. I've had experiences in the past where religion has been forced on me and since I didn't understand it, it pushed me away. With Matt, it's always been my choice to participate, and when I have questions, he answers them without judgment. This is why the decision was easy for me. We'll be married at Sts. Rose and Clement church, which is also where I'll do my RCIA class come the fall.
*photography/invitations/dress*
We also met with a woman who works for Bella Photography as a consultant, and she showed us the packages they offer and explained how their program works. Basically, you fill out a survey and they match you with a photographer who best suits your needs for the kinds of pictures you hope to see from your wedding. The package is pretty good... they include a really nice album, plus small "clone" albums for the parents. Plus we would own the rights to all the pictures and anyone could access them at any time and print them from their choice of printer (be it Walgreens or Snapfish or whatever). We thought that was really nice. We're opting to skip the videographer and instead just have someone set up a camera at the ceremony and then again at the reception. We'll have to figure that out later.
Our invitations are already purchased (thanks to WalMart and Ebay and Martha Stewart) and we spent no more than $45 on them. I also have my dress, thanks to a discount at Cinderella's Bridal (www.dressesbyscott.com) off a dress I fell in love with.
To be honest, I don't feel picky about much of the components of the wedding. There's so much that goes into a wedding, and in the scheme of things, it's just one day of your life together. I'm excited for it, of course, but I kind of feel like it's silly to get swept up in the planning when it's only one day. I'd rather focus on what it'll be like every day AFTER the wedding, because I think that's what really matters. But... don't get me wrong-- I'm excited for the day to get here because I love him more than I can say and I can't wait to start our life together.
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